Diego Garcia-Egmont Isles

Map of passage to Egmont Is

Franda II was the last to leave again. We trailed Dreamtime and Hohoq by an hour. Halfway through the lagoon's entrance, we hooked a large fish. Stu struggled to pull it in; while telling us it must be a big one, the line went slack. He continued pulling in the line to find the hook snapped in half. He hurriedly tied on another lure, and while Dad motored Franda II around in a circle at the entrance to the lagoon, he caught two more, a little 2 kg fish and a better-sized 10 kg fish. A generous farewell to Diego Garcia and the dinner menu was set.

After a tranquil night's sail, I felt lazy and didn't want to get up, so I looked out my porthole, watching the world go by. It did so slowly, with Coconut palms and welcoming white sandy beaches of Isle Sudest in the Egmont group. Consequently, I slothed away the morning, just reading in bed and drinking the two cups of tea my sister Kathryn delivered.

Dreamtime's engine still wasn't starting, so Franda II stayed close to her with towing warps ready. We "stood by" in case the wind changed and Dreamtime could not tack into the lagoon. But all went well; the wind stayed steady, and Dreamtime sailed into the lagoon to anchor. Franda II anchored beside Dreamtime and Hohoq in time for lunch.

After yet another coleslaw, I finished a day of schoolwork. Although I was not catching up, I was not lagging behind anymore. Finally, with chores done, Tina and I rowed ashore to swim and play on Tina's lilo. The beach was very steep, so there wasn't much shallow water to play in.

A special dinner was held on Franda II as a belated birthday get-together to celebrate Rudy's and my birthdays. Diego Garcia chicken cooked in wine by Olga, an apple crumble from Kathryn and a cake from Freya. What a feast! I swapped bunks with Freya again, spending the night on Dreamtime with Tina.

Tina and I had a lot of freedom but still had schoolwork and a few chores. We often sat in Franda II's saloon, which was more spacious than Dreamtime's, attending to our schoolwork. It was too hot to be inside with no breeze on this day. So, as soon as our day's schoolwork was finished, we hurriedly attended to our chores. I helped Tina polish the brass on Dreamtime with a rag each and a bottle of Brasso; we diligently rubbed the brass till we could see our reflections. It was hot work, so we swam ashore for a play on the beach. Our families came ashore shortly afterwards with all the trimmings for a BBQ lunch.

With a full tummy, Tina and I returned to Franda II for an afternoon sleep but found it too hot, so we returned ashore for another swim. We spent 6 fantastic hours in the water that day, a little more than usual. Another day in paradise, with a similar routine. Schoolwork followed by swimming. One day, Tina and I decided to walk across the island for something different to fill in the day.

It was hard going, as there were no tracks, and we had not thought to grab a machete to cut our way through. Then, after what seemed like an hour to the young explorers, we heard a motor. Turning towards the noise, we popped out of the undergrowth 200 metres from our dinghy. Yes, we had walked in a half-circle. Next, we had a quick swim to cool off and soothe our numerous scratches, and then we rowed out to Franda II. We shared this chore by sitting on the middle seat with an oar each.

We, the youngest two, came back ashore with Stuart, Kathryn and Fiona and played a ball game on the beach. Our parents came ashore with food, and Stuart cooked a BBQ meal for everyone. Finally, we six young ones all retired to Franda II and slept on squabs on the foredeck.

When Tina and I had done enough schoolwork for the day, Mum and Dad took us off to visit the lake. It was a long dinghy ride, about 4km, as the yachts were anchored near the middle of the lagoon, with fewer bommies. I stood in the bow holding the painter keeping a lookout for bommie. The sun was overhead, making them easy to see. If I judged the water deep enough, we would continue over them. However, I deemed others too shallow, so I would direct Dad around them by pointing my whole arm in the direction I wanted him to go. And then slowly bring my arm back around onto the course we were on. So it would be a smooth change, of course. However, if I was a bit late in deciding to change course, I would swing my arm quickly back behind me, almost pointing to him, and he'd know to "throw" the dinghy onto a right-angle course.

We made it to Isle Sipaille or Isle Cipaye without losing the propeller on any bombie. This North-Western island is where there is a sizeable lake, even though the Egmont Island atoll is less than 13km long with a maximum width of 2km of landmass. The lake was of water seemingly a little less salty than the ocean, and although 600m long and 270m wide, it was only 50cm deep. It was quite warm, almost too hot to wade in. The bottom had a 30cm soft layer that was not sticky like mud but still very squishy underfoot. I was amazed to see fish as long as 60cm swimming in the lake. Seeing a lake ringed by coconut palms, surrounded by sandy beaches and the ocean, was fascinating. I wondered if the bottom of the lake was at sea level or below. The trip back in the dinghy was uneventful; Dad looked for bommies while I took control of the outboard. The sun was lowering in the West, and the dinghy was heading southeast, so Dad also had good visibility into the water.

A lunch of pancakes, then more swimming. What else does one do on a deserted tropical island? The group of young ones slept on Franda II's foredeck again.

The days tended to merge as they were all the same. Schoolwork, swimming, eating, sleeping, playing Monopoly. Sometimes, the order would change, but not much else did. Sunshine and 26°c every day. Again. After a week of paradise, it was time to leave.

Franda II tried to leave about one hour after Dreamtime. However, the engine overheated even before we got out of the entrance. Dad went below to the engine room and found the bilge full of water. Looking around, he noticed the saltwater inlet hose had disconnected from the heat exchanger. The seawater was just coming through the hull fitting and filling Franda II's bilge with water. Undiscovered, she would sink. Dad quickly reconnected the hose back onto the heat exchanger, which solved the overheating problem, but now we had bilges to rinse and dry. Dad did not like the idea of salt remaining on Franda II's steel hull, so we returned to the anchorage to empty the saltwater from the bilge and wash it all with fresh water. I had the job of drying the bilges as I was the smallest and could wriggle in and reach where the larger adults could not.

With the extra hours cleaning the bilge, we missed our window for leaving; we did not want to leave in the late afternoon, maybe so we didn't arrive in Seychelles at night, but over 1000NM that would be hard to judge. Having decided to spend another night in the lagoon, we had time to fill in the afternoon. Mike and Stu went scuba diving, and Kathryn was their boatman, following their bubbles around the reef in the little dinghy. Meanwhile, I attempted to get my stamp album up to date. First, I soaked some stamps off of their envelopes. Then, lay them on a towel to dry. I sorted some that I had removed and dried previously into their countries. Finally, I added some to my album, putting duplicates aside to swap later.

We left the Egmont Ils the following day, catching a coral trout while motoring out the entrance. The next stop is the Seychelles 1022NM to the West.