March 2-3
We had a great 10 knot breeze when we exited the Chiriyatapu anchorage and put all sails up for the 14 mile sail south to North Cinque island. The pair - north and south Cinque's are the southern-most of the South Andaman Island group and are nearly joined together by a reef. All Andaman islands are surrounded by reef, and as mentioned before, some inaccurately charted and not showing the Tsunami shift effect of 2004, so every new anchorage brings a little uncertainty and stress along with it. We're fortunate that our cruising companions have been to many of these spots before and are able to give us some guidance. We dropped the hook in Minto Bay and settled in for the afternoon and ensuing evening on Rusalka: we've been sharing the hosting of dinners and doing the rounds of each boat. The host boat provides the party platform, all the drinks, the main course, the quiz for the evening (yes, really!) and the other boats bring a contribution of starters, desert or a main course support dish. We've had some truly outstanding feasts and really enjoyable evenings! The anchorage was a bit rolly as the wind has not been behaving and coming from its' promised NE direction. That triggered us to leave early the next morning for a 3 mile motor around the corner to South Cinque island. This anchorage was pristine, aqua blue water over pure white sand surrounded by heavily treed hills and yet again we had it to ourselves. One GT couldn't resist the urge to jump in and swam the 250 meters to shore, through an exciting surf break. It was nice to walk on the beach for an hour and I enjoyed the swim back to Rusalka who were happy to provide a beer and chat before the return swim to Dreamcatcher. Around 4pm, this lovely anchorage too became rolly and the armada made a quick decision to up anchor, accompanied by a dolphin pod, and motor 5 miles around the southern end of South Cinque and back up the other (eastern) side of North Cinque where Smystery hosted another lovely dinner and another great quiz. Time to return to our respective boats as the swell came up : we had a pretty scary boarding from Rascal's dinghy onto Dreamcatcher and spent the night rolling from side to side in a very uncomfortable seaway. Apparently earlier trips that our cruising companions had done were much calmer and dinghy landings on the beach were possible - not this time. Nevertheless, the morning was calmer and spent snorkelling over the reef sighting at least two dozen varieties of beautifully marked and coloured tropical fish. It is quite remarkable to be in a place of zero population, as are many of the Andaman islands. Also quite unique not to sight any other sail boats for weeks at a time. Mid afternoon, we set sail again, returning to Chiryatapu on the start of our passage north to Port Blair to start the wind-down and exit process from the Andamans. The Chiryatapu anchorage offered a welcome calm after the rolly Cinque's. We dined aboard Rascal, again, another great evening and all turned in early for a long, deep sleep.
While we don't want this adventure to end, a stores inventory revealed we're getting close the finish of our fresh goods: only 4 litres of drinking water, no bread and only 1 egg left, all veggies except the onions and garlics are all used up. So, Port Blair markets, here we come!!
Pic shows the "Adventurers" approaching Symstery after a snorkelling trip