After resting during the morning, in preparation for our overnight passage to the Island of Alphones, we sat down to a scrumptious meal of teriyaki beef, brown rice and salad. Each day we switch the responsibilities of cooking and today was Portia and Steve's turn. It was great!

Around 1500 we weighed anchored and waved goodbye to Desrouches. We enjoyed our brief stay here but would have liked to have returned to its resort to share it with Mary Margaret. However, that was not to be so it was time to push on, slowly making our way to Madagascar.

Our next stop will be Alphones Island, which is just 100 nm SW of Desrouches. It sits on the edge of a reef encrusted atoll with a lagoon that you can enter during the high portion of the tide. The lip of the reef as you enter the channel is 3 meters below water but we have read that you need to watch out for the bommies as you make your way across the lagoon. Since high tide will be around 1600 tomorrow, we wish to arrive sometime in the early afternoon. This is why we left so late today.

The winds are very mild and are expected to decrease over the next few days. Thus, we motored sailed our way from Desrouches with one engine operating at 2000 RPMs. With just 5 to 7 knots of apparent wind we only unfurled the head sail. The Indian Ocean is notorious for its cross seas and with little to no wind to keep the mainsail full, it would just flop back and forth as Leu Cat is tossed around by the bumpy seas. That would just have worn and torn the sail so we left it in its sailbag.

Since the winds are light the seas are not too bad for the Indian Ocean but would still be considered not too much fun in any other ocean. They are not bad, just bumpy, like driving down a dirt road filled with pot holes.

As I write this the stars are out and I feel I can just reach out and grab some of them and stuff them into my pocket. The Milky Way is very bright in all its glory and I even watched a couple of shooting starts mark their path across the sky. As very pleasant night sail so far. ***************************** It is now 0700 and I am about to post this blog. Our position is 06 45.318'S:52 52.622'E, our course is 213 degrees true, our speed is 5.2 knots. The wind is from the east at 8 knots True and the seas are confussed with the bigger swells at 3 to 4 meters from the SE. We have made 82 nm and have just 18 nm to go. It looks like we will arrive early and will have to heave to and wait for the higher tide before we enter the lagoon.