Dinghy dumpings
29 March 2012 | Havelock Island, Andaman group
Feb 20-21
Havelock Island
A 20 mile sail got us to a lovely turquoise clear water venue called Havelock. This is the most commercialised island in the group, in that it is almost purely dedicated to resorts. We use the term "resort" loosely here... these are mostly rustic backpacker places with only one or two that would be acceptable to our standards. Yet we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, once again at the open vegetable market, the small shabby town with everyone in Indian clothing. The island is very green, as are most of the Andaman's, and one outstanding thing about Havelock was the forest of big trees that occupied all the fore-shore: they are truly magnificent. The one downside was the beach landings in the dinghy: all appears smooth but there is a sandbar and dip just preceding the shore, which generates a fast one meter high wave. Not a bother if you're swimming and a delight if you're surfing, but dinghy landings and departures - watch out! All but one of our dinghy party was pooped, dumped on and rolled resulting in wet everything. Our dinghy engine - which we had got working in Port Blair, got a good dose of salt water during a pooping and struggled to start for the return journey, resulting in us having to row and eventually get towed back to Dreamcatcher by Smystery's dinghy. We had then gone to shore the next night in Rascal's dinghy, made it ok, but had an awful surf-battered departure, got completely soaked and the dinghy half full of water. We had to try and drain it at the water's edge between waves, as it was too heavy to drag. It took us another half an hour on the beach getting it sorted out, then we eventually got under way, a very sorry salty lot! Ah, the joys of cruising!
Pic shows: Gavin, Carol and Henry on the beach, pre-launch.