The passage started well with enough wind and a favourable current for the first couple of days, before it all started to turn against us! The wind died down and the current changed direction to take us south, where we didn't want to go. The problem is that with light winds it is difficult to maintain a course, and to keep on track you have to turn further into the wind which in turn slows you down even more. So it turned into a bit of a slog, albeit a slow one! When we were close enough we turned on the engine and motored - a bit dull, but otherwise we were going to be swept past on the current.

We anchored overnight in the quarantine anchorage and the next morning a boatload of officials turned up to check us in before we could head ashore to finish the checking in process. This involved a lot of back and forth between numerous departments and took most of the day. A massive amount of paperwork generated and they sure do like stamping stuff. Checking in however, was a doddle compared to checking out, which took (and I'm not exaggerating) 4 days. This is partly because after 30 days you have to temporarily import your boat. In other countries it is around 3 to 5 years. Then when leaving you have to export it again. I have no idea how such an inefficient system has evolved.

As you would expect, the Seychelles are beautiful. Unfortunately they are also very expensive. Think European prices and then think Switzerland or Scandinavia. We anchored just outside Eden Island marina, and Kate was going to take a quick trip back to UK. Time for me to do a bit of exploring. First thing to note is that there are tourists everywhere. Virtually all of the boats in the marina were huge charter catamarans. They'd all come charging into the marina on Saturdays and charge out again on Sunday with new guests. Again, a lot of Russians but a good number of French. The problem with being in a tourist mecca is that tourists aren't particularly friendly with the locals which is, quite understandably, then reciprocated. I would be fascinated to talk to some of the Russians about life in Russia, their work, their life, I know absolutely nothing about it. However they are very unapproachable, never make eye contact, and generally behave as if you don't exist.

Decided to take the boat around the main island, and stopped in a few beautiful bays, and just chilled. Back to pick up Kate, and we decided to venture further afield, and set off for La Digue.
First night anchored on the south coast, but a bit too much swell so moved around to the main town where we went ashore and hired a couple of bikes for a ride around the island. A very picturesque place with a nice relaxed vibe, although like the rest of the country, very expensive. After a couple of days we headed out to one of the numerous marine parks whose sole purpose seemed to be to extort more money from the yachties. The money raised certainly didn't appear to be going into the maintenance of the parks and although I know we have been spoiled over the years, most of the coral was dead with no obvious signs of replacing it, and there were very few fish. Very disappointing.

Back to la Digue for a couple of days until we got fed up with all the charter boats, and we saw a weather window approaching for the passage to Madagascar so it was back to the capital to begin what turned out to be a long drawn out process of checking out.

Around 1500 miles, and the first couple of days were awful! The sea was very choppy, the weather wasn't great, and there was the usual struggle to get into our routine. However, after passing through the Nicobar islands, and having a pod of small black dolphins come and play the weather and the sea settled down and the rest of the trip was great. Reasonably smooth and very fast apart from a day motorsailing through the wind shadow of Sri Lanka which we passed close to, but did not stop.

Arrival was in the northernmost island of Uligaan. Customs, immigration and some others came aboard to check us in and were efficient but not particularly friendly. The island itself turned out to be typical of the northern islands. Very hot, very dusty/sandy, and not much going on. A couple of hours ashore and we'd covered it. Next was on to Dhappura which was nicely sheltered from the north easterlies. Just a night here before moving to Kulhudfusshi where there was a harbour wall that you could tie up to. This was a rather strange experience because it was obviously where all the cargo ships came so there was a lot of security around. Good for peace of mind regarding the boat but it felt a bit like we were in a prison having to check in and out every time we wanted to go anywhere. Again, not a particularly friendly experience. It was strange because a lot of these islands were very remote, and they obviously saw few tourists, but they had no interest in us and there seemed very little laughter about the place amongst themselves.

We were then heading for Farukolhu and all was going well just until we were about to make our approach when suddenly the engine cut out. It was the dreaded diesel bug again. We immediately aborted while I attempted to fix it. Another 10 minutes and it could have been a ing off for the Seychelles disaster as the entrance to the anchorage is very narrow and also very shallow. However after a lot of sweating I managed to change all the filters and clean up the blockage and we were on platformour way again. We decided that rather than trying to return to our original destination, we would continue on a little further which would give us a chance to run the engine for a while to make certain that everything was ok. The next anchorage was basically in the middle of a bay surrounded by tourist islands and we ended up fairly close to the landing platform for the seaplanes that brought the tourists in.

Next up was Dhigura which was the Maldives that we had expected. Beautiful long beach, calm weather, a few tourists which meant that there were some shops and restaurants. We spent a few very pleasant days here before moving on to Vadhoo which was another hot, dusty, nothing place by which time we decide it was time to head to Gan and check out before setting off for the Seychelles. There were also some strong winds forecast from the west, which meant that we would have some good protection while we waited for our paperwork to be processed. We would also have to wait until the winds changed direction as the Seychelles lie almost directly due west which would make progress virtually impossible.

After the storm blew through there was inevitably a period of calm with almost no wind, but after hanging around for a couple of days we decided to take our chances, especially as there is a strong current which should hopefully sweep us in the right direction until some stronger winds come in. 1200ish miles, but will probably be quite slow so maybe a couple of weeks or just under.

Check out went smoothly and as the authorities weren't too concerned about going straight to Phuket to check in even though it is only around 60 miles away, we decided to stop at a couple of islands on the way. Eventually made our way to Chalong to check in and again it all went very quickly and easily. Chalong bay itself was very busy with masses of charter boats coming and going all day so we located over to the other side of the bay, which was much quieter and more sheltered and as a bonus had a very nice beach bar for beer and cheap food. After a few days we headed around the bay to Nai Han, which was another lovely beach but it was here that we realised what the whole area is about, which is tourists! They were everywhere. And, a new phenomenon for me was that the majority were Russian. Not renowned for their friendliness unfortunately. Anyway, not really a problem for us. After a few days the weather started changing which made the anchorage a bit uncomfortable so it was time to move on.

At this time we were trying to arrange to get our rigging changed. Our insurance company had insisted before crossing the Indian ocean. Jai in Boat Lagoon marina was apparently the man to talk to so we went to see him. The entrance to the marina was quite challenging, and could only be attempted at high tide, and even then it was shallow in patches, but we got in and arranged for the rigging to be changed in the new year. We went out and anchored next to coconut island, but there were so many wake boarders and jet skis that it was fairly unpleasant so next morning we were off. Over the bay to Gypsy bar bay. The names of the bays are virtually unpronounceable so we referred to them by the name of the bar that we frequented there. A couple of days and we moved up to the next bay which was almost deserted. Rambo’s bar bay. This was more like it. No resorts, few tourists and only a couple of other boats. We went a little further into the bay to investigate some of the smaller islands, but just too many tourists so we hot footed it back to Rambo's bay.

Back to Boat Lagoon to have the mast taken down for the rigging which was going to take a few days, so, as it was expensive staying in the marina, we went to anchor back at Rambo's. Very strange not having a mast on the boat. Didn't feel right at all, but glad we had it done as a few cracks in the fittings were apparent which could have caused problems in the future. However, our time at Boat Lagoon was not quite over. We left just before high tide and had only got halfway along the channel before the engine started overheating. Immediately put the anchor down and then we had a couple of hours to fix it before we would go aground. I realised that I was not going to have enough time to do the work, and the marina would soon be closing, so we called them up and asked for a tow back to the marina. No problem, and I then had a whole day to sort it out. Previously I had changed a water pipe and there was, unknown to me, an air lock in the pipe. A relatively easy fix, but it could have been different!

As our visas were about to expire, it was time to get an extension. For reasons that nobody understands, on arrival the captain is supposed to get 30 days, whereas the crew gets 60 days. However the officials in Chalong can presumably see that this is ridiculous, and so we both got 60 days. The official in the extension office didn't see it quite like that, and kept waving my passport in my face and saying as captain I should only have 30 days. After a lot of shoulder shrugging I asked what he wanted me to do. “ You will have to go back to Chalong”. Ok, and what do you want me to do in Chalong? A lot more huffing and puffing and he finally stamped my passport and told me “No more extensions”.

It was now time to get ready to move on. We had originally planned on visiting the Andaman islands, but it was quite expensive and although I think it would be worth it, the new rigging had taken a large chunk out of our budget so we decided that we would give it a miss. Likewise with Sri Lanka. By all accounts the marina there was not the best and there were a few reports of boats being damaged by local boats, and as the original plan had been to leave the boat and explore some of the interior, this was obviously not viable. So it was going to be straight to the Maldives

Puteri is a bit of a strange one, but as we were to find, quite typical of Malaysia in that there were loads of high rise apartment blocks and obviously a certain amount of wealth in the area, but nobody around. It was obviously built as a tourist destination, but why would anyone go there? Singapore was a bus ride away, and we had a few trips there including one to pick up Tom who was coming to spend some time on the boat with us.

We left the marina and anchored outside in the river across from Singapore and then the next day we made our way up the coast to Melaka. The water is relatively shallow all the way along this part of the coast, and it is extremely busy with shipping and also lots of fishing boats. The anchorage at Melaka is quite shallow and its a shame that the marina at the entrance to the town is too shallow for a keelboat to enter. We ended up anchoring close to the entrance in around 4 metres. Unfortunately, the 2nd night we were there we were hit by a massive squall which caused the anchor to drag and we were getting close to the wall protecting the harbour before we got the engine started and very slowly, against the wind, managed to get into deeper water and away from the coastline. A little too close for comfort!

Next day, up the coast to Admiral marina just outside Port Diction. Another rather strange place with a huge complex attached, which appeared to be virtually empty. On the ride into Port Diction we passed maybe a dozen more of these huge hotel/resort buildings with no evidence of anyone in them. Nothing noteworthy in Port Dickson.

Port Klang was next, and we knew it was a major shipping port, so we weren't expecting too much, which was just as well. The anchorage was well protected and calm so we slept well before moving on. We intended to stop in Pankor, but in the end decided to do an overnighter to Georgetown. It was just before dark when we had a problem with a small fishing boat. We had heard of some fishermen who trailed nets directly across the bow of sailing boats causing them to get tangled in the nets and then demand compensation from the yachtsmen, and this is exactly what happened. A fishing boat was gradually getting closer and at first we were unaware of what was going on. As it got yet closer I decided to start the engine and that was when they suddenly started to speed up and drag their nets in front of us, passing maybe 10 metres in front. By then I obviously realised what was going on so I turned away from the boat but in the opposite direction to the nets. They carried on without looking back, but I must admit I was quite shaken. All our friendly waving to the local fishermen came to an abrupt halt!

We arrived in Georgetown and went to the anchorage, which looked dreadful. After a couple of hours of gradually getting more depressed we decided we couldn't stay there so we luckily managed to get a berth at Straits Key Marina. A very small marina surrounded by lots of restaurants and bars. Very shallow to get in and a lot of reclamation work going on just outside the marina entrance, but worth it as it was very pleasant and good to use as a base for exploring Georgetown.

After that it was a daysail to Langkawi, where we were booked into Rebak marina to haul the boat out for antifouling and a few other jobs. The marina is very big, with a large liveaboard population. It's part of a hotel resort which was also very busy and they are quite happy for the yachties to use the facilities so there is a nice bar where everyone would meet in the evening, and also a pool which was great after working all day in the heat on the boat. It was easy to get around the island, and spares for the boat were plentiful if a little pricey. We were going to check out of Malaysia here before heading to Thailand.

Makassar turned out to be quite a large city, with a lot of character. We anchored just off the main, new mosque, which was very impressive at the same time as being completely over the top! We had a few days here which were very enjoyable despite it being the same sort of run down place like most of the large towns in Indonesia. We were told that not many tourists visited which was a surprise as there did seem to be a fair amount to see. One problem we did have which may not help their reputation, is that we were ripped off at every opportunity that they had. Did not leave a good feeling, and in the end we were glad to leave. In fact, we were ready to leave Indonesia altogether so it was time to head to Belitung where we were due to check out.

Ironically, Belitung turned out to be a great place! The water was clean for the first time in a while, and we were given a warm welcome at the “yacht club”. Along the waterfront next to the anchorage there were a number of very large eating places, capable of seating 100 people or more but all were almost deserted. When we had been there a while we asked about this, especially as the food was delicious, and we were told that before covid they were all absolutely packed, mainly with locals from Jakarta, but they have never recovered, and this seems to be a familiar story throughout the region. Part of the problem being that in this climate if the maintenance isn't kept up, it immediately starts to revert to jungle, and that's a downward spiral that's hard to escape.

Checking out involved hiring a scooter for the day to get round the various offices, but it all went quite smoothly if rather long winded, and we set off for Puteri Harbour in Malaysia. Due to the weather we found ourselves arriving at the shipping lanes around Singapore as it was getting dark so we anchored at one of the nearby islands and saved that for the following day. In fact it all went very smoothly and one of the huge tankers even altered course to make it easier for us.

Very easy to renew visas here, and only took a few days. Ambon is a large town with all the facilities you would expect, including a large Western style supermarket so we managed to stock up on loads of things we were running short of. Some nice places to have a meal with a beer, but the food was definitely a bit average. One last meal at Jeffrys and we're good to go. Last night before leaving and I heard a scurrying on deck. A rat. A yachts worst nightmare. So many places to hide and cause untold damage. Luckily I heard it immediately and shot out of bed to discover a hole in the mosquito netting over the doorway which the rat had got through to get some peanuts that had been left out. At this stage the rat was outside (I could see it peering in through the hole) so I put the solid wood doors in and just hoped I hadn't shut another inside the boat. Ten minutes later I heard a gnawing sound and the rat was trying to get through the solid wood, and after just a couple of minutes it had eaten out a significant amount of the wood. I realised I was going to have to stay in the cockpit for the rest of the night to scare it away.

The next day we had intended to sail overnight to Wakatobi but decided that after our disturbed night we would just head around the island to an anchorage that should be protected from the swell. It wasn't. Another disturbed night, not helped by the fact that every small little noise convinced us we had a rat on board. It would be another couple of days before we were totally convinced that we hadn't and could breathe a sigh of relief.

We had another break at Tefu before, and this was a very sheltered anchorage. Not a breath of wind. However, a lot of rain. Very friendly ashore, including a performance by some schoolkids of local songs played on the ukulele! Because of the weather we ended up staying for quite a few days.

It was then a couple of days to Wakatobi National Park, and the island of Wangi-Wangi. All was going well until it was time to turn on the engine and it wouldn't start. Somewhere we had picked up some dirty fuel. This was going to be a problem because the entrance to the lagoon was very narrow, and it was going to be virtually impossible to sail in. Thankfully, there was a big yacht which was just leaving and he called us up on the radio and asked if we needed assistance which we gratefully took him up on. He tied his dinghy alongside and motored us in until we could put our anchor down. We were very grateful and after exchanging numbers agreed to call him if we were in Singapore, and for once, I think we actually might.

There then followed a couple of days of sorting the fuel problem out. This involved finding enough containers to drain the fuel tank, clean all the gunk off the bottom, changing the filters, then putting back the diesel minus the gunk that had collected on the bottom. Not a perfect solution but all we could do in the circumstances. I managed to save a lot of the fuel, thankfully, as I wasn't too keen on buying more here as there were very few vehicles here so turnover wouldn't be great. Fuel paranoia had overtaken my rat paranoia. After cleaning the pipes through the engine started fine and I could breathe yet another sigh of relief. We had a tour of the island but there wasn't a huge amount to be seen. It rained a lot, again.

After leaving Wangi-Wangi we made our way to Buton island where we spent a couple of nights, but found it to be yet another rather dirty one road town, with not much to offer. We left feeling somewhat downhearted and if truth be told, rather looking forward to Malaysia although that is still around 1500 miles away!