Position           06:52.17 S 073:14.02 E

Date                 1200 (UTC+5) Saturday 07 May 2016

Distance run    in 24hrs 30 mins 125nm over the ground, 123nm through the water

Trip total         125nm over the ground, 123nm through the water

To go to           Port Maturin, Rodrigues 1,032nm – 1,144nm planned total route distance

The night before we set off on the next leg of our travels the generator decided to throw a hissy fit and cut out.   This is usually due to a failure of the salt water pump impellor; they really are not up to the job.  As this occurred just as we were sitting down for a celebratory glass or two of champagne (one of our last 3 bottles of somewhat superannuated champagne shipped from the UK in 2010) and to barbeque our last beef fillet from Vanuatu (surprisingly Vanuatu produces some excellent beef) I decided that investigation could wait until the morning.  To complete the menu, the beef was served with béarnaise sauce and asparagus proving once again the excellence of the Mate’s provisioning.

An early start on the generator proved that the impellor had once again shed all of its vanes, this one lasted 150 hours which is somewhat of a record as they usually go at about 75 hours.

This job completed and the Mate having finished scrubbing the weed off the waterline we were ready to slip our mooring at 1130 by which time we had a metre of rising tide to get us out over the Pass some 4nm to our north.  We also had good light which for navigation in the Salomon Lagoon is absolutely essential in order to see the reefs and bommies that come in thick and fast.

A final look at our personal paradise

As we left we saw an unidentified catamaran, that did not respond when called on VHF and was not working the SSB schedule, had arrived that morning and was anchored at Takamaka.  A potential intruder into our solitude, had we not left.

Safely out of the pass by 1220 we were able to sail for the first nine hours before heading winds meant that some diesel was required in order to head south, leaving the Chagos Bank to our starboard.  Getting to 12 degrees South (308nm to go at 1200) where we should find the South East Trades is going to be a challenge as the daily distance run shows.