Departed from Reunion

S/V Galatea update
Neil Scott
Fri 25 Sep 2015 10:07
Dear diary,

After a very good 3 months, 2 weeks in Reunion, it is time move on. Ben and wally joined me on Sep 17th. It is great to have them join as crew and we hope for an interesting and not too sporty trip from Reunion, around the top of Madagascar and  down the Mozambique channel to South Africa, ending in Cape Town by mid December.

I had taken a break from boat chores, spending 5 wonderful days hiking in the Cirques of Reunion - extinct volcanic craters, the week before ben and wally arrived. Wally did a two day version.

We finished getting Galatea ready for departure by end of day Sep 23rd. This included a new mainsail, a new autopilot linear drive, new toilet pumps, new foot switches for the windlass, new barometer and a host of other things, new and serviced.

Because we had checked out with customs on Wednesday, we got tax free diesel on Thursday morning, which made for a nice savings.

We left the harbor at 22:30 with full diesel and water, pretty much the time i had planned for. It was kind of sad to say good bye to Reunion. It is a beautiful place and the people we met were friendly and very helpful.

We are now headed for Isle St Marie, about 2/3rds of the way up the east coast of Madagascar and about 430 miles from Le Port, Reunion.
We will check into Madagascar there.

The first few hours out of Reunion were difficult. Light, very variable winds and swells coming from every angle. But after maybe 2.5 hrs of motor-sailing, we were out of reunion's wind shadow, the wind turned to the East, around 20knots, and we have been sailing nicely at about 8 knots. The swells have settled down and provide a nice push at times.

It was actually a little chilly on watch last night, even after closing the bimini windows. Today has seen us enjoying much of the same conditions, allowing us to cover 166 miles in the first 24 hours, even with the slow start. Must be the benefit of having a new mainsail!!

Anyway, hopefully the sat phone will be updating our progress once again, and we will be reporting back again shortly.

Regards to all,

Neil, ben and wally

- S/V Galatea
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