09/05/2014 at 08:00 we arrived at this jewel of an atoll to a welcoming committee of 5 dolphins that raised our spirits after the long night watches. Frank from Tahina, who arrived last evening, welcomed us into the anchorage which we had carefully negotiated as the waters in the atoll are chock full of coral heads and reef. We anchored in 5 metres having found a spot between coral heads (bombies) and close to Direction Island.  Our next welcome party was 3 black tipped reef sharks that quickly took up residence at the stern just by the swim ladder and have decided that Gryphon II is home.

Cocos Islands were discovered in 1609 by William Keeling of the East India Company. They have been visited by many explorers including William Dampier and Charles Darwin. The smaller more northerly atoll is an uninhabited National Park; we are at the southerly atoll. It consists of four large islands and one very small one, known as Prison Island, which enclose the lagoon. It became a powerhouse of Copra production with workers and settlers that included Malays, Papuans, Chinese and Indians. Home Island was developed for the early settlers and now their descendants live there in a society that has been together for 150 years with Islam as the main focus of their community. In 1984 the people voted to become part of Australia and West Island is home to a small community of Australian and some British ex-pats. South Island is uninhabited apart from campers occasionally and Direction Island, which has the best swimming and snorkelling areas, is very well set up for recreation providing toilets, shelters with picnic tables, barbeque areas, hammocks, huge rainwater tanks and a heritage walk around the island, this is where we are based. During both world wars the islands were strategic targets as a cable station was based at Direction Island which upset the Germans no end, the island suffered as a result.

We really wanted sun to highlight the kaleidoscope of colours here and the water which is every shade of turquoise in the palette but there has been little of that. The week has been plagued by prolific rainstorms and strong winds at a fairly constant 20 – 25 knots but sometimes reaching 34 knots. The decks have been well cleaned by these rainstorms interspersed with showers. Swimming from the boat has been difficult as the water has been too rough for it to be enjoyable but we are just 5 minutes from the beach where the shallow water is calmer.

We shall have to see how the week pans out but we are hoping it will calm down soon as we don’t have a very long stop here.