Safe Arrival in Chagos

Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 31 Mar 2012 08:03
05:20.505S  72:15.687E
 
March 31, 2012
 
 
We arrived in Chagos as planned this morning after a painless overnight sail.  We are the only boat anchored next to Ile Fouquet in the Salomon Islands Atoll.  There are three other boats sharing the atoll's lagoon with us, but they are in another designated anchorage (designated by the British, who own and control access to these deserted coral atolls).  You would think we'd be tired of solitude after eight days on a boat together, but the idea of an isolated anchorage strangely appeals to us - at least for a few days.  We might choose to be more social and pick our way across the lagoon in a day or two to join the other boats.  We'll see.
 
It is positively gorgeous here.  The small coral islands arranged in a rough circle around the lagoon (zoom in on our location on the Google Earth map to see the atoll) are flat, covered with palm trees, fringed with white sand and surrounded by water thirty shades of brilliant blue.  It's exactly the kind of deserted island most people dream about.  And to think we are here for four weeks!  Somehow I think we'll be plenty relaxed by the end of that time.  We plan to fill our days with swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and beach walking, with a few boat jobs thrown in for good measure.  Ahhhhhh - this is the life.
 
A passage summary and more about Chagos will follow in a few days after we've fully recovered.  Not that there's much to recover from, but there is that 300 pound pile of dirty laundry waiting patiently in our cabin to be dealt with, and some more Sri Lankan bird poop to be scrubbed.
 
Now, where did we put that second bottle of champagne?
Anne