In our last blog we had passed Christmas Island on our way to Cocos Keeling islands. We have put together a team blog using information from my daily diary as well as a selection of photos from everyone.

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Saturday 20th September:

We heard on the ARC position report this morning that the first boats of the fleet were at Cocos Keeling at around 10am. The process to get in is to follow a series of waypoints through the coral bommies/outcrops before finding a spot to anchor down. Hopefully the early arrivals will be able to give us some first hand advice. The wind died down in the afternoon and unfortunately we were motoring again in very hot and humid conditions.  

Sunday 21^st September:

Today we have high expectations of reaching our island destination. It seems like a very long time since we saw the coral and fish at Hook reef off the east coast of Australia,and we are hoping for more of the same here. Our last day and night were a mixture of motoring in dwindling wind and then squalls delivering large amounts of rain on the boat and us. We had to get into wet weather gear again. In spite of the rain the air temperature is still quite warm. A while later strong gusts came up to push us along very quickly and eventually we reached the anchorage before midday, a lot earlier than expected. The islands are typically tropical with a low profile and the iconic coconut palm, white beach variety. The colour of the water is amazing ranging from dark blue to light turquoise although there was no sun when we arrived. In the sunshine it will be spectacular. A few ARC boats are already here with 21 more expected over the next few days. Ted caught a beautiful Mahi-Mahi (or Dorado) and that will be our dinner. Donny then suggested an omelette for lunch as it was Sunday and Ted and I prepared the meal.

Afterwards Tom and Ted wasted no time getting into the water to snorkel in a strong breeze and slightly choppy water. We are hoping for good weather over the next few days.

This is very close to what one would expect a paradise isle to look like and if colours were adjectives azure and turquoise would perfectly describe the almost uninhabited series of islands. We are anchored at Direction Island. There are well below 700 people populating only Home and West islands. The others islands have been kept in their natural state. The Mahi-Mahi dish Tom prepared for dinner was delicious and we celebrated our 1142 nautical mile non stop journey from Bali with a glass or two of wine. We played some really good music from Don’s iPod,  old 60’s rock, movie sound tracks and blues.

Monday 22^nd September

The Australian Federal Police were here doing immigration and customs paperwork at our anchorage. Don was especially complemented by them for preparing and having all the paperwork ready when they jumped on board.

Took the tender to the beach and had a walk around. There is a new gazebo on Direction recording the history of the island on plaques, didn’t linger to read them as we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes. As soon as we moved back to the beach they were gone. The island has been used as an undersea cable station in the past. Also saw a collection of boat name boards on palm tree trunks. Obviously vessels sailing by leave their mark when they visit this remote place. Red hermit crabs with shells on their backs could be seen on the beach as we walked. We had a dinner of roast chicken, potatoes and vegetables and with the meat left over we’ll make sandwiches for lunch tomorrow using the home made bread Don Baked yesterday. Also caught up with washing as it was Monday after all. Gee, a mans work is never done.

Tuesday 23^rd September

This morning more of the ARC boats have arrived and by all accounts have taken a battering coming across from Christmas Island. Three got here last night and anchored in deeper water, too nervous to try the tricky passage to where we are. The wind is fierce, gusting to 25 knots so even in daylight it is a challenge. They wait patiently.

A kite surfer we saw yesterday had gone missing but we have just been informed that he has been found and is safe. Ted and Tom went via tender to Home island nearby to do some shopping. With the high winds it was bumpy and wet but they came back saying the supermarket was surprisingly well stocked and got most of what we needed.

Wednesday 24^th September

Tom and I set off at 6.30 to catch the ferry over to West Island. We dressed in rain jackets to prevent a drenching and as we climbed on the ferry to go over so did teachers and pupils going to school. The visitor centre was very helpful in making some bookings and the island is going to be very busy this weekend with the ARC fleet here, the final of the AFL league and various other local events. Tom and I walked around to discover more  and noticed that the beach had been hammered in monsoon weather recently and then the unique local golf course that runs up and down the airport runway. Getting out to see the islands and the people that live there was very interesting. There is a strong Malay influence and an Australian ex-pat community.

Thursday 25^th September

Tom was called on the VHF radio at 6am this morning by Cocos Dive to tell him that they had one spot left for diving today as long as he made it to the west island ferry for the 7am crossing. After a bit of scrambling Don loaded him onto the tender for the trip over. In the process he left his flip flops behind, but was not at all phased such was his keenness to get there on time. He had been wanting to do this for ages.

Later Ted did one of the dirty jobs and in calmer water, scrubbed the muck off the hull at the waterline. The build-up wasn’t bad but it had not helped being tied up in the polluted water of Bali marina for two weeks 

This was also fuel day. It's available in a very cumbersome and time consuming way, using jerry cans. We cannot get to a fuel jetty because of the shallow water and we don’t carry diesel cans, but fortunately the ARC family around us have come to the rescue. Borrowed empty containers and shuttled up and down on the tender to and from home island.

We all went over to the beach in the evening for sundowners with the ARC people and had an opportunity to meet many of the voices that have become familiar on the radio. Nice to connect and Tom was pleased to discover there are a number of younger people his age amongst them.

26^th Friday September

The weather is virtually perfect today but there is always something with the boat and this time the water-cooling pump for the freezer had stopped working, something not needed before the long leg to Mauritius. Anyway with a lot of fiddling and again with the support of the crews around us we managed to strip, clean and refit the pump which is now in operation. A good team effort and a big relief.

Decided this was the best day for The Rip. A gulley of fast flowing water fed by the sea with an amazing coral and fish collection on either side, in fact once you are out of the main current the water is very calm and there is lots to see. We all went up but I got in further down unable to walk barefoot on the sharp broken coral beach. Later Tom swapped his fins with me and the booties made it possible to do the snorkel from the top. The fish life was amazing and we saw bumphead parrotfish, huge wrasse and sweetlips and most awesome of all were the white tip and black tip reefs sharks that were not overly concerned with our presence.

Later we caught the ferry to West Island principally to clear out at the police station, discover more about the place and do an island tour. Spent the night and had a very good dinner at the motel restaurant. In the evening we were taken to Trannies beach where mostly locals were having a Hangi pit barbeque. We had tried to book but it was already sold out. We didn’t eat but got to meet a few of the island residents.

Saturday 27^th September

After breakfast we went on an island tour with Tony, a local who is involved with a farm project to produce coconut and salt products for the retail market. It’s moderately successful but local and Canberra government bureaucracy and the cost of getting anything in or out of this island is a stumbling block. There are only three planes a week and an occasional cargo ship to fetch and carry all of their requirements, a big logistical challenge. After the agricultural tour we walked to a clam farm run by John Clunies-Ross a descendent of the original family which occupied this land. His enterprise targets the aquarium market all over the world supplying colourful live clams to them.

Finished off with lime tart and cuppucino at the Big Barge. This is a studio and art gallery housed in the recovered and refurbished original ferry boat that used to service the islands. Here, artist Emma, uses natural items and anything that washes up on the beaches to create art. The project involves the community and focuses on the many plastic flip flop type shoes we had seen all over the island beaches. The lost shoes come across the ocean from Indonesia together with other flotsam and provide raw materials for the artist.

Don had done all our clearing out paperwork at the police station very early in the day so we spent some time at the Cocos Club meeting up with more of the ARC crews over pizza and a couple of drinks.  Finally the whole group were ferried back to the yachts in pouring rain, many with pre-ordered fruit and veg in cardboard boxes. Not much fun in the wet.

Tom then had to stay on the ferry and pick the tender up from Home Island in the dark. It was left there when we caught the ferry to West Island the day before. This coincided with the heaviest rain we have had since arriving. Superb effort.

Sunday 28^th September

Our last full day on Cocos Keeling with the skippers briefing at 11am followed by a prize giving and a BBQ on the beach. It has been raining all night so it may be testing for the organisers but the clouds now seem to be lifting. We leave tomorrow morning on the long leg between here and Mauritius which will take about two weeks, so its heads down and back to all night watches.