Arrived in Galle, Sri Lanka.
St Barbara's Web Diary
Peter & Sue Goldsmith
Wed 30 Jan 2008 11:04
Noon 30th January
What a difference a day makes. That was written two days ago and is even
more relevant now.
The reason there was no report at noon yeaterday was because at that time we
were beating into a strengthening westerly wind after a very quiet night
motoring along the coast with little or no wind.
But back to the day before. We were closing the coast of Sri Lanka and
musing over the fact that this was not turning into the classic ocean
passage it was supposed to be. We had the wrong brochure.
This evening the sky went dark again and sure enoughh it rained. Not too
much wind but frequent changes in direction make it tiring and
unpredictable. When it finallly cleared away the wind died and on went the
engine for the night. It was later in the morning that the wind really
filled in as we passed our most southern point and began to head north. With
both sails reefed we beat into the wind and it seemed we were looking at the
entrance to Gallle harbour for hours. It did not take much persuasion on the
part of any of the crew to agree to change coourse and within half an hour
we were inside the harbour entrance at anchor waitiing for thhe navy to
inspect us.
By 5pm were were berthed alongsiide the wall with five others and one hour
later all paper work was completed. We even had shore passes, as security is
very tight around the harbour area.
Unfortunately Guido slipped between the wall and the boat and suffered some
grazing (and losing his phone) but he checked into a nearby hotel and we
help him recover with some beer and dinner.
This morning he left for Colombo and a flight home while Sam and I got to
grips wiith a country we had not expected to see. So far the impressions are
of very pleasnat and friendly people and we are lookng forward to more
exploration after our 900 mile, 7 day passage from the Andaman Islands