Several of our friends take advantage of the holiday season to update their friends and family on the past year’s events. I like them so much I have decided to try it too.
On Nov 28, 2010 we departed Puteri Harbour Marina where we had been since mid August for our leisurely trip up the west side of the Malay Peninsula to Langkawi. We stopped at islands and coastal anchorages along the way each night, primarily because of the danger of traveling along the coast in the dark and not being able to see fish traps and debris in the water. Night passages can be stressful and it usually takes several days to get into the swing of standing two-three hour watches at night. We were in no hurry.
We arrived at Rebak Marina in Langkawi, Malaysia on Dec 7 at 5:40 PM. The next day we started making arrangements to have Dora Mac pulled out of the water so we could do a bottom paint job and get her in the best shape of her life for the long passage to the Mediterranean Sea.
We spent most of December making sure everything was in working order, repairing or replacing what wasn’t, and provisioning for our long journey. Our first stop would be Cochin, India, a distance of 1522 nautical miles and 10.5 days underway.
On the morning of Jan 6, everything was ready. We had said our goodbyes and our friends were on the dock to hand us our lines; it was 10:15 AM. They actually had untied us from the dock and were holding the lines in their hands when an alarm went off in the boat. It was the “LOST HEADING” alarm. The Heading compass is what the autopilot uses to keep the boat going in the right direction.
I restarted the system and the heading came back. We left the dock at 10:35 AM heading for Telaga Marina a few short miles away to load up with fuel. On the way there we lost the heading again. We arrived at the fuel dock in less than an hour and took on 1308 gallons of fuel. With what we already had, I estimated we had a total of 1,919 gallons onboard.
We left the dock and pulled outside the marina and dropped anchor as I needed to solve the lost heading problem. We have two autopilots, one connected to our primary GPS heading compass and the backup autopilot connected to a flux gate compass located in the flybridge above the steel of the boat hull. I connected the flux gate compass to the primary autopilot and away we went on Jan 6th at 6:30 PM.
We had a long passage ahead of us and quickly set into our routine. I would take the first night watch from 7-10 then Ruth 10-1, then me 1-4, then Ruth again 4-7. I would take the watch again while Ruth prepared breakfast. Each of us would take naps during the day to compensate for our watches.
We experienced some difficulties as the engine died twice and I shut it down twice to change fuel filters. Apparently we had dirty fuel and although I had filtered the fuel many times before leaving Langkawi, I didn’t get it clean enough. I can tell you it is a frightening experience to have the engine shut off so far from land.
We also experienced a rotating storm that had developed east of Sri Lanka causing us to make a 180 degree turn and go back towards Asia for 36 hours. One of our fellow cruisers who had left Langkawi two days ahead of us lost his boat in the storm. He and his two crew members were rescued by a Japanese freighter.
The storm encounter and delay caused us to seek shelter in Sri Lanka which we had not planned to do. We dropped anchor in Galle Harbor, Sri Lanka on Jan 17, 10:15 AM. We had been warned of the corrupt officials; and they were. They took every opportunity to take anything and everything they wanted. Helping themselves to snacks and cigarettes we had brought to trade to fishermen for fish.
We escaped Sri Lanka on Jan 24 at 3:50 PM and I was glad to see it disappear from our stern.
The three day passage to Cochin was even worse than the earlier storm we’d run into. I got sea sick and threw up in the cock pit. Ruth was a true trooper and kept the boat going in the right direction. The problem was not a storm but the NE monsoon wind was getting funneled and intensified between the land masses of India and Sri Lanka. We experienced 25 to 35 knot winds and three meter seas right on our starboard beam. It made for a terrible rolly ride. We were relieved when reaching Cochin to hear some 20 year veteran cruisers say it was the worst passage they had ever made.
I don’t want you to think we were oblivious to the piracy threat before leaving Asia. I had been tracking their activity for three years, up until the 2011 piracy season. Yes, there is a piracy season! It is during the NE monsoon when the wave conditions in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea are settled enough for the pirates to use their skiffs. It is also the best time for cruising yachts to make the passage.
It was thought, up until this year, that staying 60 degrees east and 15 degrees north would keep you out of range of the pirates but this year they changed their tactics. In the past when they took a ship, they would head right for the Somalia coast and start negotiating a multi-million dollar ransom. This year they started using the captured ship as a mothership to expand their range and launch new attacks.
This new MO allowed them to cover routes previously used by yachts to avoid them. There was no safe passage. Three cruising boats in front of us turned around. Most boats behind us were making other arrangements but options were few. One could only turn around and go back to Asia, go around Africa which added 10,000 miles and one year to the journey, or ship their boat to the Med on a freighter. All three options were used by friends of ours; we chose the shipping option.
I give much credit for making that decision to fellow cruisers Bill and Judy Rouse on S/V BeBe. While in Cochin they were tracking each attack and indicating them on a map of the open ocean that made the map look like it had measles. Looking at the map, it was very easy to see that your odds were not good.
The S/V Quest was on the dock beside us in Cochin and apparently thought they could make it. They didn’t. On Feb 18 they were captured by pirates and on Feb 22 all four crew were murdered.
Prior to the Quest tragedy, on Feb 10, we decided to ship Dora Mac from Male, Maldives 400 miles south of Cochin.
We departed Cochin on March 12 at 2:45 PM and arrived in Male on March 15 at 7:50 AM. We remained in Male as the freighter was delayed again and again; the last of the 16 yachts finally loaded on April 14. Ruth and I flew to Istanbul and joined up with fellow cruisers Linda and Michael on S/V B’Sheret. We traveled together through Turkey, finally reuniting with the transport freighter and Dora Mac in Marmaris, Turkey on April 30. Dora Mac was in good shape and the house battery bank had actually topped up as a result of no draw and the solar panels charging for the two weeks.
We spent three months in Marmaris and enjoyed the use of our 110cc Honda motorbike we had bought in Malaysia. We completed a 10 day, 1500 kilometer trip into the lake district, the rose fields of Guneykent, and the whirling dervish center, Konya.
We left Marmaris on July 30 and arrived in Karpaz Gate Marina in N Cyprus on August 1 where the boat has remained. We flew out of Cyprus two weeks later for an extended stay in the US. We normally go home for two months in the fall but this time we stayed three months as there were some chores to attend to regarding the lease of a warehouse we own. I’m happy to say we did get that all sorted out and the tenant has signed a five year extension contract.
Because of our extended stay, we decided it would be cheaper to buy a used car than to rent one. Within 12 hours of our plane landing we had purchased a 1999 Buick with 85,000 miles on it We drove it as far south as Savannah, GA; as far east as Provincetown, MA, and as far north as Charlotte Island, Lake Shabot, Ontario, Canada. We left it with Ruth’s sister to drive and keep it loosened up.
During that trip to New England and Canada, we had a wonderful time seeing everyone. Our friends in Canada, Charmaine and Linda, have bought flight tickets to come join us here in Cyprus in late March and will go with us on the passage to Israel in April.
We arrived back to the boat on Nov 18 and are starting to become acquainted with our fellow cruisers here at the marina. When we left there were about 20 boats here. When we returned there were 70 but only about 40 people as most boats are unoccupied.
We continue to be amazed by the finding of ancient ruins in N Cyprus. At first it seemed to be just s desert waste land but digging deeper, it is obvious that this place has had a long history and has been an important part of the development in the eastern end of the Mediterranean. We are still learning but the Byzantines, Romans, Ottomans, British, and probably many others have held influence here. The UN is here to keep the peace between the Northern Turks and the Southern Greeks as their recent conflict is still fresh in the minds of the living.
It is Dec 17 as I write this and Ruth and I still enjoy this lifestyle. We are making friends among the cruisers and the local British expatriates. We have become regulars at several of the small shops in Yenierenkoy, a nearby small village.
I have an internal conflict as I do not want to give up traveling but have an urge to build another house of our own design. I think about it daily. Ruth keeps reminding me that I’m no spring chicken anymore and old men don’t undertake the task of building new houses too often. I keep telling her I’m only 63.
Having said all that, we’re planning on remaining in the Med for up to five years. We want to spend as much time as we can in Israel, perhaps as much as a year. Because we missed the Red Sea, we want to go through the Suez Canal and winter over in the north end maybe in Egypt. We want to go up to the Black Sea one summer and visit the north coast of Turkey. We also want to go back to Marmaris and maybe spend a year there.
That could all change if someone walked down the dock one day in the next few years with a pocket full of money and a love of steel trawlers or the perfect piece of land became available overlooking Roanoke City with enough space for a garden.
It would be a very sad day for me when we do give up Dora Mac. Tears come to my eyes when I think about it. I even kissed her goodbye when we placed her on the ship and when we left her to visit the US in August.
Well that has been our year. We hope all of you have had a good one and continue to enjoy life as we have.
In Memory of Dora McManaway Johnson March 9, 1910 April 30, 2006.
Randal & Ruth Johnson