February 2025
Mitch returned at 9.30 ish and we all went to get as much of our shopping done as possible. Caroline and Roberto arrived via ferry from Neil island where they had spent a few days and were onboard at 14.30. Once settled in, they went to get their part of the shopping with Ally, Shawn and Mitch finishing off their personal shopping. At 09.25 the following morning, the anchor was pulled up and then Shawn radioed Port Control for permission to depart the Harbour. This permission was declined as they were wanting to leave 24 hours earlier than their submitted itinerary stated and so they had to drop anchor and contact their agent, Senthil, who then had to submit a revised itinerary to the control tower which took around 2 hours. In the meantime, checks were done once again by the Navy, asking the same questions they had already asked multiple times in the last couple of weeks. Clearance to depart was finally given and they sailed with the spinnaker to Munda Pahad Beach in the Chidiyatapu area, arriving at 15.33. Roberto, Caroline and Mitch were straight in the water checking to see if there was any good snorkelling. Everyone went ashore the next morning to do a walk up to the lighthouse and on to a viewpoint before departing the anchorage at 11am for the 3 hour sail around to Pearl Beach on Rutland Island. The Southern Andaman Islands are definitely more Ally and Shawn’s thing…..pretty anchorages, no crowds, turquoise water and delightful beaches ( if you ignore the garbage!). With no internet access, Pearl Beach was a gorgeous surprise and a time to disconnect and enjoy the area. While Caroline and Roberto went for a walk, Ally looked for shells, unsuccessfully, before joining Mitch and Shawn in the water for a beer or two. They left the anchorage for 3 hours of sail training/orientation for Caroline and Roberto the next day, spending the remainder of the day relaxing back at Pearl Beach. While on another walk on the beach, crocodile tracks were discovered in the sand as well as many turtle eggs that had sadly been discovered and dug up by monitor lizards.
There was a 10.5 hour sail down to Hut Bay on Little Andaman Island on the 5th Feb during which dolphins played on the bows for a few minutes and two fish were caught – one that is as yet unidentified and the other a small tuna. On the 6th, everyone went ashore to visit the small village and to find somewhere for lunch. Before splitting up to do there own thing, they found the Seabreeze Hotel that had been recommended for lunch by the Port Control officer, to book a time to eat and to order what they wanted. They all met back at the hotel at 1pm where lunch was almost ready to go. It seemed there were no current guests and the whole place appeared very shiny and new. Unfortunately, they had got the lunch order incorrect which the staff ( of which there were at least 2 for each one of us) worked quickly to sort out. It was a little chaotic to say the least and they are all obviously finding their feet in this new venture, but the food was excellent. After they had eaten, Caroline and Roberto wanted to do a little bit of shopping, so Mitch, Shawn and Ally walked to the rear of the hotel where there was a small bar and they enjoyed a local beer and seemingly endless snacks that were refilled each time the dish was almost emptied. On Friday 7th, the anchor was up at 05.48 for the 14 hour sail back up to Pearl Beach with Ally having to unexpectedly cook dinner underway as the trip took much longer than anticipated due to the wind not playing fair. The 8th was Shawn’s birthday and they moved up to an anchorage on the North of Rutland Island where snorkelling was enjoyed ( despite being warned of crocodiles by locals passing through on their taxi boat). The birthday boy declined the offer of having a cake made and in comparison to previous years, the day was a very quiet one. They remained at that anchorage for the 9th and on the 10th sailed back to Port Blair, arriving at lunchtime.
Having told their agents that they wanted to depart at 10am on the 11th, they thought that they would be needed to do the formalities shortly after they got to the anchorage, but when they contacted Senthil, he told them they had to do it on the day of departure, so an arrangement was made to meet the following morning. Everyone went ashore to enjoy a final, wonderful lunch at The New Lighthouse Restaurant and then picked up last minute provisions before a quiet evening onboard. Clearance procedures were all completed and the last Rupees spent by lunchtime on the 11th and permission to leave the Harbour was granted at 13.30. The Iridium could finally be switched back on again having been bonded by Customs on arrival, and they were on their way to Sri Lanka.
With the light winds and settled conditions, the spinnaker was raised and shifts commenced and they sailed past Sentinel Island at a distance of 5nm to Port during the early hours of the 12th during Ally’s shift and she found it hard to imagine the life of the 50+ tribe people living there without interference from the outside world and all it’s influences. The 7 day sail was a very comfortable one. The light winds and calm conditions continued and the spinnaker remained up for the majority of the time. There were several dolphin visits, a visit from a Sri Lankan fishing vessel wanting to trade fish for cigarettes or beer, Mitch caught a Mahi Mahi and a Wahoo, and they encountered Risso’s dolphins for the first time ( strange looking creatures – google them). They arrived at the anchorage outside of Galle Harbour, Sri Lanka at 19.20 on the 18th where they enjoyed dinner together before a good nights rest. Shawn called up Port Control at 8am the following morning and they were given permission to enter the Marina where a couple of smiley guys were waiting to take our lines. To call it a Marina is a stretch – it is a Harbour and we were tied up alongside black tyres along a concrete wall with a swell coming through which created all kind of horrid sounds as fenders got squashed, rolled around and then released and ropes were pulled tight and then quickly went slack as Imagination lurched backwards and forwards. The changing tide also brings with it rafts of garbage which gather around the yachts and there is only one ladies toilet within the one and only ladies shower room ( the guys at least got a separate shower and toilet!). Yachts are not allowed to cruise in Sri Lanka – they must stay in one of the main Ports/Harbours and local clearances must be done before moving between them. For this reason, it was decided Imagination would stay put in Galle for the duration of the stay in Sri Lanka. It wasn’t long before the local clearing agent, Achintha, arrived, full of smiles and a cheery welcome and he came bearing gifts of beer and cake!! What a legend! He came onboard and chatted until the Immigration Officers arrived to do their paperwork. Customs didn’t come to the boat.
Once clearance was given, everyone was issued a pass so that they could get through the security gate where several guards as well as armed Navy personnel were always on duty. Before coming onboard in the Andaman Islands, Caroline and Roberto had already organised what they were going to be doing during their time here and it wasn’t until getting into the Marina/ Harbour that they informed Shawn they would be leaving Imagination that day rather than remain on Imagination alongside. They decided to walk into the old town to look around, while Mitch, Shawn and Ally went to find SIM cards and then somewhere to sit with a drink so that they could all be unsociable while they caught up with messages, emails, news etc. They found a fantastic place, “The Shack”, right on the beach and Mitch started chatting to some local guys who very quickly asked him, Ally and Shawn to join them for the afternoon. They were very friendly, generous guys who were all there in support of Bunjay, who kept the gin and tonics coming ( with Mitch , Ally and Shawn also pitching in to help with that supply!). He was celebrating life with his closest friends – he has a terminal illness and having been fleeced out of a huge amount of money ( he used to very successfully own/run several hotels and other businesses pre Covid) by doctors trying to “help” him, he has decided to enjoy the simple pleasures as much as possible. It was obvious how much he was adored by his friends and they all support him and are there for him as much as they can be. It was a brilliant afternoon, which ran into the evening and getting back to Imagination was …let’s just say…interesting lol. In the meantime, Caroline and Roberto had found a hotel and been back onboard and cleared their cabin, arranging to return to clean on the 25th.
On the 20th, both Mitch and Shawn got up like nothing had happened the day before, while Ally, who had stopped drinking waaaaaay before them, was a little jaded! Mitch caught a Tuk Tuk to the old town, while Ally and Shawn checked out the more immediate area and then walked to the old town, via McDonald’s who, incidentally and weirdly, don’t do fries in Sri Lanka! The old town area has an old Dutch Fort and Lighthouse and has a very Mediterranean feel about it with it’s narrow streets lined with quaint coffee shops, cafes and boutiques stores – it’s a pretty and interesting place to wander around. Shawn, Ally and Mitch decided they would like to explore together for a couple of days to visit various places and so made the necessary arrangements over a couple of days, firming up arrangements on the 21st. That same day, the anchor was removed from Imagination and taken into a workshop to have some welding work done on it, but the rest of the day was quiet.
The 22nd began at 03.20 with everyone getting up to get ready to meet their driver, Silva, at 4am, catching a glimpse of a porcupine being chased by dogs as they walked to security. The 3 of them snoozed as Silva drove for 4.5 hours up to the central province and World Heritage Site of Sigiriya, aka Lion Rock, a rock fortress and ancient city built by King Kasyapa in the 5th century which is surrounded by landscaped gardens. It was lost to the jungle and nature until it was rediscovered in the 1800’s by the Brits. They had a light snack and drink while watching Toque Macaques trying their best to get into the cafe ( my keyboard won’t allow me to put an accent on the e!) area before making their way through the gardens to the start of the many steps up. The first few sets of steps are stone and take you up to a terrace area in several increments. From here, the Lions Paws are plain to see and many years ago, it’s thought that a giant Lion’s Head towered above them a little like, and as big as, the Sphynx. From here, many metal steps climb the face of the rock and they are steep. It’s possible to see the grooves in the rock that were used as steps many years ago, probably without rails and definitely without safety equipment. The climb up was ok as long as they didn’t think about it too much, or look down! The views from the top, over the royal gardens were beautiful and the ancient ruins interesting to see – there was even a large pool. After half an hour or so of taking it all in, it was time to descend and on the way down, the path took visitors passed the 5th Century Mirror Wall, a highly polished plastered brick wall that originally covered the whole stairway on the rockface. It is covered in ancient graffiti and drawings and beyond that is a cave area containing many beautiful 5th century wall paintings of maidens – there are only 19 surviving of probably 1000’s that were created and unfortunately photography is not permitted, so Ally resorted to buying a postcard – a photograph of a couple of the paintings?!
They met up with Silva who took them to a restaurant for some lunch before driving toward Kandy, stopping at a Rock Cave Temple en route. Silva told us there was going to be some traditional dancing in Kandy that evening and asked if the 3 of them would be interested in seeing it. Mitch and Ally were, Shawn not so much, but Silva said he would take us to where the dancing would be before taking us to our hotel afterwards. Ally thought that the dancing would be in town, outside, at some kind of event but they were dropped off ( an hour early) at Kandy Lake Club, a theatre where the same dance show is put on every evening and it of course, involved a fee. They were shown to their seats, their tickets checked at the door, but being so early, they were the only ones there and it wasn’t long before someone came and asked if they would like to use the “guides waiting room” where the seating was more comfortable and they were able to buy a drink from the bar that wasn’t officially open. Mitch and Ally enjoyed the show, Shawn not so much, lol – the costumes were beautiful and it’s a wonder there were no falls with some of the vigorous twirling and tumbling that was going on. The show concluded with a few minutes of fire walking, with one guy obviously feeling the heat more than the other.
It was now time to find the hotel, which, bearing in mind Siva had known where they were going to be staying for over 24hours and had had ample opportunity to google it while they were off exploring, shouldn’t have been a problem. But, it was a problem….internet was intermittent, several wrong turns were made and the higher they climbed into the hills, the steeper and narrower the roads got. Silva hadn’t struck them as being an overly confident driver when it came to reversing and hills, so just a few metres before the hotel, on a tight bend, Ally, Mitch and Shawn hopped out to walk the rest of the way having made arrangements for pickup the following morning. The hotel was ok for one night – very basic, grubby and dilapidated, but the two guys running it did their best to make them comfortable. Mitch ordered a cold beer delivery by Tuk Tuk and they chose meals from a menu that is supplied by an offsite supplier, so there was a bit of a wait for it to arrive. The beds were comfortable though and the view at breakfast (which is a set menu of omelette, fruit, barely toasted toast and tea) was wonderful, overlooking jungle. There was a pool onsite, which on arrival last night looked very inviting, but this morning looked cloudy with no pump running – just was well they didn’t go in! Shawn and Silva found somewhere for coffee and snacks while Ally and Mitch visited the most sacred Buddhist Temple – the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic where the left canine tooth of Buddha is enshrined. Thousands of Buddhist pilgrims come from all over the world every year to pay their respects and engage in religious practices and the place was absolutely heaving, with Mitch and Ally being the only “white” folks along with just a handful of others. They moved through the compound quietly and passed by where the tooth, which is not on public display, is kept in a golden casket within the inner chamber of the temple. They soon became exasperated by the volume of bodies and the pushing and shoving, even though noone could move any quicker than the person in front of them as they passed through the shrines, and so they left to reunite with Shawn and Silva, leaving for Galle after a coffee. They stopped for lunch along the way and half an hour away from destination, on the dual carriageway, the exhaust almost fell off of the car. Poor Silva. Mitch and then Ally waved at oncoming traffic to get them to change lanes while Shawn and Silva figured out a way of continuing on which involved a fan belt looping around the exhaust and then being trapped in the passenger door to keep it elevated. They were all pleased to reach the Harbour. Mitch, Ally and Shawn took their stuff back to Imagination and went straight down the road to The Shack where they enjoyed a couple of beers and a burger.
Mitch went out for the day on the 24th, coming back to Imagination for dinner and going out again afterwards, while Shawn and Ally did laundry, maintenance and cleaning. On the 25th, Caroline and Roberto returned at 09.30 to clean their cabin and help with the cockpit/decks before departing again. Mitch, along with Shawn and Ally returned to The Shack for a final lunch together and he departed for the drive to the airport at 16.45 – it was an emotional goodbye and he will be missed. With only 3 days between crew this month, Ally and Shawn spent a good portion of that time checking out supermarkets and buying in supplies for the next 3 months, deep cleaning and prepping the boat for the next crew members.
