05 Jan 2011 | Start: 0800, finish: 14:00 | Eng hrs: 1830.9 – 1835.8 | Avg RPM: 2,400
Motor sailed, partially to reach Port Blair sooner, and partially to charge the batteries which had somehow fallen to 12.3V. Swell large and confused coming around the point at Rutland, but moderated once we reached deeper water. Still, some large waves make it over the rails, soaking us in the cockpit when we least expect it. Made it into Port Blair with very little water, fuel, or provisions – time to restock and reconnect, as we have been without reception or Internet for some time now.
In Port Blair, ate lots of good (non-veg) curry and picked up some supplies:
- A Q flag and an Indonesian flag – hand sewn for us from yellow, red, and white synthetic cloth purchased down the street at a total cost of 80 rupees
- 2x20L water jugs, bringing total external water capacity to 80L, and total capacity to 530L. Ian and I use ~140L / week, and that’s with minimal showering (who is surprised?)
- 2x throw pillows, to replace one that stuck to my sweaty back for a second, and then fell, bouncing overboard and rapidly receding into the Andaman Sea
- Bajaj 220V fan for the galley to use with our new 220V outlets and the inverter
- Food, diesel, petrol, water (Bisleris). We seem to be one of the only boats that doesn’t make a distinction between tank water (for washing) and drinking water, perhaps because we have a PUR filter. It might take donkeys years to fill our water bottles with the terrible pressure trickle that comes out of it, but we still think of it as a nice safety / survival feature to have so much drinking water.
CAIT is on track for next week according to our agent, Richard Lofthouse at Asia Pacific Superyachts.