Future Plans - The Indian Ocean

Dear Friends and Future Crew,

You might think I am getting a bit ambitious since I have only piloted the gulf of Thailand and the coast of Malaysia. How can I expect to now tour the massive Indian Ocean? I am one ambitious bastard. That is the only answer I can offer. Below I will lay out a time line with approximate dates for family and future crew. Anyone interested in sailing on the Wind Spirit during my travels should drop me an e-mail in advance.

Singapore to Southern Thailand – Oct Nov 2004 This will be the first leg of a long voyage. But it will be broken up into stages like my previous travels at sea.
My Thai fisherman friend, Bet, will be joining me for this leg of the trip. We will return to the boat in Singapore and spend approximately two weeks doing repairs, installing new equipment and making her livable again. Then we will take a quick 3 week journey up the west coast of Malaysia (through the straits of Malacca) and stop off in Penang and Langkawi. We will then enter Thailand in Satun province. Here I will find a good place to dock and will take the time to get the registration redone correctly. I will also do further equipment installations and upgrades until I feel the Wind Spirit is ready to head out into the Indian Ocean. During these repairs and upgrades, I will be cruising the Andaman Sea with friends and family, testing new equipment.

The Andaman Sea (South west coast of Thailand) - Nov Dec 2004, Jan 2005 As stated above I will spend this time doing safe, short cruises with more people on the boat then usual. The destinations will include the Tarutao Archipelago, Koh Phi Phi, The Krabi Area, Pang Nga Bay, Phuket, and possibly the Sembilan Islands. This is a rather long list and who knows if we will make it to more then one or two but I like to make things sound appealing. I believe that people located in Thailand and also those who are interested in safe coastal hopping, for short periods of time, should try and make it out to sail with me during this time period.

Thailand to Sri Lanka – Jan Feb 2005 This will be a long trip from the west coast of Thailand to the Island Nation of Sri Lanka. I believe it will involve between 10 to 15 days at sea with nothing around but endless expanses of deep blue water. This segment is for the braver of the future crew. But who knows, I might be doing this one on my own. The island of Sri Lanka is well known to me and I have family friends that will put us up and give us "the tour," if we so desire. I would like to explore the coastline a bit and try and find some coves and bays to surf but I believe cruising in the country is heavily restricted. We will see.

Sri Lanka to Southern India – Feb 2005 I am not all that sure about this leg. We might not be able to check into India at a southern port. But I will try and find out more about this. I was planning only a short stopover for a few days unless the coastline is particularly interesting.

Southern India to the Maldives – Mar Apr 2005 It will be a quick few days south to the Maldives Archipelago. Here we will spend about a month exploring unlimited islands and reefs. I will be hunting for surf here and those of my friends interested in finding surf in the Maldives on a sailboat should book now. I have enough space for 5 people including me and I believe the Maldives will be quite a popular segment of the journey. The Archipelago is loaded with islands, so our travels will mostly be one or two day hops from island to island and village to village.
The Maldives are 100 percent Muslim so this must be kept in mind when enrolling for this segment. Cultural tolerance and sensitivity will be in high demand while on land. At sea and on deserted islands everyone can run around naked for all I care.

Maldives to Chagos – Apr May 2005 This is also a rather short jump. I have heard fantastic stories from cruisers that Chagos and the Salomon Islands are about as amazing as they get. I would like to spend a few weeks here and then move on to the Seychelles or Mauritius. There are few supplies on these islands and most are totally uninhabited. There are fantastic reefs and who knows, there might even be a bit of surf. The location is sort of astounding though, out in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Chagos to Seychelles – May Jun 2005 I must admit that I have not read all that much about this area and know little about the islands accept from what I have heard from other cruisers. From here on out I am not sure enough about destinations and time schedules to write actual itineraries. I can list a few of the areas I would like to visit.

Mauritius Islands,
Reunion Island,
Madagascar,
Comoros Islands,
Kenya and Tanzania?

This page will be updated further as I get a clearer picture of tides and yearly weather patterns in the southern Indian Ocean. But I believe it is safe to say that we will be cruising near the Island Nation of Madagascar by June or July 2005.

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