116. Time to Leave

I’m back in the south. South of the equator that is. Only barely though. I’m actually pretty much on the equator with both the Southern Cross and the Plough/Big Dipper perfectly visible at night. Low down on opposite horizons. Meteorologists call the area around the equator the Intertropical Convergence Zone, sailors call it the Doldrums. It’s a low pressure area where the easterly trade winds on both sides of the equator merge and it’s known for frequent thunderstorms and very little wind. Not exactly conditions that a long distance sailor is looking for. I‘ve crossed the equator twice before, once around Galapagos and once in northern Indonesia, just south of Singapore. Both times I tried to move across quickly but that’s going to be a little more challenging when my next destination lies 1,100 nautical miles towards the west. Still within the Doldrums.

I could of course bite the bullet and just motor through the calm. Directly towards my destination, along the rhumb line. But that would mean burning close to 700 liters of diesel on the way. Probably more as I’d be fighting a current that at times could be as strong as two knots. That’s a lot more diesel than I want to bring so I have to find some wind somewhere on the way. And the only reliable wind to be found is going to be in the trade wind belt to the south. These trade winds can normally be found around the 5th latitude but right now they are a lot further south. All I can do is to wait for them to move north and motor/sail in a large semi-circle that no doubt will add a ton of miles to my journey.

I’ve been in the Maldives for over two months now. Sailing (mainly motoring) well over 500 nautical miles through the entire chain of atolls. I’ve snorkelled numerous reefs, in the clearest blue water that you can imagine, seen tons of sharks, mantas, stingrays and turtles and the weather has been perfect all the time. It’s been great. But I must admit that I’m more than ready to leave. To get back to the real world. I don’t mean the first world, I mean a world with a land mass, where alcohol or even hugging and kissing in public is legal and where you can go to a beach bar and listen to some local talent doing his best to slaughter ‘No woman, no cry’. A world that welcomes visitors rather than tries to keep them away from its own population. The far majority of the tourists that come here are shipped to a resort far from any other civilisation. A paradise where they can consume what they want, wear what they want and publicly display any feelings they may have towards their travelling companions. Within reason I assume. A cocoon filled with tourists from the first world and staff from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Without a local subject in sight. As cruisers though we meet locals wherever we go. Something that I find so rewarding. And everyone that I’ve met here has been so welcoming, often inviting me to their homes and bringing out every relative they can so they can meet the weirdo that came there in his own boat. But at the end of the day, I can’t kick the feeling that I’m not in the real world. At least not in a world where I’m supposed to be.

So it’s time to leave. If nothing else to get to a grocery store where I can buy some fresh food and alcohol for Saoirse’s ship store. Right now my freezer is broken and I finished my last alcoholic beverage weeks ago. I’m in danger of involuntary sobriety and becoming a vegetarian. Not conditions that you associate with a sailor. Bring me the trade winds!