The Andaman Islands, India 2009

A pearl necklace in the Indian Ocean, i.e. The Andaman Islands.
I was excited to return to the sights and sounds of India. Yes I know it is far from the motherland however I was hopeful some of the exotic lure I came to love about India would be present during our visit and I was not disappointed. For those who have read the book “Holy Cow” written by an Australian writer, Sarah MacDonald, can relate with her love or hate relationship one may experience with this county. After having spend several weeks in India, I too could resonate with her book.

Upon arrival 10 miles out from the entrance of Port Blair we reported in. I was so anxious to get to shore however I knew it would be at least a day before the officialdom would be completed, little did I know! This is where some of the love or hate about India may enter in. I have come to believe our work ethics East/West are just very different, however both have strong points to admire.

In India there seemed to be a separate job for every able adult on the island and then there is someone who does nothing but deciding on those separate jobs, someone who assigns those jobs, someone who trains for the jobs etc.. etc... , you get the picture. Multi-tasking does not seem to exist in the Hindu way of doing things. Could their lack of modern technologies be a way to assure the masses will always have work, lack of resources to equip the businesses, or perhaps just not wanting to change what they see as not broken? I find the inadequate means in which they work i.e. inadequate tools or lack of the tool all-together very slow and inefficient.

Maybe this is a shortcoming of the western mind to assume the use of the best tool for the job, high production, speed etc… is the best way. Look at the stress and high disease, causing many to suffer at such high expectations. I see two extremes evident with each culture and like all things balance is required.

A quick story to help you understand a westerner’s view point on the Indian way of working; We dropped our hook and soon there after were boarded by customs which went well other than a shake down for a bottle of wine. This of course was so they looked the other way for what they hinted at as an excess of liquor on board so we happily paid them off and sent the 3 Amigos on there way. Then the coast guard boat came and did their duties and we waited for our clearance via VHF to go ashore and see the Harbor Master to finish our check in procedure.

note: It helps if you have all the paperwork done ahead of time and copies made, see note below to where we got our forms and other check in procedures. However a surprise requirement was an itinerary of all of our ports of call since we started sailing. This was a bit of a scramble to come up with the 25 ports of call traveled over the past 9 years on Equus, oh no worries mate, they patiently waited and had more tonic’s and beer .

Day 3 at Port Blair

Our second day ashore after arrival at Port Blair we went to the Forestry Dept. to apply for the park permit’s we were told we needed from the head of the Forestry Dept. (a Sikh who looked at our paperwork from the Harbor Master as if he had never seen these forms before, we thought maybe perhaps he was just new to his post, which he was-no I think it has more to do with the right hand doesn’t really know what the left hand is doing “kindof thing”.) Because we found this blank stare from many officials we encountered throughout our visit in the Islands.

So being good guests we, Tegan 1, Janet and Joe, (a Canadian couple we befriended upon arrival) Equus, Steve and I head off to the said office. The picture above is of our encounter with the head of Forestry.

Note: this years requirements became much more elaborate than last years, maybe some of the officials needed more work? Hee hee. We got most of our paperwork from Neil and Ley, a couple we met months before. Crystalblues@blogspot.com, a very informative website, Neil and Ley have done a great job to aid fellow cruisers, so please check it out. Not to worry about the more elaborate part because by the second week we were free to sail to any of the Forestry park islands that needed a permit and anchor overnight as long as we didn’t go ashore, without paying a fee or needing a permit. This was due to a group who arrived behind us and raised such a stink the officialdom threw up there hands and said fine go anywhere you like except the forbidden parts (listed on a paper you receive )and do not go ashore.

Greeted by several curious eyes as we walked into the room and of course the Indian hospitality at its best we were asked immediately if we would like a cup of tea (a bit of left over influence of the British ways perhaps?) We politely accepted and three women jumped up and went into action, one to fetch the cups, one to make the tea and one to serve us. We were impressed that such activity and it was all done with smiles from ear to ear.

We handed in our paperwork to one official and it was immediately handed off to another we followed are papers to each new location (desk). As we looked around in awe of the large room lined with metal shelving, filled with overflowing boxes and files while the staff sat patiently working in the center of this cluster of papers. Eyes peering over heaps of paperwork as they checked us out, I wondered were they thinking, those funny looking westerners in their weird garb standing before them asking to visit and explore their country, why?

I didn't see a good working tool in sight, just people pushing paper and writing most everything out by hand. It was like stepping back 50 years into a world of peaceful overworked employees. I thought to myself what a great opportunity for me to practice the lost western skill of peaceful patience as everyone seemed to go about doing his or her own job with a diligent steady pace. Interrupted in my thoughts by some nearby ladies dressed in their traditional modern saris, giggling when direct attention was paid to them, yep you don’t have to worry about the glass ceiling here, they are still making tea. No that is an exaggeration; I did notice some women working the ranks. I think for the most part this is a society where most are groomed to be content as a cog in the wheel of life.

We surprisingly left fairly fast, paperwork all turned in and we were told to be back at 4 that afternoon it would be ready to go. Yea ha! So we happily proceeded on our way, with our lists in hand and the hired taxi driver at our service for the day of provisioning, a good Indian meal and a bit of site-seeing, all of this and visions of island adventures dancing in our minds.

“Ya-right, think again” I will not bore you with details however we did not leave Port Blair for 2 more days and no permits. The bureaucracy can be maddening if you let it get the best of you. Giving a victory for the Indian work ethic, as we the western students waited “patiently” for the final clearance to leave Port Blair and start our Andaman Holiday.

Don't let this tale of woe mislead you we had some wonderful adventures, great Indian food, and met some new friends along the way. I celebrated my 50th birthday in a serene anchorage as I had planned after sending out a special invitation emails to all the beautiful kindred sisters in my past and present (I hope I didn’t forget anyone!) Kindred Sisters of the World Unite.

After having a small celebration with Janet and Joe, I retired to the fore deck and had a private ceremony sending loving feminine thoughts out to those I have had the privilege to know along my journey thus far. Steve joined me as the stars filled the moonless night sky and we peacefully fell asleep under the stars in each others arms, thankful for this special night.

final note: If you are planning a trip by boat to the Andaman Islands please note almost all the cruisers we encountered who got their Indian visa from Thailand only received a 14 day visa, Malaysia was 30 days. We got our visa (30 days) from the US before we left fall 2008.

The Neil Island Story;

Andaman Islands, India

January and February-2009

After dropping our hook several meters off shore we paused to appreciate this beautiful tropical paradise called Neil Island. We jumped in to cool off, check the anchor and access the damage from our coral encounter that occurred just hours before.

Yes that is right we put Equus up on a coral head while leaving Peel Island. That was my first experience ever to hit anything that hard. The sound and realization was quite alarming to say the least. The 1.5 m (about 4.9 ft) tide was going down and for a few seconds (seemed like minutes) we could not budge Equus. Steve put her in full throttle, our Perkins engine powered her 17 ton body into reverse and we did walk her off, grinding her bottom and from the sound she made we knew there was damage if not a hole. We limped back to where we had come from and re-anchored and checked the inside for water coming in and thank God there was none!

We had opted not to dive on Equus at Peel Island because it was surrounded by mangroves (trees) and looked just like the place a crocodile would feel at home (there were salt water crocks spotted throughout the Islands). Although we had not seen any and I really wanted to see one of these creatures slither by. Steve did not share my enthusiasm and we surly didn’t want to meet one of these guys face to face, so we just kept an eye on things until we re-anchored at Neil Island.

On our trip to Neil Island we had found some under water patching goo, I think we had carried it over from the USA, thousands of miles just for this application, I recommend every cruiser carry it on board. It is called PolyPoxy Underwater Patching 7050, by Pettit Paint Comp. Rockaway NJ. It worked great, I know there are other brands out there as well. Get some!

While I was diving on Equus taking goo to patch over 15 holes that were tore into the fabric of the gel coat and wanting to seal them before the water started to get in between the layers and delaminate her freshly painted bottom, done just months before! Remember our rework done in Thailand while she was on the hard and drying out for over a year! It is like Rosanna Rosanna Danna would say “its always something.”

That is when we met Nori as she swam up to us, I think Steve first noticed her bikini, “men”, and she thanked us for checking the anchor to be sure we didn’t hit near coral and as it turned out Nori said we had anchored very close to one of Luna’s grazing zones.

No we had not met Luna yet. He is a mammal the size of a large dolphin and kin to the Manatees’ we have in North America. They live on sea grass and spend the majority of their days grazing, they eat allot! After our brief introduction to Luna, Nori was so kind as to offer to help me patch the bottom of Equus. It took several trips under her to get all the spots patched. Nori was a great help her strong, young 20 something body was the extra breath I needed to complete the job well before the sun went down.

We invited her on board afterwards and learned she and Lucan had been coming to Neil Island for over 3 years to try to save the Dugong’s, i.e. Luna. Nori and Lucan gave the name to this particular male dugong.

Creatures like Luna are where the fables of mermaids began, and after witnessing first hand their ability to seem almost life like as they gently and gracefully guide their bodies in and out of the water as they feed and surface for air. The mermaid tails came from sailors reporting sightings of the female species of the dugon not only do they have breast like human females to feed their young they also have a tail like a small whale i.e. mermaid, hence the myth of mermaids.

My first meeting with Luna seemed to look into my very soul as he passed close by, with a gentle ease he gracefully seemed to float from the grassy bottom to the surface for air (he can only hold his breath for 6 to 12 minuets) and then back to bottom to eat. He had been known to stop and play (socialize) along the way. He has a smirk that seems to warm ones heart and it is easy to project an instant friendship with him.

I did have a personal experience with him the last day we swam together for over 2 hours. He seemed quite relaxed around me and of course I projected he liked me and we both swam in harmony and peace. I had swam away from Luna, Nori, Lucan, and Steve giving Steve a chance to swim with him, to many new people would stress him out.

So I was off doing my own thing and out of the blue, he-Luna was right next to me and I was all alone (a little scary at first), he totally caught me off guard so we both swam together for a time, he swam a little to close for my comfort then we both stopped. I said goodbye to him for we were leaving that next morning he made his little squeaking noise and seemed to turn and looked at me then swam off to the other side of the reef. I watched as his body then tail disappeared. At that moment I was filled with such gratitude and peace and felt openness in my heart that can only come from an experience like Luna.

Nori and Lucan’s story;

Nori is from South Africa, Jakarta and Lucan spent most of his youth in the Canary Islands then moved to Portugal with his parents later in his life. That is where he and Nori met, in Portugal. She had went there from England doing a job she didn’t enjoy so she quit and in need of cash flow started fire dancing on the beach and Lucan had a prosperous fruit selling business. They ended up on Neil Island after a trip to through main land India. They fell in love with this Island and have come back every year to try to educate the locals, especially the fishermen to stop killing the dugong’s, mainly they get caught in the nets. Some natives still eat them. However they are becoming extinct and will be gone from the Andaman Islands too if something is not done to preserve them. The dugong in their national animal too, they just don’t understand what extinct means I guess.

If you want to keep track of Lucan and Nori’s progress log on to a site Lucan put together the last time he was home. http://lucanmulder.googlepages.com/home They are now working with an organization out of India.

When we returned to Phuket Thailand, our friends, Ed and Lynn on sv Constance told us an interesting story.

A friend of Lynn’s had been swimming with a male dugon and it liked her so much it grabbed her with his fins and tried to take her out to sea, she struggled and freed herself, so maybe I was lucky. I had told Steve I thought he liked me just a little too much and Steve thought I was just projecting, hmmm I don’t know?