Well. I have good news, and I have bad news. Which would you like to hear first?
The good news?!
Okay. The good news is that the Oddgodfreys have been cleared to sail onward from the Maldives. We will be stopping to stage our weather windows in the British Indian Ocean Territory (B.I.O.T.) also known as Chagos, also sometimes referred to the where the Diego Garcia military base has its operations. This will be a very interesting experience as it is not a common place to visit. The only way for a civilian to reach BIOT is to sail there themselves. It is not a tourist destination, but a place where sailors can stage their passages across the cantakerous Indian Ocean. We got one of only nine permits this year, and despite the business nature of our purpose, we are excited to see the wild life, pristine beaches, and ocean while we stop through.
To put this in perspective, more people summit Mount Everest than are able to visit this set of atolls.
So, now the bad news.
The bad news is that the internet was so slow at our last anchorage in the Maldives that I did not get to finish telling you how we came to get permission to press onward, or show you the short window into Maldivian life that we were afforded because our last week here we were finally able to go ashore on an inhabited island, eat Maldivian food at restaurants, and scuba dive with a knowledgeable guide.
Further to that, we could be in Chagos (where there is no internet, no grocery stores, no humans, parts or pieces shop…and we are out of grog!) for up to 28 days and then our passage onward is likely 10 - 12 days more. By the time you finish reading these posts, we will have been there a little while, but, I suspect the blog will go dark for a bit.
But not to worry! I’ll let you know when we return to civilization, and I will finish telling you all the stories from leaving the Maldives, passages to Chagos, our time in Chagos, and wherever we end up thereafter.
In the meantime, I hope you all have fair winds and following seas. Five to six weeks is a long time to be away from the news cycle in this weird era. Wish me luck. It will be a cold turkey internet detox.
Taah-tahhh for now!
