Crossing the Bay of Bengal

Sea Fever Journal

By Wendy Catlin

9 February 1999

Latitude: 07° 09°N  Longitude: 91° 52°E

We are just beginning our fifth day of our crossing from Langkawi Island, Malaysia to Galle, Sri Lanka; distance of approximately 1200 nautical miles across the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. We are headed due West.

We decided not to stop in the Nicobar & Andaman Islands because the southern islands are off limits. It would take a lot of time to reach the northern islands and we felt we would rather spend that time in Sri Lanka.

The possible reason the Nicobars are "closed" is that it may have been the location of a Russian submarine base in years gone by. So they stilldo not want folks running around the islands and waters.

As we passed the southern end of Great Nicobar Island, we went over a "shelf" where the fish love to live….and we caught one!!! Huge!! We got out our fish book and identified it as a Northern Blue Fin Tuna. It probably weighed 20-25 kilos (44-50 lbs) and will provide us with tasty fresh fish through to the Red Sea!

The three of us have settled into a routine of watches, adjusting sails, meals, sleeping and reading. We listen to the HF radio each morning for weather and news from other yachts that are ahead of us. We in turn, pass news and weather on to the yachts behind us.

Bob on Watch

We have been blessed with slight to moderate North, North-East winds, keeping our various combinations of sails full and pushing us along at an average (to date) of 120 nm per (24 hour) day. No rain, no other shipping traffic. We have seen two other vessels since we left.

The dolphins have come to ride on our bow, which is always a welcoming and delightful sight. The water is so crystal clear, we can see them swimming 10-15 feet below the surface. We have not identified which species they are for certain, but we think they are the Spotted Dolphin and the Spinner Dolphin.

Night watches are a no-moon black with stars above and brilliant phosphorescence in the waves made by boat and sea. We can see the Southern Cross to the South and the Big Dipper to the North, confirming our course is due west. Very exciting to see these two constellations in one sky.

Bob has the good fortune to have the dolphins come during his night watch, making phosphorescent tunnels of light along the bow.

The moon comes up around 0100 and turns the night into semi day with the strength of its shine, dimming the stars and the light in the water.

I can tell that we must be in a different time zone as the sunrise is not until 0800! Time to change the clocks back once again!

Our Ocean Atlas book tells us that this region of the Indian Ocean is dominated by the globe’s largest alluvial fan. In the Bay of Bengal the fan is made by the Ganges River which has carried the sediments from the Himalayas for eons of time. In a sense, we are sailing over the Himalayas!

This ocean has a unique set of seasons or monsoons. We are currently sailing in the North East monsoon winds. Later in the year, this will reverse to the South East monsoon winds. These winds and currents are what sailing trading vessels have travelled to and fro from Africa, Arabia, India & Asia since sailing began in these seas. Many yachts will do the same thing…come over this time of year..explore the Maldives/Chagos region, then return to South-East Asia later on with the SE monsoon (or trade wind).

Day 8 ~ 13 February

Latitude: 06°21°N, Longitude: 083°52°E

We are still sailing to Sri Lanka. This is the longest journey I have ever had! All three of us are doing well; changing sails, reading, cooking, eating, playing scrabble and some boat chores which are always there to do. Rob as skipper, is always the most busy. I am trying to learn more about navigation and winds; Bob always has a book in his hands.

We continue to have good winds most of the time coming from the stern (easterly). To make us go forward, we put two fore sails "wing on wing" to catch the most wind we can to keep us going when it is light. This is quite a beautiful sight really, kind of like a butterfly.

We are trying to use the engine as little as possible to conserve fuel. Fortunately we are not in a hurry.

We receive weather reports from a morning yachtie net over the radio. We also have a program which enables us to receive weather faxes on my computer through the HF Radio. I get these at least one time a day.

So far, our weather has been excellent. Blue skies and the sea is the most perfect blue I have ever seen. Some sunsets and sunrises have been pretty spectacular too!

We have seen very few vessels of any kind during the week. This is really a big sea!

After ten days of sailing we reach Sri Lanka, which is located just south-east of India. We feel we have made quite an accomplishment crossing the Bay of Bengal and are very satisfied we had no trouble.

Winds picked up the last 24 hours before reaching the island, which put us travelling at 7 + knots per hour. This put us ahead of time for arriving at Galle, another 60 nm ahead.

Our arrival at the harbour would be in the middle of the night if we kept going, so to slow down we anchor for a few hours, leaving again at 2000 hrs to arrive just after dawn the next morning.

We still are early!!!! We are going 2.5 knots, but a current is taking us at 5 knots! Very hard to slow down…my watch at dawn so I go past the harbour entrance, wait for the guys to wake up before turning around to head in.

We arrive at the harbour entrance around 0900. We must wait for the navy to come and inspect our vessel for mines. They are very worried that someone will blow up the harbour. We pass the inspection and enter to the anchorage area within the Naval compound. About 18 other yachts are here grouped together by a web of ropes, mooring buoys and anchors. It feels good to get here!

Customs comes aboard our vessel to check us out, leaving with a generous helping of our liquor supply. Really made me angry!!!! But this will be only the beginning of this sort of thing…I guess it gets worse as we enter the Red Sea.

Fortunately, the other locals we are meeting are really nice, generous, gentle and helpful people.

We are quite excited about being here. It seems like a tropical paradise. Buddhism is the main philosophy, others being Muslim and Hindu. The island is about the size of Tasmania or Ireland with a population similar to the whole of Australia (approximately 18 million).

The people are very handsome, with dark skin, black eyes and black hair. Many of the women wear beautiful flowing saris with colors or floral designs. The language is Singalese, but many speak English quite well. We travel around in Tuk Tuks, small enclosed three wheel vehicles. Everything seems very inexpensive @ 68 rupees for one US$.

We are looking forward to spending time here exploring the many nature reserves, national parks ancient ruins and colonial towns.

I finish this part of my journal in Galle, Sri Lanka on
18 February, 1999.