January 2025
Mitch and Larissa joined Ally and Shawn on the 1st and after a lunch ashore and an afternoon of shopping, they returned to shore for a few beers late afternoon – it was a very lovely relaxed and cheerful first day 🙂 As all the shopping that needed to be done had been done on the first, they were able to depart for Phi Phi the following morning and for the first time in a very long time, they were able to sail the whole way which meant a 3hr 15 minute journey rather than the 6 or 7 hour motor of previous visits. They went ashore after lunch and enjoyed time on the beach, with Ally and Shawn returning to Imagination earlier that Mitch and Larissa, so that Ally could prepare dinner. On the 3rd, everyone went ashore straight after breakfast and while Mitch went to find somewhere with Wifi, Larissa, Shawn and Ally went up to the Viewpoints. Ally was glad to go up there again as the lens on her camera had been dirty last time, so when she reviewed the pics she had taken they had been very blurry. It is a breath-taking view and it’s hard to imagine the utter devastation when the Tsunami washed through here 20 years ago and claimed over 1200 lives. After coffee onboard, it was time for a snorkel which was surprisingly nice, with huge Trumpet Fish, Moray eels and Clarke’s Anemone Fish being spotted. After a quick rinse down, they all went ashore for a great lunch followed by another visit to the beach. Ally and Shawn taught Larissa and Mitch how to play “Blob” once back onboard….it’s been so long since they had played their favourite card game with crew and it was well received! On the 4th, Shawn, Mitch and Larissa went for another snorkel while Ally finalised last months blog. Larissa cooked a great late lunch/very early dinner and we all went ashore to do a spot of retail therapy. The plan was then to return to Imagination for showers and then go ashore for drinks and a fire show/live music, but as they got back to Imagination, the clouds thickened and then it started to rain, so everyone decided it was better to remain onboard. Mitch and Ally relaxed, listening to music and catching up on journaling. Larissa wanted a project though, so she and Shawn took a seized fishing reel apart. Suffice to say, it is on ongoing job. Ally and Shawn, along with Mitch and Larissa, left Phi Phi Don for the last time on the morning of the 5th Jan. and they sailed ( again!) to Khoa Ko Lon, a small island just outside Chalong Bay. As the mainsail was being hoisted, Shawn found a tiny bat nestled in the folds. They managed to get him into a box and put him in a quiet dark place while they sailed and when they went to spend a couple of hours on the small beach, they took him and left him in a tree. That night was very uncomfortable as there was wind against tide, which bought with it a side on swell which felt large at times leading to a sleepless night for 3 out of the 4…Larissa slept though it all having slept badly in the previous calm conditions lol. It was time to return to Chalong Bay once again on the 6th as 2 more crew were flying in to join and Alex and Edgar arrived onboard mid afternoon. After introductions etc, everyone went ashore to finalise the provisioning which was very swift and efficient. The majority of the 7th was spent with crew doing there own personal shopping before they all met up to do the formalities to leave the country. The outward clearance was just as swift and easy as the inward one had been and then it was a last minute dash for some of the crew (who will remain nameless!) to spend the remainder of their Baht on snacks and beer before Imagination was moved to the opposite side of Khoa Ko Lon than a couple of days ago. When trying to start the outboard earlier in the day, the pull cord broke and so Shawn and Mitch worked on that while Larissa painted, Alex and Edgar did some exercises on the forward deck and Ally put shopping away and commenced this blog. On Wednesday the 8th, they left Chalong Bay for the final time and managed to fly the spinnaker for half an hour before anchoring for lunch at Ko Hi before continuing on to Ko Racha Yai where time was spent floating in the water off the back of Imagination and relaxing onboard. The relaxed conditions continued into the next day and once lunch was done, the anchor was up at 13.17 for the sail to the Andaman Islands.
It was great to have good sailing conditions and to have both engines off after several months of motoring/motorsailing. During the 3.5 day sail, they encountered light winds and gusts up to 27kts gusts for just a few hours which brought with it multiple waves into the cockpit, soaking anyone that dared to sit outside 😀 There was a couple of visits by dolphins, they caught a Wahoo and a Tuna and as the sun was going down on the final night, they had a very close encounter with sperm whales who just sat on the surface while Imagination sailed past, having a good look before disappearing beneath the depths. It is so difficult to describe such unexpected, random and beautiful experiences as this….sometimes it can be quite emotional as your eyes meet those of these gentle giants of the ocean and everyone on board was absolutely elated. Several hours later, the lights of Port Blair, South Andaman, were spotted and they approached the anchorage next to Ross Island outside of the main Port area with the help of the almost full moon just before midnight, with the anchor going down at 00.30, local time on the 13th January. Yachts are not permitted to enter the main port area between the hours of 19.30 and 06.30 which is why they remained outside, but it did mean that everyone could get a few hours sleep before getting up the next morning to make contact with Port Control at just before 08.00. Permission was granted to enter the inner anchorage and the anchor was down again by 09.05, but not before they were approached by a Coastguard boat who asked multiple questions before giving the all clear to drop it. It is a requirement here to use an agent to manage and coordinate the clearance process and since before Christmas, Ally and Shawn had been gathering and sending the required info, filling in multiple forms and then printing out a mountain of paperwork that would be required by the officials on arrival ( although everything is sent to the agent, they don’t do the printing). Thank goodness they have a printer onboard!
The communication/coordination by Port Control was excellent, but there was a little difficulty with understanding where they wanted Shawn to pick up the clearing agents and coastguard officers from and so they sent 3 junior coastguards over from the boat that had asked the questions on arrival, to clarify things. They were very cheerful and polite while they asked preliminary questions and asked if they could take a photo of everyone and they were very happy to reciprocate. Due to the communication difficulties, the agent in the meantime, hired a boat taxi to bring him and his colleague and several Customs officers over to Imagination. Once they had completed their formalities, more senior Coastguard officers arrived to give their official clearance ( and they bonded the IrdiumGo unit as it is illegal to use satellite communication in Indian waters), and they were followed by Immigration…both departments bought 3 personnel. While they were all very pleasant, respectful and professional, the sheer number of people onboard and the crazy amount of paperwork ( yes, more forms had to be filled in, more copying and printing had to be done!) was a little overwhelming, so it was a relief when it was all ( almost) completed. Official clearance was given, but at 15.30, Shawn , Ally and their crew went ashore to meet a driver who took them to Immigration for biometrics and passport stamps which was completed at around 17.00. So, basically, it takes and entire day to clear in. Afterwards, Ally, Shawn and Larissa wanted to organise data SIM cards ( the others had e-sims) which was a rigmarole in itself and it took an hour to get sorted! Once that was done, it was time to find a local restaurant to enjoy delicious local food before returning to the harbour in Tuk Tuk’s and then to Imagination.
The Andaman Islands are an archipelago consisting of 200 islands and they are a union territory of India. They lie 130km SW of the Myanmar coast, with North Sentinel Island probably being the most famous, known for it’s government protected indigenous community that have had very little contact with the outside world and who are very hostile to any visitors. These islands have seen many horrors over the years during British Colonisation and Japanese occupation during WWII, but since India gained independence in 1947, things have been far more peaceful, with earthquakes and tsunamis being the biggest threat ( these islands were also devastated by the 2004 tsunami).
On the morning of the 14th, everyone went ashore once again to do their own exploration. Ally and Shawn took a Tuk Tuk and visited the Cellular Jail which was constructed between 1896 -1906 by Britain during the colonisation, for exiled political prisoners. With 7 wings radiating out from a central tower it was a formidable place. Today, just 3 wings survive, but it remains a terrifying, grim, dismal place, with each prisoner being kept in solitary confinement with no chance of communicating with fellow prisoners. It’s hard to imagine the torture, mistreatment and executions that went on there, not just by the British, but also by the Japanese during WWII when they took control of the prison. 1000’s died here through execution, torture, mistreatment and disease. Feeling reflective, Ally and Shawn went for lunch at the same restaurant they ate at the previous night and they then walked all the way back to the harbour to meet up with everyone else, enjoying the exercise and stopping for ice cream en route.
Having had to submit a proposed itinerary before they arrived in Port Blair, with very little information about anchorages etc, it wasn’t easy to do as many places are “out of bounds”, Marine Parks/Forest Parks that you either cannot enter or need special permission and permits for, it was tweeked by the powers that be. It is a requirement to let the Shipping ( Clearing) agent know of the location of the boat twice a day, along with a picture of the GPS location and it’s also necessary to call Port Control on the islands on arrival and prior to departure. Shawn was granted permission to up anchor at 08.45 on the 15th January and within a few hours, a huge Coastguard boat was tailing them with several guys on the front trying to shout questions in 20+ knot head on winds and with noisy, choppy seas. They eventually signalled to them to stop the boat, so both sails had to be dropped/ taken in and only then did they ask to communicate on VHF radio, which must be kept on 24/7 in Indian waters. Ally and Shawn were dumbfounded as to why on earth they hadn’t called up on the radio in the first place rather than chasing them down which was very intimidating. They asked multiple questions, all information that you would think they had access to having been fully cleared by Coastguard on arrival ( Number of crew, nationalities, where they had come from, had they been cleared in etc etc). After several minutes, permission was given to rehoist the sails and continue the journey to Shaheed Dweep ( formerly Neil Island, named after a British Military Officer) and the anchor went down at 17.15. The anchorage was very exposed and a little uncomfortable with continuous swells on the nose between 2 and 4 feet and as the bridle went out, one of the lines snapped and then, just to make things more difficult, the windlass failed! It was a stressful time after a long days, bouncy sail, to try and retrieve the bridle shackle on the anchor chain to tie a mooring line to it, but with help from Mitch and Edgar, it was manually pulled up so that Ally could get to the shackle and it was sorted pretty quickly.
The following morning, everyone went ashore, pulling the dinghy up onto the beach where many people welcomed them ( both locals and Indian folks on their holidays) and one guy told them the dinghy would be fine where it was as the tide was going out. Mitch and Larissa went to find a market and somewhere for lunch and Shawn, Ally, Alex and Edgar went for a walk across to the other side of the island where they walked through a very nice resort onto the beach. After a very hot walk, they wandered back to the other side to find somewhere to have a late lunch before meeting up with Larissa and Mitch at 3pm with the intention of returning to Imagination. The tide was far too low to try and get the dinghy back onto the water with much of the beach now dry and so they all decided to go for a beer in a small resort bar ( The Dugong) where Mitch and Larissa chose to hang out while the others walked on to Ramnagar Beach in order to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, it was rather disappointing which was a shame for the many Indian tourists who had gathered there for the experience but despite that, they all seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. On returning to the dinghy at around 7pm, it was clear that the tide was still far too low to leave, so everyone had to wait for an hour or so until the water was just high enough to float the dinghy out to deeper water. With the large swells continuing, it was a very dark, slow and wet ride back to Imagination at 20.20 with everyone needing a good desalt in the shower. By now it was too late for Ally to start cooking dinner and so everyone had sandwiches/snacks instead before retiring for the night.
They moved off to Sarawaj Dweep on the morning of the 17th ( formerly Havelock Island, named after a British General. Renamed 2018), which is one of the main tourist islands in the Andamans. When they reached the anchorage at Govind Nagar, Ally decided to remain on board while everyone else went ashore and enjoyed the local tourist atmosphere amongst small restaurants, stalls and music. It wasn’t long after they returned to Imagination that they had a visit from a Police Officer on a small boat who had come to check the clearance papers and passports. He asked why we hadn’t made contact via VHF radio on arrival and why we weren’t answering the radio when called. Explanations were given and Ally was absolutely positive no calls had come through on the radio since arrival. The officer remained on the small boat alongside while he checked everything out and left happy that we were legally in the country. It was a very good job that he hadn’t come onboard, because, out of habit, once the anchor had gone down and was set, as well as switching the navigation instruments and auto pilot off, Shawn had switched the VHF radio off! Ooops! ( He did it a couple more times too, which were quickly noticed and Ally covered the button in white tape as a reminder not to touch it! lol). The sail across to Lala Ji Bay on Long Island on the 18th, took 6 hours and this time, they made sure to make radio contact with the authorities, but got no response. There was no internet or phone reception either so they were unable to send their location in to the agent. Once everyone had eaten, they all went ashore to look around, using a floating dock in reasonably good condition. What they found just set back off of the beach was a disused eco resort with 6 tired looking cabins and a couple of other buildings, two being a kitchen and dining area which are still used, but only by prior arrangement. There were a couple of family groups in there eating a meal and they welcomed and chatted to us. Shawn asked about having lunch there the following day, but was told “no”, without explanation – their loss. Edgar and Alex stayed on the beach while the others went for a walk along a track, sometimes steep, for a bit of exercise and then back to the lovely, sandy beach. The signs warning about crocodiles rather takes the enthusiasm for swimming or relaxing in the water away. It’s no wonder they didn’t want to prepare lunch tomorrow…it would have meant them walking up the track for half an hour to where it becomes a double track lane that vehicles can access, and then drive the 10-15 minutes to the village for provisions. This small forested island used to grow and export all of India’s ply wood needs in the mainland, but when this was stopped in the late 80’s, the islands 3000+ population decreased by two thirds over the following few years.
Most crew decided they didn’t want to stay in that anchorage the next day ( good job they didn’t say “yes” to doing lunch for us!) and so they sailed back down to Sarawaj Dweep, this time to Elephant Beach. The place is an absolute haven for the daytripper who enjoys rides on the water on inflatables, parasails and jetskis and there are two floating dive platforms that provide resort dives and Sea Walks (aka helmut diving). The small beach was absolutely heaving with Indian tourists having the time of their lives, so while Mitch remained on board Imagination, Larissa, Alex and Edgar walked in to the village via a narrow, winding, upward trail accessed through a swamp area. Ally and Shawn enjoyed a fresh coconut each amongst the chaos on the beach before heading into the swamp to try and find the trail while watching for wildlife too, spotting a small woodpecker and a small green snake. They eventually found the trail and walked for about half an hour before returning to the beach for a float in the water before the others returned there too. The anchorage during the day is very busy with day boats coming and going, boats pulling inflatables and paragliders, but before 09.30 and after around 16.00, it is beautifully quiet and calm and over the following couple of days, everyone enjoyed snorkelling on the reef not far from Imagination ( several times a day for some), relaxing onboard and Edgar went up the last to replace a halyard. While the reef isn’t too spectacular to look at, although it is pretty in places, there are thousands of fish thriving there, despite the daily, constant noise pollution. Huge Bumphead Parrotfish would suddenly appear swimming along the drop off and many families of Clownfish were seen too.
Just 4nm away is Rad Hanagar Beach, which is where they moved to on the 22nd. Attempts were made to contact the authorities via VHF radio, but the calls went unanswered and so everyone but Ally decided to go across to the beach for a walk and to have a look around. The bay ( Neil’s Cove) is large and open and there was a bit of a swell coming in and as they all got close to the beach, the swells increased in size and crashed over and into the dinghy, almost capsizing it and soaking everyone. Before everyone had been able to regain their composure, they were approached by a Lifeguard and Coastguard who wanted to see the clearance papers, passports, visa etc etc. This was becoming very irritating! Shawn explained that all the paperwork was onboard and that getting the dinghy back into the water with the huge swell was something he was not prepared to do as the dinghy would be upturned ( he’s been there and done that New Years Day, Carriacou 2021! Remember that Andy, Jane, Mike and Moira?? hahaha). Ally was messaged and she proceeded to take photos of all the paperwork, passports and visas and send them to the group chat so that they could be shown to the authorities which eventually satisfied them and everyone was able to go and have lunch ( having given up on the idea of going for a walk) before relaxing on the beach, with Shawn using the rolling waves to body surf. It was a few hours before the swell died down enough for them to relaunch the dinghy to return to Imagination. They remained at the same anchorage on the 23rd, with everyone choosing to remain onboard and enjoyed a float on noodles off the back with a beer.
The anchor was up at 7am on the 24th for the return trip to Port Blair and in the light winds, the spinnaker was used for a while. Shawn, Mitch and Larissa went ashore to organise refuelling and while they were gone, Imagination was approached by a small Navy boat at 15.15. Again, the VHF radio wasn’t used until they had shouted a couple of questions across to Ally and they then told her to use the radio. The same questions were asked, again, and Ally was thanked for her cooperation before they moved off. That’s now Coastguard, Police and Navy that have questioned them. The rest of the day was spent cleaning inside and out before an enjoyable last meal together.
Unbelievably, everyone was woken on the 25th at 7am by a siren and horn blowing and when a startled Ally looked out through the side hatch she saw a boat bearing down on Imagination, looking like it was going to ram into her. She very quickly threw a dress on ( inside out!) and rushed out into the cockpit, with unbrushed hair all over the place like a mad woman, to be confronted with 2 Navy personnel standing on the front of their vessel. Shouting across ( what’s the point of insisting VHF radios are kept on at all times?), they asked Ally to confirm the name of the vessel, which she did before very firmly asking why she was being questioned yet again when she had already spoken to the Navy just the previous afternoon, providing the info they needed. It seems they had no knowledge of that previous visit, but very quickly wished Ally a nice day before retreating. This harassment was now beyond a joke. It is laughable that the various agencies do not seem to have a database that they can check before continually disturbing yachties. It is unnecessary and intrusive and, along with the rest of the bureaucracy, it detracts from having a pleasant stay in the Andamans. The clearing agent told Ally and Shawn that there was going to be a meeting in the next couple of months between the Agents and the various authorities to discuss how things can be made better and easier for visiting cruising yachts. Fingers crossed something positive comes out of it
Alex and Edgar left Imagination to go to the airport at 0745 and Mitch and Larissa remained onboard until around 11.20. Ally and Shawn spent the rest of the day pottering and watching tv and on the 26th ( Sunday), they went ashore hoping to go to a marine store for a few bits and pieces, and it wasn’t until they got to the shop in their tuk tuk, that the driver told them that it was a public holiday ( Republic Day) and that most shops were closed(!), so it was back to Imagination for lunch and an afternoon of ticking jobs off of their “to do lists”. They were ashore and in a tuk tuk again late morning on the 27th, this time to meet up with Mitch and Larissa for a final lunch all together, and they had a lovely time together chatting, drinking and eating fab local cuisine. The never ending task of trying to reach the bottom of the jobs list continued throughout the 28th and 29th, with Ally also catching up on the blog and Shawn researching future legs, and both of them making sure the relevant people had the necessary paperwork for departing the Andamans and arriving in Sri Lanka next month.
