Category Archives: India

More About Part 2 of The Unexpected Circumnavigation

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Part 2 of The Unexpected Circumnavigation: Unusual Boat, Unusual People covering Australia to Oman is now on sale! Read the first few pages on Lulu’s “preview” feature and read an excerpt from Chapter 1 here (starts on page 18)!

Jeff Merrill wrote an extensive book review for the Nordhavn.com site.

Many people have asked us why they should buy our book if they can read our blog for free. Just like Part 1, the book is very different from the blog. Here are a few of the differences between the two:

  • Prologue: Picks up where the Prologue of Part 1 left off. It focuses primarily on the research we did as we planned for our journey and addresses the majority of the questions we were most frequently asked.
  • Several new stories from the journey – And there are some really good ones!
  • Many details have been added that were best left undisclosed while we were still on the journey (sometimes we didn’t want our parents worrying about us; sometimes we didn’t want to incriminate ourselves!)
  • In Retrospect sections with great insights — so you can see the situation through the eyes of a newbie as we learn, while simultaneously seeing the same situation through the eyes of experience.
  • Streamlined stories – some complained our posts were too long and detailed, the book is a condensed version they will enjoy more.
  • Formatting is first person, through Christi’s eyes – Some complained they didn’t like the third person format, so they will enjoy the book more.
  • Actual dates on each post. On the blog, the dates are not real time, which is a significant piece of information for anyone hoping to follow in our footsteps.
  • All profits will go to our cruising fund. The more books we sell, the sooner you can start reading about our next journey! So, buy one and get all your friends to buy one, too!

People have also asked us why we broke the series up into four books instead of only three. We had very different experiences in each of the four world regions, so it was best for each region to have its own volume.

  • In the South Pacific, Part 1, we spent most of our time in sparsely populated areas communing with nature. And we did a lot of rough sea time, learning about boating the hard way.
  •  In Asia, Part 2, we were mostly in densely populated areas building cultural bridges. Our sea experiences were also different from the Pacific, with both our best and worst passages occurring in this region.

Travel Summary January 2008 to June 2008

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Indonesia to Egypt

  • West Timor Island, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
    10° 9S by 123° 34E
    Dec 27 – 31, 2007 & Jan 2 – 9, 2008
    Traditional village tour
  • Flores Island, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
    08° 50S by 121° 30.8E
    Jan 10 – 15, 2008
    Crater Lakes
  • Rinca Island, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
    8°39.15S by 119° 42.9E
    Jan 16 -24, 2008
    Komodo Dragons & other native wildlife
  • Labuan Bajo, Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
    08° 29.5S by 119° 52.5E
    Jan 21 -24, 2008
    SCUBA Diving
  • Bali, Indonesia
    08° 44.5S by 115° 12.7E
    Jan 25 – Feb 8, 2008
    UN conference, island tour, whitewater rafting, SCUBA Diving, Monkey Forest, traditional show
  • Karimata, Indonesia
    01°40.7S by 108° 54.2E
    Feb 12 – 14, 2008
    Medical assistance to islander
  • Sentosa Island, Singapore
    01°14N by 103° 50E
    Feb 12 – Mar 08, 2008
    Side trip to Hong Kong, Museums, Rides
  • Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
    02° 31N by 101° 48E
    Mar 8- 18, 2008
    Side trip to Malacca
  • Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia
    06° 21N by 099° 40E
    Mar 20 – Mar 28, 2008
    Sky ride, Geoforest Park, waterfall hike, extravagent gift museum
  • Ko Muk Island, Trang Province, Thailand
    07°23N by 099°17E
    Mar 28 – Apr 2, 2008
    Emerald Hawng
  • Phi Phi Islands, Krabi Province, Thailand
    Don: 07°43N by 098°46E
    Li: 07°40N by 098°46E
    Apr 2 – 4, 2008
  • Phuket Island, Phuket Province, Thailand
    Ao Chalong: 07° 49N by 098° 21E
    Nai Harn: 07° 46N by 098° 17E
    Apr 4 – 17, 2008
    Traditional dancing, Elephant ride, Hawng tour, Fantasea show
  • Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India
    11° 40N by 092° 42E
    Apr 17 – 23 & 29, 2008
    Visit to Ross Island
  • Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, India
    11° 59N by 092° 56E
    Apr 23 – 29, 2008
    SCUBA diving, Elephant training camp
  • Male, Maldives
    04° 13.0N by 073° 32.0E
    May 02 – 18, 2008
    SCUBA diving
  • Port Salalah, Dhofar, Sultanate of Oman
    16° 56.2N by 054° 0.2E
    May 21 – Jun 02, 2008
    SCUBA diving, Guided Tour Dhofar
  • Port Ghalib, Marsa Alam, Egypt
    25°31N by 34°38E
    Jun 13 – 17 & Jun 23 – Jul 05, 2008
    SCUBA diving, Trip to Luxor to see Temples & Burial Tombs

Food, More Food and Checking Out of Port Blair

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As planned, this morning we rolled out of bed and pulled up anchor, heading back to Port Blair to check out. We had smooth seas and arrived a little before 1000. When we got to shore, the same cab driver was waiting. We negotiated an “all day” price, then asked him how many hours “all day” included. In his mind “all day” is 4 hours. We wish we had thought to ask about hours last time he picked us up. It would have saved us all from an uncomfortable situation at the end of the day.

We were at the Port Captain’s office by 1030 to check out. Check out was slow but easy, with fees running about USD$15. Stop two was Customs. No one was around, but just as we were leaving someone appeared and went and got the customs supervisor for us. Check out was easy and only took a few minutes. We were on a roll! We got to Immigration, where they told us to make copies of a certain form and that they would meet us at the jetty at 1700 (5:30pm). Hmmm”¦. Maybe the roll had just ended.

From there we got lunch at Annapurna. This time we all tried Thalis, which are set meals. Within a minute or two of ordering, we each got a plate with a cracker, two tortilla style rotis, and several little silver cups filled with assorted foods.

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Most of the dishes in the cups were similar to ones we have tried before, but there were a few new ones. Unfortunately, we have no names. There was some sort of dhal (curried lentil) dish that was really delicious. It has mustard, onion, and green chili in it. There was a second kind of Continue reading →

Elephant Training Camp in Havelock

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The French family had offered to take us out to breakfast at their hotel. We arrived to shore to find out we had just missed the bus. There were no tuk tuks around to hire. We walked over to what looked like the reception area for the dome hotel to see if they could call a tuk tuk for us. It turns out it is not a hotel. The domes are a public campground that was recently built and has never been opened. This building is an Italian restaurant named Mahua with some good looking specials of the day. We found out the bus would be back before a tuk tuk could get over here from town.

We didn’t have to wait long for the next bus. We took the bus to village #3, then a tuk tuk south past the two dive shops down to their hotel. Beyond the dive shop the road quality begins to deteriorate. Their hotel is much nicer looking than all the other ones we could see from the road. The food was OK, with no menu items interesting enough to report on.

Lonely Planet had mentioned there was an elephant training camp 5 kilometers south of where we were. The guidebook said Continue reading →