THOUSANDS OF MILES ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN

Floris and Ivar battled severe weather and cross swell to sail from Australia to South Africa, but there were beautiful islands on the way

- Floris van Hees and Ivar Smits

After much deliberation, we finally decided in Darwin that we were not going to Asia. We would miss out on an exciting cruising area but due to the pandemic, we were running out of time. We had spent an extra year in New Zealand – the year we had originally planned for Asia. Instead, we would sail to South Africa, about 6,000 miles from Darwin. The approaching hurricane season in the southern Indian Ocean determined how much time we would have: just three months.

‘That means a lot of sailing,’ Ivar calculated. ‘But we’ll make time to visit islands along the way,’ Floris added. Indeed, the islands would have to be the bright spots, as the Indian Ocean is not well-known for its champagne sailing.

Our long trip started comfortably, with the wind and swell from astern and minimal shipping traffic. After five days of happy sailing, a green dot appeared on our plotter: Ashmore Reef. The uninhabited nature reserve is largely underwater but offers shelter from the ocean swell. Perfect for a break! We manoeuvred through a narrow opening while breaking waves on either side marked treacherous reefs. In the sheltered lagoon we tied our Buchanan ketch Lucipara 2 to a mooring buoy near a sandy island with low vegetation.

‘Uninhabited? Just look around!’ Floris joked. Thousands of birds sat in shallow water, between the bushes, and on the beach. Frigatebirds, gannets and terns circled above our heads, as curious about us as we were about them, before returning to nests with fluffy chicks. Clearly, we were guests in a spot of unspoilt nature that very few people visit each year.