Preparing for the Indian Ocean

Our crossing of the Indian Ocean began in Geraldton, Western Australia, where a boat yard with the space and capability to haul out a catamaran resided. Since we needed to return to Canada for a few months, Geraldton was our only logical option for lift storage, but also for our eventual departure from Australia. The travel lift at this boat yard was one of the largest we have seen and made our catamaran look tiny as it carried us from the water to the hard. While we did not ask what size of vessels they could fit, some of the other boats next to us gave us a good idea that the answer was substantial.

After routine maintenance on our return to Australia, we were back on the water. We moved to Batavia Coast Marina in Geraldton and spent 10 days restocking and ensuring all systems were functioning properly. We chose the marina for ease of re-provisioning, which was a short walk away. There is a small anchorage area available in front of the town, but it is completely exposed to any weather from the west to the north.

Checking Out of Australia

Checking out from Geraldton was a unique, but appropriate process. The weather forecast changed frequently in the days leading up to our departure, making it difficult for us to provide an exact time we would want to leave. We carefully mapped out our route from Geraldton off the continental shelf knowing that we needed as much visibility as possible to avoid our biggest hazard, the crayfish pots.

With small floats and lines that drift across the surface, these crayfish pots can snag any unsuspecting boat. Even with focused eyes, these crayfish pots can be nearly impossible to see until it’s too late. We wanted everything in our favour to mitigate as much of this risk as possible for our departure, which meant we would need to leave at dawn.

The Australian Border Force does not open at dawn. They asked us to come in days before any potential departure and they would commence the check out process for us. We dutifully brought in all the required documents and they started the work from their end. They gave us a phone number to call when we knew when we were leaving and informed us that they would finalize the paperwork at that time and email it to us on completion, which they did.

On August 1, 2024, we set sail from Geraldton towards our next destination, the island of Rodrigues, part of Mauritius which lies approximately 2800nm to the west across the Indian Ocean. In order to get there, we needed to first head north to catch the trade winds before turning west, lengthening our trip to in excess of 3500nm.

Crayfish Pots, Whales and Relentless Swells

Getting off the coast of Geraldton was tougher than we expected. Not only did we have the crayfish pots to worry about, some of which were even inside the shipping channel, but we had also timed our departure with the whale migration. We managed to dodge all the crayfish pots and our motor caught the attention of the whales, who came close for inspection.

For this crossing, we used the services of South African weather router, Des Cason. He warned us that the swell we would face crossing the Indian Ocean would be relentless. We found the swell never aligned with the wind and was generally from a southerly direction every day. With winds around 25-35 knots each day behind the beam, our crossing included three days in a row setting new daily distance records for us.

Prior to departing for Rodrigues, we had done a lot of research on what was required for entry to the island. One thing that stood out was that arrival on a Sunday was either prohibited or subject to overtime fees. Ultimately, we found the email address of the harbour master and was advised that entry was permitted on Sundays.

Rodrigues: Endless Paperwork and Forms to Check-In

In completing our pre-arrival paperwork, we had various government officials sending numerous forms they wanted completed in advance, which we did and sent in. Day after day, there were requests by officials for new forms to be completed. Finally, the harbour master sent a note saying we were done with all the forms and we were good to travel to Rodrigues — then 30 seconds later another official sent another form that needed to be done! We later found out that this was just the beginning of a paperwork nightmare.

While we had learned that we could enter Rodrigues on a Sunday, we planned not to do so to avoid any hassles. As things would go, we arrived very early on a Sunday morning. A word of advice, do not arrive on a Sunday.

We called Rodrigues Coast Guard while 10 miles off shore and had no answer. We called again as we approached closer to the harbour. When the response came in, we were told that government officials would meet us at the dock at 8am.

The first official to arrive was biosecurity, who did nothing but fill out a form and give us an invoice to pay on Monday for about $40. The next officials were police who walked through with a notebook and after a quick look, left. After this, we were taken to the immigration officer in a small office who entered all our details into a computer. They stamped our passports and we were good.

One item was not done, though. If you wish to purchase a local SIM card, you must have immigration “open” your records to the phone companies. A frustrating day and a lot of different directions finally led us to the immigration office where this was completed and required our passports to be present. We had not been told about this during our initial arrival.

Next we were to meet with customs and we were told that the official had just been there, but left, and would be coming back at some point. An hour later and he still hadn’t returned. We had the Coast Guard call him on the phone and we were told he would return in five minutes, which also didn’t happen.

…and yet more Paperwork!

While we waited, the Coast Guard started their paperwork with us — this was out of the required order, as Customs was supposed to be seen before the Coast Guard. We completed page after page of paperwork, most of which had a lot of the same information as we had previously completed.

When the customs officer finally arrived he told us that his printer hadn’t been working and he only was able to print off some of our paperwork, but that he would return with the rest of it and that there would be a $50 overtime fee that must be paid at the office on Monday. At this point, we had completed more paperwork for this entry than we had in any other country we had arrived in!

By the time we had finished our check in, it was 11:45am. When we asked about provisioning, we were informed that since it was a Sunday, the majority of the town was closed. There was one small store that would be open, but closed shortly so we should hurry. On visiting the store, we found that the store had nothing fresh, only frozen and canned food. We returned to the boat, disappointed, only to find the customs officer waiting with more forms to complete. We promised to complete them and deliver them to the office on Monday when we would go to pay the fees.

Monday proved to be far more frustrating than we could have imagined. Three hours of waiting in a line only to be told that the fee could only be paid in cash and can only be in Euros or US dollars. The biosecurity fee had to be paid in a different office, hidden away in a small window between two sections of a building and the receipt needed to be brought to the health office for verification of payment. This is also when we attempted to get our SIM cards and made the choice to split up to get all of these tasks completed. Over 30 hours after our initial arrival, we were finally checked into the country. Arriving on a Sunday had absolutely no benefit and provided far too much headache.

Unique Adventures and Friendly People

Despite all our frustrations of entry into the country, we really enjoyed our time in Rodrigues. The people were remarkably friendly, food and supplies were cheap, the scenery was beautiful and there were a couple of unique adventures that we went on.

A highlight for us was touring the tortoise preserve. Rodrigues used to have thousands of tortoises all over the island but they were wiped out by early explorers as food for the sailing ships. Through hard work, a local group is working to reintroduce them back to the island and have made a large preserve where one can see and touch a variety of species of tortoises. In all honesty, the tortoises are like slow moving dogs who love attention and absolutely want to have their necks scratched and be fed a piece of leaf. They will follow you (slowly) seeking out the human contact and food. It was a cool time with a unique animal species!

Mary is an avid sea glass collector — in part because it causes no issues crossing country borders like shell collections can. We found a beach on Rodrigues that had more rare seaglass than anywhere we have been. If you are there, go for some beach walks and see what you might find.

When we returned to the boat, what a surprise, the customs officer was there with more forms to complete. Enough was enough. We told him we had done enough forms and we had been checked in. So many of these forms were a huge waste of time anyway and all said the same things, even with the same officers. He left with his forms incomplete.

More Forms to Check-Out!

Check out from Rodrigues was another exercise in mild frustration. Notice was required to be given 24 hours in advance to the Coast Guard who would arrange all the relevant officials. We asked for a late afternoon departure and they said no, that it had to be during office hours. We asked to leave for noon and they said no, and that check out would be at 9am and we must leave within two hours after check out. We arrived just before 9am and while the immigration and Coast Guard were ready, there was no customs officer to be seen. It took an hour of waiting and the Coast Guard to call him before he showed up. When our check out was complete, the Coast Guard asked us to radio them prior to departure.

We returned back to the boat and did our final preparations for departure before we radioed the Coast Guard to say we were ready to leave. They came out in their patrol vessel and escorted us all the way to the three mile limit of the island.

Brent Crack and Mary Bevan
SV Knot Safety