NOVAS MENSAGENS

O PHOENICIA atraca em Mayotte

SEGUNDA MENSAGEM DO DIA

Mensagem do Capitão Philip

Mayotte, Comoros Islands

We have had an interesting 48 hours with many mixed emotions. Yesterday the wind died on us and we made just 70 miles towards Mayotte and we wondered just how long it would take us to make landfall. The early this morning the winds were fresh and for much of the day we have done 5-6 knots and we worried about entering a lee shore with a large reef around it. We lowered the main sail about 3 miles off the reef and carefully made our way through the entrance passage to Mayotte. On reaching the entrance we were greeted by a magnificent pod of dolphins, as if they were sent to welcome us. We are now witnessing an amazing sunset but our anchorage is still some 10 miles further along inside the reef, so we won't anchor until after dark. But we are still hoping the customs and port officials will clear us tonight so we can eat some decent French food after six and a half weeks at sea!

PS. We are now at anchor 2158 local time.



PRIMEIRA MENSAGEM DO DIA

Mensagem de Alice, secretária geral doProjeto PHOENICIA, no Reino Unido, enviada hoje a Vera Sanada:

Dear Vera

Phoenicia will arrive within the hour at her destination: Mayotte, in the Comors Islands. I am pleased to say there were no major problems on this last leg and Phoenicia has completed her longest ocean passage thus far - over one month at sea. She has proved that she can stand up to strong winds, pirates and monsoon conditions.

Philip has looked at the timings for the next 2 legs and asked me to pass on this information. Please find below ETA/ETD for Mayotte, Beira and Richard's Bay.

ETA MAYOTTE 10 Dec 2009 (today)
ETD MAYOTTE 16 Dec 2009

LEG MAYOTTE – BEIRA ESTIMATED 12-14 DAYS.
ETA BEIRA 29 Dec 2009
ETD BEIRA 03 Jan 2010

LEG BEIRA – RICHARDS BAY ESTIMATED 10 DAYS
ETA RICHARD'S BAY 12 JAN 2010

Best wishes

Alice