Aguada Fort

On the 1st after finishing off provisioning I went with Richard up the hill to see the Aguada Fort as I had been staring at it from the anchorage long enough now and also been jogging past it many times. The road up goes past the exit to the Aguada jail and continues upwards past the Catholic church up on the hill. After that comes an exit road to the Helipad and then one arrives the Aguada Fort. The access is free and opening hours are between 0900 - 1730 hrs. The Fort is protected by the Indian ancient monuments act.

M/y Kalizma in front of Miramar beach

The whole area is very photogenic were it not for all the garbage that is thrown everywhere. You can see empty plastic bottles, torn snack wrappers, condoms, paper, broken bottles everywhere. I have seen in the mornings there is a bottle wala coming with a bicycle collecting empty bottles into gunny sacks as one gets money for selling 2nd hand plastic but all the other garbage is left as there is no money in it. India still has a long way to go in terms of waste management and changing the mentality to drop garbage anywhere.

The old lighthouse

Also in the mornings one will see peacocks running about in the bushes as well as domestic pigs. When jogging we have discovered there is a beaten footpath going around the whole of Aguada point under the Taj hotel resort passing the coastal bastions to Candolim beach. The view is breath taking. From there one can then jog back to Sinquerim following the road, a good 6km hike.

The watertank

Originally built in 1612 the remains of the Upper Fort are still very impressive, the moat is still intact and full with vegetation. Inside the Fort one can see the watertank in the middle (capacity 2.376.000 gallons) and the old lighthouse with the utility buildings adjacent in one corner. The Lower Fort was originally serving as Port to visiting Portuguese sailing ships and later on converted to a jail. It is also said there is a secret passage between the Upper and Lower Fort that was used in emergencies. The lighthouse was discontinued of use in 1976 as a new was erected a few 100 meters to the West of the old one.

The moat and a corner bastion

The surrounding walls are very thick and every corner has a defensive tower with ramparts. It is said the Portuguese kept gunpowder in the outer walls which had recesses of which many are now plastered shut, maybe due to constructional strength issues. All in all a nice place to visit but the local Authorities could earn extra kudos by cleaning the surroundings up.

Captain's blog October 2010

Were now still in Goa and it is good as we don't have to cope with all the pollution as in Mumbai. The good weather is still eluding us as occasional thunderstorms keeps pelting us with water but in general the weather is good. We're still rolling at the Aguada Bay anchorage as the swell is coming in from the Indian Ocean.

Having Gujarati thali

Kalpu's birthday

In Mumbai we were the first yacht to anchor outside the Gateway of India, on the 1st m/y Tian arrived from Goa and on the 2nd m/y Ashena came from Elephanta as well. They were very very busy as a party had been set for the 8th. Not to say that weren't either as we had to finish the bow wood work repairs.

Carpenter's carving our front piece

On the 3rd Sunil arrived back from UK having successfully completed is Y3 certification. He was very pleased to be in the warmth of India instead of the ghastly cold dampness of Southampton and of course having his NOE warmed even better.

This steam roller must from the Colonial times

Then on the 4th we got the orders to prepare for Goa so our busy status went to frantic. Provisioning, contacting contractors for last minute jobs like our Dish TV setting up, Bose sytem service, OBM overhaul etc. etc. Also bunkering of DO and LO had to be done. The car had to be serviced as we would drive it down to Goa and so on.

Limatola and Kalpana

Later in the afternoon I went with Richard to try out an allegedly delicious thali. It turned out the restaurant near Churchgate was serving Gujarati cuisine and I learned then that in Gujarat they put sugar in every dish, everything tasted sweet. Even the sada pan outside tasted sweeter than elsewhere.

Rajaram, Dubey, Atu, Me, Richie, Kalpana, Saini, Ruman, Sunil

On the 8th was Kalpana's birthday and we celebrated it duly with cake and softdrinks. She is a very liked person onboard as she got many presents from the crew.

Then on the 11th I got a temporary stewardess from Niladri estate to follow us to Goa, Ms. Limatola Aier. Limatola is actually one of the Indian Empress stewardesses but she was on leave and so was appointed to help out in Goa for a week. Same evening Asen had an accident by a falling wall panel that hit her foot and she got a fracture confirmed form the hospital.

Kalpana in the Bom Iesus cathedral

On the 12th I signed Asen off as there is no place for convalescing onboard, especially with a person on crutches. In the afternoon at HW I got the compass adjusters and engine technician embarked with pilot coming last. After doing our adjustments and calibrations we finally headed off to Goa.

We arrived Goa in good order on the morning 14th and by 1020hrs I had the formalities done. The weather became bad though with swell rolling in and sweeping fronts of thunderstorms kept coming in and pouring water. The satellite picture showed us the long plumes of cloud cover extending out in the Indian Ocean.

Then the weekend of the 15th I got Commodore Mongia onboard and we anticipated the Owner, but the weather was not in favor so the whole weekend we sat looking at the sky. Eventually it turned out to a long wait.

Dubey outside the cathedral

On the 19th we got the bad news that our driver had decided to take our car for a joyride or some extracurricular taxi activities and subsequently he smashed it in an Electrical pole. The car was wrecked beyond repair. The Driver offered some story that he had not driven but a guy had come out of nowhere and referred to Saini that he needed to go to Baga beach and offered to drive and blah blah blah. The night watchman confirmed that the driver had been alone. Needless to say I dismissed the driver straight away and Saini & Sunil had to deal with towing the wreck and doing the insurance paper work. Luckily nobody was injured and we managed to get an "out of court" settlement for the Electrical pole as well.

Fishermen at Santa Paula unloading their catch

24th Richard and Dubey took the girls around to Old Goa and Santa Paula to see the old churches, they asked me if I wanted to follow so I did. The churches still looked the same, then we visited the Santa Paula market, and we finished the evening with dinner at Souza Lobo at Calingute beach. The food was good but lacked kick eventhough we asked for hot.

On 25th I went with Kenneth Pereira and Sunil to visit the Western Shipyards for a possible drydocking site. The prices they quoted were quite high for a small yacht like us, clearly they were geared for handling big bulk carriers frequenting Goa. Afterwards Kenny treated me and Sunil to a delicious lunch at his favorite restaurant beside the Pereira Building.

Kalpana and Karuna at Santa Paula

On 29th I had lunch with Richard at the Calamari restaurant on Candolim beach. The setting is nice but the view might be considered obscured by the grounded River Princess (someone else might consider it a curiosity). The food was a disappointment, it was bland and tasteless. We had a dhal and pork vindaloo and I did not even break a sweat, although I specifically asked for the native stuff, not watered out tourist food. We had same experience at the famous Souza Lobo restaurant at Calingute beach and a few others as well. Seems many restaurants are geared up to cater exclusively for the prevalent Russian crowd. Until now I can only recommend the Flambee' restaurant being up to the mark with their food.

Diving Grandi Island

On the 31st Saini's old course mate from his Divemaster school invited us to join him on a dive with his Customers at Grandi Island, we only needed to bring our own gear and everything else was free. It did not take us long to make up our minds and the night before we had our gear set up standby.

Grouper at Suzy's wreck

Crabs

Dada came early morning with a long boat to pick us up. It was an ordinary boat that local people use for fishing and now also for ferrying tourists around. It is equipped with a tiny 10HP outboard that gives the boat abt 10 knots of speed, quite surprising actually, comparing to the size of the boat. Anyway, making 10knots, it took us about 2 hrs to reach Grandi Island.

Moray Eel

Honeycomb Moray Eel

We anchored off the E end of the Island, inside a small bay, just on top of the wreck. The dive was not a deep dive. We started at the forecastle of the wreck where one could see an old capstan still there and from there we continued downwards the hull towards the aft. I saw some huge groupers that must've weighed around 30kg or more. At other places of the wreck I also spotted crabs, both big and small. As the visibility was quite poor, only 2-3m, it was not very enjoyable and in fact me and my divebuddy lost the group after some 15min of diving. At one point they were there and then they were gone. We swam around for awhile but as it was so poor we decided to surface, there was no point staring into murky water. I went back to the boat but my dive buddy saw the bubbles of the others and headed down again.

The cave

Scorpionfish

Soon enough the other divers finished their air tanks and surfaced. All boarded and compared sights, our dive guide Dada told us that the thermocline must be affecting the visibility (the water was quite chilly) as he had had good visibility just the day before. Anyway, we weighed anchor and continued to the NE point of the Island and planned a shallow dive along the coast.

Lobster, anyone?

Coral

We went in and started at some 5m depth. The bottom was covered with corals and round boulders, no doubt having been ground by the countless monsoons for thousands of years. There was some fish darting here and there and Dada guided us near the shore to a small cave. In the cave I spotted a stone fish. The cave had heave surge so one had to hold on to the bottom as not to be smashed against the walls or any of the sea urchins that were nearby for that matter. We swam through the cave and came out on the other side almost at the surface and from there headed towards the sea and deeper waters.

Cuttle fish

Bluespotted Stingray

After some swimming I came across a huge cuttle fish that was just vacillating in place, after awhile he was joined by his buddy and the whole dive team surrounded them and watched them for some minutes. Then a Russian diver spotted a big sting ray that lay sleeping on the sea bottom. Then there was the usual Moray Eels lurking in their crevices waiting for prey coming by.

More coral

After some 45min of swimming we reached the relocated dive boat and surfaced. The dive was not bad but would have earned more kudo's if the visibility would have been better.

Voyage Mumbai - Goa

So, we had everything done and were hurriedly putting the finishing touches on the forward wood work. I had scheduled compass adjusting and engine sensor calibration for departure and was waiting for the pilot. The Adjusters and Engine technician were onboard and soon enough I also got the pilot.

MSC Chitra

MSC Chitra has the best view of Mumbai

MSC Chitra

Once I told the pilot we're also doing compass adjusting he grumpily asked why I did not do it before I came, well, I replied, your port regulations require pilot onboard for any movements... Then he asked how long it was going to take, 2 hrs the adjusters said. Then he seemed happy he could mooch away a couple hours onboard so he called his controller and them the "bad" news. It took 5 minutes and the controller called my mobile telling me where to do my swing and to let the pilot step off immediately. Pilot told me to have a good day and so he left. I guess the Mumbai Pilot House might be a tad understaffed.

Sunrise on Indian Ocean

Anyway, so we got our compass swinging underway and soon enough I had an adjusted compass. The adjuster, Capt Aga, wrote out the card and his invoice and off he also went. Then I continued going back and forth on different rpm for the engine technician to get his readings and some 45min later he was also done and he packed his things and so we were clear to leave Mumbai waters behind us.

M/s River Pirncess in front of Candolim beach

After passing the Sunk Rock we approached the Prong Reef and we could still see the wreck of MSC Chitra stranded on it. She was now emptied of containers and was lying on her side as seen in the news. Nearby salvage cranes were anchored. I reckon the next step is to right her and tow her to whatever fate that is decided, most likely to the shipwreckers.

Once passed MSC Chitra we started getting in a swell from west but it was low and long so it did not do much for us. As the sun went down we left Mumbai behind us and headed for Goa. The speed was not very impressive as the seagrowth on our ship bottom brought it down to some 7.5 - 8kts.

Next day at sea was sunny and calm. The swell had come down some more and weather could not be better. In the early afternoon we arrived Angria Bank that is some 70' offshore and we planned to do a dive there. The only traffic we saw was a couple of fishing boats. After some time we were in the middle of the bank and we stopped for a dive. Once up we continued our voyage to Goa.

Old Aguada lighthouse

On the early morning of 14th we arrived Aguada Bay and passed the familiar landmarks like the grounded River Princess at Candolim Beach, the light house, the jail and the villa. Soon I was anchored at our old spot and I called my agent Kenneth Pereira. He arrived after 9am with the Immigration and Customs in tow. It was the usual signing papers and stamping them and around half past ten we were done. Apparently the living standards have become expensive in Goa as the officials were also asking for booze which they did not do the last time I was in Goa.

The Villa at Aguada

Well, here we were and we got busy starting to get Kalizma ready for the Owners but it was not easy as we were rolling quite a lot at the anchorage, especially when the tides were changing. Stuff would slide off the tables so we had to do minimal setup. Then the weather got worse and we were getting rain fronts rolling in from the Indian Ocean. It just reminded us that the rain season had not yet been declared over...

Diving Angria Bank

We had arrived Angria Bank, it is an area 20' long by 5' wide in a NW-SE direction rising up from the seafloor some 400m depths to 23m. As we were not familiar with the currents and the pilot book did not give much information we decided to dive in the middle of the bank so as not be swept off by some odd ocean currents.

Angria Bank

We jumped off the stern and down we went. The water was a bit fuzzy to start with but it was clearing up when we got deeper and abt 5m from the bottom it got very cold, at least it felt so but in reality it just went down 2-3 degrees. Current was there but it was very weak, almost non-existing.

Star fish

The bottom proved a big disappointment, it was only dead corals covered by white coral sand spotted by some sea weeds growing in tufts here and there. The only living thing plentiful was some starfish that littered the bottom and for fish I spotted only a blue variant that was abt 1-2 inch long, no sharks no nothing swimming around. Corals that were living was also really scarce, only a few heads littered here and there.

Starfish and coral head

We swam around for awhile and as the scenery did not change nor was there any life to see we decided to surface eventhough we had not depleted our air tanks. Up we went and clambered onboard and continued our voyage for Goa.

The blue dots are the fish

In hindsight I think that if I get another chance at Angria I will try a dive at the edge of the bank to see if the flora and fauna is any different there. According to the chart there is also a wreck on the bank, maybe a spot to consider. Until then...

Angria Bank Expedition

Captain's blog September 2010

September was rather hectic time for all of us. Apart from the Krishna Janmashtami & Ganesh Chaturthi festivals it has been ceaseless maintenance on Kalizma and all the UB boats.

Launching RIB I

Engine overhauls, bottom painting, varnishing, radio service & surveys, odd carpentry here and there, etc. One small refurbish and repairs of another 30yr old wooden yacht, servicing another yachts engines that proved to be like opening a can of worms, just more and more work cropping up.

Just one example of wood rot

Finally on the 22nd we lowered the 1st of our RIB's into the water and started service the 24th between Mandwa and Gateway. Same day I took a few hours off and went to see Elephanta Island as long as I had the chance to visit it.

Chicken of Killa village, Belapur

On the 30th we got orders to move in front of Gateway and so we did. The pilot was an amicable chap and was not too stressed of the slow progress we made. The bottom is now fully grown with a 30cm "grass beard" as reported by Dubey when he had gone under bottom to clean the strainers for the engine and A/C seawater intakes. We made 7 kts all the way, but we also had some counter current to deal with.

Elephanta Island

On the 24th the Bosun of m/y Ashena, Mohsin, asked if I would like to visit the Island and I thanked yes as I had not gone there yet (as it often happens in many places, you stay a long time but you never see the sights thinking "Oh, I still got plenty of time to do that).

The train from jetty to shore

Souvenirs, anyone?

The 1st cave

Mohsin has his own ferry boat to bring people from Gateway to Elephanta so I got special treatment as he knew everyone there but I still had to pay admission. Anyway, it went for a good cause as long as the money is used to maintain the Museum site on the Island and not fatten some Official's pocket.

Inside

As the shores are very shallow the jetty naturally is very long until it reaches acceptable depths for the ferries. There is a mini-train that can carry passengers all way to the shore. Nice touch but probably the lack of maintenance of the engine had the train leaking oil at the end stations which showed as a large black stain.

Carvings

We walked the whole jetty to shore and then there was a shallow staircase leading up to the caves. The staircase was lined with souvenir shops selling knick knacks for every taste. Closer to the top there was even a few restaurants and guest houses. The Island does not have electricity so the rooms are without A/C or fan.

Big Lingam in the background

After this we reached the entrance gate where I shelled out the 500 Rs foreigner fee. We walked forward and soon enough arrived to the first cave. It was carved straight into the mountain as were all the caves there, probably from existing caves that were shaped out to rooms, pillars, etc.

..another cave..

The path went from west onto the east side of the Island where I could see the JNPT container terminal on the main land and the Elephanta Island three villages and the fresh water dam supplying them. The path was lined with monkeys looking for food, some people bought bananas to give to them.

...and another...

The Island water reservoir

Unfortunately when I had reached the east side we had to turn back and walk back the same way as there was no path around (at least not officially). Once we arrived back to the entrance we exited and followed signs to the "Old cannon" which was a longer climb up on the top of the Island. There are 2 old cannons perched on the top of the Island during the English era. The cannon's with their muzzles turned down and locks removed most likely due to possible terror attacks.

The Cannon

Mohsin & Cannon

Mohsin told me that there was supposedly a tunnel connecting the two cannons but I did not feel tempted to go explore old military catacombs. We soon turned back and headed back down. In between we stopped at a drink vendor to enjoy a refreshing lemon soda. After finishing the soda we ventured down to the shore and got our tender back. Quite enjoyable afternoon.