Southern Indian Ocean Crossing Notes by Tony Herrick.

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A few excerpts from "Southern Indian Ocean Passage Notes"
by Tony Herrick.

This set of Passage Notes covering the South Indian Ocean are intended to assist one in planning an Indian Ocean crossing, either from Australia to Southern Africa, or the reverse. These Notes also cover briefly the passage from South Africa to Thailand as well as the “Southern Route” in both directions.

Much of the comments and information have been supplied by many local and foreign yachts, which have recently sailed the Indian Ocean in all directions as well as input from all the official publications and Sailing Directions. I personally have only crossed the Indian Ocean twice, both times from Northern Australia via Cocos Keeling, Reunion, Mauritius and skirting the Southern tip of Madagascar, and then on to Richards Bay and Durban.

Tony Herrick

INTRODUCTION

The majority of cruising yachts transit the Indian Ocean in a westerly direction, taking advantage of the trade winds and a mostly favourable current. If one is on a circumnavigation, there are two choices of crossing the Indian Ocean from Australia, en route to either Europe or the America’s, one being via the Red Sea, the other, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

Following recent piracy attacks in the Red Sea and approaches, many are opting for the southern route via South Africa. This also gives one the opportunity of cruising and visiting some of the relatively unexploited areas in east Africa and Madagascar; or if a more southern route is followed, Rodrigues Island and the Chagos Shoals are seldom visited. For the adventurous, the east and south coasts of Madagascar sees very few yachts.

(UPDATE Dec. ’06 – A permit must now be obtained PRIOR to a visit to Chagos. For details see:
http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2670 )

An increasing number of vessels are opting for a route in the opposite direction, especially those from South Africa – either sailing only as far as northwest Madagascar and the Comores, or others venturing further to east Africa, the Seychelles, Maldives, and Sri Lanka and thence to Thailand or northern Australia. These routes are mostly against the prevailing winds, but are completely practical by sailing a series of “loops” at the right time of the year. The weather, timing and suggested routes are discussed in subsequent chapters of these notes. ..............

See the Passage Notes for photos, chart details, safe anchorages at islands en-route, etc. ............

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