832 nautical miles from Seychelle - 167 miles covered over the last 24 hours.

No comment - Position received via satellite phone - poor transmission quality

151 miles covered over the last 24 hours.

No comment - Position received via satellite phone - poor transmission quality

Winds have dropped and speed reduced from 7 to 4 knots, so boat rolling around a bit. Covered 133 nautical miles in last 24hrs and now just 550 miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles 

Spirits are high now that land in near. The ship was visited by a seagull two nights in a row. On the third day the crew caught the seagull and took some photographs. However the bird bit a crew member and nerves got the better of it and the poor thing decorated the deck with white splashes of art!!!  The crew let the bird go! 

Winds have not improved since yesterday and the ship is still sailing at 4 knots. The distance covered since yesterday's report is 97 nautical miles and there is now just 453 miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles 

Spirits are still high but being continually dampened by frequent squalls. Although the ship is very damp this didn't stop the crew celebrating the birthday of captain Putu. 

Winds have improved slightly and the ship's speed is now 5 knots. The distance covered since yesterday's report is 108 nautical miles and the ship is 342 miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles 

The AC Invertor failed during the night due to sea water corrosion, but the ship's appliances are all OK. At around 21:00hrs GMT tonight The ship should reach 3,000 nautical miles travelled since leaving Jakarta. The crew plan to celebrate this feat with a large tot of whiskey. 

The ship's speed has increased from 5 to 6 knots. The distance covered since yesterday's report is 143 nautical miles and the ship is now less than 200 miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles 

Over the past 24 hours the ship has been hit by gusts of wind, heavy rain storms and squalls. The crew are all very wet and tired and the conditions are proving quite trying on everybody.
Two large fish have been caught but a third got away and took the last of the fishing lures and traces with it. The total number of fish caught on the voyage so far is 8.  Everybody is looking forward to a good hot shower on a firm surface!

The distance covered by the ship since yesterday's report is 133 nautical miles and the ship is now less than 50 miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles. 

The ship has now sailed a total of 3,235 nautical miles and will have sailed a total of 3,265 nautical mile when it reaches Port Victoria, Mahe. The expedition team expect to reach Mahe Island at around 22:00hrs GMT tonight Thursday 11th September 2003 and anchor off-shore to carry out customs and immigration proceedures. The ship will sail into Port Victoria on Friday morning.
The Voyage report and Photos from aboard the ship will be posted to the website after the weekend.

The ship is currently at anchor just outside the port at Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles

At 12:15hrs GMT the website office managed to speak to the ship and at that time, Philip  Beale was ashore in Victoria attempting to sort out a problem with the immigration authorities. The ship is anchored outside the harbour and they are hoping to enter port some time this afternoon. 

The ship is currently rounding the north of Mahe Island before heading south towards Madagascar.

Main event today has been the conclusion of our 17 day stay in the Seychelles. Quite an extensive programme of cultural events has taken place and a number of repairs have been made to the Ship. During that time we have said goodbye to four of our colleagues from the Indian Ocean crossing (Reg, Paul, Sherlyna and Nick). We thank them for their tremendous contribution to the expedition and welcome their replacements who are Habibi, Claire, Corrine and Danielle.

All of us are keen to get back to sea and head on with the journey. We have two new watch leaders; Sulhan and Dirman. Muhammad is the Sailing Master. So the Pagerungan Islanders have many of the key positions but they know best how to sail the 8^th century craft and we are looking forward to working with them even more closely than before.  

The good news  is that we have made some 70 nautical miles over the last 24 hours. The bad news is that it was all in the wrong direction towards the north west and we have spent the last 7 hours heading south using our long-tail outboard motors to get to a southerly starting position for sailing. Hopefully we can pick up the south easterly winds (that brought us across the Indian Ocean) to take us towards Madagascar in a day or two. Until then our progress is going to be pretty slow.

Meanwhile we are realising the benefits of the repairs that were made to the ship whilst we were in port. The washing up bowl no longer flies so easily across the aft deck due to some restraining timbers that Dirman (Watch Leader and Carpenter) has added. There is also a neat wooden step down to the toilet on the gallery. So at least we don’t have to take our life in our hands anymore by jumping down to the gallery before 8^th century W.C procedures can take place. We are thankful to Dirman for these small but helpful improvements.