10 June 2019 – The SW Monsoon is here
The total length of the Indian coast line is approximately 7500 km, and with many inland rivers and lakes as well. You might think there are plenty of opportunities for recreational water sports, but this is not true, at least not from what we’ve seen. The use of the water ways seems to be mostly dominated by the tourist industry and not by the locals (except for fishing and industry of course). In fact, India does not have many marinas or all weather anchorages either. The International Marina in Kochi (where we are staying) is the Headquarters of the Kerala Watersport & Sailing Organization (KWSO). This Organization was founded 10 years ago and teaches locals how to handle a small powerboat or sailboat. Since inception, over 200 people have received a certificate to operate a powerboat and another 300 to operate a sailboat. A few days ago, another powerboat course was successfully completed and the participants (all local) received their certificates. Many officials came to the ceremony and promised their future support for the organization. We were very fortunate in that all cruisers in the marina were invited to attend, witness the ceremony and meet many of the students and staff. (Photos and some of the text – courtesy of Peter on SV Kokomo). We talked with one young man who was excited because he’s going to Halifax Nova Scotia in a few months to enrol in College level merchant marine courses. Amongst the dignitaries was a retired Chief Court Justice (who took the course this year) and a retired Navy Commando turned movie producer.
Since installing our second portable A/C unit in the boat, we’ve noticed that they are both sucking a lot of air. If the hatches are all closed, this air has to come from somewhere. One such entrance is the air intake to the engine room. In order to prevent the unauthorized entry of mosquitoes, we covered this intake with fine curtain sheer material (a mosquito net of sorts). This is what it looks like after a couple of weeks. I suppose this is an indicator of the air quality, although you wouldn’t know it, from day to day.
Another Ramadan has come to a close. Nazar paid us a visit at the marina and he was all spiffed up and was even sporting a fancy ring on one of this fingers!
When we were out and about one day, I saw 5 Muslim boys waking together on their way to school. For fun, I called out MOHAMMED – and naturally all 5 of them turned around. Maybe they were all named Mohammed?
Today we walked and took the ferry over to the “mainland”. Its an alternative to taking an Uber or tuk-tuk. This is what the ferry dock, and ferry looks like.
Sadly, there is nothing unusual about the amount of garbage or debris, this is India. The ferry was on time, and dirt cheap, 10 rupees (about 20 CDN cents per person, each way). I even got to drive the ferry.
Along the way, we always talk with many people on the street. They are curious to know where we come from, why we’re in India, when we will leave. Many of them want to take selfies with us. This is a Hindu family, or least part of one.
It started to pour down rain, after all, this is the rainy season. The forecast for the next week, or next 30 days – is rain, cloud, wind – repeat. The daytime temperature has dropped from 36C to only 28C. I feel like putting on a sweater.
This is obviously a very new bus, it has windows or at least shutters!
This was our destination, the Airtel shop – our mobile phone network service provider. Our phone plans were expiring today.
We recharged our phones with exactly the same plan as when we arrived. We each have our own unblocked iPhone 6 and we use Airtel SIM cards on pay-as-you go plans. Each phone network service cost 484 rupees for 84 days service, including daily 1.5GB data, unlimited national calls (in India) and 100 SMS per day. That works out to about $ 3.23 CDN per month, per phone. Its hard to beat these kind of prices! In Canada, it would be 20X as much.
While standing outside, waiting for the shop to open at 10am, I noticed some sparks from the wires above our heads. Then I looked up. All throughout SE Asia, I have noticed the rapid proliferation and untidy, confusion of telecommunication wires. However, this was the first time I’d noticed this similar treatment with electrical utility wires. The transmission lines are actually wrapped (yes, just wire wrapped) with cables feeding down to street-level consumers. Do these lines then feed into meters? I doubt it.
Does this impact on the reliability of the electrical grid? You bet. In the marina, the power goes out (Monday to Friday) 5 or 6 times per day. Thankfully, the resort has a huge generator which comes on a few seconds later. On weekends the power is much more reliable.
I didn’t take this photo, but it is very representative of traffic here in India. I don’t think either of us will be driving in this country.
