Arriving at the Abrolhos Islands

7 August 2013

We have arrived at the Abrolhos Islands, where ‘Batavia’ grounded. And it is quite understandable that they did not see the group of islands. The islands are all very low and hard to see. The islands were quickly named by the early mariners, “abre os olhos” Abrolhos, meaning “open the eyes” (although this etymology is doubted).
The voyage from Fremantle to these islands brought us through a lobster-fishing area. Lobsters are caught by placing big metal cages on the sea bed. The cages are marked with a small buoy attached to a line. But again, also these buoys are not easily seen. We have probably crossed one of these lines, which ended in our propellor. After discovering this, we lowered the sails and started to get this line out of the propellor. We started to try to remove it while swimming with snorkel, fins and a knife. But the swell was too big.
The second try was more successful. In the dinghy, with the knife attached to a boathook, we were able to cut the line and remove it. So we could luckily continue our journey without problems. We do have an extra guard on deck now to look for lines and reefs.