This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: RECIT DE VOYAGE - AURORA - STOP#9 - Christmas Island...! Episode1.

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

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THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - Christmas Island
Part 1

How to describe my feelings after spending 4 months of trouble, between the break of the mast, the road more than incredible to rally Bali, the return to this world of consumption that I had forgotten, the inevitable encounters with people feeding on the woes of people of passage, and then the sketch of a solution, the work to rebuild and finally the freedom found !?

Because it's all about that. As I move away from Bali, it is the feeling of freedom that takes precedence over fear, stress, anger, hatred that I have felt in recent months. My memory will, I know, quickly bury the worst of this situation and leave to my mind only this freedom found. Sometimes it's good to have the brain of a goldfish!

It will take time, several hours of navigation, to link freedom to the beauty of the sea found again. Because for those who have never been to Bali before, you must know that this island is surrounded by a halo of plastics like the circles of Saturn. Five or six hours of navigation on a plastic waste surface is a long time, I assure you. It is in these moments that one becomes aware that the planet is not able to absorb the abuses of Mankind. And then, with a single blow, certainly at the crossing of a current boundary, the water becomes pure, as blue as I had not seen it for a long time. Aurora spins at more than five knots, which is honorable for this old lady who is just back on her feet. As for me, I am living again.

This accident, obviously not foreseen in the planning of my trip, made me skip a season. My initial route was planned to pass through the Strait of Malacca, reach the north of Sumatra, Sri Lanka and then descend through the Maldives to Mayotte. This route is no longer possible. Now the winds are trending West north of the equator and we are in the trade winds south of the equator. It is therefore necessary to choose a much longer direct route or to wait 6 months for the next favorable season. This will be the direct route! This part of the Indian Ocean has very few islands. This new route takes me through Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling and the Chagos Archipelago. These are the only stops on my way. This also implies long periods of navigation without touching ground. I would certainly avoid this at the beginning of my journey but now I feel better able to spend time at sea. The first step promises me five days at sea. In fact, it was five days quite peaceful. A buoyant wind, a steady sea, all conditions are met to give me confidence.

A few miles from Christmas Island, the wind falls and me with. I fall asleep for several hours rocked by a calm sea and a very slow pace. When I wake up, the island is in front of me and to my surprise a freighter is turning its back to my port side ... I look at its wake, I look at mine, and I do not understand how we could have crossed without collision ... But where did it go? Certainly not far! The question will remain unanswered and I prefer to worry about my landing on the island which, once again, will happen at night!

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01: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Funny situations ...! at sea..., by @marc-allaria
02: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The fishing file ...!, by @marc-allaria
03: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Cagayan Islands, by @marc-allaria
04: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: Seaweed...!, by @marc-allaria
05: DISCOVER THE PHILIPPINES: The Bacuit Archipelago, by @marc-allaria
06: BORNEO: Kudat and the technical stop, by @marc-allaria
07: BORNEO: Kinabatangan River, by @marc-allaria
08: BORNEO: Maratua, part 1, by @marc-allaria
09: BORNEO: Big Fish School, by @marc-allaria
10: BORNEO: Diving in Maratua ...!, by @marc-allaria
11: BORNEO: The jellyfish lake ...!, by @marc-allaria
12: SULAWESI: Sewia...!, by @marc-allaria
13: SULAWESI: Story of a dive at Pasoso Island...!, by @marc-allaria
14: SULAWESI: Tanjun Kai...!, by @marc-allaria
15: SULAWESI: Kopoposang...!, by @marc-allaria
16: SULAWESI: PA-RA-SI-TE...!, by @marc-allaria
17: SULAWESI: BIRA...!, by @marc-allariaThe long mishap - Part 1
18: SULAWESI: Diving under my house ...!
19: SULAWESI: Stright ahead ...!, by @marc-allaria
20: The long mishap - Part 1, by @marc-allaria
21: The long mishap - Part 2, by @marc-allaria
22: The long mishap - Part 3, by @marc-allaria
23: The long mishap - Part 4, by @marc-allaria
24: The long mishap - Part 5, by @marc-allaria