This page gives a general overview of our recent movements. For the more detailed and freshest reports, please take a look at our latest reports via the Logbook Index.

Scorpio is back in Phuket, Thailand, after a cruise in the Maldives!

How come? That was never in the plan!

On January 15, 2011, after 18 months in Thailand and Malaysia, we finally departed on what we believed would be the last longer leg on our journey back to the Mediterranean, finishing our long circumnavigation. The first stepping stone on this trip was Uligan, an atoll in the northern Maldives, where we arrived twelve days and 1,600 nm later on January 27.

But let's take a step back. The first map below shows our plan as it looked in the autumn of 2010. Unfortunately our departure from Thailand, which was set to 15 December, was severely delayed because of a hugh refit-project on the yacht. Consequently we had to skip calling in at the Andaman Islands as well as Sri Lanka. In the Arabian Sea we planned to follow the track indicated by the yellow line to avoid increased pirate activity. The second (satellite) image shows our actual track from Phuket to Uligan.

But by the end of January everything had changed, during that month there had been around 30 attacks by pirates all over the Arabian Sea. We made a drastic decision: plan aborted, we will return to Thailand.

The image on the left is a copy of an ICC map indicating piracy incidents in the NW Indian Ocean from January to April 2011. I have superimposed our planned route through the area. - We decided not to go! But several yachts did go. Four cruisers were murdered and seven others taken hostage. (Click on map for larger version)

However, before the return to Phuket in April we enjoyed the Maldives for two months. Here, on this site you will find several stories and reports from our visit to the lowest country in the world (link from here to the first report of the Maldives trip). We left Male for Phuket on the 20th of March and arrived back in Thailand on 2nd of April.

Our return track to Thailand is indicated on the satellite image below (except that we didn't stop at Pulau Weh).

We will stay in Thailand and Malaysia until the end of 2011.

It now appears likely that our return to Europe will be by way of South Africa. For a discussion about the various alternatives check our Future Anchorages page.

The satellite image below right shows our track since 1992 and our planned (now aborted) return path to the Mediterranean, where we should have arrived in Turkey at the end of May 2011. The yellow lines indicate our two alternatives for finishing the circumnavigation - via the Suez Canal and via the Cape of Good Hope. The circumnavigation could be completed either in Sicily or Malta in the Med or in Trinidad & Tobago or Grenada in the Caribbean.

Look at the latest cyclone watch satellite image for the Indian Ocean HERE.

Click on maps for larger images.

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