Caravan and Outdoor Life

Around the CAMPFIRE

TRAVEL NAVIGATION

Lying in my hospital bed with the March issue Caravan & Outdoor Life, I was terribly amused by GPS vs maps debate, and it brought back so many amusing incidents.

In the middle 70’s we were coming out of the channel of Magaruque Island, a sailing destination near Bassas Da India, a sunken coral atoll midway between Madagascar and Africa, which had 27 known wrecks on it.

The journey started with the “Santiago”( another story) to the steel egg-carrying ship which ran aground, and now the only landmark for the atoll at high tide. We had just cleared the channel when the GPS went blank... dead as a dodo.

The skipper had been put to bed with kidney stones, ably nursed by Helen, a trained sister, and suddenly the title of alternative skipper had some serious meaning.

We inspected the aerials, power supply, all the leads, but not a chirp from

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