On May 22, Commander Dilip Dhonde will become the first Indian to circumnavigate the earth solo. According to the Navy officials, Commander Dhonde is scheduled to reach the shores of Mumbai on May 22.
A grand event has been planned to welcome Commander Dhonde on May 22.
Commander Dhonde started the last leg of his voyage on April 3, 2010 when he left from Cape Town to reach Mumbai.
The Indian Navy officer crossed the equator on May 6. “This was our fourth Equator crossing in less than a year,” commented Commander Dhonde.
On his blog, he added, “So far the progress has been better than expected though the doldrums must have shifted north with the sun and we may yet encounter them as we move north.”
According to him, the days are increasingly hot on the high seas with the temperature inside the boat refusing to drop below 32 degrees Celsius. “All the water that evaporates from the sea during the hot day comes down at night as thunder showers with strong gusty winds and sheets of rain. So we are settling into an interesting routine of staying awake during the night controlling the boat and unable to sleep during the day due to the heat,” reads his blog.
He is in an uncomfortable situation when it comes to food as he has run out of butane gas, therefore no more cooking can be done onboard and has to do with unheated canned food. Currently he is around 900 nautical miles away from Mumbai.
Commander Dhonde left from Cape Town, on INSV Mhadei after it underwent repairs. on February 25. According to Commander Dhonde, the repairs that were done fall under “desirable” rather than “essential” category due to the better availability of spares and skills.
Commander Dhonde started his voyage on August 19, 2009 in an attempt to become the first and only Indian to undertake a solo circumnavigation expedition under sails as a part of a project titled “Sagar Parikrama”.