Indian Ocean crossing 12-26 July 2015

The Crossing of the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Mauritius has the reputation of strong winds and rough seas. For some it is the worst part of the passage to South Africa. The perceived wisdom is to start in late May/ June when the SE Trade winds are not fully developed or in September when they are declining.
The first leg, from the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra, to Cocos Keeling we found fairly benign, having waited a week at Pulau Peucang for a weather window for the 4-day passage.
On leaving Cocos Keeling the advice we had from Commanders Weather was to head virtually due west to avoid stronger winds further south. This we did for the first week before turning more to WSW to head for Rodrigues. This put us beam on to the seas, which were up to 4 m high, some with breaking crests which sent a lot of water over the decks, or pushed us over so the lee rail went under. Several days were spent with the third, very deep, reef in the mainsail and the storm jib replacing the furling genoa - still making 6-7, occasionally 8 knots.
The combination made Sea Bunny comfortable enough to sleep in the aft cabin.
The picture was taken on one of the calmer days!
The South Equatorial Current, which is supposed to run to the west, in our favour, at about 0.5 knots, did not seem to be in evidence. We observed up to 1.2 knots, running anywhere between NNW and due E.
Sea Bunny arrived at Port Mathurin, Rodrigues at 1345 local time, Sunday 26 July 2015.