Day 312: Richards Bay, South Africa – 14/11/10

Another miserable day in all senses of the word.  The weather is foul.  It rains on and off all day and is cold (well, cold to us – probably like a reasonable summer’s day in England).  We still have no news about our generator part and obviously won’t do today because it’s Sunday.

Bev was so appalled by the tension in my shoulders when she saw me yesterday, that she offered Moe’s expert deep tissue massage services and I go over to see when he can fit me in.  Apparently there’s no time like the present and minutes later Moe is pummelling away at the knots like crazy.  Great while it lasts but I’ve a feeling my shoulders will be up around my ears again by tomorrow.

In the late afternoon another four boats leave in the last weather window for a few days.  When Mike looks at Google Earth he can see that some of the boats that left yesterday stopped at Durban but some of them pushed straight on heading for East London I suppose, after which it normally becomes a little bit easier.

We spend some time downloading and filling in my passport renewal forms.  On top of everything else, my passport, which still has over a year to run, is completely full.  I can’t leave the country without renewing it and it has to be sent to Pretoria (just north of Johannesburg) to be done.  We will have to send it by courier and now need to track down somewhere to have passport photos taken although we think we spotted a place in the mall the other day.

The most exciting thing we do today is go to the book swap place up at the yacht club bar.  Exciting stuff, huh?

Day 311: Richards Bay, South Africa – 13/11/10

What a miserable day.  Yesterday evening (US late morning) Jim set his secretary back in the US on the job of trying to find out the shipping number for our generator part that is coming direct from the manufacturers.  This morning he turns up with a tracking number but this only tracks it from the factory to a distribution depot in Boston.  This depot is near Logan International airport … and the sea port, and we have no idea which one of these two our part has gone to.

When Mike contacts the freight company handling the first delivery he is given the name of the company handling the second part.  He speaks to several people, none of whom can track it down as they are just weekend cover.  Given the time difference it will now be late on Monday at the earliest before we can find anything out now.  This is so frustrating and Mike and I are stressed beyond belief.

Seven boats leave today, trying to start their journey to Cape Town by getting 90 miles down the coast to Durban.  We heard that Destiny, who left a couple of days ago had winds of 45 knots right on the nose – exceedingly unpleasant.

Grand Filou who left in the late morning is back in the afternoon.  The temporary fix of a hole in the hull where a light fitting fell out, has not held and started leaking water.  They will now have to be hauled out and fixed properly.

Although more than half the fleet is still here, it feels extremely quiet in the marina.  At least four boats are leaving tomorrow as well as long as the weather window remains.  I wish we were leaving too.  All the hanging around is driving us nuts.

There is a party all afternoon and evening at the Zululand Yacht Club to commemorate its age, and we go along in the evening for a drink and something to eat.  Unusually, the food is not good and we leave early as I have a headache.

Day 310: Richards Bay, South Africa – 12/11/10

Having heard nothing back about the generator yesterday, Mike decides to come with us to the national game park and just before 8 am we are piling onto a minibus with ten others.

It takes just over an hour to drive to the Hluhluwe game reserve with our guide/driver, Samwara.  We go through hundreds of acres of planted timber forests as there is a thriving paper production industry here. 

As I have been told, the majority of houses are in gated compounds.  High wall  topped with barbed wire and barred windows and doors indicate a worrying crime rate even here.  Even modest houses have wire fences around them, some of them little more than a modern take on a mud hut.

Photo:  Rubbish caught on a barbed wire fence around ‘mud’ huts

We arrive at Hluhluwe, one of the oldest game reserves in Zululand just after nine and begin the drive around the park.  The bus is air conditioned and closed in although some of the other buses are open sided which I would have preferred.  We are not allowed to get out of the vehicle which is a bit disappointing but when I hear how quickly an elephant can charge when it takes it into its head to do so, maybe that’s no bad thing.

Here’s what we see.

Photo:  Baboons

Photo:  Zebras

Photo:  Eagles

 Photos:  Wildebeests and impalas

  Photos:  Giraffes

Photo:  Nyalas

Photo:  Water buffalos

Photo:  White rhinos

Photos:  Elephants

There’s great excitement when we come across a herd of female elephants with their youngsters.  One large female shows a little more interest in our vehicle than is comfortable and Samwara starts the engine just in case (they can cover 50 metres very quickly) but after a bit of ear flaring she decides to eat the nearest tree instead.  The herd move away from us, keeping the young in the centre surrounded by adults.  Once they are behind us, the trundle down the road.  A little further on we come across two young bull elephants taking mud and dust baths.

Photo:  Warthogs

Photos:  Dung beetles

We see lots of dung beetles rolling their beautifully rounded balls of dung along the road.  Apparently the female creates the balls of dung then sits on it while the male rolls the thing along.  Sometimes they fall off but clamber back on.

Sadly, we see no leopards or lions.  They are in the park but do not tend to hang around by the side of the road like the other animals do.  There are hiking trips in the parks and this is where you are far more likely to see them I think.

One of the most amazing sights though, is one of the amazingly gentle and loving rare breeds of Michael water buffalo.  How lucky am I that I am married to one of them?

Photo:  Mike, a rare breed indeed

We had thought we were going to the Hilltop restaurant for lunch but end up being taken to a take away place near for burgers, not quite what we had intended.  Next to the snack bar is the usual local craft market but unlike many of the places we have visited, there is no pressure to buy.  In fact, they seem to ignore us which is much preferable.  I want to buy a woven wire bowl but Mike points out that it will probably rust within a very short time so I buy a wooden one instead.

We get back to the marina around 5 pm, exhausted even though we have sat in the car for most of the day.  But what a day!

Day 309: Richards Bay, South Africa – 11/11/10

I wake up at just gone 4.15 am, again because it is so light and this is fooling me.  Mike is also awake and gets up to make the tea.  This is getting ridiculous.

While Mike uses the internet to sort out the whereabouts of our generator part, I try to go back to sleep but after an hour or so I give up.  Mike is no further forward with the generator – the parts have been despatched but we can’t find out the tracking number as no one is the US company has replied to his e-mails.  I am so fed up that I stomp off the boat with my camera to go for a walk.  I get no further than Crazy Horse where I join Matt, Bev and Moe for tea and a piece of carrot cake.  By the time Mike comes looking for me, I have decided to join them tomorrow on a game drive to cheer myself up.  Whether Mike can come as well depends on whether we get any news today.  We decide to go into town, or at least the large mall, to buy a SIM card for his mobile phone.  We are going to be in South Africa long enough for it to be worthwhile.

We arrange a lift, but have a while to kill before it arrives so we go for a walk around the marina.  We are surprised to see warnings about crocodiles, completely forgetting that we are in Africa.  I keep thinking we have left all the crocs behind in Australia.

Photo:  Crocodile warnings

Looking out to sea near the breakwater, it’s difficult to believe that this calm stretch of water was absolutely heaving when we came in.  The roar of the waves against the breakwater was incredible then.

Photo:  If only it had been this calm when we came in

Photo:  Zululand Yacht Club – our hosts in Richards Bay

At the entrance to the yacht club is a tree which is absolutely full of birds’ nests, with beautiful yellow birds flying in and out all the time.  You have to be careful not to walk under it otherwise you get pooped on as I found out yesterday.  Luckily the birds, and their poop, are small!

Photo:  Why all the birds choose this tree I don’t know

Photo:  There must be lots of mouths to feed

Ben, one of the waiters who is running a shuttle service for the rally crews while we are here, takes us to the mall on the outskirts of Richards Bay.  It is huge and very civilised.  We eventually manage to buy a SIM card although it proves pretty difficult at first.  The girl says that the regulations here dictate that you need a letter from a utility company to prove an address in the country.  I explain that we are on a boat and make our own electricity (I wish – generator etc).  She seems very confused by this and asks for an ID number.  I explain that we don’t have them.  This confuses her further.  She then asks for Mike’s passport which he doesn’t have with him so he just writes down a number and she accepts it.  It could have been any old number.  How ridiculous.

We do some food shopping and think it’s very expensive, not realising that the shop we went to is probably the Richards Bay equivalent of Harrods Food Hall.  Ah well.  The stuff looks delicious and I even manage to buy a tiny bottle of my beloved truffle oil along with some wonderful looking garlic and chilli prawns and some other lovely foodie stuff.  We also, very importantly, find an ATM and get some cash.

On the way back Ben tells us about all the naughty (his description, not ours) monkeys that are around.  He says that one will appear by the road and unsuspecting tourists will feed it then loads more suddenly arrive and it can all turn very ugly.

After a light lunch I start to give the cockpit a clean, hosing it down and wiping all the salt away.  Mike takes an afternoon nap.  I then go over to Chessie to give them some photos of the night before and naturally end up staying for a drink.  They have invited Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper over for a raclette and drink, as they have never tried raclette cheese before.  I go back to the boat to get Mike but he’s still half asleep and doesn’t feel like going out, so I go back for a couple of hours.  It’s many years since I’ve had raclette – that was on a skiing trip in the French Alps, somewhat different to sitting on a boat on the South African coast.

Day 308: Richards Bay, South Africa – 10/11/10

The wind howls all night and the rain continues to pour down.  Confused though by how early it gets light, I am awake at 5 am and want a cup of tea.  I have to wriggle a lot before Mike eventually wakes up and is sufficiently disturbed to get out of bed and provide one for me.

We had been going to take the shuttle into town today but after making the tea and peering out of the window, Mike proclaims the weather to be like being in England and promptly goes back to bed.

The wind is so strong that it pulls the boat away from the pontoon.  Getting off is therefore not an option from the back steps and I have to get off over the side.  With long and very flexible legs, this is not normally a problem but the floating pontoons here are really low to the water so stepping over requires me to put one foot on the one inch wide window ledge and balance there precariously on the way down. In strong winds, wearing flip flops, bikini and sarong (which is determined to wrap itself around everything except me during my descent) I manage to get off.  Elegant it is not but at least I don’t fall in the water!

I pop over to say Hi to Jutta, Jochem and Eline.  Sitting in their cockpit we watch the wind pulling at the yachts, trying to drag them sideways, which in turn tugs at the newly constructed floating pontoons, pulling them sideways too.  I have visions of the whole lot being pulled apart and out to sea.

When I get back to the boat, Mike, although still in his dressing gown and slippers, has started on his list of jobs.  While he is captive, I pin him down for a long overdue haircut and general tidy up.  Now I can be seen in public with him – as long as he shaves!

The wind and rain continue.  The upside (of the rain anyway) is that I don’t have to wash the outside apart from the cockpit.  Mike goes off to listen to a talk about the journey south then west towards Cape Town by a local sailor, most of which is about the dangers of not taking note of the weather.  All sailing here revolves around the weather and the short weather windows.  They’ll be no long distance hauls but short shops of a couple of hundred miles each.  This would be good if we didn’t have time constraints.  We need to be in Knysna a couple of days before Victoria arrives on 26 November, but with the blasted generator part not having turned up yet, we are stuck here for longer than we should be.

Almost immediately he gets back we have to leave to go to the welcome party being given by the Zululand Yacht Club.  We have been given free tee shirts from them and everyone wears them.  We start off in the bar with free drinks then move downstairs for the prize giving and presentations.  We win first prize in the multihull division for the second time in a row.

Photo:  Accepting our prize with the crew from Tucanon who came second

A local dance troupe of kids puts on a fantastic display of Zulu tribal dancing.  They are fantastic and their enthusiasm makes you want to join in.  I love African tribal music; the beat, the stomping, the drums.  Wonderful stuff.  It reminds of that group that was around in the late 70s, Burundi Black.

A competition is set up for us.  Whoever can spit a piece of impala droppings the furthest will win an impala hide.  I am up for having a go even before they reveal that they will actually give us chocolate peanuts instead of impala poo to use, but first there’s the barbecue.  The amount of food is huge, and even though I am almost at the end of the queue there is loads left.

Photo:  Me, Joe and Jared

There’s live music as well, and as the wine has been flowing a bit, most of us get up to dance, although as usual, most of the women are more enthusiastic than the men.

Photo:  Rosemary tries the African stomping

Photo:  A final cuddle with Paul before he flies off to join the ARC

Then the spitting begins.  By the time I get outside, chocolate peanuts have been flying everywhere.  I watch some of the guys.  They can project them a long way – it must be all that hot air behind them.  I have a go but my ladylike attempts are quite pathetic.

Photo:  My chocolate peanuts fly about 10 foot at the most

Oisin from Brown Eyed Girl wins the gobbing contest and goes off with his prize.  After lots more dancing, I am suddenly overcome with a fit of tiredness and we creep back to the boat and into bed.

Day 307: La Reunion to South Africa – 09/11/10

While I sleep the wind carries on at 40 knots and more and we manage to keep going at nearly 10 knots with virtually no genoa up at all as we are being helped by the current which is running at 3 knots going south with us.  Eventually, 20 miles away from Richards Bay the wind starts to die down a little, to about 30 knots although there are gusts over 50 knots which are a little scary.

We start to turn in towards the coast but even though we are now pointing in towards the coast we are still going in exactly the same direction as before, taken sideways south by the very strong current.  Obviously we need to have some power to get across this and towards land but don’t want to put any sail out as the wind is still gusting to 40 knots.  Mike turns on both engines to power ourselves out of the current and after about half an hour of gradually getting closer to land (but still going sideways) we are suddenly out of the current and heading in towards land rapidly.  The seas become much calmer and the worst is obviously over.

Then the wind dies away to nothing and just as Mike thinks the last 10 miles is going to be a nice gentle motor down the coast, the wind suddenly starts up from the south west instead of from the north and we are now motoring into 20 knots of wind and lumpy seas, only making 3.5 knots.  Having previously covered 10 miles in one hour, the last 10 take us about 3 hours.

Mike drags me out of bed and I start to call rally control to let them know we have arrived.  I get fully dressed as it is cold and damp.  While Mike puts on the warps and fenders, I take the helm, a terrifying prospect for me and every boat around us.  We are met by Paul in a fast rib with a couple of policemen who are there to guide us into the Zululand Yacht Club.  I follow the rib slowly (Paul making comments about it being all right if it takes me all night) but start to get very nervous as we approach the marina and am grateful when Mike takes over the helm.

We tie up and other boats come go greet us.  As it is 2 am local time, this is really lovely of them.  The commodore of the yacht club arrives and gives us a bottle of champagne which the two of us chug down straight from the bottle on the quayside.  Voyageur come in just half an hour after us and get their bottle although have a little more decorum than us and get glasses out.

We hit the sack and fall asleep almost immediately even though the bed feels disgustingly damp.

In the morning Mike sets up the shore power so that we can have air conditioning to dry out the boat and I strip the beds and do a pile of laundry so that we can have nice, fresh sheets.

Getting hooked up with the internet we discover that the transformer for the generator has not yet made it to Richards Bay even though it was shipped out on 4 November.  Here we go!

More boats continue to arrive.  Tucanon came in during the night, then Crazy Horse.  Bev and I put our Crazy Horse tee shirts on to welcome them and do a tiny cheerleader thing with Sophia on the dock as added entertainment. 

Photo:  The Crazy Horse fan club – Sophia, me and Bev

Later Chessie and Brown Eyed Girl arrive but I am into the laundry by now and don’t see them actually tying up.  Then Eowyn arrives and is rafted up next to us again.  More dirty footprints – sigh!

As usual at the end of something stressful, Mike has a bad headache and goes to bed.  I try to have a late afternoon nap but don’t manage to sleep.  Then the rain and the wind starts, just as predicted.  It gets really dark and we have thunder and lightning.  I am glad we weren’t out on the ocean in this.

In the evening I go down to the bar and have a drink with Sophia, Jared, Charlie and Richie but only stay for one as I also have a headache.  On the way back to the boat I stop off at Ocean Jasper as they have come in while I have been at the bar and Maggie and Bob are there celebrating their arrival.  It’s great to see them at last.  As I walk down the dock I see Basia, the last of the fleet, mooring up. 

I still cannot believe that we have made it across nearly 18000 miles and two oceans to Africa.  On top of that, one of those oceans is the vile Indian Ocean, and our boats have made it across battle scarred with their crews exhausted – but safe!  Within a few days, lots of the boats will start to depart for Cape Town as lots of crews are heading home for Christmas  or going off to explore inland.

 

Our position is:  28 deg 47 min S, 32 deg 04 min E

Distance so far:  17882 nautical miles

Day 306: La Reunion to South Africa – 08/11/10

Having slept well (thanks to the drugs) I feel quite normal at 2 am when Mike wakes me up.  My watch is uneventful.  The only commercial traffic that I see passes miles away and causes me no hassle.

When Mike comes on watch I decide to see if there are enough drugs still in my system to let me get off to sleep, and discover, happily, that there are, managing to get another few hours.

Voyageur is now within sight of us, on our starboard beam.  It’s good to have some company after all this time of being alone.  There has been discussion while I was asleep about the weather and how to deal with the problem of getting to Richards Bay before the bad stuff hits.  We are going to continue as far west as we can before conditions dictate that we turn south or south west.  The wind has picked up enough for us to sail nicely, although the sea is a bit on the lumpy side.

I make some lovely cabbage cooked in butter flavoured with garlic, chilli, anchovies and rosemary (good old Jamie Oliver) and open one of the tins of Confit de Canard.  It’s all very yummy.

During the afternoon the wind starts to pick up, and eventually the nice 20 to 25 knots has turned into a lively 25 to 30 knots.  Mike takes in some of the genoa then decides it’s time to take a second reef in the main.  Just as we finish, a huge wave comes over the side of the boat missing me by seconds.

I talk to Susan over the VHF.  We are both fed up and long for this leg of the journey to be over.

Within half an hour the wind has continued to increase so much that Mike goes out to take the main down completely and has just finished doing so when another wave comes over and drenches him.  He could win a wet tee shirt competition!

Photo:  Mike in wet tee shirt number two!

Voyageur and ourselves are now following the same course direct to Richards Bay.  We have gone as far west as conditions will allow and need to head south west.  By 9 pm the wind is 30 to 35 knots with gusts over 40 knots.  Mike takes the genoa in even more and we both prepare to sleep in the salon.  I don’t think either of us will get much sleep tonight but at least with the speed we are doing (9 to 10 knots) we should be in early tomorrow morning, safely in the marina before the really bad weather hits.

I decide to go and lie down.  I know I won’t sleep anyway as the wind is now 40 to 45 knots.  Mike goes out yet again and reduces the genoa is a size that can’t possibly do anything but our speed hardly reduces.  How can that be possible?

Then the really impossible happens.  In a violently heaving sea, with crashing all around me and water coming through the hatch above me, I fall asleep.

 

 

Our position is:  28 deg 37 min S, 33 deg 32 min E

Distance so far:  17857 nautical miles