Mike wakes me up just after 1 am. We still just have the genoa out and are still going along at the speed we need to get to the notorious heads at Knysna at high tide.
I can’t settle to watch a film so spend most of my time glued to the radar and the charts. It feels like a long four hours. When we get to the line Mike has marked on the charts for waking him up it is already light but very cold!
We can see A Lady entering the heads and we follow just half an hour behind them. I ring my sister to give them advance warning of our arrival as they want to be down at the waterside cafe as we enter.
High tide is at 5.50 am . There is a sand bar across the entrance which we will have no trouble crossing but apparently it can make for some nasty waves as the water rushes in or out of the lagoon. As we approach it doesn’t look too rough but when we are about a quarter of a mile away a wave appears to break across the entire 50 metre width of the channel and Mike tells me to go and get our life jackets. I take one look at his face and rush to get them. He rarely gets me to do this so I know this could potentially be serious. I had wanted to video our entrance through The Heads but now know that he won’t let me out of the cockpit until we are through and unless I am at the front of the boat the video won’t show anything.
Horrifyingly, you have to keep over to the left side of the channel as you enter, right close to the rocks.
Then Mike steers the boat directly towards the rocks on the right hand side and it feels like we are going to crash. He must have seen the alarm on my face as he then explains that he is following the guiding lines on the rocks in front of us. Phew! Then we are in and the water is calm. I look over towards the cafe but can’t see Ann and Terry anywhere so I call them and find that they are just a minute away and have missed us coming through. There’s no way Mike is going out and coming back in again so we settle for turning around and going back just a few hundred yards and then we see them getting out of the car and waving. What I don’t realise at first is that there are two unsuspecting fishermen on the rocks in between Ann and I and they must think that I am dancing up and down on the deck waving to them.
The lagoon is flat calm but full of sandbanks so you have to follow a channel through because at high tide these sandbanks are completely invisible. Ann and Terry race back ahead of us and take photos of our arrival from Thesen Island, one of the islands in the lagoon. We anchor near A Lady and I have just got the bridle on the anchor when Mike says I have to take it all up again as we are swinging over a sandbank which will not be a good idea during low tide!
Up it comes and we move over behind A Lady then down it goes again. This time we wait a little longer to see whether the hull of the boat can find another sandbank to hover over but it doesn’t.
Once settled we have breakfast then Mike starts to deal with the dinghy which is in a very sorry state. It hasn’t been used since Cocos Keeling and is deflated beyond belief. The flaccid sides hang down and as we lower it the only thing which keeps it afloat is the rigid bottom. Mike steps confidently onto it (I can’t say into it because of the state of the sides) and starts to pump it up. Given the state of it, this takes a while!
Once it is pumped up he tries to start the engine. Although it takes a few goes, unbelievably it starts. After having God knows how much salt water thrown over it, and given that the engine cover is totally cracked and broken (probably why no one will ever attempt to steal it) and must allow salt water in, it coughs, splutters, chucks out a plume of smoke and starts. Amazing.
A yachtie who has been living aboard his boat in Knysna Lagoon for a year, comes over to tell us about the anchoring conditions here. Although the holding is relatively good, the winds can be very strong and he recommends putting down a second anchor. Apparently it can blow through the lagoon at 70 miles an hour! Also, the constant ebb and flow of the strong tides means that the boats can turn around on themselves by 180 degrees and pull their anchors if the wind is strong at the same time. This strengthens Mike’s desire to get a mooring or a berth while we are here.
We have a quick wash up and sort ourselves out then get in the dinghy and head over to the dinghy dock at Knysna Yacht Club where Ann and Terry are waiting for us. Terry is wearing his World ARC 2002 polo shirt which he has adulterated to read “shore crew” to welcome us. Awww! After lots of cuddles and kisses all around we go into the yacht club to get temporary membership and see about settling Jeannius into somewhere safer. The guy we need to see is not in so we head up to Ann and Terry’s house high up on the hill overlooking the lagoon. We’ve never been here before and they have done lots to it over the last year, especially in the grounds. The views over the lagoon are fantastic and we sit on their new deck for a while with a glass of champagne admiring them. Since chopping down a lot of rampant vegetation and trees around their property they now have views around the whole of the lagoon. Both Mike and I having borrowed warm clothing from Ann and Terry as the wind is blowing cold at this height despite the strong sunshine.
As we watch the tide go out, the sandbanks become very obvious. What is also obvious is that Jeannius is swinging differently to the other boats. Her anchor is secure. She is not moving, but it may be that she is just in a strange tidal current. Whatever the reason, Mike is uneasy and keeps a wary eye on her.
We have an early lunch then go back down to the yacht club to see if we can get a mooring. No luck, and there’s no berth until Saturday so we decide to stay on board tonight just to see how Jeannius fares during a whole day of tidal changes.
We wander around the waterfront for a while. There are lots of good shops and restaurants here as well as even more in town. If we hadn’t spent all our money on the bloody boat I could have a field day!
We have just a little tour of Knysna itself which is much bigger than I had expected. I’m glad I’ll have plenty of time to explore over the next few weeks.
We have a delicious early evening meal then Terry takes us back to the yacht club and we return to Jeannius in the dinghy. It looks like it might rain as the clouds have come over during the late afternoon and we know the weather is on the turn but we are lucky and the rain stays away.
By 8.30 pm I am wrapped up in bed and ready for sleep. I have been up since 1 am and am shattered.
Our position is: 34 deg 02 min S, 23 deg 02 min E
Distance so far: 18426 nautical miles
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