South Africa
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 – Royal Cape Yacht Club, Cape Town, South Africa
What a night last night. We have hardly had any sleep and in a few short hours we are leaving South Africa and heading out on a 1700 mile passage to St. Helena.
After a decadent week at the V&A marina, we begrudgingly left and motored a whopping two miles over to the Royal Cape Yacht Club marina (aka RCYC). For some strange reason when a cruising boat is leaving the country, you are required to clear out at the RCYC. Which is really a bummer because here you are in the wonderful V&A marina and you have to plan into your weather window spending at least a night at the RCYC simply to leave the country . It’s a tough transition from V&A to RCYC, while they are only 2 miles apart in distance they are worlds apart as far as marinas are considered. Granted RCYC has a nice yacht club and restaurant, but then again every third plank of our dock is missing and the marina is subject to strong winds and tidal currents. We spent yesterday afternoon visiting the various government offices required to clear out of the country and last night we had a really nice dinner at the RCYC restaurant with a group boats who are also leaving South Africa shortly.
When we got back to Hokule’a (after having to step over every third plank on the dock in the dark) I noticed that our stern light was hanging by a wire off of the arch that supports our solar panels. About the same time a French lady came walking up and apologetically explained that while trying to pull in to a slip they crashed into our boat due to the strong wind and current. She said that her and her husband would be happy to come over in the morning to help assess the damage and pay for whatever needed to be fixed. We thanked her for letting us know (a lot of people wouldn’t have) and said we would chat in the morning. The problem was that we were planning to leave first thing in the morning and last thing you want before a 1700 mile passage is to be worried about damage to your boat. So we spent most of the night fixing the stern light, replacing the sheered bolts in the arch support, checking the GPS and other electrical wiring on the arch, checking the hull and the aft rigging for damage. Fortunately the solar panels were not broken, but I couldn’t test whether they were working or not until day light, so we got a couple hours of restless sleep before dawn. Fortunately the solar panels are working, but in the morning light we noticed that the support legs for our stern ladder had been broken off. Obviously we don’t need the stern ladder to make the passage and since the French boat that hit us is also heading to Saint Helena, they offered to retrieve the supports with scuba and bring them to us in St. Helena.
So in a few short hours we will be saying goodbye to South Africa and setting sail for St. Helena. South Africa has been absolutely magical. The country and its people have been amazingly kind to us during our 4.5 month adventure here. We are really going to miss South Africa and we will definitely come back. After our experience in the Southern Indian Ocean it probably won’t be by boat, but we will definitely be back. Here’s hoping for a much calmer Atlantic Ocean crossing….
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 – Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
After patiently (actually rather impatiently at times) waiting in Simons Town we were finally rewardedwith a good weather window to get around to Cape Town – a forecasted 15 hour period of light winds that coincided with mostly daylight hours. So just before dawn on Tuesday (March 3rd), Hokule’a, Kite and a few other cruising boats motored out of Simons Town marina and headed for the Cape. The Cape of Good Hope (aka Cape of Storms) is legendary for the hundreds of ship wrecks caused by its howling winds, rouge waves, unpredictable currents, submerged rocks, and fog. But on this particular morning it was a glorious trip around with sunny skies, light winds, and considering where we were “relatively” calm seas. No heroics needed here as Jackie and I were more than thrilled having to motor in light winds aroundone of the world’s Great Capes. The trip from there up to Cape Town was equally as nice and we were treated with rare views of Table Mountain without a cloud in the sky.
Cape Town has only two marinas where sailboats like ours can be accommodated. Unfortunately both of them are expensive, but one is old and in a crappy location and the other is new and in a great location. Obviously we went with the latter which is located in the heart of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (aka the V&A). In order to enter the marina there are two bridges that have to be opened. Thefirst is a swing bridge and the second a bascule bridge. Passing through the bascule bridge can be a little nerve wracking when the wind is blowing, especially if the operator chooses not to open it fully (see photo). But once inside it was like heaven and it certainly was one of the calmest and most protected marinas we had been in in a very long time. Not to mention that it was right next door to a waterfront development with dozens of great restaurants, stores, supermarkets and extremely convenient public transportation options to anywhere in Cape Town. There was a slight issue with Cape Fur Seals on the docks, but other than that it was perfect. Nothing like a week or so of decadence to get ready for a long sail across the Atlantic Ocean…
Monday, February 23, 2015 – Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
After the shark dive, we stopped for dinner in the coastal town of Hermanus at a wonderful restaurant called the Harbor Rock. It sits out on a rocky point with an amazing view of the ocean, or should I say oceans because we were pretty darn close to where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. Our waitress was in complete disbelief that we were planning to drive to Simons Town after dinner. I guess a 2.5 hour drive after dark for people in Hermanus must be a big deal. She was super nice and as we were walking out she brought us take away coffee for the road.
As if we hadn’t had enough driving, the next morning we left the boat and headed out on one more drive along Chapmans Peak Road. Hard to get tired of that, as it is one of the most beautiful drives that I have ever been on. Later that evening we met up for dinner with Jack and Zdenka who had just returned from a trip to Namibia.
Thursday was John and Tami’s last full day with us in Simons Town and what better way to spend it than another visit with the penguins in the morning and wine tasting in the afternoon with Jack and Zdenka. The six of us rented a van with a driver and headed over to the Constantia wine region (just north of Simons Town) to enjoy 3 of their many wineries and one of Jack’s favorite restaurants. Great wine, great food, and great friends….it was a fitting way to wrap up a wonderful visit with John and Tami. As usual the time went by too fast and we miss you guys already!
Our focus now shifts to finding a weather window to get from Simons Town, around the Cape of Good Hope, and up to Cape Town. The passage can be done in a single day if you get lucky with the weather, as it is only a 50 mile trip. We had actually hoped to be able to do the trip with John and Tami, but there wasn’t a decent weather window during their entire visit. From Simons Town you basically head south to the Cape of Good Hope, make a big u-turn around the Cape and then head north to Cape Town. Simple enough, except that the wind seems to always blow at either 30 knots from the north or 30 knots from the south, ensuring that at least one leg of the trip is going to be really nasty. Not to mention all the currents, reefs, rocks and waves associated with the Cape itself. Needless to say we are happy to wait a little longer in wonderful little Simons Town for the perfect day.
There certainly is never a shortage of cool stuff to do here in the Western Cape and last night we went with Jack and Zdenka to a Folk Music Festival at the amazing Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Nothing like watching the sunset over Devils Peak and Table Mountain with great music and great friends to make you forget all about weather windows…..
Tuesday, February 17, 2015 – Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
Since I was a little kid one of the things I have always wanted to do is to go cage diving with great white sharks. Over the years, I have probably watched every documentary and Discovery Channel show about the South African great white sharks at Dyer Island and Shark Alley and today I finally got to go there and see them up close and personal with my buddy John.
Jackie and Tami had absolutely zero interest in going out on the boat or getting in the cage with us, but they joined John and me anyway for the 2 hour drive along the coast to Gansbaii which is the closest town to Dyer Island and Shark Alley.
On the way, we took a short detour through the unbelievably large shanty town of Khayelitsha where many of the former residents of District Six were relocated. The area is composed of thousands upon thousands of wood and metal shacks interspersed with government provided communal porta-pottie areas and communal water spigots. It is also interspersed with bright lights installed on very tall poles that look like something that would be installed in a prison yard. Based on the spider web of sketchy looking wires running from these poles to the shacks, it appears that most of them at least have electricity. The “official” South African government census for 2011 says that about 400,000 people live here, but several independent estimates indicate that the population is over 1,000,000.
We arrived in Gansbaii around noon and found the “Great White House” which is a bar and restaurant that also houses the office for the shark dive operation called Marine Dynamics. Marine Dynamics is one of several licensed cage diving operators in Gansbaii who run boats out to Dyer Island and Shark Alley. John and I went to check in for our trip while the girls cozied up to a comfy table next to a fireplace. After learning that the water temperature had dropped overnight to 53 degrees, I briefly considered staying with the girls.
However, I am very happy that I didn’t because within 10 minutes of anchoring we had a very large (14’) male white shark circling the boat and the cage. Throughout the afternoon we had 5 different great white sharks visit the boat multiple times. Yes, the water was painfully cold (even with a very thick wetsuit, hood and booties) but it was totally worth it to be underwater with several great white sharks.
John and I returned to the “Great White House” about 3 ½ hours later to find the girls still in the same cozy spot by the fire. We were shivering and smelling like chum, but grinning from ear to ear about our amazing experience with the great white sharks of South Africa.
Monday, February 16, 2015 – Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
A great day today visiting more sights of Cape Town with John and Tami. Started the morning off at the eye-opening District 6 museum which serves as a reminder of some of the shocking events that took place in South Africa during apartheid. District 6 was a thriving multi-ethnic neighborhood with over 50,000 residents, until 1966 when the government declared it a whites-only area. Most of the residents were forcibly relocated to a shanty town called Khayelitsha over 30 miles away and nearly all of the buildings in District 6 were bulldozed. The area of District 6 was never developed by the apartheid era government and is still mostly undeveloped today. The museum is a moving collection of photos, artifacts and stories from many of the former residents of District 6. A plaque on the exterior of the building (which because I was so disgusted that I forgot to get a photo of) said, “All who pass by, remember with shame the many thousands of people who lived for generations in District Six and other parts of this city, who were forced by law to leave their homes because of the colour of their skins. Father, forgive us.”
On a slightly more upbeat note, we then wandered the streets of a nearby area of Cape Town called Bo-Kaap which was settled by former Muslim slaves from Indonesia and Malaysia who gained their independence in the 1830’s. The descendants of those slaves still live here today in the brightly colored houses and cobbled streets of Bo Kaap.
Our next stop was the famous Table Mountain. The weather on top of Table Mountain is prettyfickle and we had tried several times previously to get to the top but either the clouds or the wind had prevented it. Today the weather looked great, but since it was late in the day we opted for the cable car trip in lieu of hiking to the 3,500 foot peak. As we exited the cable car at the top of Table Mountain we saw all of these signs about a “hooter” warning and if we heard a “hooter” to return to the cable car immediately as high winds were approaching. We laughed about the term “hooter” and headed out on a walk around the summit to enjoy the stunning 360 degree views of Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean. After a nice walk, we were looking down at the Lions Head where John and I had hiked a few days earlier and all of a sudden loud sirens start sounding….it was the “hooter”. We had a few more laughs about the “hooters” and made our way back to the cable car. The windy ride down was a good test for Jackie’s vertigo and thankfully she passed...
Sunday, February 14, 2015 – Franschoek, South Africa
What better way to spend Valentine’s weekend than wine tasting in South African wine country. John andTami found an amazing place for us to stay in Franschoek. It’s a 2 story private villa with the most incredible views of the Franschoek mountain range. Not to mention that we are right in the heart of the Franschoek wine region and only a 30 minute drive to the wine region of Stellenbosch. For those of you who are familiar with South African wines, we have thus far visited Ernie Els Winery (yes the famous South African golfer), Warwick Estate (where they have this crazy wine glass for two, where one person isn’t allowed to use their hands), Rickety Bridge Winery (who has a very good Sauvignon Blanc), Thelema Mountain Vineyards (has a very knowledgeable tasting staff), Tokara Estate (a very modern tasting room withviews all the way back to False Bay) and Delaire Graff Estate (an ultra-swanky estate with jaw dropping views). It’s been a decadent weekend with great wines, great restaurants, and stunning landscapes. And best of all it’s not over yet. Later this morning we are off for a champagne tasting at Haute Cabriere followed by lunch in Franschoek. After that the plan is to slowly start making our way back towards Simons Town with stops at Jordan Wine Estate and Spier Winery. Happy Valentines Day!
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 – Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
Our friends John and Tami arrived on Monday and we have been having a wonderful time catching up and playing tourist. They are staying on the boat with us and thankfully the Cape of Storms weather has been really kind to us all. Two days before they arrived it was blowing 40 knots with gusts to 50.
This morning we headed into Cape Town where John and I hiked to the top of a peak called Lion’s Head that has an amazing 360 degree view of the Cape Town area and Table Mountain. The trail spirals around the peak as you ascend and then there are a few ladders and some rock scrambling to reach the very top. The thought of ladders and scrambling deterred Jackie and Tami from joining us, but they happily waited in the car and chatted about whatever it is that girls chat about.
In the afternoon, we treated ourselves to “high tea” at the Mount Nelson Hotel which is one of the oldest and most luxurious hotels in Cape Town. I was completely oblivious to the concept of afternoon tea until we visited New Zealand back in 2011, however high tea at this place is taking it to a whole new level. They had 24 different teas to select from and the most impressive dessert table I have ever seen. They had tons of savory items to eat too, but I was totally focused on the sweets.
After gorging ourselves for a couple hours we headed over the V&A waterfront to walk off the food coma and watched Table Mountain change colors as the sun sets. It was a perfect day with a good balance of a little exercise and decadence. It will be hard to top, but we will give it a try again tomorrow as we head to the wine regions of Stellenbosch and Franschoek…
Friday, February 6, 2015 – Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
It’s amazing to think that a month has gone by since we got back from our safari with Lois and Jean. It’s been an exciting month, but not necessarily in a good way.
A few nights after we returned, Jackie woke up in the middle of the night with what was later diagnosed as a severe vertigo attack. At the time we weren’t sure what was going on and once again found ourselves trying to figure out how to call an ambulance in a strange country in the middle of the night. By sunrise, we were in a very 3rd world hospital emergency room cautiously waiting to see a doctor. The doctor was very good however and ruled out anything more serious than a repeat vertigo attack and recommended that she see a specialist. She had been doing so well since the first attack back in Singapore, granted she has been sleeping in an elevated position since then, but hell she made it across the southern Indian Ocean and down the Wild Coast of Africa without any issues.
So the past several weeks have been filled with doctor appointments, boat projects, some local hiking around Simons Town, and lots of morning walks to hang out with the penguins. We have also taken the train in to Cape Town a few more times, but on our last trip the train broke down in a really bad area of town right next to a large grass fire and we had to pry the train doors open, jump down onto the track and walk to the next station. That was pretty exciting.
The great news is that this past week Jackie went to a specialist who finally performed the Epley maneuver on her and so far it has been 100% successful. She has even been sleeping flat for the past few nights. The only bad thing is that we bought plane tickets and reserved a 4x4 to spend this week exploring and camping in some remote areas of Namibia. Needless to say her doctors did think that it was such a good idea, so we had to cancel our trip.
But in a few days our friends John and Tami arrive from Washington DC for a visit and we have lots of exciting things planned to do with them. Exciting in a good way of course….
Monday, January 5, 2015 – Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Zimbabwe based on its turbulent history, but the area around Victoria Falls was way more up-scale than I had anticipated. We are staying at the amazingly luxurious Victoria Falls Hotel. It was built in 1904 and sits on a world heritage site overlooking Victoria Falls and the bridge connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia. When we arrived yesterday, we barely had enough time to put our bags in the room before we headed out for a boat ride on the Zambezi River to watch the sunset. From the river, all you can see of Victoria Falls is what looks like a giant cloud of smoke that is created by the force of the falling water sending spray up in air. In fact, the original African name for the falls is “Mosi-oa-Tunya” which means "the smoke that thunders". Victoria Falls is considered to be the largest waterfall in the world, not the tallest or the widest, but the largest vertical area of falling water. We walked the entire length of the falls this morning (on the Zimbabwe side) and in some places you couldn’t see the falls because of the amount of water splashing back up into the air. But you certainly could hear it and the indigenous name for the falls is very accurate.
We also visited a local community just outside of the main town of Victoria Falls which was more of what I was expecting to see in Zimbabwe. Large families living in traditional round mud hut dwellings with thatched roofs and no running water or electricity. Each family has several huts and each hut has a specific purpose such as for cooking, eating, or sleeping. The family we met was very kind to take the time to show us around their home.
This afternoon, we took a helicopter ride for some incredible aerial views of Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River and the surrounding countryside. Jackie had never flown in a helicopter before and she was bit nervous, especially when she had to ride in the co-pilot seat. Our pilot could tell she was nervous and he took it pretty easy on her, which unfortunately meant no e-ticket ride for Lois, Jean and I in the back seats. The views were stunning and it was a wonderful way to finish off our 10 day trip with Lois and Jean. The time went by so fast and I can’t believe that tomorrow morning we all fly back to Johannesburg, where Lois and Jean catch a flight to Heathrow and Jackie and I catch a flight back to Cape Town. Thank you Lois and Jean for an amazing adventure in Southern Africa…
Saturday, January 3, 2014 – Johannesburg, South Africa
We have been very lucky the past few days in the Thornybush Nature Reserve with some amazing animal encounters. Yesterday afternoon, we saw in the distance a very large and upset male elephant that was charging something. Elia heads the vehicle in that direction until we could see that the elephant was actually trading charges with an equally upset rhinoceros. We watch for a few minutes until wisely the much smaller rhino starts to walk away. Elia is watching through binoculars and there is a lot of chatter between him and Ludrick in Afrikans. Then I notice Ludrick doing that little dance again and know that we are in for a treat of some kind. We start following the rhino, getting closer and closer until it stops to eat a few shrubs. Elia and Ludrick are both excited as they explain that this rhino is a very rare black rhino.
It is estimated that there are only about 24,000 rhinos left in all of Africa and some are predicting that at the current rate of poaching the African Rhinoceros will be extinct by the year 2028. Of the existing 24,000 rhinos only about 4,000 are black rhinos. Both black and white rhinos are actually grey in color so the names are a bit misleading. The major difference between the two is the shape of their lips. The white rhino has a wider and almost square shaped lip and derives its name from the Dutch word “weit,” meaning wide. The black rhino has more of a triangular shaped upper lip or hooked-lipped which allows it to eat a large variety of vegetation including leaves, buds, and shoots of plants, bushes, and trees. The white rhino on the other hand only eats grasses.
We watched the black rhino for nearly an hour and then headed off to find a spot for sundowners. Each night just before sunset, Elia and Ludrick find a safe spot for us to get out of the Land Rover to have a little picnic and a glass of wine while we watch sunset in the bush.
This morning was pretty amazing as we came across a pride of lions with a cub. The pride had feasted on a buffalo during the night and because they were still a bit sleepy with their full bellies it allowed us to get pretty close to them. We also found a white rhino family with a baby that would one minute be very curious and start to approach the Land Rover and the next run away and hide behind its mother. On our way back to the lodge we came across elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebras, various members of the antelope family, and even a very deadly snake called a snouted night adder. It was a very fitting way to spend our last morning on safari.
After lunch we took the bumpy road back to tiny Hoedspruit Airport and caught an even bumpier flight to Johannesburg, the capitol of South Africa. We are spending the night here and then tomorrow we fly to Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) for more adventures in Africa….
Thursday, January 1, 2014 – Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa
This morning we all slept in and passed on the morning game drive. We were rewarded however in the afternoon because shortly after leaving the lodge, Ludrick picked up the tracks of a leopard. After following the tracks for a bit, I see Ludrick in his chair on the front of the vehicle doing this crazy little dance. Elia stops the car and the leopard is in the tree right next to the road. The leopard just kind of looked at us, yawned, got up for a stretch, slowly climbed down the tree and headed off into the bush. As we watched it saunter in to the bush something obviously caught its attention, like a potential meal, because it stopped and stared of into the distance for a while. What a beautiful creature and it was really cool to see how excited both Ludrick and Elia got when they spotted the leopard.
We also came across a very old and aggressive Cape Buffalo. Apparently it is starting to go blind which makes the animal even more dangerous. We also had to back away from an elephant that gave us a couple of fake charges. Glad to know that it happens to the professionals too and that it is not just when I am driving. Travelling around the reserve definite requires a rugged 4 wheel drive vehicle as the terrain can be extremely rough, steep, and have huge holes and gullies. We even crossed a river today and had water halfway up the doors of the Land Rover. As we were heading back to the lodge, Elia was climbing the vehicle out of a big rut and a tie rod broke. So there we were just after sunset stuck out in the bush with no steering. I kept thinking on the bright side, that we were lucky that this didn’t happen when the angry Cape Buffalo or the charging elephant was nearby. But on the other hand, now that it is getting dark we have to worry about lions and hippos. Fortunately a backup Land Rover from the lodge picked us up a short time later. Life is always exciting in the bush…..
Wednesday, December 31, 2014 – Thornybush Nature Reserve, South Africa
It was only a 2 hour flight from Cape Town to Hoedspruit and an hour long drive to the gate at the Waterbu5ck Lodge. We then hopped in a 4 wheel drive Land Rover for a bumpy 30 minute drive to the lodge where we really are out in the middle of nowhere. There are only 4 cabins and a main lodge with a common area where breakfast and lunch are served. Dinner is served outdoors around a roaring fire. Each morning at 5:30am we get a wake up knock at the door to head out on a 4 hour game drive. We return for a fabulous lunch and then head out again at 4:00 pm for an evening game drive and get back for dinner around 8:00 pm. Our host and driver is named Elia and our trackers name is Ludrick. On our game drives, Ludrick rides on a fold out chair attached to the front of the Land Rover so that he can track the various animals and tell Elia which way to go.
Last night, Ludrick successfully tracked a female lion that we were able to follow for 30 minutes or so, before we lost her near the lodge. The lodge has a protective electric fence around the property and a gate for vehicles to enter. After losing the lion we decided to head back to the lodge for dinner. When we arrived at the gate, Elia pulls up close to it so that Ludrick doesn’t have far to go from the vehicle to open the gate. Elia shines his light all around and just as Ludrick has started walking towards the gate , he yells for him to get back in the vehicle. The female lion that we had lost was perched about 50’ away under a tree as if waiting for Ludrick to open the gate. We sat there for a few minutes, until she wandered away and Ludrick could safely open the gate.
After an amazing dinner beneath the stars and next to the bon fire, we struggled to stay awake long enough to ring in the New Year. But the guests in the other two cabins (who happened to be from Newport Beach, California) challenged us to a game of Uno and we ended up staying awake until well after 2 am.
The game viewing here has been unbelievable and we have been able to get up close to a few Cape Buffalo, Elephants, White Rhinos, and Lions. The guys were even able to find a Chameleon along the way. Although we haven’t seen leopard yet, Ludrick is on a mission to find one for us. Hopefully tomorrow. Happy New Year!!!!!!
Monday, December 29, 2014 – Cape Town, South Africa
Early this past Saturday Jackie and I hopped on the Simons Town train to Cape Town to meet my Aunt Lois and Uncle Jean. As I mentioned before the first half of the train ride is beautiful as it runs right along the water’s edge in stopping in many of the beach towns along the way. At Muizenberg, one of the most popular beaches in the Cape Town area, the train makes a hard left at the foot of the mountains and heads inland. As the train gets closer to downtown Cape Town, you start to see more of the poorer urban neighborhoods and a significant increase in small enclaves of people living under bridges and vacant lots. Unfortunately it is pretty typical of most major cities. The central Cape Town area itself is just as diverse as the train ride and ranges from large shanty towns to multi-million dollar neighborhoods.
Lois has booked Jackie and me a room for a few nights at the same hotel in which she and Jean are staying so that we can all explore Cape Town together. We are staying at a place called the Taj Cape Town which is by far the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. Our room is larger than most of the apartments I have ever lived in and has a great view of the famous Table Mountain. It’s located in heart of Cape Town’s historic district near Green Market Square.
Shortly after our arrival, we hear a knock on the door and a voice saying “come get your damn suitcase”. It was Lois and she had been kind enough to bring along with her an extra suitcase full of things that I had ordered in the States. It was like Christmas all over again getting to see Lois and Jean and getting a big suit case full of spare parts for the boat. Having things shipped to Africa is very unreliable and incredibly expensive because of all the taxes and duties (which typically are more than what you paid for the item) so she helped us out tremendously. We haven’t seen Lois and Jean since we were home over 2 years ago and before that it was when she and Jean came to visit us in New Zealand to ring in the New Year of 2012. Needless to say we are very excited to see them.
Yesterday we went with a very nice South African tour guide named Jeremy who drove us around Cape Town, down the western side of the Cape through Hout Bay and Chapmans Peak drive, down to the Cape of Good Hope where we had a fantastic lunch at a place called Two Oceans. He then took us up the east side of False Bay to see the penguins at Boulders Beach and then a quick pit stop in Simons Town to see the boat and drop off the suitcase full of boat parts. From there we head back to the Taj via Constantia and the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. That night we took a cab to the massive retail complex called the V&A Waterfront for an amazing dinner.
Today, Jeremy took us out to the Stellenbosch wine region where we visited two beautiful wineries, wandered the streets of downtown Stellenbosch and had a great lunch at a place called 96 Winery Road.
Early tomorrow morning we head to the Cape Town Airport and fly to Hoedspruit near Kruger National Park. We then travel to the Thornybush Nature Reserve where we will spend 4 days on safari at a place called the Waterbuck Lodge. How cool is that to be spending New Year’s out in the bush practically in the middle of nowhere…
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, December 26, 2014 - Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
As I mentioned before we are so pleased with our decision to park the boat in wonderful little Simons Town for a while. This place is awesome! The marina and yacht club are the nicest and best maintained of all the ones that we have visited in South Africa thus far. There are also a host of workshops here in the onsite boat yard that can tackle just about any boating related problem you might have. Getting parts from outside of South Africa is another issue completely, but the services here are good and very affordable. We have had a number of repairs done already including having a new protective cover sewn on our headsail, a new insulated back stay made to replace our questionable one, and both sheet blocks re-welded and strengthened with additional gussets. I have finished the structural portion of my repair to Hokule'a's hull, but will probably turn it over to the gelcoat guy here at the boat yard to do the pretty work. There is also a small chandlery on site as well. There is just one main street that runs through Simons Town and it's lined with various shops, services, restaurants, coffee shops, a dive shop, a tourist office and a bar. At one end of town (about a 15 minute walk from the marina) is the train station that provides service to Cape Town. It takes about an hour and the first half of the ride is one of the most scenic trains I have ever been on, as it literally runs along the water's edge around False Bay before turning inland.
On the other end of town is a beach called Boulders Beach where there is a thriving colony of endangered African Penguins. Several mornings a week, Jackie and I go on a walk/run down to watch the penguins. This time of year they are returning to the beach from a post-molting feed at sea and will start mating and nesting in late January.
About 30 minutes from Simons Town is the Constantia wine region and last week an organization that we belong to called the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) organized a lunch and wine tasting at two of the Constantia vineyards. We had about 25 people attend and the wineries were very good and incredibly picturesque. So far we have found the South African wines to be on par with some of California's best and they are often half the price.
On Christmas Eve, we had drinks on board Kite and then dinner on board Hokule'a. Once again it was a fantastic feast with the highlights being Jack's (Kite) roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and Gina's (Solace) drink called a Gluhwien and a yummy pavlova. Jackie and I had a relaxing Christmas morning with a nice breakfast and presents, and then a smaller group of OCC folk got together for lunch at local restaurant here in Simons Town. Then it was back to the marina for a BBQ at the yacht club with a group of cruising boats to celebrate Paul's (Solace) birthday. Needless to say it's been a socially busy couple of days but it's been a very fun and festive Christmas.
Speaking of fun, I am super excited because my Aunt Lois and Uncle Jean arrive from Los Angeles tomorrow and Jackie and I are jumping on the train in the morning to meet them in Cape Town. We are then heading off with them for 10 days to explore more of South Africa.
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, December 23, 2014 - Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
You may recall that while we were sailing from Reunion Island to Richards Bay, South Africa we had a wonderful guy named Sam who provided us with weather forecasts via his ham radio net called the SAMMNET. Sam is strictly a volunteer, who goes on radio twice a day, seven days a week to help out mariners (with a ham license) with the weather. His station can reach at least as far Madagascar to the east and St. Helena to the west. Sam also provided us with weather forecasts and advice for our trip around the bottom of Africa.
Sam and his wife Marijke live here in Simons Town, so one evening a group of us (Kite, Solace, and Hokule'a) took Sam and Marijke out for drinks and dinner to say thank you. They are a fabulous couple who love the outdoors and do lots of 4x4 safari trips throughout southern Africa. After dinner Sam said that he and Marijke would like to take us on a "walk" up in the hills above Simons Town and asked if we would want to do it sometime before Christmas. We all excitedly said yes and he went on to say that the walk he had in mind would be fairly short with not much up and down and it was in an area called Silvermine with some spectacular views.
So this morning Sam and Marijke each drove a car down to the marina to pick everyone up (Gina on Solace, Zdenka and Jack on Kite, and Jackie and I) and we headed for the trailhead at Silvermine. The walk is basically a circumnavigation of a mountain peak and it has some amazing views of the Cape Peninsula, the Constantia wine vineyards, Chapmans Peak and Hout Bay. Sam and Marijke were wonderful guides as they told us stories about the different areas of the walk and pointed out all types of flora and fauna. Most of which is endemic to the Western Cape.
The "short" walk ended up taking just over 6 hours and for us "boat people" there was quite a lot of steep up and downs. When we got to back to the cars, Jackie jokingly told Sam that she couldn't imagine how hard one of his "moderate" walks would be. What a wonderful day and thank you again Sam and Marijke for sharing a bit of your beautiful country with us.
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
Monday, December 15, 2014 - Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
Although we have only been here a little over a week, we have really fallen in love with this cute little town. But more on Simons Town in a future update, as today I just wanted to share with you some photos of a land trip we took down to the Cape of Good Hope (aka Cape of Storms) with Jack and Zdenka. They have rented a car for a week and were kind enough to invite Jackie and I to join them. It's about a 30 minute drive from Simons Town on a road with one gorgeous view point after another. The southernmost portion of the Cape Peninsula is a national park and it encompasses both Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. We did a short walk out to both Capes and I took slight detour down to the beach to stick my feet in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in years. Holy cow is it cold! 54 degrees in fact. Hard to believe that the water just on the other side of the peninsula in False Bay is 14 degrees warmer.
There is a small tourist information office and gift shop in the parking lot at Cape Point and according to one of their placards the Cape was discovered and given the name the Cape of Storms by the Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias after being very nearly shipwrecked there in 1487 in the first documented trip around the bottom of Africa. His king, however, King John II renamed it Cape of Good Hope as he realized that Dias had more importantly discovered the long sought passage to India from Portugal.
The good news for us is that it is only a day trip for us to sail from Simons Town around the Cape of Good Hope and on to Cape Town. Hopefully we will pick a day as pretty and calm as this one.
Sunday, December 7, 2014 - Simons Town, False Bay, South Africa
We left Port Elizabeth, with Kite and Solace early on Saturday, November 29th and headed towards Kynsna Lagoon. As luck would have it, we had some unanticipated help from the Agulhas Current (it is supposed to diminish after Port Elizabeth) which made our arrival at Knysna Heads in the middle of the night with an outgoing tide. We could have hove to and waited for daylight and slack tide, but there was a decent south westerly swell running which meant that we might not be able to get in anyway. So we decided to sail on and made it to Mossel Bay around mid- morning.
While we were disappointed to miss Knysna, Mossel Bay was a very pleasant surprise and we ended up passing on a weather window because we enjoyed it so much. The marina there is tiny and not used to getting very many cruising boats. There are a total of about 25 slips squeezed in between a commercial fishing operation and a service dock for large ships that workthe offshore oil rigs. The maximum size slip was about 35 feet, but they happily squeezed us into one anyway.
Mossel Bay is a low key beach town where South Africans come for vacation. It has a beautiful Mediterranean landscape with great beaches, surfing, hiking, museums, a great yacht club and lots of restaurants. Ironically just offshore is Seal Island which has one of the largest concentrations of great white sharks in all of South Africa if not the world. But that didn't seem to deter folks from their watersports. Jack, Zdenka and I signed up for a shark dive trip, but unfortunately it was canceled due to rough sea conditions. We also all rented a car one day and drove part of the beautifully forested "Garden Route" on our way for a land visit to Knysna. Knysna is a great little waterfront town with yet another fantastic yacht club. The lagoon itself is beautiful and we definitely would have enjoyed having Hokule'a anchored here if the entry had worked out. Just for kicks, we hiked out to see the infamous Knysna Heads and could certainly see how treacherous the entrance could be even with moderate winds and swell.
We probably would have stayed in Mossel Bay for a while longer, but Jackie was excited about the prospect of getting to Simons Town in False Bay before her birthday on December 6th. Simons Town is where we have planned to keep the boat for a few months while we explore more of South Africa by land. Its only 220 nm from Mossel Bay to Simons Town, but you need a good weather forecast so that youcan make itthe entire way because there are no safe places to anchor in between. You also have to contend with rounding Cape Agulhas which is the actual southernmost point of the African continent (not Cape of Good Hope as commonly thought) and the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Atlantic Ocean.
So just before dawn on Thursday, December 4th, Solace, Kite and Hokule'al eft Mossel Bay and headed towards False Bay. That night at about 10 pm we rounded the notorious Cape Agulhas in perfectly calm conditions under power just the way you want to according to the locals. At last we were finally in the Atlantic Ocean and hoping that it would be a little more gentle on us than southern Indian Ocean had been. Early the next morning the wind cameup a little as we rounded Cape Hangklipand made our turn into False Bay. Through the morning light and haze, the Cape of Good Hope(which delineates the other side of the Falsebay)appeared in all its glory. What an amazing sight. Our first great Cape and something that we have been looking forward to seeing for a very long time.
Before too long the wind built to 25 knots and we were sailing dead downwind with only a tiny bit of headsail out. Normally, this would be a good thing, but it's definitely not what you want when heading towards a lee shore such as where Simons Town is located. We called the marina just to make surethat our slip was available and they indicated that it was "a bit breezy" in the marina and to call them back when we got close so they could send some folks down to help us get in our slip. As we approached the marina several hours later the winds were sustained at 32 knots and gusting much higher. Unfortunately there was nowhere to safely anchor and wait for a calmer time to try to pull in to the marina, so we had to go for it. The marina sent 3 large guys down to the slipto help us (obviously they must be used to this kind of wind) and all was going well until a 40 knot gust of wind laid Hokule'a over just as we were making our final approach. As the boat heeled over the gust blew her sideways and into the corner of the slip finger and the unprotected jagged edge of a steel I-beam. Ouch!!! The marina guys helped to wrestle us the rest of the way into the slip, but the result was a 1/2" deep by 8" long gouge in the side of the hull. Hokule'a's first real battle scar since leaving California. Thank goodness her hull is strong and thick and it's easy for me to repair fiberglass. Regardless we were so excited to be in Simons Town and to have our nearly 1000 mile trip downthe "wild coast" of South Africa behind us.
Yesterday we went for drinks and dinner with Jack and Zdenka to celebrate our arrival and more importantly Jackie's birthday. We are just starting to scratch the surface of Simons Town, but it looks like it is going to be a wonderful place to hang out for a while.
Friday, November 28, 2014 - Port Elizabeth, South Africa
It took a while, but we finally got a weather forecast for what we hoped would be a long enough window to skip Durban and make it south to the next safe harbor at East London. So on Friday, November 21st we left Richards Bay in company with Solace and Kite, and headed offshore to find the Agulhas Current. A southerly blow was forecast to hit the East London area around noon on Sunday and we needed a big boost from the current to complete the 370 nautical mile trip in time. Our back up plan was to pull into Durban if it looked like we weren't going to make it to East London before the blow. Fortunately we found the current about 8 miles offshore and enjoyed an extra 3.5 knot push in the right direction. We pulled in to the mouth of the Buffalo River in East London around 6 am on Sunday and proceeded up river to the Buffalo River Yacht Club that offers a few guest moorings for passing cruisers.
The southerly winds came and went pretty quickly, so by the next morning we all were off early for the next jump to Port Elizabeth about 150 nautical miles away. A stronger south easterly gale was forecast to hit the Port Elizabeth area in the afternoon on Tuesday. Once again we were able to find the current, this time around8 miles offshore, and made it into PE well ahead of the gale. We arrived first andwere directed by some locals to the only available slip in the marina. We quickly secured Hokule'a and tracked down the marina manager to let him know that two more boats were coming. They were incredibly accommodating and we (yes the marina manager insisted that I drive) moved several boats around to make room for Kite and Solace.
Thankfully there is a lot to do nearby Port Elizabeth, because the marina is not a fun place to be on your boat during a southeasterly gale. The breakwater for the port is not tall enough and allows hugewaves to break over it, creating large waves and incredible surge in the marina. Not to mention thatthere is a coal loading facility adjacent to the marina, so when a southeasterly blows, all of the boats get covered with a layer of black coal dust. So we spent a bit of time at the very nice and friendly Port Elizabeth Yacht Club, wandered around town which has a couple of interesting museums and some very old and beautiful architecture. They also have a pretty good marine chandlery where we were able to buy new dock lines to replace our existing ones that were being chafed through, chewed up, broken, and turning black down in the marina.
We rented a car for a day with Jack and Zdenka on Kite, and drove out to a nearby game park called Addo. I can never get too much of driving around in the bush looking for animals. Of all the game parks we have visited thus far, to me Addo is the prettiest with its rolling mountainous grassy landscape that overlooks the white coastal sand dunes and the blue of the Indian Ocean. While we just missed seeing some lions, we did get to see plenty of elephants, rhinos, zebras, and various members of the antelope family. This was also the first game park where I have been able to see dung beetles in action, rolling big balls of elephant poo that are 10 times the size of the beetles.
Yesterday the marina settled down enough that we could host Thanksgiving dinner on board Hokule'a with our friends on the boats Kite, Solace and Kinda Blue. As usual it was a wonderful feast and we even were able to find a real turkey!
The southerly gale is forecast to die out later tonight and with the onset of fresh northerlies we will start heading south again in the morning. We are hoping to be able to stop at one of the only all- weather anchorages in all of South Africa called Kynsna Lagoon. Actually the challenge is getting into the anchorage via the rocky, narrow, and shallow Kynsna Heads. According to the guide books and a few locals we talked to, entering or leaving Kynsna Heads can only be done during slack tide and in moderate wind and swell conditions. Something that doesn't seem to happen very often here on the South African coast.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 – Richards Bay, Zululand, South Africa
After doing a few safaris and a bit of travel around Zululand, we figured it was time to focus our attention back on Hokule’a to get her ready for the 1,100 nautical mile trip around the bottom of Africa and over to Cape Town. My Aunt and Uncle are flying in for a visit at Christmas so if at all possible we want to get south and get settled in somewhere a few weeks before they arrive. Just like approaching the African coast from the southern Indian Ocean, the trip around the bottom of Africa can be challenging and extremely dangerous when a southerly gale mixes with the Agulhas Current. Most South African sailors advise that you should wait to leave Richards Bay in early summer (January to February) when the frequency and severity of the southerly gales is reduced, but we have our hearts set on being around Cape Town for the holidays.
The first thing that needed attention was dealing with the clogged fuel tank pick up and the bad Indonesian fuel. With over 80 gallons of diesel in the tanks, I had to borrow all of Shango’s and Kite’s jerry jugs and purchase 4 plastic storage bins that would temporarily hold 12 gallons each. I filtered all of the fuel from the tanks into the containers on deck and then took off the tank inspection plates. In the bottom of both tanks was a thick blackish bacterial sludge that had olive size polyps growing in it. Sure enough one of those polyps had plugged up the starboard tank pick up line. It took several hours to scoop out all the sludge from each tank, flush the tanks, and then filter the fuel from the containers on deck back into the tanks. I then changed all 3 fuel filters on the engine, made several trips to the petrol station to get more diesel and we were back in business.
After every passage most people do a thorough inspection of their rigging, usually as soon as you arrive in a port so that you have time to deal with any problems you might have before you want to leave. Well with all the excitement of being in Africa, I neglected to look at the rig until right before we were ready to leave and as luck would have it found a few issues. I was able to fix all but the most serious one which was the development of a cracked weld in one of our turning blocks ( a victim of the southern Indian Ocean). The welder here in Tuzi Gazi could not bring his equipment to the boat to fix it which meant I needed to unbolt it from the deck and take it into his shop. The fear of trying to remove the four 30 year old bolts from the deck and having to cut holes in the ceiling of the boat to access the nuts was far more terrifying than living with the cracked weld until we got to Cape Town. As our good friend Richard always says “if you know about a problem, then it’s not that big of a problem.” So with the addition of a preventative dynema strop (a very strong loop of line that would prevent the block from becoming a lethal projectile if the weld completely failed), we decided we would baby it and continue to monitor it as we headed south.
And with that we were ready to start heading south, only we didn’t have big enough weather window to make our first jump. So we decided to drive to Durban for the day to check it out in case we didn’t get to stop there on the way down. Durban is a huge city and unfortunately we found the downtown and waterfront areas to have …. well, too many of the negative things that can come with being in a big city. But we found that the suburb areas around Durban were fantastic with lots of great restaurants. Jackie and I had both been wanting to try a dish that Durban is famous for called “Bunny Chow”. It’s a delicious style of curry served in half a loaf of bread that has been carved out to make a bowl. I guess its Durban’s version of chili in a sour dough bowl.
So tonight we are back in Richards Bay and diligently watching the weather. Looks like we may get a break in a day or two.
Friday, November 7, 2014 – iSimangaliso, Zululand, South Africa
After leaving Hluhluwe we headed east towards the coast and into a wetlands area called iSimangaliso. While there are a tremendous number of animals that live here, my primary goal was to see a hippopotamus. We decided to spend the night at a guesthouse in the southern portion of iSimangaliso in a town called St. Lucia that is located on the banks of an estuary with a large hippopotamus population. Now I knew that hippos were potentially dangerous , but I didn’t know that more Africans are killed each year by hippos than by lions, elephants, leopards, buffalo and rhinos combined. I also did not know that hippos leave the water at night to go feed on land and that they are often seen wandering the streets of St. Lucia at night. Hence all of the hippo warning signs we saw as we drove into town.
We did a late afternoon/evening boat tour out on the estuary and got to see dozens of hippos. From big aggressive bull males that would yell out intimidating warning calls, to adolescent males play fighting to develop their skills, to groups of hippos sleeping away undeterred by our presence. Hippos apparently can’t swim so they have to hold their breath and walk along the bottom if it gets too deep. In addition to hippos we got to see a few African crocodiles and some beautiful birds called spectacled weavers. The males are bright yellow and spend weeks building elaborately woven nests to try to attract a female. A female will fly around to try out all of the nests and then stay in the one she likes the best. Who ever built that nest now has a mate.
As the sun started to set, the hippos slowly began working their way to the edges of the estuary and up on to land to start their search for edible vegetation. Our boat quickly sped back to the docking area so that we could all get back to our cars before it got to dark. Interesting to think that the animal that humans have to worry about most in Africa is a vegetarian….
Thursday, November 6, 2014 – Hluhluwe, Zululand, South Africa
We awoke this morning to a large troop of vervet monkeys wandering through the Mpilia Camp looking for any careless camper leftovers that the hyenas might have missed during the night. Jackie is not a big monkey fan, so we headed out early and spent the day driving our little Toyota rental car through the Hluhluwe Game reserve which is located just to the north of iMfolozi. As close as they are physically, it is surprising to see how very different they are. iMfolozi is dry and mostly flat with thick scrub brush while Hluhluwe is very hilly and green with tall grass and the occasional tree. One thing the two reserves have in common is that the dirt roads are in much better shape than the few paved ones. I am still amazed (and very thankful) that they let you drive yourself around this huge reserve and look for animals in their natural habitat. I don’t think I could ever get tired of it because you just never know what is going to be around the next corner whether it’s a one of the many members of the antelope family with varying degrees of crazy horns, a giraffe stopping for a snack, a curious warthog, or a rhino or elephant taking a poop in the middle of the road.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014 – Mplila Camp, iMfolozi, Zululand, South Africa
We have been in South Africa less than a week and I am blown away by what we have experienced already. This is a fascinating country with 11 official languages and since we are in Zululand we are trying to learn a little bit of Zulu. The biggest challenge is that many Zulu words incorporate a clicking sound in their pronunciation. Something that my American trained tongue has a hard time replicating. But it is fun trying and making Zulu people laugh when I do.
This morning we rented a car and drove inland to the iMfolozi reserve in the heart of Zululand. This reserve is one of the oldest in South Africa, established in 1895, and was once the royal hunting ground of King Shaka (ie. Shaka Zulu). Before we even entered the reserve we had to pull over to get out of the way of two very large elephants that made our 4 door economy rental car feel really tiny. After entering the reserve it was about a 3 hour drive to the Mpila Camp (where we are spending the night) and in that short amount of time we saw several white rhinoceros, a giraffe, a couple of Cape buffalo, a zebra family and lots of elephants. Jackie was pretty nervous around the elephants and kept reminding me about what was written in our reserve permit – “Elephants can be unpredictable and dangerous, even though they might appear to be gentle and placid giants. Unfortunately there have been incidents involving elephants and vehicles in the iMolozi reserve, so please for your own safety, take note of the following guide lines: Always maintain a safe distance of at least 50 meters from elephants, reverse or move forward to a safe distance if approached, be alert and look for initially unseen members of the herd coming from another direction.” It is really kind of crazy (but unbelievably cool) that they let you drive your own car in the reserve. Actually they don’t allow you to drive at night, so we went with one of the rangers on a sunset/night drive. To add to Jackie’s nervousness about elephants, we got charged by a huge bull elephant while the ranger was driving. On the way back to camp we saw a pride of 5 lions and a leopard crossing the road and into the bush. Crazy to think that we have been in Africa less than a week and that we were able to see the “Big 5” (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo) within 6 hours of our very first safari. We love Africa…
Friday, October 31, 2014 – Tuzi Gazi - Richards Bay, Zululand, South Africa
Holy cow we are in Africa! We made landfall yesterday and I am still pinching myself in disbelief. In the past 3 months we have sailed roughly 5,100 nautical miles, which is slightly more miles than we sailed all of the previous year. We have been looking forward to this for so long and I can’t believe that we have actually sailed to Africa.
Not that I ever had any doubt that we would make it, but this past stretch of the southern Indian Ocean certainly dished out its fair share of nastiness. It was a bit kinder to us than on our Cocos to Rodrigues leg, but in many ways this leg was more challenging or at least a lot more frustrating at times.
We left Reunion on the morning of October 21st in beautiful sunshine, with no swell and no wind. It was the perfect day to get out of St. Pierre safely, but not so good if you wanted to go sailing. Again the risk with being in St. Pierre is that often you will get a perfect weather window to start a passage, but not be able to get out of the marina because of the swell. We had a fairly decent weather forecast for the first 3 or 4 days of the trip, so we decided to get while the getting was good, even if it meant having to motor for a while. We left St. Pierre with our friends on Shango while our friends on Kite and Three Ships left at roughly the same time from Le Port on the west coast of Reunion. Once again we had a nice little flotilla to keep in touch with along the way.
We ended up having to motor for nearly 24 hours before the wind filled in enough to start sailing and then in typical Indian Ocean fashion wind speeds quickly piped up into the low 30’s with lots of squalls for the next few days. One evening the sky cleared up enough for us to see a beautiful sunset and to notice a large dark outline on the horizon. For a fleeting moment we thought that it might be Madagascar, but we checked the chart and determined that we were still too far away to see it. Nothing showed up on the radar, so for a while it remained a mystery. Several hours later, Jackie woke me up early from my off watch as it had become very clear that the mystery outline was a massive squall with lots of thunder and lightning heading our way. We tracked the leading edge of it on radar and tried everything we could to avoid it, even going 135 degrees off course for over an hour. No matter what we did, it just kept coming towards us.
We eventually decided that the only thing we could do was to get back on course and try to get through it as quickly as possible. It was clearly too big to be able to dodge. What followed was over 4 hours of the most terrifying lightning storm I have ever been in. Now I love swimming with sharks and jumping out of airplanes, but lightning has always scared the crap out me. I hate it. At times we had torrential rain with zero visibility, small hail, winds up to 50 knots, thunder and yes, lots and lots of lightning. Some of it would go from cloud to cloud and others would shoot straight down from a cloud to the ocean. Sometimes it would happen so fast that you couldn’t tell if the lightning went up from the ocean or came down from the cloud. Those were the most terrifying because the explosion of thunder would occur instantaneously. Several times I saw lightning go from one cloud to another, to another, to another and then strike the ocean, just like a giant pinball machine. Once I finally accepted the fact that I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it, it became quite a beautiful thing to watch. At times the lightning was so bright that you could see the flashes even with your eyes closed (yes my eyes were closed a lot early on).
As if the lightning wasn’t enough, during the height of the storm our AIS picked up 2 container ships heading in our direction, one from ahead and one from behind. Radar was useless in tracking them because of the rainfall intensity, so we were very thankful to have the AIS. That is until it stopped working about 10 minutes after picking up the ships. Fortunately by that time we were clear of one and the other was on a course to pass us by about 2 miles. We knew that our friends on Three Ships were somewhere close by so we radioed them to let them know about our AIS and to see if their AIS had picked up the 2 ships. They had basically stopped forward progress because of the poor visibility and had not seen either ship because their AIS had also stopped working. A short time later they called on the radio to let us know that the second ship had just passed them by about a half mile. They also told us that as they were watching the ship pass, lightning struck the ocean between them and the ship. Miraculously none of the boats in our little flotilla were struck by lightning.
When morning finally came, the skies cleared and we had a beautiful sunny day. I even rebooted the AIS and it started working again (apparently it doesn’t like lightning either). The down side was that once again there was no wind, but we happily motored around the bottom of Madagascar in relative calm. The only excitement of the day occurred when a Southern Right Whale surfaced about 25 feet off of our forward beam swimming directly at Hokule’a. Fortunately, it took a quick breath, dove and we watched as it swam gracefully (albeit hurriedly) under the boat. We ended up motoring most of the night and were briefly rewarded the next morning with great sailing conditions in 15-20 knot southerlies. But the Indian Ocean couldn’t stand to let us enjoy ourselves for very long and promptly dished out 25-35 knots of wind and 10-12 foot seas. One of those waves broke across our aft deck, ripping off our lifesling, bending the mount for the BBQ, and sending gallons of water into the cockpit and onto Jackie who happened to be on watch at the time.
As we got closer to the African coast, we were able to start communicating with the SAMM net (South African Maritime Mobile net) that ironically is run by a guy named Sam. Everyday we would check-in with Sam either by Ham radio or Ham email and he would log our position and provide us with a forecast for the next several days. Accurate weather data and forecasts are really important when approaching the southeastern African coast because you have to cross the infamous Agulhas Current. One of the reference books we have about sailing in this area states “ It is the interaction between the strong southwesterly wind and the strong south flowing Agulhas current, which at times can reach 6 knots, that creates monstrous freak waves.” There is even a special note on the chart that says “Abnormal waves of up to 20 meters (65 feet) in height, preceded by deep troughs may be encountered in the area between the edge of the continental shelf and twenty miles to seaward thereof.” Needless to say we didn’t want to be anywhere near the Agulhas current during southerly winds and we were incredibly appreciative of Sam for volunteering his time to provide us with up to date forecasts and advice as we approached the coast.
On Wednesday morning ( October 29th) we had roughly 160 miles to go to Richards Bay and we were sailing along wonderfully at 6.5 knots with easterly winds of 10-15 knots. Life was good! However, at our morning radio check in with Sam, he warned us that a southwesterly blow was coming and that it would hit Richards Bay around 10pm on Thursday. He went on to say that our easterly winds would last through the night and then turn northerly and strengthen during the day on Thursday. He ended the call by emphasizing again that “you need to be out of the Agulhas Current and in Richards Bay well before 2200 on Thursday, I repeat, 2200 on Thursday”. I quickly did the math and at our current speed of 6.5 knots we would be safely tucked into Richards Bay before lunch on Thursday. Considering that Sam’s forecast was for the wind to hold and even strengthen on Thursday morning, averaging 6.5 knots would be easy. Life was still good!
But the Indian Ocean wasn’t quite done toying with us yet and a few hours later our speeds began to drop as we started to experience current against us at rates up to 3 knots. (At the time we of course blamed the Indian Ocean but later learned that the counter currents were the result of eddies that spin off of the main body of the Agulhas Current). With 15 knots of wind out of the east, I stared at our GPS in disbelief when it showed our boat speed at 3.8 knots and our estimated arrival outside of Richards Bay at 3am on Friday morning. The only thing we could do was turn on the motor and try to boost our speed by motor sailing. Even with the motor on we were only able to do a little over 5 knots, but at least it would get us to Richards Bay by 7pm on Thursday. How incredibly frustrating is was to finally have a good stretch of beautiful sailing conditions and be forced to run the motor to keep the speeds up. Throughout the rest of the day and that night we would shut the engine off and sail whenever the current lightened up and then turn it on again when the current picked up.
By mid-morning on Thursday we were finally in the Agulhas Current, sailing comfortably at speeds of 10 – 12 knots with only our double reefed main in northerly winds of 30 knots. Life was good again and we could finally relax a bit knowing that we were going to make it in to Richards Bay before the southerly blow. The only thing we had to do now was keep a good eye on our course so that we didn’t over shoot the harbor entrance because of the strong current.
We were about 2 hours away from the harbor entrance and I started to do all of the stuff that we normally do when heading into a port, such as getting out fenders and docklines, putting up our Quarantine and Courtesy Flags, reviewing the applicable harbor entry procedures, checking the engine, and taking the tie downs off the anchor. While checking the engine I noticed that our brand new fuel filter was starting to clog. Just the night before, I had switched over to the new filter because the vacuum readings on the old one showed that it was starting to clog. Looks like all the filtering I did back in Mauritius wasn’t enough to overcome the problem we have been having from the contaminated batch of diesel we took on in Indonesian. With less than an hour to go to the harbor entrance and considering that we were now surfing down large seas that had built up from the strong northerly winds, I decided that it wasn’t an ideal time to change out the filter and that it should be fine to get us into the marina. As a precaution, we would sail into the harbor and get as close to the marina entrance as we could before starting the engine.
For the heck of it, I also decided to check and see how much fuel we had left. I knew that something was horribly wrong when I measured the first of our 2 fuel tanks and it was almost completely full. The second tank was almost completely empty which explained the clogged fuel filters (contamination settles in the bottom of the tank) and meant that the fuel pick up line in the full tank was clogged. Technically we were out of fuel. With less than 30 minutes to the harbor entrance, I was now having to rig up a pump to transfer fuel from the full tank to the empty one. I guess having an “exciting” finish to an “exciting” trip was something we should have expected. Fortunately it was not as “exciting” as it must have been for the coal carrying cargo ship (now a shipwreck) that we passed along the way. With its bow still sticking out above the surface of the water, it serves as a reminder of how treacherous this coast can be no matter how big your boat is. Apparently, she was hit by a gigantic rouge wave after exiting the harbor and ran aground.
As we got close to the harbor entrance our course converged with Shango and once again we were all amazed at how close together our little flotilla was after 9 days and roughly 1,400 nautical miles. Shango was less than a mile away, Kite was a couple hours ahead and Three Ships a couple hours behind. By 4 pm Hokule’a was tied up safe and sound in Tuzi Gazi marina about 6 hours before the southerly winds started.
You can’t imagine how happy we are to be here, although after this long winded entry, you probably can. Did I mention we are in Africa…….