Day 44, Year 6 The Window is Open

Day 44, Year 6 The Window is Open
Date: Monday, December 7, 2010
Weather: Overcast and Drizzly, Winds SW 10-15
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

The weather window for heading south is now down to three days instead of four or five, but it is still open and we are leaving at first light. The first reports were for favorable winds until Sunday, but now that has been changed to Saturday morning. So we are heading south about 340 nautical miles to East London and will wait there for favorable weather to head further south and west. We had to take a taxi into Richards Bay to pick up our alternator that can’t be repaired here and Bob and Peppe of Far Niente went with us to have lunch with us at The Elephant and I at the mall. We ate there once before and found it to be an above average restaurant and enjoyed it once again today. Geoff and Chris of Shambala had us over to dinner, along with Ed and Lynne of Constance and Warren and Tanya Harlequin. Warren and Tanya are a young South African couple preparing to leave on a world circumnavigation and it was great to get the chance to talk with them. But now it is off to bed so we can get up in the wee hours.

101207 Day 44 South Africa–Dinner on Shambala

Day 43, Year 6 Cold Feet

Day 43, Year 6 Cold Feet
Date: Monday, December 6, 2010
Weather: Overcast and Rainy, Winds SW 15
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

One can have cold feet for different reasons. One can be because the weather is cloudy, dreary, and cool. The other is that one is a bit afraid of what is to come. So today we had cold feet for both reasons. The weather here was miserable with temps in the low 70’s (I know, you don’t feel sorry for us.) We both wore socks all day to keep warm. The other reason for cold feet, the one of being apprehensive about what is ahead, was the other reason. It looks like we are really leaving here early, early Wednesday morning and that we should have at least three to four days, maybe even five days, of northerly winds. All of this can change quickly, but we have checked into the weather nets and they are saying it is great time to head south. So we will leave and go as far as we can until the weather window closes. It looks like we might be able to get to Port Elizabeth which is about 500 nautical miles from here. If we can get there, then we will wait for the next window to head to the west. But just the thought of heading south along this coast is enough to give anyone cold feet. The weather can change quickly and become dangerous. We should be fine as long as we constantly listen to the weather reports and duck into a port as soon as bad weather is forecast. We certainly won’t be taking any chances. We will be vigilant.

I do have a real cold, not an allergic reaction, but so far it is under control. I sat still all day and named photos and got through all of the first four days at Kruger. I’ll lay low tomorrow as well. It is not the best idea to leave on a passage when you aren’t feeling great, but we have done it before when Mark had a cold and we made it fine. To get a five day window is really hard to come by and we just don’t want to pass it up. So on we go.

Day 42, Year 6 Another Day of Slow but Steady Progress

Day 42, Year 6 Another Day of Slow but Steady Progress
Date: Sunday, December 5, 2010
Weather: Partly Sunny, Light Winds AM, Winds S 10-15 PM
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

The long list of chores is still there staring at us and I don’t think we crossed off anything new today. But we did do a lot of things not on the list. We put up the headsail that we took down when we first arrived here in order to do some sewing repairs. Mark also pulled out the anchor chain, power washed it, marked it, and cleaned out the anchor locker while he was at it. He then put something called Penetrol on our newly polished stainless. This is an Australian product that is sold here and it does many things, one of them being to prevent rust on stainless. We’ve never used it before, but we heard from others that it really works. So we figured it was worth a try. While he was applying this, I was in the main cabin editing photos from Kruger. I was fine one minute, and then the next minute I had an instant killer cold. I think it really must be an allergic reaction to the Penetrol as colds don’t usually come on that quickly, but it is still with me this evening. I’m just hoping that whatever it is, it goes away quickly.

We continue to work on the Christmas shopping thing for the grandchildren which required more Skype calls and we also heard from our friends Piet Hein and Tory from Cape Town. They are the first world cruising couple we met and they finished their circumnavigation last year. We met them in Curacao in the Caribbean in 2005 and are looking forward to seeing them when we reach Cape Town. We also talked to Ken and Jean of Renaissance 2000. We met them in the Sail Indonesia Rally and they returned to North America last year. They are currently in Jacksonville, Florida for the winter and it was good to catch up with them.

The weather reports are still looking like we might have a three or four day window to head south starting on Wednesday of this week. That can only happen if our anchor that went in to be re-galvanized and our gypsy that went in to be braised really return tomorrow as promised. We can’t leave without them, but if they do return and the weather report holds, we could be leaving here on Wednesday with the goal of heading as far south as the weather allows.

Day 41, Year 6 Slow but Steady Progress

Day 41, Year 6 Slow but Steady Progress
Date: Saturday, December 4, 2010
Weather: Overcast Early; Sunny and Windy Late AM-PM
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

The list of twenty things that we thought we could get done today was a little too ambitious. We actually crossed off four things on the list, but progress was slow and we will continue tomorrow. One thing that was not on the list that took much of the morning was forward planning from here to home. And the we are trying to finish off the on-line Christmas shopping, get the remainder of the provisions that we bought last week put away and entered into a spreadsheet so we know what we have where, finish up the logs and photos from Kruger, seal the stainless that was cleaned yesterday, and catch up on long over-due emails. We’ll make more progress tomorrow, but I doubt that we will get all twenty items crossed off before Monday. Right now it is looking like we might have a window to head south on Wednesday and we really want to get these things done before we leave.

We talked to Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah today and Jonah called us Oma and Granddad for the first time. It sounds more like Ona and Granda but it sure made our day. Sam was pretending to be a spider today and was using a skein of orange yarn to make a web that went from living room to den – fascinating to watch on Skype video. Justin and Jo are moving from one house to another in Madrid, New Mexico this weekend, so I doubt that we get to talk to them until sometime next week. But we did talk to my sister Patsy and her husband Joe and to Jed’s parents, Marti and Donald. So slowly but surely we are making progress. Tomorrow’s goal is simply to continue on with today’s list.

Day 40, Year 6 A Little of This, A Little of That

Day 40, Year 6 A Little of This, A Little of That
Date: Friday, December 3, 2010
Weather: Overcast with Drizzle All Day
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

Our day started with a walk to the dam that forms nearby Lake Mzingazi. Hebron led the way along the dirt road which is part of the official Zululand Birding Route. Chris and Geoff of Shambala, Ed and Lynne of Constance, and Peppe of Far Niente all went along. It was a great walk, but the group moved too fast and was too noisy to see many birds. When we got to the dam, Peppe and I separated ourselves from the crowd and did manage to see the beautiful little yellow weaver birds at work and I got to see the bird I have been dying to see. It is the Southern Red Bishop which is a bright red bird with a black face, black chest, and brown wings. The red feathers on the head are all puffed out and it is quite striking. We also saw many of the bushes and trees that we have seen from the car at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and Kruger. It was great to be able to see them up close as it is springtime and most are in bloom. When we got back to the marina we found out from Hebron that his sister Witness was waiting for us on Windbird. We had arranged for her to come to polish the stainless on the boat. It was certainly not the best day for the work, but she persisted through the drizzling rain and got the job done. While she was doing that, Mark was working on Atlantic crossing planning and I was working on vacuum-packing the rice and flour we purchased recently and then I continued working on the photos and logs from Kruger. We had dinner on Far Niente with Peppe and Bob and shared our information and photos from Kruger with them. Hopefully I’ll get the Kruger logs and photos all on the website by Sunday, but my goal for tomorrow is to write a long overdue letter to family and friends. I started the letter on the passage here from Madagascar but somehow an entire month has slipped away without a minute to get back to that letter. Maybe tomorrow. On a brighter note, all the photos from our time in Madagascar are now posted.

101203 Day 40 South Africa–Zululand Birding Route Walk

Day 39, Year 6 Christmas Shopping

Day 39, Year 6 Christmas Shopping
Date: Thursday, December 2, 2010
Weather: Overcast with SW Winds
Location: Tuzi Gazi Marina, Richards Bay, South Africa

Other than doing a laundry early this morning, we spent the entire day searching the web and ordering Christmas gifts for grandchildren. We have to send bulky gifts to New Mexico and Massachusetts, and smaller stocking stuffers to England and Maine. This meant searching Amazon UK as well as Amazon US and other European and US companies. It took a bit of time, but we had a great time looking and ordering. And Mark thinks it was much better than shopping in stores and fighting the crowds. We still have a few things to order, but I must agree that shopping online if easier than shopping in stores. But I’m afraid I got nothing done today in terms of logs and photos from Kruger. Hopefully I’ll make progress on that tomorrow.