by Judy Handley | Jan 5, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 73, Year 6 Mountain Top Walk
Date: Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Weather: Sunny; No Wind, Continued Warmer Temps
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
The highlight of our day was a walk on the top of a nearby mountain with Giovanni and Nola. I think I have explained that Giovanni is the father of Nadine of Nadine and Bruce that we met in Madagascar. Bruce and Nadine took us to visit Giovanni and Nola on our way back from our fabulous two-day trip to Hout Bay and then Giovanni and Nola came by here to see Windbird a few days ago. They go hiking in this area often and they called yesterday to invite us to tag along on a hike up one of the local mountains this morning. But Giovanni called early this morning telling us that the plans had been changed due to the forecasted hot weather. Instead of climbing a mountain, we drove up a mountain and had a delightful walk into a mountaintop lake. The lake had a perfect white sand beach and after walking to it, we all had a dip in the cold water which felt great. Nola brought coffee and fruit cake, so we feasted in the sun and enjoyed this beautiful spot with just the four of us. It was a delightful beginning to the day.
When we returned to Windbird, Mark removed our fresh water pump to see if it might be the source of our water leak, but that was not it. While he did this, I hopped in the dinghy and worked on cleaning the waterline on Windbird’s starboard side which is the only side I can get to without releasing lines. It was harder to clean than I anticipated so took longer, but then working on boat jobs always takes longer than expected. We then packed up our computers and headed back to the clubhouse to do more research on a place for a Caribbean haven for a get-together with our kids. Our timing was just right to watch the yacht Coracle being pulled into the water. She looks good and is now tied to the main dock where she will remain while she is prepared for world cruising. We then did a little more research into where to meet our kids in the Caribbean, but there have been a few new twists thrown in. Our son-in-law has just found out that he has to be in California for a conference on May 15, so our most recent plan of meeting in Puerto Rico until May 10 cuts it a bit close for him. And now there are questions as to whether Culebra or Vieques are really the right place, so tomorrow morning we will go back to the clubhouse to use their free wifi and continue the research.
We had Happy Hour at the clubhouse to bid Irene and Duncan of Moose a good trip to Curacao. This was their Caribbean home for a few years and they need to go to wrap up some business. They will leave tomorrow and return on January 18. Since we hope to be gone by then, we might not see them again. And then we had dinner on Odulphus. Pieter and Carla had invited us for a simple dinner, but it was much more like a feast. ‘Lekker’ as the Dutch would say.
Tonight we received an email from our friends Alan and Helaine in Concord, NH. Evidently Bundaberg in Australia is having some unbelievable weather. This is the port where we left Windbird while returning to the US in 2007. Many world circumnavigators leave their boats in Bundaberg, but this was not the year to do this. There has been extreme flooding there sending boats moored or anchored in the town marina down the river or to the bottom of the river. Our good friends Bette Lee and Tom of Quantum Leap have their boat in Bundaberg this season, so we will be anxious to hear if QL has escaped damage. We sure hope so.
And on another bad weather note, we have heard from Peppe and Bob of Far Niente who are still back in Richard’s Bay. Evidently every weather window for heading south has opened has closed without offering an opportunity for heading south. They tried to leave yesterday, but they no sooner got out of the shipping area when they were hit with adverse winds. They had to turn back to Richard’s Bay, as well as three other yachts that were headed south. So we are feeling so blessed that we got out of there when we did. We wish Peppe and Bob and others who are headed this direction a good window for doing so soon.
And last but not least, we want to express our joy in hearing that our daughter-in-law Jo, from England, has just received notice that her ten-year unconditional US Visa is in the mail. That is very good news.
by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 72, Year 6 Busy Day
Date: Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Weather: Sunny; No Wind All Day and Warmer Temps
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
The nighttime temps here in Simon’s Town have been in the 50’s and low 60’s (degrees F) since we arrived, but this evening there is a hot wind blowing after a day of calm. I don’t think we’ll be using the duvet on the bed tonight and I actually had to turn a fan on just to sit here and write the log. In addition to being hotter than normal, we had a busier than normal day. Odulphus had arranged for our main sail to be picked up today, not by Quantum Sails as I said in last night’s, but by North Sails. So we started the day by going to get a cart to take the sail up to the Yacht Club. Mark returned with the cart but said that Pieter had an appointment to take Odulphus to the fuel dock to get fuel and that he would ask the guy who pumps the fuel to stick around to fill our jerry cans. You have to make an appointment here so it just seemed easier to piggy back on Odulphus. So we switched gears and launched the dinghy. Mark delivered the jerry cans to the fuel dock by dinghy and then he came back and we put the main sail in the dinghy and took it to Odulphus at the fuel dock which kept us from walking this long and difficult dock with a heavy cart. Odulphus then returned to their main dock “home” very close to the yacht club, so this saved us a lot of trouble. Mark and I made three trips in the dinghy getting six 5-gallon jugs of fuel on each run and coming back to fill our empty center fuel tank. We now have as much fuel as we can carry, so that job is done.
The man from North Sails came and promised to have our sails back no later than Jan 15. We then went to the Yacht Club to have lunch, but it was a very busy place today. The scaled-down version of the yacht America was set for splash down today and there was quite a crowd to watch this four-hour long process that never ended. The boat is still sitting on the ramp and I suppose it will go in tomorrow. The boat is named Coracle. It is built of bamboo but because of its size it is way too heavy for the tiny little travel lift they have here. We ate lunch and then stayed in the club house to use the free wifi to do more searching for places to meet our kids in Culebra or Vieques. So we were there all afternoon and watched out the windows as the boat was inched this way and that to get positioned on the ramp. We really don’t know why they didn’t go ahead and put the boat in but I’m sure we’ll find out tomorrow.
We meet Giovanni and Nola at 7:45 am tomorrow morning to drive to the nearby town of Fish Hoek for a walk up the mountain. I just hope the path is not TOO steep. I’ll let you know about that tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 71, Year 6 It’s Back . . .
Date: Monday, January 3, 2011
Weather: Sunny; Winds Up and Down, 20 to 45 Knots
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
In the middle of the night I awoke to that all too familiar roaring sound of the wind. After a couple of days of reprieve, it’s back . . . full force. An earlier report had told us that the winds would return for one day, but we now it is looking like we will have this windy weather until the January 6. Then we might get a few days of calm weather before it’s back again. But at least it calmed down long enough for our friends Dominique and Dominique on Kea to get to Hout Bay. They sent an SMS message telling us that they got securely tied to the dock before the 40 knot winds arrived, so for that we are thankful.
Mark and I spent our entire day at the Yacht Club working intensely on the internet to research possible places that we can afford to meet our kids on one of the two islands just off the east end of Puerto Rico–Culebra or Vieques. We don’t have enough information to know if we could safely anchor Windbird on the main island of Puerto Rico, but we do have information about Vieques and Culebra, so we have narrowed the search to those two islands. After a day of both of us searching and searching on two computers at the same time, Vieques, is coming out as the cheapest for the best accommodations. We went to the Yacht Club to do this searching because the wifi internet connection there is free. We have been using our cell modem connection on the boat and it is not free. We have a wifi booster that should allow us to get the free internet on the boat, but we have not been successful in getting it to work for us here. Mark took his computer and the booster into an internet shop today and they reset it for us, but it still does not seem to be working right. So we will probably have to return to the Yacht Club tomorrow to continue our search and hopefully make a decision on the “just right” place.
Tomorrow someone from Quantum Sails is supposed to come and pick up our main sail, and sails from Odulphus, for repair. We now know that we have a couple of tears in our mainsail, so we want them to do a close inspection and make any repairs necessary. Once we get a tentative return date for the sail, we can then make our plans for departure. Hopefully sometime in the next ten to fifteen days we will have the weather window we need for heading around the Cape of Good Hope and north to St. Helena.
Today while I had my computer on the internet (a rare occasion), I went to our blog site to get rid of the thousands of spam messages that accumulate every couple of weeks and to read recent “legitimate” comments. I was so excited when I read that Rich, a faithful blog reader and contributor, has bought the sailboat of his dreams. I can’t wait to hear the details on what boat was bought and why. So congratulations to Rich and family. And Rich, if you are reading this, we are actually planning to be in Ft. Lauderdale sometime between the middle and end of May before heading up the coast. So if your boat is there, we’d love to see it, and you too.
by Judy Handley | Jan 2, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 70, Year 6 Another Relaxed Work Day
Date: Sunday, January 2, 2011
Weather: Winds Less Than 15 Knots; Alternating Rain, Fog, and Sunshine
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
We are still enjoying calm winds-so nice. Today was a relaxed work day. We continued our internet research into places in the Caribbean where we might meet our children in late April. St. Martin is just too expensive, so we took a look at the US Virgin Islands. St. Croix looks great, but plane fares are not cheap. So today we took a serious look at Puerto Rico and the islands of Culebra and Vieques. Both are looking like a real possibilities, but right now we are leaning toward Vieques. We still haven’t made the final decision, but we are getting closer.
We talked to friends from the Chesapeake Bay this afternoon, Ron and Suzie Williams, and we talked about stopping by their home in the Chesapeake in June. Just talking about that makes us realize that we are really headed home. And we did spend a great deal of today working toward that goal. We took everything out of our “garage”-the v-berth. It has been a jumbled mess since the crossing from Madagascar and we finally got it all back in order. We had to take everything out in order to get our asymmetrical spinnaker out from under the v-berth. It looks like light downwind sailing in the Atlantic and we will need it. Mark also went through all of our books on the port and starboard sides of the v-berth and reordered them. We have a big bag to give away and lots of good reading for our passage to the Caribbean.
So we are now counting down the days until leave to cross the Atlantic. Tomorrow morning we take our LP gas tank in to be refilled. Tuesday someone from North Sails comes to pick up our main sail to check it out completely and to repair the rip we discovered just after leaving Mossel Bay. We could repair ourselves, but we want someone else to look at the whole sail and make sure everything is fine. I’d still like to get some varnishing down before we leave, but if not, everything will be fine. We have a few more things we want to see here, but basically, we will be ready to leave by the 15th. It will take us two months, but we can now say, “Caribbean, here we come.”
by Judy Handley | Jan 1, 2011 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 69, Year 6 Start of a New Year
Date: Saturday, January 1, 2011
Weather: NO WIND!! Overcast with Rain Turning Sunny
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
My father was a very stern man and he insisted that one should live New Year’s Day the way you would want to live every day of the coming year. So we slept in until 9 o’clock. Hayes Martin would not have approved of that! Then we spent the rest of the day on our respective computers. I don’t think Hayes would have approved of that either. It would have looked just too passive for him, but we did get some work done. We continued to search the Caribbean for a place to meet our children. We have now worked our way to the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Things get cheaper but we still haven’t found the perfect place. I worked on naming South African photos all day and Mark got all of what I have named posted on the website. So a bit of progress was made.
My hope of catching up on correspondence to family and friends didn’t happen, however, so that will be on the continuing agenda. We did send a Happy New Year email to Lynne and Ed of Constance. We haven’t been very good about keeping in touch since we left Richards Bay and since we spent most of 2010 with them, we thought we should at least say Happy New Year. But the first email we sent was to our daughter who was in a car accident yesterday. The whole family was in the van when a man pulled out of a side road without looking and T-boned them on the passenger side. Heather was in the front seat on the passenger side and Sam in the seat behind her. Heather is a little stiff but Jed and both boys are fine. Sam keeps asking why the man was so impatient and didn’t look before driving out onto the main road, but evidently both boys were very brave at the time of the accident and don’t seem to be traumatized by it. We read Heather’s email after mid-night when we sent yesterday’s log and started our new year with a sigh of relief and being very thankful as parents and grandparents that no one was hurt. But the van door did not escape injury and it is possible that the van frame is bent, but that can be fixed or replaced.
The good news for today was the weather. The wind has stopped blowing . . . totally. What a relief! It rained during the night and all morning, but then the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon. I think we might have one more day of this before we get another blow and after that we are looking forward to a week or so of light winds. But today was a good start and perfect weather for starting the new year.
by Judy Handley | Dec 31, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 68, Year 6 New Year’s Eve
Date: Friday, December 31, 2010
Weather: Clear; Winds Down to 25 Overnight, Then Back to SE 35-40
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Last New Year’s we were aboard Windbird in Patong Beach in Thailand watching a five-hour long fireworks display with our friends Gerry and Donna of Scot Free II and Tina and Zbyszek of Shirena. Happy New Year to you guys. This year we are in South African and we went to a party at the Yacht Club. But we didn’t stay until midnight. It is now 11:45 pm and we are back on Windbird waiting for the magic hour. We shared our evening with Carla and Pieter of Odulphus (Netherlands), Dominique and Dominique of Kea (France), Marisa of Huarya (Argentina), Lisa and Paul of Kire (Germany), and John and Joanne of Out of Africa (South Africa). But it was breezy and cool outside and just too crowded and loud inside, so we came home early. The catamaran next door is now providing our New Year’s entertainment. Four young guys arrived this afternoon, had more than a few drinks, and then plunged into the water. Now there are four young women with them and they are having a grand time-a little loud, but joyous.
Break, break-as we might say on the radio. It is now exactly midnight and the ships in the Navy yard just a stone’s throw away are blaring their horns. We went outside to take in the moment and we think that the ship’s horns are equal to a fireworks display. Happy New Year from South Africa!!!
Our morning started with Dominique (male gender) of Kea coming by to borrow our water jerry jugs so he could deliver water to fill his water tanks. Then Giovanni (Nadine’s father) and his wife Nola came by to visit. Nola brought us a signed print of one of her African penguin paintings which delighted us and we just had a great visit on Windbird. After Giovanni and Nola left we spent a few hours searching for other possible places to meet up with the kids in the Caribbean. The US Virgins were our main focus today. Still we have not found he perfect place, so the search continues.
At 5:00 we went to Odulphus to join the other cruisers who traveled here with us from Mossel Bay for some delicious Dutch dough balls made by Pieter and Carla. We don’t remember the Dutch name, but these were basically deep fried raisin dough balls. And they were very good. We then went back to Windbird to get a little something to eat before going to the big party at 8 pm.
