by Judy Handley | Dec 30, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 67, Year 6 Exhausting Winds
Date: Thursday, December 30, 2010
Weather: Clear; Winds SE 35-40 Staying Closer to 40
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Today is notable only because of the wind. We are now a week with winds over 30 knots and today the winds hovered closer to 40 than 35 without stop! On our second day here, December 19, I wrote, “On a beautiful sunny day, the winds roar relentlessly through here at 35 knots. It shakes and rattles everything on deck and has the ability to loosen snap shackles and shake Dorade vents loose.” Today we put on an extra line to keep the fenders on our port side from being totally squished, but we did this too late to save the new fender covers. They really are a tattered mess and Mark will have to make new ones. This incessant wind is starting to wear lines and nerves.
I spent my day doing a little inside boat cleaning, making granola AGAIN, and doing laundry AGAIN. I must tell you that sitting on the back deck doing laundry in these winds is totally exhausting. I could have waited until the winds die down a bit, but then the pile of laundry would be even bigger. It is much easier to do a little bit at a time, so I decided to fight the winds and dry the clothes in the cockpit. It is just too windy to put clothes on the lines outside. While I worked on laundry, Mark went into town and bought beer and coke to replenish the diminishing supply.
The excitement of the day came with a message from Kea, a French boat we met in Chagos. When we met Dominique and Dominique (yes, they both have the same name) we immediately liked them. They arrived here two days ago while we were away and anchored outside on arrival. Yesterday they contacted the marina to try and get a slip but there are none, but they could move to a mooring ball. When they tried to raise their anchor, they found it was under one of the very heavy mooring ball chains and they had to dive down to free the anchor. We hear stories of Great White Sharks in these waters, so we are grateful that there were no sharks yesterday. They now feel secure on the mooring ball, but with these winds it is very difficult to dinghy into the yacht club. They sent an SMS message this morning telling us they would be coming into the Yacht Club by dinghy in the afternoon. Mark met them at the Yacht Club and helped them get registered for the New Year’s Eve party tomorrow night and then later we both went in to meet them for Happy Hour. Once again the Happy Hour group was a truly international gathering: one American couple (us), one German couple with kids (Kire), one Dutch couple (Odulphus), and one French couple (Kea). Luckily for us everyone spoke at least passable English as we embarrassingly speak no Dutch, no German, and no French.
Before heading in for Happy Hour, we had Skype video calls with both of our kids. First we talked to Justin, Jo, and Ziggy in England. Ziggy spiked a very high temperature a couple of days ago as the result of an ear infection. They had to take him to the emergency room and then to a doctor yesterday to get the antibiotic, but he is doing much better today. He has become very attached to his Grandma and Grandpa Hunt and to Jo’s brother and her sister and her partner and much prefers them to mom and dad right now. So Justin and Jo are feeling a bit left out, but are enjoying the extra time. Ziggy stares at us on the computer screen and then when one of us says something he thinks is funny, he gets this great big smile on his face. Then he gets this mischievous look. The look leads us to believe that Justin and Jo will have their hands full in another few months! Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah are home from Maine. Jonah, like Ziggy, has a smile that lights up the world. And Sam has all the exuberance that one can expect from an almost four year-old. Sam and Jonah served us tea and toast with butter from the wooden tea set we gave Sam for Christmas and from the wooden toaster set that they got from Grammy and Papa Goldstone. We are still searching for a place where we can afford to meet in the Caribbean in April. We have only been looking at St. Martin’s which is expensive, so we are going to broaden our search to see what we might find.
by Judy Handley | Dec 30, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 66, Year 6 Second Day with the Tedders
Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Weather: Low Clouds; Still SE 30-35 ‘Round the Clock
Location: Hout Bay, Western Cape, South Africa
W got off to a leisurely start today. We spent the night at Bruce and Nadine’s beautiful home well up the side of a mountain with views to die for. After breakfast, we went with Bruce, Tristen, and her friend Oliver to a cute little shop that only sells items made from used tea bags. It sounds strange, but they have been quite creative with the many uses they make of these bags. There are painted tea bags laminated to tiles, bags painted and made into greeting cards, bags formed into figurines, and dozens of other things. Judy especially liked the little Christmas tree angels.
Afterward we went to the marina in Hout Bay where we boarded a sight-seeing boat to go out to Seal Island. Since Bruce and Nadine work in the boating industry, they know everyone involved in the business so we were allowed to be in the pilot house protected from wind and spray. The winds were kicking up quite a sea but the pilot took us right up to the rocks around which hundreds of seals were playing in the surf and sunning themselves on the rocks. It was great fun to watch, though I question bringing the boat so close to the rocks in such conditions.
After a quick stop for a scoop of ice cream, we headed off to the World of Birds. This is a terrific wildlife sanctuary and monkey park. We spent a couple hours wondering the paths through what must have been thousands of birds. Judy has been studying the birds of South Africa and knew the names of many of them. Some were indigenous to South Africa and we had seen many in the wild but not so close-up as in the sanctuary.
After returning to the Tedder’s for lunch, Nadine joined us and we all went to visit Nadine’s father, Giovanni and his wife Nola. Their lovely home is in Noordhoek on a hill with a view of beautiful Long Beach and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. They have landscaped the garden below the house with plants native to the southern Cape. Nola’s garden has been featured in South African home and gardening magazines and is called a mini-Kirstenbosch. Giovanni and Nola’s home is decorated with some of Nola’s paintings. We are hopeful they will join us on New Year’s Eve for lunch at a sushi restaurant here in Simon’s Town where her paintings are on display.
We ended the day back at the False Bay Yacht Club where we joined Pieter and Carla for Happy Hour and then it was back to Windbird. It is always good to get home, but the wind is still blowing hard and we fear it is taking its toll on Windbird. Tomorrow we will check things carefully and maybe try to put on some extra lines to pull us somewhat away from the finger pier. The covers on our fenders have been rubbed until they are in tatters and we know the constant rubbing can’t be good for the finish on the hull.
by Judy Handley | Dec 28, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 65, Year 6 A Day with the Tedders
Date: Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Weather: Sunny with Clouds on the Mountains; Still SE 30-35 ‘Round the Clock
Location: Hout Bay, Western Cape, South Africa
What a great day we had today. Bruce and Nadine Tedder are friends we met in Madagascar. They delivered a catamaran to Madagascar for a client who let them live aboard for three months before flying home. This was the first sailing trip they had undertaken with their then seven year-old daughter Tristen and they loved it. So this morning Bruce came to Simon’s Town to pick us up and take us touring for the day. We drove back to Hout Bay by way of the dramatic Chapman’s Peak Drive and then went to Bruce and Nadine’s home to pick up Nadine and Tristen. Wow! The Tedder “estate” is on the mountain above Hout Bay and the views are spectacular. About eleven years ago they bought the property and told Nadine’s brother what they wanted. He drew the plans and the result is really beautiful home. The guest bedroom is in the front of the house overlooking Hout Bay. There is a front porch all along the front of the house, a pool, a playhouse, a jungle gym, and small gardens with native plants. One of my favorite rooms is the guest bathroom. Nadine has decorated the walls with the best of Tristen’s art work and you find yourself staying in the bathroom just to look at all the fun pieces. Mark found a copy of Private Islands magazine in the bathroom as well, and we’ve decided we just need to make about 3 million when we get home so we can buy an island in the Bahamas or Belize. There’s even one in Maine for sale and it is under a million, so maybe that will have to do!!!
On our way to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens we picked up Oliver, a friend of Tristen’s, and we spent most of the rest of day walking in the gardens of Kirstenbosch. It is acres and acres of native plants and I was like a kid in a candy shop. The plant life on the Cape peninsula is called fynbos (fein-bos) with the three main plant families being heath-like Ericas, Cape reeds of the Restio family, and members of the Protea family. All are beautiful, but the Proteas are the most striking as they are colorful, large blossoms on small bushes. In the late afternoon, we left Kirstenbosch and drove to the oldest winery in Cape Town, Groot Constantia, where we had a delightful tour of the original home and wine storage building.We then went to the oldest winery in Cape Town, Constansia, and had a delightful tour of the original home and wine storage building. We did a bit of wine tasting and then headed home. The kids and Bruce have just gotten out of the pool and it will soon be time for dinner. Today was just perfect and I think they have another full day of fun activities planned for us tomorrow. As I said yesterday, we are feeling very spoiled. Our South African friends are making sure we see the best there is here and we are truly enjoying it.
by Judy Handley | Dec 27, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 64, Year 6 The Cape of Good Hope and More
Date: Monday, December 27, 2010
Weather: Still Sunny; Still WINDY, SE 35 ‘Round the Clock
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
I ended yesterday’s log by saying that we had no plans for today, but that changed right after the log was sent. Friends Piet Hein and Tory of Double Dutch called and offered to pick us up this morning to go to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve which is a part of Table Mountain National Park. We have really wanted to go there but it is too far to walk and there is no public transportation, so the invitation was very welcomed. And not an hour later our friends Bruce and Nadine from Hout Bay called and invited us to their home in Hout Bay for an overnighter so they can take us to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and a tour of some of the nearby wineries. Again, these are things we really want to do. We are so grateful to these good friends who want to make sure we see the best that the Cape Town area has to offer.
Simons Town is located on the northern part of a peninsula that forms the western side of False Bay. At the very tip of that peninsula is Cape Point which curves a bit to the east. And just west of the most impressive Cape Point is the Cape of Good Hope. When Sir Francis Drake rounded the Cape of Good Hope in the late 1400’s he dubbed it the “fairest cape in all the world.” But the horror stories of rounding the Cape of Good Hope have had us a bit nervous from the start of our circumnavigation. Walking to the lighthouse at the top of Cape Point and looking down on the Cape of Good Hope was quite an event for us. It was exciting to see that it is really not all that scary if you just watch the weather carefully. But today certainly would not have been a day to round the Cape. This wind is still blowing 30 to 40 knots continuously. We then drove down to the Cape of Good Hope. The beach on the east side of it is the whitest sand there is and the water is that beautiful turquoise. On the west side there are just rocky beaches and kelp growing from the shore quite a ways out so there can be no swimming on that side. We drove back north through the park taking a few more side trips to beautiful white sand beaches. We saw ostriches, one lone, large antelope in the distance, and just generally admired the beautiful countryside. By the time we left the park, the line of cars waiting to get in was very long. We were very grateful that we had come early. But it was not time for lunch, so Tory and Piet Hein suggested we head along the coast to Hout Bay, stopping for lunch on the way. The first place we stopped was completely full, so we drove on to Kommetjie to Imhoff Farm. This is a historical Cape Farmstead dating back to 1743 and has now been turned into a place to come to enjoy the farm animals and enjoy lunch at the Blue Water Café. We still had to wait quite a while to be served but the beautiful view of the mountains was spectacular and helped to allay our hunger. From here we drove the Chapman’s Peak Drive to Hout Bay. This is billed as one of the most spectacular marine drives in the world and we would agree. The mountains tower above you and the sheer drops to the sea below are quite dramatic. Piet Hein and Tory had to take something to a friend’s home in Hout Bay, so that was our next stop. Jan and Suzanne Vilmering circumnavigated the world in their 65-foot Adrena. On the way, they fell in love with Cape Town and when they completed their circumnavigation they returned and have built a beautiful home on a mountainside overlooking Hout Bay. The final event of the day was to visit Piet Hein and Tory’s lovely home in Newlands where Tory whipped up a very quick and delicious dinner for us. Then they drove us back to Simons Town and the end of the day, we are feeling very spoiled and very grateful to our good friends.
Last night at 9 pm we made a planned Skype video call to my nephew Tommy’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina. My sister and her husband and my sister-in-law were there along with all of Tommy and Marilou’s children and my sister’s daughter Jennifer and her family. We were having the greatest time talking to everyone when Skype gave us a “time’s up” message. So that was the end of that call and the end of being connected to the internet for us until we can get somewhere and buy more time. We had just topped up in Mossel Bay and can’t figure out why we are out of time. So we might not be able to send this log tonight. We’re not sure we will be able to get out via HAM radio since we are sitting right next to the South African naval base. Here’s hoping.
by Judy Handley | Dec 26, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 63, Year 6 Laid-back Day After Christmas
Date: Sunday, December 26, 2010
Weather: Still Sunny; SE 20-25 am, SE 35-40 pm
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
After a very busy Christmas Day and week leading up to Christmas, today was delightfully relaxed. We spent most of the morning thinking about our Atlantic crossing and making some decisions. Because of expense, we have decided to skip Brazil. We will leave here sometime between mid-and late-January and head to St. Helena, then Ascension Island, and then from there straight to Barbados. This is today’s plan, but it could change. But the current plan will get us to the Caribbean in plenty of time to hopefully have Mark’s sister and brother-in-law, ME and Lee, come sail with us for a few short hops in the Caribbean and we will still be in St. Martin by mid-April to meet up with our kids if they decide to come. Then we are hoping that Mark’s brother Steve will join us for our sail from the Caribbean to Ft. Lauderdale in Florida in May. So our morning of decision making was very productive. Then we started the computer search for a place for our children, their spouses, and the grandchildren to stay when we get to St. Martin. That search will continue as we have not found the perfect spot for the right price yet. In the midst of all this decision-making and internet searching, a young couple from Johannesburg stopped by our boat. Nevan and Leigh hope to sail around the world someday so they were “window shopping.” We invited them aboard for a little tour of Windbird. Just doing that reminded us of how happy we have been with our purchase of this boat to take us around the world. Later in the afternoon, Piet Hein and Tory, our Cape Town friends from the yacht Double Dutch stopped by to deliver the 14 kilos of rolled oats that Tory found for us. We have been searching for these oats since we arrived in Richards Bay and are very grateful to Tory for finding them for us. So now Windbird will have enough granola to make it back to the US!!!
This evening we braved the winds to walk up to the Yacht Club to meet Pieter and Carla of Odulphus. On the way we saw the huge resident Cape fur seal that plies the marina waters daily sleeping on one of the finger piers. This guy is huge. He is at least four, maybe five feet long and there is no way I could give him a hug as he is just too big around. He was sleeping peacefully in the sun. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me so we didn’t get to record this sighting. We’re not sure what we are doing tomorrow but maybe we will just have another wonderfully relaxed day.
by Judy Handley | Dec 25, 2010 | Sailing Logs Year 6, South Africa, Western Cape |
Day 62, Year 6 Merry Christmas to All
Date: Saturday, December 25, 2010
Weather: Sunny and WINDY, Roaring SE 35 Knots All Day
Location: Simon’s Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Our Christmas Day started early with a breakfast on Windbird with Pieter and Carla of Odulphus and Kevin of Ocapela. We had artichoke quiche, bacon, and a wonderful fruit tart from the French bakery in town. It was a really great way to start the Christmas Day with friends. Then I cooked, cooked, and cooked some more-turkey, dressing, vegetables–red, green, and white (red pepper strips, broccoli, and cauliflower) to take to our shared cruiser Christmas dinner. We also took the pumpkin pie I baked yesterday.
But before the dinner, we talked to both of our children. First we connected with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy in England. They were just having breakfast and Ziggy was opening his wild animal gifts from us. A German company called Schleich makes wonderful replicas of animals from around the world and they are made to scale, so we had sent a group of African safari animals to Ziggy. He seemed to love the animals and we just loved watching him play with them. His favorite seemed to be the rhino. Next we talked to Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah in Maine. We watched them open their joint gift from us which was a Duplo (big Legos) Big City Zoo set with many of the wild animals we have seen here in South Africa. Sam, and now Jonah, play with Duplo blocks every day, so we were especially pleased that Sam shrieked with delight at yet another Duplo set. He immediately started building and Jonah delighted in picking up each of the wild animals and naming them. But when he grew tired of that he simply picked up some jingle bells and started singing and dancing. As always, I can’t say enough good things about Skype video. Once again, it allowed us to share very special moments with our grandchildren thousands of miles away. We have also talked to Mark’s family and mine. So, as far away as we are, we have felt very connected this Christmas through Skype.
At 4 pm we headed to the Yacht Club and we had great fun with our Yankee gift exchange. Afterwards we had a shared dinner and then entertained by Carla playing her accordion. Pieter led us in singing a few Christmas carols in three languages and George of Huarya of Argentina sang and he and Marisa danced to Carla’s accordion music. It was a fun evening and a delightful Christmas Day in South Africa.
We have spent as much time as possible sending Christmas greetings to family and friends, but we feel like we have just scratched the surface. So we will continue during the next week. But in the meantime, if we haven’t been able to connect directly to you, please know that we are thinking of you and are sending our best wishes for the New Year.
