Hout Bay

First of all: we wish you a Happy Christmas and a New Year which is healthy and fulfilled. Please feel free to comment if you can get past the “spam filter police”!

"Daddy, daddy, I've filled the sand pit."

We have nearly completed one week in Hout Bay, a week in which we were going to rest and recuperate after crossing 6913 nautical miles from Malaysia. We spent some time familiarising ourselves with Hout Bay, the shops, yacht club and also putting Sal Darago in harbour mode rather than sea mode.

City Hall, Cape Town.

 Off early the next day, we caught the sightseeing tour bus to Cape Town; explored the Victoria and Albert renovated Docklands; waited for an hour at the marina office which failed to open; walked 2 kilometers to the Post Office, where our parcel was waiting to be picked up. NO! that was a joke. The tracked parcel has “arrived in its country of destination”, but according to the country of destination – it has NOT. Returned, without the parcel, to Hout Bay.

That looks like a difficult mountain to climb.

Barbara Spencer is my cousin, being Lloyd’s youngest brother, Derek’s, daughter. So far as I know we had never met until last Wednesday. She had some time on SD and we went for a meal at Chapman’s Peak restaurant. Stupidly, I forgot to take a photograph, but we did have a lovely time.

Leaving Cape Town extract from "The Wanderer"

Barbara reminded me that my great grandfather, Alfred Spencer, sailed these waters and I shall try to include a piece from his book, “The Wanderer”. There is also a picture of him, instead of Barbara. We also checked the batteries, turned the boat round to face the wind, went shopping and had a discussion about religion with Barnett, who works at HBYC.

It was time for a day on the boat. I did the washing, Kathy blogged, answered emails and at 5pm started to clean the galley. I washed, dried and put away the no2 jib sail, cut my hair (yes, I am a skinhead again, Gavin), and finally sewed the bimini zip and a new piece of Velcro to the opening part of the sprayhood.

Up at 0510 hours, we caught two buses to Kloofnek near the cable car station for Table Mountain. We walked for about two kilometres until we found the recommended route up the hill. It was, of course, one of the hottest days of the summer so far with 35 degrees and little or no wind. At 1215 we dragged ourselves up the last few feet and were dazzled by the spectacular views. After lunch, we caught the cable car down and jumped on a bus to the Post Office. There was no sign of our parcel. Perhaps we could ask Santa Claus to intervene here on our behalf and our fingers are crossed for the end of December. No chimney here could be a bit of a problem.

The view from the top of Table Mountain.

Yesterday, we walked to the other side of Hout Bay and did food shopping in Woolworths. Woolworths here is similar to M&S at home. The food is good, but rather expensive. Disappointingly there were no Crunchie Nut Cornflakes – come on guys! Later we launched the dinghy and I crossed the harbour to buy 130 litres of diesel in containers. Returning to SD, the fuel was stowed and the dinghy lifted back aboard.

Hout Bay Marina; Sal Darago centre.

 This morning we went to St Peter’s church, where we were welcomed. The minister had been pleased to note that the world had not ended on 21^st December as predicted, but he was not betting on it lasting much longer. Kathy and I had a splendid lunch at the Mariners’ Wharf. Mine was a smoked salmon salad with feta cheese, avocado, tomatoes and lettuce accompanied by poppy seed bread, while Kathy ate fresh salmon and pasta in a creamy sauce.

Lunch at Mariners' Wharf.

Enjoy Christmas.