Simon’s Town, South Africa

 

A view of the marina from above Simon's Town

I am writing this on a cold, wet and windy day in the UK. Fortunately, we are in the warmth and protection of our own house! The floor is no longer moving and we don’t need to secure any mooring lines.

 

At the Naval Museum, Simon's Town

We woke up in Simon’s Town on 5^th November. There were no fireworks, just lots to do such as checking in with Chantelle at Simon’s Town Marina Office and introducing ourselves to False Bay Yacht Club. We were given electronic cards for entry to the yacht club premises and the pontoons. The daily charge for our marina berth is 220 rand (approx £11). This includes membership of FBYC, with its hot showers and toilets, restaurant, lounge and bar. Our neighbours on our pontoon, Grant and Venita, gave us lots of helpful information about Simon’s Town and the surrounding area. We met Americans Jack and Jackie in the yacht club and they recommended a reliable taxi driver. We would use Marlin for our trip to Cape Town International Airport. It was safe to walk around Simon’s Town and beyond to Harbour Bay Mall, where there were supermarkets.

 

Made in Sumderland!

We spent the rest of the morning back on SD researching and booking flights to the UK. British Airways fly direct from Cape Town to Heathrow. Our flights were booked for departure on 16^th November. Our UK family was delighted that we would be home for Christmas.

Simon's Town Marina from the Middle Gun Battery

Jeremy sent an email to our friend, Dale. She used to own a property in Simon’s Town and had visited many times. She put us in contact with her friend, Rachel, who lives nearby and happens to be a tourist guide. We would meet with her soon.

Remembrance at the Middle Gun Battery

In the meantime, there was much to do e.g. laundry to take to “Bubbles” in the town, lockers and bilges to check and clean, sails to wash, halyards and sheets to change and wash and charts and cruising guides to be sorted. Some would stay on board and others could go home with us.

One of the views from Table Mountain Nature Reserve

We had time for a little bit of sight-seeing. The main attraction here is the African penguins at Boulder Beach. We have seen them before and they are worth a visit. This time we walked the Historical Mile and explored the Naval Museum, where we found an anchor made in Jeremy’s home town of Sunderland and learnt that parts for Westland helicopters were manufactured in my home town of Blackburn.

Walking in Table Mountain Nature Reserve

Remembrance or Armistice Day is not generally celebrated in South Africa. Simon’s Town has been home to the country’s navy for many years and they remember in a spectacular way. We decided to take part. First, we walked along the road and halfway up a mountain to the Middle Gun Battery. We bought metal poppy badges. Paper poppies and earplugs were given out for free. A small crowd gathered, speeches were made and the large gun was loaded with gunpowder. At 1100 the gun was fired with a deafening noise, followed by a bugle call and two minutes of silence. It was very moving paying our respects as we looked out to sea from the mountainside.

Swimming at The Dam

The next day Rachel and her daughter, Jasmine, picked us up near FBYC and drove us to Silvermine in Table Mountain Nature Reserve. We walked on narrow paths through vegetation to the top of a ridge with super views out to sea below us. After salami sandwiches at the top, we descended to a dam, where Jeremy, Rachel and Jasmine swam. I had to be careful not to contaminate the healing wound in my leg, so I kept an eye on our bags. Back at SD for a cup of tea, we entertained Rachel and Jasmine with videos of our passage across the Indian Ocean and answered their many questions. I think we’ll all meet up again in January. Rachel appeared on Channel 4 as I was writing this. Here’s the link:

https://www.memorabletv.com/episodes/you-wont-believe-this-episode-1-tuesday-22-november-2022-channel-4/

Pool practice in the bar at FBYC

There was just enough time left to check out the chandlery in the marina boatyard and buy a few items for SD. We had to compare a number of eateries in Simon’s Town as well. It would be rude of us to leave without a visit to the club bar, so we took the opportunity to practice our pool skills (not the swimming sort!) Jeremy beat me three times! More practice needed.

Lunch in Tesco Supermarket, UK

Marlin arrived to take us to Cape Town International Airport the next day. After a 12 hour flight and a 3 hour drive in a hire car (with a stop at Tesco on the way) we arrived home. It was raining.

Reunited with Ben, Emily, Ellie and Sophie

We return to Sal Darago in January to continue our sailing adventures.

Have a happy Christmas everyone and a healthy New Year.

East London to Simon’s Town

Spirit Seafood Restaurant looking upstream

 

 

 We stayed on a trot mooring at Buffalo River Yacht Club, East London, for a week. It’s a 

very friendly and welcoming place. The bar is open every day. Once a week, hot food is 

available in the clubhouse and it is quite likely that the fire will be lit for a braai one 

evening. In addition, there are hot showers, toilets, a washing machine and a clothes 

line. Most visitors tie up to the walk-on pontoon. Alternatively, yachts can lie at anchor.

We were given lots of information about the club and East London by Peter the Commodore, who lives aboard on his catamaran. Judy, the Communications Secretary, is also very helpful and kept us informed about anything that was going on in the club. We would recommend that all visiting boats stop at East London, especially as there is no longer a yacht club at Port Elizabeth.

Spirit Seafood restaurant looking downstream

We needed to source a new temperature sensor for our engine. A club member called 

Jarpi, took Jeremy in his car to a number of motor factors. He also took Jeremy to a 

garage where he filled up several diesel cans. Sadly no sensor of the correct type could 

be found. We were told we were the first international boat to arrive this season.

It is important to take local advice on where it is safe to walk or shop in East London. We used the Bolt app and the link to Go taxis and found them reliable and inexpensive. There is a seafood restaurant and bar called Spirit just up river of the bridge. This was easily accessible by dinghy and the food was good.

The first weather window that opened up for us had gale force following winds and a big, sideways swell. It would only last long enough for us to reach Port Elizabeth and would be a very wet and uncomfortable passage. I was not keen. A few days later a longer weather window opened up giving us time to reach Mossel Bay and possibly Simon’s Town. However, we still had following winds gusting to gale force at times until we were west of Port Elizabeth. Nothing is ever perfect, so we went for it, leaving East London as early as possible when the SE winds calmed and the barometer peaked.

Early morning cruise ship

On Tuesday 1^st November, at 0445, we prepared to leave East London. The first hazard after exiting the river was a cruise ship called Europa 2, for which Jeremy took avoiding action. Then he saw a whale between Sal Darago and Europa 2. The whale chose to follow SD for the next 15 minutes.

Breaching whale near SD. Best photo ever for Jeremy

As expected, the wind rose in the evening. The mainsail had been taken down earlier and the genoa poled out to port. We were being whisked along by the Agulhas current with our one sail well reefed and a following wind gusting to gale force. We saw seven or eight ships on the AIS. Fortunately, only one was on the same course astern of us. The officer on duty responded to my call on the VHF radio and altered course to avoid us.

The wind moderated once we had passed Port Elizabeth, although there were still winds of 18-24 knots from the ESE and the seas were big, with thundering, breaking waves surfing down on us at times. Then early on Thursday 3^rd November everything suddenly went quiet. There was no wind and no ships, just a misty haze as we motored along feeling like we had entered a parallel universe.

Rough sunset

Jeremy had been able to get a weather forecast on his phone as we neared the coast. The SE wind would continue and we should make it to Simon’s Town in False Bay. The visibility dropped to less than three miles and we were 95nm from the most southerly point on our passage, Cape Agulhas.

Gradually the wind returned and the sea became boisterous once more as we sailed with just the poled out genoa. After passing Cape Agulhas, we had to motor for a while until just before the entrance to False Bay at Cape Hamilton. It was exciting sailing into False Bay with hazy views of the Cape of Good Hope to port. We had about 30nm to go to the marina at Simon’s Town.

Hazy Cape of Good Hope

Jeremy was able to email Chantelle to let her know we were arriving 10 days early. He said we would anchor off until the morning. The wind strengthened to gale force as darkness fell. The genoa was furled and the pole stowed. We motored towards the anchorage, but it was soon obvious that anchoring in the current conditions was not tenable.

Simon's Town Marina

Chantelle sent a message to say our marina berth was available. With some difficulty I kept SD to windward while Jeremy struggled to find shore lines down below. Gaining shelter from an anchored ship outside the naval dockyard, we managed to put fenders on. Jeremy steered while I went forward with a spotlight to find our starboard-to berth. Another vessel was tied up there. We had passed a vacant berth, which was port side
to. Jeremy turned SD around while I moved our centre line to the other side, tying it on with a bowline in the dark. Two men were on the pontoon to help us in. The wind was blowing at 35 knots. It was 2100 on 4^th November and we had arrived at the marina at Simon’s Town.