Still in Durban

Although there have been no gales, the wind has blown from the southerly sector, which means we would have been bashing into the waves in the south flowing Agulhas Current. So, we’re still in Durban. We’ve used the extra days here to explore some of the city’s attractions. Enjoy the photos.

Pleasure cruise around Durban Harbour

Durban Marina and Water Front

Kathy on top of Moses Mabhida Stadium

Kathy inspecting the Presidential Suite

Kathy and Guide on the pitch

Muti Market, Durban

Khululiwe Nxele, our Durban Gude, and guess who?

Marina view from De Roma revolving restaurant

Durban City view including harbour entrance from De Roma's

We’re hoping to leave on Saturday 27^th November with northerly winds, at last, which should take us to East London and, maybe, beyond.

Richards Bay to Durban

Tuzi Gazi Marina in Richards Bay had suffered considerable damage during a storm that whipped through it at over 50knots about a week prior to our arrival. Repairs to the pontoons were well underway but there were no vacant berths. We tied up in the international harbour alongside a catamaran called Ballyhoo. Paul, the owner, was very helpful and gave John a lift to Meerensee so that he could fill his diesel cans. Jeremy and I needed some exercise and walked for 45 minutes to the supermarket for provisions. We didn’t buy much as there was a choice of about 5 restaurants in Tuzi Gazi, all of them offering reasonably priced meals. The laundry washed our clothes, Wi-Fi was available in the restaurants and there was no charge for the berth, electricity and water. We had to be careful using the water as this region of South Africa was experiencing a severe drought.

We tried to leave Richards Bay on Friday 13^th November (not an ideal date) but we were unable to complete the lengthy clearing out process before the five offices closed for the weekend. The next weather window was 16^th November. John had completed the Flight Plan and a taxi took us to all the offices until we had 5 stamps and permission to leave. We started the process at 0800 and finished about 1030. We left Richards Bay that afternoon and motored out of the harbour and into a big, long swell with light winds. We passed through a ship anchorage for the first 10 miles

The wind went round to the north and freshened during the night. John and I poled out the genoa and we ran before the wind with the mainsail on a preventer goosewinged. Jeremy put a companionway board in as the following sea rose higher and waves started to break behind us.

Boat crane, Durban Harbour

We approached Durban Harbour just before 0600 the following morning.  John called the port on VHF 09 and a very friendly controller took our details and sent a launch to guide us into the small boat area. We were given the phone number of Durban Marina so that we could book a berth. Someone answered John’s call, even though it was only 0630, and told us we would be telephoned at 0800 and helped into a berth. We anchored off and had breakfast. The phone rang as we’d been told, a berth was allocated and several members of the marina staff helped us tie up. I suppose there had to be a glitch and there was. Minutes after tying up we were asked to move across to an empty berth opposite. We did this and tied up again. After about an hour when John was ashore, a very apologetic berthing officer asked us to move to the adjacent berth. They used a launch to pull Sara II over and Jeremy and I secured the lines for the third time in as many hours. Thankfully, we are still in the same berth after 5 days.

There are many warnings about the dangers of walking in Durban, so we are careful not to show wallets, handbags, phones etc. and we keep to the busy main streets. It seems to us to be just as it was 3 years ago. Both yacht clubs, Point YC and Royal Natal YC, are friendly and we have joined them for free for 2 weeks. Both clubs have Wi-Fi, showers, bars and restaurants, so we are very comfortable.

We have been out twice with Jeremy’s cousin, Pat, enjoying lunch at the Pirate Arms on Wilson’s Quay and in the huge, out of town, Gateway Mall. It was great to catch up with each other’s news.

We are now waiting for a 48 hour weather window so that we can sail further south to East London. This is proving to be elusive, but there is a chance that we can leave here late on Sunday 22^nd November.

Reunion to Richards Bay, South Africa

The 12 day passage was much better than the one we experienced in Sal Darago 3 years ago. We had no gales. Occasionally, we had gusts of wind up to 35-40 knots. However, we did have strong winds right on the nose, a 2-4 metre swell with waves breaking over Sara II and one of them half filling the cockpit.

We also experienced following winds and would have made good progress if we hadn’t had a 2-3 knot current against us. As a result we did not make the waypoint 150 miles south of Madacascar before the winds changed to SW force 6. After several hours of making no progress against the wind, we tried motor sailing for 20 hours and got to within 34 miles of the point where we could turn more north and start sailing again. Unfortunately, it was decided to stop motoring and heave to. Fourteen hours later, having drifted backwards quite a distance, Sara II began to sail SE. Soon enough, we were able to tack back to westerly and passed the waypoint 20 hours later. We made good progress for a few days before the wind died and we motored for 60 hours. On our last day the wind started blowing from the NNE from 0800 and we arrived at Richards Bay with 30 knots behind us. Twelve hours later a SW gale hit the area. We were pleased to be in port.

During the worst of the winds, as darkness fell, two birds attempted and then landed on Sara II. They were soaking wet and shivering with exhaustion. We made a nest out of a cardboard box, but one of the birds flew off in fright, while the other decided to stay for B&B. Fully rested, the following morning, it said farewell and flew off to who knows where?

The bird says goodbye to John

Sweating in Richards Bay, we are waiting for a 24 hour favourable wind to take us to Durban.

Rodrigues to Reunion

Cilaos, Reunion

 As expected, the passage took 4 days. We had a mixed bag of weather – no gales and no calms but everything in between. I took Stugeron for the first 24 hours. We went south of Mauritius and experienced some large, breaking swells coming from different directions. Sometimes the sea continued to be unusually rough even though the wind was moderate. We experienced our fastest 24 hours as recorded on the log – 162 miles. We had to gybe twice.

Jeremy on Dry Land

On our approach to Reunion, Jeremy and I were shocked to discover that John’s waypoints took us very close to the surrounding coral reef. Adjustments were made and we approached the coast safely in daylight on Tuesday 20^th October. Once the leading lines (there are two sets) had been identified we entered St Pierre harbour with no problems and tied up to the wall for the night. Immigration visited us and checked our passports but there was no need for a stamp as Reunion is part of Europe. There was no checking in fee. A small fishing boat drifted astern of us. The outboard engine was not working and it was taking on water. The owner was clinging on to the wall and appeared to be in shock. Jeremy went over to help and used one of our buckets to bail out. John provided a rag for Jeremy to stuff in the hole in the side of the boat and a sinking was prevented. I flagged down a passing local boat and the “casualty” was towed to safety.

Getting close to the Hauts

The next morning the Harbourmaster directed us to a berth in the marina. A strong wind was blowing but we managed to tie up safely with a little help from ashore. Soon we had mains electricity (included in the marina charges) and water. Jeremy and I emptied the tin store on board Sara II and filled it with tins from the front cabin. We made a provisioning list and logged our current supplies.

We had not caught any fish on passage, so we did the next best thing – bought fresh fillets of dorade (mahi mahi) from the quayside and ate it on board for dinner.

The ablutions block at Jean Louis Gite

Jeremy and I jumped ship again and took the bus up to Ciloas, where we booked into a gite for the night. We made the mistake of walking too far and going on too strenuous a hike for the jelly-legged sailors we seemed to have become. We enjoyed a good meal out in Chez Noe, where the waiter was from Glasgow, so no language difficulties for a change. We were much more sensible the following day and chose a largely uphill walk, as my legs refused to go downhill anymore, from La Pavillion to Peter Both. We caught the bus back to St Pierre and collapsed on to Sara II.

We have been reunited with Stefan and his family. We had walked past him several times and not recognised him as he now owns a catamaran and a different yacht, having sold Pas de Deux. He invited us all for drinks one evening, let us use his washing machine and tumble drier and helped us telephone a gite in Mafate. Thank you once again for your hospitality.

Kathy crossing the River Galets

On Monday morning, all three of us set off on a one and a half hour bus ride to Le Port. Here we split up, with John going on to St Denis and beyond, actually completing a circumnavigation of the Island by bus (all for a cost of 6 Euros). Meanwhile Jeremy and I had an appointment with Renaldo in a cat cat at Le Piste pres de l’Eglise de Riviere de Galets. Most of this was mumbo jumbo to us, but it turned out to be a 4 x 4 at the track close to the River Galet Church. All went well and Renaldo dropped us off in the Porte de Mafate one and a half hours early at Le Deux Bras. We walked uphill for four hours and arrived at Jean Louis’ Gite. This was a wonderful gite and Mrs Jean Louis was a lovely hostess, despite speaking French rather rapidly.

We enjoyed two nights at the gite. The second day was a little spoilt by the rain and we returned early as the sentiers were definitely glissantes. On Wednesday, we returned to Sara II after a four hour, mainly downhill trek. Once again Renaldo gave us a big lift in his cat cat (quatre quatre – get it?) and the three buses home fell on time like magic. We learned that we may leave on Friday 30^th October and that the marina will not charge us at all if we leave about midday!