Another change of plans you guys...
As you all know, we are really enjoying Cape St Francis and Moonwalker is loving the little marina at Port St Francis. So we decided to stay put for the year and give our captain a well deserved break from sailing. Not that he will just put his feet up or on a surf board for this coming year, he is already up and running, helping at the Resort we are staying here in the Cape. The fact that the surf is just 10 paces away is just a mere detail....
We are both very happy with this decision, as I still get some time in Brazil. I fly out on the 19th of Jan and return on the 8th of March. The plan of going to New Zealand to have the baby and wedding is still up and so far we see no reason to change it. So this year will be full of plane travels and hardly any sailing. Sounds good. We leave for Brazil about this time next year with our baby on board and hopefully some change in the pocket.
Life is good, and our little flat awesome. Amazing how quickly you can get used to the landlubber life...
Monday, 11 January 2010
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Check out this gut, I mean bump!
Legend goes that from now on, the bump will grow hugely and quickly which will be a relief for me, as for the last 2 months I look like I have a massive gut rather than a baby bump.
We are loving St. Francis, Fasie and Fiona introduced us to some really cool people and we are having an absolute blast. Russ has been surfing and fishing, and I have been enjoying lovely walks on the beach, the shower, the bed, the couch, the TV!!!! Oh the TV!!! And the easily accessible fridge of course.
We could not be happier. So we must confess a few ideas have been popping on our minds lately... we have given ourselves until the end of the week to make a decision on this next leg of our journey. So stay tuned.
Sunday, 3 January 2010
One Great Hop!
After more than 3 weeks waiting for a window, watching the weather opening and closing, with the forecasts changing sometimes 3 times daily, we finally settled for a 40 hour window that should take us to at least East London on the 30th of December. So after much debate with many cruisers which had conflicting opinions on our choice of timing we set off at 7 am bound for East London 345 miles down the coast. Getting out of Richards Bay was worth the sacrifice of spending a boring New Years at sea.
The passage started slowly but the breeze steadily build up to a nice 20 knots which blew most of the day and part of the night, when it died off a bit but still offered us a steady 10-15 knots. With one reef on the main , our code zero up most of the time, plus 1 to 2 knots of current off the coast, Moonwalker took us a staggering 245 miles down the coast in 24 hours.
Those same first 24 hours saw yours truly spewing her guts out most of the time... just horrendous sea sickness. Never felt anything like it. I gotta put down to the fact that it was the baby's first sail and it was trying to get adjusted. I was just hopeless. Every time I was required on deck or cockpit to work, the body demanded a donation to the fishes. Russ just looked on unable to do a thing apart from literally taking the boat himself non-stop 36 hours without sleep. I guess hence our amazing speeds as he had nothing better to do than sail the boat.
The second day saw us with variable winds from East and eventually South East with the dreaded South Westers being delayed by the lovely high we were riding. So East London went by in a blur and so did Port Alfred at night. Even with light winds of less than 10 knots, Moonwalker was doing constantly 9 to 10 knots proving to us why we love her so much. It isn't the big speeds in strong winds we are interested (which my the way topped up at 22.3 knots, an absolutely all time record for us) but the high speeds she is capable in very light winds. So many times we saw her do 6 knots in 6 knots of wind, and in this case it was like doing 8 in 8. This discounting current which was with us on and off after East London.
New Years was uneventful which on this coast is a absolute blessing. Russ finally managed to get some sleep 30 minutes before midnight, so I heard all the coastal traders, tankers and cargo ships wishing their Happy New Years around the ocean on the radio.We had 3 boats we knew coming down the coast at the same time so it wasn't such a lonely time. The moon showed up for a wee while too, and I wasn't spewing so I was very happy with my New Years indeed.
The propellers worked a dream. She is so much smoother while at sail now and with the bigger blades we are now capable of doing 6.5 knots motoring in perfect conditions! Hows that for an improvement on our original 4.5! We managed to check all this out when we got to Port Elizabeth, the wind died completely and we had nice flat seas to motor on. While checking out the coast we came across lots of seals, sunning their fins, which initially we thought was a lot of tree trunks floating around. They are just so funny and gracious. Penguins and Gannets where everywhere too, so we tried our luck trawling a line out but caught nothing.
We entered St Francis Harbor at 6 pm on the 1st of January in perfect conditions no breaking waves or surges as reported. But we can totally see how getting in and out of this harbour can be tricky. We attached ourselves to one of the local squid boats and had a smelly but lovely evening asleep.
So in short, Moonwalker rocks, we are out of Richards Bay and we are oh so very happy! I will have more cool up dates soon as this places promises... swell coming, J Bay just around the corner, some very nice, hospitable people around. We caught up with Fasie and Fiona from Moonpath too. Super nice family.
Russ has just returned from a surf at Cape St Francis as I finalize this blog, and reported good waves with only surf shorts and a vest. Big smiles on his face...
The passage started slowly but the breeze steadily build up to a nice 20 knots which blew most of the day and part of the night, when it died off a bit but still offered us a steady 10-15 knots. With one reef on the main , our code zero up most of the time, plus 1 to 2 knots of current off the coast, Moonwalker took us a staggering 245 miles down the coast in 24 hours.
Those same first 24 hours saw yours truly spewing her guts out most of the time... just horrendous sea sickness. Never felt anything like it. I gotta put down to the fact that it was the baby's first sail and it was trying to get adjusted. I was just hopeless. Every time I was required on deck or cockpit to work, the body demanded a donation to the fishes. Russ just looked on unable to do a thing apart from literally taking the boat himself non-stop 36 hours without sleep. I guess hence our amazing speeds as he had nothing better to do than sail the boat.
The second day saw us with variable winds from East and eventually South East with the dreaded South Westers being delayed by the lovely high we were riding. So East London went by in a blur and so did Port Alfred at night. Even with light winds of less than 10 knots, Moonwalker was doing constantly 9 to 10 knots proving to us why we love her so much. It isn't the big speeds in strong winds we are interested (which my the way topped up at 22.3 knots, an absolutely all time record for us) but the high speeds she is capable in very light winds. So many times we saw her do 6 knots in 6 knots of wind, and in this case it was like doing 8 in 8. This discounting current which was with us on and off after East London.
New Years was uneventful which on this coast is a absolute blessing. Russ finally managed to get some sleep 30 minutes before midnight, so I heard all the coastal traders, tankers and cargo ships wishing their Happy New Years around the ocean on the radio.We had 3 boats we knew coming down the coast at the same time so it wasn't such a lonely time. The moon showed up for a wee while too, and I wasn't spewing so I was very happy with my New Years indeed.
The propellers worked a dream. She is so much smoother while at sail now and with the bigger blades we are now capable of doing 6.5 knots motoring in perfect conditions! Hows that for an improvement on our original 4.5! We managed to check all this out when we got to Port Elizabeth, the wind died completely and we had nice flat seas to motor on. While checking out the coast we came across lots of seals, sunning their fins, which initially we thought was a lot of tree trunks floating around. They are just so funny and gracious. Penguins and Gannets where everywhere too, so we tried our luck trawling a line out but caught nothing.
We entered St Francis Harbor at 6 pm on the 1st of January in perfect conditions no breaking waves or surges as reported. But we can totally see how getting in and out of this harbour can be tricky. We attached ourselves to one of the local squid boats and had a smelly but lovely evening asleep.
So in short, Moonwalker rocks, we are out of Richards Bay and we are oh so very happy! I will have more cool up dates soon as this places promises... swell coming, J Bay just around the corner, some very nice, hospitable people around. We caught up with Fasie and Fiona from Moonpath too. Super nice family.
Russ has just returned from a surf at Cape St Francis as I finalize this blog, and reported good waves with only surf shorts and a vest. Big smiles on his face...
Thursday, 17 December 2009
New Props on!
So after beaching Moonwalker 3 times we finally got the propellers on! Yeah! It works a treat around the harbor need to try out in the ocean now. Russ reckons it's a bit noisier thanks to the big blades that pass about an 1.5 inch from the hull itself, but it works well and it shouldn't give us any grief while sailing.
We had a little share of dramas and delays since we arrived here on the 13th of October but now we are so very much ready to go! However the last decent weather window happened 2 weeks ago and our friends Ovation and Nero took it and made it to Knysna.
So the waiting game starts, there's been a few false alarms of nice windows forming and closing, but we are feeling good about one coming this coming monday. We hope to make at least to East London. Fingers crossed.
So the waiting game starts, there's been a few false alarms of nice windows forming and closing, but we are feeling good about one coming this coming monday. We hope to make at least to East London. Fingers crossed.
Friday, 4 December 2009
THE NEW CREW ON MOONWALKER!
We will leave the sex as a surprise after much pleading of Jan and Russell. I am a curious creature by nature and a Brazilian by birth (where surprises are unheard off) so this sort of decision didn't come easily. But I promissed and now I am glad I did. How exciting it will be!
We are now at the 13th week so just out of the dreaded first trimester, all happy and healthy. Very lucky indeed for not having morning sickness or any other negative side effects. I only got the good ones: big boobs, enhanced se... oh you don't want to know about all that... but lets just say its good, very good. ; )
So the plan is to carry on to Cape Town as soon as we can and depart for Brazil in January. I will be flying over on the 19th of January for my gourgeus niece's baptism and will stay there as I really don't think it's a great idea to do such a long crossing (3 weeks) pregnant. Realistically if something goes wrong I am totally screwed. I would never forgive myself to letting that happen. Russ agrees so we are looking for some crew to do the crossing with him. As long as the crew is prepared to pay for their flights back we are happy to shout food. Apparently there are plenty of sailors here whom need the mileage to get licenses and are even prepared to pay for it but Russ wants to be able to choose who he sails with so as long as they pay their ticket back we are happy. Russ will be leaving (weather permitting) just as I fly out (19th of January) and sailing to Rio de Janeiro. He should be there in time for Carnaval! If anyone know of anyone interested please get in touch.
VERY HAPPY, BRAZIL HERE WE COME !!!
Saturday, 14 November 2009
New Zealand goes to Sth Africa!!!
Just a quick note to say how incredibly proud I am of the All Whites for qualifying to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa!!! It's a huge achievement. Sad we won't be here to see them. GO WHITES!
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Richards Bay
Only now I realized how long its been since I updated the blog and how long we've been here in Richards Bay! Well, can't say it has been the most productive times of our lives as we depend on parts to fix things on board, car to get anywhere around and generally the weather is pretty shocking but we are slowly ticking off things of our 2 page long list.
The highlight of our stay so far has been our 2 visits to the Hluhluwe(pronouced Shooshoolooe)-Imfolozi Park. Our first visit was a 3 day/two nights stay at the park where we saw pretty much all the animals there was to see (Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, Antelopes, Elephants, buffalos, etc). I was the only one to see a lion as I did a night safari with the local camp as you are not allowed to drive your car at night (normally you drive yourself around the park and animals). On our second visit we saw a Cheetah and that was just incredible. She/he was kind of stalking this group of antilopes that seemed oblivious to its presece. It was majestic.
I love the Giraffes, they are so elegant and clumsy at the same time, we got a great shot of one drinking water - what an undignified moment for such an elegant creature. But Russ is in love with the Dung beetles... yeah, typical Russ. He reckons that the Dung beetle is not part of the Big 5 but is a certain number 6. Really, I have to give to the little insect, what an incredible life: make a neat shit ball with the help of its female partner; roll it and the female (yes, she hops on the ball for the ride) with its hind legs wherever it needs to be rolled (invariably up hill); then bury it so the female can lay her eggs in it. They do it all day long. The roads are littered with them. I don't know exactly what you all believe in, but hey, I am working hard on my karma here as I really don't want to come back as one of these creatures. No, rolling shit is not my idea of a life surprisinly!
We then went to see the hyppos in St. Lucia, where they are scattered in an estuary, very close to the beach. From time to time the take to the street of the town at night, grassing. Just incredible. Crocs are around too. They are not as big as the Australian ones, but Gee do they have plenty of sharp teeth... However I learned that Hyppos are the biggest killers on humans in Africa. More than sharks or crocs. Knowing that, I was pretty shocked to see local people fishing right next to the hyppo spot and a hand full of paces from crocs! Seems a bit careless to say the least!
Back to the boat reality we are now just waiting for our inner cutter stay and wind gear to come from Durban to get going west. Not much of a hurry but it would be nice to have a change. At least here we don't pay marinas as we are attached to a public dock, but I don't think one can stay here forever. Everyone says that once out of here it can only get better - so we hope as this is a pretty bleak place. I am not quite sure what we had in mind when we got there, but certainly it wasn't this. The weather is improving, summer is coming, but it still blows 25 - 40 knots either from the SW or NE and we don't want to get out of here in these conditions that's for sure. Another sad fact is that there are hardly any anchorages on this coast until you get to Simonstown (just south of Cape Town) meaning you have to stay in marinas. They are so expensive it's crazy really. After we heard as well that after a recent blow 5 boats sank at a nearby marina we decided that this is not a place we want to keep our boat during the winter.
So that means we will not be staying in South Africa for the coming winter and Soccer World Cup as planned initially. We will be heading to Brazil next year, late January/early February. Needless to say I am so happy about that! We will be heading straight to Rio and working our way further south from there. So excited, can't wait!
The highlight of our stay so far has been our 2 visits to the Hluhluwe(pronouced Shooshoolooe)-Imfolozi Park. Our first visit was a 3 day/two nights stay at the park where we saw pretty much all the animals there was to see (Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, Antelopes, Elephants, buffalos, etc). I was the only one to see a lion as I did a night safari with the local camp as you are not allowed to drive your car at night (normally you drive yourself around the park and animals). On our second visit we saw a Cheetah and that was just incredible. She/he was kind of stalking this group of antilopes that seemed oblivious to its presece. It was majestic.
I love the Giraffes, they are so elegant and clumsy at the same time, we got a great shot of one drinking water - what an undignified moment for such an elegant creature. But Russ is in love with the Dung beetles... yeah, typical Russ. He reckons that the Dung beetle is not part of the Big 5 but is a certain number 6. Really, I have to give to the little insect, what an incredible life: make a neat shit ball with the help of its female partner; roll it and the female (yes, she hops on the ball for the ride) with its hind legs wherever it needs to be rolled (invariably up hill); then bury it so the female can lay her eggs in it. They do it all day long. The roads are littered with them. I don't know exactly what you all believe in, but hey, I am working hard on my karma here as I really don't want to come back as one of these creatures. No, rolling shit is not my idea of a life surprisinly!
Back to the boat reality we are now just waiting for our inner cutter stay and wind gear to come from Durban to get going west. Not much of a hurry but it would be nice to have a change. At least here we don't pay marinas as we are attached to a public dock, but I don't think one can stay here forever. Everyone says that once out of here it can only get better - so we hope as this is a pretty bleak place. I am not quite sure what we had in mind when we got there, but certainly it wasn't this. The weather is improving, summer is coming, but it still blows 25 - 40 knots either from the SW or NE and we don't want to get out of here in these conditions that's for sure. Another sad fact is that there are hardly any anchorages on this coast until you get to Simonstown (just south of Cape Town) meaning you have to stay in marinas. They are so expensive it's crazy really. After we heard as well that after a recent blow 5 boats sank at a nearby marina we decided that this is not a place we want to keep our boat during the winter.
So that means we will not be staying in South Africa for the coming winter and Soccer World Cup as planned initially. We will be heading to Brazil next year, late January/early February. Needless to say I am so happy about that! We will be heading straight to Rio and working our way further south from there. So excited, can't wait!
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