Durban Tour

Moses Mabhida Stadium built for the 2010 FIFA Wolrd Cup

King Shaka memorial and ceremonial rock in foreground

Traditional Zulu house - while not necessarily built of plants anymore, many houses have this shape

Picture of Luthuli and Robert Kennedy

Weaver bird nests

Carol finally finds a restaurant that serves vegetables!

Bust of Ghandi aat his former home

Picture of Mandela casting fist ballot in elections after his release

Durban Tour

September 17, 2016

On Saturday we, and the crew of No Regrets, took a one day tour with Greg Garson, who will be guiding us on our six day Zululand tour next week. While it was billed as a tour of Durban, we didn't actually spend much time in the city of Durban itself.

We headed out in the rain around 8:30am and drove north along the coast to the town of Stanger, now know by its Zulu name, KwaDakuzi. It was where Shaka, the great king of the Zulus, was buried. We visited the grave monument, as well as a small museum and learned a lot about this king who, in the early eighteen hundreds took a small tribe of 1,500 and created the largest and most feared tribe in South Africa. The Zulus remain the largest tribe in the country at around eight million people. Greg knows a lot about the Zulus and gave us a lot of history on the drive.

We next headed off to visit the former home of Chief Albert Luthuli, an anti-apartheid activist who, like Ghandi, advocated non-violence. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960, although had to wait until 1961 to receive it as the South African apartheid government would not give him permission to leave the country. After considerable pressure applied by Europeans and North Americans he was finally given a ten day visa to go to Stockholm. Subsequently he was confined to house arrest and allowed one visitor at a time. Robert Kennedy paid him a visit, ostensibly at the  request of President John Kennedy, although the dates of the visit are somewhat confusing. While here, we saw many weaver birds. The males build round nests at the end of slim tree branches. The females inspect them and if not suitable destroy them and the male must start all over again!

After lunch we visited the house that Ghandi lived in for the many years he lived and worked in Durbar. He came to Durban as an upper class lawyer to help the plight of the Indian indentured workers in South Africa. However  as he was treated as a lower class citizen. This taste of discrimination was instrumental in his forming his views of peace and equality that he would subsequently take back to India. Again, this house had been converted to a museum with a wealth of information about Ghandi and his life.

We ended up at the polling place where Nelson Mandela cast the first vote in the first free elections after his release from prison. Once more, it contained a lot of information on Mandela and his life.

We were to have experienced some Zulu dancing at the end of the day, however by the time we had spent the day in the rain we all decided to postpone this part of the tour until our return from our larger tour next week. All in all it was a very informative day.

Landfall in South Africa

First glimpse of Durban

Approaching the harbour entrance channel

Inside the calm harbour - following local sailboat Sundance to the Durban Marina

Crews of the three boats, plus Ed, celebratingour arrival with "Windhoek" beer.

A peaceful and early to bed first night in Durban Marina

Landfall in South Africa

Sept 16, 2016

I still can't quite believe we are in Africa! So far, we have mostly seen the marina area of the huge commercial harbour. It looks like it could be anywhere in the world. We got in about 1:30 pm yesterday and it took until lunch time today to finish all the check in formalities. At least you could stay in the marina area and not be confined to the boat. We could have much needed showers and start on the laundry and salt wash up. A tour guide met us here and we have started to make touring plans. .Ed is here as a BPO representative and has been a big help in getting things organized quickly.

The end of the passage was a bit rougher than predicted. We had NE winds overnight Wed/Thurs up to 42 kn. We only had up a reefed main and were sailing downwind so no problems. But the ride was bumpy so not much sleep and another section of the bimini ripped. We are trying to get someone to replace it while we are here. Things were much calmer for the harbour approach in the morning. The last few hours were spent adjusting course to pass the various freighters anchored or moving in and out. We decided to follow one in to help see the harbour entrance. About halfway in, it turned around and started to travel towards us. It was a dredging barge working on the channel. In the meantime we were trying to call port control on VHF to get permission to enter the channel, and they were trying to tell us to get out of the channel. But our main VHF radio didn't seem to be functioning properly.. We were eventually able to contact them on our handheld VHF radio. Another local sailboat was coming into port at the same time. We decided to follow them this time. Eventually they dropped their sails and pulled up beside us and said that they would lead us in to the marina and even called ahead to get which slip we were to take. Much appreciated!

When we pulled in, there were marina staff to take lines. Then Ed arrived with his bucket of beers on ice, followed by the crews of the other 2 boats. That is the photo that is on facebook taken by Klaudia. We were getting congratulations on arriving before through Facebook weable to tell anyone ourselves! After an afternoon of work, a good meal at the marina and an early night to bed were a good end to the day.

An aside here for anyone coming to South Africa with children. They have strict rules for children entering the country. It has taken Tahawas 2 days to round up all the paperwork needed. Norm, Klaudia, and the boys have 3 different last names as families after divorces often have. But they needed a letter from the boys' father, marriage certificates and birth certificates. 

The weather has started to deteriorate today with another stronger south westerly arriving. I'm so glad we are already here. Chris on Tom Tom expects to be here by Mon. Hope it is not too rough for him.

Tomorrow, Sat, we are doing a Durban city tour. Sunday is a day to relax and do chores. Then on Monday, we are all heading out on a week's tour and safari. We have a van, guide, and accommodations along the way, all for a reasonable price. (It is a lot more reasonable for the Americans than for us.) Can't complain too much as the prices generally seem not too bad. We are really looking forward to the time we have here which we expect will be at least two weeks. We had hope to sqeeze in a trip to Victoria Falls as part of next weeks touring, however will have to do that on our own as Tahawus can't leave the country with their children. We'll try to get that trip in later.

Reunion to Durban - Days 6 to 10

Drying out after a wet night!

A gentle sunset

On the "good days" we get lots of reading done

Lots of these monsters to dodge - actually they do a good job of dodging us!

Reunion to Durban - Days 6 to 10

Sept 14, 2016

We haven't kept up with blog postings this trip as we have no way to send them. Sailmail has not been working for any of us since a few days after leaving. Fortunately we have a satellite phone so can keep some contact. We can still hear No Regrets on SSB. We can get emails on sat phone, but don't share the address as we don't keep it on.

On Tues/Wed this week we had one of the infamous southwest gales that this crossing is known for. Since the low pressure systems arrive every 3 to 5 days, we have been lucky to have only one, plus the bad weather off Madagascar. We were heavily reefed, so continued to travel ok except for a bumpy, wet ride. Our bimini canvas has several rips from flogging, and every potential leak has been found. Lots of salty, wet rags and towels will be in the laundry on arrival.

We have been pushing our speed to be able to arrive tomorrow, Thurs, Sept,15, the 11th day. Another gale force system with north winds was forecast to arrive tonight and be much worse by Fri. Fortunately the forecast has moved that ahead one day so we can relax some. If we can't keep the speed up we will motor. Tahawas and No Regrets made landfall today.

We have been pretty busy just keeping up with sail changes and the other chores involved in traveling. Today, Rob is making water. We have settled into one long watch each during the night. Freighter traffic is regular, but we expect that to increase closer to shore. Durban is the busiest harbour in SA. It also has the highest population of Indians outside Asia. We have been reading various guide books on what to see and expect in SA. I know now that we will wish for more time.

Reunion to Durban Days 1 to 5

Leaving Reunion

Tahawus under sail

No Regrets under sail

Maggie sailing wing and wing into the sunset

Chartplotter showingmany frreighters off the south coast of Madagascar

Reunion to Durban  Days 1 to 5

Sept 9 2016

The trip so far has had all the variety that we expected. Winds have ranged from 5 knots to 33, from the SW, NW,N, NE and SE. The first day we were in the wind shadow of Reunion and sailed NW on the sea breeze. Our target this week is south of Madagascar, about 260 degrees. We stayed in an area of low winds another day, while the other two boats got out of it and well out of sight. They are about a day ahead of us. We finally spent one night motor sailing until the winds filled in. Since then we have been mostly in the mid twenties, gusting to 32. We have had the spinnaker up and down twice and the pole out for the genoa. It is a straight downwind run to our first waypoint which is 60 miles off the south coast of Madagascar, but that is not a point of sail that Maggie can do easily. We have been gybing from one side to the other.

The wind and seas are normally higher to the south and east of Madagascar. That is what we are in today. It is ok but uncomfortable. We are hiding out below to stay dry. There is a regular track along here with freighters traveling in both directions around the cape. We can read their destinations and course on the AIS, and call if necessary. There was no moon when we started Mon but a bit more each day.

With 2 people we do a long watch each and then nap extra when we need it. Rob stays on from supper to midnight or 1. I'll cover until about 5am. While on watch we try to sleep in 20 minute intervals between checking things. We've both read a few books during the day. It's great to have the autopilot working. We only have to steer when we use the SSB as there is interference between them. We are calling the other 2 boats on SSB at 8:45am and 6:45pm each day. Chris, on Tom Tom,  left Reunion yesterday and has joined the net.

The only boat damage so far is the bimini starting to rip in 2 places. A few waves have crashed onto it. Also we are having difficulty connecting to sailmail. We have someone advising us on the weather but haven't been able to receive emails for a few days. It is hard to get an available frequency with so few around here. We are going to try to use the sat phone to get emails. If you want to get in touch this week, send message to

robharvey@myiridium.net.

Photos to be added once in Africa, but so far only water and sky to see.

Reunion Island

Deep gorges

                                    

Road along bottom of crater

Crater floor - moonscape!

Viewing scale model of volcanic crater

Eclipse of the sun - Reunion best location for viewing

On crater rim floor - site of latest eruption!

September 9, 2016

Reunion is a dependency of France so its citizens are part of France and the EU. About 100,000 of its 800,000 inhabitants are directly from France. Many of the rest would be descendants of slaves. Although unemployment runs at 60% there is a welfare system in place. With European money they have built great roads and highways. With all the mountainous areas, it must have been expensive. It is very clean and stunningly beautiful. Sugar cane is still a big industry. Tourism is also important.

Tourists come predominantly for the hiking. There are well marked trails, hotels to stay along routes, and organized special events. We have seen many parasailors as well. The beaches are not very protected from the surf. Reunion is a younger volcanic island so doesn't have a well established reef around it and is quite steep to. This is also why there are no good anchorages.

They have been having problems with shark attacks so some resorts have put up nets to keep them from shore. A surfer lost an arm and leg last week. We needed our prop cleaned here, but paid a diver to do it for us. The locals know when and where it is safe. There are also whales in the area. No Regrets saw one, and some of the dive boats, but have not been that lucky ourselves.

On Thurs. there was a full solar eclipse from 11:30 to 2 pm. There were quite a few viewers by the harbour as there was an unobstructed view from there. We were lucky to have a sunny day and a local family gave me a spare pair of the special glasses for viewing. On Tahawas the boys have a telescope that they used to project an image on paper. You could also view through the sextant that is designed for sun sites to get your position.

We used rental and borrowed cars to get up into the mountains on Fri, Sat and Sun. Each visit must be made on a separate road, switching back and forth up from sea level. Fri we visited a "cirque", which is a collapsed crater. There are villages in each of the three major ones. Two have car access on a narrow, winding, 2 hour trip. The third only has access by hiking in about half an hour. Supplies come in by helicopter. Other mountain communities are 4 hours away from any roads. The road we travelled is closed when it rains hard and when there is a potential earthquake. The town, restaurant, and backdrop reminded me of being in the Alps or Banff, but with almost no tourists. (Mind you this is low season).There are also no fees to pay to visit the park areas.

Sat we drove to a central high peak, about 2300 m. From there you could see in every direction around the island. The deep ravines are impressive, even though they make transport difficult. Occasionally, they will have snow on the 3000m peak, Piton des Nieges. For us, the temperature dropped from 25C at sea level to about 10C. Trying to hike, you can feel the change in altitude.

Sun was the most interesting drive up to the volcano. It is one of the most active in the world. Since being discovered 350 years ago, it has erupted 200 times, the most recent being in 2015. The most active crater is on Piton de la Fournaise, at 2631 m. In 1640 the eruption lasted 10 years. Most of the lava flows east to the sea. There are no towns along that side but there is a coastal road. You can't see into the crater and down that side without hiking 4 hours to the top. We drove up the western side and hiked about an hour onto the old lava and a few small cauldrons. There was quite a bit of info posted for touring. We'll post some photos from there when we get to Africa and internet. Photos can't do justice to huge panoramic views, I'm afraid. Helicopter tours seemed quite popular, although expensive. If we had more time we would like to have seen the museum and done some hiking.

La Reunion Island - BPO travel and plans

Carol at the Helm - unusually cool morning!

First glimpse of Le Port, Reunion Island

Maggie at rest on the wall

Eclipse of the Sun - Reunion was the best place to view!

Carol on the climb to the top of the crater

View down into the crater

Rugged landscape

Crater rim

Hang gliders in the crater

Observation point on crater's edge

On the edge

September 5, 2016


Luc and Maggie have kept us so busy this week that I have not had time to sit down and catch up with our blog. Today, our first underway to Africa, I will outline the what ,how, when, where of the trip at the moment. Tomorrow, I'll write about what the highlights of this island were for us.

We left Mauritius Aug 30 and arrived the next morning. The winds averaged about 30 knots on the beam so it was a fast trip. It was also a wet and tiring one for us, as it turned out. Both the bow thruster and autopilot were not working. They had been fine when we returned to Canada so didn't think of checking before leaving. Boat equipment doesn't like to sit unused. This meant that we had to hand steer the whole way. With the beam reach, waves and wind are on the helms person. Fortunately, we were giving Kate a ride to Reunion. She had been on the boat rafted to us. Despite being seasick for a few hours, she took turns steering, one hour on, one hour in the cockpit on watch and one to sleep.

We have had the autopilot repaired. The fluxgate compass needed replacing, probably the only part of the system we didn't have a replacement for. We thought replacing a burnt out fuse would be the simple solution to the bow thruster but it looks like the batteries will need replacing. Instead of being in a slip in the marina we were tied to the entry wall. At least, all the marine services had their offices there. The showers were a 15 walk away with only cold water, this that didn't happen often.

Luc flew in from the Philippines for the 6 days. There are three boats in the BPO now. We have a weather router to help us on this next leg, considered the most difficult long passage of a circumnavigation. Fortunately, he has forecast today as the best day to leave. The schedule allowed us to wait up to 2 weeks. We will be happy with longer in South Africa. There is much to see, and you need to do a lot of waiting for the right weather as you travel along the coast.

As well as sightseeing, we made many trips to the markets to restock the fridge and freezer. Because we had rental cars for a few days, it was a chance to stock up on other heavy things, like beer, pop, and milk. (Probably not in that order of priority.) A number of other cruisers that we have met elsewhere are in this area. We had Gaia over for dinner and they filled us in on others' plans as they have been here awhile. Most boats will be leaving soon to go around the north of Madagascar, along Mozambique to SA. It is 1000nm longer but has more places to stop, plus the chance to see that island.

Last night we had a farewell dinner, particularly to say goodbye and thank you to Luc.
He has joined us in five cruising areas. He invited his host from town ,whose home was offered on Air B and B. He, in turn, introduced us to a good mechanic and a local sailor who shared tips. The restaurant was a well known creperie by the sea. A good farewell to France! We have 1440 nm to Durban and expect that to take 10 to 12 days.

Back to Mauritius

Red sky in the morning over the mountains east of Port Louis

Public beach with reef in background

Le Mourne and the World Heritage Site park

We saw many colourful birds

Kiters in a protecterd bay

Lunch stop with Klaudia, Norm and boys from Tahawus

Chamarel rum distillery - very beautiful gardens as part of it

 

Black River Gorge viewing location - lots of monkeys looking for food!

Another great public beach

Picnic lunch at north end of the island - islands faintly seen in the background

Back to Mauritius

August 28, 2016

We are now back to the boat, still tied up in Port Louis. We enjoyed the visit back to Canada, especially visits with family and friends. It was also a chance to order parts and supplies. We flew with two suitcases each plus the two carryons. We have finally found a home for all those things and given away the bags. We left Toronto Wed morning Aug. 17 and arrived here Fri afternoon which included two overnight flights, a stopover in Paris and the time change. We treated ourselves to a night in a hotel next to the marina to start the next day rested and clean.

The first days' work was to reinstall the sails and canvas. They had been sent in for repairs. The winds were calm last week in the mornings for that. Another boat, Indigo, was rafted outside us and Tom Tom was inside. The fenders and toe rail took a beating being the sandwiched boat. A few days later, Chris and Linda left for some cruising around the island. It was a major shuffle to get Tom Tom out, Indigo against the wall and us rafted on the outside. Fortunately there were many hands available to fend and hold lines.

 Tahawas had arrived the day before us. It has been good to catch up with them since last seeing them in Thailand. Another boat, Calypso,  had checked in to the net during our Indian Ocean crossing here. They are from South Africa but Maureen is from Oakville originally. They will be finishing a 13 year trip soon. We learned some more about the trip to and along SA from them. Both those boats have been busy with repairs.

One of the major projects of the week has been to reprovision the freezer for the trip to Africa.  Most cruisers do that job here as the prices are lower than in Reunion and the stores are closer to the boats. It has turned out to be an expensive mistake. There is an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Mauritius and starting this week all fresh food will be confiscated in Reunion to prevent its spread there. Boats have emailed back that they are taking all meat, fish, dairy, and produce. This even includes UHT milk cartons and a thorough search through the boat for hidden supplies. This has cost some boats several hundred dollars.

Our plan is to leave for Reunion on Tues Aug 30. The BPO schedule is for us to arrive in Reunion the 31st. Luc will be there for several days of help and organize activities. Zeke and his next crew on No Regrets arrived this weekend. Joyful has decided to ship their boat to the Med, so we are down to three boats. Joyful was still in Australia's Christmas Island so they will have to get the boat to SE Asia instead of here. The weather has been fine all week until today. There is a low pressure system coming from Africa that is causing higher winds and seas all this week. It is supposed to be slightly better on Tues for the 120nm trip. We'll see.

We could have left sooner but didn't want to leave Mauritius without seeing its most famous sights. On Fri and Sat we rented a van and went touring with ourselves and Tahawas. It was worth seeing how beautiful this island is. Fri we drove down the west coast to the south and back through the highlands. Along the coast are many resorts as well as huge public beaches. There is a reef surrounding the island, so the beaches on all sides are protected from high seas. It is stunning with the mountains as a backdrop to the turquoise water below.  In the SW corner there is a high rock outcrop called Le Morne. It is now a world heritage site commemorating the fight against slavery here. Runaway slaves hid in this area and sometimes jumped to their death rather than be recaptured. There are large rock carvings donated by various countries in the park.

Driving up into the mountains, there is the Black River Gorge National Park. From there you can see over the deep gorge and around the island. If you had the time there are many trails, and lots of monkeys and unique birds about. We also stopped at one of the waterfalls and a Hindu religious site. Also in the highlands was Le Chamarel rum factory with its great setting in sugar cane fields and gardens. We enjoyed the tour and sampling.

On Saturday we drove part of the northeast coast, north and northwest to Grand Bay. This was not as mountainous, although you can see them all around. There was a forest national park with visitor centre and trails. There were miles of sugar cane fields and large loose rocks from previous volcanoes. We stopped for a picnic at one of the many beaches. We finished the day in the tourist town of Grand Bay. We met the crew of one of the boats we had met in Rodrigues in the grocery store. A number of that group of boats are anchored there or already in Reunion. It was a good two days of sightseeing that has made us appreciate the island more. Rob did an admirable job of driving on the left side in a manual gear car.