12-02-01 Back safe and sound on SIMMER in RSA. Our trip to the States was great, it was inspiring to see all those flags flying everywhere - houses, cars, buildings, on people! What a great country. We were so happy to see our family. We had a wonderful time catching up, eating turkey (Thanksgiving), staying up late, playing with babies, and just being with family. Time flew by so fast though, wish we could've stayed longer. But of course, boat projects and weather schedules to think about. We're still a bit jet lagged, more to come in the next week after more sleep.
12-10-01 We recovered from our jet lag, rented a car and drove to northern Zululand. We spend a couple safari days in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park - beautiful scenery and exciting wildlife. Our hut was strategically placed on a hill top so we had a great view of the surrounding area. The Hluhluwe-Umfolozi game reserve is the oldest in Africa (est 1895) and one of the only parks in this area that has the "Big Five". The "Big Five" are so named because they are the most dangerous animals and were the most popular with hunters: elephant, rhinoceros, lion, cheetah, and cape buffalo. We saw 3 of the 5, no luck seeing any cats (cheetah or lion). It's summer time here and the foliage is thick and the grass tall, so it's somewhat difficult to spot the cats. We did see other interesting animals: zebra, warthog, hyena, giraffe, impala, kudo, baboon, wildebeest, monkey, ..... as well as exotic bird life. The park covers an area of about 10 square miles and the animals roam freely. When driving through the jungle on dirt roads, you have to be very aware of animals as they cross the road in herds, packs, troops and prides. Also keep an eye out for huge giraffe munching on the tree tops, right on the roadway! The giraffe was our favorite animal to watch. They love eating the leaves of acacia trees and go through all sorts of contortions to drink from a watering hole. It is an amazing feat to witness. They have to spread their long fronts legs wide apart and slowly bend a bit at the knees and bend that even-longer neck down to ground level. We thoroughly enjoyed the park, even getting up at 4 AM and driving around to see the early morning risers. It was alot of fun and a memorable trip for sure. See some of the animals we caught on camera.
12-15-01 Most major projects on the boat are complete. One last project still outstanding is our anchor windlass and foredeck leak. We removed our Simpson-Lawrence 555 manual anchor windlass because it had a grease leak and we wanted to have it rebuilt. Then we discovered mounting bolts holding it to the deck were leaking and the wood under the fiberglass is wet and rotted. The rotten spot is an area about 1 meter square. The windlass should be ready to go next week, but our deck is another story. In order to do it right, we really should cut away the area of deck, insert a new piece of plywood and then fiberglass the deck back on. That is a major effort. We decided to do a temporary fix and wait until our return to the States to do the permanent fix. So we drilled about 30 small holes in the rotted area and will dry it out with a small heater. Once the wood is dry enough, we'll fill the holes with epoxy. Then we can remount the windlass, with a large aluminum backing plate underneath the deck. This will strengthen the area for the windlass. It's a temporary fix for now, and hopefully will get us to the US (1 ½ years) without any problems. We've been in Richard's Bay almost 2 months now, and we will probably move on after Christmas if this deck project works out well and there is a good weather window. Weather is extremely important for our next 800 nm around the southern tip of RSA. The sailing route from Richard's Bay to Cape Town is governed by 3 major factors: the Agulhas Current, variable weather patterns, and sheltered harbors. The Agulhas current is one of the great ocean currents running down the coast and can run up to 6 knots at its fastest point. Luckily it'll be giving us a push in the right direction. The weather systems are governed by low and high pressure systems moving across the Atlantic Ocean from South America. Opposing wind direction combined with the strong Agulhus current can be treacherous, so we don't want any SW breezes while we're out there sailing! The third factor of protected harbors is only an issue for the first half of the trip (Durban to Port Elizabeth). After Port Elizabeth the passages are shorter - mostly "day-sails" which means better chance of fair weather sailing. We'll update our log with our departure plans when we know them.
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