3-04-02 We're offshore sailing north of Cape Town and the picturesque Table Mountain is a beautiful sight to see. Yesterday was Colleen's birthday and we had a dock party to celebrate before we left. A great time with international and local yachties. A fellow cruiser, Anita, has a birthday on March 8th and many of us are preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean - so many reasons to celebrate. Great South African wines, Madagascar rum punch, delicious food, good friends, spectacular scenery and a glorious sunset made it very special. Cape Town is another one of those spots in the world where cruisers converge and reunite after some time apart. Then onto various ports from here ... South Atlantic to South American or Europe, for some of our friends. We'll be in Saldanha Bay tomorrow by mid day to see our South African friends we haven't seen since Darwin, Australia 2 years ago.
3-14-02 Still in Saldanha Bay, Lat 33°01'S/Lon 17°57'E. Nice quiet little spot at the Saldanha Bay Yacht Club, where international boats can pick up a mooring for 10 days free. It's friendly place with a comfortable club and facilities. Only problem is the local fish processing plant nearby is very smelly in certain winds. P.U.! This area of the western cape is much different geographically from Cape Town. It is much flatter, drier and open - not such pretty scenery. Our friends, Willem and Lynette, are taking very good care of us: cooking for us, taking us touring, to the supermarket, arranging doctor's visits, helping in whatever we need. We had to buy a new VHF radio while we're here as our old one has died. We believe it was due to the lightening strike from Richard's Bay. We receive traffic fine, but can only transmit about 1 mile as we discovered while offshore. A courier delivered a new ICOM 402 from Cape Town yesterday - about a 2 hour drive away. Now all is well onboard. Tomorrow we load up on fresh fruit, veg, dairy and meats and Saturday we are off to St. Helena - 1,700 nm away. Should take us about 2 weeks of sailing to reach it. Plan to be there by Easter weekend. Looking forward to going offshore again and getting into the lazy, peaceful trade winds.
3-23-02 Position Lat 22°40'S/04°11'E ... somewhere in the South Atlantic. After one week offshore, we are now more than halfway to St. Helena - 1,000 nm down and 700 nm to go. Good trip so far with winds averaging 15 knots on our stern. The swell has been a bit uncomfortable, but we really shouldn't complain. We heard that last week in Cape Town a huge container ship at anchor in Table Bay was struck by a huge, rogue wave and heeled over 36 degrees and lost 26 containers off the deck. Glad we're outta there! We're still a bit cold as the Benguela Current that runs up the western African coast from Antarctica has forced us to pull out some extra clothes for night watches (long underwear and socks!) We've been reminiscing about our 5 month stay in South Africa, and we have mixed feelings, although we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It is a country that should have a very bright future, despite the scars of the past. We're sure South Africa today is a better country than it was a few short years ago, as a result of Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and countless others. We hope the political structure can hold together RSA's diverse cultures and allow each to express themselves. Although the apartheid system is dead, as travelers, we did not see much black involvement in the economy. The only black-owned business we saw was a vineyard we visited in Franschoek. Hopefully the coming generation will gain more economic benefits from their freedom. South Africa is one of the countries that we plan to return to someday and do more extensive travelling inland, maybe by campervan. We have made good friends there and would love to see them again.
3-31-02 Happy Easter from St. Helena island in the South Atlantic (Lat 15°56'S/Lon 05°43'W). We arrived early Good Friday morning after our 13 day - 1,700 nm passage. We crossed the Prime Meridian (Greenwich) during our passage and we're now back in the western hemisphere. We're anchored in James Bay, off the main town of Jamestown. Jamestown is a unique village nestled in a deep volcanic valley. This tiny island is very remote - it can be described as the piece of land on earth that is furthest away from any other piece of land than any other piece of land on earth. Quite a mouthful, but true. There is no airport, only a ship that visits every 4-6 weeks. The Royal Mail Ship (RMS) St. Helena is the only means of coming to the island or leaving the island (unless you own a small yacht like us). The RMS is due to arrive this week, so it'll be interesting to see the increased activity in town. The RMS - the last dedicated mail ship in the world - travels from England to Ascension Island, St. Helena Island and Cape Town and is the lifeline for the residents here. Today we met a very friendly Irish priest, Father Joe, who runs the Sacred Heart parish in Jamestown. We attended Easter mass with the rest of the local congregation - all 7 of them. Father Joe has an interesting religious career - he served as a missionary in Uganda and the Falkland Islands, before his time here on St. Helena. He also had a stint in the States - Yonkers, New York. After mass, we were welcomed into the parish house for tea and cake along with the rest of the congregation. It was a delightful morning as we enjoyed meeting everyone and answering all their sailing questions. St. Helenians, or "Saints" as they are called, are very curious people!
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