TOTAL MILES TRAVELED ON SAIL to SEE EXPEDITION: 22,838
THE LAST PASSAGE
Total Miles traveled on last passage – 604 NM
Miles traveled using SAILS – WIND POWER ONLY:181 NM
Miles traveled using both SAILS & ENGINES together: 301 NM
Miles traveled using ENGINES – FOSSIL FUELS ONLY: 122 NM
Ship Sightings: Many ships sail around the Cape of Good Hope and Durban, South Africa is one of the busiest shipping ports in the Southern Hemisphere. In fact, when we arrived in Durban, we had to wait outside the harbor entrance for almost two hours waiting for large ships to come and go. Huge cargo ships and tankers were also anchored outside of Durban waiting for their turn to come in.
Animal Sightings in and off the coast of South Africa: Humpback Whales, Albatross, Yellowfin Tuna, Gannets, Zebra, Rhinoceros, Elephant, Warthog, Impala, Buffalo, Giraffe, Fish Eagle, Sunbirds, Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Thick-tailed Bushbaby, Dassie, African Penguin, African Fur Seal
VOS Reports Filed: -- 3 VOS weather reports were filed with NOAA on this passage through our satellite communications.
Average Air Temperature: 76.5 f/ 24.7 c
Average Sea Temperature: 74.3 f/ 23.5 c
Strongest Wind:-- 40.2 Knots!! (knots are a wind measurement of Nautical Miles per hour)
PASSAGE NOTES:
We spent a month in South Africa but only about 6 days sailing around the coastline between Richard’s Bay and Cape Town. This means we had a lot of time to explore the country by land as well as by sea. We saw animals that one doesn’t normally see from a boat! However, there were some Vervet Monkeys that visited us on the boat several times while we were in Richard's Bay.
The crew of Elcie spent two days in a wildlife park called Hluhluwe –Imfolozi (pronounced shla-shlu-way – em-fa-lo-zee). We stayed in a lodge with a river running near it. At the lodge, there was a “hide” or raised wooden platform amongst the trees and from it we could see animals visiting the river. An elephant was bathing when we arrived. Later in the day, a hippo wandered up from the river.
At 5 am the next morning, we met a guide named Bheki who took us all over the park in a big jeep looking for wildlife. In the distance, a giraffe head towering above the trees, moved on a hillside. Rhinoceros, looking like boulders at first, grazed with babies. A troupe of Baboons crossed the road ahead of us. We didn’t know what we might see and around every turn was a nice surprise. Behki pointed out lots of birds that I would have missed. It was a great fun just riding around in the game park and trying to spot animals.
The rest of the day we spent driving through the park in our own rental car looking for wildlife. We came upon several cars stopped and then realized that an elephant was on the road ahead. He was in no hurry to move off the road so we waited with everyone else. Later, the same thing happened when two rhinos were on the road. We made the drive back to Elcie that same evening as our crew would arrive on Wednesday morning.
Once the crew arrived, we decided the weather was not suitable for leaving right away. Some of the crew made another inland trip to the Drakensberg Mountains region to an area called the Giant’s Castle. Here, we hiked to see San Paintings which were done by African Bushmen thousands of years earlier. The young park ranger who showed us the paintings explained how Bushmen spoke with clicks.
The drive back to Elcie in Richard’s Bay took a long time and some very careful driving. It was not unusual for cattle, carts, goats or children to be in the road. At one point, a thick fog encased us on a mountaintop and we could hardly see the front of the car.
We made the 90 NM sail from Richard’s Bay to Durban on one very long day. There was not a lot of wind so we motorsailed nearly the whole way. It was grey and drizzly so we had soup for lunch. When we arrived in Durban, we had to wait outside the harbor entrance for almost two hours waiting for large ships to come and go. Huge cargo ships and tankers were also anchored outside of Durban waiting for their turn to come in. We did not get tied up to the dock until almost 10:30 PM and we still had to have dinner. It was very late by the time we all went to bed.
The weather then kept us from leaving Durban for several days so we had some more time to explore. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa. It has a very large Indian population. Someone told us that we had to eat Bunny Chow while we were in Durban. Can you guess what Bunny Chow is? We couldn’t. It is a half a loaf of white bread with the middle pulled out and then it is filled with spicy Indian Curry. It is very filling!
We had our Thanksgiving dinner tied up at the marina in Durban. It was a very traditional dinner with a turkey, stuffing and all the usual vegetables.Molly and Meg had made a delicious apple pie for dessert. While the turkey cooked, some of the crew played cards. One of the crew brought table decorations from home. It wasn’t easy to find some of the ingredients in South Africa but we did pretty well and all enjoyed the Thanksgiving Dinner on Elcie.
Our next sail from Durban to Simonstown took four days. We had our fastest day ever, making 270 NM in 24 hours! Can you guess why we were going so fast? The Agulhas Current runs south along the South African coast at up to 4 knots. It felt great to be moving so fast!
We caught a Yellowfin Tuna and ate it for several meals. Dolphins and then a pod of humpback whales entertained us with breaching and fin waving on our last day before arriving at Simonstown. We didn’t have quite enough time to get in before dark. The wind was forecast to increase from the south. And it did – right up to about 30 knots which we rode with just a small sail all the way up to Simon’s Town. The bright light of the Cape Lighthouse helped guide us in.
We arrived around midnight with strong wind and pelting rain. The highest gust was over 40 knots! Fortunately, we had been given very clear instructions to the mooring which we picked up and tied onto. The girls got up to help get on the mooring. At first it seemed that the pennant was not long enough to reach the boat but with both Emma and I pulling and Molly feeding the lines through, we did it. It was an exciting night time arrival and hard to go to sleep afterward. In the morning, it was fun to wake up and see where we were. Tall, boulder-strewn hills rise above the town. The town has an old-fashioned feel with Dutch and Victorian style buildings. The South African navy is based here and has a very large Naval Yard with ships and submarines.
We walked down to a beach with lots of African penguins. They were very cute. I was able to take some photos of an adult feeding its chicks. The parents swim out to sea to eat fish and then come back and regurgitate the fish into the mouths of the chicks who pester them until they do so. The chicks are very persistent until they get fed. The next day the other parent will go out to swim and bring back a belly full of food. The penguin colony here has done so well because a protected area has been provided for them to nest in large plastic jugs half buried in the hillside under the cover of shrubs. We also saw a Dassie which looks like an oversized guinea pig. The one we saw was standing on its hind legs eating flowers off a bush.
We made our way around the Cape of Good Hope on Elcie (also called the Cape of Storms) by departing around 4 am on a Sunday morning. It was mostly calm when we slipped our mooring and slid out of Simonstown. The cape itself looked mystical in the early morning light with clouds rolling over its face and down to the sea. There were about 6-7 small, local fishing boats also heading down to the cape so we felt we had chosen the right day to go around - no need for any more excitement for a while.
We set some sail but in the end, it was mostly a motor. Table Mountain came into view once we were around the cape and heading up the west side. I had seen photos of Table Mountain before but was not prepared for the sheer immensity of it in person.
Our dock space was very close to a floating platform that was set up as a resting place for the African fur seals that lived in the harbor. All day and night we had to listen to the belching and barking seals, especially the males that had frequent arguments. A huge bull liked to lie at the foot of the ramp leading off our dock and we had to walk around him hoping that he wouldn’t growl or snap at us.
On one day, we climbed Table Mountain. It was a tremendous amount of UP - scrambling up a rocky gorge, several ladders and many, many steps! Just about the time we thought we would never reach the top we came out onto a flat area with a trail to a reservoir and a white sand beach. Who would have thought that one would find a white sand beach at the top of a mountain?!
The trail then carried on around the top of the mountain to the highest point. We stopped several times for snacks and to nurse sore feet. The path wound around, up and over boulders and across flat areas. The views were amazing and the vegetation was interesting. At this climate and elevation, it is what is called Fynbos – a colorful collection of succulents, protea and shrubs. Protea is the national flower of South Africa. We decided to hike down instead of taking the cable car. It was a long and tricky hike down, over uneven rocks, on a trail that had many switchbacks. We were all very tired at the end but proud of our achievement.
Now we are starting to get ready for our big sail across the Atlantic Ocean. We have over 3000 miles to go so we need a lot of food and supplies. Fortunately, there is a small island that we can stop at along the way. We’ll tell you more about that later!
WHERE WE VISITED: SOUTH AFRICA
Other Names: Republic of South Africa
Independence: May 31, 1910 (from the United Kingdom)
Former Name: Union of South Africa
Population: 50,460,000
Area: 470,693 Sq Miles / 1,219,090 Sq Km
Capitals: Pretoria (administrative capital), Cape Town (legislative capital), Bloemfontein (judicial capital)
Type of Government: Parliamentary republic/democracy
Currency: Rand
Languages:Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
Religion: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, indigenous beliefs
Highest Point: Mafadi 11,306 Feet / 3,446 Meters
Climate: Mostly semi-arid, sub-tropical on the East Coast
Natural Resources: gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore
Agricultural Products: corn, wheat, sugarcane, beef, fruits
Major Exports: gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
Natural Hazards: droughts
Country Flag:
Interesting Facts:
Cape of Good Hope
The first European to see the Cape was Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who was searching for the southern limits of the African continent. According to some historical accounts, Dias named the place the "Cape of Storms" (Cabo das Tormentas) in 1488. He later changed it to "Cape of Good Hope" (Cabo da Boa Esperança) at the suggestion of King John II of Portugal because of the great optimism engendered by the opening of a sea route to India and the East. Other accounts suggest Dias came up with the name himself. Known for stormy weather and rough seas, the Cape was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) to the east-southeast.
"Graveyard of ships"
South Africa has a coastline of some 1553 miles (2500 km). A coastline which is dangerous in parts, and which has claimed thousands of vessels over the centuries. More than 2500 shipwrecks have occurred along the South African coast since 1500, all from a diverse range of cultures and countries and include ships of Portuguese explorers, Dutch, English and French East India Companies, the British Royal Navy and more. Some of the ships that sailed these treacherous seas simply disappeared without a trace. In an attempt to reduce the number of wrecks, many lighthouses were erected along the beautiful coast.