Chilly,
chilly, chilly. We bit the bullet and
purchased a halogen double bar heater, fantastic, shed a warm orange glow down
the passage at night and made everything so toasty. Unfortunately one week and we had killed it,
both tubes blown, not quite up to boat life!!
Next a Ceramic fan heater, so far so good….
Our
wine stocks were dangerously low so an emergency trip to Stellenbosch was
required. We got hold of Taunnee, our
friend who used to work at Porky’s in Richards Bay and who is now studying and
living in Stellenbosch and she proved to be a most willing participant in our
purchasing/tasting tour. We had a lovely
day, spent a lot of time at Spier wine farm, a massive estate with bird enclosure,
hotel, two restaurants and wine tasting.
We did the chocolate and wine pairing tasting, amazing how different
chocolate can taste and can make wine taste, an education indeed.
We were all in agreement that the cardamom,
granadilla and white saffron chocolate (who makes this stuff?) was interesting
but should not be paired with wine, I was unable to even eat the white pepper
and plum white chocolate, never mind pair it with the Cap Classique and a
really awesome Chardonnay/Pinot Noir (aren’t I just starting to sound like a
connoisseur?), they were perfect on their own.
The lady who guided us through the process was really informative and
funny, a great experience.
Our
friend Eileen has become the main hub in a rather wobbly Glencairn wheel. She has single handedly pulled together a
very successful neighbourhood watch and is seriously involved with the Police
in combatting crime in her area, a huge feat.
Kevin went out with her on patrol of the neighbourhood and our Terios
became the weapon of choice, impressive huh?
Well done Eileen, such dedication and tenacity can only pay off.
A
huge surprise was a really brief flying visit from Thomas Lutz, a friend from
when I worked at ATE and who I haven’t seen since leaving there 7 years
ago. Great to catch up.
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| Gordons Bay Marina |
 |
| G'nT at Yacht Club |
Next
we took a nice little road trip. The original
plan was to get to Aghulhas but upon studying the map, we realised a weekend
was never going to be long enough so we cut it off at Hermanus, deciding on
Klein Mond as our base. We departed
Friday afternoon, stopping for Kevin’s NAUI DM card in Gordons Bay, he got his
10 year service badge, which was issued last year, clever chap, then on to the Marina
From here we headed for the yacht club
where we were warmly welcomed and enjoyed a welcome G’nT on the balcony,
overlooking the really full and obviously popular marina.
 |
| Our Apartment was 2nd from Right |
 |
| View from the Apartment Balcony |
Dragging ourselves away we headed North past
Pringle Bay and Hangklip, the point we were so happy to round when we sailed
down before heading across False Bay on our trip to Simons Town, flashing
through Betty’s Bay and reaching Klein Mond before sunset. We were met by an incredibly helpful and
friendly agent, Karen, then into our amazing apartment with its beautiful sea
view, even from the bed in the attic, so peaceful and relaxing. The apartment is part of a new harbor
development, also a work in progress, the road leading down to it lined with
all sorts of interesting shops and restaurants, warranting a mini shopping
spree on Saturday morning. We were
struck by how many friendly helpful people we encountered, bought some goodies
and got some good ideas too.
 |
| Ocean Quest |
Then
off down the road to Hermanus, where we stopped at the new harbor. It gives the
impression of a really ambitious project that is around 60% complete, some
restaurants and whale watching charters and to our pleasant surprise Neptune
Divers who have an Island Spirit Catamaran named Ocean Quest as their base for
diving. Incidently Ocean Quest was the
very first Island Spirit Catamaran we viewed and the reason we wanted an Island
Spirit, unfortunately she was a tad run down then, guess at least now she is
being used.
 |
| Hermanus - the original harbour |
 |
| Such a clever steel statue |
 |
| Lunch while whale watching |
We had both imagined Hermanus
to be a quaint little fishing/whale watching village, what a surprise, upon
reaching town, to find a really well established tourist destination, famous indeed
as the best land based whale watching destination, hosting the Two Oceans
Hermanus Whale Festival which takes place there in September/October and where
one is apparently guaranteed of seeing whales aplenty and loads of festivities,
including a whale crier, there are many, many guest houses and hotels and
various other forms of accommodation, a centre with a huge market and loads of
different restaurants to choose from, we found a great one with an ocean view
for lunch, spotted a couple of whales eventually, but it is still early in the
season. How lucky were we to see a huge
pod of dolphins just off shore as we were walking back to the car, never get
tired of dolphins.
We
were supposed to head back on Sunday but the setting in Klein Mond was so awesome
we stayed another night and on Monday headed back to Simons Town. On our way through Betty’s Bay we found the
Stony Point Penguin colony, penguins everywhere and what was so great were the
number of babies, well actually teenagers in Penguin terms, the little brown
chaps still reliant on their parents for food but almost the same size as the
parents, busy gaining their waterproofness.
 |
| Making the most of the sunshine |
Great to see other residents including Dassies (Rock Rabbits) who were
unashamedly loving the sun. There is a
story board explaining that during the last great oil spill, in desperation,
the majority of the penguins were gathered up and transported by trucks to Port
Elizabeth where they were released back into the water.
 |
| Fresh red spot |
 |
| Faded red spot with baby |
Amazingly, the majority of them made it back
to Betty’s Bay just as the last of the oil spill was being cleaned up, how
clever are these little guys to know which way to swim home. That said, we were so excited when we spotted
two Penguins with red chests (you might remember from our stop in Cape St Francis
where we released a Penguin back into the sea, with its little red chest,
specific mark of Cape St Francis so that they can identify them if necessary),
one of the penguins was the proud parent of a baby, its red spot rather faded,
and the other sporting a more fresh marking, what a story they must be able to
tell of their journey from Cape St Francis – whales, sharks, storms, wow…
Brunch
in Gordons Bay followed, nothing seems to be open in Pringle Bay on a Monday
morning and sadly our adventure was over for now, a really lovely break.
Kylie
came to visit, what fun, she was a real trooper, getting her sleeves up and
helping out as yet another one of those 5 minute jobs became a three day
affair. Kevin decided to re-seat the lid
of the starboard watertank that was leaking, only upon removing it realised
that three of the studs holding it in place had for some reason been cut short
so no wing nuts on those, then one of them was stripped and the lid was riding
on the fiberglass that had not been finished properly. This job now necessitated removing the
recently fixed shower trough to gain decent access and that was not an easy
job, some blue air, blood sweat and tears for a day and a half and it was out,
then fixing the
 |
| Its cold at Sunrise @ Seal Island |
problem and reseating the lid, then putting it all back
together!! We did at least manage a trip
to Royal Cape for lunch and dinner and cocktail at V&A Waterfront. An impressive prawn dinner at Seaforth
Restaurant at Boulders Beach where we were delighted to find a couple of
naughty penguins swaying down the road, followed by a visit to the Penguin
colony there a couple of days later. A
rather rude awakening one morning as our friend Tertius and his daughter Nadia
invited us out on his beautiful catamaran Infiniti to go and watch the shark
cage dive operators at Seal Island.
 |
| The Shark boats just before Sunrise |
 |
| The birds leave Seal Island at Sunrise |
They
use a rubber seal to entice the sharks and this has resulted in some amazing
breaching shots of great whites. We set
out at 05:00 and even though we were wrapped up good and solid it was freezing
(even got to try out my new beanie). We
got all excited as the operators boats arrived only to be unceremoniously
shooed to the other end of the island by them as they had a “BBC film crew” on
board shooting a documentary and needed the space L Anyway, from
a distance we saw a shark catch a seal and another one tail slapping, then on
our return journey we found a huge pod of dolphins, spotted two whales and
combined with the seals and penguin it was a really great, although freezing,
trip.
 |
| In charge - SAS Assegai |
 |
With the Squirrel Monkeys
at World of Birds |
A trip to the SAS Assegai
submarine museum and to World of Birds was the end of it and then she was
heading back to Pretoria, something about having to write her learners license
test (which she passed, clever child, now we can go out and party, got
chauffer).
Next day we picked up our
crew, Graeme and we were set. The Lipton
Cup Challenge is once again upon us, this year it takes place in Cape Town and
Zululand Yacht Club have again entered a team.
We decided to couple supporting this event with our move round to Royal
Cape Yacht Club (RCYC), in the harbor area of Cape Town, one we were planning
to do before the end of July anyway.
 |
| Boat and Team |
A
request from the team and the Club for Kevin to take on the role of Team
Manager for the event cemented the deal. A further cry for help with fetching the team
from the airport and organizing a rental car for them resulted in the parting
of ways at 5am on Friday morning.
 |
| Maxscene arrives at RCYC |
I was
the one throwing off ropes and waving farewell to Kevin and Maxscene, and
Graeme of course, but what a strange feeling, first time they have left without
me!! Collected the guys from the airport and spent the day in the sun at RCYC
watching preparations for the race.
Maxscene and crew arrived at 16:30, exhausted after a really tough
rounding of Cape Point, huge waves side on and lots of wind and cold, shame,
felt so sorry for them.
No time to sit on those
laurels though, Kevin was to attend meetings daily at 08:00, a tough deal
seeing that the sun still only rises after 7am here and I might have mentioned
it, but its damn cold, especially early morning. After all the formalities were over and a
couple of “fix-it’s” done, we were ready – the guys were joined by a really
sparky, friendly, Susan the fifth team mate, such excitement. Racing took place Sunday to Thursday,
although Tuesday had to be abandoned due to lack of wind, there had to be three
finishes for a result and thankfully by Thursday they had said result as
Fridays racing was cancelled due to severe weather conditions, winds of
40knots+ and swells of 4 meters.
On Wednesday the Bridge Boat
– the boat on which the committee sit for the duration of the race – a very
nice power boat, broke. Left them in a
real pickle and they asked us if we would mind stepping in – of course not, Kevin
still can’t get the smile off his face, it was a real privilege and we had many
thank you’s from all involved. Prize
giving on Friday night was an impressive affair, despite the horrendous weather
and our team came 14th overall, they did well, gave it their all,
never lost their sense of humour and kept trying no matter what.
 |
This is what a 2kg bar of chocolate
looks like, thank you from the team |
 |
| Biggest blocks of chocolate ever! |
Hopefully they will be able to get a team and
sponsors and some form of organization together by next year’s event, if we are
around we will support them again.
With the racing and
responsibilities over we did a little wine tasting with Graeme and visited Piet
and Vicky and learnt the proper way to braai fresh snoek – interesting – still
trying to figure out where we would “wind dry” that large piece of fish on a
boat!! It was delicious nonetheless J
Then sadly it
was time to say cheers to Graeme and not a minute too soon as the weather has
turned once more and the wind is howling again so its been a day of taking
cover and getting back to work……
Chilly,
chilly, chilly. We bit the bullet and
purchased a halogen double bar heater, fantastic, shed a warm orange glow down
the passage at night and made everything so toasty. Unfortunately one week and we had killed it,
both tubes blown, not quite up to boat life!!
Next a Ceramic fan heater, so far so good….
Our
wine stocks were dangerously low so an emergency trip to Stellenbosch was
required. We got hold of Taunnee, our
friend who used to work at Porky’s in Richards Bay and who is now studying and
living in Stellenbosch and she proved to be a most willing participant in our
purchasing/tasting tour. We had a lovely
day, spent a lot of time at Spier wine farm, a massive estate with bird enclosure,
hotel, two restaurants and wine tasting.
We did the chocolate and wine pairing tasting, amazing how different
chocolate can taste and can make wine taste, an education indeed. 
We were all in agreement that the cardamom,
granadilla and white saffron chocolate (who makes this stuff?) was interesting
but should not be paired with wine, I was unable to even eat the white pepper
and plum white chocolate, never mind pair it with the Cap Classique and a
really awesome Chardonnay/Pinot Noir (aren’t I just starting to sound like a
connoisseur?), they were perfect on their own.
The lady who guided us through the process was really informative and
funny, a great experience.
Our
friend Eileen has become the main hub in a rather wobbly Glencairn wheel. She has single handedly pulled together a
very successful neighbourhood watch and is seriously involved with the Police
in combatting crime in her area, a huge feat.
Kevin went out with her on patrol of the neighbourhood and our Terios
became the weapon of choice, impressive huh?
Well done Eileen, such dedication and tenacity can only pay off.
Brunch
in Gordons Bay followed, nothing seems to be open in Pringle Bay on a Monday
morning and sadly our adventure was over for now, a really lovely break.
Kylie
came to visit, what fun, she was a real trooper, getting her sleeves up and
helping out as yet another one of those 5 minute jobs became a three day
affair. Kevin decided to re-seat the lid
of the starboard watertank that was leaking, only upon removing it realised
that three of the studs holding it in place had for some reason been cut short
so no wing nuts on those, then one of them was stripped and the lid was riding
on the fiberglass that had not been finished properly. This job now necessitated removing the
recently fixed shower trough to gain decent access and that was not an easy
job, some blue air, blood sweat and tears for a day and a half and it was out,
then fixing the 
Next day we picked up our
crew, Graeme and we were set. The Lipton
Cup Challenge is once again upon us, this year it takes place in Cape Town and
Zululand Yacht Club have again entered a team.
We decided to couple supporting this event with our move round to Royal
Cape Yacht Club (RCYC), in the harbor area of Cape Town, one we were planning
to do before the end of July anyway. 
No time to sit on those
laurels though, Kevin was to attend meetings daily at 08:00, a tough deal
seeing that the sun still only rises after 7am here and I might have mentioned
it, but its damn cold, especially early morning. After all the formalities were over and a
couple of “fix-it’s” done, we were ready – the guys were joined by a really
sparky, friendly, Susan the fifth team mate, such excitement. Racing took place Sunday to Thursday,
although Tuesday had to be abandoned due to lack of wind, there had to be three
finishes for a result and thankfully by Thursday they had said result as
Fridays racing was cancelled due to severe weather conditions, winds of
40knots+ and swells of 4 meters.
On Wednesday the Bridge Boat
– the boat on which the committee sit for the duration of the race – a very
nice power boat, broke. Left them in a
real pickle and they asked us if we would mind stepping in – of course not, Kevin
still can’t get the smile off his face, it was a real privilege and we had many
thank you’s from all involved. Prize
giving on Friday night was an impressive affair, despite the horrendous weather
and our team came 14th overall, they did well, gave it their all,
never lost their sense of humour and kept trying no matter what. 
With the racing and
responsibilities over we did a little wine tasting with Graeme and visited Piet
and Vicky and learnt the proper way to braai fresh snoek – interesting – still
trying to figure out where we would “wind dry” that large piece of fish on a
boat!! It was delicious nonetheless J 
