We are back! It is with mixed feelings that I say that. We had an amazing trip to Inhaca and Santa Maria and whilst it is always nice to be home, we wish we were still there. |
| Our Crew |
The tanks were filled with diesel - 230lt, and an additional 100lt in drums added to the overall weight, together with a Honda whisper generator kindly leant to us by Graeme and Michelle to compensate for our lack of solar energy, as the two small solar panels we have not yet managed to upgrade were not at all up to the job, accompanied by 85lt of petrol to power the generator and the two motors for the two tender boats - we took Renier's one too, our water line was looking rather strained.
Water and power consumption being a concern, meant this was no luxury sailing trip. Showers were either taken outside under the rain water falling from the roof, ending in a rinse with water collected in the buckets, generally by the guys, or showers using salt water heated by the sun, in a camping solar shower bag, followed by a brief rinse off with fresh water. The toaster was only used when the generator was working as it drains loads of power, the use of lights and chargers was kept to the bare minimum and fans taboo. Our water consumption was so good that in the last days of our trip we were able to have proper showers on the yacht, most enjoyable.
Clearing out of South Africa was a painless exercise thanks to the yacht club, they had organized that the water police, customs and immigration were here at the yacht club from 11:00 - 13:00 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Under the trees at the Jib and Anchor bar our passports were stamped, documentation verified and we were given the all OK to leave. A careful eye was kept on the weather and much discussion went on between the 15 or so yachts from Richards Bay that were heading up, as to when would be best to go. Zeus were brave enough to take a small weather window on Wednesday evening 20 March 2013 and headed out around 22:00. Whilst the rest of us were all hoping to leave any time from Thursday onwards, nature had other plans and the first decent weather window appeared again on Saturday 23 March. At around 14:00 we heard that the front we were all planning to follow up the coast had passed Durban, heading our way, causing a flurry of activity in the club and especially on our yacht, getting the last things prepared and tied down, motors warmed, water tanks topped up, excitement under control and at 15:30 we were off. We knew the waves would be quite choppy as the wind had been blowing
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| Spirit of Adventure and Ingrid ahead of us on the way out of harbor |
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| Maranatha leaving Richards Bay |
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| Ingrid pounding the waves |
As predicted it was choppy indeed, lots of bobbing up and down in the swells, some rocking back and forth and all of us watching Ingrid, a large mono hull, bobbing all over the place and thanking our good choice in a catamaran. The unsettled seas continued right through until Monday morning, causing some real sea sickness which was bravely fought and eventually conquered by those concerned. At around 3am on Sunday morning we were surprised by a squall, the wind swinging round and going from dead calm to +/- 32knts in seconds, with waves breaking over the sugar scoops, causing a flurry of activity on deck to reef the main from 1 reef to 3 and furl in some of the genoa, restricting the sail area and thus depowering the sails. An hour later and all was back to normal,
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| Sodwana Bay |
We had lost sight of Maranatha and Sirroco who had come out of Richards Bay just behind us and stayed with us most of the journey, we later found out that due to various reasons, both yachts turned round and returned to Richards Bay at this point. Spirit of Adventure had disappeared over the horizon and Nomad had caught up to us by then and together with Ingrid we continued up the coast, tacking hard due to the north east wind. Sunday night was almost full moon and made the sailing almost romantic with the moonlight on the water, we sometimes sailed right into the moonlight reflection on the sea, what an experience. The lines and bungees were out
from the time we left Richards Bay harbor and between Sunday and Monday Graeme caught 3 barracuda, which we kept, one which we released as it was too small and a rock cod that we released immediately, our policy is game fish only. The barracuda were filleted - one was baked, one was braaied and one packed in the fridge for later. |
| Raising the Mozambique flag |
We arrived at Inhaca to find that Ingrid had beaten us there and Garuda had steamed past us in the night and were also already anchored. We went past and headed on our waypoints to Santa Maria, a complex entry into the bay as it is so shallow in so many areas, fortunately we had been given GPS co-ordinates to follow by Steve and boy did they work. We were met and welcomed by Jaco and Janet of Spirit of Adventure, already zooming around on their jet ski and when we got to the anchorage it was to the comment "welcome to paradise" from the back of Zeus, that was no exaggeration.
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| Hells Gate |
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| Floating behind Maxscene |
Santa Maria is a beautiful, unspoiled Nature Reserve, pristine beaches, crystal clear water and a huge current as the water rushes in and out of Hells Gate, a break in the land which allows access to and from the ocean, for those brave enough to attempt it in the right conditions. We dropped anchor and spent the next 1.5 days chilling and enjoying peace and solitude. There was a small rocky outcrop that Graeme, Dave and Michelle spent some time snorkeling apparently there is a surprising number of fish and turtles here. A favorite past time was floating in the warm water behind the yacht, foot through the floating ring to prevent being carried away by the current, pool noodle in the back, bliss. The last barracuda was turned into a yummy fish curry, life is good. We spent our time in the company of Zeus, Spirit of Adventure, Nomad and for a very short time Quazami.
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| Spirit of Adventure & Zeus at Santa Maria |
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| Maxscene at Santa Maria |
on anchor watch duties, another lesson learned.
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| Nomad at Santa Maria |
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| Inhaca Beach |
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| Inhaca Island |
Wednesday arrived far too soon and on the incoming tide we all headed off to Inhaca Island, some bottoming out on the sand and having to wait for more water before being able to continue. Rounding the point toward Inhaca excited voices called out the names of yachts we recognized those that had made it and chosen to stay at Inhaca, joy at those that had made it and sadness and concern over those that hadn't. We anchored with everyone else, between Portugese Island and Inhaca in a sheltered bay, then made our way ashore to Lucas' Tavern for the race briefing and dinner.
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| Anchored at Inhaca |
A fun evening was had by all, fines were handed out to all yachts and some individuals for various offenses, monies going toward tips for staff and each yacht had to perform a "ditty" before receiving their shirts sponsored by Southern Ocean, thankfully we had Dave on board who did a fantastic rendition of a Monty Python skit, earning himself a bottle of Bells whiskey for his efforts.
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| Jack from Spirit of Adventure |
A near damper on the evening, in fact the whole trip, was when little Jack - the Jack Russel from Spirit of Adventure - decided he had enough of waiting for his family to come home and after howling for hours he jumped in the water, heading for the beach where we had all gone, only it was really far and fortunately the crew of Zvedsda Mora, who left the function a little early, found him floundering in the water and rescued him. He is now known as Midmar Jack!!!!!
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| The welders workshop |
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| Clearing in and out of Mozambique |
On Thursday we were back at Lucas' with all our passports and paperwork, cleared out and were ready to go. We were then guided, via the garden of the local hairdresser (wigs hanging from the trees), through a hole in the fence to the workshop of a local welder. On Saturday night of our trip up the helm seat post had separated from its base, the welds breaking, depositing Graeme, who was sitting on it at the time, onto Kevin's lap. Meant that all steering was then done standing up so we were most grateful that we could get it fixed for the trip home. On our way back to the yacht we were stopped by the Maritime official who, it turned out, also wanted his pound of flesh, so back to Lucas' for everyone and an additional R700 had to be paid out for Maritime tax, an increase of R350 on last year apparently, quite a shocker but nothing was going to spoil our trip!
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| Dhows at Inhaca |
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| Portugese Island |
Thursday afternoon we re-anchored just off Portugese Island, there was a soccer match there in the afternoon - yachties versus locals, followed by a beach braai. Turned out to be a pretty huge event and maybe not the best idea the night before the race back. Friday morning and the last things were tied down or stashed away and at 7:30 we set off for the start line, an imaginary line out from the the two lighthouses on the shore. Rounding the point of Portugese Island was like a surf launch at Sodwana Bay, there was lots of surf and the swells were massive, up to 3 meters. Everybody hung around the start line until 10:00, the official start time then those of us in the
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| Start of race |
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| Big swells at the start |
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| Modern technology vs tried and tested charts |
Our lines were out for the majority of the trip home but unfortunately no bites whatsoever. Jaco on Spirit of Adventure caught and released his first marlin and he seems to have been the only lucky angler. Apart from the swells the conditions on the way back were very favorable, no sea sickness and the trip back only took about 30 hours compared to 48 on the way up. As we passed Sodwana Bay at around midnight, there was Eric on the beach and as we passed he lef off fireworks, what a supporter! The majority of the winds were north/north easterly and we only encountered a south wester as we neared Richards Bay harbor. Again we sailed into Richards Bay with Nomad, following Garuda. We received a warm welcome from those who were already back and those waiting to welcome the racers home, what fun.
Sunday morning was clearing in at the Jib and Anchor bar again, just as painless on the return with no hidden extra costs here. Then Graeme and Michelle headed back home to Pretoria and everyone else went their own ways and all of a sudden our home was empty, so weird. Sunday night was the official end of the race and the prize giving. We managed to scoop first prize for the best log book and third place in the cruising catamaran category. Very proud of ourselves :-)
What an incredible experience, our confidence in our abilities and our yachts capabilities has grown over and over. We sailed with dolphins many times, playing in our wake and next to our yacht, you never get tired of dolphins.
Can't wait to do a sailing trip again, hopefully soon.
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