Howdy, from the cockpit of
MaXScene, slicing our way through the water like a well greased banana (well
not quite, might have a little green stuff on our bum slowing us down) heading
for Simons Town in False Bay.
We have had the most amazing
couple of weeks. A hugely pleasant
surprise when we finished dinner at Christy’s Catch, a Seafood Restaurant in
the Village in St Francis, on our way out we were stopped by none other than
Sakkie and Petru van der Westhuizen, they were dining at the same restaurant, seems
they have a holiday home in St Francis, I can fully understand why. Unfortunately plans did not work out for us
to meet up again for a sail, but next time….
SANCCOB was on our list of
places to visit. The Sanctuary is split
in two areas, one housing non-releasable birds (all penguins and one cormorant)
which is really well laid out in as close to a natural environment as possible,
rocks, salt water pool, sand, etc and an inside area with three pens and a
round pool which houses the birds being primed for release.  |
| Swimming session |
 |
| Heading back to pen after swimming session |
They get released into the pool and swim for
specific lengths of time in groups, this is to increase swimming fitness and
waterpoofness. The adoption options were
an annual amount for one of the permanent residents or a “pay it forward” scheme
whereby you pick a penguin that has already been released, pay the adoption fee
and get the certificate and other paperwork, the adoption fee then going toward
the rehabilitation of one of the other penguins.
As it was holiday season, they were running a
special, they were having 10 days of fund raising, starting with a public
penguin release. For this event you
could release the actual penguin you are sponsoring – we picked this one. On Saturday 20 December we were at the centre
bright and early, watched a private release for a birthday, apparently the
parents paid a substantial amount of money for this one, balloons tied all
around the box, cute idea.
Anyway, we –
me and 5 other kids that is – were briefed on the proceedings, into the holding
area where 6 penguins were in boxes, as they are still wild birds no touching,
etc is allowed, the paperwork was done – certificates completed with the
adoptee and adopter names, then pick up the box and walk, down to the
beach. There were 5 fledglings and one
adult, for various reasons besides oil and fuel spills, climate change, threat
to environment, predators being some, babies are abandoned and then rescued and
looked after til they are big enough and waterproof enough to be released
again, these are fledglings and the logic was that the adult would show them
the way, only hope it had a better sense of direction than me. 
The crowds on the beach were massive, quite
daunting in fact . The scramble over the wet rocks and dodging on lookers,
while trying hard not to drop the precious cargo were efforts greeted by a
resounding round of applause from the on-lookers, an amazing feeling. Once the crowd had been moved back we opened
the boxes all lined up in the waves and tipped them slightly, little MaXScene
stuck its beak out and turned and ran back into the box, but a bit more of an
angle on the tip and out it went, the first one into the water behind the
adult, but the first to brave the waves – proud moment J 
Five were off then, one still needing a bit
of prodding, but once it realized what was expected it was off like a
rocket. We really hope they all made it
safely to whatever Penguin colony they were headed for, they are sprayed with
pink paint to identify them as from Cape St Francis, trackers cannot be attached
to Penguins, so if they are found anywhere they can be returned or reported
on. Good luck little MaXScene, stay
clear of those Great Whites…
We
had a resident seal in the harbor, quite a character, seems her name is Suzy,
she is blind in one eye and Harry the skipper seems to think this is why she
lives in the harbor. She spends her
sleeping time in style, under the trampolines of Phoenix a 60 foot TAG carbon
fibre catamaran, on sale for R30 million – Kevin wasted no time chatting to the
builders and getting a guided tour. 
Harry related a story of returning from a fishing charter with clients
and hanging up the biggest fish caught for photos when Suzy hauled herself onto
the walk-on and right under everyone’s noses nabbed the biggest tuna, proceeding
to munch on it in the middle of the harbor, out of arms reach. Luckily the fisherman had caught more than
one fish. She follows all the fishing
boats in, most throw her their left over bait so life is pretty easy, mornings
are started with her aqua aerobics moves.
We
made a trip to Monkey Land, just outside of Plett. I was really keen to get there after seeing
the brochures, looked like a fantastic photography opportunity. Turned out to be a little disappointing, the
guided tour is only 1 hour long and the group was so big by the time we got to
photograph the subject the guide had moved on and we had missed the talk on the
next monkey. Anyway, they do good work
in rehabilitating primates and our money went to a good cause and we got some
pretty decent photos. 
Also got to walk
over a
very loooong suspension bridge, not my idea of fun I might add!!
Took
the opportunity to pop into Plett and check out the bay from Moby Dick’s whilst
eating more of the yummy local calamari.
Anchored out there was a big yacht that had been outside Port St Francis
for a couple of days, apparently a home renovated yacht, so big it has gum
poles for masts, too big for most marinas but looked good in the bay.
Found a sea horse for my marine bead
collection at a small flea market, very happy, then stopped at Tsitsikamma on
the way back at the Big Tree, a 1000 year old, 36.6m high, Outeniqua yellowwood
tree.
We
also stopped at the Bloukrans River Bridge, famous world wide for Bungi
jumping, still have no idea why anyone would want to throw themselves off a
perfectly good platform, into a ravine, and whilst the view of the mountains
one side and the sea at the other is beautiful, I doubt very much you are
appreciating it much when your rear end is pushing itself out of your ears
whilst you are dangling by the ankle at the end of a piece of elastic, and all
this for R800.00, wow.
We
did a couple of day sails, trying to catch some fish, which were apparently
abundant – not where we were. The
Vossies came to visit, well Dave, Craig and the kids, had a lovely sail but
whales were missing that day. We managed
to fly the bag ourselves again, getting better and experienced a huge red tide,
caused by dead plankton. Makes certain
types of sea food poisonous to eat, but also causes phosphoresce in the water,
yay, glow in the dark toilets again, our toliets are sea water flushing.
We,
well mainly Kevin, took on the mammoth task of refurbishing the starboard
bathroom, he had to cut the shower trough and rebuild the bottom with fiberglass,
incorporating a drain and did a beautiful job.
Also installed a new blige pump, new taps and shower and pipes to the
sink, a new gulper pump to remove shower water and more new plumbing, all in
two days and it looks fabulous, now we are going to have to redo the port side
bathroom.
We
met many lovely people whilst on the marina, John and Charmaine who were kind
enough to offer us a canal trip in their duck, a lift to the shops and a bath
and use of a washing machine. Also
people who are also keen to sail and travel, nice to chat to them and explain
what we are doing, seems to cause lots of interest.
We
had a lovely surprise visit from Gaynor, Johnny and his parents, Estelle and
Johan who live in Kirkwood. Was great to
meet them and take them out for a putt to sea, to show them what Gaynor is
talking about when she tells them what we are up to. A lovely day… |
| Can't say we didn't try |
The
Chokka boats are really busy, seems they took 4 months off at the beginning of
2014 to allow regeneration of the squid and it has paid off as they are reaping
bigger hauls than ever, all done on hand line.
We were chatting to one of the owners who explained the sums - one of
his boats had just returned with +/- 24 tons of Chokka for which he receives
R60 per kilo from the factory. The skipper
gets around R120 000.00 and the fishermen (8-10 on his boat) get around R10 000
each, whats left after diesel, maintenance and provisions etc is profit. This is for around 10 days at sea, quite a
lucrative business this, but not without its ups and downs we are assured.
Kevin
became a hero for a while, noticed a fishing boat listing really badly whilst
tied to its mooring in the marina and attracted the necessary attention to get
it pumped out before it rolled over.
Seems some work had been done on the pipes and wasn’t as successful as
it should have been. All about helping
one another J
We
spent a lot of time at the Boat and Yacht club, especially as it is open every
day now. Apart from the great view and
calamari, if you can get some as it is quickly sold out, the bar staff, Jo and
Gavin are the ultimate hippy couple, they have a daughter called Skye, their
car is broken so they cycle everywhere on bicycles, Jo makes beautiful shell
necklaces, life is just a gas, what a breath of fresh air, loved chatting to
them, although getting stuck at the bar with Gavin is deadly, he can out drink
anyone and still cycle home – respect ha ha ha.
23rd
of December and we were off down the coast to Mossel Bay, going to spend
Christmas with the Westons, Riggses and Bassons, they were all together, camping at de Bakke and had taken a tent and
mattress for us. The trip was lovely,
scenery breathtaking, we are so privileged. 
Such fun to sleep in a tent again, the mattress was huge, first night I
fell between the tent and mattress and was laughing so much I couldn’t get up,
bit like a tortoise on its back. On
Christmas Eve Kevin decided to blow it up, orally, and accidently let a lot of the
air out, we are definitely a bit rusty at this camping thing but, sitting in
the open air, drinking wine around a real fire with real smoke, nothing beats
it J The campsite was very full, very popular
place, just amazing how many people had satellite dishes, convection ovens,
microwaves, one guy even had the technician out at 20:30 at night because he
couldn’t get tv reception – interesting way of camping. 
Christmas Day was lovely, just relaxed and
cooked up a storm everyone did something, the result a huge table full of very
yummy food – ate and drank way too much, napped, then went back for more, great
effort by all. We managed a visit to the
yacht club and a looksee at the bay, very sheltered and a stunning looking
anchorage, the only problem would come on a really serious North Easter and
anchoring out there or tying onto one of the Clubs permanent buoys – free of
charge, bargain!
26th
We headed back to Port St Francis with Nicole and Henko. Stopped in Knysna for breakfast, so busy and
the marina still full. We stopped at the
yacht club and chatted to the manager, the heads were closed at the time, no
traffic in or out due to adverse weather conditions. Next Jeffries bay for sushi then home. Henko, a very experienced fisherman, took on the
onerous task of sorting out the tackle, throwing out the crap and replenishing
with fresh stuff, including bait.
We
took to the sea on 28th, poor Kevin had flu, the sea was so rough
that Henko and Nicole got pretty seasick, but undeterred, Henko caught fish
(and sunburn). The two really big srikes
took his tackle and made off, he caught two sea barbel and two little unknowns
who died on the way up so they kept those to feed Suzy.
Back in harbor and there was Suzy making a
feast of a decent yellow fin tuna, she wasn’t too interested in Henko and
Nicoles small offerings now. We found
out the next day that one of the boats had dropped a yellowfin into the water
whilst transferring to mooring and down it went, they had no idea that Suzy
found it.
Next day there were two seals,
seems Suzy’s offspring return every now and then too, double the fun…
John,
our neighbor and owner of the mooring we were on and co-owner of Nexus
Catamarans, was kind enough to give us a huge catch of Chokka, once cleaned it
was around 1kg, think he felt sorry for us after Kevins tales of fishing
woe. Cooked it up and it was yummy. Then he presented us with a geelbek – a Cape
Salmon. Nicole and Henko did the
cleaning of that one, then after the last of the provisioning was done, a cook
off ensued, Henko frying half the fish in barbeque crumbs and Kevin smoking the
other half. Both were really delicious,
couldn’t pick a winner. 
 |
| Arriving at Mossel Bay |
After
some debate, we decided upcoming weather conditions and lack of mooring would
have us bypassing Knysna and heading straight for Mossel Bay. Next were our farewells, hate this bit and on
30th at 08:30 Nicole and Henko left Port St Francis for Mossel Bay
with our car and we left under sail.
Needless to say, they won!! We
arrived at 09:30 on 31st after an amazing sail in ¾ moonlight, lots
of strong wind, up to 35knots sometimes saw us surfing at 9knots with a very
little piece of genoa out, to a very warm Weston welcome. The anchor was barely set and Graeme had
organized a lift across on a jet ski to come help get sorted out, great
friends.
We
saw one or two internationals come and go during our stay, not for long and no
one anchored in the bay with us, other than a couple of locals. Joined the Westons and Riggses for another
lovely braai for new years, followed by a vigil on the boat with tongs and
bucket of water at the ready as revelers shot off flares and fireworks and
thunderflashes.
I have already been on
my soap box on this subject but this morning made me even more mad when I
discovered the exploded tube of a firework on the roof of our saloon, we can be
grateful it did not damage our stack pack or solar panels.
It is so awful to see the terror pets, birds
and all other wildlife go through every year, much less the damage done to
people and property, even the roof of the NSRI base in Richards Bay was damaged
by a flare this year, I find this behavior truly barbaric and find myself
dreading New Years eve more every year, is it not possible to find some other
alternative entertainment that is not so destructive? If it were people being terrified by all the
noise a stop would have been put to this practice years ago, what kind of
people are we – certainly not responsible ones.
On
New Years Day we did two trips around Seal Island, first with the Westons,
after playing around with the spinnaker.
Great fun until my lapse of concentration, whilst holding onto the
spinnaker line as it was not jamming in the winch properly I spotted a baby
hammerhead shark over the side, got so excited I let go of the rope to point it
out and all hell let loose, the power of the wind in the sail sent the rope
slapping around with the force of a steel bar, poor Graeme ended up with a
really bruised knuckle and seriously painful welts on his arm – lesson
learned!!!! 
Then Jacques and Irma came
to visit, they have followed us through our blog and were in Stilbaai so popped
up, nice. Seal Island is just that, full
of seals, amazing, loads of babies that had, on the 27th and 28th
of December, been washed up on Diaz beach due to really bad weather
conditions. Thanks to great efforts by
various people most were delivered back safely.
The noise they make was astounding, like sheep and the smell when down
wind was terrible, like smelly goats.
Woke
up one morning to see Seabourn Sojourn, a huge liner, had joined us in the
bay. The passengers were ferried back
and forth all day, before upping anchor and heading for Cape Town again in the
evening. We were surrounded by jet ski’s
daily but that did at least abate as holidays wore on. 
Night of the 7th we went to Kaai 4
Braai for dinner, they are on the waterfront, tied the tender boat up next to
their jetty and although we were concerned about the sides of the walls and the
barnacles we thought we would be well done and on our way before low tide. Think again – we got to the tender and the
front was flat, fortunately it has 3 chambers so we were able to ride it back
to the boat. 
Got it out the water the
next day, a +/- 6inch tear needed fixing.
We had a puncture repair kit but don’t think it was meant for anything
this size, anyway, gave it a shot, four 
hours later and there was still three
areas letting out air, 
another patch with the last little bit of glue, some sika
and a prayer or two, then into the hammocks.
Next day we were able to put enough air in to get us to the beach and
back so that we could park the car and get necessary groceries, but didn’t last
long, needs more serious attention than we can give it, poor thing. Fortunately we seem to have a mooring in
Simons Town. |
| Held just long enough, went flat shortly after we got back from shore |
Mossel
Bay has been a real surprise, what a quiet little gem along our fantastic coast
line. I have always, very mistakenly,
thought of it as a town dependent on the Mosgas project with little else to
offer. A trip to the Diaz Museum,
recommended by Sheila and Estelle – they paid us a surprise visit and we had a
great lunch and afternoon with them – we found that Mossel Bay was the first
place in South Africa, discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1488 after he sailed
past the southern tip of Africa without realizing it and stopped in Mossel
Bay. There is a fountain where passing
ships could collect fresh water and the “Post Office Tree” where ships would
leave letters in the trunk for ships passing the other way to take with them, a
seriously antiquated postal system but at least it worked. 
Of interest was the map of 44 ship wrecks in
and around the Bay, dating back to 1505, the newest one in the bay sank in
1903. There is a working replica of
Diaz’ ship, a Caravel, in the museum, scary to think people put their faith and
lives in a wooden ship like that to travel months (6 months from Portugal to
Mossel Bay) across the seas, boy do we have it good.
 |
| The sign says "If you are smoking please leave your butt in the bin" Made me laugh |
We stayed in Mossel Bay until today, 9 January,
when we found what we think is a good weather window to head for Simons Town,
we are hoping to be there by early evening on 10th January. Finally the sun has come out and there are
birds and seals all around, been a lovely way of typing up the blog.
 |
| Little MaXScene |
