Mid JULY to Mid AUGUST (Durban)

What a hectic month, it feels like we haven't touched sides, but wow what fun.

Leanne, Grant, Kylie and Dylan came to visit for a few days.  We managed to get some good sailing in, got to see whales, dolphins, a turtle, a shark and Grant almost caught a fish, all in one day - spoiled :-)  

While they were here we went to the Military Tattoo, even though it was cold and an outdoor evening show, they put on a fabulous display of various National Military bands and the capabilities of our Forces as well as a lovely display by the Drummies, they came a second place in popularity to the Navy Precision Unit, according our group anyway... The show ended with a serious bang, the cannon was primed and shot many times - that noise must put the fear of whatsit into enemies, know we got a heck of a fright and we had been warned, followed by a massive fireworks display, probably the cherry on the cake for most people.

They left and the Boat Show began.  During Graeme's visit he had a look at an Admiral 38 that was for sale.  A really clean, neat and hardly used catamaran that was a really good buy.  Alan and Chrissy popped along to look just out of curiosity and fell in love.  Needless to say, Gato now has new loving owners and a new name - Sundowner Rose.

Well, they still had their mono-hull Sirocco and now sadly she needed a new home and what better place to advertise a boat for sale than on the Durban Boat Show.  There were a couple of catamarans on display, a Royal Cape Catamaran and a Maverick 440, real opulence.  There were also a couple of Rodman fishing boats and some smaller speed boats.  The Yamaha girls were a hit as usual and the Announcer/MC was brilliant, great sense of humour.  Sirocco was dressed in all her finery, scrubbed to sparkling and got a huge amount of interest but unfortunately no firm offers.  The marquees had some very interesting participants, waterproof bags - we got some of those, books, Sailing Schools, SAMSA and solar panels and batteries, motors, cars, caravans and others.  We bought a Cobb, I am so excited, have wanted one for ages and a pair of "Magic Binoculars".  The beer garden had some locally brewed beers and great food, all round a really good show - we thought.



Our walks along the beach front have become just that.  We now take the car to the parking area next to Ushaka and walk the promenade - between 8 and 9 km's along the sea front, bypassing the city centre, it just became too depressing.  The walk is never boring, joining other walkers, roller skaters, cyclists, joggers, surfers, dog walkers, etc...  even starting to recognise some regulars.  We have found a fantastic little place called Afro's, nothing more than a large yellow container that has been converted and that sells terrific bacon or bacon and egg rolls and makes really good cappuccino's (their menu is very simple, they also make chicken strips, chicken burger, tjips or coleslaw) all being enjoyed while sitting on their wooden benches watching the sea, a brilliant concept that is an absolute gold mine.

We discovered a Portugese Restaurant at Wilsons Wharf owned by a real character.  We had a really lovely dinner there only it was a bit much and I left some spinach and butternut on my plate.  Along came the owner, glared at my plate and demanded to know what was wrong with his veggies - nothing I am full was not a good enough answer apparently and next thing he was next to me with a fork full of my spinach playing aeroplanes like you do with kids til I ate it, then he told me I wasn't allowed pudding as I had not finished my meal, we were hysterical.  Just have to add the food is absolutely delish.


We went out with Alan and Chrissy on their maiden voyage on Sundowner Rose, just after we got into the bay we saw a flurry of activity churning up the water and as we got closer realised it was one of the biggest schools of dolphins any of us had ever seen.  We spent close to an hour playing with them, they absolutely loved chasing next to the boat and in the bows, what a surreal feeling being surrounded by dolphins, you never tire of them.  The rest of the trip was really enjoyable and when we eventually returned to harbour we were escorted in by some of the dolphins.

Alan was determined to take us to Rawdons in the Midlands to taste the beer they brew and on Thursday 24 July the four of us headed into the Midlands.  First stop was coffee and chocolate at Chocolate Heaven - aptly named, next the Ugly Duckling where they have all sorts of interesting goodies for sale, culture stop at the Capture Site where Nelson Mandela was originally captured before his incarceration on Robin Island.  There is a small plaque on the side of the road marking the actual spot and opposite is the new sculpture - a magnificent feat of engineering, 50 laser cut steel poles that, when viewed from a certain distance and at the right angle, depict Nelson Mandela's profile, wow.

Lunch was at Granny Mouses House, a quaint, beautifully decorated hotel with an impressive wine cellar which also doubles up as a function venue, a comfortable bar and pool, various inter-leading dining rooms, just like a warren and food to die for.  They have a little chapel outside with the most breathtaking view through the windows, weddings here must 

be phenomenal.  A stop at the Swiss Cheese farm was great but unfortunately there was no goats cheese as the goats were on maternity leave, all were very pregnant.  They had very nice cow's cheese and preserves though so we weren't hugely disappointed.

Without further ado we were off to Rawdons.  The photo opportunities were great, a lovely lake which reflected the hotel and cottage and surrounds perfectly.  This was followed by a paddle of beers, each one brewed on the premises and with their own unique names - "Tiddly Toad 


Light Lager", "Whistling Weasel Pale Ale", "Pye-Eyed Possum Pilsner" and "Pickled Pig Porter".  The Pig seemed to be the most popular in the bar, which was a wonderful place to be with its alcoves surrounded by genuine log fires.  Dinner was a merry affair and the hotel a very comfortable place to spend the night, cannot recommend it enough.  

After breakfast we made a stop at the Brewery where they were in fact busy making a batch of "Pickled Pig".  Interesting procedure explained by experienced staff and a little shop selling commemorative t-shirts, packs of beers, etc...




First stop was Old Balgowan Cheese and Wine farm.  They had some farm animals that you could feed, ponies, goats, pigs and donkeys including the cutest little baby donkey!!!  They also had geese with attitude ha ha ha.  Inside we sampled flavoured Tequila which you would never know contained Tequila, liqueurs and

wines.  We were amused at the size of the tasting glass of the lady behind the counter, who merrily tasted one for one with us.  We left with wine, sherry and liqueurs under our arms.  Then on to Heavenly Hammocks and they have them, hand painted, can't think of a better accessory for a boat!  

We went to Piggly Wiggly Centre where there are a multitude of shops in one centre selling all sorts, art, pottery, clothing, knick knacks, food, leather goods and even merchandise for some of the people running businesses from home.  Nice but we did wonder whether this would start putting some of the businesses run from home out of business - a kind of all in one stop shopping centre.  Hopefully not.


Next was lunch at Caversham Mill, steeped in history, this place has been ruined by fire, then flood and eventually after having been restored twice was the place where the concept of the Midlands Meander was initiated.  The view of the waterfall and valley was fabulous, unfortunately everything is very brown as we are desperately in need of rain, but with a little imagination you could understand how this would all look in the green of summer.

We made a pit stop at Horse Play the Old Kilgobbin Farm in Dargyle Valley, a Friesian farm and wedding venue.  They were busy gearing up for a wedding the next day and everything was looking lovely so we snuck past and headed for the paddocks to count 12 or more Friesians, a couple of who came to say hello.  They offer an experience of working with these magnificent horses for half a day providing a life lesson in leadership by getting these noble creatures to do what you want them to.  On my bucket list.....

Sundowners were at Hawklee Country House with a lovely view of the river and the sunset, a neat hotel run by an ex-Pretoria couple who absolutely love their new life as can be seen by the homely hotel.  Then it was the trip back to Durban via Hillcrest for dinner.  We were tired but absolutely stoked after this whirlwind trip, visiting the Midlands has long been a desire of mine and having accomplished it left me feeling hugely elated, grinned for days afterwards.

The Crichtons and us took part in the quiz evening at the Royal Natal Yacht Club.  What a laugh and boy did we learn a couple of things.  We now know that a Porbeagle is a shark and hedge trimming is topiary, amongst others.  We also know that we need a bigger table of people from various walks of life if we are ever going to do well at one of these.  

Next was getting Sirocco back to Richards Bay as she has a mooring there that doesn't cost what Durban Marina is happy to charge.  Chrissy popped back in the car so that we had a means of travel back to Durban and Alan, Kevin and I sailed her back.  My first long passage on a mono hull and what an experience lol.  Sirocco is a beautiful, solid, spacious 40foot mono hull but she still has the rolling and rocking that catamarans decidedly lack.  By the third time that I fell off the seat in the saloon and landed on the floor I really had to laugh.  
Going to the loo was a feat that took a very long time, wedging oneself in the doorway, being halfway through removing 3 layers of clothing (it was cold and night time) when I was popped like a cork across the room, landing in the pile of linen on the other side of the cabin, staggered back, wedged back into the door way again, got the rest of the clothes off, only to realise in frustration that the harness has a strap attached at the waist running front to back that also needed to be undone, much cursing and boy was I grateful for the linen storage space.  Getting dressed again was the same in reverse, needless to say didn't drink much!!  Just before reaching Richards Bay the conditions had eased quite a bit and I decided to make some coffee.  Never having used a gimbaled stove before (stove is hinged allowing it to swing with the motion of the boat thereby anything on it remains - does not look logical but seems to work) I ended up contorted in the strangest position to light the stove at the same time as not falling one way or the other depending on which way the boat was heeling, what a laugh!!  I have huge respect for mono hull sailors now.  The highlights of the trip were the many whales we were privileged to see and the wonderful home made soup and rolls Chrissy presented us with on arrival in Richards Bay at 12:30 at night.

Kevin and I went to the Shongweni Farmers Market in Hillcrest, held every Saturday 6 - 10am.  We thought there would be more fresh farm produce but it is in fact loads of home made goods, clothes, frames, food, pictures, wooden items, plants, etc...  it is a wonderful place but so very dusty at the moment.  After the market which is at the bottom of the Valley of 1000 Hills, we headed into the Hills.  No matter where we viewed the hills from most of them had some form of settlement or houses on them, no longer are they the mystical beautifully untouched rolling hills, rather disappointing :-(  



Driving through we got the sad news that my gran had unfortunately fallen and broken her hip, so sad as she was due to enter a Care Centre, Kift, that day and instead had to settle for an operation and a pin in the hip, a major thing at 94 years old.  After battling a bit with the after-effects of the anesthetic she is doing better now, really proud of her.  Aunty Joan sadly passed away on 29 July and whilst it was a sad occasion it was great to catch up with Kevin's Canadian cousins Cathy, Linly and Gwyn and her daughter Kimmy.  Dett and Cathy even managed a visit to us before Cathy returned home.  

Durban has a Riksha bus that does two tours per day of 2.5 hours per tour around Durban and surrounds.  The bus is a double decker bus and the top is open air.  We hopped on board for the afternoon tour.  A most pleasant experience, very informative, we learned quite a lot we didn't know about Durban and its history.  We saw many old buildings some from late 1800's to early 1900's, a couple of buildings that have been declared national 

monuments, saw that the Addington Childrens Hospital that closed down due to lack of funds has a new benefactor and is being revamped, looking great, learned that the Beach Hotel was the first hotel built along the shore, saw the King's house where the President stays when in Durban, surprisingly it is not behind walls or anything but in full view for all to see.  


We had a half hour stop at a shopping centre for loo and food and blow me down if one of the passengers didn't use the opportunity to do some clothes shopping holding us up for ages until eventually they took a decision to go without her, was quite amusing to watch her running through the parking lot after the bus with her ice cream and popcorn flapping in the wind...  (they did stop for her)

Another must for us was the Roma Revolving Restaurant which we went to last Thursday night.  Oh WOW.  The view from up there (32 floors up) is magnificent and the restaurant does a revolution every 1.5 hours and we did two and a bit revolutions.  Kevin did say it was quite disconcerting as your attention is drawn to the view 

and when you look inside the decor has changed and you become a bit disoriented.  Going to the loo is funny, I had to walk quite a way to find the table afterwards.  The food is really good and has a great Italian flair, right down to the Manager/Owner elaborately making our crepe suzettes for desert.  

Sunday saw us taking part in the Point Yacht Club's 2 handed race - crews of no more than two people per boat, well for us thats normal.  What was supposed to be a gentle breeze of 7-8 knots turned out to be gusts of up to 32 knots, weather guru's got it wrong again!  What exhilarating sailing though, we had a ball although it was hard work and we were finished at the end. 

Our attempts at cooking in the Cobb have been successful and not so successful, we made marinaded fillet with veg, very nice.  Then we made chicken on the spike, not as great, chicken a little under done and the veg a little over done, but not to be deterred we will continue to experiment....  The smoked wors and veg was great but I am starting to get a flea in the ear about the amount of veg being cooked, hmmmmmm

Well, we are about to head up to Pretoria, it is Samantha's 21st birthday - wow where has the time gone?  Then on Monday 18th my mom and I are heading to the UK for two weeks (ended up being 5 weeks).  We have parked our yacht back on the International Marina so that we have power to keep all our bits and pieces running while we are away and have enlisted the help of a nice lady to clean our yacht once a week, can't believe how dirty and dusty it is here.  Kevin ended up winging his way to Japan at the end of August for 4 weeks too - next Blog's stories.....

Cheers for now, hope the warm weather holds in the UK, will let you know.....

JUNE to Mid JULY (Durban)

Hello all from Durban Harbour.

The view and cleanliness of the water is decidedly different, but "they" are right, a change is definitely as good as a holiday.

Durban's Coast Line

Life in Durban is different, we are in essence in the harbour area which is never pretty anywhere, certainly not here.  There are two yacht clubs here - Royal Natal and Point Yacht Club.  They are and have been at loggerheads with each other for many years, a pity as both have great things to offer.  There are a laundromat and shops within walking distance, not the nicest, but you can get the essentials.  Having a car here is a huge benefit.  There is a restaurant at each club and a couple at Wilsons Wharf, a short trip down the road.  We walk to the beach quite often, the first 15 minutes are through town and it is so sad to see the derelict, dirty and smelly buildings that once used to be grand holiday accommodation.  There is a large amount of homeless people here of all nationalities and ages, so very sad to see.  Once on the beach front however the scenery becomes more beautiful again, so lovely to walk next to the sea.  We still miss the lovely gardens and scenery of Zululand Yacht Club though.

The beginning of June saw Kevin in New Bremmen, a tiny little town in Ohio, for two weeks. He settled pretty well after a really long flight and seems to have had a successful tour of duty there in his new job...  It had its advantages as mail order and delivery in America is fantastic and he came back with a new starter motor for the boat, t-shirts and a new camera for me and winch service kits for Steve.  Luckily he went with almost empty suitcases!!  

I had a pretty busy time back home, thanks to Chrissy and Alan, Elva and a few others I never felt lonely.  It was Kevin's mom's 80th birthday and my sister's birthday on Sunday 8 June so I fetched my mom and her friend Jill and drove them up to Pretoria on the Wednesday before.
  

Managed a visit with Carel, spent some quality time with Gaynor and Kylie and the Westons and the Hooles and even got to catch up with Ella and Andrew - what a fun evening.  We had a great party for Marge on Sunday, about 50 of her friends came even though the weather had turned really nasty and we had a dreadful cold spell, we had a great remedy for that - lots of Sherry :-)  Angie had put in a lot of effort in catering and the spread was impressive, no one went hungry.  Gaynor made a lovely speech on behalf of Kevin and the family in America, a celebration in style :-)

The next day I drove us back to Hibberdene, we were ever so grateful to get back to warmer weather, amazing how quickly you acclimatize to a climate!!  Then it was off to the airport to fetch Kevin who arrived at 8pm, quite a days driving, was great to eventually get home.

We now had work to do as we had a mere two weeks before we were leaving for Durban and a load of tasks that had to be completed before we could go.  One of those was that the anti-fouling around the bottom of our yacht (special paint applied to inhibit growth of coral and barnacles which slow the yacht down quite drastically) had been a little compromised by the amount of scrubbing we had done on our hull and whilst it was only due for reapplication in December we knew we would be spending a bit of time in Durban, where growth is more prolific due to the state of the water, as well as other ports along the Coast, we decided it would be best to apply a quick coat of anti-foul to keep us going until December/January when we are planning to haul out the boat in Cape Town and can do a proper job anyway.

The boat needs to be out of the water in order to apply the paint and the hull has to be cleaned before hand, best done with a high pressure cleaner and a scouring pad and elbow grease.  We put it on the beach to be able to get at the hull, but we only had the time between the tide going out and the tide returning to clean/scrub the hull, apply the anti-foul and float again.  We had been scrubbing and hosing for an hour when we realised we were never going to make it before high tide, then along came our good friend Chris from Catonvac and with his help we managed to clean off and repaint our hull, good and ready to go.  Poor Kevin ended up with a lump on his head from bashing it on the bottom of the boat every time he stood up, ouch.

My favourite people, Taunee and
Phillip

The last week was spent on goodbyes - something we are so bad at.  Monday night was farewell to all the usual faces at the braai, then happy hour on Wednesday to say cheers to anyone there and finally what was supposed to be a nice quiet dinner at Mariners on Thursday night with the Crichtons and the Martins.  
At the end of dinner we were hearded into the bar to a nice little surprise farewell organised by the staff and owners of Mariners and Porky's restaurants, snacks and drinks and music, a great night which left a couple of headaches the next day.  Thanks guys, it made us feel really special :-)

Saturday 21 June we left Tuzi Gazi to a huge send off by the friends we had made there, can't believe how sad we felt, then round to Zululand Yacht Club to fetch our other crew member Steve, who had volunteered to sail with us.  We were escorted out by Sirocco, a wonderful send off.  Elva and Brian had kindly offered to bring our car to Durban when they collected Steve the next day, a huge help to us.  The trip was great, motor sailing as the wind was very light, so many stars in the sky, beautiful.  Unfortunately no whales and only a couple of dolphins off Umhlanga.  No fish either, not for lack of trying!!  Our allocated mooring was at the end of a VERRRRY LOOONNNGG walk-on but this had its advantages as it was good exercise, quite private and the water down there is very much cleaner.  Disadvantage - no electricity, in Durban moorings with power are limited, especially when it is a catamaran you are trying to park.  Anyway, as we were participating in the MSC Regatta Kevin organised that we moved to the International Moorings where there is power and water - and fascinated spectators lol.

We arrived in Durban 1/2 an hour before Nomad, one of two Richards Bay entries in the Vasco da Gama race - Maputo to Durban.  Unfortunately they had been forced to retire and arrived quite a while after the cut off, we gave them a warm welcome anyway :-)  

Thursday we popped back to Richards Bay as one of our most favourite restaurants, the Thai Wok, was closing and as regular clients we had been invited to their farewell to their clients.  They put on a humongous spread of many courses of good food, would really miss them a lot if we were still there.  





Chrissy and Alan were kind enough to let us spend the night on their lovely boat Sirocco and the next morning we were up long before the sparrows, heading for the Hluhluwe/Umfolozi Game Reserve.  We had booked into Mpila Camp in an en suite safari tent for the night. 
 Murphy was in his element and along came a really cold front with rain!!!  We, as usual, had the most amazing time, saw loads of animals, in fact on this trip we were really spoiled on the bird front, saw a Secretary bird, two eagles, two vultures and some horn bills catching ants.  We saw everything except Leopard and Elephant.  We finally saw a Cheetah although it was quite far off and sleeping, Lions, Wild dogs hunting buck, a herd of around 300 Buffalo,a family of Warthogs that posed specifically, finally got a good photo of a Blue Wildebeest, just great.                

En Suite Bathroom

Our Tent & Kitchen

Inside - bedroom

Braai in the Rain

Spotted Hyena Eyeing the braai

Arrived at camp in the afternoon and were warned on checking in to remain vigilant over braai meat as the Hyena's come in and steal the meat off the fire.  At Mpila camp where we were staying, the only electric fencing they have is to keep Elephants out, would probably work for Giraffes as well, but anything slightly shorter could walk around inside the camp at will.  Well they weren't kidding, as we were braaiing in the rain, under an umbrella, there were two spotted Hyena barely a couple of meters away eyeing our chops, at one stage I even had the lid from the meat container in my hand ready to bop one of them on the head!!

We were back Saturday evening and on Sunday it was the Point Yacht Club "Barrel Race" with proceeds going to the NSRI.  We volunteered to take anyone looking for a ride and ended up with two lovely American students Rachel and Laura.  

We did the sail past and decided to head out to sea and do a gentle sail up and down the coast rather than partake in the round the cans race in the harbour, too hectic for us.  It was lovely and we were back in good time to catch Sirocco's lines as she arrived in the afternoon, bearing yummy tuna sashimi, their fishing exploits were far more fruitful than ours.








On Tuesday night we went to Moyo's with the Crichtons, what a fabulous restaurant.  Ethnic, good African food in a restaurant made from recycled products.  All I can say is wow, what an amazing evening.

Wednesday was the start of the MSC Regatta.  Kevin had been bugging Dallen of Ullman sails to organise him a demo spinnaker sail that we could use during the 4 days of racing to decide whether he wanted to buy one.  Dallen is a much better sails (sales) man than that and by the time we set out on Wednesday we were the proud new owners of a lovely new spinnaker sail with Dallen along to show us how it works.  

Us with our new Spinnaker up

Isn't it funny how things always work right when the sales person shows you how?????


Wednesday afternoon Graeme arrived and Thursday we had a very pleasant but long race, as the wind died and we only finished sailing at around 16H00, back in the harbour by around 17H00.  Every night there was a meal and entertainment, included in the entry fee, as well as a t-shirt, such a well organised event.  

The MC getting help to get on the bull

Bright and Tight

Bright and Tight

Bright and Tight

The food was good and fun was had every evening, opening night was gorgeous dancing girls, Wednesday was "A Minute to Win It" competition, Thursday "Bright and Tight" theme and a Mechanical bull - what a laugh followed by a shaving foam party, Friday was Karaoke and Saturday prize giving.  There were rounds of drinks sponsored by different sponsors and everyone that participated was recognised with an MSC towel.  


On Thursday Kevin and Graeme deployed and retrieved the spinnaker most successfully while I steered us on the correct course.  On Friday Graeme was on the helm when we put the spinnaker up, then after rounding the marker in-shore we were steaming up when we realised we were just about on the shark nets.  Chaos ensued, Kevin started the motors and had to do an emergency turn into the wind, not the perfect situation to bring the spinnaker down in, meanwhile Graeme and I started pulling the spinnaker down, it has a cute little hat that drags a sock down over the sail and douses it, but when Graeme pulled the ropes that bring the snuffer/hat down, the halyard rope that was lying on the deck instead of being coiled up (I forgot to do that) got caught in it and up it went twisting and knotting as it went, this resulted in the sail not being completely snuffed and we couldn't drop it to the deck and into its bag as there was now a knot 4 meters in the air.  Eventually Graeme was lying on the trampoline, in the spinnaker bag, hanging onto the flapping sail while I twirled and spun the ropes around to eventually get the knot and twists out.  We were then able to drop the spinnaker, take a deep breath, retire from the race - would have been disqualified anyway for starting the motors and consume a couple of beers to steady the nerves.

Racing in itself is always scary and we are one of the most nervous teams around having been involved in an incident once before.  One yacht, Off Cut, was most fascinating as the Captain actually sailed every day with a Captains hat on, we know because he spent so much time so close to us we could almost count his nose hairs!!  Every day we got back without incident we considered a good racing day, we had four of those.  Saturday Samantha, Marius and Crystal joined us, again a day without wind and the organisers cancelled the event at 2pm when we had around 2 knots of wind and all the boats were almost standing still in the water.  A good call as the reason for the drop in wind was a swing in the wind direction and within an hour it was blowing at 30 - 40 knots from the South West.  Made putting the boat on the mooring pretty tricky but Kevin managed it like a star.  

Nomad & Maxscene @ Prize giving

Prize giving

After prize giving we invited one or two people back to the boat for a drink, ended up with extras and whiskey consumption was on in earnest.  I just couldn't believe that we could get 10 people comfortably in our saloon (lounge) as it was raining and cold outside.  Sunday and Graeme and family left and it rained all day, giving us the perfect excuse to just stay indoors and do as little as possible.

We have a diesel leak that we need to fix and one or two new filters/pumps that we need to replace.  Work is never done on a boat!!  Next will be the boat show and this year it is looking to have a couple of yachts again, will be really nice for a change.

Peter at my 40th Birthday Party @
Triton Divers

Saturday 5 July, was a sadly 
memorable occasion.  A huge tribute was held in Sodwana Bay for a great man, Peter Timm of Triton Divers who sadly passed away in a tragic diving accident a short while ago.  Peter was a friend and a legend in the underwater fraternity and will be missed by everyone whose lives he touched, of whom there are many.  Farewell Peter, Rest In Peace...

How we will remember him....