Bliksem

New Year, new beginnings, this year is definitely going to be better than last year because we are one year closer to leaving on our sailing adventure. “Bliksem” a very versatile, Afrikaans, South African word. This is the word that comes to mind when I think off some parts or if fact some people from last year. Also a word I think about when I read the book “Heavy weather cruising”. “Bliksem” is in fact the South African word for Lightning but has other meanings as well such as “I hope the lightning doesn’t bliksem my mast” which means I hope the lightning doesn’t strike my mast, which could also be said as “I hope the bliksem doesn’t bliksem my mast. The word can also be used in “bliksem that was fast.” Which means wow that was fast or “did you see that bliksem run” which means did you see that person (derogatory) run. Bliksem is possibly the most versatile South African word. Anyway back to reality, December came and went by like a flash. We went down to Durban on the 15th to visit Lola’s sister for a few days. This global warming problem seems to be affecting the world already, because it rained and the weather in Durban was awful mostly everyday. This however did not change our planned visits to the marina in Durban to find out the costs of mooring. Wow R4500 per month excluding water and electricity, this is expensive but we did anticipate that it might be so we also went to the bluff yacht club to investigate. The bluff yacht club is located on the wrong side of the harbour in the very industrial side of town and this option was also abandoned. After our compulsory visit to the cruising connection we bought some books to study and left Durban for Richards bay.
Richards bay is about 160 kilometres from Durban on the north coast. We travelled via the alternative route because I believed that it would be more interesting and has no toll roads. It turned out to be a scenic drive but nothing spectacular and took forever, so next time, pay the toll fees.