Sailing from East London to Port Elizabeth

23 Oct. 13

I sat in the cockpit and watched another cruising boat leave this morning. Another one is still here but plans to leave this afternoon. We considered leaving with them but don’t like the weather window and don’t want to set ourselves up for yet another failure. At least we all feel better again and have decided to carry on giving it one more attempt.

29 Oct. 13

Haven’t had much to say so couldn’t write anything. We are still in East London. The weather here has been terrible with howling wind for about a week now. I had toothache since Saturday and finally went to a dentist yesterday. He was quite good and I didn’t feel a thing when he pulled my tooth but suffered with severe pain afterwards and couldn’t even enjoy my Steers hamburger. This morning it is still a bit painful but at least the Genpayne tablets are working.


31 Oct. 13

Another month comes to an end and we are still sitting in East London. After our last attempt I had called 3 delivery skippers and asked them to deliver Yrumoar back to Durban so we could put her up for sale. I asked them all for an estimated price to do this but none of them gave me an answer. About a week went by and one of them came back to me telling me he is busy and won’t have time to do it. He is also a good friend and asked why we wanted to go backwards. Lola spoke to him on Facebook and she explained. The other 2 came back to me two days ago. They also told us to carry on. After I posted my blog we received an inspiring message from another good friend, Dylan also telling us not to give up yet. On Facebook Marc another friend on Atlantis also sent us a motivational line. Well, we had already decided to try again but it was great to have all the support and thanks guys. Oh I am still on the Genpayne tablets and I am not sure if I told the dentist to pull the correct tooth.

01 Nov. 13

So we launched another flight plan for PE today with the intention of sailing on Sunday morning. Now we wait and see if we are going to succeed this time round.

06 Nov. 13

On Friday night the harbour became so bouncy that by Saturday afternoon Lola was seasick and had to use the bucket. Seasickness is a terrible debilitating sickness that renders anyone who suffers from it helpless and I don’t enjoy watching my wife suffer feeling guilty once more for making her sail on Yrumoar. A good friend Sam told Lola she takes Adco Cyclizine the night before she goes out diving and it helps so Lola took a tablet. The tablet didn’t have time to work before she fed it to the bucket so she took another one. The seasickness also gave her a headache and she took two Genpayne tablets before finally passing out at about six in the evening. I sat alone in the cockpit and had a few very bouncy sun downers before going to bed at about nine. It was still bouncy in the morning when we woke up but Lola was feeling much better. She told me we may as well be out at sea with Yrumoar rocking and jerking away. The weather window said the wind would change from South west to North East at about one in the morning, blow at 15 knots until two in the afternoon then slowly calm. We waited until eight hoping the sea would calm down before we untied the lines and motored towards the harbour mouth.

I contacted port control to ask for permission to exit the harbour and was told to be careful when crossing the bar since a huge swell was running across it. Lola and I looked at each other. “oh crap” the thought entered my head. Where we going to turn around again? I wasn’t sure what to do but was still heading towards the exit. We couldn’t see the conditions outside so needed to get closer and around the north pier. Then my phone rang. It was John Barry. He asked me if we were planning to leave. I said yes. He then told me he thinks the sea outside is crazy and I should wait while he goes out on his rubber duck to check before we leave. This made me even more afraid and now I seriously considered turning around but Yrumoar just kept on heading closer to the exit. I then asked him if he thinks we should turn around and wait till the sea calms down. He said he would do that. Then the phone cut out before I could say anything else. I looked at Lola and told her what John had said. She sucked in a huge gasp of air and her eyes widened while clasping her hand across her lips. Her expression told me exactly how we both felt.

Yrumoar was still heading towards the bar. We turned the last corner and my eyes kept looking at the south break wall as the waves broke over it and came tumbled along and into the harbour towards us sending white spray in the air as it hit the bollards along the wall. Then I looked out across the bar and into the ocean. The swell was huge. On our starboard side a large roller tumbled across the edge of the south break wall. Directly in front of us but slightly off to port another huge roller ran across the harbour. A small gap existed between the two monsters and Yrumoar headed towards that gap. As we approached the gap the bow rose up suddenly and I could see a wall of water coming rapidly towards us. I froze and held onto the steering. Yrumoar climbed up the wall and reached the summit within a fraction of a second. My fear was mounting and the adrenalin was pumping through my veins as I wondered what was on the other side of this huge wall of water. Would it be a cliff face and we would plummet down the other side into disaster. I had been praying since we launched the flight plan on Friday and shot off another quick one. “please Lord, don’t let this be another Richards Bay Durban experience, I don’t know if my nerves can handle it.” Just then we reached the summit of the wave and I could see the other side. Yrumoar slid over the top and I swear I could hear her go swoosh as she surfed down the trough. We had crossed the bar. Yrumoar sped off towards the next wave and without any hull slam or complaints flew over the crest and swooshed onto the next one. I suddenly realised my fear was irrational and even though the sea was huge, about four metres, it was not dangerous or uncomfortable. The waves were far apart and Yrumoar sailed gently across them. Another sailing yacht “Miscky” had left at five in the morning and we caught up to them in the late afternoon just before sunset.

I took a few photo’s as we passed them and called them on the radio. We had a quick chat and sailed on into the night passing Port Alfred just as the sun was setting. We encountered a few large ships on route and I had to call one of them to find out if they had seen us on their Radar since our paths would cross. They said they did and changed course slightly to pass on our starboard side. They passed us close enough for a good photo and Lola snapped away happily at our new camera. This camera takes awesome photos and I am happy we made the investment.

 

We rounded Bird Island at three in the morning and headed on into Algoa Bay. Our speed dropped almost instantly from five knots to three and the short choppy sea slammed and slapped on our bows. A south west wind was blowing and I measured it at 10 knots. The weather forecast said nothing about it so I was a bit concerned. I shared my thoughts with Lola and she was also concerned. It was about five in the morning, both Lola and I were very tired since we hadn’t slept and I told her to try get some sleep. Since our speed had decreased we weren’t making much headway and our initial estimate of arrival wouldn’t happen so we needed to get some sleep.

As she got up to go inside a loud grunting noise came from the sea.
“What was that?” I heard her asking me.
“Shit I don’t know.” I replied.
And just like that we were wide awake again. After a while we decided it must have been a seal shouting at us as we may have passed to close by so our nerves calmed and we carried on at a tortoise pace towards Port Elizabeth. Lola went to sleep and I sat outside watching the sun rise over Algoa bay.

I woke her after an hour and she was much better and told me to go sleep. For some unexplainable reason I said no. Yrumoar was bouncing on the short choppy waves and the motion wasn’t comfortable. Lola took the pilot guide and read it for the first time. I don’t know why we didn’t check the guide before we left, we normally pour over it a few times but didn’t do it this time. After she was done she came outside and told me we should head back out to sea. I agreed and we turned away from our destination and headed back to deep water. The motion was even worse now as the waves hit us on the side. A motion none of us enjoy but our speed increased as we rolled out the Genoa so we accepted the slap and slam for the next four hours.

We had to round Riy Bank before we could turn back towards PE and sail the last twelve miles towards the port. At this point I was so tired I could no longer concentrate and went to sleep. As I lay down my toothache that I was still suffering with throbbed away but I closed my eyes and hoped the pain would go away while I slept. I woke up an hour and a half later with a throbbing tooth and very tight skin. I never realised it at the time but the sun must have got hold of me and roasted my skin to a bright red glow. I haven’t been sunburnt for a long time but I quickly remembered how it felt and decided to avoid the sun in future or use some of the sunscreen we sell.

We rounded the break wall and crossed the bar into Port Elizabeth harbour just after twelve. I was tired and irritable and struggled to park Yrumoar so ended up shouting at Lola for no particular reason. This lead to an uncomfortable afternoon as we went over to the yacht club to sign in and out to lunch afterwards. It took a few hours before I realised what I did, apologised and she decided to speak to me again.

 

 

Suspects

14 Sep. 13

Feeling a bit down we decided to get off Yrumoar and go for a walk down to the beach. Our time here has dragged on for longer than expected and we are all ready to move on, however, we did a calculation and financially it makes more sense for us to wait here until after Tammy’s wedding. The bus fares will be cheaper and we would be away from Yrumoar for less time.

The beach is quite far from here but the walk was a pleasant distraction and is good for the heart anyway. Besides, it also doesn’t cost anything to take a walk. The scenery on route is not something to write about since it runs through the centre of town and East London central is not scenic by any stretch of the imagination.

About half way we stopped under a shade port next to an empty car show room to catch our breath and give our legs some time to recover. The short rest stop gave us enough energy to continue and since none of us are psychic and able to predict the future we went on our merry way not knowing our rest stop would have any significance in our future lives.

The ocean is always spectacular and we sat on a wall watching the waves crash on the rocks while we again caught our breath. When we had enough of the waves to last us a few days we headed on down the beach front road to check out the aquarium and the German memorial site. Our stomachs told us that lunch time had arrived and we started looking towards the various restaurants that are lay scattered all along the road. Our first choice was a place named Y-knot. However when we entered the doorway we were told that it was still too early for lunch and we would have to come back later so we left and looked for another place. A beautiful building on the beach with a 180 degree sea view housed another restaurant, La Vida. Here we sat down, looked at the menu, gasped at the prices, and left. Almost directly across the road another restaurant, Guido’s, advertised a really good value breakfast so we decided to give them a chance.

 

Our meal and the service from our waiter were mediocre and we left after lunch feeling disappointed in our choice. On our walk back we stopped at the same place as before and our unknown future suddenly presented itself. We were still sitting in the shade resting when a bakkie with two men inside pulled up and stopped in front of us.

They stared at us for a while before the one decided to get out. He then walked towards us and sat down on the wall next to Rauen. We greeted him in our usual casual manner and waited for him to say something. He started with a question, “how long have you been sitting here?” Then he told us something about a missing I-phone and R2000 he has in his pocket that he would swop instantly if the phone was returned to him. We all just looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders. Then he got up and left. It was surreal and we felt accused of somehow making this I-phone disappear. After a few seconds we accepted our new roles as suspects involved in cell phone theft syndicates and we got up and made our way back to Yrumoar.

 

My book is finally available in print copy at Amazon and I wanted to order a few Author’s copies to sell along the way. This plan however is flawed since the Author’s copies along with postage and import duties from Amazon makes the book too expensive to sell so Lola and I have discussed an alternative plan. We looked around on the net for a printing company here in East London hoping to print a few copies. We found one and sent an e-mail but they had not sent us a reply so while we were walking back Lola noticed their signboard and we went into their offices. We met a bubbly young lady with an infectious laugh and she quickly printed a quote for us. The price per book is more reasonable but we would need to order at least five hundred copies. Hmm, we will have to think about that.

  

16 Sep. 13

This morning three boats left the harbour on route to their various destinations. One of the boats was a Rodman power boat with a delivery skipper on board on his way to Cape Town. His next stop would be PE. We met him and his crew two days ago when they arrived and wanted to tie onto us. I told them to go tie onto the wall behind us and was glad I did that when they asked me if I had any fenders they could borrow since they didn’t have any. Power boats as a rule are not a welcome sight. They never have the correct equipment on board and their skippers are usually very inconsiderate towards other boats. Anyway I didn’t have any spare fenders so found an old car tyre on the docks and gave it to them. The next morning they asked me to boil a kettle for them since their microwave didn’t work and they needed coffee. I boiled the kettle and wondered if they would be over at lunch time when they got hungry.

The other two boats were sailing boats with very different destinations. One was heading for Madagascar with a French solo sailor on board and the other, a young couple on board heading down the coast to PE. We were tempted to follow them but had already made our decision to wait until after the wedding.  

Nahoon Reef hiking trail

13 Aug. 13

We took our dingy for a ride up the Buffalo river. It was one of the things to do on the list and the scenery was beautiful, green valleys that run down to a rocky river edge with birds and Dassies playing on the shoreline. Here and there someone had declared their eternal love for their girl on the rocks with a spray can and it spoilt the pristine untouched beauty of the river, but for the most part it was completely uninhabited and wild. I must wonder if Petrus and Helda are still together or if he had a midlife crises and left her for his young receptionist with the big boobs. Or perhaps he became a drunk and they never got together in the first place except for that one perfect afternoon in summer when they took the romantic river cruise together.

Today we caught the taxi into town to go to the museum and have a look at the coelacanth on display along with the old human skull and footprint fossils found here. It took the best part of three hours to walk through and look at all the items on display and we were quite tired when we took the taxi back to Yrumoar. I have to mention the taxi driver. The one that we have had for the last two trips and not the owner of the taxi service that fetched us the first time. This lady drives like she is being chased by a huge dog and doesn’t believe in following distance at all so I find myself pressing an invisible brake pedal on the passenger side of the taxi and bracing myself for the inevitable impact that I feel is about to happen. Unfortunately my pedal doesn’t work no matter how hard I press it. To add to this the roads down here have been neglected by the government and have potholes and huge ditches across them everywhere. I slam on my brakes as I spot a ditch but she doesn’t even blink as her cars suspension creaks and knocks when she flies through the ditch with her petrified passengers.

 14 Aug. 13

So Bryan, another one of Lola’s childhood friends picked us up this morning at ten to go over to his house for lunch. On the way we asked him to stop at the post office so I could ask them to reroute my book that has finally landed in Durban. Typical it would arrive in Durban after we left but life wouldn’t be the same if things went according to plan anyway. We ate lunch and had a great afternoon but the time flew by to quickly and it felt we had just arrived when we left again. On the way back we had to stop at the post office again to write and fax a letter giving permission for the first post office to send my book to the second one here. Now we wait and hope it arrives.

 

15 Aug. 13

The Perfect Day:

Coffee with dolphins playing in the background this morning. There is no better way to wake up. An entire school of dolphins came swimming into the harbour this morning. We even spotted a few babys.

 

 

16 Aug. 13

The perfect day.

Yesterday morning started with the dolphins playing in the harbour while I had my coffee. Next I did a quick load of hand washing and hung it out to dry. Yes you may wonder why I do the washing. Well, two reasons. Number 1, I like doing it and number 2, Lola is allergic to washing powder. So anyway the weather was great and we decided to go to Nahoon point for the day. The taxi arrived a few minutes later with our regular Michael Schumacher as the driver and we flew across to the nature reserve in no time with me hitting the brakes again as usual. At Nahoon point we had the most amazing burger for lunch before we headed out on the constructed bridge walkways towards bat cave.

 

After a while the walkway ended and we strolled leisurely across the soft sandy beach for a while. Then we arrived at a rocky outcrop and stood wondering if the trail carried on or if we had missed bat cave somehow. After a while we sent Rauen ahead as our scout and he climbed over the rocks to look for a trail. A few minutes later he came back and told us he had found a way over the rocks and we should follow him. We are not the most adventurous and we clambered our way clumsily over the rocks. On the other side a few stairs led up into the cliffs and we walked up the stairs and over some more rocks. The further we went the more adventurous and daunting the trail became.

 

 

 

Sometimes we crossed over narrow pathways with a cliff face on the one side and a shear drop of about forty metres into the ocean on the other. I was at the back of the pack and felt panicked more than once as I watched Lola and Kyle trying to negotiate their way across the rocks and narrow slippery pathways. We continued climbing and sometimes crawling along until we found bat cave and the blowhole. The scenery on the hike was spectacular with small coves and huge breaking waves smashing into and across the rocks. Once we got to the cave we decided to continue forwards instead of going back and had to cross more treacherous cliffs and finally a huge sand dune that was sliding and falling over a cliff.

 

With the hike behind us we continued walking on the beach until we reached town, about four km away from the end of the hike. We had a waffle at Wimpy and decided to walk back to the boat instead of calling the taxi. A few hours later and one or two wrong turns in town we arrived back home to Yrumoar.

Nahoon point was by far the most enjoyable and exciting hike I have ever been on and all of us loved it wanting to go back again before we leave East London. Although we were all quite bushed we were to excited to go to bed and sat in the cockpit reliving the experience for a while before the kids went to sleep and Lola and I watched a spectacular thunderstorm out at sea. The perfect end to the perfect day.