Christmas 2015

We get small gifts along the way in life, which do not cost a lot of money. We are honoured to receive from our extended circles, such gifts. We wish for you, who are visiting here right now, love-a-plenty and lots of good health.

The GIFT of Knysna

We are resting in Knysna on the south coast of South Africa. We had a lovely tour through the Little Karoo (writing coming later) and are now having a stall in 

the GIFT OF KNYSNA 
event in Knysna on 

the Garden Route of South Africa. We will take part till 23 December from 9h00-18h00. Meeting all the local artists is a delight. And our story intrigues many.

SAMMNET

With a firm, clear and caring voice Sam gave us weather info for our specific situation. It was re-assuring at the times we were in for some bad weather. And it was most valuable during the times we could not get proper connections to Sailmail for our own weather info.
Send an email to zs1sammnet@worldonline.co.za with your position, boat speed and course.
Our information was registered at the South African Maritime Net for in case of emergencies. During the transmission we could not call in since we are not a Ham station, but Sam would call us and then give weather.
SAMMNET on 14316 USB at 06:30 UTC
From Simonstown the South African Maritime Mobile Net operates on Ham radio frequencies twice daily, 7 days a week and 365 days a year and provides weather reports from around the South African coast and the deep-sea areas from Brazil and Argentina in the west and to Australia in the east and into the Mozambique channel, the Seychelles and Maldives area.
We are grateful for his concerned help during our voyage from Madagascar to South Africa.

From Madagascar to Mozambique Channel on to South-Africa

We have left Madagascar and are aiming for South-Africa. The Mozambique Channel is an interesting piece of water to sail. There are so many different influences. The many different currents and counter currents are the most noticeable. If we're not pushed the wrong direction under full sail forward, then we're flying at danger speed the good direction. Gales and squalls are common. Mylady had her fair share of bad weather but is handling it well. At the moment of writing we are cruising along with one knot and no wind. bird problems..

Madagascar

We surfed to the north cape of Madagscar with 35kn. The counter current on the west side of Madagascar immediately introduced itself. Our average speed of 5 - 6 knots declined in ten counts to 2 knots. It is the oddest feeling to come to such a quick 'stand stil' after 24 days of full-on sailing. The Southeaster peaked at 45kn and helped us on beams-end over white waters to Nose Hara. Finally – rest. Nose Hara is a fascinating island with very interesting rock formations and landscape. It is very impressive and we enjoyed our rest there where we could air out the boat after the long ocean voyage.
         On towards Nosy Mitsio and we got acquited with the tremendous variable currents and wind directions in the space of one day. It must have been the most frustrating day skipper has yet experienced.

We arrived in Hellville, Nose Be, mid morning. And were almost immediately greeted and welcomed by Kool, who in partnership with Jimmy, take care of the dinghies for a fee. The quay has no facilities for dinghies and the port is over crowded with local boats and ferries all day long. Thus, it was real handy to have Kool and Jimmy there for help. Jimmy speaks English and went with us for the clearing in procedures, for a fee. If you speak french, you might be able to have the bribes pass you by. If you don't, like we, you're bound to pay all the bribes. Which ofcourse you expect at the time, but are unable to voice a stand-off.

Nosi Mamoko was our first experience of village life. The lady chief (who arrived long after us) was a proper b...t.. Honestly the worst experience of 'local' we have yet had in any country. Our initial good feelings she wiped clean with her unfriendly, demanding, un-accommodating attitude. We had no reason to stay in her village where filth abound and lemurs are sick looking, therefore left.

Russian Bay was super good. Andre's Restaurant was a delight.

Value for money. Hearty meals (ordered before). Good tasting Madagascar beer -  English style - and locally produced good rice wine and all kinds of interesting things, like good and happy looking lemurs. Fresh baked bread can be ordered – which we did more than once. Andreas is actually a wealth of information. We made a tour with Paul over the mountains and were very happy with the care he took and the local knowledge he could share with us in English. Again – value for money. Watch out for Polene(sp?). Confirm with Andre's who's the good and who's the bad guys. One day and night a tent safari pitched camp under the palms on the beach front. The tour guide, Ravo, made a good impression when we met on shore. It reminded me of catered safaris we did in Namibia. We sailed twice to Russian Bay and

stayed fourteen days total even though we only planned two days. Snorkeling was good. Schools of fish stayed happily around our boat. Russian Bay was good.

The Honey River had no honey but the school was very happy with the English / Malagasy dictionary we gave them. No-where did we had security issues yet, but everywhere alertness is high. The people in general are friendly. 

SAILMAIL FAILED

We were 18 days on Indian Ocean passage without contact to weather info or any other people. 

World wide coverage by Sailmail is not true. 

There is just one Africa station and it does not function properly.  

INDIAN OCEAN CROSSING 2015

From Cocos Keeling to north Madagascar was a hard, looooooong sail. Uncomfortable. Heavy, huge seas and swell which ran in no co-herent fashion - all the time. 30-40 kn winds were a constant. Two days - out of the twenty four days - were ideal blue water sailing. The windvane steering sometimes could not keep up with the repetitive onslaught of the seas. In due course the steering line snapped. Eelco dressed up in his safety harness and clipped himself to the pushpit then clambered over board down the stern while the liquid mountains charged onto us. He retrieved the broken line and strung the replacement line successfully. I was so uptight and worried, I forgot to take pictures. The heavy seas took its toll on the steering gear too. A couple of times there were a big 'bang!'. One of the 'bangs' was the starboard main stay snapped off a 12mm rod. We also discovered with dismay that the weight of the danbuoy has rusted off. Hooray for life on the saltwater.... Two good things about the Indian Ocean. 1) The current is a true plus. 2) The weather was mostly sunny, warm and dry. 

Cocos Keeling

An Oasis in the Indian Ocean. Be sure to stop there if you go direction West. Al you need is an Australian visa. The local police are the best ambassadors Australia could wish for. 
Around the boat fish, squid, turtles, dolphins, and sharks abound. Crystal clear water present the coral frightning close - even though it is deep. All the variations of turquoise colour are spread out in the panorama and in the 'RIB' dance plenty green parrot fish close to the rocky edge. 
Regularly many kite surfers glide across the big beautiful lagoon. Anchor holding is rock solid in pure white sand. 
Directions Island has a rich history and the hermit crab population florishes. Lots of signatures are left by visiting yachts. 
On the day of our departure, an out-of-this-world big cutoms ship filled the entrance to the bay. They checked us out and kindly wished us a good voyage. MORE..

knock down

We are seven days west of Cocos Keeling and had four knock downs (tipped over on the side with water running over the winches) the last three days. The seas are so very big and confused. Wind is only 25-30kn SE but we're on the smallest of storm sails. Mylady and crew are apart from brined inside out, well. sea-people life ...

DARWIN

Fanny Bay anchorage in front of the sailing club of Darwin, is big. Boats anchoring way out in the distance because of the big tides. Making going ashore a big schlep (trouble). But being considerate the club has fat wheel trolleys the boaties may use to get dinghies out of and into the low water. Very handy, we agree. On the other side of the bay two war ships and two marine supply vessels and a customs boat were on anchor. We felt safe. We liked Darwin. And it sunsets...

TIMOR SEA

The Timor Sea might be in the Indian Ocean, but none of the Indian Ocean mean characteristics apply. We expected strong trade-winds, but barely got any. Flat seas lump and slither. Night time the thought of wind there was during the day, goes sleep. So do we. Sails down. Anchor light up. Mylady drifting in zig-sag circles with the tide. (Yes, it's a sea snake in the pic. There were plenty.)

Australia, cruise 2015

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Australia. Wonderful people.  Departing Darwin heading west for Madagascar. 
The croc story ...

LONESOME cruising

Off the beaten track? No. Just going around the northern point of Australia, westward. Just a route. 
Dangerous? Not any more than the normal. 

Weather's absolutely perfect - warm days, cool evenings, wind and seas from behind. 
How many marina's or ports for convenience are there from Cooktown in the northeast to Darwin in the north? 
None. 
How many other cruising boats did we see over this 1100 nautical mile distance? 
Three. 
It is just a surprise for us both to experience so few cruising boats. Somehow I thought being in a developed country with such a big yachting industry, and the Indonesian cruising grounds just above Australia in a hop, skip and jump distance, that one would see a yacht from time to time. Clearly we were completely wrong.
    Fortunately we are a happy two-some that don't mind our lonesome (note: not lonely) exploring of new shores and its secrets and showcases. We always enjoy the natural life. Sometimes we even feel special apart from privileged - being at, or part of, creation's beauty and wonders. Every day there is something new to learn.  And we have not even been at five percent of the possible anchorages. Yet there were many places I wished to stay longer. A place worth returning to - the north coast of Australia. Mi sa le (I shall return). Read more...

CRUISING wEATHER along the sunshine Queensland coast.

The High pressure systems rolling across Australia to the east are regular and we get the associated SE tradewinds with it. The perfect direction to take us to the north of OZ. In general we have 3 or 4 or 5 days strong south easterlies then two days of light winds. Our cruising schedule is thus accordingly. A few days sailing from break-of-day till the next overnight spot (sometimes short-, other times long hops). Then a couple of days resting and catching up with home chores and exploring. We've had fair weather mostly. Not enough rain to catch water but getting miserably wet seems to be a constant. The 'Sunshine Coast' we've only occationally experienced with glimpses. It is warm temperatures and that we like. The sun shone, the trades blew, and the current raged as we rounded the top of Australia leaving the Pacific Ocean after eleven years. Read more

CRUISING SECURITY ALERT for Australia, Queensland.

The following I presume could be encountered anywhere where there are plenty yachts. But this happened to us on the Queensland coast.
* aggresive yacht attack on Mylady sailboat.
* un-manned yachts under full sail and motor.
The alarm went at 5:30am and the anchor was on deck at 6:00am. While skipper was still securing the anchor, I steered Mylady out to sea. We noticed the only other yacht in the bay at North Palm Island, at the far opposite side, who came in late afternoon the previous day, also have navigation lights on. We were moving opposite directions. I turned back to the bay to pass them red to red. But they turned also inside. I turned more to not be misunderstood, but so did they. Deciding if they want to pass us on the shore side I'll go to sea. Making an almost 90 degree I headed out to sea. But they turned with us. Confused I asked skipper am I reading the lights right? He turned around and ordered 'Give gas!' The lights (boat) was concerningly close. We sped away. But they followed at high speed. Skipper took the wheel and after a short full rev run, stopped the boat. The aggresive yacht who reved up with us, made a sharp turn to the south and passed our stern at arms length. 'IDIOTS! skipper shouted'. The yacht motored away as the day was breaking. 
The unmanned yacht we encountered earlier going to Airlie Beach. We were sailing on a strong southeasterly, hard to windward, the last leg to Airlie Beach. A big yacht under full sail came out from Airlie Beach heading our way. Since we were on a concerned course, we kept a close eye on it. We soon realized he was motoring but not a person in sight. In all the time that we passed him and afterwards till he was out of sight, no human was visible. It left an eerie feeling to know at full speed in very changeable weather, their are yachts with NO LOOKOUT.
Read about other travellers...

STUCK IN UPSTART BAY

We woke after midnight from the scream of our wind generator. A windgust from a southerly shore wind shifted us into another direction. Steadily the squealling of the anchor bunner started to increase and the anchorchain grinding on the bow. With the arrival of daylight we started to hieve anchor. Our suspicions grounded to a halt with the anchor. Stuck. 
First we tried the gentle way. Skipper on the bow trying to follow the chain around the corners it took to wrap itself around the rocks, while I do my best to steer the boat the intended way. Still stuck.
Then the tough way. With brute force and maximum revs on the engine, the braking strength of the anchor, the chain, the boat deck as well as the nerves of the crew are tested to the limit. Still stuck.
Finally the smart way. Remembering the triumph card of sv Mylady with her super good back-off ability, skipper took the wheel and motored around our anchor and then reversed full force the other way. 
The tension loaded anchorchain gave a jump and fell slack. Did the chain break? I couldn't tell and feared the answer. I winched the chain back into the anchorlocker while skipper kept motoring fast backwards. We both were immensely relieved to see the anchor coming above water. 
"Do you dive?" a local fisherman and his wife asked when we went ashore.
"No. Why?"
"There's a pot of gold down there where you were stuck. You're not the first one. We've seen lots of chain and anchor go down there, never to come up again."
'This is James Morill country.'

Waypoint sailors

Nowadays hordes of new generation cruisers jump on the bandwagon of sailing around the world. The initial passion of discovering and experiencing the unknown had to make way for the number factor. Today the reason is "to be counted".  To be able to say you've done it. Or perhaps to say 'could afford it', since everthing cruising has become so ridiculously expensive. Therefore the today cruiser crosses the oceans with blind trust in human developements like gps, sattelite and insurance. 
The time when a certain amount of skill and interest were required to be able to navigate. Or finding a good star and horison at exactly the good time of morning or evening to take a bearing of and work out with lots of maths and tables and what have you's, where on earth (actually on the ocean) are you in order to ensure you continue in the good direction, are all things and facts which fill history books now. 
In an idyllic anchorage up in a sheltered creek in Savusavu Bay one day, motored True Blue Ozzie yacht passed us on their way out. They made a confusing zig-zag-turn between empty moorings. We thought they were busy with other things and not on attention. A short while later, the South-African catamaran Impi also passed us on their way out. She up on the bow keeping a lookout. He charging at too high speed as was his habit, between the yachts. At exactly the same place between the empty moorings, Impi made the exact same confusing and unnessary (in fact a more risky maneuver towards the coral edge, than safe) zig-zag-turn between the empty moorings. It instantly struck us clear as lightning - waypoint sailors. Not allowing themselves to trust their own observations and logics. Yet, Impi advertises his waypoints on his blog, for other insecure cruisers to follow?
From time to time we also wish for waypoints...

MYLADY in the Whitsundays

We are spending some time in the Whitsundays off the Queensland coast in Australia. It is beautiful when its not raining. The Southeaster tradewinds helped us along all the time and the very strong tidal currents play havoc with our plans. It is a total delight to see schools of fish jump and run as they avoid being next on the menu. Birds chatter and twitter as I think they only do in OZ. Fish eagles glided over us a few times. Lots of local tourists everywhere - snorkling. And what do we do? Take pictures of the colourful rocks. The Whitsundays is a very nice cruising ground. Here one can spend time....  Also please read the turquoise sea. 

MYLADY VOYAGE from Fiji to Australia

Monday is not a good time to clear suctoms first thing in the morning. We finally departed at noon. The ocean state was not bad and winds just enough. We went south around Fiji. Two days later though, the seasickness held the triumph card. Sailing was good in general. Seas mostly from behind. A phantom storm which had no reason or explanation had us running for our lives with 50kn chasers. Fortunately it was a one night event. 
Some days were diamonds.
Other days were filled with crashers onboard.
Some days were gold.
Other days we dropped sails at night, anchorlight on and went to bed with the sleeping tradewinds.
More than 50% of the time we had glorious, fantastic, awesome sunrises and sunsets.  Asif we were starving, we ate and ate as much we could of our dried and special products to avoid OZ quarantine taking it off. Birdlife was sadly limited to the count of ten. None fish caught. Saw some flyingfish. 

Ended the voyage with a two day gale which was forcasted to be 20-30kn. However, we got the also forcasted 'could be 40% stronger' at 40-50kns. The very steep, high, furious and sickening seas, tried to pluck the mast off deck and in the process ripped the starboard front stay out from deck. We made landfall in Mackay, OZ, safely. 
(The repaired stay bolt) Please read the emotional experience of the voyage also. 

Auction of original painting

"Support a good cause, half of the price, min costs, will be gifted to your yacht club or good cause." the artist.
Feel free to use this for fundraising of your good cause. Contact me for more information and encourage your members, friends and family to support the good cause of the auction of this painting.

shake-down cruise

Out and about cruising. We went for a shakedown sail to test everything on sailboat Mylady after her long cyclone laid-up. I was testing the extremes of seasickness in no time at all and skipper turned the boat around to be kind to me. We will sail many miles this year. Comfortably we tucked in a big bay just a stones throw from smoke covered Savusavu and its stinking creek. Fortunately that anchorage is tooooo far for the international yachts to cruise to.

We enjoyed the plenty-plenty fish, birds singing and fishing canoes on the reefs who always greet 'Bula!' And on shore we were treated as specialty. 
After a few days, the wind turned favourable and we sailed out again. This time to the Namena Reef. And with good strong wind and choppy seas, we continued to Nairai the next day. Our return to Nairai was greeted with great excitement and tears. Nobody ever returns... We gifted plenty good books, some supplied by Curly in Savusavu, to the chief and Ana and we shared the Balolo Rising in the school and village. Even thouh the reefworm is something from here, it is not experienced by many. Everybody appreciated and enjoyed. 
Our sail back was a perfect trail of what the Indian Ocean will be. The conclusion of our shakedown cruise - sailboat Mylady is a worthy ocean going craft. As soon as the visa is in, we'll set sail.

ANCHORING DISASTER

Appearance can be extremely misleading. The ever present rust hides, spreads and creeps into everything on a boat and then devours all in its path. Sometimes with frightening speed. The

shackle of this hook used on the anchor chain looked fair. It would not budge when pounded with a hammer. This year with the wonder of TIME skipper who returned early to Mylady, could with a lot of TLC, get the pin out. Horror struck. 
We hung onto that?

the STORM

Captain washed overboard...
What now?

We survived.

Share with us a mighty experience of awe and grace.

Available at Amazon

BAD experience in Savusavu, Fiji

My time here in Savusavu marina, Fiji has been shockingly bad. In 6 months, 9 boat breakins (2 of my neighbours). Filthy verbal abuse by disrespectful young fishermen diving at the boats made me fear rape. No support from the hierarchy. The wife of the local expat vet who seems to be running this marina, openly accused the yachts of being the problem. Yet, we learned this marina never did the goodwill thing with the local chiefs. And yes, not they or the police did anything about the burglary cases. It is a behind the hand bad mouthing case if you are in a click or not. And since I am a strong individual and seemingly the only one who will open my mouth (or rather put pen to paper to whom it may concern) regarding my rights of respect and services , I have been the target of no good. Therefore - my time here was spend alone and productively on Mylady. There is one expat here - Curly, from NZ ( http://curlycarswell.blogspot.com  please check out his site ), who is a big exception to the rule. And in his grey old age, he keeps soldiering on. He was, and still is, my reason for not running away from this unsafe, disgraceful place called Savusavu. A FALSE paradise, with rats, spiders, and mina bird infestation where you swim in your own sweat. Had we known, we would not have been here. Had we only known.

You will do other cruisers a favour if you spread the word about this or hang a print out on your notice board.  I'm now ten years on the water, but this time spent in Savusavu Marina has destroyed the beauty that was part of cruising. Nakama Creek from top to bottom is regularly a stinking, soiled with waste - disgrace. If not oil and diesel, then from household and farming. Not to mention the black snow that creeps into, and covers, everything.

Husband is back. I am so glad. He has a Pacific Ulcer which shocked the living daylights out of us. The private docter here is good and affordable. The wound which went down to the bone, is under control. We are working full speed to get MYLADY ready for leaving the South Pacific. 
The picture:  Sad but true - terror and suicide in paradise.

Storm with mv TEXEL

We all have chosen our jobs. Therefore no complaining. It is just that some jobs are very much influenced by the weather. Therefore gives an extra dimension to the job. How does the big ships handle the bigger seas? Motor vessel Texel from Kustvaart Harlingen, where Eelco currently earns our freedom chips, seems to handle it well.

SECURITY ISSUES in Savusavu and Marina

We've been here in Savusavu many times before. Liked the place so much and decided to stay the hurricane season on a mooring at Savusavu Marina. Our experience so far?

- 5 yacht burglaries - no cases resolved (one wrecked inside)
- indecent verbal assaults by disrespectful youths.
- aggressive black bird invasion
- all flour products have extra live material 
- rats
- local youths fiddling with the moorings
- discharge of pigs and human waste directly into creek
- some do-good people and others acting like  shareholders accuse yachts of being 'out of line'
- filth and empties passing regular from the shore to the sea.

I am completely disappointed, and feel very unsafe. 
Curly from Curly marina and a 'local' since 40 odd years, is the only one I've experienced that is horrified by this all.