Reunion to South Africa

Sailors being a notoriously superstitious crowd would never sail a leg 13 so the ARC skipped that leg.  At the skippers briefing for the next leg (an ARC event where all boat skippers and one crew member (usually the First Mate) receive a presentation, a synopsis of what to expect on leg 14) we learned 1400 miles of torture lay ahead.   Apparently the Indian Ocean saved the best for last.  This leg was all about weather windows and ocean currents.  We had to make Madagascar with-in 4 days or risk getting stuck in a weather low – which meant storms and high winds in an area riddled with swift ocean currents.  This map could have been painted by Vincent:

But no!  It’s a ocean current map with Madagascar on the right and  South Africa on the left.  The more intense the color the more intense the current.   Please note that it does not have a latitude/longitude grid as that might make it useful.  If you happen to hit a strong current, of 2 knots or more, and the wind happens to be going in the opposite direction it causes standing waves which are larger and closer together than the typical ocean swells.  Off the coast of South Africa the current can hit 4 knots and in a good blow of 35 knots or more, from the south west 100 foot high standing waves can and do occur.  Aside from getting one humped up on adrenalin they have taken out many boats and their crews so waiting and sailing weather windows – or turning and running away are your 2 choices for survival when those conditions prevail.   We knew the Madagascar low was coming so ‘jumped the start of leg 14 and thus disqualified AURORA by leaving at 6:30 AM 4.5 hours before the official start time so we could give ourselves a good chance to beat the weather at Madagascar.  The first 2 nights we had wonderful and fast sailing in 20 – 30 knots of wind and made excellent progress then the wind died to 8 to 12 knots and we made it to the south east corner of Madagascar during day 4 as the wind started to build and swing out of the west but only at about 17 knots.  We took it on the nose, against the current, for 24 hours.  Beating into the wind that whole time.  This is what beating looks like from the cockpit – repeating this scene once every 3 seconds… sometimes-taking water over the deck and a foot or 2 up the Bimini shield:

We were really bouncing around.  Eilo was worried about the anchor which was also bouncing around in its cradle.  Luckily it was tied down in 2 ways so Captain Ken was not worried.  Captain Ken was worried about all the sea water coming in from the bow anchor locker and the 2 aft deck lockers as we were shipping many waves and the deck was often awash.  The hatches over those lockers leak – and the deeper the water on the deck the faster they leak.  The water from them is designed to enter the bilge (in the boat!) where it gets pumped out.  For about 2 hours of that beating session the electric bilge pump could not keep up and our automatic bilge had failed.  Eilo spotted the water hitting the level of the floor boards in the main cabin so we got on the hand pump – Eilo wanted to radio the boat behind us – SKYLARK – (here’s their captain Dan relaxing on Safari):

… to request they stand-by to watch us sink and rescue us.  Captain Ken resisted that request.  We finally got out of the bad chop and pumped the bilge out using the hand pump and electric bilge pump (which still worked except for the automatic part) continuously.  Captain Ken caulked and taped the deck hatches as best as could be done in tough ocean conditions. We had to hand pump every hour the rest of that trip to stay dry.  The next morning Captain Ken alerted First Mate Eilo that she did not have to worry about the anchor anymore as it had fallen off and was resting comfortably in 15,000 feet of water.  With all of the bouncing the anchor shackle bolt had worked itself out and the 2 tie down ropes chaffed through and down she went.  Eilo was not happy but it was a “fait accompli”.  We finally made it around Madagascar and then the wind died to 7 to 10 knots and switched around from the east so we had to drop the sails (we broke our spinnaker pole in a gust the night before thus could not sail dead down wind efficiently) and motored for 76 hours as we had to beat the next weather window.  A low pressure system rolling up the east coast of South Africa packing enough south west wind to kick up those dangerous high freak waves.  The next issue was, everywhere we sailed, we seemed to find about 1 knot of opposing current, killing our progress.  In the skippers briefing we learned the Agulhas current rolls down the east coast of South Africa at a rate of 1 to 4 knots.  That current supposedly starts about 140 miles off the coast.  So we sailed for that current.  Sure enough we got 140 miles off the coast and there was 1 knot of current – but it was flowing in the wrong direction, north.  It was suppose to be flowing south helping us,  – our arrival deadline getting more critical.  Day 8 the wind finally turned from the North East and we were able to shut down the engine, enjoy some quiet, and do some sailing.  43 miles form the coast we finally hit a current now flowing south at 1.5 knots.  We were told at the skippers briefing it would be best to approach Richard’s Bay from the north and we were about 200 miles north.   The wind continued to build to 35 knots.  Captain Ken thought about reefing  - but that’s as far as that thought got.  We had our cruising sails up, which are very strong, so we opted to go as fast as possible and beat the weather low rolling up the coast.  We made the Zulu Land Yacht Club around noon at high tide, before the storm hit – as though it was planned that way.  Ha Ha.   Not knowing what to expect at landfall we had fairly primitive vision in our minds.  We quickly blew that expectation to pieces.  We were met at the dock by a bunch of ARC heads but also by officials from the Yacht Club who presented us with a welcome bag and a bottle of chilled Champagne – one of the best greetings we have had to date.  The club could be anywhere warm and sunny.  Aurora looks happy to be here:

It has has everything for you and your boat.  4 bars with 1$ beers, all the other typical bar stuff (except for monkeys) and a recent invention.   Locally crafted Gin mixed with locally crafted tonic mixed and on tap which is excellent and 2$ for a big glassful.  1 is enough for a good buzz and the staff and club members are wonderful! Within an hour of our arrival we were feeling at home at one of the outdoor bars and the Captain felt funny – like he was being watched.  He was. There were African Velvet Monkeys everywhere looking for handouts.  They bailed out after awhile realizing no freebees would be heading their way.  We were also warned there is a mommy hippo and baby who wander thru the club almost every night …

… on their way to a near-by fresh water lake.  The locals warned us to stay clear of those 2 or the results could be terminal.  I was watching Eilo running the next morning with about 10 monkeys chasing her so Captain Ken did the only natural thing and broke out a camera to take a snap shot – but was too late to capture the action & fear. 

Some locals had already rescued Eilo and turned the monkeys away… telling her never to show any fear otherwise the monks will leverage that into a good chase. 

And if the Hippos don’t kill you beware of the crocs.  There is a great restaurant at the Zulu YC and the food is very inexpensive.  Actually everything is very inexpensive in South Africa.  The following day the ARC sponsored a trip to the iMfolozi National Park; the oldest national park in the world – incorporated in 1876.  A moderate size game park at 8.7 million acres.   It gives one an idea of the enormity of Africa:

We checked out about 150 Km of the parks roads and we were just scratching the surface.   The no walking signs were great – everything will kill you:

We saw 3 of the Big Five.  These 2 are obviously in love:

How come Giraffes are not part of the big 5?

And lots of of funny looking monochrome horses or are they donkeys?

Are Wart Hogs cute?

What about Baboons?

Spot the Kudu… the Impala are easier to find.  Note that they are a very tasty diner combo as we found out at the ARC awards diner for leg 14.  A couple of locals cooked up that combo in a huge African style stew pot – enough for the whole WARC tribe and then some:

We saw at least 8 different kinds of deer like critters but won’t bore you with the others.   Here is a pair of Hippos giving us the evil eye:

And an African Fisher Eagle nailing a 2 point landing:

And a Yellow Billed Kite taking flight:

But the real “fun” came at lunchtime.  We arrived at a picnic site and the guides started breaking out the goodies.  The bathrooms were remote from the picnic tables by about a 2 minute walk through the jungle so Eilo seeing the big 5 will kill you and the don’t walk here signs asked our guide if it was safe to walk to the jacks.  Jerry our guide, (and a wonderfully knowledgeable guy about all things local – including the beasts):

, and Jerry responded, “No worries”.  So Eilo goes to the loo and comes rushing back to the picnic site after a few minutes in a state of shock.  She was sitting on the toilet watching a lizard crawl up the stall wall and out of the corner of her eye caught sight of a bright lime green snake head beside her less than a foot from her face.  She did what most humans would do and flew out of the stall trying to tug up her nicks and shorts.  That evacuation probably took less than a micro second.  Fear is a great motivator. The snake proceeded over the wall and was heading into the adjacent stall so Eilo banged on that door to warn the other sitter who promptly evacuated with her child.  The 3 to 4 foot snake must have been in Eilo’s toilets water closet which did not have a lid on it.  The Mamba was probably having a drink.  After downloading that story Jerry pronounced the snake to be a Green Mamba one of the most deadly on earth with enough venom to kill 10 humans and further pronounced Eilo to be blessed – in that she survived… and most likely secretly that he did not have to take her body to the coroner as you need special paperwork for that act.  Super Eilo has now survived the Indian Ocean, a Monkey attack, and a Green Mamba all within 2 days.  Do bad things really come in 3’s?  Maybe.

We are still waiting for a weather window to make our way down the coast.  Most of the boats took off last Saturday and are sitting in East London waiting for the next weather window.  Many of them have indicated we should take a pass on East London.  We have some days to burn so a little boat work and a little play makes sense while we wait.  For play we opted to visit the private game park called Thula Thula which translates from Zulu as “Peace and Tranquility”.   

We took off in our Avis car with the crew from ALTAIR (Joe & Jeff) to share a 24 hour adventure starting with welcome drinks at the Lodge:

Then we checked into our tent to start toughing it out in the veld:

The park, at a mere half million acres, is about a 1 hour car drive (including some getting lost time) from the Zululand Marina.   It was started by a larger than life guy named Lawrence Anthony (and a good author of his personal stories) who bought a 5,000 acre game hunting park and successfully turned it into a game conservation park, including saving a herd of rogue elephants who were going to be slaughtered (read “The Elephant Whisperer”).  We were closer to the animals than our experiences in the 2 national game parks  already visited:

So much so that Eilo has changed her name to “Touched By a Rhino”:

And yes the Rhino’s horn was cut off – to keep him from being attractive to poachers.  It doesn’t hurt the rhino and it grows back.  A great variety of animals in a small park makes for a memorable experience.  Note the Impala trying to make nicey nice with the zebra and the giraffe leaning over telling them both to knock it off – there are people watching:

At one point on the safari we heard a ruckus thru the jungle.  A heard of Wildebeest came charging toward us but the lead guy spotted us and did an about face followed by his herd – another exciting moment.

What could be better than having sundowners with a pack of pachyderms hanging out over our shoulders?

To be continued…still waiting for our weather window to get us closer to Cape Town…

Mauritius & Reunion

As it turned out, on Leg 11, our Russian friend Andrey and owner of ARABELA (which is actually a Dufour 52 not a big Beneteau) had promised his family a trip to Disney Land France and had to turn on his engine for 8 hours to be able to make his flight out and thus AURORA won the leg! Eilo and Captain Ken were happily surprised with that first but still felt it better to arrive alive than to score.

On arrival in Mauritius we tied up to the sea wall in a little harbor off the main commercial harbor of Port Louis and not long after we had the old girl tied up one of the yellow shirts (Cecelie, one of our WARC hosts and facilitator for this and many other landfalls)  put a big shot glass filled with Pink Pigeon Rum in each of our paws and we made fast work of those with delight.  It’s a super smooth and slightly sweet local rum which we highly recommend.  SANDVITA was not in long behind us and our Swedish friends rafted to AURORA because of the limited space in that small harbor:

It was really good to be back on land and better to be on that bit of land known as Mauritius.  It was dangerous being rafted to SANdVITA as that continuous party was now only one step away.  Mauritius is about 35 miles by 30 miles in size with about 1.3 million peeps on island practicing 5 different religions and all living in harmony.  Everyone on Terra Firma should try that trick.  Here is a view of the roof of a Tamil Temple - unfortunately getting crowded out by urban stuff but very colorful and detailed:

The port area of Port Louis, where the ARC boats were tied up, was a renovated old dock area where many of the old stone warehouses were repurposed and cleverly blended with new creating a very nice feel:

And the town was filled with bars and restaurants very cool – the diversity of cultures makes for great fusion restaurants everywhere -  which we put to great use. Does Eilo look unhappy waiting for her fare at this eatery?  I think not (and their classic French food was excellent):

Yup we had some stuff to fix on AURORA.  She took a lot of stress and strain on the Indian Ocean passage and had developed a few leaks where there were none previously.  The most annoying was a big leak through and around the hatch over the forward port berth.  That is a wonderful berth to use when thrashing and crashing around but not when using it means waterboarding the potential sleeper every time you ship a wave over the bow – which was often.  But we got them all sorted and had some time to explore.  Sandvita rented a car and invited us for a drive so we checked out a few spots.   Minding our own business we wandered upon this large Hindu shrine in the middle of the island:

There were shrines of the other religions (except Christians) at that same spot – but no matter, it was very impressive.   Traveled a little further to this small area of sand dunes with 7 different colors of sand – apparently the only place like it on earth:

We also took an ARC sponsored tour and went to their botanic garden – we liked the Amazonian Lilly Pads best:

… and the  La Bourdonnais Plantation.  Bourdonnais was the guy who sorted out the island for the French in the mid 1700’s and it appears he lived well:

… and aside from being recently well restored the plantation house was decked out with all of the original furnishings making it extra special (we like the hand painted "wall paper"):

So what made Le Bourdonnais so special and well liked?  Our guess is it was his high quality rum produced on his plantation which is still tasty today… but we could not take their word for it.  We had to try it for ourselves:

Of course we saw more waterfalls and beautiful beaches – but are we not getting bored with that stuff by now?  It was time to take off on leg 12.  A short hop of 135 miles to La Reunion island.  This time AURORA hit the starting line nicely with sails set and was across in third place.  The whole start was going to be filmed by drone and broadcast on local TV news that night except one of the ARC Yellow Shirts, Victor, was asked to hold the News Cast’s drone at the start before flying it.   One roll of the starting boat and the drone took off.  But what it took off was the end of Victor’s finger so they flew instead to the hospital for a little patch and sew.  We were having fun on AURORA until the wind died about 30 minutes after the start.  Some of the boats which headed north west managed to stay in a little wind and kept going.  We bobbed until the hull speed hit 0.9 knots and then we started the engine and ran for 3.2 hours before picking up the wind again.  It was an ugly leg for AURORA but more important is we arrived alive and rafted to ALTAIR in Le Port (a very industrial port in a very non-touristy town) on the very French Reunion Island.  After fixing a few more things on AURORA we dropped the Dinghy in the water and motored across the port to the town.  When they say non-tourist town they mean it.  Lots of bars and restaurants but none were open at lunch so we decided to come back for diner, which we did.  We found only one restaurant “open” but they were not serving food.  Yup, we were wondering the same thing you are.  If you have a restaurant or bar and never open it how can you make any money to pay the rent or mortgage?  Anyway the town was shuttered and it was getting dark so we bailed before the gangsters came out and so we had dinner on board.  Being rafted it is very easy for other ARC heads to board you should they smell a good time in the works and that happened to AURORA (again):

Lucky for us we had not provisioned yet so after drinking all the remaining beer and wine and a good portion of the spirits on board the foreign crew (represented by Scotland, England, Sweden and Texas) headed back to their own berths.  We rented a car for a few days and did manage to explore the island and that was well worth the effort.  The map one gets with a rental on this island is deceiving because it looks like there are numerous secondary roads that cross the island.  In fact there is only one.  The rest of the roads are not roads but are hiking trails up through the mountains but we did not know that.  So off we go to cross the island and took a breather at about 6,000 feet.  The islanders love to picnic so there are thousands of road side picnic tables like Eilo’s:

In the background you can see the Indian Ocean but can’t really see the beaches or reefs which all look very inviting.   The big issue is there are more shark attacks and shark related deaths on Reunion island beaches than anywhere else in the world so we decided to give beach days a pass.  Though there are beaches were the reefs protect you from sharks (at least theoretically – Ken – behind the reef, margarita close by, poised to post this blog):

We got to the top of the road and it ended at a very steep drop off (a cliff about 3000 feet high).  We could see a village at the bottom as well as the start of the walking trail to get there.   We passed on that trek and opted instead to go find this highly recommended mountain town called Cilaos.  The road to Cilaos went up through a valley with very steep high walls (up to 7,000 feet in places) until the valley ended.  The rest of the road was carved into mountain cliffs.  This valley made Yosemite valley seem small.  Here is a shot out the car window taken about half way up the mountain to Cilaos:

Cilaos rests at about 7,000 feet.  The air there is refreshing - dry and cool.  We were told to get there early as the clouds come in early in the afternoon almost every day:

We poked into a ‘general store’ in the mountains to see what the locals survived on.  We noticed a lot of sugar cane fields along the way and if you looked closely at the old barns on the farms along the road, in almost every one you could spot a still – and some looked to be over 100 gallons in size.  They really get into distilling their own rum as well as making sweet red wine – although we saw only a few small vineyards along the way.  Their results were proudly displayed in the general store:

We got to town before the clouds and checked out the main street:

The top of the mountain in the background is over 9,000 feet and occasionally has snow on it.    The town was thick with shops, bars and restaurants and a large Catholic church completing the set.  After a bucket load of exploring we sat down in a lovely little place for a French Creole lunch.  We highly recommend you check out any of the creole restaurants next time you are in Reunion.  Still not realizing the red “roads” on our map were not roads we took off to find a short cut back across the island.  We found a few dead ends before realizing the red roads were hiking trails.  You can see Cilaos in the background, as the clouds arrive, from one of those dead ends:

What you can’t see and really don’t want to see is the roads and hundreds of switchbacks carved into the sides of mountain cliffs – you really have to pay attention driving those roads.  The bus drivers that negotiate these mountain roads are fearless and talented but getting stuck behind one makes you think it would have been smarter to have had a few more shots of local rum before leaving our lunch stop.   The ARC sponsored a tour of one of the most active volcanoes in the world.  The Furnace volcano (nice name - huh) was not active when we arrived.  It last blew in July.  Signs near it translated to – “Be Careful – Eruption is Likely”. The older generation of locals will not go near the place and the younger generation sees them as being scared.  We see that split more as having wisdom Vs lack of wisdom.  Here’s a shot taken from about 7,500 feet looking down at a recent blow hole in the middle of a lava field:

Note all Those Lacking Wisdom” milling about – waiting to get vaporized should the mountain choose to exercise. Luckily that did not happen and we lived.  We visited one more waterfall which had a huge pool below it – ice cold spring fed water.  Very nice.  We were alone except for a mom and 3 French daughters.  Had a lovely swim and shower and on the 20 minute hike back to the road we must have past 50 people on their way down to the falls. 

 We are off to Richards Bay, South Africa in 2 days - wish us luck.