Enroute Richards Bay - Clewless in Mozambique

Last night we blew out the clew on our mainsail (the clew is the back lower corner of the triangle that holds the sail to the boom). As in all good sailing stories it occurred at 3:00am. This leaves us with a main that can only be used reefed down (made smaller, usually for high winds). For most of today we have flown our asymmetric spinnaker as the winds have ben light. We have just dowsed it for the evening and to be able to point higher.
We have not committed yet whether we will head into Bazaruto to wait on weather or just continue on toward Richards Bay. The forecasts have been in lots of different directions but not very strong. We'll need to commit tomorrow morning.

Happy Halloween!

Paul
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Enroute Richards Bay

We had a few goods days waiting on weather anchored at Ilha do Fogo. It's a pretty good anchorage for southerly winds, although it has a merciless roll onboard at times with the swells wrapping around the reef. We had to anchor the dinghy offshore and swim into the beach due to the surf. There are a few locals living on the island 'building' a resort. Not a lot of progress yet. They were very friendly with very little English. Once they figured out that Chris was combing the beach for shells they brought out some of their finds. A little negotiating and we had deal in trade for coffee and sugar.

We motored for the morning out do Fogo and now (4:30pm) are having a good sail south. We will most likely stop on a sand dune island Bazaruto, still in Mozambique, in a few days and wait out weather there for our final push into Richards Bay.

Paul
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Ihas do Fogo

After a four day run from Mayotte we are anchored in the Mozambique island of Ilha do Fogo. The island is about 10 miles off the mainland in the upper third of the country. do Fogo is a part of the Ilhas Premieres string of islands. It looks like there are about 3 locals who are on the island doing some minor construction. We stopped here to avoid the strong southerly winds that are predicted over the next few days.
We haven't decided if we feel comfortable actually going ashore, as we are not cleared into Mozambique and there are a number of cruiser stories that float around of cruisers having some fairly severe issues with local authorities.
It is pretty strange as there are currently 5 other boats anchored here. They all arrived today and are on passage to Richards Bay. They started out from three different locations at different times, Seychelles, Mayotte and Tanzania. All making the same weather decision to duck out here for a day or two.
Anchored in 32ft at 17*13.68S, 038*52.79E on sand with a littleroll coming into the anchorage.

Paul
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Enroute Richards Bay, South AFrica - Day 1 and 2

It's been a very slow passage so far. Day 1 noon-to-noon run was 122nm and day 2 was 101. We are minimizing any motoring to save fuel for the other end of the trip. This morning we even dug out, dusted of the musty asymmetrical spinnaker to get a little more boat speed. At least the current has been mostly with us.

Paul
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Free Range Baobab Trees and Lemurs

 

We were really disappointed that we couldn't cruise in Madagascar. It is hard closed for covid season. Of course the only reason we wanted to go to Madagascar was to see the Baobab trees and the Lemurs. It turns out that Mayotte has Baobabs and is one of the few places besides (maybe only) Madagascar that has Lemurs. Mayotte sits about 160 miles west of the Madagascar coast. Above is the first Baobab we spotted, sitting in the center of a traffic circle.

To go on our Lemur hunt we put a bunch of bananas in the backpack and Chris, Bill and I took the ferry to the main island.

We walked from the ferry to Pointe Mahabou Park. We circumnavigated the park trails twice with sign of the illusive little lemurs. After we had given up and decided we got skunked we started walking out. One of the park employees who we had asked earlier if there were any lemurs about came over to Chris excitedly saying Madame, Madame. He pointed us to a tree nearby and said "Maki!", which means lemur here. Off we went to visit a small, shy group in a nearby mango tree. If you look closely the lemur on the right, grabbing the banana we placed on the tree, you'll see a tiny baby on her back.

Here's a closer picture of the baby, hanging on to mama.

The very friendly and helpful yacht club.

We had an interesting interaction with the local police today. To clear out of the country we needed to go to the airport to get our Immigration and Customs' stamps. As we walked in through the main doors of the terminal a guy in plain clothes walked up to Bill and asked if he spoke French, which he does. A long, fairly friendly conversation ensued. We walked over to the table in front of immigration to get our papers ready. We could see Bill showing the guy his phone and talking on. Eventually Chris went over to Bill to grab his passport so we could start the clear out process. A few days ago Bill went for a long walk and ended up near the military base on the island. No one was around. There is a wall and with a number of radio dishes behind it. There is also a sign that says Interdit photos. This was Bill's clue to take out his phone and take a photo. The person who stopped Bill as he walked into the airport was a plain clothes policeman. He asked Bill if he had taken a photo at the military base, then told him to take his phone out and delete the picture. So ---- how did they ID Bill right at the entrance?

Tomorrow we are heading off to continue down the Mozambique Channel toward Richards Bay, South Africa. Weather forecasting on this run is notoriously unreliable past about three days, so we will probably have to make a few weather stops on the way down. 

Paul 

Enroute Mayotte - Arrived

 We arrived in Mayotte last night and had the anchor down at 1:00am local time last night. Its a 3 hour run into the anchorage from outside the entrance with a number of twists and turns that are all well marked and lit.

After we passed the tip of Madagascar and entered the Mozambique Channel the wind laid down. The Compression Zone was fairly benign.  We did a 128 mile noon-to-noon run with the lighter wind. Of the last 30 hours we probably motored 80% of the run.

Todays job, get cleared into Mayotte with the French officials.

Paul

Enroute Mayotte Day 2 and 3

Its been a fast, good sail since after the bumpiness and winds of the first day and a half. Day 2 we did 188nm noon-to-noon, day 3 180nm. Both good runs. We made it through the 'compression zone' with no real drama. 23kts plus gusts and a few unruly seas. Two reefs in the main and partial furled jib. We are now into the wind and sea shadow caused by Madagascar. Winds are 12 kts or so and we are making about 6 kts toward Mayotte. Depending on how quickly the winds shut off completely, we will probably make Mayotte by late tomorrow.

Paul
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Enroute Mayotte Day 1

Lumpy, bumpy start. After a day and a half at sea most of the crew is getting back to communicating in full sentences. We are down to two reefs in the main and a small jib up. Making good time - 188nm for the first noon to noon run.

Had some excitement a few hours into the journey. Crew says 'I smell propane'. Me, with my refined palette smel something but not propane. Seemed like some volatile concoction coming out of a paint can. Hunt all around and can't find it. I lay out to get some sleep on the settes bunk only to be awakened by the CO alarm, quickly followed by the fire alarm. I stumble out of my berth and the propane alram goes off briefly. It is over near the electrical panel I notice the on=deman diesel water heater is on. It accidentally got left on when Chris took an early shower before we left. I had put the exhaust plug into the hull to block any seawater getting into the heater. It did not like running with a blocked exhaust.

Paul


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Next Stop Mayotte

 

 

We did all of our clearing out of the Seychelles yesterday. Including paying usd$850 of daily anchoring fees for the 4 months the boat has been here.

 We are now anchored in a nice bay on the north end of Mahe (the main island in the Seychelles) for the evening. In the morning we will take off for a 5 or 6 day passage to Mayotte. Mayotte is a French island at the north end of the Mozambique Channel. This will be our first stop on the 2,800 mile trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

The 800 mile trip to Mayotte is a bit challenging.  To begin with you are sailing with wind from the beam forward. The seas are what has been generated by the few thousand mile open run that the SE tradewinds create. If you look at the wind image above, at the label Victoria in the upper right is where we are leaving from. The small islands that are in the middle left are Comoros and Mayotte. To left of them is continental Africa, to the right is the large island of Madagascar, of movie fame. We would have loved to stop in Madagascar and say Hi to the lemurs and check out a Baobab tree, but it is shut due to Covid season.

Looking at the wind in the image you can see where the SE tradewinds get compressed as they go above the north tip of Madagascar. This can make for some rough and unpleasent sailing. The trick to planning the passage is to try and do the 12-24hours as you pass northern Madagascar while the Compression Zone is light. It tends to have lighter days in October than in August or September. 

To add to the fun, the South Indian currents are also compressed as they hit Madagascar, making a strong, up to 3 knot current, over the top (bluish in the image). The current tends to make the seas very disorganised. 

I'll post a brief daily or every other day text-only update as we make the passage. You can track our daily position by looking at the map at the bottom of the blog page. (Don't see a map at the bottom? Then you are on the Mobile version of the blog. At the bottom you should see a blue link that says View Web Version)

One thing that should make this trip a little easier is that we will be sharing the watches with our friend Bill who flew in from San Francisco.

Paul

 

Tortoise Island - Curieuse

 

As part of our mini-shakedown cruise we headed over to the marine park on Curieuse Island to check out the Aldabra Giant Tortoises. The island had endemic tortoises when the Europeans showed up, but it didn't take long to wipe them out. Starting in 1978 the island was repopulated with the big guys from Aldabra island, also in the Seychelles. These beasts can weight 350 lbs and live over 200 years.

Chris fancies herself as a bit of a wild tortoise hunter, having stalked them when we sailed to the Galapagos. Me, I stay far enough back in case they start spitting.

The island was used as a Leper Colony from 1829 to 1965. 

The island has a nursey for youngsters. When the small ones are found around the island they are brought to the nursey and kept there till their shells are large and hard enough to protect them from the crabs and rats.

Chris was well on her way to sneaking one of these babies out as a boat pet until I showed her this sign.

The island is also famous for its Coco de Mer, the largest and strangest looking coconut in the world. These promiscuous looking coconuts are the national symbol of the Seychelles and you see the outline everywhere you look --on the visa stamps in your passport, on the tourist advertising, on many government forms, on graffiti on the walls. I even see the outlines of the Coco de Mer symbol on the back of people I see walking around. 

Paul