Archives for the 'Locations' Category
St Laurent du Maroni, French Guiana – Mar 2009
Tropical South Atlantic Ocean – St Helena to French Guiana
We left St Helena on 21st February, bound for the Caribbean. Light trade winds sustained us for almost a week, before we encountered the doldrums far earlier than expected, at about 5 deg S, 25 deg W. Our mostly sunny, dry days turned into overcast, calm days with sightings of pilot whales, dolphins, and bright [...]
St Helena – Feb 2009
St Helena is a very isolated British island, served only by the last remaining Royal Mail ship still in existence – the RMS St Helena. It is famous for many things, having been discovered and kept secret by the Portuguese for most of the 16th century. Other European countries then used it as a place [...]
South Atlantic Ocean, Cape Town to St Helena – Feb 2009
We left Simonstown somewhat sadly on the 1st February, for our voyage across the South Atlantic Ocean. We rounded the Cape of Good Hope and turned NW towards St Helena, our next stop. Seals accompanied us during that first day, and we managed to catch a nice tuna. The sea was very flat and continued [...]
Simons Town, South Africa – Jan 2009
We had a possible big window of six days for leaving Port St Francis, but forecasts were conflicting, so again we had plan A, B and C with possible further emergency options. There were two harbours, one of which needs calm weather to enter, and a number of headlands to provide shelter from a SW [...]
Port St Francis, South Africa – Dec 2008
We left East London on Boxing Day for Port Elizabeth or Port St Francis, possibly even Knysna lagoon, as there was a possible three day window. But we got towards Port St Francis and realised we might be too late for Knysna and a really big SW was due, so we contacted Port St Francis [...]
East London, South Africa – Dec 2008
Late the next day with a fair wind we sailed on to East London. Here the port is small, and the usual landing was crowded. However on the W side of the river the Yacht Club had just installed a pontoon, and we arranged to go alongside there instead. We were very happy there, although [...]
Mazeppa Bay, South Africa – Dec 2008
We left for East London with a supposed 48 hour window but took a night’s break at Mazeppa Bay when an unexpected SW wind was warned after only 20 hours. The bay was comfortable enough against a 20kt SW wind.
Durban, South Africa – Dec 2008
We took advice on how to handle the weather for our trips around the coast, and chose to leave Richards Bay in a 48 hour window of NE winds for Durban or East London. We were not confident of making East London within the time and stopped at Durban, a scary harbour to enter at [...]
Richards Bay, South Africa – Nov/Dec 2008
We spent three enjoyable weeks in Richards Bay. The first week was in the municipal marina (1 month free), the second two weeks we spent at Zululand Yacht Club, against the wall which is free for two weeks. This club is brilliant for children, having a large grassy area, a swimming pool and a playground. [...]