Halfway through our Pacific odyssey and we were heading to Samoa!  Ever since Rob and I started dating, he had been waxing lyrical about how wonderful Samoa was; this was based on his past experiences of exploring the country whenever he dropped off cargo in Apia during his days working as an officer on the container ships.  I was really looking forward to experiencing the culture for myself, after all, seeing is believing!  So 27 June saw us saying Au Revoir to French Polynesia after three months of cruising, and setting sail for Samoa.  We were going to stop at the Northern Cook Islands for a few days but after some research and us seeing how expensive it had become to go there, a group decision was taken to head straight for Samoa (formerly Western Samoa and not to be confused with American Samoa!).  After an uneventful nine day sail, with only a few days of bad weather and rough seas, we arrived in capital Apia, on the island of Upolu on 7 July.  Although we were still technically in the Western Hemisphere (we hadn’t yet crossed the geographical international dateline) Samoa has a time zone of GMT+13 so we essentially lost a day of our lives upon arrival.  And for personal reasons, it wasn’t a problem not to have 6 July!  Bear with us, we have a lot to write about Samoa!

It took us an age to clear customs after mooring in the marina just outside town, but as soon as we were stamped in, Rob and I practically ran into town.  First it was great to get off the boat and use our legs properly again, but more importantly, we were desperate to secure tickets for the historic rugby match between the All Blacks and Samoa scheduled for the next day.  The whole island was in a state of such excitement; it was the first time in history that the All Blacks set foot on Samoan soil to play a game.  As we arrived at the shop selling tickets we saw it was already closed but after knocking on the door a very friendly girl opened for us and let us in… and yes, they still had a few tickets for sale!  The morning of 8 July had us awake early for a stroll into town before heading to the stadium early to get a good spot (we only bought general admission tickets so no reserved seating).  On our walk, the police band came trumpeting past us, stopped in front of the government buildings and played the National Anthem.  And while this happened, every single car on the main road stopped in their tracks, engines were turned off and paid respect to the anthem!  Only after the police band had continued on their march did the cars and busses resume their journeys.  At the stadium, we were almost first in line at the turnstiles, and got a seated spot right in front of the fence so we had a good view of the try line.  The teams ran out to rapturous applause, sang the anthems and with much anticipation, the Manu Samoa in blue faced off against the All Blacks in the first challenge, the Haka’s!  Watching the Haka on TV is much more intimidating, seeing the aggression of the players up close on the screen, but watching it live isn’t as spine-chilling; with the noise of the crowd shouting and jeering, we could hardly hear the chants.  In the end, despite our support, Samoa lost the game, but with the way the public behaved we would have thought their beloved Manu team had just won the World Cup.  It was a great atmosphere and what a way to experience my first rugby match!  After feasting on a roadside barbeque of meat and salad, we headed back to the government buildings that evening and enjoyed watching live music as well as a spectacular fire dancing show.  A great end to a great day!

The next day we were lucky enough to catch a free tour at the tourism office where they have set up a traditional Samoan cultural village.  We saw demonstrations of tapa cloth making, Samoan dance, had a traditional meal of cooked green banana, bread fruit and taro leaves (similar to spinach) in coconut cream.  At this point I had only heard of the traditional meal of “oka”, raw fish marinated in coconut cream, and was looking forward to sampling it at some stage.  We also saw traditional tattoo artists at work – what a brutal but highly respected art form in Samoan culture.  Getting a full body tattoo is a rite of passage and comes with a lot of responsibility in their society.  We had to be extremely quiet when entering their domain, and couldn’t move in the tattoo artists’ peripheral vision lest they get distracted and make a permanent mistake.  The poor men (and sometimes women) enduring the tattoo have an individual dedicated to keeping them comfortable, either by fanning their face or by simply placing a hand on their body to have a comforting human touch during the painful process.

A couple of days later, Rob and I did what we do best; we took a long walk!  Our strudge took us out of town to a place called Papaseea sliding rocks where rocks have been eroded smooth with cascading water to form a water slide into rock pools below.  We thought the water level was a bit low for a slide and just wallowed a bit in the pools but after seeing a local guy slide we both decided to give it a try.  Once was enough and I won’t share the video my dear partner decided to take of me!  The bum took a pounding on the rocks and a skew landing meant a big bruise the next day when we set out for another long walk; this time up the other side of the mountain to the Robert Louis Stevenson house.  Set on 300 acres of beautifully manicured gardens, the mansion has been converted into a museum, but aside from learning that the author penned quite a few more books than originally thought, we didn’t feel the tour was worth it.  That afternoon we walked to the Palolo Deep Marine Reserve for some snorkelling.  Heading out to the reserve area near the harbour, we had a tough time swimming through the kelp forest near the shore, but once through we had a good couple of hours in the water.  Sunday was a quiet day in town as they locals are very religious and take their day of rest quite seriously so we just had a stroll having a look at the various war monuments.

After the weekend, we wanted to take a local bus to the South East side of the island, but the bus service was intermittent and wouldn’t allow us enough time to explore.  So we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us around.  We first headed to Piula cave pool which is a natural freshwater spring right next to the ocean.  There after we had a very scenic drive to a white sandy beach for a quick stop.  On our way we passed a couple of villages that had been wiped out entirely by the 2009 tsunami and the community was busy with the slow process of rebuilding.  The highlight of the day though was stopping at To Sua ocean trench, a giant swimming hole formed by an ancient lava tube.  We had to climb down a precariously slippery ladder onto a wooden platform to enter the trench, and jump off the platform into the water.  We had a good swim here feeling the surge of the current from the ocean.  On our way back into town we stopped at a 100m waterfall but the weather was a bit miserable and misty so we couldn’t get a great view of the gorge.

We had a couple of quiet days strolling around town and taking advantage of the roadside barbeques!  Both of us loving braai meat, it was a real treat to have food cooked on an open fire and we took full advantage.  Our roadside meals often consisted of chicken, lamb rib, lamb or pork sausage, taro and some form of freshly made salad.  All for a steal of less than ZAR50 depending on the exchange rate!  We also had the opportunity of tasting the traditional meal of “oka”, which was absolutely delicious.  But even better was “puka”, yellow fin tuna marinated in a sauce of ginger and soy sauce.  Best sushi ever.

Our final outing was a bus trip across to the North side of Upolu to catch a boat across to Manono Island.  After an hour bus journey on hard wooden benches, bumpy roads and racing at breakneck speeds, we were grateful to arrive at the wharf unscathed.  We haggled with a boat driver to take us across, and were joined by a school teacher who lives on the island and teaches at one of the primary schools.  We found out later that we actually paid for her fare across the channel, so she kindly invited us to visit her school.  Being too polite to refuse, we accompanied her only to find out she insisted we stay for coffee.  So after being introduced to the kids as distinguished guests from South Africa, we were treated to a song and dance performance, including the Haka, by 105 school children, followed by coffee and crackers.  There were only three teachers sharing the teaching responsibility for the whole school.  We left them with a promise to join the teachers for lunch, and took a stroll.  No dogs, no cars, just a simple footpath around the circumference of the island.  It was a very uplifting day for us, to be welcomed with open arms into the community, and to share in a very small snippet of their everyday life.

We really enjoyed our time in Samoa.  The people are super friendly, the island is beautifully lush and we felt welcomed wherever we went.  It is a very happy culture of peace and respect for others.  For example, most of the housing is in the style of a traditional fale which is a floor and a thatch roof with supporting wooden beams, no walls.  The living, sleeping and kitchen areas are all exposed so you drive around and see people in their living rooms with their flat screen TVs or stereo systems.  However there is minimal theft as there is a good sense of community watchfulness.  Any person caught committing a crime is hauled in front of the village chief and punishment is then determined based on the crime.  Our neighbourhood watches could learn a lot!

It was with mixed emotions that we left the marina on 17 Jul to start making our way to Tonga.  We both felt we could have spent more time in the territory, and the second island making up the country definitely held a lot of potential for more exploration.  Samoa definitely has a special place in our bank of memories!

How many people do you know who can say they have been to Tahiti?  I’m very happy and lucky to be one of them!  Leaving the Tuamotus behind, we set sail for the last of the three archipelagos that French Polynesia is comprised of, the Society Islands.  We had an uneventful two night sail from Rangiroa to arrive in Pape’ete, Tahiti’s capital city, in early May.  For once we moored in a marina instead of anchoring offshore, which was great!  Firstly it meant Rob and I could get on and off the boat whenever we wanted without inconveniencing Captain and First Mate, and secondly and more importantly, we could have proper hot showers using the marina facilities!  The only downside was the marina was adjacent to the main road so getting used to the rumble of traffic was quite challenging after the peace and quiet of the more remote islands we had already visited.  Our time in Tahiti was spent mostly ashore wandering the streets of the city.  The municipality has developed a seafront boulevard and it was wonderful to see the locals making full use of it, running, cycling and generally strolling and enjoying the twilight hours out with their families.  Our first full day was spent exploring the president’s residence, the court buildings and town hall.  Us being who we are, we also wandered off the beaten track into a residential area to see how the other half lives.  Rob and I also caught a local bus to a village down the way called Papenoo.  There wasn’t much to see on the bus ride; Tahiti seems to be a bit run down but it was not complete squalor and nothing compared to some of the shantytowns back in SA.  We caught sight of a few beautiful black sand beaches which we were unable to photograph and also got great views of the reef surrounding the island when the road climbed higher up the mountainside.  Exploring the area once we got off the bus, we came across a set of waterfalls completely by accident so we got a short hike in to go and have a look.  We had an idea we were in an area where there was a blowhole when looking at the local map so on the walk back to Papenoo we managed to find it.  The sound of the water being sucked into this hole in the rock below us was phenomenal, real horror movie stuff!  It scared us each time it happened as we couldn’t predict when the water would come through!  That evening Rob and I took Captain to a local brewery to sample some Tahitian beer, but First Mate declined to join us.  I admit I had a light blonde brew just to say I had one, but it was a struggle to get down!

After a couple of days in the marina, we moved to an anchorage just off the Tahiti Yacht Club.  There isn’t much to report on while we were there, only that we were close to a grocery store so our days were spent grocery shopping, reading and playing board games.  We moved on after that to a marina near the airport where we anchored, and again it was a case of reading and using any opportunity to go ashore while waiting to move on to the next island.  We found the prices in Tahiti ridiculously expensive, for example, a pineapple on the side of the road cost R85, and broccoli in the supermarket was R150 per kg (USD8 and USD15 respectively at the time)!

Ten days in the capital city was more than enough for us and in middle May, we happily moved on across the way to Moorea, another island about 15 nautical miles from Tahiti.  As we approached we saw it was a little more rustic that Tahiti, it was only when we turned a corner to enter Cooks Bay that we saw the huge cruise liner anchored!  Luckily it moved on later that night so the town wasn’t infested with tourists!  The next day was spent ashore exploring the town and Rob and I enjoyed an impromptu braai (SA speak for barbeque) on the side of the road where locals were cooking chicken.  It ended up being a huge meal but it was absolutely delicious to have meat cooked on a fire!  A couple of days later Rob and I caught a local bus together with a Swedish couple from another boat.  We spent the day on the bus driving around the entire island, getting off at the ferry terminal to have a look around, and then spending some time at another “resort” district.  Here we found another local eatery on the side of the road (which seems to be the favourite place we find food!) before catching another bus back to the boat.  It was a great day out and also good to hear the perspectives of another sailing couple on the pros and cons of the lifestyle.  Here were two individuals who saved up and bought their boat, moored it in Sweden and lived on it for an entire winter (fur blankets and all) while continuing to work, then cast off the bowlines and set sail into the tropics.  Now they are full time sailors, going home occasionally to give motivational talks, more often than not at sold out events, to raise money to continue travelling!  After a couple of days we picked up anchor and headed further down the coast to another bay (Opunohu Bay) which was much prettier and more protected.  The anchorage overlooked a beach which was well frequented, and the water was crystal clear with a lot of coral around so we had a great couple of days snorkelling and swimming.  We managed to see a lot of manta rays, even a rare spotted ray (leopard ray), swimming past the boat while there.  We also had two occasions of seeing huge eels poking their heads out of the coral while snorkelling.  Feeling fit and with the urge to go further inland, we chose a day where Rob and I packed a backpack and headed out for a long walk to a view point overlooking both Cook and Opunohu Bays.  We had a great strudge and on the way back saw a turn off onto a dirt road which we decided to follow and this took us way off the beaten track into pineapple plantations, through forest and past a horse ranch.  We ended up walking 20km that morning!  And wanting to keep fit, we found that the initial part of the walk was a great running route too!

 

The end of May arrived and we left for an overnight sail to Huahine.  Once there we had an afternoon stroll and if Moorea was the Cinderella of the Societies then I thought Huahine was the ugly stepsister.  The village was still neat and tidy with mown grass verges and well-kept gardens, but everything just looked a little more run down.  There wasn’t much opportunity for swimming as there was an extremely strong outflowing current and big swell coming into the anchorage.  Needless to say the morning yoga sessions were a challenge!  Rob and I took another long walk across the island just to explore a little more, but unfortunately aside from seeing ancient fish traps in the inland waterway, there wasn’t much scenery wise.  We have also commented a lot about the lack of bird life, the only common denominator being miner birds which seem to be a pest all around the world!  All in all we were a bit disappointed with Huahine; that is until we moved to another anchorage on the smaller of the two islands.  What a contrast to where we had just come from, crystal clear water, minimal swell and no current.  We had another walk ashore in very pretty surroundings, lots of colourful flowers and white sand beaches.  We had a great swim but aside from sea cucumbers, there was no other fish life.

On 01 June we had a day sail to Raiatae and arrived to see two cruise ships docked.  The Societies seem to be the place in French Polynesia for cruising!  We did a bit of shopping in the main town but again there was really nothing to write home about.  We moved to a couple of anchorages, tried snorkelling but the visibility was so poor and there was hardly any fish life to give it any “wow” factor.  One highlight though was taking a dinghy trip up a river that flows into one of the bays, passing plenty of fruit plantations on the way.  After five days we moved to Tahaa and anchored in a bay called Hurricane Hole.  Again not much to write about but Rob and I did take another walk ashore over the mountain to another bay to have a look around.  We unfortunately didn’t see anything of interest in Tahaa and only spent two nights around the island before heading to Bora Bora.

Approaching Bora Bora held a lot of promise for us because the island is absolutely spectacular when seen from sea.  The lagoon especially is a deep aquamarine colour with clear water.  After tying up to a mooring buoy Rob and I headed ashore with much excitement as you know, Bora Bora is the place everyone talks about as being THE destination in French Polynesia.  What an absolute disappointment when walking out of the yacht club!  It was dirty, dusty and generally unpleasant on shore.  The roads were in extremely poor condition compared to the other islands and the people were definitely not as friendly, not greeting when we greeted them, and it felt like they tried their best to knock us over with their cars.  We are pretty sure that if you fly in and get whisked away by boat to one of the smaller islands that Bora Bora is comprised of, where you can spend your week to 10 days cocooned in a fancy resort, you may have a different impression.

Although our initial impression of Bora Bora wasn’t great, we found some things to make our stay a little more pleasant.  One of those was finding an anchorage just off the upmarket Hilton hotel where we woke in the morning to the lagoon as flat as glass and crystal clear; 10 meters deep and we could make out detail on the sea floor.  We moved around quite a bit in Bora Bora, purely for a change of scenery as we were there for quite a while.  We spent some time at an anchorage near a restaurant called Bloody Mary’s which has apparently been frequented by all the celebs visiting the island… so what… we were just happy to have a place for a cheap cup of coffee and some Wi-Fi so we could catch up with the family!  From here Rob and I went for some long walks and found a wonderful beach where we spent a day swimming, wallowing and being serenaded by a local and his Polynesian guitar!  After moving anchorages again, we met up with Richard and Geri from Panthera and they took us to a spot near the reef where we could swim with rays.  I needed some encouragement to get into the water with them (flashes of Steve Irwin dying from a sting ray) but I was told they were harmless and were only looking for food.  So after jumping in the water after Rob we had about 10 rays all over us.  Their skin had the strangest feeling, slippery but velvety at the same time.  No biting although they do have teeth of some kind, just a sucking feeling as they glide over your skin.  Getting out of the water proved to be challenging as they completely surrounded and crowded us as we tried to get into the dinghy; they thought we were getting them more food!  We met another Australian guy Steve who just loved being in the water with them, spoke to them like puppies and said he was getting his “ray cuddles” for the day!  Richard got some excellent film footage of us in the water with them.  A great experience but not sure I’d do it again!  Especially considering that black tip reef sharks hang around looking for their share of handouts too!

Rob and I managed to get off the boat a couple of times for some good long walks.  One of our walks had us searching for the old battle cannons left by the Americans from the war.  After a slippery trek through muddy jungle we found them, it was just a pity they were covered in graffiti.  One thing I forgot to mention about French Polynesia… as Rob and I were doing our walks through the towns and outlying areas we noted that the majority of properties have gravesites in the front garden, normally tiled and with some sort of shelter over them.  The funny thing though is that these sites seemed to be the favourite snooze spot for the dogs as it was the coolest place in the garden!

While we were in Bora Bora, we were also lucky enough to be around for the yearly festival called Heiva, a mix of sporting and cultural events that went on for about three weeks.  Our best was two evenings spent in town watching a traditional dancing competition… wow, can those girls really shake their bums!  And while we were out Rob was extremely pleased to have had a photo opportunity with Miss Bora Bora!  We did get a bit bored though.  We were waiting for a weather-window so we were extremely happy when Captain said we’d be moving on via the last of the Society Islands called Maupiti.  We weren’t originally going to stop there but decided to spend a couple of nights waiting for the wind to pick up.  The pass through the reef into the lagoon was a bit tricky with the current but what a stunning island.  We are not sure if our senses were just dulled by the dirt and grime in Bora Bora but it seemed we saved the best of the Society Islands for last by stopping in Maupiti.  After a few days getting the boat ready for the next week or so at sea, we set sail at the end of June for Samoa, Rob’s favourite island of the Pacific.  I couldn’t wait for our next island experience!

After a fantastic few weeks in the Marquesas, we picked up anchor from Nuku Hiva and set sail for an atoll called Ahe in the Tuamotu archipelago.  The Tuamotus are comprised of 78 islands, all but two of which are coral atolls.  I had to look up what an atoll was.  I thought it had something to do with volcanoes as everything in French Polynesia seems to have developed from them.  But an atoll is a coral reef surrounding an island which continues to grow despite the island land mass being submerged underwater over millions of years.  All that results is a ring of coral (forming low lying islands) with beautiful turquoise blue calm water in the middle, and pounding surf on the exterior.  And this is exactly what Ahe was.  However I’m jumping the gun a bit.

We had a three day sail from Nuku Hiva to Ahe which was relatively uneventful – good weather with a little bit of rain to wash the boat down.  Rob came into his own on this leg of the journey by bagging a huge yellow fin tuna which when cut into steaks gave us at least 8 meals for the four of us on board plus a meal or two when we had visitors on board for dinner.  We dropped anchor on 22 April in the lagoon of Ahe atoll which is also known as Peacock Island, why I’m not sure.  While the Marquesas are all about jagged mountains jutting high out of the ocean, the Tuamotus are just small mounds of sand (eroded coral) pushed up out of crystal clear water, dotted with palm trees.  A picture of what island paradise looks like when imagined!  We anchored in a natural harbour formed by coral outside the small village of Tenukupara.  Rob and I, being explorers, couldn’t wait to go ashore and took the dinghy out that afternoon to have a walk around.  Again we saw very neat properties all clearly demarcated with a fence or neatly trimmed shrubbery.  We found it surprising that properties were “segregated” in such a small community.  Everybody seemed to get around on quaint, grown up versions of tricycles with a basket on the back behind the seat.  We saw two cars on the island, but the purpose of them is yet to be determined as there were no roads linking the islets.  It took us about 10 minutes to walk the length and breadth of the entire town so clearly it was a case of everyone knows everyone there (I later read that there are less than 200 inhabitants on Ahe).  We met up with another English couple from the boat Panthera, Richard and Geri, and Rob and Captain (fondly referred to as Blue Team whenever there was a man’s job that needed to be done) went over in the dinghy to help them get their anchor loose after it got stuck on a rock (easy to do in those parts as the sea floor is dotted with coral “bombies” just waiting for an unsuspecting anchor).  The Aussie couple from another boat we had met previously was also around so our first night was super social with tuna steaks on the barbeque for everyone.

Rob and I spent the next day exploring as much of the islets as possible.  We saw our first reef shark swimming in the shallows around the coral, right where we wrote our birthday message for Rob’s mom!  This part of Polynesia is also renowned for its black pearls, and we were visited by a local vendor trying to sell off the rejects that didn’t make the export cut.  Our afternoon was spent snorkelling the reef which forms the natural harbour.  I had been raving about the great snorkelling in the Marquesas but it was nothing compared to what we were experiencing in Ahe.  Never mind the abundant fish life, the different and vibrant colours absolutely amazed us, especially the mouths of the huge oyster shells embedded in the coral – red, blue, green, turquoise, purple, orange, you name it.  Our third day was spent shelling along the seaside part of the island, although we didn’t find any shells, and thereafter we cleaned the hull of the boat and snorkelled the reef again.  We didn’t have as good visibility as the day before but we still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Here we were enjoying our underwater vista, paddling along when the next thing, a pretty large reef shark came literally out of the blue in front of me and swam past us.  Rob says all he heard was me shouting “Shark, Shark!” underwater and that was our snorkelling done for the day!

After a quiet couple of days just doing boat chores we picked up anchor and had a slow overnight sail to the next atoll, Rangiroa, which is the second largest atoll in the world (the largest being in the Maldives, information I know thanks to Google and another destination added to the list!).  We saw whales in the distance during the sail, and I was lucky enough to catch the edge of a large squall during my night watch so my few hours on deck were spent getting wet!  Richard and Geri sailed with us and for once it was comforting to see another masthead light (tricolour to be correct!) in the distance.  The entry through the pass into the lagoon side was timed perfectly at the turn of the tide so the water in the pass was flat calm.  The water in the lagoon of Rangiroa was so unbelievable clear we just stood on the bow of the boat staring into the water.  It felt like we were in an aquarium with all the fish life teeming under us.  Early the next morning we caught a lift ashore with Richard and Geri and rented bikes from a fancy hotel nearby and had a ride around town.  We noticed that the town wasn’t as eco-friendly as Ahe (no solar panels where Ahe had a whole solar panel farm providing power) but still extremely clean and tidy.  Also surprisingly there was no local transport and busses were for school children only (which was also the same in the Marquesas).  Riding along the shore we spotted at least five reef sharks in the crystal clear water but more about the sharks later!

Over the next two days Rob and I spent a lot of time with Richard and Geri.  We seemed to share a love of travelling and adventure, and they really love the African wildlife having travelled extensively in Namibia and Botswana.  Richard actually applied to be a game ranger in the Kruger Park but this was in the mid-eighties and decided to become a detective with Scotland Yard instead!  They even got engaged in Cape Town so we had some great conversations with them.  One afternoon they picked us up and we went snorkelling in the pass between the sea and the inner lagoon of the atoll.  We later found out that the music video from Beyonce’s “Running” was filmed in the very same pass!  The snorkelling was not as good as it was in Ahe so we then decided to move on to One Palm Island just inside the lagoon for a snorkel around that reef.  Rob and I jumped into the water very enthusiastically while Richard and Geri trailed in the dinghy.  Next thing Rob stands up in the shallow water, pulls me up next to him and says “Sweetie, don’t panic but we are surrounded by sharks”.  I look around and see about 10 BIG black tip reef sharks around us.  At this point we decided to walk towards the shore of the island trying not to cut our bare feet on the coral, or splash too much lest we attract unwanted shark attention!  Even ankle deep water had baby sharks coming up to us.  Eventually we got back onto the dinghy after much laughter and exclamations.  We spent the rest of the afternoon with Richard and Geri at a local cafe overlooking the pass, enjoying a beer and watching dolphins frolicking in the waves caused by the outgoing tide.

The next two days followed along the same vein with an early morning run ashore and a couple of hours on the boat, Richard and Geri picking us up about noon for a snorkel then the afternoon ashore with them.  We enjoyed some great snorkelling, near One Palm Island (minus the sharks this time), where a local on a boat threw stale bread into the water around us, putting us in the middle of a fish feeding frenzy.  Richard and Geri were kind enough to take lots of photos and video footage of us snorkelling and cycling so we have some different photos in our digital album.  We left them in Rangiroa as Captain wanted to make a move to Tahiti while the wind was good but were lucky enough to catch up with them again in Bora Bora.  Although it would have been great to spend more time in the Tuamoto archipelago, seeing more of Rangiroa, such as the Blue Lagoon, and the rest of the 78 islands (except the ones used by the French for nuclear testing!), we were keen to explore the third and final archipelago, the Society Islands.  First stop Tahiti!

 

It was with much joy that we arrived in the beautiful Marquesas archipelago in French Polynesia, and what a fantastic sight to see this majestic, craggy mass of land covered in lush green vegetation after three weeks of looking at water!  On the afternoon of 29 March, we sailed into the Bay of Virgins located on the west side of the island Fatu Hiva.  What a remarkable place, a little piece of paradise in this huge expanse of ocean!  According to the reading we have done, the Marquesas are relatively young geologically speaking so all the islands are these huge masses of volcanic rock which have risen from the ocean depths and somehow become covered with vegetation.  The mountains are extremely jagged having not had millions of years of erosion to soften their edges so the profiles of the islands from sea are quite spectacular.  The sea depth can go from 5000+ feet to 100+ feet in the space of half a nautical mile and the water is crystal clear so you can easily see the sea floor if anchored in a depth of 40+ feet.

We spent three nights anchored in the Bay of Virgins and think we would have spent longer there but unfortunately there weren’t any facilities to change US dollars to local currency and we were unable to buy anything.  We also couldn’t register on a mobile network and not having local currency meant we also couldn’t purchase an internet card to use the local wifi.  We were very surprised to see that a population that leads a very simplistic lifestyle have huge satellite dishes in their backyards for cable television and internet!  It rained often while we were there which was great because it cooled things down and washed all the salt off the boat after our passage.  The last time we experienced a thunderstorm was in Panama!  Smelling wet vegetation after a refreshing rain shower was uplifting!  Rob and I tried hiking to a waterfall located further inland but because of the rain the track became virtually impassable so we decided to turn back and photograph it from a distance.  All in all it was a great place to stop after a long sail and waking up to absolute stillness with no water hitting the hulls and the sound of mountain goats bleating on the hillside a mere 100m away was very peaceful.

Anchor was picked up on April Fool’s Day for a day sail to Hiva Oa about 45 nautical miles away.  Unfortunately it was an uncomfortable ride with strong winds and big swells making the boat surf which wasn’t a nice feeling.  The day after our arrival had us walking into town to get some money and check into the territory with the gendarmerie.  Our progress was halted slightly as we were informed we needed to hire an agent to vouch for a bond which would get us out of the country in case something happened to the boat (the locals really don’t want the tourists hanging around for longer than they should so they insist of having proof of means to leave the islands).  Our clearance into the territory was delayed by the Easter weekend so we had a good few days of exploring before sorting out the paperwork.  Rob and I were biting our nails in the wait to be cleared as the agent came back to us and said we may have a problem with our visas because they didn’t specify French Polynesia, even though we insisted that the consular official in Cape Town told us our visas were fine.  Stress… but when we eventually cleared with the gendarmerie after Easter, who confirmed our visas were fine, it was a major relief for us.  What helped especially was the fact that the official was so friendly and had such a sense of humour (shocking considering our past experiences with paper pushers), we walked back to the boat with a spring in our step, knowing we were free to explore the rest of Polynesia for the next three months.  On one of our trips ashore, Rob and I had a long walk to try and see some local petroglyphs or rock paintings but again nature got in our way and rain prevented us from continuing further along the dirt track.  We managed to get a couple of runs in to see a bit more of the island.  I was saddened to realise how much fitness I had lost since leaving SA.   Although I had a workout of note doing our laundry, sheets and towels from the past three weeks, using a bucket and good ol’ elbow grease, with an audience of young, virile army boys who chose that day to come to the anchorage for rowing training!

After nine days on Hiva Oa we picked up anchor and sailed to Baie Hanamoenoa on the island of Tahuata which is rated by some cruisers as one of the top three anchorages in Polynesia, and we pretty much agree with them!  The day before we moved locations was Captain’s 68^th birthday and even though the old codger refuses to celebrate birthdays, I baked him a delicious chocolate cake anyway!  Two nights were spent in this beautiful bay, where our time was spent cleaning the hull, swimming, snorkelling and enjoying the island ambiance while interacting with the locals on the beach.  The snorkelling was especially rewarding with plenty of vibrantly coloured fish, very healthy looking coral, great water visibility and it because it was warm, we could spend hours in the water.  We had plenty of dolphins swimming around too, and learnt from one local fisherman that the bay is considered a dolphin “nursery” where the young are taught how to catch fish and generally learn to fend for themselves.  Rob had to go up the rig to do some repairs and from his high vantage point he was lucky enough to spot a huge manta ray swim past the boat.  We also had a black tip reef shark hanging around but luckily we didn’t cross paths on our snorkelling excursions!

An early 05h00 wake-up call on 11 April had us leaving for Ua-Pou (pronounced wa-poo) on a day sail where my sea legs deserted me for some or other reason and I had a very close call in terms of feeding the fish!  There was a very strange chop on the water which made for an uncomfortable and sloppy sail, and I spent most of the time feeling yuck.  But I got over it after a couple of hours and was able to enjoy the rest of the sail despite it being a bit rough.  We had the reel out to try and catch a fish and again we caught a marlin.  This particular fish was adamant it didn’t want to be reeled in and released so the thing just dived and we lost about 200m of line as well as the lure.  Then, after the line and lure was replaced and the reel cast off again, a stupid gannet bird dived for the lure and got its beak caught in the hook.  Luckily Captain managed to reel the bird in and once on the scoop it extracted itself and flew off without too much trauma.  In our anchorage at Ua-Pou we had some amazing snorkelling opportunities which Rob and I took full advantage of, spending hours drifting along the edge of the drop off watching millions of tiny fish dart in and out of the coral.  The water erosion had formed some caves into the mountain side which we would have loved to explore further but with the surge of the water it was way too dangerous.

Two nights at Ua-Pou was enough to see the island so we set sail for Nuku Hiva, the largest island and the capital of the Marquesas.  Upon our arrival we were happy to see that the two Australian couples we met in Panama also made the crossing safely and were anchored when we arrived, so evenings in the anchorage were very social!  It was an extremely busy anchorage, filled with vessels ranging from dinky solo sailing boats to mammoth superyachts, one of which was 206 feet!  We googled it to find out more, and we learnt it cost about USD 150 000 per week to charter and, even more shocking, was that a crew member we met ashore told us it was fully booked for the season!  As we were planning to spend a fair amount of time on the island, Rob and I pumped up the spare dinghy which gave us our own set of “wheels” to get off the boat without inconveniencing Captain and First Mate.  So taking advantage, we managed to get in a couple of runs along the waterfront and we have had a few good, long walks exploring the town and surrounding countryside.  A memorable walk was first stopping at the bakery to buy some fresh baguette and brie, and then taking a long and steep walk up the mountain to enjoy an impromptu picnic while soaking up a panoramic view of the bay.  Feeling adventurous another day, we started walking to the next village called Taipivai (located on the other side of the mountain) with the aim to hitchhike along the way as there was no local bus service between villages.  We came across a local lady who drove a school bus and was on her way back home after dropping the village kids off at school.  She was kind enough to pick us up and take us over the mountain to the other side where we spent the day walking the country side seeing local tiki statues (I still need to google the significance of tikis because I didn’t find anything in Captain’s cruising books which could tell us more about them).  Apparently the guy who wrote Moby Dick spent some time in this particular village.  It was a fantastic day out but unfortunately Rob and I got bitten to pieces by mosquitoes or some other local bug and ended up with huge red welts on our legs, arms and even my face, and had a sleepless night struggling not to scratch our stinging bites while waiting for the pharmacy to open the next day to buy antihistamine cream!

Our time in the Marquesas was absolutely wonderful.  As mentioned before the appearance of the islands are spectacular.  I almost feel like calling the Marquesas the “Land of Nobs” with the amount of phallic or penis shaped rocks on all the islands!  One thing we were taken by surprise was with how friendly the locals were.  No matter where we went they were always smiling and greeting us with a sing-songy Bonjour! And they were more than happy to stop and give us a lift when they saw us walking on the side of the street.  They are just covered in tattoos though, even the women, and we have been told that this is a symbol of their place in society, for example, if the girl is a dancer, she would have some form of tattoo denoting that.  The villages are also spotless with minimal litter.  The population is very house proud and make sure their plots are well kept and tidy.  Even grass on the road verge is picked up by refuse trucks and taken away after it has been cut and not left to be dispersed by the wind.  It was such an experience going to the Marquesas and it was a fantastic introduction to what French Polynesia had to offer!

Looking back, I think the crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas in French Polynesia was the leg that I was least looking forward to.  I tried to prepare myself for our longest ocean passage by first plotting our start and end points on Google Maps and trying to come to terms with the big expanse of blue on the computer screen in front of me.  Having learnt we would be sailing approximately 3000 nautical miles in this period of time, my other strategy was to repeat a mantra: 100 miles a day, 30 days at sea… you can do this!  So it was with much excitement and celebration that we made landfall after three weeks at sea… or to be more exact, 22 days and 8 hours of water, water and more water!

We set sail mid-morning on 7 March when we bid the Galapagos farewell.  We had calm seas with approximately 10 knots of wind to start off with and made some decent progress for the first couple of days, while settling into the routine of night watches.  I suppose experienced sailors like Rob and Captain would say it was an uneventful crossing but in my mind it had many ups and downs.

First was the weather.  We had the satellite phone available to us so weather updates were downloaded every couple of days to see what we were heading into.  All the UGrib reports basically said 5-10 knots of south easterly or easterly wind and that is pretty much what we got.  We went through a few rough patches when squalls came through which made it a bit uncomfortable for me.  It’s not so much fun sitting through a night watch getting drenched with moderate swells making the boat rock and roll, and then spending a miserable few days in our cabin feeling a bit gross.  Not being able to open hatches meant the cabin was hot and stuffy, conditions which don’t really help a queasy-feeling girl!  I hit a bit of a low point but perked up after shedding a few tears and receiving a pep talk from Rob!  It was a bit tough adjusting to the sea conditions because it felt like I was levitating in bed.  Sleeping was difficult because just as I was drifting off, the boat rolls so it felt like my feet were about to come over my head in an impromptu yoga pose.  So I woke with a fright, checked that Rob hadn’t jumped up in alarm, no, okay he’s still sleeping so everything must be fine, close eyes, breathe, try to sleep because I have to be up for night watch in an hour.  Next thing a swell hits the hull with a massive thud and the whole process is repeated; only this time it is 45 minutes until watch starts!

I didn’t enjoy night watches at all.  I found it difficult to stay awake, especially when doing the 22h00-01h00 shift.  For me night watches were both boring and stressful at the same time, boring because nothing really happens, but stressful because you are always on the alert in case something does and you are responsible for the welfare of the boat and the people on board.  Both Rob and I were bad midnight snackers, me more so than him as it was a way to pass the time, albeit an unhealthy way.  Crackers and cheese, or instant noodles, or a peanut butter sandwich and a mug of Milo became the norm, and ended up being a difficult habit to break!

After a rough couple of days, the weather then cleared and we hit a patch of absolute calm.  With the sea as flat as glass we were lucky to even move a few miles each day (we have the current to thank for that!).  Rob and I wiled away the hours by sitting on the back of the boat in our “Jacuzzi”, picking up sea water with a bucket and pouring it over us to cool off!  Or I spent my time sitting on the throne (no, not the toilet, but the helmsman’s chair) gazing out to sea and day dreaming of reaching land and firstly, enjoying a cold glass of celebratory champagne, and then having a blissful full night’s sleep!  Most of the time was pleasant sailing with good daily mileage.  A milestone for Captain was reached on 14 March when he got his first daily run of 200 nautical miles in a 24 hour period (211nm in total) after about 40 odd years of sailing!  So beer ‘o’ clock started early on that day for him!  Luckily he was on last watch and could sleep off his celebration!

We were surprised during the crossing about the lack of marine life that we saw.  For our first few days at sea we were entertained almost daily by pods of dolphins swimming and leaping next to the boat.  It was so wonderful to watch, as they leaped high into the air but not in a graceful arc as you’d come to expect from them, but landing mostly with a belly flop, making a huge splash in the water.  We saw whales once, from a distance it looked like a mother and calf but as we got closer they dived and we didn’t see them again.  Rob caught a sail fish which we let go because the Captain and First Mate thought it was too gamey to eat.  It was a pretty fish though, with silver and blueish hues so Rob was happy to unhook and release it.  About 490nm to go and Captain casually mentions we were in the area renowned for tuna.  The very next instant, the reel goes ballistic, and what do we find once Rob has reeled it in?  A baby tuna (skipjack)!  But again we let it go because we were told it was a very bloody fish and not nice to eat.  And what do we see trailing the line… another shark!  We also had tons of flying fish that landed on the deck at night.  Captain was almost knocked out by one as it came zooming past his head through the cockpit and hit one of the stantions, leaving a very bloody mess.  Rob also had one land in the basin of our bathroom while he was washing his face, and I had one come flying through a galley hatch, flapping amongst the vegetables during one of my night watches.  Rob was promptly woken to remove it as they stank terribly!  It was a pity that they don’t make for good eating as we would have been feasting on flying fish but Rob improvised, making a gourmet breakfast one morning by frying up some squid that had also landed on the deck overnight.  We caught one Dorado towards the end of our journey which gave us about four decent meals; otherwise it looked like the ocean was fished out.

We only had five sightings of other vessels in the 22 days so it was pretty isolated in the middle of this huge ocean.  However it didn’t feel that huge when we were sailing, as we could only see as far as the horizon (about 6 miles).   We ate well though, three of us being competent cooks.  We tried our best to convert Captain into a maize meal (polenta) fan but he wasn’t keen, he even threatened to sin bin us in the dinghy or throw us overboard if we made it for dinner again!  But for Rob and me it was a taste of home each time we made it.

Land was spotted for the first time at 06h30 boat time on 29 March.  I say boat time because we crossed about three time zones while sailing, and although we updated the time as we went along, we were still one hour ahead of local time when we sighted land.  We were about 40 miles out from the Bay of Virgins on the island of Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas.  It was a long day, seeing land and having the impression of it not coming any closer!  We were buzzing with anticipation, waiting to drop anchor and pop the champagne!  A huge celebration followed at 14h40 with many hugs and congratulations all round.  Would you believe that at this point we were already almost halfway across the Pacific, with a total of 4000nm already sailed from Panama City!  Major achievement for me and a dream come true for Rob.  He was in his element, and loving every minute of it!  I was just happy to have made it to French Polynesia unscathed!

Sailing across the Pacific on a yacht has always been Rob’s dream, and before meeting him, I never ever imagined myself doing the same thing.  The thought of sailing, never mind doing a full-on ocean crossing, didn’t even cross my mind.  But here we were doing just that, and one of the many upsides of this experience was visiting some rare and off-the-beaten track destinations.  Cue the Galapagos Islands, an archipelago part of Ecuador and situated approximately 1000km off the West coast of South America.  Our last blog post had us arrived and anchored safely just off the island of Isabela.  At the time we were waiting to be cleared by the authorities.  It was quite a process to get that finalized but the red tape wasn’t as bad as we had expected it to be.  Our expectations were based on other cruisers reports about how difficult they found it to enter the territory, for example, being sent back out to sea to clean hulls, having organic food confiscated, having to have the whole boat re-fumigated etc, having their rice and flour examined with a fine tooth comb for bugs and so on.  However our experience was a walk in the park compared to other boats, except for the amount of time it took.  We had health authorities board the boat on the morning after our arrival.  We were told it was so our temperatures could be taken but we were just asked the routine questions… anyone with fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, joint pain etc.  Captain was too scared to say his joints are always sore just in case the health authorities didn’t realise it was just caused by his old age, rather than being Ebola related!  There after we had to wait for the rest of that day on board until the next set of paper pushers could come do their thing.

The authorities arrived the next day (so we spent two nights on board without being able to go ashore) and inspected everything, including the engines, bilge pumps, fridge and freezer and all organic produce.  Luckily the officials didn’t look at the hull (which is Murphy’s Law because we spent some more time cleaning it the day before) and they didn’t feel the need to confiscate or fumigate so we were cleared within an hour of them coming to have a look see.  Whoohoo!  As soon as they left we were on the dinghy and headed for land!  I am very happy to report that I didn’t walk wobbly on terra firma or feel like the earth was moving when it wasn’t… I must have been born to sail, wink wink!

First thing Rob and I have to say about the Galapagos is WOW… we were so happy to have had the opportunity to go there.  Everywhere we looked we just saw volcanic rock and solidified lava.  The town, Puerto Villamil, is bigger than expected.  It is pretty rustic in appearance but is well maintained with packed dirt roads, quaint wooden road signs and quite a few accommodation and eating options.  We reckon with all the infrastructure development going on (including a new sewerage system) it is going to become a real tourist trap in a few years time.  The locals really seem to make an effort to be eco-friendly, with recycle bins all over the place and minimal litter.  Construction seems to be with local materials, for example walls and roads are built using lava rock.

Prices are quite expensive with the US Dollar rate but again that was in all the touristy places.  We looked into renting some kayaks but USD35 for 90 minutes of paddling didn’t seem worth it.  We decided to take a guided hike up the Sierra Negra volcano where we walked along the ridge of the caldera and on to another smaller volcano, Chico.  Both volcanoes are still active, and you could actually see the fissures and cracks in the crater where the last eruption occurred.  The change in landscape from one side of the island to the other (which doesn’t get rain) is shocking – from greenery jungle type vegetation to a Mars landscape in a matter of metres.  According to the guide the last eruption in the archipelago was in 2009 but apparently they are quite small eruptions and don’t threaten the population.  Ironically about one month after we had departed, there was quite a large eruption on Isabela, and I’m almost sorry we missed one of nature’s spectacles.  We also rented bikes and cycled to an area along the beach called The Wall of Tears which is the remains of a former penitentiary used for “political prisoners and common delinquents” between 1946 and 1959.

The nature in the Galapagos is absolutely spectacular to observe.  And we are not the only ones to comment on this.  It was while visiting the Galapagos that Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution.  I’ve already mentioned previously the seal on the back of the boat.  We had more visitors come say hi for a few hours, and they are quite comfortable around humans.  Seals line the dinghy dock wallowing in the shade and are so content to just lie there and let the humans walk past or over them to get to the road.  They even jump up onto the benches to have an afternoon snooze.  Rob and I had an amazing experience with a couple of babies who were having a great time frolicking around the boat.  We jumped into the water with masks and swam with them while they playfully swam under and around us.  If we kept pretty still they came extremely close and blew bubbles around us for amusement.  All this while the mommy lay in the sun on the back of the boat, having an occasional look see by sticking her head into the water, checking all was okay, and then went back to her sun tanning!  One freakish moment was when we had climbed back onto the boat and were rinsing the masks when I looked overboard and saw a shark about the same size as me swim out from under the boat (where we were a minute ago) being chased away by one of the babies!  Needless to say we didn’t get back into the water after that!  We also had a close encounter of a seal kind, coming into contact with a male seal that had got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning and chased us down a walkway, preventing us from getting to a snorkel spot on that particular day.  One would be surprised how quickly a lumbering seal can actually move on land!

There are a lot of marine iguanas around too.  Not my favourite but they tend to be a bit more cautious and move away when humans approach.  On our cycle ride we came across a sign saying “Playa del Amor” or Beach of Love and when we got there we saw it was the nesting area for iguanas!  The iguanas were also in abundance on the main beach, poking their heads out of holes in the sand, and needless to say I almost jumped sky high when one unexpectedly popped up next to my foot.  We mentioned the penguins in the previous post, but there is another species of bird called the Blue Footed Boobie and they are quite fun to watch.  Evening times in the anchorage were so busy with birds and in certain parts, it was a feeding frenzy.  Frigate birds swoop down and scoop fish up with their beaks but the Blue Footed Boobies are the ones to keep an eye on.  They soar high up into the sky, spot their targets, tuck their wings in to become streamlined kamikaze birds and dive head first into the water, completely submerging themselves for five or so seconds where after they bob up to the surface and take a big gulping swallow of all the fish they caught.  This is repeated again and again until their bellies are so full they fly away, barely a meter above the water because it seems they can’t lift themselves any higher!  Isla Isabela is also known for its giant tortoises and one afternoon we took a walk to the breeding centre to go have a look.  Apparently scientists were only able to recover 18 from the wild as early settlers used to eat them, but now with the breeding centre there are over 200 which are slowly being introduced to the wild.  Rob and I were lucky enough to see two outside of the breeding centre when we did our bike ride.

On our last day, Rob, Captain, First Mate and I took a taxi ride up into the agricultural district to visit a local farm and buy some fresh produce for our next sail.  It was a wonderful day out; the farm had pretty much everything we wanted, fresh from the ground.  We were told we could also have lunch so we were expecting to have a local, home-cooked meal with the farmers but we ended up being taken to a fancy restaurant for a four course meal, which was absolutely delicious!  Needless to say we were stuffed after that, and if we hadn’t been driven down the hill back to the boat, we would have rolled with our full tummies.

The morning of our departure had us heading ashore to buy the last few supplies, fresh bread and lots and lots of eggs.  We were lucky with the eggs as every single store we visited was sold out, and only expecting a delivery later that morning.  Rob, on a mission, went in search of the delivery truck and managed to buy direct from the supplier off the back of his truck!  We hit the road so to speak at 09h40 in the morning, saying farewell to an amazing week in the Galapagos and looking ahead to some exciting times in French Polynesia.  But first, three weeks in the open ocean with no land in sight!  Read all about it in the next post!

Rob and I were extremely excited to receive our Panama exit stamps in our passports and head out to the Galapagos archipelago.  But before we set sail into the sunset we made a few stops around the Panamanian islands of Las Perlas… the scene for one of the many Survivor series.

Our sail to Las Perlas wasn’t a sail, but a motor because there wasn’t a breath of wind in the air.  The sea was like glass and it was absolute bliss cruising through the water, sitting on the foredeck catching a tan!  About seven dolphins came and swam in front of our bow and it was absolutely wonderful to watch them weaving and diving in front of the yacht, occasionally swimming sideways, one eye up as if to say hello to us watching from above.  We arrived at the anchorage (just off a nudist beach of all places) at the island of Contadora with crystal clear, warm water.  There was a possibility of another little hiccup in that Captain wanted to replace one of the membranes for the water maker and thought he might have to go back to Panama City, but luckily the supplier could fly it out to us.  We thought it a bit strange that this wasn’t thought of while we spent two weeks in Panama City, but nevertheless, all was sorted out.  Rob and I spent our time walking around the island (it took about two hours to walk the circumference) which is supposed to be THE tourist island.  It has got a good network of narrow roads where people mostly use golf carts to get around.  We also used the time to get into the water to scrape and clean the hull to get it ready for the Galapagos and got stung by lots of tiny jelly fish!  Not badly though, just felt like irritating insect bites.  There was also a “race” going on called the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers where a bunch of boats join and pay to sail around the world, so a flotilla of about 15 boats were anchored near us.  They set sail on Friday the 13th, not very auspicious as sailing superstition says never leave on a Friday, never mind Friday the 13^th!

After Contadora we sailed to another anchorage at Isla Canas, a bit of a rough sail for me as the wind caused quite a chop on the water.  Two uneventful nights there, one with a beach “barbeque” where our yacht neighbours decided to burn their rubbish on the beach.  There after we made our way south down the island chain to Isla del Ray.  We anchored just off the inlet to a big river which we explored by dinghy.  It would have been good to kayak as we could have then gone further up.  Around this time we motored to a small village called Esmeralda to try and get some internet and cell phone reception to let the family know before we set sail.  Internet was a no go but once we asked a local resident about mobile phones he pointed up the hill and led us to the village “communication centre” – a walk up a well trodden path to the top of the hill where they had set up benches to sit and place your phone in the exact location to get a signal, anywhere else and you don’t get reception.  It was touch and go for us to get a message out as the signal was so fleeting!

We started our sail to the Galapagos on 17 February at 07h00 local time, and it took us eight and a half days to travel to 1000 nautical miles.  For my maiden ocean crossing, it was a good sail!  We caught some fish, Rob even caught a 7 foot marlin which he reeled in, and managed to get the hook out without being impaled.  The marlin was much too beautiful to eat so after a quick photo, the lucky fish was released.  We had two other occasions of marlins trying to catch the lure!  We also caught dorado fish, which is a gold colour in the water but turns blue then silver when it is dead.  The sad thing about catching this tasty fish is that they swim in pairs, so more than likely this boy’s mate was left to fend for herself.  This sail was a real learning curve for me!  We had good wind most of the time, with a few patches of quiet.  Getting used to the routine of waking up for night watches took about four days.  Rob was very good to me by getting up with me to start my watch so he could check all is well.  Although night watch was only three hours, I was so tired after my first night at sea, the following morning I woke up, stood another watch, and then promptly fell asleep in the cockpit when Rob took over the watch!  It took some time but I eventually got the feel for it, but I did have a few stressful moments where my jaw felt clamped in place from clenching it so tightly!  No feeding the fishes so at the time I thought I was good for the rest of the trip!

The nights at sea were pretty amazing.  If it was a clear night the amount of stars one sees was phenomenal.  And the bioluminescence in the water is spectacular – it looks like glitter being sprinkled into the water.  Seeing schools of fish and dolphins at night is quite an experience because they show up as this phosphorescent glow just below the surface of the water.  The dolphin fins also leave this greenish trail in the water.  Real Life of Pi stuff!  My third night watch was windless, meaning the yacht didn’t have enough speed for the autopilot to work.  I spent the entire watch at the helm steering manually.  We didn’t see a single sailing yacht on the entire crossing, only a few cargo ships in the distance.  We were visited a couple of times by dolphins, and I woke one morning to the sound of breathing outside our port hole as a pair of dolphins surfaced next to the boat.  We could hear them squeaking through the hull!

It was on this passage that we crossed the Equator, but we have no idea when we did!  All we know it was on 24 February.  Ironically it was when we were speculating as to who would be on watch when we reached zero degrees latitude, and Rob checked the GPS and saw we were already in the Southern Hemisphere!  Our last day at sea was spent motor sailing as we had minimal wind.  Rob caught another dorado, and as he was cleaning it off the back scoop I looked up and all of a sudden saw a fin trailing the boat – a massive hammerhead shark picked up the blood scent and decided it wanted a piece of the action too!  Luckily we had the engine on as the wash from the propeller prevented it from getting too close to us but we threw the carcass overboard which was promptly devoured and it left us alone after that!

Upon arrival, we anchored in a natural harbour formed by lava flow from the volcano on Isla Isabella (the largest island in the Galapagos archipelago).  We had to wait to get cleared by the officials before we could get off the boat and go exploring.  But the thing I was looking forward to the most… well, two things… doing laundry and washing my hair!  At first glance the islands were not much to look at but in the bigger picture the scenery was pretty spectacular as it was all volcanic rock.  The whole area is a nature conservancy and after dropping anchor we had two seals jump onto the scoops at the back of the boat to say hello.  There was also a penguin colony on one of the lava outcrops (unusual for being so close to the equator but we reckon it is due to the cold Humboldt Current originating from the South Pole which brought them here).  We got a bit confused with the time zone thinking we were still GMT -5 so got a bit annoyed when the agent was apparently late but noted much later that we seem to be an hour later at GMT -6.  So our celebratory sundowners upon arrival started at 16h00 instead of the usual 17h00.  Oops!  Catch the next instalment for our amazing experiences in the Galapagos.

The idea of Rob and I sailing together was born in the early days of our cyber courtship, dreams being shared over the airwaves via instant messaging.  Having been introduced to an experienced sailor and with me never having sailed before, I of course was curious about the whole thing.  So we got talking, Rob sharing his knowledge and me learning about what sailing entailed.  And after a particularly challenging day at work, the thought of packing up and sailing the world, dropping anchor in exotic locations, the only restriction on our movement being the availability of wind, and getting more stamps in my passport sounded really glamorous!  Then we met, and sailing went on to the back burner while we backpacked across South East Asia.  It was while we were relaxing on the deck of our cabin in Cherating, Malaysia when the thought returned, and I turned to Rob and said, “Don’t you have any friends with a boat that we could go sailing with?”  The response from Rob was “Let me see what I can do.”

He then promptly got into contact with a couple he had met while stuck in Cape Verde for those long seven months, a British expat and his American partner, who for the purposes of this blog will be referred to as Captain and First Mate!  I had heard a lot about them from Rob, as they had become good friends while in Cape Verde before Rob left to deliver his boat to Brazil, but they had maintained contact via email after they had parted ways.  When Rob decided to ask about their upcoming plans, Captain and First Mate were at the time in the Caribbean on their 43 foot catamaran, and were looking to sail across the Pacific during the course of 2015.  Of course we were more than welcome to join them for the crossing, they said.  And so the planning for our next travel adventure began, and in hindsight, it was definitely a trip of a lifetime!

While in Somerset West, we got our paperwork in order.  Rob applied for a new passport as he had filled his up in South East Asia.  And the joys of holding a South African passport meant that we both had to apply for visas to enter French Polynesia.  It was not often that the French Embassy in Cape Town dealt with visa requests for people planning to enter Polynesia via sailing yacht!  The unfortunate aspect of our itinerary was that the cheapest flights that we could find to Panama involved a transit stop in Miami, which resulted in the additional expense and inconvenience of applying for an American transit visa.  The staff member who interviewed us at the US Embassy must have liked the look of us as we were thrilled to find out that we both received 10 year tourist visas for the States… another big trip for the future perhaps!

The morning of 11 January 2015 dawned and Rob and I were ready to head off.  The first leg of our journey took us from Johannesburg to Doha, Qatar, which was quite tiring.  Although only eight hours flying time, both of us struggled to sleep and it was a bit too turbulent for my liking.  One would think with all the flying I’ve done over the last few years I would be used to a few bumps here and there!  Although, again in hindsight, after eight months on a yacht sailing on some bumpy seas, a few bumps in the air aren’t that bad anymore!  We flew over Saudi Arabia, which from the air was a carpet of white after a recent snowfall!  I was so tired waiting for our next flight in Doha that I almost fell asleep while sitting in the terminal and came close to falling off my chair.  The security was quite intense before being allowed to enter the departure lounge.  Rob had to switch on the laptop to show that it actually worked, and we both had to fully unpack our hand luggage so each item could be scanned separately by the x-ray machine.  The Doha-Miami leg was quite a long slog for us, 16 hours in total, so time was passed with lots of movies and a cat nap here and there.  For snacks Rob charmed Mars Bar chocolates out of the stewardess!  I’m surprised there was no resulting sugar high after all the chocolates we munched!  Midway over the Atlantic I was actually expecting the captain to announce we were going to divert to New York after they had called for a doctor on board.  Who knows what that was about, but we landed in Miami anyway.  What a mad house it was.  Even though we were in transit we still had to go through passport control, where the queues stretched for miles, pick up our bags and re-check them to Panama City.  So now we both have stamps in our passports admitting us into the States even though we were leaving in two hours.  Our flight was delayed because even the crew got caught in customs!  The three hour flight to Panama City passed very quickly for us since we both crashed with exhaustion, and only woke up again when we started descending.  We passed through immigration without a hitch.  The only amusement was the immigration official really scrutinized my passport stamps then asked if we had been to Sierra Leone or the like as she was concerned about Ebola!  We got to sleep that night after midnight so it was a very long travel experience for us, about 35 hours in total.

Our first morning in Panama City was spent relaxing around the hotel pool where after we took a stroll around the neighbourhood to have a look around.  Of course we popped into a local supermarket as we are always curious to do a price comparison.  Our route back to the hotel took us along the seafront promenade; a noisy affair with second-hand American school busses converted into bright, graffiti-covered public transport busses with souped up engines motoring down the adjacent road at breakneck speeds.  Known as “Red Devils” we were told that locals take their lives into their hands when boarding one of them, with the driver paying scant attention to general traffic rules, sometimes even mounting the pavement to get ahead of a traffic queue in peak hour! We made plans to meet Captain and First Mate the next day and chilled for the rest of the day.  We had planned for a short afternoon nap to rejuvenate us which turned into a couple of hours.  Still being sluggish, it was an early night for us but it was a mistake going to bed early after the afternoon nap as bang on midnight (07h00 SA time) we were wide awake – jet lag at its best, and my first experience of it.  A few hours later we were up and heading by double-decker bus to Colon (on the Caribbean side of Panama) to meet up with the yacht.

Two days were spent on the yacht at anchor off the container terminal in Colon, which gave us time to settle in and make our cabin home for the next eight months.  I didn’t realize that a catamaran had so much space and we were lucky enough to have the port side hull of the yacht to ourselves, with us living in the forward cabin with en-suite bathroom.  The aft port side cabin was used for storage, with Captain and First Mate using the starboard side hull for their living quarters.  While anchored in an area ironically called “The Flats” the water was a bit choppy with all the pilot boats zooming past either dropping off or collecting pilots from the cargo ships coming through the canal, so the boat rocked and rolled a lot, something which helped me get my sea legs quicker.  I was happy to report to the family that for those two days I didn’t feed the fish but just felt queasy which a few tissue salts and a stint on the bed or on the deck in the wind seemed to help.  Although writing an email home to let everyone know we were on board really tested my capabilities of maintaining my equilibrium!   Those first couple of days really gave me a chance to adjust to boat life before actually heading out to sea and doing proper sailing.  And I realized I had a lot to learn.  Although power supply wasn’t really a problem, and we had a water maker on board, I still had to learn to conserve water, and change cooking methods to conserve gas.  Using a gas oven takes a certain level of skill!  And I had to adjust to quick and cold showers as we only got hot water when an engine was switched on (perhaps ever second or third day to charge the batteries).  I also got my first callous on my hand… not from pulling up sails or tying knots or anything remotely to do with sailing, but from pumping the toilet! No flushing there, it was pump, pump, and pump!

The morning of 15 January was spent waiting for the Port Official to come aboard to measure the boat and complete the paperwork for the canal crossing. Once that was done Captain decided it was a good time to set sail for a little town east of Colon called Portobelo. As soon as we got underway one engine overheated and there was a fuel blockage with the other one so there wasn’t enough oomph to get us past the breakwater, out of the way of the tankers and get the sails up. Prudent Captain decided we should turn around and sort that out before considering moving location so back to the anchorage we went. My first “sail” lasted about thirty minutes and I was completely clueless with all the sailing terminology etc. I was completely overwhelmed with the rush to get sails up, then waiting for additional instructions, then rushing again to get the sails down.  Major wake-up call!

The next morning we set off to Portobelo sailing into the wind so it was a choppy and rough ride for me. I felt okay but had to spend the whole six hours outside on deck with the wind in my face, and following the age-old advice of looking at the horizon.  But I was happy to say the fish didn’t get fed on that excursion either!  Rob put a line out behind the boat and he ended up catching a big kingfish which ended up feeding us three good meals.  The day was very long for me and I was working muscles I never knew I had. One might not believe me but boating is exhausting stuff! The constant movement is unexpectedly tiring, and I think was more the tiredness rather than seasickness which made me feel gross. But a few dry biscuits and a nap seemed to help. I even managed to scoff a couple of Oreo biscuits, no chance to savour them as I had no free hands to hold them.  With no sea legs meant I stumbled around deck like a drunkard so both hands had white knuckled grips on whatever they could hold on to!

We settled into an anchorage in Portobelo and stayed there for about ten days. Time was spent exploring the small town (a bit grimy with a lot of stray dogs), fixing up the boat to get her ship shape for the canal transit and otherwise relaxing.  We were treated one evening with dolphins in the anchorage, and the pelicans flying around made crashing into the water to catch fish look like an art form!  Boat “showers” became the norm, so to save water we’d jump into the sea to get wet, climb back onto the back of the boat and soap up, jump back into the seawater to get the soap off and then use a freshwater hose at the back of the boat to get the sea water off. Maybe never completely sticky free but at least most of the grime came off!

We had booked our canal passage for 30 January so we sailed back to Colon on 27 January, which was a little earlier than expected. My second sail was a bit better on the tummy and was mostly downwind and not as rough as before.  Although the swell hit the boat from the side so I still felt a bit uncomfortable. I ended up lying on the foredeck in the shade of the sail and after a short spell felt better. I promptly fell asleep as we anchored back in Colon… the ten straight days of sailing to our next destination were definitely going to be interesting!

On to the Panama Canal and what an amazing experience! Our pilot boarded the yacht at about 17h00 on 30 January then we got instructions from him as to how we were going to go through the first set of locks. We were to be tied to a passenger vessel on our starboard side and have another sailing boat tied up on our port side. We quickly found out that the extra two line handlers Captain hired were pretty useless but luckily Rob was there to sort them out. Initially a big merchant vessel entered the first lock, the passenger boat followed and tied to the side of the lock behind the cargo ship, we then followed and tied up (which was pretty challenging because the wind was really buffeting us around). Once we tied up, the other sailing boat came alongside and tied up. All set, a bell rang, and the gates of the locks closed behind us. Water was pumped into the locks at a rapid rate, raising us to the next level. Forward gates opened, we all casted off to enter the next chamber and the process was repeated (three times in total). By this time it was completely dark but the lock system is very brightly lit so it felt like daytime. I think we rose about 30 meters in total into a freshwater lake then motored to a mooring spot for the night. The next morning another pilot came on board and then we motored through the lake for about six hours then up to the next set of locks. While cruising through the lake, I was hoping to see more wildlife but Rob did see an alligator while I was below.  Two tourist boats went ahead of us; we tied up to the same sailing boat from the night before and entered the lock, with two other sailing boats tying up behind us. This is where we managed to get sighted on the live webcam.  I spent most of the time up on the forward deck with First Mate, both of us waving like mad things at the camera! Once through the locks where we were lowered down to sea level again, we untied and headed to the Balboa Yacht club.  Hoping to have a slightly calmer anchorage I was a bit disappointed as the Yacht Club was located right next to the channel where the massive tankers enter and leave the canal. We treated ourselves to a celebratory drink and dinner at the club as we had just crossed from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific, then it was lights out!

While at Balboa Yacht Club, Rob and I took advantage of the time and went exploring.  After some inactivity we managed to get a couple of runs in along the causeway, and went to go visit the Old Town which is now a World Heritage Site.  After a walk around I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the Old Town.  We were expecting a bit of a run-down area after having seen a bit of the rest of Panama City while driving around, but the municipality has done a pretty good job of restoring the old buildings.  Having been very well maintained and colourful, with a lot of additional ongoing refurbishment, it was a very attractive area.  We made sure to have a bite to eat outside of this tourist trap and found a dinky restaurant on a corner where we enjoyed some chicken and rice with the locals, one of whom was highly amused watching me sweat from all the chilli!

After a few days at Balboa, we moved anchorages to a bit further down the causeway as this was the place to get fuel before we left.  We spent the last few days in Panama City shopping for provisions for our long haul sail that was fast approaching (ten days to Galapagos then an expected 30 days after that to the Marquesas Islands).  We got a bit annoyed because our shopping was done and we were all ready to set sail for Las Perlas when First Mate suddenly piped up that we need a fumigation certificate before we can enter the Galapagos archipelago.  I mean she had more than a week to get this organized then it was a huge big rush to get this sorted out before we left.  We found out after a while that Captain and First Mate’s planning skills weren’t the greatest, but without much drama everything was resolved and we were ready to get going.  The highlight for Rob at the second anchorage was seeing Sea Cloud II come down the Canal channel.

Three weeks on board the yacht and I was now itchy to start my first real sea crossing.  We checked out of Panama, had our passports stamped and set sail for the Galapagos via the Las Perlas Islands.  Read all about my maiden voyage in the next post!

We arrived back in South Africa in June 2014 and being home, it was a great opportunity for Rob and me to catch our breaths for a couple of months.  While in Malaysia we had already started planning for our next big trip but while we waited for that to come to fruition, we took some time to explore our own country for a change!  We chose Somerset West, in the Western Cape as our base and settled down.  Well, settle as much as we could, considering that we knew we would be moving on again shortly!  So July to December 2014 was spent working at getting ourselves into better physical and mental shape by running and hiking in the nearby nature reserve, as well as by starting yoga.  We completed two 5km road running races, then moved on to bigger things and tackled two 10km races in this time frame.  And in between fitness activities, we explored!  This blog post is going to be more of a photo show rather than travel story as again I made the error of not keeping a travel journal!

The West Coast 

July 2014 was spent settling into what was to be our home for the next few months, a quaint Dutch style thatch cottage located at the bottom of a large property on the slopes of Helderberg hill in Somerset West, which afforded us a bit of a view over False Bay.  So after a month of getting acquainted with our neighbourhood, Rob and I decided to celebrate his birthday in August by taking a road trip up the West Coast.  The further-most North we had been along this stretch of coastline was to Langebaan the year before, hence this time we ventured a little further by travelling up to Lambert’s Bay, known for its seafood, stopping along the way at Paternoster for a photo snap.  We decided to put trusted Bakkie to the test by taking her on lesser known dirt roads, and it was great to get off the beaten track.  After a bumpy ride we arrived in Lambert’s Bay in one piece and saw that it really was a one-horse town.  A small fishery, a few shops, two restaurants and a couple of cosy Bed and Breakfasts made up the settlement.  We enjoyed a great seafood platter for dinner at the harbour side, and headed off the next morning.  One night in Lambert’s Bay is more than enough time to see the town and surrounds!

The following morning we continued on in very wet conditions to Ceres via Citrusdal, again on some treacherous dirt roads and mountain passes.  But Bakkie confidently held the road which took us around South Africa’s fruit farm district.  In Citrusdal we stopped at a cute little coffee shop for a deliciously hot Milo before continuing on.  With minimal vehicle traffic, only dodging a couple of farming tractors, we were able to take our time and soak in the vistas of thousands of fruit trees as we slowly drove on to that evening’s destination of Ceres.  Unfortunately with it pouring with rain in Ceres we didn’t really venture too far out and ended up not taking any photos.  The highlight of the trip though was definitely making our way back to Somerset West the next day, via the Bains Kloof Pass – one of the best mountain pass drives in South Africa.  Luckily the weather had cleared overnight, and with the rain taking all the winter dust out of the air, we had excellent views from the mountaintop over the Cape peninsula.  We rounded off our trip with a celebratory birthday dinner at the posh Seventeen07 restaurant at Erinvale Hotel and Spa, enjoying a fancy four course buffet dinner courtesy of a gift voucher from Rob’s sister-in-law.

Johannesburg to Cape Town by Car

At the beginning of September we decided a trip to Johannesburg to visit my mom was in order.  I had another reason for wanting to travel up there though.  I had left my car at a “Park and Sell” second hand car dealership in the hope that they would be able to sell it.  However being salespeople, the staff (and owner) ended up being more talk than action and we made the decision to go back and retrieve the car to try and sell it in the Cape.  Early on one Saturday morning we caught a cheap flight to Johannesburg and were greeted with many hugs and kisses from my mom at the airport, and then by the dogs when reaching home.  After a wonderful week catching up with my side of the family we started our trek back down to the Cape, this time by road.  The drive on our first day took us on the back roads through Gauteng to the Free State border in order to avoid the much dreaded e-tolling system which had been implemented.  But the benefit of this was we both got to see more of the countryside, rather than look at the monotony of a two-lane state highway.  The route we chose included Parys, where we stopped for a minute to take in the Vredefort Dome, and Kimberly, the famous diamond mining town.  On our approach into Kimberly we both felt a bit of trepidation, seeing that it was quite dirty and run down.  Anyway, our navigator (aka Kirsten) guided us safely through the throngs of traffic and multitude of one way streets to reach The Big Hole.  A quick stop here gave us an opportunity to walk through the museum, view the actual big hole where some of the biggest diamonds in the world had been mined from, and wander through the historic village before moving on.

From Kimberly we deviated slightly and started to travel in a North-Westerly direction towards Kuruman.  Again being a town we both haven’t visited before, it is home to the Moffat Mission, a mission started by Robert and Mary Moffat to spread the word about Christianity.  This was also the place where famous explorer David Livingstone was nursed back to health after being attacked by a lion, and where Mr. Livingstone proposed to his caregiver Mary, the daughter of Robert and Mary.  This mission was significant to us though because this is where Rob’s great-grandfather, Albert, was a missionary for a few years, and has his name on a plaque in the old church dedicated to those who served the mission.  We arrived late in the afternoon when light was fading fast so we found a place to sleep first and got directions to the mission from the Bed and Breakfast.  The next morning we headed out of town to the mission and spent an hour or so wandering around the grounds, seeing the old buildings that have been pretty well maintained.  We even got to walk on the dirt road which was the original track from Cape Town up to the northern parts of the country.  After the time at the mission we went back into town, first to fill up with petrol, and then to have a quick look at the Eye of Kuruman.  The Eye is a fresh water spring in the middle of a very dry area of South Africa, and apparently has fish that have no eyes, evolution in action it seems as there are no predators to threaten them.  How true this is we are not sure!

From Kuruman we took the car West, on one of the longest and straightest roads we have ever travelled.  Over 100km of tarmac that didn’t curve once, just disappeared into the shimmering distance.  We stopped briefly in Upington, bought some biltong to snack on and continued on, following the Orange River as it made its way to Augrabies Falls.  This area along the Orange River is fast becoming one of the bigger wine areas, with thousands of grapevines bordering the river.  At Augrabies Falls, a national park area, we were delighted to find out that it was the South African National Parks Board “Park Week” where South African ID holders got free entrance into all of the conservation areas.  What a bonus that we could enjoy the sight and roaring sound of thousands of litres of water tumbling over rapids and down into a deep gorge for free!  Being there in September meant that the falls weren’t as full as they would be after the wet summer season but we saw some pictures after a period of flooding and were quite pleased we saw the falls as they were, as the flooding a few years previously completely wiped out the viewing platforms.  From the falls we ferreted out some accommodation, only to find out upon arrival that it was self catering.  A quick trip to the “supermarket” in the township of Augrabies and all we managed to get was a bottle of local white wine, a tin of bully beef and a loaf of bread.  What a feast!

From Augrabies it was a long trek down south, travelling through desert country, dry, dusty scrubland until we reached the greener pastures of the Cape Peninsula.  Before continuing over the mountains, we stopped briefly just outside the town of Niewoudtville to view miles and miles of Namaqualand daisies carpeting the countryside.  Over the mountains we drove, eventually reaching Langebaan as darkness fell.  As this was just a pit stop, we found some accommodation, enjoyed dinner at Club Mykonos, got some shut eye and travelled home to Somerset West the next morning.  All in all it was a wonderful trip through some fantastic areas of South Africa, and best thing of all, my car was sold a couple of days later!

The Big Coast Road Trip

End of November 2014 and we were all set for our next big adventure.  We had given notice on our little shack on Helderberg hill, moved our meagre household contents into Rob’s mom’s garage and spent two days with her before heading off on our Big Coast Road Trip as we made our way up to Johannesburg.  Rob’s mom spoilt us with a fantastic pre-Christmas dinner on the evening before our departure, time for us with the family before we said some tearful farewells the next morning.  Drying our eyes on our sleeves we took Bakkie on her final road trip.  Although it was a Big Coast Road trip we headed up and over Sir Lowry’s Pass from Somerset West and drove inland first for a quick stop in Barrydale.  Why a place as obscure as Barrydale you may ask?  Only because it is famous for Ronnie’s Sex Shop, which isn’t a sex shop at all!  All Ronnie did was have a cafe on the side of the road to provide a rest stop for bikers who were out enjoying a ride in the mountains.  With the cafe was a small shop to buy snacks and drinks if needed and advertising was purely by having “Ronnie’s Shop” spray-painted on a bare white outer wall of the building.  However Ronnie’s friends had another idea, and one drunken night decided to add “Sex” to the name, and for some or other reason, the place has now become somewhat of an institution!  So after the required selfie in front of said wall, we continued further on to Oudtshoorn and found a campsite just outside of town.  Having practiced rigging our tent a couple of times, we were now a well-oiled machine when it came to setting up camp and within 10 minutes we had a tent, a bed, and a mini-kitchen ready and waiting!  We enjoyed a lovely braai for dinner, with only the night sounds of crickets and the occasional voices of the family next door breaking the silence.  What absolute bliss!

The next morning we went to Cango Caves after a morning run.  We were just in time for the next tour, and for the next two hours we explored the dark recesses of the caves, crawling into some impossibly small spaces, as well as landing up in unexpectedly big caverns.  Rob had visited the caves as a young lad, but I had never been there, and it was a real treat!  Not recommended for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia or is scared of the dark!  The rest of the day we spent in the town of Oudtshoorn, having a look at the old architecture, and unfortunately paying a visit to a local doctor for a minor issue I was suffering from at the time.  It was another braai for dinner that evening, and to bed in preparation for a long drive the next day.

Packed up and ready to go before the first sparrow’s fart, we hit the road for a long drive back to the coast, heading into the Eastern Cape and the small holiday town of St Francis Bay.  Being nomads, the Rob and the rest of the Jennings clan moved from the farm in Natal to the coast where Rob’s dad got into building, and was one of the group of men who built up and established St Francis Bay.  So after a bit of driving around the area we eventually found the house where Rob spent a few years of his early adolescence in between stints at boarding school.  The canals and waterways that give St Francis Bay its charm are still there and I was treated to commentary about how the boys would take a boat out onto the river and spend hours waterskiing.  However a lot has changed since the 1980’s with the area now so developed, with many of the houses having been renovated and now twice the size they were back in the day.  Unfortunately the negative of Rob coming back to his childhood haunt was him seeing that the sand bank in front of the sea-facing houses has now completely disappeared with retaining walls needing to be built, and the sand dune and beach where he spent many days sand boarding and playing beach cricket is no longer there.  A quick lunch stop and we travelled on to Jeffrey’s Bay where we found backpacker type accommodation for the night.  Rain and wind made wanting to pitch a tent less than appealing!

The next morning was another early start as we had a long day head of us.  First stop was the town of Uitenhage where Rob went to boarding school at the illustrious Muir College for Grades 5 to 8 (Standard 3 – 6 for old school terminology!).  We were given permission to wander around the buildings when Rob mentioned to the security that he was an Old Boy and again so much has changed!  The dormitories are now Department of Education offices, and Rob eagerly showed off the gutter and drainpipe he used when wanting to escape the confines of his room after lights out!  The school buildings have been converted into a technical college, with Muir College itself moving into the suburbs of Uitenhage into brand new buildings, surrounded by large sports fields.  Rob had a wonderful time reminiscing about his days as a boarder, recalling the horrible Sunday blues when having to leave home comforts to head back to school on a Sunday afternoon which disappeared instantly when meeting up with his friends.  He told me with much pride that he was awarded the Border of the Year prize, as well as Neatest Border of the Year!  But when asked what he did to deserve those awards, he just replied because he’s perfect.  He is a Jennings after all!  From the school we found ourselves on the road to Addo Elephant National Park and using our WildCards we gained free entry into the park.  Unfortunately the name didn’t lend any weight to the animal inhabitants of the park, as we only saw the ass end of two elephants in the distance for the four hours we were in the park!  This didn’t bother me too much as a couple of close encounters in the past with one or two young frisky bulls have left me a bit wary of these large creatures.  We still had a great time of game viewing though before exiting the park and travelling back along the coast to East London and the town of Gonubie.

We ended up spending two nights in Gonubie, pitching our tent in the caravan park bordering the beach area.  Gonubie brings back fond memories for me as my mom’s parents lived here for many years and it was with much excitement as a child that we packed up our family caravan every December and travelled down, dog and all, to spend the Christmas holidays at the beach.  It was good to see that the town still looked the same, although it has expanded outwards, with a couple more supermarkets now available.  And the road into the town was in the process of being upgraded.  We took a day trip to the seaside village of Cintsa East where we based ourselves for our family holidays, us in the caravan while aunt, uncle and my dad’s parents set themselves up in a log cabin on the same property.  The only negative change was seeing now that the caravan park is now bordered by fencing and electric gates to prevent unwanted visitors, a sign of the times in South Africa at present I suppose.  Even the resort where my grandfather acted as caretaker was now fenced in, and has sadly made the area look pretty unappealing.  A short strudge on the beautiful white beach that that stretch of coast is blessed with was rejuvenating though and we took the coastal road back to Gonubie after a brief stop at Glen Eden, a seaside village just down the ways from Cintsa where Rob and his family had a few holidays too!

Our next planned stop on our Big Coast Road Trip was Coffee Bay which is pretty much off the beaten track, requiring us to travel on a national highway while dodging cows through the former Transkei/Ciskei area, and then taking a secondary road scarred with thousands of potholes to reach the village of Coffee Bay.  And village it was, with a few colourfully painted Xhosa huts, one or two backpacker places and a small hotel.  We found a backpacker’s that offered camp sites, and pitched our tent in a spot where we just needed to poke our head out our door to be afforded great views of the river meeting the sea.  Being full moon while we were there, the tides were at their peak so falling asleep to a soundtrack of roaring waves was extremely soothing.  Although we do admit that the free vodka and lemonade we enjoyed at sunset on the cliff side overlooking the ocean together with fresh mussels and oysters provided by our host contributed to a good night’s sleep!  While in Coffee Bay we joined a group of international travellers on a hike to the Hole in the Wall, a piece of earth where over many years erosion has separated it from the main landmass, and furthermore, the crushing waves found a weak spot in this piece of earth and pounded out a massive hole.  Our hike followed cattle paths along the cliffs, and we were treated to a show by a pod of dolphins just behind the waves in the sea below us.  A good 10km later after a few mammoth climbs up and down steep valleys we reached the Hole in the Wall and enjoyed delicious cheese, tomato and onion toasties made crispy on a beach fire.  That night was a full moon party but a cut in electricity put an end to the music and festivities early on into the night!

The next couple of days were spent in the Durban area, firstly catching up with Rob’s Uncle Gavin and Aunt Gayle in Pinetown, then his mates Troy and Cathy in Kloof, and there after his cousin Wayne, and Uncle Mike and Aunt Marlene in Pietermaritzberg.  It was great for Rob to visit members of his extended family as the last time he saw them was in the early 1990’s!  And of course it was an opportunity for me to meet some of Rob’s family, considering that Rob has already met every member of mine!  After some family time, we had originally planned to travel inland to the Drakensberg, and to the town of Winterton where Rob spent the first 10 years of his life as a farm boy.  However we had received multiple reports that the road conditions in that area were extremely poor after serious neglect by the municipal council.  So we deviated from the plan slightly, firstly meandering through the aptly named Midlands Meander to the town of Howick.  Although not much to see in Howick aside from the Howick Falls, the reason we stopped there is because my paternal great grandfather was a minister for many years at a church in town, and we found a plaque dedicated to him and his wife, as well as a church bell in the garden thanking my great grandmother for her contributions to the church.  A wonderful piece of history considering I know very little about my family tree.

Following a stop in Howick we decided to surprise my brother, and continued up the Natal coast to Richards Bay.  He had no idea we were coming and needless to say he was extremely happy to see us!  It was exciting for us too as we saw where he worked as a pilot for Air Mercy Service, and got to sit in the huge beast of a helicopter that he gets to fly for a living!  I sincerely believe that pilots, especially a hands-on helicopter pilot, are the few people who still do their job for fun!  Being in Richards Bay also gave us another opportunity to use our WildCards at Hluhluwe/Mfolozi National Park.  So after parting ways with my brother, we continued on to the park and had a great day’s worth of game viewing, including elephant, rhino, buffalo and antelope.  My other half got a talking to from me when upon spying a rhino casually marking his territory, Rob wanted to get out of the car to get a better picture!  I mean seriously!  He would be the first person to mock a tourist who got injured or killed after climbing out of a vehicle in the middle of a national park filled with wild animals!  We found a great campsite just outside the park and after setting up camp, we were invited by the staff to view the bush baby feeding time later that evening.  Taking them up on the offer we were treated to three cute bush babies with huge round eyes feasting on cut up bananas.  And thankfully they weren’t camera shy so we managed to get some great photos!

Our last day on the road and Bakkie took us home to Johannesburg after a fantastic, sometimes tiring, but mostly exciting and rewarding two weeks on the road.  Our Big Coast Road Trip was the last one Bakkie would give us though.  Leaving soon on our next big adventure meant that we had no further use for her and we decided to sell her to someone deserving her services!  And being a good steed, she was snatched up quickly!  We would consider replacing her with an upgraded version at a later stage, but for now our eyes were firmly on our next trip… sailing across the South Pacific!  Stay tuned!

So the final leg of our epic backpacking adventure of South East Asia was Indonesia.  After five days in flash Singapore we caught a morning ferry on 25 May from the Harbour front to the Indonesian island of Batam.  Leaving the stunning Singapore skyline behind we dodged container ships and fishing vessels in the Melaka straits, and after about an hour’s ferry ride we arrived at the immigration office to get our 30 day visa.  Thinking that our arrival day is Day 0 as it was with most visas, we found out after being stamped in that arrival day is in actual fact Day 1.  With our planned departure date of 24 June we were going to be overstaying our welcome slightly, with a penalty of either a fine (best case scenario) or jail time!  Not wanting to experience that, we decided that we would try either to extend our visas or try changing our flights to an earlier date, but more on that later.  I had a funny feeling while in Singapore that we should have stayed an extra night, but we were tired of the demented wailings coming from the ground floor of our abode and decided to leave on our planned date anyway.  Oh well, they say hindsight is an exact science.

After arriving on Batam we caught a rickety local bus to the “suburb” of Tiban Kampung where our booked homestay was located.  Once dropped off at the bus stop, our navigational device just decided to stop working so off we started walking, trudging along the main road in the direction we thought we needed to go.  As luck would have it, we had walked about one kilometre, when a friendly local with family and all in the car stopped alongside us and offered to take us where we needed to go.  He even phoned the homestay owner to get the proper directions.  All because he’s Christian he said (implying that the mostly Muslim population wouldn’t be so helpful!).  So our Good Samaritan dropped us at our lodgings and we settled in with a promise we would call him, because he just happened to be a taxi driver too.  Our homestay was much better than the hovel in Singapore, with a friendly proprietoress who made us feel very welcome.  It was quite a shock though to see so much litter lying around after having walked along the pristine streets of Singapore.  After a quick recce around the neighbourhood and a delicious lunch at a roadside eatery, we headed to the ferry terminal to check out prices and routes to Sumatra.  Unfortunately the prices were ridiculous and the ferries weren’t going in the direction we needed to be heading.  Hmmm, we didn’t believe the flashpackers we had spoken to along the way when they told us it was cheaper to fly around Indonesia, rather than travel by bus or boat.  We willingly admit they were right!  So off we toddle back to town and our homestay to sort out a flight.  To book two tickets to Jakarta ended up being cheaper going through an agent than booking online direct with the airline!  We spent the rest of our two days on Batam just chilling around waiting for the flight.  There was not much to see on that island and the useless guidebook didn’t shed much light on the area either.  It seemed to us that people either didn’t want to share, or there was not much information to be shared, about Indonesia as advice and recommendations were sadly lacking for the country in general.  One thing we did find though that good food was easy to find, with our most expensive meal on Batam being the equivalent of USD3 for both of us, including drink (our cheapest meal for both of us so far has been USD1.50 including drinks!).

After three nights on Batam, we caught a low cost airline flight to Jakarta on LionAir.  Poor Rob had to suffer with absolutely no legroom for the two hour flight but it was better than an eight hour ferry ride, followed by a ten-plus hour bus ride, to get there.  Before boarding, there was absolute chaos as nobody queued up to hand in their boarding passes.  We had height on our side as most Indonesians basically came up to our shoulders.  All we had to do was lean forward and force our way through the throng to hand in our passes.  The view of the ocean was fantastic as we took off, with the sun directly above us it illuminated the reefs surrounding the islands, making the sight picture perfect.  As soon as we landed, we visited the Singapore Airlines offices in the airport terminal to try and change our flight home but their systems were down and they couldn’t help us.  We got the details for their offices in town which we planned to visit the next day.  After suffering through loads of traffic to get into the city, we were dropped off at the closest station and walked the two kilometres to the backpacker area and our guesthouse.  There were tons of mozzies around, unusual for a city, but considering the streets seemed to have been recently flooded, with sodden sandbags lining the streets, I guess all the water lying around attracted them.  The next morning was spent trying to find our way to the office block where Singapore Airlines had their main branch but as soon as we arrived we saw the office was closed due to Ascension Day.  We found it quite ironic that a Muslim country was celebrating a Christian holiday.  Surely the girls at the airport could have told us the office would be closed?  We made our way back to the guesthouse to fetch the camera and headed off to the National Monument and surrounding park which was filled with locals enjoying a day out.  We noticed lots of riff raff, and tons of litter, it was a real dump!  Hoping to see some Dutch architecture we made our way up by local bus to the Old District but it was completely run down and not worth the small expense of the bus ticket!

We spent another day of wandering around Jakarta trying to get our flights sorted, which had us first going back to Singapore Airlines who couldn’t help us because I booked the ticket using frequent flier miles from South African Airways.  So we were directed to the SAA offices located on the other side of town.  After arriving there, hot and sweaty from a long walk, we were informed that their office computer system was not linked to the frequent flier programme!  We ended up having to buy airtime to phone the Johannesburg office, and halfway through changing the booking I ran out of airtime!  Frustration!  Another walk down the road to buy more airtime, and another phone call later and we had success in changing our flights to an earlier date!  Relief was apparent as we enjoyed a drink to celebrate the fact we wouldn’t be fined or be going to jail for overstaying our visa!

The following day we caught the train to Yogyakarta, a city about midway through the island of Java.  On our journey we were lucky enough to spot our first volcano surrounded by what was really beautiful countryside compared to the urban dirt of Jakarta.  Upon arrival, we walked to our guesthouse which again the guidebook failed to mention was directly under the flight path of jets on their final approach for landing, as well as near the disco or karoake bars nearby which go on into the early hours!  Our time in Yogyakarta was spent wandering around the Kraton, a compound still inhabited by the Sultan (Sultan of what we’re not sure) and taking a tour to the nearby Borobudur temple.  On our way to the temple we passed another volcano, which judging by the smoke coming from its crater, is still very active!  Borobudur is said to be the largest Buddhist temple in the world.  A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the main temple is built in three tiers, the middle tier containing circular platforms on which lie 72 open stupas (bell shaped structures), each containing a statue of the Buddha.  As an active religious site, we were required to wear sarongs to cover our legs as a sign of respect.  But you know times have changed when you see a Buddhist monk wandering around a temple in his crocs, clutching an iPad taking selfies of himself!

At the beginning of June we caught a bus from Yogyakarta to Denpasar, and after a harrowing 18 hour journey, we arrived in Bali, thankful to still be alive to tell the tale of the scariest bus drive we have ever experienced.  Having two drivers on rotation, the first young man was quite sedate as we travelled along the narrow roads out of town and on to the national highway.  Feeling quite comfortable in our front row seats we were able to enjoy the scenery while there was still daylight.  We quite enjoyed the first part of this trip, receiving snacks to munch on before stopping for a complimentary dinner.  It was when darkness came that Whiskers took over.  We not so fondly refer to the second driver as Whiskers as he had hairs growing out of moles on his neck and face which could have been braided they were so long!  The speedometer didn’t work and Whiskers was intent on testing how fast he could go without killing us all.  The overtaking manoeuvres that he performed would make even the best F1 driver cringe in his seat and break out into a cold sweat.  Never mind that the busses and truck drivers coming in the opposite direction were pulling the same moves, we often had headlights blinding us as we raced towards an oncoming vehicle, playing a game of chicken to see who would dodge back into the correct lane first.  Even the usually unflappable Rob had sweaty palms with a few nervous laughs escaping after some very close calls as we continued on through the night.  The only time Whiskers slowed down was when he clipped the side mirror with an oncoming truck, a noise that sounded like a gunshot and made us almost wet ourselves, and all that did was cause him to swear, stop, fix the mirror, and carry on the way he did before.  Best we could do was try and close our eyes but with the bus rocking from side to side as we careened from one side of the road to the other, and the unexpected slamming of brakes, coupled with the blasting of a very loud hooter made sleep difficult!  But we arrived in one piece, pale and shaky, and made our way to the coastal area of Sanur.

In our opinions, Bali, and Indonesia in general, was really overrated and not a backpacker destination at all.  We found everything to be a bit too Westernized for our tastes, so food and drinks were expensive.  Considering the place is full of Aussies on package holidays, and prices are listed in Australian Dollars, we couldn’t help but feel a bit disillusioned.  We had a chat with a gay couple from Perth who mentioned it was cheaper for them to fly to Indonesia than it was to fly to Sydney so Bali was the destination of choice for a holiday for most Australians.  The sea was unbelievably dirty, and the beach was full of litter, not the romantic post card we thought it would be.  The one day we did venture onto the beach for a suntan and swim we found used needles in the sand and hastily made a retreat!  Anyway, we still enjoyed ourselves as we found a comfortable place to stay which had a warm pool, and was 50m from a good beachfront walk which we did every morning and afternoon of our stay there.  One day we decided to venture out and caught a local bus to Kuta beach, which was tourist central.  Although happy to have seen more of the island, we were relieved to get back to our more sedate part of Bali, as Kuta was humming with activity and the beach overrun with people which we didn’t like.  We spent the last few days in Bali lazing around the pool with good books, enjoying the heat before the cold onslaught of winter back at home.

And so on 17 June we packed our bags, threw away most of our clothes which were now too big for us after losing some weight on our travels, and headed to the airport for the journey home.  South East Asia proved to be a fantastic experience for both of us, perhaps more so for me than for Rob.  After backpacking alone all those years ago, it was wonderful for Rob to share the joys of travel with a loved one, acting as my rock and holding my hand as I navigated my way through what proved to be a massive learning curve for me.   I was able to determine what I am capable of, and that my limits of comfort are definitely not as small as I originally thought.  Five months without my own pillow was a great achievement for me!  And I discovered it is definitely possible to be happy in even the most difficult of circumstances.  And if anyone thinks that five months of backpacking through ten completely different countries would satisfy our wanderlust, they’d be wrong!