I went walking the other day and discovered that Simon's Town  has a unique feature.  Since it is built on the side of a hill, there are staircases that connect one level of the town to the next.  If you wish you can hike up the steps and gain a lot of vertical feet in a short time.  In order to keep up with Brian and Dorothy on our proposed ascent of Table Mountain, I am trying to get in shape by trucking up and down these staircases.  It was truly a spectacular view from the top of twar he town. 

Notice the white caps that the +30 knots winds have been generating

I haven't managed to get to the museum yet but Simon's Town was a favoured anchorage in the winter months, and it is suggested that Nelson may have come ashore here when he was a midshipman, the |American Confederate ship the Alabama docked here during the Civil War shortly before it was sunk by the British, the town fairly reeks with naval history.  

Houses are perched on the side of quite dramatic hillsides.  I only climbed up to where the buildings stopped, perhaps I should explore to see if these heights can scaled.

The other day an American boat, Sea Level invited us to tour a township called Langa.  This township came into being in the 1960's when there was a need for migrant workers to build the city of Cape Town.

A family would have to  live in the space the size of this bed, they also would have a locker where they would store their food, there was no mess, everyone had to be tidy in order that your area was kept neat and tidy and did not infringe on another's family's space.

 The original brick buildings housed only the men and they lived 3 to a room.  In the 70's the women and children were allowed to join the men and overcrowding began as 3 families were living in the space intended for only 3 men.  In order to have privacy the younger generation moved out of the gov't provided brick housing, moving into shacks.

The unpleasant looking shacks on the outside, but surprisingly modern inside.

Although at that time the shacks did not have running water, electricity or sanitary facilities, they did have a measure of privacy.  We got to see into one of these shacks and the family living there had 2 large screen TV's, a full sized fridge, a microwave and a stove.  The drawback was that if it was really hot or really cold or if it rained the thin, drafty walls and roofs may not withstand the weather.
In the same area, there were upper and middle class homes, when the apartheid restrictions were lifted people who were living in single family dwellings were given ownership of their homes.  This part of the township life is not shown on TV, all I ever saw were the shacks, there were neighbourhoods that looked like small town Canada.

Three generations would live in this house. 

Our guide pointed out that respect and dignity were a huge part of their culture and that having your  children receive a higher education is a prized goal for families.  If their offspring gains a good education, and gets a well paying job, he or she can help to finance the building of a large family home and thus the family will have an elevated status in the community. The tour was a real eye opener, we learned so much I would recommend a township tour to any traveller in South Africa, it will surely expand your knowledge of this country.

Perhaps the future leader of South Africa!

rr

Rounding Cape Agulhas, the southern tip of Africa                   

We are safe and sound in False Bay which is just east of Cape Town, SA.  We have not passed the Cape of   Good Hope yet, we have to round it to get to Cape Town, but we are now in the Atlantic Ocean and we are very happy to be here.  We are on the opposite side of the cape to Cape Town and is it windy here or what. Barry was almost blown off the dock today!!
 A long passage is hard but your body gets used to the sleep patterns, this sailing for 1 or 2 nights is for the birds.  You sleep on and off for a day, you are really tired and then you stop and get back on a normal schedule.  Then the winds are favourable and off you go until the winds turn again and you stop for an unspecified time.  You had better not be a person that likes a regimen because if you are you could never survive as a sailor.

Simon's town the east side of the Cape

The naval vessels from our slip, the sub is parked just in front of this boat

The marina is located right next to a naval dock and as we came into the marina today we passed a vintage World War II submarine.  After we had tied up I said to Barry what did you think of that submarine, he replied what submarine?  He was so focused on driving the boat, it was blowing 20 knots, that he didn't even see the sub. 

Proof that we can actually go that fast

It really was cold out on watch, notice the toque

Knysna Heads

You have to pass really close to these rocks when going through the heads

Looking towards town the light parts are sand bars. 

We are going to leave within the hour, our next stop will be in False Bay after we round Cape Agulhas and we will be in the Atlantic Ocean, wish us luck.

The rock art was located under the lip at the top of the hill

While waiting out the gales in Durban we did a flying visit to the Drakensberg mountains.  They were only a 2 hour drive so we convinced the crew from Tagish to come along and set out for an overnight trip.  Our first venture was a hike up to see the San rock art, it was at 2500m.  We had to    have a guide because some of the rock art had been defaced in he past.  The paintings were over 2000 years old and the guide explained that no one lived in the area where the paintings were.  The shaman  would come up to the area and go into a trance, that was induced by hunger and herbs and then they would paint what they had seen in the trance. 

After we left the fenced off area where the paintings were we scrambled on up to the top of the hill.   Just over the next couple of ridges was the country of Lesotho, we didn't go far enough to stick  our feet over the border though.  We spent the rest of he day driving north through the mountains.  The roads were pretty decent except one I chose, it was a shortcut and at one point I was worried we were going to take out the bottom of the car.  The mist closed in so we did not get to see one of the highest peaks but the landscape was beautiful.  At dinner that night a impressive thunderstorm came up and the power went out in the country club where we were eating.  We all got up bright and  early the next day and Brian, Dorothy and I went on another short 2 hours hike. Barry stayed and guarded the car and rested his ankle. 

                         

The mist was closing in

The first day the guide explained that we shouldn't point at a certain mountain with a finger but with a closed fist. The legend says that if you point the mountain gods will be angry and cause a thunderstorm. I didn't know and broke the taboo, about an hour later sure enough, the black clouds rolled over the top of the mountains, the temperature dropped, the lightening lit up the sky and down came the rain.  Thankfully it did not affect the footing too much and as we descended another storm cell went through, this one brought hail, a new experience for us in the southern hemisphere. 

Small gauge railroad we found on the way out of the harbour

For our grandson Quinn

Well we are safe and sound in Port Elizabeth.  Barry is now talking to me.  We were very happy to arrive after bashing into the wind and waves.  We are tied up to the dock.  We went out visiting last night.  As soon as I got on the dock I noticed I was unstable, I was doing the sailors lurch down the dock, my body still thinking I was at sea.  We had a couple glasses of wine on a buddy's boat and then were invited for dinner.  I was cool so went back to change clothes, as I stepped off the boat the dock finger tilted and my natural balance deserted me and in I went, scaploosh.  Fortunately I didn't bash anything and there was a dock line there so I did a push up on the line and was back on the dock in a flash looking and feeling like a drown rat. The last time I fell in like that was in Yellowknife on the occasion of my fortieth birthday and I have a scar on my cheek to remind of that fall.

You just never know what you may find, these are in a taxidermy shop

We are off to find the sunbrella factory that is here, there may be a weather window to go across the bottom of Africa tomorrow.
No sunbrella here that is the right colour, we are currently sailing towards Knysna.

We are on our way south again, as we speak we are approaching Port Elizabeth, which is almost at the bottom of Africa.  We had a great passage here except for the last day.  We left Durban and managed to catch the Agulhas current.  Wow,  did we ever go, I have a picture on my phone and on the camera of us doing over 11 knots.  We were making over 7 knots of hull speed and then a 4 knot current made us zoom along.  We had a 60 hour weather window and we were approaching East London with 18 hours left in the window.  It was only another 125 to Port Elizabeth so  I urged Barry to continue.  A guy on the Peri Peri radio net said that it wouldn't be too bad and that we should go for it.  That seemed to change Barry's mind and he agreed to continue.  Of course, we lost the current and were making a measly 7 knots so it took a lot longer to get here than I anticipated.  You guessed it the weather changed, the winds came on our nose and at the moment we are motoring almost full speed into the wind and waves making only 3 knots.   We are bouncing around, but it is not too bad, but Barry is extremely angry with me. There has been lots of shouting and recriminations  on both sides and it is not fun to be on board at the moment.
Last night in the middle of the night we were motor sailing, we changed tacks and could have sailed but used the motor to keep us higher into the wind.=  The raw water intake was not getting enough water because of the angle of our heel and the motor overheated.  The high temperature alarm went off causing much consternation because we did not know the cause at first.  The alarm kept ringing for 15 minutes until Barry disconnected it.  This of course added to his misery!!
I guess I should just let him make his conservative judgments about the weather and be happy with what he wants, I am sure that would lead to a happier boat,  We are not unsafe at the moment, just a tad  uncomfortable, we should be in port in 5 hours, all remaining as it is.
On a happier note we tested the Christmas cake and it is yummy if slightly underdone due to a faulty stove that Barry's thinks is fine.  The oven refuses to remain lit and I have to put a spoon between the knob and the grab bar that goes across in front of it for it to remain lit.  It took over 5 hours to ž cook the cake because the oven kept going out.  It tastes really yummy though!!!

The new stadium from the water. 

Just so you know that cruising is not all fun and games I will give you an idea of the last few days in Durban.  The marina is full and the holding in the anchorage is not great. In South Africa at this time of year there are systems that come out of the southern oceans, they roar around the Cape of Good Hope and up the east coast.  It is very important to time your voyages so  that you are not caught in the Aguallas current which flows south along the east coast when there is a big south westerly blowing. Wind against current is just ugly  and you get choppy short seas, 20 meter waves have been recorded on this coast.  We have been stuck at anchor in a poor anchorage for over a week.  There were 17 boats stuck, in a small space, so boats are closer than normal and the anxiety level is ratcheted up.  One boat was continually dragging, we think his anchor was not big enough.  One day he left his boat and it started dragging backwards onto another yacht whose the owner was also ashore.  Four boatloads of cruisers got together and we had 2 dinghies on the back moving the boat forward, another dinghy with the biggest motor to push the bow back and forth. when the wind caught it. and there were 2 men on the bow pulling up the anchor.  We re-anchored it, saved it from a collision.  Thank heaven the dragger found an spot to tie up in a marina 10 miles up the river and left the 

anchorage

Durban's Convention Centre

The next day the wind really kicked up and we were stuck on the boats.  The boat beside us had a lot of windage and in the gusts, which were up to 50 knots he would veer sideways in an alarming manner and head towards us. His dinghy was tied up on the back and looked like it would take off, the whole front of the dingy was out of the water only the heavy motor at the back was stopping it from flipping.  Barry sat up on deck for 4 hours from 1700 to 2100 in the rain and wind watching to make sure we weren't going to drag.  We only had about 20 meters of good water behind us, so if the anchor let go we would have had to be very quick to get the engine going before we went aground. The wind just howled in the rigging and the boat would heal over in the gusts, that had never happened at anchor before. That was the second blow we had experienced in 4 days.  

Very interesting mural

Yesterday a whole bunch of boats left for points south.  It was very disheartening for me to watch everyone leave.  Barry did not think we could make the next anchorage before another southwesterly would hit.  We got a break though, a space at the marina opened up due to all the boats leaving and we are now tied up to the dock.  Tagish is tied up beside us and tomorrow we are heading up to the Drakensburg mountains to do some hiking and sight seeing.  We couldn't leave the boat before because to the danger of dragging.  There is supposed to be another window opening at 0200 on Sat. morning so hopefully it will stay open and we can head south soon.  

Pictures of Durban

Cat's-Paw IV at anchor in Durban, ZA

The old with the new

On of the many hotels along the beach, this is called the golden mile.

Very stylish new stadium

We took a bus tour of Durban yesterday.  It is a huge modern city. They have a beautiful new stadium that was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it's a soccer stadium. There is lots of interesting architecture with art deco as well as colonial architecture side by side.  It makes for great pictures. 

We are safe and sound in Durban, it  is a large modern city from what we saw yesterday.  I wanted to share some more pictures of animals and birds with you.  The first ones were all taken by Dorothy on Tagish.  If you want to look at some great pics check out Tagish blog on the link on the side.

The leopard, camouflage or what!!

Resting after he had eaten his fill

           Dorothy took all the great pictures of the big cats!!                        

Black bellied bustard, he was making this amazing clicking noise with his beek

African pygmy goose

some kind of lapwing

                           

ground horn bill

we are at sea. sorry this computer must have too much salt the shift key does not work,so no caps and no upper case punctuation.  we are 20nm from durban, it has been a good passage if a little bumpy.  barry and i both felt a little queasy when we left, that's what a month at a dock will do to you, lose your sea legs. we are going to wait in durban for a 24 hour southwester to blow through on tues or wed then head to port elisabeth the last letter in the alphabet does not work either. we have a haul out booked for dec 15 in cape town and then we will have a slip on dec 22. hope all is well at home.

Dorothy behind the counter taking pictures

Box of Condoms
Picture by Dorothy

We were on our way to Swaziland.  The entrance at the border was a piece of cake. Swaziland is a monarchy and there were pictures of the king and the queen mother up on the wall in the immigration office.  Dorothy, an avid photographer, was trying to take a picture of it and could not get a good shot, much to the chagrin of waiting truck drivers she was invited behind the counter to get a better shot.  They also thought it very comical when she took a picture of the box of condoms that was prominently displayed. HIV/AIDS is a terrible killer in Swazi, we read some stats that said of a population of 1.1 million there were 200,000 children who were orphans. 

           

Myxo, he has been growing his hair for 16 years

I was reading our copy of the Lonely Planet and found a cultural experience that I thought would be worthwhile. We were met the next day in Manzini by a gentleman named Myxo. The first thing he did was teach us some SiSwati/Zulu phrases. 

Doesn't Barry look like he's having a good time!

We practised as we tasted sorghum, a breakfast meal with the same texture as cream of wheat, it is fermented corn and with some sugar, it was quite tasty.  Afterwards we headed to the craft market to practice our unfamiliar words, the language has weird tongue clicks and they slur their h’s by putting their tongue on the top of their mouth with their bottom jaw open and blowing out, it sounds a bit like an s, very difficult for us North Americans. After purchasing a few more potential Christmas presents we headed up into the hills to a village.  

I just look a little goofy in this traditional Swazi outfit, but isn't the girl beside me lovely

We drove up over a very bumpy gravel road and were greeted with a vista of green fields, with small clusters of buildings huddled together on the hills. Each cluster was a family group, the grandparents would have a hut, the children live with their parents until they are old enough to joins the boys and girls hut, at adolescents, the sexes are separated, once a young man starts working he would help to build his own hut, there is a cooking hut, a place for the chickens, goats and a pen for the cows. Most of the huts in the village were traditional, mud and rock walls with thatched roofs, if a man is successful in finding a paying job, he would build his wife a brick house with a tin roof. 

A family grouping

We stayed in a traditional  home, there was a nice mattress with only a candle for lighting, very romantic.  We were fed maize, beans, a spinach dish and chicken all cooked on an open fire for supper, it was delicious. 

Our home for 24 hours, the gogo hut!

There was no running water or electricity so Barry very reluctantly had to use an outhouse, but it came with a view (there was no door on it). The tour of the school was the highlight of the trip, the preschoolers were lined up and sang us the Swaziland national anthem as well as “this little light of mine” we were all grinning at them as they sang with enthusiasm. Bongani otherwise known as Bobo took us over to the headman’s compound and we got to meet the grandmother or Gogo.  There is a hut in each family unit that is known as the Gogo hut.  This is neutral ground, if you have a problem you meet in the hut to sort it out, if you want to talk to your ancestors, into the Gogo hut. The best use I heard for it was when the kids are in trouble with their parents, they run to the hut and hide, neutral ground!! We had some marvellous conversations and learned about the SiSwati culture in a far more meaningful way than if we had gone to a museum. you are interested in contacting Myxo go to www.swaziculturaltours.com

We booked the experience at the last minute so we weren't quite sure what we were getting into.  I was completely happy with what unfolded, but the other three had different expectations, for me it was a chance to relax and unwind at the end of a rushed, thrill packed trip.

Cat’s-Paw IV survived our absence and we are planning on leaving tomorrow to head south to Durban or East London.