40:00S 37:33E
Tales of Amok's Adventures
Mike Jones
Fri 31 Dec 2010 20:34
End of Day 13, Cape Town to Fremantle
Well, it's the last few hours of 2010 and I am on watch til midnight. We have a fantastic NE wind blowing at about 12-15 knots so we are making excellent progress on a course of 118 degrees, making 6-7 knots. The seas are lovely and flat; the boating is simply humming along. We had yet more albatrosses around the boat today. They are such amazing creatures; if jumbo jets could talk, when seeing an albatross for the first time, I am sure they would exclaim, "oh look mini me!"
Oh how wrong I was to think the great grey-green greasy Limpopo belonged to Dr. Suess!! Forgive me Rudyard. Yes, of course it was Rudyard Kipling who wrote about the river in The Elephant's Child.
"I am going to the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, to find out what the Crocodile has for dinner. .."
Thanks to Steve Mathews in Simon's Town for steering me straight. I see we are now East of the Zambeze River, and no, I don't know of any references to this river!! Answers on a post card!
2010 was certainly a diverse year for the Jones Family; the year started with our early morning arrival on January 1st 2010 at Mindelo, Island of Sao Vincent, Cape Verde Islands. The New Year's Eve Party was still in full swing, with loud music being broadcast over a PA system. I recall there was a delay of several days whereby we had to wait for Customs to open. When it finally opened after the festivities, we cleared in and out on the same visit, yet still managed to see some of the island.
We continued south down the Atlantic, making more enjoyable stops at the remote islands of Ascension and St. Helena. We finally made it into Simon's Town at the beginning of March, after a prolonged battle with the South Easterlies and the South African currents.
Our arrival into Simon's Town which is around the Cape of Good Hope on a very windy 2nd March was a huge relief. Unfortunately, the strong South Easterlies were also responsible for shrouding the Cape in a low cloud which meant we were unable to see it. Bizarrely, similar conditions were present when we departed Simon's Town on 19th December, with strong South Easterlies creating a blanket over Table Mountain and wrapping the Cape in fog.
So to our families, to our old friends and to our new friends, we would like to raise our glass to you all for a happy, healthy and peaceful 2011.
Fair winds,
Salty Sal, Mikey, Meerkat and Tmoby.
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