Colin on Endorphin kindly picked up those from Vega, Hecla and Argo for morning coffee on Endorphin. Argo is a 30ft steel yacht now 50 years old on which Joseph and Blanka (from the  Check Republic) have lived and sailed for the last 20 years. They have no fridge but always produce wonderful homemade bread and cake when we meet. Again we are reminded that it is perfectly possible to sail, indeed live, in a much more frugal, self sufficient and sustainable way than we are brainwashed into believing is essential in our consumption led economies.

Tomorrow we hope to go ashore in the morning and meet some of the locals. As with many places visited by yachties we are encouraged in online reviews to avoid Mozambique if at all possible, mainly due to official corruption and extortion scams. I wonder why many yachties ever had the courage to leave home! Here we were visited this morning by the park rangers as the anchorage is within a National park. Apparently it’s claim to fame is the population of Dugong that lives here. Anyway the rangers didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Portuguese or Swahili or any of the many other languages spoken in Mozambique. We were asked to speak by telephone to their boss who it transpired was at an office on the mainland, 35 miles away. In order to confirm the number of boats, nationality of the boats, number of crew, cost per person and boat for two nights and the exchange rate between local currency and US dollars I must have spoken to two or three people but we got there in the end  and were asked for $318 to cover everything. Cheaper than their first quote and less than we had expected. Furthermore they would have sent someone 35 miles by boat with a credit card machine for the boat that preferred to pay that way. We agreed to pay it all in cash the following day when the rangers would return with an official receipt for the agreed amount. They were all charming and helpful.

Two or three nights ago the outboard motor hung on the stern rail was stolen from a Canadian yacht here. The same thing might happen in the uk or anywhere else in the world (the Caribbean certainly!) but the fact that it was here will be taken as a warning to yachties to avoid this anchorage. A shame because it looks an interesting place with a small village of traditional wooden circular houses and thatched roofs (and friendly officials!)

Thursday we hope to leave for Richards Bay. The gribs are not in agreement for Saturday night and Sunday so we will need to be able to take refuge if things do take a turn for the worse. Other than that any strong wind will be from behind and with the current so we keep our fingers crossed when we look at tomorrow’s forecasts.