29:49:755S 31:08:808E South Africa
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Tue 4 Nov 2014 14:09
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We had weathered some pretty strong winds and seas
on our crossing from Reunion to Richards Bay but the upside was that the trip
was eight days, one day earlier than expected. We had avoided a good
number of vessels in the shipping lanes and also as we approached the entrance
to the harbour in the early hours of October 31.
  We dodged ships, both anchored and exiting the
harbour, and tugs as we made our way to the International Dock. This busy port
operates 24/7 and it demands your attention even at 3.30 am when we finally tied
up on the deserted wharf. Spent the next few hours catching up on sleep missed
during the night and then gave our lady a water washdown to clear the dirt and
salt that accumulated over eight hectic days.
We were back on South African soil and suddenly the accents were familiar and the
currency weak, which pleased Tom a lot when he found that food is half the
price, or less, than the UK and he could buy a beer for one pound. Happy
days.
Ted reconnected with
friends and colleagues from the years he lived in the town with wife Joan and
their children Rory and Natalie. He of course has since retired and lives in the
Western Cape.
He and I joined Tom for a day trip to Imfolozi
and Hluhluwe game reserves, an hour and a half drive away. Tom will commit his
first experience of the wildlife of Africa to a blog coming up next. Watch this space.
After a few days rest we selected Sunday 2 November
to hop to Durban, a short trip of around 12 hours to the south.
This time we had to avoid a wreck being
salvaged close to the entrance. It had broken up in heavy seas about a year
ago. We had seen it on arrival but the detail was lost in the
darkness.
 Then a very special treat as we made for the
Agulhas Current, a Humpback Whale breeched three times near the boat to wave us
goodbye.
 The overnighter started out promicingly but the
wind faded soon and we then motored the rest of the way to
Durban.
As morning light came, the flat
millpond sea surface broke to reveal the welcoming committee, more whales. They
tracked us for some time followed by dolphins and an inquisitive sea
turtle.
   But we had to leave them all to enter Durban
Harbour under repeated instructions from Port Control to keep to
starboard and steer clear of a very large container ship on it's way
out.They weren't joking.
 Mooring was temporary until SA Immigration had
completed his paperwork and we were shown a spot large enough for our very wide
yacht. This will be our home for a few days until we get a weather window
suitable for the next leg en route to Cape Town.
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