A Good Vibe - False Bay Yacht Club, Simon's Town, South Africa
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 3 Dec 2012 03:15
34:11.480S 18:25.970E November 11, 2012 - November 25, 2012 What an excellent place. There's a completely different vibe here created by a different mix of people - Khoe-San in place of Zulu, lots of 'Cape Colored' (African/European/SE Asia mixed descent), more immigrants from other African nations, fewer Dutch descendants and more British - and overall, more money. Some parts of the Cape Town area are extremely affluent, others less so, but still wealthy. Walls surround most of the houses, but less electric fencing and barb wire are in evidence, making the whole place feel less like a prison, and more like a neighborhood you might find somewhere closer to home. Not that we didn't enjoy KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa's northeast coast, we did. It's just that Simon's Town, Cape Town and the surrounding area are different. Different people, different weather, different architecture, food, scenery, wildlife. Part of the reason we love to do this traveling thing is the unique experience gained from each place visited. Simon's Town didn't disappoint. Simon's Town is named after the Dutch governor Simon van der Stel, who in 1687 surveyed False Bay and recommended it as a safe winter anchorage alternative to Cape Town. It wasn't until 1743 that the Dutch East India Company implemented Governor van der Stel's recommendation and started using False Bay as an anchorage when Cape Town harbor became untenable, typically in the winter months. The British arrived in 1795 and took Cape Town from the Dutch, using False Bay and Simon's Town as a base during some of that period. The Union of South Africa was formed by the British in 1910. Although South Africa remained part of the British Commonwealth until 1961 when the Republic of South Africa was formed, it was under Afrikaner 'home rule' from 1910 to 1961, and never ruled directly by the British as what are now Botswana and Zimbabwe were. The British may not have ruled South Africa directly, but you can bet the British Navy took an active interest in the area from their Simon's Town base. It wasn't until many years later (well after South Africa withdrew from the British Commonwealth) that the last British Navy vessel left Simon's Town. The naval base the British built in Simon's Town is still the headquarters for South Africa's Navy. We certainly benefitted from the shelter provided by the sturdy navy dockyard walls when the southeast wind whipped up as it often does in False Bay. Of course that wasn't the first time we've had the British to thank for building infrastructure in the 19th and 20th centuries that later became the basis of more elaborate commercial and/or pleasure craft ports. In fact, sometimes we feel like this circumnavigation of ours is no more than a tour of Britain's colonial past. Well, Britain's along with the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and German, that is. Simon's Town 'Jubilee Jetty', with the False Bay Yacht Club marina and South African Navy dockyard in the background. Look closely and you'll see Harmonie berthed in the first slip on the lefthand side. Some of Simon's Town's Victorian-era architecture. The African Penguin. These cute little creatures used to be called jackass penguins based on the donkey-like braying noise the males make when attempting to attract a female. Their name has been changed to the more politically correct African penguin for obvious reasons. Lest you think we were alone in our quest to visit the penguins, we include this photo to prove we weren't. This colony of about 3,000 penguins just down the road from Simon's Town didn't seem to mind the crowd at all. They pretty much waddled around and ignored us. The African penguin is relatively rare, and if I remember right, there are only three or four colonies left along South Africa's southwestern coast. They like the cold Atlantic waters, and the Antarctic Benguela Current brings them plenty to eat. If the penguins are happy, then the multitude of sharks that are said to hang out in False Bay are probably happy too. The Cape of Good Hope. Before sailing around it on the way from Simon's Town to Cape Town, we rented a car and drove out to the end of the Cape Peninsula to see it. Like the African penguin, its name was also changed for obvious reasons. Who would want to visit a place with a name like the Cape of Storms? I think we read somewhere that there are more recorded shipwrecks off South Africa's coast than any other place on earth. Makes us kind of glad that's all behind us now. The blue-headed lizard (whose proper name escapes me). In the distance, the white water is hiding one of the rock hazards off the Cape of Good Hope that has claimed many a ship. The lizard doesn't seem concerned. Wine country. We took advantage of our rental car, and drove the short 90 minutes along False Bay's spectacular coastline and into the mountains surrounding Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, two of South Africa's excellent wine areas. Once there, we spent a hedonistic two days doing nothing but eating fantastic food and tasting (and buying) lots of wine. Good wine is so inexpensive in South Africa we decided our two-day extravagance was justified by the dollars saved purchasing a six month supply of wine here instead of in the Caribbean. Besides, the sea is so cold Harmonie's wine cellar is currently controlled at a perfect 61.3F. Of course that won't last as we sail northwest and across the equator to the Caribbean in the coming weeks, but it makes us feel good for now. We did meet a very interesting fellow at Hartenberg, one of the oldest wineries in Stellenbosch (1692). He, Dominic, spent a good two hours with us tasting a huge variety of Hartenberg's wines - everything from their basic red blend, to a pinotage vintage made, bottled and labeled specifically for the Mandela family. Over the course of our discussion, we learned that Dominic grew up in the Stellenbosch area from very modest roots (his father a carpenter working on one of the wine farms as they are called here, and his mother a teacher), but at an early age decided he wanted to become a successful lawyer. He did. Doing quite well, and nearing the age of 40, Dominic decided the wealthy city lawyer life wasn't all it cracked up to be. He gave it all up to return to his roots (literally) in Stellenbosch. Soon he's planning a motorcycle trip with his brother through southern Africa's amazing countryside, and after that? He's thinking about joining the priesthood. "The priesthood?", we asked (rather incredulously). He replied rather firmly, that, yes, the priesthood was definitely in his future. We suggested becoming a Buddhist monk instead. That way he could be a monk for a week or a month or a year with no repercussions upon his exit from the brotherhood. He didn't seem interested in that idea, but perhaps it's because Buddhist monks generally don't drink wine. A tight squeeze. Before heading 5,200 miles across the Atlantic, we decided it would probably be a good idea to haul Harmonie out of the water, if only briefly, to check her undersides, replace zincs and touch up the bottom paint. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, there is that South African lack of larger yacht haul-out equipment to consider….but the yard manager at False Bay said they had hauled an Amel like ours mostly successfully last year. 'Mostly successfully?' you might ask (as we did). Apparently, the girth of the Amel hauled last year caused its rub rails to come up hard against the cleats mounted on the inside of the steel crossbeams running lengthwise on the lifting contraption. The result was a fair bit of damage to the boat's rub rails. No worries for us though, as the cleats have since been moved from the inside of the crossbeam to the top of the crossbeam, so they no longer pose a threat to the sides of extra-wide boats. We found this to be true, however, when we floated Harmonie into the waiting lifting contraption at the end of the slipway, there was enough swell running through the water to push Harmonie side-to-side, mashing her stainless steel rails against the crossbeams on either side in excruciatingly slow motion. All we can say is that the ten minutes it took the crew to secure and lift Harmonie before the huge winch could start pulling the steel cable and attached lifting cradle up and out of the slipway, seemed like an hour. Every time the water surged up the slipway, Harmonie tilted one way or another, and her stainless rails bent…bent…bent….bent against the lifting crossbeams, but amazingly, didn't break. Once safely up on land, we had to apologize profusely to the crew for our yelling and very liberal use of profanity, but hey, our boat is our home, and there is nothing so awful (when boating) as watching helplessly while your home is being crushed. All that said, the crew did the best job they could with the equipment they had, and Don was able to complete the necessary checks, replace the zincs, power wash the bottom, touch-up the bottom paint and scrape the marine growth out of all the thru hulls and off the prop and rudder. All good. Harmonie was on the hard for about twenty-four hours (completely tying up False Bay's lifting and launching equipment, and pretty much blocking the slipway), before launching the next morning at high tide. Launching went much more smoothly than hauling as we had a few local boaters on board helping us, and the whole process went more quickly. Don steered Harmonie back into her slip at the yacht club, and we breathed a huge sigh of relief. In hindsight, we probably shouldn't have hauled at Simon's Town, and instead proceeded to Saldanah Bay where it's said there is a 'proper' travelift, or perhaps skipped hauling out altogether, but, it's over and the work got done with only a small amount of damage (no one other than ourselves will even notice). On that day, we did think fondly of Rebak Marina on Langkawi Island in Malaysia, with their 5-man lifting and diving crew and enormously wide travelift. Ah well, we hear the Caribbean (Grenada) has an excellent haul out facility too, so we'll have that to look forward to. Up next - Cape Town and a visit from an old friend. Anne |