Safe Arrival in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 5 Nov 2012 14:10
| 33:57.992S 25:38.111E And just like that we're here, nearly at the bottom of Africa, no worse for the wear. All but two of the last twenty-four hours were spent motoring in light southeasterly wind. During seventeen of those hours, we were motoring against a countercurrent sometimes as high as 1 1/2 knots (because we exited the main part of the Agulhas Current in order to head straight for Port Elizabeth, we were most likely motoring through one of the many Augulhas Current eddies that spin off from the main stream). Annoying, yes, but only because we had become so accustomed to the high-flying speeds of the previous twenty-four hours (including that one unforgettable 15.4 knot spike). Normally, motoring slowly in near-calm conditions would make for extremely uneventful (translation: boring) night watches, but last night and most of this morning we were visited with a phenomenon we haven't experienced since Maine in 2007 - fog. Fog! It's foggy down here on the bottom of Africa! And freezing. The freezing air (64F - don't roll your eyes! 64F for us is like 10F for you) hits the water warmed by the hot Agulhas Current, and poof! Fog. Motoring around on a sailboat in heavy fog feels like moving around inside an overturned tea cup - a dome of semi-clear air surrounds the boat, but beyond that dome lies a seemingly impenetrable mass of damp, dull-gray murk. Shipping in this area is a brisk business, so last night it wasn't unusual to have five or six freighters within 20 miles of Harmonie at all times. Sometimes ships passed within one or two miles, but without AIS and radar telling us so, we never would have known. Watching a freighter pass within two miles at night is usually like watching an extremely intimidating (and large) birthday cake ablaze with fifty candles float by. Not so in the fog. Motoring blind through the fog with only AIS and radar to guide us took some getting used to, but aside from the time Don had to radio a ship after it turned toward us and started closing in fast from a distance of only six miles, all was fine (the ship politely answered Don's radio call, and adjusted course accordingly - shew!). Late this morning, the sun burned off enough of the fog for us to make an easy landing at the friendly Algoa Yacht Club in Port Elizabeth's very industrial (translation: not much to look at) harbor. At first glance, after we powered up the computers and accessed the internet for the first time in three days, it looks like we'll have another excellent weather window starting Wednesday afternoon. Our current plan is to leave then and sail around the southern tip of Africa, and all the way up to the Cape Town area, arriving sometime on Saturday, November 10 (hey - that's my birthday! What more could a girl ask for than rounding the Agulhas Cape and the Cape of Good Hope on a sailboat with her husband?). More in a day or two when our plan is certain. For now, beers and naps await. Anne |