To Russian Bay on Heritage Day
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Tue 24 Sep 2019 23:57
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To Russian Bay 2 on Heritage Day and a Big
Braai
 Yesterday Bear came back from a quick
run to the village in Crater Bay. He came back with some fruit and veg, two
tubes of sealant for the ongoing leak saga and three litres
of local rum. A takeaway for rum. Yes, I took two
plastic bottles and they were filled for the princely sum of one pound fifty
each. Well if they taste rough you can always run the outboard, I
guess. We took a sip from the lids and decided it tasted quite all
right.
 This morning we woke (as usual by the
antics of the fishermen) to a flat calm morning.
There is a storm heading up the Mozambique Channel and although no one should be
jostled by it here, many of us took it as an excuse to head over to Russian Bay
and on to a few different anchorages before heading back to begin preparations
to leave for South Africa in mid-October.
  As we were preparing to leave we
enjoyed three friends on their return to shore
laughing and joking, behind them an interesting
chap.
 He came by in a
relaxed pose, whistling away.
 He looked up and waved. I loved his sail.
  At eight the anchor came up and we set
off toward the mainland.
 Skipper happy in the cockpit, I
settled to write last weeks blog so it could be posted en route as there is no
internet in Russian Bay. We picked a spot between the
main anchorage on the right and a group of three boats to our left. Bear hasn’t
got around to tackling the faulty solar power wiring so we still need to run the
generator daily and I loathe the idea of disturbing anyone. Kevin and Irma
popped over and invited us to a braai on the beach from four thirty. After I had
posted the blog I settled to make Bear rabbit stew, that went in the fridge as
Irma kindly offered to take some meat for Bear, I prepared salad and a tin of
tuna for me.
Wiki says: Heritage Day is a South African public holiday celebrated on
24 September. On this day, South Africans are encouraged to celebrate their
culture and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions,
in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people. The
celebration began in 1995.
  By random chance we arrived a few
minutes before everyone else and settled to pose for pictures in one of the three little shelters used by
yachties.
  Irma and
Kevin, Renee and Andre arriving.
  As others arrived the atmosphere
hummed with busy preparations. Steve (left) and
Quentin (right) looked on as Andre bobbed up and down
– their official job was to tend the fire........
  Beattie brought a sheep rib, apparently you can trot into a butcher in South
Africa and ask them to do this cut for you – huge doesn’t cover it. Then we saw
the Boer War sausage ...massive. (I still can’t
spell the real word and every time I hear it I still think it sounds like Boer
War).
  Beattie
was very popular with the beach dogs when she fed them the scraps and she was
hugely popular with us when she produced delicious lemon
tart in little jars. The ‘us’ was made up from England, Ireland, Japan
and South Africa (fifteen yachties, two juniors (and their two tiny chicks) and
a dog called Molly who loves to hang off the front of the dinghy).
 Chatting,
preparing and fire going well. Some of the boys had nipped off along the
beach to see Andreas (at his bar) to buy more beer.
  Sunset. No
sooner than we had rigged up lamps than we were joined by a smorgasbord of
winged creatures but they didn’t dent the smashing evening we
enjoyed.
ALL IN ALL A REAL FUN
EVENING
SOUTH AFRICANS CERTAINLY KNOW HOW TO
BRAAI |