33:06 S 28:39 E

 

After making it into East London , the weather soon closed in. Rain and howling winds. We motored up to the end part of the harbour and looked for a place to tie up. Our Pilot guide had mentioned a place called Latamier Landing . A wooden jetty with Restaurants  and bar areas. Perfect we thought. The wooden Jetty was rotten and actually condemned. We managed to squeeze the boat behind some burnt out boat and a make shift floating jetty made out of drums. Not a soul to be seen. It was only 6 in the evening and although it was beginning to rain i decided to walk into town and get a few supplies.

Yikes. Abandoned buildings , fused street lights , litter , broken windows. The trek into town was like going into a zombie movie. You saw people moving about but everything was closed. We started calling East London Chernobyl. We got back to the boat and sat on the old decrepid jetty and waited. It was three days of sitting in howling winds and rain waiting for the weather to clear before we could head out. And what did we do ? Nothing at all. I am not sure if it was maybe just this area , but there was nothing going on at all. We had a policeman come and chat with us , and a security guard , and that was it. We even ventured over to the Yacht Club on the other side of the river , but soon gave that up after the locals realised we were actually sailors and couldn't bull dust us much. They were very friendly and helpful at the yacht club , but with the howling winds we felt we needed to be on our boat to keep and eye on her. Every day we sat on the boat and looked up the harbour to see massive waves breaking over the wall. Its such a contradiction , you really want to be out there progressing with the trip , but sitting in a safe harbour and seen the heavy weather pass over is far more comfortable. So sit we did , and wait.