http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_africa
Currency South African Rand
(ZAR)
AU$1.00 = 8.50 South African
Rand (ZAR)
I arrived at Richards Bay,
South Africa at around 0200 am Monday October 15. I attempted to find the International
Jetty with the yellow bollards with out success. I was too tired to manoeuvre
the boat in tight spaces. I tied up to a floating jetty and went to sleep. In
the morning I was called up by the Tuzi Gazi marine manager . I explained that
I had arrived late and could not see where I was supposed to tie up to. Port
Control was called to enquire about the arrival of Immigration officers and
that the boat was in Tuzi Gazi not on the International jetty. The Immigration
officer arrived at midday. I filled out the forms and was told that I had to go
to town to the Customs office in town. I took a taxi to Customs 55.00 Rand
($6.00). More forms to fill and was told that I was permitted a maximum stay of
6 months in South Africa. If extended I would be required to pay import duty on
the boat.
After clearing Customs I
walked to the Richards Bay Boadwalk Mall and back into the 21st century,
frenetic with glitzy commercialism and marketing. Christmas was already more
than in evidence. My first thought was take me back to the simplicity of
Madagascar.
After 2 nights at Tuzi Gazi
Marina I moved to the more quiet Zululand Yacht Club, or so I thought. With all
the pubs and restaurants around the marina it can get quite noisy. It was
wonderful to have a long hot shower after so many months washing in sea water. I
had a lengthy list of jobs to do on the boat.
The AIS dilemma and rant.
I sent Comar an email to
enquire about my AIS unit not working. I was under whelmed with their response. I'll take the
responsibility for not doing enough
research for a reliable unit with adequate overseas support. Based on the
limited use and customer support I would not recommend a Comar unit to anyone
wishing to travel far from support centres. An expensive mistake.
At the end of October,
shortly after Hurricane Sandy ripped through the US east coast, the east coast
of South Africa copped a nasty storm with winds around 50 knots and seas to 9
metres. Any yachts that were not in port were advised to find good shelter for
several days. Twelve yachts had to shelter in Inhambane, Mozambique for 2 weeks waiting out the storm. At
Zululand Yacht Club conditions were wet and very windy. A newly arrived neighbouring
US boat had a noisy Air-x wind generator which varied between howling and
roaring all night during the storm. It emitted a terrifying roaring noise when
the winds exceeded 30 knots. Apparently, a bird had flown into it and the blades
were no longer balanced and I should think the bird no longer.
At the start of November
Sadiqi and I departed Zululand Yacht Club and headed back to Tuzi Gazi and the
"Wall". Sadiqi was tied along side "Avalera". It is not
very often one gets access to free water and electricity. The affable Lindsay
on "Avalera", from Australia, had been living on his for two years.
Shortly after returning near
the Tuzi Gasi marina International yachts started to arrive in droves. Listed
below is just a few of the yachts that have made it westwards across the Indian
Ocean in 2012 to South Africa, some yachts went straight to Durban.
- Tagish
- Majombo
- Lovina
- Cat Mousses
- Mariposa
- Leto
- Cats Paw 4
- Emily Grace
- Daemon
- Celtic Avenger
- Erica
- Orca
- Mr Curley
There was also a World ARC
Rally of around 25 boats that arrived in Richards Bay around the middle of
November.
The crew, Claude arrived
from Malaysia. I had met Claude and her husband Nelson on their yacht Black
Swan in Sumatra in 2010. Claude, for some insane reason had asked to accompany
me to sail the South African East coast.
