We had a wonderful time at the party at the Zululand Yacht Club for the ARC people and the members of the Yacht Club. There were lots of prizes for all the classes of boats and guessing the correct time of arrival of the boats. They had a dung spitting competition, Zulu dancers who were fantastic and live music and dancing. The food was in great supply too. A real South Africa barbecue with steaks, sausages, chicken, carrot and pineapple salad and lots more. We all had a wonderful time and felt very welcomed and honored. Almost all the ARC folks spent some time on the dance floor. WE all got awards for crossing the Indian Ocean. All in all a good time was had by all!Thanks to everyone who made it possible.
Today we had a taxi ride to downtown Richard's Bay and around the waterfront. We saw some monkeys along the way. The driver called them naughty monkeys since they will attack if you try to feed them. There are lots of Crocs in the surrounding waters and lagoons. We were able to get some shopping done and go to a hardware store too. They even had a large mall nearby which we didn't visit.
Tomorrow a group of us will go on a day safari. It should be nice to get out of the marina and see some of the wildlife. They have lots of birds here too. One breed is called a nester bird who make these little birdhouse looking nests right up in the trees. They are a colorful yellow and are very talented in their weaving abilities up in the trees.
We got back and replaced our sailing sheets for the jib and the mainsail. They were about ready to break after all the hard use of this last year.Bill changed the oil in the engine and I was able to put some new rainprotector on the bimini and dodger. It was all becoming a little too wet and leaking through too much on the last rains of the Indian Ocean.
We finished off today with a fondue party at Chessie. Think we will have an early night and get ready for the safari which starts early in the morning. Looks like we may be able to have a good weather window starting on Saturday. We hope to get as far toward Cape Town as we can get.
Our new date of Nov. 22 is looming closer for our visit back home.
Rosemary, Bill, and Matt