Cleone - CLEONE - Richards Bay to Durban

We left Richards Bay at 6am and arrived in Durban at 11pm last night (2100 GMT)

 

After our big welcome in Richards Bay, we slept long and hard.  For some reason, however long or short, a sailing leg always seems to leave the Skipper with a big gap in his total of sleep.  However, making up the gap takes a few days until land-based sleep patterns become familiar once more.  As usual, there was a list of tasks to do to make Cleone ship-shape, and there were, inevitably, parties and the prize-giving, where Cleone scooped a second prize for the leg.  This was pleasing, but once again Windflower was worryingly in first place!

 

Once we settled in, the Norfy's Tours machinery slipped smoothly into gear.  Alex took off with his friends from Strega for a two-day tour of the nearby Game Park, whilst Chris and the Skipper settled for a day tour.  The tours delivered all that had been promised of them, though Norfy and the Skipper did not manage to see lions.  But the great numbers of rhino and giraffes just wandering around and doing their rhino and giraffe things was a rare privilge that more than made up for it.  As the time to leave got near, the final treat (if that's the right word) was spotting numbers of vultures circling high above us.  Turning off the main road, we came to a spot on a ridge high above a little valley.  And in the bottom was the long-dead carcass of a rhino, which was being torn to pieces by dozens of these ugly birds.  It was fascinating to watch them circling down from up high, before making an up-wind approach and curling their wings and stalling before thumping down on a little knoll just near the feast.  It was also interesting to see the protocol; after squabbling over their meal, once full, the vultures retired to another near-by area to make way for others.  There they could be seen preening their feathers and gossiping whilst digesting the delicious morsels of smelly, decayed rhino.  Pleasantries exchanged, they staggered off back into the air, wings flapping vigourously whilst they struggled to gain flying speed and altitude.  These birds are ungainly on the ground, and their table manners are poor.  But once aloft, they are wonderful, graceful fliers who can soar to great heights from which they are reputed to be able to spot carrion from tens of kilometres.

 

Richards Bay itself palled, even in the few days we were there.  There is no real town centre - it is just a series of random suburbs.  Besides the excellent Yacht Club and very helpful chandlery, everything else is a difficult-to-find taxi ride away.  But Customs and Immigration came to find us, and nobody could have been more helpful than our hosts.  Ten of us set off early yesterday morning (Kealoha and Faraway had already left to go direct to Cape Town) to sample our first taste of the famed Agulhas Current.  Some of us stood out to sea to find the current proper, some stayed in close and some (like us) took a middle path.  Those who had gone out into the current proper won hands down - they carried 3 knotsof it nearly all the way!  So there was a good lesson learnt.

 

We will now wait in Durban until Quasar catches up with us, hopefully in a couple of days or so, and then cruise in company around the coast to Cape Town.  Needing to get to Cape Town early, Norfy has left us temporarily to hitch a lift with Andante, where he will find himself in the interesting position of being the youngest on board!  In his stead, Marcel from Gray Lady is now providing Cleone with some very welcome expertise and muscle, and so despite a few engine hours and some lumpy seas, Alex's final short leg with Cleone was an easy and happy experience.  On Sunday Alex's plane leaves for the USA.  We will miss him for all sorts of reasons - his easy and erudite company, his humour and tolerance, his best endeavours to educate us (though you still can't teach old dogs new tricks), his sheer hard work, and of course, his fabulous cooking. 

 

All is well with us, and best wishes to everyone.