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Celebrate - Extended stop over in Durban



Our 'short' stop in Durban lasted almost a week- Wednesday to Monday waiting for a suitable weather window to head further South. It became clear shortly after we arrived that it was not going to be a quick turn around so we with the other 6 storm bound World ARC boats made the most of it catching up with boat jobs and exploring what turned out to be a delightful city.

The marina is right in the centre of the city with a dramatic backdrop of the high rise business district. The marina facilities are jointly owned by the local yacht clubs, including the Point Yacht Club and the Royal Natal YC. We enjoyed both club's hospitality; our arrival coincided with regular Wednesday night sailing in the harbour. We were even invited to join in but were happy to just watch and join the locals in the club afterwards and the PYC's club supper. Not wishing to show favoritism and making good use of our temporary membership of both clubs we also tried out the RNYC enjoying an enormous Sunday buffet lunch. The marina staff have been extremely helpful making our stay here a very pleasant one.

Our gourmet tour of Durban extended beyond the marina and one evening with Sandra, Tom and Alex from Sweet Pearl we visited a new local restaurant called Moyo built out on the beach. It specialized in local cuisine, including ostrich, kudu and chakalaka ( a spicy vegetable dish)There was lots of entertainment thrown in, we got our faces painted and treated to traditional singing and dancing and some not so traditional.

To understand the local geography we took an open top bus ride through the historic parts of the city and out to the leafy suburbs and the new development sites including the dramatic football stadium built for the World Cup. To work off some the calories Peter also took a walking tour of many of the architectural treasures of the city. Durban formerly Natal (because it was discovered by Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day) is known as the Garden City and is full of historic parks and squares, new development also appears to respect this tradition. There are some great examples of Victorian and Art Deco architecture and well curated museums recount the city's development and the horrors of Apartheid. There is still evidence where the Indian and African races were segregated from the whites and Peter's excellent guide Judith filled in many gaps in his knowledge of the period. Ghandi practiced law in Durban and there are monuments to his involvement in fighting for the civil rights of it's inhabitants.

So after city dwelling for a while we are now back out at sea heading down the coast. Celebrate is sailing within sight of land about 10 miles off to make optimum use of the favorable Agulhas current which runs down the whole coast. An added advantage is we get a rolling picture of the changing South African landscape and have just sailed past a waterfall cascading into the ocean.

We hope to now head straight for Cape Town but some adverse weather forecast may dictate another stopover- not much of a hardship!

Charlie, Cathy and Peter



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