Just Cruizin On Bluemoon

Log 65

3.2.1 and we were off! The rain came pouring down which was such a relief from being roasted earlier in the day, while doing the last of the washing and cleaning up? and rain it did!

We loosed the bow lines and headed out of Telaga so excited waving at all on the ferry coming in. We had decided to spend a day or two at Pantae Tepor which is a little island close by? just to catch our breath and chill out a little.. the ocean was up and very bumpy yet all were just so happy to be out and sailing?. Such a refreshing moment! We anchored instead of taking up a buoy ?.remembering the last steel buoy we picked up? and what a great and wonderful day we all had! It was just brilliant! We were all talking loud, shouting, laughing and just messing around as no-one could hear us which was just great and we were all feeling the joy of having that kind of freedom again!! Jess made one hang of a delicious curry which went down so well! (Looks like we are all addicts to hot food since the start of our trip!)

We all headed for bed while John and I decided on sleeping in the cockpit as the seas had picked up and we were now really rocking and rolling and slamming! It was hang on or go flying! Been quite a while since we experienced that?The wind was up to 28 knots peaking 30 but steadily staying on 28. We were starting to drag a little yet weren?t that worried as we had a lot of space around us, yet we keep alert. We got out our cockpit cushion seats and our cockpit pillows which Justine and I made all in one day two days ago, which looks and feels great, then all got snug while John and I chatted over a good cuppa when I looked behind him under the bimini side flap and saw just pitch black coming our way and at a speed? John and I then jumped up throwing everything into the saloon, when we heard a rumbling growing into a mighty roar! OOOooooohhhhh!! The wind! Next thing we looked and felt like we were taking off! The flaps were up like a sail! What a feeling!! Justine and Jono were in the cockpit in a flash? then came the rain and boy did it pour down! We had to check, as it sounded like hail!! It was soooo exciting! That sound the wind makes is like a distant roar which just gets louder and louder! After about half and hour the squall passed and things settled down leaving us with just the rain so John and I slept in the saloon in case our anchor alarm went off, needless to say we were up all night, opening then closing hatches because of the rain stopping and starting? not having solar power as we had a lightening pulse melt the regulator?.so we did not want to switch the cabin fans on, keeping a watch on the power, when we finally caught a few winks it was time to get up again?. Whew!! How blessed we are to have coffee!

After French toast for breakfast, the kids got stuck into school work while John read and I went onto the trampolines to read and suntan.  It was real nice having a quite little spot being on our own for a while without people, or noise or company ? (except ourselves) and we all needed that! Though that did not last long? everyone moseyed onto the trampolines in no time lazing around, chatting, reading and just relaxing?and just enjoying the rocking and rolling. This went on for the whole afternoon, even when we finally went back to the cockpit - only the rocking and rolling became harder and harder! It was either throw out double anchor or leave as the swells were growing and we were directly abeam of them, so we lifted anchor and set off in extremely rough seas that so reminded us of SA.

We put out a sail ? which was wonderful ?swells grew bigger.. we were slamming and surfing like second to none while I was hanging on trying to get some good pics. To our horror, my computer bumped off the table onto the floor along with the extra hard drive! Everyone was flying around trying to catch and steady things from flying around the saloon and galley all the while I was snapping away and was blessed amidst the chaos to see a pod of dolphins swimming near the boat to which everyone came to enjoy!

We were all so happy to see Telaga bay! We prepared out double anchor which is Jono and my job and were only to happy to deploy it knowing that we would all sleep well that night. The rain came down again and the swells still running through the bay but at a better angle, the wind back to a consistent 28 knots. The kids went ashore to get KFC which was such a wonderful change for us all. And so the next few days were high swells, raining and school work, so we could not get much done besides relax, read and drink coffee.

When the weather cleared up some, we found we were being ripped off hiring a bike from here so resorted to hiring a car for 10 R an hour when we needed it? been waiting for the tidal change so we could beach blue moon to take the prop off and see if we could fix her, while trying to find a spare one though in these parts is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Exchanged our gas bottles, got some supplies and tried to find a machine shop we could take our prop to. Going down South, we will need our solar panels working and have both our props working in astern as the current rips through there! Yet for some reason we have had such a time with things going wrong! LOL Guess it is a yachties life? We had a small Sumatra come through here and were so thankful for our double anchor as we would have had a real big problem re anchoring with only one motor in strong winds?.

Being back on anchor is just so wonderful, we are all just loving the freedom and appreciating the benefits! Even the lugging of jerry can?s for diesel and water. Diving and swimming again in our back yard again is such a blessing!

Another glorious day and so much to do! Also being so hot here, we have become addicts to there local drink ?Milo ice? which is just so refreshing!

We all spent the day after school knee boarding and wake boarding then all went for sundowners on the beach with some great yachties. We met South Africa?s very 1st SA surfer to be recognised in our country, Ron and his wife Wendy. A nice French guy, Kevin from a tri, and Mark, Rachel, Aaron and Nemara from s/v ?Glavar? who were heading off to Indonesia to do some surfing. Had a really great evening!

We had planned to take blue moon on the sandbank, again, to take her s/b prop off so we could sleeve it, but as usual we were so busy we forgot to scope the area out and so spent the day waiting for the tide to go out so we could do the inspection and postpone till the next day.

We met up with PFM, John and Sheila who had just got back from a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, and he kindly lent us his spare prop which we put on when we went onto the sandbank, which was such a big help and what a difference it made!

Spent the day catching up with all the school paperwork and records! Whew! What a lot of work that was! Kids have really been working real hard especially as they want to have fun! And fun they had when on fathers day, which we had no clue was fathers day, their friends Zaid, Amanda, Fakreece, and Zaool came over to fish, knee and wake board, and boogie boarding, and swimming spending a wonderful day having fun? braai-ing the fish they caught on the beach and just totally chilling?.enjoying their time together yet all were sunburned and very tired at the end of the day. Amanda and Fakreece borrowed us their car which we used to get some spares from Kuah. What a moment of luxury! LoL. So we all had a great and full day, except for the acknowledgement of fathers day!

Yet no worries as we got to celebrate Easter early and so enjoyed two Easter weekends! Next Sunday will be our fathers day where we will have even more time to spoil him rotten!! He soooooo deserves it! And with that everyone just accepted the date had just changed?.

We lifted anchor and had a great sail to Kuah - making it easier to get a bike and find the places needed for all the work that we needed doing.

Frustratingly it seems no-one does milling around here! We have been driving from place to place?seeing if anyone could help, yet it is no official no one can!! We managed to get the solar panels working then POP yet again and so we took days changing everything? framed all four panels, and rewired everything right down to the disconnect switch which works brilliantly!

We were all so thrilled to see the biggest remora yet under our hulls!! These fish suck onto the hull and travel with you!! We fed them as we had two and even managed to catch one yet put her back as they become your pets! So all are just so happy to have some action by the sugar scoops!

So all have been busy with the prop, solar panels and painting of the galley and heads? being blessed with all the thunderstorms we have had lately, early in the morning or early evening halting our work every day? though being a yachties means water is more important and so we spend some time having fun catching as much as we can.

So our plans have been halted yet again going down South? starting to think we have been getting a very big sign here??? Yet no worries? another milo ice gives us something to smile about.

The whole family have gotten into a routine of doing two full hours after school doing chores and maintenance fixing what we can which has been quite enjoyable actually and very helpful as we have been slashing that long list of ours down? though very thirsty work!!

Will be heading back to Telaga in the next few days to put our prop back on and see if the little work we did on it works? if not then we will order the props and wait till we can properly sleeve the faulty one?

What a glorious moment for our family!! Sanyati is going sailing again!!!! We are just so excited that we can hardly wait!!! They will be sailing in around end of Sep/Oct? and we certainly will be here!! Though we will go down South to meet up with our dear friends TY Armor  whom we miss so much and who have flown home to Mauritius and then head back here to meet up with Sanyati, Al, Sue, Ian and Adam and spend one more season here with them going to Thailand then continue heading down South to Singapore, Borneo and onto the islands before reaching Australia and New Zealand? though we want to do an inland trip somewhere in between to Bangkok, Cambodia and Vietnam. Seems like a trip all the yachties do and we have been advised to do it.. So that too has us doing research and staying in high spirits!

The girls and I headed off to do some shoe  window shopping as Justine has been looking for a pair of shoes for her 18th Birthday coming up this year!!

18th!!! Cannot believe it! Yet we are all just so excited for her? and so we had a wonderful time trying on and looking at shoes that cost 400 R! Not when you are sailing? though I have my eye on a pair of stunning boots that are high all the way up to the thigh? mmmm.. John does like them too!    

We landed up buying two pairs of shoes each for only 3R a pair!!!

Had a really great and wonderful time.. Met up with Jono at the skate park and headed back slowly along the narrow pavement when we all got side tracked and were watching the men from mosque washing their feet in a section we had not see before, next thing Justine walks head first into a pole and everyone turns to look as the sound was shocking!!!! She is fine praise the Lord!!! Just a slight blue eye and a nice headache! Though we all laughed all the way back to the boat remembering the scene!

We had provisioned a bit and were ready to lift anchor (double) when Jono went to check the motors and oil before starting up? for some reason we just cannot understand why we seem to be kept here? Jono noticed our alternator housing cracked right off!!!  The pumps just stopped working? and now the S/B water dribbles out?. LOL! What can one say?A good cuppa while we lift anchor and sail off the Telaga yet again to now see if our prop works.. We had a great sail, dropped anchor close to shore, and chilled for the whole afternoon, and the whole of the next day, then took blue moon out onto the sandbank - that is always fun!! We swim, cartwheel and mess around cleaning her hulls till the water goes out - Jono always checking out the island and jumping off the bows? this time he got me to jump off though instead I grab the bridle rope while my foot is in Jono?s hand to steady me when he stumbles and here I go sliding down the rope! LOL Would not have been so funny if it was covered in barnacles? yet a lot of fun was had and finally the prop went back on while John from PFM who borrowed us his spare came to visit which was nice and to give us garlic. I managed to get my John into work mode and we finished the swim ladder and handles which took all afternoon? the sun was going down! Now that was such a relief for all of us! And being Monday night and my cooking day, we all celebrated a wonderful evening with KFC! Came off the sand bank after 10 pm - noted that the prop had a mind of its own and did not work? so dropped anchor (we always use double anchor in this season) had a shower and hit the bed sunburned and exhausted!! Tomorrow was another day?.

Been working on the continually added to list jobs? our disconnect switch on the wall which has such easy access is just wonderful and has been used a good few times since putting it in for the solar panels against lightening!! So that works!! Just need to have some sun so we can see the 34 amps coming in instead of all the clouds!! LoL Just when we finished with the panels and everything was done, in rolled the dark clouds and for 4 days now we have not been able to see the results!! hehehe

Sorted the pumps out and put a float switch in and VOILA they work!! Water seems to flow freely now so have no idea what happened there?. GOSH!! The list has got so small!! Wow!

We are all excited that we don?t have too much to do, yet remember it is not as easy as you knowing where all the shops you need are? you have to hunt them out!! And they work a little differently here too.. which we still don?t always get right!!

Fridays are like their Sundays and yet a lot of shops are open, except the ones we want open? and Sundays most shops are open except some?

We have to fix the alternator? have it tig welded before we go and today is already the 8th. We have to be out in 20 days to get our visa?s renewed, and so have decided that we will order our props, fix the alternator, then head off to Phuket, Thailand for a while, then head back, get our props, take blue moon out again, fit the new ones, then head down to Singapore for a month or more then head back here to meet up with Sanyati and stay around Thailand and here again for one more season before continuing down South to Borneo and the islands around there onto Australia and then New Zealand? yet with the way things happens, who knows how the outcome will be? though we will keep you posted!

Will be heading back to Kuah within a day or two to stock up on supplies and get ready to head to Thailand?. Then we will be needing a nice holiday!.... and that too depends on more surprises...

Till the next log ... John, Jenny, Justine, Jessica and Jonathan