The Navigating Nomads: 2011

Departing sunny Cape Town the 4 of us – Gary (the captain), Jens (pronounced Yentz) and us – were in high spirits. The weather was perfect, the wind was good and the swell was calm – or so we thought. A few miles from land and with Table Mountain in our rear view mirror the sea was anything but calm. Bobbing up and down, to and fro, side to side and every which way the inevitable sea sickness set in for Lloyd and eventually discovered that the only way he could feel slightly human is by laying flat on his back.

12 days on and we had reached St Helena, well when I say reached I mean came within a couple hundred nautical miles of the remote little island in the middle of the Atlantic. Up until that point it had been cold and miserable – night watches which lasted 3 hrs were very unpleasant to say the least but as we edged further north it became warmer as the days wore on. We got brave and decided to put some line out and get some sushi (Tuna). We did after just about 3 hours of the line being out. We thought we would be eating fish the entire way if this was how easy it was to catch them. Well to our MASSIVE disappointment that fat Tuna was the one and only fish we would be enjoying besides canned tuna. The lines that Gary unfortunately brought with fell victim to 4 different (we assumed) barracuda and were munched through. So we had lost all our fishing lures and hooks half way up North Brazil.

When we finally started reaching the coast of Brazil the sea became calmer and weather warmed up quickly. We were finally spending our free time lying on the roof of the boat in the sun reading and relaxing. Water was such an incredible blue. Arriving at the Equator was the best day of the trip. As we got there we were welcomed by a huge pod of dolphins, who raced and swam in front of us while we lay on the nets in the front of the boat. Our faces just a meter or so away from them.. Most incredible experience. They proceeded to come play by the nets at sunset a couple times which was somewhat comforting having some company out there in the vast blueness. As fast as they would arrive to accompany us they would just disappear suddenly so I am convinced they were phantom dolphins. We also stopped at the equator and had a swim in the beautiful calm warm sea which was fun and probably something we will only ever get to experience once in our lives.

Another strange and VERY common sight were flying fish. They are the strangest little things I have ever seen and when you have been at sea for 30 days they start looking like little fairies flying around. They come out of the water at such a speed and fly across the sea like a bird then when they are done they slam head first back into the water. A couple times one would, unluckily out of the entire ocean, come up and headbutt itself to death on the boat. I did my good deed and on one of my night watches saved one that landed on the back of the boat – even though I kicked it off as I couldn’t get a decent grip on its wriggling tail. So I like to think that it survived the lethal skop from me.

The much anticipated land sighting finally appeared before our eyes in the early hours of the morning. We finally reached a huge milestone of the trip when we sailed past Barbados and entered Caribbean waters. Lit up in all its glory stood the mountainous island which we soon discovered was what most of the islands look like here in the Caribbean. They are huge dramatic looking islands. Green and breathtaking. Gary had to drop a potjie pot at Dominica but we could only moor off the island and couldn’t actually step onto land yet. Little bit of torture but we had a beautiful swim and a huge bonus was the couple that came to fetch their pot brought some beers, fried chicken and freshly picked bananas. We were in heaven. After setting sail again things started to get a bit horrid. Unlike any of us pictured the Caribbean to be, the sea was rough and the wind was howling. Waves broke over us and it really was the most unpleasant part of the trip and all we could do is batten down the hatches and count the 1 and a half days we had left until we reached the calm sheltered island of our final destination – the British Virgin Islands.

Approaching Dominica Island

Sailing into the Virgin Islands was so exciting and even though it was dark the islands looked spectacular. We navigated our way through the mountainous islands that were brightly lit with little coves filled with yachts. As we came into Tortola the hills were covered with houses that had their Christmas lights up and looked all homely. I had a small moment of being home sick seeing the first bit of Christmas spirit but wow we had just come 6000nm across the Atlantic Ocean, 36 days at sea and were sailing into a beautiful island in the Caribbean. All seemed very surreal and both Lloyd and I had permanent smiles smeared across our faces. What an adventure we have ahead of us.

TORTOLA

We were docked at this quaint little waterfront, the water was crystal clear and pleasantly warm at all times, there was a nice restaurant a couple meters from us with an outside bar.

On our 2nd day there we hired a car and explored this Island full of culture and beauty. The one cove we found was full of tourists and we lay there on the beach, sipping on a local rum cocktail - we thought it couldn’t get any better. Well we were VERY wrong - we stumbled upon a quiet beach with fun little waves and after chatting a South African lifeguard there he lent Lloyd and I a board each and we got to surf tropical Caribbean waves. It was an all round perfect day.

We wish we could have stayed in Tortola longer but unfortunately it was too expensive for us – with everything being in Dollars our Rands don’t convert very well.

Tortola where we were moored

Cane Garden Bay - rum cocktails on beach

Tortola's little gem - our surf spot (it was bigger than this pic shows ha)

ONWARDS TO THE US of A

This morning we hopped on the local ferry to the US Virgin Island St Thomas. Once we arrived we went through a small chilled out US customs and got stamped in for 6 months. Definitely beats going through airport customs. We the got a taxi to airport and flew a VERY quick 20min flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we are currently sitting on a hard tiled floor under a phone box as this is the only place we can get the Starbucks wifi with a powerpoint. We have to Kill 10 hours until our flight to Fort Lauderdale.