East African sailing trip – log 46

SAILING LOG46

October 6, 2004

By morning Wolf is still feeling weak, but considerably better than he was.

He has decided to stay and watch the boats and takes the 3 of us ashore.

Kilindini is a port town which comprises a small market, and a hand-full of shops as well as a few street vendors and stalls.

Denise and I have seen the cleverly crafted square ‘masekes’ grass mats which are woven by the women of Mafia Island and promptly set off in pursuit of them.

With our treasure securely under our arms we head to the market for fresh produce. I buy bananas, tomatoes and a big papaya.

It is a steep walk up the hill to the port captain’s office, where we go in search of the immigration officer who will issue us with our transire.

The port captain wants to charge us harbour fees because our yachts are anchored there, but Rhett indicates that “we no understand … speaka English” he kept saying, adding “where is customs office, we see customs officer?”

The Port Captain points to another building and we hurry out and with transire  (A permit given to a coasting vessel by a customs as “rite of passage” through their waters – in Tanzania it is necessary every time we leave one harbour heading for the next ) papers in hand heading back to the yachts and sailing out of the harbour before the Port Captain has a chance to blink his eyes.

We know that we are in the right and there was no harbour fees due because we are not docked against their jetty and are only transiting through the harbour. He is chancing his luck and hoping we are ignorant of the rules.

We move our boats around the point to the wonderfully peaceful Kirongwe Bay – Wolf is feeling a lot better – the guys try fishing for Lula (calamari) but luck is not with them.

It rains for 10 minutes and we are able to catch 20 liters of fresh water before turning in for a peaceful restful calm night.