East African sailing trip – log 5
SAILING LOG5
July 2, 2004
John from the “big white House” offers to take us for a ride in his motor-boat to Inhambane. Before we leave, I go for a ride to a local village on the quad bike with a friend to buy prawns. It is quite an experience as we go at full speed, flying over bumps and into potholes, around coconut trees, and through little settlements with me bouncing on the back carrier holding on for dear life, knuckles white in a vice grip.
We spend the afternoon in Inhambane- the 2nd oldest town in Mozambique; a quaint but extremely run-down remnant of a thriving, beautiful old town, built by the Portuguese, Wonderful architecture lying in ruin, superb buildings now derelict and dilapidated..
The statue of Vasco da Gama its founder, once situated in the prominent town square is now hidden in an obscure alley amongst the rusting bodies of scrap cars and buses. We experience a bit of hostility from a local until John gabbers away to him in Portuguese, suddenly his stern face breaks into a grin and I realize how important it is to speak the local language wherever one travels.
We are not able to buy fuel in Inhambane and have to ride over to the opposite side of the bay to the town of Maxixe (pronounced Mashish) by the time we arrive it is high-tide and a serious shore breaker prevents us from leaving the boat to explore. Instead John sends his assistant ashore and he carries the jerry-cans to the fuel station. This island living is not all easy.
July 3, 2004
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Definitely worth the wait! John even bakes scones which are thickly spread with yummy jam. Someone once told me that when we finally go cruising we will lose weight… hum not at this rate.
Wolf offers to take a look at the motors on his ski-boat. They too seem to have a fuel starvation problem. We stay ashore to watch the Springboks play Wales and a wonderful day passes too quickly.
July 4, 2004
A SW between 15-20 kts is predicted for the next few days and is expected to reach us tomorrow. We decide to start looking for an alternative anchorage. We are in the middle of the channel and are safe there but it is very roly and we are affected by both the incoming and outgoing tides. A strong SW will cause even more discomfort.
We take the dingy and explore the lagoon. Unfortunately there are so many sand banks and the water is dirty; without a depth sounder it is almost impossible to estimate or pick a spot.
Hennie invites us to join him for a ride on his barge with his family who are visiting him at the building site. We are going up the lagoon to thevillage of Morrenbene. Wolf takes the GPS and marks off some waypoints. Sadly his depth sounder is not working accurately so we can’t get information to help with a new anchorage.
Back at his campsite we buy 1.5kg of prawns for approximately R35.00 and 2 small grass baskets from Sandra, Hennie’s local cook.