svbeachhouse

Author: kerrizane

  • Sakatia and off to HELLville……

    Sakatia and off to HELLville…..

    We first anchored at the small island of Sakatia just northwest of Nose Be. We\’d heard good things about one of the fishing lodges here and that they could help us with advice on how to check in. The owner of the lodge no longer lives there, but his immediate neighbors are Des and Nel of South African sailing yacht, \”Gambit\”.

    Nel and Des were most gracious and a wealth of information about not only checking in/out, but the strategy and tactics to get to South Africa. They\’ve made the trip six times in their 30 footer. They were all about how we were doing this the right way having avoided going to Mauritius. Des said that in the seven years he\’s listened on the Radio Nets, no one doing that trip had escaped getting weather whacked.

    After relaxing a day in Sakatia and having had a meal at the fishing lodge and the Sakatia Resort next door with Dave and Kathy on \”Sunflower\”, we bravely set off for the 14 mile trip to Hell-ville. It\’s named after a French Admiral Hell, btw! The anchorage was a bit bumpy during the day, but that night it calmed nicely. As we arrived, \”Romeo\”, one of the boat boys that Des said would come out, did indeed. The next morning, the four of us began the check in process with Romeo in tow.

    First stop immigration which was 30 feet from the dinghy dock. This is good!…NOT so much. After using my mediocre French, the official said to \”come back for your passports this afternoon at 5PM\”, or..\”maybe tomorrow\”! WAIT, said I, \”no official keeps passports\”. After going round and round, it was determined that the boss had to sign them. This necessitated taking a taxi WITH THE OFFICIAL to the airport where we found the \”Boss\”. She was very pleasant and clearly would have been upset if her subordinate did not have our passports signed before returning them. The airport is not very busy, but today it was, so she had to be there to issue visas to arriving tourists. After wasting an hour doing that, we next went to customs which was EASY. Then to the Port Captain, who refused to speak slowly, but I finally got that we were to make an itinerary of our expected travels, pay a fee and he would issue a Port Clearance and Cruising Permit. We were told to go pay at the next office, come back at 3 pm and it would be ready. We went to pay and the officer said, \”come back at 3 pm\”.

    Internet and phone were next and a nice lunch at \”Papillion\”. We went back at 3 pm, paid the equivalent of $30.00 dollars and went to pick up our permit. Again, we had to \”wait for the boss\”, but he showed up only 15 minutes later. We all felt kind of beat up after this days experience; kind of like we\’d been to \”Hell-ville\”, but at least it was done.

    I would say this was up there on the list of difficult check in\’s along with Fiji. No bribes were asked for or even implied by the way.

    We were so tired, we decided to fuel up the next day. It\’s quite hot here. The next day, Anatole, Des and Nel\’s favorite taxi driver showed up at the dock and we were inundated by \”boat boys\” who wanted to carry our empty fuel cans to his taxi to get a tip. More on this later! First, Anatole warned us, \”not all of the three gas stations will have fuel\”! We\’d been told that since the coup 3-4 years ago, fuel was now difficult to get.

    We found diesel at the second station at about $1.50/liter. That\’s about the same price as Australia, but expensive by US standards at about $5.80/gallon. The fuel looked pretty good and so our first load of 13 (5 gallon) jerry cans was taken aboard. The boat boys were all over it; I still had another run to go!

    After the second run, (Sunflower made two as well), we went to pay the boat boys. There was practically a fight and tears over who got paid and who was just trying to get paid. Eventually it was all sorted out. It\’s not that it was expensive so much as the unruly grief of dealing with all these guys. Romeo, (who is very young), was supposed to be in charge and tell us who got what. He quickly abdicated and Dave and I were left to decipher the entire mess. The dinghies have to be \”watched\” or they will disappear too. This is one of the poorest countries on Earth, the average salary is about $5.00/day. Hence, theft can be an issue.

    Welcome to Hell!..ville, next morning…we were off to Nose Komba!

    More later, Scott and Lemur seeking Nikki…..

  • POSITION REPORT

    YOTREPS: YES TIME: 2012/10/29 13:12 LATITUDE: 13-24.37S LONGITUDE: 048-17.04E MARINE: NO WIND_SPEED: 8 WIND_DIR: W CLOUDS: 40% VISIBILITY: 20 BARO: 1012.3 AIR_TEMP: 30.6C COMMENT: Beach House -ANCHORED- HELLville, Nose Be Island – Madagascar

    Check in tomorrow…..Now we can truly say, \”We\’ve been to Hell!\”…:-)

  • Eight Days a Week, Welcome to Madagascar!…..

    Eight Days a Week, Welcome to Madagascar!…..

    25 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere, +3 UTC)

    Dear F&F,

    Well we\’re here! 8 days, 10 hours and overall, a pretty nice trip. Friends Dave and Kathy on \”Sunflower\” should be here tomorrow afternoon and may be in for a blustery night according to the weather. There are two French boats here, both cats and French Flagged. The islands just to the West of here, Mayotte, Grand Comoro, Europa (and a few others) are actually part of the French Polynesian Department. The second language on Madagascar is French, the first is pronounced \”Malagash\” (Malay).

    The trip over the top was pretty good overall. Our strategy was to drop the spinnaker 5 miles before the point and take in a single reef in the main in case the winds accelerated at the point. They did slightly. It was good we dropped the spinnaker sooner than later as we had a winch over-ride and it took a few minutes to get it squared away. There were a few bumps at Ilot du Nord, but no too bad. We approached at about a 40 degree angle to the island from the south, picking up the very nice landmark of Cape Andre Lighthouse (just SE of Cap d\’Ambre). This kept us out of the current streaming over the top of the island from west to east. Our west going current was giving us a 2 knot push, which became a 1 knot shove when we got right to the very top. The adverse current stayed with us for about 3 more miles, but the seas were flat (no swell). The wind stayed strong at 20-28 knots and we blast reached down the back of the island with the single reefed main and staysail. The wind stayed with us the entire 40 miles to the anchorage, mostly from the port quarter. A few weird adverse currents, but again, no worries.

    We\’re pretty tired as I\’m sure you can imagine, so we wanted to stop in the lovely Andranoamby Bay and get rested tonight. We\’ve 65 miles to go tomorrow if we push on all the way to Sakitia Island; a resort island next to Nose Be. There is a restaurant/bar and advise on \”checking in\”. As this is a very poor country and very third world, we have to be prepared for implied bribes. We shall see.

    So, \”we\’re here\”….write us,

    KIT, Scott and Navigator Nik…..

  • POSITION REPORT

    YOTREPS: YES TIME: 2012/10/25 05:50 LATITUDE: 11-56.63S LONGITUDE: 049-15.67E COURSE: 270T SPEED: 8.5 MARINE: NO WIND_SPEED: 23 WIND_DIR: SE CLOUDS: 30% VISIBILITY: 20 BARO: 1015.6 AIR_TEMP: 23.9C COMMENT: Beach House -En-ROUTE- Chagos to Madagascar – Rounded the \”Top\” – Cap d\’Ambre, Madagascar

  • At The \”Top\”, Cap d\’ Ambre, Madagascar…..

    At The \”Top\”, Cap d\’ Ambre, Madagascar…..

    25 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere +3 UTC)

    Dear F&F,

    Land Ho! at 5:30 local time, we spotted several hills ashore on Northern Madagascar from about 25 miles away. We\’ve flown the spinnaker all night and it was a lovely night and sail. The winds were from behind us at 14-18 knots, the seas smooth and we\’re zinging along.

    I noticed the lights of Diego Suarez (Antsiranana) about 40 miles out and have heard one radio conversation this morning on the VHF; a first in the last 1500 miles. We did 176 miles yesterday and actually had to motor for 2 1/2 hours as we lost the wind for awhile. Steadily, it came back all day and into the night.

    Our plan is to sail up to about five miles from the top (all things permitting!) and drop the spinnaker. We\’ll see if the main should then be furled or not? We will motor around the top as to have easy and quick maneuverability. We\’ve been told there can be two strong currents meeting there and cause standing waves. As the conditions have been pretty benign these last few days, this may not be the case. The suggestion has been to stay very close to the shore and get around as quickly as possible. The other side may or may not have wind, but the seas should be flat. The entire West Coast of Madagascar is very shallow a long way out toward the Mozambique channel. We\’ll have to keep an eye on our track and the depth sounder.

    Our next report should be from the west side of the island and I may do another blog later in the day after we\’ve rounded.

    We\’ll speak with \”Sunflower\” later today to give them a report; email if the radio propagation isn\’t good. Nikki just got up to see Land Ho!….Ho, Ho, Ho!…

    KIT, Scott and Navigator Nik

  • POSITION REPORT

    YOTREPS: YES TIME: 2012/10/24 02:12 LATITUDE: 12-25.23S LONGITUDE: 052-43.48E COURSE: 266T SPEED: 5.5 MARINE: YES WIND_SPEED: 11 WIND_DIR: SE WAVE_HT: 0.0M WAVE_PER: 0 SWELL_DIR: SSE SWELL_HT: 1.5M SWELL_PER: 8 CLOUDS: 40% VISIBILITY: 15 BARO: 1014.4 AIR_TEMP: 25.0C COMMENT: Beach House -En-ROUTE- Chagos to Madagascar. Day 7 – 160 miles (195 to go to the top).

    Wind has dropped significantly, we\’ll most likely put the spinnaker up today to insure arrival during daylight tomorrow. An unexpected current slowed us markedly yesterday. C\’est la vie!

    Watching a low pressure system to our NNE. Looks like it will develop, then fizzle into the East Coast of Kenya/Tanzania…. New blog up soon….www.svbeachhouse.com

  • We\’re Getting Close…..

    We\’re Getting Close…..

    23 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    Last night was a beautiful sail. The seas at only 2 meters, long and pretty smooth. The wind has been around 17-20 knots just aft the port beam, but we\’re able to carry our genoa winged out to weather on the pole. We\’re starting to see lots of birds (getting close to land). I\’ve never seen more flying fish than on this trip. My first job of the day is to remove them from the deck. Yesterday, I had 10 to throw back.

    We just moved our clocks again to +4 on UTC (Greenwich); were getting closer in longitude to the Western European and US World\’s.

    Interestingly, I\’ve been able to listen to the Presidential Debates on the BBC!

    We\’ve 360 miles from the \”top\” of Madagascar, another 100 from there to where we\’ll check in at Nose Be (Big Island). The weather looks to be good and maybe getting a bit lighter from here to Madagascar. We should arrive on our Thursday morning and hopefully going around the top won\’t be too bumpy. The \”top\” has a notorious reputation for standing waves and big currents. The strategy for others who\’ve gone before us is to stay very close to the beach and get around quickly. The other side (West side), is supposed to be nice and calm. We shall see?!….

    Short blog today, not much to report other than the back to back 197 mile days. Day 6 run – 197 miles.

    KIT, Scott and Sleeping Celestial Navagatrix-Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT

    YOTREPS: YES TIME: 2012/10/22 02:04 LATITUDE: 12-01.36S LONGITUDE: 058-46.39E COURSE: 264T SPEED: 8.0 MARINE: YES WIND_SPEED: 23 WIND_DIR: SSE WAVE_HT: 0.2M WAVE_PER: 7 SWELL_DIR: SSE SWELL_HT: 2.5M SWELL_PER: 8 CLOUDS: 80% VISIBILITY: 10 BARO: 1015.5 AIR_TEMP: 24.4C COMMENT: Beach House -En-ROUTE- Chagos to Madagascar. Day 5 – 197 miles

    New blog posted at www.svbeachhouse.com Three days to the top of Madagascar an on to Nosy Be on the NE coast. Conditions are much improved over two days ago! KIT, Scott and Celestial Girl Nikki

  • POSITION REPORT

    YOTREPS: YES TIME: 2012/10/21 02:03 LATITUDE: 11-46.40S LONGITUDE: 062-07.66E COURSE: 269T SPEED: 7.8 MARINE: YES WIND_SPEED: 18 WIND_DIR: SE WAVE_HT: 0.2M WAVE_PER: 7 SWELL_DIR: SSE SWELL_HT: 2.8M SWELL_PER: 7 CLOUDS: 90% VISIBILITY: 10 BARO: 1015.3 AIR_TEMP: 23.9C COMMENT: Beach House -En-ROUTE- Chagos to Madagascar. Day 4, 178 nm

    Changed course to head for Cap d\’Ambre. Found a 1600 spot to pass over the Mascarene Bank Rain, all is well, now with the pole up, wind at 130 degrees on the port quarter.

  • Thoughts from the Mascarene Plateau…..

    Thoughts from the Mascarene Plateau…..

    20 October 2012 (Eastern Hemisphere)

    Dear F&F,

    As I begin this blog, it\’s 6:45 a.m. local time and I\’ve just had to wipe the spray from the cockpit off the keyboard! It\’s a bit \”boisterous\” out here…:-) We\’ve had two reefs in the main and the staysail up since sunset last night. We were just going too fast and jumping off waves. With the wind and sea then a bit forward of the beam, it was a bit of a \”Mr. Toad\’s Wild Ride\”, hence the small sail plan.

    Our southern strategy is now paying off. As the wind has risen to 18-26 knots, the seas have built and going as hard south as we were would now be very uncomfortable. It\’s still a bit wild, but much less so with the wind on the beam or a bit behind. In about 20 hours, we\’ll hit an intermediate waypoint at the Mascarene Plateau,(the big shallow area – which we will stay south of), and then head almost due west toward Cap d\’Ambre. The Cape of Amber (In English), is the northern most point of Madagascar. Our destination will be the Port of Hell-Ville (named after French Admiral Hell!). It\’s local name is Adonay. This is on the small island of Nose Be which means \”Big Island\”.

    We\’ve done about 192 nm, much more to Miss Piggy\’s usual standard. Once we turn the corner, we may be able to maintain these type of runs all the way to Madagascar.

    Yesterday was good sailing and notably, the current is with us and the sea state for the amount of wind we\’ve had is quite reasonable. We do get the odd 3.5 meter (11 foot) swell; they are sometimes close together.

    Noisy, bumpy, but quite manageable. The boisterous weather keeps the unwanted away too! We did see one AIS target yesterday; a freighter heading towards Diego Garcia. They were on a reciprocal course about 30 miles to our south.

    We\’ve been in contact with \”Sunflower\” in the afternoon\’s by HF radio; I suspect we\’ll be around 100 miles ahead of them on our late afternoon report?

    Not much else to report except Nikki is making sure via celestial navigation that our GPS is really correct…..:-) Don\’t leave home without it! Fresh stores are getting low, it will be good to get to a market when we arrive.

    KIT, Scott and Offwatch Celestial Girl (aka Nikki)