Hello Everyone, from the bottom of Africa!
We are once again on the move, having left East London last night. This time, we should make it to Mossel Bay, on the coast along the bottom of Africa, before the next SW front comes through. There is a pretty big swell out here today and we are being tossed around like a cork in a bathtub! We have lashed our sails down as best we can but everything is still banging around.
We had an interesting time in East London yesterday. We went to the port police station to hand in our voyage forms which have to be sent to Port Control before we can leave harbour. We found two elderly white policemen there (few and far between now) and we asked them if we could get out of the port to go for a walk. They said it was far too dangerous and they would give us a lift to the beachfront for our walk. They told us to hop into the back of their bakkie (a ute or pickup for our Ozzie and USA people) and they would give us a lift. I asked if it was legal to ride in the back of a bakkie in South Africa and they said “No but it is OK if you are being given a lift by the police!” Off we went, they dropped us at the beach and said they would be back in an hour to pick us up. They duly arrived one hour later, we hopped in the back and then they asked us if we would like to see how the city centre has changed since we were last in Port Elizabeth. They then proceeded to take us on their rounds to all the seedy parts of town. It was quite an eye opener – street vendors everywhere, selling fruit & veg., sunglasses, doing shoe repairs on the pavement... and mountains of garbage on the street corners. It looks as if the garbage has not been collected for a month but apparently the sidewalk is now regularly used as a dumping ground. The garbage flows into the gutters and onto the streets.
We are now making our way along the bottom of South Africa and after our next stop we round Cape Agulhas. I am quite excited about that – our first southern cape!
Love and hugs
Arti and Dimitri.
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