The last few days have been extremely frustrating, as we had no wind and our engine has decided it will NOT start. We made about 60 miles in two days with the wind that normally accompanies the rain clouds. (Our usual quota was 100 miles a day). We now have the trade winds back, and although they’re not very strong yet, they at least allow us to SEE the bubbles passing the boat on the water.
The lack of wind has given us the chance to swim though. We have now officially had three ‘middle-of-the-Atlantic-sea’ swims, and one dive! We’re probably not going to have any more, so it was fun while it lasted. The water is sooooo warm! At home I always feel a bit hesitant to just jump into the water, because I know that although I’m going to get used to the water, the initial shock of cold will be present. However, in these, lovely warm waters, I have no fear at all. =) Even with the dive – we went down with a shotline to about 15 metres at least – we only wore our costumes and the basic diving gear. No wetsuits – and I could have stayed down there for hours! (Okay – until the air in my cylinder ran out).
The night before last, we were just putting up our sails after having taken them down to deal with a bit of faulty tiller excitement, and the water was oily flat. No wind at all. So when my dad was at the front of the boat, he called us to bring a torch. There was a white thing floating in the water, and something big circling underneath it. As we were watching, the something big (obviously fish, not mammal) poked a long snout out of the water and came down on the bobbing white thing with a terrific splash. We believe it was a swordfish, as it continued to make these advances toward the innocent floating white blob. We think the white thing was a fish, or maybe a jellyfish? Anyway, eventually the swordfish ate it. It came out on its side (poor thing, it’s sword gets in the way) and made attempts to bite it. It had to have a few goes, though.
All that time we were watching the swordfish, our boat didn’t move, so we were able to see what was going on. It was quite close to the boat – what are the chances of that happening? Swordfish in the middle of the sea, surfacing and wacking the water . . . RiGHT next to the boat? It was really cool.
xXx
Jan 29
Joys of Sailing – by Marike
Jan 25
The forever crossing – by Karin Jnr.
Hi everyone, This crossing is taking forever but I can’t wait for it to be done though, we swam in the ocean which is sooo cool but it is very freaky at the same time if you stop to think that you can’t see any land and that your only hope to survive is the boat! But other than that it is very cool. Guess What!!!! It’s finely happened. I have finally grown a cm now. I am just as tall as Franci, although I do think that I am two mm taller. Now that we got our phones, entertaining myself has goten a whole lot easier. For now we can record movies and listen to them over and over again and since we only record the good ones, that means we know the pictures for the words pretty well -so it makes it very easy and fun at the moment. My collection is: Nemo, Shrek, Epic, Ratatouille, How to train your dragon, Monsters Inc., The little Mermaid, Brave, An American Tail, Aladdin, El Dorado, The sword in the stone, and Despicable me 2. There is still a lot to record but that is what I have so long. It is very entertaining the only problem is that I have started to quote the movies hopelessly too much.
School has started and for anybody that doesn’t know this already, I DON’T LIKE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!! And that is very true. I think I should add a few more exclamation marks. It does give you something to do all day, since my main priority is finding some way to do my school later, but I always do it eventually. It just makes the day more interesting cos you find lots of other things to do instead . For example: I have found a lovely place to lie and watch the sky while day dreaming. and one of my dad’s pants got a slit on the knee and it was bothering him so he cut it off and as a rubbish collector I got it and made myself a very basic glove. The type without the fingers and just a slit on the side to let my thumb out. I must say I like it a lot. The only problem is my sewing is not so good, so it is starting to fall apart. I better get a needle and some thread and fix it again or my mom will soon take it away from me. I take it off when I wash my hands and eat so it doesn’t drive my mom and sisters crazy. Once when we were all on deck and eating raisins and looking at the sunset I took it off cos raisins make my hands sticky and that means it’ll make my glove thingy sticky sooo I took it off and then I forgot to put it back on again. Franci and Sophia spotted it and hid it. Next morning I asked about it, thinking that maybe they would have seen it somewhere, as I forgot where I put it, or whether I did put it on again after the raisins. I was looking the other way so I did not see the glances my sisters made when they heard what I was after. Of course I wasn’t in a suspicious mood at first but when my mother told me about the glances I thought maybe Marike and Franci hid it. On questioning them I got truthful answers that made me think they weren’t guilty. Silly me. I did not suspect Franci and Sophia who hid it in the sputnik. They did give it back and told me the place of its concealment. Well, it was in the form of a riddle but I figured it out,
I totally agree with Franci on the visit to Neos. The only difference is that you should not look around to see if any grown-ups are looking displeased – you have to look around to see if any grown- ups are watching! They were such nice snacks too.
Jan 25
The art of eating and other things – by Franci
We are having trouble getting the engine to start, so we are basically at a standstill when there is no wind . . . just like it was this morning. So we took down all the sails we had up (which were just flapping around anyway), and went for a swim. All six of us this time.
The water was even clearer and flatter than last time. The sun rays constantly danced in the water and when you looked down they looked like long thin spears whose heads were thrust deep into the darker-blue haze beneath you. The water temperature is round about 28’C, so it was a bit like swimming in a bath, with deliciously cold water a meter or so below the surface for variation.
When swimming you can choose to do so with, or without flippers. Both is fun, because without flippers you feel more free, but with flippers you can swim faster and dive deeper. The swimming itself would have been no fun without the diving; swimming down into the water and then looking up at your family floating in mid-air on the water’s surface. It’s quite cool to swim until you are deeper than the boat, and also to swim underneath the boat (Although it can be advised to prepare a few seconds before doing this). There is a feeling of freedom when diving; with blue beneath and around me, and the red hull of Shang Du bobbing up and down in the water, reminding me of a toy boat.
My Dad swam down a couple of meters till he was deeper than the keel of the boat, and then he hung there. That was cool, because the water is really so clear, it was as if he was being suspended in clear liquid glass.
Just want to clarify something for you guys – not sure why Mom and Marike didn’t – but the conservatives of the first sea swim were the two Karins (my Mom and, well, Karin) and the rest of us were the radicals.
There is another thing I just want to make clear. I recently read Mom’s blog about our visit to the yacht Neos and I just want to point out that we did NOT wolf down the snacks! There is an art in eating snacks put out for both grown-ups and children, and although I admit that Sophia did not keep the rules of the art perfectly, she did not transgress so far either. The art consists mainly of taking only small amounts at a time, eating slowly and then making sure no grown-ups are looking displeased, taking some more. I think the reason this does not work for most children is because it takes quite a bit of patience and also grown-up attitude reading skills. For example: if you reach out to take another , um, cracker and you see your mother doesn’t look very pleased, but the hostess doesn’t seem to mind you can finish your cracker, wait your customary time plus a little bit more, and then take another cracker. If the hostess seems displeased (especially if it’s your mom), don’t take another cracker, in fact, it could be advised to completely vacate the premises for a few minutes and then see if it’s safe to come back. Also, it is a good idea to unnoticeably make sure the adults know that the snack supply is shrinking and thus they need to grab some.
I do not see any reason why I shouldn’t admit that at the end of the visit to Neos there were indeed no snacks left – and that I myself had a large part in their disappearance – for the simple reason that snacks are there to be eaten and NOT to be a decoration and the grown-ups had plenty of time to take more before it was all finished.
Phew! It will appear that my blog entries are rather prone to growth spurts, how they ever managed it I’m not sure. See? Just this paragraph has already made it grow another centimetre!!
Jan 25
Life on the go – by Marike
I can’t remember what I have already blogged about, or what my mom has written, so sorry for any repetitions. =)
Okay, I think last time was mostly about St. Helena, so I’m going to focus on this trip. All four of us started with school (of sorts) two or three days after we left St. Helena. I was (am still) very glad! It gets extremely boring just lazing about doing nothing. Franci and I can’t start with our ‘’proper’’ school yet, as we will only get the books in Rio, so for so long we have been reading some books and are learning basic Portuguese. That is the most fun. ^_^ We read a short, fun guide book that had some basic sentences and words to help the average tourist to survive.
I’m actually exited for Rio itself, the more I read about it, it stands out as different. We as children have never actually been ‘’in’’ another culture. We have been to the countries surrounding South Africa, but they were close to South Africa in . . . can I put it, ‘feel’?
Now to tell about the awesome experience of swimming in the middle of the sea with kilometres of water under you . . . My mom has explained about the engine running and certain people staying very firmly on the boat. The rest of us more adventurous sorts donned our fins and masks, and popped into the water. If you look under the water at the hull of the boat it looks like a little toy. The waves seem to roll it with such ease, and there is so much blue in ratio to little dark boat. That’s another thing: everything was blue. I was very glad about that actually; as I was afraid it would be black under us. You know, kilometres of water under you . . . ? (Slight shiver 😉 It’s going to be extremely hard to go back to swimming in normal swimming pools. Except for the fact that you come out covered in salt, swimming in this sea has absolutely no drawbacks. a) It’s not in the least cold. I could stay in for hours. b) When you get out, it’s not cold either, the wind is wonderfully warm. c) It’s huge! No confining space at all. True, no walls to kick against or hold on to, but awesome nonetheless. d) No sand. Swimming from land always involves sand. From the boat, we are literally swimming in a huge, no-boundaries swimming pool. =)
Us four girls have an awesome time sitting on deck in the evening. During the day the deck burns your feet, but in the evening (especially when sailing) it’s absolutely wonderful to sit on deck and just chat. We’ve even figured out a ‘clap-handshake-thingy’ (might be able to later post a video of that . . . maybe).
The sunsets at that time of night are amazing! Last night there was a cloud off our port bow that was raining a mist, and it caught the pink from the sunset . . . absolutely beautiful! ^_^
xXx
Jan 25
The Many ways in which to “swim” while Sailing
The most often used way to “swim” on board Shang Du is as follows:
Dress in swimsuit – oh, I forgot, we live in our swimsuits. Okay then, go to the back of the boat and use the seawater pump and nozzle to completely drench yourself with saltwater. Very refreshing! If you are younger than 13, the whole aim is just to swim. Do not worry about soap or shampoo. Just play to your hearts content, leaving salt crystals on everything.
If, however, you are more interested in actually becoming clean, you need to do the A.O.D.T.M.N.S.M.N. ** check and can then proceed with quite an elaborate process. The aim of which is to use your unlimited seawater, soap, shampoo , conditioner and 500ml of fresh water to become as clean as possible with no traces of salt left. This process, too, leaves salt crystals everywhere.
We have two distinct groups in our family. They are the Conservatives and the Radicals. It is also necessary to know that the people who make up these groups are not always the same.
We really, REALLY, are – in the MIDDLE OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!!! And then some weird Radical people went swimming IN THE SEA! Aaaargggghh!
True……We had absolutely no wind and the engine was on standby and we tailed a buoy behind the boat with a rope(not that the boat was going anywhere). BUT STILL…. the Conservatives were freaking out while the R’s went for a total mindboggling, awesome swim in the biggest swimming pool this side of the Pacific Ocean.
After watching them survive, the C’s will be joining in next time .
That is, by the way, not the only way to swim at sea. This morning, while on deck with a sail change, we had a sweeping downpour of rain. We scrambled to do different things (like closing hatches), but this Radical ran as fast as she could to stand on the windward side of the yacht, to miss not a drop. Wonderful, glorious, fresh water straight from God’s outstretched hand. An absolutely beautiful blessing. The sea was drenched and subdued all around me. I want to hold onto that moment in my mind forever.
Just as suddenly, it passed over. The R’s and C’s both agreed that it was a good thing that none of us “soaped up” hoping for a rain shower. It was much too short for that. The yacht and I, though, got a really good drench and the deck was cleaned off of salt crystals.
**A.O.D.T.M.N.S.M.N. – Anyone on deck that may not see me naked
Jan 22
The Yachting Community
Yip. So far we are the only “yachties” around with children. We know that there are others out there, but have not met up with them yet .
But we did run into some of the most amazing people.
There is this one couple, Bill and Cathy Norrie of yacht Terwyn (http://www.sailblogs.com/member/williamnorrie). If ever you need anything, they are the people to know. We couldn’t have spent more than about 6 hours in their lovely company – (excluding a tour of the island) and yet in that short time they managed to do all of the following: Cathy showed us some lovely walks we could do, told us where to buy great fishing lures, gave a quick overview of eating places in town, introduced me to the art of cooking fish (wahoo), made the most gorgeous hamburger patties and gave Frans and Marike an intro course into Ham Radios. All this while Bill fixed our Windvane, gave valuable sailing tips, told great fishing stories, encouraged us in so many ways and last but not least, GAVE us a really cool fishing rod. He also took a photo of us in the Dinghy (Shampoo) because he just could not resist. Thank you Norries. May our paths cross again!
The other couple, Olivier and Pascaline, were as kind and generous. They are French, but fortunately for us, their English is excellent. They invited us for drinks on board their yacht Neos. They have been sailing for 12 years. Wow! They are really encouraging and make the sailing life look so easy. It is quite something to invite the 6 of us for drinks. Pascaline was so gracious in watching my girls wolf down her snacks. (I do feed them at home, I promise). When you see such a well planned yacht like Neos, you just know that a lot of experience and expertise had gone into her building. Afterwards Frans confided to me, that if there was one thing he really coveted, it was their dinghy garage. The Neos has a special “opening” at the back of the yacht into which you can just pull the dinghy when ready to leave. We, however, have to haul ours onto the deck and then tie it up with ropes. Not a 5 minute job and needs at the least 3 funsailers to accomplish!
Jan 22
St. Helena – Island Life
Island Life is nothing like Mainland life. At first it didn’t seem that different. People driving cars, shops lining the streets….it could in fact have been any little harbour on a coastline. And then….
1. We drove up to a point on the Island where we could see the Atlantic Ocean on all sides. As far as the eye can see, there is only water. There is not even the hint of a little vessel anywhere on that outstretched expanse. (This is much further than we can see from Shang Du while sailing). The horizon is kilometres and kilometres away. It made us feel very small.
2. We realised that every single one of the 4000+ cars on the island were brought in by boat. We had a fun time reading number plates. All the plates had only numbers on them, no alphabet letters. The search was on to find the lowest one. Each time we found a lower number than last time, we took a photo. We thought that it was really cool when we found number 9, but just before the end we managed to take a photo of number 1! This was, of course, not the original number 1, as the saints were quick to tell us . It really is surprising to find not only very old models, but also some of the latest cars on St. Helena. I can just imagine one saint waiting for another to import a newer model so that one day he could buy it off him. Apparently cars just keep on and on and never leave the island.
3. We read in the little local paper (bought at a video-rent store), that there were 5 traffic incidents reported over the Festive Season (of which only two were collisions).Crime is practically non-existent, with the exception of sexual misconducts. The types of crimes people land in jail for are substance abuse, under-aged sex and paedophilia. They haven’t had a murder for years – there is just nowhere to run to. We were never fearful that anything of ours would be stolen. We always left our dinghy and outboard motor unguarded on town trips. The Island of St. Helena is like a very small community in which everybody knows everybody else. You will always be caught out in the end.
4. We learnt that the address for any parcels sent to St. Helena, is:
St. Helena Island
South Atlantic Ocean
5. We received a very generous gift from our local tour guide – Robert Peters – on the day following the tour: a piece of honeycomb made by his very own bees. Surely it is normally the other way round? “Robert, we loved everything about your tour. It was easy to see that you love your Island and you bring a unique character to the stories you tell. Thank you very much.”
Oh yes, when asked if many people play golf on the Island, he said: “Oh Yes, more than a hundred.”
6. We found that we could buy out-of-date merchandise right off the shelf. They were all marked down considerably and well worth buying. We bought some Sprite Zero tins at R2 a piece. The normal price was R13.60. (No side effects yet).
7. We could use our VHF radio to contact the Tourism Buro. No cellphones at all.
Jan 16
St Helena Island
The first time we climbed up Jacob’s Ladder I was the first to reach the top, and my sisters were behind me. I felt like the King of the Castle! Or rather, Queen.
When we went to the tourist office, and my dad asked if there were any Baptist churches, I didn’t like the idea of going to another church, because I was so homesick for Midrand Chapel. So I was scared to go to the new church, because I didn’t know what other churches did. When we arrived at the church I felt much better, because the pastor and his wife greeted us with warm smiles so that I felt at home. After the service they took us to their house, because the pastor was helping my dad to get a dive appointment. While we were there, the pastor’s wife told us some stories – one was about their cat. They found the cat under the floor boards of the church. It was so small its eyes were still closed. They took him in and raised him and she said now he follows them around like a dog. They can’t get him not to come in during the service and rub himself against the flowers.
Pastor Greame was very kind and took us on some trips around the island (I’m sure these are mentioned in the other blogs). Me and Karinkie sat in the back in the boot. We always sat in the same place so we were comfortable and had the big window to look outside to look at the island.
At the tourist office we booked a tour, and the tour guide explained a lot of things about the island. He was a beekeeper, and he gave us some honey – it was very very very sweet! One place in the tour, you had a perfect view of this waterfall called ‘The heart-shaped waterfall’, and it really does look like a heart shape! (We walked to the waterfall on our second day on St. Helena) Some people have lived their whole life in St. Helena, and haven’t been to it yet. Our guide has lived on St. Helena for his whole life, and has only been halfway up Jacob’s Ladder. We did a lot of walking on St. Helena! Because we couldn’t hire a car. =(
At the boat we could have a swim in the very clear water. We could see right under the boat – unlike Cape Town harbour, ugh! The water was very very clear! From on top of the boat you could see fishes swimming in the water. Once we caught lots of fish from our mooring. We put our line in the water (at night) and we shone our light on the water (very bright light) and there were fish that looked like trumpet fish that were on the top of the water and they jump on the water. They sometimes come next to the line and flick away. I once shone the light into the water, and put my hand into the water and shone a light on it, and tried to catch the fish with my hands, and after a few tries I caught one! Later, Franci came out with me, and she caught one too, and I caught another one. It was fun =) I like fishing, but I don’t like eating the fish that much. =l
Now we are on the water and again, we are on a big circle of blue water surrounding us. I find to walk on the boat while we are sailing, you have to walk uphill and downhill a lot.
And that is that, until next time.
Jan 15
Saint Helena – Religion
We really wanted to visit a church while on St. Helena. The different options listed on the website were: Anglican, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Jehovah’s Witnesses and even Bahai. We chose to try the Baptist church, but did not know what we would find. They have an evening service, so we decided to listen to one of Chris’ sermons in the morning. That way, we would still get good teaching, regardless.
The Baptist Church in James Town is a very old stone Church. It is also quite high up in the gorge, so we left well in advance to be in time. This is the first time ever that our trip to Church included a spray-filled ride in a dinghy with life-jackets, pulling up of same dinghy onto the landing and a stiff climb through Town. In the end, we arrived about 30 minutes early. There was no sign of anything happening. We should have known that there would be nothing – it is after all a Baptist Church . Baptists are never early!
We were just ready to call it a night, when a very friendly lady called to us. “Were we the “yachties” that phoned during the week?” “Yes Mam, indeed.”
Graeme and Hazel Beckett are the Pastoring Couple for the whole of the Baptist Ministry in St. Helena. This means that Graeme holds three services on a Sunday at the different venues. It was with real pleasure that we learnt that the True Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached here. The worship was also a great blessing. We recognised most of the songs and the acoustics of this little stone Church is amazing. Graeme himself also plays the trumpet and another member played the guitar.
The congregation was really small with only one other child, a girl of sixteen. (My girls really enjoyed chatting to you, Regan). The Sandy Bay Congregation is the more active one, with more converts, but even there, the young people are scarce. We had the chance of attending a service there on the second Sunday. Hazel drove us in the car and Graeme followed on his motorcycle.
Most Saints belong to the Anglican Denomination. This does not mean that they attend church. They tend to be nominal Anglicans more concerned to belong somewhere than to seek God. We asked our Island Tour Guide – a truly delightful chap – what he believed about God and he said: “I’m an Anglican. Don’t go to Church much. Used to. My wife did the reading on Sundays, so’s we went regular then. But not anymore.” When we asked whether he ever reads a Bible, our deduction was no.
If Saints choose to attend gatherings at another church or other religion, they are no longer welcome in the Anglican Church. This also means that they would not be able to be buried in the Anglican graveyard. This is a real problem for people of whom their beloved spouse already lies in the Anglican graveyard. Hazel ran a Sunday School class for about 10 children, until the Bishop warned the children off. Only one little girl remains. It is not that these children go anywhere else now, they are just not allowed to attend the Baptist Sunday School.
According to the Becketts, St. Helena Island is a very dark place spiritually. Sexual immorality is high and people don’t see any need in getting married. There is a lot of work to be done and few workers.
The Baptist Church is planning some open-air services at the end of this month. The Gospel Invitation will be clearly given and we are all praying that God will be doing a mighty work in the hearts of those who hear.
It was a real joy to meet up with the Becketts. Fellow believers immediately feel like family. Here we were, total strangers, and yet they let us into their home and life in a real meaningful way. Graeme spend a lot of time taking us all over the Island and Hazel shared her jigsaw puzzles with us as well as her washing machine. Wow! It really was amazing to see so many dirty things get clean so quickly. Thank you Graeme, Hazel and family for encouraging and loving us as you did.
Jan 15
Not Birds
There are still a few more things I want to write, but my previous blogging piece is so full of birds I decided I had to make a new category.
We had a resolve ever since we read about Jacob’s Ladder to go up there every day. When you see the pictures you will understand why we did not keep this resolve, both for the energy it takes out of you and because of the time. Climbing 300m almost vertically up 699 steps takes time, you know. And laboured breathing. And lots of stops. And the need to ignore your complaining legs . . . Did I mention stops? Also resist the temptation to look up or down as you will see no difference in the distance covered or yet to cover, especially in the middle of the staircase. On the way down, but still close to the top, I got some nice photos of some Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) because we were at the same level that they were flying.
It was a blessing to be able to fellowship with fellow believers again. The pastor and his wife (Uncle Graeme and Aunty Hazel) were a special blessing. They opened their home to us and Uncle Graeme gave us trips around the island in his tiny car. In their home, while my mom helped Aunty Hazel build puzzle and my dad chatted to Uncle Graeme, we children discovered the Becketts’ comic collection. It started with a few Archie’s and ended with lots of TIntins, Asterixes and three Lucky Lukes.
On our very last day on St Helena us four girls decided to end the visit exactly like we had started it: By climbing Jacob’s Ladder (notice there are no parents mentioned). It just felt right to end our stay off that way, and I am proud to say I did it with a lot fewer and shorter stops than the first time, plus I kept up with Sophia which is a real feat. I do not think that our more-or-less 15 hours, er, minuets it took to climb the ladder was at all bad, only three times as long as the record for the fastest climb. The only thing is, my legs are still stiff three days later, and for some reason the staircase beneath me took a whole lot longer to shrink than it did last time, with no convenient bird photographing opportunities this time.
Well, we are now back on the water and the sea is a bit rougher than it was last time. How do I know this? For the simple reason that irregular big waves have the tendency to push a bit of themselves through my bathroom porthole, which they never did before. Naughty waves. I tried valiantly to keep my porthole open, but enough was enough and it will now stay closed until further notice.
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