Walvis Bay
12th November Monday
It was so nice to slept together for the night. We did not set the alarm so it was already 8h00 when we woke up. We received a call from Arrie that he is waiting at the yacht club to take us to immigration and to get a car for the few days. We scrambled, get the passports, harbour papers, lowered the dingy and get the outboard out of the engine room. It took about have an hour to get to the beach.
In Walvis Bay you only have to do immigration. Customs was not necessary as well as port control. We did get a clearance certificate from port control. A car to rent in Walvis Bay cost R450-00 p/d everything included. In Walvis Bay you can pay in rands at the same rate as Namibiese dollar at all the shops, restaurants etc. Wide roads with wide path roads between the shops and houses.
We found the local cellphone service provider (MTC shop) where we could buy a prepaid sim card and convert the airtime to data. We could hotspot with the cellphone to all our ipads and computers on Vagabund. We could even scype.
We decided to explore Swakopmund. We went to the light tower and after that to the museum. A Moonfish is still on our bucket list.
We received a phone call from Arrie. The wind has picked up and Vagabund decided to come and look for us in Swakopmund across the bay dragging her anchor along. The wind was gusting up to 28 knots. She was on a 30 m chain and a 33kg rocna anchor. The swing limitation amongst the other boats prevented us from letting out more chain on the anchor. We rushed back to find her past all the other yachts. Jumped into our dingy and chased after Vagabund. It felt like kilometers before we reach her. Fortunately she missed all the other boats before setting her anchor again. We decided to extend the anchor chain to over 80 m and stay right there for the night with our Garmin GPS on anchor watch.
Thankfully for not even picking up a scratch.
13th November Tuesday
We did have a lazy morning on the yacht. Spring cleaning the inside and Zack was doing the outside. The tourist boats attracting the Pelicans by feeding them as they pasted us on anchor entertained us. We managed to take some nice photos of the pelicans.
We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Oceans restaurant at the waterfront. The best oysters we have had in a long time.
14th November Wednesday
A summary of the telephone costs:
An sms is R2-95. Incoming calls from South Africa: for the caller only the cost of a call in South Africa but my cost to receive the call is R18-20 for 2 min. Call from my phone to South Africa is R12-13 per minute.
Namibia is a place for wind sport records. The Kite surf world speed record was set at Ludiritz the week before and while Vagabund was dragging her anchor on Monday the Vestas team set a new world record in there sailrocket at Pelican Point. Paul Larsen managed to obtain a top speed of 61.92 knots. He maintained a speed of 54.08 knots for 500 m and an average of 59.08 knots for 5 seconds. Almost unthinkable speeds for a sailing vessel. They have overcome the major drag forces by getting there vessel airborne and balancing the whole sailing vessel on a single hydrofoil. Apparent wind speed has a whole new meaning. Obtaining a sailing top speed of more than double the actual wind speed is wow. The team has been developing and perfecting the sailrocket over the last 10 years. Talking to Paul and seeing his enthusiasm one can understand his success. Congratulations to the team (www.sailrocket.com).
Even with no wind it was still very cold. Walvis Bay temperature has been between 17 to 20 degrees for the past few days. St Helena is apparently also not that much warmer.
A few scenes from Vagabund:
A seal that visits
The boats lying on anchor and the harbour with its cranes
We will only be able to put our warm clothes away somewhere between Saint Helena and Rio. Something we are looking forward too.
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