Luderitz and Onward Bound
29 March 2011 | South Atlantic
John
Our short visit to Luderitz, Namibia, appears to have been appreciated by all the crew. Firstly, we arrived there around 17:00 local time, which is UTC +2 hours - the same as South Africa. The first evening was spent securing our lovely white plastic boat against some lovely black tyres against the centre wharf in the harbour. Our neighbours to the front and stern were some pretty old wooden fishing boats, the crews of which spent some hours standing on the wharf discussing the concept of having this strange plastic boat tied next to them. We, in the mean time, obtained a few local beers, had the local immigration and customs officers clear us into Namibia and cooked up half of our long-fin tuna caught earlier that morning. Josh had the task of being chef for the night and really prepared a fantastic meal.
On Monday morning we obtained a multi-meter, batteries, and I spent a few hours alternatively pouring over wiring diagrams and crammed into the engine rooms of the boat, trying to find our electrical fault. Dave had the task of popping into the village to obtain all the 5 amp fuses he could find whilst I spent more time blowing them. Eventually, with many phone calls to the electricians in Cape Town I found the faults on both engines - two 10c diodes on the charging solenoids had been installed the wrong way round. A costly little exercise!
Then we had another couple of beers to celebrate the discovery and repair of the electrical problem and had an unannounced visit from a customs officer. Not to worry, it was only Fritz, who had helped replace an engine on a previous stop in Luderitz about two years back. Fritz took me through to the local fuel station where I filled up our two 30 litre diesel drums we had emptied into the boats tanks and brought me back to the boat. That evening we all went to a local pub and restaurant and Dave and Mathys had their first Eisbein meal, which appeared to be well enjoyed - mine was brilliant!
So, after a good nights sleep we cleared out of Namibia this morning, topped up our fresh water tanks and have headed out to sea - the bows are now pointing towards the small South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, our next stop. We hope to arrive in 9 or 10 days time. So, that is the update from Moorings A5003 - until the next blog entry, greetings from Dave, Mathys, Josh and myself, John.