We arrived on 21st Nov into Tuzi Gazi marina and after a straightforward clearance procedure into SA I started putting my efforts into having Emerald Sea maintained and back into top condition. We made arrangements with the Zululand Yacht Club and Yancan Marine Services to have the boat hauled out for approx one week of boat projects. We had actually made these plans with Yancan a few months back to ensure we were on their radar screen so got in right away. The pressing task was to replace the starboard propeller shaft seal which was leaking seawater into the saildrive oil reservoir and the only way to do this was in the dry. But we captured other work during this period 'on the hard' where we added two coats of anti-fouling paint to the hull and saildrives and mounted the Watt&Sea hydrogenerator deployment frame. Five days later we were back in the water where the boat belongs. The haulout and back into the water went very well; it was the first time we lifted Emerald from underside of the bridge deck and I received confirmation from Lagoon that this was acceptable with the appropriate placement of supports. Yancan understood this all and did a great job of it. Yannie and his team at Yancan were technically great to work with and delivered.

When all else fails read the Contract! Zululand Yacht Club and Yancan Marine Services both require you to sign waiver type contracts before you can haul-out and these contracts are extremely one-sided with full indemnification given to the club. I objected to a few of these clauses that, when deciphered from contractual language, would have me fully responsible for any damage, injury and even death in the event where their personnel or equipment should fail regardless of fault. Further, should one of their employees enact 'willful misconduct' i.e. say, come in drunk and purposely wreck equipment and my boat, I'd be responsible for all parties. Yancan agreed to a revision of their contract however ZYC would not. And of course they got you by the balls so I reluctantly signed if I wanted my boat pulled. Completely unfair. During the debate their management agreed that it was unfair however stated that changing the clauses would take months of legal time and wouldn't happen today. I read this as it will never happen!

So, moving on, I got busy on boat projects while Rose did the wise thing and joined friends from SV Pelagie on road trips to safari parks in the surrounding area. Other tasks completed included having the bimini repaired and strengthened, installing a captain's chair at the nav station, repairing a hole in the dingy, main sail repairs, troubleshooting an electrical issue with the genset, etc. And a number of maintenance tasks. I still need to put up the replacement VHF antenna but finding an antenna of the correct frequency and base mount has proved to be troublesome. There is one waiting for me now in Cape Town. In the meantime we have our VHF handheld to rely on and our AIS still works without the antenna.

Most may have heard of the buster that blew, up to gusts of 70kts, into Richards Bay on 2nd November causing havoc including the collapse of the Tuzi Gazi marina docks and subsequent damage to many boats tied-up there. We had fortunately relocated to Zululand YC a day before. It was mayhem and heartbreaking to see cruising friends in despair, frustrated after a long voyage to meet this disaster. I got involved with the marina management to offer solutions during the storm to alleviate some of the impact on the boats with the advent of more winds to come but was met with the management not wanting to take any responsibility. It was pretty sad demonstration of putting ones head in the sand especially as they knew of the approaching storm and the limits of their docks. Repairs were made but a few weeks later another blow came about and the marina dock again was damaged but many of the yachtees, some with the storm's previous experience, laid out anchors and lines across to concrete jetty's to counter the wind load. Simply there are just too many yachts, equals too much loading, on a pontoon dock not designed for this. And a marine management that would rather have a few extra bucks in their pocket rather than ask yachts to temporarily leave to a nearby safe anchorage.

The Wild Kingdom. We took the hire car out and spent some days exploring the parks at Natal, Hwuhwule-Imfolozi and the Isimangaliso wetlands at St. Lucia. These are parks you can drive your own car through and spot the animals. Its hit and miss of course and while we saw many of the big animals i.e. wildebeests, giraffes, rhinos, hippos, etc. we didn't see any cats. More time would be needed. Luck of the draw!

We also stopped into Durban for a few days that included a visit to Home Affairs to complete an interview for our tourist permit extension. This went well enough but the catch is you must return to the application office to receive the visa extension i.e. I must return to Durban, likely from Cape Town, so have to train, plane or drive it. After some discussion, emails, they were reluctant to pass my file along to their Cape Town colleagues for final processing. Other than that we drove and walked around Durban checking out their sites but didn't strike us as a place we'd want to spend too much time at.

Overall we've had a great time here. Plenty of socializing as it seems all our cruising friends we've met along the Indian Ocean path have congregated here. The World ARC boats have also arrived here for a few months stop. South Africa is very cost effective as the Rand has depreciated quite significantly against many of the major currencies making food, drink, some parts, services, etc. very affordable.

We are now focused departing Richards Bay and looking at weather windows to make our way along the coast towards Cape Town. Small windows, high pressures appear after a low pressure system passes so we will take the opportunity to make our way and stop, as needed, in one of the various ports along the way to wait out further LP systems to pass.