Sunday morning saw us preparing to leave Simpson Bay Lagoon
and sail back to Philipsburg ready for the haul out on Monday morning.
We had to wait until the bridge opened at 10.30 am, so we
could gain access to the sea – we motored down to Philipsburg as we had taken
down our genoa ready to be taken to the loft for repairs.
Sunday night was not a good night as we were concerned about
our anchor and the swell from the sea was making it rather uncomfortable.
Monday morning, Passages was hauled out of the water – it was
fascinating but quite nerve wrecking – see photos below.
Monday afternoon, we left St Martin for Cape Town, South
Africa.
We were in Cape Town for just on a month – it was lovely to
spend time with both our Dad’s.
George – Mel’s Dad is not the person we remember. He is
totally dependent on others for everything. We spent the first two weeks
looking for a suitable frail care unit that would take care of all his needs.
The last two weeks were spent visiting George whenever we could and enjoying
our time in Cape Town.
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| Beautiful Table Mountain |
My Dad is fine although he is experiencing issues with his
hips. As long as my Dad has his DSTV/cable TV to watch sport, he is fine. I
advised him he must go out and get some sun and fresh air whenever he can as it
is not good just sitting and sleeping in front of the T.V.
We saw as many of our friends as possible – some
unfortunately we couldn’t get hold of. It was good seeing the friends we did
manage to see and spend some time with them.
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| Chapmans Peak |
We did some touristy things as well, like go up Table
Mountain, have tea at Rhodes Memorial, drove to Pringle Bay to see Mel’s aunt
and uncle, drove down to Simons Town, around Chapman’s Peak, spent time at the
V & A waterfront, went to Hout Bay and of course I had to spend time at Century
City without my handbrake (Mel).
Table Mountain and the cable car are amazing. The natural
beauty that is found all around Cape Town never ceases to amaze us. The fynbos
(vegetation) found all around the Cape, was beautiful!
The views from top of
Table Mountain were breath taking and the cable car, was at a world class
standard.
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| The Cable Car - Table Mountain |
Chapman’s Peak is awesome – it had been a very long time
since we drove along Chapman’s Peak that we had forgotten just how
overwhelmingly beautiful it is.
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| Simons Town |
I spent over 6 hours at Century City – walking in and out of
the lovely shops and of course I had to spend time looking around Woolworths.
Woolworths for those that don’t know, used to be part of the U.K. Marks and
Spencers but with the previous political situation, Marks and Spencers left
S.A. and Woolworths took its place. The clothes are of such good quality – I
just love buying from Woolies S.A.!!!!
(I believe Woolworths is hoping to get into Australia by
buying David Jones – my fingers and toes are all crossed as it would be amazing
for this to happen)
It was extremely sad and very emotional for both of us to
leave Cape Town and to say “Bye” to our Dad’s – Enough said.
After a 33 hour of flying (via Jo’burg, Dakar, Washington –
where Mel’s computer caught a bug/virus hence lack of emails/internet
connections until his computer was bug/virus free – and finally Charlotte), we
were back in St Martin. We booked into a hotel very close to the boat yard
where Passages was, for our first night back as we knew we would be too exhausted
to sort Passages out. Remember she had been standing in a boat yard for over a
month and although it had rained quite a lot while we had been away, she was
VERY dusty and dirty.
Friday morning we were relaxed and refreshed ready to launch
Passages back into the water – see photos.
She looked good with her newly painted hull.
We decided to stay at the marina for two nights as we would
have access to shore water and power. We spent most of Friday and late into the
night, cleaning Passages inside and out, putting all the removable fixtures
e.g. bimini, outboard motor back to where they belonged.
Saturday afternoon we went along the main waterfront area and
watched the 3rd/4th place game of the Soccer World Cup –
this was, as I am sure you are aware, between the Netherlands and Brazil. Since
Philipsburg, where we were staying is Dutch, you can imagine the amount of
orange we saw that day. The game was shown on a huge T.V. screen for all
to
watch – there was a lovely atmosphere.
Sunday morning we left Philipsburg for the last time and
sailed with our newly fixed genoa, down to Simpson Bay as we wanted to go back
into Simpson Bay Lagoon and onto the very same mooring ball we had used just
over a month before.
Sunday lunch time, we were back in Simpson Bay Lagoon,
attached to the mooring ball as planned. We had arranged to meet up with Mike
and Dyana that afternoon, to watch the finals of the Soccer World Cup. I would
have liked to have seen Argentina win but the Germans were far too good and a
class above the rest, right from the start of the World Cup.
Another Soccer World Cup, done and dusted and another
month….. We would have preferred to have been way down south by now but that is
the way things have turned out.
Take care
Love Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn
