Return Crew Day 17 – 24 February 2020
By Cam
So we made it guys! I cannot express how happy we all are! The last 24 hours have been interesting to say the least but let’s start at the beginning.
Yesterday we had a very simple lunch of beer bread and some cup of soup. It has been cold lately and this allowed for us to keep nice and toasty. Heading towards sunset all the young’uns, aka under 35s, were chilling in the cockpit. All of a sudden we hear a big shout from one of the crew members “dolphins!”. I missed the first bit but as soon as my shift hit 18:00 there were maybe a hundred plus dolphins swimming around us. We’re still unsure what type of dolphins they were as they didn’t have a snout and were much larger than a normal dolphin. Truly an incredible sight to be witnessed as the sun was setting with a beautiful gloss over the water. It was a tad funny as the young dolphins were wave surfing and playing near the boat while the ou balis were heading in the opposite direction from us! Clearly we were too loud for them!
We had yet another incredible tuna braai done by our personal gourmet chef, Francois. He is truly a wiz when it comes to marinating the fish. He also treated us to a beautiful coconut rice and tiny blocks of sweet potatoes by using honey and oil to cook them! Do not ask me how he did it as I have asked multiple times and it still hasn’t sunk in! Must be a family recipe, surely?! Hopefully one of these days we will get the “cook book of the seas” by Francois. Kristy and François make a killer cooking team with the two of them juggling the rice, sweet potatoes and fish!
Now for the juicy bit everyone has been waiting for! We were nearing 1 Nautical Mile from the shore and could see the volcanic rock lining the shore side stretching up a high cliff face. We were heading smoothly for the harbour when suddenly we got caught up in the island’s micro climate. We went from an average of 6/7 knots to 0.0 – 2.0. It was scary but with Rory around we were all reassured. The engine wouldn’t start as it seems someone had left the lights on last night. As we began to near this volcanic cliff face and the ever pending rocks, Rory jumped onto the VHF radio and gave Tristan da Cuhna a buzz. They eventually picked up and a chap named Simon with a weird South African + British + Australia = pidgin English responded. It took both Rory and I at one point to understand what was coming through. Simon who we are yet to meet managed to get the coast guard / sea rescue to come out and gives us a hand. We were towed to our anchoring point just 260m off the shore line. Once anchored we now had to sort out the fact that our engine wouldn’t start. The blokes from the sea rescue took our spare to be charged and were kind enough to bring us two car batteries. I was completely shocked as I didn’t even know they had cars on the island, but they had car batteries? I guess we will find out tomorrow! We later gave the motor a go and there was life!
We are were all a tad in the doldrums mentally as outside it was raining with a huge swell and mist everywhere blocking most of the view of the island. So we baked brownies (lots of them) and had coffee. If you saw how Olli, Robyn, baker Francois and I got into the batter of what was left you would think we never used that pot to make brownies! It was squeaky clean! Rory spotted a boat in the distance and as she approached with surprise we saw it was Argonaut! Our friends whom we met in Rio. They sailed the Cape 2 Rio race and we were thrilled to say hi and chat across the boats for a while! Their opening line was “we will swap nachos for cheese”. We had a good laugh! After this everything started looking really good. We had 2 minute noodles for lunch today followed by us all having a chance to phone a family member when we heard Ollie shout “sunlight!” I bolted for my cozzie and all you could see was a flying fish diving straight into the water. I don’t think I will do this ever again as I truly learnt the definition of cold! I was in and out in seconds! What an amazing experience to be out here. The crew is full of joy as we are all sitting by the braai watching the most amazing sunset with waterfalls running down the volcanic mountain towards the ocean. Everyone is already feeling that the island spirit was in them and are all excited to get exploring! Beers, pizza, showers and T-BONE STEAKS!
Sadly we were unable to get onto the island today due to everyone apparently not being in for work and sea conditions. At 8 am tomorrow we will get picked up and sort out fees for coming in as well as immigration and see the doc (medical clearance and all). With a population of 250 they do their best to stay healthy.
We had two questions from Ashely Holling.
- What is the collective noun for flying fish?
Ans: with our Brainiac’s on the go and our minds bobbing we have come to an answer: (Clare suggested the following which we all voted for) A shoal and a flock so we are calling it a Shlock! Please can someone say we are right or what! Haha just kidding, let us know if we were right? - And then for a more serious question – with the extra time that the crew has on the trip – and also with some of the challenges you have had – what would you do differently when you come back to ‘normal’ life?
Rory’s words: “To continue to push life’s boundaries so you can live a full life + smell my coffee for longer before drinking it”
Kristy: “take my dogs wherever I might be heading and how much better life is having them with you.
Olli: “Be more spontaneous and to just do more things because I can”
Francois: “To appreciate the sun more “
Tony: “Appreciate the smaller things in life”
Robyn: “I will be who I am today”
Clare: “Truly appreciate the beauty of my world and everything in it”
Cam: I have learnt a lot on this trip from patience to being present in the now. On return to home I will appreciate the outdoors more than I ever have before. Run more, eat more, travel more, work more and be my best self. I will come back with more respect for others and myself. But mainly to be more patient and let others talk, to just sit back and let things happen more instead of always heading in strong minded. To be more open minded to others.
Now, I think I deserve to go and join that braai and watch a lil sunset! See you all soon! It is currently 19:42 here at Tristan da Cuhna, 2014 nm away from Brazil and 1500 nm from Home.
Do not forget that you can email your questions through to us at C2Rio2020@rotaryscout.co.za
Chow!