Cleared into South Africa

I went to the club house at 8.30 PM and was soon working with Diana on the formalities.  The club would give me reciprocal rights so I produced my 2010 FSC membership card explaining that I had been away for 5 years and the postal services in certain Latin American countries were not reliable enough for mailing the latest card.  However, she sent an email to FSC administration giving my name, boat name, and membership number, and their response must and will be positive.

I asked Diana if the building we were in was floating on pontoons or on solid ground.  She laughed and told me that it was indeed on solid ground.  I told her that after 37 days at sea the entire building felt like it was moving - and it did, big time.  She smiled and seemed to understand.

Diana had seen Ian Meggy, the General Manager, and she commented on my proceeding to Simons Town.  I told Diana that I had told Ian in good faith that I would stay at RCYC until 4 March but I had received a message via Sailmail in the last two days that there was an Australian yacht "True Blue" in Simons Town and I wanted to join it.  OK, this was a partial truth but I wanted to spare bad feelings.

I expressed anxiety about squatting in slip SN20, not knowing whose it was.  She checked and found that the slip belonged to the marina.  I responded that things just seemed to keep getting better.  If it was a club marina then it was unlikely that I would have to move the boat.

She produced a  two-sided map of the city showing in big yellow arrows the paths to Immigration and Customs.  It even had photos of what the buildings would look like as I approached them.  I congratulated her on the map, stating that it was by far the best such aid to visitors that I had yet seen.  She suggested taking a cab but I looked at the map and asked why I couldn't just walk it.  After all, it was a beautiful day and I would enjoy the spectacle of Table Mountain as I walked into the city.  She said Sure, and it would be about a 25 minute walk.  (Twenty five minutes?  Shit that's nothing.  At Ilha Bela I had to walk about 6 miles to the ferry then at Sao Sebastiao walk another 2 miles or so looking for the office of the Policia Federal.)  I left her office with a temporary membership card in hand.

The walk to Immigrations went OK.  I got confused because I left the harbor area through the Christiaan Barnard which wasn't even on my map, instead of the Oswald Pirow gate.  Later on a man giving me directions explained that in the last year or so Oswald Pirow Street had been named Christiaan Barnard Street.  I would have to pass this on to Diana. 

The walking was strange, although it was something that I had experienced before.  I felt that I was not in the world but observing it through some sort of plastic cacoon.  When I closed my eyes I would stagger and splay my feet like a drunk.  I knew that it was a case of Sea Legs and probably Sea Mind after 37 days at sea, but it would pass.

The Immigration process went well.  The woman spent more time talking with me about my sailing and marital situation than about the immigration issue.  She asked how my wife could allow me to expose myself to those dangers.  I replied that I wasn't married.  OK, then why did my friends let me go?  Well, I guess that they understood that it was a dream that I wanted to fulfill.  So why didn't you marry?  I explained that I had come to within 2 days of marriage but just couldn't do it.  Haven't you ever been in love?  ... Well ... yes, a few times, but things never seemed to work out.  Well what about children, do you have any?  No, but my twin brother has two and they will carry the family name.  Yes, but they are not Yours.  You have been given a great gift and have not used it.  OK I said, I hear what you say and if I meet the right beautiful woman it just might happen.  I did tell her that she seemed to be a very caring person and I liked her very much.  So much for stiff South African Bureaucracy.

I found Immigration easy enough but ran into a problem due to my honesty.  She asked what time of the day I had arrived yesterday.  Like a fool I replied 10 AM.  What?  You are supposed to report to Immigration within 24 hours of arrival!  It was 1 PM and I had been in the country 27 hours.  I told her the story of winding up trapped at the water police compound.  Fortunately she knew about the compound and after telling me that it was a strange story (I couldn't agree more!) she accepted it.  When it came time to fill in my arrival time in the form I put in the date but not the hour.  She told me that she would give me 30 minutes' grace and to write down 12.30.  Bless your heart! I told her.  Regarding reportable items I started off by saying that there was no tobacco or hard liquor, and I had drunk the last beer yesterday.  Then I mentioned that there were "a few" bottles of wine on board.  That did not seem to bother her.  Are there any items on your boat that should be reported?  I thought about it and replied No.  I told her that a had several backup computers on board, but nothing else that I could think of.  I then mentioned that there were no pets or guns and we started a discussion about pets on boats.  She mentioned that the Japanese seem to like to bring dogs on their boats and the guy behind me replied "Probably to eat them."  I told her that I could not understand why anybody would bring a dog on a cruise.  And as for cats, every book that I had ever read where there was a cat on board ended with the cat going overboard.  Cats love jumping and climbing and walking on spooky places and with the inevitable slip it's Hola to Davy Jones' Locker.  

Then the lady offered me words of caution about being always wary of my surroundings because even though Cape Town was a fairly safe city, there were the few people who would do harm.  She mentioned the numerous security personnel throughout the city.  I thanked her for her advice and said that I would heed it but hey, the same situation existed in any large city such as New York, Los Angeles, or London, three cities that I have visited.

I got my Immigration approvals and left.

Neither the wine on board nor the lack of a Zarpe from Brazil caused any problem.

On the way to Customs I had spotted a bank logo that reminded me of one that I had used in Mexico.  I've learned to be a bit choosy about which banks I try my Visa card on because some banks are intra nation only and cannot deal with overseas credit cards.  My big fear of course is that one of these ATMs will swallow up my card, leaving me financially denuded.  This one turned out to be "ABSA", a branch of Barclay's, which meant that it would be international.  I walked out financially armed with 3,000 rand.  (Recently Brenda quoted 1 ZAR (rand) = $0.11 AUD and 1 AUD = 8.83 ZAR.  It is slightly weaker against the USD.)

I then took the opportunity to look around the city, and headed for the "V&A Waterfront", which was of interest to me because I knew that there was a small marina inland somewhat toward the city center, and accessible by a canal with two swinging bridges along the way.

The V&A Waterfront turned out to be more than just a marina.  It is a "Must See" for any visitor to Cape town, being a combination of up-pmarket canal condominiums and tourist facilities such as shops, restaurants, watering holes, and bookings for all sorts of aquatic events, all in a colorful and interesting setting.  It has all been well done and is definitely world class. But as for the marina, it was full of power rather than sailing boats, there was the reek of money blowing in the wind, and it seemed a place not suitable for visiting cruisers, particularly with those two bridges that must be swung open.  I could well be wrong in this speculation, nevertheless I advise prospective visitors to make inquiries before committing themselves.

On the way back to the boat I was lamenting the fact that I had not seen one serious food shop and then I stumbled upon the Holy Grail of food, the "Food Lover's Market" at the corner of Loop and Strigdom. (And look for the yellow building cranes, Robert.) There was a bakery, a fruit and vegetable section, a wall of chutes where you could fill up your bags with every variety of nuts, dried fruit, and muesli's that you could want, a "help yourself" section where you could fill up you plastic container with a mind boggling variety of fresh vegetables, meats, and fish, all paid for by the weight.  There was also a Sushi bar.  I purchased fresh bananas, grapes, oranges, nectarines and a mango from the fresh fruit department. At the bakery I purchased a loaf of wholemeal bread that turned out to be outstanding, but eschewed the temptations of the wonderful pastry on offer.  I then loaded up a large plastic container with a wonderful variety of vegetables too numerous to list here.  I will say, however, that when I finished loading up I had trouble forcing the lid of the container shut.  Then I got another container with three pieces of nicely marinated roast beef.  For a lunch I got a yummy looking Salami Paninni.  My fresh food problems were over and I would certainly visit the shop (don't forget the yellow cranes, Robert!) again to provision for the Simons Town passage.

Then I proceeded back to the marina and noticed an arrow pointing to a Tourist Information place.  It took some doing but I found the placde and got another map of the city and some brochures that might be of interest when Brenda and we visit the city.  (I've go the names of two Back Packers places, Brenda, if you want to go Cheap and Nasty like we did in Mexico.)

I then made it back to marina at 4 PM.  I had been walking almost continually since 10 AM on just 4 cups of black coffee with a half teaspoon of sugar.  Unfortunately I just missed Diana who had gone home, so I consoled myself with the luxury of a tall ice cold glass of draft ale overlooking the marina. 

Back at the boat I unloaded the gear then went out and struck the "Q" quarantine flag, sadly for probably the last time in a foreign port during this circumnavigation.  The wind was up again at the marina (it was quiet in town) with it gusting to 30 kts, not quite the 35 kts of the day before.  This time, though, the boat was orientated differently so that it was taking the gusts off the port quarter rather than the side and better yet, was being sheltered by the catamaran on the other side of the jetty.  The boat was being held off the jetty by the wind and conditions inside of the cabin were calm and relatively gentle.  Nevertheless I added a heavy mooring rope to accompany the jib sheet holding the boat at the bow. Table mountain was topped by brilliant white cloud cascading over the edge like a waterfall, a sure sign, according to Jeanne Socrates, that we would be in for a blow.

I then returned to the club house with my biggest physical need in mind after 37 days at sea.  Was it sex, drugs, Rock 'n Roll, or maybe heavy booze?  No No, it was much better than that.  It was a hot shower!  And wow, did I enjoy it.  I returned to the boat feeling squeaky clean and then ripped into a chilled bottle of "Argentinean Sute Pinot de la Loire" while licking my chops in anticipation of the great meal ahead.

Looking back on the day I concluded that I liked Cape Town very much.  I found the city to be  spacious,  very clean,  with traffic moderate, and it was definitely not overcrowded with people. Everyone I spoke to I liked.  Three times people picked up the Lost Tourist Look of this gray haired old guy poring over a map and came forth offering very helpful advice.  Because of the demographics of South Africa most of the people whom I dealt with were black and I must say that I have found them to be wonderful, gentle, courteous, warm and "human" people whom I like very much.  Everyone seems prosperous and contented and the difficulties of the transition to complete equality of the races seems to have been relegated to the dustbin of history.  Nelson Mandela did a great service to this country when he pointed to Reconciliation as the way forward.

At 8 PM the gusts were topping 30 kts.  I just button up the cabin and went to sleep.