Bunny Chow... Well, Not Literally

Last Saturday night, Martin, David, Doug and John went to a Blues Festival in Durban.  First stop... Bunny Chow

In Durban the people are very proud to be the only place in the world where you can get Bunny Chow.  Bunny Chow is a lentil and meat curry that is served in a bread bowl.  It is extremely popular and is inexpensive and often very spicy. 

Tradition dictates that the proper way to eat Bunny Chow is with just your fingers making for very messy hands. Given that that they are leaving Durban on Sunday, it was imperative that they all ate their Bunny Chow today.  Martin had his at lunch and here is the crew getting their Bunny Chow initiation Saturday night while they were enjoying the Durban Blues Festival. 

PS. No bunnies were been harmed in making Bunny Chow.

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Here are some photos of Charlie, the crowd pleaser, at the Blues festival.

I have another post coming shortly...

Cool New Video—Adventures On AMARA

Doug sent me this great video of him and the gang during their passage from Reunion Island to Durban.  It's quite entertaining as it shows the whales greeting them as they approached Durban. It also gives you an idea of how rough it can get on the high seas.  He was also able to capture some footage of them while they were in the gale that had winds upwards to 48 knots.  Never a dull moment on AMARA.

Enjoy!  (And thanks, Doug!)

Landfall this morning—Durban, South Africa

AMARA and her crew reached landfall today arriving in Durban.  As they approached land and were just off the coast, they were greeted by Southern Right Whales that came up next to AMARA while breaching and spy hopping in the water.  Martin felt like it was the welcoming committee coming out to greet these tired sailors and escort them in to South Africa.

I spoke to Martin via Skype this evening and it was so nice to get caught up and be able to see each other on our computer cameras.  He was very excited to be on land and was enjoying a breakfast at a local coffee shop.

I'm just so glad that they made it to Durban and am anxious to meet up with Martin in Cape Town in less than two weeks.

More news to come in the morning.

Gales and Currents

Martin sent me an update via email on what they are currently dealing with.  I thought I would share it on the blog.  They are almost there!

"We have about 100 miles to go before we get to Durban, but we are in a full Gale tonight.  I just got off watch and had winds up to 48 knots (which is around 54 mph) and some lightening just to keep it interesting. The boat is doing well in the waves.   We are also just about to cross 30 miles of the Agulhas Current which runs down the African coast at about 4 knots. Fortunately the wind is going the same direction as the current, so the waves won't get any bigger.

Don't worry about anything, I'm having a blast, and just thought you would like to hear what we are dealing with at the moment.

I will let you know when we arrive in Durban.

Love
Martin"

Dispatches from the Indian Ocean

Great news!  AMARA should be reaching landfall by the 12th!  That's just around the corner.  I am so happy to know that they are almost there and that land is near.  It's been a rough ride and Martin, David and Doug are anxious to make it to Durban.

I got a great email from Doug today that I thought I would share with you.  It demonstrates how there is never a dull moment while at sea.

Enjoy the read...

"This morning while I was on watch (at the helm) I saw a Humpback whale breech very close to the boat.  It jumped almost completely out of the water, then fell on its side with a tremendous splash.. less than a hundred yards from the boat.  Very cool!  He then swam along side us for a while before losing interest and moving away.

Then later during that same watch I encountered a very interesting navigational problem.  The instrument that measures boat speed relative to the water said we were moving west at eight knots.  However, the instrument that measures boat speed relative to ground (the GPS) said that the boat was basically not moving at all.  We were in a very strange ocean current eddy that was pushing us to the east at the same speed that we were moving through the water to the west.  The net result was no progress even though we were sailing as fast as we could.  An eight knot current eddy is almost unheard of, but not impossible. The waters in this part of the Indian Ocean are famous for doing strange things like this and today they lived up to their reputation.  (In case you're wondering what I did to solve the problem... I pointed the boat north and ran that way for a while until we were clear of the strange eddy.  If I hadn't done that and things hadn't changed then we could have stayed in that same spot of the ocean forever, sailing as fast as we could but getting nowhere.)"