Slowly we made our way west, as Madagascar slowly faded behind us. After turning on the GPS, it displayed “NO FIX”. For the next 2 hours we had no GPS! 3 weeks sailing around the islands – no problem. 2 hours out on an ocean crossing – no GPS! Unreal hey!
Anyway, the trip was quite pleasant with the only real issue being no wind. We had to motor sail virtually the whole way to Mayotte. I landed a nice sized Tuna and after filleting it, B prepared some scrumptious tuna Carpaccio for lunch.
Yellow Finned Tuna and…… Carpaccio and sushimi for lunch!
The next day I caught another huge Tuna, but felt sorry for it and released it. We still had some Tuna from the previous day and I am not one to keep fish if we have some on board already.
We got to Mayotte just as it was getting dark. There was a huge swell running and with darkness, we debated going in through the channel. I had read that it was not an easy channel and that the currents in the area ran strong. Jackaroo decided to sit out the night with a sea anchor and go in, in the morning. We went a little closer to check it out but with complete darkness, a swell running and spring tides, I decided against it and we headed back out towards Jackaroo. That night we just drifted around about 5 miles off shore. I set my alarm for ½ hour intervals and then checked our drift. Fortunately we were not drifting too far and we only had to motor further out once during the night. Not an easy night but we had been in worse!
Dan & Jens - on passage
Next morning we motored into the channel and I was surprised to discover it was an easy entrance with lots of sea space! But, everything for a reason, and we entered Mayotte safely that morning!
We were prepared for “harassment” from custom and immigration officials on Mayotte. Apparently South Africans needed visas and SA yachties had experienced some nasty welcomes in Mayotte.
We had no visas as, when applying for them in Hellville, we were told we did not need them. (Left hand / Right hand story!)
We pulled up alongside a jetty and were greeted by the assistant Port Captain, a friendly guy. Soon he was joined by 5 customs officials. They all boarded Shayile and started to strip search Shayile. Nothing found of course, but out came our 10 liters of our best Madagascan rum! Now I could go on for some time explaining the issues we had with the “7 liters over the limit” story. It was a saga of note! We went back to the offices and we were told we would have to pay “taxes”. I agreed; under duress. The tax – about 640Euros! Shocked, I verbalized my disagreement and, with a few more calculations, it came down to 126Euros. (It only cost us R42.00 for the 7 liters and they wanted to charge us about R1000.00! With that I told them to keep the rum as it was not worth that to us. They then told me if they were to keep it, it would then cost us 64Euros! (+R500!) Now the arguments really began. Unfortunately I was in a no-win position and tried to explain how ridiculous the situation was. Furthermore, I was not prepared to stay any longer in Mayotte if this was the way things got done. They would not let Shayile go until we paid! Remember, all of this took place with them speaking French, me English, and with Sue trying to interpret the discussions. Pissed off, I eventually left and went up to immigration to check if they would allow us in to Mayotte with no visas. No problem with immigration and we were given a weeks stay.
Then it was back to customs to hopefully try sort out the rum issue! I was issued into an office, the necessary documentation was stamped and that was it!! I suspected that whilst I was away, they had a team talk and decided we were not rum smugglers, and it was easier to drop the whole affair. I left with all the necessary documentation and still had the rum! (Poor Karisma had poured their excess rum down the toilet, having being alerted to our situation and not wanting to pay the price!)
Simon & Grant - day cruising on Shayile
The next few days I had my head in engine and water maker rooms! I serviced the engines, repaired faulty water pumps and got stuck into the water maker again!
After the whole debacle with arriving in Mayotte, I was not keen to hang around. They made it clear to us and other SA boats that South Africans were not welcome. The reason is still unclear as it was not always like this. Yachts Cape Smoke and Farewell had bad experiences with officials as well. As it was clear from the customs officials that we South Africans were not welcome, I was keen to get going immediately. However we did stick around for a week.
B & Grant at the helm
B: My opinion is that the main customs man was having a seriously bad day, its Ramadan and he is a smoker so apart from being starved and thirsty he was having a serious nicotine craving. The younger officers seemed unfazed by our 9 liters of rum and even passed on for us that it was a year’s supply but to no avail. It was all rather unfair as we were asked if we had anything to declare, we asked for a form, none forthcoming, we asked for examples and were told guns, cigarettes and drugs of which we have none. No-one said anything about alcohol! I think those guys found things on the boat that we have even forgotten about, it was really thorough, but not so on the other two boats but Mr Bad Mood wasn’t there either.
Despite being unwelcome we certainly made ourselves at home and soon were found stocking up in this lap of European luxury. Well a definite sampling of civilization. Modern cars, tarred roads, Euros (ouch), supermarkets, high heels, ferries and ATM’s. Mayotte is a little French island that has a large reef surrounding it so it looks sort of like an embryonic seahorse – Grande Terre. It has another little island – Petite Terre off to the side and this was where we were moored. The anchorage was full and all the boats are on permanent moorings as the tidal difference is huge, there is even a sort of crater edge that appears and creates a little waterfall into the harbour. We were able to leave our boat and engine tied, not locked, to a jetty and go to town and it was still there when we got back! The island is bristling with antennae and army and marine troops so clearly being organized and staffed means low crime levels. We all enjoyed catching a huge, clean and timeous (30 min) ferry to town, free in and 75 cents (R6) back. The supermarkets were similar to a large Checkers store and we found a few things we needed apart from food like muffin tins, new filleting knife, toys, kids shoes and toolbox things.
As usual the food was really pricy but at least the quality was good, I love the squash-type juice in tall, cylindrical, colourful tins, the Sirop de Citron / lemon is delicious. Bread remains French baguettes like in Madagascar but the croissants are much better, as for the paine raisin, swirly pastry with custard and raisins wow. Fruit and vegies were beautiful and pricey in the supermarket, 1 large red pepper was R28, and in the market we refused to pay R24 for 2 tiny cabbages, even though that was the going rate. The tiny paw-paws have ripened sweet and orange and we have to keep our fruit bat Daniel away. On that the fruit bats here fly about in day light and are massive. They would certainly scare any SA Hadeda to death. We didn’t see too much of Mayotte as the engine was disemboweled again by Rob who has risen magnificently to the challenge of maintenance and repair. Apart from the odd swear words he has been amazing, so to our Dads, Pa and Baboo, you can relax and come for coffee now without your toolboxes. At 1 Euro (R8) per person per ride in a taxi we didn’t travel too much and sadly didn’t hike up to see the volcano crater. We needed more time but probably saved some money by not staying longer. The saddest part was saying goodbye to Willie and Linn who will be sailing home to Knysna next week. Linn gave us a care package of flour, ratatouille, popcorn and pie apples. There was a recipe for banana muffins on the side so I made a huge batch with pineapple and raisins for the three South African boats and we set off across the ocean.
14th – 17th October 2005 – Back to Africa!
We left Mayotte at lunch time and set sail for the Comores. As we had heard about all kinds of problems with the officials, visas and corruption in the Comores, we decided not to clear in but to just spend a day and night on the island of Moheli. It was a 90 mile trip.
Again the “sail” was with virtually no wind at all. About 40 miles off Mayotte , the one reel started screaming. Belinda grabbed it, just in time to see a fish jump clean out the water, thrashing about. I thought it may be a Springer. However within seconds, I realized that this was ordinary “Springer” and with the line feeding out extremely fast, we recognised it as a Dorado!
B fought the fish for about 20 minutes and finally got it close to Shayile. I took over the rod whilst B grabbed the gaff. By now it was dark and B did a fine job gaffing the fish. It was a beautiful 12kg Dorado, bigger than Jenna! It was also our first Dorado. They are fine eating and immediately I went about filleting the fish. B packed the pieces into zip lock bags and we had a number of meals ready.
B’s prized Dorado!
B: This was by no means my first fish but it was by far the biggest rush. We were so keen to catch Dorado because it’s a great eating fish. Dan gets credit because he nagged Rob to change the lure for a skirt or feathers. Rob was listening to the weather and said “Oh B it’s just a Springer, pull it in.”
Wow what a great fight, a really strong fish that gave me a huge blister on my thumb from all the reeling and ‘ran’ from the boat 3 times, on the last my blister ripped open and I promptly handed over to Rob. After all we couldn’t lose this one and anyway he’s better at landing and I’m damned good at gaffing, in fact I can now also club a large fish between the eyes and thank it for its flesh! The Dorado smacked the deck hard with its huge tail and I treated it to some of Madagascar’s finest rum into the gills to anaesthetize it a bit. Its colours were wonderful, brilliant yellow and shining silvery blue. It was pretty hard picking it up for the photos but I made sure Rob took plenty. Thanks to Uncle Pete Hockey for all the fishing we did on camping holidays, it’s clearly stayed with me.
On our way back to Africa
We arrived at Moheli at about 10am in the morning and anchored up between two small islands. In this area there are incredible drop offs with the depth going from about 60 meters to 6 meters in about 10 meters of water!
After we all went for a quick swim and snorkel, Karisma called us up on the radio and we motored around the corner to join them anchored off a beach. Here we relaxed and all had a great lunch together.
At about 3pm we set off again, this time for main land Africa . Once underway, I went below for a rest. A few minutes later I heard the reel screaming again. I waited a second to hear how big the fish was and then realized this was no ordinary fish. It was not stopping and that ratchet was singing! I jumped out of bed and raced up to the cockpit, just in time to hear B shout “Sailfish!”
Grabbing the rod, the fight began! Within seconds, it was out the water and in spectacular fashion, repeatedly tail walked, trying to shake the lure. What a sight! All this time it was stripping line. I put pressure on it, but still it ran. What a wonderful feeling!
Eventually it slowed down and the “take some, give some” game began. Karisma came over to take a look at what all the excitement was about. After about ½ hour, I got it along side Shayile. It was huge! Putting some gloves on, I handed the rod to B, getting ready to grab the fish and try removing the lure. With it alongside the sugar scoop, (Back of Shayile) I managed to grab its bill and with pliers managed to release the hook. Once the hook was released, I pulled the fish on to the sugar scoop to see its size and get a photo. It was a good 1.8 meters in length and too big to pick up or weigh! What a beaut!! Wasting no time, we then put it back in the water and held it whilst it got its “breath” back. Within a minute it was fighting to be released and as I released it from my grip, it slowly swam off heading down and away. A great experience, and to think that people pay large amounts of money to catch these fish! Here I was, no big fishing gear with fighting chairs and harnesses. Just a pen reel and a cushion from the saloon as a bucket to protect my stomach! Great memory!
Passing the Comores
B: Again it was Dan who let out the line and my heart sank as the reel screamed, my arms were stiff and my blister raw. Luckily Rob ran up to hear me yell ‘Marlin!’ I mean who knows at that distance but when Rob said, ‘Do you mind if I take it?’ I couldn’t hand it over quick enough! He has been fairly unlucky in catching the epic fish and this was it!! What a privilege to see such a fine fish up close and then swim off apparently unharmed. Unbelievably it was such a saga to get onboard and of course the camera battery was flat but Grant took a photo from afar and there’s plenty of video footage for you doubting Thomas’s. That was a highlight, the long boring trip that followed wasn’t.
On we motored, and on we motored! No wind at all. It’s really frustrating when there is no wind. Those engines hum away and the diesel gets eaten up. Our engines consumed about 1.8liters an hour which was still economical, costing about R10.00 an hour. We only ran one engine at a time and this gave us about 3.5 - 4kts of speed through the water.
As we got closer to Mozambique
Grant & Rob serving sushi mid Mozambique channel !
In the meantime Grant on Karisma has caught a Dorado and Tuna. He called us up on the radio and invited us over for dinner! So we decided on a “Mozambique Current Drift Dinner!”
We brought the 2 yachts closer together and then secured them with a rope some 60meters apart. We then jumped into our IRB and went across to Karisma for dinner. With no land in sight, here we were having dinner as our yachts bobbed around at sea.
Grant and B pulled out all the stops. First up for starters was sushi, Californian rolls, complete with wasabi and soya sauce.
Main course was Dorado fillets and / or Seared Tuna dipped in sesame seeds, with rice and another scrumptious sauce!! What a spread in the middle of the channel!
We returned to Shayile in a rather lumpy sea, secured Baby Shayile, and headed off in the direction of Africa!
Finally we had a bit of wind and, against protocol as it was night time; I decided to get the spinnaker up. The breeze showed no indication of increasing and it was a perfect spinnaker breeze. Once up, we shot off and the sailing finally happened! Or so I thought as soon we were up against the strong Mozambique current again and the wind faded away. On went the engine…again!
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