Location: 33° 59.5 S, 25° 57.7 E
Sunday 12:00, 10.15.2006

The Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 59.5S 025° 57.7E. Knysna is 131 miles behind, Durban is 356 ahead. We are motor sailing, mostly motoring, with 5-10 knots of wind from the south. Right now it is lovely, but last night it was cool, foggy and drizzly. The fog didn’t burn off until about 1100. We have averaged about 1/2 knot adverse current — not enough to make the effort to duck into bays for the hope of backwash from the Agulhas Current. As we get further down the coast, though, we will be really hugging the inshore.

We are just past Port Elizabeth, cutting inside via the Bird Island Passage. The shore is very dramatic with huge sand dunes mixed with deep green vegetation. We have seen tens of thousands of Black and White Gannets (Bird Island….), some Humpback whales, and a number of penguins fishing. The sea is long 2-3 meter swells. The barometer has been steady, but we are watching the start of a cloud system drawing in from the south.

Lunch today was a hearty tomato and beef soup with yesterday’s rice in it and a cold chicken salad with avocado, tomato, and shaved carrots, topped with a garlic (always!) vinaigrette. We finished yesterday’s Sparkling, eating outside in the sun.

Durban in two days?

All is well.