The passage from Cape Town, South Africa to Walvis Bay, Namibia was one of the coldest I've ever experienced. We departed V&A Waterfront in the early hours on 4th March 2014 and arrived on 8th March, covering 647 nautical miles. It was a pleasant sail as we had constant winds from the South-Southwest.
As we approached Walvis Bay, a large bird landed on Raptor. At first we were very careful not to spook it. Quietly taking photos of it behind the side panels. But it was so brave and friendly, it hopped towards us and perched itself on one of the winches in the cockpit.
Later we noticed a charter catamaran feeding these birds with fish to entertain their guests! I guess it thought we were one of them {sorry birdie, no num num here}.
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| So cold! All layered up |
We anchored in the bay (S 22.57.236 E 14.28.935) for 8 days.
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| Every morning we'd find a few of these cuties on the transom |
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| View from Walvis Bay Yacht Club |
It was a busy and eventful week! We would've stayed longer if we weren't rushing to catch a flight from Brazil in April.
To summarize our road trip, we drove from Walvis Bay to Hammerstein via Swakopmund and Solitaire. We stayed in Hammerstein Lodge for 3 nights where we had the opportunity to get close and personal with 2 lovely cheetahs. From there we drove to Sossusvlei, one of the highest sand dunes in the world. We drove back to Hammerstein for the night and
back to Sossusvlei again the next day, before heading to Fish River Canyon via Maltahohe, Keetmanshoop and Grunau.
On our way to Fish River Canyon, we had a flat tire and found a dead bird on the car. Later that day, the 2W gear box died and finally in the evening, the back wheel of our 4x4 rental car flew off. Stranded at the Fish River Canyon, we were fortunate enough to arrange for a last minute accommodation at Grunau and even convinced the owner to pick us up (a 212km drive return).
He sent his two sons. One drove like a maniac speeding pretty much the whole way while the other held a bright torch to watch out for wild life. There was no doubt they were skilled and experienced drivers of the night. But a couple of times, I felt my heart fly out of my chest when we suddenly slowed down as Springbok antelopes dart across the road. Nevertheless, we were extremely grateful for the ride and roof over our heads that night.
The next day the car rental company arranged bus tickets for us from Grunau to Walvis Bay (approximately 1,053 km) via Keetmanshoop, Windhoek, Okahandja and Swakopmund.
Route
Distance: Walvis Bay -(41.6 km)- Swakopmund -(261 km)- Solitaire -(128
km)- Hammerstein -(104 km)- Sossusvlei -(104 km)- Hammerstein -(104 km)-
Sossusvlei -(198 km)-
Maltahohe -(283 km)- Keetmanshoop -(164 km)- Grunau -(106 km)- Fish
River Canyon -(106 km)- Grunau -(164km)-
Keetmanshoop -(498 km)- Windhoek -(72 km)- Okahandja -(281 km)-
Swakopmund -(41.6 km)- Walvis Bay.
A total of 2,656.2 km (approximately). Longest distance road trip ever in 5 days!
On our way back to Raptor, we spotted at least 8 Cape Fur seals on board. It appears they decided to boat sit for us while we were away. Unfortunately these uninvited guests only left dark brown stains, lots of fur and dried greyish poop for us to clean. 😆
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| Big lunch before at Anchors (Walvis Bay) before our voyage to St Helena |
Missed out on the North but will be back someday for Etosha! Goodbye Namibia!
Oh, and we tried our best to get a refund on the car rental, as we did not get to use it for the entire rental period. But once we left Namibia, we did not hear from them again..
