Another solo kayak expedition by Robert Hewetson

Selfie taken when Robert had found his gear in the bush after his emergency trip home...

To start with, here are a few pics of the things you find in the desert on the West Coast...

In the middle of the Namaqualand, on day 107, the red tide eventually disappeared and Robert was able to catch some crayfish again... Only to be replaced by a very thick mist... The mist was actually so thick that the surf launch became a little tricky as Robert had to use his compass to get out of it... 30 minutes later he was out of it but still had to use the compass to direct himself as there was no way he could see which way the waves were going.

The next day, same story, thick fog all around and all day. The trick is to actually put the kayak in the right direction at night to be able to know where to go in the morning... The compass once again proved to be the most valuable tool on board as Robert only managed to spot the coast once from the sea. The landing was very scary as Robert had no idea of what was on the beach or in the surf... He landed in a beautiful place with ostriches around and in the morning the tent was surrounded by big cats' footprints, probably caracals. 

On day 109, Robert took a rest day as North Westerly winds were blowing very strongly. Robert took the time to walk around his camp and surprised an ostrich who started running away and fell over a fence. After kicking in the air for a while and hiding its head under its wing (not in the sand!) when Robert was trying to come closer to help it, the ostrich eventually managed to get back up and ran away at full speed!

Some sewing also had to be done as Robert's jacket is cracking! Sea, Sun and salt are not good for the equipment and Robert's jacket has "crystallised" and is breaking...

The following days, Robert did not have much to report... He passed Hondeklipbaai and got some of the food & supplies we had left there before the trip started. The local kids got highly impressed with him and checked out all of his gear.

On 6 th March, around Kleinsee, Robert had a very nasty experience as he did his surf launch. He thought his day had come... The surf was huge and he got hit by a wave at full force. Robert got out of the kayak that got sent away. His spare paddle and the hatch cover that had been tied up to the boat and had not moved since the beginning of the trip got ripped from the kayak. The paddle got broken into 2 pieces and disappeared. Robert who was wearing his wetsuit pants to protect him against the cold, managed to put a fin on, its partner had been unfortunately lost a few days before in the surf, and then tried to get out of the surf for what must have seemed like eternity. Every time he went up to the surface to catch a breath, he would get hit by another wave and get thrown onto the sea floor, 3 to 4 meters under... Eventually, half-frozen, holding onto his paddle and using it to do some kind of backstroke swim, Robert managed to reach the beach, right next to where the kayak had landed! Robert had thought he would never get to see it again so it was a big relief when he found it and realized it had not got damaged! After that Robert got his warm clothes out and his sleeping bag and slept for about 3 hours!!! He then set up his camp again and did not move for the next 3 days. 

After realizing that he would not be able to go through the surf where he had landed, Robert decided to move his camp about 1.5 km away from there. He had to pull the whole thing for about 3 hours but it proved to be worth the effort as Robert then managed to get through the surf and could get on with the rest of the trip.

On Friday 13 March, day 119, Robert eventually arrived at the Orange River Mouth, the border between South Africa and Namibia. Some fishermen were there and they could not believe Robert had paddled in that surf. They offered him a glass of Brandewyn (Brandy) and took some photos of him. The fog was very thick. He had planned to reach Alexander Bay but the fog was so thick that he missed it and carried on 5 km up the river until he reached the South African border post and established his camp there.

Robert then had to make his way back to Doringbaai to get his bakkie, drive back to the border post to get his gear, stop in Hondeklipbaai to get the rest of the supplies he had left behind and eventually arrived home on Monday 16th March at night...

He is already thinking of the next trip...

Cape Town to Angola...

107 days into this trip and let's face it, this trip is not running as smoothly as the previous one!! Both at sea and at home...

But here is a recap of the previous days...

So Robert arrived as planned in Kommetjie on Feb 6 and his welcoming committee was extremely happy to see him again as you can see from the above pics...

Once home, Robert spent his time fixing the boat, doing some more fiberglass work, shopping to replace some of the equipment that died or that got stolen and obviously had some quality time with the family! 

Everybody who saw him commented on the fact that Robert looked so well compared to the last time and the proof is in the pudding or rather in the pemmican as Robert has only lost 4 kg so far!!! It was definitely worth all the work of making pemmican! Someone suggested we should maybe do this professionally... It sounds like a great idea, but actually, no thank you!

Robert left home again on Tuesday 10 February. He paddled 40 km to reach Robben Island. During the journey he managed to see a few sunfish and even touched the fin of a big one (at least 100 kg)! Once on the island, Robert's closest neighbours were the local penguins...

Robert embarked with his desalination pump and tried it out for the first time. You probably think, like I did, or actually maybe you are better au fait than I am, that it would have been wise to test it beforehand but actually it is not possible to do so as once the pump has been used you need to use it regularly so that the humidity inside it does not damage it... So after 30 mins of pumping manually and in the middle of the sea (!!!), Robert ended up with 4 litres or so of drinking water...

The next day (12/02), Robert paddled from Robben Island to Dassen Island, 54 km. He had the most fabulous sighting of two humpback whales feeding. It was a mother and her teenage child. As they fed they were both jumping completely out of the water, making huge splashes and at some point they jumped simultaneously! Had Robert had a camera (in working order!) with, this would have made quite a shot! Robert spent the next day on Dassen Island as the place is absolutely beautiful... No-one lives there apart from a Sanpark lady who stays in the lighthouse. She was at first not impressed that Robert was disturbing the penguins but then offered him some food... The penguins kept checking on Robert but he made sure he was not in their way too much...

On 14/02, day 97, Robert paddled 50 km and found a sheltered bay where to camp just past Saldanna Bay. On that day he saw he a whale with her newborn that she was pushing up to the surface for breathing... Another wonderful sighting! Another sighting but not so nice is a whale rotting not far from Robert's camp. Luckily the wind was blowing the right way and the stench was not going towards Robert! During the day, Robert had a near miss with a ore carrier ship going past Saldanna! It is very hard to judge correctly the speed and the course of these huge ships...

On 15/02, day 98, Robert set up his camp about 6 km past Paternoster and paddled a total of 35 km. With the sea water reaching 10.4 degrees Celsius, Robert is getting extremely cold. The day had to be cut short as the wind started to blow at 25 knots in the wrong direction, pushing Robert far away from the coast.

On 16/02, day 99, Robert did a 49 km paddle across St Helena Bay. Along the way he saw some dusky dolphins. A surprise wave took his boat over some rocks and Robert assumed no damage had been done. The next day was a rest day and Robert then saw that the boat had once again suffered so fixing it kept him a little busy.The camp was 26 km before Elandsbaai. As there is a red tide all along the coast, lots of sea creatures end up on the beach. Robert even found a whale vertebra, which was huge! The next day was a forced rest day as a North-Westerly wind was blowing.

On 19/02, day 102, Robert paddled 40 km to Wadrifsoutpan, about 15 km before Lamberts Bay. A strong South-Westerly wind was blowing which made keeping offshore very difficult. Robert decided to head for the beach before the surf picked up too much and still got hit seriously by the waves, which  made him dread the next day's launch! Robert is now paddling with the bottom part of his wetsuit on. He tried with the whole thing on at first but the act of paddling itself is made almost impossible with the wetsuit top on. But the bottom part is working wonderfully as it protects Robert from the cold but it also protects his hips that have been chafed so much rubbing against the boat and his seat.

On 20/02, day 103, Robert paddled another 40 km, and set up his camp approximately 6 km away from Doringbaai. As dreaded, the launch had been very hard that morning, it took him about 30 minutes to get out of the surf and several eskimo rolls... Another strong SW wind was blowing in the afternoon and the sea got quite rough. The landing also got tricky as the surf was very big. Not much happened en-route, just red tide all the way...

On 21/02, as one of our dogs who is already very sick got even worse, Robert decided to come back home for a few days... He hid all his belongings in the bush, walked the 6 km to Doringbaai, spotted a guy with a decent car and offered him some cash to take him back to Cape Town. The guy accepted and  started driving back to CPT, whilst drinking shots of whisky... Robert then offered to drive and the guy accepted, thank goodness!!!! He arrived home late that night and the kids had quite a surprise in the morning when they realized their Dad was home! An extra present for Hector's 7th birthday!!

On 25/02, Robert drove back to Doringbaai with his own bakkie that he left with a local fisherman he met there and found all his equipment in the bush exactly the way he had left it! Robert would not have made much progress if he had stayed there the previous days as the sea had been very big.

On 27/02, day 105, Robert paddled 48 km and set up his tent on a diamond beach... It is guaranteed that he is not allowed to camp on that type of beach but no-one saw him so it is all good. And sadly for me, he did not find any diamond... The red tide is still very heavy and it is making diving absolutely impossible as there is no visibility in the water whatsoever.

Yesterday, day 106, Robert paddled 45 km. He is now 108 km away from Hondeklipbaai where we dropped off the last of his supplies. He set up his camp about 15 km north of a mine we had seen on our way back from Hondeklipbaai to Cape Town, in the Namaqualand nature reserve. The sea is still completely red. The weather conditions are apparently fine for now.

Robert has now decided that this trip will end in Alexander Bay, Namibia. We are now 107 days into the trip and if Robert were to decide to keep on going to reach Angola, he would arrive there when the weather is changing and it would just be too risky. Also as the new boat will only leave Australia this week, there is no way it will arrive here anytime soon and the Polar Bear will not be strong enough to go to Angola... And last but not least, not sure the wife will be strong enough either!!!!

Just a quick update before we go to Kommetjie beach to fetch Robert...

First things first a BIG thank you to Tregoo, you guys ROCK!!! The new Gecko has just arrived, how is that for timing? So Robert will get all the power he needs for the second part of the trip! Thank you, thank you!

Robert left Quoin Point on Tuesday morning and after 39 km, he arrived in Hangklip, Moonlight Bay, just across from us... As he had a cold, he was feelong quite knackered... He also chose to land in a little bay where there were quite big breakers... The next day the breakers were still big and as he checked everything around, he realized that the two beaches on either side of where he had landed were completely flat... wrong choice...

The winds have not been ideal and so Robert has had to wait until this morning to do the crossing... Yesterday Robert met up with Fanie Cilliers, who was at Pretoria Boys High with him. They had not seen one another in 27 years so had loads to tell...

This morning Robert must have been in quite a rush to get home as he started paddling in the dark, which is maybe not that clever when one is crossing False Bay but Robert stayed away from seal island and up to now he has not had any encounter with anything...

He passed Cape Point lighthouse at about 9 am and is now making his way to Kommetjie beach where we are going to be waiting for him... I will post some photos later.

Robert is getting closer and closer to Cape Town and the kids are counting the sleeps! Yesterday we had reached "2 sleeps left until Daddy comes home (for a few days)", which then got changed into 4 sleeps as the weather is once again not playing along and once Robert reaches Hangklip tonight he will have to wait there for two days until he can paddle again... Hector is seriously not impressed!

Once again I am sorry I am not writing this blog more often, but life still happens (and shit too!) at home and so I am being sidetracked very regularly... But here goes for the last two weeks or so...

On January 20th, day 75, Robert reached Mossel Bay after 49 km of paddling which took him 8 hours of paddling and 1 hour in the morning to get out of the surf!!!! When you take into account what the sea was like in Morgan Bay on that video posted in December and that it had then taken Robert about 15 minutes to get out, one can imagine how rough it must have been! I have to say also that I was dreading that Mossel Bay part as it was there that Robert's Sea Bear had been broken during his first trip... Robert set up his camp in Mossel Bay in a very dodgy area... His words were that it was probably the worst place security wise he had camped so far on the trip... Worse than Plett then??? All of Robert's security equipment was at the ready... And he slept with a can of pepper spray in his hand... Fortunately the night went well , even though his alarm went off three times seemingly for no reason...

During the day, about 7 km at sea, a BIG great white came up to the surface to exchange quite a look with Robert. According to the latter, the whole shark head was out and Robert got quite a fright, especially as a few minutes after the shark had disappeared again, it decided to bump into the kayak... Robert then increased his speed for quite a while and actually had to force himself to take a break...

The repairs done on the kayak in Wilderness seemed to have been working quite well as it is not leaking as much... Robert "only" needs to pump out water every 2 hours, quite an improvement! The seat is still however rubbing against Robert's hips and I can only imagine what the sores will look like when he reaches home! He was in such a state last time! This time however, the pemmican has clearly been worth the effort of making it as Robert has not lost as much weight... I do not think that, seeing him, anyone could imagine he has spent the last 88 days on a kayak! 

On Jan 21st, Robert reached Gouritz River! Phew Pinnacle Point is quite a few km behind!

The sea was very rough and so Robert landed just before the Gouritz river where he saw a place that was a little sheltered. It was a very small beach with only a few houses there. Robert went straight to the main house to ask for permission to camp there as it looked quite private. Rodger Johnson, the owner, welcomed Robert and offered him coffee and a beer straight away. And then he told him Robert was not to camp there but to move into one of his houses!!!!!! He then got dinner, chicken with salad followed by a shower and a good night's sleep! Thank you so much Rodger, all this was highly appreciated!

During the day Robert had to do three eskimo rolls far at sea as he got caught by breakers...

On Jan 22nd, Robert reached Rooikrans.

On Jan 24, he got about 15 km north of Duiwenhoks River. The next few days, the weather was once again not playing along and so Robert had to wait on the beach... However on the next day, as the temperature was reaching 35 degrees, Robert decided to go for a short paddle and reached a new place about 5 km north of Duiwenhoks river...

On Jan 27th, Robert reached De Hoop... Hectic seas, the boat capsized and Robert had to swim for ages... Just as well he had his fins and his rugby helmet as they saved him on that tough day...

On Jan 28th, Robert reached Arniston and according to him, those 50 km of paddling were the hardest ones of his life...He was really sore on the next day as he had hurt his back/ribs while getting underwater and being dragged by a huge breaker while still about 2-3km offshore... Luckily he managed to stay in the boat and did a eskimo roll up, after what was probably 50m upside down surfing...  Otherwise for sure, he would have lost the boat to the wind.  Robert did lose his hat and glasses though.  Same thing happened twice more, slightly less severe, and he managed to roll each time.  The rudder nearly came clear of the boat in the process, fortunately it managed to just hang on somehow.

On Jan 29th, the sea was still hardcore looking, but Robert wanted to do 25km to Struisbaai.  Going further would not have been safe, since it would have meant landing at Agulhas in these bad conditions.  These were real tough days... One of Robert's moto is "If you wanna be dumb, you gotta be tough", I guess it is quite appropriate here... Shall I mention the "No pain no gain" one too????

On Jan 30th & 31st, Robert was in Struisbaai and did some fishing...

On Feb 01, he reached Quoin Point. He passed the Southernmost point of South Africa at Aghulas and saw breakers several kilometers at sea... He saw lots of gannets and penguins.

On Feb 02, he reached Onrus in 11 hours and 65 km. He passed danger point, near Dyer Island (full of seals) which he thought was very aptly named as huge waves were breaking at Birkenhead rock! He recalled having almost been in trouble there during his previous trip and same again this time! Great whites were on his mind all day... He did not get to see any but Robert is quite sure that quite a few of them actually saw him!!!! Game viewing!!! 

For quite a while now we have been saying that this trip has been so much harder than the previous one... Here is an example... During the previous trip, the boat never capsized once at sea... So far on this trip it has happened seven times!!!!!!!! And every single one of them were tough situations... Fortunately the Polar Bear even though seriously injured and heavily repaired is still holding... The new kayak that we have ordered is still being built in Australia. We are also tryting to organize for it to be sent over... After a few quotes for it to be flown over, it is now clear that it will have to be sent by sea so the Polar Bear is going to have to be brave for a little longer... If anyone fancies a quick paddle from Sydney to Cape Town, let us know!

On Jan 13, Robert managed to leave Plett behind but found himself once again in counter currents and after 8 hours of paddling he had only done 31 km. The plan was to keep on going for another 30 km or so, which meant Robert would then have been able to land in a "safe" (that word feels all relative now...) place. However had he kept on going he would have arrived very late at night which is not recommendable. So he decided to try and land in a spot where there were rocks... Out of the two options it seemed like the better one... Fortunately he managed to land safely and had a better night's sleep than the previous two nights.

On Jan 14, Robert reached George after 64 km and 9 hours of paddling. As he landed though his paddle broke in the surf and it cut his hand in a place that will heal with difficulty. He still had the one that he had broken and fixed at the beginning of the trip to use. As the boat had capsized and there was no way to paddle, Robert had to swim quite a distance to reach the shore. He was very thankful for his Forcefins!

In the morning his surf launch was very hectic as there were much more waves than the previous night. So Robert did a "do or die" surf launch, which could really have been fatal to the kayak but the Polar Bear survived that one! Robert managed to catch 2 bonitos that he released as he finds it actually much easier to eat pemmican... Warmed up with some salt and curry powder, it is apparently quite ok to swallow...

We had a bit of a recap on what was actually stolen and those thieves (may they rot in hell) scored quite nicely:

• Casio Protrek watch
• Iridium satellite phone
• Nokia smartphone (with all the trip photos on)
• Samsung smartphone (with all the marine charts and the waypoints for the trip)
• Olympus voice recorder (with 64 days of recording, approximately 10 hours)
• Rugby helmet (used for all the surflaunches and landings)
• Kindle
• Bags of dried fruits (ok not so serious)
• Several memory cards
• Garmin E trex 20
• Penn Torque 25 reel
• Aeropress
• Petzl Tikka RXP headlight

Those guys had grabbed most of Robert's bags but fortunately as they were running away the emptied the bags and threw away all the stuff they did not want so a few precious things got saved, like Robert's Lethermann and his extra precious Fallkniven F1 knife... Not to mention his wetsuit, passport...

Jan 15 was a very tough day as the kayak was filling up with water quite seriously... So much so that Robert could not spend more than 10 minutes without having to pump the water out... The kayak seemed to be leaking from everywhere... As he had reached Wilderness, Robert decided that it was time to ask for some help as he was really missing  some of his gear and maybe his family too!

So on Friday 16 Jan, the kids, Zulu and I embarked on yet another road trip to Wilderness. Zulu had to come with as she is suffering from diabetes and she gets insulin twice a day. We brought Robert quite a few things... Helmet, cellphone, headlight, new mattress as his deflates during the night, spare Aeropress, dried fruits...

By the time we arrived in Wilderness, Robert had realized that there was a new hole in the kayak... The seat had basically detached itself from the hull, creating a hole where it should have been joined together...More repair works to be done!

We spent Saturday together on the beach, with Robert boogie boarding with the kids and fixing the kayak and Sunday we had to travel back home while Robert had some repairs to do... Thanks to the efficiency of the guys from Knysna Racing kayaks, Robert also received his new paddle!

On Monday 19 Jan, Robert tried to do his usual surf launch but the surf was hectically heavy. He had a major fall in which the kayak suffered a lot... The rudder got seriously damaged and a big hole was made in the kayak... Robert later found another big crack... Not so kevlar tough apparently... As there is actually no way the Polar Bear is going to last much longer, a new kayak is being built for Robert as we speak (so to speak!). Hopefully the Polar Bear will last until the new one arrives! The gecko though did not get that lucky and with all the water it had been exposed to, it ended up exploding... Robert managed to get big pieces of fiberglass and then spent the whole day fixing the boat... During the surf launch, he got pushed up the coast again and so ended up being 2 km away from his starting point... As he was busy fixing the boat, a woman shouted at him that he was not allowed to stay on that beach... Seriously???!

Today Tuesday 20 Jan, day 75, Robert will be crossing the Mossel Bay so hopefully the Polar Bear will be resistant and the crossing will be ok as this is serious great white country... We are also getting closer and closer to the infamous Pinnacle Point where the Sea Bear had got broken during Robert's previous trip...

Well... It has been quite a few eventful days!

The good news is Robert has arrived in Plett and managed to connect with my friend Raenor and her family who delivered his precious fins to Robert...

For the bad news... You will have to read it further down...

Robert spent day 63, 08/01, on the beach at Huisklip.

On day 64, after 10 hours and 58 km of paddling, he managed to reach Storms River with a bit of apprehension as he had got told off for being there during the previous trip...So as Robert arrived he tried to go up the Storms river to find a place for his camp. He met a guy who was dealing with the kayaks from the holiday place there and the guy told him there were only cliffs along the river and that he would have to stay on the small beach. As it was quite full, Robert decided not to put up his tent and not even (sacrilege) to make his coffee, but instead he put the kayak under the restaurant's deck and went to have his coffee and cake, followed by dinner at that little restaurant... R370 later (expensive for South Africa), he went under the deck and fell asleep next to his gear with the intent to get up at 5 am to do the long stretch between Storms River and Plett.

At 11 pm he got woken up by a Sanpark guy who told him he could not stay there as he had entered the park illegally. Robert tried to explain what he was doing but the guy was having none of it. He only wanted Robert to come to the gate of the park with him to pay the fee and to rent a chalet for the night!! Robert categorically refused to rent a chalet. As it happened anyway, they were all fully booked... Eventually the Police was called. They also tried to convince the Sanpark guy but to no avail. Eventually Robert was taken to the Tsalanang Township B&B where Geraldine Damons gave Robert a bed for the rest of the night! Geraldine explained to Robert that he was the second "adventurer" to spend the night there... The first one was a Masai Warrior who was walking from Kenya to Cape Town, barefoot, in his traditional robe with his spear! 

At 9 am the Sanpark guy came to fetch Robert to take him back to the kayak and he forgot to stop at the gate to make Robert pay the fee!!! In the end several Sanpark guys waved Robert goodbye and were all taking photos of him!

Day 65 was a very tough one, as Robert left so late... He had to paddle very hard against the wind and after 11 hours he arrived at Nature's valley at 9 pm!!! Which is wayyyyyyy too late to be on the sea and to tackle the surf!

Yesterday Robert paddled to Plettenberg Bay. It was only a 38 km paddle and so he left quite late and made it to Plett in time to meet up with my friend Raenor and her family who are on holiday there and who brought him his new fins. The exact same ones as the ones he had lost in the sea at the beginning of the trip. He had a few beers with them and a nice meal too. Thank you so much Raenor for the help! He also got to see Giovanni who we had met on our way up the coast, and who had taken the box of supplies that he then left with the NSRI. Funnily enough when Robert was explaining why he needed to leave a box of supplies and what he was about to do, and that he had done a similar trip from Durban to Fish Hoek two years ago, Giovanni said: "Where you in a yellow kayak?"... Yes! Giovanni is the person who had contacted the NSRI then as the sea was very rough and he had thought the kayakist was in trouble! The NSRI had come to help Robert but the only thing they had to do was untie the rudder that had got stuck with the fishing line!!!! Small world! Whilst Robert was having a nice time with Raenor, Alan, Finn and the kids, Giovanni recommended Gunston to look after Robert's gear... Gunston looks a bit rough according to Robert and he is also on his own adventure: walking from Umtata to Cape Town!! I think he is wearing shoes...

After the meal, Robert moved a bit further down the beach and set up his tent... He went to bed as usual and this morning at 5 am, got woken up to find 3 faces looking at him in the tent and saying "where is your money?", Robert shouted at them... He was out of the tent in a few seconds but the guys (5 of them in total) all grabbed bags and as Robert was chasing the one, another one would get in the tent and grab something else... Fortunately they did not hurt Robert but lots of gear is gone... One satellite phone, 2 cell phones, money and probably quite a lot of other things! To say I am not impressed is the least! I tried to phone those guys to give them a piece of my mind but obvioulsy the phones are switched off! Bloody idiots! Now I have to wait and see... Raenor has gone to try and find Robert and we will see what he needs...

I will keep you posted!

Here are the photos with the dolphins and a chokka boat and a bonito...

Hello everybody and happy new year!

Things have been quite hectic at home and so the blog has suffered a bit... So here goes for that long holiday period!

1275 km done so far...

Robert has faced, once again, hectic conditions... Stormy seas, heavy winds, cold days and very hot ones!

Today is the 63rd of the trip and we can now say that it is not going as smoothly as the previous trip...

The weather conditions have been absolutely terrible and the kayak has suffered a lot... It is leaking from the seam all over and Robert carries an extra 10 litres of water, on average, in each compartment. He is also sitting in water the whole day when he paddles! The pump works when it wants to (tiny shells often get it completely stuck) and so at times Robert has to pump manually whilst trying to get out of big waves... Really not ideal.

From a physical point of view, Robert is doing ok. He has quite a few sores, the main one being on his lip. The sun seems to have burnt it and it cannot heal as it cracks everytime Robert opens his mouth... He also has a few around his hips as they are rubbing constantly against the hull... But he does not seem to have lost too much weight so it was worth making all that pemmican.

From a moral perspective, I think Robert is a bit low as he is not making as much progress as he would like to. He is a little behind on his schedule but then again when you are dealing with the elements, it is difficult to plan those things... Robert really wanted to reach Cape Town on January 21 so that he could see our son going to school in his very first uniform, but unless the winds decide to blow in the right directions and the Aghulas decide to give Robert a push, it is not going to be possible...

Robert spent Christmas around Port Alfred and he had to stay there for a few days as the wind and the sea were hectic. One day he decided he had had enough and he thought that once he had gone through the surf he could make progress... So he tried to go through that surf. Two hours later, after quite a few eskimo rolls and epic falls, he decided to give up... And landed back on the beach, only to realize that he had lost 2 km of distance!!!

The next days, Robert managed to go through the surf and make a little progress but his spirits got very low as he kept on paddling against strong currents... His GPS showing speeds of 1 to 3 km per hour... Not very satisfying at all...

On 30/12, Robert had reached Woody Cape. A container had landed on the beach which was covered in cooler boxes marked SpecSavers... He had done 18 hours of paddling over that day and the previous one (and 84 km!) and was absolutely exhausted. All his things were soaked as he had had to pack the tent under the rain... Also his things are now constantly in water as the hatches of the boat get filled every day and all the clothes and equipment are starting to smell seriously bad...

On 31/12, Robert passed Port Elizabeth and stayed far off the coast, between 10 and 20 km out. He had to use his compass only as he could not see any landmarks at all... He got to see dolphins, a small shark and lots of penguins. He also saw his a chokkaboat (they catch squid) and it almsot ran over Robert! Luckily Robert had planned for that and changed direction. Once landed, one of Robert's egyptian rolls got blown away by the strong winds and so Robert had to run after it for quite a while!!!

On 01/01, Robert paddled 44 km in 8 hours and was exhausted. He had then reached Van Stadens River Mouth. The sea was flat that day and there was no  wind. Robert was really tired though as he had done 38 hours of paddling in that day and the previous 3... As it got late and it was time to land, he realized he was still 9 km out at sea, and so had to paddle all these 9 km to reach the coast without making much progress distance-wise... Before starting his day, he did not forget to wish our daughter a happy birthday... Postcards are overrated as you can see...

After having spent a few days in Jeffrey's Bay, Robert reached Huisklip yesterday, just before the Tsitsikamma. The sea was very rough and the wind was still blowing very hard as we were talking on the phone. Whilst paddling, Robert heard a little popping sound and soon realized it was the wire that connects the rudder to the boat that had snapped! Robert had to fix it in the middle of the sea! I often wonder what would have happen if Robert was not a bit of a McGiver... For sure the trip would be impossible...

As he arrived in Huisklip, Robert found himself once again in the middle of a pod of dolphins and he managed to get some nice photos that I will hopefully be able to share with you when Robert gets his 3G going again...

Once Robert had landed, a bakkie from Sea Fisheries arrived and Robert thought that he might get told off for being where he was, as it has happenned a few times now, but on the contrary, Jason had spotted Robert from a distance and wanted to make sure he was alright! Thank you for that Jason!

The wind has been howling for the last few days and has made Robert's progress very slow...

On day 42 Robert had no choice but to stay on the beach...

On day 43, he managed to do 29 km but he had the wind against him all the way... He would have liked to go further but the next planned stop was just too far and he would have arrived past night time which is certainly not a good idea. So he settled somewhere between Hamburg and Begha.

On a positive side he caught two nice fish on that day and so could have a very decent meal. He landed in a very beautiful place as you can see below...

On his way there, Robert passed a HUGE superpod of dolphins! He is quite sure that there were several hundreds of them... And he actually heard them from about 500m away. He says the noise in the middle of the sea was similar to the one from a river in a mountain. Once he was amongst them the whistling and jumping was amazing...

He also went over a reef but with wind gusts reaching 24 knots, he got hit by a wave, found himself unable to do a eskimo roll and could not manage to get out of the kayak... Adrenaline helping, he eventually managed to get out somehow, he is not even sure how... He then realized he could see his sunglasses slowly disappearing, even though they are supposed to float, and had to dive to go and get them back... What a day!

On the beach, amongst all the shells, Robert found porcelain chards, just like the ones that are washed up at Double Mouth from the Santo Espiritu that sank in 1608... I have tried to see if I could find something about a shipwreck around there but so far I have not managed... If anybody knows of a shipwreck in that area, I would love to get some information! The other possibility I guess is that someone could have broken a plate or something recently but I would rather think that Robert has found pieces of a little treasure!

Robert had to stay on that beach on day 44 and his job was to find some more treasure bits but he did not find anything more...

Day 44 was a tough one. Robert decided to paddle even though the weather conditions were not great as he is making very slow progress... But with the wind in his nose he only managed to do 11 km in 7 hours!!!!!! The counter current was so strong, it was pushing him away everytime he took a break from paddling... He set up his camp about 3 km north of Begha and got sandblasted... He then walked there to try and find some food and water... There is however no shop in Begha but a nice guy gave Robert a beer so that made him feel a lot better...

The weather conditions were once again very bad for yesterday and Robert was unsure about leaving... But around 10 am, the wind became Easterly and he decided to make a move. In 5 hours he paddled 26 km so that was worth his while! He settled at Fish River Mouth where he will have to spend the day today as the weather conditions are not good once again... On his way there he met some fishermen on a boat who invited him to spend the night at their place, Robert declined the offer but asked if he could have some bait and they gave him a nice squid. With that he managed to catch a nice fish for his supper and also had enough squid left to eat some too, so last night's menu was: coconut oil grilled squid with rice and steamed fish... Unfortunately pudding is amiss as Robert has already eaten up his stack of Lindt chocolate...

I have just arrived back home from Morgan Bay and it has been so fabulous to spend some time there again with the added bonus of seeing Robert too!

I was certainly not expecting that Robert would stay with us for a few days but as the weather conditions were not great for paddling, he actually spent four days with us. Even though he still slept in his tent, we actually spent much more time together as we usually would during a holiday as he did not go fishing nor paddling! Strange isn't it!!!

Whilst with us Robert had to do some more repairs on the boat that had got quite damaged on a rock whilst landing in Kob Inn. So more fiberglass and also Robert managed to create a new way out for the electric water pump that he had so far not managed to use as the way out was letting water in... And Robert's plan worked very well as the pump worked the whole of yesterday but then it died... So no more leaks but no more pump either!!

After his few days with us, Robert got well rested and well fed, thanks to the fabulous people of Morgan Bay! This made him feel like he was cheating a bit as he is not supposed to get any help, but from my point of view, he got fed and mentally boosted but he did not get any help for anything. I was not even able to bring him any chocolate nor any peanuts and raisins, which has become one of his treats... I was however allowed to bring him the new solar panel that the fabulous Tregoo people had sent us and all is now in perfect working order.

So yesterday morning, Robert took his seat in the kayak again and got a strong hold of his paddle and went off... The sea was once again very rough, we actually have a video of the launch that the brave Euan took for me. The surf was quite big and Robert had to do an eskimo roll but went off without any problem... He later saw quite a few sharks but they stayed away.

After 36 km, he landed in Yellow Sands and set up his tent in the middle of many holiday makers, some were very impressed and some not so much... He went to refill his water from a tap at the caravan park and got shouted at quite badly by a woman who said he had nothing to do there and she would report him!!!!

Today Robert reached Christmas Rock, 55 km away from Yellow Sands. He had originally planned to stop at Kidds Beach, just as he had during his previous trip but he then changed his mind and preferred to land somewhere quieter... It was a long day of paddling and Robert describes it as "just another day at the office"... Nothing major happening is actually a very good thing!!!