Jan 20 to Feb 02 - Day 75 to 88 - Mossel Bay to Onrus

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!

Comments

[Nicholas Cole]

Guess Robert will be in Cape Town by now, wow! Uphill to Angola! Sure hope the sea gods start smiling. Looking forward to the next installation of the adventure!

[Cherylynn]

Sylvi We all know that Robert is brave but I just want to let you know that I think you are equally brave!! Besides running the house you must sometimes be worried more than one can imagine. So good luck to the both of you! thinking and praying for you often. Cherylynn