Category: Uncategorized

Two uneventful days later found us 200nm north, cruising into pond inlet with a fresh fallowing wind. Sunrise on our way to Pond Inlet Small icebergs dotted the approach, and snow dusted the hills. Iceberg on the way into Pond Inlet Pond Inlet We tied up at the wharf, which was a challenge in itself. Read more

The 500nm crossing from Disko bay to Baffin Island was for the most part uneventful. The seas were calm and the wind light to non existent. Heavy fogs often obscuring the horizon. It wasn’t until around 80nm off the Canadian coast that we got some excitement.  For a minute the fog lifted, offering a brief Read more

We left Sisimiut the next morning and we were on our way to Disko Bay. The sky was gray and a low fog obscured the hills as we motored out of the harbour. A strong southerly was blowing, a very welcome change from the northerlies we’d had for the past couple of weeks. We were Read more

A couple of icebergs had lodged themselves in the entrance to Hawkes harbour overnight, but luckily hadn’t blocked it off completey. We motored out into a dead calm sea. Icebergs and sunset on a calm sea Our next stop, Sisimiut Greenland a crossing of 850 nautical miles almost due north. Master Chef Callum with a Read more

Saumure Petty Harbour After a rather tough slog back around the top of Newfoundland, facing heavy headwinds, we sailed back into Petty Harbour. Over the next few days we worked at sorting out the engine issues but with little success. We diagnosed it back to something up with the injectors or fuel pump. We put Read more

We arrived in Bay Bulls, a small fishing port just south of St John’s that has become famous for its whale watching and puffin colonies. At Bay Bulls we replaced needed to replace our wind turbine, solar panel and alternator, all of which had conked out one after another on crossing the Cabot Straits. Bay Read more

Late in the evening and with dense fog obscuring the land, we approached the narrow rocky entrance to Fortress of Louisbourg.  Fortress of LouisbourgThe fortress was originally built by the French in the early 1700’s and, in 1745 was captured by the British. The two sides traded it back and forth a few more times Read more

May 27th was the big day. We had spent the last couple of weeks making the necessary upgrades and repairs to the boat. May 27th the boat was going back in the water. It was not to be a day without it’s challenges. We stood by and watched as the boatyard crew skilfully manoeuvred the Read more

Saumure had survived the winter storms quite well. We had done a fair amount of work on the boat when we hauled it out last summer. There was still quite a bit to do but we had two whole weeks to do it all which felt quite manageable. We had to have extensive repairs done Read more

Spring had arrived and it was time for us to make preparations for getting back to the SV Saumure The boat had been on the hard all winter at Shining Waters Marina in St Margaret’s Bay Nova Scotia. We had gathered quite a few things for the expedition through the north west passage. Some of Read more

Day 40 About 6:30 am a tropical bird landed in our cockpit with a resounding crash followed by an indignant squawk. It looked quite out of sorts sitting in a ball of feathers on the bottom of the cockpit and so I picked it up and moved it to the more comfortable leeward bench. It Read more

After a certain amount of time at sea, you run out of things to talk about and lapse into hours, if not days of silence. For us that amount of time was 30 days. 30 days with almost no input from beyond our 9 foot by 30 foot expanse of wood and fibreglass in a Read more

Day 18. A feathered friend and St Peter and St Paul: We passed close by st peter and St Paul rocks which is a very small island right on the equator.  It’s owned by Brazil, who keeps 5 people there in order to maintain a claim on them and the surrounding waters. The island was Read more

I thought I’d start this entry off with a short explanation as to our route plan and why we decided to skip Ascension and Bermuda, putting the length of this leg up from around 3700 nm to over 5300nm. The number one factor is money. After 9 months of cruising the coffers are running critically Read more

Saint Helena is a small island of about 4000 people, until 2018 it could only be reached by 5 day voyage by boat from South Africa. The island has a long history with the British east India company dating back to the 17th century. Our first view of Saint Helena Jamestown is a small town Read more

In our rented 2wd VW Polo heading for Kolmanskop Callum in front of our 2wd polo enroute to Kolmanskop  Kolmanskop  Callum on the hill above kolmanskop  Callum next a railcar  Callum in a sand filled building Cianan in a sand filled doorway   A very fancy staircase  It’s important to stay clean in the desert Hiking Read more

It takes about 2 hours to walk the whole way around Luderitz, but we still managed to spend two days exploring the town. The main road in town is paved with the larger offshoots being made of brick. Everything else is hard packed sand. As we were soon to discover this sand could be quite Read more

We stayed at the False Bay Yacht Club in Simon’s town. Positioned under the Lee of South Africa’s naval fleet and right in the historic Port of Simon’s town.  Simonstown The dock was rickety and there was only a couple inches to spare between us and the boat beside us, which made for a challenging Read more

  Sailing the Cape of Storms Tuesday February 13 We left Richards Bay well stocked with food including three enormous strips of biltong each one two feet long. They are well vacuumed wrapped so hopefully they won’t spoil. We have the open biltong hanging in the sail locker where it is relatively dry and has air Read more

Tuesday January 30th We spent most of the day at the Tuzi Gazi Quay, chatting to the locals that came down to see the boat while we waited for high tide at 6 o’clock that evening. When high tide finally came we cast off and motored around Naval island to the Zululand yacht club. Wednesday Read more

Our first encounter with an elephant Cheetah Lions enjoying the view Sunset over Imfolozi a grumpy elephant we encountered on our way back to camp Rhinos 50 knot headwinds approaching the cape of storms Moments before the cameraman came to regret his decisions Large flocks of birds at breakfast Read more

Monday Jan 22 Around 4pm we saw something on the horizon that we couldn’t quite make out. It was a massive, somewhat shapeless form, not unlike an Island. As we drew closer and it appeared on AIS we saw it was the container ship Marit Maersk. At 1,300 feet or almost half a kilometer, It Read more

Glorious sailing in the Indian Ocean before the cyclones Cianan before getting a haircut from his brother What happens when you let your brother be your hair stylist! Heading into cyclone waters An ominous front. It hit us hard as we were taking in a reef 5 minutes later Callum trying to stay out of Read more

January 12The last two days have been pretty much idyllic sailing with enough wind to maintain 4 knots on a beam reach and a relatively flat ocean. We have now entered the area affected by what at the moment is a tropical depression but is still forecast to become a category 1 cyclone by the Read more

October 16th, 2023 We’ve been in Cairns for three weeks now, enjoying the tropics again and doing some repairs, as are always required after a major passage. We replaced our very outdated 75w solar panel with a 170w one. It’s not always easy getting new equipment or supplies in a new town, while on foot! Read more