Sailing from Cape Town up the Skeleton Coast to Namibia was basically due north and was far from a benign jaunt. We had miserable 30-35 knot winds gusting to 43! It was rolling so much on Matilda that we had to fit a lee cloth on the sofa in the saloon so that we didn’t roll off. Cooking, cleaning and sleeping were impossible until one morning…… the wind just stopped. It went from full-on  to zilch. We went from reefing down all the sails to motoring our way in. We arrived in Walvis Bay in the evening,  dropped anchor jumped in Joey and headed into the Yacht Club.

Vast sand dunes

Our time in Walvis Bay was a short three and a half days. Just enough time to fix the ever-present boat issues, refuel and re-provision for the long journey ahead. It is basically a country of sand dunes and seals!

One of 1.6 million seals in Namibia

Diamonds were discovered in 1908 and can sometimes be found on the beaches where they are swept up from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The diamonds were deposited by rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean millions of years ago. Today ships comb the ocean floor mining millions of diamond carats per year.

Gemstones and rose quartz on the beach

The Namib desert stretches along the west side of Namibia and remarkably is home to diverse wildlife.

A large population of Springbok survive here

Namibia is an odd country, it is so desolate and has been the subject of many documentaries about how survival is possible in such conditions.

Translucent ghecko

We managed to fit in a little land-time discovering the moonscape and climbing the famous Dune number 7.

Climbing the famous Dune #7

Moonscape

We then visited the stunning Sandwich Harbor before doing a little 4 wheel dune driving. 

4 wheel dune driving

The very long passage to Brazil has begun, we are underway to St Helena which is 1230 nautical miles where we hope to stop before continuing on to Brazil a further 1900 miles. St Helena will be a very welcome respite (we hope). All the mooring balls are currently being replaced requiring us to anchor in over 60 feet of water. We do not carry enough chain to anchor securely in these depths so hopefully a Plan B will have appeared before we get there.

Sailing conditions are excellent right now, and we hope they stay that way as we certainly don’t have enough fuel to get us all the way to Brazil (or St Helena for that matter).