Tobago Cays - St. Lucia

Tobago Cays was spectacular as usual; even with a few more knots of wind than what we usually have experienced here. We spent two nights in Tobago Cays, which is never long enough, but we had a great time nonetheless. The morning we arrived, Travis and I put our snorkel gear on and didn’t return for two hours. We were swimming with turtles and looking at all the different and beautiful fish on the reef. Some of the turtles were friendly enough to let us touch them, that was a highlight for us, something special. The next morning Travis and I took my mom snorkeling with us and got a few pictures of her touching the turtles as well. Travis and I kayaked to the one of the few beach and walked the little island, seeing a few huge iguanas. The stingrays come out later in the afternoon so we took another snorkel out and saw a few Southern Stingrays’. We also saw a strange looking fish called a balloon fish. The next morning, we were set to leave but were determined to have one last snorkel, even though the wind had picked up even more. We took the dinghy out to the big reef and dropped the anchor. The current was too strong so we didn’t stay long. Travis and I swam back to the boat from the reef. On the way we saw a spotted moray eel and I found a pretty shell that looks like a butterfly. 

Travis touching a turtle

Mom touching a turtle

Balloonfish

butterfly shell

Basils beach bar

When we left Tobago Cays, we had a pretty rough sail to Mustique. A few of us were feeling a little queasy on board. We arrived in Mustique around 3pm and attached to a buoy. The master of buoys came to collect our fee and told us that the island was on lockdown. Mustique is a private island and is made famous due to the fact that a few celebrities /famous people have holiday houses on the island. The previous week, some yachties took pictures of a famous person when they were instructed not to, which put the island on lockdown. As a result of this we were only allowed on a small section of the island called the “ green zone”. We were told that at the time we were there, Bryan Adams and Mick Jagger were on the island. That evening we went to the famous Basils beach bar for their Wednesday night jump up. It is the place to be as the occasional celebrity makes an appearance on a Wednesday or Sunday evening. We, however, weren’t so lucky to see any celebrities. The next day we came to the island, did a bit of grocery shopping and walked around the few shops they had. That evening we were booked to go to the very exclusive Cotton House boutique hotel for dinner. We were fetched by a driver at 6:45pm and taken out of the green zone to the hotel. The hotel was spectacular! It was an old sugar mill that had been converted. We had the most delicious dinner, and I had without a doubt the best mojito I have ever had, a lemongrass mojito. After a superb evening, we all headed back to the boat to bed as we were set to sail early the next morning.

Ready to go to the Cotton house

Infront of the cotton house restaurant

Travis with his yellowfin tuna

Travis filleting his fish

The sail to St. Lucia I would hazard a guess to say was the roughest we have ever had. The wind ranged between 20-33 knots, the swell height 3-4 meters hitting our starboard bow. Our maximum speed reached was 11 knots! As we were approaching St. Lucia the sea died down a bit so we could put our rods out. Travis caught a decent size yellow-fin tuna, the second one we have ever caught. He was so excited, he even filleted his own fish. We were all looking forward to dinner. As we got closer to St. Lucia we saw this huge creature in the water, we thought it might have been a whale, but then this turtle popped its head out. It is the first leatherback turtle we have ever seen. Leatherback turtle fins can measure up to 2 meters in-length and can exceed the weight of 900 kilograms. They are the largest turtle and are endangered. As we reached St. Lucia and were sailing up the south of the island we were approached and stopped by the coastguard. They were all well armed and seemed very serious. They asked us what our last port of call was, where we were from and what was in the jerry cans we had on deck. After about five scary minutes they let us carry on. We sailed another hour and a half before attaching to a buoy in Marigot Bay. We were all so tired when we got to Marigot Bay but we had to go onshore to clear customs and immigration. After that it was so hot we all went to the Hurricane hotel. This is were we meet our dear friend Robert Hayhurst and celebrated Rebecca’s 16^th birthday in 2012.  We went to the swimming pool and had a drink at the pool bar while taking a nice cool dip. It was an early night for everyone to get some rest.

About the size of the leatherback turtle we saw

Travis and I had planned to do an island tour the next morning but there were no cars available for hire. So it was a relaxed day at Marigot Bay. We took the dinghy and went snorkeling, and finished the day at Doolittles, a restaurant that is in the area where the first Dr. Doolittle movie was filmed. 

Hanging out in the dinghy

Humpback whale

We did an early sail up to Rodney Bay the next day as Travis and I had hired a car. Once again mother- nature was kind to us and we got to see some humpback whales. We followed them for about an hour but had to cut our time with them short as we had to fetch our hire car. When we eventually got our little red car we set of for the famous volcanic Pitons. Mrs Navigator (me) definitely needs to go for lessons as we got lost and ended up on the wrong side of the island. Needless to say this added an hour and a half more to our trip. When we got to he Pitons it was already 12:30pm so we had lost a lot of time. Travis and I began to climb Gros Piton but I was going too slowly so I only made it half way and then walked down again. Travis basically ran the last half of the mountain. It was just after three when we left the Pitons and we decided to go for lunch. We drove to the Jalouise plantation and had a quick bite before heading to the Sulphur Springs. We only arrived there after five so we changed into our swimming costumes and got covered in mud. We dried and then rinsed off again in the warm sulphur spring. We left it a little late to drive back to Rodney Bay along all of St. Lucias windy roads, so we only made it back after 8pm.

Humpback whale

At the bottom of the piton

Travis at the top of the piton

Travis and me covered in mud at the sulphur springs

Tuesday was a very sad and tearful day as I had to say goodbye to Travis again. We drove him to the airport and said our farewells. I only hope to see him again, sooner than later.

Jangles on the move

Jangles going in the water

Jangles is once again in the water! We launched on Friday 28^th March. We unfortunately still couldn’t leave… as we put the boat in the water we discovered that the starboard engine was not working, after we had checked and started it the day before, only to find out that the battery had died. So the next day we had to go and buy a new battery. Saturday afternoon we started putting the genoa back up and the sail tore along the seam. And naturally Monday was a public holiday (one of the 20-something ones in Trinidad each year) so we were still in Trinidad till Tuesday to repair our sail. So Sunday we motored to a small bay called Turtle Bay for the evening. On Monday morning a pod of dolphins came into the bay and stayed swimming around for hours. Travis and I put the kayak in the water and started kayaking with the dolphins. They were jumping up next to the kayak and swimming underneath it, it was so amazing! Travis dropped me back at the boat and took my mom kayaking with the dolphins too. That afternoon we motored back to Crews Inn with our sail ready to go in the next morning. Our victron was also giving us trouble as well as our solar panels so we got those repaired as well while we were there.

Travis and I kayaking with dolphins

Mom and Travis

Scotland Bay

Wednesday everything was done, the sails were up and we were ready to go. My dad says if you own a boat you must use it, otherwise it costs you money in maintenance. We sailed to a little bay called Scotland Bay, where we had dinner and slept for a few hours. Around midnight the anchor was lifted, the sails were raised and we were off to Grenada…Finally! As we were leaving Trinidad we had a pod of GIANT dolphins swim with our boat for a while and give us a show by jumping out of the water. We sailed through the early hours of the morning and around 7:30am, another pod of dolphins swam with our boat. As the sun came up, the rods went out. The first reel to run was a barracuda. We tossed him back, and then the next rod ran. Travis reeled in his first fish aboard Jangles. We couldn’t decide whether it was a kingfish or a Spanish mackerel (ended up being a Spanish mackerel) so we threw it back too as Kingfish have been known to carry a reef poison. Before we arrived in Grenada we had yet another pod of small young dolphins swim and jump around our boat. We had been so lucky! After 12 hours of sailing at an average speed of 7.1 knots, we reached Grenada.

Dolphins swimming by the bow

Travis with his first fish

Travis and I snorkeled the sculpture gardens in Grenada that afternoon as well as the next morning before we headed off to Sandy Island. The sculpture garden is basically a whole bunch of sculptures that have been placed around the bottom of a bay in Grenada; which you can snorkel or dive to see them. Mom and dad opted to catch up with a friends son who has relocated to Grenada and to watch South Africa play cricket in the semi-finals of the T20 against India, unfortunately for my cricket mad mom it was not to be South Africa’s day once again.

Travis and me on Sandy Island

We arrived at Sandy Island around 8pm in the evening. It was pitch black and we were expecting to find buoys to attach to but they all seemed to have vanished in the year and a bit since we were last here. We managed on our second attempt to get the anchor to hold in the sand, a little stressful for us all but mostly for the Captain/dad. Once we were finally anchored after we had had yummy pies that we had bought from a little bakery in St Louis that is owned by a lovely South African couple we settled down for the night. The following morning, Travis, my mom and I, took the dinghy onto the island. It was a bit of a mission as the wind was howling, so we all arrived a little soaked. We swam in the inland pool for a while and Travis and I snorkeled off the beach but we went back to the boat soon as we saw my dad trying to raise the anchor and move the boat as the anchor had started to drag. Once we were all back on the boat we had lunch and then motored to Hillsborough to check out.

Dinner on PSV

From Hillsborough we sailed a short hour and a half to get to Petite St. Vincent, a topnotch private resort. We took the dinghy onto the small island and went to the beach bar to make reservations for dinner. We stayed at the bar for a while, had a drink and a few snacks before going back to the boat to shower and change for dinner. The absent family was hugely missed as the last time we were here the whole family was together. Josh especially as he kept us entertained trying out all sort of cocktails on the menu. The beach restaurant was relatively quiet and we got a nice table near the ocean. We all filled up on good food and great company before making our way back to Jangles. The next morning Travis and I kayaked to the private beach and walked a while along it. We all agree that this is one of our favourite places in the world, but we didn’t stay long as we had another destination to get to.

Rebs mom says you have caught the bouquets at the last two cousins’ weddings. Dad says he will be home soon with a big shotgun!! We have just checked into Union Island and will spend the next few days in Tobago Cays and Mustique.

Union Island

Trinidad

Wayne and Tracy

As much as we wanted to be on the water already before carnival, we were still on the hard when carnival came rolling around. We went into town one day to see all the floats with a South African couple we met, Wayne and Tracy. It was quite a fun filled day, full of feathers and sequins. Float after float came, with people walking with each float dressed in themed costumes similar to the floats. They were following a free bar for everyone who dresses up for that particular float. Loud music blasts as they all dance by.  Most of the trucks were taken up with speakers and giant generators to power all the speakers. Our bodies were vibrating in time to all the carnival beats. The sun was so hot we lasted two hours in the streets before heading home.

Chief 

Installing winch

Even though all we want to do is put Jangles in the water. . . there is still so much work to do. So far we have mounted new winches, installed an ice maker (about time!), fixed the de-lamination of the deck, sorted out our sail drives and have begun laying our new cork deck. Our hold up unfortunately is that we ran out of glue ¾ of the way through laying it! So needless to say we sit and wait till more gets sent from South Africa. Only once the deck is done can we finish other jobs. We need to refit stainless steel, put the sails up, the halyard, paint the cockpit roof, re-attach the engine hatches and anti-foul the boat. Luckily we have an extra pair of hands! My boyfriend, Travis, arrived from America on Thursday (expecting a 3 week sailing holiday. . .)  He unfortunately is land bound for the first week. So the next week is a busy one!

Installing winch

Hakka

It was my mothers birthday on Saturday, so we went to a great restaurant on Friday night called Hakka to celebrate. We had a great evening, with great food and great company. Once we got back to the boat yard we had to make excuses for my mom to go to her hotel room, so I could bake her a cake. The cake was eventually finished at 2:30 am! Travis stayed with me for moral support; which included him sleeping on the couch haha. The next morning, my mother’s birthday, she walked on the boat to cake, champagne, flowers and presents. We were all so tired we decided to skip the champagne but all had cake for breakfast. After a lazy day we went to the wheelhouse for dinner to have shark n’ bake (crumbed shark burger). We played pool in teams, needless to say Travis and I were the pool sharks that night.

Shark n' bake

Sunday evening we went to a braai with a lovely South African couple we met in Trinidad, Zack and Magda. They are on a Maverick catamaran called “Vagabund”. We took some meat and side dishes and sat at Power Boats braai area.  It was a pleasant evening with good company.

Edith Falls

Doubles

Monday morning I had Travis up at 6am and we were off to do a hike to Edith Falls. On the way we stopped to get some local doubles for breakfast (flat fried bread filled with curried chick peas).It was a short 3 km hike with lots of ups and downs and climbing over rocks. Once we got to the little waterfall we stood under the water to cool down a bit. We heard a sound that sounded like a wild pig so we got a little spooked and fast-tracked back while holding sticks and rocks. After the hike we took a little drive to Macqueripe beach and went for a dip in the ocean. We headed back to the boat to get started on the days work. In the afternoon we got a phone call saying our glue had arrived at customs! We drove to Crews Inn to get it. Travis and I had met at Crews Inn 3 years ago so we took a walk down memory lane.

Macqueripe Beach

Now that we have the deck glue, all the work begins. We are set to splash on Friday so here’s hoping.

2013

Yes, I know, I am terribly sorry about just dropping off the side of the earth for a while. You were probably wondering what happened to Jangles? Well I assure you we haven’t disappeared, we just switched from sea to land for a while. . . well a year to be exact. 2013. . .what a year it was. It was a year of choices, changes, friendship and family. It was a great year for the Jangles family. The first major change is that my sister started boarding school at Pecanwood College in South Africa. My brother and sister-in-law moved into an apartment in Australia. And the rest of the clan, we were fortunate enough to have friends and family visiting from other continents.

Rebecca at Pecanwood

My dads good friend from Australia, Rick, came to South Africa with his daughter, Emily. They were here between March and April. It truly is the best thing when we get to show people our country and let them experience the beauty of it. I spent a bit of the trip with them as I was mostly stuck in the books, getting my school done. We took them to game reserves to experience our wild animals. To Cape Town to climb Table Mountain. When it was time for them to leave, we were happy knowing that they now had a taste for Africa.

Rick and Emily

Towards the end of Rick and Emily’s trip, my cousin Bronwyn arrived from Papa New Guinea with her husband and her three little girls. They stayed with us for a few days, and it was great to catch up.

Family

One of the highlights of my year was that I got to go on holiday with my best friend twice! The first time we went to swim midmar mile together. . . it was an eventful swim as I accidently swam into a lifeboat and we both ended up swimming at least 100m in the wrong direction! My friend also has a sense of humour as she stops in the middle of the swim and starts looking around. I asked her what she was doing and she said, “I’m taking this in cause I’m never doing this again!” We had an awesome weekend together.

Ashton and me

Leadwood group

Our second holiday was a week at Leadwood. . . and my word was this not the best experience I have ever had at a game reserve! There were 13 of us in total at this private camp. Two game drives a day, the game driver is an experienced tracker who also takes you off road! We saw a leopard almost every day, which is a rare and incredible experience if you get to see it! We followed the leopard into the bush and got to see him kill a squirrel. We were also lucky enough to see a pearl-spotted owl eating a giant centipede! We drove through a herd of 600 buffalo, and got to see a baby giraffe so new it still had its umbilical cord. We even got even with a monkey who was stealing our bread by filling it with hot sauce! I had the greatest time at this camp and I would jump at the opportunity to go again! But as all travel stories go. . . it was the company that always makes the trip.

peral spotted owl

The big wow of the year was that my brother and his girlfriend came to South Africa to have a wedding! As soon as we discovered this, my best friend and I were on pinterest planning their wedding! It was a July wedding and a great wedding at that. We were lucky to have beautiful weather. It was a small wedding, a group of 40 or so people. My sister-in-law looked so so stunning! And my brother didn’t clean up too bad either. It was such a beautiful, special day.

Reception

Josh and Alex

wedding guests

Tremisana night game drive

We had a really big trip through August, September and October. Robert Hayhurst and his wife Agi came and so did Travis Coco (my now boyfriend – happened on the trip lol). We met Robert in St. Lucia and loved him instantly! We were invited twice to villas in the Caribbean and had such a great time with him and his wife, that it was our turn to invite him to our home. I met Travis in Trinidad after my first sailing trip. This African trip was incredible, absolutely incredible. We started by going to a lodge called Tremisana for a week, where we were lucky enough to see the Big 5! Our trip then went to Mount Sheba, George, Mossel Bay, Knysna and then to Cape Town. We spent a while in Cape Town, going up Table Mountain, seeing my aunty Shelly and uncle Fuzzy, even shark cage diving with Great White Sharks!

Great White Shark

We spent a gorgeous day riding around Cape Town on Harleys. After Cape Town we went back to Joburg to prepare and provision for our trip into Botswana. At this time, Travis and I did a trip to Sun City and spent two nights there. We went down the world’s longest zip-line and rode on elephants. Once everything was prepared, we took our Jeep Wrangler with a trailer and another 4x4 vehicle into Botswana. We stayed at Chobe Safari Lodge for a few days and did trips down the Chobe River, seeing all the elephants swimming across the river. After that we took the vehicles into the bush and headed up to the Okavango Delta and Savuti game reserves where we camped at different campsites. We got stuck in the middle of a game reserve in the sand and had to have all the guys (my dad, Robert and Travis) dig us out. Our best campsite was this little spot by the river. There are no fences and sometimes even no toilet facilities in these isolated campsites. Just us a camp-fire and mother nature. There were elephants to our one side and we had seen a pack of wild dogs further down the river. We had two hyenas stalking us that night, which gave us the funniest image of Travis running around the campsite with a torch and a blunt axe. It is an amazing feeling to be out in the wild at the mercy of nature. We also probably had a first for all campers. . . Agi brought a stationary bike with her and cycled in the middle of the bush. Well she probably had the best view over the river. I’m sure Getaway magazine would love a picture. When our trip came to an end we were very sad to see everyone go, but were so glad for the memories we all now held.

Camping in Botswana

Getaway picture!

My last trip of the year was a week of partying with friends in Ballito. . . it is called Vac. I went with my very best friends to celebrate the end of high school and had the biggest jol ever. It was so wonderful to have my Granny Terry come to our rescue and take us food shopping and lending us mattresses for friends that we sneaked into our apartment. Memories I will have forever.

Vac

 And now it is 2014. . . can you believe it. To start the year I went to California for 3 weeks to see my boyfriend and to meet his family and friends. I was terrified at first, but his family are all so lovely that I wasn’t terrified for long. While I was there, Travis took me to Las Vegas to meet my favourite artist Vladimir Kush. We were both blown away by how humble and down to earth he was. It was great to be shown Travis’s home after I got to show him mine.

Travis and me with Vladimir Kush

And now, my mother, my father and I are sitting on Jangles in Trinidad.  We really miss all our family left behind. Wish you were all here with us. We are doing a few repairs to the boat and will hopefully be off on the water towards the end of the month. . . fingers crossed!