Penguin watching puts sailor in hog heaven

Published on March 4th, 2010

By DANEEN AND ANDY LOBBY

Bird Island hosts thousands of birds. (Courtesy Photo, Daneen Lobby)

The Loobys prepare to anchor in the lee of Bird Island after taking a thrashing all night. (Courtesy Photo, Daneen Lobby)

Penguins swim around the boat at Bird Island. (Courtesy Photo, Daneen Lobby)

Daneen and Andy Looby are sailing home to Unalaska, all the way from Australia. The Fisherman is printing updates of the couple's journey as they are received.

Feb. 18

Position: East London, South Africa

It looks like the weather has opened up again for another run. Don't know how far we will make it this time, but should make Port St. Francis, which is about 180 miles from here. Should take about a day and a half. East London is a quiet place around the harbor area, but town is a different story. I will write later about the whole South African experience after we have gotten around to Cape Town and see what each place is like.

Position 2/18/10, 04:00 GMT: 33.01.367 S, 27.53.819 E

Feb. 20

Position: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Well, we didn't quite get the weather we expected and ended up beating into 30-knot southwest winds about halfway down from East London to Port St. Francis. We were taking a pretty good beating so we anchored in the lee of Bird Island (position, 33.50.291 S, 26.17.293 E) for a few hours until the southwest came down. Bird Island fits the name as there were millions of birds and the smell of guano (bird poo) was not a pleasant one. The really cool thing was that we got to see our first penguins. They were everywhere. Swimming around the boat and walking around on the beach. Despite the smell and the rolly anchorage, I was in hog heaven with the penguins.

The winds came down just after dark so we pulled anchor and headed for Port Elizabeth, which was only 30 miles away. There is another low pressure system coming at us so we will wait it out here and then hopefully continue on soon. We had hoped to pass Port Elizabeth and get to St. Francis because the docks here were damaged in a storm last November. There really isn't much of a place for visiting boats at the moment but they let us tie up to some fishing boats which is OK. We will probably be playing musical boats, though.

Oh, one last thing I forgot to mention earlier, on the way down from Durban was the change in the water color. We have now gone from the beautiful deep blue color to a dark and green colored water. I guess that means we are officially in colder waters now and it has been a bit chillier with the temps in the 60s. Berrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! We are used to the 80s and it seems freezing to us. Position 2/20/10, 06:00 GMT: 33.57.977 S, 25.38.105 E

Feb. 27

Position: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Well after a week in Port Elizabeth waiting on the weather it has finally come around again and we are off to Cape Town. Hopefully we will make it all the way this time. They have a hard time predicting the weather around here so we will go until we have to stop and like I said, hopefully that will be Cape Town.

We have enjoyed Port Elizabeth better than anywhere else we have been. We have met some really nice people and the Yacht Club has been very nice and helpful. They had a storm here last November that damaged the yacht club docks so we have been tied up to fishing boats. It kind of reminds us of home with all the fishing boats coming and going. The down side is we have to move if the boat inside of us wants to go fishing. But we have been lucky and only had to move three times. We even learned a little about how they catch squid. It is a very labor intensive process with about 20 guys on deck with hand lines and a hook. Each guy fishes with four lines and they stand on the side of the rail bobbing them up and down. The boats are only about 50 feet and when all the guys get on board it seems a little crowded. So next time you eat calamari you will know how it is caught. Position 2/27/10, 00:01 GMT: Departing Port Elizabeth, 33.57.977 S, 25.38.105 E