As usual….when we arrive into a new country…the first point of business is to try the local beer….priorities first right…?!
On tap everywhere!!!1 
Can are 50 cents…?! Yes please….
Next was find the chandelier…generally coming into port means work for us to fix and/or maintain the systems….coming from Madagascar this place was like heaven!!! Located right next to the Zululand Yacht Club, Trevor made many trip and spent many hours in this place….we should of asked the ladies at the counter how they like their coffee every morning (LOL)!!!!
Trevor the Plumber… Did we mention that it is “freezing” to us here at this latitude…? Our hot water heater sprung a leak way back in Rodriguez but it was warm enough that cold showers were bearable…NOT HERE!!!…Trevor’s on it!
Well, let’s just say we didn’t do much cooking while Trevor was working on the water heater…. 
Old water heater…looking like it had better days. 
The issue was that we needed a 110v water heater. 110 volt anything does not exist in the rest of the world besides the US…note to self! So Trevor had to take the 110v element out of the old one and wire it to the new one…thankfully the element was properly working and the original problem was a pin hole leak in the tank. 
Next issues: Finding a new water heater that would fit in the same space as the old one…..this could get interesting…. 
OMG….I can’t believe it…this almost never happens!!! 
And…to top it off, Trevor replaced our shower valves and knobs….now we are in serious business!!!
We eventually rented a car to go to Durban to find a sail maker to repair our mizzen sail that blew out back when we were sailing from Reunion to Madagascar. The World ARC was scheduled to come into Richards Bay the next week and we wanted to get in line…
Driving to Durban took about 1.5 hours. We had a few toll booths…the roads were good and highways were fast. 
I had tried to call 5 sail makers and Dallen from Ullman sails replied first….+27 82 744 4376 
Dallen told us to go to the sail loft and talk to Kenton. Kenton was on it and when we arrived got things rolling… 
…Mizzen sail rolled out and inspected. We just wanted a simple repair….they told us if we wanted a new sail it would take them a month….it’s busy season for them! 
Work to be completed discussed within 15-20 mitnues….will be done over the weekend (WOW)… will cost approx. $150 usd…not bad!
While we were out…we stopped by a licensed Victron battery dealer to possibly sort out our warranty issue with our battereis that went “dead” in Madagascar. It took a lot of leg work but Trevor finally got in touch with the right people and they agreed to “swap” out the value of new battereis for other merchandise….Trevor was happy…but that meant more work for him….
Funny story: When we arrived at the Victron place, we were speaking with a guy just behind the counter. He told us the manager will be back in the office in a week and would get us squared away. Mind you Trevor had sent emails weeks ago while in Madagascar to try to get a solution then but “they” told us we needed to go to South Africa for a remedy. So here we are….finally we are in contact with the manager and he told us Trevor emailed the “top dog” of the company back in Holland..?! Who knew….they were sincere in our issues that we didn;t need new battereis since we had to buy new ones in Madagascar so they swapped the value for new parts for a better monitoring system…. 
…Trevor back to work….still need a few things but we feel “taken care of”!
Every calendar year I need to take 40 hours of online courses to maintain my CPA license in Washington state….good internet connection is a must and dictates when I have to cram these hours in…. Richards Bay it is.
Thankfully South Africa is only 7 hours ahead of EST so I only had to be up until 2 am …unlike New Zealand where I was up ALL hours of the night. However, doing these classes really does mess up the next day for me : )
Getting medical and dental work around the world, thus far, has proven to be good and cheap!!! We went in for an annual cleaning here in Richards Bay…cost about $40 usd each…not bad at all.
turns out Trevor cracked a crown while biting into an olive….it makes sense to get this down in South Africa where we can have it done for way cheaper than in the US!!!!
As mentioned in the previous blog post….we all were asked to move off “the wall” so that other vessels who were wanting to clear into the country at Richards Bay could find a place to tie up to. Totally understandable….there must of been 30 boats here and we were all enjoying the free hospitality. We choose to move right away while some waited….after 15+ boats moved to the Tuzi Gazi marina or Zululand YC….the others who stayed on the wall were able to stay free of charge…. must of been nice : )
Tuzi Gazi had sustained major damage in a storm many years ago and the docks were in desperate despair…but they were able to accommodate most of us and at $10/day…it was fine with us. However, during our stay, there was a strong blow that was coming and the marina had to “secure” the docks as best they could….I don’t think they have seen this much business in a long time and all the weight of the boats tied to “not so secure” docks could be a disaster in the upcoming storm. In the end…all was fine…but a bit nerve racking as boats swayed in the gusts and literally lifted and torqued the docks by 30 degrees…
Since we were rafted up to SV Beez Neez, they had to move first before we could move into the Tuzi Gazi marina….Flo tied to “the wall” waiting for our slip to become available. 
Some of us making arrangements at the Tuzi Gazi marina office. They were super nice and accommodating….cash only… 
Before the storm came, SV Geranimo set his backup anchor, chain and rode from his boat across the alley then tied to the dock. After..they are tying to release the anchor by hand….that didn;t work and a neighbor put the line in a winch and it worked like a charm! 
We had a chain from our dock to a weight/anchor just underneath our shaft/propeller…..we were concerned that when the boat swayed side to side…with the dock mind you, the chain would rub and possibly damage the shaft or prop…thankfully it was all good…and we appreciate the good measures being taken…seriously!
Des Cason, our weather router for Madagascar and South Africa passages provides his services for free…which felt really weird for us. So we were glad to receive an email from him stating he would accept donations of Malagasy rice and honey from Honey River from us cruisers….THANK GOODNESS!!! Des generally comes to Richards Bay to meet the cruisers he has assisted but this year he had a holiday booked and was not able to see most of us so in lieu we were asked to drop of the “donations” at his friend, Peter, who had a boat at Tuzi Gazi marina. And so we delivered….
Trevor and Bear with all the “goodies” for Des….we had donations from 3 boats to deliver. 
Meet Peter, Des Cason’s friend who was graciously accepting the donations….He received a bottle of French red wine for all his troubles from us : )
When you get this many boats/cruisers in one place…you can be assured there will be plenty of gatherings, big and small, to both celebrate, chat about weather, exchange stories, and help each other out with supplies or work. Unfortunately, I have no photos…even from our Thanksgiving dinner with our friend Keith from SY Ruby Ruby…..let’s just say I think we were just having too much fun!!!
But I can also assure you, with the amount of cruisers present…there is bound to be some drama and stress and in such a small community we found ourselves trying to support those who wanted to vent. I personally got too involved with one boat and feelings were hurt…but all in all… it all ended up the best it could under the circumstances ….I’ll leave it at that ; )
Unforgettable was the monkeys that invaded the docks every morning….
Cheeky fellows…almost every morning I would wake up to little pouncing sounds on the deck…..Here is one making him/her self at home on our roller furling system. 
I accidentally left a loaf of bread on the counter and the doors open….Trevor came home to find a monkey eating the bread right out of the bag….I came home to clean up this… 
However, these Velvet monkeys were pretty cite with the babies and all….and the males have blue balls….seriously…I wish I had a photo of them but then again…posting that would probably not be PG!
All this wildlife…it was time to go see the BIG 5…!!!!
Up Next: Safari time!!!!