There are many, but one that always amazes us is the totally unprepared for serindipities that can happen when cruisers meet.
From where we're moored we can see the Jamestown waterfront up the bay a little, and also any yachts that arrive. A few have drifted in, stayed a day or two and then headed off again probably for Ascension Island and then Brazil or the Caribbean, or the Azores and the Mediterranean.
Last week 'Dora' arrived, a big Beneteau, flying a Dutch flag. The skipper told Port Control they had 5 on board and they'd be ashore to complete formalities as soon as their dinghy was launched. There was a big surge running so I radioed them and asked if they'd visited St Helena before. They hadn't so I suggested they use the ferry in these conditions. They appreciated the tip and asked if we'd like some fresh fish. They'd caught a 40 kg monster on their way in.
Within minutes their dinghy was flying across to us like Batman on the trail of badies and with a fairly spectacular 180 turn stopped next to our rail. Savo had arrived!
While I tied the dinghy he passed up a pot of fish, and ignoring all invitation to board protocols, not to mention quaranteen regs (they were still under their yellow flag), climbed aboard and slumped onto the aft deck bench.
''Beaudiful bode!'' he said in his thick Croatian accent, waiving his arms. You would not want Savo anywhere near your china shop. Some people just assume the world will like them, and it usually does. He'd worked on oil rigs and decided he needed a break so joined Dora in Cape Town. Some boats take paying crew for an 'adventure holiday' and fund their cruising that way. Savo was one of 3 paying for the privelage to crew on Dora.
The next day Batman paid us another visit, this time with an ageing Robin in tow. The big million dollar Beneteau needed a rudder repair. Boats break, even new expensive ones. Fortunately we had bolts and nuts they could use.
A day later a big new catamaran arrived with pale blue hulls and flying an American flag. It had a lollipop on the back, a 4 meter pole with a dome which meant satelite communication, internet etc. The whole boat looked light, fast, state of the art, and expensive. We definitely don't all come with the same size piggy bank!
We got a call from Savo saying they were taking their fish ashore and would look for a bbq somewhere so they could cook the lot. We and anyone else were welcome to come and help with the eating. Someone had told them Anne's Place may be a possibility.
Anne's Place is a restaurant in the castle gardens, and restaurant would be a serious overstatement anywhere but here. But they are licenced and have wifi at a price, plastic table cloths, a simple menu and the half walls let the breeze flow through.
We went ashore a bit earlier to catch up on emails only to find Anne's Place was closed. It was Sunday. But we heard voices so walked up the steps and found a young family having lunch, obviously a family member.
''Can I help you?'' with the usual big smile.
''We were hoping to buy some internet time but you're closed so not to worry...''
''I can do that for you,'' and he hopped up and opened the bar selling us time and something to drink. We told him about the hoped for bbq close on our heels and got the same response. ''We can do that. Do you need charcoal?''
You can't help but love this place.
Our friends, Lois and Betty from Ave Del Mar wandered in and got a couple of drinks, joined us and quickly accepted the bbq invitation. A few more obvious cruiser-types drifted in and after a word with our 'host' made their way up a few more steps to a separate area ideal for a smaller group.
Savo and the Dora crew arrived with the fish and we joined the rest up the stairs. It turned out they were a delivery crew off the blue cat heading for the Miami boat show. The cat is the first of a new design out of South Africa aimed at the high end market. This one had already been bought for 1.6 mill $ US! Sasha and Nel were fulltime crew and Vernon and Conrad taken on for the delivery.
In no time at all everyone was chatting and laughing. The fish came off the fire in a steady stream and Sandy had made some of her exotic secret sauce from a recipe she got around a cauldron on a moonless night on an unnamed island in the voodoo belt of the Caribbean. Everyone came back for more. It's like that. Resistance is futile.
The bar at Anne's Place was doing brisk trade for a closed day.
I don't know when it happened, but it suddenly struck me that the others were as keen to hear our experieces as we were to hear theirs. Somewhere in the last few years we appear to have graduated. Most had never sailed the Pacific or the Caribbean and had dreams of doing what we'd done. We were keen to hear their stories about sailing the Seychelles and East African coast. Sacha and Nel had worked in the Med and Caribbean on mega yachts. Nel is a very good chef and she wonders why Americans employ her on their boats, and then ask her to make burgers and hotdogs!
Countries represented around the table were Germany, South Africa, Holland, Peru, Canada, America, Croatia, and Australia, but we were all talking the same language.... boats and fishing.
It was interesting that almost everyone there wanted to come and see Wind Wanderer. She somehow captures hearts of sailors wherever we go. On the ferry going back from our magical afternoon the skipper of Dora asked to be dropped off last so he could get some pictures of our little pirate ship.
The next day we got a call from Ondine (the cat) inviting us over for brunch. They'd pick us up in their dinghy at 11. Sandy made some mini quiches and a loaf of cheesie bread to contribute and Sasha and Nel arrived right on time. We welcomed them on board for a quick look over Wind Wanderer and it was love at first sight. Sasha, delivery skipper extraordinaire and charter captain of multimillion dollar yachts and Nel, who has worked on the finest money can buy, made us promise never to sell without letting them know first.
We headed across to Ondine and once again had a wonderful day. Believe it or not, Nel had made a quiche and bread too! But there was boerewors and Vernon's special tomato sauce he claimed he'd been working on for hours.
It's seldom we come across a crew of 4 or more who all get on so well. They all have significant experience but their humour and personalities were a perfect match.
This time we got the grand tour and were amazed at the exotic materials that had gone into her. Everything was carbon fiber or an equivalent. In fact the only stainless steel was a seat at the bow of each hull. The mast, rigging, life lines, flooring, everything was an exotic material.
She oozed gadgetry and money but to our surprise, she was twitchy and far from the stable platform claimed for multihulls. By all accounts she is very fast for a cruising cat, but three days into her maiden voyage her brand new electric winch for raising the big main sail broke its shaft, so they were doing it by hand. And the generator was losing revs as soon as it took a load. It felt so good to know we get our problems for a lot less than 1.6 million!
Vernon and Conrad ran us back and came aboard for their look around. Vernon is a died in the wool cat man, but converted instantly. Conrad started doing calculations to see how many deliveries he'd have to do before he could buy a ketch like this.
Vernon spent many years as a fishing charter skipper for the big stuff like marlin, so while he and Sandy checked all her gear and she picked his brains, Conrad and I talked about the sailing life. The sun was setting as they headed back to get ready for their departure in the morning.
Sandy and I sat on our back deck with sundowners and watched the yellow-gold of the setting sun streak the sky and light a path from the horizon to our deck.
It actually did us a world of good to see our lives through other cruisers' eyes. In spite of the never ending repairs and maintenance, we are living a dream, even if it sometimes feels like somebody elses!
Until next time...