Madagascar to South Africa Day 6 – Sheltered in Inhambane, Mozambique

Adina has arrived in Inhambane on the Mozambique coast where we are now seeking shelter from some southerly winds, halting our progress to South Africa.

Once within striking distance of Inhambane we slowed to a crawl to wait for the winds to switch from the north-east to the south before anchoring. With north-east winds our anchorage would be on a lee shore but worse than that was the swell coming in.

As we crawled in we heard the distinctive sound of water gushing into the air close to Adina – a large whale! As ever it enthralls us yet also speeds up our heart rates as we hope it’s going to dive and not come any closer. Always a very special sighting.

The weather forecast was spot on and we could see the clouds coming in heralding the new front from the south. The winds switched but alas the waves didn’t so we anchored and put up with the swell. We are close to the coast and can easily see the long white beach with many fairly empty looking resorts and people on holiday enjoying themselves. It all looks so nice and so tempting to go ashore for a meal of those famous Mozambique prawns. A jet-ski swung by to say hello.

The anchorage is certainly rolly and we found filling our fuel tanks quite a challenge. On board we carry spare fuel in jerry cans and decant these into our three fuel tanks. One tank full and we gave up!

A gin and tonic followed by a bottle of wine was thoroughly enjoyed as the sun set. We headed to bed early and for all we know a cyclone may have gone over our heads as we slept heavily.

So we will sit and roll away and wait for the next safe weather window. Adina is finally getting a clean after many months with some of the rain going over. Out to sea we can see dark clouds and are glad we are sheltered, a pod of dolphins have just swum by.

We’ll next post when we get going again. It looks unlikely that we can make South Africa in one leg and will have to take shelter again in Maputo further south. Whose bright idea was this?