Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
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Twice in my life I have been bitten by the wanderlust bug - and both times instigated by people who have literally "packed up" and gone on an adventure to see what other parts of the world looked like.
Firstly, it was my sister (then 52) and brother-in-law (then 60) who sold everything and went to repair a storm damaged cottage on an island called Inish Boffin off the coast of Gallway - 10 years later and the cottage is long repaired and lived in by them during the summer months. During the winter they live on the Ireland mainland and survive the most horrendous winters! But they love it and after visiting them on that magical island a few years ago, I can understand why.
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| Kudana |
Seven years ago the same thing happened when long-time friends of Ian (70 and 72 respectively) sold their delightful two-story wooden house overlooking the Bronkhorstpruit Dam, packed their belongings into a car and trailer and left to go and live aboard a 35-ft catamaran they christened "Kudana" (Shona for they love each other) and sail around some very exotic islands!
Bob and Dawn Heasman are not adrenalin junkies or major outdoor adventurers - in fact they are really great, warm-hearted, loving, everyday people. Bob is a radio ham (which is how he and Ian met in the then Rhodesia) and spent most of his life in the refrigeration business. Dawn is tiny and dainty and keeps herself busy with needlework - in her words she was "a housewife on Tuesday and a sailor on Saturday".
When I asked if they needed to study for an examination of some kind before they could embark on this journey Bob's reply was quite simple :"While I was in South Africa I got frightened into studying sailing
and doing Radio Licenses etc. When I got overseas I found that nobody
was interested as to whether you could sail. I understand that if you want to sail a half 44
gallon drum in a mud puddle in RSA you have to be a qualified skipper.
Only South Africa insists on qualifications."
Bob flew out to Trinidad in December 2006 to meet up with their daughter and her boyfriend who had found a catamaran for them to buy. (They had originally ordered a boat in South Africa and were to pick it up in Durban when to their horror they found that the original price they were quoted had escalated by almost half a million - but that is another story all on its own!) Why a catamaran? Simply, it cannot sink because it has too much buoyancy and is ideal for a small crew to handle on their own. In case of something going wrong, the part in the middle between the two keels is ideal to camp on till help arrives. Kudana had been built in France and could do 6 knots (their daughters yacht could do 15 knots!) All in all, a far better option than any of the "half-boats" (single or mono hull) craft available.
Dawn left for Trinidad in January 2007 and for the first few months their daughter, Sylvie, acted as skipper and taught them the ropes while they sailed up the island chain. When they got to Union Island, Bob decided to take over and for a while they did one day island-hopping trips.
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| Bob & Dawn on Savii (island near Western Samoa) |
In 2008 they decided to go to Margarita Island off the coast of Venezuela and on to Panama on New Year's eve. They then embarked on the longest trip which lasted 35 days and they traveled 3700 miles on the open Pacific ocean between the Panama Canal and Nuka Hiva.
Bob had all kinds of gargets and electronic equipment installed on Kaduna which allowed one of them to sleep while the other kept watch. Keeping watch meant keeping an eye on the various instruments to make sure that they stayed on course and keeping a sharp lookout for other vessels in the area. They had a good radar system equipped with a "guard band" which set off an alarm if a metal object approached within a certain radius but did not work well with wooden craft!
Dawn loved keeping watch at night while Bob slept. She could watch the water for hours and observe the incredible amount of stars only visible out there in the dark. She loved life on board and would often sit with her feet in the water watching the various fish coming to investigate. She discovered that life on board a boat did not vary all that much from being at home, there was always something that needed to be done; whether it was preparing meals, doing the washing, cleaning the boat or one of the other myriad tasks always demanding her attention. However, household chores in those exotic locations seemed more like fun than work!
One would think that they lived solely on fresh fish - and that Bob was to become an expert fisherman, but this was not the case. They bought lots of local produce and tinned foods from the islands they visited. On one occasion Bob managed to catch a small brightly colored blue fish and Dawn thought it much too pretty to eat!
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| Booby |
Bob said that they did not feel isolated out there in the middle of the ocean as he had the ham radio and email and he knew people like Ian were tracking them via the internet. They also met some wonderful people on their travels, including meeting up with Debs, a "Federal Saint" (the group of old students from St Andrews High School, Nysasaland) in American Samoa. And they also received an unexpected visitor.
Having left Trinidad and sailing towards the Panama Canal, a Booby arrived on the boat. These birds tend to be a nuisance as they attack anything that moves, and Bob was worried that it might damage the wind speed and direction indicator. He was also very careful not to challenge the bird or upset it, but no amount of shoo-ing would make it budge. This fellow did absolutely nothing, just sat there looking around. After an hour or so, without much ceremony or drama, the bird flew off again. They think that perhaps he was just tired and needed a place to rest:)
There is still so much to tell about this amazing couple's extraordinary journey and I have realised that there is no way this can be done in one edition. I have at least 20 more pages of notes to work through - and we have not even scratched the surface!
I can however tell you this - not everyone they came across on their travels were as placid or harmless. There are tales about an almost close encounter with Colombian Drug-lords, dodging illegal fisherman, and a daredevil rescue by Bob and friend of chained turtles.
Not everything was plain sailing with both Bob and Dawn having to deal with health issues and sadly - life will happen while you make other plans - Kaduna damaged and the long road to her repair and further journeys. More of these and other adventures next time as well as the story behind this amazing carving shown above.
