EXPLORING the West Coast of South Africa - Kraalbaai

There's two birthdays in the family this week, Denver and Teagan are born on the same day, 4 years apart. So we decided to stop boat work for a few days and head up to Kraalbaai. Denver opted to stay back at Saldanha.
Kraalbaai is in the West Coast National Park on the West Coast of South Africa. The park surrounds a large part of the lagoon. A paradise for hikers, cyclists & mountain bikers, birders and nature-lovers but what is awesome for yachties is the azure blue water and beautiful peaceful anchorage that we get to experience from a yacht. Looking at the video footage you would imagine you were somewhere in the Caribbean.
The trip across the lagoon to the bay is best done on a rising tide because the channels you need to follow get extremely shallow at low tide. The tidal range of the lagoon at spring tide can be as much as 1.8m.
As we enter Kraalbaai itself, in some of the channels at the shallowest point, we can have as little as 0.4m (+/-15") below our keel on a rising tide. Once through the channels, our anchoring depth is around 1.5m (+/- 5') about 100m off the shore.
Whilst there, we celebrated the birthday with a brunch picnic on the beach and a good walk in the afternoon. We crossed the ridge with the intention of possibly walking across to the 16 Mile Beach. We had headed off pretty badly prepared for a long walk and when we came across a huge, very beautiful but very dangerous puff-adder snake, we decided we'd do the walk on a day when we were better prepared and with better foot gear.
All in all, it was a lovely break away from the constant boat work but now we are back in Saldanha, back to sorting out the last of the jobs in preparation for our African departure - we worked it out and we have 8 weeks left to get the last jobs complete so that we can spend around 2 weeks with the passage preparation before we set sail.

[@harrysymonns5741]

Its good to see you taking a break from boat work! amazing video guys

[@teaganzastron3102]

🏝🏝🏝

[@paulkopp3634]

Stunning location thanks for sharing .

[@SailingSaoirse22]

It really is, and we have been going there a lot recently but need to get more adventurous and head out to some new destinations soon.

[@donrumph1]

That is a beautiful head. Congratulations on a great job!

[@SailingSaoirse22]

Thank you so much!

[@nedwphillips2126]

Happy birthdays' .... Btw I'm gunna need a bigger bucket, for me bucket list lol... Thanks for sharing

[@SailingSaoirse22]

Thanks, Kraalbaai and West Coast National Park are definitely worth adding to a bucket list.

[@theunisia6378]

What a beautiful place to celebrate 🎊 a birthday 🎂! I can see you guys enjoyed this trip! Glad you didn’t take a puff adder lightly 🙄

[@LeadingtheEscapade]

Can’t wait to watch your episodes 😆

[@williamwright2183]

Puff Puff Away 😳

[@petrueygelaar]

I would suggest to change your anchor setup a bit. As the way it is now it will be impossible for you to free it, if it gets caught on a rock. I suggest moving the shackle with chain to the hole further down the arm of the anchor and then adding a trip to the hole that the shackle were in. This will allow the trip to break, and flip the anchor out of the hole if the anchor gets caught. Thanks for the nice video

[@SailingSaoirse22]

Thanks Petru - that makes sense. Thanks for the input and we will definitely look into doing that.

[@nigelwatkins558]

and the island where rabbits drinks sea water !!

[@tfay412]

I’d love to sail to that part of the world one of these days.

[@SailingSaoirse22]

Hi Timothy, yes, its really a beautiful area. Where are you from?

[@tfay412]

@@SailingSaoirse22 I’m in the United States, in Tampa, Florida. Are you born and raised in South Africa?

[@courtneysinclair7787]

How long does it take to sail from Saldanha Bay to Kraalbaai roughly? :)

[@teaganzastron3102]

🏝🏝🏝