Mooring In Lüderitz

05:00 the sea is wild and we are all hands on deck. winds howling at 27 knots, this does not sound too dramatic, but once the waves joined the party, it felt like we were dancing drunk. The swell swished around us, invisible pre-dawn, but we could feel every roll and every lurch under our feet. The wind hammered us on starboard beam, south south east, adding to the ride.

I made the mistake of leaving the bathroom side hatch open, a wave crashed against the hull and suddenly my bathroom was hosting a pool party. Nothing like a cold splash of seawater to wake you up properly.

We were hovering just outside the Lüderitz harbour waiting for first light in about 40 minutes, so that we could visually see the anchorage and asses sea state.
Then like magic the chaos vanished with sunrise and the ocean transformed into a mirror, the wind? Gone. Vanished like it had never been there. With huge relief we could cruise towards our anchorage.

We had planned to drop anchor in the marina, half expecting not to find a mooring ball. Lucky for us an old salty seaman named Andy appeared, rowing out in his little boat "Want a mooring? 200ND per day" he said. This sounded good to me and straight away he helped us hook the ball, he also tossed a few helpful local tips our way which turned out to be pretty handy.

Some say Andy is grumpy even rude. I found him to be quite charming and very helpful. Maybe he is just softer on the girls, since there were 3 of us standing on the bow chatting to him, or maybe we caught him on a good day. Either way we were grateful for his helpl.

Lüderitz greeted us like an old sleepy friend, quiet streets, very charming and barely a sole in sight. Peaceful almost untouched as if waiting for someone to wake it up. A few snap shots below to enjoy.