Maggie here, writing to you from Picton Castle’s shore office in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. While Picton Castle is in Luderitz, Namibia and our usual Captain’s Log writers are busy getting fuel and provisions sorted out for the ship (and seeing some amazing sights in this old German mining town), I’m here to bring you […]
Picton Castle is now alongside the long narrow dock in the small port town of Luderitz, Nambia. Nice old wooden fishing vessels of the North Sea model, big stern trawlers, a massive and complicated looking diamond dredging ship, a small tug and few yachts, with sea gulls laying low in the strong winds. At the
Yesterday afternoon the winds and sea made up strong. Sea got pretty lumpy and cross-grained; they still are pretty lumpy and confused. The ship is moving about quite a bit. Steering will give you a sweat. The more experienced and better helmsmen get to put in extra time at the wheel. Last night quite a
DAY’S RUN March 7, 2019 After a nice long stay in Cape Town the Picton Castle is off again. As per plan some crew had to go home, they will be missed but we have some new crew all keen to join in. Expeditions ashore and work all done, provisions aboard. Customs and immigration all
After a nice long stay in Cape Town, the Picton Castle is off again. As per plan some crew had to go home, they will be missed but we have some new crew all keen to join in. Expeditions ashore and work all done, provisions aboard. Customs and immigration all sorted. Mid-afternoon yesterday we were
Sailing to Europe, Africa, and the Spanish Main As the Barque Picton Castle sails on the last leg of this current voyage around the world, it behooves us to think of the future. What comes next. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope (aka “Cape Of Storms”) and settling into a nice long stay in Cape Town
Tavern Of The Seas…. For centuries this cape and this city, once a small town but always a seaport, has been host and refuge for European and North America sailing ships bound to and from the Far East and their home ports. Today it is much the same but most of the ships now coming
ARRIVAL CAPE TOWN Just before sunrise we had the Cape of Good Hope abeam on starboard as the Picton Castle sailed north bound for Cape Town. The bio-luminescence in our bow wake and waves pulling with us was rich and magical in the inky dark. Seals came alongside to check us out. We could see
As of this writing, the Picton Castle is six miles south of Cape Agulhas, the most southern tip of Africa. Many assume this southern tip is the Cape of Good Hope, but it ain’t so; Cape Agulhas has that claim. Nothing between us and Antarctica but increasingly cold ocean. And fish and whales and ships…Beautiful
Steaming along here making westing about 60 nautical miles south of Knysna, RSA (Republic of South Africa) which is on the bottom of South Africa and has great oysters. Not much wind but plenty ships round the “Cape of Storms” sailing east and west. And huge ones too. Plenty of bulk carriers and tankers over
