Sailing on

George and me as we sailed out of Cape Town.

We have finally left the coast of Africa. We sailed very close to the Transkei coast all the way up to East London. Here are our present coordinates Liam & Katie.

Date: Tues. 24th February

Lat: 30 degrees 48.7 S

Long: 031 degrees 49.8 E

Course 73 degrees

Speed 26.6 knots

Time: 18.52

So we are sailing now towards Madagascar, where I truly wish we could stop and explore. It's a unique island with its own eco system. We shall be sailing past the Maldives also on our way to Mauritius. It is felt that the Maldives will gradually disappear and be covered with water with global warming.

It was sad to see the last of Africa; there are a few of us "Africans" on board all feeling bereft and sad. I had hoped we might sail near Durban because we could so easily see the little sea side towns of the Transkei but no such luck, we turned to starboard and headed away from the "green hills of Africa".

Have just read in the SA news that the fires whose smoke was covering Cape Town as we left were burning in the suburb of Somerset West. I used to go horse riding there as a child and it is where Rita Maas my drama teacher lived until she died....we spent holidays there and loved it. In those days it seemed alot further out of Cape Town than it is now....hope not too much damage is done.

We have been invited to dinner with the Captain tonight which starts late and is cocktails followed by a many course dinner. So we have been up in the faculty lounge talking with a friend, Dee Bird, who ran the Peninsular Marathon on Sunday from Simonstown in a circular very uphill route. She is feeling pain and stiffness in her thighs but also a great deal of pride that she finished it. Chris she was definitely coming back to SA next year to run the Comrades (unltra marathon) but after talking to some of the runners has changed her mind and says it is way too long and togh...I remember it was one of your ambitions too.