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31st Dec 2005 - Congratulations Fliss and Rob!
On 31st Dec 2005 Fliss and Rob gave birth to Elisha (well, actually Fliss gave birth, Rob just happened to be there too ;) Visit Fliss or Rob for the full story...
29th Dec 2005 - Bon Noel?!
Well, I hope everyone had a good Christmas! I had quite a strange Christmas, due to the fact that Ele and me have decided to go our seperate ways. Ele decided just before Christmas that she wanted to return to the UK to live and find work, but as our families had already booked flights etc to spend Christmas with us in Javea we had a rather perculiar and quite stessful christmas, with two sets of parents thrown together in a remote spanish villa with their only common tie having just been severed. Lets just say it would have made a good reality TV program. Despite the misunderstandings, clashes of personalities and toast throwing, we all actually managed to have a pretty civil christmas day, eating together outside in the sun. The whole experience made me realise that Ele and myself actually get on pretty well most of the time, and it's probably more to do with circumstance that she's decided to leave me and the boat for the cold grimey british winter. Ele, I wish you all the best and hope you find happiness in whatever you end up doing. I'd like to thank you for putting up with me and my selfish determinedness to pursue my dreams, and I'm sorry that I'm not able to be a part of yours. I know we'll always stay in touch, and I will never forget the (mostly;) wonderful 9 years we spent together.
The motley crew - Maureen, Gordon, Greg, Joan, Phil (from next door) and Ele eating Christmas dinner in the sunshine
Ele not 'on the beach', but halfway up Montgo
8th December 2005 - Alicante
Shortly after our hasty retreat from Torrevieja we arrived in Alicante. Alicante is much more to our liking :) It's a student city, and has a vibrant atmosphere and always seems to have something interesting going on. It's the first Spanish city I've visited where I could consider staying for some time, which is just as well, because I've been abandoned by Ele for a couple of weeks as she's gone back to the UK to visit friends and let me get a couple of solid weeks Work done before Christmas. Not much to report really - I've spend the last few days locked in the boat infront of a computer screen, which has been very productive but not much fun. The weather has been variable, but still most days I wear shorts and T-shirt, I hear the UK is chilly now :) Well, I'd better go and cook me some pasta... Here's some photos of Alicante:
view from the path up to the moorish castle
Alicante marina and docks... the boat is in there somewhere!
Ele at the moorish castle above Alicante
30th November 2005 - TerrorVieja
"Torrevieja, Murder capital of Spain..." - We couldn't find a decent supermarket despite wandering though most of the town, though we did find an interesting shop selling all sorts of swords, knives and guns, and I got offered drugs for the first time since leaving the UK, so I figure it's easier to buy a gun or drugs here than it is Corn Flakes. We leave first thing tomorrow...
28th November 2005 - Chilly at night
We departed San Jose early yesterday morning heading for Garrucha, the second of our planned stops along this stretch of coast, but during the afternoon we decided that we would just carry on through the night and head straight for Torrevieja. We wrapped up warm in multilayers and waterproofs, but it wasn't enough to keep out the chilly north wind, which seemed to be blowing ice straight off the mountaintops! By 11pm we were both sitting in the cockpit with blankets wrapped around us, draped over our heads with a slit for eyes to peer out of. I must have looked like the grim reaper, emerging from the darkness of the night with a black shawl over my head and back. Ele turned in at about midnight, and I spent most of the nightwatch infront of the radar screen, popping my head out into the cold to have a visual glace around as often as I could bear! It was worth it though, because we have covered four daysworth of sailing in 24 hours, and have just arrived in Torrevieja three days ahead of schedule :)
26th November 2005 - Do you know the way to...
San Jose. First in a series of stops along the coast. We had only planned to stay here one night, but the weather has deteriated and there are more gales forecast. It was blowing the shy side of a force 8 yesterday when we arrived, so I'm perfectly happy to stay put until it passes.
Dar
We are now equipped with (ra)Dar! No, it's not going to help locate Nork, nor will it distinguish the camp from the closet, but it will, hopefully, allow us to see things at night, and more importantly, in fog. My quest for Stainless Steel had been driven by an ulterior motive, as not only did I want our solar panel mounting slightly differently, but also I needed a mount fabricating for our new radar, which has been sitting in a cardboard box since Lagos. The nice fellas at Inox Almerimar provided suitable solutions for both, and at a fraction of the cost of previous quotes, so shortly after leaving Almerimar this morning I switched on the new radar and had good look around, echo location stylee. Instantly about 12 echos appeared on the screen, a few of which I could pinpoint as fishing boats, the others I didn't know what they were... one target was supposedly within about 250 meters on the port side, so I stared over the water and lo and behold, there was a floating object, about the size of a football, bobbing around to the left of us. Impressed by the fact that it could discern such a small object I tried to locate some of the other echos. On the other side, about a quarter mile off, was a slightly larger echo, and after scanning the horizon for a moment I identified a lobster-pot marker bouy which I hadn't previously seen. Then on the radar screen I saw three moving targets quickly approaching us from the port-quarter, looking like incoming missiles in Top Gun. Expecting to see the bowwaves of three torpedos tearing towards us I glanced towards the sunrise just as three seagulls flew into view and sailed past us, clacking with disapointment that we weren't a fishing boat laden with fresh fish. OK, so maybe I had the radar gain turned up a little too much, and in practical terms it'll probably need some fine tuning so as not to be picking up every bit of flotsom and jetsom, but I must say I'm pretty impressed with it so far. Later in the day we identified some fishing boats on it, way before we could see them visually, so I'm hoping it'll be a worthy investment, both in terms of safety and also for easing night-watches and sailing in bad visibility.
24th November 2005
We had a fairly relaxing week having Ian and Katherine to stay - it was a good excuse for me to avoid Work, and we spent a day going to Cabo de Gata and searching for Flamingos. Ian and me braved the sea for a swim and got a few good waves to dump us on the beach :) We ate out one night and had a generally lazy time :)
It's now time to move on again, and we've got a series of day trips planned to get us east.
Ian, Katherine and Ele in a bird-hide by a flamingo infested salt lake near Cabo de Gata
Looking down from the lighthouse at Cabo de Gata, which we'll be sailing past soon...
15th November 2005 - Granada brings the weather
Ian and Katherine are staying with us for a week, so yesterday we went to Granada to pick them up, and have a wee nosey around the city whilst there. Ele hired a car and drove all the way there, and all the way back, and only went the wrong way down a one-way-street once... quite impressive! We ate couscous salad at a mirador overlooking the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and then went to visit the Alhambra.
Granada and the Alhambra
After arriving back at the boat in the evening we all sat and watched the wierdest weather I have ever seen - for over an hour there were huge electrical storms over the mountains lighting up the whole sky day-blue, but never once did we hear any thunder! After watching the storms moving closer for a while we experienced an eerie silence as the wind totally dropped and fish jumped out the water as if trying to escape an imaginary force under the water. Then the wind started to blow again, from totally the opposite direction, and within a minute we were being shaken from side to side by turbulent gusts galloping off the sea. Then we saw the wierdest phenomenon - we had been talking about worm-holes and time travel, and joking that the jumping fish were trying to jump into a wormhole, just like the dolphins in Hitchikers' leave the earth and fly into space, when we saw what looked like an enormous umbilical cord reaching down from the sky high above the mountains and arching over the marina and down towards the sea outside the breakwater. It looked just like the wormhole in Donnie Darko, and the lower part was moving over the sea at a great speed towards the marina. Just as it was about to reach the breakwater (and we were about to dive into the boat for cover) it just sort of fizzled out from the base, leaving a swirling misty cloud which eventually evaporated. We watched the electrical storms for a while longer, wondering if there would any more strange weather effects, but apart from further silent lightening bolts striking the snowcaps in the distance all went calm again, and we turned in. I've since found a few photos on the internet of similar cyclonic phenonomen, one of which I include here as an illustration to what we saw:
Spooky...
Did you know that the letter 'W' is not in the Latin Alphabet? I recently had to read up on typography and ligature for creating some fonts at Work, and discoved that only four major European languages (English, Dutch, German, and Polish) use the letter in native words. I didn't believe it at first, but looking in a Spanish<->English dictionary, the only words beginning with 'W' are 'Water' and 'Whiskey', neither of which are Spanish words!
2nd November 2005 - Almerimar
We are now in Almerimar for a couple of weeks. I have yet more work to do (it's a hard life ;) and Ele is busying herself with her favorite job, sanding :)
scrub those washboards!
30th October 2005 - del Este
Now this place is NICE. As we approaced the harbour the water was that fantastic turquoise colour you usually only see in holiday brochures for the Seychelles or BVIs, and looking straight down you could see the bottom! The marina is pretty empty (not surprising considering it cost us €36 to stay one night), but the location is really special. There's a James Bond island in the middle of the marina, surrounded by palm trees, and the restaurants on the quayside ooze smells of garlic and seafood. We took a hike up to a lighthouse above the town, and I took a bunch of photos hoping to create a panarama. I think my camera must have a wonky lense, because the final panorama ended up a bit twisted!
Marina del Este
hmm... it sorta looked like this...
29th October 2005 - Zen and the Art of boat-engine maintenance
Today we overheated :( We set off for Marina del Este in a flat calm... and for the first six hours we happily motored along, ETA 3 hours. Then after an hour the wind picked up from the east and we slowed down by a knot, ETA 3 hours. After another hour the wind picked up some more and we slowed by another knot, ETA 3 hours! Well it would be dark in 3 hours so we put the pedal to the metal and hammered it for an hour into an increasingly large sea and headwind... ETA 3 hours :( Then it happened - I had just taken a fix (that's a nautical fix btw), when I noticed what looked like a puff of smoke rising across the chart table. At first I suspected an electrical fire, but sticking my nose in amongst the cattangle of wires I decided it wasn't that, so with a bemused expression I asked Ele, pointing at the steamy waft, 'um, what's that?'. Her reply contained exactly four letters. We quickly checked the engine temperature gauge, which had buried it's needle in the red, and after peering overside to check that cooling water was still spirting out we stopped the engine and assessed the damage.
Luckily the problem was easily identified - a dodgy flexible hose which carried the cooling water had split, and pissed all the coolant out around the engine bay. We turned round to head back under sail, and decided to head for Caleta de Valez. After the engine had cooled down enough to touch (a good hour or so!) I attacked the hose with my toolbox, and managed a rather trendy repair. I had actually had concerns about this hose before, but with old boats and old engines you never quite know which addage to follow: "If it aint broke, don't fix it", or the one about apples and doctors, taken metaphorically of course.
27th October 2005 - Ben ate me dina
Actually he didn't, but we are in Benalmedina now. This is a big posh marina with more shops and restaurants than you can shake a pizza at. Today we went to the sea life centre, and were probably the oldest kids gorping at the manta rays and sharks and seahorses and frogs (eh frogs? they don't live in the sea, but they were there anyway!) This would probably be a nice place to stay for a few days, but Mr INOX (Inoxible I have discovered means 'stainless', as in steel) is out of town for the whole week, so we must depart at first light tomorrow in our neverending search for the weldable shiny stuff.
23rd October 2005 - Strange email!
I received a rather perculiar email yesterday... usually I would automatically delete such things, considering them to be spam, but this was sent to an email address that I never use (but have only because of this dartwarrior page), and I couldn't help wondering if it was actually intended for me??!
To: xxxxxxx@dartwarrior.com
From: Francesco Colonna
Date: 22/10/05
I read with interest the stories you think t'influence us with! I notice some tales hint inspiration from my Hypnerotomachia, a chorus, echoing in a new millenium. Four centuries carried the secret, now is the secret starting to awaken? I, Francesco Colonna, intendere ciò.
very odd! So whoever wrote it, if you're reading this, please explain yourself!!
21st October 2005 - Nice vacation
Well, my parents have just left Estepona - they're spending one night in the mountains somewhere, and then flying out of Malaga the next morning. It was really nice to have them staying close by - we met up a few times for swims in the sea (and their pool in the apartment), and we all went on a day trip to Ronda, another village in the mountains with spectacular views. It was a good holiday for us, and I hope for them too!
Eating a packed lunch at a mirador in Ronda
16th October 2005 - Pretty (dead) Polly
A man walks in to a pet shop:
man: I'd like to buy a dead parrot please.
petshop assistant: er.. I'm sorry?!
man: a dead parrot, I'd like to buy one. Preferably one that's been pecked to death, with it's eyes and feathers pecked out.
petshop assistant: Sorry Sir, I can't help you with that.
man: oh that's funny, because you have one in a cage right there...
True story - the parrot looked like it had been there a while...
Who's a pretty boy?
It was one of those petshops that as a child you image ALL petshops are like. As well as the usual collection of hamsters and mice in cages and fish in tanks they also had cats and dogs in glass tanks in the windows. The terrapin tank had one little terrapin stuck on it's back in a puddle of water, waving it's legs in the air, extending it's head every so often to get a gulp of air before struggling again to try to turn itself over. And one of the puppy tanks housed a tiny sausage dog puppy, being ruthlessly savaged by it's cellmate, a Jack Russell at least twice its size. I understand that puppies do like to 'play fight', but believe me, the sausage dog was getting the raw deal here. I thought to alert the shopkeeper that one of it's dogs was being savaged, but then realised that putting the two together was probably a deliberate sales tactic... :(
15th October 2005 - Estepona
We only stayed in Sotogrande for one night, and then moved a couple of hours along the coast to Estepona, in search of Stainless Steel. My parents have now left us and rented an apartment in Estepona. I can now admit that I had been both looking forward to, and simultaneously dreading their visit, as having four people living in a small boat can be quite testing, particularly when one person is Ele and the other two my parents!!! It all turned out fine though - there was no toast throwing, and even the minor disagreements didn't need my diplomatic intervention! It's a shame they didn't get to do more sailing, and didn't experience some of the wonderful anchorages we'd stayed in only a couple of weeks earlier, but I'm sure they're already planning their next visit :)
I think we'll be in Estepona for at least a few days more. I may try to get to Gib to see a Stainless guy there, as the quote I received here was a tad pricey.
Estepona
12th October 2005 - Stage One, Complete :)
We are in the Med!
At around midday today we rounded the rock of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean. A couple of hours earlier we had rounded Tarifa, the most southerly point of western Europe, and supposedly the most windy place in Europe, although we had no wind. To the right we had a magnificent view of Africa. On arriving in Sotogrande we cracked open the bubbley which we had been given before leaving the UK, under instruction not to drink it before Gibraltar. I even had a little sippy myself, hic.
Mes Parents, framed by Africa (Morocco)
a big rock wot we stole from the Spanish.
11th October 2005 - Weatherbound (again)
Hercules has been pissing on our parade again - my parents arrived for a few days sailing, and it's been blowing a 7 in the wrong direction since. It's given us a chance to explore the town abit, and we had a day outing to Vejer de la Frontera, 'an old town on a hill' ;) Despite the bad weather there's been quite a community here, waiting for the weather to change. We will attempt to leave tomorrow am, rather early, 4am (grrr...), to catch the tide around Tarifa and get us through the Gibraltar straight and into the Med :)
Flotilla friends :)
7th October 2005 - There's nothing quite like the smell of napalm in the morning...
During our stay in Puerto Sherry Ele discovered a local radio station transmitted from the US Naval base at Rota, to the north of Cadiz bay. Rota radio played a selection of cheesy US rock, with a few not-so-cheesy US Rock classics thrown in from the likes of SoundGarden, Alice in Chains, Green Day and Pearl Jam. As we were leaving Cadiz Bay (listening to said radio station) two US Naval frigates were doing exercises in the bay, one circling around us before powering off to sea, undoubtedly accompanied, like us, by Bruce Springsteen and the Beach Boys... very apocalypse now!
We sailed for a few hours, but soon the wind shifted round to the south and increased, so we motored the rest of the way to Barbate. By the time we had rounded Capo Trafalgar the wind was nearing a force 7, and the sea was pretty big... we got absolutely soaked, and upon arriving in Barbate discovered that ALL our windows except two leaked :( Spent the next day drying everything out!
It's now thursday evening and my parents should be in Gibraltar now - tomorrow they will risk the local public transport system and attempt to get here! Also just arrived in the Marina are Ellen and Nick, another british boat recently departed from the UK whose progress we have been monitoring online, and through updates from Mark and Nat. Yesterday we were acquainted with Val and Peter, the owners of Valhalla, a yacht which was parked opposite us in Falmouth, and which we later anchored next to in Cascais!
Barbate appears to be a slightly run-down (or possibly just out-of-season) Spanish holiday resort. The surrounding hills are covered with quite dense forest, and the beaches are great, so I'll reserve judgement until we've explored a bit more.
Military exercises in the Bay
This is either a mine shaft, or an irrigation well. Beneith the tower is a long drop right down to sea level, perfect for a sequel to 'the hole'... claustrophobics and vertigo sufferers stay away!
2nd October 2005 - Puerto Sherry
The easterly force 6 turned out to be a rather forgiving easterly force 1, which we motored into all the way to Cadiz, meaning we arrived rather early, and had to slow down an hour from Cadiz so we could arrive at dawn. We're actually staying in Puerto Sherry, a marina complex near the town of Santa Maria, on the other side of Cadiz bay to Cadiz.
Not much to report really - I've been doing some more work, and we've had a swim in the sea and a trot along the coast to the town. There has been a windsurfing event on (I counted 96 windsurfers yesterday), but I think the main event is over. I've also been trying to find a stainless steel fabricator to knock up some gubbins to mount our solar panel better, but it's proving tricky :(
29th September 2005 - Faro
We have been in Faro Lagoon for a few days now - the lagoon is a vast enclosed area of protected water, much of which is a nature reserve. A couple of large (25km) sandbanks form the outer edge of the lagoon, and it's by one of these that we have been anchored. The sandbanks are actually huge, and have a couple of small fishing villages on them. Each evening we have rowed ashore and walked through the villages to the outer side of the sandbanks, where they meet the atlantic with a huge beach - We've been swimming three times in the last three days, and the water is actually warm here! The weather forecasts have been keeping us here longer than planned (not that I mind!), but tomorrow I think we will head off for Cadiz, even though the forecast is still for easteries up to force 6 :(
Anchored off the beach in Faro lagoon
The other side of the sandbank, our swimming pool for a few days :)
26th September 2005 - Bon Voyage Free Spirit
Our sendoff from Lagos was truly fitting - a salute of tree-poses-at-dawn by Nat and Mark, who had unexpectedly decided to get up at the crack of dawn to wave us off from the end of the breakwater at the entrance to Lagos! Unfortunately the photo I took didn't come out, but it will stick in my memory for a long time! Unfortunately we probably wont be seeing Nat and Mark again for a good long while, as they are currently sailing down to the Canaries, and then plan to go across the Atlantic this autumn. Nat and Mark, I hope your voyages go well, and see you in New Zealand!! ;)
25th September 2005 - Still in Lagos!
We are still in Logos! We've had a really nice stay here, although I've been mostly working, but still found time to do lots of nice things. Twice we have been round to RestlessII where Ann-Marie and Dan have produced a wonderful spread of food and wine, and at the start of the week we spent a day with Rob and Fliss in their aunts villa :) The villa was very pleasant, with a swimming pool next door which we all splashed around in, and then finished the evening with a DVD and beer (alcohol free for me of course!). Later in the week we had a day out with on the boat, motoring round to a nearby beach which is only accessable from the sea (or a vertical cliff). There was quite a swell in the morning, so landing the dinghy on the rocky beach was 'interesting'!
Our plans are to leave the marina this evening and then either wait overnight on the arrivals pontoon, or anchor in Lagos bay, so we can leave early tomorrow for Faro. The weather is looking a bit unsettled at the moment, but we should be ok for a day hop to Faro. We then plan to continue day hopping along the coast, to get near Gibralta for around 6th Oct, when my folks are flying out to visit. Not sure when I'll be able to update the site next, as I'm reluctant to use GPRS atm, as my last months Orange bill was £580!! oops.
Fine spread aboard Restless II in Lagos. At the table are (L2R) Ann-Marie, Mark, Dan, Ele, Nat, et moi.
Yummy - sorry Mark, only your icecream made it into this one!!! Fliss and Rob and Nat after our italian
18th September 2005 - You are what you eat
A few months back I managed to inadvertently put a dear friend off Liquorice Allsorts for life, by telling him that Bertie Basset and friends contain a rather unsavory ingredient*. I wonder if he's discovered the truth about cheese yet**.
Today Ele dug out a jar of Tesco 'ham and beef paste' for lunch (her lunch, not mine!), and while munching away decided to read the ingredients:
Ham (35%), British Beef (12%) - no surprises there... then...
Chicken (23%) - eh? I thought it was 'ham and beef paste' - it has more chicken in it than it does beef! Read on...
Beef Fat, Chicken Fat - nice... and then...
Chicken Skin - eh, what's that doing in there?!?!? Maybe that's where the little bits of hock burn end up!! Sometimes I'm really glad I'm a veggie :)
* "Gelatin (US spelling) or gelatine (British spelling) (used to make Jell-o and other desserts) is made from the boiled bones, skins and tendons of animals" - http://www.ivu.org/faq/gelatine.html
"The gelatin you eat in Jell-O comes from the collagen in cow or pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues." - http://home.howstuffworks.com/question557.htm
** "Rennet, traditionally used as a coagulating agent in cheese making, is derived from the digestive juices of slaughtered calves." - http://www.ivu.org/faq/gelatine.html
"Rennet is usually sourced from the abomasum (fourth stomach) of newly-born calves." - http://www.vegsoc.org/info/cheese.html
15th September 2005 - Dolphin vids
Here's a couple of snippets of the dolphin video. The snippets are 1.3MB and 5.5MB so may take some time to download...
Dolphin video snippet 1 (short)
Dolphin video snippet 2 (a bit longer)
14th September 2005 - La-goosh
We arrived on monday morning in Lagos. Gosh, it's jolly british here what-ho... Lots of brit bars and eateries, and all the tourist excursions are advertised in English and German. It's a really pleasant place though - the marina is great (well sheltered with all facilities nearby), and they have wireless internet :)) We walked along the coast for a couple of hours yesterday, exploring the little bays, beaches and grottos, and we're just about to go and explore the old town, which we've heard is very nice... We'll be here for over a week, as we're waiting for Fliss and Rob to visit next week :) I also have some more work to do in the meanwhile :(
Ele and me sitting in the back garden en-route to Lagos
One of the many small coves south of Lagos
3rd September 2005 - Dofnids!
Oh I almost forgot, the Dolphin pictures... here's a couple for the time being. I have some rather shakey video footage taken from my camera, but it needs some editing first, so I'll post it as soon as I figure out how to chop it up...
a dolphin :)
another picture of the same dolphin.
a rather bizarre picture of another dolphin with the reflection of me taking the picture... or was this the picture the dolphin took of me with the reflection of the dolphin in it?!!
two dolphins swimming in our bow-wave...
2nd September 2005 - Adios Espana, Bom Dia Portugal!
On the evening of 2nd Sept we passed the border between Spain and Portugal, and replaced our Spanish courtesy flag with our recently aquired Portugese one. For the next two days we sailed non-stop down the coast of Portugal, toward Cascais, near Lisbon. Unfortunately toward the end of the first day I suspected that I had picked up a stomach bug somewhere, possibly the 'Huevos y Pollos' restaurant where I had eaten 'Cheese Eggs' the night before. The bug knocked me out completely for a whole day, so Ele had to sail all through the second day, but luckly I had recovered just enough by the second night that I was able to do an extended night shift. Our arrival in Cascais was fairly straightforward despite a minefield of lobster-pots on the way in, and we stayed in Cascais marina for a few days before going out to anchor in the bay. Cascais is a rather nice town - quite touristy, but with a quaint old town, and a very plush marina complex with lots of restaurants and bars, where the rich and famous of Lisbon visit at the weekends. The countryside around Cascais/Lisbon is quite varied, so we spent a day in Sintra (about 10 miles from Cascais) exporing the fairytale landscape and magnificent Pena Palace. On the walk down from the Palace we visited the Moorish Castle, and just as we were at the summit the thick fog that had plauged us all morning lifted, revealing a wonderful view all round.
I managed to get some more windsurfing in while at anchor, and then the next day we fueled up and set off for Lagos, sailing in company with Free Spirit and Restless II.
The magical Palace of Pena appearing from out of the mist
Looking back down the steps of the Moorish Castle at Sintra
22nd August - to Bayona
Well the last two days have been absolutely perfect for sailing, blue skies, blue seas and northerly 12-25 knot winds - we departed Camarinas early on Saturday and have now arrived in Bayona. We spent saturday night in Portosin, a friendly holiday town, and set off again on Sunday morning for a breezy, brisk and beautiful run along the coast, passing Cabo Finisterre and the islands of Ons and Cies. We'll now be staying in Bayona for a week or so as I have some work to do that I have been putting off for months - a good excuse to spend some time in what appears to be a very nice town, with lots of interesting bars and restaurants, and lots of icecream. Our friends Mark and Nat have just left us to continue pressing south, but we hope to catch them up again soon, and maybe meet up in Lisbon towards the end of the month. As we're staying put for a while I have ordered a new belt for the autopilot (which snapped 2 days into Biscay) - we decided the autopilot would be very handy for our next trip, which may be a straight 48 hours to Lisbon. Ele has started some more sanding - her favourite job :) Well, I'd best get back to work...
beating up the rias towards Portosin
19th and 20th August - Went windsurfing :)
The weather forecast was looking a bit scarey - force 6 to 8 in Finisterre with storm force 10's forecast for Porto just 100 miles south of us :( So I went windsurfing, fun :) The next day the forecast was still a bit scarey so we went walking...
17th and 18th August - Corme and Camarinas
After sitting out the bad weather, which didn't really materialise anyway, we had a short hop along the coast 40 miles to a small fishing town called Corme. It has a small sheltered harbour, most of which is taken up with Mussel beds, and a couple of sandy beaches and small anchoring area. Here we spent the night after dining on board 'Free Spirit', the plan being to leave early the next morning. The morning brought us thick fog though, so after concurring that we should wait for it to lift before moving on, we returned to our bunks and slept in until rather late :) By midday the fog had lifted, so we ventured on westward another 20 miles to another smallish fishing town, Camarinas. I'm now writing this at anchor in Camarinas - the bad weather that was forecast earlier in the week looks like it has finally arrived - the wind has risen and there has been a lot of cloud and some rain - so much for escaping the british weather :( At least it is warm :) Infact it's perfect now for windsurfing, but it's too late in the day and getting dark. If it's too windy tomorrow to continue towards Finisterre I'll give the boards a dunking in atlantic water :)
This is the second night in a row that we've stayed in the harbour of a small fishing village, but not actually gone ashore into the town. It's quite wierd to think that we're staying right in the heart of the villages, and yet totally isolated by a small stretch of water. We can hear the church bells and hear the people talking in the streets sometimes, but we come and go without so much as saying thankyou. I'm sure we'll help the local economy of some of the small villages we call at though - we only have supplies to last us a few more days, and I quite fancy a restaurant meal ashore soon :)
The coastline west of La Coruna is littered with wind farms. It's not surprising Spain beats the UK hands down in the renewable energy game.
Corme. One of the small fishing towns we stayed in but didn't go ashore to.
Costa da Morte. Death Coast. Nice name, quite scarey looking... we sailed quickly past...
16th August - Ares, waiting for weather
We had planned to leave La Coruna yesterday to head toward the NW tip of Spain, but the weather forecasts have been ominous. The local forcasts are mentioning winds of force 7, and the UK Met office has issued gale warnings for the Fitzroy sea area. Here in Ares, where we are supposedly 'sitting out the storm', it is a beautiful sunny day, and we are anchored in a peaceful ancorage off a long sandy beach. We've wandered into the town for provisions, had a swim in the sea, and are now going for some relaxing evening drinkies on the beach... it's a hard life ;)
The last night in La Coruna was enjoyable - they're celebrating the aniversary of the day Maria Pita kicked the British out of NW Spain :) There was a tremendous fireworks display on the water right in front of the marina, and I think the whole of La Coruna were out on the steets to watch.
My last chore before leaving La Coruna was to go up the mast to change the bulb in the masthead light - I took the opportunity to take a couple of aerial photos :)
La Coruna from the top of the mast
The boat from above, and the top of Ele's head. Also my shoe and a bit of leg...
Waiting for the gale to pass, with our friends Mark and Nat from Free Spirit
13th August - La Coruna
Ian and Greg (dad) have now flown back to England. Ian has a new job and new girlfriend awaiting him, and dad has more bookkeeping to look forward to ;) I hope they enjoyed their time on the boat... Ele and me are now spending a few days in La Coruna, but plan to move on soon along the coast towards Portugal. We have a couple of day-hops planned to little anchorages, and we have found some other like minded people to sail in tandem with. With Biscay out the way it feels like we can be more relaxed now, and I'm hoping to get some windsurfing in soon :)
It's a festival weekend here in La Coruna this weekend, and a large stage has been set up next to the marina. By the sound of the soundcheck, we aren't gonna get much sleep tonight!
4th -> 8th August - The Bay of Biscay
The Biscay crossing was, thankfully, rather uneventful. The first two days we had fantastic sunny weather, but barely enough wind to sail, so we mostly motored. We saw quite a lot of shipping the first day, but after leaving the continental shelf (where the water depth drops steeply off to over 4000 meters) we saw no other traffic. On the second day there were quite a few wierd jellyfish type things floating past, about the size of a 50 pence piece, but with a little translucent sail raised above the water so they would blow along. Ian and Greg also saw a large pod of about 50 dolphins pack-hunting fish, circling around them and attracting loads of seabirds into the medlay too. The third day was more windy, with gales forcast for some areas of North Spain. We made great progress, and arrived towards La Coruna in the early hours of the morning, by which time the wind had dropped completely and been replaced by thick fog. To make matters worse our navigation lights had blown a bulb, but as if to guide us in we were accompanied by ten or so dolphins for nearly an hour. As I leant over the front of the boat to change the light bulb they were jumping out of the water only a few feet from me - I would have taken some photos but it was pitch black! Here's a few photos I did take over the few days though:
Ele ('does my head look big in this') and Ian ('I wish I was anywhere else but here' ;) ) one day into Biscay
Greg (dad) suddenly realises that the cardinal buoy we are passing is probably the last sign of civilisation we'll see for 3 days!
I see no ships!
4th August 2005 - French Cuisine
mmmm... croisants for breakfast :)
The crossing had been quite sucessfull, although both Ian and dad had felt pretty seasick, so we decided to stop off in Camaret for a day to rest and recover before continuing to Spain.
2nd August 2005 - Au revoir, Angleterre... (at last)
Had a fairly hectic last day in the UK. Our fourth crew member, my dad, arrived early in the morning, and we spent the day running around buying last minute provisions and doing the last of the nessesary jobs, including mounting the solar panel, and roping James from 'Kia' into greasing our rudder gland, to hopefully prevent the leaks. Even after we had left the marina we had delays, as we had to wait nearly an hour for fuel :( We finally got away at 2100, leaving the lights of Falmouth and the UK behind us as we ploughed south into the darkness.
10th July 2005 - back on the M6 again
Having arrived in Falmouth I hired me a little Daewoo Matiz with Aircon, and on the hottest day in history I drove nearly the whole length of England from Falmouth back up to Liverpool, to pick up the Van to drive back to Falmouth! I broke up the journey with a stop over in Liverpool at the Cathredral house (beer and poka c/o Ben et al), and then spent a few days in Lechlade catching up with work, and getting the van fixed.
22nd June -> 07th July 2005 - Caernarfon
We had a couple of really nice days in Caernarfon - the weather was great and we managed to do a little bit of walking around the town and a fair bit of lazing in the sun. We had also been in Caernarfon a few weeks before on a shakedown sail to test the boat before our departure. After a couple of days we moved on to Neyland (near Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire), where we stayed rather longer than planned! I had to wait to take an ICC test (driving licence for boats), and when we did finally leave the weather was pretty bad and the sea was rough, so after 3 hours we turned back :( We made it out eventually though. Here are some piccies from Caernarfon, Neyland, Milford Haven and Dale :)
Ele and Ian jovially making some random gesture in Caernarfon
I have an idle fascination with old wrecks... unfortunately I missed two (one in Caernarfon and one in France) because I didn't have my camera with me... Old wrecks are steeped in history, and whilst they sometimes give clues to their history, you always get the feeling they are wise but smugly content knowing that their story is theirs and theirs only. They also have a serene peacefullness - they just let the waters flow over them now that they are at rest.
Yoga in silly places :)
Tree pose in stone circle in Caernarfon
Tree pose on a triangulation pillar on a hill in the ourskirts of Caernarfon
Dog pose in a modern stone circle somewhere in the Menai Straights... I'm quite glad a large alsatian didn't appear during this one...
21st June 2005 - Off into the night
Bye! We have gone! We had a small gathering of family and friends wave us off from the Coburg Dock. We decided it would be nice to set off at the summer soltice, and so left in the evening to sail throught the shortest night of the year, lit by a full moon :)
Thanks to Fliss for this photo of us motoring down the Mersey into the sunset :)
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