And Still Waiting
Hi All,
Well we have a boat - looking good, sounding good and travelling good on our trip down from St Gilles. We have a crew - Mark and Priscilla arrived Tuesday afternoon as we were putting the boat back together and yesterday we prepared the boat. It is all ready to go - but alas the weather gods have decided that we 4 souther hemishere, sub-tropical / tropical inhabitants are not yet cold enough to spend 4 cold days at sea and has shut the gate on Finisterre on Saturday morning just before we planned to arrive.
Given this, our desire to get round the corner in one hop and our reluctance to get wet, we are delaying our departure until Sunday morning, so it is another 3 cold days in Les Sables d'Olonne eating the provisions we got yesterday for the trip.
The shopping experience for the trip was an experience in itself. The four of us headed to Le clerc and armed ourselves with 2 trolleys to fill with the list we had prepared earlier over coffee. Within 10 minutes, Karen was back in the parking lot getting a third trolley as we heaped food, oil and pampers into the trolley. Yes, you are reading right - it was another first for us. On Mark's recommendation we now have an official "spills kit" on the boat - a pack of "Junior" disposable nappies that will quickly absorb any spills or leaks we encounter.
Anyway, best be getting on with things here - we will be very busy in the next three days shivering our butts off.
Cheers
Karen and Matt
Well we have a boat - looking good, sounding good and travelling good on our trip down from St Gilles. We have a crew - Mark and Priscilla arrived Tuesday afternoon as we were putting the boat back together and yesterday we prepared the boat. It is all ready to go - but alas the weather gods have decided that we 4 souther hemishere, sub-tropical / tropical inhabitants are not yet cold enough to spend 4 cold days at sea and has shut the gate on Finisterre on Saturday morning just before we planned to arrive.
Given this, our desire to get round the corner in one hop and our reluctance to get wet, we are delaying our departure until Sunday morning, so it is another 3 cold days in Les Sables d'Olonne eating the provisions we got yesterday for the trip.
The shopping experience for the trip was an experience in itself. The four of us headed to Le clerc and armed ourselves with 2 trolleys to fill with the list we had prepared earlier over coffee. Within 10 minutes, Karen was back in the parking lot getting a third trolley as we heaped food, oil and pampers into the trolley. Yes, you are reading right - it was another first for us. On Mark's recommendation we now have an official "spills kit" on the boat - a pack of "Junior" disposable nappies that will quickly absorb any spills or leaks we encounter.
Anyway, best be getting on with things here - we will be very busy in the next three days shivering our butts off.
Cheers
Karen and Matt
Hi Matt and Karen
I am a bit worried that you have such a late crossing over to the Carribeans. The right time to arrive is abt now and a couple of weeks on .... not much later due to the hurricane season .
I am myself planning a crossing next year and will set off around Nov 20 or a little bit later if I am joining the ARC.
But most likely i will cross over the douldrums and go to South America .Wish you all the best on this adventure you are on!!
// Levin
Hi Levin,
Thanks for the thoughts, from my reading anytime in the months of Nov - Feb is fine - you just shorten your time in the Caribbean. Also the winds get stronger later in the crossing period and from what I am seeing with the ARC logs, there has been little wind to date so I am hoping that our crossing date will at least give us some of the trade winds that the "Milk Run" is known for.
Maybe we will catch up next year as we will be heading back down after the hurricane season next year as well.
Cheers
Matt & Karen
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The best of luck to the 4 of you! We absolutely confirm the necessity of some pampers on board ;o).
Big hug from rainy and "cold" La Palma
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Hi Matt and Karen, Merry Christmas from Hot and Sunny Queensland to the both of you. Sounds cold over there. They tell me the best thing to do in a cold clime is to drink lots of beer (or is that any clime?). Anyway all the best for christmas and the new year.
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