Matt & Karen's Soggy Adventure

You know about Carnival – Don’t you?

Where2 — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:46:00 GMT

Well, our planning (you know that other blog entry that is under construction) has included staying in Grenada for Carnival. Apparently it is not as big as Trinidad or Rio but not that far behind. I had read about Mas Camps (read Masquerade Camps) in the local tourist guide (see attached pdf – reproduced without permission but if someone from Grenada Tourism wishes me to remove it I will) and thought it would be interesting to go and visit one on the lead up to Carnival (6-11 August).

Mas Camp Article

Then Suzie from Spirited Lady made an announcement that she was visiting one today if anyone wanted to join her so we jumped at the opportunity, grabbed Trish from Bristol Rose and off we went to St Georges.
Arriving in St Georges we rang the number and with directions in hand we headed on up the hill to Green St. Suzie, being ever so careful, stopped everyone she could in the street and in their houses to confirm our directions. (Okay, Suzie does appear neither typically British nor frightfully careful).

We got to the top of the hill and Ricardo (yes the very same one from the article, but I didn’t realise this until we got back to the boat) was at his steps to greet us. His house (the house in which he was born) was built in 1930, seemed so familiar to our own colonial architecture, and had a great view of the cargenage.

From Richardo's Mas Camp

Well Suzie stepped into the fray, being the only confirmed Masquerader in our midst. She tried on each of the available colours (Richardo’s theme was colours in the clouds and each section of the band wears a colour over white) and some such as purple which were not available. Suzie loved it as Ricardo helped with the hats!

From Richardo's Mas Camp

As Suzie tried on the costumes, I started to realise, that we were in the house of a local celebrity – the Canada / Grenada awards, the prizes for his books, and the framed invitation to dinner aboard HMY Brittania from the Prince and Princess of Wales!

Next Ricardo went to work on the shy Aussie girls –Trish as our official photography held firm on observing the bands, so Richardo turned his

From Richardo's Mas Camp

attention to Karen and I think the results show that Karen is indeed a green girl!

From Richardo's Mas Camp

All this time the workers were continuing to pump out the costumes!

From Richardo's Mas Camp

After a while we were told of Richardo’s background – an actor, author and by the looks of the photos on his wall a dancer and once owner of a damn fine afro that would have had him mistaken for one of the Jackson 5!

From Richardo's Mas Camp

He bought out copies of his books – one of which has been published in Australia.

We left Mas Camp in two minds – would we or would we not Masquerade?
By the time we arrived at home, I had decided I would party! Karen, always cautious as you know was not so sure but at the time of writing she has agreed to Party Grenada style so I am getting on line and confirming our positions with Ricardo and beefing up the Green team with Suzie.

So Carnival for us now sounds like Juvee with the Woburn Band (3am Monday morning) followed by two days of Mas partying with Ricardo’s Mas Band and maybe a day or so prior to that at Mas Camp helping with the costumes!

Cutty's Island Tour

Where2 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:16:00 GMT

Thursday morning rolled around and our last minute calls to Cutty to arrange an island tour yesterday worked out as we met Trish and Robert (Bristol Rose) and Diana and Gerald (Whiskers) at the marina where Cutty was waiting with taxi for our first ever island tour. Already on board were Kerry and Mal (Hasta La Vista). This made the tour a complete Southern Hemisphere tour with 6 Aussies and 2 token S.Africans.

From 4.River Antoine Rum Distillery

Cutty gave us a brief overview of what we were going to see and we were off up the west coast of Grenada. Now what Cutty didn't say was that he had very good knowledge of the history of the island, vegetation and crops and general information about the island. He would often stop and show us samples of the different spices growing and plantations (as seen below) and make sure we enjoyed the experience. With this we got more than I expected to from the tour.

From Cutty's Tour

The first planned stop was the Annadale Falls, a nice medium sized waterfall surrounded by beautiful gardens. I waited for Karen to change into her swimmers before we headed down to the falls, but Robert was the only one to brave the cold (I suppose everything is relative) water and jump into pool. Robert was outdone, however by a local lad - "Mr Super Fantastic" who jumped from the top (for a small donation of course.)

From 1.Annadale Falls

We then headed to Grand Etang Lake and as we drew near, Cutty beeped the horn and...

From 2.Grand Etang Lake

Karen and I then strolled over to catch a view of Grand Etang Crater Lake which was quite eerie with mist covering the mountain tops. We then stopped at the souvenir shop and bought some local organic chocolate which was very enjoyable (at the time of writing it had been devoured) and some spicy perfume for Karen.

From Grand Etang it was onto San Bras to the Carlton Cocoa Station where the local cocoa is processed. On the way we stopped and picked a cocoa pod and sampled the wet cocoa which was delicious. Walking into the cocoa plant was my first real time travel back to the industrial revolution...

From 3.Carlton Cocoa

After the cocoa plant we started heading up north to the River Antoine Estate. On our way we passed through small villages and the abandoned airport which is now used as a drag strip. When the Americans invaded in the 80's no Cuban assets were allowed to leave the island, so the president's and government planes were left abandoned and are still there.

From Cutty's Tour

People were still living happily in "Janice Houses" in the villages. These prefab houses were provided by the Venezuelan government as aid in rebuilding from the first of the recent Grenadian hurricanes. Venezuela also provided similar aid following Ivan, and these Ivan Houses can be seen throughout the island

From Cutty's Tour

We arrived at the River Antoine Estate, the home of the Rivers Rum Distillery and enjoyed lunch and a beer at the restaurant before stepping back in time once again to a fully operational rum distillery run on power from a water wheel and wood gathered from the estate for the furnaces. Karen felt that you would walk around the corner and there would be the real distillery and this was just a museum with "the things we used to do". But it wasn't! This was evidenced by the customs officer there testing alcohol content and production volume. This was real. The product was definitely real based on the feeling in my throat and the look on Trish's face as she sampled the rum under Diana's instruction to swallow it in one go.

From 4.River Antoine Rum Distillery

Before we could get over the sample of the real rum, both Trish and I had purchased a bottle of Lime Rum Punch and Diana had a bottle of the real stuff tucked under her arm (but only after the guide made sure that Diana was not planning on taking the bottle on a plane!)

We then headed of to Grenville for a tour of the nutmeg processing station. Here we were not allowed to take photos to protect their IP on processes. It was much the same as the cocoa plant and Robert made note of the wooden?? polishing machinery.

Next stop was La Segesse Bay with the classical palmed Caribbean beach were I was able to get my classical palmed Caribbean beach photos!

From 5.La Sagesse Bay

This beach also has a bit of history. The owner of the resort had tried to exclude the public from the beach when the resort was built. The citizen's took the owner to court and the decision ensured all Grenadian beaches have public access. Interesting to note that the owner sold and left the country after the result...

From here it was off past Cutty's favorite watering hole where he "limes" after work with his mates and sips the Rivers Rum that Trish was so fond of before dropping us back to the marina.

It was a full day with everyone being so tired they did not even stop at the bar for a drink on the way to the dock. I would recommend Cutty's tours. He can be contacted on 407 5153.

Wednesday is Burger night

Where2 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:56:00 GMT

Today, I think spells out what cruising life is about. First, I had success this morning getting the SSB weather reports for the first time since crossing the Atlantic (12 hours after purchasing a new wifi antenna and getting 24hr access to all weather stations). Then I sat and contemplated the key projects for summer:

The Barbeque
Solenoid valve for gas safety on board
Fixing the SSB – done! Well done Matt....
Wifi antenna – basic hardware sorted ! Well done Matt....
Purchase dive gear.... dismal start and major convincing to do with the CFO
Replace Captain’s chair at helm – major business driver being the Admiral’s (ie Karen’s) disgust at the stain that is generated any time it is wet. Secondary driver being the Captain’s (ie me) disgust at the comfort level not equalling that of Kirk’s seat on the Enterprise.

Having spent 8 minutes contemplating, decided to get the new antenna out and give it another trial run before the Admiral got up and all was good.

Dignity then arrived and parked in the marina effortlessly (Oh I remember those days of endless water and electricity (and possibly air conditioning) and Steve called to note my generous overview of the English / Aussie cultural exchange program I mentioned on my last blog and we agreed to catch up during the day.

Then it was onto the “List”. This is not projects but the day to day maintenance that I don’t mention in the blog until now – The head! Over the past month I have serviced 2 heads (read toilets). Today was the third. I had to replace the joker valve (good name guys – I personally would have called it the choker valve as that is what my larynx was thinking) and clean the old one. Basically this is the non-return valve that stops the sh!”£ coming back into the bowl. Yep – nice job. I have now done this 3 times as well as changing the impellor and servicing the seals on the electric “quiet flush”- not, owners head. This involved things you do not want to know about.

Karen cleaned the ceiling of the cockpit and (seeing that it was raining – ie free water) some of the deck as well.
Next it was onto scoping out the BBQ and the gas safety which involved pulling panels off the boat and trying to relate a metric boat to an imperial / US -not yet finished.

By now it was time to relax and wait for happy hour at Clarke’s Court Bay Marina which was to be followed by Burger night for the Americans, but we opted for a local dinner instead. We met Steve and Helen at the happy hour and waited for Trish and Robert.

Steve thought, that while it was hot, he was surprised at how many people were milling outside the bar, until he realised it was the line for the burgers! While he was waiting we decided to check each other’s boat out on Friday with regards to our projects and then with Robert and Trish arriving we headed to Little Dipper’s for dinner.

This was a good night! I followed Robert and Trish across, avoiding reefs and the like and tied up at the Big Dipper dinghy dock and hiked up the cliff to the restaurant.

We were met by the owner Joan who explained the menu and took drink orders. Well the food was good – Callaloo soup (much like spinach) followed by Mahi Mahi, chicken or one other choice. We met an English couple who were now living in Grenada and they joined us after dinner and brought Joan to the table and we continued drinking rum punch, beer or wine until Joan’s husband Rock came home from band practice. Joan and Rock were Rastafarians and it was definitely an interesting night’s discussion (no ganja involved). Big recommendation to Joan’s Big Dipper.

Possible Next Steps - Under Construction

Where2 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Well plans have changed again. Since we got our US visa we have decided to use them but in a round about way. I am updating the map with our plans (ver 2009-248a) but the new one will include the VEnezuelan islands, the Dutch Antillies, Columbia, San Blas, Nicuragua, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, maybe Jamaica and Cuba before heading up to the States for next summer.Stay tuned!

Ok - people have been asking

Where2 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:19:00 GMT

Well now by overwelming demand (at least two emails from interested parties - thanks Silke and Ashley) and the purchase of a new internet antennae, I am back blogging. There is so much to say and so much to show that it is now a major task to get people up to date but let me start with where we are: Clarke's Court Bay, Grenada, just down river from the rum distillery (go figure how I ended up here....)

View Where R We Now! in a larger map

We have been in Grenada for about a week staying St David's first and then moving closer to the action here in Clarke's Court.

To say action is a bit of an understatement as things seem to happen daily (or more often) here in the hurricane season, although today it was all work getting our internet to play with us instead of going to the 4:30 happy hour in the next bay. Tomorrow night we have to work on the boat for a while and then will be out for dinner, followed on Thursday by an island tour, Friday should be a quiet one followed by a Carnivale warm up on Saturday night at Le Phare BLeu Marina - just around the corner - should be an intersting night.

Tomorrow the bay will get a little bit more crowded with Steve and Helen from Dignity arriving on their 420 to condition their batteries (and no doubt they will blame the Aussies (Karen, Robert and Trish www.BristolRose.blogspot.com ) for hangovers as they have in the past http://aboarddignity.com/blog/?p=1351 http://aboarddignity.com/blog/?p=1429 - this probably goes back to when the pommies blamed us for missing loaves of bread and shipped us out to heaven on sailing boats and are now just a little bit jealous of where we ended up.

We have been travelling off and on and close or not so close with these guys (Steve & Helen and Robert & Trish) since St Lucia and Martinique as well as a number of other interesting people as everyone heads south to get out of the path of the pending hurricanes. We have also been in touch with Bill from Spangle who we met in Las Palmas almost 18 months ago and is now in the Prickley Bay. No doubt there will be more socializingin the coming weeks before we head west to the Venezuelan Islands, the ABC's (Dutch Antilles) and onto Columbia - but more about that later.

Sorry this has taken so long to write but will try to backfill and keep it up to date as we move on

Matt & Karen

Where we have been - a map of it all

Where2 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:12:00 GMT

View Where II? - here and here and ..... in a larger map

Get Use to This – I’m on Island Time!

Where2 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:13:00 GMT

Well I gather that you all realise that we have made it. My last blog I think puts us somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic with a crazy German guy called Bernie and since I have not seen any news of anyone searching for us or our boat, I guess you all know we made it and are safe in the West Indies (That is until I get round to updating the blog).
We are now on St Lucia WI, our second Island in the Windward Islands enjoying the Rodney Bay Marina. But perhaps I should go back to our arrival. After a few calm days at the end of our crossing we decided that it was time to put the batten back in and pump up the knots a bit. Yes, while we were reefed two down, one of the battens (just above the reef) slipped out of the batten box and started sliding out of the pocket. Luckily we caught it, and with Bernie swinging off the main got it back into the cockpit. Karen, in her inevitable cleaning way, wanted it out of the cockpit and back in the main, so back it went when the seas were calm.
So battened with a full main and genoa, we started the sail around the north of Barbados to Port St Charles – our first Caribbean port of entry. I must admit our first view of the Caribbean, although very welcome after 19 days at sea, was a bit of a letdown – the island was covered with haze and it was only when we got close that we could make out the low profile of the island.
After calling Port St Charles numerous times with no answer we sailed into Six Men Bay and dropped the pick next to the neighbours, Callisto, (although they never seem to invite us over for sundowners).

It had taken us just on 19 days to cross the Atlantic. But at what cost you ask – well we lost a 6mm shackle holding the topping lift to the boom and used about 190l of the 1000l of diesel I put on board after reading the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) blog and none of the €2000 of additional spares I bought in France and Las Palmas. Of course the big cost was feeding Bernie...... and the cost of our 2 sundowners each night (Supersol beer at €0.18 a can)

I then gathered the boat papers and hopped into the dinghy to go to customs and immigration in the marina. There was also “Health” to talk to who asked if there were and communicable diseases on board or whether any of the 3 of us had died during the crossing but alas despite my desire to write “69 ways to kill your wife at sea” as my first contribution to the cruising lifestyle, I could report none (although Bernie gave it a good shot by surfing behind the boat at 6 knots).

Karen was also concerned one night when she could not wake Bernie. She came and got me thinking that he may have passed away and the rest of our trip would be like a Weekend at Bernie’s with a dead man with a sun downer sitting in our cockpit!
So after knocking and entering I met the Customs dude (only world I could use to describe him accurately) and he helped through the whole process. This was lucky because I thought I was in an English speaking country, but I understood more conversations in Spain! (After 3 weeks in the Bar (bados) I had however mastered the dialect and Karen could not understand a word I was saying).
Arriving back to the boat we started the normal program after every crossing, cleaning up the galley so we can enjoy our first sundowners without having to worry about wind shifts, whales or killer waves.... And so we did.

After spending the first 24 hours aboard sleeping and watching the anchor alarm we started to explore our surrounds and headed for Speightstown. A nice little village with a couple of Hardwares (we miss Bunnings) supermarkets, restaurants and of course the fisherman’s pub where Bernie shouted us to breakfast around 10:30 in the morning. Here we enjoyed, fried chicken and I think (remember at this stage we can’t speak the language) curried fish with rice and Karen being vegetarian ordered vegetable chow mien which came with curried flying fish– yes those suicidal fish that kept dying on our deck are main course in the Caribbean. Unfortunately the batteries died on the camera so we couldn’t get a photo of this salubrious establishment.

We spent a week in Port St Charles enjoying the surrounds and the entertainment. I would highly recommend any yachts making landfall on the Bar, clear in here and not Bridgetown. There is a marina here, but it only has about 6 berths suitable for super yachts and we did not quite make the grade. It has a dinghy dock which the harbour master seemed to discourage everyone else but us from using – maybe he saw the grace with which we enter and exit Debbie (the dinghy) and felt sorry for us.

The area around PSC was full of all inclusive resorts so getting a drink was not so easy, however Bernie seemed to find a way around it. We ran into him on the beach on our way back from town. Here he was chatting to his new friend Dr Love (to the tourists – he can get anything for you from ganja to girls) Polka dot (when he’s in the hood) or Rico (to his mum) and he had 5 rum punches in his hands or at his feet. When quizzed on where he had acquired these little gems (that he hastily distributed to us) he replied that a very attractive Scottish woman had approached him while innocently sitting on the beach and asked what he would like to drink, bought him back an abundance of alcoholic beverages and then returned to her husband. All of this was ratified by Polka dot and we later met the said lady and her husband. The sky provided spectacular value both day and night but after a week we upped anchor and headed to the bright lights and jet skis of Bridgetown.

We had an eventful sail of 2½ hours from PSC to Bridgetown with wind speeds of 5 – 30knots right on the beam! When the winds picked up Where II flew – much to Karen’s disappointment. But with the speed of wind changes, there was not enough time to reef so the genoa came in quickly and slowed us down and then the wind dropped off. That was pretty much the pattern on the way down until we anchored safely in Carlisle Bay along with the other 40 odd yachts and one turtle.

This turtle appeared at our boat a number of times while we were at anchor and swam out with us to say goodbye when we left!
Barbados is truly defined by its rum and rum shops. There are over 1000 rum shops on the island, many of them being the front room of somebody’s house. Often the bar will be covered in a steel grill with the barman safely ensconced behind it. It makes me wonder what a Sunday afternoon session looks like here.

And as a part of understanding the culture of the island I also visited the Mount Gay Rum Distillery and learnt of the history of the world’s oldest rum (300 years)– not that any bottle I bought seemed to age past about a week.

Barbados is about beaches, and Bernie loves beaches and does not I think believe in sun cancer (not certain but am taking a guess). We did do beaches here Carlisle Bay (where we were anchored) had a very nice beach as did some of the southern beaches around the south from Dover back to Hastings. These were nice but not yet the Caribbean dream we were imagining but we have a lot to see yet. Perhaps we have been spoilt by Australian beaches....

We did save the best beaches for our next visit when we come back for the US Visa interviews – Crane beach on the east coast is supposed to be one of the top 10 beaches in the world – which Bernie who did visit it confirmed.

A note on the US Visa – we were told before we left the Canaries that it only takes 7 days to process the visa, but if you are thinking of getting it in Barbados – that 7 days is from the time of the interview. The earliest interview we could get is in April – 3 months from when we got here. We are going to leave Barbados and come back for the interview.

The other thing that is highly recommended in Barbados (apart from Rum) is the Friday night fish cook up at Oistens. So we headed there, Karen hyped up to enjoy a nice fish meal. It is easy to get there – a $1.50 maxi taxi ride but the road in and out of Oistens gets jammed on a Saturday night – so be prepared for long slow ride from Bridgetown. There are literally 100’s of fish stalls cooking up mahi mahi, marlin, king fish, flying fish etc and of course some good loud reggae music. After a quick walk around we decided on a stall, placed our order and waited while Bernie took off and got some wine. The fish was superb and good healthy size servings – Karen and I ended up eating the marlin which was superb.

One warning about Oisten’s – never take advice from a German trying to put you on a bus – you will end up all the way out at Holetown – know what I mean Bernie?

Well with dinner out of the way it was time to sail again – we headed off to St Lucia to get a bit off Raymarine work done as we wait for the work on the boat to be done in Martinique.

Day 16 - I can almost smell the Rum Punch!

Where2 — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:43:00 GMT

14deg 28'.55N 51deg 23'.12W

It´s 0530 on Monday morning with a slight drizzle outside after what has been a most comfortable night of watches. It has only rained on my shift for some reason....

The last couple of days we have seen the Atlantic in good form with Saturday night being a night of true tropical squall and high seas - reliable estimates of the wave size were 5-6m, unreliable one out them at 30m plus and winds were gusting up to 40knots - so gale force. Karen decided that she really didn´t like this part of the sailing where I have been a bit more philosophical thinking if you are going to cross the Atlantic, this is all part of the experience. On my shift, I had the genoa rigged so I could fly or reduce it with the squalls, where Bernie and Karen were happy with just the main. Karen, just waiting to be swept overboard by one of the waves that did manage to climb into the cockpit (just) without invitation. Given the height of the boat and the position of the cockpit relative to the dinghy and transom, a wave reaching here is significant as was the one that made it over the bimini to spray Bernie on the coach roof sunbaking.

We have managed to average over 6 knots for the trip to date (148 miles per day) and with the additional miles due to wind direction and getting the L plates off, we should hit Barbados about lunch time on Thursday. This is a pretty good time for us as we have not yet got the C Cup (gennakker) out of its bra bag yet and have only been sailing on the standard sails (main and B Cup or main only) for the entire trip. In the first couple of days we could have benefited from the C Cup but the flu got in our way. With the wind dropping to force 5 over the next couple of days we will probably slow to about 5.5 knots, but still make it in time for sundowners on Thursday.

The fresh food is holding out well with vegies getting us until tonight before we run out of everything fresh except potatoes which we seem to have an abundance of. Last night, with my Chicken Melbourne (Garlic chicken wrapped in bacon, cheese and pastry) was served with milk baked potatoes and canned peas - the first non-fresh vegetables served on the crossing.

We have only had the fishing lines out once since the trauma of catching and killing the mahi mahi earlier in the passage, but as Karen was actively involved in checking the lines (and I have photos of the vegetarian involvement) I am sure they will go out again tomorrow and this time the Moroccan whiskey is at the ready to make the process more humane. I am not sure that we will catch anything else but my mouth is watering just thinking about the last meal of fresh fish cooked in a white wine sauce.

Karen and I have decided that we will probably (as in this life there are no definitive plans) stay in Barbados for a month. This will give me an excellent chance to sample each and every rum shop and to get the boat properly prepared for life on the pick. Yes we will be going primitive for a lot of the time in the Caribbean staying at anchor when ever possible. To do this effectively I need to sort out the energy management on board as we are currently generating electricity for 6 hours a day to feed the boat in passage mode - it will be more when we live at anchor, so I need to understand where all the energy goes, are our batteries working properly and are they big enough, what chargers do I need, should I change out my generator for something smaller that will be more efficient and of course get the solar panels on board. That almost sounds enough to keep me out of the rum shops!

We also need then to work on a plan for where we are going to spend the hurricane season. We have two options, up north to Maine and the east coast of America (if we can get visas) or head south to Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. We are leaning towards the second option (depending on insurance). Anyone interested in giving us their 2 cents worth (their opinion) as to where to go (and be nice) please leave a comment.

Anyway given that I have been writing this for over a half an hour I had better go and have a look around outside. But I am sure that Bernie and Karen will only be too happy that I am still awake an hour into my shift!

Cheers

Karen and Matt

Day 12 - Willie Nelson Lies!!!!

Where2 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:39:00 GMT

16Deg 07.959N 41Deg 24.310W

There ain´t no blue skies around here. Since we arrived in the tropics (23.5N) we have seen no blue skies, no sun, no dolphins, no palm trees and no rum shop! I think it is a big hoax! Fortunately for Karen and I we have our full winter wardrobe but Bernie only has a couple of pairs of shorts, a windcheater and the wet weather jacket he bought in Las Palmas which he is very grateful for.

On the bright side we are pumping along quite nicely. Today we will average close to 7knots (about 12km per hour for those of you with cars) which believe it or not is good going for this trip. We have the main reefed down twice and only a hankie out the front and still Karen is a bit anxious as the seas have now reached 4 meters and are having alot more say in how the boat moves. Alfie the autopilot is handling it all well although sometimes the big waves beat him to a gybe which he corrects quickly. This will last until at least Saturday so whilst it is a little less comfortable, we can be assured of a quick ride.

To date we have had very few problems with the boat (apart from those we were trying to get fixed before we left GC) only having lost the d-shackle on the topping lift (it is the only size I don´t carry a spare for) and today the second batten popped so it is now enjoying the ride in the cockpit until the weather calms down and we can put it back in place.

The biggest challenge is managing the 12v. I am not sure if the house batteries were damaged on the trip to Les Sables, but we are having to run the alternator for 6 hours per day to keep the boat operational and we have dropped our usage down as far as we can go (yes the beer fridge is off). It is a shame we could not organise the solar panels in France (thanks for trying Nigel) and it will now become our main priority when we hit the Caribbean (7 days from now).

Our plans are still fluid when we reach the other side but we are thinking of chillin' on Barbados time for about a month before starting to explore the windward islands. We then need to decide whether we will summer in Trinidad and Venezuela or head up to the States - and you guys think you have the big life changing decisions to make on a daily basis.

Anyway I had better sign off - I am on watch with nothing to do except watch and tomorrow will be just the same - I can see why people get excited about doing the Atlantic Crossing - absolutely glamorous and a thrill a minute. To liven things up this morning Bernie decided to cling to the sail like a gekko while retrieving the wayward batten as the boat gybed.... what people do to have fun out here.

Cheers

Karen and Matt

Day 11 - Still at Sea and on Sea

Where2 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 02:31:00 GMT

07deg 21.690N 38deg 53.634W

1563 Nautical Miles from Nowhere (Las Palmas to be exact).

Just a quick one while I am trying to get weather down. The passage is starting to speed up now as winds move their way to 26 knots and more squall activity is apparent with gust nudging 30knots and waves up to about 3 meters. All in all not bad compared with Biscay and we are now looking at a 19 day crossing.

Supplies are holding up well with fruit and vegies starting to run out or go off so over the next couple of days we will start to eat tinned vegies to go with the meat that we have frozen for the trip. Beer is holding out well and I don´t think there is any chance of that running out - the Supersol Cerveza from Gran Canaria at €0.18 a can should see us well into Barbados, but Bernie´s Heinekin will run out tonight

As for the sailing the boat is handling all that is being tossed (nothing has been thrown at her yet) with much aplomb and the autopilot is running a dream. We are sailing pretty much on one tack in a goose wing configuration (main out one side, genoa out the other)with minimal need to adjust the sails with the exception of nightly reefing (making the sail smaller) to reduce speed and increase comfort for the sleep. With the rising sea however, I find myself not sleeping on other´s shifts as I wonder what is happening up top and then some would accuse me of sleeping on my own shift.......

Photo opportunities are limited and the weather is anything but tropical (with the exception of the squalls) with the only other living things we have seen in the last 3 days have been the flying fish and half of them go belly up on the foredeck as they misjudge their flight path.

Anyway that´s about it from us today - hope all is well

Karen and Matt

Barbados or Bust - Week 1 of TransAt 2009!

Where2 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:27:00 GMT

Position: 19deg07'.934N 028deg49'.728W (ie somewhere in the Atlantic - sorry that´s as close as I can guess)
Distance traveled: 986 Nautical miles (about 1800km)
Distance to go: 1956 Nauti miles (about alot more)

So 7 days down and cruising comfortably a little bit slower than we planned - we were aiming for about 150 nauti miles a day and have come in at about 140.8, which still isn´t bad as we have yet to get the gennaker out of the hold and have been able to achieve this with only the two stock sails in winds between 8 and 20 knots. There have been moments of brilliance where the winds pick up to 25 - 30 knots and we have hit 10 knots but these are rare, although 7-8 is now not uncommon.

The crossing is really building as everyone says:
1. We started off leaving Las Palmas in good weather (as you would) with numerous people gathered on the pontoon to see us off and motored out of the bay to find some winds - not even an acceleration zone to be seen as we rounded down the east coast of the island looking for some winds to sail with.
2. We chased winds down the coast of Africa for 2 days trying to find enough to turn at least a bit west. We decided to turn just as we met a sloop SV Irony heading for Dakar -which it looked like we were if we hadn´t turned moments before he made radio contact.
3. We set the sails Goosewing, wing to wing or whatever it is called when the main is out one way and the genoa out the other and headed east, gradually making our way down the latitudes. During this time both Karen and I were suffering abit from a chest infection (hers originally but she has finally learnt how to share) so activity is kept to a minimum - which does seem to be easy out here.
4. Each day we discuss whether to change the sail configuration or the course, (ie shake out the reef or gybe)but if we do, somehow the speed and direction we end up sailing in is generally the same so we are questioning if we do anything or just leave it alone and pout out the big sail for the run into Barbados.

The sea is calm to moderate, but nothing like what we had in Biscay so so far so good. The weather has also been kind (or the skippering good) as we have had reasonable but not strong winds, about 10 drops of rain and the squalls seem to pass on either side of the boat so far. It could be a bit warmer since we crossed 23.5Degs N (Tropic of Cancer) 2 days ago and Bernie is still rugged up in long pants and jumper.

So how do we keep busy with very little sailing activity?

As I said the first couple of days were slow with the sickness so we were just setting sails and letting Bernie learn the equipment. The we started activities. Day 3 I had my hair cut on the trampoline at 4 knots. We used my trusty clippers that weren´t so trusty after we leant them to "Olive Oil" Nick and I had to rebuild them on the run. For added excitement I also did this on the trampoline balancing tools and tiny screws over the open weave and open sea. In the end it worked out fine and I am now well groomed.
Day 4 was preparing and trialling the fishing lines while Bernie decided to be live bait. He said he liked swimming at sea and as I was about to ask him how this worked, he tied a rope around his foot and the stern cleat (thank god), stripped naked and jumped off the back of the boat! After about 10 mins of surfing at about 6 knots and pretending he was aquaman and just as I was about to get the burlee ready he was working his way back up the rope (very slowly) towards the swim ladder before finally hauling himself out on back onto the boat, showering and making himself beautiful on the fore deck. I then got to throw out my €80s of fishing tackle over the back of the boat to let it work its magic - it didn't....
Day 6 I was up early and had the tackle out again before heading back to bed about lunch time before being rudely awoken by the call "FISH!!!" Not really sure what that meant I thought I had better get up and I saw Bernie pulling in my line ( I thought that was good so it wouldn´t get in the way of the fish but too late there it was caught on the end of the line). We bought on board our very first ever fish and had to deal with it. Karen did this by going below and crying and Bernie did the dirty work while I tried to make it clean. It was a 600mm long mahi mahi or dolphin fish (not to be mistaken for the dolphin dolphin) and it provided 6 nice thick fillets which I prepared with garlic, peppers and olive oil before they melted in out mouths (all our mouths except Karen's which didn't see much of anything after we caught a fish).
Day 7 was washing day as you would imagine. Generator on, watermaker on, washing machine on and away we go.

Apart from that there is the maintenance on the boat, checking for chaff, engine checks, battery checks and recharging. After seven days there is not much that is new - but we have not yet resorted to DVD watching but that will come I am sure.

No blog about the Atlantic Crossing is complete without a discussion about food (not if the ARC is any thing to go by). We have been eating well - Bernie tho warning us he doesn´t cook has even provided a gem of fried rice and vegetables that he is very nervous about being able to repeat. As for me, I have been coming to the party with spag bog and of course the mahi mahi which to date has been the meal of the match (sorry Karen).
Anyway, that is probably enough for now - I will be back onto it in about a week with more of "Same Same - but different" as we run into the final 3rd of the Barbados trip.

Cheers

Matt & Karen

2 -Days ago We Crossed the Atlantic

Where2 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:46:00 GMT

Well we started anyway. It is 2700 Nautical Miles from here to Barbados and we hope to make it in less than twenty days. WE are now at 23deg 59'N 17deg 34'W.

The weather is looking good for the next seven and the trades seem to be reasonably steady so we are going. We have changed crew, Mark and Priscilla have decided to stay on and see some of the island and with the number of people looking for berths it as not long before we found Bernie, a German physicist on holidays with numerous passages under his belt.

I will try and blog from sea but who knows if it will work - so don´t worry if you don´t here from us - Where II will not go glug glug.

Happy New Year

Karen and Matt

This is Good! (34N,13W)

Where2 — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:38:00 GMT

Okay I think I am starting to see what the buzz about cruising (as opposed to sitting in marinas waiting for work to be done). I am currently sitting 240 Nautical miles (about 430 kms) off the coast of Morocco on a rhum line to Las Palmas Gran Canaria and everything is going to plan. Let me paint a picture of the last 48 hours.....
Friday night, off the coast of Portugal, after cooking Duck a l'Orange for the crew ( yeah I know Macca, I'm a disgrace but you will also be pleased to know that at least one of the crew was not feeling well on Saturday) I go up to the helm to start my shift at 2000hrs and as everyone wanders off to bed I grab Tom Waits to keep me company. I look out from under the bimini (roof) and the sky is alive with stars!!! The moon was late rising and there was not a cloud in the sky! I went inside and grabbed the remote, clipped onto the life lines and lay on the front deck under the genoa steering to the wind - it was simply magical. No engine noise, just the sounds of the sea, sails and of course Tom singing blue valentines in my ear - hang on that sounds a bit gay - let's try -Tom Waits on my iPod.
I didn't think it could get much better than that - night time sailing off shore is an experience not to be missed - but it did. Last night (Saturday 20th Dec) I had the 2300 shift and spent it silently sailing at the helm. The helm seat is positioned such that you can lie down and get a great view of the night sky - again filled with stars - in between scanning the horizons for ships heading in and out of Gibralter Strait. In the first ten minutes, I had seen my first shooting star for the night and then I noticed the phosphorescent sparkles twinkling (again sounds gay but that is the way it was) in the wake of the boat. By the end of shift I was enjoying the peace, beauty and contemplative space so much I let Karen have another hour sleep before I woke her.
Well that was a great decision - soon after I woke her and as we were handing over the watch I noticed a dolphin glide by. It was a weird sensation because at first it made no sense - how could I have seen this is the pitch black water? Soon I realised he was not alone. There was at least a dozen dolphins playing beside the boat, lit by the phosphorescent sparkle, their trail was visible through the water. As the breached the wave, sparkling wake broke from their sides. The show continued for at least another half an hour until I could stay awake no more.
But wait there's more - the ultimate husband's experience - today I introduced Karen to the port engine room and the daily maintenance routine we need to undertake on the diesels. It was beautiful- Karen with paper towels taking oil levels, cleaning the bilge of water and left over coolant from the installation and complaining that it was cramped in there! Now picture me in the same space and she thinks she's got problems!
With that the other daily chores also need to be done, trolling for fish - my brand new spoon lure recommended by Paul and Barb was taken in the first five minutes and no nibble on the rope and alfoil replacement – see below - as yet after 5 hours), having BLTs cooked up by Mark,enjoying beers and nibblies in the salon by Priscilla and sunning on the foredeck on watch handover with Karen. ........Sorry guys I wouldn't be working for quids!

Cheers & Merry Christmas
Karen and Matt

Captain’s Blog en route to the Caribbean – Out of the Bay

Where2 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:15:00 GMT

After some vacillation, we took the decision to cop a bit of bad weather up front to make an easy turn around the corner at Finesterre, and here we are day three finally with a weather forecast that was right!

We left Les Sables at 3:00pm Sunday and headed out into predicted seas of 4-5m and a good beam reach. And it all came true. We reached speeds of up 8knots and the boat was handling it beautifully - however the crew wasn´t. But this time I wasn´t the first out the back - I was in fact the last (except for Mark who faired well)and the longest, being crook up until Tuesday morning! We got cold, we got rain, we got hail and we got 5m waves but there was no stopping us.

We have only a couple of minor problems with the boat, some leaks (above the water line when it rains), a few lights on the new engines we don´t understand and of course the long running problem with the Raymarine chart plotters flashing despite efforts to correct this in Les Sables.

We are now all feeling pretty good, having our first real meal last night cooked by Priscilla - honied chicken and steamed vegies with special treatment for the vegetarian with home make vegie patties! We are not yet up to the culinary feats of the ARC participants but Mark is up in the Galley tonight and he has already practiced with eggs all round.

We are now into day three of the first leg of the Transatlantic with seven or so to go to arrive at Las Palmas and then 20 more to get to Barbados and the warm weather we are all so badly missing!

More in a couple of days or when something happens

Cheers from the Atlantic!

And Still Waiting

Where2 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:09:00 GMT

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

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Where2 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:53:41 GMT

Hi All,

This is a test blog from my email to see if I will be able to update the blog at sea - so sorry no photos.

It has been an interesting time since arriving back in France. On the drive down from Paris, we got a call from the manager of the company doing the work on our boat for us to tell us that some boats in the work yard had been broken into over the weekend (ours being one of them – so he wasn't just ringing to chat) but it didn't look like anything was taken. We organised to meet at the boat the next day and unfortunately, he was wrong. My laptop, PDA phone, multivitamins (that mum shipped to the Canaries) and more distressing the duty free alcohol and cigarettes we had bought in the Canaries and neatly packed were gone. Nothing nautical or any
tools were touched – they could of at least taken the E120 chart plotters that have been giving us grief since day one, but no. So this created a whole new adventure for me.

We are staying in the ResidHotel apartments in Les Sables d'Olonne and I got an email from the Gendarmes in St Gilles Croix de Vie where the boat was being worked on asking me to come into the station. After explaining I did not have a car he suggested that I catch a bus. I thought that this could not be too hard so off I go to the auto-bus gare to find out when it goes which was at 7:38 in the morning and returning at 5:00pm at night except for Wednesday when it is a bit more regular, but the officer was not rostered on, on Wednesday, so Tuesday morning I got up and tramped off in the cold dark and waited on the east side of the station with everyone else, but by 8:00 when I was the only one left I figured I had missed the bus, so I headed home in the dawning light, frigging cold and trying to figure out how I would explain to the police that I hadn't slept in and really did try and catch the bus.

After trying to catch a lift from a friend I opted for the bus again on Friday and this time in the rain I headed off to the station and happened to see a rather attractive French lady waiting on the west side of the station, which was quite fortunate. As my eyes followed her (in a respectful way of course), she stepped onto a bus heading for St Gilles! The perv gods smiled on me!

Once I arrived in St Gilles, I fired up the Sat Nav and worked out where I had to go. 2.5km – no problem I thought as it started to rain again. I arrived at the Gendarmerie (a tip - BIS in addresses obviously means "at the rear of" in French) to find the investigating officers' combined English was only marginally better than my French. So after 1 ½ hours I had managed to introduce myself, establish I was Australian and the owner of WhereII that had been burgled and what was missing (that had already been emailed to them in French). At the end, we all smiled and I left with no real hope that I would see our gear again. As I left, the rain started coming down properly as I made my way back to wait the 5 hours until the return bus.

This delay wasn't a big problem for me as the antifouling was completed, this was the day Where II was being slipped, so there she was sitting on block on the slip way in the middle of town waiting for the tide to come in. I hung around and watched the crew tie her and another boat off and then went and found lunch – I had a Royale with Cheese, just like in pulp fiction, in my first visit to the golden arches since leaving Aus! I then returned and watched them float my boat – it was a good feeling to see her on water again. So this week we are getting the final checks done and a few repairs completed from the trip up and she should be good as gold for the re-start of our adventure.

Meanwhile we have been struggling to get gear we need / want for the trip without a fixed address. I have managed to get my replacement laptop delivered from England (no qwerty keyboards here and the English one is slightly different) and a chart, but we are still waiting on a para anchor and the crossing guide. The Aussie made para-anchor is being shipped from Holland, but TNT believe that this address doesn't exist (even though we are here and other parcels arrived) so it may be heading back to Holland.

On to the trip:

We have finalised the crew and the passage plan, after agonising over some really great people and finally making a decision on crew we got an email from a Kiwi with experience who was interested in making the trip with his partner. We spoke on the phone and decided that Mark and Priscilla would be the ones to make the voyage with us and they are currently making their way from Lanzarote via Madrid and Paris. They should arrive on 10th December.

We will then aim for a 2 stage passage to Barbados, via Las Palmas Gran Canaria. We will take a broad turn around Finisterre to avoid the shipping lane (about 50Nm off) and then run down to the Canaries non-stop (wind, weather and boat permitting). This should take 10days allowing us to arrive just before Christmas. We will then re-provision and refuel the boat and have some shore leave after our longest and before the longer trip across the pond. From there we will follow the typical trade wind route with a planned landfall in Barbados – hopefully 17-20 days later. If you see this email based blog, then we will update our position and experiences on a regular basis on both passages. I will then post any interesting photos (probably, water, sky, clouds, sunrises, sunsets and hopefully some Dorado) when we hit port.

Anyway, now that I have a computer back I will start to fill in the blanks in the blogs while we are waiting waiting waiting....

Cheers

Matt & Karen

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Crew Member Wanted for Atlantic Crossing

Where2 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:37:00 GMT

Well Karen and I have decided to jump off from the relative safety of the Bay of Biscay and head to the sunny climes of the Caribbean. So this is take two. The boat will be thoroughly inspected and tweaked while here in France, so this is probably the best time to head across on such a trip. So we have put up an ad on the Cruisers Forum to get an experienced crew member to cross with us. The ad goes like this:

Where II? France to the Barbados

I am Looking for Crew

Boat size & type: Lagoon 420 Sailing Catamaran
Embark port: Les Sables d'Olonne Vendée France
Estimated departure (or join) date: 10th Dec
Arrival port & ETA (or voyage details): Barbados Hopefully around 15 Jan 2009 weather permitting
Number of other crew aboard: Skipper plus one.
Crew qualifications required and duties: Competent crew for watch and sailing duties, cooking to roster and some navigation if interested
Cost to join vessel and repatriation and visa costs are paid by: Crew member
Estimated equal-share contribution to food/drinks: (Per person, per day) = $US. nil while on board, crew members expense while on shore . A contribution to drinks would be appreciated
Note: No contribution towards any other costs (fuel, propane, fees, marinas, etc.) is required from crew.
More details:
The yacht is a Lagoon 420 with the additional Gennaker and is well equipped for blue water cruising (watermaker, Radar, SSB & Modem for email and weather) and it is a comfortable cruiser. Karen and I have spent the last 12months on it in Europe and the Canaries.

We are an easy going Australian couple but with the limit of our sailing being what I have said above about 1800 NM.

Our passage plan is to head out of Biscay, assess meteo and fuel and decide weather to stop in Cascais or head directly to Madiera for a refuel and to spend a day in Porto Santo then onto Gran Canaria for reprovisioning and refuel. We would probably spend 3 or so days here before heading across - all this is obviously weather dependent.

We are normally alcohol free at sea, but on this long passage, a civilized drink with dinner sounds sane. A contribution to drinks on board would be appreciated. The boat is smoke free except for the leeward transom.

If you are interested in this passage please contact us as soon as possible on the email on the home page so we can talk more.

There Goes the Neighbourhood

Where2 — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:33:00 GMT

Well it has finally happened…. The quiet neighbourhood of Marina Rubicon has been disrupted by some new neighbours that really bring the tone of the marina down to a point where Karen and I are not sure we want to hang around much longer.

Yes that´s right our first mega-yacht neighbour “Lohengrin” docked on Thursday on the pontoon next to us and we sat nervously for Posh and Becs to come on board and all those children’s noises starting.

( Where II is the one on the left, Lohengren is on the right)
Just in case you were wondering Lohengrin is a 161ft yacht built in 2006 and is currently for sale at US$37,500,000 or if you want to try before you buy it will only set you back US$250,000 per week plus expenses. For more information go to http://www.moranyachts.net/Catalog/Yacht/?ID=504

Well as it turns out, no super celebrities were on the way, they were just stopping to do an oil change (2x44gallon drums) and refuel (55,000l), but our mind was made up – it was time to leave this wonderful island.
We have made arrangements for some work to be done on our boat back in France and whilst this is being carried out Karen and I are taking the opportunity to visit the UK and Ireland and learn a bit about our ancestry and answer some of those unanswered questions such as:
1. If Irish pubs are so good why did the family move over to Australia before Molly Blooms opened in South Melbourne?
2. Which is better – Irish or Scotch whisky?
3. After 6 months on the Canary Islands – can Karen and I tie our shoelaces anymore?
4. How long will Karen´s tan last in the cold of North West Scotland?

For answers to these and other mysteries of life – keep tuned to the blog.
So that´s right we are taking a well deserved holiday from our new jobs as cruisers and spend some time on land. We handed over our boat to a French crew (Germain and Stefan) and briefed them on the boat and then, after packing up what we needed to live on land in both the Canaries and Western Europe in Autumn, we headed to Las Breñas to stay at our new friend Frank´s friends´ apartment for 3 days.
Germain took 24 hours to familiarise himself with the boat before heading off back to France where he will deliver the boat back to Les Sables d’Olonne for completion of the work. We will meet our boat again towards the end of November to again cross the Bay of Biscay at the wrong time of the year. The difference will be that this time, I will be at the helm with my trusty first mate Gilligan possibly with a 3rd crew member.
Before we leave Lanzarote, there were a few unfinished pieces of business:
1. Lunch at Famara Beach. We took the time to visit Famara beach, the surfing centre of Lanzarote island.

The beach is nice, and being the romantic I am I even found a heart shaped puddle in the rock with which to impress Karen.

If I was going to buy a holiday house on Lanzarote this is the place I would look to buy. The weather was not so great but we did have a look at a few of the restaurants along the beach, pausing at Restaurant Sol that we later found out was Frank´s favourite restaurant before heading back to the main street and eating at Restaurante Casa Ramon in La Caleta de Famara. We settled on some tapas (queso de cabra frito y calamares de romana) some garlic bread and some sangria. All were fabulous.
Now you could be forgiven for thinking that you are on a Greek Island by some of the architecture here on Lanzarote – the colour schemes are not that far off – White with blues and greens and decaying doorways…

You even have the traditional nonna – the costume may be a bit different, but the behaviour was familiar, she wandered backwards and forwards across the street and then came over to the other diners’ table and closely checked what they were eating…

2. Visit César Manrique’s House: César is the favourite son of Lanzarote – he is a prolific artist, with paintings, sculptures and mosaics and is seen as the father of Lanzarote’s identity. Educated in Madrid and having lived and exhibited in Paris and New York he returned to the fledgling tourist industry of Lanzarote, his home. He proposed a sustainable model for the island that would protect the island´s natural and cultural history. The success of this model was one of the key factors in Lanzarote’s declaration as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1993. His influence is everywhere having played a major place in the design of most public spaces on Lanzarote such as Mirador del Rio so it was with great anticipation that Karen and I visited his home, now the home of the Fundación César Manrique since his death in 1992 at age 73.

When visiting the house you realise both his vision and ingenuity – whilst walking in the lava fields outside Arrecife in 1966, César stumbled across 5 very large lava bubbles upon which he decided to build his home. The bubbles which have been joined together with tunnelled walkways form the basement level of the home providing sitting areas, gardens, bathrooms, pool (complete with dancefloor).

One of the aspects of César’s architectural work was his desire and ability to integrate the natural and manmade environment, which his house is a stunning example of.

The final aspect of the house was the gardens, all combining the lava dust mulching with his work.

In this last photo you can see the semi-circular walls that are used to protect plants – often grapevines from the wind and assist in water capture on this dry island. This is typical of the unique farming techniques used broadly across the island, making for a stunning and entrancing landscape on the island.
3. Sunset at El Golfo: neither Karen nor I are big fish eaters, however we don’t mind trying some fish so long as it is accompanied by a good wine, good company and nice surroundings. Well we got all this on Monday evening when we joined Frank and his parents Eddie and Anja for dinner. Eddie and Anja had just arrived from Germany in the great escape from the Western European winter which occurs every year. Frank and his parents are big fans of Australia, having visited our homeland numerous times. They were easily able to shame us by their knowledge and experiences back home. There is obviously a lot we have to see when we get back home.
The food was divine at Restaurant Mar Azul on Terrazo Junto al Mar, El Golfo (ma-azul@aetur.es, www.mar-azul.info, tlf 928 173132). Karen and I had passed this restaurant in February and when we asked if there was a menu we could look at they did not have one so Karen and I moved on – not wanting to get ripped off or, not being able to understand the Spanish, ending up with something we did not want. But Frank and his family had been coming to this restaurant for over 14 years so we were able to sample the cuisine under Frank´s guidance.We had again traditional Canarian tapas for entrée (garlic prawns, canarian potatoes, bread, pulpo (octopus) and pimento pardon (fried peppers on salt), red and green mojo and garlic mayonnaise) and then when we thought we were done, Frank ordered the daily special fish steaks which we shared.
This was accompanied by the best Lanzarotean wine we have tasted in our 4 months on the island. To tell you the truth we avoided the local wines after our first experience as they were more expensive that the Rioja´s and nowhere near as good. Perhaps we made a mistake as the wine was superb (and made us a bit homesick dreaming of a nice Australian or NZ Sauvignon Blanc). It was Bermejo dry white, that unfortunately can only be bought at the Bodega (outside Tias), and since the boat had sailed and we only have our backpacks, we could not store any wine. If you come to the Canaries, look for it.
Son on to the scenery. Both Frank and Eddie told us of times that the waves of up to 5m crashed onto the rocks in front of the restaurant. Fortunately, given that Where II had just sailed north, there were no waves to be seen, however we were treated to one of the best sunsets we had seen on the island.

So now we are kicking back and waiting in Puerto del Carmen waiting to leave, it seems the best way to celebrate our decision to turn back north and revisit Les Sables d’Olonne is to knock the top off the bottle of bier blonde given to me by Christophe in The Galway in Les Sable and relax and enjoy being temporary landlubbers again.

Back in Lanzarote

Where2 — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:01:00 GMT

Hi All,
Over the past couple of weeks I have been hassled by a number of people to update the blog – leave me alone will you – I am an old retiree with a full agenda – would you hassle your Nonna if she hadn’t written in a couple of weeks??

Anyway enough bitchin’ – Karen and I are back on Lanzarote in the Canaries staying at the Marina Rubicon – which I would have to say without a doubt is the nicest marina we have stayed at and despite what people have continued to tell us it is a reasonable rate for a catamaran so long as it is off season or you can get one of the few alongside berths which we were lucky enough to get and you stay for a month and get the discount. We have now been here for over a month and will be here at least 1 more month.

The trip into Lanzarote was interesting, we got a good weather window downloaded from UGRIB that said we would be sailing with the wind on a good beam reach, but alas God (and I do know he exists because he gave us ipods) does not subscribe to GRIB.US and was not aware that that was what he was supposed to provide. We got easterlies - so straight on the nose and we were chasing the wind most of the way. Then during the first night, the traveller sheet (or whatever the technical term is) seemed to break when I was tacking and there was no way I was going up on the bimini in the dark - Karen could swing the boat , knock me over and get the life insurance (if she could park the boat by herself and get off). So we tied off the boom and motored for the night. (Yep that's right no real sailors on this here boat!) In the morning I made my way onto the bimini (about 3+ meters from the water) and found that there was nothing rwrong - the rope was just loose so we set sailing again. As we were getting closer to Lanzarote the wind was still in our face so we decided to motor, but the raw water filter didn't seem to be filling as fast as it should, so we thought that the generator impellor might be failing so we switched off the motors and forced ourselves to sail! The best thing we ever did - we had never been forced to think about sailing until this point but now we were going at about 40 -50degrees to the wind and I tacked my way up Fuertaventura and into Playa Blanca Lanzarote. The wind was strong and the boat loved it. We had two reefs in (as there is a strong acceleration zone to the south west of Lanzarote so we were prepared) but the boat would not slow to our usual 5-6 knots and I had fun. We radioed the marina and motored in to the dock like seasoned sailors!

The reason we have not written more is that we have had a number of issues to resolve, which I hope will be resolved in the near future, before we can move on and even contemplate an Atlantic crossing. These issues, I never imagined having to face when buying a new catamaran, nor trying to resolve them on a small island in the Atlantic so far from home – but if life was meant to be easy all you bastards would be filling up the marinas and it would be even more difficult to park this thing! (That's us - second cat in from the road - looks a bit squeezy don't it)

Just in case anyone is concerned, the issues are not related to the fact that Karen and I are spending just about every waking hour in each other’s company. Nor has it to do with Karen’s disgust as I attacked the Californian ribs with great carnivorous gusto from the restaurant at the end of the muelle here at Rubicon.

(Note - no sauce on the Mambo!)

Since we have been on Lanzarote before we are not doing a lot of sight-seeing, just working on the boat – servicing winches, changing the generator impellor, which we sensed may be started to fail on our way in – and it did and adding a few sailing niceties and necessities. Oh and working on our tans around the marina pool. Yes I said our tans – I have one!

On the impellor replacement - Scott (Cat Co) if you are reading this – there is an easier method than you showed me on Nick’s boat – take the whole pump off and push the impellor off the shaft from the back (minding you do not lose the key). Also I learned how to find all the little bits of the impellor blades from inside the heat exchanger and make up the jigsaw that was my impellor.

I had my 44th birthday here a couple of weeks ago (in the middle of one of my worst ever gout attacks – but that didn’t stop me staying out until 2 in the morning). Karen took me to a Mexican restaurant in Playa Blanca with views over the beach and harbour. The margaritas were great and the food enjoyable. We then crawled via a couple of bars – played pool and listened to Irish music (as you do in Spain or Greece from what I can remember of that trip) and then made it back onto the boat.

We have also started buying our scuba gear while we have been here. We are now proficient on Ebay Spain and have got our regulators and a BCD for Karen as well as inks for the printer from EBAY UK, and hopefully they will all turn up. Someone rang the other morning speaking in Spanish (go figure) and I am thinking it could have been the post office telling me I had a parcel for collection – but I will never know. Last time Mum sent a parcel here – we got it 3 months later on Tenerife!

For those of you with a 420 there are a couple of recommendations to make:

Rubicon Marina – nice resort style marina with pool and restaurants
Waterline Services – great service for general boat repairs and just about all you need – see previous blog entry
Navalectric – Jan Hayward has done some good work on my Raymarine equipment – yes I am suffering from the flashing E120 as I have heard a lot of people are. He is also becoming familiar with the 420 electrical system. His contact details are:

Jan Hayward
Navalectric Lanzarote
Raymarine, Simrad & Watermakers.
Full marine electrical & electronic service.
Tel. +34 659 822118
yottitek@yahoo.com

Filters: I struggled to get spare filters before leaving France – another boat seemed to buy out all Eric’s filters and impellors so I tried here and eventually found a Fleetguard (Cummings’ aftermarket filter manufacturer) dealer on Gran Canaria and he was able to get all fuel and oil filters for me and delivered them to Lanzarote for me for prices that were comparable or better than in France. The details of the dealer are:

Miguel Betancor
miguel@cobesa.com
COBESA
Tlf.: 902 361 319
Fax: 928 700 731

Impellors: Now here is a challenge. The raw water pump is a Sherwood pump, and after getting prices up to 95Euros for an impellor that I paid 45 Euros (A Seirra 18-3061 which is the same impellor) for in France I asked the Suzuki marine dealer in Arreciffe if he could get me a Sherwood impellor model 10615 in my best sign language when I was buying a fuel connector for the outboard. No problemo for a Sierra kit at a few more Euros (Euros 54) than France and available in only 3-4 days – unheard of in the Canaries! He is located in Puerto Naos up a street opposite Duques at:

Nauticas Alegranza SL
Hipolito Frias No 15
Puerto de Naos, Arreciffe 35500
Ph 928 824 084
Mov: 609 771 332

By the way the impellor is the same as: Chrysler 10615, Crusader 20300, Pleasurecraft RP061017, Jabsco 18948-0001 (very expensive) Volvo- Penta 835874-9 by what is on the front of the Sierra packaging
Chandelry: Fernando at the Chandelry at Rubicon Marina is very helpful with good English, and if you have enough time, he will order stock in from England as part of his normal order which is normally at a pretty good price.

Anyway havin' fun and looking forward to your visits!

San Pedro Festival

Where2 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:20:00 GMT

Yesterday the Senorita bonita at Tourist Information (best information centre in the Canaries) told us of a festival that was on to be held in San Pedro this afternoon so we got up early, got ourselves organised to catch the bus to the festival at 11:15. That was all pretty easy with Euro0.85 each from our Euro 12 multi-trip ticket until we had to try and figure out where to get off. It did not help that nowhere along the bus route looked like it was having a festival except a few flags in one little town which we later figured out was San Pedro. We ended up in Los Llanos de Aridane – the second city on the island.

Feeling a bit sheepish that we had gone further on the bus than we had paid for (by about 200%) we slid down the back steps of the bus and decided to take advantage of this mistake and check out the town. Once we turned into the main pedestrian mall we were greeted by the sounds of an orchestra tuning up. We waited for a short while and were entertained by the La Palma school of music which was thoroughly enjoyable.

We then strolled the streets of the town looking for somewhere to lunch. Like Santa Cruz de La Palma, Los Llanos is a very pretty town with an old town feel.

We stumbled across a small restaurant called La Luna in Calle Fernandez Tan~o, 26 (LaLuna-LaPalma@gmx.net Tlf 922401913) and decided to stop for some tapas for lunch and uno cervesa y uno vino blanco. Karen ordered a tortilla with lentils and queso blanco (local goat cheese) and I ordered a pork dish with bread. Well I have to say that it was the best lentils that Karen has ever had – she wanted to order a second serve but I try to discourage that sort of vegetarian behaviour – she will only bring it into the home. (Unfortunately this did not stop her as she has emailed the chef for the recipe and received a detailed reply that tastes fantastic)

After lunch we enjoyed some more music from the school’s concert before grabbing a bus to Tarzacorte on the west of the island to fill in the time until the next bus. Tarzacorte again was picturesque and we will visit again with more time and check out the marina.

We then caught 2 buses back to San Pedro thinking that we had probably missed the festival, but when we arrived at 4:30 (although it looked dead) we were determined to get off where we had paid for. It was then we found out the festival started at 6:00 so we sat and had cervesa and waited. By 6:00pm we were getting a bit concerned, not by the fact that the town hadn’t started to liven up, but more the fact that all those people that had arrived in costume, proceeded to get on a bus and depart. After waiting a bit longer, we decided that we were indeed in the wrong place and should have got on one of the other buses and so caught another bus back home with no festivities.

Post script: These festivals / parties we have since found out involve walking, singing and drinking enroute into town and if we had been a bit more confident in our Espagnol we would have probably seen and been involved in a great party – next time!