Jim and Anne's Travels

Bequia, Martinique, Les Saintes (Guadeloupe)

2011-04-07T21:08:00.000+01:00

12 February – 7 April 2011

When we arrived in Bequia we met up with some friends who we had met in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria but not seen since. They had recently crossed the Atlantic and were on their way south towards Grenada. It was lovely to get together again and catch up on each other's news.

After a couple of weeks the winds moderated a little and we made our departure at dawn on the 15th February heading for Soufriere or, possibly, Marigot Bay in St Lucia. We had an absolutely cracking sail and amazingly covered 74 miles in 10 hours – an average of 7.5 knots, an excellent speed for Impressionist – to anchor in the late afternoon further north than anticipated, in Rodney Bay. Our friends, Lynn & Ken very kindly invited us to dinner as we were quite tired.

The following day we had a much shorter journey to Martinique, departing around 9.00am, and again had a great sail to Le Marin on the south coast.

Dave & Trudy on Persephone made the passage the same day, followed by Denise & Jean-Pierre on Absaroque, and Lynn & Ken on Silverheels II over the next couple of days. We all met up at various times for coffees and drinks, and one day those of us who were anchored in Le Marin dinghied down to the beach at St Anne's to go swimming.

Denise & Jean-Pierre and ourselves hired a car for a day for a tour of the island. We visited the oldest family-run rum distillery on the island, La Favorite, where all the machinery is run by a 150-years-old steam engine still in immaculate condition. It was a fascinating visit – one of the workers there guided us round (in French – Denise & Jean-Pierre translated for us). We then headed further north into the interior where we stopped in a picnic area for our lunch (bread, pate, cheese and wine purchased earlier). We continued north-west through the interior to the Atlantic coast where we stopped at the St James rum distillery to see their museum and purchase some rum, then meandered south down the east coast to Le Marin.

On 24 February we sailed round to Anse Mitan on the west coast where we anchored in a sheltered spot as there were strong winds forecast for the next few days. An attractive small holiday village with a ferry service to the capital Fort-de-France. We took the ferry over to meet our friends as we were all anchored in different places. Managed to get on the wrong ferry back – but it was only a 20-minute walk away!

When the wind moderated we sailed across the bay to the anchorage at Fort-de-France and found it was much better than written up in the pilot book. We also discovered that a few days later it was Carnival – 4 days of parades and celebrations – so we decided to stay as it sounded like lots of fun.

Absaroque were also anchored here, and the first day of carnival Dimanche Gras - we joined them and another American couple to watch the parade and stay for food and drink in the evening.

On the second morning Anne woke early in severe pain and feeling very sick. Denise came over to help as she is bilingual; she contacted the French coastguard who arranged for an ambulance to be at the dock, and with the help of Jean-Pierre (her husband) we managed to get Anne into their dinghy to take ashore. At the hospital she was given an intravenous dose of morphine and cocktail of other drugs and was diagnosed as having a kidney stone. She was discharged at about 1.00pm with various prescriptions and wearing Denises’ dress (spare in her bag) as she had only thrown on knickers and t-shirt to go ashore. Being Carnival, of course it was a public holiday so everything was closed and the streets were cordoned off for the parades. Luckily we had a very helpful taxi driver who phoned up someone! and found which pharmacy was on duty and took us there. He also negotiated a passage through the cordon as Anne had no shoes and couldn’t walk far. On her return to the boat she went to bed for the rest of the day.

Jim went ashore on his own that day – Lundi Gras with the "Marriage Burlesque" where men dress as the brides and women as the groom.

On the 3rd day of Carnival Jim felt unwell (shock?) so Anne went ashore, dressed in red for "Vide en Rouge", and watched with Absaroque and some other friends of theirs. Almost the entire town was dressed in red that day – quite an incredible sight.

We both again went for the last day of Carnival when almost the whole town (and ourselves of course) was dressed in black and white for "Vide en Noir et Blanc". As dusk fell a huge crowd congregated near the dock where the Carnival King "Vaval" was ritually burnt and, as the flames died down the crowds chanted “Vaval, pa kité nou” (Carnival, don’t leave us).

The whole Carnival was terrific fun – a cross between Caribbean and European with a lot of cross dressing. For a selection of our photos please click here. We also took lots of video which we will post later when we have edited a short film of highlights.

Once Carnival was over we were able to arrange for Anne to have a scan and see a consultant as instructed by the doctor at the hospital. Fortunately she was given a clean bill of health – there were no more stones or any kidney disease. We have to say the health care Anne received was excellent.

By this time we had been in Martinique much longer than originally intended. We finally set sail on 27 March, anchored at St Pierre for an afternoon only so that we would make our landfall in the daylight.

The next morning we anchored in Les Saintes, Guadeloupe to meet Manu & Michelle on Teepee (friends from Las Palmas) and Yves & Dominique on Rusee (briefly met last year). We had a lovely few days with a meal out together, BBQs on the boats, walked up to and visited Fort Napoleon and had great fun taking turns sailing our dinghy around the bay until it sprung a bad leak (another repair job).

The day before leaving Jim was doing some engine checks and discovered that our gear cable had broken. There was nowhere to get a replacement in Les Saintes so we sailed to Point-a-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe, where we anchored. We were able to buy a replacement cable very easily and Jim was able to install it without problem. We had a brief walk around Point-a-Pitre; it's very attractive with a variety of building styles – 19th century, Creole and Art Deco buildings, the more modern buildings being mainly on the outskirts. Next year we would like to stay longer but we wanted to get to Antigua for Classic Week.

Our shortest route now to Antigua was through the Riviere Salee, the seawater canal through the centre of Guadeloupe. We motored up to the south end before the first bridge and anchored, then went through the canal in the dinghy with a marked and weighted line to check the depths at the shallowest part as our depth is the maximum recommended. The depth seemed to be OK so we were up at 04.30 for the bridge opening at 05.00 with about six other boats, motored north through the canal which was very well buoyed to the second bridge which opened at 05.20, continued on through the canal and were pleased to find at the shallowest part we had 0.6m under us. Once we had found our way through the shallows of the bay and were into clear water we were able to set sail and head for Antigua.

After another great sail we anchored in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on 7 April in good time for Classic Week.

Links:

Photographs – Martinique & Les Saintes, Guadeloupe

Photosynths

Grenada to Bequia

2011-02-13T20:19:00.002Z

3 January – 11 February 2011

Madison Violet, a visiting Canadian folk group, wanted to hold a free dinghy concert which was announced on the cruiser net, so on 3 January we dinghied round to Clarkes Court Bay where right in the middle was anchored the tub boat Calico with the group on board, a yacht tied alongside and a raft of dinghies attached to lines from the tug. Incoming dinghies tied on anywhere to the raft. The concert was great fun and there was a fantastic atmosphere.

Click here for our video from Grenada including some of our excerpts from the dinghy concert filmed whilst bouncing around in the dinghy.

Link to official video of the concert

On the 8 January we motored back round to Prickly Bay ready to be hauled out of the water for our rudder repair. The part had not arrived, but the boatyard had a piece of the material and would be able to have it machined once the old bearings were removed as a pattern.

We were hauled out at Spice Island Marine on the 13th, the rudder was removed and we started work – rubbed down the bottom of the boat, removing barnacles and paint from the prop, SSB plate and fridge plate, painted with barrier coat and 2 coats of antifoul (hull below the waterline); touched up paint to the topsides (hull above the waterline); serviced the seacocks; replaced the anode – it was a very hard 10 days work in the heat. The yard had the bearings machined and fitted them. A couple of days before launching we found some cracks on the topsides where something must have hit us, so we had the yard grind it out and repair. The yard did excellent work and were very quick; we also found all the staff helpful and friendly, the boatyard is relatively clean and the security is good. We would certainly return if we need work done in the future.
We launched after 11 days on the hard, and on 29 January we departed to head north for the remainder of the winter. Our aim is to go north reasonably quickly and return to the Grenadines around May/June when it will hopefully be less windy and less busy.

We had to motor sail most of the way up the west coast of Grenada to Carriacou as the wind was on the nose. We anchored overnight in Tyrrel Bay then sailed to Union Island, anchored overnight behind Frigate Island then motored round to Clifton Bay in the morning to clear into St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Clifton Bay is exposed to the wind but protected from the seas by a reef, with a 'roundabout' reef in the centre of the bay. It was really full of boats (many charterers come here) but we found a spot near the entrance – just a long choppy dinghy ride to the dock.

The next day a Danish boat came in to anchor next to us – going too fast while dropping the anchor, they promptly dropped back towards us. They tried to pull up their anchor and found themselves stuck fast on our anchor chain!! We got our engine going to prevent us dragging onto the reef if they pulled our anchor up. Fortunately Paul from Namaste saw the problem, he swam over and dived down in about 10m depth to try an free their anchor. It was impossible. We pulled out a trip hook (bought some years ago and never used until now); Paul managed to hook it under our chain so they could pull it up and allow him to free their anchor. Big sigh of relief – emergency over. He tied a fender on the end of the line and when they had gone, again with his help, we were able to recover the hook and line (Jim motored in reverse to raise the chain and free the hook).
Later on, the Danish couple dinghied out to us and Namaste with a very nice apology and thank you.

The following day (2 February) we had a marvellous sail to Bequia – with a nice clean bottom Impressionist absolutely flies along (7 knots hard on the wind!). We anchored off the north end of Princess Margaret beach. Since then there has been nothing but strong north-easterlies so we are waiting for the weather to improve before continuing our journey north.

For more photos please click here

We recently found a new site called Photosynth which allows you to stitch together a collection of overlapping photos to give a wonderful panoramic effect. We have uploaded one from Grenada together with 3 older ones. If you would like to see them please click here

Grenada for Christmas and New Year

2010-12-31T13:35:00.003Z

9 December 2010 – 5 January 2011

By the 12th we were finally ready, we paid the marina and untied most of the lines holding us to the dock. Jim was on the helm and suddenly said "There's something wrong with the steering." We quickly tied up again! He'd noticed a lot of play and a clunk if the wheel was moved quickly. This was worrying and we decided it would be better to get any problems sorted out in Grenada where we know there are good services. A friend, Richard (Phalarope) who is a mechanical engineer, came round to have a look and he and Jim came to the conclusion that the rudder bearings were worn and should be replaced, and that a spacer was needed to take up slack in the steering pedestal.

We ordered the new bearings from England and a couple of days later we motored back round to Prickly Bay and had a chat with the boatyard about lifting out and having the work done. Being so close to Christmas nothing was going to happen now until after the New Year, so after a couple of days we motored back round to Mount Hartman Bay to join our friends there for Christmas.

The weeks around Christmas became very social with parties held by Dave on Persephone (American) and Ken and Lynn on Silverheels III (Canadian), we hosted a traditional English mulled wine and mince pie party on Impressionist, and Eric and Jackie on Compass Rose hosted a party after Christmas.

On Christmas Day itself we all dinghied round to Clarkes Court Bay Marina for a pot luck turkey and ham Christmas dinner for 50 cruisers, with everyone bringing a dish to share – the meat was delicious and plentiful, and there was a huge selection of vegetables, stuffings, a large pot of gravy, and a variety of desserts - we took home-made mince pies and some crackers (the first time we had seen any since leaving England) and had to explain to the non-English how to pull them.

For the New Year we and our friends booked in to "De Big Fish" in Prickly Bay with a bus to take us there and back. An excellent 3-course meal including a pig roast, tables were decorated and had noisemakers and streamers, and live entertainment with the Doc Adams group so the place was really rocking and everyone dancing. New Year was celebrated at 12.00 GMT (8.00pm local time) with Big Ben on the large screen TV as cruisers tend to early birds. It was a marvellous evening, and although we got to bed early we were woken up again at midnight with the fireworks, so we sat and watched them for our second New Year.

We wanted to go and see the Christmas lights at the Sugar Mill roundabout but each day we planned it had turned to rain, so finally on 5 January (the last day) Anne organised a group of us (10) to take the half-hour walk there. It was well worth it - the display was quite spectacular, extending all the way up the hill in a small park. On the way back we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for a lovely meal.

For more photos please click here

Grenada

2010-12-08T17:06:00.003Z

18 August – 8 December 2010
With Impressionist ready for sailing again, we departed the marina and had a short, but delightful, downwind sail along the south coast and anchored back in Prickly Bay. We had purchased a new, more efficient wind generator – the Air Breeze – and needed the local workshop to design and fit a stainless steel support. It's also very convenient here with easy access, either walking or on the local buses, to the chandlers, hardware stores, supermarkets and the capital St Georges, so we spent some time just doing minor jobs, especially making mosquito nets for the hatches and portlights (small opening windows) as we have been unable to purchase these off the shelf (design and photos on our web site (Boat Details – Modifications).

Grenada has the friendliest and most helpful people we have ever met; many of them have lived in or visited England, or have relations there, and it's very easy to end up chatting to a complete stranger for a half-hour. In St Georges one day we asked about a cobbler and the lady insisted on taking us right to him.

The local bus service is great - 15-seat mini-buses that will have 18 squeezed in when full, owned by the driver who usually has a "conductor" on board, each bus licensed to a particular route. They all run from the bus station in St Georges, departing when full (squashed in). Driver/conductor touts for business as they go along and pick up/drop off along the road as well as bus stops; they will divert from the route for an extra fee. Buses are cheap, noisy, friendly, fun and very frequent in the south-east.

Every morning (except Sunday) at 07.30 we listen to the Grenada cruiser net on channel 68 on the VHF radio. There is a different net controller each day, one of whom is the manager of the local chandlery, the remainder being volunteer cruisers. The weather is read out (obtained via the internet); other sections include safety & security information, arrival & departure notifications, parts & services, cruiser events, "Treasures of the Bilge (buy and sell), and advertising by local businesses – it's a great source of information. Most cruisers also have their radios tuned to 68 whilst on the boat as it is also our primary means of communication.

A couple of weeks later we motored round to Mount Hartman Bay (the next bay) and anchored. It's a particularly calm bay with a very short dinghy ride to shore – very suitable as Jim's sister Margaret was due to fly out from England on 9 September to join us for three weeks.

The day after Margaret arrived she had recovered enough from the journey to join us on the Friday shopping bus to the local mall and supermarket. She was amazed to see so many imported English goods including some of the Waitrose Essentials range; they also have Branston Pickle, Marmite and English sausages – three goodies which we hadn't seen anywhere since leaving England three years before!

The next few days were intended for relaxing on the boat and some gentle swimming off a beach a dinghy ride away – that is apart from the pot luck dinner (bring a dish to share), the BBQ evening at the marina, the Sunday Mexican Train dominoes, the Monday bus to town where Patrick, our driver, treated us to jelly coconuts, and of course the Wednesday and Friday shopping bus to the mall where we developed a taste for the lovely banana bread with our coffee.

The middle of September we all went on a cruiser-organised trip with a dozen others to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls in the Grand Etang National Park rainforest. The views were marvellous on the way there and the rainforest was lovely with beautiful trees and flowers, including both cocoa and nutmeg trees. At the car park we each picked out a stick and our local guide led us on an hour long hike along a muddy and, in places, very steep track to get to the lower falls. Well worth it – the falls are lovely with a high fall into a large pool then a lower fall into the smaller pool. We all swam in the large pool – it was lovely swimming in fresh, cool water for a change. Anne leapt the lower fall then, emboldened by this, decided to join the group who were going further up to leap the higher falls. After a 20-minute muddy uphill scramble we reached the top fall. After a photo session those not leaping returned down the path. Our guide (who was excellent) at each fall showed us how to take off, how to leap and how to land, and helped us all through the fast flowing water in the chute between two of the falls. For the smaller falls we landed in a seated position because of the limited depth, one we could shallow dive into the pool, but the last fall was 35ft high – scary, and we were supposed to land feet first and upright. Anne got this one badly wrong, landed in a seated position and stayed in the pool for a while to cool her badly stung thighs. Not only did she end up with severe bruising on her thighs but also had a bad back for a couple of weeks. In spite of that, it was a fantastic experience and she would quite happily do it all again.

On 19 September we took Margaret for a short sail round to Clarkes Court Bay where we dropped the anchor near Hog Island, this being convenient for local buses to St Georges (for Margaret and Anne's girls' shopping trips) as well as evenings out at local restaurants and being nearer the beach for swimming.

We all wanted to go to Fish Friday at Gouyave – two streets of stalls cooking and selling locally caught fish every Friday, a "do not miss" evening in Grenada - but couldn't get a reply from the taxi firm which was known to organise a bus. In the end Anne organised her own – ending up with 22 people on two buses. We left early enough to see the scenery on the way up the west coast of Grenada and had a stroll around before the stalls got going – as this was low season it wasn't as busy as normal, but the atmosphere and food were still great and we had a marvellous evening.

Another day the three of us went on an island tour with CB Historical Tours. Clement, our driver, was full of fascinating information about the history and the island. He took us to St Georges, then to the last working nutmeg processing plant (most nutmeg trees were destroyed in Hurricane Ivan in 2004, it takes six years before replanted trees start producing), via the Leapers Leap where the native Caribs leapt to their deaths rather than submit to French rule, the Belmont Plantation for a fabulous lunch (unfortunately they are too busy making cocoa to run tours at present), to the River Antoine rum distillery with the last working watermill where they still make rum in the traditional fashion from locally grown sugar cane, returning through the Grand Etang rainforest – where it really rained heavily! Altogether a marvellous day out.

One evening we booked for dinner at The Little Dipper – to quote our pilot book "the best little restaurant in Grenada". We arrived at their own dinghy dock at dusk and climbed the lit path up the hill to the restaurant. We were the only people there (hence the need to book, otherwise they don't open). We sat on the veranda, the view across the bay was wonderful and our food was lovely. It started raining but we didn't want to leave the view, so we just pulled the table back a little way. As we left we were each handed a stick to help us down the now very slippery path. An enchanting evening!

We'd had a lot of fun and it felt very quiet after Margaret's return to England. We went back to doing odd jobs around the boat, the usual shopping trips every week and the various social activities organised by cruisers. These included pot luck dinners, dominoes, the monthly book swap for charity at a local chandler, a kayak tug-of-war off the beach at Hog Island (we watched), cruiser cricket matches (we watched!) and Halloween BBQ, and a cruiser organised visit to The Aquarium restaurant with swimming and marvellous snorkelling off its beach – and the food was excellent too.

Towards the end of October we began to think about moving north as the hurricane season is normally over by this time. BUT right at the end of October a tropical depression formed off South America which turned very quickly into Hurricane Tomas and headed straight towards the Windward Islands (south-eastern Caribbean), it's forecast track being possibly Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada or the Grenadines - right where we were! All the boats prepared, removing awnings etc, some put out an extra anchor, we let out a lot more chain and cleaned the propeller just in case we needed the engine. Everyone had an anxious few days, but Tomas turned further north, causing a great deal of damage and loss of life in Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent, whilst the south of Grenada had a flat calm and no rain!

On 18 November, we moved round into Mount Hartman Bay to clean the bottom of the boat in the clearer waters there. This involves a lot of diving with breath held, and scraping as much as possible until you surface because of natural buoyancy in the extremely salty water. An extremely exhausting job carried out over several days and only in calm weather.

With a clean bottom, we left the bay on 6 December and had a lovely sail round to St Georges where we took a berth in the marina for a few days so that we could clean and check the anchor chain, refit the windvane, and do a last bit of shopping before leaving Grenada to head north for the winter.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our summer here and intend returning next summer after a winter spent cruising the eastern Caribbean islands.

For more photos please click here

Grenada & Carriacou

2010-08-17T21:21:00.000+01:00

24 June – 17 August 2010

After a day sail, again with variable light winds, we anchored in the late afternoon in Hillsborough Bay, Carriacou which is part of the Grenadines chain of islands but belonging to Grenada, another ex-British island.

In the morning we went ashore to check in with Immigration and Customs, and do some shopping for provisions. After lunch we motored around to Tyrrel Bay, the main anchorage on the island for cruising yachts. There is one road along the waterfront with a couple of very small mini markets, some services for yachts, and a few bars and restaurants.

To one side of the bay is a ‘hurricane hole’ – a very protected, shallow stretch of water surrounded by mangroves and with a small entrance. Normally not used for anchoring, but if a hurricane heads towards the island, the yachts go in here, with the shallowest draft furthest in, anchor at the stern and are tied to the mangroves at the bow. The crew should then go to a hurricane shelter ashore. We went in with the dinghy to have a look round; it’s a very beautiful and peaceful place.

One of the restaurants had a steel band night whilst we were there, so we joined some of the other cruisers – old and new friends - for a meal and to enjoy the music.

After just three nights here we departed for Grenada in good conditions for a sail down the east coast to the anchorages on the south, where we anchored in Prickly Bay. We stayed for a week, finding our way about, checking out the supermarkets, yacht services and chandlers, and with a day out in the capital, St Georges where we were amazed to see old red British telephone boxes. We also contacted Richard & Claire on Phalarope who had wintered in La Rochelle with us but we had last seen in the Spanish Rias. We had a lovely reunion, meeting for coffee in the local shopping centre, but ended up staying for lunch and talked for 4 hours!

We then motored the short distance to Clarkes Court Bay where we had booked Impressionist into the marina for our trip to England to visit family and friends. Here, again, we met with friends old and new. There’s a lively social scene for the cruisers, particularly in the bar of the marina, with a weekly burger night, fish & chip supper, special lunches for events such as the football final, a film night, and events run by cruisers such as Sunday “Mexican Train Dominoes”, watercolour classes, language classes etc.

We prepared the boat for leaving it, removing everything possible from deck in case of bad weather, and flew to England for a three-week visit to family and friends. It was lovely to see everyone, especially Anne’s new baby nephew and our grandchildren, but it was hectic and towards the end we were very tired.

On our return we had to start putting everything back in place on the boat.

A couple of days after our return to Grenada the main events of the Carnival (a month-long event) took place. We went with our friends, Ken & Lynn, on a bus with other cruisers to St Georges to watch the main “Pretty Mas” parade, followed in the evening by the “Monday Night Mas”.

For a short video of the carnival please click here

We continued with sorting out the boat and getting some jobs done, but on Anne’s birthday we dinghied over to the Whisper Cove restaurant for a delicious T-bone steak and live music. On our return the torch was laid down on the pontoon for a moment and rolled straight off into the water – horror, this was our best torch, the new LED Maglite. The next morning Anne dived into the chocolate coloured water (run-off from the rum distillery) – and found it because it was still lit up. It has been washed and dried, and works perfectly – a very impressive 10 out of 10 for Maglite!!

For more photos please click here

Martinique, St Lucia, Bequia

2010-06-29T21:19:00.000+01:00

23 May – 23 June 2010

Another overnight passage with variable light winds meant we motorsailed for part of the way. We went straight to the anchorage at Le Marin in the south of Martinique, another French island, as we only intended a short stay to pick up a new Ship’s Registration document (to be couriered to the Poste Restante address at the Post Office), and to buy some extra anchor chain as the length we had was too short.

The town of Le Marin is spread along the bay, the older part in the centre with the newer commercial areas at the ends, with dinghy docks in the various parts. We visited all of them, checking out the good French supermarkets, small shops, bars and restaurants, and yacht services including three or four chandlers.

We very soon met a lovely American couple, Dave & Michelle on Daniell Storey, who are descended from some of the original pioneers to America. They introduced us to friends of theirs on other boats and we had a very sociable few days. As we are all travelling south for the summer we will keep bumping into each other.

We moved into the marina for a couple of nights so that we could attach the new chain and hammer in the length markers – very pleased to have this as we had been limited to anchoring in only 10 metres and some anchorages we couldn’t use as they are deeper than this.

Our registration document arrived – DHL, the courier company contacted us to say that the Post Office wouldn’t sign for it. (They had signed for couriered packages in France!) They asked for another address, and we suggested the marina office; this was no problem, they had delivered there before and would put it on the van again the next morning. Late the next morning Anne went ashore to see it it had arrived – the marina office had gone; even the Portakabin it had been in was half demolished. She asked around and found the new location in a new building at the opposite end of the marina, but it wasn’t there. She went back to the boat, phoned DHL to give them the new location – who said it had been delivered. Back to the new marina office, and one of the staff was just bringing it in from her car. 10/10 for the DHL service and marina staff. We were very relieved as the old document was now out of date.

Whilst waiting for suitable weather for the next passage we got on the local bus for a day out in the capital, Fort de France. A busy commercial town with lots of small shops and industrial parks on its outskirts. Not particularly attractive, but we came across the old library which was a fantastic building – unfortunately we had forgotten the camera.

After a short passage to Rodney Bay at the north of St Lucia, an ex-British island, we went into the marina. Whilst we were still tying up the boat, a couple on another boat were waving at us - to our great delight they were John and Ann of Moonlight who we had last seen in Madeira, nine months ago. We had a long chat, catching up on news. The evening was spent at a BBQ for the cruisers where we also saw other American and Canadian cruiser friends and made some new ones.

After three nights and some jobs done on the boat, we moved out to the anchorage. On shore one day we had an unexpected trip into the capital, Castries, as John passed us and offered a lift since he was picking up Ann and her mother in town. He dropped us by the large market where we had fresh coconut – drink the milk first through straws then ask the seller to chop it in half, he chops part of the shell off to make a spoon to dig out the soft flesh – it was absolutely delicious. We had a meander around (no camera with us) then stopped by the market for a lovely lunch of local food; the people on the next table started talking to us and we found they were also cruisers, two Dutch couples, also anchored in Rodney Bay.

To avoid another overnight passage, on 12 June we did the short trip to Soufriere on St Lucia where we took a mooring buoy for the night, then left at dawn the next morning for a day sail to Bequia, again an ex-British island, in The Grenadines where we anchored in Princess Margaret Bay near the main town, Port Elizabeth.

The next morning we started to lift the dinghy to where we inflate it on deck; Anne promptly screamed in agony as her back went. She crawled below onto the berth, and then wasn’t able to leave the boat for a week. Jim had to inflate and launch the dinghy, and lower the outboard engine on his own; he did all the shopping, cooking, washing up etc.

Finally able to get ashore, we went to the Bequia Book Club to help the children with their reading. A request for help had been broadcast a couple of days earlier on the Coconut Net, a Caribbean-wide net on the long distance radio (SSB) for cruisers to let others know where they are and keep in contact. The club is run by a local woman, Cheryl Johnson, an amazing woman with an immense personality who runs this reading club every Saturday. About 50 children turned up, who were divided into groups of similar ability. Each group had a book, from which each child read a page or so in turn – our job was to help with difficult words and oversee the discussion about the book that followed. Two or three children from each group in turn then gave a presentation on the book to the rest of the club. The enthusiasm of the children to read and the details they had picked up from the book, in spite of some very quiet and fast reading, was amazing. This was followed by drinks and cake and general chatter between the children and visiting cruisers, who included some children as well. We will certainly go along to help next time we are in Bequia as it was great to give something back to the local population and a most marvellous experience for us.

After another few days Anne was fit to sail again and we set off for Carriacou.

For St Lucia photos please click here

Les Saintes, Guadeloupe

2010-05-24T21:21:00.000+01:00

11 – 21 May 2010

After an overnight passage with variable, but fairly light, winds with some motoring, we anchored in the bay off Bourg des Saintes, the main town in Les Saintes – a small group of islands which are part of Guadeloupe.

We intended staying here for just three or four days, but the weather turned against us and it was 10 days before we were able to depart. But if you have to get stuck somewhere this is a beautiful place for it – the small town is charming, the large well-protected bay is beautiful and the scenery is lovely.

We didn’t do any sightseeing around the island, but we went ashore every day for some basic shopping in the small mini-markets, and often just sat at a cafe with a coffee or ice cream and watched the world go by. It was mostly a very restful time.

We did need to get some petrol for our dinghy’s outboard motor and, after asking around, found that there is no petrol station in the town – the only available fuel is at a dock in another bay, accessible by a road over the hill and then a path. So we thought it a lovely day for a walk, took the can in a knapsack and set off as directed. We got to the next bay and found the beginning of the path. There were occasional marks on the route, but for a number of different paths but for a while we followed the right one. Then we arrived at a chainlink fence across our way; we couldn’t see the path at all so we guessed, found a path and followed it… almost to the top of the hill – great views, but the wrong path!! Backtracked to the fence and hailed the young men inside for directions; they very kindly sent a boy out to show us the way. The right path was mostly across rock and invisible if you didn’t know it, but we eventually arrived at the fuel dock – hot, tired and very thirsty. We filled our can, bought some water to drink, and made the return journey much faster.

A few days later we decided we needed to get some diesel for the boat’s engine – this time we motored round and anchored in the bay, and transported the fuel by dinghy to the boat, returning to the main anchorage the same afternoon.

We also needed to fill our water tank whilst here – the only place was from the yacht club. You pay in advance, tie up to their mooring buoy which has a hose attached and then radio the club to turn on and off the water. As it was a set price for as much as you could take we filled up the tank, every container on board and all the buckets – so we did the laundry that day.

Once the weather became favourable for an overnight passage to Martinique we went on our way, but look forward to returning again next season.

For more photos please click here

St Martin/Sint Maarten

2010-05-14T21:20:00.000+01:00

15 April – 9 May 2010

After a good passage which started with very light winds but ended with a few hours of great sailing, we anchored in Marigot Bay, the capital on the west coast of St Martin (again, part of France). We checked in and the next day went through the bridge into the huge sheltered lagoon where we anchored on the French side of the border. The island is half French and half ex-Dutch (now independent) and the border runs through the middle of the lagoon. There is no border control moving from one side to the other either on the roads or by dinghy, but you must anchor your yacht in the waters of the country you have cleared into.

Another friend we made in Las Palmas, Mike on Tuntsa, was also here and it was great to see him again. He is an American who does the Atlantic circuit every year: St Martin – Azores – Canaries, working from his boat and selling navigation software.

This was the first time we came across a cruiser net. This happens early every morning (except Sunday) with a resident cruiser acting as net controller. Any cruisers listening can respond to the various categories: arrivals & departures, security information, buy and sell, what’s on, and any information required by cruisers. We reported our arrival, requested info about local supermarkets etc, and joined in various social activities advertised on the net. Because of it, Ken & Lynn on Silverheels III introduced themselves and showed us around – they have become very good friends of ours.

There’s a very lively cruiser social scene around the lagoon, but we also did some serious stuff – buying a new (larger) outboard motor for our dinghy and kitted out with various bits and pieces at the local DIY and electrical stores and two very large chandlers.

We were fortunate that the Carnival took place in Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Maarten, during our stay. We took the local bus down there with Ken & Lynn for the main parade – lots of exotic feathered costumes, live steel bands on every lorry – noisy and great fun. For video of the carnival please click here

We also had a lovely day out round the island – we hired a car with Ken & Lynn so that we could all do some heavy shopping, then had a lightning tour around the island, ending with a lovely BBQ meal overlooking the beautiful bay of Grand Case.

Towards the end of our month, it was lovely to have our friends Manu & Michelle on Teepee arrive – it was great for us all to get together again with Mike on Tuntsa.

By now we had finally made the decision to head south to Grenada (rather than north to the US) for the hurricane season, these being the summer months from June/July to the end of October. We had booked our flights for a visit to the England in the middle of July and a secure marina in Grenada to leave the boat. As we wanted to be in Grenada by the end of June it was time for our departure.

For more photos please click here

Guadeloupe and the US Virgin Islands

2010-04-18T21:20:00.000+01:00

22 March – 13 April 2010

Our first port of call after the Atlantic crossing was Point a Pitre in Guadeloupe (a department of France, so still in the EU and using the Euro) where we stayed in the marina for a few days to rest, catch up with emails, fill up with water, do a lot of laundry and buy fresh food. We were pleased that after 27 days at sea we still had plenty of dry and tinned food, six 5-litre containers and a quarter tank of water remaining.

We had an email from some friends we had made in Las Palmas, Manu & Michelle on Teepee, who had crossed a few weeks before us. They were in Les Saintes (part of Guadeloupe), a small group of islands nearby, so we sailed down there for a brief reunion with them and met one of their friends who gave us useful recommendations for the USVI.

We stayed just the one night then set off on the 27 March for a 2-day crossing to the US Virgin Islands as Jim’s son and his wife, Rob & Chris, were flying out to meet us for Easter. We had a good wind for most of the crossing and arrived at Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas on 29 March and anchored in St Thomas Harbour.

We found that Charlotte Amalie is a major cruise ship destination and full of ‘duty free’ shopping malls. Although downtown has some attractive old buildings, they are full of jewellers and souvenir shops. It is not somewhere we would recommend for a holiday.

A couple of days later we noticed that some of our rigging holding up the mast (which had all been replaced in Las Palmas) had broken strands. This was a major problem and we would be unable to sail at all until the defective wires were replaced. We immediately contacted a local rigger and arranged for the work to be carried out in a few days time. We also emailed the rigger, Alisios Sailing Center in Las Palmas, with photographs; he has admitted liability and promised a partial refund, but so far has not refunded the credit card. We are now taking this up with the credit card company.

In the meantime, Rob and Chris arrived; we stayed in the harbour for a couple of days so they could have a look around Charlotte Amalie, then we motored to Christmas Cove, a bay we had been recommended at Great St James Island about 10 miles away. It is the most beautiful place with wonderfully clear turquoise water, very popular with yachts and day trip boats. We stayed a couple of days enjoying the swimming and snorkelling on the reefs. Rob taught us both to snorkel – we were amazed by the tropical fish and coral, and we even saw Stingray and Eagle Rays swimming across the bottom of the bay.

We then motored back to Charlotte Amalie to spend a night in a marina to have the defective rigging replaced, fill up with water and buy provisions.

Once everything had been sorted out we made the short 20 mile passage to the next main island, St John, USVI and anchored off Cruz Bay. Rob & Chris wanted to spend a couple of nights ashore, so they found a guest house and we went round to a better anchorage in Great Cruz Bay where we could easily pick up a bus to the main town, Cruz Bay. This is much more ‘Caribbean’ and a nice place to spend a couple of days.

Rob & Chris joined us on the boat again in Maho Bay on the north side of St John. This is in the National Park (much of St John is National Park) and is a very beautiful area. We spent a couple of nights here on a mooring buoy – these are provided to protect the coral from anchors. We had a marvellous time in Maho Bay, Francis Bay and a walk through to Leinster Bay, again with great swimming and snorkelling surrounded by magnificent scenery.

Rob & Chris’s time had passed too quickly and we had to return to Charlotte Amalie, with a lunch stop in Christmas Cove for a last swim, for their flight back to England. A couple of days later the wind came from the west and north - unusual for the Caribbean but perfect for a passage east to St Martin – so we departed the USVI after a three week stay.

For more photos please click here

Atlantic Crossing

2010-03-30T23:05:00.002+01:00

23 February – 22 March 2010

After the 4th time of provisioning for the trip we eventually had a short weather window and left on the 23rd February, but had to motor for the first 30 hours (there was little wind) to get far enough south to miss the next lot of bad weather coming across the Canaries. Because we were now so late we didn’t have time to stop in the Cape Verde Islands which was disappointing.

The first couple of days we both took anti-seasickness remedies, but after that we were both fine. We followed a watch system during the night of 4 hours on and 4 hours off, keeping ourselves awake at night with coffee and listening to podcasts on the Ipod. In the day we were occupied with cooking, washing up, a small amount of essential clothes washing when calm, sail changes, read, did puzzles, or just took turns to nap if we were tired.

The second evening of the trip we contacted Herb on the long range radio. Herb is a Canadian who has provided weather and routing information to Atlantic sailors for many years. We spoke to him nearly every day of the crossing and were very thankful for his assistance. He advised the best route to avoid the bad weather between the Canaries and Cape Verdes, then took us south to avoid the very light winds which this year were experienced on the normal trade winds route. The reception was quite bad so we got involved a few times with relaying other boats’ information to Herb when he couldn’t hear them.

The wind varied quite a bit although was never bad. We had a couple of days early on with the wind directly behind when we were able to fly twin headsails, but poling the 2nd one out on the main boom didn’t work very well, especially once the winds became relatively light. We had to change sail quite a lot as the furling genoa is too heavy for light winds, but the lightweight genoa is very old and not strong enough to carry in the slightly stronger winds. It did in fact tear where it was very worn and Anne had to make a repair halfway across the Atlantic. Our best day’s run was 140 miles and the worst day was just 73 miles.

The first few days we saw quite a few ships as we were close to the shipping lanes down the cost of Africa. Later, after we passed the Cape Verdes, a fishing boat called us up on the radio for a chat – he must have been bored having been at sea for a long time. Otherwise we went several days at a time without seeing anything at all.

We tried trolling a fishing line. The first time we lost the lure and hook, we think a big fish pulled it off. After that we tried with a stronger attachment, but we didn’t catch anything and subsequently gave up trying to fish.

We had found one or two flying fish on deck, but one night Anne was startled as she was hit on the back when she had gone down into the boat for coffee – a flying fish was at her feet! It was only about 4” long but had flown across the cockpit, under the sprayhood and down inside the boat.

Highlights were the pod of pilot whales a short distance off and the large pod of Atlantic dolphins that swam and played with the boat for about half an hour.

Most of the time the swell was quite small so the rolling of the boat wasn’t bad, but on one or two days a stronger wind and bigger swell made it just too difficult to cook and we had one of our “easy” meals – just heating something up in a saucepan. Towards the end of the crossing it was so hot that all we wanted was cold food – pasta or potato salad with cold meats, tinned fish or eggs.

After 27 days - a fairly slow trip – we finally sighted land and made landfall on 22 March 2010 at Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. By this time Jim had a beard – we had been careful with our water to make it last, so Jim didn’t shave at all on the trip. He thought it looked rather dashing, but nobody else agreed so a few days later it came off!

For more photos please click here and for video please click here

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

2010-02-22T00:19:00.000Z

January – 22 February 2010

We found that in Spain Christmas Day is not very important. The coming of the Three Wise Kings is the big event here as the children write their present lists to them rather than Father Christmas and receive their presents on the 12th day of Christmas. The Kings arrived by boat across the harbour to an enormous and excited welcoming crowd in the morning of the 11th day. Later on a group of us went to watch the procession through the town with loads of decorated floats and costumed participants all throwing sweets to the huge crowds of onlookers. At the end of the procession rode the Kings on camels, each with their own large entourage, all throwing sweets and receiving present lists from the very excited children who were held up by their parents. It was great fun and an absolutely marvellous atmosphere. After this we had a meal then wandered around the crowded older parts of town, where the craft fair and the shops were all still open, and on to the concert in front of the Cathedral which started at midnight. It was all still very busy when we left at 1am but we had had a marvellous evening and were tired.

Click for video of the Three Kings procession

By 6 January we had prepared for the Atlantic crossing, we had provisioned and were ready to leave, intending to stop in the Cape Verde Islands for a week or two before crossing to the Caribbean. Jim switched the engine on for a final check – a worrying clunk and a few minutes later we found we had water coming into the boat; the shaft seal was damaged!! We could only obtain the spare part from England; it arrived about 10 days later so we had the boat hauled out on shore, made the repair and sorted out one or two other problems which we subsequently found, antifouled the hull and returned to the marina.

We then had to wait for reasonable weather to start the crossing. So far this year there had been an unusually high proportion of south-westerly winds and high swells caused by the same bad weather that northern Europe was experiencing. Whilst waiting we hired a car and spent 3 days visiting different parts of the island - the beaches and sand dunes in the south and some of the interior including a cave village and La Roche Nuebe, the highest point on the island. We were lucky to have bright sunshine for this and had the most fantastic views across the island and to Tenerife.

We also ended up staying in Las Palmas for Carnival – a fantastic month-long festival of parades, competitions and parties. Not only the participants in the parades, but many (perhaps half) of the onlookers, were in fancy dress – in particular, the men here love to cross dress for Carnival, the the most popular competition being for the Drag Queen with totally outrageous costumes. The parties didn’t seriously get going until around 1am and continued for the rest of the night – great for the younger ones around, but we just wanted our bed by midnight!

Click for video of the main Carnival parade

Unfortunately we were unable to recover the photos which we lost when the hard drive failed, but the video was still on DV tape. For some poor quality stills from video please click here

Canaries

2010-02-21T18:47:00.002Z

February 2010 - Currently in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
Unfortunately the hard drive failed on our computer a few days ago and we lost all the photos and blog entries written for the Canaries before we could post them. Hopefully we'll be able to get the data recovered from the old drive once we get to the Caribbean or the USA and be able to update the blog.
We were ready to set off across the Atlantic early in January but damaged our shaft seal the day before departure. Having obtained the spare part from England and made the repair, we have since been waiting for reasonable weather to start the crossing. So far this year there has been an unusually high proportion of south-westerly winds and high swells. Tuesday 23 February is now looking good for departure. Hopefully the next update will be from the Caribbean.

Canary Islands

2009-12-31T16:15:00.000Z

29 October – 31 December 2010

We left Funchal on the 29 October and, apart from 12 hours motoring when there was little wind, had a good sail to the Canaries. We arrived at Isla Graciosa – a tiny island just off the northern point of Lanzarote - on on the 31st and had intended going into the small marina at Caleta del Sabo, but there was a very strong cross wind and little room to manoeuvre so we thought better of it and anchored off for the night.

The next morning the wind had abated a little so we moved into the marina and moored in difficult conditions, but were most thankful for the assistance from other cruisers already in there. That morning we were told about a (not unexpected) death in the family and decided this was a good place to leave the boat whilst we returned to England a week later for the funeral.

The island is very barren and Caleta del Sabo is a very pretty place with low-rise buildings, mainly white with the details picked out in bright colours. From the marina to get to the main part of the village we walked along the beach when the tide was out, but the streets are also sandy, the only paving being around the waterfront where the ferries dock. There are 3 mini supermarkets, a small butcher, a baker, a pharmacy, a surprising good hardware store, and a few restaurants and bars. Very quiet, very relaxed and completely charming.
By contrast, when we arrived in England it was cold, grey, wet and miserable, and midway through the week Anne developed what we thought was a bad cold. On our return to Isla Graciosa she went to bed for the next few days – turned out to be a bad dose of Bronchitis. It was a couple of weeks before she was well enough to sail.

We eventually sailed on the 27th November, but once clear of the channel between Graciosa and Lanzarote the wind died and we had to motor the rest of the way to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.

We anchored for a couple of nights before going into the marina as we wanted to have our rigging replaced before the long trip across the Atlantic.

We enjoyed being in the marina at Las Palmas – there are lots of cruisers, some long-term residents and others, like us, just passing through. It’s very friendly, sociable and everyone helps each other when needed. Las Palmas is a busy, commercial city with lots going on in the time we were there.

Jim’s sister, Margaret, came out to stay with us for 10 days in December. It was great fun having her around and we took the opportunity to visit the Vegueta area (old town) of Las Palmas around the Cathedral and the Triana area with its Art Nouveau buildings and very large Christmas crib arranged as a circle around a tree, and stayed to see the lovely Christmas lights in the evening. We also enjoyed an excellent folk singing/dancing display, click here for video, had a day out by bus visiting an attractive village in the north-west part of the island, and Anne and Margaret had some fun shopping trips together.

At Christmas the cruisers organised a gathering for the evening - bring-a-dish to share and your own BBQ meat and drink. About 50 people turned up of all nationalities – it was a really nice Christmas. At New Year’s Eve our pontoon had a bring-a-dish pontoon party, we provided the music with our Ipod and mini speakers, and people wandered in and out – again, great fun.

For more photos please click here

Madeira

2009-10-30T13:59:00.000Z

8 – 28 October 2009

We finally got a good weather forecast of north-easterly winds and at the very last minute changed our minds and decided to go to Maderia before the Canaries.

Our first 24 hours were excellent and we made over 120 miles. The next 3 days were slower, and we motor-sailed the last few hours in light winds in order to arrive in daylight. We made landfall at Porto Santo, the smaller inhabited island of the Madeira group, 4 days and 4 hours after we left Portugal – a very good trip and our longest so far.

The island is small, dry and barren, but the scenery is very dramatic with a classic volcano. The north coast and the off-lying small islands have dramatic cliffs, but along the south coast is a very long beach of golden sand. The main town is lovely, mainly white painted buildings with terracotta roofs.

We stayed for 5 days (instead of the originally planned 2 days) then motored (there was no wind) to Funchal on Madeira and anchored off the town.

We were surprised to find Madeira so completely different from Porto Santo – cooler, wetter and with very lush vegetation. Funchal itself is very busy and its old town is particularly attractive. There’s very little flat land so bus rides were along hair-raising roads up the sides of mountains, along narrow ridges and bridges across valleys. In many places the roof of one house would be level with the floor of the next.

The island is famous for its levada walks along the maintenance paths of the water courses which were constructed along the side of the mountains, some of them dating from as far back as the 15th century. The walks are of varying levels of difficulty and through different types of scenery – we did 3 of the easy ones and really enjoyed them. There were fantastic views, especially from the walk to Cabo Girao – the 2nd highest sea cliffs in the world. Many houses are only accessed from these levadas and numbered along them; and it must be quite a feat to get supplies, furniture etc to the properties.

For more photos please click here

Portugal

2009-10-28T17:53:00.000Z

1 Sep – 7 Oct 2009

After a long motor in very little wind we received a very friendly welcome in Viana do Costelo, our first port of call in Portugal. The town is lovely – the older part of very narrow streets and the newer (18th-19th century) part of very elegant buildings lining wide roads and squares. We took a ride on the funicular up to the Basilica de Santa Luzia which has a fantastic location high on the hill overlooking the whole river valley and coast, and has a quite awesome interior.

Our trip down the coast of Portugal consisted mainly of long motors with very little sailing, interspersed with periods of fog (apparently the weather is rather better earlier in July and August). The Portuguese are generally very friendly and helpful, and fortunately many speak good English as we find the pronunciation of the Portuguese language extremely difficult, although we can now manage some of the basics.

The places we visited were:

Povoa de Varzim – a pleasant town from where we took the Metro line into Porto. We were very surprised and impressed at the long aqueduct we saw from the train on the way. We had a marvellous day in Porto walking around the old town and over the bridge to see the boats which carry port down the river.

Leixoes – a suburb of Porto where we intended to stop only 1 night, but extended the stay for our liferaft to be serviced and were then fogbound. This did give us the opportunity to visit Porto for another day.

After anchoring for a night in the lagoon near Aveiro we moored in Nazare for a few days, a marina run by a very helpful and friendly English couple. From here we took the funicular up to the charming old town of Sitio. We also visited by bus the Batalha Monastery – an enormous and spectacular church where Henry the Navigator is buried, an extensive monastery complex with two cloisters, and an extension of 7 unfinished chapels.

Our next stop was Cascais where we were able to anchor in the bay. Cascais is a very popular and noisy holiday town full of hotels, restaurants and bars, but is very convenient for visiting Lisbon, only 12 miles away. We had a couple of days out to Lisbon, the first walking around the centre and the old town. On our second visit we were lucky to find it was a free day on public transport, so we hopped on and off the old trams, buses and a funicular to the parts further from the centre, including the Belem Monastery and Belem Tower. We also visited Sintra – a small village in a spectacular location with a moorish castle, palaces and gardens, but worth a visit in spite of the number of tourists.

After waiting a week for the wind to change to take us to the Canaries, we decided to motor to Sines which turned out to be a very attractive small town, and where we caught up with our Dutch friends, Louis and Karyn on Rita, who we met last winter in La Rochelle.

For more photos please click here

Ria de Pontevedra, Ria de Arousa, Baiona

2009-09-06T16:40:00.001+01:00

July – end August

We sailed round to the Ria de Pontevedra and anchored off the beach at Sanxenxo. It was quite rolly overnight so, after a trip ashore to see Porto Nova and Sanxenxo, we sailed to the anchorage off Combarro where Frank and Judy (Shalini) organised a BBQ on their boat as Phil (Olli) and Dave (Heymede) had both caught a number of mackerel on the sail up the ria.

The old part of Combarro is very attractive with narrow winding streets and still has a very large number of the granaries. We also visited Pontevedra – a long and very wet dinghy ride away – again, very attractive and wished we had longer there.

After the others had gone south, we anchored off Bueu for a night then returned to the Ria de Arousa as we were flying back to England for Rob (Jim’s son) and Christine’s wedding at the end of July. The wedding was wonderful, and it was lovely to meet Christine’s family and see all our family and friends.

On our return Anne for ill for a week with constant headaches and weakness (swine flu?) so we stayed in the Ria de Arousa as Sharyn (Jim’s daughter) and her family were coming out to stay with us. We had a marvellous few days with them – lots of fun with the dinghies, the beaches, fiestas in both Pobra do Caraminal and Vilagarcia, and a magnificent firework display at midnight. We were both very sad when they had to go home.

We then sailed down to Baiona for a few days. Again a lovely and historic town. This was where Christopher Columbus landed on his return from discovering America. There is a replica of his ship, the Pinto, in the harbour – much smaller than we had imagined. In the square outside the town hall was a stage and seating with a free summer programme of entertainment – we enjoyed an orchestral concert of film music one night, and watched some folk dancing for a time another night. It was very popular with all seats taken and the audience standing all around the edges.

For more photos please click here

Ribadeo to Ria de Arosa

2009-07-05T12:14:00.002+01:00

10 May – end June 2009

For the remainder of May we made our way slowly along the north coast of Spain. The weather has been generally quite bad this year with a lot of rain, strong winds and high swell, interspersed with short periods of good weather when we took the opportunity to sail on to our next port of call. We had some excellent sails, but also some long periods of motoring due to a lack of wind.

The coast in this part of Spain is incredibly beautiful – tree covered mountains with flooded river valleys between (rias). It’s marvellous to be able to anchor in the rias as it is so beautiful and peaceful.

There are many English people sailing in this area – everyone is very friendly, we invite each other for coffee, drinks etc on each other’s boats, and we all help each other out with advice, jobs and passing on information.

We have also found that the Spanish people we meet are very friendly and helpful – even the woman in the bread shop tries to teach us the names of the different Spanish loaves!

Ports of call:

Ribadeo – a small town on a hill with some interesting buildings.

Viveiro – very attractive old town with many narrow streets where we first saw the enclosed balconies which were fashionable in the 18th-19th centuries and are very common in this region.

Cedeira – at the top of the ria, the old town built on the side of a hill.

Sada marina – from here we had an interesting visit to La Coruna on a grey day, and the historic town of Betanzos which also has an amazing garden, built by a Victorian philanthropist for education and entertainment with grottos, statues, winding flights of steps, and features such as historic scenes on painted panels, scenes from different countries in relief, clock faces with times from around the World, etc.

Corme – a convenient stop to break up a long journey where we anchored for a couple of nights.

Ria de Camerinas – particularly beautiful scenery where we had a lovely walk in the woods.

We rounded Finisterre in a flat calm on 1 July and arrived in the Rias Baixos; there are 4 main rias here with only very short distances between them – a marvellous cruising ground where we intend to stay until the end of August.

Ria de Muros – anchored off Muros then visited Portosin marina briefly to fill up with water, anchored off Punta Aguieria for lunch then returned to Muros for a few days which is a very charming small town with lots of old stone buildings arcaded streets and narrow alleys.

Ria de Arosa – the largest ria in Spain with large areas of mussel farms between which you sail. We caught up with most of our friends from La Rochelle here and have been enjoying their company again. We have been anchored off the beaches at Pobra de Caraminal and Rianxo and were delighted that our new anchor held firm even in a gale.

We’ve now spent a couple of weeks in the marina at Vilagarcia, initially to celebrate a friend’s birthday and our wedding anniversary with a meal out with our friends from La Rochelle. We then stayed for a fiesta; a group of us went out and had a marvellous evening which ended with a bonfire and fireworks. We also decided to take advantage of a friend’s welding skill to have a modification made to the solar panel fixing so that both panels could be permanently mounted above the bimini. This has now been done and we are about to sail around to the next ria for a week or so.

For more photos click here

Isle d’Oleron, Gijon

2009-05-12T22:26:00.003+01:00

2 – 8 May

We finally left La Rochelle on the 2nd May for a short motor (no wind) over to St Denis on the Isle d’Oleron. On the trip over we tested out the steering, checked the compass and generally checked over the boat, ensuring everything was ready for the long trip to Spain the next day.

Departed from France on Sunday 3rd May and set sail for Spain. The first half of the trip was fairly windy and we had a good sail, although Anne especially was suffering from nausea and lack of sleep. We had to motor for around 9 hours when the wind dropped, but sailed for the last few hours, arriving in Gijon around 11.00 am on 5th May – a trip of 46 hours.

Gijon is a large town, mostly having been rebuilt having been destroyed in the Spanish civil war, much of it in the original early 20th century style, with only a small older area remaining from before that time.

First impressions - the Spanish are generally very friendly and helpful. We are only just beginning to learn the language, but many speak some English and those that don’t are tolerant of our lack of Spanish and help us with attempts at speaking it and the pronunciation. Also, Spanish women are generally dressed very stylishly – Anne definitely feels she needs new clothes!!

Whilst in Gijon we had a very enjoyable day out to Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. A lovely city with much early 20th century architecture in the new town and an old quarter full of historic and attractive buildings as well as a large and bustling market.

For more photos please click here

La Rochelle - Winter 2008-09

2009-05-02T22:27:00.000+01:00

25 September 2008 – 1 May 2009

We settled down and soon met a number of other liveaboards who were also staying in La Rochelle over the winter. We started swapping books, joining each other for tea/coffee and drinks, and helping each other with advice and assistance on a wide variety of problems and jobs on the boats.

We were encouraged by the others to make the repairs to our pedestal ourselves, with parts manufactured and welded by a local machine shop. With a great deal of assistance (by Frank on Shalini) we went ahead with the repair. The machine shop did a fantastic job on manufacturing new parts and welding; the pedestal has been reassembled by Frank & Jim, the paint system applied by Anne and allowed to harden for a couple of weeks, and the steering was reinstalled by Jim and is now in good working order.

In December we spent a couple of days in Paris with Frank & Judy – a day walking around enjoying Paris and the Christmas lights, and a day at the Paris Boat Show.

During the winter (November and January) we had a couple of visits to England to see family and friends – fortunately missing all the snow and ice.

At the end of March we visited Roger and Val (who we had met in South Brittany) at their home in Saintes. They made us very welcome and we had a lovely time. They showed us both Saintes and a nearby walled town called Brouage, both of which are very attractive and interesting places.

At the end of April we had a couple of days out – to Rochefort and St Martin on the Isle de Re. Both very enjoyable but quite different. Rochefort is a typical French town with a naval dockyard full of historic buildings; St Martin is a very picturesque walled island town with many tourists even this early in the year.

For more pictures please click here

La Roche-Bernard, La Turballe, Isle d'Yeu, Les Sables d'Olonnes, La Rochelle

2008-10-02T17:31:00.002+01:00

10 - 24 September

We stayed in La Roche-Bernard for a week. It's a very attractive small town, parts of it very old, built perched up on a rocky outcrop in the angle where two rivers join.

We then motored down to the barrage and lock to leave the Vilaine River. The lock was less busy than when we entered the river, and therefore less chaotic, as we are now out of the French holiday season. We then sailed across the bay to La Turballe where the space for visitor mooring is extremely tight, and in the cross wind that day we were not the only boat having some difficulty mooring. Fortunately a very friendly harbourmaster gave us a hand with the lines. La Turballe is a nice place for a short visit but nothing special - although the bakery had the longest queues of any we have seen in France!

After a couple of nights we headed back down to Port Joinville on the Isle d'Yeu once more for a few days, then on to Les Sables d'Olonnes where we took the chance to explore further than on our previous visits. On a gloriously sunny afternoon we had a lovely cycle ride up through the marshes and salt pans at Isle d'Olonnes, returning via the villages. On another afternoon wandering round Les Sables d'Olonnes we came across streets full of marvellous mosaics made of stones and shells by a local artist.

After a long motor we arrived back in La Rochelle and managed to immediately find a suitable berth for the winter.

For more photos please click here

Return to South Brittany - Pornic, Vilaine River

2008-09-09T15:49:00.002+01:00

20 August - 9 September

We left La Rochelle (as all visitors have to for the duration of the Boat Show) and headed north, stopping at Les Sables d'Olonne, a very lumpy night anchored off Isle d'Yeu, then into Port Joinville as Anne had a stomach bug. Weather was a mixture of lovely sunshine, cloudy and gray, rain at times, and fairly windy.

We then went into Pornic for a couple of nights as we had missed it on the way down - although overcast, it was a nice harbour town with a lot of very grand villas overlooking the sea.

Another night's stop in Piriac-sur-Mer left us within easy reach of the Vilaine River allowing us to arrive at the lock around high tide.

We were first to tie up in the lock and gradually other boats joined us - squeezing in wherever they could. Shortly before lock opening time the very harassed lock keeper opened the bridge over the lock and had everyone move right forward (we motored forward with another boat tied alongside and someone on the shore helping with our lines) and organised us even tighter together to get more boats in - we were packed in like sardines and have never seen such chaos in a lock. Unfortunately we have no photos - we were far too busy looking after the boat. But it did work!

Once safely through, we motored up the river and anchored for the night. The next day we continued up river, through the swing bridge to as far as masted yachts can go and moored in Redon as we needed provisions etc. A very historic place near the confluence of two rivers and where the Nantes-Brest Canal crosses the Vilaine River. A number of mediaeval half-timbered houses and wealthy shipowners' houses are still in use today.

We returned to the river and anchored for a night. Then, as we had a bad weather forecast, we tied up at Rieux - a tiny village by the river - and sat out the gales and rain for almost a week before motoring down river to La Roche-Bernard.

For more photos please click here

Biscay - La Rochelle

2008-08-16T17:32:00.003+01:00

29 June - 12 August

We had a few days getting settled and finding our way around La Rochelle. It's now the holiday season in France and the town is busy. In the evenings around the old port the place is bustling with people promenading along the quay, the bars and restaurants are full of people, there are street entertainers and stalls selling bits and pieces.

We started to sort out our couple of problems - we ordered a replacement windlass and chain, and contacted a couple of people (in England and France) about our corroding steering column.

We then flew back to England on 3 July for Amanda & Martyn's wedding (Jim's niece) on the 5th. A lovely wedding: the bride was beautiful, the groom handsome and, although very windy, the sun shone. In the week we were back we managed to see most of our family and some friends.

On our return to La Rochelle the windlass and chain were ready and Jim (with my assistance) installed them.

Just after our return from England an annual music festival started with a number of venues around the town - the main one being open air next to the entrance channel - many people listened for free on the grass across the water. There were also bands who set up around the port. The end of the festival coincided with Bastille Day, 14 July. We went into town to see the parade in the morning, and in the evening we went back to wander around and see a big fireworks display over the water. Everywhere was heaving with people and a great atmosphere.

Since then we've spent time on odd jobs around the boat, wandering around La Rochelle, and still trying to sort out the problem with our steering column.

At the end of July we flew back to England for a couple of weeks for another family wedding (Anne's cousin's daughter Pauline to Lee) in Leeds. Again a lovely wedding with a particularly thoughtful service in the local church. Pauline and Lee looked terrific and very happy. Although it rained earlier, the sun shone on them after the wedding. We again met up with lots of family and friends whilst we were back.

We returned to La Rochelle on 12 August.

For more photos please click here

Biscay - Isle de Noirmoutiere, Isle d'Yeu, Les Sables d'Olonnes, La Rochelle

2008-07-02T19:14:00.003+01:00

21 - 28 June

A lovely sunny day sailing to l'Herbaudiere on the Isle de Noirmoutiere. Mainly single-storey whitewashed buildings with red clay tiled roofs and painted shutters (predominantly blue) - definitely a change to a southern feel. The island is pretty flat so we went for a cycle ride to the main town, Noirmoutiere, where the Sunday market was on. Then cycled back along the coat - saw the salt pans, lots of lovely beaches and woods.

Sailed to Port Joinville on the Isle d'Yeu - cold initially, followed by a short shower, but the sun came out as we arrived and it was beautifully warm. We cycled around - again a very attractive island, mainly scrub with small villages, lots of rough footpaths and cycle paths. Prehistoric dolmen and standing stones dotted around, although many hidden in the vegetation.

After a couple of days we continued down to Les Sables d'Olonnes, home of the Vendee Globe round the world single-handed race - a very large marina with good facilities. The old part of the town is made up of narrow, winding roads and alleys. The long sandy beach is backed by a mixture of old villas and apartment blocks built at various periods. The other side of the river, La Chaume, seems mainly residential, but in the evening we went to the chapel on the point at La Chaume and enjoyed listening to a concert by a vocal harmony group - held as part of the Simenon Festival.

A long motor to La Rochelle as there was very little wind and we wanted to get here at a reasonable time to arrange a berth for two weeks to get a couple of problems sorted out.

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Brittany - Benodet, Concarneau, Port Tudy, Port de Crouesty, Golfe du Morbihan, Vannes, Piriac-sur-mer, Pornichet

2008-06-24T17:24:00.002+01:00

4 - 20 June

Sailed round to Benodet and stayed a couple of nights - mainly a holiday village, very quiet as still very early in the season.

A pleasant sail a short distance around the bay was Concarneau with its old fortified island town (La Ville Close). Although very touristy, it was still charming and full of character.

A couple of days later we sailed to Port Tudy on the Isle de Groix - the pontoon moorings were very busy and tight so we moored up to buoys in the outer harbour and took the dinghy to get ashore for a walk. Again all very shut up as it is so early.

Had a lovely sail to Port de Crouesty by the entrance to the Golfe du Morbihan - a modern marina complex, but we needed to get provisions as we would be anchoring for a couple of nights. We also needed to service the wind vane which was sticking when we had tried it that day. For the first time the weather turned really sunny and hot for a couple of days.

Motored into the Golfe du Morbihan - a very beautiful inland sea with lots of wooded islands. Anchored off the Isle d'Arz, did a few odd jobs and lazed around for a couple of days before motoring up to Vannes - the historic capital of the Morbihan.

Vannes is full of historic buildings - a large number of them being mediaeval half-timbered houses and about half the ramparts still standing. The place is lively with a busy market 3 days a week. Well worth going out of your way for a visit if you are in Brittany.

Spent a further couple of nights at anchor in the Morbihan before sailing down to Piriac-sur-mer - a charming place of narrow streets with a more southern feel to it. Tried the wind vane again but were still having problems. Jim made a slight change to the angle of its rudder which seemed better, but we were at Piriac by then and didn't have time to properly test it.

On our next sail we again tested the wind vane - the alteration had improved its performance and it was now steering the boat as expected. Spent the night in Pornichet - an unattractive holiday resort - blocks of flats behind a 5 mile beach!

For more photos please click here

Brittany - Treguier, Trebeurden, L'Aberwrach, Camaret, Rade de Brest, St Evette

2008-06-03T21:32:00.000+01:00

23 May - 3 June

Almost no wind, so a long motor to Treguier in Brittany where we moored in the marina. It poured with rain most of Saturday so we stayed another day to have a look round. A very attractive place with a great many old buildings - some 13th century - in the historic centre.

Bad weather again on the 25th so we finally left for Trebeurden on the Tuesday 27th - a small French holiday resort - but too early in the year for anything to be open. We stayed a couple of nights then continued on to l'Aberwrach - our last port of call in North Brittany before going through the notorious Chenal de Four off Cape Finisterre.

With good weather and the timing right for the tide, the Chenal de Four was no problem and we arrived in Camaret in the evening - a very attractive old fishing port, where we had a lovely meal out to celebrate. Stayed a couple of nights then sailed into the Rade de Brest and anchored overnight (it poured with rain). Returned to Camaret to get some provisions and prepare for the even more notorious Raz de Sein.

Again we were lucky with excellent weather, and got our timing right for slack water at the Raz (in fact we had left early and had to slow down) - the Raz can be very rough at times, but for us was very smooth. Whilst picking up a mooring buoy at St Evette for the night a dolphin came and played around the boat - incredibly distracting when you are trying to moor up!

For more photos please click here

Departure from England - Lymington, Guernsey

2008-05-23T21:32:00.000+01:00

16 - 22 May

After many delays we finally left Gosport and motored down the Solent to Lymington to give the engine a good test. All seemed OK. We stayed a couple more nights as the weather forecast was not good for a Channel crossing, and did various odd jobs on the boat.

On the 19th we left Lymington and anchored in Newton Creek on the Isle of Wight for a couple of hours for lunch, then gently sailed down to Alum Bay (by the Needles) to anchor until 2.00am when we departed for the Channel crossing. We found the light in the compass didn't work, so we fixed up a red headlight torch (good tip from a letter in one of the sailing magazines). Also found the winches not working properly.

Arrived St Peter Port in Guernsey at 4.00pm on the 20th, knackered after a very lumpy and cold trip.

21st - Jim's birthday. He dismantled the winches - a gear had been put back in the wrong way on each, so that problem was easily sorted out. Then the compass - Jim undid the screws - the wrong ones and the oil came out! Major problem. Asked around and obtained a phone number for a somebody who might be able to fix it. No answer all day on the phone...

... or first thing the next morning. Finally around 10.00am he answered. He'd been injured in a traffic accident and was now waiting to go to hospital in Southampton - but he could fix the compass if we could get to his house, so we jumped straight on a bus. He and his wife were both very kind, and he refilled the compass for us, to our great relief. At last we would be able to leave Guernsey (and the UK) and head for Brittany.

Fitting out

2008-05-10T21:31:00.000+01:00

October 2007 - May 2008

On our return to Portsmouth in October we rented a berth in Port Solent at the top of Portsmouth Harbour for three months, spent time visiting our families and friends - and were around when our latest grandchild was born in December.

At the beginning of January we rented a cottage in Gosport where we had arranged for the boat to go into Gosport Boatyard to get our engine problems sorted out, a new rudder to be fitted, some other odd repairs, and to complete the fitting out.

Return to England

2007-10-11T19:30:00.000+01:00

5 - 10 October

We took advantage of some good weather with light easterly winds to make the return journey via Dunkerque, Dover, Eastbourne and Brighton.

We mainly motored, but had a couple of pleasant sailing days. A nasty weather front came through whilst we were in Brighton so we stayed an extra night.

We finally returned to Portsmouth Harbour and moored up in Port Solent at the top end of the harbour for the winter.

For more pictures please click here

Belgium - Brugge (Bruges)

2007-10-05T17:38:00.000+01:00

4 October

Again a day out by train to Brugge – an amazing place, historic and attractive, but very vibrant with a 'lived in' feel, not just a tourist attraction.

We went on a half-hour boat trip along the canals – our driver/guide was a turn in himself – he spoke in English, German, Italian and Spanish, with a lot of humorous cracks, and had us and another English couple in stitches.

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Belgium - Brussels

2007-10-05T17:12:00.000+01:00

2 October

Day out by train to Brussels. Fog all day but not too cold.

Le Grand Place (the main square) was incredible, beautiful historic buildings. Had a walk round a couple of other areas of the city, including the upper part with a lot of Art Nouveaux architecture.

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Belgium - Zeebrugge & Ostende

2007-10-05T16:59:00.000+01:00

29 September - 4 October

Motored to Zeebrugge – wind on the nose and drizzle turning to rain by the time we arrived. Brightened up after lunch. Very long walk (nearly an hour) to train station and discovered no trains at weekend. Zeebrugge a dump and we decided to go on next morning.

Next day we had sunshine and a light west wind so we part sailed and part motored to Ostende and moored near the entrance. On our return from a walk around Ostende we found the boat bouncing around very badly (fenders nearly popping out). Decided we would be better in the marina the other side of the lock – we phoned them up, obtained a berth and moved – very quiet and closer to the station.

Day out to Antwerp by train. Had a walk around historic part for an hour, in the pouring rain. Caught tram to South Antwerp to visit Jim's aunt, Sister Camille. She was delighted to see us, introduced us to all the nuns and showed us around the care home. They gave us afternoon tea when we arrived, and an early supper before we left.

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Zeeland - Middelburg, Vlissingen, Breskens

2007-09-28T17:59:00.000+01:00

22 - 28 September

A short motor down the canal to Middelburg. Cycled round the town moat and bastions, then explored the old town on foot. Yet another very impressive gothic town hall and large market square. Went inside the Abbey complex and were surprised to find an intense boules competition taking place which we stopped and watched for some time.

We had an hour's wait for the bridge to open when we left Middelburg, then another short motor down the canal, through another huge lock back into the North Sea, and moored in the marina at Vlissingen (Flushing).

It was tremendously bumpy in marina, especially at high tide, with lines creaking all night. Decided to move immediately to Breskens for a quiet night.

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Zeeland - Willemstad, Sint Annaland & Veere

2007-09-22T17:30:00.000+01:00

18 - 21 September

From Dordrecht we motored down the river and entered the southern delta where we were able to sail again.

Willemstad – a very pretty village surrounded by bastions and a moat, with yet another very large church in the middle of the village.

Motored to Sint Annaland (wind on the nose again) and a couple of huge locks to negotiate. As Anne was not feeling 100% Jim got the job of all the moorings, not too many cock-ups. This is a nice village, part old and part new, in the centre of a national park.

After a couple of nights in St Annaland we motored through the Oosterschelde and entered the Veerse Meer via a lock. The sun came out, we had a delightful sail for a time, and the Veerse Meer is very pretty with lots of wooded islands dotted around - a beautiful area and very popular with sailors. Moored up in Veere, a small village - very pretty but unable to buy food or drink there other than bread.

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Zuid Holland - Dordrecht

2007-09-17T17:13:00.000+01:00

16 - 17 September

The motor to Dordrecht was along major rivers/canals with much commercial traffic. The confluence of the two rivers at Dordrecht is the busiest in The Netherlands.

We moored in the tiny Martensgat harbour in a strong wind, but were given help to get into a difficult box mooring. The large church is right by the harbour - chimes every quarter hour through the day, and the hours are sounded all night. The town is full of very old buildings, some 16^th century, and is very attractive with many harbours, canals and bridges.

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Zuid Holland - Rotterdam, Delft & Den Haag

2007-09-16T16:37:00.000+01:00

11 - 15 September

Rotterdam – a very modern, lively city with a lot of sculptures, but there are older parts, especially by the old harbours. We wandered around the very extensive market (buying food). Anne visited the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (marvellous art and very well laid out), Jim took a tour around the city on the Museum tram (excellent).

We took a train to Delft for a day as it would have taken us a day there plus a day back by boat. Fascinating town with many very old buildings and well worth a visit.

Again we had a day out to Den Haag (The Hague) by train. A great shock on walking out of central station as all the buildings are very modern and high rise, but the centre of the city is much more historic. Visited Panorama Mesdag – a painting collection including an amazing panoramic full circle painting from late 1800's of coast near Scheveningen, viewed from a central platform built on top of an artificial dyke.

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Zuid Holland - Gouda

2007-09-10T16:02:00.000+01:00

6 - 10 September

Gouda - moored up at side of canal. We started following a historic walk in the tourist guide/map. Visited main church (longest in Netherlands) with marvellous stained glass windows, then to museum which was a hotch potch of things including artefacts from local history and torture chamber as well as modern art gallery!

Continued with walk, then realised something was going on – Open Monuments Day – and started visiting the buildings that were open to the public on this day only. We were given a private conducted tour around the former orphanage (now the public library) as we were English.

Earlier in the day we had walked through a park where marquees were being erected and were told it was for the "Culinaire Festival", so we went along in the evening. You had to buy tokens to purchase drinks and fixed price sample meals by local restaurants. We tried a couple of main courses and a dessert at different places - all were excellent. Shared a table with Dutch couple, both teachers, for one course who told us about the education system. A band was playing on a stage. Loads of people and great atmosphere.

We finished our historic walk over the next couple of days as we kept getting distracted - one of our favourite places in The Netherlands.

We stayed an extra couple of days as bad weather was forecast - and just lazed around.

For more pictures of Gouda please click here

Noord Holland - Haarlem, Lisse, Boskoop

2007-09-06T15:45:00.000+01:00

2 - 3 September

We moored alongside a traditional Dutch yacht on the canal in the centre of Haarlem. A very attractive town with lots of little cobbled streets, many hofjes (almshouses around a courtyard), and some very impressive buildings on the main square.

4 - 5 September

Moored overnight at Lisse (a mainly modern town), motored through Oude Wetering which had beautiful houses lining the canal, then moored by a bridge in the middle of nowhere (near Boskoop) overnight.

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Amsterdam

2007-09-02T15:39:00.000+01:00

26 August - 1 September

Lovely sail to Amsterdam. Moored in a marina just north of the main canal, a few minutes walk and free ferry across to Amsterdam Central.

Purchased “I Amsterdam” cards for 3 days sightseeing of major sights - a very enjoyable canal tour, Van Gogh Museum (not impressed), Dutch Resistance Museum, Rembrandt House and studio, Museum Het Ship (social housing project by Amsterdam School architect Michel de Klerk, 1920), Rijksmuseum (stunning paintings by the masters), St Nicholas church.

Generally wandered around by foot and tram enjoying the sights including the flea market, a bronze of Rembrandt's famous Nightwatch painting, the Begijnhof (17th century enclosed courtyard of houses for elderly catholic ladies - an oasis of calm in the centre of Amsterdam, and (by accident of course) stumbled upon the Red Light district.

We took a train to Zaanse Schans expecting a working museum, but very disappointed to find it mainly "museum shops", but fascinating to see inside a working windmill.

For more pictures please click here

Ijsselmeer - Hoorn, Volendam, Edam, Marken

2007-08-25T18:10:00.000+01:00

22 - 25 August

Sailed to Hoorn. Very narrow entrance into attractive tree lined harbour but only stayed 1 night.

Sailed to Volendam. Very touristy, but attractive, with the harbour lined by restaurants, cafes, souvenir and 'your photograph in Dutch costume' shops (very popular with children).

We cycled to Edam for a day out. Attractive place where we strolled around for some time. Interesting cheese museum where we bought an Edam cheese. An extraordinarily large church for the size of village, with a impressive and interesting interior.

Short motor across the bay to Marken, an island attached to the mainland by a dyke built in 1950's. Old houses were built on piles although now filled in with another floor, with painted wooden gables. Cycled around most of perimeter of island. Very popular with day trippers.

For more pictures please click here.

Ijsselmeer - Medemblik & Enkhuisen

2007-08-21T17:40:00.000+01:00

19 -21 August

Sailed across Ijsselmeer to Medemblik in blue sky and sunshine - perfect sailing weather. Spent 1 night in marina and walked around the town.

Enkhuisen. A fairly large town with many old buildings. Visited Zuider Zee Museum – open air part consisted of old buildings, homes and businesses which had been moved to this site. Boards gave information about history of building - some were set up as home and/or shop/business contents. Also a reproduction of the harbour at Marken with boathouse and working boats. Inside part of museum had large collection of vessels and artefacts from history. Excellent museum and spent whole day there.

For more pictures of Medemblik and the Zuiderzee Museum please click here

Friesland - Leeuwarden, Grouw & Lemmer

2007-08-18T18:19:00.000+01:00

14 – 18 August

Leeuwarden, moored rafted out by against a Swiss boat at canalside. Nice town, capital of Friesland, with a leaning tower. Fries museum very interesting. Rained a lot. Jim fell in the canal, by mistake Anne rescued him.

Grouw, moored at canalside. Small town with some older parts. In the evening we watched a visiting folk dancing group in local costume.

Lemmer. A very attractive seaside type of town. Moored alongside on the canal in the centre of town.

For further pictures of Leeuwarden, Grouw & Lemmer please click here

Friesland - Heeg & Sneek

2007-08-13T17:20:00.000+01:00

10 – 13 August

Sailed down Ijsselmeer to Stavoren and went through lock into inland waterways, motored and sailed along the Franz Josef canal (genoa only) to Heeg Passentenhaven. Nice village, popular with yachts; wandered and lazed around for a couple of days.

Sneek. Moored at canalside on municipal moorings. Very attractive, espeically around Waterpoort and along canals.

After leaving Sneek we sailed across the Sneekermeer.

For more pictures of Heeg and Sneek please click here

Friesland - Hindeloopen & Workum

2007-08-09T17:05:00.000+01:00

3 – 9 August

We stayed a further couple of days at Den Helder to get some washing done. The washer and drier needed tokens from the Harbourmaster. As he wasn't around we had to use our small hand-cranked washing machine for the first time - fortunately the weather was good enough to dry the washing on a line strung around the boat.

On leaving, we passed through the Den Oever lock into the Ijsselmeer and crossed to Hindeloopen, a small village with miniature canals running through it - very picturesque and quiet.

We cycled to Workum for an afternoon for provisions and a walk round – nice church and weighhouse, had coffee in main square.

For more pictures of Hindeloopen and Workum please click here

Sharyn & Will's Wedding - Malcesine, Italy

2007-08-02T16:26:00.000+01:00

26 July – 2 August

Took the train from Den Helder to Bremen in Germany for our flight to Verona, Italy where we joined the rest of the wedding party for Sharyn & Will's wedding, preceded by a week's holiday near Malcesine on Lake Garda.

Hotel was great, scenery absolutely fabulous and, best of all, the wedding was beautiful and romantic, held on top of a tower in the Castle at Malcesine. Sharyn and Will both looked fantastically happy, with a very beautiful bridesmaid, Victoria.

For pictures of the wedding please click here.

For more pictures of Italy please click here.

Departure from Portsmouth and South Coast

2007-07-25T15:57:00.000+01:00

11 - 25 July

We left Portsmouth on 11 July, heading for Brighton, but with strong SW winds we made very good time and decided to continue on to Eastbourne. Day sails to Dover, Dunkerque, bypassed Belgium and sailed to Breskens in The Netherlands.

Continued with day sails to Stellendam, Scheveningen and arrived in Den Helder after a very bumpy ride on 17 July. Moored in marina on inland canal.

Remained in Den Helder as weather deteriorated further and was not suitable for continuing past Frisian Islands to Cuxhaven.

Den Helder is the main naval base for Netherlands, a pleasant town; we cycled around and did a few jobs on boat.

For more pictures of the journey from Portsmouth to The Netherlands click here.