Atlantic Crossing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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