Category: Season Reviews

Saint Lucia. Or: Whether not to go home?

Saint Lucia. Or: Whether not to go home?

Markus

After having spent beautiful times in the South of the Lesser Antilles we felt the urge to move a couple of steps North. From Bequia, it was a fairly long day trip to Saint Lucia. We passed the main island of Saint Vincent and sailed all along the coast of Saint Lucia towards its northerly situated Rodney Bay.

That ride took a bumpy start: Just after lifting the anchor in the well protected Admiralty Bay, I set all sails. The sun wasn’t yet up and it was still dark. Leaving the last rocks of Bequia behind, the wind started kicking in. Yuana sailed very fast, but the steering wheel required more and more force for keeping the boat on course. Yuana desperately wanted to turn into the wind. What was wrong?

The wind increased much stronger than expected, 28 knots from the side, 60 to 80 degrees. With all sails all up, we were simply overpowered and far away from a nice balance between wind direction and force versus sail area and trim. So we reefed the first time before the day really started.

Saint Lucia was intended to be a short maintenance and duty free refueling stop on our way to Martinique. We got the boat nicely polished all around and in the cockpit. Then we hired a rigger to check the mast and all relevant parts of the rig. He was very satisfied with the condition of everything, and so were we. The Volvo dealer however had no time for the big engine maintenance. Most workshops are super busy because the yacht charter business moved South after the storm damages in the North. Upon leaving the country we bought 350 liters of duty free fuel at the attractive price of 0.77 Euro per liter.

So, now comes the really important part of this post. During the last weeks I read in the latest master piece of famous sailor Jimmy Cornell. The book carries the title ‘200’000 Miles’ which represents Jimmies vast high sea sailing knowledge, presented in an attractive autobiographical wrapper.

Reading the section about Southern Pacific infected me with the idea to continue our sail towards the Pacific rather then to sail back to Europe. In fact I never liked the idea to sail back into cold Northern European waters, with socks around the feet and gloves around the hands. So this new idea to sail into the Pacific triggered my blueprinting same as when I got infected with the idea of a sailing sabbatical.

By the way, Jimmies most infectious sentence was “We had no pressing reason to bring such a wonderful life to a premature end.” That sentence really made me thinking whether our own trip back to Europe would come to early? Why should we not sail the Pacific?

So we said: „Hey, we are just eight sailing days away from Panama. That means that we are almost at the doorstep to the Pacific, with our own yacht. That is a super huge chance, category ‚once-in-a-lifetime‘! So do something about it!“

We went through very intense weeks of ‚what-if-planning’. I studied the routing recommendations and the wind charts for the Pacific. We studied the administrative needs to cross the Panama channel as well as the selling chances for the boat on ‘the other side’ of the world. We contacted our municipality and school at home. It seemed that there were no killer criteria for an extended trip. There would have been ways to handle everything.

We would have left the Westindies during the first half of February. Our routing schedule was Martinique – Bonaire – Columbia – Panama (channel crossing) – Marquesas – Tahiti – Cook Islands – Fiji – Australia. We would have arrived in Sydney in late October 2018. The idea was to sell the boat there.

Our heads were deep in these questions since Grenada. Saint Lucia just became the place where we would take a decision. We did, and we decided to turn back to Europe as per the original schedule.

The most practical reason why not to go was that we couldn’t answer one key question: How to take responsibility for the family during the loooong leg from Panama to the Marquesas in case of an extended period of unfavorable weather, and one adult being down with a major thickness of injury? That leg is enormously 3’750 nautical miles long, almost 7’000 kilometers. Our standard traveling time would have been 27 days, easily 35 with low winds, perhaps again considerably more in a state of emergency.

That trip is absolutely doable and hundreds of private yachts are doing it every year, amongst them also friends of us from our Atlantic crossing. There were days where we were totally convinced that we should do it. On the next day our internal indicators pointed into the opposite direction. We gave ourselves the time to narrow down on this outstandingly great question. Towards the end we involved family and some friends. Finally we found a solid conclusion which is the right one for us. So, we intend to be back in Switzerland around July, 2018.

That is our season review about Saint Lucia. What about the island itself? We simply don’t know. There were other priorities which took most of our time.

Privatinsel Mustique

Privatinsel Mustique

Markus

Nach dem wir Grenada verlassen haben, sind wir erneut in Sankt Vincent und die Grenadinen eingereist. Die südlichen Grenadinen hatten wir ja bereits ausführlich erkundet. Nun wollten wir auf unserem Weg nach Norden noch die Inseln Mustique und Bequia kennenlernen.

Die Insel Mustique ist knapp 5 Kilometer lang und halb so breit. Im Jahre 1958 kaufte Colin Tennant, ein britischer Baron, die Insel für 58‘000 Englische Pfund. Nach heutigem Geldwert sind das schlappe 1,7 Millionen Franken. Tennant schenkte der befreundeten Prinzessin Margaret zu deren Hochzeit 1960 ein Stück Land auf Mustique, und schon bald war die erste Villa gebaut. Heute finden sich ein paar Duzend sehr grosszügige Villenkomplexe an den schönen Stränden und auf den Hügeln. Sie gehören gut betuchten Personen aus der Wirtschaft und aus dem Showbusiness. Angeblich trifft man in einem der drei Restaurants gelegentlich auf Brian Adams, Mick Jagger, oder andere Berühmtheiten. Einige dieser Personen vermieten ihre Anwesen. Die publizieren Preise liegen im Bereich von 20‘000 – 50’000 Franken, pro Woche, versteht sich.

Hier kommt nur vorbei, wer mit dem Privatflieger anreist. Man will unter sich sein. Wir Yachties sind auch willkommen, hurra! Nachdem wir Yuana an einer Boje festgemacht und Dorie zu Wasser gelassen haben, fahren wir zum Dinghidock.

Ein Dinghidock ist übrigens ein Steg, wo die Yachties ihr Gummiboot festmachen, wenn sie von der ankernden Yacht an Land gehen. Manchmal liegen mehr als 20 Dinghis an einem Steg, alle Kopf voran angeleint. Es macht zuweilen den Eindruck, als wären die Dinghis Arbeitspferde, die zum Fressen hierher gekommen sind.

Nicht so in Mustique. Lediglich zwei oder drei Dinghis warten hier, als wir anlanden. Auf einer Wanderung lernen die Insel kennen. Auf den wenigen Strassen fahren fast ausschliesslich Unterhaltsfahrzeuge der Mustique Company. Alles wird perfekt unterhalten, nirgends liegt Laub oder etwas anderes Unerlaubtes auf den Strassen. Wir gehen an den Hügeln vorbei, welche die Villen vor Einblicken von der Strasse her schützen. Die Kokospalmen sind genau so gegenwärtig wie die hohen, wogenden Grashalme einer Wiese oder der mit lauter runden Steinen belegte Strand in einer Bucht. Der stete Passatwind lässt die Büsche schräg wachsen, und treibt die neblige Gischt der Atlantikbrecher in die Hügel. Vom Land aus sieht das Meer manchmal so gefährlich aus…

Während unserer Wanderung haben wir nebenbei den Flugplatz gerundet, uns so könnten wir zuweilen dem spärlichen Betrieb zuschauen. Kommt ein Flugzeug an, so erwacht der Flugplatzes kurz. Am Feuerwehrauto gehen für 10 Minuten die Warnlichter an. Zwei bis sechs Personen steigen aus dem Flugzeug aus und gehen in das kleine Bambushaus, wo der Zoll und die Einwanderungsbehörde ihr Bürochen haben. Einmal steigt lediglich eine Tasche mit Golfschlägern aus. Da hat doch glatt jemand etwas zu Hause vergessen. Einen Golfplatz haben wir zwar nicht gesehen, aber man kann ja teure Golfbälle auch ins Meer oder in die Pampa hinauspfeffern, wenn man will. Sind die Golfschläger ausgeladen, so werden die dekorativen Flaggen von den Masten geholt, die Türen des Bambusterminals werden geschlossen, und der Feuerwehrmann fährt mit seinem Feuerwehrauto quer über die Insel nach Hause. Unweigerlich erinnert man sich an eine Miniaturlandschaft im Legoland.

Die Insel scheint so unglaublich einfach und normal zu sein, und trotzdem habe ich an keinem anderen Ort unserer Reise mehr fotografiert. Es ist wohl die natürliche Abgeschiedenheit einer Parkinsel im Meer, welche den magischen Reiz ausmacht.

Im Restaurants Firefly bezahlen wir für einen kleinen aber feinen Lunch 166 Franken, was uns beinahe schockiert. Schliesslich merken wir, dass es in der Schweiz wohl noch mehr gekostet hätte. Wir haben uns mittlerweile echt an ein anderes Preisniveau gewöhnt. Und, wen haben wir kurz und verstohlen beäugt, wen entdeckt? Es waren ein paar ältere Leute, die ihre Ruhe haben wollen. Einige Mittfünfziger haben genauso verstohlen zu uns herüber geschaut. Später stellt sich heraus, dass es unsere Nachbarn vom Katamaran an der nächsten Boje waren, haha.

Wir lieben Mustique. Wenn wir eines Tages unsere Yuana verkauft haben werden, dann können wir uns ja nach einer kleinen Mustique-Villa umschauen ;-).

Da war noch ein anderer ‘totaler Bringer’ in den letzten Wochen in SVG und auf Grenada: Es waren die am Baum gereiften Passionsfrüche zu 2.50 Franken das Pfund. Da gab es keinerlei Zurückhaltung!

Grüsse von den Yuana’s, jetzt in der Rodney Bay auf Saint Lucia

Grenada

Grenada

Markus

Grenada welcomed us with one of the better sailing days when cruising down their open ocean coasts with nice winds and almost no waves. We soon parked Yuana in the Marina of the Hotel Resort http://www.LePhareBleu.com

Le Phare Bleu is a Swiss owned and operated boutique hotel and marina, with all facilities open to the sailors as well. The name relates to the Swedish lighthouse ship which serves as their landmark, as a breakfast and music place, and which also houses some showers for the marina guests. This was our starting place to explore Grenada.

We arranged for a couple of onshore family runs, together with our friends from Mirabella, Kisu or Magellan. The rain forest refused us: loads of mud and flooded trails made it impossible to hike. We decided to give up and turn back after one hour, one kilometer and full of dirt. At least, we found some monkeys and waterfalls accessible by car which gave us an impression how it looks inside the jungle.

Our drivers stopped several time along the narrow and steep roads to show us trees where banana, mango, papaya, coconut, passion fruit, grape fruit, sorrel and other more exotic things grow. We also liked to learn where cloves grow and how cinnamon is produced.

Nutmegs are a chapter for itself, as the edible nut is packed in a triple shell, here described inside-our: Shell number one is very thin and hard and opens with a nut cracker. Shell number two is a fancy looking red netting called ‘mace’. It is the most precious part and used for flavoring of beverages or as a fragrance. The outermost shell finally is a thick cover comparable to a chestnut over in Europe.

The various fruits and spices amazed us and the kids. The kids favorite however was the chocolate factory, and inside the factory particularly the place where the products could be tasted. We bought a 1kg chocolate bar which shall soon give us a nice chocolate fondue. Hope nobody will die from the sugar flash.

Sure we were at the dinghy concert which was given on a raft in our bay. It was like on the street parade in Zurich, just with one stationary love mobile only and much better music. A small crowd of 300 gathered there to hang out on the water with friends, having a couple of drinks and enjoying great local sounds from the stage.

Visiting Grenada unveiled also some aspects where some might need to get used to. We want to write about this because we found it to be a part of their country or culture:
– Staff in a restaurant sometimes seem to be quite hesitating about serving customers. So we just grabbed the menu from the front desk and met the waitress at the bar for placing orders and paying the bill.
– Roads are very small. A safe driver won’t bring you farther than 30 kilometers in one hour. The hundreds of car wrecks rotting along the roads tell sad stories about the unsafe drivers.
– Locals pay no income tax. The state makes its money with import taxes only. The is a 150% surcharge on cars and 50% for the goods bought at the ship chandler where a lady used 5 minutes to bring a hand written invoice up to shape for me. Efficient?
– Many business potentials seem to be wasted without taking the chance to materialize them. Why isn’t the nutmeg place proudly serving cakes and drinks flavored with their products? Perhaps because they are proud that they haven’t changed their factory since the early days 50 years ago.
– The post system is dead slow. Still after three weeks, our new flag didn’t arrive and we had to leave without it. Too bad!

Still, do it as we did and visit this beautiful island! It‘s definitely worth it!

Feiertage im Paradies! Oder: Erste verpasste Weihnachten

Feiertage im Paradies! Oder: Erste verpasste Weihnachten

Markus

‚Sankt Vincent und die Grenadinen‘ (SVG) ist womöglich der Staat mit dem längsten Ländernamen ;-). Für uns zählt vor allem das angenehm tropische Klima und die vielen kleinen Ankerbuchten oder Riffe. In den Tobago Cays beobachten wir farbige Fische und schwimmen den Meeresschildkröten nach. Die weichen, palmenbestandenen Sandstrände laden sowieso zum Verweilen und Spielen ein. In der Salt Whistle Bay essen wir tagsüber selbst gesammelte Kokosnüsse. Abends geniessen wir Poulet und Gemüse von einem der lokalen Restaurants. Die nächste Bar ist lediglich 20 Schritte entfernt, und Schuhe braucht es hier sowieso nicht.

Lokale Restaurants bestehen typischerweise aus einem einfachen Gerüst aus Holz oder leichten Stahlprofilen. Dieses Gerüst stützt ein Dach aus getrockneten Palmwedeln. Anstatt vier Hauswänden gibt es lediglich eine Rückwand mit einem Tresen davor. Unter jedem zweiten Tisch liegt lethargisch ein Hund. Der Fussboden ist der Sandstrand. Die Küche ist stets hinter einem solchen Schuppen platziert. Sie besteht aus einem Holzkohlegrill und drei Gartentischen unter einer Plastikplane. Toilette? Irgendwo zwischen den Palmen steht neben dem Stromgenerator ein allzu gemeinschaftliches Baustellen-WC.

Auf den Getränkekarten findet sich eine grosse Vielfalt an Drinks. Wenn man sich als Captain ausgibt kosten die Drinks weniger, weil man ja schliesslich eine ganze Crew mitgebracht hat. Zu essen gibt es stets frischen Hummer, Fisch oder Poulet. Keiner differenziert sich vom anderen und jeder sagt, dass er der beste sei. Irgendeiner hat recht! Das Geschäft beruht gänzlich auf Crews von den besuchenden Yachten. Bei 10 bis 20 Yachten pro Bucht und Nacht kann man sich leicht ausrechnen, dass es für die Locals nicht allzu viel Arbeit gibt. Sicherlich ist hier nicht alles paradiesisch. Und wie immer kommt es eben auf den Standpunkt und ab und zu auf den Geburtsort an.

Wir unterstützen die lokale Wirtschaft dadurch, dass wir den sogenannten Boat Boys den einen Fisch oder den anderen Bananenkuchen abkaufen. Die Sachen werden direkt am Schiff verkauft, und die Fische auf Wunsch auch filetiert. Allerdings kann hier nicht unerwähnt bleiben, dass die Preisvorstellungen zuweilen eine Frechheit sind (zB 30 USD für 500 Gramm Bananenkuchen). Man kann es ja mal probieren.

Im Gegensatz zu Barbados kann man in SVG von der Weihnachtssaison überhaupt nichts spüren. Das passt bestens mit der Stimmung von uns und unseren Freunden zusammen. Jedenfalls haben wir auch nichts von einem Vorweihnachts-Stress gemerkt, haha! Einzig Gotti Birgit hat mit ihrem herzigen E-Mail-Adventskalender dafür gesorgt, dass wir täglich etwas vom Schweizer Dezemberwetter mitbekommen haben! Und schliesslich gab es für unsere Kiddies sogar noch das eine oder andere Päckli!

Bei unserer Weihnachts-Strandparty waren fast 30 SeglerInnen, die Hälfte davon Kinder. Zusammen haben wir den Atlantik überquert, und zusammen haben wir Weihnachten gefeiert. Weihnachtlich war es in dieser Umgebung jedoch niemandem zumute.

Unsere internationale Weihnachtsgesellschaft hat sich mittlerweile in verschiedene Richtungen verstreut. Die einen wollen nach den kleinen Antillen in die Azoren, nach Kuba, in die Bahamas, oder durch den Panamakanal in den Pazifik. Das führt zu verschiedenen Zeitplänen. Wir gehen erst mal in Richtung Süden nach Grenada.

Zunächst treffen wir – immer noch in SVG – heute mit den drei anderen Schweizer Schiffen zusammen, welche ebenfalls mit uns herübergekommen sind. Die Sylvesterlaune ist vollständig intakt, und wir sehen mit viel Vorfreude einem ‚gmögigen Sylvesterhöck‘ und einem guten neuen Jahr entgegen!

Ein herzliches „Prosit Neujahr” allseits!

Barbados

Barbados

Markus

Unser Ralley-Veranstalter Cornell Sailing war sich offensichtlich der Prioritäten seefahrender Crews bewusst, denn das Willkommenspaket beinhaltete eine SIM-Card für jedes Crewmitglied. So waren wir in Kürze mit dem Internet verbunden, und haben uns über die vielen lieben E-Mails gefreut! „Danke!“, liebe Familie und Freunde, für eure Glückwünsche zum Half Way und zur erfolgreichen und schnellen Überfahrt! Wir haben uns riesig über eure Post gefreut!

Direkt nach der offiziellen Einreise haben wir Yuana in den Stadthafen von Bridgetown verholt. Die Bajans (so nennen sich die Locals) fahren total auf Weihnachten ab. An ersten Abend wurde in einer lauten Nachtparty der neue Weihnachtsschmuck (reich befrachtete Plastik-Tannenbäume über-all) gefeiert. In der folgenden Nacht wurde gefeiert, dass Weihnachten vor der Tür steht.

Auch sonst hat es uns in Barbados gefallen. Hier und da wird man angesprochen, ob man eine Taxifahrt oder ein paar Früchte gebrauchen könnte. Keiner nimmt es einem übel, falls das zufällig gerade nicht der Fall ist. In einem Fall haben wir jedoch ein Taxi gebraucht. Wie wir während der Fahrt im Minivan gemerkt haben, wird der Wagen wohl mit umgelegten Sitzen auch für Leichentransporte verwendet. Flexibilität hilft eben beim Geschäften ;-).

In Barbados verabschieden wir uns auch von unserer Zusatzcrew. Joachim ist schon von Bord und geniesst seine 75 Quadratmeter Hotel-Suite. Jeanette wird auch noch einige Inseltage geniessen, bevor es zurück nach Schweden geht. „Joe the Fisherman“ und „Jeanette the Trimmer“ haben uns sooo toll ergänzt. Wir hatten eine super Zeit zusammen, und das erste Mal seit dem September in Lissabon konnten Manuela und Markus wieder einmal alleine ausgehen. Vielen lieben Dank Joe und Jeanette, dass ihr mit uns gefahren seid und für uns da wart!

So sind wir nach Jahren der Vorbereitung also tatsächlich am östlichsten Ausläufer der Karibik angekommen. Erst mal müssen wir uns im neuen Fahrtgebiet zurechtfinden. Auf welchen Inseln kann man in die Grenadinen einreisen, und wo gibt es eine Schiffstankstelle mit sauberem Diesel? Das geht am besten mit Internet und anderen Seglern zusammen in einer schönen Strandbar. Weil wir immer nur gerade wenige Tage planen gibt es natürlich umso mehr Bedarf, sich in der nächsten Beach Bar wiederzufinden. Damit können wir sehr gut leben.

In den letzten Monaten haben wir viele neue Freunde gewonnen. Diese Tage geht es nun in die Grenadinen, um dort ein gemeinsames Weihnachtsfest zu feiern. Auch das will natürlich wohl geplant sein. Auch in die Schweiz und alle Welt senden wir dazu ein herzliches „Viva!“ und „Prost!“ aus Barbados!

Cape Verde Islands

Cape Verde Islands

Markus

When we took first sight of the Cape Verde Islands, it was a thin line of sparsely grouped lights of the islands Sao Antao and Sao Vicente, half way through the night. Early morning light unveiled misty mountains, steep, not too high, somehow magic. They were just there, as ever since, certainly not waiting for us.

After another couple of hours we arrived and set into the harbor, first to the fuel dock, then into the well managed Marina, manager from Northern Europe. All staff greeted us with ‘Welcome to Cape Verde!’. It was lovely to be welcomed into a new country after several days on sea.

Now we had our feet on African soil, this time also politically African. We found a clean town with a couple of ATM’s around the corner and a the mobile communications company selling 3G SIM cards for 2.50 Euro, 3.5 Gigabytes included. So far so good!

The standard of living is definitely a different one here compared to what we are known from Northern Europe. This was a good exercise for our kids as well. Next to seeing what’s going on in the streets, one can easily spot that buying things goes with a different logic. Samples? As most people have no fridge at home, no fresh butter or yoghurt is available in the shops.
Or: As people want to consume fancy products but have only little money, soft drinks are sold in very small bottles, and cigarettes can be bought by the single piece.

A local helped us with finding fresh bread on a Sunday morning. We were glad when he offered to show us the bakery. Finally it was a 1.5km run to the other side of Mindelo and the bread was not really great. I offered to buy some bread for him as well, but he preferred to receive a large box of dried milk powder for his baby twins at a price he couldn’t have afforded. We went into further social engagements. Expecting some gratitude from the receivers usually turned out to be wrong. It may be like that.

Being asked whether independence from Portugal was a good thing, the milk powder man says that he sees economic disadvantages in the now globalized world. But he would also mention that his grandfather still likes the independence since locals felt treated incorrectly those days. Today, the relation between Cape Verde and Portugal seems to be quite friendly.

Low standard of living means low cost for basic things of daily live. This attracted a good dozen of old sailing boats and crews who dropped anchors around the Marina. The boat names tell about dreams which have run out of fuel, and those boats lousy poor appearance tell about the sailors who didn’t manage to find the way back into Northern civilization.

One of our better day trips so far happened in the Cape Verde Islands. We used the ferry to go to Sao Vicente island. We were rewarded with absolutely stunning views, see picture. As much as the Eastern side of the island is dry and brown, the Western side is humid and green. There are sugar canes grown as much as avocados, grape fruits, or papayas.

Back in Mindelo, we find the perhaps safest playground in the world. An armed watchmen would guard the playing children. His job description unfortunately also includes to tell the kids continuously what not to do. It was not appreciated when kids were running too fast, hanging head over on a wooden beam, or if only two kids would sit on a swing which was designed for four kids.

Now we are done with all preparations for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Yuana is ready again and lots of fruits and veggies are washed and individually wrapped in paper towels. That’s the way how to keep them fresh for a long time on sea. Feelings are like ‘When can we finally go?’. All four weather models predict light winds in right direction all the way to Barbados. So at least the first couple of days should be an easy go. Markus’ brother Joe is now also on board and we are ready for departure tomorrow Thursday November 23rd.

Good bye, Africa!

Harboring the Canaries

Harboring the Canaries

Markus

The last 12 hours on our way from Madeira into the Canaries were quite exhausting. We made a decent progress, in rolling waves and against the wind. Some salty drizzles went over the cockpit every now and then. The outer deck however saw a lot of sea water. Somehow, approximately 50 liters of the salty liquid ended up in the bilge, which is the deepest point INSIDE the boat.

The 50 liters itself wasn’t too much of an issue, but the fact that salt water gets into the boat is definitely unwanted. Skip this section if you are not interested in technical terms. Our cockpit and part of the deck are drained via reinforced hoses through the interior of the boat and out underneath the water line. Shorty after buying the boat I checked and fastened all of the hose clamps which secure these hoses, each one going from a hose sleeve below deck down to a valve, before going into the sea. Somehow, I must have missed one of these hose clamps, certainly the one which came loose, draining some deck water into the bilge. Item solved.

Arriving in the Canaries, we anchored in famous Francesa Bay. As many places, it has unveiled their beauty to us only after a day or two: its underwater world. The first day in the anchorage was tough again: 35 degrees Celsius at 35 knots of wind and 1 meter swell in the anchorage. Not a good anchorage on that day indeed. Anyway, we wanted to be there because it is a nature reserve and we got a special permit to be there. The good news is that our anchor held rock solid, but two anchor retention lines (the lines taking the load off the anchor winch) broke due to the heavy rocking of the boat.

Two days later and in the port of totally dry island of Graciosa, we found ourselves in a very little village, all houses painted white, with sandy lanes in between. There were only two hands full of cars for the entire village. A horse wagon on a restaurant roof reminded of the old days. During the weekend, the place was looking like a neat hippy village, with dreadlocks men and women trying to make some bucks with selling nice hand craft. Customers however seemed to be not too many.

On Graciosa and a week later on Lanzarote, we got more of the volcano stuff all over the place. In the cactus gardens we learned that the saying ‘hard shell soft core’ really can also be the other way round: some of the huge cactus were cut back. There we spotted that those cactus have a core hard as wood, packed into a relatively soft shell. Then there was the camel ride. We not only rode these fantastic animals, we also took a deep look into their eyes: most of them seamed to be good-natured. But there was one really mean looking chap, perfectly prepared for the Horror Rocky Camel Show.

More animals? Yes. When kissing our friends from yacht Tomskii Kastan goodbye, Markus learned that his beard apparently felt like a hedgehog. Too much hair in the face… At least she didn’t call me a porcupine, haha. We enjoyed great times with the Tomskii’s, certainly enough wine, great beach barbecues, and our kids learned how to carve dragons out of cucumbers. Thank you, dear friends, and see you again!

From Lanzarote we did an overnight sail to Tenerife. A teenage Mahi-Mahi of 80cm was on our hook. The colors were beautifully green and gold, until it died. Then the color suddenly changed to grayish silver, as most fish would look like. Tenerife will be the place where we conclude our preparations for the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. A separate post about the preps will follow.

Something nice to close this season review? Yes of course: If Markus shall recommend a place in the Canaries, it will be the restaurant http://www.cantinateguise.com for an overwhelming burger with truffel sauce, and for the hot pants as well.

Madeira and Porto Santo

Madeira and Porto Santo

Markus

Oh, how have we enjoyed these two islands! As we found Porto Santo to be a generally dry and earthy brown place from the beaches up to the mountain tops, the southern coast of Madeira provides all kinds of tropic flavors, including fruits, flowers and mosquitoes.

The entire Madeira archipelago is of volcanic nature. Today, it is only a fraction of what it used to be, approximately 1 million years ago. When the archipelago found its maximum extension it was as long as 1400km! Most of it has eroded and washed away by the sea. In fact and when sailing down from Lisbon, we passed several under water mountains, one peaking just 20 meters below sea surface.

Porto Santo was commercially used already half a millennium ago. By then the so called dragon trees were milked. Their red ‘blood’ was shipped to Milan in Northern Italy, where the clothing industry was eagerly seeking the red color for the fashion business.

Our days in Porto Santo peacefully started at the harbor cafe with a great espresso against 60 cents. After our school lessons we would play at the nearby beach with its healing sands, and enjoy swimming in the sea every day. We explored the island with two Quads, which are the motor bikes with four wheels. Wooaaou, it was fun for the boys crawling up and down some rocky mountains and drifting along sandy trails.

The next best place after the beaches and some hexagonal volcanic columns was restaurant Torres in the tiny village of Camacha. Go there if you can, roasted chicken stands out. We were seated in the garden, sun protected by a huge passion fruit tree. I ordered a drink which was not on the menu list, particularly a tall glass of fresh passion fruit juice. Imagine how many fruits this would take. The price for it was 5 Euro and so I decided that it would be impolite to order a second one.

It was just a short 40 miles ride to the main island of Madeira. Different world, colorful all over, with up to three huge cruise ships tied up to the Funchal quays. The market hall offered a huge variety of local fruits and veggies, best presented and well marketed at a ridiculous price.

We visited tropical gardens, volcanic caves, natural swimming pools at the sea and a museum about whales and whaling. That made it quite easy for us to cover some aspects about school requirements.

The best thing for us on Porto Santo and Madeira however was that we really touched down with the blue water sailing community. Everyone in the harbor is traveling with his or her boat for a good time of the year. Many of them would pass the Atlantic Ocean this season. What however made this community so outstandingly great was that most different people with all kinds of social and business backgrounds meet. All of them are down to sailing and have a common theme which starts when helping each other with the mooring lines upon arrival. We were neighbored not only to kids from various countries, but also to a business lady from the Caspian Sea, doctors of medicine from France, financial investors from Norway, an oil exploration engineer from the other side of the world or a Swedish manager from an internationally acting Swedish furniture company. There are also cruisers who live their way around the globe on a very tight budget. That opens up such an entirely wide field of exchange. When saying “Good bye for now!” and wishing “Fair winds!”, we also say “See you in the West Indies!” or exchange invitations to visit each other at their homes around the globe.

Before leaving Portugal for some time, we shall not forget to mention how easy it was for us to communicate with the locals. Even the bus drivers were fluent in English as far as their job required it. The lady from the bread counter in the supermarket was not shy to interrupt a colleague, just to explain to us that the reddish color of the bread comes from the beet root juice they would add. Lots of charming people, nature and culture. Great place indeed.

Surprising Portugal

Surprising Portugal

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We have visited only two places in Portugal, which was Porto and Lisbon, plus we have followed approximately half of Portugals coast line. Not enough to tell about? Perhaps not. But still, we leave Portugal’s main land with lots of vivid impressions.

Surprise number 1 is the town of Porto, where the famous port wine is traded. The colorful little old town houses at river Duoro and the bold bridges across the river invite to use the camera around every corner. Uphills, long building fronts with richly decorated stone carvings line up along wide avenues. The town is dotted with many Churches, courageous modern architecture, and lots of green. We stayed at the Duoro Marina and visited the town at the first day of the RedBull Air Race. I wouldn’t have thought so, but I started to like the crazy guys who do all kinds of fancy things with their little aircrafts. They race above the river, in between the town buildings, at 400 km/h.

Surprise number 2 comes as we round the the sister capes Cabo da Roca and Cabo da Rosa. First we find ourselves in fog, then we run into gale wind forces which form around the two capes. Shortly after Cabo da Rosa when reaching the (wind) shadow of the capes, temperature is suddenly raised and one needs to relieve himself from three of four layers of clothing. Sea is now flat and a gentle light wind carries marvelous scents from the flours on land over the sea. We came out of a mess and into a new world within minutes only.

Surprise number 3: It was targeted for more than one year that we could meet our parents in Lisbon, after their hiking holiday in Galicia. However and until few days before, it isn’t clear at all whether or not they can make it, due to some special circumstances. Finally it works out and it is so great to be with them for some time. Having been away from home for a long time, each personal contact becomes a very special moment.

Surprise number 4: YESSS, finally KID BOATS…;-)!!! It took two month to bump into other kid boats with kids of similar age. Now they are here and we are, too. For all three families its great that the horde of kids can play with each other and enjoy themselves. All of them show each others boats, they have fun on the playground, at the table tennis, or in a movie session on one of the boats. It seems that we will meet a couple of times during the next weeks, perhaps even month!

Surprise number 5 is the fantastic Park of Nations area of Lisbon. It encompasses a vast area including the Marina, an Oceanum, a Science House, outdoor parks, creative water fountains, playgrounds, museums, business places, apartments. The mile long seaside area provides stunning views to the Ponte Vasco da Gamma. 25 years back, this was a rundown dock area. Everything was made new for the EXPO 1998. Different to other EXPO places, this one was built to last for future. It does, and they keep and maintain everything very well.

Surprise number 6 was that same Parque das Naçoes offers us such a rich environment that (you won’t believe it!) we don’t feel the need to explore the old town (and we know it’s worth it from a visit one decade before).

Any other surprises? Yes, as we are there, famous singer Madonna announces that she will move here residence to Lisbon. That’s at least what we understand from local radio stations. Yes, it is a place to be!

More surprises: Quite unexpectedly, Portugal becomes the most expensive country on our trip so far. Some maintenance and repair isn’t cheap at all, particularly the parts are more than double price, compared to Northern Europe. The VAT of 23% also was not very helpful. Labor on the other side is very cheap. Then we went to the sports shop to stock up functional wear plus a Stand Up Paddle for Caribbean seas!

Once again, we as sailors cannot talk about Portugal without mentioning King Enrique the Seafarer and his visionary investments into sea expeditions, half a millennium ago. Within a few decades, they encountered the coast of the African continent, then the route by sea to India and beyond. What an achievement, in those early days of offshore navigation. A huge memorial at river Tejo tells stories of great seamanship, boldness and glory of the conquistadors and flourishing Portugal as such. Saying this, one should not forget poorest condition on some of the ship, including hunger, sickness, and death.

Now we are about to leave the European Continent as well, with best navigation tools available, some knowledge gathered, feeling ok to go, still not forgetting that we are still a bit greenhornish as we do that first time.

Beautiful Galicia

Beautiful Galicia

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Galicia is the so friendly place where we unlearned sailing. Distances were lazy short and winds weren’t really there, so almost no sailing in three weeks with few but great exceptions. On the other side, Galicia is where we learned anchoring. This is again good news for a most relaxed life.

A Coruña was our landfall and first harbor in Spain, on an early morning back in first half of August. It took less than one hour until me and my son found ourselves sitting in an old town Café. The hidden plan was actually to go for some fresh bread for the entire crew. But when we saw the many Cafés with chairs and tables out in the ped zone, we understood that this was the chance to improve our plans. Sitting over the sweet breakfast with the best coffee in days and one or two Spanish croissants gave me some great yet distant memories about business trips to my friends in Barcelona.

Same evening the restaurant conceptonegra.com satisfied more culinary desires that we could think of. Up to my (limited) knowledge, only one other country in the world produces such a wide range of delicious meals and wines (the one in the med of course). Not only tongues and bellies were rewarded after 40 hours of motoring across calm Bay of Biscay. Coruña also enriched our mariner hearts: To our surprise the city hosts the oldest operating lighthouse on the planet. It is more than incredibly 1’900 years old, built by the Romans. It is another place which deserves special recommendation for Coruña visitors: torredeherculesacoruna.com

Costa da Morte was kind to us and soon after we passed Cabo Finisterre, the former end of the world. The general conditions seemed to be quite easy on that day, peaceful and fast downwind sailing. I was just typing a life-around-Finisterre message to a friend when I realized that the boom is going over. This was definitely an unwanted situation.

What did happen? The tectonic circumstances of the cape area caused sudden changes of water currents. We ran straight into a whirlpool. The autopilot couldn’t keep course and our traveling direction changed. The wind still came from behind, but now from the other side. This made the main sail flipping over, known as an accidental gybe. A main sail which goes over all in a sudden can badly damage the rig. Sailors install a so called preventer system which either keeps the boom where it was or makes the shift smooth. Our preventer was set and active for that route and nothing bad happened. Just a few question marks in the eyes of my crew and some smiling faces up on Cape Finisterre rock, I guess.

More relaxing were Galicia’s rias. Rias are fjord-like sea arms going many miles inlands. Weather is sometimes fresh and wet there, as the Atlantic itself is. And so was the sea water: 16-18 Celsius, depending on the bay. The hilly and green area sometimes reminded us of our home country. We learned to anchor in the nicest bays, played on the beaches, and some even went swimming. We went hiking, caught fish, enjoyed sunsets and scenic night views of the villages ashore.

Some of the rias are well protected by dozens of smaller and larger islands, generally rocky, with sandy beaches an patches here and there. The pictures within this blog tell about the beauty of the place.

Also the fast train which brought us to monumental Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela reminded us to Switzerland: fast, punctual, clean, and with a voice message ahead of the next city stop. Each message closed with a very logical and therefore strange reminder: “We remind the passengers who want to continue their journey that they should not exit at the stop!” Sure, what else would you do ;-)?!

Seeing the fantastic new city buildings, museums, harbor control towers, fast train stations and art pieces every here and there, it becomes quite obvious how much fluent the money was in the years ahead of 2008. Now, some Cafés sell a morning coffee plus a large croissant for 2 Euros or even less. Was it ever like that? We don’t know, but we have the feeling that this is not enough to pay the rent and make a decent living. It would be a tragedy, which hopefully will change to the better soon.

Our last days in Galicia brought a lot of morning and evening fog. Vision was sometimes poor and the fog horns were operated. A fog horn replaces the lighthouse in the case of poor visibility. They make Mooou-mooou-mooou-mooooooooou. Fog horns sound like monster cows with some calming patience in their voices. They reminded us that we should move further south.

Galicia’s final statement for us before heading down to Portugal was the Monte Real Club Nautico of Baiona, a jewel of a marina (but same as the other ones with a weak Wifi backbone). Baiona has some most pittoreske narrow lanes, which come to real life late evening when the locals go for dinner. An old fortress and now hotel sets a beautiful counter point. And the Club Nautico sits in between, with a small beach on each side. Look at the picture…

Also if we intend more than ever to cross the Atlantic, Spain will perhaps be the country where we spend most of our one-year traveling time. This is almost sure as we will be back in Spain for another two or three weeks, when entering the Canary Islands. More Queso, more Serrano, more Rioja, more Siesta ;-)!