Freedom and Adventure

Making our way to Trinidad

2012-01-29T04:22:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 28^th January 2012

When I last wrote we had left Barbados on a slow travel down to Trinidad. We arrived last Saturday at Port Elizabeth in Bequia and stayed for three nights. Bequia had everything we needed, a protected anchorage, lots of cruising friends, wifi, fresh food, and a few restaurants along the foreshore for evening gatherings and rum punches.

Views of Bequia

Nine cruising buddies hired a taxi (truck with bench seats in the back) and traveled around the small island for a few hours; a very pretty and peaceful spot; a good place to visit.

We left Tuesday stopping off at Saltwhistle Bay on the island of Mayreau.

Saltwhistle Bay

This little bay was Caribbean picture post card perfect but apart from a few islanders selling T-shirts and sarongs there wasn’t anything to keep us longer than one rolly night.

The next morning we sailed 1.5 miles across to Tobago Cays. This is reputably the best reef in the area with turtles, tropical fish and soft corals. We stayed for two days along with Tony on ‘Tactical Directions’ and enjoyed good company, beautiful beaches and snorkeling in a 28 degree aqua sea, as Tony said “Not a patch on the Barrier Reef” but then we are probably biased.

Tobago Cays

GO ANDREW!

Yesterday we sailed 6 miles to Union Island for supplies and to check out of St Vincent and Grenadines. When we checked in at Bequia, Andrew had a heated discussion with the Customs and Immigration people as they charge a hefty overtime fee between the hour 3-6pm on Saturday and Sunday. The problem is, the times are not published and the overtime rates are not mentioned until after the paperwork is done. So when we came to check out yesterday on a different island they tried to charge an overtime rate between 12-1pm on a weekday because of lunchtime. Once again the overtime hours are not published or written on the door. Andrew stood his ground saying he wasn’t prepared to pay an overtime fee because this is a government office and the overtime hours are public information. In the end the overtime fee was waved base on our “lack of knowledge”.

GRENADAN GRENADINES

So we are now at Carriacou Island in the Grenadan Grenadines. We are in the lovely calm anchorage of Tyrell Bay. Since leaving Bequia last Tuesday we have experienced very windy conditions. It is lovely now to be in calm waters; people are driving their dinghies around without getting drenched. We have come here to meet Pete and Courtney on ‘Norna’ who we feel we know after speaking with them for many months on the radio Net. It will be a quick hello as we arrived late yesterday and intend leaving tonight to sail 105 miles to Trinidad.

Love Team Atlantic

A, B & C xx

Photos from Barbados

2012-01-23T08:23:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 22^nd January 2012

Cruising friends at a Rum Bar in Bridgetown before the Cricket

Leeward Islands vs Windward Islands cricket match at Kensington Oval

People watching; one of the many very gorgeous kids

People watching; “Where did you get that hat, where did you get that hat?”

The channel in the centre of Bridgetown; where we parked the dinghy

View of the boisterous Atlantic Ocean on the eastern side of the island

View of the peaceful Caribbean Sea on the western side of the island

Free Rum samples at the Mount Gay Rum bottling plant in Bridgetown

Andrew and Stuart from ‘Matador’ sampling more free drinks at
the Mount Gay plant

Love Candy xx

Atlantic Crossing Photos

2012-01-23T08:09:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 22^nd January 2012

Andrew and Bronwyn enjoying smooth conditions on day two of the crossing

Our first catch a wonderful Mahi Mahi; baked fish with oriental noodle salad for dinner

The next day, another Mahi Mahi: sweet n sour fish with rice for dinner

4-5 kilo Mahi Mahi. Fan fried coated in roasted sesame seeds and a green salad for dinner

More bloody Mahi Mahi ; Thai red curry with peanuts and rice for dinner. Fishing has been banned.

Bronwyn’s Shift, all is under control

A 2-3M swell was rolling for the last 3 days of the trip

Clare, Andrew, Bronwyn and Mark on Balvenie ; a champagne celebrating for our arrival.

Love Candy xx

Barbados

2012-01-22T06:34:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 21st January 2012

HOW TO DESCRIBE BARBADOS

Vibrant, friendly and noisy are the adjectives that spring to mind.
The people dress very colorfully in purple, yellow, lime green and shocking pink, just to mention a few. The colour combinations are striking to say the least, like the bank uniform of purple trousers and a bright yellow shirt. The people are very dark skinned with brilliant white teeth and they smile easily. They are openly friendly and helpful; stopping to pick up something I've dropped or helping me up the footpath with my shopping trolley. Music is a big part of every day living. The public busses are fairly pulsating to the beat and the cricket we attended had music blasting from loud speakers throughout the entire match.

The cricket match was a wonderful spectacle at the very modern Kensington Oval. The crowd barracked enthusiastically without being aggressive and chatted/laughed the whole time. One really noticeable aspect is that Barbadians seem not to smoke. I saw one old destitute having a puff but apart from that the smokers were Europeans.

We took the bus around the island giving us a good view of the boisterous Atlantic Ocean rolling in on the east coast whilst the peaceful Caribbean Sea laps at the beaches on the west coast. The beaches have beautiful fine white sand and the sea is a startling aqua. The houses along the coast are small, cute and brightly painted. For example one house had a red roof, yellow weatherboards, pink and blue stripped awning, white windows with shocking pink shutters and a blue door with pink and white rectangles painted on. This was nestled in a rich green tropical setting. The house next door was a combination of mauve, pale blue and lime green. Sounds way out, but it works and looks fabulous - Barbadians must think we are a dull lot!

We were anchored off Bridgetown which is the Island's capital. This is a bustling city with lots of British money spent here in the 18th Century. There are many lovely old buildings and monuments and a fabulous boardwalk which extends along one side of the waterway leading into the city centre.
We were quite welcome to leave our dinghy there giving us good access to the town. We were not hassled by the local people, which was a refreshing change. We like the feel of Barbados and would happily return if the opportunity presents itself.

We left Barbados late yesterday and sailed 100 miles west to the small island of Bequia. We are going ashore this evening to have drinks with the other cruising folk anchored in the same bay. I will be on the lookout for some internet access as I am dying to show you the fish Andrew caught.

Love Candy xx

At 10:58 AM21/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°05.81'N 060°56.23'W

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THE NEW WORLD

2012-01-18T07:21:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Bridgetown Barbados Tuesday 17th January 2012

We arrived at Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown, Barbados after 14 days and 5 hours at sea.
This is the only anchorage on the island and so many other Altantic cruisers are here including our friends Mark and Amanda "Balvenie" and Tony "Tactical Directions".

We had drinks on "Balvenie" last night and popped the champagne cork to celebrate our successful crossing. David and Brenda from the New Zealand yacht "Bandit" joined us as well. Amanda gave us a most welcomed and thoughtful gift of local fruit and fresh bread for our breakfast.

The anchorage is windy and fairly open to the Atlantic swell but it didn't stop us from enjoying a peaceful night's sleep.

I haven't been into town yet but all of the above mentioned plus American couple Rob and Dee from "Ventana" are heading into a 20/20 cricket match late this afternoon. There are two games so we intend catching the last part of one game and then staying for the night match. I'm not a cricket enthusiast, but I'm going to people watch and sing the Reggae tune "I don't like cricket man, oh no - I love it".

We have checked in to the country and have spent some time repacking sails and washing sheets (ropes). It rained lovely clean rain last night as apparently it does most nights. Tomorrow we will shop, wash and then we are free to have a well earned holiday with Bronwyn before we all head home.

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A. B. C

At 8:19 PM17/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°05.57'N 059°37.06'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 14

2012-01-17T04:43:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Monday 16th January 2012

LAND HO (We are hoping it is Barbados)!

In the last 24 hours we have sailed 152 miles. The swell is 3M with a wind speed of 15-20K gusting 25K. We are sailing with the same rig as yesterday. It is a glorious day with blue sky and a sparkling sea.

The highlight of the day is "we have done our last overnight shift". We are looking forward to the simple joys in life like clean sheets, a bed that doesn't move and an uninterrupted night's sleep - yep, we're getting old.

Unfortunately we haven't caught a fish in the past two days. I think the swell is too big. However we did have a bite about half an hour ago. The fish took the lure and snapped the line off at the rod (which is securely tied to the boat). It must have been a huge fish. My ever positive Andrew said "Lucky I didn't have to pull that in".

We currently have 19 miles to Bridgetown, Barbados. After spending seven seasons in The Mediterranean a whole new Caribbean world is about to open up for us; it is very exciting.

I will write tomorrow and let you know about our landfall and our first impressions of the new world.

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A, B, C.

At 5:41 PM16/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°01.21'N 059°23.38'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY13

2012-01-16T04:16:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 15th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24 hours we have sailed 154 miles. The swell is 3 to 3.5M with a wind speed of 18-25K gusting 30K. We are sailing with the storm jib and poled out genoa. It is a lovely sunny 30 degrees, the water temperature is 27.5 degrees and the boat smells as sweet as honey.

The highlight of the day is hearing voices on the VHF radio and seeing three container ships - we must be close to civilization. It's time to put the Champagne in the fridge for tomorrow's arrival.

We did have a mini disaster today. Overnight the lid came off a full bottle of honey in the breakfast cupboard. Bronwyn discovered the mess when all she wanted was her morning cup of coffee. We almost lost a full roll of paper towel; Bronny came to the rescue and with the carving knife reduced the roll to a new and improved mini size - no waste on our boat - apart from the honey!!

Today's background information is on an equipment failure at sea. One of our cruising friends left the Cape Verdes mid December heading for St Lucia in the Caribbean. Two days out and in big seas they reported via the Net that they had lost their rudder. We believe that before commencing the journey, the rudder amongst other things had been checked when the boat was hauled out.

So they were now faced with not being able to go back (against the wind and waves) and at that point a reduced boat speed to 3 knots. They rigged up a drogue at the back of the boat which gave them steerage and speed. A few days later when the sea had settled they could see that in fact they had some rudder. The failure appeared to be at a joint about one third down.

Some yachts in the vicinity stood by with them for moral support and when possible additional fuel drums were transferred across to them. Our friends arrived into St Lucia some sixteen days later. Even on their last night they had to battle squalls, 38 knot winds and a 3M swell - hardly seems fair!

I didn't tell you this at the time for fear of alarming you; what a nerve wracking
experience?. We have been very fortunate and at present Andrew has the fishing rod out trying for a little more fortune.

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A, B, C

At 11:00 AM15/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°19.57'N 056°06.23'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 12

2012-01-15T04:55:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 14th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last day we have sailed 159 miles. The swell is 2-3M with a wind speed of 22-25K gusting 30K. We are sailing with the storm jib and poled out genoa. The weather is warm, overcast with a number of rainy squalls.

The highlight of the day is "rain". Eye Candy has now started her journey back to cleanliness.

Today background information is on how quickly conditions can change. It was Friday 13th (of course) when the calm weather and our glorious spinnaker run came to an abrupt end. The waves changed within halt an hour from half a metre to 2M; we changed from shorts and T-shirts to wet weather gear. Yesterday the waves were close together and coming from all directions. One would think from Eye Candy's motion that she was blessing herself - up, down, left, right, up down, left and right. I served Bronwyn and Andrew some scones in the cockpit. They sat opposite each other at the table. Bronwyn put a scone on her plate. It shot across the plate up over the lip onto Andrew's plate then up over the lip and Andrew caught it. He said "I should have this one" so he put the scone on his plate and the exact same thing happened in reverse; Bronwyn caught it. They had to ditch the plates and settle for paper towel.

Today the swell is much further apart making the movement more manageable. We are encountering dark skies, increased wind speed, squalls, rain and then sunshine. With the wind whistling through the rigging it sounds really wild from below. However once on deck it's not too bad and it is quite interesting watching the power of the sea.

Andrew is hoping to do some fishing this afternoon. I should think it would be quite a challenge trying to land a fish in these conditions - I will have the camera ready.

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A,B and C

At 5:52 PM14/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°24.51'N 054°11.39'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 11

2012-01-14T01:50:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 13th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the past 24 hours we have sailed 141 miles. Our spinnaker run came to an end last night when the wind quickened to 20 plus knots as forecast. The swell is 2M and the boat speed is 6-7K. It is a bit of a bumpy ride at present.

The highlight of the day is that we have now completed three quarters of the trip. At this stage we look like arriving into Barbados sometime on Monday.

Today's background information is on boat to boat communication.
We have been in daily contact with other boats crossing the Atlantic. We have formed a radio net at 10.00 GMT that we have named the "Magellan Net". At present we have 17 boats in contact but we have had as many as 30 plus. Each day a different yacht is the "Net Controller" and their job is to call each yacht in turn for their Lat/Long position and sea conditions. There is also an opportunity to ask for any help or advice needed and to have a social chat. It is a good way to meet people. There is a good chance you will meet again at anchor one day. Once the boats reach Barbados they drop off this net and join the Caribbean net. It has been both interesting and comforting to have this contact during the crossing.

Well due to the swell I am just about being thrown out of my seat. I am typing with one hand and holding on to the computer with the other. So until tomorrow (when fishing recommences)

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A, B, C.

At 5:09 AM13/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°39.03'N 050°16.08'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 10

2012-01-13T01:36:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Thursday 12th January 2012
All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24 hours we have sailed 137NM. All other conditions are the same as yesterday. This is our 5th day under spinnaker. Part of Andrew's daily maintenance check now included checking the halyard and fitting for possible wear due to sailing on the same angle for so long - not that we are complaining!

The highlight of the day is we have completed two thirds of the trip. We currently have 636 miles to go to Barbados.

Today's background information is on Clare's sailing experience.

Unlike Andrew and Bronwyn who have been sailing since childhood, I started sailing at age 48. I started on Colin and Denise's race boat competing in the winter series racing around buoys in Sydney Harbour. I couldn't understand a word of the conversations with terms like kickers, toppers, tweakers, uphauls, dip pole jibes. These are a few from my earliest memory. However, I did understand "duck or you'll get hit by the boom" and "don't throw up to windward or you'll wear it".

My first offshore experience was delivering Col's boat back from Coff Harbour to Sydney. On this two night trip I threw up fourteen times. One of the more experienced sailors on the boat said "don't worry Clare when I first did this trip I threw up 19 times - you have five to go". Obvious question -"Why did I go back for more?" I guess it was being part of the exhilaration of racing, the laughter, the shouting, the camaraderie, great friendships and my curiosity.

I took some courses with a Sailing School to fast track my learning. For the next seven years I raced in the winter series on the Harbour. My little moment of glory was crewing on the winning boat one year as pit chick. I did a number of offshore races in the summer months. My biggest offshore race was Sydney-Southport (380 miles) and my longest time on Col's boat was six weeks cruising to and from and competing in the Hamilton Island Race week. By this time I had overcome sea sickness and could understand the sailing conversations and important questions like "who's for a black tea" which meant "who wants a Bundy rum and coke?"

Since retiring from full time work in 2003, I have embarked on the same sailing adventures as Andrew and now I am crossing the Atlantic. Do I consider myself a sailor? NO! But I'm having heaps of fun.

Cheers from the Atlantic Team
A,B,C

At 2:35 PM12/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°46.72'N 048°47.68'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 9

2012-01-12T02:53:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, Wednesday 11th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24hours we have sailed 129M. The swell is 1-1.5 M, wind speed is 10-15K and boat speed is 4-7K. We have now been under spinnaker for four fantastic days of sailing. Last night we had about 90 percent cloud cover so no stars and moon beams just a cream colored sky and a grey sea.

The highlight of the day is - you have probably already guessed. "We caught another Mahi Mahi" The tally is now 7 Mahi Mahi and 2 tuna fish. We had previously thrown one Mahi Mahi back (undersize) and one of the tuna fish was caught on the first leg. So in the last eight days we have eaten 5 fish and 2 are in the fridge. Guess what we are having for dinner tonight? Andrew has been banned from fishing. Yesterday's catch was the third consecutive large fish weighing 4-5 kilos. A week ago it was impossible to imagine we could get sick of eating Mahi Mahi.

Today's background information is on "entertainment on board".
This is a serious consideration when crossing an ocean as a lot of time is spent together without the stimulation of newspapers, television, internet or telephone. So it is important to have HF radio, a good library, plenty of movies and TV programs, computer games, puzzles and the like. Some of the long term cruisers consider the ocean passages as boring.

The Atlantic crossing for us has been a wonderful experience. It has been a blessing having Bronwyn on board. Her sailing experience and engineer know how has taken the pressure off Andrew (giving him time to fish). For me I have had time to read and escape into another world.

Andrew who is sometimes known as "a man of few words" has been chirping away like a merry magpie. Every morning as I drift off on my morning nap I can hear the conversations from the cockpit. Everything from different greases and their applications, engine power, propellers, fuel consumption, watermakers and gas bottles just to name a few. This morning however I thought "great it's all turned to shit" they were having an in depth conversation about anaerobic sewage treatment on yachts, bacteria and the purchase of bugs to facilitate the process.

I think I will stick to reading!

Cheers from Team Atlantic
A,B,C

At 3:44 PM11/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°55.37'N 046°34.93'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 8

2012-01-11T06:02:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Tuesday 10th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last day we have sailed 140 miles. The conditions are the same as yesterday. This is the third day we have sailed under spinnaker and poled out jib. It is a lovely 30 degrees and Andrew spent time this morning sun baking on the foredeck. He is now jumping around up there washing the salt from the top deck, boom and bottom of the mast.

The highlight of the day is our fishing adventure. Andrew decided to try out a new lure. The packet states "Gulp, outfishes all other bait - Sweet n Sour Chicken - Catch More Fish". Twenty minutes later we had two huge Mahi Mahi. As Andrew was reeling them in, other smaller fish were snapping at the odor trail. Even Bronwyn jumped clear as the fish fought and thrashed about in the cockpit. It was like something out of Jaws.

Today's background information is on the immediate. We have completed the first week and so my spare time today was spent cooking emergency meals for the next week. I know enough about sailing not to expect the near perfect conditions to continue. All going well we should have another six meals at sea; we are ready.

Love Candy xx

At 6:55 PM10/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°46.57'N 044°40.75'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 7

2012-01-10T04:22:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Monday 9th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24hours we have sailed 120M. The 1-2M swells are a long way apart; wind speed is 10-15K and boat speed is 4-7K. We have been under spinnaker since yesterday morning. Today is full sun and so the washing is flapping on the rails.

The highlight of the day is "we will reach the half way mark this afternoon".
We discussed calling into the imaginary island in the middle of the Atlantic for a celebratory dinner. Perhaps we will have to settle for a cold drink at sunset - sounds good!

Today's background information is on the 'beauty of the night'. At present the breeze is warm enough to wear shorts and T-shirts for most of the evening. Last night with the spinnaker up the gentle motion of the boat was very peaceful. The only sounds to be heard were the swish of the water against the hull and a few zzzz's coming from the aft cabins. The full moon illuminated the sky and spread a long ribbon of moonbeam across the water. I chose to listen to Andrew Lloyd Weber's Greatest Hits. To the uplifting sounds of Phantom of the Opera I watched the arrival of the new day. On our starboard bow the full moon was leaving a metal blue sky. At the stern of the boat the sky was streamers of pinks, lemons and pale blues. I kept looking from one to the other and marveling at its beauty - totally awesome!

Fortunately for those sleeping below, every now and again I would come back down to earth and trim the spinnaker.

Love Candy xx

At 5:20 PM9/01/2012 (utc) our position was 13°40.47'N 042°09.89'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 6

2012-01-09T03:01:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 8th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24hours we have sailed 142M. The swell is 1.5M with a wind speed of 10-15K. The boat speed is has been between 4 and 7knots. Today is lovely and sunny so the dress code is either shorts or swimmers.

The highlight of the day is "we have the spinnaker up". Andrew has been itching to put it up for the past 2 days but the conditions were not quite right. Last night was a slow night with a light wind moving all over the place. This morning after breakfast our two racing sailors (A and B) decided it was time. The boat is now happily sailing with a full poled out jib and the spinnaker.

Today's background information is on Andrew's sailing life.
He started sailing at Lindisfarne Sailing Club in Hobart at age 12. In the same year he bought his first small dinghy - the sailing adventure began.
Throughout his teen years he built three 11 foot Heron dinghies for himself. In these dinghies he won the National Heron Championships three times - once in each boat. This record is still unbroken today some forty years later.
Andrew obtained a Degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for many years as a Maintenance Engineer and Engineering Manager in heavy industry. Unlike Bronwyn, Andrew did not take on 'boating' as his profession but it certainly has been his life long passion.

He had his first off shore experience at 18 when delivering a boat from Hobart to Sydney. He raced on many occasions in Bass Strait, Port Phillip Bay and up and down the Eastern Seaboard of Australia. He was a competitor in 5 Melbourne-Hobart and 5 Sydney-Hobart races. He crewed on the second place getter in its division in the 1990 Sydney-Hobart.

When he resigned from Engineering we sought a life of Freedom and Adventure. We worked for a season on a luxury sailing vessel in the Whitsunday Is. Andrew was 1st Mate and I was the cook. During this period he passed his MED3 (Marine Engine Driver 3). He also became a HAM radio operator and a PADI Dive Master. We took on two three month crewing positions for private owners; one in Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas, the other in New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Darwin and Phuket.

Eye Candy was purchased in 2005 and Andrew has skippered her for 20,000 miles in the Med and now in the middle of the Atlantic.

As our good friend Colin said in an email this morning.
"Freedom and adventure, well no people around, so you definitely have
freedom and you are surely on a great adventure"

love Candy xx

At 10:55 AM8/01/2012 (utc) our position was 14°24.78'N 039°31.02'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 5

2012-01-08T03:15:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday, 7th January 2012

All is well on Eye Candy

In the last 24hours we have sailed 146M. The swell is 2.5M with a wind speed of 16-18K. The boat speed is generally between 5 to 7.5 knots. Today we have full sunshine for the first time. The weather is warming up and the nights under full moon are brilliant.

We have a few contenders for the highlight of the day.
Firstly we have now completed one third of the journey.
Secondly today Eye Candy clocked up 20,000 sea miles.
Thirdly Andrew caught another Mahi Mahi late yesterday.

We just threw one back as it was a bit small. Our tally now is 4 Mahi Mahi and 2 Tuna. However the overall winner for the highlight of the day was seeing a pod of 15-20 whales. When first noticed a long way back I thought they were slow moving fat dolphins. Then I saw they had flat noses. I called out to Andrew and Bronwyn who arrived on deck with a video and still camera. I hope they managed to capture the moment - what magnificent creatures. We were doing about 7 knots and the pod, which was doing twice our speed, just cruised pass.

Today's background information is on 'the menu for the trip'
Bitter experience has taught me to do as much as I can at anchor prior to the trip. I compiled a fourteen day menu which included four long lasting emergency meals cooked and stored in aluminum containers. These can go straight in the oven. The other ten meals have plastic boxes in the fridge with vegetables cut up, sauces and other ingredients included. Each box has final instructions attached, so I don't have to be referring to recipes.

It took me two days of cooking and chopping at anchor to achieve this but it has made the cooking on passage very easy.

I guess everyone does it differently but I came from 'prepare for the worst and hope for the best'.

Yesterday I complimented Andrew on his trimming of the sails and keeping the boat as stable as possible. He said he learnt as a kid how to race a small 11 foot Heron yacht under spinnaker. "If I didn't keep the boat balanced directly under the spinnaker I would end up in the drink" A pretty good incentive as he sailed on the Derwent River in Hobart.

More on that tomorrow in our segment "background information".

Love Candy xx

At 4:09 PM7/01/2012 (utc) our position was 14°39.83'N 037°36.30'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 4

2012-01-07T01:05:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Friday, 6th January 2012
In the last 24hours we have sailed 159M. The swell is 1.5-2M with a wind speed of 16-18K. The boat speed is generally between 5.5 to 7.5 knots. The day was warm but overcast. The night sailing was fabulous with a large moon and smooth and steady conditions. I shouted myself some time with my Ipod and bopped along to ABBA.

The highlight of the day was eating Mahi Mahi; thick juicy white meat and as fresh as you would ever get. The cruisers lucky enough to have a freezer are stocking up. We can only fish what we can eat now - but no complaints.

Today's background information is on 'the daily routine on Eye Candy'

The watch roster is:
Clare 6am-9am, 3pm-6pm, midnight-2am
Andrew 9am-midday, 6pm-9pm, 2am-4am
Bronwyn midday- 3pm, 9pm-midnight, 4am-6am

When I finish at 9am I get breakfast, have a sleep for an hour, shower, get lunch, write to the Blog and do any preparatory work in the galley before starting my 3pm watch. Then at 6pm I organize dinner, clean up, jump into bed and read or sleep till midnight. When I finish at 2am I sleep till my 6am watch.

Andrew's shift starts at 9am, he does the Net at 10am and then gets the fishing rod out. When he finishes at midday he showers then sends the Blog email and any others, he does maintenance checks on the rudder, rigging, power and makes water. Either before or during his 6pm watch the fishing rod comes out again. Any fish caught are presented to the galley ready for cooking. At 9pm he is free to sleep till 2am. When he finishes at 4am he sleeps till around 7am. He then downloads the weather and charges the batteries before starting his shift at 9am.

Bronwyn doesn't have any formal duties to perform between her shifts. However she is at the ready with any help needed either on deck or in the galley.

Love Candy xx

At 3:39 AM6/01/2012 (utc) our position was 15°09.75'N 033°40.78'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY3

2012-01-06T02:40:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Thursday 5th January 2012

In the last 24hours we have sailed 147M - a respectable run for a 39 foot cruising boat loaded down as we are. We have now added the mainsail to the setup - 3 reefs for much of the night and 2 reefs now plus the genoa poled out and the little storm jib as a staysail in-between. The swell is 1-2M with a wind speed of 15K. Eye Candy loves the lighter conditions and we are now having a very comfortable ride. The moon comes out early and stays with us until about 5am. The night wind is pleasantly warm and the sea temperature is 24.7 degrees. Today is overcast but we are wearing shorts and T-shirts.

The highlight of the day - Andrew caught 2 magnificent Mahi Mahi. So the score is 4 flying fish plus 3 eating fish. So last night we had baked fish and oriental noodle salad for dinner and tonight we will have sweet and sour fish with rice. We have now mastered fish slaughtering and minimized the blood in the cockpit - goodbye Dexter.

We have decided to drop the 'Mini disaster of the day' report in case we are tempting fate. Instead we will have the new topic (started yesterday) 'background information'

Today's background information is 'other boats on the passage'.
Our cruising buddies 'Balvenie' and 'Tactical Directions' left Mindelo on Monday 27th December. Had we not been waiting for Bronwyn we would have gone with them. We ended up leaving a full week later on Monday 2nd January. We keep daily contact by radio so we know where we all are.

'Balvenie' and 'Tactical' have experienced days of really tough going with confused seas and large swell. 'Balvenie' got hit by a huge wave pushing her down a wave sideways. Their cockpit was saved by having the clears down on the weather side. However inside the cabin, everything not secured down at the time including the bread maker went into orbit.

'Tactical Directions' which is being single handed had one of it's his hulls lifted to the point where Tony reported that "He thought he was a goner"

One other 'Ventana' reported being rolled down and gallons of water pouring into the open galley hatch.

Another reported a tin of flour flying across the cabin and the lid coming off; could you imagine the mess - pancakes on every surface for the next week.

So as you can imagine, we are glad to have Bronwyn with us and very grateful we had to wait in Mindelo for her arrival. Thank you Lord.

Love Candy xx

At 3:39 PM5/01/2012 (utc) our position was 15°20.42'N 032°19.18'W

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 2

2012-01-05T02:22:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Wednesday, 4th January 2012

First I must apologize for dating yesterday's email 2011 - obviously the brain is turning to mush!

All is well on Eye Candy. In the last 24 hours we have competed 139 miles, the swell is between 1-2M and the wind is 15-25K. We had a bit of fun last night dodging rain squalls and lighting but we managed to stay dry. That in short means the boat is still filthy from the endless dust at Mindelo. When it does rain we will have mud running everywhere.

The highlight of the day - Andy caught a fish; no more sad faces.
Mini disaster of the day - We actually didn't have one.

I though I would give you some background info on Bronwyn - just the good bits of course - after all we have watched her grow up. So I won't mention fun nights dancing on rubbish bins at a Jimmy Barnes concert, etc, etc.

Bronwyn started sailing at the age of 10 and came up through the Youth Academy Advanced Squad at the CYCA in Sydney.
At 16 she did her first offshore race (Sydney to Southport)
At 18 she did her first Tasman crossing, delivering a boat back to Sydney and in the same year she did the Sydney to Hobart race.
She spent the next five years studying and at every opportunity racing yachts on the east coast of Australia.

At 23 she moved to Perth for three and a half years working as a qualified Naval Architect. During this time she raced offshore and did a number of Bunbury races and also the Perth to Geraldton race.

At 27 she crewed on the winning yacht in Division 3 in the 100th Newport-Bermuda Race and thus got to met Princess Anne. (Princess Anne can consider herself honored I say)
In the same year Bronwyn also raced in the Cowes week on the Isle of White.
Looking for a change she moved to the Med working as a qualified marine engineer. She spent five years cruising the Med and looking after the engineering complexities on large luxury power yachts.

Now at the age of 32 she lives in the South of France with her fiancée Craig who is employed in the same industry as a Captain on luxury yachts. As you can imagine they don't spend a lot of time together - they are like ships passing in the night.

So Bronwyn recently resigned because she wants a more normal lifestyle. Now this is where it gets funny. Her first try at 'normal lifestyle' is crossing the Atlantic in a forty foot yacht. Most of her friends thought they had heard wrong and said "you mean a forty metre yacht?" Bronwyn said "No I mean a forty foot yacht". So then her friends asked the obvious question "WHY!" but our mate in typical Bronny fashion just grinned, shrugged her shoulders and replied "WHY NOT"

Love Candy xx

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Atlantic Crossing - DAY 1

2012-01-04T01:55:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare Tuesday 3rd January 2011

We left Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands Monday around 2pm. It is now 2pm Tuesday and so our first day has been completed.

DAY 1
We went into town early yesterday to check out. This was a third trip on three separate days before we found the office open. It was 9.30am and once we were stamped out, the customs guy left the building for the day. There were a number of other very disappointed cruisers who missed out. Oh well in Mindelo there is always tomorrow - maybe!

The ATM machines were out of money for the fourth time in a week, so last minute shopping was not possible. I think it is fair to say the 'Highlight of the Day' was leaving Mindelo.

The trip is 2023 mile to Barbados. We celebrated with a beer when we reached the 2000 miles mark - a bit premature but why not. Our next celebration will be at 1500 miles to go.

The sea is rolling and confused. Last night we had 3M waves and 20-25 K wind. The swell has now dropped as forecast to 2.5M and the wind is around 18K. The sun is out and the breeze is warm, we have completed 138 miles and so we roll on.

Our roster for this trip is 3hours on and then 6 off in the day and 2 hours on and 4 off between 12 midnight and 6 am. With three of us we will have plenty of rest and time to do other things.

The 'Mini disaster of the day' is Andrew didn't catch a fish with his fishing rod. However we did get four flying fishing on the deck overnight. The score is 3 Starboard side and 1 Port.

Until tomorrow
Love Candy xx

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Life in Mindelo

2011-12-30T03:08:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, Thursday 29th Dec 2011-12-30

TODAY

This will be a quick update as we are very busy preparing to leave.
Andrew is at present in the water scrubbing the bottom of the boat.
I have been busy shopping and cooking for the passage.

CHRISTMAS
We had a lovely Christmas starting with drinks on ‘Balvenie' on Christmas Eve.
Fourteen people attended and so it was a good opportunity to celebrate together.

Christmas day was a much quieter day with most cruisers having lunch on their boats. I had bought a vacuum packed leg of New Zealand lamb in the Canaries so we had that and plum pudding and Christmas cake brought from home.

Christmas Lunch on Eye Candy

UNDERWAY

Our friends ‘Balvenie’ and ‘Tactical Directions’ left on Boxing Day for their trip across the Atlantic. We hear from them on the radio and they are rolling a fair bit. Our friend and helper Bronwyn is arriving tonight. At this stage we think we will leave on Sunday when the wind drops down.

SHOPPING

The town of Mindelo is a funny place. The ATM machines run out of money regularly. If you have cash the supermarket will trade as long as you don’t want too much change. They will only take their local credit card. Visa and Master Card are not accepted. Trying to buy food is a nightmare. The supermarket is extremely small and poorly stocked; no room for a trolley. It is crowded to the point of being claustrophobic and you keep bumping into people.

There is always a long queue at the cash register and invariably long delays for price checks etc. Yesterday it took me 50 minutes to get through the checkout.

Vegetables are bought from the local market or in the street at a high cost. The fish market is good but scary as every time we have been there the people are arguing. The butcher doesn't speak English and doesn't have meat on display; so somehow you have to ask for what you want. There is red meat in the supermarket but the cuts are unidentifiable. You can buy only frozen chicken. I found a baker after much searching; the bread is very sweet a bit like American bread so we have been making our own. Oh how I long for hassle free shopping!

COMMUNICATION

The internet is not very accessible and we don’t have any phone coverage here.

I had intended to send eight photos on our last newsletter but we were running out of battery due to a slow connection. So this time I’m only going for one as I can’t afford to tear any more hair out.

Love Candy xx

Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands

2011-12-24T23:22:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, 23rd December 2011
Mindelo is a town of contrasts. Some facilities like the laundry is amongst the best we have seen. There is a brand new Shell Service Station and we have even seen an Audi. On the other hand the buildings are in a state of disrepair and there are many people squatting in the side streets selling fish, vegetables and all kind of merchandise.

The restaurants are very basic but the dinner we had the night we arrived was delicious and very inexpensive. I couldn't help but make a comparison between the mouthwatering menus in Oz and the menus here. At home garden fresh salad, oven baked potatoes and a list of spices to stimulate appetite are mentioned. Here I chose "pork chop and potato' and Andrew had "Stuffed chicken chest". It didn't sound very appetizing but when the meal arrived I had two tender and delicious pork chops cooked in a lovely light spicy sauce and a side dish of baked potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and a fruity cabbage. Andrew's stuffed chicken breast had two side dishes, light buttery rice and a tomato, peppers and onion. We washed this down with a large beer and a full glass of red wine for the total price $24.

Yesterday we spent the best part of the day re establishing the boat to its former glory. The smell I couldn't track down remained after the wet cardboard was removed from the bilge. By this stage I was starting to panic so down on my hands and knees, more sniffing required. It turned out to be stale sea water on the bottom edge of the seat in the saloon. I think there must have been some decaying sea life attached somewhere. A good soaking in Domestos has done the trick.

Today we went for a trip around the island. Eight of us sat on bench seats in the back of a Ute for the five hour trip. The comfort factor was about one step up from sitting on the back of a scooter. We saw a few small fishing and framing villages and went to the top of one of the mountains. The road was narrow and winding with a sheer drop to a "bloody long way down". Some of the crew got out and waited for the rest of us to go to the top. The view at the top would have been break taking had it not been spoilt by a dust storm (as seen in the photos) which has engulfed the island for the past two days.

We wish you a wonderful Christmas, don't eat and drink too much and stay safe.
Love Candy xx

Andrew's Fish

A small (2M) wave

Drying things out

The cruising gang on tour

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Wednesday DAY 6

2011-12-22T05:11:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Canaries to Cape Verde Islands Wednesday 21st Dec 2011

DAY 6 - Plus 2 Hrs

We arrived into Mindelo at 12.30 to the sound of a victory horn and shouts of "Welcome to the Cape Verdes". This lovely piece of theatrics was compliments of Balvenie who arrived some hours earlier. The past 26 hours of sailing was much kinder to us with 12-20 knot winds and a one metre swell. Last night was quite mild and today is beautiful and sunny; the sea temperature is a very agreeable 24.7 degrees; things are looking up.

Yesterday with the calmer conditions we set to work and cleaned out the bilges. Today we have pulled the cockpit lockers apart so we can remove the salt water and wash everything in fresh water, dry it and start again. Who said boating was all about lazing about in the sun and having drinks at sunset?

So our latest mini disaster is that the throttle on the outboard motor is jammed. Andrew discovered this when he was ready to go to the Customs Office. Instead he has now pulled the engine apart adding one move item to the 'immediate jobs' list. At present the boat looks like a Chinese Laundry with washing flapping on every rail. It will take a day or two before we can recover from Neptune's little joke. I wondered if perhaps he was annoyed with us for pinching one of his fish - maybe we should sell the fishing rod!

The highlight of the day was arriving safe and sound. Tonight we are going out for drinks and dinner to celebrate with the new arrivals. I think four or five boats have arrived today. Already we have been invited to a Christmas Day get together involving all the boats - time to kick and enjoy.

All is very well.
Love Candy xx

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DAY 5

2011-12-21T03:49:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Canaries to Cape Verde Islands, Tuesday 20th Dec 2011

In the last 24 hours we sailed 143 miles and have 145 miles to go to Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands. At this speed we should arrive in day light which will please Andrew very much. The sea state is still confused with big sets of rolling waves. I will talk more about that later when I report on the highlight of the day.

After yesterday's radio message about the rowing boats, we heard this morning that the crew of one boat has been picked up by the officials. So now we have a 25 foot wooden rowing boat adrift in the Atlantic. The boat has a tracker and there is a retrieval vessel on its way to pick it up. I'm only glad it is far away from us, I don't like things that go bump in the night. The moon rises around 3am and most nights we have a glorious star filled sky. However when there is cloud cover to quote our New Zealand friend Mark (Balvenie) "It's a black as the inside of a cow out here"

So our latest mini disaster is centered around an unidentified smell on the boat. We have been getting a whiff of it for a few days. It smells like dirty feet and so I immediately accused Andrew, as it's either him or me and I'm a girl! However after a shower the smell was still present. So we have been playing 'stiffer dog' and we tracked it down to the salt water saturated beer boxes in the bilge. I knew they got wet the other day but I was hoping to deal with them later. I doubt we will last the distance but the thought of fixing the problem in rolling seas doesn't thrill us either.

So on to a brighter note, the highlight of the day and we are divided on this one. Andrew thinks it is surfing down a huge wave doing 13.9 knots.
I think it is, I was asleep at the time and didn't have to witness it. This is a new speed record for Eye Candy and one we hope will remain until we put her on a truck one day.

Thanks once again for your emails - they are brilliant.

All is well
Love Candy xx

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DAY 4

2011-12-20T02:32:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Canaries to Cape Verde Islands Monday 19th Dec 2011

In the last 24 hours we have sailed 148 miles and we have 288 miles to go; we expect to arrive mid Wednesday. At the moment the sea has flattened out a bit and we have about a 2 metre swell and 20 knots of wind. Earlier this morning I was sitting in the cockpit in similar conditions and thinking how wonderful. However within 10 minutes I was busy reducing sails due to confused seas, a much larger swell and 30 knot winds.

Would you believe that there is an annual rowing race across the Atlantic? There are currently 14 rowing boats crossing the Atlantic. They are manned by 6, 4 or 2 rowers. I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would want to do such a thing. Apparently 2 of the boats are in difficulties and we have heard calls on the radio for yachts in the area to assist by standing by with the distressed boat until official help arrives. The closest rowing boat is about 200 miles away from us. In this sea condition, I think rendering assistance would be very difficult.

The highlight of the day was surfing down a wave at 11.7 knots. That was enough excitement for us.

Andrew hasn't had the fishing line out since day one. I have been trying to take photos of the waves. I have managed some at 2 metres but once they get bigger than that I need 4 hands; it's a full body workout.

All is well
Love Candy xx .

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DAY 3

2011-12-19T05:08:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Canaries to Cape Verde Islands - DAY3 Sunday 18th Dec 2011

In the last 24 hours were have sailed 145 miles. Not bad considering we slowed down for seven hours yesterday while we recovered from the wave strike. Andrew had fortunately backed up our computer before leaving home. He was able to reload the software onto our second computer, so we are back in business. The windspeed has now mysteriously started to work again so there must be some water in some wires some-where. The engine control alarm no longer tweets so Andrew will have to investigate that too.

The wind and wave conditions are the same as yesterday and are forecast to stay that way for the rest of the trip. We are running a four hour roster in the day and three hours at night. Shift change times are 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, 9pm, 12pm, 3am and then back to 6am. It seems to be working well and we are getting enough rest and sleep.

So what mini disaster befell us today? Oh yes, our toilet seat came away at the hinges, turning the whole procedure into a balancing act. Andrew, who's temporary fix always starts with a piece of string, jokingly said "All I have to do is work out how to tie the seat onto our bum first, then we just have to sit down" problem solved.

The highlight of the day was a school of 30 or more dolphins. They were having a ball surfing down the waves in an S motion. Some were jumping off the top of the waves flying through the air doing a barrel roll and landing down in the trough. Others were leaping vertically out of the water - what a show.

Thank you for your emails. No mater how short and sweet, it is great to have the contact while on passage. It's a bit like getting the morning paper. VJN2982@sailmail.com
All is well here
Love Candy xx

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DAY 2

2011-12-18T02:24:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 17th Dec 2011

In the last 24 hours we have sailed another 140 miles towards the Cap Verde Islands. The wind speed at its highest was 33 knots and wave heights yesterday and most of last night were in access of 3 metres.
Around 6.30 am this morning we had a wave strike from behind which dumped a large amount of water into the cockpit and below.

The damage on deck: Washed overboard was the inflatable dan-buoy which inflated and set off flashing, gone also is the cover to the bilge pump. The rear cockpit seat broke away but it was tied on so it didn't go overboard. The stern light now points skywards. We think the bimini is bent - to be confirmed. We have lost wind speed because of the drenching of the electrics in the steering pedestal. The auto helm tripped off but not before twisting the steering quadrant around the rudder shaft and last but not least one shaken and saturated watch captain - me.

The damage below deck: One dead laptop due to flooding. All the electrics on the nav table i.e the switch panel, the chart plotter, VHF and HF radios were all sprayed with sea water - damage due to corrosion will reveal itself in time. Several litres of sea water spread throughout all the bilge compartments from the nav table and aft.

Now that Neptune has played his little joke the wind and waves have abated, the sun is shinning and conditions are quite pleasant.

The highlight of the day was, Andrew's fish for dinner was delicious.

Love Candy xx

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Canaries to Cape Verde Islands

2011-12-16T22:38:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 16th Dec 2011

DAY 1
We commenced our trip 10am yesterday morning. In the first 24 hour period we have sailed 140 miles. The sea is lumpy with a 3 metre following sea and wind strength of 20-25 knots, max gust 32. The ride is a bit uncomfortable and last night it was really cold.

On the bright side, we caught our first fish late yesterday. We think it is a small Tuna, it is a very handsome shiny white and silver. We hit it on the head with the hammer, the cockpit ended up looking like a scene from Dexter.

Today is sunny and we are enjoying the warmth. We have 725 miles to go to Mindelo, Cape Verdes and closer to the equator.

That's all for today as I am typing this with one hand and holding the computer with the other so it doesn't fall off the table.

Love Candy xx

PS check the YOTREPS link for the up to date positions

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Leaving thwe Cannaries

2011-12-13T05:19:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare,

OFF AND AWAY
Well we head out tomorrow morning to sail the 850 miles to the Cape Verde Islands. This is the beginning of our Atlantic crossing. Some boats travel south to within about a hundred miles of the Cape Verdes and then turn right and head for Barbados. Others like us, head for the port of Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands. Balvenie will be leaving with us and Tacktical Direections will leave the following day. We will have Christmas on land and then tackle the 2000 miles to Barbados in the Caribbean. We have an additional crew member Bronwyn Adamson joining us on the 28th December for the trip to Barbados. With three people on board, we will all get enough sleep. We are looking forward to sharing the experience with Bronwyn as we have know her for many years. She is an excellent sailor and can talk engineering to Andrew forever, leaving me time to read - just joking.

BUSY BUSY
For the past week we have been busy preparing for the trip. Andrew has checked the engine, the rig, the water maker, the rudder etc. Everything has been either screwed or tied down and I've bought enough food for three months or more. So we are ready to go .

Tonight ten of us are going out for drinks and the last supper. I will regularly write a short note to the Blogsite at www.freedomandadventure.blogspot.com keeping you updated on the passage. Also you can check our progress by clicking the YOTREPS link on the right hand side of this Blog page. This will show where the boat is and Andrew will update this daily.

love Candy xx

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Lanzarote, Canary Islands

2011-12-04T04:34:00.001+11:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 3^rd December 2011

MAYBE IT’S AGE RELATED

We have now been back on the boat for one week, but somehow it feels much longer. Maybe it’s because we had a quick trip back to Oz and traveling back and forth between countries has caused some disorientation.

For example the other day I went to the supermarket here and tried to pay in Australian dollars. At first I couldn’t understand why the girl was rejecting my money and looking at me as if I was stupid. Then the answer came to me – I am stupid. I had to run back to the boat and get some Euros.

CHATTING PAYS OFF

The boat is in good condition and it only took two days to polish the deck, restock and prepare for sea. We are now at anchor and yesterday we discovered a water leak under the engine which necessitated replacing the salt water pump bearings and seal. Apparently the seal had been leaking for a while and the bearings were very rusty inside. We had all the spare parts needed and fortunately Andrew had previously befriended the local sailing school owner who was conversant with overhauling Volvo water pumps. Andrew was very grateful for his help and the use of his small workshop (with press) and for the car ride another cruiser gave Andrew to the workshop in the next town.

PREPARING FOR ADVENTURE

We plan to leave tomorrow night to travel 95 miles to Las Palmas on the Island of Gran Canaria. Hundreds of boats come through Las Palmas each year and many step off here for their Atlantic Crossing. Consequently the town’s business is geared to this event and all boat and food supplies are plentiful we hope.

There are a number of boats crossing the pond now and we have been listening to the daily radio sked. They seem to be having a good time with approximately 20 knots of breeze with a one to two metre swell. The further south they go the warmer the weather. Some are dusting off their sarongs and swim wear; others are busy fishing or trying to fish.

BACK TO REALITY

The weather here in Lanzarote is cool, windy and with a little weak sunshine. Not too bad considering that this is their winter. Poor Andrew went in the water twice to scrub the weed off the bottom of the boat. Both times he came out frozen and was glad to sit with a hot drink, a hot water bottle and a rug around him.

Rubicon Anchorage

We are anchored off the town of Rubicon. There is a lovely paved walkway connecting the old town with a newer resort township and up market marina.

The walkway is really good for getting some much needed exercise. This morning we went into the marina and had morning coffee with newly met

New Zealand

friends Peter and Barbara on ‘Musketelle’. They too are crossing the Atlantic this year. We intended just a quick hello but ended chatting for hours. That’s life in the cruising community and what a wonderful life it is.

SO WHAT’S NEXT

We intend spending a few weeks in the Canary Islands before heading 900 miles south to the Cape Verde Islands where the weather will be lovely and warm. We will spend Christmas there before the crossing.

Love Candy xx.

Lanzarote Landscape Walk-way to town

Lanzarote

2011-10-11T01:32:00.000+11:00

Hi from Clare, Monday 10^th October 2011

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

We left Rabat last Sunday around 7am to travel the 450 miles to the Canary Islands. We had a terrific sail averaging 5.6 knots for the trip. Apart from the necessary motoring leaving Rabat and arriving at our destination we only had the engine on for four hours on the second day due to no wind.

The Graciosa Anchorage

Since arriving here we have spent our days in a very calm anchorage in the south of Graciosa Island. Graciosa is at the northern end of the larger island of Lanzarote.

We are here with the Aussie yacht ‘Just Jane’ and the American yacht ‘Tsolo’ and yachts of other nationalities. There is a small resort town about a mile away where we can get provisions and Wifi.

The sleepy town Andrew Skyping Sarah with Phil and Janey

We have spent much of our time on the beach or going for walks. Today we are heading into the township again and so we will send this newsletter.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Later this week we will go around the other side of the island to Arricefe the capital of Lanzarote. There we will organize a marina to leave the boat while we come home for a month.

We have booked our flight home arriving into Sydney on Thursday 27^th October.

Love Candy xx

Casablanca

2011-10-01T23:22:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 30^th August

HOLDING PATTERN

Dock party underway

It is now Friday and we are still in the marina at Rabat waiting for the right weather opportunity to sail 450 miles to the Canaries. We are in the company of three Australian, three

New Zealand

, two American and one English yacht. It has become quite a little community, pooling our resources and knowledge to help each other with weather information, maintenance concerns, computer problems, shopping tips, easy recipes, reading material and Gas decanting. Most nights we get together for drinks. Sometimes it is all together as a dock party and other nights it will be a smaller group on one of the boats.

YOU WIN SOME

The guys have just about worn a track from the marina to the local gas supply depot. We can't believe how cheap the gas is in

Morocco

. Gas decanting is a bit like a barbeque, all the men stand around prodding and poking the gas tanks like bits of meat on the plate – good thing nobody smokes. The most expensive gas we have seen is 26 Euros in

France

. But to exchange our 2.9 kg camping gas bottle here, it costs 1 Euro. The only problem is that the local bottles are so old and knocked about, we doubt whether the next country will accept them as an exchange. So Andrew bought all the necessary bits to decant the gas into our good bottles. He has also been busy preparing the boat for the more rolling sea of the Atlantic; more screws in the floorboards, chocks to hold the bilge covers in place, and string nets inside the cupboards so if the doors fly open we won't end up with the contents on the floor. The first trip we did back in 2005 a dozen eggs flew out of the cupboard and tried to make an omelet under the table. Of course I am hoping that all this preparation is unnecessary but I guess I'm about to find out.

HAIL MARY

We went on the train to Casablanca. I was very pleased that the trip only took one hour. The train seemed to be traveling very fast on tracks that weren't entirely smooth. The carriages rocked and wobbled and trains coming from the opposite direction flashed past the window a few feet away rocking and wobbling as well. I thought of derailment reports in remote countries and had to concentrate on calming myself with a silent prayer for survival.

Streets and slums of Casablanca

HOW ROMANTIC!

Casablanca was a bit of a shock. It' has around 1 million people and a third of the population live in the slums. Many of the streets are broken, smelly and littered with rubbish. We got off the train with a Canadian couple. The woman looked startled and said to me "I always imagined Casablanca would be a romantic place". Her husband (who obviously didn't share her vision) said that the mosque was the only thing worth seeing and don't waste our time going to Rick's Café (the legend of the Casablanca movie with Humphrey Bogart) as it was a rip off. So after parting ways Andrew and I went to the both the mosque and Rick's Café.

BIG MONEY

The mosque is the third biggest mosque in the world and it cost half a billion dollars to build. A lot of the money was raised by public donation. It houses 25,000 inside and 80,000 in the grounds. It is very beautiful outside with endless tiles, marble courtyards and shaded gardens overlooking the Atlantic.

Although it allows women inside we decided not to go on the one hour guided tour.

The Mosque at Casablanca

A VERY PLEASANT STOP

So we went down to Rick's Café; an establishment that has been in business for only seven years. It doesn't have anything to do with the movie but advertises as Casablanca – The Legend Continues …

Inside Rick's Cafe

It was the most impressive (if not a little intimidating) establishment in an otherwise broken street. However the concierge is happy to open the door for tourists. Once inside it is very posh with intimate bars, private dining rooms, a grand piano in the atrium, the main dining area on several floors overlooking the atrium. We arrived mid morning for coffee and were very cordially invited to a small lounge where the video Casablanca runs on a flat screen continuously. The staff is very professional and didn't mind me taking photos. I'm glad we went there; it is a lovely oasis of refinement.

Andrew and Lauren

SO WHAT'S NEXT

Tomorrow I will be cooking for the trip to the Canaries. I always feel better with a few meals up my sleeve. This way, if conditions get a bit rough we won't starve.

At this stage we are planning to leave here on Sunday and we should arrive in the Canaries on Thursday.

Love Candy xx

Rabat & Fes, Morocco

2011-09-26T07:19:00.001+10:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 25^th September 2011

MOROCCO, A LAND OF CONTRAST

We have now been in Morocco for a week. We are staying in Bouregreg Marina in the capital city of Rabat. Along side are two other Aussie yachts, two New Zealand yachts and one American yacht plus a few other nationalities. So we have plenty of company and some traveling buddies as we explore the area. The marina is fairly new and visiting yachts are very welcome. The security is excellent with many guards on duty 24 hours a day. The visitors are allowed to go anywhere within the marina but the local folk are not permitted to walk along the finger piers amongst the visiting yachts.

Bouregreg Marina Kasbar (fort) at Rabat

THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY

Once leaving the marina however the many contrasts in standards is very apparent. On one hand there are excellent quality trams, trains, cars and freeways. The hotel and private homes we have been to are spotlessly clean, beautifully decorated and have leafy green interior courtyards. The more prosperous people are well educated, well dressed and well mannered. We have had teenage boys give us their seat on the tram.

Rabat Railway Station

Then we venture up to the local market place. I think the people must be very hardy but for me who is soft in comparison, the smell of the fish market, blocked drains and rotting vegetable matter is enough to almost knock me out. It breaks my heart to see beggars on the street, stray cats and kittens only a few days old, dying of starvation. It is uplifting to see on many occasions a local person giving money or food to a beggar. So it all seems to work but it is very different to our way of life.

Hotel in Fes

We went (with Mark and Amanda from ‘Balvenie’ and Arnie and Jo from ‘Just Jane’) on a two day excursion to Fes. This was a 3 hour train trip inland. We traveled first class and enjoyed air conditioning and light refreshments. There was only one first class carriage on the train. Second class looked less comfortable and very crowded.

Blue Gate - Fes Medina

The attraction at Fes is the Madina which dates back to 808AD. It has 9600 winding streets and is one of the oldest souks in the world. On day one, we split up and just wandered around town. We managed to explore quite a bit of the Madina and eventually found our way back to the hotel. That evening we all went out to a traditional Moroccan house for a dinner. The house was seven hundred years old and three stories with a garden courtyard on the roof. The family had owned the house for one hundred years. It had beautifully tiled floors and walls and ornately carved wooden ceilings. The lady of the house spoke fluent English and although she had three boys (including twins) under the age of four, she provided a most comprehensive and delicious Moroccan meal. The family had converted their back yard into a tented restaurant and as it was highly recommended by the hotel it was making quite a good living; very enterprising of them and good luck to them.

Mark, Jo, Arnie, Amanda and us at dinner

Fes market and the satelight dishes

The following day we had a guided tour through the souk. We visited the Mosque, The oldest university in Morocco, a pre school centre, the community bakery (where families bring their bread and pastry products to be cooked in a community wood fired oven) an ancient water clock and a carpet weaving cooperative with show room of course. However the highlight of the trip was a visit to the tannery.

Fes University and the carpet cooperative

The Tannery

Upon our arrival at the Tannery we were given a small bunch of fresh mint. This was to put under our nose to combat the smell. Without it I am sure I would have been ill. In fact without the mint, I would not have been able to see the tannery. The photos tell it all, stinking, back braking work. It is piece work and a beginner earns (in Australian money) $20 a day, once proficient he can earn as much as $40 a day. There was a young boy working there, our guide said he was just helping his father as it was Friday afternoon and Friday is a half day at school. He also said that if the man’s son does well at school then he is free to go ahead, but if he does not do well at school, then he will work at the tannery; what a dismal prospect.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Tomorrow we will visit Casablanca. If the weather is right we will leave for the Canaries on Tuesday. This is a 450 mile leg and we want good weather. There are two particularly nasty named storms in the mid Atlantic that we are watching carefully.

You may notice we now have a Google map showing the area we are in. If you want to see exactly where the boat is, you can click on “Where are we now?” under Links below the map. Andrew updates this regularly while we are moving about.

Love Candy xx

Gibraltar to Portugal

2011-09-20T06:27:00.001+10:00

Hi from Clare 15^th September 2011

WE HAVE OFFICIALLY LEFT THE MED

We left Gibraltar 1 hour after high water so we could take advantage of slack water in the strait. The 30 mile stretch is tricky to navigate as the water at the western end (Atlantic Ocean) is some 2-3m higher than at the eastern or Mediterranean end. The strait is subject to currents traveling in both directions. The town of Tarifa on the northern side of the strait registers over 30 knots three hundred days of the year. The strait is only eight miles wide at its narrowest point and as you can imagine there are many cargo ships entering and exiting the Med. When we intended to leave there was strong wind forecast for the next few days at Tarifa. We decided around midnight that instead of going to bed we would seize the chance of leaving before the wind increased. The current was against us at the start, but with at the finish. We had a great sail and the strongest wind we recorded was 20 knots at Tarifa. So we said goodbye to the Med and headed for Cadiz which is 75 miles from Gibraltar on the south coast of Spain.

Cadiz foreshore

A Cadiz monument and Cathedral

NOW FOR THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

Cadiz is a busy port with little opportunity to anchor nearby. We anchored behind the breakwater at Porto Sherry a few miles away on the other side of the bay. The water temperature was now 24 degrees and Atlantic green. Not as inviting as the sparkling blue 28 degree Med water but it didn't stop us from having a dip. The following morning we caught the ferry into town. Cadiz is very compact with narrow streets making it difficult to photograph some of the beautiful buildings. We explored Cadiz by way of self guiding walking tours showing different aspects of Cadiz's history.

Peaceful anchorage at Culatra Lagoon

PORTUGAL IS CALLING

By now we were in radio contact with 'Balvenie' who had been anchored in Culatra Lagoon in Portugal for about a week. Amanda described it as a dream anchorage, flat calm day and night. We arrived at Culatra Lagoon Friday 9^th September at 7.30pm. Amanda had a delicious dinner ready for us; a real treat after sailing since 3am that morning. We had a most enjoyable night catching up on all the news since we last met in July 2010.

Happy hour at the local in Culatra town with Mark and Amanda

Culatra Lagoon is huge. There are only 60 boats at anchor here although there is room for a thousand more. There is a small town which has been established on a sand spit. The whole area is just sand with concrete paths leading to shops, houses and the ferry wharf. The houses are flat roofed white washed concrete structures. Some of the houses have attempted a garden with pots plants and a few hardy shrubs. It is hot and dry and I feel like we are in outback Mexico. The people are very lay back and gather in the local café for drinks every afternoon. We have embraced this tradition as the drinks are cold and very reasonably priced. Andrew and I have been to the beach in the afternoons. There is a substantial elevated wooden walkway to the beach to protect the sand dune vegetation. The beach reminds us of Australia with long stretches of sand, breaking waves and big blue skies.

Faro Cathedral & views from its tower

The four of us caught the ferry across to the township of Faro. We visited the walled town which dates back to the 1200s. We had lunch there in a Portuguese Café/restaurant and had (believe it or not) a very nice 'hamburger'- how local can we get?

Clare and Andrew overlooking Faro

Another day we caught the ferry to the busy town of IIhoe to do some supermarket shopping and get access to Wifi. I forgot to take my camera and so I don't have any photos. However it is an attractive town with good facilities, parks and gardens and is geared to the tourist trade with lots of eateries and markets along the waterfront.

LEARNING HOW IT'S DONE

There is a very good ferry service several times a day which runs between the towns. The only trick is to know when the Ferry is arriving. NB this is not necessarily when the timetable says it is arriving. However the locals seem to know, so if we are the only ones standing there, good chance we have it wrong. Oh well the coffee shop is not far away and the coffee is good.

Tonight we are going into Culatra to have dinner. No doubt Amanda and I will plunder the little supermarket again as prices are so cheap. I'm sure the owner of the supermarket is having a bumper week.

SO WHAT'S NEXT?

Tomorrow we are heading off for Rabat in Morocco. We will leave in the afternoon to arrive Sunday. It is a river entrance and so we need to arrive there in time for the flooding tide to carry us over the bar. Now that we are in the Atlantic it is a whole new learning curve taking into consideration tides, currents and rolling swell. We intend staying at the marina in Rabat for a week. We are hoping to do some land travel to inland Fes and Casablanca further down the coast.

Love Candy xx

PS Monday 19^th September 2010

We arrived into Rabat yesterday at 6am. We had a good sail and only motored for 10 hours of the 40 hour trip. Within the last fifteen miles there were many fishing nets to negotiate. We managed not to get caught up in one but we came awfully close on two occasions. We could hear the floats attached to the nets brushing against our hull. The marina pilot boat came out to guide us over the sand bar. The swell was only about 1m so we were fine.

Fresh chickens?

Late yesterday, after a sleep we went for a walk to the Medina. We were shoulder to shoulder with the locals being carried through narrow streets of endless shops. We could purchase everything from beautiful gold jewelry and electronics down to chickens, dead or alive, your choice. Wherever there was space, there was a stall; sometimes it was just a rug on the ground. The wailing from the local mosque and the aroma of spices, food stalls, fish markets and over-loaded drains all adds to the atmosphere.

Welcome to Morocco!

Cartagena to Gibraltar

2011-09-09T01:03:00.001+10:00

Hi from Clare, Thursday 8^th September

THINGS COULD GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Abandoned RIB

We left Cartagena Saturday 27^th August to sail for two days (230 miles) to Gibraltar. For the first 24 hours we sailed with the wind behind us averaging 7 knots. The wind then dropped and we motored for the last 20 hours. On arrival at Gibraltar the water temperature had dropped from 28 degrees to 17 degrees and the colour changed from sparkling blue to murky brown/green. The cooler water and the heat from the land caused thick fog. We could see on the AIS and radar many large cargo ships anchored off Gibraltar and despite the fact that they were well lit we didn’t physically sight them until they were within two miles. The lack of visibility was making me a bit nervous as the previous morning we found an unmanned 27 foot RIB with two 200HP outboards adrift at sea. We tried raising the Coast Guard but nobody would answer our calls until we used some magic words like “Securite”. After some difficulty with their understanding of Andrew’s accent they finally got the message. So I was hoping in the fog that we wouldn’t find a similar hazard in our path.

Early morning Rock

NOT JUST ANOTHER ROCK

Gibraltar is a fabulous place and we spent a week in the Marina Bay marina which is a five minute walk from town. There are 30,000 inhabitants in Gibraltar and it is mostly English speaking. The main supermarket has English products like scotch eggs and Cornish pasties. Then there’s the Gibraltar Arms Pub which has delicious fish and chip and chicken pie with chips, peas and gravy. Two meals for 9:50 pounds. Things we probably wouldn’t eat at home but after months of Mediterranean food a touch of English tucker was fabulous. Shopping is inexpensive and when the cruise ships arrive the streets are very congested. Alcohol is duty free and so I had a great time stocking up on spirits and liqueurs; a litre of Bombay Sapphire, Tia Maria, Baileys and the like cost around $15.

The big picture Main Street Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a compact 6 square miles. The airport runway crosses the main highway connecting Gibraltar to Spain. The boom gates come down and the roadway is manned by police to ensure no pedestrians are crossing the road when the planes are using it. The runway is next to the marina and so the noise of the first few flights is quite an experience. I think I must have looked rather shocked as our Aussie neighbours Jo and Arnie on ‘Just Jane’ quickly reassured me that the planes didn’t fly at night. – be grateful for small mercies I say!

Another close landing

We took the chair lift to the top of the rock; how could we not? We had a marvelous view of the town, surrounding waterways and Morocco which is only eight miles across the Gibraltar strait.

Views from the Rock

INLAND TRAVEL

Flamenco trio

We went on a two day excursion to inland Spain to visit Sevilla. Our helpful Aussie neighbours on ‘Just Jane’ told us that Sevilla is very hot with no wind for relief. So we dressed lightly and took one back pack with bare essentials. Fortunately I took my umbrella for the sun because it poured rain for the two days we were there. Our first purchase was a couple of one euro plastic ponchos which we hung up at night so they could drip dry by the morning. On day one we visited the Alcazar which is a group of palaces built a thousand years ago, the 12^th Century Cathedral and the Bull Ring built in 1881. By then we were sick of walking around in the rain so we sought refuge in our hotel room till night when we ventured out again in our ponchos to attend a Flamenco Dancing display. This was held at the cultural centre and with only 150 people in the audience we all had a close up view. The movements of the female dancer almost divide her body into two parts. Her upper body and arm movements are artistic and fluent while her lower body and legs are all power and frantic hammering – it was very exhilarating. The flamenco guitarist was fabulous and the singer who is telling the story of the dance was very passionate. Unfortunately he sang in Spanish so we couldn’t follow the storyline.

The Alcazar

The following morning we woke to heavy rain and so out came the faithful poncho. We only had summer clothes with us and so I wore the poncho to keep warm. I must say it was pretty robust as it stood up to two days of wear without tearing. I now have it in the bottom of my handbag for emergencies.

We visited Plaza de Espana situated in The Paseo de la Palmera the most beautiful avenue in Sevilla. The Plaza was built in 1929 as the centre piece for the Ibero- American Expo. It is the most visited monument in Sevilla.

The Cathedral Plaza de Espana

BACK TO BUSINESS

The used our time in Gibraltar to make duty free purchases in preparation for the Atlantic Crossing shortly after Christmas. We now have a life raft, complete spare auto pilot, spare starter motor and new starter battery. Let’s hope we don’t need the life raft!

We left Gibraltar Tuesday at midnight. For the first time in our cruising life we now have to consider the tides. We traveled down the Gibraltar strait and exited the Mediterranean; but more about that next time.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

We will see a bit of the south of Spain before sailing on to Portugal where we will meet up with Mark and Amanda on ‘Balvenie’ We are looking forward to catching up with them.

Love

Candy XX

Ibiza to Cartegena

2011-08-27T02:59:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 26^th August 2011

SPARKLING WATER OR SPARKLING WINE

Bye Bye to Ibiza

When last I wrote we were heading to the holiday destination of Ibiza town. I was eager to compare it to the party town of San Antonio. Well Ibiza town is the capital of the island and a full on city – there was no comparison. We stayed for two days to see the town and then we escaped back to peaceful days in quiet anchorages. For the following week we had lots of social gatherings with our friends on ‘Tactical Directions’ (Tony, Jacqui and guests David and Karen) and ‘Blue Banana’(Sam and Bill).

OH NO!

Early Sunday morning we left them at Ibiza and sailed to Cartagena Spain arriving around lunchtime Monday. It wasn’t the best trip as we had a big swell behind us and we rolled for most of the way. I didn’t know anything about Cartagena and I was a little disappointed sailing in here. There is quite a lot of industry here, a large ship yard, shipping containers, warships in the bay, dust swirling off the bare hills, black smoke rising and distinct smell of petro-chemical; I thought oh no!

View from the sea - not so inspiring

City Hall

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE

However as soon as we went into town I realized how wrong I was. The people of Cartagena are eager to share 3000 years of history with visiting tourists. Throughout the 20^th Century they have spent a huge amount of money to preserve buildings and excavate archaeological sites as well as restoring the more modern architecture – even Gaudi has one of his designs here. A lot of the archeological sites have an air conditioned building erected over them. This is to help preserve the site but as it is really hot here, it helps to preserve the tourist as well.

Inside the Punic walls The Roman Theatre

We bought a ticket giving us access to nine archaeological sites ranging from Rampart walls built by the Carthaginians in 227BC through the Roman period (roads, houses, theatre) to a mediaeval castle and the 1930’s Spanish civil war air-raid shelters This occupied us fully for three days.

Roman road 4th C AD and the building above it

A fine old house by Gaudi Spainish Civil War air-raid shelter

The Audi MedCup yachts in harbour

THEY SAIL HERE TOO

As we arrived the Cartagena leg of the Audi MedCup was starting and was to go on for our entire stay. This is a grand-prix style series of races held in 6 Mediterranean cities for TP52s and Soto 40s. Very high-tech light, fast and expensive looking one design crewed racers. The courses were several miles out but live video and English commentary was available on the wide screen back in the harbour. There was even an Australian team in the 40 footers. At the same time a regatta for about 30 Optimist dinghies was being run and if all that was not interesting enough there were two foiling Moth class scows sailing inside the harbour too.

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Today we have been busy cleaning the boat and preparing to leave tomorrow for Gibraltar. At the moment it is blowing from the south west and we are hoping to leave early tomorrow when the wind turns to the north east. The trip will take us 2 days all going well.

Ibiza part 2

2011-08-15T02:46:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 13^th August 2011

Well we are having a quiet week enjoying the long awaited sunshine and crystal clear 28 degree sea water.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON

We are slowly circumnavigating the island of Ibiza. Each day we sail for a few hours to the next anchorage. We usually leave around lunchtime when the wind comes up which makes for good sailing and a few friendly competitions with our cruising buddies on ‘Tactical Directions’. Basically we can beat them to windward especially in light conditions and they can beat us off the wind especially in stronger winds.

Sailing round West Coast Ibiza

OH TO BE YOUNG AGAIN

We spent two days together in San Antonio which is one of the Ibiza’s famous holiday destinations for the young. Without exaggeration we were some of the oldest tourists in town. In San Antonio the Henna Tattoo is a thriving business and it would be fair to say that the young wear more tattoos than they do clothes. In the day the streets and outdoor cafes are packed with bikini clad girls and boys in board shorts. At night the restaurants and bars are well patronized and there are street markets and carnivals along the foreshore. We watched a ride at the carnival called ‘The Slingshot’. How anyone (and some under ten years old) could go on this ride is beyond me. Two people sit side by side in a chair held by a slingshot contraption which shoots them up into the air at great speed – it was truly terrifying. I ran and took cover under a nearby umbrella incase the occupants threw up.

San Antonio

NO NEED FOR ALARM

We have watched a few television shows at home showing Ibiza as being the ‘anything goes’ holiday destination. San Antonio is very vibrant but everyone is well behaved. We anchored in the harbour expecting to be kept awake all night with doof doof music but it was very quiet. We did see a few sorry sights in full party gear making their way home around lunchtime the following day. But apart from that it was pretty tame.

WE’RE LOOSING IT

San Antonio was our place for loosing things. Firstly Andrew lost the key for the dinghy outboard. We think it fell out of his pocket and so we retraced our steps in search of the key but to no avail. We will have to buy or make a new one. At present Andrew is starting the engine by using a piece of string in the kill switch.

Later that same day I lost a bifocal lens from my sunglasses. This was a real blow as I wear my sunglasses every day. We had been shopping in the local fruit and vege market and I changed glasses whilst there as it was dark under cover. It wasn’t until some time later I found that a screw had fallen out and one lens was missing. We debated whether it was worth retracing our steps for the second time that day. However the stakes were higher and so we went back into town and returned to the market. When we arrived the busy morning trade had lulled and a staff member was sweeping the floor. I showed her my sunglasses, she disappeared out the back and returned with my lens – I could have kissed her.

We have spent quite a lot of time with Tony and Jacqui from ‘Tactical Directions’. The boys have helped each other with boat maintenance and passage planning and we have spent enjoyable evenings sharing drinks or playing Rummy. The competition is to be continued because at present the girls are winning, that doesn’t sit well with Tony – however it is all in good fun.

ONE IN A MILLION

We are currently anchored off the beach at Espalmador. It is a renowned beach and certainly the best beach we have seen in the Med. The beach is shallow with a sandy bottom. The water is bright aqua, very clean and lovely and warm. It is very popular, each day there are hundreds of people and hundreds of boats. The women are mostly topless but we have seen very little nudity beyond that. Last night there was a mass excitis of boats around sunset with only a scattering of yachts staying overnight. This morning they all returned to enjoy another beautiful day.

Beach scenes at the main beach on Formentera

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

Tomorrow we will continue on to Ibiza town which is another well known party destination. It will be interesting to compare it to San Antonio. I will let you know what we think in our next newsletter.

Love Candy xx

Ibiza

2011-08-07T05:40:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 6^th August 2011

When last I wrote my parting words were “At the moment it is lovely and sunny, I just wish it would stay that way”. My wish has come true and we have enjoyed a week of sunshine and water temperature as high as 28.6 degrees.

‘BLUE BANANA’ TO THE RESCUE

We settled with “Tactical Directions” in a bay at Santa Ponca Mallorca. It is a twenty minute bus ride into the capital city of Palma. Our intention was to buy a new hot water heater but our model has been discontinued. The replacement model is a different shape and doesn’t fit in the spot. Andrew found a welder who put a patch over all the old cracks and now it looks like new again and we saved about 400 euro. The new patches were not without some downside though as the welding further distorted the thread where the electric element screws in. Andrew mentioned that he needed a Dremel. At the next “Dragnet” sked ‘Blue Banana’ offered theirs. So after a quick bus ride into Palma with the tank on his back, Andrew sat on the dock in Palma grinding the tank until it fitted. It is now all back together and so far producing hot water without leaking.

Santa Ponca anchorage Santa Ponca Beach

LOOKING VERY SMICK

After buying a new dinner set last week I took advantage of the access to city shops and continued with the ‘Eye Candy’ make over. We now have new quilts for the cabins, new tea towels and place mats for both tables. After seven seasons it is great to spruce things up and add a splash of colour. I spent a whole day reorganizing the boat and generally clucking around in my nest as happy as a lark; everything looks great!

The new dinner set The new quilt

ALL IN TOGETHER

As you can see by the photo of the anchorage, Santa Ponca is a popular place. There are power boats coming and going each day. Some of the kids enjoy racing around the anchorage in their boat’s dinghy. I understand it’s fun but they cause so much wake. By 8pm I’m grumpy and sick of chasing the plates around the kitchen. We start yelling at them to slow down; or better still go play around their own boat.

Fortunately we escaped daily spending time in Palma with Tony and Jacqui either shopping or catching up with Sam and Bill who are stuck in the marina having generator repairs done. So it was a pretty social week with the six of us having lunches together in the city. In the evenings, back in our bay at Santa Ponca, Andrew and I would get together with Tony and Jacqui for drinks and or dinner.

OFF TO IBIZA

We left Santa Ponca yesterday and sailed 50 miles to Ibiza. It was another great sail averaging 6 knots. I either snoozed in the sun on the deck or read my book.

We have anchored in the large bay on the north east corner of Ibiza. There are fewer boats here and the bay is large, so peace at last – or so I thought!

We anchored near a power boat with a husband and wife with two small children. The ten year old son spent hours racing around the anchorage in the dinghy. Trying to relax in the cockpit and read I found myself calculating how long his fuel would last. At 9.30pm he asked Dad if he could turn on the navigation lights and continue; thankfully the answer was “No”. However the two kids on board jumped in and out of the water squealing and giggling until around midnight.

A SHINY NEW TOY

This morning Andrew was talking to the father and we discovered that last night was the first over-night on their new boat. What a paradigm shift – I immediately felt a bit ashamed of myself for being such a grumpy old woman. It was lovely to see the young family having lots of fun together. First thing this morning they all went swimming then lay naked on the back deck in the early morning sun. You can see from the photo they need to do a bit more sun baking before they fit in to the Mediterranean scene.

The new toy

I guess the boy would have loved to go for another spin in the dinghy, but Dad’s desire to have a spin in his new toy was greater. So they disappeared from the anchorage all waving goodbye with Dad at the helm with a big grin on his face.

SO WHAT’S NEXT

We plan to be in Ibiza for about two weeks and we will circumnavigate the island.

The weather is perfect and the water is crystal clear and cozy warm for swimming. We are looking forward to a two week summer holiday – woo hoo!

Love Candy xx

Balearics

2011-07-31T05:27:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 30^th July

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

When last I wrote we were in Mahon on the island of Menorca. You may recall we had been invited on a French yacht for drinks. The young French couple had two children and although they claimed to speak little English, once they got started and with the help of gesticulation, we found that language wasn’t a problem. The guy (Laurent) is a journalist with a regional newspaper in the south of France, his wife (Laurence) works in advertising for the same newspaper. They are holidaying with their children Lucile and Luca for one month. Laurent is very envious of our early retirement and sailing lifestyle. He said that to get the government pension in France you need to be in the workforce for forty years. He didn’t start full time work until he was twenty nine and so he will retire when he is sixty nine. At present being in his late thirties this seems incomprehensible to him. We spent a most enjoyable evening with them. The following morning Laurent came to our boat and gave us his email and home address encouraging us to keep in contact. Who knows, one day we might meet again – I do hope so.

THE MOST CONSTANT THING IS CHANGE

The past week has been a real mixture. We have had cycles of lovely sunny days, sparkling aqua seas followed by grey sky, grey sea, persistent rain and thunder storms. It’s hot when the sun is out, chilly when it rains - really quite weird.

We had a good sail in sunny conditions from Menorca to Porto Colom on the east coast of Mallorca. On arrival we knew quite a few yachts in the anchorage and so planned a social few days. That night we dined out with Tony and Jacqui from the Aussie catamaran ‘Tactical Directions’

The next morning started out sunny so we washed Eye Candy with fresh water and polished her to a sparkling shine. Shortly after we finished the rain started (didn’t we look stupid) and we spent the next few days sheltering from torrential rain. Our American friends Sam and Bill on ‘Blue Banana’ went ashore that morning (in sunny weather) for a Doctor’s appointment as they both have heavy colds. However down came the rain causing the streets to run like rivers. Sam and Bill got soaked to the skin and dripped pools of water in the pharmacy while waiting for their prescriptions. They returned to their boat shivering and looking like drowned rats.

Blue Banana in Port Colom Jacqui, Clare and Sam

SAIL OF THE CENTURY

So after the gloom in Porto Colom the sun came out and we had one of our best sails ever. ‘Eye Candy’, ‘Blue Banana’ and ‘Tactical Directions’ sailed 35 miles to the capital city of Palma in perfect conditions. We enjoyed 15-20 knots of wind behind us and on the beam on a flat sea. Eye Candy averaged 6.6 knots with a maximum speed of 9.1 knots. The conditions were so perfect that there was hardly any movement on the boat. I was staggered to learn that we had achieved 9.1 knots.

It wasn’t a race but I know some of you will be asking so ‘Tactical’ came first, then the ‘Candies’ followed by the ‘Bananas’ – What a sail.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

We spent a day in Palma which is where we picked the boat up n 2005. We revisited the Club De Mar Marina and Andrew called in and spoke to the dealer who commissioned our boat and we also spotted the chap who installed out electronics and had a short chat. As you would expect they did not remember us personally but they did remember commissioning an Aussie yacht. We then walked along the waterfront calling in at the very well stocked ship chandlers. I bought a new dinner set for the boat and “wait for it” - - - Andrew couldn’t find anything he needed; this is definitely a first.

We revisited the Mallorca Cathedral which dates back to the early 1300. From 1904 to 1914 Antoni Gaudi restored the interior. After seeing Gaudi’s Cathedral Sagrada Familia in Barcelona I wondered if I would recognize his work in the Mallorca Cathedral. Well not to worry, it was instantly recognizable.

Palma Cathedral Gaudi interior

NOBODY ESCAPES

The Bananas have generator problems and so are now in a marina in Palma for a week. ‘Tactical’ and ‘Eye Candy are anchored out in a large bay which is a short bus ride from Palma. Tony (Tactical Directions) had a failed electric pump in one of his toilets and so Andrew helped him replace that yesterday. We were the only one without a failure until last night when Andrew discovered a water leak in the hot water tank. We have repaired this tank three or four times before and as it has now failed in yet another spot we think it would be prudent to replace the unit.

Early this morning I wiped the boat dry after last night’s rain and Andrew set off for Palma to purchase a new hot water tank. His famous last words were “keep adjusting the solar panels” so we could take full charging advantage of the sunshine. But as I said earlier “the past week has been a real mixture”; shortly after Andrew left the sun disappeared and we had heavy rain and another thunder storm – oh well more wiping required.

Changeable weather in Sant Ponza Andrew and Bill

SO WHAT’ S NEXT?

We will stay here in Santa Ponza (near Palma) for a few days and then head for Ibiza. At the moment it is lovely and sunny, I just wish it would stay that way.

Love Candy xx

Barcelona to Balearics

2011-07-20T23:58:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Tuesday 19^th July 2011

ONE OF MY FAVOURITES

Barcelona is a wonderfully vibrant city with much to see. The underground train system has stations close to all major tourist attractions, making it very easy to get around. On Sunday Andrew walked to the Maritime Museum and I took the train across the city to the National Museum. A great plan except the Maritime Museum was largely closed due to renovation and the National Museum closes early on Sunday.

We regrouped and ventured on to the Olympic Stadium where the European Rugby Sevens were playing their Championships. The stadium was built in 1926 and is very grand. It was fully refurbished for the Olympic Games in 1992. It is situated high on a hill behind the National Museum and although there are hundred of steps to get to the Museum and Stadium, thankfully there are also a number of outdoor escalators that carry you up the hill – what a great idea!

Barcelona Olympic Stadium Magic Fountain

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

We had dinner at the foot of the National Museum and watched the Magic Fountain put on a spectacular display of water, light and colour choreographed to stirring music. As well as the Magic Fountain which has three circles of water jets that constantly change making different shapes, the fountains in front of the National Museum cascade down the hillside putting on a marvelous display, the whole area seems to be gushing water – definitely not the place to be with a full bladder.

The National Museum by night and by day

A DEFINITE HIGHLIGHT

The following day we went on a guided tour of the Palau de la Musica Catalana which was built between1905-1908 and is Barcelona’s music venue par excellence hosting hundreds of concerts a year. It is a truly beautiful building lavishly decorated with sparkling chandeliers and walls of stained glass. The solid walls and columns are covered with ceramics flowers and decorative detail. There are statues of composers and on the back wall of the stage colourful carvings of musicians from around the world playing traditional instruments. The centre piece of the auditorium is a beautiful stained glass skylight. The venue boasts excellent acoustics and has a huge organ. As part of the tour we heard a piece by Bach played on the organ which vibrated through us. – Fantastic.

Inside the Palau de la Musica

BACK ON THE STREETS

After this we strolled through the Gothic quarter which is the oldest area of town. It has a haphazard layout and bears traces of the last 2000 years back to Roman times. We went into the Barcelona Gothic Cathedral which took 600 years to build between1300-1900 and is still a maze of scaffolding. After seeing Gaudi’s Temple de la Sagrada Familia a few days ago the Barcelona Cathedral didn’t do much for me.

Tuesday morning I caught the train and went back to the National Museum to spend a few very enjoyable hours. The museum brings together the most important collections of Catalan art and showcases 1000 years of local creativity. There are some really beautiful portraits and life scenes and then there is the religious art showing people being beheaded, burnt at the stake, skun alive – just disgusting.

RETRACING OUR STEPS

Late Tuesday afternoon (12th July) Andrew’s son Matthew flew in from London for a few days. We were leaving for Menorca the following morning as 24 hours after that, strong head winds were forecast for a number of days. We meet Matthew at the rail station and took him on a whistle stop tour of Barcelona taking in as much as possible in the time allotted. He got to see Sagrada Familia (inside and out) the Olympic Stadium, the National Museum, the Magic Fountain, Gaudi’s Casa Batllo and we strolled home via the tourist area of La Rambla. Not a bad effort and Mathew was very pleased when consulting his guide book on ‘what to see in one day in Barcelona’ he had pretty well covered it.

TIME TO GO
The 100 mile sail from Barcelona to Mallorca was fast averaging 6 knots. The sea was lumpy, but now nearly a week later, we realize that we definitely picked the best day for the trip. We sailed into Pollenca Mallorca onThursday around 6am in 28knots of wind and rain. After a hearty breakfast we slept till midday and then had a restful day. The water temperature is 26.5 degrees and Matthew has been training for a 1.5 km swim which is part of a triathlon he is doing later this month in London (the swim leg in a wet suit).

SOME AUSSIE COMPANY

The following day we went into town and then out to dinner that night with our Aussie friend Tony and his English girlfriend Jacqui from ‘Tactical Directions’. We last saw Tony in Sardinia about twelve months ago and Matthew was holidaying with us then also. We had a good night out with pre dinner drinks at a restaurant on the waterfront and then dinner at a recommended Chinese Restaurant where the food was very tasty and reasonably priced.

Tony, Matthew, Clare and Andrew

MALLORCA TO MENORCA Saturday we sailed 60 miles to Mahon Menorca. This was also a fast sail but fortunately the sea was a lot flatter, the sun was shining and we arrived in time for drinks at sunset; a much more civilized way to travel.

CAPTAIN ANDREW TO THE RESCUE

Since arriving we have had little opportunities to go in to the town of Menorca. The weather is very changeable with strong winds and the anchorage is crowded. Pandemonium broke out late Sunday when the wind changed direction. A yacht trying to re anchor had a gear box failure a few meters from our bow and started drifting towards us. Andrew jumped into our dinghy and tied along side the disabled yacht and with our outboard pushed the yacht away from us and the other anchored boats in danger.

Mahon Harbour-front

Matthew left Monday morning to fly back to London. We managed to get into town late Monday afternoon to have a brief look around. Since then we have basically stayed on the boat making sure we are safe. We have encountered strong changeable winds and rain squalls. We have befriended a young French family anchored next to us. They have invited us over for a glass of wine tonight. They speak little English and we speak very less French so it should be an interesting encounter.

Love Candy xx

France to Spain

2011-07-10T19:36:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Saturday 9^th July 2011

When last I wrote we were heading to Saint Tropez. It was recommended by other cruisers to anchor in a quiet bay about 1.5 kilometers away and walk into town via a track around the rocky cliff face.

A TOP TOURIST DESTINATION

In blissful ignorance, we decided to anchor as close to town as possible. We were hoping to catch up with our Aussie friend Bronwyn who was also due into Saint Tropez on the large power boat Lammouche. What a busy spot, there was an endless procession of power boats returning for the evening. I managed to get the dinner but our boat was being tossed around by the wake. The dinner plates were sliding across the table, drinks were out of the question. After a few hours we abandoned the idea and retreated to the recommended quiet anchorage missing Bronwyn and Lammouche's arrival around 9pm.

Saint Tropez

The following morning, Sunday, we walked into Saint Tropez (Lammouche was gone). The town is small, the shops are expensive and the waterfront is just one restaurant after the other. The internet café was not open until Monday and the Tourist Information Office charged two Euros for a map of the town; we have never been charged for a town map anywhere else. There were too many tourists and too many power boats; we were glad to leave.

A MUCH SLOWER PACE

After that we made our way along the south coast of France calling into a number of little towns. Some are old, some are quaint others are fishing villages or small country towns, but the one thing they have in common is pride in their community. The streets are clean, the towns are tidy the bins don't smell. The locals are friendly and most shop people speak English and are helpful; it was a pleasure to be there. This was in stark contrast to the tourist Mecca of Saint Tropez.

TAKING A CHANCE

Midday Sunday we set off for a 115 mile dash across the Gulf de Lyon. This is a notorious piece of water with strong and unpredictable wind. Gales in the Gulf of Lions are common and one of our cruising friends refers to it as "that mean old gulf". We consider ourselves lucky; we encountered pitch black (no moon) rain and fog but apart from that it was a good trip arriving into Cadaques Spain mid morning on Monday.

Cadaques Foreshore Cadaques Villiage

BUOYS EVERYWHERE

The bay at Cadaques has many anchor buoys which take up all the shallow water. We were pretty tired and the wind was blowing 20 knots and as we didn't want to go on any further so we paid forty euros for a buoy. We think this is a bit much considering we have a reservation in the marina at Barcelona for thirty eighty euros a day with water and power included, but what can you do? We notice that just about every bay near a township has a field of mooring buoys. I guess this enables them to fit more boats in the bay. But the average cruiser would rather anchor out and not incur the added cost. As I said earlier "too many tourist, too many boats"

Tuesday morning we started making our way towards Barcelona. We found a quiet spot to anchor for the night and then had a fabulous 55 mile sail to Barcelona on Wednesday. The wind was about 15 knots and at a 90 degree angle. We averaged 6 knots on flat seas and apart from heavy fog at times we had a great ride. We are in the marina in Port Vell in the centre of Barcelona with only a short stroll to trains, trams and busses.

Clare on "La Rambla"

DISNEYLAND FOR ARCHITECTS

This was our first impression of Barcelona. Some of the architecture is very futuristic, some is centuries old and then there is a significant amount designed by the world renown architect Gaudi. We firstly visited Gaudi's Temple de la Sagrada Familia. This building was started in 1882 and has 8 exterior tapering towers 100 metres high. These will be dwarfed by the dome which will stand at 170 metres when completed in 2025. The inside is spectacular on a grand scale; Andrew and I sat there for a long time just trying to take it all in.

Temple de la Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia interior

We then went to the garden-city of Park Guell which has some fine examples of Gaudi's fantastic imagination. I was fascinated by the quaint little houses with the ceramic work on the rooves. They look like gingerbread houses or something out of a child's story book.

The park is high above the city and thankfully we could take an escalator up the hill. From the park we had a terrific view of Barcelona and Gaudi's Temple de la Sagrada Familia and its impact on the city skyline.

Street escalator

Casa Battlo

Late this afternoon we went to the 1901 residence Casa Batllo. This too is a Gaudi design and another amazing example of his unique work. As you can see in the photo the outside of the residence is covered by ceramic tiles. The theme of the house is the sea and so all the interior walls are curved like waves. Gaudi has also made the most of airflow, light, colour and space making it is hard to believe that the house is over 100 years old; it is still beautiful and remarkably functional.

WHERE TO NEXT?

We will be here till Thursday exploring the city. We will then head for Majorca and relax and swim. By then I reckon we will need a rest.

Love Candy xx

French Riviera

2011-06-27T20:05:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 24^th June 2011

THE FRENCH RIVIERA

We arrived at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat in France on Friday afternoon 17^th June. We had a good 27 mile sail from San Remo and with Heather at the helm, we tacked along the coast close to shore giving us a good view of Monaco as we passed.

Saint Jean - Cap Ferrat Niven and Rothchild mansions

Andrew and Chris have a distant cousin (Andrea and her husband Graham) who live in Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. What a spectacular part of the world. Lovely homes (many of them very large and expensive) with beautiful gardens and fabulous views of the bays dotted with sparkling power boats. The picturesque village of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat is like a well kept secret. It is so quiet and peaceful; it is hard to imagine that a throbbing Monaco is only five miles away.

Villefranche Harbourfront Graham & Andrea Facey with the Paynes

CELEBRITY CORNER

From where we anchored in the bay at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat we could see the house that Charlie Chaplin and later David Niven owned. It is one of the oldest mansions in the area; in the attached photo it is the pink place on the water's edge. Above it, you can also see the large Rothchild mansion on top of the hill. This is now public estate and open to visitors and has magnificent gardens and spectacular views on both sides of the headland of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat and Villefranche.

SECOND TIME AROUND Andrew and I visited Andrea and Graham in 2005 when we came this way during our first year of in the Med. It was only fitting that we should meet up again on this our last year in the Med. They invited us for Saturday morning coffee, cake and a good long chat. In the evening Graham ferried us by car to the hilltop overlooking Villefranche. We then strolled down to the town where we had dinner at one of the waterfront restaurants. Sunday was Graham's 60^th Birthday and we celebrated with champagne and nibbles on Eye Candy in the evening.

JUST HAVING TOO MUCH FUN

Unfortunately Chris and Heather had to leave us on Monday morning to begin their trek back to Melbourne. By this time I think they had had enough of the movement on the water and decided to have two nights on Terra Firma in Rome before jetting off home. We enjoyed having them stay with us. In the past three weeks we explored together Le Grazie, La Spezia, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Santa Margherita, Portofino, San Remo and Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. We had drinks with and met many other new and interesting people. However, what I will remember the most about the holiday will be our "fight to the death" games of Gin Rummy in the evenings – it was good fun!

Monte Carlo Casino Grimaldi Palace

PLAYGROUND OF THE RICH

Andrew and I caught the train to Monaco. We visited here in 2005 and I was totally agog. The obvious wealth is probably the thing that hits you first. We saw beautiful buildings, gorgeous gardens, miles of paving, posh hotels, the Grand Prix route, Grimaldi Palace and Monte Carlo casino. In the attached photo check out the super yachts in the marinas, I think I will have the one with the swimming pool on the top deck!

Marina at Monaco Monaco Harbour

I wanted to tour Grimaldi Palace but it was closed to the public in preparation for Prince's Albert's wedding in July. I then understood why there were so many South African flags in the area. I also would have enjoyed a look in the Casino but that is closed to the public in the day. Andrea said that at night you can enter the front door for ten euros, but men have to wear a tie and woman must be suitably dresses – so that ruled us out - what's a tie?

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

On Tuesday night with Andrea's help we planned where to stop along the French Riviera. She and Graham have cruised the area in their yacht and so knew all the good spots.

Antibes, old town They don't come much bigger

LIQUID GOLD

So Wednesday morning we headed to Antibes, which we believe is the centre of boating here. It probably is – the local ship chandler wanted twenty six euro fifty ($36.80) for 3 kilograms of camping gas (that is about seven times the price in Australia). Fortunately we have three bottles, so we will hold on until we get to Spain where hopefully sanity will prevail. We went to the port and saw many expensive power boats being polished and fussed over by numerous young people with their squeegee and chamois in hand. They were detailing every area and I couldn't help but wonder if they expected this when signing up.

We also watched a huge, and I mean "huge" power boat leaving the dock. It had three bow thrusters which churned mud up from the seabed. It took about fifteen minutes to slowly maneuver its way out. I could only imagine it would be worth hundreds of millions – but it's OK I'm happy with Eye Candy.

A LITTLE PIECE OF PARADISE

We are now a few miles off Cannes. The coastline from Antibes to Cannes is packed with high rise accommodation and as we came along the coast passenger jets were flying out off Nice airport and roaring over the top of the boat. There are noticeably more boats on the water and the area is quite busy.

Saint Honorat Monastry Anchorage in the passage

A few miles off the coast are the two small islands of Sainte-Marguerite and Saint-Honorat. We

are anchored between the two islands in aqua clear water of 24 degrees. Yesterday we went to the smaller island of Saint-Honorat which has a lovely walking track circumnavigating the island. The track takes about an hour to walk and there are many picnic areas set up under shady trees. The island is open to the public but it is also home to a Monastery. The monks pray and work the land making wine and honey for sale. Mass is celebrated three times a day and the monks, in long cream robes, come down the aisle welcoming the public by clasping both your hands. There are many sign boards around the island asking that you respect the silence and it is wonderful to hear birds, cicadas, church bells and the sound of wind in the trees. It is almost unbelievable to find such peace only a few miles off the busy coast.

SO WHAT NEXT?

We will probably move on tomorrow to Saint Tropez. This will give me a chance to find a Wifi café to send photos so you can enjoy some of the sights on our adventure.

Love CANDY xx

Ligurian Coast

2011-06-19T23:46:00.003+10:00

Hi from Clare, Sunday 19^th June 2001

When last I wrote we were heading into Santa Margherita to meet up with Bronwyn Adamson who was driving down from Cannes in

France

to see us.

Andrew, Bronwyn & Clare Ornately painted city buildings

A PLEASANT DAY

We last saw Bronwyn 3 years ago and so there was a lot to catch up on. We had lunch in town and chatted for a few hours. After lunch she spent some time on Eye Candy talking boats and Engineering stuff with Andrew. Chris and Heather went for a walk and left us to it. They found a free concert for that night so after Bronwyn left we enjoyed listening to a father and son playing classical guitar. They played very well and spoke intimately to the audience in Italian – we were lost.

A CANOPY OF GREEN

The town of Santa Margherita is at the base of hill and the houses overlooking the town are nestled in a leafy green hillside with many lovely trees and flowering shrubs. It is truly amazing the number of stairs and walkways that have been built over the years to connect all these houses to the towns situated at the waters edge. Even with a map in hand we managed to take the wrong track or climb the wrong set of stairs. We eventually found our way over the hillside to the next bay and the town of Rapallo for lunch. Feeling quite virtuous after our hike, we returned to Santa Margherita via the coast which is flat and much quicker.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

The town of Santa Margherita has the spectacular “Basilica di Santa Margherita” at the centre of the town. Built in 1658 it is lavishly decorated inside and has many valuable paintings. It is one of the most beautiful churches we have seen in the Med. The town is neat and clean but probably the feature that makes it stand out from other Italian towns is the highly colored and ornately painted city buildings. Some of the brick work is painted in 3D and it is so realistic that you can’t help but touch the building to confirm that it is indeed only paint.

High above Santa Margherita Coastal walk to Portofino

HOW MUCH DID YOU SAY?

The following day we enjoyed walking 5 kilometers to Portofino. The first three kilometers were along the coast and the last two were over the hill via the state forest. This was a lovely shady walk and took us around the back of Portofino giving us a terrific view of all the expensive houses and a spectacular panoramic view of the bay. Potofino is quite small and very expensive. The prices of clothes are in the hundreds (instead of tens) and a humble Cappuccino is 7 Euros. This came as a bit of a shock as we had been paying as little as 1 Euro in the surrounding towns. We decided a beer at 5 Euro was a better proposition – good thinking!

Portofino housing Portofino Harbour

WE TRIED

We had a 70 miles trip to San Remo and decided to leave at midnight to take advantage of a window of opportunity before the wind would change and be on our nose. We had the motor on firstly and then a light wind kicked in. Heather being very eager “made” us put the spinnaker up but that only lasted half an hour before the engine was back on and we motored sailed the rest of the way arriving mid afternoon.

Modern San Remo High above San Remo

NEW AND OLD
San Remo is a very interesting place. Some parts of the city are very modern with fashionable shops and restaurants. It also has had a huge undercover fresh food market with local delicacies – I just had to buy some. The traffic is thick with cars and scooters that stop at pedestrian crossings only after you make a leap of faith and step out in front of them.

Conversely the old part of the city high on the hill and is nearly deserted. There are endless narrow steep streets and it seems even steeper stairways. We walked to the top of the hill and visited the church “Madonna della Costa” of San Remo built in 1651. It never ceases to amaze me how much money has been lavished on the local place of worship. There was an old lady sitting at the back of the church who accosted everyone as they came through the door to ensure they were dressed appropriately and didn’t use a flash camera. After a genuflection a few signs of the cross Heather and I were allowed in – the boys opted to stay outside.

San Remo Old Town (steps) Coffee break after our climb

SO WHAT NEXT We are now at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat in

France

but more on that in our next newsletter. Chris and Heather are due to leave tomorrow and head to Rome for a flight back to

Australia

. We will probably stay here for a few more days before heading west along the French Riviera.

Love CANDY xx.

Cinque Terre and Pisa

2011-06-13T18:44:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare Sunday 12^th June 2011

Chris (Andrew’s brother) and his wife Heather arrived Saturday 4^th and we have had a very busy week.

View of Le Grazie from Joan's Verandah Andrew, Heather and Chris

THE GENEROUSITY OF NEW FRIENDS

Firstly throughout our time anchored in the magnificent bay at Le Grazie we have enjoyed social gatherings with our friends from cruising yachts “Godspeed” and “Quest”. We also had afternoon coffee with Joan and her husband Mario at their hillside villa overlooking the bay. I met Joan the previous day at the supermarket.

She is a psychologist, a photographer and author of a book about the Caribbean Island of Virgin Gorda where they also have a house. We hope to meet up with Joan and Mario when we cross to the Caribbean – so maybe it is a case of “from little things, big things grow”

Portoverene Portoverene Town

PORTOVENERE

Eager to get some exercise we walked up over the hill and down to Portovenere. We climbed up to the castle on the hilltop and then wandered through the old city admiring the winding cobblestone streets and the narrow fronted 12^th Century stone houses all joined together. Brightly coloured pot plants, pretty hanging baskets and fresh washing hanging out the windows brought the streets to life. We purchased some locally made pasta and basil pesto for dinner that night on Eye Candy; it was delicious. We found an elevated cool veranda and rested for lunch and a well earned cool drink before our return trip up over the hill.

Pisa Cathedral and Tower Clare and Heather at Pisa

PISA

On Tuesday we set off for Pisa. We caught the bus to La Spezia and then made the hour trip by train into Pisa. I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the Cathedral, the Tower and other buildings were within the 12^th century fortification. They are lavishly decorated and have been well maintained as befits a World Heritage Site. We then walked down to the river and through the city of Pisa with tourist map in hand checking out all the mentioned places of interest. We made stops for lunch, ice creams and coffee but we certainly covered enough ground to work off the calories.

Boat park in mainstreet of Riomaggiore Clare & Heather at Cinque Terre

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

Thursday we went by bus and train to the five towns of Cinque Terre. All the towns are dramatically beautiful hanging from the cliff face and perched high above the sea. I warned Chris and Heather that the walking we had done so far was only a warm up for Cinque Terre. We purchased an all day ticket on the train which is a get on get off system. However there is also a walking track between towns. We walked the one hour track between towns 1-2 but due to land slides the tracks between towns 2-3 and 3-4 were closed. By the time we climbed all over the first four towns we didn’t have the energy to walk the 2hr track between towns 4-5. As you can guess hillside towns include lots of hills and many stairs. The third town Corniglia is situated on top of the hill from the railway station. The stairs zig zagged up the hill like a goat track and we climbed for about twenty minutes before reaching the township. However it was well worth the effort as the town was really pretty with great views of the coast and the steep hillside farming. Each town is different; some have a lot of tourist accommodation, others are small villages. Some have boats parked in the main street and most have washing hanging out the windows. There isn’t much sand or beach front and so people lie on the rocks or the large launching ramps for the many small boats. It is certainly different from anything we have ever seen and it will leave a lasting impression.

Manarola Farming near Corniglia

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SPOT

On Saturday we left La Grazie and sailed thirty miles to Santa Margherita Ligure which is only 1.5 miles from Portofino. The sea was a bit lumpy because between our sight-seeing trip last week the weather was very stormy. We arrived around 3pm and put out two anchors (the second one at the rear of the boat) to keep us pointing into the swell. The boat is rocking up and down a bit but we are off sight-seeing in the day and it doesn’t stop us from playing Rummy till midnight and sleeping well at night. I guess sleep is assisted by plenty of exercise and a few red wines as a night cap.

Santa Marghertia and Portofino are just gorgeous but more on that in the next newsletter.

SO WHAT’S NEXT

One of our long standing Aussie friends Bronwyn Adamson (who we have sailed with on Col’s boat in Sydney for many years) is coming to visit us today. She now lives in

France

and works as the Engineer on a large luxury power boat. She has just sent an SMS to say she is close, so we are off to shore to find her.

We will stay here for the next few days before moving further west to San Remo.

Love CANDY xx

Col and Denise's visit

2011-06-04T00:40:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Friday 3^rd June 2011

THEY BROUGHT THE SUN

When last I wrote we were waiting for our Aussie friends Colin and Denise to join us on the Italian island of Ponza. We were wearing winter woolies and sheltering from strong wind. Col and Denise however had enjoyed six weeks of sunny weather in London (of all places). They arrived on Wednesday 18^th May and for the next two weeks we had sun; it rained the day they left – what’s their secret?

Dinner in Ponza Azzurro Harbour

TAKING IT EASY

We spent a few relaxing days at Ponza before doing an eighty mile overnight sail to Elba. We had a near full moon all night and the breeze was warm. Sailing conditions were good with 10 knots of wind on our bow. We read our Kindles, played Solitaire and with four of us to share the sailing, we managed to get some sleep.

MORE ISLAND LIFE

Over the next few days we visited the three major towns on the island of Elba. We visited Marina di Campo (a tourist town) on the south side of the island, Porto Azzurro on the east side and Portoferraio (a major ferry port) on the north side. The weather was sunny and perfect for strolling around town in the day and eating out along the foreshore at night.

IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE

Andrew has been running the Drag Net so far this season. This is a HF radio sked where cruisers check in each morning to keep in touch, share information and give their location. We had been talking to Robert and Christina on “Quest” and Bob and Cindy on “God Speed” for a few weeks. They met up with “Eye Candy” in Portoferraio and the eight of us had a terrific time exchanging stories and enjoying drinks and nibbles on “Quest” until late into the evening.

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

The following morning we reluctantly left our new friends at Portoferraio and sailed eighty miles to Le Grazie on the mainland of Italy. The wind was behind us and until mid afternoon we had a pleasant sail. It was only when Col decided to have a shower underway that the wind picked up to around thirty knots and the sea was rather choppy. He came staggering out of the head and realizing we were busy trimming the sails called out to Andrew “I’ll be up in a minute I just have to comb my hair” We all looked at each other with hair blowing across our faces and Denise called back “DON’T BOTHER” We arrived into La Spezia around midnight. Denise and I had spent the last few hours below leaving the guys to it. Andrew had put a reef in the main much to Col’s dismay, but it didn’t stop the ‘racing sailors‘ enjoying the gusts to 39 knots and an ‘Eye Candy’ record of “11.3 knots of boat speed – Woo Hoo”. All the slime growing on the bottom has now gone.

Portovenere Erice

TIME IS RUNNING OUT

Over the next few days we visited the towns of La Spezia, Portovenere, and Lerici. We also took the train to the Cinque Terre district. A day pass train ticket takes you to the five towns with an easy walk into the villages. What an amazing place, but more about that in our next newsletter.

Monterosso al Mare Vernazza Manarola

Col and Denise left Wednesday morning 1^st June to return to London. We had dinner out on the last night (Col’s treat) in a lovely restaurant at the Hotel Baia in La Grazie. Our choice of venue was perfect, typically Italian, Cinque Terre wine, but more importantly - it was the only place in town that was open.

SO WHAT’S NEXT

So now we are alone again and anchored in the fabulous bay at La Grazie. It is large, well protected with excellent holding. “Quest” and “Godspeed” arrived yesterday and we are all due on “Godspeed” tonight for drinks. We heard that “Quest” was fined in Portoferraio just after we left. He was charged 100 Euro for not having his dinghy outboard listed on his insurance policy. First time we have ever heard of such a thing - we don’t have our outboard listed either – it is so unfair. Andrew has sent our details to our insurer so we can get an updated Notice of Cover. No doubt we will hear more tonight.

Andrew’s brother Chris and his wife Heather are arriving tomorrow for a three week stay. This is the first time they have been on the boat so we are looking forward to sharing time together.

Love CANDY xx

West Coast of Italy to Ponza

2011-05-16T17:15:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare Sunday 15^th May 2011

So when I last wrote we were attached to a mooring buoy in a small bay 60 miles south of Sorrento on the Italian west coast. We stayed there for a couple of days moving from one side of the bay to the other sheltering from the roll of the sea. The weather was cold and raining and so we sat below and weaved some more cones on to our sea drogue. The tally is now 82 cones attached and 34 to go. We are feeling a lot happier now.

THE TRIP TO FORGET

On Wednesday we sailed 30 miles north into the wind to Agropioli and we got a fair beating in the process. The sea was rough and the wind gusty and changeable. We were thrown around like a cork on the ocean. The cupboard doors flew open (even though they were locked) and things fell out. One of the toilet sea cocks was accidentally left open and sea water came back up the toilet outlet and flooded the aft bathroom and ran into the bilge. We cleaned up the water we could reach but when we tacked (tipping the boat over in the opposite direction) the water we couldn’t get to ran out from under the cupboards and across the saloon floor. Just to add to the mayhem, not expecting the trip to be so rough, I started to do the washing in the forward bathroom. I had filled the shower area with water and washing powder and intended to soak the sheets and towels during the trip. Once at sea I had washing water running out the door and so I canned that idea and drained the water out. By the time we got to Agropoli we were worn out from sailing but it took a further two hours to complete the washing and sort the boat out. We think “Poseidon” has given us yet another clip under the ear to remind us - not to sail to windward.

Entrance to Agropoli View of Agropoli from Castle

Agopoli Town Mall

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE TOWNS

We love the Italian town of Agrolopi. It has a marvellous town mall where the locals and tourists enjoy coffee shops, outdoor restaurants and boutique shopping. It has a very relaxed and family orientated feel to it and the locals are friendly and helpful. I was really looking forward to having a quiet meal there and once again enjoying the atmosphere. Unfortunately the mall was in a state of disarray as the paving was being replaced. There was fencing erected along the length of the mall catering for men with picks and shovels and an excavator to work around the clock. – Oh well it just wasn’t meant to be!

We stayed in the harbour with and an English couple Colin and Jane on their Oyster 39, “Hydaway” on one side and an Italian ex policeman on the other side of us.

We all got on very well together stopping for lots of chats and drinks in the evening. We sat on the wharf behind our boats in the shade of the sea wall. Yes, you read correctly “shade” we actually had a first hot summer’s day in Agropoli. It was magnificent and since then we have had a few more sunny days too.

PLENTY OF EXERCISE

Friday we sailed another 50 miles to the Island of Ischia on the north side of the bay of Naples. Once again the wind wasn’t playing ball and we spent most of the day adjusting sails, putting the spinnaker up and down, turning the engine on and off and adjusting sails etc. However it was a lovely sunny day.

We had arranged on HF radio to meet up with some friends in the evening. Alan and Sally on “Artemis” were travelling south arriving at Ischia at 5.30pm we were travelling north arriving at Ischia at 7.30pm. We haven’t seen Alan and Sally since 2008 when we did the EMYR rally together. We dropped anchor off the Ischia Castle (in photo) and they very kindly hosted drinks and nibbles on their boat. We spent a few very enjoyable hours with them that evening before going our separate ways in the morning.

THIRD TIME LUCKY

Yesterday we had a fabulous 45 mile spinnaker sail to the Italian island of Ponza. It was a beautiful sunny day and once we had the spinnaker up we didn’t have to do much until we arrived at Ponza in the early evening. We lay in the sun and read for most of the trip.

Ponza main street

SO WHAT NEXT?

Today it is cooler with a little rain. We will stay in Ponza and wait for Colin and Denise to arrive on Wednesday for a couple of weeks. We are expecting strong winds tonight which will last for the next day or so. I will be glad when the wind starts blowing for at present we are rolling rather badly. At least we have plenty of room in the anchorage as there is only a handful of visiting boats here. I think most Italian boats have gone back to their marinas due to the strong wind warning.

Once Colin and Denise arrive we will probably go to the Italian Island of Elba and then onto the mainland and the Cinque Terre area.

Love CANDY xx

Sicily to West Coast Italy

2011-05-09T01:50:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare, Sicily to West Coast Italy Sunday 8^th May

When last I wrote we were anchored in the large bay of Siracusa.

Siracusa Bay

Otiga town Centre

FAMILIAR TERRITORY

Monday morning we set off to the fresh market, a coffee in the beautiful town square and to recharge our sim card for the dongle. It was rather lovely being back in familiar territory and not having to search for the post office, supermarket, ship chandler, telephone office etc. We now have internet access on the boat so have total communication with the world, family and friends.

WHO WANTS TO GO SWIMMING?

The weather is still cool with average temperatures in the mid twenties and the sea temperature is a measly 16 degrees. This is great for sight seeing but no basking in the sun or swimming yet. So far Andrew has been in once and that was to dislodge a piece of twine which had been sucked up into the propeller. I got the better end of the deal - to stand by with a hot shower and warm clothes.

Andrew, Arjan & Evo

PLENTY OF FRIENDS

We knew most of the yachts in the bay at Siracusa having spent time with them in either Malta or Tunisia. Our Dutch friend Arjan from “Aquadraat” was moored next to us in Tunisia for the winter. He and Andrew kept in touch when at home regarding the instability in Tunisia. We left Tunisia before he returned and so we thought we may not see him again.

Then Arjan arrived in Malta when we were leaving. We shouted across the boats and arranged to meet in Sicily. Cruising people are very friendly and cups of coffee, sundowners and good company is not far away.

ON TO ITALY

We left Siracusa early Wednesday morning to travel up through the Messina Strait. This is the narrow bit of water between Sicily and Italy. It can be pretty nasty with currents and unpredictable wind. We spent the night at Reggio Calabria (Italy) on the town wharf and then motored through the narrowest part of the strait early the following morning. The sea was flat and with the current behind us, we just focused on dodging the many ships - all was well. We had a very pleasant spinnaker run for most of Thursday. We spent our time working on assembling our newly purchased sea drogue. We have to weave 116 cones on to two ropes. It is a slow process but we now have 26 cones done and 90 to go. The idea of the sea drogue is to slow the boat down when in following seas. The cones fill with water and these act as a brake. We are preparing this for the Atlantic crossing at the end of this season and we sincerely hope we will never have to use it. Thursday night we passed Stromboli Island and the volcano was quite active, we saw a number of explosions and small red lava flows. Last year when we came this way Stromboli produced only one puff – this year was quite spectacular!

Andrew, considering his options Passing Stromboli under spinnaker

A BAY TO ONESELF

So now we are on a mooring buoy in a small bay 60 miles south of Sorrento on the Italian west coast. We arrived here yesterday morning and having had three hours sleep overnight we spent a lazy day enjoying the sunshine and relaxing. I could imagine this bay would be packed in summer; yesterday we had a dozen or so local boats in here. People were relaxing, reading and enjoying the sun. Today is much cooler weather and we are here alone.

Our solitary bay Confusion

NEW GADGETS

This year we are having a lovely time with a new Ipad and Kindle added to our comprehensive wardrobe of electronics on the boat. The only problem is that we are constantly getting confused as to which application we are using. We have been guilty of unsuccessfully trying to use the “Ipad touch screen facility” to operate the computer and Kindle - the computer mouse to operate the chart plotter at the navigation desk and the “Ipad touch screen facility” to operate the chart plotter in the cockpit. It always surprises us when stabbing at these screens just doesn’t work!

SO WHAT NEXT

We will have a quiet week waiting for our Aussie friends Colin and Denise to arrive from London for a holiday. We will catch up on emails and phone calls and with a bit of luck we will attach some more cones to the sea drogue.

Love CANDY xx

Malta to Sicily

2011-05-03T00:26:00.000+10:00

Hi from Clare Sunday 1^st May 2011

Mike, Grace, Clare and Kiwi

MARINA MATES

When last I wrote we were enjoying life in the Msida Marina at Malta. We had a BBQ on the New Zealand boat “Wired for Sound” with our Kiwi mate and Canadian couple Mike and Grace from “Two Moons”. We all contributed to the meal, ate like Kings and after some lubrication sang along to Kiwi’s favourite tunes from yester - year.

Queen Victoria Monumrnt

Valetta housing

BUSY BUILDING

The following morning we caught the bus to the Capital city Valetta. The Knights of St John occupied the area from the early 1500 to late1700 and are mostly responsible for the building of the walled city and fortifications. We spent a few hours walking around looking at the architecture, housing conditions, monuments and parks and gardens. It is very impressive with stunning views over Grand Harbour to the south and Marsamxett Harbour to the north.

A GORY PAST

We went to a museum style presentation capturing scenes from the life and times of the Crusading Knights. Plenty of dummies in manacles being tortured, blood dripping off them and arrows and spears dug into them – all pretty gory! After that we decided not to go to the World War II museum and went to the Maritime and the Aviation museums which were very interesting.

Fighter Ace Andy

COME FLY WITH ME

The Aviation museum, although small, was particularly good because we could get up close to things and have a good look. There were restored World War II Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and Andrew got to sit in the cockpit of a fighter jet designed for the EU – it’s a wonder I ever got him out of there!

Executioner's house

SO WHAT DOES YOUR DAD DO?

Another day we caught the local bus to the old city of Vittoriosa. This area pre dates the Knights and some of the buildings although renovated are still in use today. We walked up narrow streets and came across the home of the executioner of the times. This was depicted by two axes carved in the stone work above the front window. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had small children and what it would be like to come home to that reminder.

Vitoriosa streets

FAREWELL MALTA

On Friday we left Malta at 7am to sail the 85 miles to Siracusa in Sicily.

Andrew took a photo of our chart plotter showing the AIS targets around Malta. Eye Candy is the boat in the photo with the red and green line running off the bow. All the other grey triangles are large ships. The largest being 1200 feet long, another was a large drilling platform. The cruise liner Queen Victoria was there too, but she is less than a 1000 feet long so not a problem. Later in the day we had a large ship on a collision course with us and only 1.2 miles away. Andrew called him on the radio and told him where we were and asked what he was doing – fortunately he changed course.

AIS targets around Malta

It was a good sail albeit slow at times. We had to motor the last twenty miles and arrived at 2am Saturday morning. We listened to the Royal Wedding on the BBC via HF radio along the way. The reception wasn’t brilliant but we could gauge the excitement and we heard Kate and Wills exchange vows. Our friends Colin and Denise are coming to Eye Candy within the next fortnight and bless them for they are bringing glossy magazines. So I will catch up on all the gos then.

HELLO SICILY

Since arriving we haven’t been off the boat. The wind comes up every day and going ashore pretty well means getting wet on the return trip. Tomorrow morning (Monday) we will head in and get a data plan for the sim card we got here last year so we will have internet access on the boat. This means I will be able to post photos with the newsletter.

SO WHAT NEXT

We will stay here until the wind can carry us north through the Messina strait to the coast of Italy. We did all this area last year with Colin so we will probably fast track up the coast and meet them further up this time.

Love CANDY xx

Pantelleria to Malta

2011-04-24T02:13:00.000+10:00

Tourist end of town

Tourist accommodation

Eye Candy Tops

Cathedral in Medina

View from Medina

Grand Harbour, Valetta

Dock Yard Creek

Stone City

Hi from Clare, Saturday 23rd April 2011

We arrived in Malta Wednesday 13th after a good overnight sail running downwind finishing with twenty knots on a freshening breeze.

WHAT A PLACE

First impression of Malta is “a stone city or a city of walls”. All the structures are made of yellow or white stone cut from the surrounding cliffs. It has a long embattled history and so many forts, old cities and castles are surrounded by high steep walls. It has had two major sieges, one in 1565 against the Turks and again in World War 11 when Malta had more bombs dropped on it than London. Some structures are centuries old and some a very modern and catering for a huge influx of tourists.

ON THE BUSES
We have taken the tourist open air bus to the north and south of the island. It is a hop on hop off system with audio. Both three hour trips took us eight hours with some stops. We also went on a two hour harbour cruise viewing the cities from the water and touring past the ancient and modern dock yards.

It is certainly a fascinating place steeped in history. However there is no such thing as rolling plains, wooded valleys or fresh water creeks.

WHAT’S THAT YOU SAID?
One huge plus for Malta is that everyone speaks English. All signage and product information is written in English. The supermarkets have English products and I have had a wonderful time buying up big. The boat has never been so well stocked. Andrew commented the other day “we are not a supermarket you know” but I’ve got other ideas.

A GOOD DAY
For my birthday (April 21st) we did the harbour cruise in the morning and then I suggested Andrew go back to the boat while I went girl shopping. It was wonderful to poke about the shops being able to read labels, understand sizing and ask for assistance – what a treat! That night we went to The Royal Malta Yacht Club and had a wonderful dinner including the Maltese specialty of rabbit; it was delicious.

COOL CATS

The weather is still fairly cool with occasional rain. Some days are sunny but we have pretty well lived in jeans and long sleeve tops. Our new Eye Candy crew tops have been well used. Our blue and white stripped matching tops have made it very easy for the touts to spot us as tourists. Andrew had a bad dream where his Eye Candy cap had flown off in the open air bus and he couldn’t reach it. He was in quite a state but I guess fore-warned is fore-armed.

MARINA LIFE
Tomorrow we are having a BBQ with our Kiwi mate on his boat. We have spent a bit of time together over the past week. He has been here for six months and so has helped Andrew with good ship chandlers and local knowledge.

A few boats along there is a guy who recently suffered a stroke. He has been in bed ever since and last night he went off in an ambulance. We have a British couple on one side of us and a French guy with an American crew on the other. There are Canadians a few boats away that we knew in Tunisia. People are very friendly and so we feel quite at home.

WHAT’S NEXT
We are off today to the capital city of Valetta. We have now mastered the local transport system and so in the coming week we will visit museums, the botanical gardens and other points of interest.

Love Candy xx

Monastir to Pantelleria

2011-04-11T01:41:00.007+10:00

Hi from Clare, Tunisia to Pantelleria Sunday 10th April 2011

OUR SAILING YEAR BEGINS
We arrived at Monastir in Tunisia on 23rd March and departed twelve days later. Laour is cheap in Tunisia and so for the lowly price of $400 the boat was slipped, power washed, sanded and painted. All other cleaning, polishing, maintenance and provisioning jobs were completed in little over a week. Before leaving we even had time to wine and dine with other cruising friends who had spent the winter on their boats in the marina.

UNCERTAIN TIMES
Life in Tunisia seems peaceful; the people are pleased the President has gone. We did not feel under threat and we saw no evidence of the fighting in Libya. We did hear that Refugee boats were leaving Tunisia and Libya and heading to the closest Italian island Lampedusa. Initially we intended an overnight stop there as it is half way between Tunisia and Malta. But as this means sailing along the Libyan coast we decided to travel north east to the Italian island of Pantelleria.

ALL IN TOGETHER
So here we are in Pantelleria waiting for favorable winds to sail to Malta. At this stage we think this will be on Tuesday. In the meantime we are having fun with English friends John and Jan on "Brigantia" and Crispin, Fi and Wes on "Revolution". We are rafted five abreast; the first two boats are under repair. We are boat number three and 'piggy in the middle' the English boats are outside of us.

Fi, Jan, John and Crispin with Andrew

OUR LUCK IS IN
Early this morning the workmen on the first boat disconnected all the stays on the mizzen in preparation for removal. The mast was so rotten at the base that it fell sideways and ended up in the water behind our boat. One of the stays hit our arch making a hell of a noise - just a little too close for comfort!
A couple of days ago a large fishing boat drifted into a little 27 foot Beneteau rafted next to us and bent this solar panel pole.

Photo taken from our cockpit

12th Century Castle in Pantelleria View from on high, Pantelleria Village, Pantelleria

SO FAR SO GOOD
We are spending our time touring the island, going for extended walks, shopping for Italian delicacies, chatting with the locals and sharing coffees, meals and film nights with the English. We are having a good time and we are looking forward to going to Malta.
Love Candy xx
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