S/V WINGS - sailing around the world

PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT DATE

2012-02-12T13:30:00.001-08:00

The real purpose of this update is to explain how to follow our passage through the Panama Canal. The trip from Jamaica was uneventful, about 4 days long with good winds and comparatively small seas, at least compared to the previous week!

We've completed the check-in into Panama. Found the Panamanians pretty good at extracting fees! We had to pay $193 for a cruising permit, since we are staying at a marina more than 3 days. There are several other, smaller fees, and numerous copies of various documents (ships papers, passports, etc.) required.

The marina is nice. It is surrounded by jungle on 3 sides & water on 1. It has a nice restaurant, $1/beer happy hour, small chandlery, mini mart, pool, alligator in residence which discourages bottom cleaning and nice shower facilities. All for $1.20 a foot/day. Colon is a bus ride away, but pretty good shopping. We hear it is better on Pacific side, even a Costco!

Our arrival turned out to be a week before Panamanian Carnival time. Apparently, (or is this another fee generator?) transits will get backed up next week, as canal workers call in sick. We had to pay overtime ($170) to get the boat measured before next Friday, as they do not assign transit dates until after you are measured. It was still cheaper then marina fees.

So! We have a date! Read on to track us! You do not need to wait, we have left our AIS transmitter “on”. You will find us at the dock, you may even see a satellite picture of the marina! Cool, huh?

WE ARE SCHEDULED TO GO THRU THE CANAL ON 2/15/2012 – WE LIKELY WILL BE TIED IN THE CENTER OF THE LOCKS RAFTED NEXT TO OUR PORTLAND, OR. FRIENDS ON STARDUST (SEE PICTURE) TO SEE WHERE WE ARE NOW & THE ENTIRE AREA OF THE CANAL GO TO http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais

THIS PAGE TRACKS SHIPS WITH AIS – AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF SHIPS. THIS SITE IS NOT SET UP TO TRACK US ACROSS THE OCEAN. ONCE YOU OPEN THAT PAGE, ON YOUR LEFT SIDE OF SCREEN YOU WILL SEE:

Ships Map

Go to Area

Go to Port

Go To Vessel

TYPE “PANAMA” IN “GO TO PORT” BOX. IT WILL OFFER YOU ANCHORAGE ON ATLANTIC, ANCHORAGE ON PACIFIC, CANAL & PANAMA. I’D PICK ATLANTIC ANCHORAGE.

Notation & Display options:
Show Ship Names CHECK THIS BOX
Predicted Course for:
Passenger Vessels

Cargo Vessels

Tankers

High Speed Craft

Tug, Pilot, etc

Yachts & Others

Navigation Aids

Unspecified Ships

Ships Underway

Anchored/Moored

YOU CAN CHECK OR UNCHECK AS MANY OF THE ABOVE BOXES AS YOU LIKE. THE MORE YOU CHECK THE MORE TYPES OF SHIPS YOU WILL SEE. BUT DEFINITELY CHECK CARGO. BY CHECKING CARGO YOU WILL SEE A STEADY LINE OF GREEN SHIPS FROM THE ATLANTIC SIDE OF THE CANAL THRU LAKE GATUN TO THE PACIFIC SIDE. BY CHECKING THE YACHT BOX YOU MAY SEE US AS WE WILL LEAVE OUR AIS ON TRANSMIT. CHECK SHIPS UNDERWAY ALSO.

ON YOUR RIGHT SIDE OF THE SCREEN WILL BE A MAP OF PANAMA. YOU CAN HAVE MAP VIEW OR SATELLITE VIEW (TOP RIGHT CORNER OF MAP). PICK SATELLITE VIEW. YOU CAN HIT THE + OR – BUTTON (TOP LEFT CORNER OF MAP) OR USE THE WHEEL ON YOUR MOUSE TO ZOOM MAP IMAGE IN & OUT. YOU CAN MOVE YOUR MOUSE AROUND THE SCREEN TO FOLLOW THE CANAL TO THE PACIFIC. AS YOU MOVE THE MOUSE AROUND YOU WILL SEE LITTLE WHITE NUMBERS ON THE SCREEN WHICH ARE GPS COORDINATES. UNTIL WE HEAD OUT TO GO THRU WINGS IS IN SHELTER BAY MARINA NEAR FORT SHERMAN ON THE ATLANTIC SIDE. I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT SOMETIMES WE ARE ON THE MAP & SOMETIMES NOT. OUR POSITION IS: N09 22 011 W79 57 054.

AFTER CHECKING THE BOXES TO SEE THE SHIPS I’D ZOOM OUT SO YOU CAN SEE THE RIBBON OF BOATS HEADING ACROSS THE CANAL. THEN ZOOM IN ON THE ATLANTIC SIDE TO SEE WHERE WE ARE.

THE LINK BELOW IS TO VIEW SHIPS AS THEY ARE IN THE LOCKS. THERE ARE 3 SETS OF LOCKS. EACH LOCK IS 110’ WIDE & 1000’ LONG. THE 1^ST LOCKS WE COME TO (3 IN A ROW) ARE GATUN LOCKS. THESE 3 LOCKS WILL RAISE US UP 84’ TO LAKE GATUN. WE DO THAT ON DAY 1 OF OUR TRANSIT. IT WILL LIKELY BE LATE AFTERNOON (USA EAST COAST TIME) OR EARLY EVENING. WE PICK UP OUR ADVISOR BETWEEN 3 & 7 PM ON DAY 1.

ON DAY 2 WE GO ACROSS LAKE GATUN TO PEDRO MIGUEL LOCK (1 LOCK) & THEN INTO MIRAFLORES LOCKS (2 LOCKS). OUR ADVISOR COMES ABOARD SOMETIME AFTER 6 AM. WE SHOULD BE IN THE PACIFIC NO LATER THAN 2 PM . THESE 3 LOCKS TAKE US BACK DOWN TO SEA LEVEL.

I DON’T THINK WE CAN COME UP WITH MORE SPECIFIC TIMES UNTIL WE ARE ACTUALLY THERE. WHAT WE CAN DO IS SEND AN EMAIL OUT (LIKE WE DO FOR THE BLOG) TO SAY WHEN WE ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE 1^ST LOCK. THAT MAY HELP PINPOINT THE TIME.

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

YOU WILL WANT TO CLICK ON ANY OF THESE CAMERAS TO SEE IF YOU CAN SPOT US. YOU CAN USE THE MAGNIFYING GLASS IMAGE IN THE PICTURE TO ZOOM IN.

Miraflores Locks/ Miraflores - High Resolution/ Centennial Bridge/ Gatun Locks/ Gatun - High Resolution

Ft Lauderdale to Jamaica (mon!)

2012-01-28T08:52:00.001-08:00

New! (At least to this amateur): Now, if you make a comment on this post, I will receive it as an email and be able to respond. Thanks to S/V Gypsea Heart who showed me the way!

We said our goodbyes to Pam in FLL, then got up at 0 dark hundred the next morning and quietly left the dock on the high tide so as to negotiate the shallow waters that led to the Intercoastal Waterway and out the inlet. The WX forecast was good for the crossing of the Gulf Stream, always a concern for the trip to the Bahamas. Our destination was Bimini. The sail across was easy. We sailed the whole way, only starting the engine for the short entrance into the harbor. In spite of some good directions from other boats, we managed to bump the bottom several times on the way in, due to the poor markings and the shifting sands. Once tied up, we headed for the cash machine so we could pay customs for our “cruising permit”, a $300 piece of paper. Apparently, pirating has not entirely gone away out here.
Again with the high tide the next morning, we bumped our way back out of the harbor, went north several miles to North Rock, then headed east , and mindful of our marginally deep keel (7.5 ft) for the Bahamas, just north of Mackie Shoal, then a few degrees right to Northwest Shoal light, a 70 mile day. This was the first time we have anchored in 15 ft of sand with no land in sight! And, we had a comfortable night!

Next AM, still on the fast track, we entered the NW Channel and set a course for Nassau, where we topped off the fuel, then anchored in front of the Nassau Yacht Club for the night, ready for another early, high tide departure through the shallow waters just east of Nassau. Crossing the Yellow Bank proved to be a non event, thankfully, and we anchored the next PM at Shroud Cay.
Shroud Cay was, finally, a “slow down, your cruising” point, and we readied the inflatable for some exploring. Shroud Cay is located within the Exuma Land and Sea Park, where fishing of any kind is forbidden. It is a special place and it has proven to be an asset both for cruisers like us and for the locals, as it provides a nursery for the local fish to repopulate the heavily fished waters around it.
We dinged ashore and had a look around, went swimming for the first time this year, (had a look at our bottom and pronounced it pretty good, except a few places where the paint is falling off)
Next AM, we were off to Warderick Wells, the park headquarters. There, we took a mooring, but with our draft we had to stay off somewhat exposed to the swell, so the next morning we moved over to Hog Cay, we we moored again in absolutely calm, clear waters. It was here, long ago, that pirates lay in wait for passing ships, their masts hidden by the islands behind, and the ships behind the Cays in front

       The park mooring field                                                      Clear water!

WINGS at Hog Cay Spotted Ray. This guy is 1m across!

This doesn't look like much, but this coral is 2.5
million years old!
Several days later, we headed south once again for Staniel Cay, a must stop for me, as I visited there with my kids on a boat some 42 years ago, and that trip contains some of my happiest memories with them. With our draft, we could get close to Staniel, but not quite there, so we anchored as close up behind Big Majors Spot as we could, expecting some winds out of the east and northeast.
From there we went a few miles south, to Black Point, positioning ourselves for the longer hop to Georgetown. At Black Point, I scored a first, we got the wash done, had lunch, bought a small amount of groceries, and I got a haircut, all at the same store! I got to sit in a plastic chair looking out over the harbor while getting the haircut too! Good cut, too, but not quite as good as at 6th St Hair. Way cool!
Up at first light, we turned south again for Georgetown, another must stop for me. We anchored close by the local hangout, the “Chat n Chill”


After waiting several days for a weather window to Jamaica, we finally got a narrow window and left Georgetown, arriving in Jamaica several days later, at Port Antonio. We had heard that here there is a low crime rate and a nice marina. We are not disappointed! Jamaica is a beautiful country, and we have not encountered any problems. Customs came aboard promptly and professionally, no charge! On Sunday! So far, we've had all the rust spots on the boat removed and the stainless polished, all at a reasonable price. Yesterday, we took a tour to a coffee plantation high in the mountains, saw how the coffee was made, and bought some (of course!)




This afternoon, we hope to go to the “home” of jerk chicken and pork. That will be an adventure! We are waiting for a weather window to go to Colon, Panama, to start our trip through the canal It looks as though that will be a week away, as high winds and higher seas are dominating the area through which we must pass. In the meantime, we are not suffering!
Enjoying Jamaica, mon! Terry & Deb

Antigua to Ft Lauderdale (It’s about time!)

2011-12-29T13:13:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are, sitting in front of a private dock in Ft. Lauderdale. 2012 is just a few days away. The house has been rebuilt and is again for rent. We know we will leave here on the first wx window after 1 January. Just where we will go is a bit more sketchy. We know we will go through the Bahamas on the way to the Panama Canal. After the canal, we will probably go to Hawaii, but that could change to a trip up the west coast. Either way, the plan is to be home in Anacortes, WA sometime in August, give or take a month.

So what has happened? Good question, long answer.

The house is beautiful. BT& D did a great job with the rebuild. In budget and close to on time. I even have a friend who is considering renting our house while he rebuilds his from a fire that has not yet started! (This is a joke!) We can not say enough about USAA insurance. They treated us promptly, fairly, generously. We have a new home with some improvements for a few thousand $$. Now to get it rented!!

Returning from Anacortes to Antigua, we took the first good weather to sail up to St. Bart's for a look around and a Cheeseburger in Paradise. Finding the anchorage a little rolly, we didn't stay long, but continued on to St. Martin, where we did some boat maintenance and had a fun visit from some retired NWA friends who were there for a day on a Caribbean cruise .

From St. Martin, we went to the heart of that Paradise called the Virgin Islands. We made stops at Tortola, St. Johns, Norman Is, Peter Is, Jost Van Dyke, and St. Thomas. We went to Foxy’s, hiked on St. Johns, listened to Eric Stone, swam, and enjoyed the mostly fine weather.

Sometime after leaving St.Thomas for the Spanish Virgins we lost our dingy. We turned around and searched for it for an hour or so, but it was gone. I felt bad, we’d had that dingy ever since we left, and it was like losing an old friend. But Puerto Rico was close by, they even have a West Marine, so we felt sure we could replace it. We did, but I do not like it as much as the old one. The Spanish Virgins were very nice. Much less “touristy” then the Virgins. A week or so there, then we headed for Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is well worth a visit. The old city is beautiful, and the national park is spectacular.

Leaving Puerto Rico, we bypassed the Turks and Caico’s as too shallow for WINGS, and continued on to Conception Is., the first in the Bahama Group.

From there it was on to Georgetown, Staniel Cay, and up through Nassau to Freeport, where we visited Frank and Barbara, who oversaw the building of WINGS in Taiwan.

Thunderball Cave, Staniel Cay WINGS at rest, Freeport

From Freeport we edged out into the Gulf stream and rode the current all the way to Charleston, SC for a look around. Then we made several stops while rounding Cape Hatteras. Arriving at Annapolis, we started several major projects . We needed a new mainsail, the generator was replaced, and our old refrigeration went to the junk pile. The $$’s were flying! While all this was happening, we returned to Anacortes to check on the house rebuild. I came back to the boat earlier then Deb to monitor the boat progress. Deb had the bigger job. I had the hot muggy one. When all was completed on the boat, we mostly powered north through the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Canal to Cape May where Deb’s parents paid us a visit. Then, with stops at Woods Hole and Provincetown, we headed to our summer destination – Maine.

Once in Maine, we slowed down to enjoy the local sights. We dodged many, many, Lobster Pots. Ate a few lobsters as well. Visited several interesting museums, endured the fog, and generally relaxed, at least until hurricane Irene appeared on the scene. For that event, we found a nearly landlocked bay, put down 2 anchors, removed the Genoa and generally got ready for the blow.When it finally came, it turned out to be a non event, with winds less then 30 kts where we were. Then, it was time once again for Deb to return to Anacortes to see to the house. While she was doing that, two friends of mine from Anacortes, Dick and John, relieved her. Deb is fond of reminding me that it took two men to replace her help with the boat. Now an all male crew without adult supervision, we headed south with stops at Portsmouth, Gloucester, and Salem to meet Deb a week later in Boston. We had a great time together,and laughed all the way, even in spite of a serious infection that Dick had developed. There were several theories about the source of the infection, including my cooking.

With Deb back on board, we went back down the Cape Cod canal, this time staying in the Long Island sound. In Newport we experienced our strongest winds of the summer, about 35 knots. Even Irene was not that strong. The boat second in line in front of us dragged down on the boat first in front of us at about midnight. Not wanting to become involved in this, we hauled in our anchor and got out of there, re-anchoring a short distance away. Then, not trusting our newly deployed anchor, we spent an uneasy night. The morning arrived clear and calm though, and we made our way towards New York, with several more stops.

Arriving in New York was quite a thrill! We motored down the East river, with a detour down the east side of Roosevelt Island. As luck would have it, Obama was due to speak at the World Trade Center, and we were a security threat. We didn’t see the skyline as close as we would have liked, but still, it was spectacular. We dropped anchor near the Statue Of Liberty and close to Ellis Island. We toured both, but left New York for another time, having been there lots of times.

On down the coast we went, with stops to see Deb’s parents and an unexpected stop in Charleston to do a new coat of bottom paint. That was due to a problem with the Interlux 77 we had applied in Barcelona that had an unacceptable amount of growth. Interlux paid most of the yard bill, we did the labor. We thought it more then a fair trade. With the exception of a long stop in Baltimore, and a long weekend in Annapolis for the boat show, we stayed on the move to Ft Lauderdale, where we now sit. We returned home for the final details of the house, then came back here for Christmas, traveling to Naples to be with friends and family.

From the boat in Baltimore

When I was flying P2V’s with VO-67 in Vietnam (VO-67.org) one of our planes was shot down. The plane commander,Cmdr. Millius, died trying to save one of the other crewmembers. For his heroic actions, a destroyer was (is) named after him. The USS Millius; DDG 69. While passing close to Jacksonville, we heard “warship69” on the VHF radio close by. I called the bridge and identified myself as a VO-67 member who knew Cmdr. Millius. A short time later he called me back and asked for permission to turn close by. I was thrilled, of course, and asked him to come as close as he dared, so I could take pictures of him with WINGS. I would have liked him to come within 20 ft, he didn’t, but did come close enough to get some photos. See below!

We will be in Ft Lauderdale for several more days. It looks like Monday, the first day we could leave will be too windy to do so. We have the Gulf Stream to cross, so we can not fool around with weather! We will be back to doing updates on our position as before.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and will have a wonderful New Year.

Cheers! Terry & Deb

Back aboard WINGS

2011-02-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

During Fire

After Fire

4 days and barely recovered from our passage from the Canary Islands, we moved WINGS to a secure dock in Jolly Harbor, Antigua, for a trip back home to Anacortes, WA to deal with all the things needed when one's house burns down. We hope never to have to do it again! Delta flies one trip a week to Atlanta, so that made our flight selection easy. That our refrigeration quit 2 hours before time to leave made things exciting. The very kind people at the marina let us put all our frozen & cold stuff in their frig while we were away.
We arrived at a neighbor's home in Anacortes at 4 AM, tired and ready for sleep. 4 hours was all our confused bodies would sleep, so we got up and called other neighbors, who had kindly offered to make us breakfast. While they prepared pancakes, we walked over for a first look at what remained of our home. It was not encouraging. All that is left of our home is the garage and a few gutted walls. The fire burned about 12 hours. There is not much left. Perhaps that is good, as there is no question that the house is a total loss. We did get to see for the first time, what is left of the new decking we installed last summer.
Right after breakfast, we went to work. We called the insurance (USAA) adjuster, a local contractor whom we trust and know, (BT&D Const.) to make appointments. Over the next few days, we visited the fire marshal to get copies of his reports. We rummaged around our storage locker for a set of house plans, (no luck there) looked for plans at the county tax office and the county building permit office, called the original owner, looked for his contractor, and his original architect, all to no avail.
Finally, satisfied that no plans existed, we got Brian and Tim from BT&D to start reconstructing the plans for the house as it was built. That involved measurements of the foundation (unharmed), describing to them how the rooms, hallways, bedrooms etc. were laid out, and returning several times to the house, to pick out from the wreckage all the forgotten details that time and memory have made confusing. The impetus for all this, was to come up with a realistic plan for the rebuild, and, more important in the short run, for a estimate for the cost of rebuilding to take to the insurance company and to the bank.
We called our mortgage lender. After being shuffled through several Chase bank officials who had no answers, but are taking an unconscionable amount of time to process our USAA check, we decided to take out a new loan with a local bank (Washington Federal) who has a representative in town with answers and authority to help us rebuild. In the meantime, a meeting with the USAA agent who prepared a 61 page estimate of rebuilding costs, based mostly on his experience and measurements of our foundation, showed that they were close to our estimate, and close to the total amount of insurance we had. Deb then went over his estimate page by page and found some additionas & corrections, (as he expected) that brought us up to the max. Good, we will be OK, but would rather have not had the experience!
Brian & Tim are pretty close to submitting building plans to the county for approval & would like to start on demo in a few weeks. But, right now the insurance company has not released the site as there remains a question of whether the stove should be examined for failure. There is a problem in removing it from the house since they will need an escavator to get in to do it.
It was a busy time for us, who vastly prefer the more laid back cruising schedule! It was a stressful time as well, made much easier by all of you who loaned us a place to stay, dinner, breakfast, advice, encouragement and friendship during our quick stay. Thank you!
We are back on the boat now. The reefer is fixed, the outboard is running, the shore power is back to 110V, instead of the 220V, the standard from NZ through the Med and Canaries. We are sitting at the dock, waiting out some strong winds, and, of course, writing a blog! Soon we will get to really enjoy the Caribbean while tending long distance to loose ends.
Cheers! Terry & Deb
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Antigua! Welcome to the islands!

2011-01-14T11:35:00.001-08:00

We moved yesterday, from Falmouth Harbor, to Jolly Harbor Marina, where we are tied up to a dock with electric and water, and we can safely leave WINGS for the trip home to deal with the house, or lack thereof. We have a trip out Saturday, arriving in SEA early Sunday AM. Very early! We plan on staying for two weeks to get as much done as we can.
We spent several days poking around Falmouth and next door, English Harbor. The rest of our "gang" that we left La Gomera with, arrived safely, and we celebrated all the sucessfull crossings properly.
One big bonus; As we approached the dingy dock one morning, Deb noticed a dingy with the name "Vero Blue" stenciled on the tubes. We have been hoping to meet Vero Blue for awhile as owner Frank and his wife Barbara supervised the building of WINGS in Taiwan! Frank built three of the 4 boats, and it was great fun to talk to him! That night, as we sat on his boat having a cocktail, the mega yacht "Maltese Falcon" came in nearby and tied up next to "Mirabella V",another mega yacht! What a show! Google these boats! You will be amazed! Mirabella's mast is too tall to go under the Golden Gate Bridge! Maltese Falcon can be single handed, although via computor. On sailboats, if you have a mast over 100 ft tall, you must have a red light at the top. There were 16 red lights that night!
Thats about it from here! Looking forward to seeing many of you in the days ahead! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Arrived Antigua!

2011-01-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

As I went off watch last night, the GPS predicted thast we would arrive off Antigua at about 7 AM. I promptly fell asleep, and slept soundly through the 20 to 30 knot winds that came up whole Deb was on watch. When my turn on watch came up, besides telling me to put on rain gear, she said that she had rarely seen less then 8 knots boat speed, which meant that we were going to arrive at the harbor entrance well before daylight. Not wanting to enter a strange harbor in the dark, we rolled up the Genoa, and I sheeted in the main, trying to reduce the boat speed. It worked, and we put down the anchor shortly after daybreak. I can't tell you how nice it was to be back at anchor! After a quick shower, we took a nap, then got about the business of cleaning up the boat, putting on the sail covers, coiling the extra lines that we used to control the spinnaker pole and secure the main sail, etc. Then we inflated and launched the dingy and mounted the outboard, which started with the second pull! In the meantime, friends from AQUILA, whom we had become friends with in La Gomera, came over, they are anchored nearby, and offered to show us around town for the checkin, some shopping, phone card, and lunch. In the middle of this, we got in contact with a referigator repair man, who has already fixed the reefer! All in all a productive day! Shortly, we are going over to Aquila to drink the Champagne that we brought to celebrate and that they put in their reefer to cool! Welcome to the islands, mon! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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100 Miles to go!

2011-01-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

Moving along at a stately 6.2 knots. That will get us in to Antigua (Falmouth Harbor) in the morning. It is a good thing, as we need to get the reefer fixed ASAP! The beer is getting warm! We will check in with customs, get a phone card, get some internet, and start to get some answers to the house question. I may (probably) will not post to the blog, but no worries, we will be there! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 17

2011-01-08T10:50:00.001-08:00

Same old, same old today. Good winds, sunny, and Antigua is getting close! 252 Miles to go, it looks like close to 42 hours, we will be there. It's a good thing, besides our impatience to get there, our reefer took a vacation today. It runs for about 4 minutes, then shuts the whole system down. If we leave the reefer off, the freezer seems to run OK. Puzzeling. Enough drama for today! Cheers! Terry & Deb
Position N16 27; W 057 25. Course 279/6.4 kts.

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We are getting close!

2011-01-07T10:47:00.001-08:00

We have come 2200 miles from La Gomera. We have 415 MTG to Antigua. We did 172 miles noon to noon today. We are still on course, 280 degrees, and averaging 7.2 knots, SOG. Nice day, nice sail! We have had 3 uncommanded autopilot disconnects while in "wind" mode. We know that transmitting on VHF will send our wind sensor at the top of the mast, next to the antenna, into fits. The only thing that has changed is that the AIS sends out it's data thru the same antenna. So I turned off the AIS transmit. We have had no more disconnects, though this is hardly proof that this was the cause. We will see.
Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Less then 600 MTG!

2011-01-07T04:05:00.000-08:00

Good winds today! 20+ right up the backside. Been averaging 7.4 knots. It rolly though, and the boat is quite active. We are getting anxious to get to a calm harbor for a whole nights sleep! Position: N16 13; W051 37. Cheers! Terry & Deb

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On Course!

2011-01-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Have been making good mileage, 155 yesterday. 755 miles to go to Antigua. Today is summy, warm, with those trade winds clouds hanging about. Getting anxious to get there, and get a good nights sleep!
Had a photo op with an Italian boat that passed close by yesterday. They had their "chute" up and were looking good. They will post pictures of us on their blog and send copies to us, and we will do the same. Has to wait for internet, though. Good break in the day! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 12 900 Miles to Antigua

2011-01-04T09:33:00.000-08:00

We have made good progress today and yesterday. Noon to noon was 165 miles. Have had steady wind all day, and are making 6.6 knots right on course to Antigua. Clear skys, warm. Reefer is giving us a little trouble. It is having trouble freezing the holding plates. Suspect it is low on gas again. I think it is leaking at the compressor. Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Homeless in Seattle

2011-01-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

We always enjoyed saying telling people we meet in the various marinas around the world that we were homeless. We always thought it was a joke. Now it's true.
Yesterday, as we were sending this blog and receiving our daily email, we received the following message:
The tenant called me tonight and told me the fire department is at the house and the house is on fire. He was cooking and left something on the stove and when he came back it was on fire and he tried to put it out with the extinguishers but it didn't work and he called the fire department and by the time they got there the house was on fire. He said he is really sorry that this has happened. The fire marshall will probably call the house uninhabitable so I told Patrick that he would have to find other accomodations and that his property would be covered under his renter's insurance if he has it. If house is determined uninhabitable then the lease does end. Patrick is really stressed and feels real bad.
Kimberli

This mornning, we got more news: (Thank you Nat!)

Hi Deb abd Terry:

I held off writing to you late last PM/very/early your time this AM, fearing
that the rental agent's notification hadn't yet reached you, with the
additional problem being that I was unable to talk with fire responders or
see for myself just how bad it might be, and report to you with firm facts.
By now I've made several trips over and have talked with a couple of the
firemen still on the scene. There's a terrible feeling in the pit of my
stomach as I narrate this. We all feel incredibly sad.

The fire started with cooking oil or grease igniting on the stove, which
quickly involved much of the kitchen and then is presumed to have spread up
through the wall to reach the upper level, filling the house with smoke such
that the first man in deemed it unsafe to remain, and quickly evacuated
himself. When he got outside the skylight blew out and flames quickly came
through and spread to much of the roof from the skylight area to the
ridgeline and down the other side, then apparently burning down inside the
SW wall to add more flames to the main floor blaze. It started sometime
between 6:00 and 7:45 PM, seemed to be controlled by around 9:30 or 10PM,
although a hot spot recurred shortly after midnight. The garage is intact,
but I hate to tell you that the remainder of the house, although standing
with charred or burned out walls, seems wasted. All the contents
(fortunately not your) except washer and dryer are said to be gone. The
garage was not much involved.

There was someone in the house who, according to Del/Birgit, was a friend of
the renter who was in Victoria at the time, someone they understood to be
Navy (male). Once the fire started he called 911(?) then went to the LaFaces
to advise that they evacuate, altho the firemen told them to stay put.

Nat and Ann

Another friend send a link to www.goskagit.com if you want to see the terrible details. We have no internet access so we are spared the trauma.

Thank you! Bruce,John, Dick, Nat, Kimberli for responding to our frantic emails!
We have talked to USAA, our insurer, and Kimberli is taking care of the immediate details. Obviously, there will have to be a trip home. At this point, we have many more questions then answers. And yesterday we thought having a shower would be the most exciting point in the day.

Through all this drama, we have been through several squalls, with frequent wind shifts, rain, and sail trimming. WINGS has demanded our attention, though that may be good for us at this point. We have spent today heading above our course, trying to avoid another area of dark looking weather just to our south. Position is N 15 21; W 043 11. 1100 Miles to go to Antigua.
Whats the good news? No more climbing the steps to the bedroom, its in the basement.
Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 11

2011-01-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

We made 165 miles, noon to noon. Getting better, but today may be short. We have been feeling a little smug, listening to the SSB Net in the morning of tales of squalls and rain. We have had none of that, that is, until about an hour ago. A small weather system just passed over us, bringing rain and 35 kt winds. It was all over in about 20 minutes, but was exciting while it was here. Now, we are back to trying to get back south to our 15N latitude. We only have about 8 miles of south to go, but at our course of 253, it will be a long time coming! After the squall, the winds have been light, we are presently making only about 5kts. We have 1220 miles to go to reach Antigua. We are past half way. We have 3 days of lettuce left and 3 cans of Pringles. It's not easy out here on the seas! Ayeeeh mate! Terry & Deb

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Doing a little better, faster

2011-01-01T05:20:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, about mid afternoon, the wind went a little south of east, so we doused the pole, put the Genoa out to Stbd, turned to port, to 110 degrees apparent wind, and took off down the course! Did high 6's, low 7's all night, until this AM, when the wind went back to NE, and we had to put up the pole again and turn more downwind to about 165 apparent. Our noon to noon mileage was 145, not blistering, but the best we have done so far this trip. Position now is N15 59; W037 51. Course 240 @ 6.2. Happy New Year! WINGS

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guest column from "the other owner"

2010-12-31T04:42:00.000-08:00

Terry says he's not inspired today so leaned on me to write.

When we crossed the Pacific we did not realize what a great sail we were having. Happy to report we are now wiser about this anyway & realize we have been having a pretty great sail these last 9 days. It's been a bit slower than wished but better that than too fast. Days are warm & sunny. Nights have been clear with brillant stars. We have puffy trade wind clouds & 15-20 ENE winds. Best of all, we have had no squalls. During the night some BBCs & LBCs (big & little black clouds) pass over. They play tricks with our wind but have not dumped any rain or big winds on us. The other morning a squall passed by 6 miles N of us. It sucked all our wind away for half an hour & sailed along only at 3 knots. Fingers stay crossed as we still have a long way to go. It looks like we will get a bit more wind when we get below 15N & hopefully then see boat speeds of 8 knots again.

No, we haven't done any fishing. I think nobody wants to clean the fish. Have seen flying fish and a few birds but no whales or dolphins. Passed an unknown sailboat in the wee hours. No idea who it was. We generally don't call up on VHF to another sailboat in the wee hours as it tends to wake up whatever crew may be sleeping so no idea who it was.

If you wonder what we do all day - things tend to take longer since you are tired & the boat is rocking from side to side. Cooking can be an ordeal as everything you put on the counter tends to go sliding or rolling away. All plates & cutting boards are on nonskid so they stay put but let go of a tomato or onion & it begins to roll away. The stove is on gimballs so it rocks with the boat. That & the bars I put across it to lock the pans in place keep them from sliding around or being thrown off. On really rough days you just don't stand in front of it but that's not a problem as on really rough days there are no meals served, just granola bars.

We are lucky in that we have an inside shower about the size of a phone booth (you remember those). Today is shower day. With the rolly boat it is nice to be so close to 4 walls to avoid being tossed around when you are all soaped up.

We read, do email & blog, pull weather info down via sailmail or weatherfax, spend time trying to figure out what it all means & take turns taking naps.
Position today N17 16N; 017 16W. Course 260@ 6.8kts
Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 8

2010-12-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

Little to add today. It was a beautiful night followed by a clear, nice day. Winds are easterly at 13. Sea temp has warmed from 23.7C at La Gomera to 26.7C today. Forecast is for more of the same for the next day, then a little lighter winds. Still heading SW to get more south before heading directly for Antigua, which is where we've decided to go today. Position N18 06; W033 34. Course is 240 @ 5.8. 140 noon to noon. Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 7

2010-12-29T06:13:00.001-08:00

The wind went east to a little SE at sundown last night, so we moved the genoa and main sails to their opposite sides and enjoyed some increased winds that moved us along at the mid 6's to 7's. This AM, the wind went back further N, so we switched sides once again to accomodate the new wind direction. Weve been making good time all day, right on track.
This AM, I was able to unplug the shower drain, which had accumulated debris over the last 7 years. I can certainly recommend our whale shower sump pump, wich has been maintenance free all these years. Our earlier pump need frequent cleaning, this one just keeps on pumping! Little expensive, but worth it!
Have had several readers who have had trouble finding us on YOTREPS. If you have been using WDA7070 (zero), then try KG4YOE (oh) or the other way. Or try the links on the blog! Click on "Where are we? WINLINK or YOTREPS (There are two links)
Position N19 23; W031 17 Noon to noon = 145 nm. Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 6

2010-12-28T08:01:00.001-08:00

We were treated to a beautiful starry night last night, with about a kibillion stars out. Still making slow, steady progress. We should reach that "magic" 20 degrees north in about 2 hours, but the wx forecast shows no discernable difference in the winds. It does show much the same for the next few days. Just had a ship pass us close behind. (1 mile) With our AIS on, he called us by name while 8 miles out and asked to which side we wished him to pass! That would never have happened before AIS! I like that!
Our current position is N 20 09; W 029 01. Course 228 @ 5 kts.
Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Down the road

2010-12-27T05:08:00.000-08:00

Not much to report. Made a mistake in reporting our position to the net this morning and had to fess up and correct it. I used the cursor position on the GPS, instead of where we actually were. Hope I didn't do the same on our report yesterday! Have made steady, if slightly slow progress on our way to N20. 132 miles noon to noon. Across the pacific, we regulary did 150, and on several occasions, above 190. Sunny day today. Comfortable sailing. Position 21 38N 27 13W. Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Progress

2010-12-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

It is the day after Christmas. Hope you got everything you wanted!
Wings is at N 23 14; W 22 17. We made 150 miles, noon to noon, still on course in light, shifty winds. Had to jybe last night, so the pole is now out to port. WINGS seems to like this, the auto pilot dosen't have to work as hard. It is a little rolly though! With the lighter conditions, we will make fewer miles today. The "word" for this route is: get south of 20 degrees, that is where you will start to catch the trades. We are working hard on that! And we hope the trades are there! Cheers, Terry & Deb

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Merry Christmas! Santa brings wind!

2010-12-25T06:18:00.001-08:00

We had to motor all afternoon yesterday, until about 4 PM, when a slight breeze starting filling in. We poled the Genoa out to windward, eased the main way out, and started sailing, at first only 4 knots, then 5, then 5.5 and right on course! The wind stayed pretty much steady all night, with a few shifts, easily dealt with the sail configuration we had up. This morning the wind increased some more, up to about 12-15 kts, making for a good fast sail south to where we look forward to picking up the trades. Ho ho ho! Here we go!
Opened presents this morning, took a good shower this PM. Lamb chops for dinner!
Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Day 3

2010-12-24T04:25:00.001-08:00

Just after yesterdays update, the wind completely died, and we fired up the iron jenny for about 7 hours. Then a light wind filled in and we sailed until 0700 this AM, when we had to relite the engine. At this moment, the wind is starting to fill again, and we hope to be sailing soon. Alls well onboard WINGS! Noon Position is: N 2513; W20 36 Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Underway At last!

2010-12-23T04:36:00.001-08:00

After a sad but fond farewell to all those friends at the marina, we finally got underway at about noon on the 22nd. We powered out of the marina, put up the sails, shut off the engine, and started making our way south. The first obstacle was to get away from the influence of the Canary Islands, in particular La Gomera, as they influence the winds, sometimes cutting them off, other times accelerating them as they round the islands. We slowly worked our way out for about 45 minutes, where we found the acceleration zone, and we were on our way. Good news; we were mopving at 8 + knots; bad news; we aere heading for Africa, almost 90 degrees to our course. This lasted for several hours, then the wind slowly turned toward the north, as forecast, and we were, more or less, following our course. We made good time all night, but this AM the winds lightned, and we are now down to about 4 knots, under spinnaker, with large seas slowly passing under us. All in all, not a bad ride! Our noon position is N26 20; W18 48. We made good about 133 miles, which considering our deviation towards Africa, is OK. Cheers! Terry @ Deb

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Departing the marina!

2010-12-22T01:17:00.001-08:00

Like Elvis departing the building, we will be out of La Gomera this morning. The weather forecast looks better then it has for weeks, so we are hoping for our nice,easy, down wind sail. The winds will be a little light for the next few days, good winds to settle in to the passage. The generator starter has been repaired to a like new condition, a big relief!

Time for me to get busy! Happy Holidays! WINGS

Still waiting in La Gomera!

2010-12-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

We are trying to be patient,but gee, how much do we have to put up with! Of course, we see that the weather from Europe to the US has been unusually nasty. At the dock today, it is blowing to 30 kts outside and the boat is jerking at her dock lines from the serge entering the marina. It's not very comfortable.
We have been filling our time doing boat projects; The Reefer needed some maintenance, and the hot water heater started blowing it's circuit breaker. I traced that problem to a wire that had worn through then shorted out. An easy fix, thankfully!

Last Monday we did a spectacular hike up what seemed like a vertical cliff, but in fact had an ancient trail leading up the face from the small village. See the pictures.

Below is a picture showing the winds forecast for the 23rd. One could leave on the 22nd and be in a good position to take advantage of these winds. At this point, it is too far out to comit to leaving then, but it does look good now. The red dashed line shows the direct course to the Carribean. We will go closer to the two waypoints to the south. The "arrows" show the wind direction and strength. One feather is 10 kts. A half feather is 5 kts. The colors represent the wave height. The key is in the lower left corner. Click on any of the the pictures to enlarge.

Waiting in La Gomera -- the "leftbehinders"

2010-12-11T07:52:00.001-08:00

Here we sit!

Several boats left today, willing to spend several days motoring and relegated to the possibility of a fuel stop in the Cape Verde Islands. They must maintain about 6 knots in order to miss a low with strong head winds. We think! On the other hand, the forecasts are changing so fast that it is obvious that the forecasters are not sure themselves what is happening. It is possible they could have a great passage! We are comfortable with our decision to wait a while until the weather settles down. We were promised a sleigh ride to the Caribbean, and, damnit we are going to try our best to get one!

“Moonbeam of Argyll” our Scottish dock mates for the last three weeks was one of the “leavers”. They will leave a rather large hole in our social life, but, cruisers being cruisers, we have organized a potluck supper for the 5 boats that chose to wait. The “leftbehinders”.

We think we will be here at least through the 18^th. All in all, San Sebastian is a great place to be waiting!

I added two new links; Sam & Bill on “Blue Banana” and “Moonbeam” Cheers! Terry & Deb

Finally! A weather window and a decision.

2010-12-10T03:41:00.001-08:00

Along with 20 or 30 other boats sitting on the fence waiting for weather, we have decided to leave for the Carribean tomorrow, Dec 11. It is not the ideal weather window, as there will be some light winds, possibly forcing us to motor for a while, but it seems to be the best we will see for the next week, at least. Today we are busy getting the boat into "sea mode", doing laundry, filling water tanks, folding sun shades, etc. We will be on passage for Christmas, so, to all of you, have a very merry Christmas! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Weather delay in La Gomera

2010-11-28T08:06:00.001-08:00

San Sebastian de La Gomera

November 28, 2010

We are still at the marina. A large Arctic high pressure area has formed north of the UK, forcing several low pressure systems and their associated head winds and lousy weather, south to us. The latest consensus among the weather watchers on the dock is that this system will persist over the next week, at least, and until the high dissipates, we will be stuck in port. With this in mind, our next weather window will not be until December 7, give or take a day, or two, or three!

In the meantime, we have been having lots of fun! Our friends from SV BLUE BANANA, Bill and Sam, arrived from Barcelona, where they are wintering. We picked them up at the airport on Tenerife, then spent the rest of the afternoon touring the island by car. Deb had found an exquisite hotel in La Orotava, a small town on the northwest coast where we spent a night. Known for its old mansions in the hills above, the hotel had once been a mansion itself, long since converted into a charming rustic lodging. We walked through the town, already decorated for Christmas, found an intimate restaurant for dinner, and shared a bottle of wine on our private terrace. After a leisurely breakfast, we continued south through the hills and the forest to the National Park Del Teide, which encompasses the area of the ancient volcano. The road takes a torturous course through the lava fields and across the crater, finally descending steeply into Los Cristianos, where we caught the ferry back to La Gomera.

Back at WINGS, we got into party mode, as the next day was Thanksgiving, and we were expecting 14 of our closest dock friends for a Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out to be one of the best dinners we’ve enjoyed in quite awhile! Everyone brought something. We made a Turkey. Others brought salads, veggies, baked bread, potatoes and (WOW!) Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie! We managed to seat 13 at the salon table. I sat at the Nav station and acted as gofer. Lots of fun by a diverse group, mostly U.S., but also Swiss, German, Scottish, and English. It is the best part of cruising. All of us are departing for the Caribbean. All of us are subject to the same weather. We will see most of them on “down the line.”

After all that, the pace has slowed, with walks into town and around the local area. I am awaiting a new starter for the generator. It should arrive on Monday. It is still on a customs hold in Madrid. Drama in motion. It is windy today, gusting to 30 on the beam, with a surge entering the marina, making the boat quite active. Suspect we will have this weather for awhile.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I will update again when we are able to firm up a new departure date!

Cheers! Terry & Deb

NEW!! Track our position the easy way!

2010-11-19T10:11:00.001-08:00

I have added two new links. Click on either the WINLINK or the YOTREPS on the right side of the blog. Either way, you will be taken straight to our position. The YOTREPS site is well worth exploring. It has a free download that will enable you to search for and plot every reporting boat in the world! Lots of fun to play with! Happy hunting! Terry

Passage Plan

2010-11-14T09:55:00.000-08:00

November 14, 2010
San Sebastian de La Gomera, Canary Islands.
On or about December 1, we will leave on the second longest passage of our voyage around the world. The longest was San Diego to the Marquesas (2890 nm). This passage, to the Caribbean, will be a smidgen shorter, 2750 nm. I think this is a good time to describe how we plan, provision, navigate and manage such a voyage. I will include some of the safety equipment we have. No doubt, some of you may find this boring, and be in danger of hitting your head on your keyboard as you suddenly fall asleep. Hopefully, a few may be interested in the process, and for those I will include web sites that will enhance your curiosity, and even keep you up to date on our position. Here goes!
When we decided to continue on around the world way back in New Zealand, we knew the route would take us through the Caribbean, and that the step off point for there would be the Canary Islands. That knowledge was enough until about 6 months ago, when we needed to slowly narrow and put some times to our options. We started wondering: When is the best time to leave? What weather can we expect? Where is the best place to leave? To arrive? For answers to these questions we rely heavily, but not completely, on a book by Jimmy Cornell; “World Cruising Routes”. The book covers waypoints, historical weather, and suggested tactics for about any place in the world one would wish to sail. Weather is the primary force that drives any cruiser’s itinerary. It was weather, both favorable winds and pleasant temps that motivated us to get to the Canary Islands early. Once here, the passage planning went into high gear. We started to pay attention to hurricanes, especially as this has been a busy season for them. We’ve listened to other cruisers, read other cruisers blogs, studied our passage planning program, and we studied Jimmy’s book.
My summation of the route according to Jimmy:
The passage to the Caribbean has never been considered difficult. Columbus was the first to sail it, and the route has changed little since. The small changes that occur are due to better wind forecasting. Even the time it will take us to make the crossing will differ little from Columbus’s voyage. But since 1492 the reasons for, and especially the type of boats that sail it have changed, Now, each year, approximately 1,000 boats make the trip.
Good weather for the trip starts in late November or early December. Any earlier departure increases the risk of running into a late season hurricane. We really, really do not want to do that! We chose Dec 1 as a target date, as it seems to distance us from hurricanes while giving the trade winds a chance to establish, an event that begins mid November. The trades are essential to a fast passage. The trades typically blow from the NE, starting in earnest at about 20° North. Jimmy says that to reach that 20° point, boats typically sail a course south as fast as possible to get to the trades. This also serves to stay a little further east, out of the way of Atlantic lows that occasionally leave their usual NE tracks, and generate SW or W winds as far south as 28° North. (We are 28N at La Gomera) With that in mind, he suggests heading for a waypoint at about 20N; 30W; continuing on to a waypoint at 15N; 40W before taking up a course directly for our destination. (We have not decided yet! Bequia, Martinique?)
Now, you have a rough outline of the route we will take. Keep these waypoints in mind as you follow our progress :
We will update our position daily, as soon as we leave. To monitor our position you need to know our Amateur Radio Call sign, it is KG4YOE (ohE, NOT zeroE). Note this is a change from our marine call sign that we used previously for YOTREPS. Those will still be at the same site, but under KG4YOE
BRAND NEW!! Go to either link, WINLINK or YOTREPS on the top right hand side of the blog and click, to go straight to our location!
Next, go to the Ham Radio web site winlink.org, and to user positions. http://www.winlink.org/userPositions To the right of the Google world map will appear a list of call signs. Scroll down to ours and select it. You may also use the search feature at the bottom of the map. Now, if you wish, bookmark it for the future. You may fool around with the map. Try this: Zoom in on the Satellite view; at the bottom of the balloon is exactly where we are in the marina! Thank your local Ham Operator for the site!
Want to know just what winds and weather we are experiencing? Try this: http://www.passageweather.com/. Click your curser inside the box for the Atlantic (Med to Caribbean) to see the winds, waves, pressures and more. You can even animate the forecast. Use the bottom and left edges of the map to fix Lat and Lon, using the waypoints listed above, or our reported position. Alternatively, on the left sidebar under “upcoming races” is an option for “ARC”, which is the rally from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. It is tailored to the same route as we are doing and will focus on the weather we’re having. Also on the left sidebar is an option for Tropical Warnings. The ARC site is: http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/
Navigating: This has become as easy as using your car navigator. Maybe easier. We have 6 GPS’s on board; three handhelds, and 3 “built in” and wired to WINGS 12V system. Didn’t mean to have that many, it just worked out that way. One is a Garmin Car Navigator, but will give us a Lat/Lon. One of the others is part of the AIS system. AIS is a remarkable system that has come in to widespread use since we left home. It is called “Automatic Identification System”. It contains its own GPS and VHF radio that it uses to broadcast our position, speed, course, and name to other nearby ships. Its computer uses our info combined with any nearby ship’s info to calculate how near we will pass a ship, and when that will happen, along with the ship name, should we need to call them. Here’s a link to learn more about AIS. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System)
Here is another diversion: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/#. Here, you will see real time, ships moving about in most any major port in the world! If you are sitting in Anacortes, for example, you can watch a ship move up the Strait. It will show you name, arrival port, tonnage, length, depth, and more, in addition to its course and speed. It will not, however, show WINGS on her way across the Atlantic, the VHF radio does not have the range for that. For that matter, none of the Canary’ s is available. The internet version depends on volunteer shore stations for its info.
Safety: In addition to the usual flares and lifejackets, we have a 6 man life raft and an EPIRB, which, when activated, will report our position to the USCG. For communications, we have a SSB, (shortwave radio) that we can use on either Amateur or marine frequencies. That is backed up with an Iridium Satellite phone.
Watches: One of us will always be on watch. We take 3 hour shifts at night. There are many other ways to do this, but this works out best for us.
Provisioning: Debbie does a wonderful job at this. She keeps a computer record of all the stores on board. She has packed away in the freezer and reefer enough food to last way past the Caribbean! Should the reefer go south, we have enough canned goods to still eat well! We have recently thrown away some things we bought in San Diego! We also have new wine now & many bottles of good Spanish sherry! We have, in addition to 170 gallons of water, a water maker that will keep our tanks full, allowing frequent showers.
To power all this, we have three solar panels and a wind generator. All this helps, but we still need to run the generator each day to charge the batteries. We could run the engine to do the same, but it would use much more fuel.
On the lighter, juicer, side for those few of you still awake! Deb came across this in a Don Street cruising Guidebook.
At the same time that Columbus was provisioning his ships for the voyage to the new world here in San Sebastian, there lived a beautiful widow, Beatriz de Bobadilla. She was a widow because her husband was ambushed and killed by the as yet untamed locals while on his way into the mountains to see his lover. To punish the locals for this dastardly act, she had a great many of them hung, so many, in fact, that Spain fined her heavily for her excesses. This didn’t seem to stop her completely though, for later she had a lover that kissed and told. For this, she asked him to dinner, and when dinner was over, had him hanged! Probably not what he had in mind! Not quite believing Don Street, I went to Wikipedia and looked up her name. There, she is described as a “medieval nymphomaniac”. Wanting to confirm this further, we went to the local tourist office. After asking about her activities, we received lots of giggles, but no confirmation, and certainly no advice for further research! Beatriz, dear readers, is the widow Columbus was seeing while here provisioning. That Beatriz was his lover is a rumor. He had learned not to tell!

Canary Islands

2010-10-26T09:22:00.001-07:00

10/25/10 San Sebastian de La Gomera
Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dbrowneiii/Canarys
Last update was Las Palmas.
We left Las Palmas at daybreak, put up the sails in the harbor and sailed out, ready for the beat to windward that we knew lay ahead. After several tacks, we cleared the headland just north of Las Palmas and sailed close hauled across the north side of Gran Canaria, looking forward to easing sheets and making a quick passage south west to the marina at San Miguel, on the island of Tenerife. Just as we cleared Gran Canaria, the wind died, on came the Perkins engine, and we motored for the rest of the day. Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield! We arrived at the narrow entrance to San Miguel in the dark, and with some difficulty, managed to get stern tied up to the key. The next morning, with the weather looking good, both visually and on the forecasts, we left for the 20 mile leg to La Gomera. Motoring, with no seas and no wind, we rounded the southern tip of Tenerife at Pta Rasca and headed across the open stretch of water to La Gomera. That's when it all hit the fan. Suddenly, we were in 30 – 35 kts of wind, on the nose, with seas washing over the bow. We were down to under 2 kts of boat speed, with a long way to go, and we were not happy. So, the captain called for a missed approach, and we headed for our alternate, Los Cristianos, on the southern side of Tenerife. We found no place to anchor there in the strong winds, and no marina, so we had to backtrack to within 4 miles of our starting place, a marina at Los Galletas. After an exciting time trying to back the boat into our assigned slip, we enjoyed the small marina, its calm, and its characters.
Armed with a forecast the next day for less wind, we set out again for La Gomera, and this time, with the exception of about an hour of sloppy seas and strong winds, we rounded the entrance into San Sebastion marina, and tied up to our slip.
San Sebastion de La Gomera is where Columbus anchored to water, pray and visit his friend, the beautiful widow Beatriz de Bobadilla. The well where he provisioned his ships, the church he attended just before his departure for the new world, and Beatriz's home are still here. It is a sleepy town, not crowded with tourists (most of the time), and looks and feels welcoming and relaxing. The island, La Gomera, rises sharply to its center, with deep, steep ravines. At the upper elevations, it is thickly forested, with a national park protecting the landscape. We took the bus on a 2 hour ride through the interior and back out to a small village on the water, where we caught a ferry back to San Sebastion. The ride was slow, with switchback curves the order of the day, small villages all along the way, and the scenery breathtaking. (www.gomera-island.com and www.paradore.es ).
Another day, we toured Tenerife, mostly visiting the extinct volcano, Teide. See the pictures of this. It defies description!
We will remain here for another month, waiting for hurricane season to definitely end, and the trade winds to establish themselves before we head off for the Caribbean. Time to do boat projects, swim, and generally enjoy life! Cheers! Terry & Deb

WINGS- La Graciosa to Las Palmas

2010-10-08T02:06:00.001-07:00

La Graciosa was good for a day or two, but with the 20 to 30 knot winds, we never left the boat to explore the nearby beaches or hills. Time to move on! We headed out the channel between La Graciosa and Lanzarote. There were 10 foot seas coming at us, but spaced far enough apart that we didn't even wet the deck, though they slowed us down. Once out of the channel, we turned SW and unfurled the Genoa, shut off the engine, and had a nice sail down to Puerto de Naos, just north of Arrecife. We wanted to check in with the authorities and fill our Propane bottles, as there is a large plant there. We checked in succesfully, but they would not fill our old style propane bottles. So, we explored the town, bought some groceries, refilled the data sim card for internet access, and two days later, we left to anchor on the south coast of Lanzorete, cutting off some mileage for the overnight trip to Las Palmas, on Gran Canary island. After anchoring, I went over the side to look at the prop, which, I had a feeling, had some net still attached. I was right, and cut it away easily. As light winds were forecasted for the next day, we left a little early for Las Palmas, trying for a daylight arrival. Big mistake! After an hour, we were up to 7 kts, and at that speed, we would arrive at 1 AM. We slowed down by furling the Genoa and zig zagged to increase the mileage. It helped, but we still arrived at 4 AM, and had to reach out and back until daylight (finally!) came to enter the harbor.
Las Palmas is known for it's services available to cruisers, and this was primarily why we came here. It is also the depature point for the ARC. (Atlantic Crossing Rally - Goggle it) Each year, the ARC attracts 200 -300 boats, mostly from Europe, all making the crossing to the Caribbean. There are parties and seminars, and mad dashes to the chandeleries to buy all the last minute "stuff" you have to have. The result is a very full marina, but as we are a little early, we secured space for three days "only", to which we have added another two days, and will add still another today. We have had a busy several days. We started the freezer for the first time in 3 years, and found out we need to have the reefer system recharged. We bought Satellite telephone time, as radio reception across the Atlantic is a bit twitchy, and also as a backup to the SSB. All these things take time. We had some minor glitches with the watermaker, now fixed.We had to get a computer guy to make sure the Sat Phone talked to the email program. and the Reefer guy to recharge the system. He will come this PM, we will stay tomorrow to make sure it is working properly, then be on our way again, this time to La Gomera, where we will stay about a month, waiting for the weather to get more favorable for our crossing, sometime in early to mid December.

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WINGS arrives in Canary Islands

2010-09-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

We are at anchor at an anchorage in La Graciosa
We spent the last two days flying the Spinnaker, making good time, but taking it down as the sun set. It was a good thing we did, as about 11PM the first night as I was relaxing behind the wheel with the auto pilot steering, I noticed the boat going off course, and the auto pilot steering the wrong way. We did an accidental jibe before I could disconnect the auto pilot and hand turn the boat back on course. Fortunatly, we had a preventer tied to the boom, so no damage was done, just a lot of excitement. I tried to re-engage the pilot, it tried to repeat the manuver. I sat and contemplated what was wrong, and how we were going to have to hand steer for the next 2 days. Then I noticed a light off in the distance, and as I got closer, I noticed blue flashing lights downwind of it, the signs of another net & fishing boat! So I turned WINGS to pass to windward of the fishing boat and somewhere in that manuever, turned too far into the wind, took a wave over the deck, and some of it went down the slightly open hatch into the main saloon. That brought up on deck a wet, sleepy, angry spouse, who wanted to know if I needed any help steering. Well, yes, I did, but before we went any further, we turned "off", then back "on" the autopilot just to see if it would make any difference. That fixed it, and we returned to on course much relieved! It has worked fine ever since.
After a fast, last 85 miles yesterday, we arrived at Graciosa, just after dark, and tried to get a berth at the marina, but were turned away for lack of room. So we went out to an anchorage, where we found a spot to anchor in the now very dark cove just a mile or so away. Spent today reorginzing the boat, getting the salt water out of the saloon cushions, and napping! Just right! Cheers! Terry & Deb
29 12N; 013 31W

On the way to the Canarys

2010-09-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, soon after I wrote the update, we were talking up in the cockpit, when we noticed a fishing float. We see a lot of these, and do not usually pay much attention, but this time, spreading out from the float were yellow floats, indicating a net on the surface. We did an immediate turn to port, and just missed them, but now we were off course and heading in the direction of Casablanca, about 10 miles away. Nothing to do now, but follow the net to the mothership, about a mile distant. Finally there, we turned back to our course close to the fishing boat, waving and shouting, and taking pictures of one another. Thinking that was the end of that, as we could not see any other fishing boats of the same size, Deb served dinner, we relaxed, (a little) and life was good. Then Deb spotted another net! I tried to tack, but we were too late, and we plowed into the net. It stopped us pretty quick, so we furled the sails and took stock. In the meantime, the net owners motored up in their small outboard fish boat. We were obviously firmly connected to the net, and as it was now rapidly getting dark, I wasted no time going over the side with fins and mask to see the damage. I tried to remove the net and lines that were around the prop and rudder, but there was to much pressure. So Deb handed me a knife and a dive light and I swam back under the boat and cut us loose. With the pressure on the lines, they cut easily and I was able to finish the job in one breath, keeping well clear of the net! Back on WINGS, we gave the fisherman 50 Euros for the damage, they were happy, and we departed best friends.
Now that is was dark, we could see numerous flashing lights that marked other nets, and we had a stressful time trying to negotiate our way through. Finding a realitively light free area, we gingerly picked our way down our course, and I went off watch. Some time later, Deb noticed what looked like a floating hotel. The AIS told her that it was a passenger ferry, going to the Canarys. So she followed it, figuering that the ferry Capt knew how to stay out of the nets. It worked good, and in several hours we were well to sea of any fisherman. This morning, I put up our new Spinnaker, we picked up a knot of speed and headed down our course towards the Canarys. The wind picked up later this afternoon, and we took it down, but it was a nice run while it lasted. We are now back on the genoa, reaching a little high of our course to keep things relatively calm. Enough for now! Cheers! Terry & Deb

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Leaving Rabat

2010-09-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

We intended to leave Rabat for the Canarys yesterday, but the marineros said the waves were too high at the breakwater, so we left today. High tide was at 2 PM, so we went over to top up our fuel at 12, made our stop at the customs dock to check out of the country and pay the marina bill, and finally got underway about 1:30. The marinero led us out of the river and past the breakers, and we were on our way! Now making 5-6 knots on a nice broad reach. Canarys about 425 miles. Good weather is forecast. Terry

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Where is WINGS now!

2010-09-23T04:15:00.001-07:00

As we will be moving steadly across the Atlantic for the next 6 months or so, we have restarted out position reporting to Yotreps, at the Pangolin websight.
Here is how to track us:
Go to the web at: http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/index.php (make this a favorite?)
On the left side of the home page, select "Reporting boat list"
Look down the left column under "yotreps ID" to "WDA7070" (our radio callsign) and click "track" on the right side.
You will be shown a google map with our location below the arrow. Cool!
We will update this daily using the SSB radio.
We have been delayed in our departure by at least one day due to high waves at the harbor entrance.
Terry

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Rabat, Morocco

2010-09-22T11:56:00.001-07:00

To the cruisers:
Approach the outer breakwater to Puerto De Rabat at 34 02.3N, 006 50.5W. Plan your arrival for anytime 2 hours before to high water, as there is a bar to cross, and there may be some seas. We saw a min of 4.2M 2 hours before high tide. Contact the Marina on VHF Ch 10; they will send out an inflatable to guide you in and help you into your slip. You will make a temp stop to clear in just outside the marina. Officials friendly. Easy check in. You will tie to a finger, but the fingers are short, so have two stern lines and two spring lines led forward from the stern ready, plus two long bow lines led back to at least mid ship. Good water, elec, free wifi, fuel, restaruants, showers, security, (the king keeps his boats nearby!) Many cruisers leave their boats here for either trips home or to visit inland cities or trecking in the Atlas Mountains.
The marina is centrally located in the middle of a large redevelopment program, that, when finished, will throughly modenerize the marina area, with a new bridge across the river, a new tram system connecting Sale with Rabat, extensive condos and restaurants. Give it a year (2011), they are actually working at a good pace! We found best, most convient western type shopping by taking small metered taxi to Carrefore. About 13 to 17 Dinars, or $3E each way. Also more local shopping nearby at the Sale (the marina is actually located in Sale) Medina.
Some sights to see in Rabat, but travel outside is tempting.. The train station is a 10 minute walk, with trains to about anywhere in Morocco. Recommend First Class. Not expensive.
To all:
Our trip from Cadiz to Rabat went well, with good winds on the beam for all but the last 40 miles, for which we motored. We could have sailed that too, but we would have missed the high tide that is required for entrance. As it was, there were 3 other boats waiting for the tide as we arrived, so we got in line and followed them in, waiting in turn for the marineros to help us into our berth.
Using the internet, Deb booked us an old, restored home in the Fez Medina. The city of Fes is the cultural capitol of Morocco, as well as the center of power in times past.
After 3 days in Rabat, we took the train for the 3 hour ride up to Fes. AT Fes, we were met by a driver, who took us to the entrence to the Medina, close by our accodomations. At this entrance, we were met by another guide who showed us to our "dar", a traditional townhouse with an internal courtyard. If all this guide business sounds like first class, well, it was, but it was also necessary, as it is impossible for any newcomer to find his way through the maze of streets that make up the Medina. There are no cars in the medina. The streets are too narrow. There are donkeys and hand carts, and lots of people, but no motors. We were led up a blind, narrow alley to our dar, and judging by the dusty, dirty street outside, we had made a serious mistake! However one look inside,and we were enchanted. It was a beautiful, 500 year old home. Open to the sky in the courtyard, and intricatly tiled all around the rooms. You can see pictures by going to www.darbenares.com. We were fed breakfast each morning, and two nights we had dinner made for us, local dishes made in our kitchen for the same cost as the local restaurants! By day, we explored the Medina and the local attractions. One day we hired a car and driver and took a tour to the Atlas mountains. It was a good introduction to Morocco.
The day after our return to the boat, Deb came down with serious "two step". I thought I had escaped, and was feeling rather smug, but that night, I came down with a milder version as well. We think it was some honey/sesame seed candy that we each had a piece of, at about the same elapsed time before the dreaded "symptons".
We are pretty much recovered now, and tomorrow we plan on leaving for the northern most Canary Island, Isla Graciosa, about 450 miles from here. I plan on sending an update or two on our progress during that passage, now that I've mastered emailing in my postings. Stay tuned! Terry & Deb

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2010-09-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Note: Obviously, I started this a long time ago! Debbie has written a somewhat detailed description of our anchorages, mostly for cruisers who may follow us. It is added to this blog at the end. It may be sleepy reading for the rest of you! I just learned how to email an update to the blog via our SSB radio, so look for updates on our crossing the Atlantic.
We have also changed the name of the blog to “wingscruising.com” Easier to remember! The old address will still get you there.
Pictures we took this summer are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sailingwings/SummerCruise2010#

August 5, 2010, Cartagena, Spain
We are back in the WEST! Little longitudes, (N37 35; W000 58.8) but west is best!
We flew home in January 2010 for a quick 6 week visit around the USA. We had an exciting moment arriving back in Barcelona. We had with us, a new radar antenna for the boat, which we tried to hide under all our duffle bags on the cart as we passed through the “nothing to declare” part of customs at the airport. The box was big and said RAYMARINE all over it in big letters that customs easily spotted it. We were waved over into a “special” line and left to ponder our immediate future. If customs found all the rest of the boat parts packed away into the rest of the bags, we may have to pay significant duty. We were prepared for this, and had copies of our USCG registration, our marina contract, and our promise that we were leaving Spain on the boat in just two weeks “or so”. After a few anxious moments with the supervisor, we were welcomed to Barcelona --- no duty owed, and found a cab to take us back to WINGS, waiting patiently at the marina. Good! That could have been a lot of duty dollars!
Back at WINGS, we found everything in order, and began to get to work on all the projects that needed to be done before we could leave. The new radar and chart plotter were installed, a new AIS unit wired in, the boat hauled, and new bottom paint and zincs installed.
While this was being done, we continued to enjoy Barcelona, seeing the few remaining museums that we missed earlier while Anacortes friends John and Mary were visiting. It was cold though, it even snowed one afternoon, and we were ready for warmer weather.
Our planned departure date was mid May, and with a good weather forecast, we left Pt. Vell on May 18, for the Baleares Islands. The Baleares Islands are about 90 miles south of Barcelona. They consist of 4 main islands: Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera. Each island has its own personality and terrain features. They have been occupied by man more or less continuously since prehistory, and have more early manmade artifacts than anywhere else in the Mediterranean. It seems every major society has occupied them at some time in history and left their mark.
Our planned landfall was Pollensa, Mallorca. We arrived there early on the next day, having had fair winds, and little need to use the engine. We promptly ran into friends from Barcelona, and ended up staying several days, fixing several little items that had died over the winter. One day, we rented a motor bike and toured the rugged and mountainous north coast, an exhilarating ride over the very narrow, twisting roads crowded with tourist busses. We were so enchanted by Soller on the north coast that we took the boat back for a few days. We rode the ancient tram into the town to catch the narrow gauge electric train through the mountains and tunnels to Palma, where we visited the lovely old town and walled castle. Soller is open to the seas from the north though, and they were starting to build from a strong wind back in the Gulf of Lyons. We had been staying on an unoccupied mooring, but that afternoon, the owner showed up, wanting to move his boat out from the docks, where the fees were doubling for the summer. We got to talking and checking the mooring lines, and found that his pendant had tangled in his mooring chain. I dove down to try to free it for him, but it was really tangled, so he settled for a beer on WINGS, and we were welcome to spend another night.
After returning to Pollensa for another short stay, we crossed to Ciutadella, on Menorca. Bays in the Baleares are known as “Calas”, and Cala Ciutadella is a long, deep and very narrow bay, with lots of large fast ferry traffic. Several times a day, an inflatable with flashing lights comes out and stops all other traffic while a ferry rushes in or out, creating a huge wake in the process. As lovely as the town is, we didn’t stay long, and after a few anxious moments extracting the anchor from the cables of an abandoned mooring, we left to go around the north side of the island. We found a lovely anchorage, Cala de Algayerens, where we anchored in clear water and white sand near a beautiful remote beach. Taking the dingy ashore, we hiked on a horse trail that circles the entire island. The pastoral scenery with forests and fields bounded by rock walls was beautiful. We even got a little lost and found ourselves in a field with a herd of cows. So while we didn’t run with the bulls at Pamplona we ran with the cows on Menorca, more for the geriatric set! The cows were unimpressed! Several days later, we arrived in Bahia de Fornells, a sheltered anchorage with free mooring buoys. The buoys are placed there to protect the thick eel grass growing in the bay. Not finding much there that interested us, we proceeded around the north coast to the east coast and in to the small harbor at Puerto de Addaya. The main bay was so crowded with moorings that it was impossible to anchor, so we proceeded very slowly up to the very shallow head of the bay and found just enough room to swing with minimum scope. A little later, a Danish boat with 2 small children aboard anchored just in front of us and we had a nice visit. It is a pretty bay though, and worth a visit. My main interest in Menorca was the harbor of Mahon, made famous in the history of the British Navy, and in the Patrick O’Brian series of books featuring Jack Aubery. (movie: Master & Commander) Mahon is where Jack supposedly had some unauthorized doings with the Admirals wife, which somewhat hindered his Naval career. Having been to Southport, in the UK, and visiting the naval museum there, I think it was really Admiral Nelson carrying on with the Ambassador’s wife. In any case, the harbor was quite impressive, and the fortifications massive. We took a tour of the main fort (Spanish built, La Mola) and were quite impressed with how it was built, and, especially what it would be like to try to penetrate the walls. We anchored in Cala Talera, the only free anchorage in the harbor. It was a half hour dingy ride into town using the 2 horse outboard motor that we’ve come to favor. There is a 3 knot speed limit in the harbor anyway. We found Mahon to be somewhat cruiser unfriendly, with expensive moorings and docks, and not many places to tie up and leave the dingy to do any shopping.
From Mahon, we circled around the south of the island, stopping at several of the remote Calas. We were so taken by Calas Calva that we stayed for a week, hiking the trail into town, exploring some of the many ancient caves, and just generally relaxing and swimming. This is definitely a clothes optional place & most visitors exercised that option. We are all familiar with restaurants that lend you a tie if that is dress code requirement but this was the 1st time we had to lend someone a sarong to come aboard for a drink.
After a few more calas we headed south & west 40 miles back to the island of Mallorca and anchored at Puerto Colom. We ran into 2 other American boats there. Nice to see, as we’ve not seen many in the Med. On the 4th of July, we raised our large flag, and a British boat next to us raised a USA courtesy flag his on his spreader as a salute! We watched Spain play Holland in the world cup finals in a friendly local café. There were families with children, who acted as cheer leaders, the old, the young and in between, all rooting for Espana to win its first ever cup. Fun!
Heading down to Cabrara National Park we had perfect winds for our spinnaker. We hadn’t had it out of the bag for over a year, ever since we had it repaired in Turkey for a bottom to top rip on the passage to Venice. Time to test it before crossing the Atlantic! This time, it was up for a half hour before it ripped again, this time on the other side, but bottom to top as before. Time for a new spin. Since we were approaching Palma, with its extensive yachting facilities, we called North Sails and ordered a new cruising “chute”, to be delivered in Gibraltar to avoid the 18% tax. It was an unexpected expense, but I had only paid $100 for the old one, and it got us this far, so I’m not complaining too loudly.
We continued on, anchoring in bays on the two remaining islands of the Baleares, Ibiza and Formentera, enjoying the beaches and swimming and all the yachts that flock here during the short summer season. August 1 we sailed back west to the Spanish mainland, re-entering the Western Hemisphere for the 1st time in 8 years. From Calpe, Spain we day sailed south & west towards Gibraltar, where we planned to stay for several days. We spotted “the rock” from 20 miles out. It was everything I had come to expect from my grade school days. A steep, gigantic rock, filled with caves, guns, and history. We pulled into our slip in Queen’s Quay marina, anxious to explore. We found it crowded, tons of construction, traffic everywhere and precious little room to park. But we were walking anyway, so we set out to explore and to get a few boat chores done. There are always those! At the top of the list, was delivery of our new spinnaker. That required several trips to the local shipper, a kamikaze ride on the back of a scooter through town, and an even worse ride back to the boat, with me, the scooter driver, and the new spinnaker all on the scooter! Spinnaker delivered, we took the tram up the rock to see the magnificent St. Michael’s natural cave, the Barbary apes and some of the tunnels and guns sited in the rock.
Gibraltar explored, we crossed the strait to Ceuta, in Spanish Morocco. With all the ships entering and leaving the Med, we kept a sharp eye out for shipping. Our AIS (Automatic Identification System) proved its worth here, showing us how close we would be to a crossing ship, and when that would happen. It even showed us their name, should we need to call them on the radio. At Ceuta, we took a trip across the border to Tetouan & Tangiers in Morocco. We saw several fascinating local markets (souqs) but wished we had more time.
We crossed the strait again to Gibraltar. This time anchoring just across the border in LaLinea, Spain. We did this to position ourselves for exiting the Strait and to top off our fuel at the very inexpensive station in Gibraltar. Then, after having picked a time to leave that took into consideration all the tides, currents, and wind that make this passage a challenge, we double reefed the main sail and got an early morning start out of the Med, our cruising ground for the last three years. We made such good progress, that we went 20 miles past our planned destination to an anchorage just a mile NE of Cadiz, in Puerto Santa Maria. If that name rings a bell, it’s for a good reason, Columbus left there on one of his voyages to the New World, and, it was the name of one of his ships.
We spent several nights in the marina there, trying without success, to get our heat pump fixed. It had been slowly getting worse and worse at cooling the boat, and finally quit cooling or heating altogether. It is (was) a 115V unit, and I do not think it liked running on the 50 hertz power prevalent everywhere but the USA. We had to leave it at the dock, but Debbie was happy for the storage room the missing AC made! That problem solved (but not the 90° in the boat) we moved across the bay to Puerto America marina at Cadiz. There we made plans to take a train to Seville. We had originally planned to take WINGS up the river to the marina there, but Seville was even hotter than Cadiz, and the marina expensive, so we opted for an air conditioned apartment in the heart of Seville’s old town, leaving the boat in the much cheaper marina at Cadiz. We spent 6 days exploring the historical sites. Well worth the trip! My son, Mike, joined us there for 2 days of touring, and then came with us back to the boat in Cadiz, where we prepared the for the 150 mile passage to Rabat, Morocco, from where I am now writing you.
We had a good passage to Rabat, sailing all but the last 40 miles. Son Mike managed to catch a large Bull Dolphin, but he fliped off the deck and got away quick as a wink. We managed to arrive on a rising tide, almost at high water, which at Rabat is crucial, as this is a bar crossing into a river, and there is not enough water at low tide, The marina inflatable met us and 3 other boats waiting at the outer entrance and guided us in to the marina entrance, then took us in one by one to our assigned slip, where we waited for customs to clear us in. Rabat is undergoing a major renovation, and there is construction going on all around us. They are building a major new 4 lane bridge across the river, and another for a new tram that will connect downtown Rabat with its southern neighbor and suburb, Sale. There will be promenades along the river, with restaurants and condos, a nice complement to the ancient walled medina and the Kasbah. We’ve spent our time here walking around the city, seeing the crowded markets, wandering the Kasbah and its gardens. (In between more boat jobs!) Tuesday, we will take the train up to Fes, where we have rented a small, renovated house in the world famous Medina there.
Our immediate plan is to sail to the Canary Islands, wait and prepare the boat for crossing the Atlantic in mid December.
We hope you have had a great summer! Cheers, Terry & Debbie S/V WINGS

And Debbie's details!:
MENORCA
Ciutadella (Cala Frares) - N39 59 83 E03 49 39. anchor, stern tie, anchor hung up on abandoned mooring, easily freed. ferry wakes 4-6x/day, some quite big. all else in harbor is fee based on pontoon or small section of city quay.
Cala Algayerens - N40 02 96 E03 55 31 - need settled wx. free anchored, lovely spot, sandy beaches, good walks, no development
Fornell's - N40 03 10 E04 09 24. free buoys, to protect eel grass - allowed 2 days in 7. these can be reserved 2-20 days in advance. can anchor in places outside them.
Addaya - N40 00 11 E04 12 08 - free anchored - very small. gets very shallow.
Isla Colom - N39 57 67 E04 16 39 - free buoy as in Fornell's. Can anchor outside them in sand. dink to town of Es Grau. Nice spot.
Mahon/Cala Talera - N39 52 68 E04 18 47 - 2 mile historical navy port but can anchor only in Cala Talera. spent 1 week. Beginning 1 Jul limit 3 days. Friends there were ignoring 3 day rule. Told buoy for 48' was 50E/1 night. Can dink to Castell, closer for groceries & bus to Mahon or dink all the way to Mahon. Talera is very nice anchorage but didn't find Mahon cruiser friendly. Upset cruisers put ad in paper after new rules.
Cala Covas - N39 51 83 E04 08 74 - lovely narrow clothing optional cala. No facilities. Anchored, stern tie. Walks to Cala Porter & elsewhere. can free anchor further out.
Cala Trebeluja - N39 55 76 E03 59 33 - lovely wide open cala, sandy. No development. Free anchored.
Cala Galdana - N39 56 19 E03 57 53 - lovely spot, town w/ hotels, restaurants & groceries.

MALLORCA
Pollensa - N39 54 040 E03 06 32 & N39 54 37 E03 05 46 - nice small town, very well protected. Restaurants, Spanish & English groceries, laundries, motorbike rental, used English language books for sale at thrift stores. Free anchored. No $.
Soller - N39 47 66 E02 41 61 - lovely town, took tram from port to town & then train to Palma. We used someone's private mooring in May. Likely not possible in Jul/Aug. Can anchor outside swim buoys but rolly if NW wind.
Porto Colom - when left Menorca, big E swell so no calas appealing. This is 1 of the few places protected from E. Nice town & big harbor although gets quite shallow. They charge harbor dues to anchor. 14m for 5 days was 33E w/ tax. only place we paid this in Balearics. Officials very nice. Town water is brackish. lovely restaurant - if dink to harbor wall where fuel is it is to the left, bright buttery yellow building. Spar & Eroski grocery stores.
Cala Mitjana - N39 23 28 E03 14 83 - small cala, lovely but rolly nite.
Porto Petro - N39 21 61 E03 12 88 - free moorings - nice village, not rolly so enjoyed it
1 of Cala Mondrago anchorages - N39 21 11 E03 11 53 - stern tie so bow into swell, pretty, just 1 house. Bigger Mondrago anchorage @ 5 minutes S but more open to E swell, a lot more traffic & activity but looks quite nice w/ caves to explore, beach cafe.
Playa des Carbo/isla Moltana - N39 18 48 E03 0072 - beach anchorage, pretty spot SE end of Mallorca
Santa Ponza - N39 30 87 E02 28 24 - big harbor, okay town, staging to go to Ibiza

CABRARA
National park - requires reservation. limit 50. free moorings. N39 08 86 E02 55 88

IBIZA
Portinatx - N39 06 64 E01 30 79 - nice, sand, crowded. Cala Blanca nicer if weather for it unless need restaurant or store
Cala Blanca - N39 06 16 E01 28 99 - pretty, sand, 1 or 2 houses otherwise no development
Cala Binirras - N39 05 34 E01 27 132 - pretty spot, sand & weed spots, beach cafe, crowded in Jul. Big swell outside but did not feel it there.
Cala Salado - N39 00 54 E01 17 78 - pretty, bike trails ashore for hiking, beach restaurant but difficult anchorage as crowded w/ day boats & everyone swings different ways on anchor. We anchored in 15m. Bottom sand & weed, supposed to be some nice shallower sand patches further in but too crowded for us to find them.
St. Antonio - N38 58 34 E01 18 12 - town has the basics but not scenic & reports are it is noisy. We didn't hear much noise; sounds from the hotel seemed to be aerobics class for @ 1-2 hours. Good spot to take bus to Ibiza town which was lovely.

ESPALMADOR
bay is full of free moorings. All taken so to Formentera. Big attraction here are blue mud baths. Still can walk to but is now a nature reserve & not allowed to use them.

FORMENTERA
bay is @ 1-2 miles long beach anchorage in lee of prevailing winds, all sand - can anchor just about anywhere. We at N38 46 20 E01 25 79 & N38 45 37 E01 25 84. A lot of boat traffic = a lot of wake activity. Town on island if need supplies. Can anchor closer to it.

Cala Saona - N38 41 75 E01 23 19 - not as dramatically pretty as N but sandy beach & much less activity. From here to mainland Spain.

SPANISH MAINLAND
Althea Bay below Mt L'Albir - N38 343 16 W00 03 48 - bad choice,s rolled all night. Locals tell us better to go to Calpe where can just tuck in under harbor breakwater & out of swell.

Torrevieja - N37 58 07 W00 41 08 - anchorage behind harbor breakwalls. Arrive to @ 60 Spanish boats. All left at dusk so spent nite w/ 1 other boat. Locals told us ok to spend night there.

Cartagena - Cartagena Yacht Harbor. Price for 15m was 61E. We just missed the cut off of 13E. Town was nice. Big Carrefour, nice sights. Free computer in "day room" but 3E/day for wifi use on boat. YC has washing machine & dryer.

Cala San Pedro - anchorage is quite well protected from E swell but catabatic winds really whip down mountain. Lots of beach camping. Pretty spot. Roll negligible for the 25k winds outside.

Alimermar - can anchor outside marina but too much swell = went in. 18m = 26E. Should have had 15m which was @ 3E less but gave us a song & dance about angles on the mooring line & fenders making us more than 4.5m wide. Development halted here but place is nice. Restaurants, grocery, butchers. Wifi was 1.5E/day.

Motril - tried to free anchor in harbor as guide shows but chased out by harbor police.

Marina del Este - 50E for15m slip, water & power metered. N36 43 60 W03 43 56

Benalmadena - 50E for 15m slip. N36 35 72 W04 30 70. Can anchor off outside.

Duquesa - 42E for- 15m slip. N36 21 32 W05 13 79.

SPANISH MOROCCO
Ceuta – N35 53 41 W05 18 83, marina @ same price as Gib. Trips into Morocco. Lovely town with great moat.

GIBRALTAR
no anchoring anymore anywhere in Gib. The anchoring you can do is behind breakwater in La Linea, Spain. It is pretty well protected & a large space. When we did this (N36 09 44 W05 21 81) we never went ashore so no info on where to take dink. New La Linea marina is here so perhaps can take dink to it but long way from town & most Spanish marinas typically have gates locking on pontoons but do not know if that is the case here.

Queensway Quay Marina - N36 08 16 W05 21 35. 18Pounds for 15m, water & electric metered. Good shopping at Morrison's grocery. More expensive than Spain but steak & lamb were a much higher quality.

Left La Linea at 3 hours after HW Gib, we were pretty close to a spring tide. Winds forecast at 10-15k. Had 30 at Tarifa. Pretty good trip. No dramas. Originally going to stop at Tarifa or Barbate but had wind & current so all the way to Puerto Santa Maria.

SOUTHERN SPAIN
Porto Santa Maria – N36 34 72 W06 14 71, free anchored, nice spot, big beach, tides here & gets shallow close in.

Porto Sherry Marina – N36 34 73 W06 15 24, 44E for 15m + tax and 3E utilities. Went in as needed some repair work. Inspite of what the Imray Guide says, this is a nice place. It is a bit of walk to town of Santa Maria but pretty and pleasant. There is no wifi at marina.

Cadiz – Puerto America Marina – N36 32 46 W06 17 00. @ 44E w/ tax & utilities. Left boat here while went to Sevilla. Facility is nice. No wifi unless you can get a signal from Club Reale Nautico next door. Quite a walk to town, especially when it is hot. No bus. Old town is quite nice. Great market. Free wifi in several town squares. Found coin operated wifi cafes w/ air conditioning - 1E/30 minutes.

*Most all of the above marinas lower their rates – some by mid Sep, others by Oct 1.

2009-12-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2009
Genoa to Barcelona
There are Pix posted at the Picassa sight linked elsewhere in this blog.
I’m writing this safely tied up to the dock in Barcelona, Spain.
The last blog entry had us at the dock in Genoa, Italy. We reluctantly left there Sep 6, anchoring for a night at Finale Ligure before continuing on to Imperia Porto Maurizio, some miles further west, where we caught a train into Monaco, to see the glitz and glamour of that enchanted city, Europe’s oldest monarchy. The harbor is filled with large yachts, continuing the trend we noticed back in Sardinia. Then on to San Remo, where we stern tied to the dock next to a French boat “HATTY”, whose owners Michel and Renee Hatty had completed a circumnavigation several years ago. We talked for awhile and agreed to try to rendezvous somewhere further west. We moved on to the French border at Menton, where we temporarily tied up at the guest dock to check into France. It was a struggle to find someone interested in checking us in. When we finally did they were just barely interested and did only a cursory check of our passport. Moving from country to country in the EU is very casual!
On the move again, we rounded Cap Ferrat and proceeded to the anchorage at Villefranche, where we spent several anxious nights worrying about the poor holding, and watching several boats drag anchor. From our boat, we looked out on some of the most expensive real estate in Europe including the Rothschild Mansion. From shore, we took a short bus ride into Nice to sightsee.
With a forecast for blustery weather in the works, we took a chance on finding a berth in the superyacht harbor at Antibes. The marina office refused to take a phone or email reservation, insisting on a fax! Not being able to fax from the boat, we just showed up, and were lucky to find a berth in the marina and out of the seas and wind that raged outside the harbor. We were amazed at the number of businesses here that catered to the Superyachts. Here, you could find anything you wanted, from managing your yacht, to hiring crew to run it. There is even an FM radio station that caters to the superyacht industry, and all its advertisements relate to services offered for the big yachts. With the owner of the slip we occupied due back, we headed out into the mostly settled weather and headed west once again, this time to a short distance east of Cannes, where we dropped the hook just north of the island of Ste-Marguerite. After two days there, and with more weather on the way, we did our “show up and wait” act at the harbor in Cannes, and they did find us a slip! This was surprising, as the Classic Regatta was starting in a few days, and boats were already starting to show up. Among the boats that eventually showed was “SHAMROCK V”, one of the 1930’s Americas Cup contenders, who we first spotted in Tahiti, and again last year in Greece. On the first day, we launched the dingy and followed the boats out to the start line for a practice race. If these old sailing boats are beautiful at the dock, they are spectacular under sail!
The next anchorage west down the coast is St. Tropez, not only did we want to see St. Tropez, but it happened to be the next stop for the classic regatta, which was racing this time with the new, high tech boats. This was a must stop for me. It was a little further down the list for Deb. We anchored a few days early just outside the marina, but well inside the Gulf of St. Tropez. “HATTE” anchored nearby the next day, and we joined them in the dingy for a tour of the harbor and to gawk at all the boats. The scene was replete with models posing for photos in front of the yachts. There were undoubtedly many of the rich and famous there as well, but we didn’t recognize any of them. “SHAMROCK V” was there as well, and I struck up a conversation with their engineer while he wired on a new plug for the shore power. The plug cost $1500!! Now that’s cruising on another budget! You can google “SHAMROCK V” to see some pictures of this beautiful yacht. The next day, “HATTE” took us on a local tour to several small villages, and to do some shopping. Michel also came over to “WINGS” and insisted on fixing our generator, a nasty, uncomfortable job that took all afternoon. We will always remember that kindness. We took them to dinner that night.
Tiring of the mobbed local scene, we again headed west to Ile De Port-Cros, anchoring in Port Man, on the eastern side. The next day we dingied ashore and hiked across the island, passing the ruins of an old castle/fort that we explored before descending down the mountain into Port Man for lunch. Then we hiked a different route back around the north side of the island, through the woods and along the coast back to the dingy. This was a beautiful island. We went next to the Porquerolles islands and anchored in a crowded cove that offered some swimming and a lovely setting. We launched the dingy and putted into town for a walk and a look-see.
Moving along at a leisurely pace so as not to arrive in Barcelona too early in the month, we made another short hop to Toulon. Toulon is blessed with a large, well protected harbor that is busy with commercial shipping and the French Navy, in addition to the yachting. We entered the marina area, but were unable to raise the harbormaster either by radio or phone, so we simply anchored as far out of the way as we could at a point near an ancient stone fort. We are not sure if we were legal, but no one bothered us. Less than impressed by our reception, we moved on the next morning to Port Cross. Pt. Cross is a narrow, deep harbor with high limestone cliffs on its sides. We entered with some trepidation, as there is barely room for us to turn around. We found a space that looked as though it might be big enough for us, and, with plenty of fenders out, backed slowly in, gently pushing the boats on either side out of the way. One of the advantages of stern tying is that boats already berthed are able move around a little, in this case, just enough! We stayed here for several days, enjoying the village and hiking the area around the harbor. With another weather window open, we moved on again to Marseille. We had a good sail on the way, with the wind getting strong as we approached the bay. As we approached the narrow entrance to the marina area, the wind died to nothing, and we cruised slowly around, looking for a place to spend a few days. Spotting a guest dock at one Yacht Club, we tied up and I went to look for the dock master. It turned out he did have a slip available, something we were later to find, was a rare occurrence. As we settled in, Deb checked for WiFI, and finding it, she logged on to our email, where we had several frantic emails from my son, wanting to meet us in Barcelona. I called him. He had reservations to Barcelona, but he had to leave the house in 30 minutes to make his plane! After telling him to catch a train to Marseille, we sat back to wait, and to clear out a space for him to sleep. So much for advance planning! Mike arrived the next night, tired, but relieved. He needed a little break from the frustrations of the recession. So, with Mike, the three of us descended on Marseille, to explore the city as much as we could before continuing on to our last stop for the season, Barcelona.
Each year, there seems to be one passage that we do not look forward too. This year, it was the crossing from Marseille to Barcelona. The reason is the Gulf of Lyons, which has to be crossed. This gulf is famous for its sudden, strong winds, which funnel down from the Pyrenees and spread out across the Med from Toulon to the Spanish border and beyond. They blow from the NW, and the course to Barcelona puts the winds slightly aft of the beam. We waited for a good weather window, but with no really good one in sight, and Mike’s departure date looming, we took a semi-good window and departed Marseille with a double reefed main and genoa. We had quite a ride! It was quick! Deb was sick. Mike, the surfer, loved the 15ft. following seas that accelerated us beyond 12 kts. The winds lasted about 12 hours, and reached 50kts, with 45 being more the norm. We didn’t do any damage to the boat, and the hatches did not leak, a good sign! We were wet and tired, but the leg was over. 5 miles out of Barcelona, the wind died, and we had to motor into the marina.
So here we are! Mike went home rejuvenated, several days later, to be replaced by other friends for a long planned visit. We have been getting acquainted with the marina live-aboard community, a small, fun bunch of cruisers that get together several times a week to tell lies and share knowledge. Many have been here for years. We are the only cruisers going around the world. Some just stay here, some cruise the canals, some are going further east into the Med. Everyone has a different plan, and all the plans are valid. There are two other pilots, some teachers, many other career backgrounds and, of course nationalities, are represented.
We are planning a trip back home in January, and plan to see as many friends as we can in the time we have.
Next spring, we will haul the boat and repaint the bottom. Then we will cruise to islands yet to be determined, with the goal of positioning ourselves to cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean next December. In May or so we will head north as far as Maine, and then spend the summer cruising back down the east coast of the US.
Until next time, fair winds and Happy Holidays!
Terry & Deb

Turkey to Genoa, Italy, 2009

2009-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

September 5, 2009
Genoa, Italy
Greetings from Terry & Deb, aboard “S/V WINGS”
It’s windy here in Genoa, and the seas are rough outside, so we are staying at the dock, where we have been for several days. Now, worn out from walking and exploring Genoa, I’ve run out of excuses to put off writing an update to the blog and the web site.
After several months home visiting friends and family, we returned to Marmaris, Turkey in March, and to “WINGS”, where several expected and some unexpected projects awaited. Among the expected projects was a new Teak deck. The old one was removed back in New Zealand and not replaced. The new Teak was glued down (no screws!) over the fiberglass deck, but none of the deck hardware had been re-installed, so we set out to re-drill the mounting holes for the various fittings, then caulk and bolt them back into place. It was all pretty straight forward except for the new Genoa Track, which had to have new holes located and drilled, caulked and fastened, all 90 of them. Also expected was the replacement of three overhead hatches, but that job went smoothly, and without my help. (Except that they leaked, which we found out after leaving Marmaris!)
On the unexpected list was the heads, whose discharge hoses had clogged, as they do with constant live aboard use. I had not replaced them since NZ so I suppose they were due. Replacing them is not an easy or fun job, as you can imagine. Then the computer gave it up, and we were told we needed a new mother board and hard drive. That went fine, but the unregistered version of Windows the shop installed did not. That little adventure took another couple of weeks and numerous trips to town to resolve, but we are legal now! Ah, the joys of living aboard!
Finally, breaking the suction at the dock, we left Marmaris in May, with the broad plan to cruise back across Greece to Italy, including Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, planning on wintering in Barcelona, Spain. We didn’t yet know the order we would visit all these places, as we wanted to position ourselves to best advantage for expected guests in mid October. We envisioned warm, sunny, calm passages to Barcelona, and wanted to share the joy of passage making with our friends. Boy, did we have it wrong!
We ambled across Greece, re-visiting some old anchorages, and exploring some new ones, including Santorini. As the story goes Santorini was once 1 big island but volcanic activity blew out its center. This caused a massive tidal wave that is believed to have wiped out Minoan civilization on Crete. The blow up left the island in its present configuration. Santorini is a giant volcano, with 4 islands surrounding the crater. It is still active, and caused some reflection on anchoring “WINGS” there. We rented a car and drove the full length of the main island, Thira. It is a spectacular island with small, scenic villages built on top of and into the high cliffs surrounding the ancient crater which is filled with the deeply colored blue Mediterranean Sea.
Continuing on west around the Peloponnese Peninsula, we came to a large, protected harbor, Pilos, where we fueled and provisioned for the 300 mile trip to our landfall in Italy, which was to be Siracusa, on the south east coast of Sicily. With a 3 day weather window open, we left Pilos and headed west, expecting to reach Siracusa well ahead of another front heading our way. We didn’t quite make it. But we did find out that the new hatches leaked worse than the old ones ever did! Damn! The weather worsened and arrived early, and we found ourselves in a 35 kt. gale, with gusts to 40, but with the wind pushing us along, we made good time for the 4hrs or so that it lasted. Then, with the winds forecast to swing around to our nose, we ran the engine at best speed to arrive at Siracusa before the headwinds. As we entered the harbor, we spotted our long time friends and cruising companions on “REMEDY” and anchored nearby. We no sooner had the anchor set then the winds arrived, and in force! Three boats promptly dragged their anchors across the harbor. The next day, we tried to check in to Italy. We say try, because it took us three offices to find anyone who cared, and then only reluctantly, they stamped our passports. I couldn’t help but compare that to our neighbors in Canada, who will tear your boat apart looking for liquor. We can’t have that; we have bottles of wine down in the bilges we haven’t found in years!
We spent the next several days exploring Siracusa, walking the old city and visiting the museums, then it was time to continue on to the next challenge, sailing north through the infamous Messina Strait. The strait has a reputation for funneling strong winds, generally from either the north or south. The first leg, we sailed in favorable conditions (a tail wind) to an anchorage called Brucoli. It was well protected from winds from the south, and while we watched a boat drag his anchor three times on the weedy bottom, we sat secure and safe in calm waters. The next morning, we set sail in the now northerly winds towards our next stop at Taormina Roads, in the shadow of Mt. Etna, where we anchored as best we could out of the surge that rolled through the strait. After an uncomfortable night rocking at anchor we were eager to leave, and get this leg behind us. We set sail and headed out, tacking against the north wind. We lasted about 2 hours, and then gave it up, the first time we have turned back for wind. Back at the anchorage, we discovered that our faithful mainsail had ripped out a panel along the stitching, which had evidently UV’d out. We spent the afternoon with the sewing machine on deck, sewing it back together. The next morning, we got smarter, and left the anchorage at daybreak, ducking in to a slip in Reggio di Calabria by 10 am, and avoiding the worst of the wind. It was our first experience at the Italian prices for a slip – 65 Euro (about US $ 95) for a night. No electric, no showers, no nothing. Wow! This was going to be an expensive summer! But considering the wind that arrived shortly after our arrival, it was worth it! Leaving early again the next morning, we motored the final 10 miles out of the strait in to the Tyrrhenian Sea, in calm seas and continued on to the southernmost island of the Aeolian Islands, Isola Vulcano. We anchored out of the wind on the west side. The “must do” activity at Vulcano is to climb the still active volcano to look down into the center at the smelly steam that still rises at a steady rate, not only in the cone, but at places along the side of the volcano. After the hike up and down the cone, you can bathe in the bubbling waters off the beach, or take a hot, smelly mud bath. Several days later, we headed back to the north coast of Sicily, to Cefalu, where there was the possibility of a safe anchorage. The anchorage is open to the east, but with little winds from the west we found a good spot to put the hook down for what turned out to be 4 days. We wanted to visit Palermo, further west, but heard that the marina there was dirty, noisy, expensive and hard to find a space, so we booked a tour out of Cefalu, and joined German vacationers on a guided tour. Palermo has several outstanding, Cathedrals, built during the Norman period. (Looking for a good read? Try “Pillars of the Earth” by Ken Follet, about the building of these churches). It was nice to let somebody else do the driving and tell us all about what we were seeing! We were especially impressed by the cathedral at Monreale – all beautiful Byzantine mosaics and amazingly untouched during World War II bombing runs.
With a weather forecast for strong winds, we didn’t want to be stuck in the harbor at Cefalu, so we headed back to Isola Vulcano and anchored this time on the east side, the expected lee of the island for the forecast heavy winds. Getting there early proved to be a good tactic, as we were able to improve our anchor position as boats left, getting close in to shore in the rapidly deepening small harbor. With our anchor well dug in, we sat snug, while several boats around us drug their anchors. One Jet Ski came drifting by, which I rescued with the dingy, towed to shore, claimed salvage, and then promptly gave to the owner of one of the local beach espresso bars (yes, this is Italy!).
With improved weather, we continued north to the Italian mainland, coming ashore at Agripoli, where we were surprised to find free tie up at the local wharf. From there we took the train to Pompei to see those famous ruins. Then it was off to the Isle of Capri, probably the most famous island in Italy. We anchored on the south side, under the shadow of Gracie Fields old mansion. Anchored just to sea of us was the 300ft. yacht “UNLIMITED” owned by the owner of Victoria’s Secrets and the Limited. Not bad! After a day walking the streets of Capri, it was off to the island of Procida, just west of Naples. From there, we took the ferry to Naples for a day of sightseeing. Deb had the best Pizza she has ever had, which may not be surprising, as Naples is the home of Pizza and the gelato (ice cream) was the best ever. That weekend, we were still at the anchorage when we spotted boat wakes, many of them, on the horizon, heading towards us from the general direction of Naples. Soon they arrived, anchoring all around us, some so close we could almost touch. All were well behaved and friendly, and by 6 PM they were all gone, back to where they came from. It was a scene we would see repeated many times over the next few months. A few more stops and then to Isola Ponza, stopping for several days, again with our friends on “REMEDY”. Walking the streets and swimming were the main activities. With “REMEDY leaving for Sardinia, we headed north once again, this time going a short ways up the Tiber River to Nautilus Marina, where we hoped to get the new hatches fixed. On the river, the norm is to side tie up to three boats deep. With a 2 kt current running, we found it a challenge to safely come alongside. With the marina doing the hatch repairs, we took the dingy to get a bus to catch the train into Rome, spending two days taking tours of the Rome Coliseum, the Vatican, St Peters Basilica and anything else we could fit in. Hatches fixed (maybe!), it was off for Sardinia. After an overnight sail/motor trip, we made landfall just south of Isola Tavolara, and anchored in a small, protected bay off Sardinia, called Cala Coda Cavallo. Our 1st white sandy beach anchorage in Italy that was well protected and not rolly. Rested after 2 days, then we started slowly gunk holing north, stopping in several lovely bays and into Olbia, where we tied up to the town dock for several nights (free!) to recharge the galley.
At the next stop, we were to get a lesson in humility! Now, we think we have a nice boat, even if it has gone a bit feral after 7 years of cruising. But in the next anchorages, we found out just how little and plain we really are! In these places, if you are not 150 ft long, you’re an also ran! These yachts have “garage” doors on the aft sides that open to launch lookalike Classic Chris Kraft inboards with uniformed crew to drive the owners ashore for a bit of shopping at the upscale shopping arcades that are on a par with Rodeo Drive in Hollywood. And that’s after they arrive via private helicopter from the airport they jetted into with their private jet! Cool eh! One boat was reported to check into local customs with 24 crew, 4 guests. Oh well, I think we have more fun! I thought I looked pretty good in my “WINGS” shirts but now I realize I just look like boat crew (which I am!). This anchorage was just south of Puerto Cervo, which you racers will know as the home of the Sardinia Cup. We anchored there for an hour or so and went ashore to see the yacht club, but didn’t make it past the lobby. As they wanted $150 a night for a mooring, we didn’t stay long. It is a very nice facility, and the architecture fits the area well, but I felt it lacked soul. In any case, it was way too expensive for us, and we left to go around the corner to the Golfo di Arzachena, where we dropped anchor at a spot recommended by “REMEDY”. There, we were also joined by Dick and Pam aboard “Alyshiaem” and the next day, the three of us took our dingys as far as we could up the river at the head of the bay for a picnic.
Several days of hanging around and we were ready for our next stop; the harbor at Bonifacio in Corsica. Bonifacio has been described as one of the best and most scenic harbors in the world, and we found it lived up to its reputation. It was only a 12 mile leg but you have to go across the infamous Bonifacio Strait, where the wind usually howls. But all was calm when we crossed. We arrived in early afternoon to claim a spot in the free anchorage area of the bay. Here, you are expected to anchor, then stern tie to the rock cliffs that line the small bay within the harbor. After getting us all tied up, I started helping later arrivals, pushing them into position with the dingy and taking lines ashore. Naturally, I made a few friends, and while it was not my intention, I later found several bottles of wine left on our deck, thanks for the help! Comparing notes with a skipper across the way that was doing the same thing, I found he got one more bottle of wine then I did, starting a contest. Later that night, just at dusk, we took a dingy ride through the harbor. As we left “WINGS”, a large yacht (200 ft.?) arrived, slowly turned around opposite us and proceeded to back down the very narrow harbor towards his assigned slip. We, even with our little 2 horse engine were going slightly faster than the yacht, and as we approached, we heard cheering from the boats at their moorings as he passed. As we pulled alongside, we found out why. On the second deck was floor to ceiling glass and just behind the well lighted glass was the master shower. In the shower, we assume, was the owner, finishing his shower, and giving the whole anchorage his version of “the full Monte”! A Kodak moment. We also talked to crew aboard the yacht owned by the royal family of Monaco – the princess was coming that weekend but we didn’t hang around to see about meeting her. Nice boat though. It was an older yacht with some class, unlike some of the newer large yachts.
Abandoning my new found career, docking for wine, we left Bonafacio and headed north up the east side of Corsica, anchoring at Porto Vecchio, where we teamed up with “Alyshiaem” to rent a car and tour inland , through the mountains, visiting several villages on the way. Corsica is a beautiful island, and we would have missed a lot had we not done this. We wished “ALISHIA” all the best as they continued on to Gibralter, where they “crossed their path” to complete their circumnavigation. One anchorage later, Golfo de Pinarello, we left Corsica for the Italian island of Elba. An overnight sail later, we reached the north side and anchored at Golfo Della Biadola. Next day we switched anchorages to move around the coast to Portoferraio, an anchorage on the east side of the island and closer to mainland Italy. After the obligatory grocery shopping, we again headed northeast towards mainland Italy and anchored at Porto Baratti. The next morning we again headed north to a bay called Castiglioncello (there will not be any test!) After a rolly night we sailed the next few miles to Port Viarrego where we were successful in locating a new temperature sensor for our engine. The old one had disintegrated when I attempted to tighten the sensor wire, making a small problem much bigger. Port Viarrego is where the Benetti and the Lusben motor yachts are manufactured. Large yachts that populated the anchorages back in Sardinia. A relatively small yacht in this class (50m/120ft.) may hold 65,000 liters of fuel. Figure fuel at 1.1euro/liter, and you run up about $90,000 (US$) to fuel it up!
With the new sensor installed, we wasted no time leaving the $140/night slip and once again headed north, making a long stop at La Grazie, a small village in a small harbor just south of La Spezia. From here, we caught the bus/train to Pisa, which I have wanted to see since grammar school! The tower really does lean far over, but the buildings surrounding it are very worth seeing as well. Another day, we took the train again to visit a marble quarry, to see how that is quarried. And yet another day we took a water taxi out to Portovenere, to check out the fresh pesto, the churches, and the grotto Lord Byron is said to have frequented. While we were there, we watched boats with a draft similar to “WINGS” cross the shallow bar that extends across the exit to the Med, which we planned on crossing upon leaving, saving a few miles to our next destination. On the day before our planned departure, we moved the boat over to Portovenere to be in position for a morning sail to our next overnight stop, Riva Trigosa. When we arrived, the anchorage was crowded with locals out for a day. That night, we found out why they left! We couldn’t wait to leave there too, it was so rolly! We weighed anchor early and once again headed north, passing by the tower that Marconi used for his first transatlantic radio contacts, and continued north to Santa Margherita Liguere, where we anchored out of the main traffic and close to the center of town and the ferry service. We found Santa Margherita to be very nice and very scenic. The visitors booth has several walks mapped out, which last from 1 – 4 hours, and we did a combination of them, seeing most of the town in the process. We also took the ferry out to San Fruttuoso a remote monastery, now tourist restaurants, where I left Deb to take the return ferry back to Portofino while I hiked back up and over the steep mountains that line the Med. It was a wonderful hike. It was almost raining, sort of a “Seattle sunshine” sort of rain, that kept me cool, and the woods moist and quiet. As I neared Portofino, I came upon several small vineyards, then some small olive groves at the top of the hill. As I walked down the steep stairs towards town, the church bells rang. It was an enchanted moment. Back at Portofino, I met up with Deb for lunch, and we, as always, marveled at the size and splendor of the yachts tied to the quay. We have a friend who inquired about tying up his 62ft. sailboat there overnight. !,500 Euros (about $2000). He anchored out.
Before we could get too attached to Santa Margherita, we thought we’d better leave, so we reluctantly left in the general direction of Genoa, where we, needed to get fuel. As we entered the harbor and turned into where our charts showed the fuel pier to be, we saw that it was closed, as they were preparing for the Genoa Boat Show. As I turned the boat around, I noticed a huge catamaran off I a corner, so I backed in to take a look. It turned out to be “ALINGI” one of the boats proposed to sail in the next Americas Cup. She measures 90 ft.X 90 ft! She’s said to be capable of 20 kts. upwind and 30 downwind. She had been helicoptered out of Lake Geneva where she was undergoing testing. Awesome! On to the next fuel dock, where we backed into the fuel pier managed by the Genoa Yacht Club, a magnificent facility with lots of “old” charm. Fueled up, we called Genoa’s Port Antico to see how much and if they had a berth available for us, not thinking we had a chance. They had one though, and at 60 Euros a night, free electric and water, right in the middle of old town, we jumped at the chance! They even helped us tie up the boat, which is a big help when you have to back into the slip to stern tie. Tied up and signed up, we left the boat to explore the city. We stayed for 5 days, partly because of more weather, but also because there was so much to see. Lifts up the steep mountains to see the views, a narrow gauge train into the mountains to ride, many old mansions, churches and palaces to tour, and all the narrow, old alleyways we used to get to them. A charming city that we could go back to anytime!
I’m finishing this as we proceed west across southern France towards Barcelona. More to come when we get to our winter digs in Barcelona, and we have better internet! Cheers! “WINGS”

2008-11-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

Summer Cruise, 2008
October 26, 2008
There is a photo album called “WINGS Summer Cruise, 2008” associated with this blog; check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/sailingwings/WINGSSummerCruise2008. Deb added Google earth maps at the beginning, so you can see better where we were.
There is also a web sight: www.geocities.com/wingsyoe . This sight is maintained by Doug Donohue on behalf of my old Navy Squadron, VO-67. VO-67 was part of the secret war in Vietnam, but has recently been declassified. We were honored this last spring to receive a Presidential Unit Citation, presented in Washington DC. See more at http://www.vo-67.org/

I know, I know, it’s been a long time. And now we are back in Marmaris, Turkey, getting organized to leave the boat and return home for another visit. ----
When we returned to Turkey after our visit to the States, our plans were to cruise through Greece and on to Italy, possibly wintering in Rome. When cruising, events and new knowledge conspire to change carefully made plans. In our case it was the excitement of going to Croatia, with its fabled island cruising, and discouraged by the lack of facilities in Italy to berth the boat, along with the visa complications for a long stay that changed our plans. We didn’t make the decision lightly, as we were very much looking forward to visiting Sicily with Anacortes friends John and Mary, to trace Johns somewhat questionable ancestry, and had been doing so for several years. An email from them seemed to indicate they were somewhat relieved to cancel or delay, given the current state of the economy. Of course, now that the dollar is good again, we all lost our money in the market.
So, while sitting in a café in Marmaris, we decided to change plans, and cruise this summer through Greece to Croatia, and then back to Turkey for winter, as Turkey is not an EU country and doesn’t much care how long you keep a boat here. We also really enjoy Turkey (See the last paragraph of our last update for our feelings about Turkey!).
We made a date to haul WINGS, and that being several weeks off, we rented a car and drove inland with friends to visit Afrodisias and Pamukkale. Afrodisas is a prehistoric mound, built up by numerous settlements beginning about 5,000BC. The ruins in the picture album are from the Roman and Byzantine era. Pamukkale was at one time a commercial city lying at a cross roads of two major trade routes, and was famous for its black wool, banking, and medicines. It is mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation. Cicero lived here for a few years until Mark Anthony ordered him killed. The attraction for us, however, were the large Calcium deposits formed by warm water cascading over a cliff edge, cooling and depositing its calcium. It is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and quite beautiful.
Once back “home” in Marmaris, we hauled “WINGS”, repaired the keel damage, added a line cutter to the prop, (more about this later!) changed zincs, painted the bottom, and launched.
A little geographic background:
The route to Croatia from Turkey, takes you northwest across the Agean Sea, through the Greek Islands, either around the south of Greece or, alternatively, through the Corinth Canal, just west of Athens, and north west up the Adriatic Sea, past Greece, Albania and Montenegro. The weather for the trip is the tricky part. The Agean sea has, in May, northerly winds that can be quite strong, and they get stronger as summer approaches. The tactic is to make as much northing as you can, stopping each night at a new Greek Island, and trying not to lose any ground to windward as you move west. This plan brought us close to the Corinth Canal, and while the transit is expensive, it saved us a lot of windward work and several days travel time. Once out of the Canal and over to the west coat of Greece, the route is up the Adriatic from Corfu with slightly more favorable winds, but with a good chance of thunderstorms.

Back to Turkey ---
We checked out of Turkey on May 3rd and headed west, stopping overnight at Buzuk Buku to spend the night. Enjoyed the views of the castle, and had dinner ashore, promising to bring the restaurant a bottle of Ouzo from Greece on our return in the fall. The next day, we sailed the 14 miles to Simi, Greece, to check in to the country. Simi is an enchanting, deep little bay. Crowding around its town quay are a collection of cruising boats, local boats, large Turkish Gullets, and day trip ferries, (called day trippers). The custom is to drop the anchor, back up to the quay, and tie up the stern. So far, so good, but the problem is that you need to drop the anchor at the other side of the small harbor to facilitate enough scope on the anchor rode. The result is anchors and anchor chain criss-crossing all across the bay! Each time someone leaves, everyone around is at risk, because the boat leaving has a good chance of bringing up one or even two other anchors with his! Generally, its all good entertainment, and little harm comes from all the anchoring antics. Feeling secure at our berth, we rented a motorbike and spent a day touring the island, visiting the Monastery at the south end. Leaving Simi for a planned passage to Nisyros Island, we had a 70° wind shift and encountered our first strong northwesterlys and try as we might; we ended up losing ground to windward and went instead to a sheltered Bay on the south side of Tilos Island. The next morning we reefed down for another go to windward to Astipalia Island and anchored for the night. This passage set the routine for the next several days, until we arrived in Naxos, where we spent several days, renting a scooter one day and touring around the perimeter of the island. In the meantime, we were emailing Anacortes friends, Al Currier and Ann Schreivogl. They were painting on the next Island west, Paros. We headed on over, anchoring at the north end, and rented another scooter to go look for them. It didn’t take too long to find them, they were sitting at a café on the beach. We made plans to meet them the next day at our anchorage and join us to sail down to the bay where they were painting. We had a great sail, down wind for a change, and it was fun to have some Anacortres friends aboard! We spent several days with them, touring the island, looking for places and things to paint. You can see the results at the Insight Gallery in Anacortes. (http://www.insightsgallery.com/) It was hard to leave them, but they needed to paint, (they are serious about their painting!) and we had to move on. So, up anchor and off for several other anchorages on the way to the Corinth Canal, which we had committed to by this time. Poros was one stop on the way, a lovely village along the water, and tied up at the town quay. From here, we took the ferry into Athens and visited the Parthenon. The day was somewhat a disappointment, due to the extensive renovation going on, the crowds, and the main museum being closed. Oh well. Then on to the Corinth canal. The procedure there is to tie up at the entrance and pay your fee, (about $300!) then wait to be directed for your passage through. Coming out of the office they rushed me back to the boat and we started immediately, with a tour boat hot on our tail. Nero (that guy who fiddled while Rome burned) began to dig the canal in 67AD but it was until 1893 that it was finished by the French. It is less than 4 miles long, 75’ wide & the solid rock walls rise to 300’ on both side of you. Several bridges span the waterway. Once through, we motored straight to our planned overnight stop at Galaxidi, in the Gulf of Corinth, where we planned to rent a car to visit the ruins at Delphi (www.olympia-greece.org/delphi.html). As it turned out, we shared a car with the Australian boat next to ours and enjoyed a full day exploring the ruins. Continuing on, we worked our way up to Corfu, where we topped our fuel and checked out of Greece for the trip to Croatia. That passage turned out to be a two nighter, complete with the requisite strong winds and the forecast thunderstorms. We arrived in Dubrovinik at 7AM and proceeded straight to the customs dock, where we checked in and bought our required cruising permit ($600). We were hustled off the customs dock by the arrival of a 300ft cruise ship, so we went over to the town quay at the head of the bay and backed in. The official there informed us it would be very expensive to stay there, about $150 a night! So we executed a missed approach and went up the river where there is a nice marina at the head of that bay. They wanted a little over $100 a night there, so we started looking at other options, and soon came upon a Danish boat that had been anchored for several days. We anchored nearby and went to sleep. That day, we were joined by our friends on “REMEDY”, and the next morning we took a dingy and went ashore to catch a bus into downtown Dubrovnik. We spent the day walking the marble streets, inspecting the old citadel walls that dominate the town, and rode the bus back to our anchorage that evening. A short time later, we were approached by a harbor patrol boat, who after inspecting our papers told us we had 10 minutes to leave! We were not pleased! Neither were the other 8 boats that had joined us by then. We upped anchor, and along with REMEDY, raced the darkness 5 miles to the next bay up, dropped anchor, and finished our Happy Hour. The next morning, Deb and I took the dingy back to pick up a part I’d left for repair at the marina. Anchored where we’d been chased away was a local boat! All we can surmise, is, it’s a way to fill the marina. This experience foretold a trend that we encountered the rest of our stay in Croatia. Several times, we were approached while at anchor by the local official, wanting 20 to30 Euros ($25-40) for anchoring. No services offered. This usually happened at a time when reanchoring would involve a night trip to another spot, although REMEDY was approached one morning for the fee for the night before. There is no reliable info on where these fees apply, and the whole country seems to be catching on to the scam. Do I sound a little bitter? You bet!
While motoring on the way from Marmaris, we noticed white smoke coming from our engine exhaust, and it wasn’t getting any better. Even REMEDY was noticing it. Consulting Calders book “Boat Owners Mechanical and Electric Manual”, which no cruising boat should be without, we found that the “smoke” was most likely steam, and the most likely problem was that the cylinder head gasket was leaking engine coolant into the cylinders. The loss of coolant we were experiencing at the time seemed to confirm this. So we started looking for an appropriate place to have the head removed and a new gasket installed. Split had a Perkins dealer, so we made reservations at the downtown Split marina and headed on in, explaining our need to have the engine repaired, and the resultant immobilization of WINGS. After tying up and settling in, the marina informed us that we would have to be out by Saturday night, as they were expecting the charter fleet to arrive. This we could not commit to, so we left, to another marina several miles away, convenient to shopping, but otherwise in a bland industrial area. The next AM, as I was walking up the dock, I spotted a truck with “Perkins Dealer” painted on the side and tracked the occupants down. Ivan, the Perkins Mech, and his appretenice, Mario, came to the boat the next morning, did a compression check that confirmed a bad head gasket, removed the head, took it to the shop, inspected and cleaned it and installed new valves, and had it ready by Monday AM for reinstalling. Of course that Saturday night, we had a go around with the marina , who wanted us to move, because the charter fleet was arriving!. We didn’t move, the charters came in and it all worked out, even w/ the thunderstorm packing 45 knot gusts that blew through. Now, “for the rest of the story” the engine had also been running hot, and I attributed this to the head gasket problem. I had this nagging feeling that I should have had the heat exchangers boiled out, but I didn’t, to save money. Well, I should have! After the repair, the engine was still running hot, so we put in at another marina, in Trogir, just a few miles further north, and called Ivan. He removed the heat exchangers, which could have been done as an afterthought a few days earlier, and took them to the shop. The transmission cooler was almost completely blocked. And the marina charged us 100 Euros for bringing in an outside mechanic! I got some of that back, as that day, they had a free lunch, celebrating 25 years of operation! And we got to explore the old walled city for a day, which was worth the marina stay. Finally, the engine was running tickety boo (that’s NZ talk), and we headed north once again. The goal this time was Skradin, several stops North. Skradin is known for its lakes and waterfalls, and is reached via a Canal that leads past Sibenik into a fresh water lake, and across the lake into a lazy river that in turn leads to the Skradin anchorage, where we stern tied to a tree. We took the ferry from there up to the first falls, hiked up to the next lake, then took another ferry further up the chain to visit a monastery and another set of falls, with a working display of an old waterwheel grain mill. Then back out the canal and north once again, with a week or so to get to Rovinj, which was to be our jumping off spot for the 70 mile passage to Venice, Italy.
On the way up, a weather forecast warned of strong winds and the possibility of thunderstorms. With these types of forecasts the winds also have a tendency to go from southerly immediately to northerly, so we looked for a secure anchorage to hunker down for a few days. We found it on the west side of Rava, a small island just east of Dugi Otok. We anchored and waited. The next morning we sighted a boat attempting to enter the bay, but was obviously having trouble furling his Genoa. At first, I passed off his troubles as inexperience in furling in the heavy winds, but as I watched, I realized he was having some serious problems, so I quickly put the outboard on the dingy and gave chase. It turned out that his forestay had broken, his wife was steering, she had little experience steering, and had broken several ribs days earlier. I pulled myself aboard, and together we managed to get the sail somewhat under control and the boat anchored. Then we rigged a rope and tackle to pull the forestay tight, replaced the broken shackle that had caused the problem, and secured the Genoa. The owner turned out to be a charter pilot, flying a Business Jet all over Europe, so we had some lies to tell. In the meantime, a French charter boat anchored with an all woman crew aboard. That night passed peacefully enough, but the next night about midnight, I was awoken by a persistent call “hello, hello!”. I jumped out of the bunk and went on deck to see the whole crew of naked women leaning over our lifelines to hold WINGS away from their boat. Now, we are used to some nudity that is common in the anchorages we’ve visited, and we think that as Americans, we are overly modest in this area, but I was not prepared for this sight! I guess that I should have offered them a glass of wine, but I didn’t. I raised our anchor and moved, and it wasn’t until later that I remembered that we were the first boat anchored. We were not dragging, there was little to no wind, but the direction of it had changed and rotated WINGS around her anchor.. Charters rarely put out much anchor scope so when they rotate they make a very tiny circle. We put out 5 to 1 so our circle is much bigger. They should have moved. On the other hand, they were the ones that recognized the problem, so maybe were even. And I got a good story!
On to Revenj, where we fueled up and prepared for an “O” dark hundred departure for Venice, Italy, wanting to cover the 70 miles by early afternoon, to have plenty of daylight for our arrival. That passage was uneventful, except when our cruising chute blew up in only 14 kts of apparent wind, splitting from top to bottom. I bought it for $100, and it got us 1/2 way around the world, so I can’t complain too loudly. Entering the busy harbor at Venice was exciting; with cruise ships passing close by in the narrow channels, and knowing that very skinny water lurked close by. We were fortunate to find a berth at the St. Elena Sailing Club, a cozy little club close to a quiet neighborhood and only several blocks to the municipal water taxi line. Venice is well worth the trip, even from the US, to see all the buildings, art, waterways and history that make up Venice. It is one of those places that elude description. You must visit it to see and feel all that is Venice. See the pictures in the album.
Back in Croatia, we started to backtrack south along our route, visiting some new places, and revisiting some old favorites. We spent a night at what we now called “Naked Bay” and later, revisited a small harbor near Split. A little after our arrival, another boat came in to anchor, and I swam his stern line to shore and tied him to a tree. Later, he was swimming by, and asked me if I was still having dreams at night of naked ladies. I was a little perplexed, until he explained that he had been anchored near us the night of the “Naked Lady Invasion!” He is a psychoanalyst from Florence. His wife is a professor of economics and a consultant to the United Nations. I was an embarrassed old man!
One of the places we missed on the way north was the sister city of Anacortes, Vela Luka. We did not intend to miss it on the way back. We stern tied to the town quay in the late afternoon, and had a look around. Several times we mentioned where we were from Anacortes. People were generally underwhelmed, and didn’t have a clue about Anacortes. But Vela Luka, is our sister city, it is beautiful, and we are proud of it! It would be helpful to go there with an exchange program of some sort. We did enjoy the visit, and had a good look around. See the album!
Continuing south, we had another decision to make; go back through the Corinth Canal, or go south around the Peloponnese Peninsula. Among our many stops was a multi day stay in Kalamata (home to the olives) where we rented another motorcycle for sightseeing. We had a much easier job arriving in Sparta than the Spartans had 100s of years earlier.
For years, I’ve wanted to stop in Souda Bay, on Crete, to see an old Navy Squadron Mate, Paul Cronenberger. Paul had been the navigator on at least one of my missions in Viet Nam, one of which was memorable for the closeness of the anti aircraft fire. Paul had emailed me several years ago, telling me about his 13 years of cruising the Pacific with his family aboard his 50 ft. ketch “GOD’S SPEED”. (His wife, Tina, has written a book about their adventures, which, so far, has been not been published) Transmission problems forced him into Souda Bay, where he found a job on the base, and has been there for another 13 years. In the meantime, GOD’S SPEED went walkabout in a storm and sank near shore. Paul and a crew from the base rescued her and Paul and Tina have been slowly restoring her ever since. (GOD’S SPEED was originally “PANACIA”, built by Charlie Morgan for the owner of Ekerts Drugs, and has several Newport – Bermuda race victories, as well as some SORC trophies) I promised Paul that someday we would get together, raft the boats together and have some good times! This seemed like a likely time to make good that promise! So, we arrived in Hania, Crete, close by to Souda, and Paul was there to help us tie up. The next day, with Paul and Tina aboard, we moved the boat over to the bay at Souda, with plans to do a little work on GOD’S SPEED, raise her anchor and bring her up the bay to where WINGS lay. While all this was going on, Paul had a call from the base commander asking if he would be willing to meet with another cruising, retired Navy pilot anchored near by, who was there on his catamaran with his family, Lee Tilliotson. Lee was unloading his family from his dingy onto a boat ramp when his 5 yr old son slipped and hit his head, causing a big gash and lots of blood. He loaded his wife and his other 5 year old twin daughter into a taxi and took them to the Navy base to see the doc. At the gate, which is controlled by the Greeks, he was told he could not come into the base in the taxi. His wife Lorna, had broken her leg several weeks earlier, and with son Elliot with a possible concussion, he simply called the base ambulance at the gate. They came, along with the fire truck, just to make sure, and Admiral Tilliotson, previously skipper of the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was now known to the whole base! That’s how we came to know Lee, Lorna, Elliot, and Eden, crew of “AIR BENDER”. We all hung out for several days, fixing the Lee’s auto pilot and realigning the steering on the 60 ft. cat. In the meantime, I helped Paul get his anchor windless working. We had a 4 hour adventure just raising his anchor, which had fouled an old ships anchor that was a good 2m across the flukes, an old fish net, and a long piece of 1” steel cable. It involved lots of free diving and cut hands, and we just managed to re anchor his boat next to ours as darkness fell. But we did it! We got the boats together and had a great time! Several days later, we left to resume our trip across the north side of Crete, and Med Moored at a marina about 16 miles down the road. Next morning, while leaving the slip, we got close to the Cat next to us, and while the Cat crew watched from their chairs, (not lifting a finger to help although we had helped them tie up the day before) I had to swing the stern out to avoid them, then reverse out of the finger. I had forgotten a line in the water. The bad news is it got tangled in the prop and the rudder. The good news is we had a line cutter installed last spring (remember the line cutter?!) which cut the line as advertized, and the rudder still worked fine. We moved away from the marina and anchored in the bay, and I jumped overboard to clear the lines. Nothing to it, so far. Now, it was time to raise the main sail, so I climbed up on the sissy bars next to the mast and stepped on to the mast winch to attach the main halyard. That's when things went south. My feet, still wet, slipped, and I went down the mast like sliding down a banister, but with that winch attached. It slowed me, but it didn't stop me, and I landed on my rear on the deck. Ouch! I wasn't hurt as much, as I was mad, and I spent the rest of the day quietly cursing myself for being so stupid and careless. Then I forgot all about it that evening in the 35kt winds that came gusting across our small anchorage, keeping us awake and nervous most of the night. In the morning, we made the short trip across the bay to a small marina just east of Irakleion. There, we rented a car and visited Knossos (http://ancient-greece.org/archaeology/knossos.html), and took a long drive to the south side of Crete for a swim in the Libyan sea. It was a very uncomfortable marina, with a persistent surge, and we rocked all night. Happy to leave, we headed to Spinalonga lagoon and anchored in a small bay within the bay, with no wind and flat water. There, “AIR BENDER” caught up with us and we spent a day touring the old citadel turned leper colony, now abandoned. Very early the next morning, “AIR BENDER” left the anchorage to take advantage of a weather window and headed for Cyprus and Israel, there to put the kids in school. We went just around the bend to a marina at Agios Nikolaos, to provision for the remainder of the trip back to Simi. One of the stops on our way back was at Tristoma, on Karpathos Island. There, the entrance is not visible until 50 yards out, and then it is only 25 yards wide, but plenty deep, with no obstructions. Once inside, the bay opened up to about a ½ mile wide and a mile deep, with a mostly abandoned village at the head. We anchored in the calm water off the old village and settled in, as we decided that this anchorage needed an extra day to explore. There were several fishing boats tied up to the quay, and several buildings had been restored. There was a park map ashore as well, so we suspect that the area is being developed as a park. Then, we noticed movement ashore, and discovered that one couple does, if fact, live there. The next morning as we left in the dingy to do some exploring, we noticed the old woman hauling wood back to their house. So, as we explored the beaches around the area, we collected drift wood, so much that we barely had enough room for ourselves in the dingy! Back at the village, we stacked it up in front of her house and returned to the boat. An hour or so later, we were hailed from shore, so we jumped back in the dingy and motored over to her house. There they gave us a tour of the old village, proudly showing off their olive and fig trees, loading us down with onions, fresh warm bread, cheese and figs. Before leaving we saw pictures of all their children, one lives in Baltimore with his family. A magical cruising moment. Once in Simi, we picked up that bottle of Ouzo for the restaurant, (remember?!) topped off the fuel as it is cheaper then Turkey, and checked out of Greece. Back to the restaurant in Buzuk Buku, we gave them their bottle of Ouzo and said our goodbyes, as they were closing the restaurant, due to the landowners demand for a heavy increase in rent, which they could not afford.
Then, a sail back to Marmaris, where we are back in essentially the same slip we left last spring. Life is lively here among the cruisers, with organized tours, bowling, movies, teas, skipper meetings, and the morning VHF net, with announcements of upcoming events, treasures of the bilge for sale, and taxis to the airport to share.
Now, we are organizing all those maintenance items that are put off all summer. The top of the list is a new Teak Deck. Our old one was torn up in NZ and not replaced due to cost. Now, though, we are faced with either repainting the deck, or having a new Teak Deck installed. We choose the Teak option, having a lot of confidence in a local firm that has done work for us last year as well. Anker Marine. The problem with that choice is that it blew the budget for the year, and the new Spinnaker I was looking forward to will have to wait. It also forced us to strip the decks of hardware to a point that only North Harbor could appreciate! There are also smaller items to fix and improve, and the shopping list is expanding at an alarming rate! We will head to Deb’s home in NJ, with a stop in Amsterdam to visit some Dutch cruising friends (FAJA LOBI). We will leave NJ in time to visit with friends in Destin, FL, and visit the Pensacola Air Museum, then to St. Augustine to visit with the world famous Hanks family, then a stop to spend a night grilling the previous owner of WINGS for history of the boat, then on to Naples for Christmas with the kids. Whew! We will stay a month in Naples, then on to Anacortes for a couple of weeks before returning to NJ for a birthday party. Finally, we will fly back to Turkey and the boat, to finish all the projects. Next year, we will start west, probably not past Gibraltar, but close to it. Spain would be a likely option but we have yet to nail down the Visa and boat taxes issues. For now, Happy Thanksgiving! Terry& Deb

2008-03-20T03:03:00.000-07:00

March 20, 2008
There is a photo album called “Turkey” associated with this blog; check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/sailingwings
There is also a web sight: www.geocities.com/wingsyoe

Boy does 6 months go by fast! Sorry to take so long to update this blog and web sight, it just seems that everything else gets in the way. Besides, we have not made any (even overnight) passages since we arrived in Turkey.
Sitting at the dock waiting for parts in Marmaris was fun for awhile, but we were getting bored, and we still had several weeks before our new refrigeration compressor was to arrive in Istanbul. So turning this misfortune into an opportunity, we rented a car with the idea of going to Istanbul to pick up the new compressor, and to see a few things on the way. We took 3 weeks to do a three day trip. We travelled from Marmaris through Ankara to the Black Sea, then west to Istanbul, then SW along the Sea of Marmara to the site of the Battle of Gallipoli, then south along the Aegean Sea back to Marmaris where “WINGS” patiently awaited her new compressor.
Perhaps a short history of the area we travelled through is in order first. Much of the trip was through Central Anatolia. The history of this region stretches back to around 6800 BC, when the earliest towns were founded. (The Neolithic Age) From then on this land bridge between Europe and Asia became the birthplace for a dozen new civilizations who slugged it out with one another for supremacy. There are countless crumbling caravanserais (overnight way stations) along the modern roads that are reminders of the great trade routes that crisscrossed the area.
Some of the highlights of the trip (in order):
Sagalossos:
This archaeologist dig is a city from 1200 BC cited high on a steep mountain side, backed by sheer, ragged rock. It has been undisturbed through the centuries due to its very rugged location, and thus all the building material has been left intact. The Belgian’s have had a team there since the 1990’s and are slowly reconstructing the major buildings. For more info and pictures on this site go to http://www.sagalassos.be/enghome.htm
Egirdir:
After climbing the steep, dusty streets and ruins of Sagalossos, Egirdir, located on the lake by the same name, was a wonderful overnight stop. We found a room at a small family run inn and made a beeline across the street to the lake for a swim. A most pleasant evening.
Konya:
We lunched in Sille at a small local restaurant. It is located up a small valley that has been home to people since the Neolithic Age. After lunch we toured the Mevlana Museum, which is the former lodge of the whirling dervishes.
Sultanhani:
Located just off the highway between Konya and Aksaray is an excellent example of one of the caravanserais built in 1229 as a safe haven for the caravans to rest and perhaps, to do a little business. Located on the flat steppe with only grassland as far as one can see, it stands out as one the best preserved examples of the ancient caravanserais.
Cappadocia:
We stopped for three nights here. We could have spent seven! Cappadocia is an area of lunar landscapes and surreal scenery. It has ancient churches and cave dwellings, and is one of Turkey’s “must see” areas. The Hittites settled here from 1800 BC to 1200 BC after which smaller kingdoms held power. Then came the Persians followed by the Romans and the Byzantine periods. Cappadocia became a refuge for early Christians, and from the 4th to the 11th century flourished here. Our hotel room was carved out of stone into a mountain. It was nice and cool, and very dark at night! We explored the old villages carved into the mountains, climbing into the caves that served as homes and churches. We took a hot air balloon ride over the area early in the morning, rising very close to the hills, and then suddenly cresting the top and drifting high over the next valley. It was one of those “once in a lifetime” rides, and we are glad we did the “long” (re:expensive) option. If you follow us, be sure to book with Cappadocia Balloons. They are the most experienced, give the best tour, and are the safest of all the outfits in town.
Another highlight was the underground cities, built 5 stories deep and designed for protection from the many maurding invaders of the time. They were self sustaining for months at a time, ingeniously designed for fresh air and comfort, and even had a wine making area! There were wonderful places to eat, and to buy rugs, and we left town considerably lighter in the wallet!
Ankara:
Ataturk moved the capital of Turkey from Istanbul to here in 1923. Our interest here was the Museum Of Anatolian Civilizations. Finding the museum was very frustrating, and if we had not had the help of a local who jumped into our car and guided us there, we may still not be talking. Once there, however the museum was the best place we found to get a sense of the chronological history of the area.
Safranbolu:
During the 17th century, the main trade route between Gerede and the Black Sea came through this mountain town. During the 18th and 19th century, the wealthy Safranbolu merchants built many impressive homes here, and many are still standing. We booked a room in one of the restored homes and explored the city from there. We had dinner at the local caravanserais and had a Turkish bath at the Cinci Hani, built in 1645.
Black Sea Coast:
The drive from Safranbolu twists through the mountains back and forth across a river and through numerous tunnels to the shores of the Black Sea. It is a beautiful drive! Once on the shore, we meandered our way west toward Istanbul, spending one night at a resort with a pool and beach on the Black Sea. It was a step back in time, seeing all the small fishing boats pulled up on shore, and the large coal mining operations dotting the area.
Istanbul:
We spent a week here, hardly denting the surface! We found a room near the center of activity and parked the car, not to return to it until we left. From the top of our hotel, where they served breakfast, we could lookout over at the ships transiting the Bosphorus on one side and look up at the Blue Mosque on the other. We visited as many historical sites as we could, and took a ferry trip through the Bosphorus. Istanbul has many of the best examples of Byzantine art and architecture in the world, and it is a fascinating city to visit. And, of course, we took delivery of our new refrigeration compressor. Remember, that is why we did this trip!?
Gallipoli:
Leaving Istanbul, we attempted to stay as close to the Bosphorus as we could on our way to see Gallipoli. We may have stayed a little too close, as we ended up on a 20km dirt road that twisted and turned down the steep coastal mountains. Wouldn’t have missed the drive for anything, but we arrived too late that day to do any sight seeing. We found a rather rustic room in Ecabat and booked a tour for the next day. The peninsula of Gallipoli is now mostly a national park. It was the sight of a WWI battle to capture the straits from the Ottoman Empire in order to supply Russia with war materials. The battle cost some half million casualties. It has special significance for New Zealand and Australia, and several movies have been made on the battle. It was a sobering experience to view the trenches and battlefields where so much loss of life occurred. Later that day we crossed the strait by car ferry and found a hotel on the south side, finally on our way back to the boat.
Bodrum:
Bodrum is gaining a reputation as the Monte Carlo of the Aegean, with its many condos on the hill and its walkways on the waterfront past upscale restaurants and shops. It is also the site of the Castle of St. Peter, which stands sentinel over the town’s twin bays. The castle today is restored and operated as a museum, a quite good one.
We knew we would revisit by boat once we had the reefer working again, but we did spend a night there just to see the rather nice marina and get a feel for the lay of the land.

Finally back “home” in Marmaris, I installed our new compressor, called in a refrigeration mech to charge it with refrigerant, and we were back in business. We stocked the boat, and then headed north along the Turkish coast to rendezvous with Ian and Wendy aboard “REMEDY” a NZ boat that we have known since Fiji. They were waiting in Kusadasi for some new sails, so we joined them there. The best classical ruins in the eastern Med, Ephesus, lie close by the harbor, so we jumped on a bus out to the ruins to see for ourselves the city which was once a great and profitable trading port, but abandon when the bay silted up with mud from the river. While we were in Anacortes, Deb viewed a travel log on the wonders of Greece on the Discovery Channel. A part of the story featured Ephesus, and an ancient shipwreck that we viewed in Bodrum. No mention was made that these places were, in fact, in Turkey!
Now we started back south along the coast, anchoring in almost every bay we could find. It was a great break from the goal oriented sailing we had been doing since we left Australia! We sailed most of the time, took a day off on any excuse, and leisurely gunk holed our way back towards Marmaris. At one point, Wendy left “REMEDY” to go back to NZ to attend to her mother and we continued on with Ian single handing, south past Marmaris to explore the Fethiye and Gocek area. A magical period in our adventure.
Back at Marmaris, we shut down the boat to go home to the States to get Debbie her second new hip. Friends (very good friends!) in Anacortes had offered their house to us while they were in California. This happy circumstance gave us a base for her to do the operation and time to recuperate after the surgery. While home we saw many old friends and made some new ones, and a good time was had by all. At one point, I was talked into doing a slide show for some “ancient pilots”, like myself. While I bitched and moaned about doing the show, it turned out to be a good move, as we were able to show the slides to several other groups very successively. Time went by too fast in Anacortes, and suddenly it was time to leave for a visit with my (Terry’s) kids in Naples FL. After 2 weeks there, we were on to visit Deb’s family in New Jersey for another 2 weeks. Then, all too soon, we were on a plane from Kennedy Airport to Istanbul, a transfer to Dalaman and a taxi back to Marmaris.
So, here we are! Making progress a little at a time towards leaving here for the summer season. There is new equipment to install and get working, leaks to repair, and the boat has to come out of the water for some repairs to the keel where we hit some submerged object way back in Indonesia. Not serious, but we need to get it done. A new survey for the insurance company will be done at the same time.
Of course, it is not all work – we have rented a car for 3 or 4 days next week to do some more inland travelling in this fascinating country!
RE: “fascinating country”: Many times, people at home reacted to finding out that we were in Turkey with a look or reply that seemed to say “I’m sorry. How long do you have to stay?” Let me tell you! We have loved Turkey! The people have been friendly, honest, and entertaining. The country and mountains, bays and water are awesome. The food is generally the freshest and best quality we have seen. Prices are reasonable. The history is literally everywhere you look. We feel safe. Any more questions?!
Cheers! Terry & Deb

Israel to Turkey July 2007

2007-07-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

July 10, 2007, Marmaris, Turkey

We are adding a new feature with this blog --- more and better pictures! To view the photos associated with this blog, go to: (or just click on the underlined text) Hope you enjoy these! Try the slide show! http://picasaweb.google.com/sailingwings/WINGSInIsraelJordanTurkey

Wow! Has it been that long since I last wrote? Guess so!
Our May 2007 trip to Petra and to Wadi Rum was wildly successful, except, maybe, for the Camel ride.--- We got up early to catch our taxi to the bus station in downtown Tel Aviv. Ahead was a 5 hour bus ride to Eliat, an Israeli town at the northern head of the Gulf of Aquaba (N29 30 E34 55). Here we walked across the border into Jordan, and hired a taxi (a long tortuous negotiation) to take us to Wadi Musa (Moses’ Valley). We checked in to the Crown Plaza Hotel, where we had a room that overlooked the rock hills that hide the ancient city of Petra.
To quote from the Lonely Planet “If you can go to only one place in Jordan, make it Petra. Hewn from towering rock walls, the imposing facades of the great temples and tombs of Petra are an enduring testament to the grandeur of the Nabatean vision. The Nabateans – Arabs who controlled the frankincense trade routes in the pre-Roman times – chose as their city a hidden valley concealed from the outside world and transformed it into one of the Middle East’s most memorable sites.” We agree. That evening, we did a candle light night walk down the long canyon entrance, to the “Treasury”, where we were seated on rugs, with hundreds of candles illuminating the now dark front of the Treasury. Local musicians played haunting melodies, while we sipped tea. Quite a spectacular setting! The walk back, about a mile, was lighted by more candles. There were carts and horses for hire for those who were not up to the uphill walk.
The next morning we were up early to beat the tour busses that bring hoards of people to see the city. We went from one end to the other, and hired donkeys to take us up the 300 steep stairs to one sight (The Monastery) on top of a mountain. A swim at the hotel after sure felt good! Deb did a second day of touring, I begged off, and just relaxed. As seems to happen a lot, we ran into fellow cruisers that night (Karen & Graham from Red Herring) and had dinner with them at a restaurant serving local food. Great fun! Good food!
The third morning, we caught a bus to Wadi Rum, a protected area that has some of the most extraordinary desert scenery you’ll ever see. This area was made famous by the Arab Revolt and TE Lawrence in the early 20 century. “Lawrence of Arabia” was partly filmed here. It has lost none of its majesty. We met our guide and piled into his 4 wheel drive for a day of sightseeing. A veteran of many of these excursions (both the guide and his vehicle) he took us on a day long tour to all the sights- water holes, canyons, rock bridges, and made us lunch over a camp fire, that ended with a nap! That evening, he dropped us off at a Bedouin camp site, where we spent the night under the stars, thinking the tent would be too hot. The next morning, we each climbed onto the backs of a camels for our guided ride through the desert back to Wadi Rum. The Camel ride was not my best ever idea, but it was still worth it! Experiencing the desert from the back of a camel, the sounds of his plodding feet (think big soft pads kind of like those on a cat but much, much bigger) contrasting with the silence of the desert, and moving slowly enough to really see and feel the desert, made the pain in my bum worth the price of admission!
Back in Tel Aviv, we rented a car for a day trip to Jerusalem. Almost as soon as we entered the gates to the old city, we were approached by a man wanting to guide us through the city. Still wary from our experiences in Egypt, we resisted, but finally gave in to a “short tour”. We were very glad we did, as by ourselves, we would not have seen nearly as much as we did of this fascinating place. We spent the whole day with him seeing many “Stations of the Cross”, the tomb many believed Jesus was buried in, the site of the Last Supper, the Garden where Judas betrayed Jesus, the hotly disputed Temple Mount & the Wailing Wall, plus more!
Back at the marina, we readied “WINGS” for the 400 mile trip to Rhodes, Greece. We got under way late morning, after a leisurely check out of Israel. The trip was uneventful until the last, when a head wind came up, and we rethought our destination. Should we beat into the building wind and arrive in Rhodes in another 24 hours, or should we hang a right and arrive in Finike, Turkey in time for afternoon tea? It was a no brainer! We changed course for Finike. A good decision.
Finike is a very pleasant village with a nice marina in the south part of Turkey. The marina staff met us at the entrance in an inflatable boat, put a helper on board WINGS, and guided us to our slip. You, typically, do not side tie in the Med. You go stern to or bow to the dock. To accomplish this, they have, what is known as a “slime line”, which is a small line led to the pontoon, and tied to a larger line that originates at the middle of the fairway... The idea is to tie the slime line to the bow, then back in to the slip pulling the slime line tight, while at the same time running a line from each side of the stern to shore to keep the boat secure and close to the dock. The slime line is so taught that it takes about ½ reverse to keep the boat close enough to the dock to secure the stern lines! It is very different to what we are used to, but it seems to work well. The boats tied up on either side help keep you secure, but the step off the back is a challenge! For this, you need a pasarellalar, or ramp to the dock. . The marina staff then walked us through our check in to Turkey, all done in a pleasant ½ hour.
Finike (N36 17 E30 09) is a picturesque small town built into the steep hills surrounding the bay. They have everything normally needed by a cruiser; chandleries, hardware stores, cell phone shops, internet cafes, good restaurants, and grocery stores. On Wednesday and Saturday, they set up a huge outdoor market, selling everything from clothes to the freshest vegetables we have ever seen. The marina provides electric, wi fi, haul out and storage, and some of the best showers we have seen.
We lingered for 5 days, and then headed 15 miles up the coast to an area known as Kekova Roads (N36 10 E29 53). There are several anchorages in the area to choose from. The first one we chose (see pix “anchorage from hammock”) was a small, protected inlet where putting out an anchor, then tying a line to shore, was the norm. A nice, warm afternoon swimming and looking around, a cool night, and we were off to see the castle at Kale Koy. We dingeyed over from the anchorage near Ucagiz (N36 12 E29 49), to the north, and tied up to a dock owned by a local restaurant There, we met the owners who offered us a tour of the castle, and, of course, lunch. (See pix). On leaving, we were invited to bring WINGS back and tie up for the night, free, if we bought dinner. We accepted for the next night, not knowing what the morning would bring.
Next morning I glanced at the refrigerator and freezer temperatures and found nothing but dark spaces where temperature readings should have been. Then, I discovered the circuit breaker had tripped. A check of the sea water filter (the usual problem) showed it was clean. This wasn’t looking good! Upon checking the compressor, I found an oily mess all around the compressor, and I had the feeling that it had cooled its last beer. So, with a freezer full of food, we headed back to Finike to see what could be done to get it working again. That evening, 4 guys came aboard to check it out! 2 mechanics, 1 to translate Turkish to English & never did figure out what the other guy was for. Their diagnosis was that the compressor was ok, but the coupling between the 12 volt motor and the compressor was bad. I was pretty suspicious about that, so I pulled the compressor out of the boat, rented a car and took the whole thing 3 hours down the road to Antalya, the nearest place we could get it serviced. They pronounced everything was ok. This was still not looking good, but I filled up the compressor with oil and started it up. It ran fine, with, perhaps a little knock, but it was leaking oil badly. Then, Deb got on the internet, found a Bitzer dealer in Istanbul, and I ordered a new one. It is supposed to be here at the end of July. We’ll see.
Now you know what is driving our schedule for the time being. Not impressed with the local reefer guys, we headed once more up the coast with our new ice box, stopping at places we could buy ice. We finally spent our night at the Kale Koy restaurant we had bypassed, and then went west to Kas (N36 12 E29 37), anchoring in the inlet north of town with friends and Red Sea veterans Tom and Liz, aboard Feel Free. We spent a couple of days there poking about the town and the ruins. I took a tandem ride off the mountain in a paraglider, landing in the marina parking lot. Lots of fun! Spectacular views!
Continuing our way, sometimes west around headlands, then north, we arrived in the Fethiye Bay area, to visit the town and several anchorages close by. At Kucuk Kuyruk anchorage (N36 37 E28 52), we entertained a boat load of charterers aboard a local gullet eating lunch as we struggled to get a line ashore before we either went aground or hit them. We had them all standing at the rails! After, when it had all turned out all right, I yelled over that there was no extra charge for the show, but a little applause would be appreciated! Maybe they didn’t speak English, because all I got were polite smiles and a little wave. Oh well.
The next anchorage at Ruin Bay put us right next to a boat that we had been next to while on the hard in New Zealand! “RUBINO” was new at the time, undergoing some work on her lifting keel and bow thruster. She is a beautiful boat, and it was a pleasure to get to know her owners from Switzerland & Hungary, who are enjoying her to the utmost.
With the ice mostly melted, we upped anchor and went into the harbor at Fethiye (N36 37 E29 05). Fethiye is another picturesque Turkish town, set on the water with hills rising sharply behind it. More great restaurants, carpet shops, a very nice marina, and friendly people made this a very tempting place to stay. Unfortunately, we heard that Marmaris, where we are now, is equally beautiful, and has better boat mechanics, and all that at a cheaper price.
So, here we sit, in Marmaris, waiting for parts yet again! But we haven’t been completely idle, for there are always boat projects to be done. The first “project” was to make a Stainless steel mounting for our old Maxwell-Nielson anchor windless. The mounting holes had elongated over time, allowing it to move and jam the anchor chain, not only inconvenient, but possibly unsafe. High on our list was a pasarellalar. It is a ramp, or gangway from the back of the boat to the dock, enabling access from the boat to the dock, in our case, through the stern. Gangways are for ships, pasarellalar, are for yachts, and are therefore much more expensive!. We are the proud new owners of a pasarellalar made locally by Anker Marina. In addition to the ramp, we had to move the rear outboard mount to the side, cut a piece out of the stern railing (so we didn’t have to keep crawling over it), and have it braced and gated. The pasarellalar is made of Stainless steel, very shiny and has teak grating to walk on. We’re very cool! Also on the list was to replace the exhaust from the engine to the water muffler. The old, cast iron exhaust was leaving vast piles of rust in the engine pan, even clogging the air filter. The new one is being fabricated as I write this, and is almost finished. --break!-- Kamil, our Stainless steel artist, showed up with our new exhaust just as I wrote that! We installed it and started the engine. We found a cooling hose with a small leak. So we replaced that. Then the fitting it attached to was a little suss – the hose blew off the end! In between all this, the galley sink drain, located above the engine, came loose. The result? After replacing the suss fitting, we are overhauling the galley sink plumbing, getting rid of the plastic drain fittings and replacing them with newly fabricated SS fittings! And the beat goes on! At least we have Anker Marine and Kamil on our side. They have done an excellent job!
In between this leisurely schedule, we find time to go to town, go swimming, and write this blog. One highlight was a night concert. It was staged outside, under a full moon, and in the courtyard of an ancient restored castle. Beautiful! The town of Marmaris, being a tourist and yachting center, has lots to offer. There must be 15 different chandleries, sail makers and canvas shops, none selling everything, all selling something! In addition there is a wide selection of restaurants, banks, hardware stores, grocery stores, etc. Here, at the marina, we have two areas to swim, a salt water area and a swimming pool, a restaurant, bar, barber shop, first aid station, market, chandleries, and several boat related businesses where you can get most anything repaired, replaced, or repainted. There is a morning VHF radio net that gives us the weather, the social activities for the day, and has a “treasure of the bilges” section, where you may request to buy, or try to sell, all that junk you bought at the boat shows before you left home! Check out pictures of the marina at http://www.yachtmarin.com/
With that, I thought we were up to date – but no. When I tried to post this, and signed in to the blog, it came up in Turkish! Now you won’t see this until I can get it back to English! Soo---here we go again!! Cheers! Terry & Deb

2007-05-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Suakin to Tel Aviv

We got up early for our departure from Suakin, so early we had to wait for enough light to safely navigate the narrow channel leading out of the small inner harbor where we were anchored. Our next goal was Egypt, several stops ahead, and we wanted an early start – before the winds began in earnest. We were able to make it to Marsa Fijab (20°01’N; 37°12E) by late afternoon, and with some difficulty and some help from a cruiser already anchored, found our way into the lagoon. The difficulty was in the form of coral heads, (bommies) that were hard to see with the sun so low, and being a little disoriented, we came very close to hitting one. Another boat coming in right behind us, did hit one, damaging his centerboard. Early again the next AM, we headed north again, this time stopping behind the Taila Islands (20°38N; 37°13E) for a night before heading towards the center of the Red Sea to a reef complex called Jazirat Bayer. (20°15N; 37°23E) This was a short mileage day, and a good thing, as we encountered 25 kts. of headwind for the last hour. Once inside this amazing reef, the seas were flat calm, even while the wind was blowing, and we could see the seas breaking just a few yards away. The snorkeling was exceptional, and we wished we could spend an extra day there to more fully explore the reef, but we had a weather window, and we weren’t about to waste it! The winds are the driving force that dictates our schedule, leaving us with painful decisions as whether to stay or go. To miss an opportunity to head north with less headwinds or favorable winds may mean a weeks delay. So, up again the next AM, the destination being Khor Shinab. (21°21N; 37°03E)

The entrance to Kohr Shinab

Shinab is a very protected anchorage, being several miles inland through a torturous channel whose banks resemble a moonscape. Once inside, the channel opens to reveal a large lagoon, where we anchored with several other boats. We were just in time, as the next AM the winds blew 30 kts. for two days while we sat comfortably at anchor.

Three days at anchor and with another favorable weather window, we headed north once again, this time stopping at Elba Reef (21°59N; 36°59E) for a short overnight before heading out for a 2 night sail past Foul Bay to our check in point in Egypt, Pt. Galib. (25°32N; 34°38E) Pt. Galib is a brand new, just being built, resort town that caters to European tourists looking for a place to enjoy the weather and do some scuba diving while staying in a modern hotel or condo. Reportedly, a Kuwaiti company is pouring several billion $’s into the project. For us, it meant 4 days to clear customs as they sorted out a new clearing in system with unmoving bureaucrats in Hurghada. When the resort is complete, it will be very nice. Right now, it is largely dust and construction. We did enjoy being side tied to a wharf, with electricity, for the first time since Thailand.

We were annoyed with the delay in our clearance, and ready to leave, so after a short wait for yet another of those elusive weather windows, we eagerly got underway for Abu Tig, a marina a few miles north of Hurghada, where we planned to stop for awhile to do some land travel. Once into our assigned space, and tied securely stern to the quay, with electric, water and WI FI, Deb set about researching how to best see the interior of Egypt. We ended up using a local travel agent, who planned everything from taxis to guides, for an 8 day trip for four of us to Luxor, up the Nile on a cruise ship to Aswan, airplane tickets to see Abu Symbol, then, back to Aswan for an overnight train ride to Cairo to see the pyramids and the Cairo museum. In Luxor, we visited the Valley of the Kings, (fascinating) and more temples and statues then I have the patience to list. I really enjoyed the cruise ship. Cruises have come a long way since Moses took the first recorded trip down the Nile! Having someone else in charge while I ordered a beer while sitting in the pool and watching the Nile go by was a real treat!

While we were out cruising the Nile, a little drama was being played out with our mail, which we had ordered from our mail service in Seattle. Upon checking in to the Marina, we had been informed that, since we had some “boat parts”, 8 small screws and another small part for our head, we had to hire an agent to get the package cleared in thru customs. We did, and supplied them with the documents they needed. After several days of delays, we started calling DHL, our Seattle mail service, and bugged the Marina office daily. While we were in Cairo, where the package was being held, I went to a DHL office to try to solve the problem and was promised a next day delivery – a promise they made daily for the next two days as well, without any progress. Back in Abu Tig, we contacted our agent, and were again promised a next day delivery, and on the third day he delivered! All was there – all our mail which contained all our income tax statements, and our head parts. We asked to settle the bill. $300! “Insurance” they said for the $28 worth of parts, and storage because “we” had been so long in getting the package out of customs. That was on top of the $180 charge DHL charged! The agent dropped his $60 fee. Our Seattle mail service is going to absorb most of the charge, but Egyptian customs still extorted their money. Now, for the rest of the story: The screws were too long.

We thought the Thais were the consummate scam artists, and they are very good, but the Egyptians are really the masters. They give you a little “gift” of some sort, then, having created an obligation, ask you into their store for some tea, and to look around, no obligation, of course. If you find something you want, you make them an offer, at which point niceties vanish. The amount of the offer seems to be irrelevant. They will loudly accuse you of trying to cut their throat, all this after they have given you “gifts” and tea. You know your offer is good if they follow you out the door, all the while loudly complaining. Deb and friend offered to buy some small jars, which the salesman said were genuine hammerstone. Our guide told her to make her first offer at 10% of the asking price. Thinking that too much of an insult, she offered 1/3 of the price. She got the above treatment, and the bowls, which turned out to be plastic.

Anxious to be out of Abu Tig, and with 160 miles to go to the Suez Canal, we left with another of those all important weather windows for the port of Suez, located on the south approach to the canal. We took two long days, overnighting in El Tor harbor one night and behind a reef just short of Suez the next. We lucked out with the weather, motoring most of the way. It was a relief to have the Red Sea behind us! That night, the wind gusted to thirty knots. Our agent, known as the “Prince of the Red Sea” and reputed to be the “least dishonest” of all the agents, met us on arrival, arranged to have our boat measured, filed all the required documents and got us on the list to move through the canal. The Suez Canal is not like the Panama Canal in that there are no locks. It is simply a large ditch through the desert. It is not wide enough for ships to pass safely, so two one way convoys are set up each day. The north bound convoy leaves in the morning, with the yachts, being slower, at the back. The transit for boats as slow as us, takes two days, stopping in the middle, at a lake wide enough to accommodate two way traffic. A pilot aboard is mandatory. Pilots are another rich source of stories about the scams they concoct.

On another boat, their pilot told them that if they did not speed up, they would not make a bridge opening and they would have to overnight in the canal. They ran their engine as hard as they dared. There was no bridge. Most will complain loudly about their “present”, saying it’s not enough. It doesn’t seem to matter what you give them. We didn’t give them their present until the last minute, trying to avoid the verbal lashing, but I think we lucked out. We had two competent and polite gentlemen on board, and I don’t believe either would have complained. We were generous to both, and they would not have had any excuse to complain in any case. Neither pushed me to make better speed.

We spent one lay day in the middle, at Ismalia. As we arrived, a fellow cruisers 60^th birthday party was in full swing, so we joined the rest of the “transients” for an evening’s celebration The next day we spent wandering around the city and picking up a few groceries. We had planned on leaving the boat here and traveling by land to Petra, in Jordan, but our desire to be done with Egypt and to arrive in the Med led to the decision to visit Israel, from which we could visit Petra easier, and see lots more as well! With that plan, we left with our second pilot for the rest of the trip up the canal, dropping him to a pilot boat at Pt. Said and continuing on into the Med for the overnight sail/motor to Tel Aviv, where we are now.

We are very happy to have the Red Sea behind us. Mostly. We will miss those many exchanges, “hey mister, where you from?” And when we tell them, the answer was usually “America good, Bush bad”, followed by smiles and high fives all around! Without exception, everyone we have met has been friendly, enthusiastically welcoming us to their country with smiles and hand shakes. Here, we do not stand out, (well, maybe a little) so we are paid no notice. Until we open our mouth. It is good to be in a first world country.

Immediate plans are to visit Petra, take an overnight 4 wheel/camel ride in the desert, and to see more of the surrounding area. Then, were off to Greece? Turkey? We will see which way the winds blow. Indecision may, or may not, be our problem! Cheers! Terry & Deb

2007-03-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

Aden, Yemen, to Suakin, Sudan

Aden, Yemen, to Suakin, Sudan

Each leg of this voyage has its own particular concerns and, therefore, priorities. The leg from Aden through the strait of Bab el Mandeb to our next anchorage in Eritrea was no different. In this case, we wanted to arrive at Bab el Mandeb in the early morning light, the time of the day that the strong winds that blow through this narrow strait are historically lazy. Accordingly, we planned a noon departure from Aden, planning to sail or motor at 5 knots to arrive at the strait at 7AM. You sailors out there know that a sailboat has only two speeds: tied up to the dock, and as fast as it will sail. We arrived at 4AM. I was asleep as we sailed through, with the autopilot tracking the two waypoints defining what is known as the small strait. Deb said it was very dark. The wind and waves were just right, and we made good time through the strait into the Red Sea proper. The next challenge was to cross over the shipping lanes that converge at the mouth, and for this, we waited until we had plenty of light before turning to port and dashing across that freeway in the sea. I had to dodge one group of 4 big south bound ships, then we were safely across and could resume our north west course to our planned anchorage at Ras Terma, (N13 14; E42 33) Ras Terma has a small military base and an iterant fishing camp. The military lives in coral rock huts with straw roofs, and the fisherman live in canvas tents. There was a high rocky point where the military base was located, and a low, marshy area favored by the fisherman. That night, our friends on “FEEL FREE”, anchored close by, heard drums and saw dancing ashore around a fire. Welcome to Africa! Wish we had been awake to see and hear it!
The next AM we headed out of the harbor north for our stop at Marsa Dudo (N13 52;E41 54) where we planned to spend a lay day exploring the area. We spent the day poking around the ship wreck, hiking up to the Crater, and walking the beach. We saw only two young local men, to whom our friends on “SUNCHASER” bestowed “T” shirts, hats and some food. They were thrilled.
Now, with a weather forecast calling for Northerly winds in the next 48 hours, we parted company with the two other boats, and headed for Fiddelers Cove (N15 01; E40 22) where we anchored overnight before continuing on to Shumma island (N15 31; E39 59). We waited too long. The north winds arrived, making it a difficult beat into the seas. We finally arrived at Shumma Is at 11PM, making a harrowing night entrance into the small harbor for a quick rest. Next AM we were up early the face the same winds on our next leg to Massawa, where we arrived in the late afternoon, anchoring with 6 other cruising yachts in the calm anchorage. This was our first look at an ancient African city.
Massawa has never recovered from the war for independence from Ethiopia. Right in front of the main port gate are the bombed out and shot up remains of the main bank and past Emperor Haile Selassie’s palace. The rest of the town has seen better days as well, though there are some signs of a resurgence in the local economy. The people, as always, were friendly.
We had heard that the capitol, Asmara, was well worth a visit. We got together with 9 other cruisers and hired a van and driver for the trip up into the mountains. This was the first time we have had to get a permit to travel through a country! We had to go to the office of tourism, take their form back to a copy place to have 6 copies made for our application, bring a passport photo for each of us, then take the completed forms to security for their stamp. We were stopped at two roadblocks where our papers were checked, so this was not an idle exercise. The 3 hour trip to Asmara took us inland and up the very steep mountains, past small villages, goat and camel herds, small streams and demolished military trucks. We checked into the recommended hotel. Defiantly not 5 star! There was an elevator, but I doubt it had worked for a number of years. The dark hallways had seen better days and the rooms not any better. We dropped our bags and spent the rest of the afternoon walking about the city. That evening at dinner, we sat next to a Lufthansa crew. I remarked to the captain that at NWA, the Captain always bought dinner for his crew. That went over rather well with the crew. I doubt I’ll see the captain again.
The next morning we visited the museum. Among lots of very ancient artifacts was the skull of a woman – 2 million years old! It was found near Asmara.
Back at Massawa, we checked the weather, and bought some fresh produce. The next day, we checked out of the country and headed northwest once again. We did an “overnighter” to Khor Nawarat, Sudan where we anchored for a nights rest. (N18 15; E38 21)
Then up early to enter the Shubuk Channel in good light. We chose to anchor at the Mintaka Anchorage, though there are several good anchorages close by. We had intended to take a lay day there, but a new wx forecast calling for northerly winds urged us on, up through the intricate, though well marked, Shubuk Channel to Suakin.
We are now anchored in the “Yacht Anchorage” in Suakin, scenically located between a prison and Old Suakin, which is nothing but ruins of buildings constructed of coral. Water is delivered by donkey cart. Old Suakin is the site of the last slave market in the world. Can you guess when it was finally closed down? Here's another tidbit, especially for you Goggle Earth fans. Look at this area and notice its barren, dry lands. It used to have a reputation for excellent hunting – for elephants! Talk about climate change!
Our WX forecast indicates strong northerlies for the next three days. It’s already blowing 20 knots outside, but the anchorage is calm. Our new Air-X wind generator is making amps! If any of you want to check for winds here, or in your own area, try http://www.grib.us/. You will have to register and download their program, but it’s free! Who can pass that up?

A few of you cruisers that are following us next year have requested our comments, so this is for you!
Denny, on board “Jubilant” (Seattle) came through here last year. He called the sail from Phuket and up the Red Sea “sissy sailing”. We think that’s pretty much true. We have had more trouble from not enough wind then from too much. And lots of time the sailing has been as perfect as you can get. That is so far. Stay tuned, for we are at the point where the northerly winds start in earnest.
As to the preoccupation with pirates, we think that while caution is defiantly called for, and convoying makes good sense, many of the reports stem from misinterpreting the locals intentions, possibly because of the fear factor. While we were approached by many local boats, not one was anything but friendly. This was also the experience of the rest of the 2007 group. The Blue Water Rally group seemed to have a little different experience. Take a look at http://www.noonsight.com/ for the latest reports, but read them with a jaundiced eye.
Weather: Sailmail GRIB files are pretty good. Propagation with the Red Sea station is difficult. We subscribed to Buoyweather, and get good forecasts from them. The Red Sea Pilot (Imray) has a very good weather section.
We have obtained fuel from Salalah, Aden (at the wharf), and Suakin. No fuel in Massawa, except black market for many $$. Salalah and Suakin fueling is by jerry jug. Consider having enough jugs as necessary to fill your tanks. (or as many as your dingy will hold?). We had to make several trips to the gas station to fill up in Salalah, and got hassled at the gate each time. Here in Suakin, the agent Mohammed brought our filled jugs to the boat! Very nice.
Navigation: Do not try to save money by buying an old copy of the Red Sea Pilot. The second edition really is that, and it has waypoints for many places, which are invaluable! The first edition has no waypoints. All the nav info is good; the customs info will change a little, as may be expected. The anchorage sketches are excellent. The anchorages have been calm, with good holding in sand and mud. Reefs are very obvious. Expect a very dusty, dirty boat! Enjoy!

The slave market was closed down at the end of WWII!

Fair winds! Terry & Deb

Oman to Yemen

2007-03-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

Salalah, Oman to Aden, Yemen

Lat 12 47; Lon 44 59

March 3, 2007

Our 4 boat convoy left Salalah with only one small problem - we unknowingly had not completely checked out of the country. The harbor master directed us back to the anchorage where we discharged Debbie and Tom, from “FEEL FREE”, another boat in our convoy, to return to Customs to get another piece of paper stamped with the all important number on it. An hour later, we were finally on our way, sailing hard on the wind, and losing ground to the lee shore. Several tacks later, in the evening, the wind died completely, we had to start the iron jenny and power through the night and much of the next day. Fortunately, we had left extra time to reach our first rendezvous waypoint, so we could afford to sail slowly, saving fuel for the dash across the 150 miles of water where, historically, the most attacks on boats have been recorded. The first day out, a coalition warship called us and wanted all our registration details, a comforting request! We had several local, fast, outboard powered fishing craft approach us, the same kind as the bad guys have. In each case they were friendly, waving and requesting by sign language that they wanted to trade fish for something to drink and smoke. Unsuccessful at that, they waved and departed, leaving us feeling very relieved.

For our convoy, we picked waypoints about 80 miles off the coast of Somalia, and about 50 off the coast of Yemen. We set our initial rendezvous point about 50 miles from the danger area, and there, we formed up, loosely, to proceed to the next waypoint, located at the start of the danger area. One more waypoint at the end, and we proceeded direct to Aden. This approach worked out pretty well, with all of us staying pretty close, most of the time. None of the other skippers had ever flown formation! We kept a radio schedule using SSB, and kept VHF traffic to a minimum, and then, only on low power. We also substituted small battery powered lights for running lights, to make us even less visible. Our waypoints were well planned; after the initial waypoint, we saw no more small craft, but we were pretty close to the main shipping routes, so close that we once moved our position about 4 miles north as we closed Aden. We have never gotten used to these huge container ships coming at us at 23 knots! Several passed a half mile abeam! We are convinced that all the ships keep very alert watches, as ship traffic is heavy, with so many ships transiting the area. I am sure that many of them have changed course to give us some room. Some of the VHF exchanges from the bridges, especially between the Philippine and the Indian crews, who seem to have little regard for each other, have certainly been entertaining!

The third night out, we were treated to a front row seat to the eclipse of the moon And just after I had gone off watch, a whale surfaced about 20 feet from the boat and took a look at Deb, then slowly submerged.

We had been warned that Aden is a dusty, funky town, and we have not been disappointed. We were directed to an anchorage right in front of the Prince of Whales Pier, about 100 yards from where the USS Cole was bombed. Double click on the blue writing to access a web sight with a picture of the Anchorage: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Aden,Yemen&layer=&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=0&z=16&ll=12.791881,44.982501&spn=0.006257,0.016694&iwloc=addr

Thanks to Dick Moore for guiding us to this website.

The Yemen Coast Guard is right next to us, with machine guns mounted on their patrol boats. Colorful local boats come and go to the wharf with their goods for market. Ashore, we have to pass through a secure area, showing our seamen’s passes to the guard at the gate. Just outside the gate wait several locals, who insist on being your tour guide for the day. They will take you anywhere you want to go, find what it is you need and bargain with the locals on your behalf, (we think!) in return for having lunch with you and receiving a little “backleesh” at the end of the day. This is a very different city then we have seen before. The men mostly wear mawas, (think sarong in dull colors) some with the traditional knives in front. The women are fully covered in black. Some completely veiled, some not. All of them are friendly, especially the kids, many of whom want their pictures taken. Many of the men spend the afternoon lounging on the dusty sidewalks chewing “gatt”, a local plant that produces a mild narcotic effect. They look like they have a golf ball in their cheeks, and at the end of the afternoon they are very lethargic. The buildings are in various stages of decay, and there is rubble everywhere. The doors on the minivan taxis are long gone, and most of the cars are junk, although we did see one new Hummer on our walk. It is very dusty. The boat is covered, even the halyards, and when we went to the fuel dock this AM, the dust mixed with the spilled fuel made a huge mess. There is a more upscale area, with an air conditioned mall and a big grocery store that has most everything you need. Yesterday, we began talking with a local shop owner, he doing most of the talking, that ended up with tea and bread with honey. The subject turned to local piracy, and he offered us a solution—for $400 we could buy a brand new machine gun! He took us to the back room and showed us one! We declined.

Were are now fueled and ready to leave this dusty town.

The next leg will take us through the Straits of Bab el Mandeb, a short but windy body of water that marks the end of the Gulf of Aden and the beginning of the Red Sea. The next anchorage will be in Eritrea. We are looking forward to lots of snorkeling and diving on the way north.

The next internet café will likely be in Egypt, so do not expect any more updates for awhile!

Cheers! Terry & Deb

Phuket, Thailand to Salalah, Oman

2007-02-25T08:16:00.000-08:00

Feb 23, Phuket to Salalah, Oman

We have put over 2800 miles under the keel since we last posted a blog!
On Jan 15, we checked out of Thailand for the first time. The first time, because on the way to Nai Harn bay after checking out of the country, the computer had another psychotic episode. Having already been to the computer hospital for an extensive overhaul, we took it back there for a fix. The problem was that the mouse thought that the GPS signals were mouse inputs, and the curser started jumping around the monitor so fast that the computer was unusable. After the fix, we checked out of the country once more, only to have the same thing happen. Staying in country somewhat illegally, we added two RS232 ports for the GPS, and that seems to have fixed the problem.
We finally got underway several days behind schedule, so skipped a planned stop in the Simillian Islands to go straight to the northern part of the Maldives, to an atoll called Uligan. The trip up was a delightful sail in medium to light winds, and we only had to use the engine for about 4 hours on the 1800 mile leg. Uligan is a fabulous stop! The last of the South Pacific like atolls. Uligan is a small Muslim village of about 250. It was a very clean, neat and friendly village, with well kept homes and white sand streets. In the anchorage, we could see the bottom at 60 ft. We saw turtles while snorkeling, and we had the dingy in the middle of a pod of 200 Dolphins, that were doing flips and triple twists in the air. Right off the back of the boat, a 10 ft wide Manta Ray swam by me just an arms length away. We saw lots of fish and a turtle while snorkeling. We could have easily stayed longer, but we need to keep moving if we are to use the tailwinds to maximum advantage up the Red Sea.
We tore ourselves away from Uligan on Feb 8 for the 1250 mile leg to Salalah, Oman. We started the trip with light winds, and they stayed that way for the entire trip. Fortunately, the seas were flat, so we could sail slowly towards Oman. We had to sail, as we only have enough fuel for about 700 miles. During the nights, the phosphorescence in the water was spectacular. It was very bright and streamed back about 30 feet from the rudder, and the quarter wake shown like a long silver ribbon. There were a quamillion stars out too. We had to maneuver around several fishing boats with nets out 7 miles. Pain. The fishing boats called us on VHF warning us of the nets, and we tried to comply, but understanding what they wanted and telling them what we were doing was a challenge. We were approached by one fishing boat wanting to trade a fish for cigarettes, and anything else we had to offer. They were out for 2 months! We have been keeping up with daily position reports to Yotreps, thinking it's important in these waters On this leg we crossed the latitude that is one half of the way around the world from Seattle!
We motored into the harbor in Salalah, finally, with no wind, on Feb 20. After a short wait for customs to come to the boat, we were cleared into Oman. It took all of 15 minutes, they were courteous and friendly. This is a busy shipping port, with container ships arriving and departing daily. In addition, there is a major port expansion project underway; with dusty trucks hauling fill and cement laden ships unloading. The result is a very dirty boat, inside and out.
We rented a car with friends on “Feel Free” and headed for the Seamen’s Club for the first meal out. This is the only establishment in town allowed to sell liquor. The following days we drove up into the mountains, saw Job’s tomb, wondered at the bleak desert, and how people survived here from so long ago. Visited the ruins of ancient forts, walked some beaches, and did some shopping. There was lots to see in this beautiful, historic, and ancient country. And, of course, there were boat projects. All the fuel had to be jerry canned to the boat, a car trunk load at a time. The fuel filters needed changing and the spinnaker had ripped half its length. Boats!
One of the main reasons to stop in Oman is to form convoys for the next leg up the Gulf of Aden, a 130 mile wide body of water between the coasts of Yemen and Somalia that has a reputation for piracy. Just how dire that threat is, is the subject of endless debate, but it makes good sense to take precautions. We have teamed up with 3 other boats for the 600 mile leg to Aden. We have set waypoints and times to rendevou. We have radio schedules and assigned radar watch times for each boat. We have procedures to follow if suspicious boats get too close, and we have the comfort of knowing that other boats are nearby. This year, no one has been boarded. One boat was harassed a month ago, but chased off by the convoy. The rest have had no problems. See http://www.noonsight.com/ for more on this subject.
Tomorrow AM we will leave for this exciting leg of the trip. For now, it’s time to get to an internet café to post this to the Blog.
Cheers! Terry & Deb

Langkawi to Phuket, Thailand, Dec 2006

2007-01-14T22:12:00.000-08:00

APPROACHING KOH IN THAILAND

Langkawi to Phuket, Thailand, Dec 2006

Happy New Year!
We left Langkawi on Dec 7 for the 150 mile trip to Thailand. We took most of the 10 days that Thai customs allows to explore a few of the “Kohs” or islands that lie between Langkawi, Malaysia, and Phuket, Thailand. The Kohs are often composed of vertical limestone cliffs, covered in jungle, and have the occasional small, white sand beach. Often, there are several small Kohs grouped together, forming small bays that offer a protected anchorage with relief from the constant rolling of the more open roadsteads. The water clarity was excellent, the snorkeling superb! We took a buoy at Phi Phi Le, where the movie “The Beach” was filmed, spending two nights there, then went around the corner to anchor at Phi Phi Don. The small tourist village there was completely wiped out by the 2004 Tsunami, which entered the northern bay, then spilled across the low land where the village is located, into the southern bay, taking the buildings & many lives with it. You could not tell now that it ever happened! All has been completely rebuilt, and the village is booming, especially at night when the discos crank up the sound for the hordes of tourists that crowd the hotels.

Then, getting close to testing the patience of Thai customs (how many days do you need to do the 150 miles from Langkawi!?) we motored over to Ao Chalong, the closest anchorage to Thai customs and Phuket Town. For those of you wanting a Lat/Long, that’s around N07.50 E98.20. Checking in was a breeze, customs was friendly, efficient, and quick. As always, there was a list of projects to do on the boat before we leave for the Red Sea and we wanted to get started.

On Dec 23rd, we moved to the west side of Phuket Island to Nai Harn Bay. This is a beautiful bay, protected from the NE winds, and, most importantly, the place to be for the cruisers Christmas. 90 boats showed up. There is a small resort on shore that throws an annual Christmas Eve dinner complete with a band and drinks at double the regular rate. Oh well, it was lots of fun. On Christmas day, many of us gathered on the beach for a potluck Most of those there had been together since Darwin, if not longer. Now, there were a few new faces, those that came up last year, and will be leaving for the Red Sea this year. It seems we are at a cross roads, with many of boats staying in the area for a time to be determined, and those who are moving west, either around Africa, or up the Red Sea.

A few days later, we moved 8 miles north to Patong Bay, where the best New Years fireworks were scheduled to be. Patong is a bustling town, also heavily damaged by the Tsunami. Again, it has been completely rebuilt, bigger and better then before. Patong hosts numerous resorts, from 5 star to backpacker, with enough bars, dive shops, souvenirs shops, and restaurants to easily serve all tastes. There is even a Burger King and Swenson’s Ice Cream at the brand new shopping mall! We spent most of New Years Eve on the boat, watching the fireworks, but more importantly, watching for any burning fireworks that might land on deck.

With the New Year welcomed in, and the bay very rolly, we moved back around to the east coast of Phuket Island, to visit more of the Kohs, including the Koh where the James Bond movie was filmed. There were caves that opened up into small bays (Thais call them hongs) in the middle of the Koh. We explored these by dingy. We enjoyed the beautiful islands, and calm anchorages, but time is getting short, so headed into Yacht Haven Marina for a final assault on the “to do” list. Someone said that the only way to get away from the dock is to make a list, then cross off two items each day, whether you do them or not! Now, we are fueled, provisioned, fixed, and ready for the next leg. Our plan is to leave on the 15th or 16th for a short visit to the Similan islands, located about 30 miles west and 60 miles north of Phuket. Then it’s off to either Sri Lanka or the Maldives, depending on winds (fuel) and mood. From there, we will head NW to Oman for more fuel and provision. There we will also pair up with one or two other boats of similar speed for the run up to Aden. Then it’s to be a slow trip up the Red Sea into the Med (ETA 5/07), with Turkey being a likely place to hole up for next winter.

We will be making daily position reports while underway to http://www.pangolin.co.nz/. Besides making our wind, wave, and pressure reports available to various weather forecasters, they have a section that you may access that will show you on a map just where we are. To do this, select YOTREPS Offshore Report Tab, and then click on Boat Tracker in the left index list. Scroll the list of yachts to find our radio call sign (kg4yoe). There are various display options. You can even download the free Reporter software & instruct the YOTREPS computer to email reports to you.
Or, find the www site listed previously on this blog and click on it to take you directly to our report!

Fair Winds! Terry & Deb, S/V WINGS

KO HONG – PHANG NGA BAY

SUNSET AT KO DAM KHWAN

PHANG NGA BAY

WINGS AT ANCHOR KO HA YAI

LOCALS INSPECTING WINGS’ KEEL AT PHI PHI LEH

2007-01-12T10:28:00.000-08:00

We will be sending position reports to YOTREPS. To view a chart showing our position, go to
http://www.pangolin.co.nz/yotreps/tracker.php?ident=kg4yoe. kg4yoe is our ham radio callsign.

2006-12-05T03:09:00.000-08:00

Langkawi, last stop in Malaysia

The 104 islands of the Langkawi group are 30 miles off the northern coast of Malaysia. They are accessible by boat and air. They are also Duty Free, and are heavily promoted as a tourist destination.

We did the 70nm trip from Penang in one day, in light winds and flat seas, arriving in a southern anchorage of Langkawi in the early evening. We were entranced by the steep, jungle covered limestone cliffs that dropped straight into the sea, and provided WINGS with a secure anchorage for the night while we watched eagles soar overhead.
The next morning we took the dingy a mile up the island to a fresh water lake for a quick swim and a look at this natural wonder. Then, it was anchor up and on to the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club where we found a berth for several nights while friends showed us the island, and, especially, their land where they are building their new home.
Next, it was on to the anchorage at Telaga Harbor for the boat expo and end of Rally Dinner and (of course!) more tours. We were bused on an around the island tour, featuring shopping for local handicrafts, samples of local food, more food, and a look at a traditional home. Local dignitaries gave speeches promoting Langkawi, dancers entertained, and one enterprising local restaurant offered “crazy hour” at 3PM, with beer at a price no cruiser could resist! There was one last cocktail party aboard the beautiful locally built, 50m schooner “SILOLONA”. This luxury charter boat has had all the participants of the rally aboard on several occasions since before Bali, and will be long remembered for their generosity and good cheer. See www.silolona.com for a look at a dream vacation. The next morning saw the anchorage start to empty as boats started to move on, many for Thailand. We simply raised anchor and went counterclockwise around the island 15 miles or so to Datai Bay, where we anchored for the night, with plenty of time for a swim in the clean clear water. Next morning we moved into the entrance to Tanjung Rhu. The anchorage marks the beginning of a large Mangrove/River estuary that begs to be explored by dingy. That is what we did. We have an aluminum dingy with a 15hp outboard that loves to get up and go on those long flat stretches of water. We explored the whole 10miles of waterways, not stopping until we arrived the other side of the maze, at a place called “Hole in the Wall”, which was to be our next days anchorage. After a mid day arrival, at “Hole in the Wall”, Deb took the dingy and headed to a wharf area close to the Perdana Gallery, which houses on public display many gifts the last premier received during his 22 years in office. They are quite beautiful. Now, with both of us fighting a Cold / Flu like bug that is the local rage, we are back at the RLYC, recuperating in the relative luxury of the AC, and putting off for “just one more day” our departure for Thailand.
Phuket, Thailand is just 150 miles north west of us. In between are numerous islands to explore and we will take advantage of the time that Thai Customs allows for passage to Phuket. Fair Winds, Terry & Deb

2006-12-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

Above: The anchorage at Telaga Harbor Above: That's Thailand in the distance!

Left: Deb and friend learn to fold rice into tradional packets made of pandamas leaf

Pictures with Update "42"

2006-12-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

2006-12-04T21:27:00.001-08:00

Welcome to our new Blog! We haven’t the slightest idea of how to best proceed, so learn from us! Terry & Deb

November 19, 2006

Hello from WINGS! We haven’t written an update for way to long, but we are still out here cruising and enjoying all the new cultures and sights! Since the last update, we have visited New Caledonia, Vanuatu, (again!), the Solomon Islands, the Louisiade Archipelago of Papa New Guinea, and spent the 2005 Cyclone season in Australia.
This last visit to Australia was without all the repairs we had to carry out the first time, so we were able to go farther afield. After clearing into OZ in Townsville, we headed south, not ending our southerly progress until we got to Sydney. Here we were very fortunate to be invited to tie up to our friends slip in front of their house in Sydney Harbor. We were ideally located near a ferry terminal to downtown, so we did a lot of sightseeing in Sydney. Our host is also a keen sailor, so we got to see the start of the famous Sydney – Hobart race, and take a close look at the race boats before the race. Christmas spent with them and their family was very special.

Shortly after New Years, we started back up the coast to near Brisbane, where we paused for a trip back to the states to see family and friends. On our return, we prepared the boat for the next leg to Darwin to join the Darwin – Kupang Rally. This involved a 2400 mile sail up and around the east coast of Australia, mostly day sailing. Sailing up the coast with strong, mostly tail winds was exhilarating and beautiful, and we traveled with a loose flotilla of boats, many of which are still with us now. Two weeks at Darwin gave us a break and enabled us to enjoy that beautiful city and all it has to offer.

The Darwin – Kupang Rally (http://www.sailindonesia.net, and http://www.sailasia.net ) is an event that is rapidly expanding to include Darwin to Phuket, Thailand. Its organizer, David Woodhouse, has done a remarkable job of involving the Indonesian, Singapore, and Malaysian Departments of Culture and Tourism, enlisting their invaluable support to the event. The start of the rally was a loose race start, with a start line and a committee boat and 100 boats in loose formation, but that was the end of the “race” part of the rally. No one has kept any kind of record of first or last. Indeed, the rally is timed so you cannot even attend all the stops or local events. This has the advantage of breaking up the fleet into smaller groups, leaving anchorages relatively uncrowded.

The first stop was, of course, Kupang, Indonesia. Kupang was one of the earliest of the Dutch Settlements in the “Spice Islands”. Capt. Bligh stopped there on his epic open boat voyage after the mutiny of the Bounty. We all anchored in the open roadstead just offshore Teddy’s Bar, where all the activities centered. For $2 a day, the locals would help you land your dingy in the surf, drag it up the beach and watch it for as long as you were ashore. Valet dingy parking! And 100’s of locals watching the show -- US! Teddy’s provided the infrastructure needed to support all the participants – food, beer, internet, information, bulletin boards, beer, bands and dancing. There were dinners in our honor and tours arranged, a practice that has become a standard happening for the rally participants.

Next major event stop was at Lewoleba Bay, Lombien Island. We were again welcomed with free tours, free dinners (cruisers dream!) and local dancing. One day several of us took our jerry cans to the local gas station for fuel. The procedure is to pay first for the amount of fuel you want, and then step into a back room to fill your can. Now, I’m not making this up, but my knees are still a little shaky as I write this – two men sit beside two 50gal drums cut in half, one for diesel, one for gas. The fuel arrives through pipes on the wall which drain into the drums. The men then ladle out your fuel directly into your container. WOW! Not to worry, there was a fire extinguisher nearby that you could grab on your way into orbit. We made it out of there safely, but I don’t want to go back! Later, we were each put into a bicycle/rickshaw or on the back of a motorbike and paraded around the town to the government’s headquarters where we listened to speeches and were fed tea and goodies. The streets were lined with spectators wanting to “high five”. Quite a show and lots of fun.

Several stops later we arrived at Rinca Island to see the famous Komodo Dragons. These are big, ugly overgrown lizards, and I would not want to be bit by one. They prey on, among other animals, the local wild water buffalo. They patiently stalk them until they sense the buffalo is distracted, and then rush in a take a bite. That’s all. Then they just have to wait for a few days for infection to set in and weaken the victim for the coup de grace. It was an interesting hike through the island and we were lucky to see about 7 of these ancient “dragons”.

We continued west across the top of Sumbawa and Lombok Islands stopping for longer then planned in Gili Aer, a small, laid back little island that featured low budget restaurants that served excellent, cheap food in many small restaurants along the beach.
No cars here, just horse drawn buggies.

Next stop was a down wind, down current ride to Bali. Most of the rally bypassed the aging Bali Marina to put the hook down in Serangen, a nice, protected bay along the shores of what was a fishing village, but now rapidly becoming a residential community. The locals provided a dingy dock complete with attendants waiting to take your dingy. More valet parking! They would also take your fuel cans for refill, your laundry, and arrange for a taxi. Just ashore was rally headquarters. We were offered free tours on large buses complete with police escorts. It was unnerving to cruise through red lights with traffic pulled over to the side waiting for us to pass as we careened down the narrow, crowded streets. We visited volcanoes, local villages, rice paddies, temples, more temples, and were fed several times a day. At each stop there were ample opportunities to buy local craft, and in some cases the vendors followed us to the next stop, where we would begin to recognize them! Bali is a beautiful, friendly island, and we would love to return and stay for several months.

At this point, a little discourse on this area of the world may be in order. We have been aware of all the stories of piracy, robbery and general unrest in this part of the world. In addition there were the Bali Bombings. We have experienced nothing but welcoming, curious, friendly people! At no time have we felt threatened, nervous, or intimated. We have been approached by local boats wanting a close look at the strange yacht, and received vigorous, friendly waves. Some teenager stole a flag off one of the boats. One other party had a purse stolen as they ate lunch - that was in Singapore. Compare that record with any place you would like. We rarely lock the boat. But we do keep things out of sight. And yes, we are surrounded by Muslims who have been among the nicest people we’ve met. There has never been a hint of anti-American sentiment – just the opposite.

In Bali, we were joined by my son Mike, for the 1,000 nm trip to Singapore. A highlight of this trip was the stop in Kumai, 14 miles up a river in Kalimantan. There, with another couple, we chartered a small river boat that reminded us of the African Queen. It included a captain, cook and guide for an overnight trip up a side river to visit the orangutans in the Tanjung National Park. On the way up the narrow, winding jungle river we spotted crocs, probiscus monkeys, gibbons, and any number of birds. The orangutans we saw were being reintroduced into the wild. We were taken to a feeding station where the park rangers supply part of the food they need (bananas & milk), which gives the rangers a chance to keep track of these awesome, powerful animals. The rangers call as we approach and the tops of trees would start to bend as the orangs swung their way towards the feeding station. They were quite unafraid of humans, and a few actually sought out some attention. But the large male Alpha was moody, and even the guides shied away as he approached. Later, after a delicious meal on our “African Queen”, we settled in for the night tied up to the side of the river, sleeping on deck under a cover and mosquito net on a mat. The next day we visited a remote village on our way back to Kumai.

WINGs powered back down the river in visibility severely hampered by the smoke caused from the numerous fires started to clear the jungle for planting. The smoke was to last until a 100 nm North of Singapore.

Years ago, while I was still cursed with having to work, I was on a layover in Singapore. I decided to check out the Raffles Marina there, and while I was eating lunch at that beautiful place, with its luxurious lobby, resort style swimming pool, and fancy amenities, I wondered if I would ever sail my own boat into that part of the world. Well, after several overnight stops, and several overnight sails from Kumai, there we were! Tied up at Raffles, the AC humming, the paper delivered to the boat in the AM, swimming in the pool, and, of course, fixing all the stuff that went wrong on the way there! I’ve always loved Singapore, but always been too tired and rushed to really explore it, so I had been looking forward to this leisurely visit. We had two weeks to explore. And we did, though Deb got to see more then I did, as I was on “boat arrest” many times, waiting for something or someone to appear. Great place to wait though! Finally, reluctantly, it was time to leave Singapore.

North of Singapore, are the Malacca Straits. Now, if you have heard of them at all, they were probably in a paragraph that included something about – piracy. We were concerned, naturally, and read a lot about it. We needn’t have worried. We day sailed along the north Malaysian coast, in flat waters and calm winds. The shores were lined to a large extent with high rise condos and hotels! Didn’t expect that! We spent several days at another luxurious marina at Port Dickson and were treated with yet more free tours to Kuala Lumpur, museums, shopping centers, and the soon to be new central government area just north of KL. There, we saw huge new buildings, built to receive all the government beaucrats needed to run the country. This is to Malaysia what Washington DC is to the USA. The streets were strangely empty, and there were very few people walking the sidewalks. It was typical, though, of the extensive construction projects going on, both buildings, and roads. It is not the somewhat rural country we expected.
Leaving Port Dickson, we powered several long days north. At one small island, we anchored in a small bay at what we knew to be an exclusive resort (Pavarati stays here). We swam ashore to see if we could later have dinner. Yes, we could. They would reserve the entire beach for just the two of us, we would have our own cook and waiter, and the bill would be $250US. That didn’t include wine. We grilled lamb sausage onboard. Probably not a bad price, though, considering the setting.

Moving north the next day, we sidestepped the shallow areas, dodged the fishing nets, and arrived in Penang just after a tropical downpour. This is a new marina, very nice, located right in the heart of historic and old Penang. Europeans settled here in the early 1700’s. It became a city filled with old colonial buildings and forts left by the various countries (mostly Dutch and British) that colonized the area for the spice trade. It is now a multi ethnic, thriving city, busy restoring itself to its former glory. The architecture reminds me of 25years ago in Singapore, and all around are modern high rise buildings. There are restaurants everywhere, and the food is marvelous! We visited the restored mansion of the “Rockefeller of the Orient”, (www.cheongfatttzemansion.com ) several museums and temples, and we rode the cable car up the mountain behind the city, giving us a panoramic view of the city and Malacca Straight.

This afternoon, we will provision for the next few days, as we leave tomorrow AM for Langkawi. Plans after Langkawi include Phuket where we will hang out until mid January, when we begin the trip towards the Red Sea and the Med. Stops enroute TBA as we figure it out!