Guest entry: Ian in Lanzarote (2nd-6th Nov)

When I last saw Nick & Ellen during Kika sea trials in Dartmouth harbour back in August they made encouraging noises about visiting them enroute and ever since then I’ve been conjuring up images of island hopping in a tropical paradise, diving into crystal clear waters to swim ashore to that pure white sandy beach where you can rest in the shade of its palm fringes whilst being served fresh local cocktails by happy smiling locals…ah what it is to dream. Do dreams come true I wonder? Not for me, it seems, as here I am arriving in package holiday heaven - LANZAROTE. In all honesty, of the wonderful places I’ve read about in the blog during the first 3 months of this trip Lanzagrotty would be my last choice as a place to visit. I’m sorry to all those Lanzarote fans out there. My taste is not everyone’s taste – and if you like volcanic ash, sprawling resorts of white holiday apartments, speaking English, tattoos, chips and other British people on holiday then it’s perfect. Clearly Nick and Ellen thought it important to go there! We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they knew flights were cheap and that it would be easy to welcome family and friends aboard. They had at least changed out of their shell-suits by the time I arrived!!

I know it’s not my kind of place because every time I tell anyone who knows me where I’m going they give me an odd look and ask why! Well we know why… it’s a last chance to catch up with Nick and Ellen, our intrepid adventurers, before they skip European shores for distant tropical lands with crystal clear waters, palm-fringed white sandy beaches, and potent rum cocktails!! Bah humbug…

Anyway with Kika berthed in the very upmarket Marina Rubicon on the south of the island it was surreal to wander up to the harbour edge and spot Nick waving from the deck. This is 3 months, and several thousand miles since I was last aboard, and yet it doesn’t seem that long. I’m sure for Nick and Ellen it seems like they have crammed loads in during that time, but for us normal people those months have just flown by with not much more than our routines…it is refreshing and hopefully inspiring to see friends making better use of their time!!

On board I am honoured by boat turmoil as efforts have been focused on clearing the stern of the boat so I can have my very own cabin. This leaves the main cabin free for extensive partying, frequent meals, and the now extensive Kika library of books about how to plan, navigate, survive, drink, cook, eat, vomit, sleep, wake, talk, fish, nurse, operate, wash, toilet and clean whilst at sea. Add to this the collection of 1st hand accounts of others doing all these things, and several ‘weather’ forecasting manuals and it begins to look like they’ll have no time for sailing and I haven’t even mentioned the front cabin crammed with the non-nautical books either. Lucky for Nick and Ellen I’ve bought a couple more to add to the collection.

We toasted my arrival (Wednesday) with cold beer on deck and spent the evening catching up – firstly over cocktails at ‘Café del Mar’ and then over steaks at Lani’s, pleasant settings overlooking the marina.

Cocktails at ‘Café del Mar’

No Spanish was necessary – English or German essential though! Easily led astray by hosts that seem to have learned how to mix their drinks, I was plied with beer, then rum cocktail, and finally red wine before slotting into my tube-like bunk in the stern that night.

Apres Café del Mar

Thursday was a beautiful morning – blue sky, nice breeze, and warm – so Nick and I headed along the coast on foot to Playa Blanca, the local beach resort in search of decent provisions whilst Ellen tended to general boat maintenance! Finding fresh food of any description on the island though is not easy. Not a lot can grow on the sides of volcanoes. The supermarkets invariably have 2 or 3 aisles of alcohol and slightly less for food. Once you eliminate the crisps and biscuits there is about 6ft of shelf space devoted to cans of fish and olive oil and not much else. After extensive reconnaissance we eventually located the only Fruiteria in town – and satisfied our cravings by buying some of most green things they had.

Back on Kika the ‘Boat Maintenance Manual’ lay open on the plumbing page as Ellen had spent the morning dismantling the heads at my end of the boat. Everyone need be reassured that the problem was not of my making! Apparently there was already a leak from the pump, honest guv! Emerging from the stern with beads of sweat on her forehead and sporting a pair of rubber gloves was a very satisfied Ellen. ‘I think I’ve done it’ she said. And I can indeed confirm the improvement in pump action from then on!

Pimientos de padron for lunch and then a relaxing afternoon on deck reading whilst Nick figured out how to connect the gas barbecue fitted to the back of the boat so we could christen it that evening. We were joined by those other salty seadogs, Mark and Nat from Free Spirit, who just happened to be moored on the next pontoon along. What a pleasant evening it was – the BBQ was a treat whilst it was alight…the only trouble being that it kept going out! The ensuing BBQ faff to relight it could so easily have ended with our sausages, ribs and veggie kebabs in the marina - but we managed to serve them, and great they tasted too, washed down with plenty of a surprisingly drinkable Vino de Lanzarote!

With Nick’s parents – Jenny and Brian - due on the boat on Friday we spent a hilarious Friday morning editing a short video that Nick and Ellen had made over the weeks for Jenny’s birthday. From making toast, to navigating, to dolphin watching, to trumpeting and fridge cleaning, there are a lot of choice comic moments, most of them unplanned by the presenters. I’m told there are many more episodes to come and given the editing skills acquired that morning we can all eagerly await our own personalised video to land on the doormat!!

We met Jenny and Brian on the path to Playa Blanca and relieved them of some very heavy bags – which it turned out contained several more essential books. I thought I also glimpsed a boxed set of Desperate Housewives DVD’s too but I suspect that was just my mind playing tricks…one wonders whether our sea farers will have their own homemade Desperado DVD collection by the time they reach the other side of the Atlantic anyway – episodes including Desperado for water, Desperado for sleep, Desperado for decent conversation, Desperado for Nick to stop practicing the bl***y trumpet…the collection should be extensive.

Morning wake-up

Friday night was curry night on Kika. It’s one thing to cook a curry at home and stink the kitchen out for a day or so. It’s another thing to cook one on board knowing you’ll have to live with the smell for days to come in all quarters. Never the less it was my hosts’ enthusiastic request and who am I but a menial galley slave to argue. Later on, stuffed full, and reeking of garlic, Nick and I headed out to see if we’d be cool enough to get into Mojitos – the local salsa joint – whilst Ellen relaxed onboard. Yep you guessed it…we didn’t get in! Yeah ok don’t be so smug, it was actually closed - so we ended up back at our usual haunt of Café del Mar drinking large measures of Cuban rum and coke and watching a very drunk blonde trying to flaunt her way into a job.

Keep still: First haircut of trip

With the weather practically blowing a gale, and with Jenny and Brian staying in the north of the island, we’d decided to hire a car for a couple of days. Saturday, our local island specialist and tour guide Ellen, presented a programme of sights that included a volcano park, a substantial lunch (quel surprise), and some caves with a secret twist. Volcano park promised more than it delivered – a couple of geysers on top of a windswept hill, a restaurant with a BBQ pit that cooks on the open earth’s crust, and thousands of people. The showman poured a bucket of water down a drain hole, the crowd counts “1, 2, 3” in their native tongue and the earth obliges with a huge spurt of hot water to a collective gasp and the sound of hundreds of cameras clicking. It would be magical if it were less of a circus and more of geology. The views here in the west of the island are amazing though – brown and barren for as far as you can see, with the earth itself made up of huge lumps of larva.

1, 2, 3 click

Next stop was lunch of course. Tapas at the highly-recommended ‘El Chopadero’, a vineyard in the centre of the island. Pimientos de padron, tortilla, dates wrapped in bacon, local cheese, albondigas and prawns in garlic. Delicious and washed down with some more great wine. I won’t mention the garlic Ellen!

Then onwards and northwards to the much anticipated ‘Cuevas de los Verdes’. These spectacular caves are underground tubes carved out of the earth by molten lava flows. They are huge and it was much more interesting than any of us sceptics expected! Our guide was a happy chap dressed in a ridiculous stripey green suit, who spoke pretty good English and spent much of his time singing ‘cuidado la cabeza’ to the group as we stepped our way under some very low ceilings. It was an entertaining tour and the last stop had the crowd gasping as the secret of the caves was revealed. We could tell you – but we pledged our loyalty there and then in front of a hundred witnesses. SSShhhhh…you’ll have to go there!!

Down in the 'Cuevas'

Final stop of the day was dinner in the old town Teguise after collecting Jenny and Brian from their apartment at Costa Teguise. At last some semblance of history, dinner was great in an old converted house in the centre of the town. It seemed we were the only people eating, but then it was well away from the resorts of the coast and the weather was pretty chilly. The food was plentiful, the setting picturesque and we amused ourselves by trying to extract dirt on Nick from his parents to his embarrassment.

meal out

Back in Marina Rubicon all of us were too full to sit comfortably below deck so we made one last ditch effort at Mojitos – still closed – and ended up at Mollie’s Taverna, the Irish bar round the corner where a terrible pub singer was banging out very poor versions of Dire Straits, Bruce Springsteen and similar. We tolerated him long enough to down a rum and coke (with a hint of onion – yuk!) and then wandered back to our favourite watering hole – Café del Mar – for a nightcap.

Sunday was changeover day on Kika – I was giving up my bunk to Liz who was arriving lunchtime. As seems to be our habit we threw together a sumptuous lunch - mango tabouleh, Cuban black beans, green salad, chicken curry, and rice – and ate too much one last time.

Chef Ian´s final lunch

And then it was time to say goodbye. I can highly recommend a trip on Kika if you ever get the chance. We never stopped laughing (nor eating!) those few days and it was a very entertaining and relaxing. We even warmed to Lanzarote! I hope it was the same for my hosts and I wish them safe passage to those distant tropical lands with crystal clear waters, palm-fringed white sandy beaches, and potent rum cocktails!! Perhaps I’ll see them there…!!

Veto

Met up with the another Rival 38; Veto, who we first met in La Coruna.

We exchanged photos we took of each other off Finisterre:

Kika off Finisterre

Lanazarote

After Graciosa, where the proprietor of one of the restaurants is also the diesel pump attendant and assistant in the only hardware shop, the relative sophistication of Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote came as a bit of a shock. For example, on entry, the marina provides a guide to the extensive facilities and a list of 'rules' including no washing lines on boats. Fortunately most boats ignore the resistrictions. As Ellen pointed out they can't expect much else if they only provide one washing machine to 500 boats. It's surprising how easy it is to adjust though and we've been enjoying relaxing in the cafes and restaurants surrounding the marina, particularly the Mojitos at Cafe del Mar.

It's been a fun guest week with visits by Ian, Liz and my parents, so there should be some guest blog entries soon...

Isla Graciosa

A blog instalment is long overdue but we have been very busy in our new roles as true cruisers. Reaching the Canaries has been a landmark for us - we have sailed so far south now, and we have reached those little islands we used to regularly point at with casual confidence on the world map. Those little jumps our fingers made as we explained our route are actually pretty big! 6 days from Gibraltar to Graciosa or 600 nautical miles (give or take). We have reached latitude 29 and counting.

We STILL have a few essential things to do to Kika (along with a million non-essential). The solar panel is now resting on the new arch and will soon be pumping power into the batteries, and we are hoping to get the bimini sorted on Lanzarote. The fridge insulation is pending and we need to do some sail repairs before we can consider leaving for the Cape Verdes.

Unveiling the solar panel

Charging: Battery monitor showing the combined efforts of the Solar panel and wind generator delivering 4.1A

We made landfall on Tuesday on Isla Graciosa - north west of Lanzarote. It was an exciting approach - a clear, hot day and an exotic, unfamiliar landscape (I've never been here before). We had managed to make contact with Free Spirit the night before on VHF and it was warming to see their starboard light over to the east on my last night-watch. Mark and Nat were sailing from Lagos and our routes had been converging as we had headed south. We sailed into port practically side by side. Howzat for timing!

Surf beach

On the approach, Nick and I had showers in the cockpit to spruce ourselves up, and prepare for civilisation once again. It felt very good to arrive and even better to arrive clean! The island is barren with startling volcanic rock formations. The sea is of a blue we haven't seen so far on the trip, and the heat is serious. It's very hard to believe it's halloween soon. The small town of Caleto del Sebo is quiet and pretty. A sandy track lined with palm trees acts as the main road through town and, strangely, under each tree is parked a sandy coloured landrover, the only motor vehicles on the island.

Daily commute into 'town'

The facilities are limited (no washers) but we can cope with that as we're fully fledged cruisers now (sure there's washers on Lanzarote).Our time has been spent working aboard, swimming and doing pontoon networking which is quite hard work as it involves much drinking and eating (fortunately every other shop in town is a gem of a supermarket so provisioning isn't a problem). We plan to stay a few more arduous days which we will hopefully fill with some more thorough sightseeing and Kika prepping, and then we have a date (or 3 to be precise) in Lanzarote which we are very excited about. More guinea pigs to try out new recipes on (they've probably never tasted jam sponge and custard!)

'Town' and 'Marina'

Exploring Graciosa by bike

Moroccan Mouthful

Nick enjoys his cooking, as you well know, and one afternoon on passage from Gib to the Canaries, he announced that he was going to prepare a surprise dish. How exciting!

To port somewhere in the haze we could just make out the mysterious coast of North Africa - Morocco to be precise. Assuming the dark continent had inspired him, I began to imagine dishes of kebabs and couscous, perhaps a hearty meat tajine (the pressure cooker is very adaptable) or a refreshing salad of tabouleh - oh the joys of flavours from around the globe. How inspirational this trip is!

I waited impatiently, listening to the clatter from the galley below and the regular slamming of the starboard locker door. 'Gosh, what a lot of ingredients there are in this secret, sumptuous dish, and how complicated it must be with all the pans he's using!' Lunch had been cancelled as 'the dish' would almost certainly make up for it, and when it finally arrived into the cockpit, paraded proudly by Kika's masterchef, I was Hank (Marvin - Starvin') 'Wow' I breathed, my words muffled in my salivating mouth - 'what is it?' 'Ter-der, jam sponge - delicious!'

Fresh from the pressure cooker

In the Canaries

First sight of land

We arrived safely in Caleta del Sebo on Isla Graciosa at 1.30 this afternoon. Followed in by Mark and Nat on Freespirit.

All in all a fast and enjoyable passage with some great sailing and near successful fishing.

Hooked: the one that got away

What it would have looked like

We plan to spend the next few days exploring the volcanic island, before heading on to Lanzarote.

We're exhausted after quick explore of town; it's unbelievably hot here.

Rolling around off Morocco

We motored offshore yesterday morning to hunt for the wind which Freespirit where enjoying. By mid-afternoon we'd found a good F4-5 NE - fortunately just as we ran out of diesel in our main tank (we're now onto our reserves). Under cruising chute and full main we stormed along reaching peaks of 7.5knots and cruising around 6.5knots. The fishing was postponed as there was enough to handle with the sailing. Over night we put in a couple of reefs in the main to try to quieten things down, but were still comfortably making 5.5-6knots.

Ellen put in another heroic watch from 12.00 - 6.30am - apparently I was impossible to wake at 6.00am. Not much shipping to report last night, but plenty of shooting stars. I spent a good deal of my off-watch time stuffing lockers with tea-towels to try to stop their contents rolling around with the boat. The rolling averages about 10-15deg in either direction, but at times can be considerably more. It makes cooking a challenge - I managed to inadvertantly make treacle while cooking some pasta last night when I hadn't noticed the sugar fly out of a locker and lodge itself behind the pan on the cooker. Unfortunately the motion is testing the strength of Avomine for Ellen.

We're experimenting with our generator in water mode - in theory at 5knots it should be generating 6A and 8A at 6knots - which should be enough to combat even the worst excess of our fridge.

We're currently under full-main with the genoa poled out on the opposite side (goose-winging) making 5-5.5knots on a course of 210 deg T for Lazarote. We're considering making for the main island and the security of a marina as there's some nasty weather forecast for later in the week, although the weather faxes, show the UK receiving the full brunt of it.

Position @ 8.30GMT N31deg 17.7' W012deg 14.1'

Self-steering off Africa

Fanastic days sailing yesterday - smooth seas, close-reach, making between 4-5knots in more or less the right direction. Once George II (our wind-vane steering) had been generously bathed in oil, he steered a great course; freeing us up for reading, catching up on sleep and baking.

We'd left Gibraltar without any bread, but not to worry we've dried yeast and strong bread making flour in our stores. Two loaves were duely delivered, but I seem to spend more time cleaning the flour and dough from the galley afterwards, than actually preparing the mixture.

Baked Brick

Not to be put off I thought I'd try out a steamed pudding in the pressure cooker - not quite the success I was hoping for. I was somewhat hampered by the scales packing up and no measuring jug or cone. So had to guess qualities. Also no self raising flour, but found some baking powder and used that. I thought half a teaspoon would be adequate, but the sponge didn't really rise. Ellen suffers from bad memories of heavy school dinner sponge puddings and I'm afraid I didn't manage to change that perception. Not sure if my cooking and the heads being briefly blocked were related - I'll spare you the details.

The dolphins have returned - we've had four visits with between 4-12 dolphins - don't think we were going fast enough for big dolphin revelry - but its always a joy when they join us.

We're converging with Mark and Nat in Freespirit - currently they are about 30miles west of us. We've been staying in touch using the SSB radio transmitting on 2Mhz.

Finished the day off with a solar shower and briefly felt human again.

Current position @ 12.00GMT is N32deg23.1' W10deg 26.7.

We're heading off the African coast for the Canaries. We've currently a light NE wind with some swell which makes it difficult to sail without the sails flogging and loosing way. We're motoring off the coast planning to pick up a strong Northerly that Mark and Nat are enjoying. Ellen is deservedly catching up on some sleep after the long night watches she's been putting in.

Plan to try some fishing today so hope to report tuna steaks for tea.

Off Casablanca

Quick update

05.15 position 34.05.16N 008.38.8W and we are passing Casablanca to the south east though I have to believe the chart that it's there as I can't see any evidence of it - we're about 50 miles off the coast. It's been a quiet night so far, just one huge freighter passed by silently about an hour ago. I say silently though we've had the engine on most of the time, and I've been listening to Phillip (my iPod) as well so it could have been making a racket, but it just 'looked' silent to me. Quite eerie the way they get closer without seeming to move at all, and suddenly they're right beside you, and what was a little cluster of lights a while ago is now a leviathan. Wonder what they think of us? Probably didn't even see us!

Reading the lights on the vessels is a bit of a challenge and judging when best to change course is quite a skill. Thrilling when you get it right, fatal when you get it wrong! Only one shooting star tonight compared to three last night and not a dolphin in sight.

This is the first entry I have managed to do when underway (albeit without the boat heeling) so it's quite momentous. I LOVE Avomine! Yesterday, I also managed to cook a simple meal without a hint of nausea. Nick is asleep and has been since 00.30. I keep doing longer watches than necessary, not because I'm considerate or dedicated or anything like that, but because I'm banking up my hours so that when and if I feel sick, I can cash them all in without feeling too guilty! Looking forward to brushing my teeth and getting in the bunk. Just another 25 mins to go now. More later.

Heading South

We've cleared the Straits of Gibraltar and turned to the south aiming for Isla Graciosa a small island of the North coast of Lanzarote. The course takes us parallel with the African coast, past Casablanca, before continuing out to the Canaries. Our position at 3.50GMT is N35deg 17' W006 50.

We left Gibraltar at 8.50 this morning (20th October) - we had intended to leave a little earlier to make the most of the tide in the Strait, but we took a while untangling ourselves from our berth. The marina used "lazy lines" which run at right-angles from the pontoon out into the murky water of the marina. We tied the bow to the pontoon then attached the "lazy lines" to the stern.

During our stay we'd taken off the push-pit (the rail along the back of the boat) to have an arch for the solar panel contructed on top of it. Only when we were about to leave did we realise that we'd re-attached the push-pit with the lazy lines inside the rail, so rather than simply cast off the stern lines we had to untie the horrendously muddy and horrily tangled "lazy lines" and re-tie them outside the rail. I had a heart-stopping moment when I thought we´d have to take off the push-pit again.

Kika without push-pit

Farewell then Gibraltar, it was easy to be put off by the fish-and-chips on offer round every corner, the terrible puns (eg a pub named "Penny Farting") and the lines of duty free shops, but once we escaped Main St there was much to be recommended not least, the historical associations, stocking up with difficult to find groceries in Morrisons and boat bits in the well stocked chandlery , catching up on UK news via a re-broadcast BBC radio 4 and most of all to meet up with Robin and Heather.

Currently the wind is NWerly 3-4, sea is smooth, and the moon is so bright its almost like dawn.

Mark and Nat on Freespirit set off from Lagos bound for the Canaries this morning so we're hoping our paths might converge or least we'll be able to keep in touch over the SSB.

Gibraltar

It’s a rainy Monday in Gibraltar, and the rock is looking cloudy and grey. Feel sorry for those apes!

Intelligent life on 'The Rock'

We have been here almost a week now and it’s……different! Not what either of us expected, so I suppose you could say it’s enriching in that sense! Only a week ago, we were stranded in Barbate about 50 miles up the coast in Spain, and the day of my parent’s arrival here in Gib was drawing near. Alas, it became clear that the weather wasn’t going to improve in time for us to sail here so we hired a car for a couple of days to spend some time with them, driving back to Kika both nights. Meeting them from the plane was a first for me, and so exciting. They had brought quite a few treats (dvds, magazines, lime juice and books) and unlike us, they found things to like in Gib. I think it helped that they had a super hotel! They had to wait another couple of days for us, but finally, last Wednesday morning, we were able to sail here with a favourable wind and tide. The Gibraltar Straits had become the stuff of legend for us (bit like Biscay), with the racing tides, shipping lanes and gusting winds to consider. We ended up motoring gently into the bay, watched by M & D from their hotel window! We had made the passage with 2 other boats from Barbate who had been similarly stranded there, and this was our first experience of sailing in convoy. It was really nice to have Valhalla and Dart Warrior to our port and starboard during the trip, and we were a little sad to peel away from Dart Warrior as we rounded the headland into the bay, but she had plans to head on up north to Spain. Valhalla had a mooring booked through the organisers of their rally. Not so for us though, and we saw the sign ‘marina full’ with dismay. Having picked up M& D from the fuel pontoon we went to anchor out in the bay. It was really quite choppy and poor mum got sick within half an hour of being aboard. The dinghy trip to land was very wet and roly and potentially involved dodging landing aircraft because we were close to Gibraltar’s extended runway. Happily, the following day (Friday) we were fortunate to find a marina space the right size for Kika - just in time as her pushpit (back rail) had to be removed as we had decided to have it modified in order to hold a solar panel. We are going to need some extra power to keep the batteries topped up and this should help. Her rail has now been returned and has a smart arch about 6ft high welded to it. She looks like a serious blue water cruising boat now. Just need to find some blue water!

Restored Gipsy Moth IV in Gibraltar

The week with Mum and Dad whizzed by and it was tough leaving them at the airport. Not sure where we’ll meet up again but the main thing is that we can be in regular contact via email over the SSB radio, even when we’re on a passage, so plans can always be made.

Robin and Heather relaxing outside the Angry Friar

Hoping to leave Gib on Wednesday for the Canaries where we are looking forward to seeing Nick’s parents, and perhaps a couple of friends too.

We’ve got a list (3 pages of A4) of things to do before we cross the Atlantic, the main ones being; sorting out our gas supply (no calor gas fittings here or anywhere else in the world apart from the UK it seems), getting a bimini (sun-shade) fitted, insulating the fridge (it’s the main culprit in using up battery power) and getting Nick to unpack his clothes (it’s a tough one but I’m aiming high!) Wish me luck!

Guest entry: Robin and Heather's report on Gib

We arrived at Gibraltar on Saturday afternoon October 8th and had obviously planned this trip to coincide with Kika's arrival at The Rock. Can you believe it ? Kika was stranded the other side of the Straits in bad weather with a string of other stuff waiting to get through as well so the two of them hired a car and drove overland the 35 miles or so and met us at the airport. Nick had already ascertained the whereabouts of the chandlery but, of course, it was the weekend and so, as they had to return the car on Sunday night and were, in fact, marooned the other side of the Straits until Wednesday, Robin was detailed to attend the chandlery for a multitude of essentials. On Wednesday morning it was really thrilling, from our hotel balcony and the hotel restaurant, to see Kika round the point and sail into Gibraltar Harbour and we have got some marvellous DVD of that. By the time we had finished breakfast, the whole hotel was cheering her in !

Kika arrives as viewed from the hotel restaurant

From then on, we had a marvellous three days with them. They had to anchor off in the bay for one night until a berth became avaiable in one of the marinas.

View of 'the rock' from the anchorage

Gibraltar is undergoing massive development in the building and reconstructing of marinas with vast amounts of overlooking properties going up and fetching £ 580.000 for a two bedroomed flat !! Mind you, we liked the place in spite of all its' tourism. The Gibraltarians are very friendly and extremely pro British. We have never seen so many Union Jacks !

Gibraltar with Rif mountains of Morocco in background

The chandlery was several times graced with the presence of Nick (I wish I had shares in the business) and on Friday I was commandeered to help him dismantle the whole rear (sorry, Aft) section of Kika prior to the fitting of a solar panel.

In all, we had a wonderful time with them with very many laughs and it was a very sad departure on Saturday

The Gibraltar Straits

After 5 days of waiting for the weather to improve, we've finally made it through the Gibraltar Straits. We left Barbate on Wednesday morning at 4am in the company of Dart Warrior and Valhalla and arrived in Gibraltar at 11.30am. The gales which had kept us storm-bound in Barbate finally gave way to a gentle westerly, forcing us to motor the 35 miles to Gibraltar. Tarifa - our cape horn - was passed without a noticable increase in wind. Incredible to be able to see Africa as we 'sailed' through The Strait. The mountains of Spain were to our port and the Rif mountains of Morocco to starboard.

Storm-bound in Barbate

Our fears about the wind gods conspiring against us to miss our Gibraltar rendezvous have been realised. Our plan was to sail through the night and arrive in Gibraltar early on Thursday morning. There was a nagging concern about the weather as we had an incomplete forecast - for some reason our usual source of weather missed off sea areas Cadiz and the Gibraltar Strait. However the Grib file which indicates wind direction didn't look too bad; it showed a managable 15 knot easterly wind.

Grib file for 5th October showing wind directions and strengths

Initially all went well; as we left the harbour we passed Francis Chichester's beautifully restored Gypsy Moth IV and speeded off down the coast making 6-7 knots with a strong off-shore wind. After a couple of hours of exhilarating sailing the wind shifted to the SSE, the waves became short and steep and we found ourselves pounding into a heavy sea. We were also slowly heading off-shore as the wind direction prevented us making a course parallel with the coast. A second reef quickly followed the first reef and when the forecast arrived it told of force 8+ easterly in The Straights.

A quick recalculation to head for our port of refuge - Barbate - showed that we wouldn't get in until 23.30 and the prospect of unlit tuna nets outside the harbour with the following ominous warning in the pilot, put us off:

During the summer tuna nets tough enough to foul the screw of a freighter can be a considerable hazard, and may reach several miles offshore. It is not advisable to sail over one... Note the cardinal buoys used to mark the nets are frequently very undersized and should not be relied upon, particularly at night.

Instead we decided to head back for Cadiz.

Inevitably after two hours surfing along with the wind behind us, the wind dropped and left the rig crashing around in a heavy swell. We tied up to the berth we'd left just before dark, to the amusement of the guy from the marina. The following day, Thursday, with an earlier start and more careful research on the position of the tuna nets we set off again into a strong Easterly. The weather was remarkably similar and we made it into Barbate, just before dark, wet from the waves breaking across the bow but pleased we'd made it. Despite the rough conditions Ellen's sea-sickness hasn't re-emerged. On our arrival we were greeted by Keiron and Ellie on Dart Warrior who had been sailing from La Coruna with Freespirit and are also waiting for a break in the weather before heading to Gibraltar.

It's frustratingly only 35 miles to Gibraltar, but the forecast shows force 7-8 easterly winds with rough seas until Tuesday. The passage involves rounding Tarifa, "the windiest place in Europe", renowned in windsurfing circles for the consistency of the strong winds and has hotels named Hurricane Hotel, Storm Lodge etc... Rounding Tarifa has taken on the proportions to us of rounding Cape Horn.

Lagos to Cadiz

It felt good to be off and getting closer to Gibraltar - we have a date with Ellen's parents there, flights and hotels have been booked and there's a nagging concern that the wind is going to conspire against us, meaning we won't make it in time. We had four good nights in Lagos, shared with Mark and Nat and it was sad to say goodbye knowing we might not see them for another few months. We've both installed high-frequency single-side band radios in our boats which are supposed to be able to let you talk to other boats over 1000s of miles, if the atmospheric conditions are suitable. The installation is fairly complex, involving insulating the back stay (the back wire that holds the mast up), installing the set and tuning unit and running a copper ground strip from a copper plate on the underside of the hull back to the tuner unit and the set itself. There's plenty of advice available, often conflicting, but it seems the only way to tell if your installation is any good is to manage to talk to someone across an ocean. Both of us had been having success receiving and sending emails from a transmitter in Belgium, and occassional Nova Scotia, but struggled to talk to each other across the Biscay. Finally we found a clear frequency and managed a 15min conversation, Over all of 40 miles - progress.

We left Lagos at 13.00 with a smooth sea and less then 5knots of wind from the west. We ghosted along for an hour, until the wind completely disappeared and we gave in and fired up the engine. Over the next 5 hours the wind teased us only to vanish completely as soon as we'd try sailing. However by 11.30 a head-wind had picked up, so we tacked through the night with George II (our windvane self steering), holding a great course for us and acting as the 3rd crew member while we alternately slept. By the morning the wind had backed to the north-east and picked up to a decent 15knots so we could shape a course directly for Cadiz. By this time Kika's deck was getting a frequent wash-down as we pounded into the sea - Kika seems to enjoy it and Ellen's anti-seasickness drugs worked well, even to the extent of extending her watch by 0.5 hour to allow me extra time asleep (makes up for waking me up in the middle of the night to help identify whether we were in danger of colliding with passing ships).

Approaching Cadiz

Kika in Cadiz

Not only are we planning to met Ellen's parents in Gibraltar, but we've got a long list of boat jobs we're hoping to complete. The main ones are fabricating a stainless-steel arch for the back of the boat to support the solar panel, getting some longer poles for our dual head-sail rig, and fitting a sun-awning - both important for the atlantic crossing. The autumnal feel of northern Spain has been replaced by a scorching mid-day sun.

Portuguese Pantry

Do tuna and tomato sauce go together? THAT is the question. No, is my answer, and this is the reason why I would NEVER, EVER have tuna on my pizza. Many of you, like Skipper Nick, with taste buds which may be a little less evolved, may disagree, and that's fine by me. The danger is, when you feel a little queasy on passage, and a dish is suggested, all judgment and experience flies out the cockpit, your stomach (which hasn't got a clue what it wants anymore as the trauma of sickness takes hold) overrules your head, and you acquiesce, with a grateful smile, conscious that your presence is becoming less of an asset and more of a burden by the minute, and that in a few hours he'll probably be faced with the prospect of doing your watch AND his, while poking your sick through the tiny galley plughole. So, if the guy wants to cook tuna neopolitana with pasta twirls, let him, for Neptune's sake! WRONG! Under no circumstances let the nausea compromise your judgment. It'll only end in tears. (Skippers note - Why DO they make those plugholes so small?)

Lagos, Algarve

Mmmmmmm... maybe Nick's verdict on Ginja was a tad hasty, and not a little inspired by a drop too much of the stuff. Having had copious samples ( we wanted to give it a chance) and having sought the opinion of other alcohol experts (thanks Mark and Nat) the jury has voted against having Ginja taking up space in the drinks locker. There is something distinctly medicinal about it. Hope we didn't encourage anyone to import large quantities of the stuff but if so, it'll work a treat as antifreeze!
Our passage here was mixed as usual - starting with no wind and then in the evening, when the wind picked up, having to reef the main. Once again, part of the journey was lost in a fug of seasicknes for me due to user error when taking the drugs (ie I forgot to take the second dose!) Happily though, we seem to have got the drug and dosage sorted and I'm confident of a better result on the next passage.
So, it's now October and we find ourselves in the Algarve, in the resort of Lagos. There are more Brits here than there were in Falmouth so no chance of getting homesick. We arrived on Wednesday lunchtime surprisingly punctual for our date. Before we left England, we met Mark and Nat and their boat, Free Spirit of Itchenor, and spent a couple of happy evenings swapping hopes and ideas. They left Uk shores before us and since then we have been playing catch-up. Their plans are different from ours, and there was a distinct possibility that our paths may not cross. Through brief (and sometimes frustratingly indistinct) contact over the radio we managed to co-ordinate a meeting. We have since spent a bit of time comparing experiences and quite alot of time testing Ginja and playing silly games!

Sampling the Ginja with Mark & Nat

Mark and Nick have also taken the opportunity to inspect each other's battery cases (!) and compare charging statistics (fascinating)!
Lagos is a smart resort with clean beaches and an interesting coastline, and despite it's dominance of tourism, much of the 'Portugueseness' seems to be intact.

Freestanding rocks just to the west of Lagos

I particularly like it as the marina has a large laundry with a choice of good quality washers and the option to handwash!

Cascais

As we've now paid our light dues we're trying to make maximum use of Portuguese light-houses so we arrived in Cascais after dark; dropping anchor outside the marina at 11.45pm. We should negotiate a discount as two of the lights marking the entry to the marina were broken.

On route we saw some sunfish performing strange acrobatics out of the water - tried to catch it on film, but just ended up with facinating shots of the sea.

The dolphins seem to have taken to visiting us at night and accompanied for over an hour as we headed for shore. My confident prediction that they would steer us away from dangerous unlit pot marks was quickly disproven when we had some uncomfortably close calls.

Old and new; Canned fish for sale in Lisbon

Spent two great days exploring Cascais and Lisbon - not long enough, but we've decided to head south to Lagos to see some friends who are about to head off to the Canaries.

View of Lisbon

We're bound for Gibraltar to get a few bits and pieces sorted out before heading off-shore so this is our last chance to see them possibly before the Caribbean. Leaving Cascais we saw Gordon and Anne on Wild Irish Rose - shame we were heading off as I'm sure they would have enjoyed sampling our latest firewater aquisition - Ginja - kind of sour cherry brandy - delicious..

Nazare to Cascais

We arrived in Nazare at about 10.30pm on Wednesday 21st Sept. As night entries go, it was pretty straightforward, the only real hazard being the fishing pots with very insubstantial markers. I stood at the bow to scour the water immediately ahead of us, with Nick at the helm, watching for my signal if I spotted a pot. We were lucky not to get entangled, I think. As soon as we had moored, a policeman appeared on the pontoon and asked us to show our papers – very efficient! The next morning, the harbour master (English and eccentric!) woke us at 8.30, ticked us off about the state of our mooring lines and, once again, asked to see our papers. Portugal is notorious for its beaurocracy towards visiting yachts, mainly due to a growing drugs problem along the coast.
The marina in Nazare was quite bleak – a bit of a wasteland with rotting boats lying around and feral dogs wandering about. It’s also right next to the fishing boat pontoons so it was quite smelly and noisy. As the seasoned tourists that we now are, we decided to reserve judgment until we had visited the town (about 2k away) After all, we had been wrong about places before! Nazare has a long, wide beach with lovely sand, but it was more geared to tourism than anywhere else we have visited and as such, lacked authenticity. We decided to stay for the day, and leave on Friday. We went to a fish restaurant with a very attractive display of pensionable lobsters and crabs in a tank. I thought they were a lesser known species of furry crustacean as they were covered in weed – not very appetising! By this time, however, it was too late to leave and we had a passable meal but it was the most expensive so far outside the UK and we felt a bit fleeced. We then went on the funicular railway, up to the old town which had a pretty square and church, but otherwise, nothing of note.
Decided to leave for Cascais at noon today and in order to stock up the starboard locker (running low on wizened vegetables and rotten meats) and purchase his ration of fresh sardines, Nick took a trip to the market before we left. By all accounts, it was excellent (although that description could be open to interpretation – I’d need to see it with my own eyes as his tend not to see dirt!). I stayed on the boat to get ship-shape and sort some laundry (it never stops!).
Cascais is about 70 miles from Nazare, so we decided to sail through the night. The wind and weather looked good so after some diesel faff (speaking in ‘Spench’ through the intercom doesn’t work!) we sailed happily into a north-westerly of about 10 knots. This soon died to nothing, however, and having tried poling out the spare foresail to give us more speed to no avail, we decided to call in at a small bay, a mere 8 miles away from where we started. So here we are in Sao Martinho do Porto, anchored in the bay, and it’s beautiful! How two places in such close proximity can be so different is a mystery to me. Although the town has a little fishing industry, it thrives mainly on tourism. Despite this it is quite unspoiled. We rowed ashore as soon as we arrived, and rushed to show our papers to whichever official wanted to see them. We waited in the harbour master’s immaculate office for over an hour while he listened patiently to a loquacious woman who obviously didn’t get out much and wanted a good chat! Our turn came and all documents were checked meticulously and we were finally asked to provide proof of payment for light duties! We hadn’t heard of such a thing and managed to communicate this in the usual ‘Spench’. The HM looked shocked and we realised that this omission was quite serious. It seems that on entry to Portugal, every yacht must pay a fee for upkeep of the buoyage and light system. Not unreasonable, but how come this was news to us? Was he trying to fiddle us? He pulled out an official form and pointed gravely at the text – all in Portuguese of course. ‘Why hadn’t we paid it on entry?’ ‘We didn’t know, we’re really sorry, don’t take our boat!’ He turned to his keyboard for a while and then reached for his calculator. Finally, he announced the full amount – in Portuguese! Aaaargh! Our faces said enough and he wrote the amount down……….. 2 euros and 25 cents! Bargain!

Viana do Castelo to Nazare

It wasn't difficult to hang around Viana do Castelo for four days. We had the company of Gordan and Anne on Wild Irish Rose, Port wine to sample, Porto to visit, a beautiful town to wander around, a new phrase book to experiment with and free mooring in the smelly fish dock. We left on Tuesday afternoon in the company of Wild Irish Rose. Their boat is slightly larger than Kika, with a significantly larger sail area and they quickly pulled away from us. This gave us the impetus we needed to try out various sail configurations to regain some ground (sea?). We initially experimented with the cruising chute. It worked, but didn't appear to make any difference to our speed. Wild Irish Rose had almost disappeared over the horizon, when Gordon called up on the VHF. He suggested I tried to pole out a Genoa on the windward side, keeping the standard Genoa up. After much rope, pole and sail faff we had the two Geneoas rigged. Quickly our miserable 2.5knots of speed increased to 4.5knots. Apparently the poled-out sail scoops the wind into the leeward sail increasing efficency. We sailed along all day very happily under this rig until 12.30 at night when the wind died and we had fun dismantling the rig in the dark.

Twin head sails

Naughty fishing pots
We've found the sea off the coast of Portugal to be littered with fishing pot markers. Ed and Genie had warned me to "watch out for the naughty fishing pots", but I wasn't prepared for their frequency or naughtiness. The pilot guide warns:

A few years ago a yacht had to be freed by the authorities at Viana do Castelo having become entangled, at night with a pot float marked by a black flag. Beware!

The worst pots are marked with nothing more than a plastic two pint milk bottle, difficult to spot in the day and impossible to see at night. We headed off-shore over night to try to avoid the majority, but still had a close shave with a number. It's hard to differeniate between small marks and sleeping birds until you hear the latter's disgruntled squawks.
During the night we had numerious dolphin visits. It's disconcerting when you're sailing along in a soundless night and a dolphin suddenly surfaces right beside you. No matter how many times its happened dolphin visits never fail to surprise then delight us. The phosphorescence trail they leave at night is magical.

Kika´s galley

I hope that we haven't given the impression that our culinary ambitions are satisfied with rissoto of the starboard locker and tuna pasta. We've been sampling the local delicacies ashore then trying to recreate them in our galley. The greatest success to date is Pimentos de Padron. Small green peppers, fried until they're soft then sprickled with salt - delicious. We've also made great improvements with our tortilla and chorizo dishes- still not up to Tapas standards, but definately improving. Ellen has only been moderately impressed with my sea-food experiments, with the exception of prawn based dishes; baby squid was rejected [Ellen's note: because they'd been in the fridge for five days], fresh sardines initial rejected, but won over by the irresistible smell.

Nick´s sardine special

We've been hunting out bars which offer pinchos, small tapas free with a drink. In Sta Eugina - the pilot book said:

The town claims to be the centre of the sardine trade and it is still sometimes possible to buy freshly cooked fish by the harbourside, grilled in the open over a bed of charcoal, a culinary experience not to be passed by

As you might imagine, this entry significantly influenced our choice of harbour in Ria de Arosa. However, our search of the docks for barbequed sardines only unearthed the usual fishing harbour smells. But... on our last night we found a guy barbequing sardines outside a bar. I started one of my over-ambitious conversations in Spanish [Ellen's note: Spench; mixture of Spanish, and bad French] which started off with a confident sentence from me in full Spench, followed by a look of puzzlement from the listener, ending in smiles and head nodding, with no useful information gleaned and Ellen disowning me. One day we'll find the region where fluent Spench is spoken. We decided to chance our luck in the bar and hoped for sardines on the menu. Our drinks arrived and we'd started translating the menu, when the sardine BBQ man came round to each table offering a pincho of three three beautifully cooked sardines. It was almost worth being laundry bound!

Feel free to post any recipe ideas. The more ridiculously ambitious the better. We'll let you know how we get on.

Viana do Castelo

Monday here in Viana do Castelo. We have reached Portugal and spent a few days waiting for a weather window, but it’s no hardship as there’s plenty to do. We arrived on Friday afternoon in a 25 knot wind and were glad to reach the harbour. Once again we were faced with the strange phenomenon of fore and aft mooring (where the boat is secured bow-on to the pontoon as opposed to side-on) but we managed more smoothly than last time despite conflicting instructions from Nick and the marina man! In the end I did as the skipper wanted (not convinced it was the correct line of action to take but what’s a first mate to do?) I always seem to end up running round our deck and next-door’s boat deck in a blind panic of fending during these moorings! Watching others do it with casual confidence is very irritating! We moored next to a 70 ft motor boat which was being delivered to it’s new owner in the UK and, hallelujah, we were invited over for a beer and a big snoop. Don’t want to diss it too much as it was very luxurious but it was a bit like a brothel inside (so Nick assumes!), and to half fill the fuel tank cost 3,000 euros! That put me right off despite the presence of a real washer on board!
We had to move the boat on Saturday as they had a fishing competition close by and needed all the space in the marina. We moved to the fish docks which are very central and quite attractive, if a little smelly. The best thing about being here is the ladder! It’s a mixture of fraying ropes, rusty rivets and rotten wood, and as an added danger, it’s covered in slime. At low tide we can’t even reach the bottom rung. It’s the kind of thing I have nightmares about being stuck on! Made us laugh to think about how it would almost certainly be cordoned off in the UK for Health and Safety reasons.

The treacherous ladder

Yesterday was spent in Porto which was an unexpected delight. Neither of us predicted that it would be so picturesque, if a little sad in all its decaying grandeur. We spent time wandering and getting a feel for the place, and then headed of to the port wine cellars to do some sampling. As true tourists, we bought a bottle back to Kika and shared it with our neighbours – would have been rude not to really.

Bayona

Well, the days are just flying by. It’s fantastic being in a new place and having all the excitement and anticipation of the unfamiliar, yet knowing that your home is a familiar space, ie Kika. We have had a beautiful 3 days here in Bayona weather-wise, making us appreciate why siestas are strongly recommended in this part of the world.

Bayona Castle

We’ve been parcel bound this time, waiting for a dispatchment of washing powder to come through for the next load of laundry – only joking, though I have spent some time hand washing! We’ve really been waiting for a small package of spares and sea-sickness drugs to come from the UK, now received with thanks to Jenny and Brian. So we’ve had some time to explore Bayona’s sites, the most impressive probably being its position on the coast.

Coastal path (Islas Cies in background)

Walking along the medieval castellated walls on the headland provides a fantastic view of the bay and the beautiful Islas Cies, our last landfall.

Islas Cies from Bayona

The coastline is treacherous and the waves break with a ferocity and power that’s quite humbling. The town is historic and pretty. It’s where Columbus made his first mainland landfall on his return from the New World, and there’s a life-size replica of his ship The Pinta, moored on a pontoon near us.

Pinta reconstruction

As there was no wind yesterday, and in preparation for winds to come, we took some time to try out our sails; a new storm jib for strong winds which has a much smaller area than our current genoa (front sail), and our spare genoa. We also discovered an extension to our spray hood which provides fantastic shade when we are not underway.

Kika with sun cover

Life has become full of little challenges and triumphs for me, as I work my way slowly up the ladder to seamanship (It’s a long way up!) A minor emergency occurred yesterday when a stern mooring line on the boat next to us broke! Thinking quickly, I deftly tied a double sheet bend in order to secure it. It’s still holding! Small but significant
So tomorrow it’s Portugal for us. Good job as our Spanish courtesy flag is now more of a rag than a flag due to a serious lack of hemming!

Courtesy Rag

We pushed the boat out and bought one for Portugal - very smart! I tried to download some basic Portuguese from the net today during my stint in the cyber café, but Nick assured me it wasn’t necessary as our pilot guide has a small dictionary in it. Indeed it does, and I can now say ‘harbourmaster’ and ‘light breeze’, I just can’t say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’ – excellent!

Envy

Just as you think you´re not doing too badly, this super yacht decides to drop anchor in the same bay:

Islas Cies

The Spanish weather is giving us a break from the low-pressure and associated fronts which have been dogging us since our arrival in La Coruna; we're currently enjoying clear blue skies and moderate winds. That said a couple of days ago when we left Sta Eugenia de Riveira the weather outlook didn't look as favourable:

FINISTERRE:
WESTERLY 3 TO 5 LOCALLY 6 TO 8 IN NORTH, VEERING NORTHWEST 
4 TO 6 LATER.
SEVERE GUSTS. ROUGH OR VERY ROUGH. SQUALLS LOCALLY THUNDERY.

We decided to leave anyway as it was only a short hop (30 miles) to the Isla Cies and most of the bad weather appeared to be in the north. As we cleared the river, rain passed over the mainland obscuring the port we'd left and another squall blocked out the islands we were aiming for. We donned full wet weather gear and prepared for the inevitable drenching, but were spared; rain only hit us after we'd dropped anchor and were safely below decks.

Exploring the Island

The following day was sunny and spent exploring the island and swimming.

Testing the water temperature

We planned to spend sometime diving under Kika and cleaning any growth that had attached itself to the hull, but only managed a couple of dives before the cold overcame us - felt colder than the propeller cleaning dives in Dartmouth or perhaps we're loosing our north European acclimatisation to the cold.

A taste of beaches to come? Kika is in the centre

We're progressing slowly in the galley with our first loaves of bread baked and consumed - the lack of any shops on the island and our inability to simultaneously buy food AND organise the laundry led to our supplies of fresh food being low and we had to raid our bread mix and canned foods.
We're now in Bayona which presented us with our first stern-to mooring challenge. We'd planned to pick up a mooring buoy, but were directed to a narrow gap between two yachts both moored stern-to on the pontoon. So far we’d managed to avoid this kind of mooring as I'm still becoming accustomed to manoeuvering Kika in confined spaces. Going astern doesn't appear to be her strongest ability - certainly with me at the helm. Still we managed to reverse in and stop before we bent the self-steering gear, despite conflicting instructions from Spanish on-lookers.
Bayona looks like a great place to explore so we’re planning to stay here a couple of days before heading to Portugal.

Santiago de Compostela and Laundry

Cathedral Facade

The alarm went of at 7am yesterday and it honestly seemed like the middle of the night to me! It was still not light, there was an autumnal chill to the air, and surely I hadn't had 8 hours sleep? How on earth did I ever get up at 6 every morning? Seems like a lifetime away. Anyway, we dragged ourselves out of bed for a quick shower and then hot-footed it to the bus station. Sta Eugenia de Riviera, which is where we are staying, is in a bay on the west bank of the Ria Arosa. Santiago is about an hour and a half away on the bus and it is over on the east side of the Ria. I shan't bore you with the history of the place suffice to say that it is the capital of Galicia and is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics all over the world. Santiago means St James in Spanish and (am I boring you?) many, many years ago, St James' remains were said to have been found nearby under a patch of sky with many bright stars, hence 'Compostela' meaning field of stars (that's just one of the explanations). Anyway, shameful to say that we were ignorant of all these facts yesterday morning but the pilot guide we have been using strongly recommended we visited and showed a picture of the cathedral there! It looked interesting and as the laundry was still in the process of being cleaned (the dirt being VERY ingrained!) and we had explored all there was to see in Riviera, we decided we had nothing better to do. We caught the bus in the nick of time and had a nauseatingly twisty-turney trip there through some pretty areas. On entering the city I began to prepare myself for disappointment and regret for unnecessary sacrifice of my lie-in. It seemed very ordinary, but I always forget that on approaching a place you invariably seem to see the worst parts (I should remember that having lived on the A4!) The bus dropped us about a mile from the centre, and during our walk to the old city we quickly became enchanted with the place so that by the time we reached the cathedral we were in raptures!

Every street was more interesting or prettier than the last and we found ourselves getting excited about what might be round the next corner! Cheesy, but true! It's amazing how a place can go from appearing utterly soulless to inspirational in a matter of yards, and the fact that it confounds your expectations makes it all the more enjoyable. It reminded me of places like Siena and Bruges and York, but we all know how beautiful those places are, and I had barely heard of Santiago. Anyway, as is always the case, the photos don't do it justice and will fail to move you in any way, so if you get the chance.....

Nick and fountain

We returned in the evening to clean laundry - the perfect end to the perfect day!

Woke to heavy rain and strong winds this morning so currently weather bound but hopefully not for long. Plan to sail south to some beautiful islands called the Islas Cies, near Bayona, and then it's a short hop to Portugal (well it looks like that on the chart!).

Sta Eugina de Riveira

Had a mixed passage from Sardineiro to Sta Eugina de Riveira. Initially we had smooth seas, a decent westerly wind and blue skies. Kika was surfing along under wind-vane and we had thoughts of making for a harbour further south. Our path crossed with the Norwegians who were heading up the Ria Atlas.

Norwegian 'Vego' another Rival 38

Christiania

Soon after the sky started darkening and we prepared ourselves for a shower. Five hours later we peeled off our outer 'waterproof' layers to (in my case) soaked shorts and top. I think a valid case could be bought against my waterproofs under the trades descriptions act. Ellen fared a little better and we were both happy to warm up under hot showers at the marina.

Yesterday felt very Autumnal. Had a brief dolphin visit on the way up the river. They appeared to be a different species from the ones we've seen before; larger, slower and less playful.

Currently we're 'laundry-bound' in Sta Eugina de Riveira, yes we could be weather-bound, fog-bound or waiting for repairs to sails or engine, but instead we're waiting here for our laundry - sure this never happened to McArthur or Knox-Johnson. ['no it didn't, but they were single-handed and no-one else was there to smell the stink!' - Ellen]. Never mind we're hoping to make use of the delay to visit Santiago de Compostela tomorrow.

Costa Cafe del Morte

Chef's Special Tonight (5th September 2005)

Delicious twirls of fresh, 'al dente' pasta in a creamy seafood and caper sauce
ie: Tuna Pasta

Nick has come a long way since the 'Starboard Locker' fiasco (about 150 miles) and his experience is really shining through now. When faced with a queasy but undernourished crew-member who had been wrestling with a wayward mainsail for 20 minutes (at times swinging like a monkey from the halyard), was he daunted by what culinary delights to tempt her with? - was he heck!

The starboard locker was opened, it's true, but only for the carefully selected ingredient of capers to add to this inspired dish! He deftly fried the onions, then, as the pasta boiled he skillfully mixed the cornflour with UHT milk, effortlessly opening the tin of tuna and slinging in the capers as an afterthought. Needless to say, the presentation was outstanding. What did the crew have to say as she finished her last forkful - 'is there any more skipper? That was deeelicious!' (truly!)

Costa del Morte

Quoting from the pilot guide for this area - "Cabo Toriñana and Cabo Finisterre both have charted dangers, mostly pinnable rocks lying up to 1mile offshore; hence the popular name 'Costa del Morte' [coast of death] for this wild, magnificent and sometimes forbidding coast".

The good news is that we've successfully navigated around the charted dangers and are currently anchored in a bay just south of Finisterre. We left Corme for Camariñas on Friday. Setting off in glorious sunshine and expecting an leasurely sail for the 20 miles to Camariñas. An hour out of Corme we were suddenly enveloped in thick fog. Strange thing was the temperature dropped noticably as well - so the wind had a real chill in it. I thought that fog was normally associated with warm moist air cooling over colder water or land - definately not this time - clearly its going be a while before I replace Micheal Fish at BBC Weather centre. Anyway the fog gave us a good opportunity to use the radar for real. Kika is the first boat where I've had the opportunity to learn to use a radar set. Fortunately I'd been experimenting with the set as we crossed Biscay. The couple of times I've been caught out in fog sailing in Tilly were nerve-racking; not with radar enabled Kika. We could accurately position all the boats around us and the high-cliffs of the coastline - I was almost disappointed when the fog lifted.

Kika at anchor in Camariñas

We arrived in Camariñas in time for a fiesta in honour of "Saint Raymond" - or so the woman in the shop told us. Sure enough music, dancing and fireworks followed and the marina supervisor couldn't understand why we were trying to get back to the boat at 2am, when the fiesta was only just "warming up".

Left Camariñas for Sardineiro this morning after some ´interesting´ early morning marina maneuvering to replenish our water tanks - we still need to get our water catching systems in place. We've been waiting for the wind to move to the north, which had been promised for the last few days. We have been spending our time productively by exploring the area, cleaning Kika's surprisingly mucky waterline, wiring the inverter and of course, sampling the local tapas. Instead this morning we decided we'd waited long enough and would move on regardless. Consequently we left in glorious sunshine into a head-wind and half-an-hour later were soaked through from a passing squall.

No sea creature vists today, but saw some large unidentified jumping fish 200m from the boat - initially we thought they were dophins, they were about the same size as dolphins, but their appearance and movement was markedly different to the species we'd been seeing - a different species or different animal?

Feels quite an achievement to have finally rounded Finisterre. The next leg has lots of interesting harbours and anchorage options as well as numerous fishing buoys to avoid.

Update from Corme

We had been in Coruna almost a week when we left yesterday. I think we needed that time to get over the trauma of our arrival! It was a lovely place to spend time though. We met a few other yachties including 2 Norwegian families - 5 on each boat and one boat was a Rival 38 like Kika; Veto. Unbelievable!

We had a great sail yesterday.

10-15 dophins visiting Kika

The sun fish was quite exciting as Nick said, but then we were once again joined by the dolphins - about a dozen, but they stayed with us for over an hour and my back ached from peering over the side of the boat to watch their antics.

Dophins off the starboard bow

They are amazing creatures who spied us from far away and then came diving at speed towards the boat to entertain us. We wondered what it is about us they bothered to go out of their way for? Maybe they thought we were a fishing boat and were hoping for a portion of the catch or maybe they just like to play.

Dolphin video

Another notable occurrence was the smooth operation of the wind-vane. It went like a dream for a couple of hours before some grub screws came loose, but it's nothing that can't be fixed. (Was it sabotaged by Nick as an excuse to get his hands dirty again? - I'll never know.) Anyway, we arrived in Corme late last night. Just one lit red buoy to help us. It was quite eerie as we really couldn't see what we were sailing into. It's always interesting when you wake up in the morning and realise you were much closer to the cliff than you thought or in this case, the mussel beds! We were the only yacht too, so had no-one to copy. It takes courage to say 'right lets drop the anchor here' when it's dark and you've never been there before. Nick and I have mastered sign language for anchoring (all polite - well mostly!) but it's redundant in the dark. We had to resort to stage whispers.
The day started misty and moist but soon turned into a scorcher. Most of the day was spent doing jobs - washing and the neverending wiring that needs doing. Then we got the dinghy out and went to a nearby beach for a swim and found a bar for a beer and some 'pinchos' (small plate of nibbles like chorizo and tortilla - delicious!) As we moored the dinghy, 2 more British yachts sailed into the anchorage and we had quite a nerve racking time watching them from ashore as they tried to anchor too close to Kika. They got it right on the third attempt! So now we are three!
Corme isn't pretty but the setting's quite picturesque. We may do another small hop tomorrow to Camariñas - not too far down the coast and we can tell you another story from there.