November 2008

Last time I wrote, we were in Alicante, Spain. We have moved a great deal since then. The weather has continued to not cooperate. Basically, since we left France, we have been hiding from the storms. We ended up spending 5 days in Alicante. Nice city, but 5 days was about four too many. I did meet some interesting people though. I met one woman while I was doing laundry (you see my life is very glamorous!). She came in and started speaking to me in pigeon Spanish, and I responded in a mixture of pigeon Spanish, with an occasional word of German (completely unintelligible), until we realized that she was French and that we had a language in common. She was trying to figure out how to use the washing machine, and wanted me to explain it to her. You see, she, of course, had a washing machine on her “boat” ( a 19 meter power yacht….) but the item she wanted to wash seemed a little heavy for her machine. My guess is that her machine is usually operated by one of the crew on the boat, and not by her personally. Anyway, we started talking about life on the boat. They had actually come down for the weekend because they are trying to sell their boat. I mentioned that I noticed that there were a number of boats for sale, and said that perhaps it was due to the increasing fuel prices. She said that it cost them 5000 EUR to fill up their gas tank! Yikes!!! That would do it for me! Its funny…people who live on boats come from all different walks of life, and the relationships you form transgress all normal social boundaries. I guess that it is because everyone is equal before the sea. No one really has an advantage over another, and the sea is always stronger. I think that it is also because those who choose to live on their boat have experienced something so powerful that they feel a bond with others who also understand it. It is hard to explain to someone who has never navigated before. I know that I definitely have an impassioned relationship with sailing and my current home. There are times when I love it, and feel that it is magical, and there are times when I hate it, and would rather be anywhere but in the boat. Anyway, I’ll get back to that later…I have transgressed from my narrative….
Once we were finally able to leave Alicante, we worked our way down the coast to Cartegena. Our new challenge was that our GPS maps had not followed the rapid expansion of the Spanish coast (and in particular its expansion into the sea…in the form of landfills and artificial fish havens). We arrived in Cartegena on November 1st . . We arrived on Saturday night, in the pouring rain (once again). Our portable VHF was not working once again, as it was wet, so we were unable to contact the port authorities to find out where to dock. A Russian guy came out on the dock from his boat and motioned over to where we could dock and helped us tie up. We ended up staying in the spot we originally pulled into. The harbour was small and quaint, and cost only a fourth of the price we had paid in Alicante (very good news). The city of Cartegena was lovely. The people were very kind and we enjoyed wandering through the streets soaking up the ambiance. We continued to eat our way through Cartegena as we had with the rest of Spain. It was here that we eat our first paella, had fabulous pastries and discovered white garlic soup (gazpacho with almonds and garlic…yummy!!!). The city is currently working on major restorations, including a roman theatre. The restorations throughout the city have been done with taste and respect the original feel of the city. This city was charming and definitely merits a second look. We left Cartegena on November 3rd and continued to make our way down the Spanish coast towards Gibraltar. Our next stop was Almerimar, next to Almeria. We were able to anchor a little bit on our way to Almerimar, which was nice as we were tired of being in harbours. As we had a lot of distance to cover in a short period of time and as we had very unstable weather, we were unable to go ashore in any of the places we anchored. We arrived in Almerimar on November 5th. The harbour was charming. It looks a little like Hilton Head, SC (or Disneyland…..). Apparently there is a very large English community in the area, and we met a number of English speaking people. The city is a great place to stop if you are sailing. We met a lovely Irish couple who were also living on their boat, in the harbour while trying to decide where to go next (Ireland, Canada, or Portugal). We had cocktails and “chips” (fries) with them one evening in an English bar (we missed the fish part of the meal, because we got carried away chatting, and there was none left by the time we got around to eating). We were also able to see them for an “apero” (French for cocktails) in our boat the evening before we left. Jim had sailed across the Atlantic a number of times, including one time solo…I’m impressed. Beatrice had only started sailing a year before when Jim fell in love with this boat, on what should have been an “inexpensive” weekend getaway (ah…the things we’ll do for the men we love and the boats the love!!! J ). Anyway, we really enjoyed their company and hope to meet up with them again some day in our travels… While in Almerimar, we also rented a car to see the surrounding area. We rented a Fiat Panda, which is very minor step up from a smart, in terms of size and a step down in terms of quality of motor (for that it’s a step up from a homemade go-cart in a card board box). I shouldn’t complain, as it got us where we needed to go. Our first stop was Almeria. We visited Alcazaba, an ancient Arabian military fortress which has been beautifully restored, including magnificent gardens, and which gave us a gorgeous view over the entire city. The next day, we headed to Grenada, and the Alhambra, a beautiful palace and military fortress. To get there we drove through the Sierra Nevada mountains, with their snow capped peaks. I’ll be the first to admit that I really dislike snow, but I was in awe of their beauty.

We left Alermerimar with the intention of going directly to Gibraltar. Unfortunately, the weather was not with us, so once again we ended up anchoring to avoid rough weather at night, and once again we realized that our GPS map wasn’t quite up to date. We finally made it to Gibraltar on the 13th of November, near mid morning. I’m actually quite pleased that we decided to head into Gibraltar in broad daylight. One reason was that the arrival is complicated, because the bay is filled with oil tankers, cargo ships and military ships, and it was complicated to weave in and out of the different vessels. Another was that a less fortunate vessel had actually sunk right in front of the rock and despite the fact that it was broad daylight, we almost ran aground on the wreckage. If the tugboat hadn’t called out ‘French sailboat, French sailboat’ and told us that we were actually heading through the disaster zone, we might have joined them. We couldn’t get into the harbour initially, so we ended up anchoring right next to the airstrip. Luckily there aren’t many planes that actually fly into Gibraltar …a few at noon and a few at 6:00 pm. The rest of the time, it was quiet. Sebastien’s parents joined us in Gibraltar for two days, along with two new crew members. Gibraltar is a very tiny…uh …country. Its really just a city. It is very English (My mother in law and I were both thrilled to go to Marks and Spencers) and members of our crew were excited to get fish & chips and ale. We were able to see the monkeys that Gibraltar is famous for (thanks to Jeb for the suggestion) and we were able to take our first real shower in 2 ½ months (thanks to Denis and Claude for letting us use their hotel room for an hour!). Showering on the boat (and or in Public showers) is one of my least favorite parts of this whole experience. Most of the showers we had were cold (even when it was also cold outside) and I get the extra bonus of showering with the girls who have long conversations about the color of my underwear, my various body parts and their various body parts, much to the amusement of those nearby. Anyway, back to the cruise.

You probably wonder why I haven’t actually gotten around to putting this on my blog before. Well, the trip from Gibraltar to Madeira was actually one of those things I would actually probably prefer to forget. I had already told you of our trip to the Balearic islands. Well, that was a walk in the park. This trip made us realize that I am indeed not meant for any kind of « crossing« of a body of water in a sailboat. We picked up two additional crew members in Gibraltar : Thierry, who continued with Sébastien across the Atlantic and Michel, a colleague of Sebastian’s , who wanted to get his first real taste of sailing. Well, we had an adventure. The trip was scheduled to take 5 nights. Sébastien assured me that we would catch the tradewinds and that the first two days might be a little rough, but that it should be realtively smooth sailing for the entire crossing. Well, to make a long story short, it was never smooth sailing. Our two new crew members were very seasick for the first two days (the girls and I were medicated, and Sébastien, although a little green around the gills, was ok). The winds varied between 25-30 knots and the waves were 6-8 meters high, with a crossed current. The full moon which was supposed to guide us, came out for an hour or two per night (when it wasn’t hiding among the clouds), usually around 3 am (when my shift ended). At one point I came on for duty at midnight and Sébastien was giving me an overview of the situation, so I could take over. It was as follows « Well, a huge wave just came up, and in addition to almost falling overboard, I also almost laid the boat on its side in the water…uh…goodnight! ». It was pitch black, with no moon, strong winds (avg of 28 knots) and 8 meter waves. I am not a sailing goddess, in fact I don’t know that much (although this trip made me realize that I know a lot more than I give myself credit for). I told him that if he felt that was responsible story for a captain to tell his first mate, that he could just keep her company for another hour or so on deck - he learned his lesson well and the following night, he explained the situation better (although the conditions remained the same). I have never in my life been so happy to see land as I was when we finally saw Madeira. Frankly at that point I wasn’t sure that I ever really wanted to get back on the boat. I was quite looking forward to getting home to the states, dry land and a warm showers and bed that didn’t move. I realize that I did learn a number of things on that long and grueling (not to say horrendous) trip. First, as I said before I probably know a lot more about sailing than I give myself credit for. Secondly, Hiss He Ho, the boat we are on, is a very safe boat (which was reassuring as my husband would be crossing the Atlantic with it a few days later), and lastly, I am really not meant to sail more than 24-36 hours. Anyway, this is not a surprise to anyone. Anyway, after our arrival in Madeira, we rented a car to visit the Island. Sébastien had always told me that he wanted me to see Madeira and now I understand why. I was enchanted by the people and the landscapes.
The girls and I left on November 26th, to be able to be home in time for Thanksgiving and Sébastien left on the 30th of November, after the arrival of his final crew member.

We spent the Month of December mainly in Rockton, with my Dad and Verna. We also went to Iowa to visit Michelle, Jens and Baby Luke and to Cincinnati to visit my mom and her family. I’m not going into more detail because if I do, January won’t get published until March. Needless to say, I had a fabulous time, but I was ready for some warmth after non-stop snow!