We are approaching Ilho Da Sal, one of the islands of Cap Verde and where we will be announcing our entrance. All the guides say that to go to Cap Verde is to travel in Africa. Though literacy and life expectancy are much higher than in Western Africa, the islands are very poor and thievery
7th Night at Sea – 4 AM Saturday morning, 3 December
4th Night at Sea
Yesterday, tiredness caught up with me. I had been doing quite well. I did not want this crossing to be like the last one, from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands. During that first long crossing I had decided to do nothing but sail and recuperate. The boat would be everything. The process of bringing the
Nightly Observations – 28 November 2016, 4AM
Some stars are so low on the horizon that you can easily mistake them for boats. Some hardly shine bright at all so they seem to fade off while you’re looking at them, leaving you to wonder if they were ever there to begin with, and then occasionally they fade back on. Some stars are
Crossing to the Canary Islands – Sotogrande to Lanzarote, 8 – 12 October
Saturday 8 October We woke up early and left Sotogrande at 6:30 AM, a good 2 hours before the sun rises in the South of Spain. The crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar is a bit complicated and demands some preparation. In the middle of the strait there is a corridor for tankers; its northern
Sotogrande – 2-8 October 2016
We went to Sotogrande as it is the closest Spanish port to Gibraltar that has a crane that can lift our boat out of water, which we needed to do to repair the damage caused at Benalmadena. We thought we might stay on the boat during the repairs, but after a night decided to take
A Funny Week – 27 September to 4 October
“You realize that last week at this time, we were watching a flamenco show in Granada?” I asked Pierrick Tuesday night over dinner at a Belgium/Italian restaurant. We are in Sotogrande near Gibraltar and I had just returned from Paris. Sometimes, so much happens in a week that your regular concept of a week morphs
Adra – 22-23 September 2016
I am currently reading “Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country’s Hidden Past”, by Giles Tremlett, a British journalist who’s made Madrid his home. I have just read the chapter on corruption. The King Juan Carlos, who was a supported of Franco, became head of state after the dictator’s death, and then he ushered in
Alicante – 13-15 September 2016
All our French friends seem to have quite a negative opinion of Alicante. “Why do you want to go there?” they all asked. And viewed from a boat sailing along the Spanish coast, I must admit it does not look special, or at least it does not look much different than all the other coastal
Panpan Panpan Panpan
“Panpan Panpan Panpan, Calling All ships All ships All ships, Message from Malaga, Almería and Cabo Gata” Yesterday, our VHF radio buzzed with the warning signal that calls all ships to listen to an important message. Pierrick was resting and I was on shift duty, watching the horizon from the wheel. I rushed inside the
What should I wear?
This post is unapologetically about clothing. 🙂 It may seem like a frivolous question, yet it is one that most of us ask ourselves every morning when we wake up: What should I wear? I have been told by many travelers that while on a boat, you hardly need any clothes. One or two t-shirts