Gibraltar

As I write this blog we are closely approaching the Strait of Gibraltar.  I can see Spain on the port side and Morocco on the Starboard. It has been a long trip to reach this point but we did it! At this point Joseph and I have logged over 1,865 Nautical miles. Not all of them have been as warm and sunny or even close to glamorous as the last 300. Since we reached Porto over a week ago we have been blessed with beautiful warm weather.

morocco ... didn't expect to see that :)

I will back up a bit a fill you in on what ports we have visited and some of the very interesting and amazing people we have met along the way. First of all, we had a great time with our friends Kate and Alison. The girls were very good sports about helping and being a part of our sailing adventure. Alison has sailed with us before in St. Martin and was so helpful with docking and winching.  We arrived in Porto and went into the old city for dinner. The depth of the city amazed me. I had never experienced such steep hills that lead down to the riverfront. It was breathtaking, with very old churches and buildings with amazing detail. We made our way down to the riverfront and had dinner. The restaurant we chose was not the best but it did the trick! As we walked around we took in the sites of the old city. One of my favorite parts about Portugal and Spain is that they people are out late and eating late! There is always a gelato shop open. The ice cream has been a great treat! They have amazing flavors and I love the cones.

Porto by night

Now, earlier in the day we experienced a lovely visit with this gentleman from Porto.  We had stopped in a local café for a drink and asked about where to find some pastries.  The owner then took us around the corner to a local baker. The baker allowed us to test many different homemade cookies. I cannot remember his name and probably would have had I blogged sooner about this experience! He explained to us that he and his wife had been in the business for over 20 years and that he loved baking cakes. He made a reference to Cake Boss and said that his cakes were a bit overdone and not authentic to real cakes.  It was a wonderful experience to meet this baker and hear how passionate he was about his profession. I think we all enjoyed talking to the baker. We ended up buying a chocolate cake. It was delicious.

The following day we unfortunately had to say goodbye to the girls.

For the first time since May 5^th Joseph and I were alone on the boat. We had to work together to sail our way to Lisbon. It was the first time we did an overnight with just the two of us. Now for some of my readers I must explain to you about night sailing. First of all there is no white light allowed after the sun goes down. If you are on deck at night then you must be clipped in to the boat. Our lifejackets are self-inflating when they hit the water and are also equipped with strobe lights. Joseph and I took turns doing the watch. We have an amazing autopilot system that drives the boat and keeps us on course. A person must be on deck to watch for other boats and adjust the sails as the wind changes. Every hour you must log your position in the notebook and the speed the boat is going. Later, I asked Joseph why we had to log if the GPS records this information regularly. He responded by telling me that it was in case I fell in that way he would know about where and when I left the deck. Wow!

me on watch ... drive by wire

When we arrived in Lisbon we were exhausted. We spent most of the day napping and catching up with emails and family. Joseph had the wonderful news that his first nephew was born.  His brother Fergus and wife Elena had given birth to a boy Christian Luca Burke. He looked adorable on Skype!

That evening we took a train into Lisbon and toured the city. We went to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. It was breathtaking. We walked all along the castle walls and could see for miles. I really enjoyed exploring the castle and seeing the city of Lisbon with Rio Tejo below. 

in the castle

Later, we poked around Alfama’s twisting alleys and enjoyed some local flavor and Fado music. In the restaurant were we ate all of the staff and servers sang Fado. It was amazing to hear all of their voices together.  We enjoyed some red house vino and had an exciting ride home in a taxi.

fado music at its best

The following day we left and headed south down the coast of Portugal to Sines. This Marina was great. We were able to anchor the boat and Joseph got to do some diving for the first time this trip. We had purchased some scuba diving gear before we left the states. Joseph suited up and cleaned the bottom of the boat. I swam around the boat and cleaned the sides. The water was beautiful and warm. It was so hot out that the only place to be was in the water. After we finished the cleaning we headed back to the dock. We met a lovely gentleman from the Channel Islands. His name was Adrian. He mentioned that he used to own Herm, the island and has since retired to sailing. He invited us to have a drink on his boat later. We of course we very pleased to be invited and went over after church.

When we arrived we met his wife Penny. She was lovely! We had some appetizers and a couple glasses of wine with them.  They told us that they use to own Herm and that Penny was one of the first people to have been born on the island.  If you remember earlier in my blogs I talk about Peter Dawson Ball from Guernsey. He told me the story of Herm and who owned it etc. I was so surprised when I later caught up with Peter of Facebook to find out that we were I the company of local Channel island royalty and didn’t know it! What a small world.

Zim in the marina... can you see her ?

Next we sailed on to Portimao and anchored there for the night. We had a nice swim and then a short sail west along the coast to Abufeira were we met up and collected Joseph’s friend John and his wife Kathy. They are going to be staying on the boat for the week while we are away in America. They are a lovely couple and it has been nice to have the company!

getting ready to shop for food ... we love food
Sardines for dinner ... not me :)

They are going to be staying on the boat for the week we are away in America. They are a lovely couple and it has been nice to have the company!

John and JosephKathy

I am really looking forward to being home for the week. I miss my friends, family, and job very much. Joseph and I are looking forward to celebrating with my cousin Jackie and he fiancé Nathan at their wedding in Newport.

The travel and adventure continues. I said to Joseph the other day, “this sailing thing is not always a very relaxing vacation” he responded by saying, “Darling, this is not a vacation but a lifestyle” …

  I am really getting into the lifestyle now and loving every minute of it! We are so blessed to experince so many different cultures and to have this adventure together! 

Hope everyone at home is healthy, happy, and safe!

Oh ya ! Gibraltar:

Now a cruise ship trying to be a sail boat :)

SPAIN!!!

June 30, 2013

Ok so I have not written a blog in over 2 weeks! UHGG but I am here now thanks to God! I experienced some of the worst weather that the Bay of Biscay has to offer as well as some of the most amazing creatures.

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Before the fun started

Dolphins in Biscay

Nighttime watch in Biscay

The dolphins in the Bay were so playful and are apparently good luck but after the amount of bad weather we have experienced I do not really believe in luck anymore. So we left on June 17^th from L’aber Warc’h France in hopes to reach A Coruna, Spain. 

Peter on watch... and I was watching him :)

We ended up encountering some bad weather on our third day and ended up in Gijon, Spain. I was sooo happy to see land! We came into the harbor at about 2am. The swells were very large and rolling and there were 14 foot waves. I was scared but knew I had a great crew to get me there safely. Joseph and Peter did a great job managing the boat. I stayed below most of that night because of the rain and freezing wind. As we arrived in Gijon the weather died down. We tucked behind a wall in the harbor to take our mainsail down. 

    

We had a great night sleep and enjoyed a delicious tapas meal.

 As we reached Viviero the harbor was set very far back in the rio. As we approached the harbor, the marina attendant came to guide us into a berth but the one he wanted us to squeeze our 42ft. sailboat into was not going to happen. We do not have a bow thruster on our boat so getting into very tight spots can be difficult. We chose to tie up to a longer pontoon that was to our left or as we say in the yachting world, “port side”. As we approached the dock the boat stopped moving. It was low tide and we knew we had run a ground. The marina attendant said that it could not be but as I was left on the boat to make dinner it began to tip even more! So there I was, tipped over with our boat tied onto a dock. People were staring at me and laughing! I was very embarrassed. When Peter and Joseph returned from getting diesel, the tide began to come in again and the boat came back up to her normal floating level. We moved to a better spot and had a great night’s sleep.

The following morning we rented a car and collected Alison and Kate from the airport in A Coruna. While we waited for the girls flight we had some local BBQ

The girls and I spent the night in a lovely hotel. The guys returned to Viverio in order to bring the boat around the corner. 

Alison and I in A Coruna

The corner they had to go around is infamous for being one of the worst corners to sail around in the world. The waves are extremely steep and the wind has to be at a favorable angle in order to approach the corner. The guys did great and arrived in A Coruna the following afternoon. The girls and I had a great day exploring the town. We were unsure about the time of the boats arrival so I opted to move to a hotel closer to the marina in order to enjoy the pool. We had a great night out to dinner as a group.  The next morning we had to say goodbye to our Guernsey shipmate. Peter has been with us since Enkhuizen, Holland. He is an extremely experienced sailor as well as a very funny and just well rounded easy going guy. He will forever remain a close friend of ours. It was very sad to see him go but I knew saying goodbye to him meant that we had made it and were making great strides to reach our destination off the Mediterranean.

 Joseph and Peter

 We spent about 4 days in A Coruna. The city was beautiful, as it has a lot of old time charm with some modern aspects mixed in. We were fortunate enough to take a train to Santiago for the day. Joseph stayed behind to do some repairs but the girls and I had a great day taking in the sights of Santiago. We saw a lot of people making a pilgrimage by foot to Santiago. The end point of this journey marks a very old and very beautiful cathedral. We were able to go in. I said some prayers of thanks that I made it safe and sound to Spain. As I was walking out of the cathedral I noticed that there were priests sitting in these open wooden boxes. They were hearing confessions. No mom, I didn’t take confession! I considered kneeling and taking confession but then quickly realized that I am not fluent in Spanish. Although, considering my bilingual career in High school did not go well, I surprisingly am able to communicate and understand Spanish very well. 

Santiago

  
A Coruna

   OCTOPUS IN A CORUNA

We left A Coruna on Friday and headed south west towards Porto. We sailed around the Cape Finisterre, known as one of the most dangerous places in the area. We were lucky to have had the wind at our back. We also had some extra help to round the corner. We met this lovely man from Cornwall, England in A Coruna and he joined us for the journey. David was a wonderful addition to our crew. He had some great stories and a very colorful character. After seeing all of us girls aboard Zimbabalooba he said he came to Spain but ended up in America! David has a wooden boat that was built in Nantucket. His boat has gaft rigging and a spar that he has to raise up.  As he was crossing the Bay Of Biscay he experienced some rough weather and in the middle of his plight a pigeon landed on his deck. He quickly realized that this bird was not going anywhere. After some hours he welcomed the pigeon below to shelter it from the storm. On arrival to A Coruna he Googled and discovered that the pigeon was an Irish homing pigeon that had been released from England as part of A race. He even went as far as contacting the owner who said he was not going to travel to Spain to retrieve his pigeon. When David joined our boat he left the pigeon behind on watch. The girls and I did not want David to leave because he was so much fun. Again, I think we made another friend for life, just as he has with his pigeon.

Highly paid crew

Spectator sport

As I write this blog we are motoring between some beautiful islands just north of Porto. It was so nice to wake up this morning and put on a bathing suit. For the last 2 months I have been wearing a winter hat and Musto gear. Bring on the summer!

  Mountains and islands

It has been great having Alison and Kate here. Their visit has meant the world to me. Alison is my best good friend and I am sad to see her go! We have had some great laughs and experiences this week. I will be so sad to see them leave tomorrow. It is all so bittersweet because their departure also marks the beginning of Joseph and I arriving into Gibraltar. I am so excited to spend the summer sailing around the Mediterranean. I am feeling extremely blessed and grateful for this adventure! If you had told me a year ago that I would be traveling by sailboat around Europe, I would have laughed!

I hope everyone at home is healthy, happy, and safe! I miss you all so much!  I hope everyone knows that there is an open invitation to come visit us on Zimbabalooba anytime.

Cheers, Anne

Last Port of Call

June 17th-    

Well this morning we head out to the high seas. We are scheduled to leave at 10am. It is now 9:30 and I am beginning to feel very nervous. The last couple of days heave been good. We have managed to do a lot of sailing and find time to relax as well. I should back up a bit and fill you in on where we have been.

The night before last we stayed in a town called Roscoff, France. It was a brand new marina. As we arrived we noticed there was a large race going on. All of the racers were from around the world. A lot of them were very cute. I especially thought the guy with the boat named Full Irish was handsome! The racers all came in at different times. Every time a new boat arrived they would sound a horn. The race did not end till about 2 am. At first I thought the sound of the horn was annoying but then as I laid in bed I thought how wonderful that all of them made it safe and sound!

In the morning I was sent into town to collect some supplies...mainly French bread..yummy!!!

I went to go get onto the free shuttle bus into town but the driver said I would not find what I was looking for. So I decided to walk and find out for myself. It was a beautiful day to walk and I got to see a lot of the town. There were a lot to of people in town for the race and I even recognized a couple of the racers from there photos. I was able to collect some bread from a local Brassarie. It is so fresh I love it!  Upon returning from the town the same bus driver honked at me and picked me up. I think he felt bad when he realized I had walked. He did not speak any English but he was very sweet.

When I reached the boat Joseph and Peter were ready to head to the next port.

We arrived here in L'Aber wrac'h , France at about 10pm. It was a nice easy sail. Not many bumps and smooth all the way. We have some of the best internet here. I was so grateful to get to talk to my folks as well as Jeb and Wendy. I will be out of touch till about Friday. We are leaving in about 15 minutes to start our journey across the Bay of Biscay. It should take us about 3 days. I am extremely confident in the crew I am traveling with but still very nervous being on a boat for 3 days straight. Joseph has downlowded some movies for me because I have managed to read all of the books I brought with me. It is probably the most reading I have done since high School. I am really looking forward to all the dolphins that everyone keeps refering to. Supposubly they will swim with the boat in Biscay. The weather is looking extremely favorable. I just keep reminding myself that after these days at sea I will get to sea Allison and Kate in Protugal. I can't wait for warmer weather and friends that speak English! I have been working on my Portugease as well as my Spanish.

I am feeling so nervous and excited all at the same time. Please please say a prayer for us to have safe passage.

Mom and dad- I am going to be fine! I love and miss you very much! Can't wait to see everyone in July!xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Hope everyone at home is healthy, happy, and safe!

Anne

Guernsey

Soooo it has been almost a week since my last blog!  We have landed in Guernsey. Our shipmate Peter Dawson-Ball is from Guernsey.We have spent the week getting organized and dealing with some repairs. During our trip across the English Channel we had some wild weather. The winds gusted up into the 40's and the seas were 10 ft. I was scared to death! Joseph did a great job keeping us safe and I did a lot of praying.


We ended up in Cherbourg France. We stayed at a nice marina and went out for dinner. As we walked into the town I noticed a nice piece of home, The American Flag! It was the first one I have seen since being here in Europe.  We spent only one night in Cherbourg then headed to Guernsey in a one day trip. It was a nice easy sail and I was happy to see Guernsey.




The past week as I mentioned we have spent repairing out travelor. The travelor for those who don't have the sailing lingo down is the part were the main sheet travels back and fourth across the deck. During our rough sail in the English Channel we broke it. Apparently it was already cracked. We met some very interesting and sweet people while here in Guernsey. Peter and his wife Jane had us over for a lovely Brine. It was a South African barbeque. There son in law Trevor made all the sausage and meat from scratch. It was deliciuos! The hospitality had been overwhelming!  We also met a lovely couple Ian and Wendy from South Hampton England. They were recently married and are also live-a-boards. They are planning on doing the ARC or better known as a transatlantic this December. They have there dog Bummble with them.

We are looking forward to getting onward today(Friday) and heading for Roscoff France. We are going to do about 80 miles today. We are getting ready to head across the Bay of Biscay early next week. I can't wait to hit Portugal because Alison and Kate are meeting us there!!! It will be great to have some friends from home on board.
I miss home and all my friends and family!!! Please keep the prayers coming and I hope to have internet to keep blogging as our adventure continues.
Hope everyone at home is healthy, happy, and safe! xo

Belgium

Today we traveled to Ostend, Belgium. We traveled southwest threw the North Sea. We covered 74 miles today which took us about 12 hours. We passed Rotterdam, Holland the busiest shipping port in the world. It was fascinating to see all of the tankers anchored outside the harbor waiting to be called in. I counted 18 at one time. Joseph and Peter also explained to me that some ships have to have a specialist from the port known as pilots come out and drive the tankers into the port. 


  Tankers waiting to be brought into Rotterdam!

I had to do some of the driving today too because I felt a little sea sick when we first got going. I think it was the orange juice I slugged first thing in the morning! Joseph has a great remedy of making you steer and look into the horizon so you don't get sick. It worked! I felt much better after an hour or so of driving.

It was a lot of fun being on the open seas although I finished two books already. The Plain Truth by Judy Picoult and The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. I need to find some more activites to occupy my time. If anyone has any other book suggestions, well I am open to them. My cousin Abby gave me  the book Devoted by Dick Hoyt which I think I will read tomorrow while we sail onto Guernsey. I also have to learn Portuguese and Spanish by the time we cross Biscay.

Tonight we are in a lovely marina in Ostend Belgium. We got to take showers and had a great steak dinner in the yacht club. This was the first shower in a whole month that I did not have to pay for! I am thinking I might take another in the morning simply cause it is free. All the previous ones coasted a euro or two and were timed!

Tomorrow, Friday we will head to Guernsey. It is a 260 mile journey. We will be doing an overnight sail on the boat. I am excited to keep moving! Joseph has told me that I will do the first night watch from 11pm to1pm. That works great for me because I like to stay up late! The boat will be set on autopilot. I will be responsible for making sure we do not hit any other boats. Seems simple!

Anyway, that is whats going on with us! Hope everyone at home is healthy, happy, and safe!xo









Sailing the North Sea!!!

Hanging Around

Today is Friday May 31st!
I have been in Holland for 27 days. The sun is now shinning here, thank God! We are having a bit of success with our engine although we may need to have the boat lifted again to adjust the prop.
I need to back up a bit and let you all know what has been going on here since my last blog.

First of all, As I had mentioned the weather has improved. Second we have become closer to leaving. We hope leave port by Sunday or Monday. last of all, we have had a new wolf join our wolfpack!(Alison that is for you). His name is Peter and he is a lovely chap from Guernsay which is located in the British Islands. He is joining our pack for our trip from Amsterdam to Portugal. He has made this journey many times and is working on his Yacht Master offshore ocean certificate. Peter is a lovely man who really enjoys my British accent! He says it actually sounds real!

So, in the midst of all the engine confusion I decided to make an appointment to get my nails done. I was able to hook up with this lovely young lady from Enkhuizen who has a nail studio above her house. Her name was Yvonne. I received a pedicure and manicure. It was very different then from at home. She did not use any water to soak either my hands or feet. In fact she used this machine that looked a lot like dentists tools. I really liked how she was able to clean up my nail beds with this high powered tool that used certain solutions and water together. My nails came out great and Yvonne was able to give me some great tips on where to eat and where to shop!

After my appointment I met Joseph and Peter back at the boat. We then decided to walk around the corner to grab a bite to eat. I would have been happy to cook for everyone but we still do not have a working fridge. The previous owner Andre has ordered us one and is suppose to install it today!?!?!
This morning we had the boat lifted out of the water! It was very scary to see this happen because it looked extremely tipsy and the crane operator told us that we were not covered under their insurance if the boat fell.  It was very nerve wrecking to watch!
    Boat lifted!!!


      Fixing the Prop angle!



 
We are now back on the marina waiting for our fridge to be installed and finishing up some last odds jobs that need to be completed before we leave for Portugal. We think our course will be out of Amsterdam heading to the straits of Dover. Then we will go to the channel islands. After that we need to check the weather to see what will be our next stop.

I will try to keep up with the blogging over the next couple of days as we have internet access now but we might not have it as we travel.

 Joseph heading to the top of our mast to run another line for sailing. It was a lot of work winching him up there by myself!



At the Top!!!

 BRAM The Mechanic!!!

North Sea

So yesterday, which was Tuesday the 4th we left Enkhuizen, Holland and headed threw the city of Amsterdam. It was a sunny day with nice winds coming out of the North East. We had do got threw three locks and under two bridges.
I found the locks to be fascinating. One must pull their vessel up against the side of the lock and wait for the water to rise or lower. We definitely got the hang of it by the 3rd one.  I really enjoyed going threw the city. It is amazing how much the Dutch rely on water and boats.

This is the last picture we took before leaving Enkhuizen. I am really going to miss Bram the mechanic who saved our engine!

Today, Wednesday...we left and got into the North Sea. The waves were big but manageable.  We put up the main sail with one reef in it because we are still learning the boat and the wind was very strong. We sailed at about 5.5 knots all day. We also put the jib up. For those of you that do not know sailing its the front sail. We had a nice and sunny day at sea. I am really begining to love this boat...good thing cause I am here!!! Tommrow we will head to Oostender which is south west  towards Dover, England. We are going to do 80 miles ....Lots of reading time for me!!! I am really looking forward to getting to Guernsey because the gentleman who is sailing with us Peter lives there. We are going to get to meet his wife Jane and there kids! Maybe, we will get a real shower too!
Thanks for all of you prayers and well wishes...The adventure has begun!!!
The North Sea!

 

Peter relaxing!

Joseph exciting to be sailing!

It works better in the water!!! hahaha




The Crew!!!

Thanks for reading my blog! I love all the support!!!xo