Planning for Mous’le’s trip began in July of 2005. We had talked for some years of going long term cruising in Mous’le, our Dehler 37 CWS and we decided that 2006 was to be the test run. After much research and advice we spent the winter months having a variety of new gear installed, including a generator, a Hydrovane windvane self-steering system, two Raymarine E series displays (one below at the chart table and one at the helm), a new Raymarine ST2 Autopilot with two control heads, a new toilet and holding tank, additional diesel storage and generally preparing Mous’le for her voyage. The plan was to leave the Isle of Wight in mid-May but after a two week delay, due partly to adverse weather, partly owing to our Raymarine Autopilot course computer still being repaired with Raymarine in Portsmouth, and partly as all our sails had not been delivered, we left Cowes at the end of May.
Here’s proof we made past Sconce this time! (2 years ago a passage to Ireland in our previous boat foundered at Sconce 5 times through bad weather and engine failure before we had to give up the idea). Once out of the Solent, we then sailed to Poole where we had to stop overnight at the Poole Yacht Haven to repair a jammed Furlex drum. We then left for Weymouth via the inside passage through St Alban’s race (bouncy!) and motored virtually the whole way. A couple of pleasant days were spent doing maintenance before setting off round Portsmouth Bill for Dartmouth.
When leaving harbour the next day after an overnight stay, we had to give way to a large cruise liner firmly blocking the entrance.
A windless passage to Plymouth followed and we moored up in QAB Marina where the Round Britain race boats were gathering. We spent the next morning looking round the old town and then set off to motor to Falmouth where we met up with friends Al and Rosie from St Ives and spent a couple of days with them in St Ives before leaving for Newlyn with Al on board. Once again we motored virtually the whole way as wind was still a scarce commodity. At Newlyn we arrived in the dark and discovered a myriad of piles had been placed in the harbour in preparation for pontoons - not yet arrived - around which we had to weave in order to tie up to a raft of fishing boats on the pier.
Rosie joined us the following day and brought with her a replacement Course Computer from Raymarine as ours had been lost and as this failed to work when installed, they express delivered another to St Ives, our next stop. We all motored round to St Ives on a flat calm sea via the Inner Passage round Land’s End. Passing the Carrick Rocks to the west of St Ives, we watched a colony of seals basking in the evening sunshine. We reached St Ives at sunset and anchored in the bay below their flat.
The next 4 days were consistently windless as Mous’le sat happily at anchor in St Ives Bay. We visited Mousehole, The Minack Theatre, Tesco’s and Penzance harbour. With Rosie and Al we motored round to the next bay, hung Al and The Admiral out over the sea and watched the sunset (aided by a generous supply of gin!) - A glorious week.
Leaving St Ives we managed to sail for about 30 mins, unfortunately in the wrong direction. We trying furling our cruising chute but sharing a furling drum between a Twistle and a cruising chute didn't really work. We will need to flatten the cut of the cruising chute and provide some form of luff support. We motored up to Padstow and entered the river over the ‘Doom Bar’ named after a famous Cornish beer! ( or maybe not)
Once in Padstow we had a list of works to do on Mous'le that kept us busy for 3-4 days through the mixed weather including a significant sandstorm! One night we ate at Rick Stein’s chippy—very good—grilled tuna or bass in herbs—no batter, and we also saw a good line in rubber dogs!
Our next trip was across the Bristol Channel to Milford Haven and with course computer and autopilot working we said thanks to Raymarine Service Department and then set out into a windless 4metre swell coming in from the Western Approaches—very unpleasant, but it moderated as the day progressed. Dolphins kept us company for nearly 3 hours—often as many as 2 dozen at a time. There were a couple of babies who were obviously learning because, when they popped out of the water, instead of a clean re-entry, they belly-flopped!
Milford Marina proved a better haven than we had expected and again a good Tesco’s allowed easy provisioning. We spent the afternooncycled around the countryside a bit.
We then headed off west to Ireland passing Skokholm Island and its striated cliffs. Again we saw many dolphins on the crossing - they seemed to be heading South East but stopped to play for a while before dashing off. We arrived in Arklow in the dark and had fun finding the entrance to the tiny little marina. It’s a typical Irish town— being a mix of old and new with a large Tesco’s.
Taking advantage of a forecast gentle southerly wind we left Arklow the next day for either Howth or Carrickfergus. However gales (!!!) were forecast for 36 hours hence, so we diverted and headed directly for the Clyde, motoring overnight and arriving in drizzly misty weather. Even Ailsa Craig had its bonnet on. The forecast southerly did indeed eventually appear and we hoisted the ‘Twistle’ for the first time.
We got into Troon Marina just as the wind increased from the 16—20 knots we had had, to 30—45 knots on and off for the next 4 days, keeping us storm bound. If you look carefully, The Admiral (in thoughtful mood) can be seen taking the shot of our bows in Troon Marina. We met up with Rosie’s sister Fran and her friend Eileen who live in Troon and who very generously lent us a car. This enabled us to do some sightseeing further afield and we visited the local Tesco’s as well as Culzean (pronounced “Kullane”) Castle and Irvine Maritime Museum. We also ate with Fran and Eileen at the Oyster Bar, a fish restaurant in the Fish harbour at Troon. The food was excellent and the walls are covered with mementoes and photos of Scotland's bids for the America’s Cup. Eventually we had to bid our friends farewell and we motored off north for the Cumbraes and the Kyles of Bute. The weather was fine and we called into Millport harbour and saw a colony of seals basking in the sun on rocks in the middle of the bay. On and up with the spinnaker was the call as the wind filled in gently from the south and we joined a fleet of local boats racing north for Rothesay. We sailed up into the East Kyle on a dying breeze and as the sun set over the mountains we anchored in An Calach—surely one of the most beautiful anchorages in Scotland. The sea was mirror flat the next morning and it seemed as if no one wanted to be the first to destroy the peace and quiet by starting engines and disturbing the deep blue surface.
Eventually the magic was broken and we set off southwest down the West Kyle and into Loch Fyne. The wind filled in from the south at about 12 knots, resulting in an exciting and enjoyable beat till we reached Loch Fyne and with it lost the wind. We paid a flying visit to Tarbert to see it for ourselves then continued on to Ardrishaig.
As we approached the harbour we passed a small vessel also heading for the Crinan Canal. She was to keep cropping up at various points in our voyage and was being sailed single handed by a young Swede.
We locked into Ardrishaig basin for the night then moved up to Lochgilphead where we cycled into the town for provisions and a look around then back to the boat to move up to Cairnbaan. There we cycled to some historic sites in the local forest and although we were unable to navigate our way to the stone carvings, we did see a spectacular mountain bike track in the woods. A hike up the hill from our mooring was more successful and we found the carved stones at the top. It was then back to the Cairnbaan Hotel for a well-earned beer. Over course of the next few days we slowly moved along the canal waiting for the weather to improve for the next stage of the journey. This was to take us out through the Dhorus Mor channel into the sound of Luing and up to the Sound of Mull and Tobermory. The weather was overcast but with a force 4 south- westerly to encourage us we set out for what was to become the most exciting sail of the trip so far. We ended up double reefed in the Sound of Mull and arrived in Tobermory Bay in a torrential downpour! Typical West Highland summer weather!
Having explored the delights of Tobermory, we set off by bus to visit Toronsay Castle and Gardens and to catch a sight of Duart Castle, the seat of the Clan Chief of the Macleans of Duart.. The bus dropped us at Craignure where the Oban ferry docks and we then took the Mull Steam Railway from Craignure to Toronsay. A delightful little railway and it ran promptly to time!. The weather brightened up and the house proved as interesting as the gardens. A lot of effort has been put in by the owners to supply a variety of information on people associated with the house and their exploits. These range from polar expeditions, escape from German POW camps, sailing round the world on a square rigger etc. Then it was back to Tobermory and a meal in the Café Fish, above the Cal Mac office which offered an innovative menu with Scottish derived dishes a speciality.
The next day we sailed round to Loch Drumbuie at the entrance to Loch Sunart and anchored in a little bay on the north shore. This had been the site of a mussel farm now disused, and The Admiral took the opportunity to pick a helping or two from below the low water mark. Moule mariniere was our supper that evening, eaten alongside a stunning sunset.
Morning brought the promise of a north or north- easterly wind and we set off for Arinagour on the Island of Coll where the Skipper’s father had done many holiday GP locums. A rapid reach took us across to Coll. We anchored in Arinagour harbour for lunch and then turned southeast for the Treshnish Isles and Staffa. Threading the Treshnish Isles with our Twistle up proved straightforward and we made good passage to Staffa and Fingal’s Cave. This is every bit as dramatic in real life as in pictures and we felt privileged to have the chance to see it in such benign conditions. South then to the Sound of Iona where we had a failure of our Twistle furling gear and had to drop it pronto while trying to head upwind to avoid a sandbank and a ferry! Order was restored and we rounded the southwest corner of Mull and dropped anchor in the lee of Ardalanish Point. We left early the next morning with a 40 mile passage to Corpach and the Caledonian Canal in overcast and misty conditions with no wind once again. In fact there was not as much as a puff all day! We took advantage of the quiet to do some more improvements - The Admiral made and fixed our pulpit seat Our route took us up the south east coast of Mull and across into the sound of Lismore, before passing Port Appin , Shuna and heading for Corran Narrows. We finally dropped anchor on a falling tide off Corpach Sea Lock as the sun set on the first part of our journey.
Our story continues with us in the now sunlit basin at Corpach Sea Lock the grass and fences are still dripping from the recent shower and Ben Nevis is hiding under a cloud.
It is now the 6th of July and is the day that she and us will begin the next part of our journey towards the Northlands of Scandinavia. But first we have to wait for the passage of a giant (in Caledonian Canal terms) cruise liner. The Lord of the Glens is designed to fit the locks in the canal with a foot of room on each side and about three feet fore and aft. She takes some time to pass up through the basin and we are advised to give her a wee bit time tae get well ahead!
So after lunch it is time to cast off and head up the canal to Neptunes Staircase an automated flight of eight locks that takes about ninety minutes to negotiate. The lock staff chatted away as Mousle was led, as if on a lead, from lock to lock. At least she followed docilely at heel unlike the many dogs we saw who were being exercised along the towpath.
After tying up to the quayside in the top basin we decided to cycle into Fort William to go shopping for some provisions and a collapsible fishing rod. (at the time of writing it has onlycaught seaweed!) It was a painless journey which took us past the River Lochy and Inverlochy Castle ruins just outside Fort William. Unfortunately the trip left some rather achy muscles in its wake.
The next morning we set off bright and early to motor up the canal to Loch Lochy the first of the several lochs that make up much of its length. We had barely travelled three miles when the engine died to a stop. There we were drifting in the canal, unable to sail as there was no wind and unable to contact the canal authorities by radio. We dropped anchor and after a few minutes managed to bleed the engine and restart it. Meanwhile Penny had been vigorously exercising her aching legs by inflating our dinghy just in case we needed to tow Mous`le back to Banavie.
Over night we tied up to a pontoon right at the end of Loch Lochy and dawn brought calm sunny weather.
Over the next week we progressed in stages, taking our time as we did not have to be in Inverness until the end of the third week in July. We spent four days at Fort Augustus a picturesque town built around another flight of locks and well provided with pubs. We met the skipper of the Lord of the Glens in one, drinking with one of the lock staff and learned about the fun and challenges of driving such a monster through the canal.
It was time to move again and we set off up Loch Ness. Unfortunately the only monsters we saw were the earthworks for a new multi-million pound hydro-electric scheme being built in the hills to the south of Fort Augustus. There was a decent breeze from astern and we were able to use our Twistle to good effect, averaging over six knots to Castle Urquart.
That night we tied up at Dochgarroch lock about three miles from Inverness and met a man from Cowes who was working on a large luxury charter barge. It was to turn out that he was the brother of one of our friends ex girlfriends and we shared a lot of mutual acquaintances. Through him, we were invited to a barbecue at the local lock-keepers (Donald John) house. He was a friendly easy going man with a dry highland sense of humour. We spent four days at Dochgarroch in temperatures of 35+degrees before moving on into Inverness.
While waiting at Muirtown Locks, the last staircase of locks we got into conversation with a German skipper of a Gaff ketch from Bremen She was a hundred yrs old and had been restored to sailing rig about twenty years ago. We were allowed a tour and she is beautifully fitted out, complete with separate navigation cabin with its own companionway form the deck and a beer bar on deck with a tap for the beer and a fully functional beer glass sink with scrubbers! We were offered (and accepted) a glass before we had to leave to lock down to Seaport Marina where we were to await the arrival of a new member of crew, our neighbour in Cowes, Alastair Gittos, who was joining us for the trip to Norway.
Due to it`s late arrival on the Saturday night his plane was four hours late leaving Southampton, then was diverted to Glasgow where he had to be bussed to Edinburgh and stay overnight before catching the train for Inverness. He has re-christened his airline Maybe rather than Flybe. We set off soon after his arrival and motor-sailed out of the Inverness Firth. As we left the firth, we met two dolphins doing tricks for a crowd of onlookers on the beach wonderful to watch.
On through the night we sailed and then as the wind died, motored. We had to pull into Fraserburgh to top up with fuel for the passage across the North sea to Lindesnes and then Mandal in Norway. The weather was kind, and we progressed under engine for about twenty-four hours before a twelve knots SE wind allowed us to sail for the rest of the crossing. We passed a series of oilfields with familiar names, often heard but till now never seen; names like Fortes, Ekofisk, Buzzard and the like. Eventually out of the dawning sky of our third day at sea the coast of Norway separated itself from the clouds and settled on the sea a comforting under indicator of impending arrival. After rounding Lindesnes we took an inshore passage through the skaargard that area of rocks and islands that guards much of Norways coast. The leads and channels are narrow tortuous and navigation was made much easier by our Raymarine E80 in the cockpit at the helm with it`s Navionics chart which proved extremely accurate then and in the weeks that followed.
We threaded our way through the rocks and skerries to Mandal where we made our first landfall in Norway, Our attempt to present documents at the local police station was met with a grin and a wave of the hand You are welcome. Go away, there is nothing to do!
From there we moved on towards Kristiansand again following a maze of inshore channels, which separated larger islands often inhabited by the red or white wooden houses which characterise this region. There are no beaches just rocks falling vertically in natural quays that allow alongside mooring. Every house has at least one boat tied up outside and the waters are as busy as Calshot Reach on a busy Sunday in the summer. The area has, however, an aura of peace about it which defies the noise of the many power craft that pass by.
All too soon we were approaching Kristiansand Harbour and our first attempt at a bows on mooring with a buoy at the stern. All passed reasonably smoothly and we were tied up and eating supper by nine oclock. After re-provisioning and a look round the town, we began to cast off our lines in order to refuel before setting off north towards Oslofjord. Unfortunately another yacht decided to moor in the space next to us and as he attached his stern line to the same buoy as we were moored to, his metal long handled snap shackle gripped our looped line in its jaws rendering us unable to free ourselves. He was reluctant to release his line so we were forced to put a member of crew on our bathing platform and close up to the buoy to enable us to free our selves. In the force four to five wind this was no simple task. We managed it however and avoided any collisions. After the refuelling we set off across the fjord passing a Norwegian submarine returning to port.
Re-entering the skaargard was a relief as the wind had increased to a steady twenty-five knots and the shelter of the skerries gave us flat water. Sailing in the skerries is difficult and dangerous because of the speed some power boats travel at and the winds are at best fickle being bent here and there by the channels and islands. As a result we proceeded under engine for the bulk of our trip to Tonsberg. The area is justifiably popular amongst Norwegians who come here in droves. However we still managed to find two idyllic anchorages, on our own and well sheltered. In both we had to moor bow and stern anchors as there was no swinging room. In one we tied to a ring set in a rock and the other we used our kedge anchor off the stern. Both anchorages offered fresh mussels for supper and swimming opportunities in water that was about 23 degrees and the air that was 35+ degrees ! Heavenly!
We passed Arendal and Larvik then after clearing the entrance to Sandefjord, we turned north to Tonsberg. This was to be home for the next two weeks or so while we explored Oslo and then returned to Scotland for ten days holiday!!
We left Tonsberg in mid-August, two weeks after arriving. Those two weeks were not spent in Tonsberg, since we took our courage in our hands and left Mousle to look after herself while we flew to Glasgow in order to meet up with some of Pennys family for a long planned Whiskey Tour to include Arran, Islay, Fort William and Grantown on Spey. Several bottles of Whiskey were added to Hughs collection (tastings to be arranged on return to the IOW!).
Flights to and from Norway were not affected by the alleged terrorist threats and we returned to Tonsberg to find Mousle apparently unaffected by our absence.Within twelve hours of returning we motored most way across Oslofjord to the Swedish coast. There we found the same topography as in Norway with off lying skerries - many inhabited - and many sheltered leads and fjords to explore.
We anchored each night and visited a number of very pretty villages during the days including Hamburgersund where there is a free cable ferry and nobody to collect mooring fees; and Smogen, a fishing village now catering mainly for holiday makers, from both land and sea. It is built of wood on solid rock and relies on a boardwalk around the creek to enable people to access its harbour. The boardwalk is full of shops, restaurants and people. A very pretty place, and the variety of colours in the buildings was a welcome change to the red and white of further north. We left after spending an hour or so exploring the shops and harbour and followed a channel through the skerries to the southwest.
Our next cruising area was to be the fjords around the islands of Orust and Tjorn, famous for their beauty. They are like the Solent in many ways, separating the island from the mainland. There are two large ports taking ocean going vessels as well as an oil refinery and power station. Yacht building is is a major industry with Malo Yachts and Najad Yachts both located on the North side of Orust. At Henaan, the home of Najad Yachts, we had a warm welcome from a Swedish boatyard worker who came to serve us with diesel. His English was accent less! He also showed a great sense of humour, as when he heard how long we had been away from home, two on a boat .. and you are still talking?
Motoring has been the order of the day here as the weather has been windless now for over a month. Our Ankoralina and kedge at the stern has proved invaluable allowing us to stop in places where there was no swinging room.
On our way southwards we passed through Marstrandsund dividing Marstrand (the Swedish `Cowes` complete with ferry across the river!) from the Island of Koon, but, but seeing nothing of interest except for several marinas to make us want to stop there, we carried on.
One more idyllic anchorage saw us heading into civilisation and Goteburg. We stopped there for two or three days to see some of the sights of the city. At long last we had exhausted the list of jobs to be completed and we hoped that we would be able to spend more time sight seeing. The Lilla Boman Marina is right in the middle of the city and is only a five minute walk from the major shopping areas and museums. We visited the Picasso exhibition in the Konstmuseet while there and enjoyed the many sites of interest such as the Fiskekirke (the fish market), the Maritime Museum and the waterfront.
From Gothenburg we tried to out run a thunderstorm but failed and ended up taking shelter in the fishing harbour of the Island of Styrsoe. We later discovered that although we were not struck, the lightning had knocked out our fluxgate compass! We did not discover this for a day or two and later had to re-educate our autopilot from scratch on our way to Denmark! Styrsoe is a car free island with tiny lanes, only a single shop and no pub. It offered a peaceful haven until the weather front passed through allowing us to continue on to Jutland. Our folding bikes were once again put to good use here - we cycled over most of the island between downpours!. It was here we discovered that we had run up an internet access bill of over £800 in two weeks, as we had been put on the wrong tariff by our provider. It has provoked a great deal of thought about managing internet access in the future! It was now the end of August, and it seemed amazing that we were now more than half the way through our trip and that we had travelled as far as 6° 31` W, 59° 59.5`N and 11° 30` E to date.
It was time to move on from our haven in Styrsoe and with an increasing likelihood of westerly winds, we decided to cross the Kattegat via Laesoe to the Limfjord and take advantage of the shelter offered by the Danish province of Jutland. The crossing to Laesoe was uneventful and apart from having to avoid large areas of shallow sandbanks around the island we entered Vesteroehavn harbour in the late afternoon.
Laeso is the newest island in the Danish Kattegat and it is only a few thousand years old. It is essentially a very large sandbank which become populated with grass and trees which has stabilised it and now it is home to a resident population of 4,000, rising to 12,000 in the summer season. It is predictably a flat island and we had a lot of fun cycling around most of it. The beaches are naturally extensive, although the south side of the islands is mainly comprised of salt flats, and indeed salt production is a significant industry on Laesoe as is fishing and farming. In the central town of the island there is a tower, twenty metres high, built by a man who wanted a good view of the island, so he built it by handtwo courses of stone blocks a day for three years until he had finished it. It has never served any useful function other than a folly and tourist attraction. While in Vesteroehavn, we met and talked to a Danish couple from Ebeltoft, who had bicycles like ours and were also exploring the island.
The weather improved, allowing us to leave and we headed out of the harbour to try and reset the autopilot which had stopped working on the trip out of Gothenburg. No joy there so we hand steered with some help from Harriet the Hydrovane down the Kattegat to Hals at the entrance to the Limfjord; a waterway which actually divides Jutland in two, communicating as it does with both the Kattegat in the east and the North Sea in the west.
The beginning of September saw us in Hals harbour, immediately preceded by another British boat, which had raced us in albeit under power. She was a Cromarty 36 Deck Saloon named Concord and was crewed by Stuart Bradley and wife Marjory along with friend Laura. They were based in Denmark and are members of the Cruising Association. They were returning from the CAs Riga Rally. We spent the next three or four days in their company as both boats, aware of impending strong westerly winds, headed up the Limfjord for Aalberg and shelter. After some trouble with a railway line (ask Penny), we both found moorings in the Vesterhavn Marina in Aalberg and snugged down for a stay of two or three nights. On the last night there was a Baroque Concert advertised, to be given by the Copenhagen Saxophone Quartet and as supper was available beforehand we all went along. For better or worse we arrived to discover there had been a change of programme and it now consisted of modern classical music including composers like Philip Glass and some Scandinavian composers writing in similar vein. While not musically to our taste, we all recognised the quality of the playing and left at the end having at least appreciated the experience.
The next day took us back down to Hals. We had managed to sail up to Aalberg and repeated the process on the return. While walking round to the town and the library in Hals, we met the Danish couple Erik and Inge that we had met on Laesoe. They invited us to let them know if we were in Ebeltoft and as that was on our itinerary we arranged to telephone them on our arrival. The next morning Concord was heading for Rudkobing in Langeland so we went our separate ways and Mousle set off for Grenaa some forty miles to the south.
After an Grenaa exciting sail under Twistle we arrived at Grenaa and had to moor alongside the pontoon because of the very strong crosswinds. We saw Concord arrive shortly after but did not meet up with the crew till the next morning as we were all about to leave.
Another great sail took us to the beginning of Ebeltoft bay and we motored in to the yacht harbour to find it very full. We chose a berth at the end of a pontoon but unfortunately, although it was unmarked, the owner returned an hour or two later. He was very kind however and allowed us to stay put while he tied up nearby. He and his wife joined us for drinks and it turned out they knew Erik and Inge, so word of our arrival was quickly passed. Erik and Inge collected us the next morning in their car and took us on a trip to the nature reserve and woodland opposite the town called Mols Berge. The road runs round the bay for a couple of miles before climbing a valley that has the remains of five watermills and giving access to the roads throughout the reserve. These are largely unmetalled and narrow, but climb to the peak known as Trehoje or Three Hills. The view from here is superb extending from the Kattegat to the Southeast and Ebeltoft bay closer to, around to Aarhus bay and Aarhus in the distance. From there we went south to the point that lies to the west of the entrance to Ebeltoft bay and the lighthouse that has had its buildings sold off to a German buyer although the light still is in use. To the south the islands of Samsoe and Tunoe were easily seen on the horizon. Then back round the bay to Ebeltoft and lunch outside the new Glass Museum before heading south again to the eastern entrance of the bay and Oershavn, a small locked basin with a marina development The next stop was a cake shop in Ebeltoft before Erik and Inge took us up to their house overlooking the bay for cakes, tea and a malt whisky tasting on their veranda! We didnt get back to the boat till 8.00pm. It had been a day to remember, not just for the beautiful scenery and food, but also for the warmth of the hospitality shown to us.
The next day we moved the boat to the harbour by the maritime museum while Penny did some shopping, then it was Cast off and we were on our way to Tunoe, a small traffic free island with a population of eighty and a small harbour. We spent two days there cycling from one end to the other and enjoying its charm. Its lighthouse is situated on the top of the church tower, and is reputedly unique. The roads are small but in good condition and took us through the only village to the western extremity of the island where there are benches available to help you admire the view westwards. Back to town to pick up a few basics at the well stocked little island shop. A nice restful stay indeed.
South again and we had the first sign of impending engine trouble as the engine would run for thirty - forty minutes and then die. The wind was insufficient to sail our original route, so we headed for Kertemindeour nearest port. This proved a blessing in disguise as it is a major yachting port and is very well equipped. It also has a very active sailing club who race everything from Optimists to Mumm 36s. The night we arrived was Folkboat night and indeed we found that they are built in Kerteminde. We were able to organise an engineer to check our propeller cutless bearing and rudder as well as sort out the engine -a blocked primary fuel filter from contaminated fuel! We changed the fuel filters ourselves, but managed to flood the engine with water - fortunately the engineer was able to sort it all out! By lunchtime we had been lifted out, the checks made and Mousle was back in the water. By the following lunchtime we had had the engine repaired as well and were raring to go.
We headed out in the middle of weekend racing and had to dodge committee boats, racing boats and also the occasional cruiser. The wind was a steady twenty knots, on the nose, and we motor sailed out into the Big Belt and headed for the Western Bridge and then Korsor. The trip was fast and furious and despite a one to one and a half knot current against us, we made good time. Passing under the bridge is impressive as it is five km long and has sixty-five metres clearance. It is a massive structure. The left turn into Korsor carried us out of the tide and into flat water in the lee of the Island of Sjaelland.
Korsor is a Danish naval base and fishing port as well as a yacht haven and gave us a pleasant nights shelter before moving south to Rudkobing on Langeland island. A fun sail led us to the entrance to the northern channel into the town and thence to the marina. Concords crew turned out to be still in town putting their boat to bed for the winter. Stewart is a sea shanty singer and had just done a concert for the owner of Bianca Yachts, the local boat builder. Anders, the owner of the yard,was extremely welcoming, as were Stewart, Laura and Marjorie. Early evening drinks moved to the marina restaurant and Mousles crew staggered home at 00.30!
Next morning we had to leave and make for Keil via Marstal on the Eastern corner of Aero. We stopped to refuel there before crossing the Southern Baltic to Holtenau in the Keilerfjord. The day was windless and misty and the journey involved dodging a variety of vessels, more as we approached the Keil Canal We moored at Holtenau just outside the massive Old Locks, which are amazingly half the size of the New Locks. There are some large ships in the Keil Canal. In front of us on the pontoon were Gert and Annettea couple from Hamburg in a Halberg Raasay 35, who had been cruising in the Baltic like ourselves. They spoke good English and had spent twenty years in Canada living and working in Nova Scotia. We had a late evening drinking and chatting in Mousle with them and another bird of passage, a Finn, Kari, who was sailing single-handed to Spain and the Canaries. We were to meet again at Brunnsbuettel at the other end of the canal in a day or twos time for another evening of companionable conversation and drinks. This stop marked the end of out Baltic adventure, and the beginning of the next chapter, the journey through Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to Dover and home.
Our first sight of Holland was of the sandbanks on the approaches to the Lauwersmeer, when, rising out of a misty sea, they hid the hulls of vessels moored beyond. Some kind of party seemed to be in progress and there was even a tent pitched on the sandy island. We did wonder if the Dutch had taken up beach cricket!
We arrived at the lock and went through with a group of local boats who had been out racing in their weekend regatta. Much to our surprise, one of the crew in the boat ahead of us was the local Rep for the Cruising Association and he struck up a conversation as we went through the lock together. Once we had moored up in the Yacht Club marina in Lauwersoog he came over for a chat. He asked where we were headed and when we said we were going down through the canals with two metres draught, he went tch . tchhh hmmmm!! Reassuring?! However we persevered and although the depths were as little as ten centimetres under the keel, we didnt touch. Generally we had half a metre or more.
Traversing Friesland was interesting and the villages and towns had clearly evolved around the canal structure. We passed through Dokkum, Leuwarden and Grouw, where we entertained some little birds to afternoon tea, then Lemmer, our gateway to the Ijsselmeer.
This part of Holland is full of traditional Dutch sailing barges in all shapes and sizes in addition to a huge number of yachts. Lemmer alone has six or seven marinas. The Ijsselmeer proved to be a breeze without much wind, and we had to motor the entire length to Amsterdam. We locked into the Nord - See Canal along with half a dozen yachts that had been taking part in a single handed race in the Markermeer. Two British yachts from the east coast had come over for the event.
We spent our time in Amsterdam in Sixhaven, a marina directly opposite the main central train station with a ferry link to the city centre. A fascinating city, Amsterdam has its fabled canals and bicycles in abundance, but the best memory we took away was discovering raw herring sold as a take away delicacy! While in Sixhaven we met a Canadian family on a yacht called Tioga who were selling up after five years at sea and settling down in the Canadian prairies to allow their children to complete their education. They sold us a lot of gear including four solar panels and we wish them well in the flatlands of Canada.
On the first of October we left Amsterdam and headed west to Haarlem and then south to the Bressemeer where we anchored for the night and watched the most spectacular sunset. When we awoke the next morning the meer was full of anglers but we saw no catches.
On south again initially to Rotterdam, but having been unable to gain access to Gouda since the entrance locks were closed on Sundays, we decided to divert to Dordrecht and spent three very pleasant days in this ancient city. It is similar in age and wealth to Amsterdam though smaller and proved an fascinating town. We were joined in Dordrecht marina by another Dehler a 37 cruising version of very different design to ours and met the owners. They were from the town of Willemstad, about fifteen miles to the south. They recommended it as a stopover and we ended up staying five days there avoiding gales.
Willemstad is an old fortified walled town with a star shaped city wall and moat which entirely encloses the town. The first two sides have been converted into a marina and, tucked up against the high wall we were totally sheltered from the storm.
We had to move on and the next stage of our journey took us from the mouth of the Rhine to the Osterscheldt and then the Versemeer where we spent a night in Veere harbour before completing the final stage of our Holland adventure at Vlissingen where we emerged from the canal system into the Vesterscheldt.
The gods had benignly granted a spell off easterly winds, so, for almost the first time in over three thousand miles we set off down wind to Belgium and France before leaving Dunkerque to cross the Dover TSS and arriving in Dover after a very quick crossing. The Cinque Ports YC were very welcoming and we spent an enjoyable couple of days before leaving for an overnight stop and a family lunch at Shoreham . Another brisk sail took us round Selsey Bill in thirty thirty-five knots of wind and we were home in Cowes by midday on October the fifteenth, in time to join the Sunday racers in the club for a well earned beer!
24th July
Here we go again! we said as we headed out past Sconce and left the Solent mid morning on a beautiful sunny day. It was later in the sailing season than we had hoped to start our new adventure, but an mixture of waiting for new sails, a new cockpit canopy and a gale that resulted in Mous`le being damaged, led to the extended time on Cowes.
A light WSW breeze was more or less on the nose at first, so we motored out past the Needles and bore away for the Channel Islands.
After making good time for the first half of the journey, we were steadily headed as the wind steadily backed into the South leaving Cherbourg as the only sensible destination. We arrived there after a quick trouble free crossing and then were forced to stay for 5 days before we could set course for St Peter Port in Guernsey.
25th July
The weather dawned wet and windy and our new canopy was called into service and gave us great shelter. During our initial switch to a visitors berth in Cherbourg, the main fuel tank had become contaminated, and blocked the main fuel filter. The engine stopped between hammerheads and we were parked by 6 very helpful French and Belgian boat owners who were happy to help. After changing the filter and treating the tank contents all settled down.
Penny used our time here to alter the forepeak storage into custom built shelves to fit our various boxes of bits and bobs. This has made an enormous difference to our storage and we wonder why we didnt do it sooner.
30th July
After 4 days of maintenance and repairs, the weather moderated and a NNW wind allowed us to leave Cherbourg and catch the tide to Guernsey. Another sunny day with excellent visibility allowed us to sail a large part of the way, although we had to motor to Cap de la Hague. We reached Guernsey midafternoon and after a short wait outside on the waiting pontoon we were allowed in and joined 70 boats entering the Victoria Marina that day! After tying up we ambled ashore to enjoy a well earned beer and ended up eating out in a rather nice restaurant on the quay by the Marina.
31th July
Explored St Peter Port on foot and discovered much we had not seen before. Regrettably, the old market is being refurbished and there is now only 1 fish counter, 1 meat counter and 1 vegetable counter left in a shop unit nearby. On the plus side the Island has refurbished some of the oldest part of town into an interesting extension to the shopping area.
1st August
The next day dawned fine and we locked out of Guernsey to go and visit Sark. We hoped to anchor, but as there was no safe anchoring left on the East side, we scooted round to Dixcart bay on the Southwest of the Island and managed to spend a few hours there.
Unfortunately there was a substantial swell coming into the bay although we were well sheltered from the wind, and eventually most people upped anchor and left. We eventually followed suit and had a great Twistle run down to Les Corbiere Light on the SW corner of Jersey. From there our path to St Helier was illuminated from astern by a flaming red sun setting over the lighthouse behind us a trip to remember. We arrived at high water, so were able to motor straight into the town Marina and raft up inside. A celebratory glass of wine and beef stew later, we retired for the night.
2nd August
We had to be up with the birds as the innermost boat in our raft was leaving, and we took the opportunity to nip across to take up residence in a recently vacated finger berth where we would not be at risk of being rafted onto, with all the disturbance that brings. In so doing we found that we had pipped several other boats to the `post who had also had their eye on the berth. In this case winner takes all! We decided to take advantage of an offer of 7 days mooring for the price of 6 and the berthing master also forgot to include our previous nights stay giving us 8 nights in Jersey. We were waiting for some replacement gear to arrive from England our course computer and the chain counter for our windlass.
3rd August
Spent a day or two re-installing returned gear and adding new lights for the forepeak and the starboard aft storage cabin. Another job that should have been done earlier (like maybe last year!?). We met T (Thira) & Pete Kelly from Sapphire, a Legend 36, who are from the River Fal. They have been living fulltime on their boat for 18 months now, and have just made their first Channel crossing. A great couple. We had drinks with them then we both hosted the others to dinner over the next few nights until they left for St Malo with some French friends.
5th August
We cycled round the southwest coast of Jersey to Gorey (through the middle of the Beach Festival!) in order to visit Mont Orgeuil Castle. This is a very old and important defensive castle and has recently been restored. It sits, overlooking Gorey, an imposing edifice of considerable grandeur. It was an inspiring afternoon and we were still there as the castle closed. The castle has been filled with modern sculpture illustrating many aspects of its past in stimulating ways and the result is very exciting to see. Our return route to St Helier was direct which involved a 1 in 5 gradient for the first half mile until we reached the highest point from where it was largely downhill all the way back to Mousle. The next three days were spent in completing our chores and maintenance and Penny exploring the local chiropractic talent. (A young Aussie guy doing locums around the place)
9th August
We had now got to the end of our stay in Jersey but so as to catch the tide at low water the next day, we left St Helier and motored a mile or so to the west before dropping anchor for the night in St Brelades Bay, just next to St Aubin. It has its own fort as well as Elizabeth Castle a mile away across the bay guarding the entrance to St Helier. 10th August Woke after a quiet night at anchor to a sparkling day and set off to sail through Les Minquiers, and then on to the Sound in the Îles des Chausey looking for a place to anchor unfortunately there was no room at the inn with boats rafted 5 deep in the sound and other sheltered spots already full. We were forced to reassess our destination and elected to move on to Granville and spend a day or two there. En route we spied a French Goélette heading back to Granville after a trip round the Baie de Mont St Michel. It turned out to be La Granvillaise.
We arrived in time to clear the cill and tied up in a berth sheltered by the massive seawall. Time for a quick stroll into the town centre and spot a likely poissonnerie to supply tomorrows evening meal. Back in the old town we reached the Church of Our Lady. This is dedicated to sailors and is a perfect place to pass a quiet moment of reflection. The church sits in the middle of the Haut Ville and is surrounded by lanes and alleys with houses of many eras all mixed together. Our route took us down into the lower town to search for the other church that we had used as a leading line on approach with two large spires visible from afar. A local man offered help when he saw us searching on a map. We said we were looking for the other church but he said that there was only the one, the Church of Our Lady that we had just visited. However, re-energised after stopping for some liquid refreshment, perseverance paid off and when we did eventually climb the other hill in Granville, we found that despite is grandeur, it was closed and deserted save for a parish hall at one end. Time was marching on and we hastened down into town to purchase our fish for supper and made our way back to Mousle via several chandleries.
12th August
We left Granville early the next morning to catch the tide to St Malo hoping to meet up with Sapphire who had left Jersey to head to St Malo. The sea was calm and the sun rose over Granville as we headed west. Soon the wind filled from the West and once again we were beating to windward in 11-16 knots of wind we sailed as far as the Pointe de Grouin to the east of St Malo but had to motor head to wind until about 5 miles before the entrance. We were lucky enough to see a small fleet of classic boats sailing off the coast of St Malo. With the wind veering a bit to the north, we were able to sail the last few miles and eventually dropped sails off the ferry terminal before heading into St Servan and the Bas Sablon Marina. We were shown to berth A48, right next door to Sapphire who was just about to leave for a night or two on the Iles des Chausey. We exchanged brief greetings on the pontoon as they cast off and disappeared round the breakwater. Once Mousle was squared away, we went for a stroll through the local part of St Servan, the area around Le Tour de Solidor. The bay turned out to be en fête and had an Old Gaffers Festival in full swing. We passed a fascinating afternoon chatting to people from various stands. Most of the boats seem to seek sponsorship and donations, and many are neither as old or as big as Our Boys so some food for thought there. Eventually it was time for a beer so pulled into a local creperie/bar and watched the world go by for half an hour or so and watched a re-enactment on a mock pirate ship of life at sea in a gale with men being thrown about on deck and falling from the rigging - very well acted indeed. Pity the story made no sense. Time for home and dinner.
13th August
We unpacked our bikes and headed off for the old walled town of St Malo proper. As we cycled down the quay side of the Bassin Vauban, we saw some Vieux Gréement or Old Gaffers bigger than the vessels of yesterday and familiar sights, Le Renard, the Corsaire from St Malo and La Recouverance from Brest (but last seen in Yarmouth at the Yarmouth Old Gaffers in June of this year!) as well as a Dundee sardine boat , La Fleur de Maie. On into LIntra-muros and the throng of tourists on a busy August lunchtime. We battled with our bikes for half an hour or so and then we decided to have lunch in a square in the middle of town opposite the main church and leave the bikes there on a public rack. Replenished we walked down to the Cathédrale St Vincent, and if it is not famous for its stained glass windows, then it should be. On a sunny August day the colours of the windows were painted onto the stonework of the floors and walls in brilliant splashes of blue, yellow and pink. There was also a photographic exposition of pictures both old and new relating to St Malo. Having eventually had our fill, we continued our passage through the old town and returned to our bikes by way of the remainder of the ramparts we had not yet visited. On the way home we diverted into the main shopping street of St Servan in search of a few basic supplies and after pushing our bikes uphill the whole length of the shopping area, right at the top of the hill we found an alimentation with a good range. Home for dinner and a text from Sapphire to say they were on their way back to St Malo, and we were no sooner back on board Mousle when they were tying up opposite. They joined us for dinner on board and we stuffed on a bit o this n a bit o that dinner with both crews supplying some of the feast. We decided to hire a car together for two days to visit Dinan, Mont St Michel and do some shopping .
14th August
After housekeeping in the morning we walked round to the ferry terminal to find a car hire company only to find them all closed as the tide was out! However there was freephone contact to the railway station offices and we arranged to have a car delivered in about half an hour. After a lengthy wait it turned up and we piled in ready to quickly scoot up to Carrefour and some shopping. After travelling about 300m we skidded to a halt outside a Wine Warehouse and, almost magnetically, were drawn inside. The ownera delightful French lady who had lived in Canada for some years and spoke excellent English, introduced herself and offered a taste of what she had on offer. We both ended up buying a box of vin de plonk and cases of various wines, in our case 6 bottles of a red and a mixed half dozen whites. After paying for our purchases we stacked them in the boot of our little white Citroen C3 and scooted off to Carrefour once again. We managed to go about another 500m before once again we skidded to a stop behind stationary traffic. It then took in excess of half an hour to travel barely one and a half kilometres! When we arrived at the supermarket, we discovered that the following day was a French National Holiday and everyone was clearly stocking up. We parked up in a downpour and completed our shopping before crawling home in the St Malo rush-hour. The decision of the joint managing committee was to eat out that night in Dinan so we drove to the Petit Port and having parked the car on the east side of the river with some good fortune, decided a drink was our first priority. After a restoratif we felt emboldened enough to try the Rue du Petit Port, a winding uphill challenge that leads to the old part of Dinan town centre at it upper end. It is a stiff climb but we arrived at the top suitably enlivened and ready for a meal. We found a suitable restaurant and all opted for the 25 menu and enjoyed oysters, Coquilles St Jacques, beef and lamb steaks, and dessert. Stuffed, we rolled back down the Rue du Petit Port, no longer offering a challenge, reached the car and drove home to a very bouncy bed until the wave action settled down.
15th August
We were up and away by just after 9 o`clock and made good speed via the R176 to Pontorson where we managed to get some fresh bread for lunch. The road to Mont St Michel was busy, but we parked easily enough and started our climb up the mount. The street was very busy and by the time we had arrived at the entrance to the Monastery, no-one was minded to carry on any further. T & P stopped for rest in a handy turret before we diverted through the gardens and eventually found a terrace where a beer could be enjoyed by all in peace and quiet. After returning to the car, we headed west towards Cancale, first crossing the polders (dykes) to the west of the river that separates Normandy from Brittany and then following the Route de la Baie around the coast. We stopped for lunch on top of the sea dyke that protects the low lying farm lands from inundation and also gave an excellent view of the viviers (oyster) farms that are widespread along this coast. Some use vehicles that resemble the old wartime DUWKs and we saw one following the tide out to tend his crop. Baguettes, pate and cheese for lunch suggested another beer stop and we headed for Cancale. Unfortunately the bank holiday crowds were following us around and there was no parking to be had anywhere in the town. We were forced to carry on our coastal meander seeking an alternative and out perseverance was rewarded when, while driving round the Hotel de Pointe de Grouin there was a place in the hotel car park. Perhaps cheekily, we pulled in, used their toilet and then went for a drink in the bar outside with views right across the Baie de Mont St Michel to Grandville and beyond. Time was advancing and we a-returned to the car, escaped out into the traffic and after following the coast to the Intra-muros it only a few minutes before we were back parking the car in the Marina car park. Two tired crews went their separate ways to enjoy a quiet night in and early bed.
16th August
T had an early start visiting the launderette in St Servan before she and Penny went shopping to Carrefour again before returning the car by 1400. More stowing an repacking took the bulk of the afternoon and after a quick drink both crews went their separate ways before settling down for the night. Once again the send into the harbour was continuous and we were happy at the idea of leaving St Malo the next morning.
17th August
Final preparations filled the morning after breakfast with watering the boat, stowing the canopy etc but we were ready to leave by 11 and we both set off on what was going to prove, for H at least, a frustrating days sailing. Once again the wind was dead on the nose and we had to tack our way westwards. By the time we had cleared Cap Fréhel the wind was dying and it was all to soon time to start the engine and make course for St Quay. We arrived about 1700 and were ushered to a finger berth (the second last one available, the last going to Sapphire who pulled in right beside us a few minutes later). We paid in advance for 2 nights as the forecast was for strong winds for the next 48 hours, and with continuing fuel problems we had a day of maintenance planned.
20th August
We left St Quay on a drizzly grey morning with a light breeze that allowed us to sail the first part of the way. The visibility improved as we approached Paimpol over its huge drying estuary and it was fortunate that there was enough water to ignore the marked channel on the chart as it meandered its way in across the bay. Into the lock and eventually several boats were assembled inside, including Sapphire who had accompanied us round.Leaving the lock we were met by a marina man in a rib who, when we gave our draught of 2 metres, scratched his chin and muttered something about marées. He put us in a berth and we tied up and surveyed our surroundings for the next few days. Neap tides were approaching, along with a couple of fronts which were bringing a succession of strong winds over the next few days. The tides meant that there would not be enough water to get out of the harbour for 5 days and the weather meant that we didnt really want to!
21st August
After a late breakfast T (Thira) dropped by to say that the market was on if we were interested. As they were coming over to eat later, we headed out on foot, only to find that the market was almost over. We managed to get some tuna but had to give up on vegetables. It was time to explore the rest of the town. We found Inter Marche and there the stock was also a bit limited. We knew there was a Leclerc nearby and managed to find it after a short hike. It was similar to Inter Marche but we got what we needed and headed back to the harbour for a well earned beer. The next few days were spent partly with the Kelly`s and partly with maintenance work on Mousle. Our canopy once again was pressed into use and allowed P&T to sit on deck and smoke when joining us for drinks or a meal.
One day we cycled round the coast to the south to the gardens of the ruined Abbe de Beaufort. We arrived too late to gain admission so had to turn round and cycle home again. We then cycled out to Carrefour Hypermarket and found lots of things to tempt us with.
25th August
Hugh was unwell but PJ, P & T went for steam train ride to Pontrieux and back. It was a reasonably fine day and apart from a rather longer stay in Pontrieux than it deserved, they returned, having seen our next destination Lezardrieux from the train. It is a mere 5km from Paimpol by road and some four times that by sea! We also found a nice Cave des Vins with a range of 5 litre boxes and a good range of Malts. Only one Breton Whisky however.
27th August
We could now leave and with another British boat tagging along as he was unsure of the inshore passage to Lezardrieux. We set off as dawn was breaking (even us!) with the lock on free-flow and motored round passing close to the Island of Bréhat. We had considered visiting, but as all the anchorages were full we had to give it a miss.
Turning westwards the little flotilla headed for the mouth of the Trieux river and the 5 mile haul up to Lezardieux. The lighthouse on the hill on the starboard bank came into view. Binic is an unusually designed lighthouse (it marks the main approach into the river) and has buttress walls at each corner of a square tower. We were ushered past the river pontoons and straight into the locked part of the marina which is sheltered by a cill. The town and marina were deserted and it was clear that the French holidays were over for another year. As it was still only midday we went for a stroll round the town and down to the river again below the road bridge where we could look across to the steam railway line to Pontrieux. PJ and T found wild samphire on the beach which we ate that evening with garlic mushroomsdelicious! The feeling on both Sapphire and Mousle was that while we had fair weather, we should move on the next day to our next port of call (and Sapphires last) in Brittany, Tréguier.
28th August
Another early start (!) saw us motoring down river as the sun rose and under a clear blue sky we confidently motored into what initially was a gentle headwind of about 10Kn, but as we progressed down stream the wind increased steadily. As we reached the north west of the Ile de Bréhat the sea state rapidly worsened into a very unpleasant wind against tide situation with 2 metre waves and breaking crests. Fortunately we were soon able to bear away to the north west and hoist sail (with 2 reefs in the main) and scoot rapidly round to Tréguier. We passed close by Les Heaux de Bréhat light house and made safe landfall at the entrance to the River Jaudy on which Tréguier is situated.The river is rather windy and as we were arriving about an hour before low water, care had to be taken to follow the deep water channel. The banks are lined with evidence of fishing activity with both shellfish and marine fish farms in evidence. The whole river seems to be given over to fishing on an industrial scale, though it does not impact on the scenery to any great extent. Soon the spires of Tréguier were in sight and after a quick westwards twist past a steep overhanging bank and a tiny anchorage, the river shallowed and we crept up the narrow channel which should have had 3-4 metres of water but in fact barely showed enough for us to pass. However we made it up to the marina and there was enough water towards the outside of the pontoons for us to sit comfortably and weather the coming of the spring tide in the next few days. We identified ourselves to the harbour master and collected our fly screen that Rory C had left there for us some weeks previously. It was then time for a beer before a quick look around the town.
29th August
Market day again and with a meal with the Kellys that evening, we set off in good time and spent several hours exploring the market which is quite large and wanders up through town from the quayside up the hill to the central square. It is very mixed, and the food reflects the local agriculture with fresh local fruit and vegetables en saison. Local pork producers had a stall as did local butchers. There were 3 fish stalls as well as a quality local fishmonger. After lunch we headed across the river to visit the famous chandlery, supposed to amongst the biggest around. We were not that impressed because apart from the smell of tar that greets you, the actual stock of chandlery is quite small and 2 floors are devoted purely to clothes. We bought a shaft anode as a spare and left to return to Mousle for lunch. We spent the next three days enjoying the Kellys company and relaxing. It was a high spring tide and the enormous difference in height made an expedition of climbing the gangway off the pontoon!! Finally we splashed out and had a last meal together in the pizzeria on the quay. Full marks for value for money, but fewer for culinary excellence! Mousle was leaving the next day to begin the next stage of her journey although Sapphire was to spend another night in Tréguier before crossing the Channel back to Falmouth, her winter home.
1st September
We spent the morning digging Mousle out from the enormous bed of weed, grass, timber etc that had built up around the pontoon and her hull to a depth in excess a metre. It took about an hour and a halfs hard work by the four of us plus a French skipper to allow us to consider starting our engine. We eventually left at midday and cleared the river in bright sunshine and a northerly wind an hour later. As we bore away to the west, heading past the Sept Isles to the north, the wind piped up and allowed us to set sail for Trébeurden. To the south after crossing the Baie de Perros Guirec, Ploumanac`h came into view with its giant rose coloured granite boulders softened by water and wind into often fantastic shapes and balanced in seemingly impossible positions. As dusk fell, we rounded the headland to the north of Trébeurden and threaded our way into the marina for the night.
Trébeurden is a small village and our stay was marred by a party from a visiting yacht club, who having not been sated by their revels in the function room started a party at 0300 with music at full volume over a PA system on board the committee boat moored next but one to us. As most of the visiting boats were from the same club, we could only lie awake until they eventually wound it up after complaints by other yachtsman an hour and a half later! This did not endear us to Trébeurden.
2nd September
We left first thing the next morning to catch the ebb through the Chanel de Batz and to reach LAbervrach by nightfall. The journey took as past Ile de Vierge Lighthouse, to the north west of LAbervrach, the tallest lighthouse in France. The entrance into the Aber is well buoyed and straightforward and we reached the village to discover that all the trot moorings have been removed and visitors are now ushered into the new marina that has been built. The 2 long hammerheads are protected by a substantial wave break pontoon supported by the largest (in girth) piles we have ever seen! Apparently fully equipped, neither the electric points or the hoses worked and we discovered that they have yet to be connected. However there is free Wifi, and we took full advantage by having a three way Skype call between South Africa, France and Canada.
3rd September
We headed up to the nearby village of Lanleda where the nearest shop was situated The weather was on the turn, with a building high to the west of Ireland bringing hope of warmer quieter weather. With a day of rest in prospect we cleared away a few outstanding chores before setting off to the nearest shops. These were in the neighbouring village of Lanleda, one and a half km away, and despite arriving in the village at about 2.30, we had to wait till 3.00 for the shops to open again. We were forced to sit down in the sun and have beer while we waited! After buying rather more than we had originally planned, we must have appeared to be struggling under the weight as we were approached by a young English couple from Dartmouth. They offered to help us carry our bags back to the marina. On reaching Mous`le, they came aboard for a beer. Matt is a rigger and they were living on their boat and heading south like ourselves. They owned a 35 foot classic sloop called MatAli and they were debating whether to continue or return to the UK, sell her and buy a plastic boat demanding less upkeep in tropical waters.
5th September
We both left the next day to traverse the Chenal de Four, and we later saw them tie up in the Moulin Blanc marina in Brest. The Four was in pussycat mood for us and we Twistled down the channel with the sun sparkling on the sea and allowing us to sail in shirtsleeves for the first time in weeks! The Moulin Blanc marina was almost full when we arrived but we managed to raft alongside another Dehler 37 CWS and astern of MatAli. However we decided not to stay in Brest the next day, but to make an early start up the River Aulne.
6th September
We left the marina before dawn the next day to get the tide up the Aulne to Châteaulin Although it was still dark as we motored out, the sky was rapidly lightening to the east behind the suspension bridge. By the time we turned east ourselves into the Aulne the sun was lighting our way up the channel. Mous`le chased the shimmering golden light off the sea ahead as we travelled through the narrowing river. Increasingly the banks became closer until we bore away south and then west round Landevennec and through the Gorge du Terenez where rusting hulks of old warships look to be quiet and at peace as if they were just resting rather than waiting for the breaker`s yard. From here the river is a voyage of discovery for every boat making the trip as it is uncharted, and all we knew was there was enough rise tide to get us to the lock at Gully Glaz. All went well until after we had cleared the lock and were trying to tie up to a hotel pontoon for lunch. We got to within 1/2 metre of the bank and then grounded gently. Lunch was rapidly rescheduled for Châteaulin (our final destination and only 1.5km away). 500m away from port we struck a heavy object on the bottom of the canal and stopped abruptly. We hopped over it and carried on to the basin where we once again grounded trying to lie against the East wall. Fortunately there was sufficient water to allow us to raft onto a vessel already tied up to the pontoon on the West side. At last it was time to eat lunch before setting off to discover the town.
Châteaulin is an old market town and has been a commercial centre because of its water links with Brest, Quimper and Rennes. Its market was if full swing when we awoke the next morning and provided us with provisions for the next 2 or 3 days. The September weather was hot and sunny and we spent a relaxing couple of days there taking in the town and the river. Because it is canalised the level is very predictable and the river is clearly at the centre of the towns development, even now. Wishing to take advantage of the Indian summer before they evaporated, we decided to leave and head south round the Raz du Sein as soon as possible.
7th September
We could not leave the lock at Gully Glaz until it opened at 1100 but we set off in plenty of time and cruised slowly back down the canal taking care to keep to the south side of the stream (as advised by a local who had seen as ground on our arrival). The lock keeper saw us approach and opened the lock immediately, although extremely slowly as it is operated by an ancient rack and pinion mechanism that must date back through many decades of use. We entered and he immediately began to close the gate behind us, despite us still having half an hour before the first official opening of the lock! Soon we were being spilled out into the stream of the river and setting off for Camaret, an old fishing port on the south side of the approaches to Brest. Passing through the Goulet (the narrows to the west of the City of Brest) we could see the evidence of Nazi fortifications despite their having been removed in large part in the post war years. Soon Camaret appeared round the corner and we headed for the marina inside the harbour. Although nominally for vessels of 10m and under, we had no problems in getting an alongside berth.
8th September
An early start was required as we had had spotted a DIY builders merchant in town (unusually) and needed to replace our tube of silicone sealant. (Our replacement window seals required non adhesive silicone!) After a quick trip into town we topped up our water and cast off for the Raz de Sein.
This fearsome piece of water lies between the east end of the Ile de Sein and the Pointe de Sein. Full of rocks, underwater ledges and rapid tidal streams it takes no prisoners when roused. We were fortunate to be able to time our trip to be in daylight, with no wind and when the tide was slack. Once again we were able to relax and enjoy the experience of rounding one of Europes more violent capes on a pleasant balmy September day. Once round it is only an hours sail to Audierne/ St Evette. Vessels can either avail themselves of the harbour facilities or anchor in the Baie de St Evette in complete shelter from the south west through east. This we did although we found a free visitors mooring and picked that up instead. It was time for dinner and an early bed as we were leaving in the morning for Concarneau.
9th September
We manoeuvred clear of the mooring buoy, our host for the previous night. The early morning sun was beginning to warm the decks and clear the dew from the windows. We were off again. Within a short time, we had sufficient wind to sail and for a time we made good speed under canvas (well, modern Norlam!) until the wind began to be annihilated by the sea breeze. By the time we had reached the Pointe de Penmarch the wind had died away completely and we were once again under engine. The tall lighthouse of Eckmuhl was clearly visible as we passed by about a mile off shore. An hour or so later the approach to Concarneau could be discerned in the haze and we prepared to enter. Concarneau is an historic port and was founded on an island which enabled easy defence. Fortified over the years, it was developed to its present state by Admiral Vauban the architect of the walled town of St Malo. The marina is adjacent to the south side of the Ville Close, while the fishing port is to the north.
10th September
Since we had not had any email contact since leaving LAberwrach some days previously, it was time to rectify this. A bar on the quay boasted free Wifi so we decided to lunch there and avail ourselves of the access. It turned out to be a good lunch as well as letting us catch up on things. Concarneau is a town with 2 souls. On the one hand it is one of Frances major fishing ports and on the other a large resort town. The two sectors have developed in different parts of the town with the resort side developing along the beach front to the north of the river, and the fishing remaining in the old central part. The resort side was all but empty despite the good weather, while the commercial port was running as it does throughout the year. We needed provisions and a laundrette, so we got out our bikes and headed off to find one and visit the supermarket. We were lucky to find both on opposite sides of the same road and 50m apart! We popped our washing in with a little help from a local man who was waiting for his drying. The supermarket was surprisingly larger than it looked from the outside and had a good range of stock. We did our buying and after collecting the washing headed back to the boat. Later in the afternoon we took a stroll through Ville Close which exceeded our expectations enormously. It was bigger than expected and although the main street was rather touristy, we were seduced into buying some speciality foods and a bottle of Breton Whisky (de ble noir).
11th September
After Hugh had attended the local dentist, we set off for the Ile de Groix, an island south of LOrient and with an interesting anchorage on the south side sheltered from the prevalent north easterly winds. After a day of intermittent sailing and motoring we dropped sail off Loc Maria and cautiously sounded our way in till we found a suitable spot to drop anchor. Again darkness was falling as we packed everything away and there was only time for dinner and bed. By the next morning, the position had become a bit uncomfortable with waves coming into the bay and deciding us that we should not linger but continue round the east side of the island to Port Tudy the main town on the north shore. We arrived late morning and entered the harbour to find it completely full. A change of plan was required and we decided to make for Port Louis at the entrance to the LOrient River. We arrived about 4.00pm and were seen by the harbour master who leapt into his rib and charged out to meet us at high speed. When asked if he had space, he said How beeg? and when told 11m x 3.5m x 2m, he scratched his head then pushed his throttle to full ahead, shouted follow me and zoomed off round the corner. Following him we found him ramming the pontoon with his rib, then running off the bow to indicate our mooring with a gallic flourish and a wave of his extremely fine moustache!. We had been treated as a grand bateau and placed with the fishing boats and the ferry. However it proved a reasonably quiet berth and one could not fault a moustache of such grandeur!
15th September
The day dawned sunny but with a possibility of showers. We went for a walk around the town and made first for the citadel a fort now used as the Maritime Museum and Museum of the French East Indies Company. Lorient got its name from LOrient (French for the east) and got rich on the back of the trade with the Indies. The Port Louis defences date from that time. We decided to miss the museum as we had decided to spend several days in Port Louis and could come back later. There was a defensive wall built right around the town and it had a walkway to allow defenders access to the battlements. This was initially was about one metre wide and we followed the walkway along the wall eastwards. It continued, about 3-4 metres off the ground with no guard rails for several hundred metres, slowly narrowing to barely half a metre by the time we had gone two hundred metres. Overhanging chestnut trees promised rich pickings below but failed to deliver when we descended from the battlements to see what was left on the ground. Following the path through the park via the Tourist Office, we wandered through the town following vaguely a tour illustrated in a leaflet we discovered there. Before returning to Mousle we stopped in the church square for a beer.
16th September
We had decided to relocate the storage of the steel supports for our canopy into clips on the back of a couple of cabin doors and Hugh was carrying one of the sections off Mousle when he swears it made a valiant bid for freedom, leaping out of his rucksack and landing on the pontoon. From there it was only a small step for our tube but a huge shock to us as it slipped beneath the water into the murky, muddy depths some 4 metres below. Despite a variety of attempts to either locate it or drag the bottom for it we were forced to try to employ a diver. The Capitaine Du Port (he of the magnificent moustache) and his brother tried hard on our behalf and next morning a dark haired youngish man turned up in a ubiquitous white van to assess the situation. After some discussion and a bit of cogitation he agreed to return at 1400. He duly turned up promptly at 1445 in full kit and after donning his air supply and goggles tumbled backwards off the dock into the water. After only three or four minutes, our escaped piece of tube rose out of the murky deep, held aloft by a gloved hand like an ancient scimitar in a old folk tale. It was followed by our grinning diver, who followed that surprise with another when he presented his bill. The going rate was 80 but his bill was for only 20 much to our surprise.
17th September
It had become necessary to restock the larders on Mousle and PJ set off for a cycle tour round Port Louis to find the Inter Marche we knew was somewhere in the town. On her return she unloaded a bicycle that should have been detained by the gendarme for excess weight! She announced that we had guests for drinks that evening, Brian and Liza, from a yacht moored close by in the marina. Brian had been the MD of Hoods Sails in Lymington in a previous life but most of the evenings discussion revolved around the cruising life in Brittany.
18th September
As this was to be our last day in Port Louis we decided to visit downtown L`orient with our bicycles and to that end we caught a ferry from the adjacent jetty across to the Port de Pêche and then through the port complex with its large warehouses and piles of this and that surrounded by a lot of redundant ground and often failing businesses. However we soon took a turning off the main road, following the signs for the Port de Plaisance. The environment rapidly altered with many big names in the yachting world represented such as Mercury, Yamaha, X-Yachts, Malo Yachts, etc. We passed the Musée de Pêche with its aquarium and the modern palace that was the Capitainerie. However L`orient had little more to offer so we retraced our steps through the Quartier du Port. Back to the ferry and it was no time at all before we were back in Port Louis and packing up the bicycles in preparation for our departure the next day.
19th September
The desire to refuel before leaving for Port Crouesty took us to Kerneval Marina across the river. It is the only source of fuel in Lorient and we pulled in to see the credit card payment machine in pieces being operated on by an engineer. After a brief discussion the chap from the Capitainerie appeared and we commenced refuelling. The pump was brand new, having been commissioned the previous day and it surprised us all by suddenly giving up the ghost after only delivering fourteen litres. As nothing could be done for some while we headed off for Port Crouesty. This is a large marina situated right at the entrance to the Golfe de Morbihan and where we were due to meet PJ`s brother Kevin and his wife Jan who were due to join us for a weeks sailing around the Morbihan.
After a windless journey which, worryingly, took us through two separate firing ranges, both of which had been, or were due to be, active. However no explosions occurred and there were no visits from black suited soldiers in matching black inflatables with and black automatic weapons as had met us off the North French coast! Our route took us round the Presque Ile de Quiberon and between it and Belle Ile. The wind increased enough to allow us to sail the last few miles to Port Crouesty. Immediately on arrival we visited the fuel barge and filled our tanks in readiness for our cruise with Kevin and Jan.
20th September
Port Crouesty is a large marina indeed, arranged in five basins and surrounded by commercial developments of shops, restaurants and housing. The Capitainerie resembles a flying saucer in its modernity and houses a restaurant on its upper floor. Mousle was moored alongside the quay wall immediately below and was well sheltered in the visitors basin. Two pontoons along from us was a fleet of identical yachts, 10.4m Grand Surpris one designs obviously awaiting charter. The following day was to show how popular they were. We took our bicycles out on a trip around the marina, located the supermarket and a hairdresser, as PJ`s hair was in dire need of trimming, and then cycled through the local town of Arzon to the southern shore of the Morbihan. From there we could see the island of Er Lanic with its circle of standing stones with the tumulus of Gavrinis behind. We retraced our steps and on our way back through the restaurant district chose our restaurant for our evening meal. We returned an hour or so later and enjoyed an excellent dinner in Le Petit Crab before returning to Mousle and bed.
We were serenaded till midnight by the party for the charter fraternity, the band giving a slightly off key imitation of Simon and Garfunkel. As the festivities ceased exactly at midnight we were able to get off to sleep at a not too unreasonable hour.
22nd September
Penny`s brother Kevin and his wife Jan were due to arrive at lunchtime and we decided to create a seafood platter for their arrival and to that end set off promptly to the supermarket and its associated fish stall to buy a mix of huîtres, plates (another type of huître), moules, bulots, coquilles, gambas and crevettes gris. Some sparkling white wine and salad were to complete the repast. Kevin and Jan arrived at one o`clock or so and we finished lunch around three in time for an afternoon stroll round the shops. Dinner in the evening was back in Le Petit Crabe before returning to Mousle for Kevin to begin his passage planning. Another party was being held in the entertainment tent, but it did not interfere with our evening. Regrettably this band, although playing Celtic Fusion music, was no better than the previous one.
23rd September
Skipper Kevin had us up and ready for an early start - 9.00 is early when you are cruising! We did not manage to leave on time however as Hugh managed to fall off the stern of the boat while working on the sponson! After a quick dash to the nearby chandlery to buy a large scale chart of the Morbihan we set off for a trip round the Quiberon Bay as the weather was warm and sunny with a nice 12Kn wind to push us along. By three in the afternoon it was time to catch the flood into the Golfe de Morbihan and head for our first nights anchorage at Le Bono just off the Auray river. The weather had turned showery and we had to pick up a bow and stern trot mooring off the little harbour as anchoring was inadvisable because of the number of moorings. A shore party set off to explore the town and it is a charming little place, remarkably undeveloped compared to its better known neighbours. A beer in the square was followed by a visit to the old bridge over the Bono River and then back to Mousle for dinner.
24th September
The plan was for us all to fit into our 3.1m Avon and scoot up the three and a half miles to Auray to visit the Monday market there. As the Avon is powered by an 8HP outboard it proved a rapid trip taking about twenty five to thirty minutes to get up to the public pontoon at Auray. We hastened through the old part of town to the Vieux Port and the bridge to Auray itself. The market is in the centre of the new part of town - 18th Century - and covers a large area, bringing traffic in the centre to a virtual standstill. It was well attended and we managed to make several purchases including presents to us from Kevin and Jan of a chopping board on its own drainer and a collapsible rubber sieve. Auray is an attractive town, but especially the Vieux Port and its neighbourhood. We wandered round the town but eventually made our way back down to the river for lunch of crêpes, galettes and Breton beer. A further stroll through the park under the chateau took us up to departure time and our return to Le Bono.
25th September
Another early start (9.00) ((Kevin again)) had us motoring down the Auray by nine thirty in a misty sunlit morning with insufficient wind initially to allow sailing. However as we turned east in to the northern Morbihan and our passage via the channels north of Gavrinis, Ile aux Moines and Ile DArz to Vannes the wind picked up and allowed us to hoist sail and make progress eastward. We had planned a stop to try and land on Gavrinis to visit the megaliths and with this end in view we picked up a mooring in the channel north of the island and sent a shore party to investigate. PJ and Kev returned to say that the island was locked! With a strong adverse tide still running past the north of Ile des Moines we waited for an hour or so to allow it to subside. The next decision concerned a lunch stop and we again picked up a free mooring off the NE end of Bellevue, a peninsula guarding the entrance to Vannes. As we secured ship it started to rain and lunch was enjoyed in the comfort of the saloon. Soon there was enough rise of tide to enter Vannes and we felt our way carefully up the narrow channel with less than a quarter of a metre of water under our keel. We arrived in time for the published four oclock opening of the motorway bridge to the south of Vannes only to find that it didnt happen and it was after five before we got through the bridge and the lock gate into Vannes Port de Plaisance. There were few spaces and we had to raft onto another vessel for our stay. By the time we were settled in it was growing dark so we decided to leave exploring Vannes till the next day.
26th September
After securing Mousle for our departure that afternoon, we set off to explore Vannes and its market. Entering the old town under the town gateway in its defensive wall would have been like going back in time had it not been for the pneumatic drills and compacters of the road mending team who regularly shattered the peace and quiet of the pedestrian zone with their rhythmic attacks on the ground with their heavy tools. Moving uphill into the market, surrounded by a throng of people and overhanging timber frame buildings we left the clamour behind and entered the street of stalls. Various purchases were madeclogs for the Canadians, les écharpes (scarves) for the ladies and coquilles (shellfish) for the crew. Our meanders took us upstream of the market to the cathedral and its environs at the top of the hill before cascading down narrow streets to another Porte out of the old town. From there we followed the gardens that foot the city walls back towards the old harbour and lunch in a creperie. Soon it was time to bid farewell to Vannes and catch the first opening of the lock and bridge back out into the Morbihan.
In increasingly dark and thundery skies we motored out passed our lunch stop of the previous day and headed south for the southern reaches of the Morbihan. Although the skies remained leaden and overcast with only occasional chinks allowing shafts of sunlight to light up the rocks and islands that pepper the Morbihan there was suddenly a brilliant rainbow that appeared with a full double crescent and followed us for ten or twelve minutes before suddenly vanishing without trace. All this without any real rain landing on Mousle. After a swift canter through the southern channels we passed between Er Lannic and the south of Gavrinis seeing the same tumulus and stone circle we had seen from the shore at Arzon. It seemed weeks had passed since that day only 6 days before.
Soon we were leaving the Morbihan and tying up in La Crouesty again. Kevin and Jan had to leave early the next morning to return to the UK prior to their flight home to Vancouver. A farewell dinner of paella was prepared from the ingredients purchased from the market in Vannes. Dinner was followed by a relaxed whisky or two before retiring.
27th September
Movements on the deck above our heads awoke us in the early hours as our guests made their departure after which life on Mous`le returned to its relaxed mode. She was repacked and cleaned and tidied and paperwork brought up to date. The next few days were occupied by reading interspersed with a few chores and some running repairs.
29th September
The need to move onwards had led us to decide to leave La Crouesty and today was the day. We set off in a light northerly and managed to sail about halfway to the entrance to the Vilaine river. The river has been dammed to maintain water levels in the lower reaches and the lock is at Artzal on the north bank. We arrived just in time to miss the four oclock opening so moored up on the waiting pontoon in the middle of the river. We had not been there ten minutes when Hughs mobile rang. It turned out to be Rory Carter, a friend from the Isle of Wight who was about a mile upstream of the dam on his way home. We agreed to meet in the marina as soon as we exited the lock at its next scheduled opening at six oclock. Suddenly there was an announcement on the PA system inviting us to move into the lock. Full of anticipation that they were going to open early we moved into the lock, mooring as close to the road bridge over the top as we could. Two other vessels joined us with varying levels of expertise. Nothing happened and it was clear the staff were just saving time getting us all in early. The lock gradually filled and soon all the quayside places were all taken. A small power boat appeared with one fender and no lines and sort of ricocheted in to a position just astern of us when his stern tried to catch up with his bow and he ended up straddling the channel almost totally sideways. Much guttural conversation took place and he was manhandled back into a proper alignment by several pairs of hands, none his! Eventually it was time and the lock keeper started by opening the road bridge and moved us to the other end of the lock. It was as if we were a single multi-celled beinga hard edged amoeba we moved as one with remarkably little bumping or grinding from below the bridge to above it. Soon the bridge was down and the traffic flowing again. Only then did he fill the lock and let us out into the tranquil river. We had a berth awaiting us in Camoel on the south side and we motored over and joined Catriona and her crew for an ad-hoc dinner.
Catriona shares an identical interior to Mousle and Rory had brought her over from England earlier in the summer and had got as far as Le Foleux, a village upstream where he had left her for some weeks while he went back to work. He was now on his way home with a Czech crew of work colleagues having a well earned holiday. English was fortunately a common language and a lively evening was to follow.
30th September
Catriona was long gone when Mous`le`s crew roused themselves but such are the joys of retirement. Do what you want, when you want is the motto on Mousle! However we set off again for Redon, the town at the end of the stretch of river accessible to masted yachts. It joins two other canals there linking to Brest, Rennes and Nantes, but only low headroom shallow draft vessels can use these. As one heads upstream the course of the Vilaine is a beautiful quiet meandering one which initially takes one through tree covered banks but becomes quickly steep to and rocky with higher and higher crags on both sides.
At La Roche Bernard it is spanned by two bridges and the town which swings down around the rock after which it is named is a fascination of buildings from many periods of French history. It is an attractive town with vistas both up and down stream. It has two marinas, one in the old port and the other in the main river. We decided to stop on the way back downstream and carried on following the river upstream as it wound its way through lush flat countryside with no towns or villages to be seen except for the small village of Le Foleux and the opening bridge at Cran 5 miles from Redon. We had timed our arrival well as within three or four minutes of reaching it the bridge opened and allowed us through. An hour later we had reached Redon, 25miles above the dam at Arzal. It proved more nerve-wracking than we expected getting into Redon Port de Plaisance. It is situated in a basin off the main river channel and it has obviously silted up somewhat at its entrance and instead of a metre of water beneath our keel we were down to twenty or thirty centimetres. However we made it in, only to find that all the vacant spaces were reservee`. We were forced to choose one at random as the Capitainerie was closed for the day. Not long afterwards a man appeared on the pontoon and approached us to say that we were in his space but if we were not staying late in the morning we could stay over. His boat was being relaunched in the morning and he would be back about ten. This suited us so we decided to take a quick look around Redon.
It didnt take us long as we strolled around the centre in about half an hour and found surprisingly little to inspire us. Our stroll took us down into the old town behind the Port de Plaisance where there were a few more interesting buildings and streets before we came out onto the quayside opposite to our mooring. We made our way back round to Mousle and decided to leave first thing the next morning.
1st October
Our decision to leave had led us to try to depart by nine oclock and eight thirty found Hugh waiting for the local Super-U to open so as to pick up some items for the ships stores. The route back to Mousle took him past a boulangerie and he was unable to resist its temptations. Two croissants and a Breton pain traditionnel later he was on his way back to Mousle and breakfast on the move. We cast off and made our way back towards the bridge at Cran, munching croissant and drinking Colombian coffee as we rippled the flat calm of the river on our way downstream. The mists of dawn were lifting, revealing the fields and animals on the banks of the river on either side. An hour later we arrived at the bridge in time to make the ten oclock opening and our passage was almost undisturbed by it.
We followed the meanders throughout the morning and reached La Roche Bernard at lunchtime. Invited to tie up to the quay by the Capitainerie we found insufficient depth and instead asked to tie up to a UK flagged boat on the outside of the visitors pontoon. They proved a friendly couple who were due to leave their boat at Le Foleux for the winter and were busy preparing it. We crossed their decks and wandered off through the narrow rocky gap which gives access to the quayside of the old port. We were seeking a bar with internet access at the head of the creek but when we found it it was closed for annual holidays. A lane led up beside the bar signed to the Ville Artisanal or workers town and we followed it past lanes of potteries and art galleries usurping the dwellings of ancient fisher folk, riggers, rope makers etc. Steps led uphill and we arrived at a small square giving access to the upper town. Compared to Redon this was a place of history and variety, interestingly diverse and still presenting a face of vibrancy and life. The town was, even at lunchtime, busier and more populated that many similar towns in our experience. It demonstrated a stark contrast with the silence and lassitude that characterised Redon. A local shop and bar attracted our attention and while PJ bought one or two Christmas(!) presents Hugh ordered local beers from the bar. Even the bar was an illustration of the life of the town. The compact interior was frequented by locals, men and women both who came and went while we enjoyed a quiet drink outside. The experience seemed almost to one of being the invisible observer watching other peoples lives pass by in full view while the watcher remains unseen and unknown.
We were heading for Artzal that night and we needed to begin our return to Mousle. Our route took us past the Roche with its population of pupils having an art lesson on its peak. We could see below the remnants of two burned out buildings, roof timbers jutting gaunt in the sun. Beyond, the large bridge was carrying its never ending stream of traffic to destinations we would never know, while the river rolled quietly onwards below. We pulled ourselves away and followed the path back down to the quayside below. As we passed back through the gap in the rock it was like passing back into the real world from a glimpse of the history of Roche Bernard. We headed off soon after saying our thanks to our hosts on the visitors pontoon. Soon the piers of Arzal Marina were coming into view and a quick call on the VHF got us a berth on their visitors pontoon. It was still mid-afternoon as we tied up inside the fuel berth and we had time to explore the environs of the marina looking for internet access and somewhere to eat tonight. We found both, the former in the Capitainerie and the latter in a creperie round the corner. On returning to Mousle we met our friends from La Roche Bernard who had come down river to drop off their sails for valeting. However their preferred launderer was closed and they had to stay overnight. We invited them for a drink before dinner and we passed a very pleasant hour or so before we left for our dinner venue.
2nd October
An early rise saw us in the lock awaiting passage downstream. Once again we started above the bridge, were passed under it and then released into the river to start our trip to Pornic, a port on the coast about 25 miles to the south. The visibility was poor and we had to motor the bulk of the way. Radar proved invaluable, alerting us to both yachts and fishing vessels in our vicinity, enabling us to avoid them without trouble.
We were in Pornic by mid-afternoon and after mooring up and paying our dues at the Capitainerie, we took the coastal path round the cliff into the centre of town. It is typical enough of its heritage, a mix of historic fishing influences and the impact of its resort status throughout the past century. Our arrival in the central area, having passed beneath the imposing chateau that dominates the entrance to the old harbour brought us face to face with the Casino, that other hallmark of the French en vacance. Less imposing than Deauville or La Baule, it is, none the less, still here, thus speaking volumes for the stability of at least some parts of French Society. Having reached the navigable head of the creek (at least for a boat) we turned up the hill into the centre ville. This is another town that achieves interest through variety, incorporating the modern with the old in a fashion that implies a continuing vitality and a sense of comfort with both past and present. It was pleasant indeed to take time out in the little bar-tabac that seemed to be at the centre of the life of the town. In our half-hour opportunity to watch the life of the town, a myriad of different people passed by, passed their pleasantries to each other and continued upon their way or sat to join the observers at the tables by the pavement. Country and Western aficionados crossed tongues with punks and smart mid life ladies greeted grandes dames with verve and lipstick. PJ visited a chic shop selling style and kitchenware to aspiring French families and was tempted by the seductive opportunities inside.
The sun disappeared and as the temperature fell and the warmth vanished we moved on to find our way home to home, supper and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!
3rd October
We stayed another day in Pornic hoping perhaps that the weather might relent from its continuing grey and limiting horizon. But nothing changed and we had a peaceful day marked by PJ setting off on a journey to a supermarket and returned having been transported back a thousand years or more in a tumulus. There was just a touch of the Tardis as she entered the chamber and saw the evidence of life a millennium ago still visible in the here and now. Re-watered and victualled we planned our next passage down to the Ile de Yeu over dinner.
4th October
On a grey and misty autumn morning we cast off and motored out of Pornic Harbour on our way to the Ile de Yeu. We had decided to take the North West Inshore channel around the Ile Noirmoutier and we were lucky that the visibility lifted enough to allow us to negotiate the passage and a medium breeze meant that we were able to sail virtually the whole way to Port Joinville, our destination for the night. The poor visibility and grey skies unfortunately persisted all day and rather dimmed the appeal of the island. It is a very small island with a major fishing industry as well as a thriving tourist trade and not surprisingly the harbour is the focus of the town. In common with many other fishing towns the main street runs parallel to the main quay, one block inland, possibly to provide more shelter to the townsfolk as they went about their business. The buildings marked an abrupt change from those we had seen to date. A shift from stone and slate to colour washed walls, brightly painted windows and Mediterranean style half round clay roof tiles suggested that we had left the temperate north of France behind and, were at long last, reaching warmer climes. Stopping for a beer in a quayside tavern, we sat down in a corner of a proper bar, full of local people and much memorabilia of the development of aircraft carriers and seaborne fighting aircraft. It also had a small stage at the back where, after a while, a solo violinist broke into an unaccompanied French ballad. After one or two numbers he was joined by another man, apparently from the audience who sang a couple of songs accompanied (clearly unrehearsed) by the violinist. As we had to walk all the way round the large harbour, we took our leave and wandered home for dinner and prepare the navigation for our next trip to Les Sables dOlonne.
5th October
Another departure in poor visibility did not predict the pleasant sail we were to have. As we cruised down the south east coast of the island, the clouds parted, the mist dissolved, the sun came out and we could see the beaches and buildings on the shore with a clarity that had been absent for many days. As we left the Ile de Yeu behind it seemed that the sparkle on the sea was lifting our spirits as we sped south-eastwards towards Les Sables. We made good time and after a short stop at the Capitainerie pontoon to be allocated a berth we moored up in the home port of the Vendee Globe. 2007 is not a race year, good for us as there would probably have been no berths free. The next race is due to be held in 2008. There was some evidence of race activity as there was one sponsored Open 70 in evidence, presumably in the early stages of preparation.
There is a resemblance to the River Medina on the Isle of Wight, with 2 towns at its mouth, East and West Cowes. Here the marina is in a town called La Chaume on the north bank of the river DOlonne and Les Sables is on the south side, lying originally on a spit of land between the extensive beach to seaward and the fishing and commercial port in the river to the east. It is joined to La Chaume by a passenger ferry. There are a multitude of facilities and they are in the process of resurfacing an enormous area of hard standing in the marina fed by 2 boat hoists, a slipway and a crane. Many of the support businesses are clustered round this area of hard standing as are the chandleries, bars, restaurants and even a small food shop.
6th October
With signs of impending trouble visible in the primary fuel filter, we had decided that an inspection and filter change were in order. However while doing this it was obvious that the drain screw had become so tight that it was likely to shear off if we didnt replace it. It is a little plastic screw with a head that should be easily turned by hand. The filter unit is made by Volvo and we discovered that you cannot buy separate spares. If we wanted to replace this screw, we would have to buy a new unit at a cost of over 100 ! We emailed Volvo to check that this was the case. They passed the email onto Harold Hayles boatyard in Yarmouth to answer and they informed us that although Volvo dont do a spare, CAV do and it is identical to the original, and only costs 76p! We decided to leave well alone till we could collect one in the UK as CAV do not appear to distribute in France.
We left Mousle to visit a bar along the quay with free Wifi to send the above email and collect almost a weeks backlog of incoming mail. We decided to lunch there on Croque Monsieur and two or three hours later were ambling back towards La Chaume
7th October
Sunday is Market Day in La Chaume and in Les Sables. We chose to visit the market in Les Halles Centrale followed by the other Les Sables market at Arago. This was not as easy as it sounds because the one way street system in Les Sables seems designed to send everyone, including cyclists spinning into a virtual black hole. However after breaking a few rules, we found the central market and bought the provisions we needed. It is in a two storied building with the first floor being a gallery with a view down to the busy permanent market below. The gallery was empty as it was Sunday. It is used in the week by local farmers who sell their own produce from there. The weather had been steadily darkening as the morning wore on and we set off in the rain to find the second market. This was similarly elusive, but we eventually found it and were immediately sold a magic nutcracker and champagne bottle opener that we just knew we couldnt do without!
Home to tidy ship in preparation for our departure for La Rochelle the next day. A large French power boat returned to the berth next to us having spent the weekend in Port Joinville on the Ile de Yeu. They had been fishing, very successfully, and offered us half a dozen fresh mackerel, caught that afternoon. The dinner menu was instantly rewritten and they tasted absolutely wonderful! It is a shame we still are unable to catch them ourselves!
8th October
We made an early start (at least for Mousle) and were alongside the Capitainerie pontoon to pay our bill by nine o`clock. Nine thirty had us clearing the harbour entrance and hoisting sail for the trip inside the Ile de Re under the road bridge and into our final destination for the season, La Rochelle. We had noticed some movement in the rudder as well as evidence of a worn cutlass bearing and felt that we needed to have them seen to before progressing any further. The weather was in cheerful mood and the breeze kept steady, allowing us a speedy trip down between the Ile de Re and the Charente Maritime. Passage under the spans of the road bridge was dramatic in the 4 knots of tide but went without hassle and the impressive views of the soaring bridge were reminiscent of the Stoer Belt bridge in Denmark. After passing the commercial harbour of La Pallice we were soon motoring into the Port des Minimes. This is one of the biggest marinas in France with over three thousand berths and plans to add another thousand imminent. We refuelled and after checking in to the Capitainerie took a berth in an area just vacated by boats from the last major regatta of their season. We tied up and made plans to organise the lifting out of Mousle, found a boatyard to do the work and Hugh was despatched back to the UK to collect the car along with bulky items that we would not wish to try to carry out to Mousle like a ladder and our two spare solar panels. We are now out of the water, re-antifouling her, as well as having both a new cutlass bearing and three new rudder bearings fitted as all of them had failed.
Soon we will be able to settle Mousle for the winter and take some time to explore this area of France before making our way home in time for Christmas.
10th October
We have decided to bring our car out with a load of bits and pieces such as anti-fouling, (ours is unobtainable in France) a ladder etc. Hugh will fly back to UK by EasyJet to Southampton and drive back in a few days time. PJ is going to paint the inside of the boat! (with her in it!)
14th October
PJ has bought a new clutch for our main halyard. This will be fitted on the mast just below the exit so that we can sweat the main up at the mast without needing someone in the cockpit to tail the halyard through the clutch there. We think it will make our lives very much easier.
15th October
Hugh crossed back last night to St Malo from UK with the car. He left at 0800 and was in La Rochelle by 1300 by car - the journey that has just taken us 3 months by boat! The trip was uneventful and it should prove helpful having a car here as we anticipate being here about 4 weeks yet.
16th October
Yves and Michel, from Renove Boat Services were onboard at 0830 to take us round to the boat hoist to lift Mousle out of the water for repairs to the rudder bearing and the cutless bearing on the propeller shaft. The lift out was extremely slick and we were chocked up and plugged in within half an hour of arriving at the basin! Unfortunately the rest of the day proved very difficult with both the cutless bearing and the lower rudder bearing proving refractory. Yves would have been forgiven for uttering a curse or two as he toiled away, but he remained cheerful and smiling.
20th October True to their word the job took 2 days (of hard labour) and we are back in the water and back in our berth. We have an English boat on both sides of us - Wild Heron and Silvery Moon
25th October
Today we met Steve and Yvonne from Wild Heron. We are going to tie Mousle and Wild Heron together as well as to the pontoons as the finger pontoons are very short and give poor stability in an easterly wind. They are coming back to visit over Christmas and at the end of January so we will have someone here looking out for the boats at frequent intervals.
26th October
Yves and Michel from the boatyard turned up this afternoon with a present for usa bottle of cognac and a bottle of Pineau, the local aperitif. A lovely gesture from nice people!
30th October
Today we drove to the Ile de Noirmoutier - a 400km round trip. It proved a fascinating place and we approached over the drying causeway, although there is also a bridge. It is rather eerie driving across the seabed and passing cardinal channel marks with rescue baskets on poles for those who get caught by the tide! There were many people out on the mud flats collecting shellfish and bait as well as just looking. The main harbour is a totally tidal creek and would not have been suitable for Mousle and is at the top end of what is otherwise a sandbank with a road on it. There are salt pans all around the top of Noirmoutier and along with shell fishing and tourism are the major earners. We left via the bridge and stopped at some bric-a-brac shops on the way home. There is a fabric warehouse in LAiguillon sur Mer that we planned to visit but it was well past closing time and we passed it by on our way home.
3rd November
We decided to visit LAiguillon sur Mer and the Baie de LAiguillon - to buy some fabric in the warehouse we passed by the other day. It was large and had a good range of stock, although not much of the fabrics we are looking for. We then followed the coast back to La Rochelle via the Pointe DAiguillon and the Baie to the south. As we approached La Rochelle the sun was setting and the view from the beach were amazing. We bought some moules for supper from a roadside fish shop and enjoyed a splendid meal.
9th November
H (aided and abbeted by Geert) bought a guitar today. It is to stay on the boat and he has a good case to keep it in PJ says it will fit! Geert is quite a good guitar player and was very helpful in choosing it. It proved easy to carry it home as it is designed to be carried on your back!
11th November
Geert and Ina are a Dutch couple who own a Katana catamaran called Anegada. They have bicycles as well and are keen cyclists. They suggested a cycle ride around Benon today so bikes were piled in the boot and we set off to the forest of Benon some 25km outside La Rochelle. It was a sunny but chilly day but we parked the cars and set off on what was to become a circular tour about 16km long. PJ seemed to be lacking her usual vigour and it was not until the downhill stretch on the way back to the car that she got access to a pump and re-inflated her back tyre! We saw a road sign as we passed through a copse which made it looks as if we were in a magic forest (some wit had drawn wings onto the stag). It said `beware flying horses`! We did not see any hippogryphs however, much to our disappointment. We decided to have another day out together, taking one car to Maulevrier where there are some nationally famous Japanese Gardens.
16th November
Today was the day fixed for our trip to the Japanese Gardens at Maulevrier, near Cholet. It is quite a long way and we had several stops on the way, the first being at Fontenay La Compte where the high street has managed to retain much of its character. Next we crossed the Mervent Barrage on the Vendee and then next met the river at Vouvant, a pretty fortified village on a bend in the river. It has some charming features and we picnicked in a park overlooking the bend. After lunch we moved on to the high point of the day at the Japanese Gardens. They were at their autumnal best with scarlet Acers dark green oriental pines and the yellow and browns of deciduous trees in the fall. The gardens follows a river and has the typical sculpted trees and wooden features one associates with the Japanese. It was hard to believe that the garden was closing the following day for the winter while still showing all its glory! Eventually it was time to drag ourselves away and face the long drive home to La Rochelle.
17th November
The Charente Maritime is famous for its drained marshes Les Marais and the system of drainage canals and spillways that interlace this flat hinterland to La Rochelle has given rise to the name La Venise Verte. This arises from the towns and villages that have grown along the sides of the canals, taking their income from the trade that used the waterways. We had long wanted to tour the area and Marans, the de facto capital of the region seemed the best place to commence a journey round Venise Verte. Marans is an important town situated on the River Sévre Niortaise where the Route National to Nantes crosses it. From there we threaded our way to Maillezais with its classic village centre and a ruined abbey on the outskirts. Then we crossed the Sévre Niortaise again at Damvix in order to follow its banks along to Coulon another historic town on the banks of the river. A beer in a local bar - quite English in character and a walk by the river in the setting sun rounded off the day.
20th November
Everybody has said to us that You must not miss a visit to the Aquarium while you are here! Today we decided to pay it a visit and with Geert and Ine we cycled round to it. The admission price was very reasonable and at 25 for 2 it compared well with other similar attractions. We were quite unprepared for the breadth of the displays, never mind the height - some of the tanks are 3 storeys or more high! From sharks to shellfish, oceans to inland seas there were exhibits from all corners of the world. We would certainly say to anybody thinking of visiting La Rochelle You must not miss a visit to the Aquarium while you are here!
22nd November
The apparently elusive owner of silvery Moon arrived today. He is Michael Coughlan and we invited him for dinner last night. Tonight he wished to repay us and laid a great spread which had entailed him in walking into La Rochelle and back. He is wintering here having cruised South Brittany and The Loire - Atlantique. We offered to keep an eye on Silvery Moon over the winter when we are here and he will check Mousle when he visits.
28th November
The Ile de Ré, which we passed on our way through the Pertuis Breton and under the bridge, remains unvisited and we decided to take a day out and remedy that omission. After crossing the Pont de Ré we followed the eastern coast road up to St Martin, the major port on the Island. The views of the bridge from the coast are as dramatic as it is from the sea. The port of St Martin is partly tidal, partly locked and there is an Island in the middle. It is an interesting and attractive town which would deserve a more prolonged visit. However time was pressing and we drove north to visit the Phare du Ré. The Phare de La Baleine, which marks the northern end of the Pertuis Breton, the channel between Ré and the mainland was to be seen a mile or so to the north. Attempts to find a suitable lunch venue failed and we had to return to La Rochelle and the comforts of Mousle before breaking our fast. It was simply the result of visiting a major tourist area out of season.
1st December
Geert suggested last night that a visit to Rochefort might be worth considering as there is the Old National Ropeworks and the Rochefort Maritime Museum. The day proved fascinating as the ropeworks was one of the longest buildings in Europe. It was built by Napoleon and supplied rope for many great vessels. A working demonstration illustrated the technique. Adjacent, in a walled off dry dock, a recreation of an 18th Century warship is under construction from the keel up. Access to several layers of the construction is achieved by scaffolded walkways and there is a demonstration of the necessary skills outside.
4th December
We are due to leave for home via Rouen today. The channel crossing in December did not attract so we have booked on the Shuttle, via the Channel Tunnel. It is a long trip to Calais, so we have decided to break it overnight in Rouen. Apart from the first 100km it is autoroute the whole way. We set off ahead of time, unusually for us, and just before leaving the dual carriageway outside La Rochelle, we got behind a boat being shipped across country. It was impossible to overtake and it took us an hour to travel 35km/. Suddenly PJ sat upright and said Have you got the passports and tickets? We turned the car to rush back to La Rochelle, only to find ourselves behind a house in transit! It took another hour to make our way back to the boat and retrieve the missing documents. This left us with much less time to make Rouen at a sensible time. Despite thunderstorms and torrential rain we made good time and pulled into our hotel in Rouen about 1930.
5th December
We left our hotel in East Rouen about tennish and headed into the centre of town to spend a few hours seeing the sights. We parked without incident and walked down the main street from the modern church at one end to the Cathedral at the other. After passing under the famous L` Horloge, and catching up on a bit of shopping, it was soon time for lunch. The Cathedral Square was the site of a special Christmas Market with stalls from different countries after buying a couple of gifts we looked for a suitable venue for lunch. Seeing us studying the menus a jovial restaurateur enticed us in and we enjoyed an excellent French lunch, interrupted by a birthday tribute to the restaurant owner from his staff. It was a delight to eat in such merry company! All to soon it was time to start moving on and head for Calais and the Channel Tunnel. We in fact arrived early and pulled into the Centre Commercial attached to the tunnel. It is a massive area with a Tescos that sells only wine and spirits and a huge Carrefour. We stocked up on last minute purchases before making our way to the check-in and managed to catch the train 30 minutes earlier than our booking. Only three hours later we pulled into PJs parents drive to begin our holiday at home!
We arrived in La Rochelle yesterday in beautiful sunny spring weather. Mous`le was dry and welcoming and seemed ready for the next stage of her travels.
Today we have serviced and de-winterised the engine and also serviced our bikes for the summer. We hope our repaired windlass will arrive tomorrow along with the scuba set we bought at the London Boat Show. More excitement!
Thursday 8th May
The de-winterisation work continues to go well. The engine is all set to go, and stowage well underway. We seem to have lost our winch handles though. Wonder if we have been careless and left them out, so they have been taken by someone, or if we identified a wonderful new place to stow them last year and now neither of us can find them! It is amazing how lost things can get on a 37foot sailboat. No signs of our windlass, scuba gear or new gaskets for pressure cooker. Glad that the weather is good and that we are not using precious annual leave. Life is good to us mice.
Saturday 10th May
A wonderful surprise awaited us this morning. Our friend Yves, who removed and sent off our windlass for repair, arrived this Saturday morning to refit it! What a gentleman! All went well till we tested it and found it still had the same fault as when it went off to Italy! Yves is convinced that the installation and the wiring are OK so it must be the configuration of the remote control unit - so another wait for an expert. The windlass works manually so we may decide to live with the loss of the remote controller. We are still awaiting our SCUBA gear and pressure cooker gasket
15th May
An offer to go sailing on a brand new 50ft Lagoon Catamaran called Pantalonaki could not be refused, especially as a new sail for the boat was being used for the first time. On board was Jose (a South African, part owner / skipper), the sail maker (from Holland) and a Lagoon representative and us. The Parasail is a spinnaker with a vented wing in the middle. It is a very forgiving sail, and as long as all goes well with the snuffer, a good addition to the suite of sails. Hugh was able to help out with driving the boat and the Raymarine chart plotter etc, so makes a change from working on Mous`le. A great day was had by all.
Saturday 17th May
There was still no news about our windlass, and we had just decided we would head off for Spain on Monday or Tues without an answer from Lofrans about what more they would do, when we find we are under port arrest. French fishermen, unhappy with the price of fuel have blockaded all the La Rochelle ports, Vieux Port, La Pallice and Port de Minimes. We are not too sure how long this will go on for but we seem to be destined to try and sort out the windlass here. The winch handles have turned up, however. Remarkably they had been put in their correct place, named on our stowage chart and we hadnt even considered looking there!
Sunday 18th May
We left La Rochelle at 0740, beautiful day, made it to the first buoy out of the harbour, and joy of joys, the engine failed. (No the buoy is not Sconce!) It was up with the sails, turn around and sail back in. When all was well on deck, PJ attended to engine as it sounded as if we had fuel starvation. She opened the bleed screw and plenty of fuel seemed to be in evidence, but on re-tightening the grub screw, it broke in half. The break was in such a place that we still leaked fuel when the lift pump operated, putting the engine out of action until a spare part was obtained. Engine guru, Nigel Calder, does not list this as a suggested spare to carry, so although we carry loads, we did not have a spare of this, meaning that we had to return to port. Unable to raise the Capitainerie we decided to make for an empty berth we could see behind a big cat. Not theeasiest, but manageable under sail, we decided. We dropped the main to make way under headsail, and, as we entered the harbour wind dropped and having to change course in order to miss hitting the local water taxi we lost way and were blown; or rather drifted onto some rocks at the port entry. We then gently bumped off (aided by a boat hook). Our plight was seen by a fisherman, who went up to the office and suggested they answer our radio call!. A harbour boat came out torescue us but because we were now sailing happily in the river breeze, he didnt think we were the vessel in trouble and shot off to look for us. Nearly 20 minutes later having realised his error he turned up and towed us into the berth we had been originally aiming for. We were all nicely tied up by 0920 and having a bacon butty and a coffee before unloading the bikes to head off to get the spare part. The sun was shining, the bacon was not too bad for French bacon and so far, we can`t see any water coming in from our little rock visit.
Monday 19th May
Yesterday we were pleased with ourselves for solving the problem with the engine. Once the grubscrew was replaced we were able to rid the engine of a lot of water from the fuel tank. No wonder there was no ignition, water does not have the same explosive agent as diesel! So we set off again at 3pm, aiming for St Denis d`Oleron, a 2 hour sail from La Rochelle. To test the engine thoroughly we motored with increasing power for the first couple of miles. To our dismay discovered that there was a vibration / loud noise from the area of prop / P-bracket. So around we went and sailed back to La Rochelle under jib. We managed to get a berth, unpacked our bikes again and went to visit our friendly boatyard. We are due to be lifted at 0900 tomorrow. Our friend on Pantalonaki, the Lagoon catamaran, was delighted to see us back, welcoming us with what he describes as the best coffee in France.
Sunday 25th May
We ended up being out of the water for one night and two full days. The rudder had a chunk out of it, but it was an easy repair. The noise, we felt, was due to a loose prop shaft anode we found as all else appeared to be fine. Indeed this seemed to be the case as a quick burst around the harbour did not show any problems. We have now settled down behind our friendly Lagoon 500, Pantalonaki, and are waiting for the next weather window, probably Tuesday am. In the meantime PJ went shopping for more wine in La Rochelle and found a massive carnival there. After purchasing the wine wondered through the carnival on way home, to find on return that her pocket had been picked and a purse with 3 credit cards, driving licence and 15 Euros stolen. What a nuisance, as we had to phone the UK to cancel the credit cards, but more of a problem was the loss of the driving licence and subsequent risks of identity fraud. There is so much information stored on these cards nowadays.
Thursday 29th May
Hooray Hooray! We have left today! A test run to St Denis d`Oleron, about 12 miles from La Rochelle. It was a warm sunny day with enough breeze to sail with for the first hour before it was necessary to run the engine and check all was OK. We had some trouble with our autopilot in exactly the same area where Pantalonaki had it - gremlins of the sea? Or was it just a local magnetic anomaly? St Denis is an idyllic little place with a wide expanse of beach in the bay beside the marina. It has a drying entrance but a cill kept us safe as the bay outside dried. A spot of crew illness kept us there for 2 nights and it was a relaxing time after rushing around in La Rochelle.
Saturday 31st May
Its amazing what we will do for sailing. Today it involved actually getting up in the dark, at 0445 to catch the last of a falling tide out of St Denis. We scraped out with a few centimetres to spare and picked up a waiting buoy while we had breakfast. There was little or no wind so we hoisted the main and set sail for Spain - for a few minutes. No sooner had we got the engine up to cruising speed when we noticed a regular knocking noise coming from below the cockpit. After some discussion we decided that we needed to have this checked and explained before setting off on a 200M leg of our journey - so back to La Rochelle it was. We arrived at 1030 so went round to our boatyard looking for our friend Yves. He came over immediately and unfortunately could hear nothing, but will bring a mechanic back on Monday morn ing. Our friends on Pantalonaki were not where we left them and it turns out they have been moved for the weekend. On our way to find them we passed a field of wild flowers outside the Universityspectacular. However it is sunny and the crew are in good spirits.
Tuesday 3rd June
No mechanic turned up yesterday, so a phone call at 0830, with leaving a message in very bad French, resulted with Yves being at the boat at 0850!! He said he and mechanic would be back at noon. True to his word, they arrived and spent 45 minutes listening and checking the engine. The probing and poking resulted with an All Clear, and they said they thought the problem was an aging engine (like its owners Hugh thinks). Anyone arriving in La Rochelle and requiring work undertaken on their boat will do a lot worse than to use Renove Boat Services. They, in our opinion, have been as helpful to us as Richardsons Yard on the IOW.Weather looked good for a departure, but we delayed so PJ could celebrate her birthday in La Rochelle. A dinner out was planned with crew of Pantalonaki for the 4th and a departure planned for the 5th. The next day Penny was up and mentally getting ready to go, when Hugh mentioned he had a migraine and vertigo. So we spent a relaxed day, and will try to set off as soon as he feels well enough.
Monday 9th June
The rain in Spain falls mainly on ..us in Bilbao!!
We had left La Rochelle in summer sunshine on Friday 6th in 12 knots of north-westerly wind with just enough north in it to allow us to sail out of the Pertuis Antioche north of Pointe du Chassiron on the northern tip of Ile dOleron. Because of the French passion for missiles, we had to keep 48 miles of the coast and were about to increase sail when the wind increased to 20 knots so we continued under full jib and a reefed main riding the Atlantic swell and making a steady 7-8 knots through the water. LIle dOleron fell away astern and soon we were on our own no ships, birds or marine life disturbed our solitude. It was to be Saturday before we saw shipping and met first commercial traffic from Pasaejes to Ireland and then yachts in increasing numbers as we neared the Spanish coast. At first there was the odd one but eventually there were up to a dozen visible, some heading north, others west and only us seeking south and hoping for the sun. It obliged us and the wind (which has fallen away with the dawn) allowed us to spend a leisurely afternoon closing the Cantabrian mountains under sail before we had to face the flurry of activity involved in entering a new port.
Eventually it was time to start the engines and motor the last half mile into Bilbao harbour. The engine started eagerly and it was to our horror that we found we could not engage gear, neither ahead nor astern! No amount of fiddling helped and we faced the reality of having to sail into a strange port with no engine back up. Penny suggested tying the dinghy alongside and using our 8HP outboard to try and provide propulsion so while Mousle gingerly sailed into harbour she was busy inflating and launching our tender and fixing on its engine. A check run in the middle harbour showed that the theory was sound we could make way and manoeuvre but only at one and a half knots or so. We decided to try under sail first and were approaching the only possible berth when Penny yelled Abort, abort!! as there were no cleats to tie up to.
We found some deep enough water out in the marina approach and dropped anchor. After a celebratory glass of wine to celebrate our successful (more or less) arrival in Spain we turned in for the night. The morning was a total contrast. The rain was incessant, torrential and persisted from dawn till early afternoon. There cannot have been any rain left to fall on the Plains of Spain! Attempts to repair our remote gear shift have so far failed and further efforts will have to be made. Our anchorage has so far been comfortable and sheltered so we hope to save 35 a night by staying where we are and not using the marina till we have to.
Tuesday 10th June
The rain in Spain is still missing the plain and all of it seems to be landing here on Bilbao! Mind you it is said to have 200 rainy days a year! Thanks to our lack of gears, it looks like we are going to be staying put here for as much as a couple of weeks. In between showers we have spent the weekend trying to remove the cockpit control lever for the throttle and gear change. The screws are chemically bonded to the aluminium backing plate and are hard stainless steel. We have tried grinding and drilling out but with little impression. We need a powerful mains powered drill and do not have one on the boat. On Monday we found a Yanmar agent and a mechanic came out to Mousle (only after having to repair the steering on his workboat). He agreed the problem is the handle and a new one will have to come from Barcelona and could take 5 days . Well we are so busy senor! Spending time at anchor has proved trouble free. Our Avon makes short work of the 1/2 mile trips to the in harbour or the shops and there is a good selection of shopping within easy walking distance. Getxo is 12km N of Bilbao city and has Metro access close to the Marina. We hope to spend a day at the Guggenheim Museum while here. Our plan had been to hire a car for 2 or 3 days and tour the hinterland but with the rainclouds obscuring everything that idea is on hold for the present.
Thursday 19th June
Having identified the problems with the gears, we then found the heads did not work. Could flush out, but not bring sea water in. This had always been PJ`s dread as the heads pump is very inaccessible. Taking one section at a time, stripping parts of pump putting back cleaned things up a great deal, but did not sort out the problem. In the end we decided that we needed new piping as we could not think of any other cause for an air leak. We stripped out all the cupboards to make access to the back of the pump easier, then replaced the pipe, only to find the loo still was not working. Then as an act of desperation, PJ suggested we try the holding tank to see it the heads worked that way and lo and behold it did! Then we had to fathom out why that would be. All that the problem turned out to have been was a diverter valve set the wrong way!! Three days work, but now we can strip our Lavac toilet along with all the cupboards in the heads and put it back together in under 2 hours. No demons there any more. PJ can now ply for trade as a marine plumber!
Along with all of the loo water in bilges we were also monitoring a possible leak from the Calorifier (water heater). That water was coming from aft. Judicious placement of pieces of kitchen towel identified that no water was coming from the heater, but what water there was indeed salt, not fresh and was leaking in from site of the P bracket (a bracket that supports the prop shaft under the boat). A leak of 1-2 litres a day made us decide that this had to be sorted. Visiting our Yanmar dealer we discovered that our gear lever had arrived and that by use of drawings, dictionary and smiles they undertook to sort out our water problem as well as fit the new gearshift. One gale later (24 hours at anchor in force 8-9) the engineer arrived on board to help us into the harbour. Hugh had great delight in commanding Mous`le with an engine room boy. Just the ships bells were missing (PJ thinks he thought he was on QE2 which we had seen depart from Bilbao the previous evening!). PJ was sent off to park the dingy and with a non-English speaking engineer below deck, and a non-Spanish speaking skipper Mousle approached the hoist at what seemed to be great speed. After lots of shouting and waving, it all turned out well. It does seem that if one shouts loud enough in any language nobody understands anything!
The sun is shining and we are now high and dry and happy on a hard standing. Our sagas continue to amuse us, otherwise we might cry. The gear lever is now in place, P bracket been exposed, re-glassed and we are awaiting launch tomorrow.
Thursday 26th June
Explosions expeditions and expositions have been the order of the days here. Last week it was ETA blowing up the yacht club next door, this week we have had 2 trips on El Fosterito (the new Metro designed by Sir Norman Foster) into downtown Bilbao. On Sunday we visited the Bilbao Guggenheim Art Gallery and were suitably impressed both by the building but also by some of the sculpture especially those by Juan Munoz. We were able to take our bikes on the Metro so were able to use them to advantage when we raced a thunderstorm home, and made it just in time! On Tuesday we went back in to town to visit the Casco Veijo or Old Quarter where we did someshopping and had an extended Spanish lunch for 10 each including a bottle of very palatable rioja!
Tuesday 1st July
Since we were re-launched last Friday we have been keeping a watch for leaks but so far all seems OK. The rain is plainly a feature of the climate here and some say it is worse than Scotland! We continue to work through our list of little jobs that keep cruising life from being quiet and restful. While here we have installed a fan in our cabin, fitted curtains in the saloon and heads, and fitted a couple of DC sockets to allow high current using devices to be plugged in rather than crocodile clipped to the batteries. We have also serviced our jib furling gear. The plan is to leave on Friday evening or Saturday morning and to head for Gijon about 120M along the coast. We have a bit of catching up to do on our timetable.
Monday 30th June
We arrived in Gijon in Northwest Spain yesterday morning at 5.30am and after a short sleep we registered with the harbour office and were moved to the visitors section. Almost immediately Penny recognised a boat and a lady we had met in Bilbao when we had had to rush back from giving her a lift across the bay to her marina as a massive thunderstorm approached. We made it just in time to avoid a drenching. They invited us for drinks last night and much to our surprise her husband had been a GP in Hampshire and Hugh new him slightly! They were heading home today for a week and have kindly agreed to transport a new laptop battery for us as presently we are tied to mains power.While we were sitting on their boat an enormous roar went up around the harbour and it turned out that Spain were playing Germany in the European Cup Final and had just scored the onlygoal of the match! When it finished the whole town erupted with the clamour of car horns, the bangs of guns and fireworks, chanting and shouting! This went on undiminished until the police appeared about 0030 to calm things down.The trip from Bilbao took 18 hours with 9 hours of sailing in the middle and a nice 15Kn NE wind that allowed us to use our large genniker to good effect. Unfortunately after about 6 hours the shackle holding the head of the sail to the swivel that allowed the sail to be rolled up failedand the sail had to be recovered from the sea alongside the boat! Unfortunately this left the swivel at the top of the mast so we decided to simply re-hoist the genniker and goose-wing it out with ourspinnaker pole on the side opposite the boom. The wind gradually moved further and further aft till a down wind sail was necessary but we were reluctant to deploy our Twistle without the appropriate swivel so continued until the wind eventually dropped to under 8 Kn when the wallowing drove us to motor the rest of the way. We were caught between a 2m swell coming in from the NW and E going waves caused by the 2-3 days of easterly winds we had had.We are waiting for a suitable weather opportunity reach La Corua our next stop. This involves rounding Cabo Ortegal, the first of the major hurdles to be overcome in getting south of Cabo Finisterre where accelerated winds are the rule and much care must be taken.
Tuesday 8th July
With a series of low pressure systems passing close to Cape Finisterre on their way to batter the west of the UK, we have spent the past week finishing the chores on Mousle and exploring Gijon. Wild Heron, a boat we had over-wintered beside in La Rochelle with Steve and Yvonne Davis sailed in from Santander. A great surprise to see them, another indication of how small the cruising community is!! We had decided to hire a car for 3 days to see a bit of Asturias and they came with us on the second and third days. On the first trip we visited the Picos de Europa, a range of high mountains that sustain a small winter sports industry and a large summer tourist trade. We tackled 3 mountain passes all over 1000 above sea level and 2 above 1500m. Unfortunately the latter 2 were shrouded in thick cloud and a lot of the impact was lost as visibility was often under 50m! However when we were on the south side of the range, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. The trip the next day was with Steve and Yvonne who had recovered from their trip from Santander. After a very leisurely tapas lunch we visited some of the small fishing portsadjacent to Gijon and one such, Cudillero, is very reminiscent of Polperro in Cornwall. Our final trip took us south into the Cantabrian Mountains and into an amazing variety of terrain, with lushly wooded hills and valleys progressively giving way to steep mountain passes providing sweeping vistas of rocky peaks. A beautifully engineered western side to the pass turned into a nightmare descent on the east as the single-track road was being improved and it was being worked on by teams of diggers, graders and trucks the whole way down 900 vertical metres of steep winding mountainside. However after many holdups while tons of rock and rubble were simply swept into the side of the road by the bucket of a digger, we made it to the bottom and a welcome cup of coffee! After visiting our first large Spanish supermarket it was back to Mousle for dinner.
Thursday 10th July
The last couple of days have been spent discovering other peoples problems! It seems we are far from alone in our litany of trouble. Steve and Yvonne of Wild Heron have an major oil leak from their oil intercooler. It has corroded through, possibly where a steel nut or bolt has lain unseen and in contact with the aluminium casing. A new one from here was offered at 2000 where as Steve has sourced one from the UK for £600 including next day delivery! Steve and Sally, another couple from another Moody have developed a loose cutless bearing and have to wait 2 weeks just to get lifted out of the water! David and Gillian had a blocked macerator on their electric toilet and it required dismantling, cleaning and rebuilding before they could use their toilet again! So all in all our troubles may not be so unusual. David and Gillian returned from the UK yesterday evening and our new computer battery is installed as I type! A front is due through NW Spain tonight and tomorrow so we will leave for Coruna on Saturdaymorning and should arrive Sunday teatime.
Saturday 12th July
We cast off at 0830 in a flat calm and pouring rain, then motored out of Gijon Harbour, to find that they are in the process of massively extending the commercial harbour there with an enormous new breakwater. It makes the one projected for Cowes look minute in comparison! An hour later we were rounding the Cabo de Peas, made more interesting by the fact that we had visited the point and the lighthouse by land the previous week. A few scattered fishermen seemed to always be directly in our path for the first few miles, but past Cudillero, they were few andfar between. The wind, such as it was, remained fitful and directly on the nose and despite 2 or 3 attempts at sailing, we were forced to motor most of the way. The rain however had stopped, although we played tag with an enormous shower cloud that fortunately passed clear ahead of us heading for Cudillero. The sun came out for a few hours and the journey along the coast was increasingly spectacular with the mountainsides falling steeply down to the sea. After a while the picturesque fishing village of Tapia came in sight heralding our arrival at our first stop of the trip, Ribadeo. We bypassed the marina and anchored up stream off the local rowing club in about 2.5m of water. The views were superb, in many ways just like a Scottish loch.
Sunday 13th July
We had a leisurely breakfast and left at about 0950 having planned our departure for between 0900 and 1000!. After spotting our friends in Alcyone, we motored along side without tying up and learnt that they were planning an extra day in Ribadeo before heading west. We motored out of the Ria to begin another day of jousting with fishing boats that seem to enjoy making us avoid them! (PJ says H is paranoid!!!) Again the coastline is mountainous and the weather was much sunnier than yesterday, but still no more than 4 or 5 knots of wind. Attempts at sailing were fruitless once again and H managed under 2M in one hour before hunger drove him to start the engine and make haste for our anchorage and dinner. En route, PJ, who had joined the opposition and taken up fishing, squealed and jumped about shouting Ive caught a fish, Ive caught a fish!!! Our destination was the little fishing town of Carina in the Ensenada de Santa Marta. We were nicely sheltered behind the fishing quay in 5M of water, looking at the delightful sandy beach just metres away. The church bells played every 15 minutes in a beautifully muted tone that did not intrude into the beauty and peace of the evening. That night we had a tapas on board that was better than any restaurant offering, now we had fresh fish to supplement the menu.
Monday 14th July
The overnight forecast suggested strengthening winds in the later part of the day so we were up and off by 0815. Initially we enjoyed blue skies and calm seas but as we rounded Cabo Ortegal, the wind piped up and in a SE we put up our genniker, but the wind rose steadily to 20 knots, and we dropped it in favour of our jib and a reef in the mainsail. This allowed us to make rapid progress, averaging over 7Kn and achieving 10.4 once. The sea began to form into 2-3m waves from astern and we were bowling along towards our destination, La Coruna. We rounded the breakwater heading for the Marina Coruna and to our amazement found a huge development in progress with new piles and pontoons being assembled offshore from the old marina but still sheltered by the breakwater and a large wave break. We moored up in the old visitors pontoon. Our friends in Alcyone arrived in the late afternoon direct from Ribadeo having had much worse weather with winds of 30-35Kn and a pretty unpleasant trip. Marina Coruna was full so they were sent round the other marina, the Darsena de Coruna. We spent the evening seeking out wifi and looking round the town. Coruna is a town steeped in history going back to before the Romans. The Torre de Hercules is thought to be one of the oldest working lighthouses in Europe and was originally Roman. The remains of the Roman tower are preserved in the cellar of the present one.The weather is looking a bit suspect so we are watching carefully so as to judge when to head round towards Cabo Finisterre and the Rias Baixas (or Southern river estuaries).
Tuesday 15th July
Strong north easterly winds and 3-5m swells are forecast till Friday and then for the weekend so wedecided to spend the next few days seeing the sights of La Coruna. It is an old fortified town and excavations, both past and present are throwing up remnants of her past 2000 years with roman foundations under the Torre de Hercules lighthouse and the foundations of the old city wall in the basement of a new development around one of the other marinas. On leaving our marina the first thing we saw was a sweet little tram which runs from the centre of town to the lighthouse. The old town is on the hill overlooking our marina and is a delightful shady place to stroll with its narrow streets and tall building. There is a Hall named after the Royal Greenjackets after they liberated the town from the French in the Peninsular Wars of the early 19th Century. We found that the lampposts alongside the tramway were wonderful examples of Victorian cast iron scroll work, and were all decorated with a porcelain picture, each one different and relevant to its position. There was for example one of the Torre de Hercules close to it and even one of Sir John Moore who was the General who died here and is buried in the ‘English Garden’, a beautiful shady garden below the old town. Continuing our exploration we passed through an archway opening off the main dock basin and found ourselves in an imposing square with the ‘Town Hall’ on one side and arcaded terraces on the other three. A need for internet access led us via the Tourist Office to a coffee house in the main shopping street where the coffee was excellent, but the wifi pitiful! On arriving back on Mous’le we met a chap Ian, who with Sue his wife and their two children Hannah and Fraser were on their way home to England after 20,000 miles and three years spent cruising in their Warrior 40, and were soon in conversation about his Hydrovane self-steering system which was making funny noises. This might not seem surprising after 20,000M but they are supposed to last a lot longer than that!
Wednesday 16th July
The Torre de Hercules and a circumnavigation of La Coruna today had been our aim but the weather was cloudy and the wind was between 25 & 30Kn and we felt that we should keep a watch on Mous`le as vessels were coming and going from our pontoon. It was just as well, as we were asked to move her 3-4m towards the end of the pontoon, while our neighbour moved 4-5m forwards to allow another boat to get in ahead to the space created ahead of us. We caught up on email and weather via the Capitanya who offered free internet, but only on their own computer. The weather suggested a small window on Friday morning but we would need to be in shelter before teatime. Ian & Sue sent a delegation to invite us to drinks on board their boat and sundowners did run on till long after sunset!
Thursday 17th July
Thursday dawned bright and although the wind was building, it was in good spirits that we set off on our cycle trip round the city. Our first stop was on the point to the north of the marina to look at stone sculptures erected to remember the Spanish Civil War, in which La Coruna was involved. They were in the form of dolmen with a group in an arc with capping stones and a group more randomly distributed a little way away. We met Ian, Sue and family who had walked there and like us were en route for the lighthouse. As we approached it it seemed very busy so we decided not to go inside, but to continue our round trip. La Coruna is a city on an isthmus with two bays only three or four hundred metres apart. And it was to this second bay that we now headed. A long beach with tramway and promenade were continuous around its length and when we reached the middle it was time to head into the city for supplies for out departure the next day. We came upon a brand new supermercado built in the basement of a large multi-storey development and it was so new it felt like it had only just opened! After transporting our supplies back to Mous`le we rushed out again to try another wifi cafe before joining Alcyone for drinks. They were in the central, noisier marina as ours had been full on their arrival. They had had a bouncy trip non-stop from Ribadeo with winds of over 30Kn and big following seas. Wine and pimientos (a local specialty, with one or two in a dozen being very spicy hot!) were enjoyed in the cockpit before we said our farewells and set off home to pack up for our departure early the next morning.
Friday 18th July
0615 saw us casting off our lines and heading out for our next leg. We were heading for Caraminas,but with Corme as an intermediate haven if needed. We were able to sail as soon as we rounded thebreakwater and we made good speed out of the bay and bore away south west. We hoisted our Twistle and were soon averaging 7Kn and making good progress. The wind slowly increased and after dropping a reef in the main we were doing so well we debated whether to continue round Cabo Finisterre. However these cheeky thoughts were soon dispelled as the wind further strengthened and we dropped the Twistle and turned into Ria Caraminas. The wind rapidly picked up and we rounded Cabo Villano in 30Kn with gusts of up to 35 before we reached the shelter of the Ria. The Town was ‘en fete’ and we chose a bay on the east side of the ria, giving shelter from North through East and dropped our anchor very pleased with our progress.
Saturday 19th July
The debate had been raging all the previous evening as to whether we should take advantage of the nocturnal drop in wind speed and scoot round Finisterre in the morning. The journey is some 25M—anything from 3.5 hrs to 7 hours depending on weather and wind. Unfortunately the forecasts wereindicating F5-7 especially near ‘The Cape’ and as in bad weather a good offing is required adding timeand distance to the trip. This pushed the decision towards staying put, so it was back to bed and a long leisurely day. PJ suffered a migraine and spent most of the day in bed with a good analgesic and had excellent nursing support from the skipper!
Sunday 20th July
Still windy and cloudy. The wind hadn’t dropped in the night much although Mous’le was comfortably at anchor. No progress seemed likely for a day or two so we spent another day sorting out the watermaker and other odd jobs. We noticed a small Spanish yacht, who had chosen to anchor in the middle of the ria, exposed to the full force of the gusts, as he dragged his anchor from a point some 400m to the northwest of us until he seemed to realise when he slid behind our neighbour was nearly a mile astern. He then motored in to our little bay and dropped anchor again. Another 6 yachts have come into the ria today as the forecast remains bad for heading north or south.
Monday 21st July
Another quiet day waiting for the wind to abate. Our cockpit VHF had been giving trouble and the problem was localised to the plug connecting the telephone style handset to the boat. This is the second time one of these handsets has given trouble and we have decided to hardwire it into the fascia. This is now completed and the unit seems to be working well. The Boss spent the day doing our accounts proving to us that we are living beyond our means!
We have been joined by a large British motor yacht (about 20-25m long) who has anchored in the bay, but our little Spanish boat left early this morning and has disappeared. We checked our inner forestay and storm jib this morning and they are looking good.Still no drop in the winds likely so might be here for another day or two yet!
Tuesday 22nd July
The day dawned sunny and calm and we joined a procession of boats going out to see what it was like outside the ria. It proved to be almost windless and only a slight swell on an otherwise calm sea. We set off to round Cape Finisterre and had originally intended stopping in the town, sheltered in behind the cape, but the weather was kind and we were able to sail on to the next ria, the Ria Muros. Rias are in many ways like Scottish and Irish sea lochs in that they were both formed when ancient river valleys were flooded by a rise in sea level after the last ice age.
The wind was forecast to swing to the West so we decided to anchor in a bay just south of the town of Muros, called Ensenada (bay) de San Francisco. The sea bottom shelves steeply on the 5m contour so we tried to drop exactly on 5m with some success. After tidying up and eating dinner the wind backed to the east again and we suddenly found ourselves without enough depth for a still falling tide and had to move to a safer spot. About midnight, a fishing boat disturbed us by motoring round and round us about 20m away while the crew threw metal fish boxes about and generally made a racket. They then did the same to another yacht anchored a few boat lengths away before eventually disappearing allowing the occupants of the anchorage to at last settle down for the night.
Wednesday 23rd July
Wednesday broke with a gentle SW breeze, which backed round to SSE allowing us to sail the first 20M of our trip, followed by motoring through an exciting narrow, rock strewn passage between the Islas Sagres and the mainland to the north. Mid afternoon saw us arriving in Santa Eugenia and its harbour the Puerto De Ribeira. We noticed an English boat lying to a mooring at the entrance to the marina and, as the marina pontoon looked decidedly rickety, we asked if they were public. He replied that they were not only available but also free, so we attempted to pick one up. Unfortunately they had no ring on the top, only underneath, so we failed on our first attempt. While we went around to try again he kindly got in his tender and came over to help. Once tied up we asked them over for drinks in the evening, inflated our little tender and went ashore for a look around and some supplies. We were going to enjoy a late lunch ashore but only found one uninspiring restaurant. However the little supermarket we found had some large prawns and were just taking some newly baked loaves from the oven. This seemed a better alternative for lunch so we scooted back to the boat, fried the prawns with garlic butter and ate them with the fresh bread – delicious.
Our neighbours, Ken & Sian, are experienced cruisers who are on theirway vaguely north towards Northern Spain with a view to wintering in one of the Rias Altos. Their boat, ‘Fair Joanda’ was once owned by Tom Fenwick, a long standing acquaintance of the skipper’s on the Isle of Wight. Such a small world it is! A long evening gossiping began on Mous’le over a bottle of wine and then moved to ‘Fair Joanda’ to continue till the wee sma’ hours over whisky and coffee.
Thursday 24th July
A grizzly day dawned and was spent hiding from the rain. Although we were somewhat protected from the wind by the marina sea wall, a swell managed to poke round the corner at us and a rollicking time was our lot for the day. We hand to warn off other large yachts from mooring next to either ‘Mous’le’ or ’Fair Joanda’ as some of the moorings were only spaced for boats under 10m. We ate on board Fair Joanda in the evening and staggered back to Mous’le at the end of a another great evening with new friends.
Saturday 26th July
Our trip to Bayona was flat calm most of the way. The day began with low cloud reducing visibility and the lack of wind allowed us no sailing at all. As we passed the beautiful Islas de Cias, which guard the entrance to the Ria de Vigo, an armada of yachts appeared from the direction of Baiona, bringing with them the sunshine. We arrived in Biaona to find blazing sunshine and dropped our hook in a peaceful anchorage close to town. We launched our little Yam dinghy and toured what is left of the old town in the afternoon. Back on board Mous`le we readied ourselves for an early departure the next morning.
Sunday 27th July
We set off at the early (well for us, eleven o`clock from the fuel berth!) and trundled to Viano de Castelo, with the wind on the nose all the way and a very sloppy seas, it made the trip a bit of a pig. We tried sailing for an hour, and as we were only achieving a vmg of 2 knots towards Viana, we decided that was far too slow and on went the engine. Arriving in Viana Marina, we met a Canadian couple, Brian and Irene, on board a Corbin 42, ‘Necessity’, who invited us on board for a drink. We got on so well that Penny, who had a large pork joint in the oven invited them to share it with us so the party changed boats and continued on Mous’le till late evening. They recommended taking a stroll round the town before leaving the next day.Viana proved a rewarding place to visit with a delightful old town and a wide range of fascinating shops and buildings, and our morning’s sightseeing was time well spent.
Monday 28th July
Our next stop was another day sail to Leixoes. Our route took us 3M off into the south going current. The wind is fitful and at times plays games with us, but despite attempts to sail, the engine is our mainstay. Our destination is the major port of Oporto and a busy commercial shipping centre. Finding the entrance to the marina against the background of concrete quays and piles ofcontainers is a challenge but electronic navigation takes us to the entrance without fuss. We meet Brian and Irene, the Canadians we met in Viana holding a berth for us with the marina staff and coming alongside was a joy with many helping hands. Dinner on board ‘Necessity’ was a BBQ, the pork skewers were delicious and not having to prepare the meal or do the washing up was wonderful. Necessity is from the Great Lakes and we gleaned much useful information from them All to soon it was time to leave as we were due to depart Leixoes at 0700 in the morning for Nazare.
Tuesday 29th July
Our lack of sailing so far was completely made up for by a great trip to Nazare – we did it in one hit from Leixoes, the 106 miles taking just 15 hours, and we sailed for 10 of those. If we had been a bit more patient, we could have perhaps sailed a bit more, but the thought of arriving after midnight deterred us and we put on the engine some 10 miles from Nazare. We were disappointed to hear a change in engine sound and then to find an oil leak on looking below. It was just a fine spray at present, bringing no loss in power or oil pressure and only a little leaking oil. We arrived in Nazare in the dark and moored up at 10.00pm. The fish market is only 50m away and we can hear the auctions as they go on till after midnight as each boat comes in from its day’s fishing.Wednesday 30th JulyAn engineer looked at our engine this morning and he said we either needed the engine out or perhaps new `o` rings. He could not get parts easily, and feels we can use the engine but just watch the oil levels. So, we think we will carry on, and wait to get to somewhere with a Yanmar agency. Until then we will keep our fingers crossed. We had hoped this engine would last a few more years, but perhaps this is warning that it is time for a new one. The fun and games of this life! The Marina Manager here in Nazare is a British marine surveyor who came here 9 years ago and stayed! He is a mine of information and supplied the mechanic who appeared 30mins after our request! (So much for “Manana Manana”)l. His wife runs the office and they do an excellent job.
Nazare is a surprise to us. We had expected a town with a flat hinterland but found the entire bay surrounded by cliffs and a large sandy beach which is the main feature and the engine of the towns economy. But there is real poverty in Portugal, visible here in the back alleys and ditches filled with shanties that are home to an underclass still not able to join in the wealth that is modern Europe. From here we have a 60M run to Cascais then 40M to Setubal where we hope to meet up with an old friend from the Isle of Wight.Thursday 31st JulyWe left Nazare at 0715 and motored in a flat calm inside the Islas Berlinghas and around Peniche. Lots of pots, lots of boats but we still don`t catch any fish despite trying. South of Peniche there was still little or no wind and we eventually motored the whole way past the Cabo de Roca (the most westerly point on the European mainland) to Cascais ( a fishing village that is part of the large resort town of Estoril) where we dropped anchor of the beach outside the marina. It had been a long day so there was only time for a bite to eat and then bed as we planned to be off in good time the next morning.
Friday 1st August
Again we made a 7.30 start and motored off south in a flat sunlit sea towards Cabo Espichel and Setubal, our next destination. Setubal (or ‘Stooble,’ as it is pronounced locally) is a busy port and the approach from Cabo Espichel is dramatic and beautiful with precipitous cliffs made more interesting for a sailing boat by the effects they have on the wind, making it swing about, reversedirection, disappear or produce sudden gusts that can knock you sideways if not anticipated.We eventually arrived in the city only to struggle to find somewhere to leave Mous’le. The marina has no visitors berths and anchoring off seemed risky as we would be likely to interfere with the life of the port. We decided to retrace our trips to a beach about 1.5M out of town and managed to find the only remaining space in shallow water to drop our anchor. We had to defend our position against a large motorboat who tried to anchor about 15m away which would have been highly damaging to Mous’le had we swung together. After some communication they left. We let our friends know we had arrived and invited them to join us for dinner on board. Our dinghy was inflated and provided the taxi service to and from the beach. A pleasant evening of reminiscences rounded off a very full day.
Saturday 2nd August
Another sunny day and after a slow start, a phone call from our friend Rory had us scurrying ashore only to find the beach was too steep to, to allow us to pull the dinghy up even with its wheels so we agreed to meet Rory up at the steps outside the fishing harbour. After mooring up there we visited the market to buy food for the BBQ we were to attend in the evening. Lunch in town followed and some angry faces on the quay as if our use of the (presumably) public steps had interfered with their fishing from the quay. We decided to find another landing point. For our next trip to town from Mous’le we were cruising slowly up trying to find an alternative when a passing yachtsman hailed us and pointed us into the private yacht club marina. Once in we were taken in hand by a very helpful man who cleared us with security and the Club President, enabling us to use their dinghy landing for the rest of our stay. Rory and Bev were late collecting us as they had been tasked to make the salad for the evening and had over run. Lucy and Ruiz were wonderful hosts, Lucy is a book illustrator and cartoonist and he is Professor of History at the University. He also has just bought a 50 yr old house with outbuildings which he will do up for the family, keeping the out buildings for his private library of some 30,000 books! Heading back to Mous’le later we were pleased to be able to see her anchor light from the dinghy guiding us home safely.
Sunday 3rd August
On Sunday morning Bev had to fly to London to visit her daughter, and as Rory was working Monday we arranged to meet up with him that day at the Yacht Club and go to walk Bev’s dog, Ali. She is a rather elderly chow and is beginning to slow down but still goes out every day. Today we accompanied her and Rory to an area of National Park overlooking the bay where Mous’le lay at anchor. A path leads past two old windmills that have been incorporated into a private house towards another old windmill on the next hilltop. We wandered through the park until Ali was beginning to complain then returned to Bev’s flat to drop off the dog and head downtown for dinner with Rory. He took us to a fish restaurant behind the fish dock, scrupulously clean and run by an ebullient English speaking Portuguese gentleman who was a perfect host. We enjoyed house wine at 2€ for a 2 litre jug which was eminently drinkable and went well with the fish dishes that comprised the meal. Back at the yacht club we found our dinghy was partially suspended under the gangway to the pontoon but the security guard would not allow us to climb down to untie her, he insisted on doing it himself!
Tuesday 5th August
Rory had to work but we met up with him for another, shorter dog walk and a visit to the Poussadawhich overlooks our anchorage. Poussadas are old castles or monasteries which the government have converted into quality accommodation. We wandered over the castle ramparts and then had a beer on the terrace overlooking the sea 200m below! It was now time for dinner so we went off to sample another, more upmarket fish restaurant on the other side of town. The contrast with the previous restaurant was strong, both were good of their kind, but offered very different types of menus, traditional versus nouvelle cuisine.
Wednesday 6th August
We had expressed a need to do some shopping and get 2 cylinders of Camping Gaz. We had even left the cylinders with Rory a day or two before. When he rang today to arrange to take us to the ‘Jumbo’ he announced that he had been successful in getting replacement bottles at distributor prices. In La Rochelle we had paid €27 for one cylinder. Rory had got 2 for €20! Jumbo is a French ‘Auchan’ store under another name and has much the same stock as France. Dinner in the flat followed a brief dog walk past the windmill. Ali was a rejuvenated hound as she acquired 2 dogfriends who came along for the ‘ride’. Ali was having none of it but her demeanour was that of adog half her age! We saw the old Isle of Wight ferry that used to run from Yarmouth to Lymington and has been sold on to Setubal to augment is river crossing fleet. It is over 100km the hard way! Rory cooked Vienerschnitzel with aplomb and the wine flowed more freely on Mous’le’s side of the table as Rory had to collect Beverley from the airport later that evening. Rory dropped us at the yacht club before leaving for Lisbon and we headed home to Mous’le for an early night.
Friday 8th August.
We had arranged to meet Rory and Bev again today for a trip to a local vineyard (or two) and then dinner after the (by now) compulsory dog walk. We visited the Jose Maria Fonseca vineyard in Azeitao. Founded over 250yrs ago this large Portuguese firm is still in family ownership. It has estates all over Portugal, although this was the first, and until 30 years ago was also the family seat. They now have a modern winery on the outskirts of the town. The one we visited concentrates on ‘Perquita’ Vino tinto and Muscatel sweet wine. Stocks of Muscatel still stored in the warehouse goes back to 1888! This however would have the consistency of honey and be undrinkable without dilution! It said to be worth over 100,000€ a bottle if were ever to be marketed! All too soon we had to return to Setubal and the dog who we thought would need a walk before we all went out for the evening. In the event she refused to go out of the front door, so we quickly checked email and weather for our departure the next day and went of to a champagneria, a novel restaurant, where one drinks champagne (Portuguese or French) and selects either 5 or 10 starters per couple and a main course each – from a choice of either fish or meat. A great idea and great food. After saying our farewells we motor back to Mous’le and the rest of our trip to Gibraltar.
Saturday 9th August
Up early and we weighed anchor in time to catch the ebb down the river and made good speed the 37M to the port of Sines. We anchored in a nice position just off the town beach, but had only been there for an hour when we were blasted by a wall of noise coming from the beach where, it turned out there were 4 huge loudspeaker towers aimed right at us. With the prospect of an all night rave only 100m away, we decided to up sticks and sail overnight round Cabo Sao Vicente and anchor in Sagres bay immediately behind it. The first six hours were flat calm with 6kn of wind and a moon and star filled sky. but, as the moon dropped, the wind rose and soon we were sailing in 16kn and bowling along. It continued like this till we gybed round the point then the wind freshened further and we were clocking gusts of over 25kn – not weather for mice to be at sea. We turned behind the steep cliffs of Cabo Sagres and anchored in 5m in the shelter of the cliffs. However the wind had other ideas and it had soon backed so that, although we were out of the open sea and in calm water, the wind howled for the next 36hrs never dropping below 25kn and reaching 36kn+ on occasion. Our trusty anchor fortunately did not `rise` to the occasion and we were as snug as a bug till the wind abated.
Monday 11th August.
The day dawned sunny and the wind had dropped to 12 kn or so we upped anchor and headed along the coast past resorts like Praia de Luz and Lagos to a small river between Lagos and Portimao called Rio Alvor. We knew it was shallow, but despite reports of possible silting we decided to give it a try. We arrived with about 20mins till high water so pressed on but the channel (if it exists with 2m depth) is too tricky to find so we withdrew and anchored for lunch off the beach. An attempt to explore was abandoned as the wind was once again increasing steadily and we decided to move on to Portimao and anchor in the outer harbour. There were a lot of boats vying for space but one yacht decided to moor half way between us and our starboard neighbour in a gap that was already just big enough for the two of us. The new yacht promptly swung and hit our neighbour before upping his anchor and trying again right in front of another yacht. He was persuaded to move and eventually headed for the marina.
Tuesday 12th August
We decided ourselves to move into the marina today to enjoy the facilities of mains power, ample water, wifi and showers. We also needed a few provisions and wanted to stock up with wine boxes which are not for sale in Spain by and large. The marina is bright (mustard and terracotta) efficient and not too expensive by Portuguese standards. (Normally about the same or more than South Coast marinas in the UK). We launched our bikes and went for a cycle to the nearest town, Praia de Rocha a typical Algarve beach resort with immaculate beach and boardwalks. A row of restaurants line the cliff bottom and soon the desire for a beer on the beach was to great to resist and we found we had happened on ‘Happy Hour’ 2 beers for 2€! Home took us up a cliff path then down the other side where on our bicycles we were able to scoot past scores of cars waiting in stationary traffic turned paet a road closed sign and magically become pedestrians allowing us to circumvent the obstruction. The Portuguese 70th annual marathon is happening in Portimao and it finishes just behind our marina. The finishing stretch has closed the road to the marina and was causing the gridlock in Praia de Rocha.
Friday 15th August
Seven oclock saw us at the reception pontoon handing in our access card and retrieving the deposit from the security guard. We set off in gentle breezes and soon there was enough wind to sail, initially fitfully but soon we were making 6kn and, escorted by dolphins and shearwaters, we cut our way through the seas towards Spain and Mazagon, our destination.
The approach from 15M out was littered with fishing nets, sometimes a mile or so long and slung an unknown depth below the surface. After a time spent zig-zagging through a chain of nets, we eventually discovered that it is possible to sail over them and our route to port was much more direct as a result. The nets seemed to be staggered in parallel lines about 200m apart in ranks to the shore. 70 miles later we sailed in past the outer breakwater for the Ria de Huelva, one of the longest in Europe and dropped sails prior to entering the marina.
Saturday 16th August
Mazagon is a beach resort and the walk up to the town from the marina is short, leading to a crossroads with a few shops etc. The small supermarket has a huge range of things to sell and is blissfully air-conditioned against the 30 degree C outside temperature. We bought some fish and vegetables and made our way back through the park to the marina. This is not a major centre and again all was quiet with no nocturnal disturbances.
Sunday 17th August
We were on route by 11.00 and made good time to our next port of call, the town of Rota on the northwest corner of the Bay of Cadiz. We had a spanking sail, under our Code Zero genniker and full main, and averaged over 7kn for the trip. We arrived with enough time to spend a couple of hours visiting the old town, with its narrow streets, archways and private hallways. These halls are a feature of this part of Spain where buildings are built round a central courtyard which is often exquisitely decorated with tiles, plants and wrought ironwork. There were plazas and churches and two separate art exhibitions, one in the town hall council room and one in a room above the market on a theme of fans. Every painting used a fan in its construction - very clever and often very beautiful.
Monday 18th August
We set off late morning to move round the bay to El Puerto de Santa Maria. This used to be the centre of the export of sherry from the Jerez region of Spain and many bodegas are based here. Unfortunately the marina of the yacht club was full and we had to retire to Puerto Sherry, a purpose built marina outside of town and one of the first to be developed with housing as part of the plan. Unfortunately it has stopped mid way and there are many unfinished apartment blocks and other buildings in the complex. The marina however has been here for over 20 years despite the problems.
Tuesday 19th August
A quiet day Penny cycled into El Puerto de Santa Maria, a couple of miles away in a vain attempt to find a supermarket, but did happen on a few bodegas (wineries) so we have a visit booked for tomorrow morning to Osbornes (Pronounced ozborneigh). We have to vacate our current berth as the owner is due to return before the weekend, but there is a nice anchorage off a fine sandy beach next to the marina so we have decided to move to the anchorage after our visit to town tomorrow.
Wednesday 20th August
We were booked for our guided tour at 1030 so were on our way to town by 1000. It only took 20minutes and the office was not ready for us. However we were able to wait in the entrance garden and watch the other tours assemble. We had a mixed nationality in our English speaking group, a Scot, a Rhodesian, a Polish couple, a German couple and a Dutch family from Puerto Sherry, also anchored in the bay outside. They have a Wharram catamaran, 49 long and only 17 beam. The tour guide was a chemical engineer who is retiring in a few days time. However his talk was very interesting about how the old processes and methods have only recently been underpinned by a full understanding of the chemistry involved. There was a tasting at the end of a Fino, a dry Olorosa and a sweet cream Olorosa. Before leaving we were tempted into buying a couple of bottles and also some of the pate and ham that are a speciality of the region.After taking our leave, we located the supermarket from the instructions of a man in the bodega, and then went off to enjoy a lunch of fried fish in batter, another local specialty. The food was delicious and we had it tapas style with 5 different items and some freshly baked bread. Time was marching on and we made our way back to Mousle via the supermarket. It was a matter of minutes to motor round the corner to the anchorage and get settled for our overnight stay. Entertainment was provided in the form of a fleet of kamikaze kids in dinghies who were learning to sail right in front of us. Some crews were more mischievous than others and the first punishment seemed to be to reef their sail so they couldnt go so fast. When that failed to deter a particularly enterprising pair of boys, they tried to steal one of the turning marks, the instructor tried to capsize them by circling them in her rib at speed.
Thursday 21st August
We were heading down to Barbate today, a port famed for its tuna and about 40 miles from Puerto Sherry. There was no wind and we had to motor the whole trip, although when we got level with the port we thought we might manage to make Gibraltar so we pressed on. As if to say Silly silly, the wind (on the nose as usual) started to increase and once we were round Cape Trafalgar, it further increased to 25-28kn but we motor-sailed on, heading for the lee of Tarifa island. What was remarkable was the warmth of the wind. We were comfortable on deck and behind the wheel in tee-shirts even in 25 knots. The wind had abated as we reached shelter and we dropped anchor in 5m depth, 100m from the causeway that links the island to the town beach. Within half an hour the wind had swung round to the west putting us at risk should it strengthen. However, by the time we had finished dinner, it had gone back round to the east and was building again. We were joined by a 43 catamaran that we had comprehensively sailed through on our way down from Cape Trafalgar, we were tacking through 50 degrees, he didnt seem to manage less than 120! We set an anchor alarm and were woken again at 0345 by the noise of the wind which had increased to 35 to 40kn. The catamaran was no longer beside us he had dragged his anchor and was now sitting nearly 400m away. A radar plot showed that he seemed to be stationary so he must have noticed the dragging and dropped more cable. The rest of the night was quiet as the wind then fell away and by midmorning was a comfortable 10kn.
Friday 22nd August
We left Tarifa after breakfast and by following the currents, covered the 17miles in just over 2hours. We were moored up in Gibraltar, bow to the quay, by 1330 and after lunch and tidying things up, made contact with Dave, a friend from the UK who runs a charter and sailing school here in Gib. He found us in a chandlery discussing a possible new engine for Mousle and we repaired to the bar for the evening to enjoy the warm evening and watch the sun setting over Algiciras.
Saturday 23rd August
We spent the morning mulling over engines and then went to check out Gibraltars shopping. We got lost and it took us an hour to find Morrisons supermarket. After cooling down over the chill cabinets we did a bit better and managed to navigate ourselves to Main Street and Casemates (one of the main squares). We are due to leave for the UK on Wednesday the 27th August for 10 days.
Wednesday 27th August
We were up at the crack of dawn in order to finish the jobs necessary to be happy leaving Mousle for 2 weeks as today was the day we were to fly home to the UK for Hughs son Alex and his fiancee Jos wedding. All mooring lines were re-checked, windows and hatches closed, rubbish removed and eventually, rucksacks on our backs, we set of for the walk to the airport. It seemed strange to be as close to the airport terminal here as we are to the Red Jet terminal in Cowes. The flight was reasonably trouble free, although we were an hour late leaving so had little time in Gatwick to catch a train to Southampton. We arrived back in our flat on the Isle of Wight nine hours after leaving Mousle in Gibraltar.
Saturday 30th August
After catching up with some of our friends in Cowes we drove over to Shedfield to spend a couple of days with Pennys family, repair their computer network and hire a morning suit for the wedding. Penny and her mum disappeared for 2 days altering her dress for the wedding and finishing off our wedding present - a patchwork quilt.
Tuesday 2nd September
We left Hampshire to drive to Cornwall to spend a couple of days with Alistair and Rosemary friends from University days with whom we were going to see a production of The War of the Worlds , the musical by Jeff Wayne. On our way down we stopped off in Exeter to investigate small notebook computers. Typically we seduced ourselves into buying an Asus Eee 900 for email etc. We drove down through rain showers and arrived in St Ives in warm evening sunshine boding better for our outdoor theatre experience the next day.
Wednesday 3rd September
The day dawned cloudy and overcast so we packed umbrellas and oilskins along with our pre theatre champagne lunch and set of for the Minack. The theatre is built in a SE facing niche in the cliffs protected from west through north right round to the east. The wind was gusting to Force 7 in the car park as we waited to be allowed in. Local influence got us seats right at the front and amazingly there was almost no wind in the theatre itself! The day was a memorable one both for the posh picnic and the quality of the production.
Friday 5th September
It was time to leave Cornwall but not before lunching with sailing friends from Falmouth, currently living in their yacht Sapphire at anchor near Mylor outside Truro. Rosie came with us and we spent a lovely couple of hours with them before we had to leave for Hampshire. We drove up through torrential rain and arrived in time for dinner and bed. Tomorrow was to be an early start as we had to be in Hatfield by 1130.
Saturday 6th September
After an easy and dry run up to our hotel and armed with the morning suit, collected en route, we were ready to set off to the church. Northaw proved to be a picture postcard village and has a pretty little church. The weather, which had started out bright and sunny, had clouded over and was threatening rain. The church ceremony went off without a hitch and it was nice meeting both the Maclean clan from Scotland as well as the Bush contingent from all points of the compass. Jos parents were wonderful and we relaxed into the rest of the day as the wedding party moved on to the reception at Brocket Hall Golf Club. This is situated overlooking a lake in the grounds of Brocket Hall in a wooded and secluded setting and provided an ideal place for the celebration. The rain held off for the outdoor photographs and once everyone was indoors there they stayed till fireworks were announced at 10.00pm!We drove back down to Shedfield on the Sunday via a visit to Pennys godmother in Woburn Sands and packed our bags to return to Mousle after an action packed 2 weeks.
Monday 8th September
We were given a lift to the station to catch our train to Gatwick by Shirley, a neighbour of Pennys parents, whose daughter and son in law are currently en route to Port Napoleon in Southern France where we are hoping to spend the winter. They are coming down through the French canals and it would be their last port of call in the Rhone before entering the Med. Our trip back to Gibraltar was made more pleasant by our access to the Club Lounge in Gatwick and we disembarked into warm Medirranean sunshine in the late afternoon.Mousle was just as we had left her and we soon settled back into live-aboard life.
Thursday 11th September
After much debate we have decided definitely to order a new engine. We had been debating whether to move to a 40HP but detailed measurements of the engine bay soon proved it would not fit so we are going for the 30HP instead. This still offers 10% more power than our existing 27HP and should outlast our ownership of Mousle. It is now on order and will take a couple of weeks to arrive.
Tuesday 16th September
Wifi access remains an issue for us and we have found that the best wifi aerial is one that is also available in the US and Canada at almost half the price. On the grounds that if one has family abroad one might as well make use of them, we asked Older Brother to bring one over. Having also lashed out while in England and bought another notebook computer, an Asus Eee 900 which Penny is looking forward to using for email and internet access, (It runs full Microsoft XP and we have a 320Gb external mini hard drive so PJ is raring to go!), we have decided to buy a wireless router to connect the two on the boat and having checked out Main Street we found what we wanted at a 30% reduction after Pj had done her negotiating!
Friday 19th September
Now we find we need an external CD/DVD drive for the Eee to run the enclosed CD. So back to the computer shop and once again we are tempted by gadgets and buy a new iPaq mobile phone! So much for budgeting! Our friends from Gijon and Corua, David and Gillian have arrived and along with another couple, Tony and Jill we arranged to have a beach bbq the next day. There are three beaches in Gibraltar, all on the east side of the rock.
Saturday 20th September
We spent the day sorting out Mousle in preparation for the arrival of the engine, expected next week. The job will require us to disconnect all the connections, fuel, electrics and water to the old engine, labelling where necessary and disconnecting the propeller shaft coupling if we are able. We will then be towed from our present bow-to berth to one where we can lie alongside a jetty that a small truck with a crane can access. The old engine will then be removed from its bed and lifted out, with the new one following immediately. We will then be towed back to our berth to complete the fitting.With the afternoon moving towards evening we all assembled for our barbeque and cycled off only to find that Penny had a leaky tyre and we had to stop to pump it up several times during the journey there and back. The first beach was between the end of the airport runway and the Rock, and overlooked by the RAF accommodation blocks and not especially inviting so we moved on to the next one which was more like a Cornish cove and much more appealing. Although it is only mid September and the temperature in the evenings is in the mid to high twenties, the beach is closed for the winter and passers by looked as us as if we were eccentric Brits out in the midday sun!
Tuesday 23rd September
Our engine will be here on Thursday and work is scheduled to begin on Tuesday 30th. We now have a timetable and can get ourselves ready. We have done very little of the tourist trail since we arrived and we decided to spend Wednesday visiting the market in La Linea across the border in Spain. It is a modern town and has undergone much redevelopment. The indoor food market is enormous and the prices for meat are 10% cheaper than in Gib supermarkets. The quality looks better as well. We found the Bullring, but it was all locked up; evidently not open for passing visitors. Our friends David and Gill had left the previous morning and we returned to Mousle to find an email asking us to get some parts for a passerelle (a gangway) which is fitted to many boats to ease the difficulty of stepping on and off the bow or stern, to the dock. We hope to meet up with them in a week or two between here and Valencia where they are stopping for the winter.
Friday 26th September
The forecast for the weekend is looking very poor for lifting and lowering engines from a crane to a boat that is moving unpredictably up and down. The wind is from the west over the weekend and looks set to continue until Tuesday or Wednesday. It is agreed that the best day is Wednesday and Kevin (our mechanic) goes off to arrange the crane. We have agreed to disconnect all the connections to the engine fuel, electrics, control cables etc and to loosen the holding down bolts on the feet and those to the propeller shaft. We thought it would keep us occupied for the whole weekend but it was completed by Saturday evening.
Tuesday 30th September
Today is the day Kevin arrived on the dock about 09.30 to say that in view of an improvement in the weather today, the crane was fixed for the afternoon and Glen from the marina staff would be along about lunchtime to tow us across to an alongside berth. The move went without a hitch and once tied up we completed the separation of the old engine from the boat. Using the boom as a crane, with the main halyard attached to a strop around the section of boom directly above the hatch and a block and tackle attached to the lifting points on the engine, we eased it off its bearers and out from under the stairs onto the cabin floor. It was then hoisted out of the boat using a small crane parked on the dockside. The new engine was then dropped into the cabin in the same way. The block and tackle allowed us to locate the engine on the bearers to check for fit. All seemed to be well and we moved it back into the cabin while Kevin began the necessary adaptations to reconnect things like the fuel pipes, water pipes and the exhaust which required a new piece of hose as all were now located on the starboard side of the engine and in different places from the old.
Thursday 2nd October
The engine has been fitted but unfortunately the propeller shaft coupling has had to be pulled forward 5mm as the new engine is that much shorter than the old. We hope this will be OK at the aft end of the shaft when we come to run the engine.We have made several trips into central Gibraltar and seen the defences, Casemates Square, the wall and Nelsons Gate. We have been seeking an opportunity to take a trip up the rock, but recently the weather has been either sunny but very hazy or cloudy.
Friday 3rd October
The engine is now ready to fire up and run but Kevin wants the sterngear checked to make sure nothing fouls anything so Steve (the diver) turns up and checks the underwater situation. He takes some pictures and repairs the rope cutter that had come apart while we were moving the shaft back and forth. All should be well for the test on Monday.
Monday 6th October
The engine runs beautifully in neutral, much quieter and less clackity than the old one. In reverse, tied to the dock it pulls well, but when we try it in ahead there is a loud banging sound from underneath and the trial is stopped. Time to call Steve the Diver in again.
Wednesday 10th October
The guys who work around here have learned that the crew of Mousle do not do early mornings soSteve the Diver jauntily turned up about 1130 to discuss the problem over a cup of coffee. He hadprepared himself by bringing a new set of Allan keys to loosen the rope cutter, the likely source of thenoise. After working out a plan of campaign and reviewing photos, he went off to change and was soon back and under the boat. Within 2 minutes he had stripped his nice new Allan key and had to borrow from Mousles toolbox. After considerable wriggling and lots of bubbles he appeared at the stern to say he had managed to get almost the required clearance and to try the engine in ahead. Not a sound and with Mousle straining against her stern line at 2,200rpm we feel that the problem should now be solved.
Thursday 9th October
The Yanmar supplied alternator seems to have stopped functioning and we may have to have it checked by an electrician. Apparently the Rocks sole marine electrician, Rob, is getting married next week so he is only able to come and advise.
Friday 10th October
Rob came down at lunchtime to check the electrics. There was a loose connection from the alternator to the starter which had blown some diodes. As this is not covered by warranty and we had fitted the electrics we had to sort it out ourselves. There is an electrical engineer on The Rock, but he had left for a long weekend when we took the alternator into Kevin, so it would be Tuesday before anything would happen. We decided to have our other alternator checked as well and left it with Kevin for Steve the Alternator Man.Strong easterly winds had been building as we got up and a gale warning for F7 gusting 8 had been issued. We were bow to the wind and downwind of the jetty so we felt we should be secure but a swell appeared from the west which worsened over the ensuing 48 hours and made even our more sheltered position occasionally interesting. We pulled ourselves back on our stern line to be as far off the pontoon as possible, doubled up our bow lines and ensured we had put full round turns on the mooring rings on all ropes and fendered our bow. Our jib was already stowed below so we tidied up on deck and settled down to endure the storm.The Friday night produced winds of 30kn gusting to 38kn and an increasing amount of swell. The wind continued to blow through the day of Saturday and steadily increased from late afternoon until the early hours of Sunday morning when gusts in excess of 80kn were recorded in the Marina. Our wind indicator died with a jammed anemometer after showing 65Kn (we removed a clump of grass from it later). Much damage was suffered, mainly to boats moored on the east side of the dock whose stern lines had broken free from the fixing on the seabed. Three roller furled jibs blew out on our jetty alone. Anchors, pulpits, pushpits and transoms were smashed and most owners who were present were up all night keeping boats from smashing themselves on the concrete jetty. Fortunately the gale abated with the sunrise and the morning brought the news that the other Gibraltar marina at Queensway Quay had been all but demolished with much damage to both boats and pontoons.
Wednesday 15th October
Steve the Alternator sent a message that our original Balmar alternator was OK and ready for collection so we went round to pick it up. He told us of the problems with the Yanmar alternator. It is made by Hitachi and they do not make any spare parts for it so it can only be repaired by using bits from other alternators and adapting them. This may take a week or two, so we are going to refit the Balmar and try to resurrect the control equipment to make it work. After redesigning the electrical cupboard below the companion way we found a blown fuse. This was replaced and lo and behold we now have a fully functioning engine.
Sunday 19th October
Our only decision now is where to winter Mousle. Port Napoleon, our original destination is nearly 700NM as the crow flies and the weather in the Golfe du Lyon becomes more unstable with the local Tramontana and Mistral winds capable of reaching force 9-10 on occasion with very little warning. We are now re-examining our options. We have been suffering from a slow weep of water from the repair done in Bilbao and need to have it properly repaired. We have checked with the marina here and to our surprise they can offer us a berth. We feel that if we can get the repair done here then wintering in Marina Bay is the only sensible option.
Wednesday 22nd October
We have decided to stay in Gibraltar for this winter. A great net work of people / friends are willing to watch out for Mous`le whilst we are not on board. So we are now building new mooring lines out of chain and old tyres to try and ensure that she is safe during any strong winds. This entails learning to splice, cutting through 8mm chain links, whipping (that is ropes, not pj or hm!) and finding a source of second hand tyres.We took Mous`le out for her maiden voyage with new engine. All went well, but winds building over 20 knots so we returned to our little haven in Marina Bay. We hope to try out the engine a little more by going to Africa for a short visit.Our return to UK is booked for the 12th Nov, aiming to return to IOW on about the 16th, after spending a short time on the mainland visiting family.Monday 27th OctoberAfter talking with our insurers and their local surveyor, we have visited with the local boatyard in Gibraltar, run by Shephards. They are pressed for space and can offer nothing definite till mid- December. We have to discuss this delay in lifting Mousle out for repair with the surveyor to see if it is acceptable to the insurers or whether the risk of further damage to the hull means we have to move on to another port with facilities. It seems that is either Marina Smir in Morocco, 40M away or Almeria some 140M to the east.
Friday 31st October
Another galethis time south westerly and accompanied by very heavy rain. It blew all night and most of today with gusts of just under 40Kn. Mousle has behaved well and we have not had any major problems. We have a flight home booked for the 12th November and we were still waiting for a visit from the surveyor.
Tuesday 4th November
Neil, our surveyor came today and is happy, subject to inspection after Mou`sle has been lifted out of the water, to sanction the necessary work in Sheppard`s Yard in Gibraltar.
Thursday 6th November
A trip to Sheppard`s and to a Marine electrician in Rosier Estate to check our EPIRB was followed by an excursion to see the wreck of the Fedra, a 30,000 ton bulk carrier that was blown onto Europa Point in the October Gale and then broke her back. This took us past Rosier Bay and then uphill through a tunnel and out onto the small plateau that is Europa point. Africa was clearly visible as was the other pillar of Hercules at Ceuta, the Spanish edition of Gibraltar within Morocco.The Fedra lay in two parts, her after-section with bridge and funnel cuddling up to the rock on which the Europa Point Light stands, while her main hull appeared to by trying to become part of Gibraltar`s rubbish tip!We innocently tried to follow the road, shown on our map, back up the east side of the rock but were turned back after cycling up a long hill, by an armed guard who informed us that the road had been closed 7 years ago but nobody had bothered to change the map! This meant retracing our steps and this time we took the `middle road` back to downtown Gibraltar and a well earned dinner
Monday 10th November
We are in the process of laying up Mous`le for the winter which involves more or less emptying the two after cabins in case the repair to the P bracket needs work from the inside. We have 2 more days to finish this off and then it`s home to England for 3 weeks before flying out to spend Christmas and New Year in Vancouver.
Its the beginning of a new season and we are getting ready to rejoin Mous`le in Gibraltar.
She has had an eventful winter there what with a 85kn gale, an oil slick from a british tanker that hit a Monobuoy off the La Linea oil refinery, being lifted out to repair both her leaking p-bracket and the oil stains on her hull then having a cleat torn out of her foredeck just after she was relaunched!
We hope to have our new SSB MF/HFradio fitted by the end of March. Our call sign is MYMS3 and our MMSI number is 235031643.
Hugh is flying out to Gib to rejoin Mous`le tomorrow, with Penny following on 2 weeks later.
Hugh now has the SSB fitted, plus antenna. Now he is struggling to inter link it with other instruments on Mous`le i.e. the GPS. So far we have received on it (that is BBC world service and some other radio stations, but not yet talked to anyone), have not tried transmitting.
The copper strap running between the new ground plates below two of our aft lockers and the antenna tuner and the transceiver has been epoxied in by Penny. She obviously needs practice on epoxying, so is offering to do jobs on other boats. No liability accepted on perfection of job!
The epoxy having gone off, has allowed all the contents of said lockers to be replaced, freeing up a lot of space in the cockpit and the main saloon. Life becoming much more comfortable. Also allowing time now for some cleaning to take place to start getting rid of a huge amount of sand from the deck. Africa has a lot to answer for.
Once Hugh has sussed the SSB, we will be making a move from here. Hard to believe that we have been here since August of 2008.
It is nice to be in the sun again and as soon as there is a clear day, we will go up the rock to do the sight seeing bit of this visit.
On the 8th April Hugh was making good progress with the SSB installation and the weather was fine so we decided to have a day off to sight see La Linea, Spain by bike.
On exiting the marina Hugh was hit by a scooterist and both riders ended up in the tarmac. Both rather shocked, bruised but fortunately no broken bones. The scooter was the most damaged and the policeman wanted to know what car the scooter had hit - too much damage for just a cyclist. Hugh limped back to the boat and has hardly left it since. A back injury seems to be the main result. To add insult to injury Hugh was charged with riding a bike without due care and attention and informed that he would be in court in about 6 months unless he paid for the damage to the scooter. We decided in the end it was easier to pay up, so £450 later the charges have been dropped.
This has rather affected our plans as Hugh is not fit to sail at present. Fortunately the marina is quiet at the moment and there is no problem about us keeping a berth for longer.
We are still in Gib. Hugh`s tangle with the scooter we think has resulted with a couple of cracked ribs, which has left him not feeling up to sailing. Intensive chiropractic treatments have helped a lot, and he may feel up to moving on in a couple of weeks.
Meanwhile I have been immersing myself in GIb life. Found a water colour painting class, been cycling, walking and generally enjoying life. It is nice that my `jobs` on the boat are done and it is now just the day to day stuff. This is what the cruising life should be about. I am just sorry that Hugh is not able to join in with my escapades off the boat. Teach him to look out where he is going I suppose!!
As some folk are having trouble logging onto this site. we are looking at alternatives. Might be google or a site called get.jealous. Will keep you all posted.
Yesterday we helped a friend bring his Westerly 33, Callum Star, from Estepona to Gib. The day started with an early start (OK, early for us!) by catching a bus in Spain at 10am. Hugh started to find the 30 minute walk to get to the bus a bit of a struggle, but as we had decided that this day was to be a test as to his actual level of recovery, and if a departure date of a week from now was realistic, he persevered.
A very slow, but comfortable bus ride (an hour and a half to do 40km) had taken us around the houses and dropped off in Estepona. A lunch and trip to chandlers preceded slipping the moorings to head out into the Mediterranean. A lack of wind resulted in motor sailing the whole way. Hugh was none the worse for this adventure and indeed seemed to relax into the travel. It bodes well for us to think that we may, weather permitting, head out of Gib ourselves next weekend.
Hugh did not feel up to the journey to Estepona today after a vigourous session at the chiropractor`s and the forecast is for a 30kn (near gale) Levanter (easterly) to blow from early Wednesday until at least Saturday
We have decided to take advantage of a cash reduction for a month here and have committed till the end of June.
This clearly puts the rest of our intended schedule beyond our ability to catch up and we are now re-examining our itinerary.
Penny is proud of the fact that she made it up The Rock in 71 minutes from the boat to the top of the King Charles V wall while racing our neighbour, a young ex Para who ran up it in 31 minutes (he WAS trying!!).
Hi all
We are still holidaying in Gibraltar while waiting for the skipper`s back to mend (it`s well on the way). We are also deciding about basing ourselves here for the rest of the season or moving up to near Barcelona. Slightly more expensive here but good transport home vs a new marina with an alongside berth at the mouth of the Ria Ebro.
Penny is sewing for all and sundry making lee cloths, mozzie nets etc and along with sketching as well as watercoloring, she is never still!
THe SSB is working - certainly for reception and e-mail(sending and receivng) however difficulty with voice communication may be due to the forest of masts that surround us.
We wish our friends wherever they wind if they need it, sun if they want it and bon voyage to all.
Thanks to all who have responded on our message board as well as by email.
Hugh & Penny
Penny has at last accepted that her mobile phone provider is no longer providing. Her number +447937055912 is defunct and looks as if the service will not resume via United Mobile. Until a new provider is found, Hugh`s number is the only phone other than Skype when the computer is online we now have when away from home.
PJ is 50 today! Or at least beginning her 50th year. She spent the morning reading email messages before climbing up the mast to help reeve a halyard. After preparing our contribution the celebrations began at 18.30 with a drinks and dinner party on Guardian Spirit, a Moody Eclipse, owned by Dave and Elaine Evans who had kindly agreed to act as hosts for the half centenary, Our neighbours Paul (Twister) Elliot and Paul (Westerly) Richards with his friend Carol were also represented. After an 'American' style meal six of the group, with the exception of Paul(T) left to go to a production of 'Oliver' at the Open Air Theatre in the Botanical Gardens. It is a lovely little theatre and the noise of the Barbary apes chattering, the seagulls calling and a peahen hooting offered competition to the performers. THe cliff face of the Rock was eventually illuminated by the rays of the sun setting behind Algeciras leaving behind only the dark and no more distractions from the musical itself. It proved a great fun evening and the party made there way back to Guardian Spirit to continue celebrations well into the next day.
Once again we are going to change our mind about our plans! At present we are going to leave Gib in a day or two and after dropping our Liferaft at Estepona for a service we'll head on quickly up the coast to San Carles de Rapito to hopefully meet up with Alcyone before they head back to the UK. If there is time we'll take in a bit of Ibiza and Fomentera before making it back to Gib to meet Penny's most favoured youngest nephew and his friend who are going to spend a few days with us before flying back to Canada. We will then leave Mous'le in Gib again for 5-6 weeks while we return to the UK on July 22nd to sort out a number of issues and catch up with friends. On the 1st September we will be back in Gib making ready for the trip to the Canaries and onward to Barbados! Anyone wanting to come along let us know.
We are almost ready for the off. The plan is to visit Estopona where we can get our liferaft serviced and then head east in approx 60M hops until we are comfortable that all is well with Mous'le and her crew. We may then do some longer legs until we reach San Carles de Rapido at the mouth of the River Ebro. We'll keep our map updated as best we can - ie wifi permitting.
After a hectic morning paying bills, packing up, saying our farewells, getting fuel etc we eventually departed at 12.15 only 15mins late. We are running in a very new engine and there fore were restricted to a boat speed of about 5.4 knots. The engine ran quietly and sweetly, showing how noisy the old one had become! However with some help from the tide and current we covered the 23M in exactly 4 hrs. We were even in time to drop off our liferaft for servicing.
We are getting to see it inflated tomorrow and then may head East for Almerimar, 2 days sailing away for the likes of fairweather day sailors such as us.
We arrived in Almerimar at about 11 am this morning - having left Estepona with our serviced liferaft at about 11 the previous morning. Would have made better time if we had not stopped to reset the course computer (which involves driving the boat around in circles whilst it decides which way up we are). This always takes about half an hour. We decided that it would be prudent to tell the compass that we had a new engine, deviation now 2 degrees, the best result we have had yet.
it was a journey fraught with the usual problems of a first season trip. We again found the OTBNA winds were present (On the bloody nose again). We hazard a guess that when we head back to Gib, it will decide to go in the direction we should be having now. Oh what fun we have. The best problem was in trying to get the jib halyard up properly. Tightening the wrong jib halyard actually made no difference to the sail, and the spinnaker halyard also made no difference. Amazing what pulling on the correct rope does for the efficient sailing of a boat!!
A high light of the journey was seeing a turtle swimming with his fish friend. (Picture to follow when Hugh gets chance to upload). Once spotted we circled Mous'le to have a better look, a vigilant French boat nearby changed course towards us as we were mimicking a man over board process.
We hope this blog is not going up twice as the first effort seemed to just disappear.
Off for another 24 hour trip tomorrow, heading for Cartagena. Varying weather reports makes us expect anything from 5 knots to 35 knots - so we shall see.
Our last night in Almerimar and we are sitting in the 'Stumble Inn' about 50m from our mooring. I have just updated our map and discovered Mous'le has been awarded her 'wheels'! We await the next 3 or 4 days with interest!
We have just taken delivery of a BBQ, a Cobb (From South Africa and understandably the best) so are off to cook supper.
Sat 20th June
Almerimar again!
After a leisurely morning, we set off on Friday and found ourselves in quite a novel situation for the crew of Mous'le. The wind was actually blowing us to where we wanted to go. So it was up with the appropriate sails and we were soon bowling along on the crest of the wave! (Well more or less!)
After about 5 hours of this our speed had sadly dropped from nearly 6 knots to just over 3 which was OK if we didn't ever have to be anywhere, but slow enough for us to turn on the engine. Except we couldn't. Or more exactly, we couldn't move the gear lever. Now this is an eventuality for which Mous'le's crew have received specific training as we have been here before arriving at Bilbao last summer, almost exactly a year ago. Now we can change gear at the engine, but the skipper has to call down to the engine room staff Full ahead!! or Full astern or Stop engine.
But things should not be thus and with an additional concern over the running temperature of the engine, we decided that the common sense thing to do was to turn around and head back to Almerimar in case we have to return to Gibraltar to see our engineer.
So here we are again, basking in 31 degrees of wall to wall sunshine, British beer only 30m away and a lazy weekend ahead cooking prime steak and roast chicken on our brand new Cobb BBQ!
Ah me!
While looking at the forecast for the next week or so, it struck us that we are going to have the 'OTBNA' scenario to contend with for as long as we insist on plugging North East from here. So we said to each other "why don't we hire a car, visit the places of interest in this area and then have a leisurely (even for us!) trip back to Gibraltar".So now we are leaving Mous'le for a couple of days to visit friends from the Isle of Wight who have been living north of Malaga for some years now. We will also visit some points of interest (like local superstores!) as well as a bodega or two. The mountains are also worth a visit. We will go and find some of 'Old Spain', less damaged by modernity than the Costas.
We have begun to realise that we have actually now filled Mous'le up and are taking steps to rationalise what we carry. We are selling or dumping any unused bits and pieces that we cannot justify keeping on board. PJ, as our stowage expert is putting in endless hours of hot sweaty toil to this end. (Lady Admirals being well known to have better spacial awareness even when driving) Hopefully this will enable us to acquire more possessions and the cycle will repeat in a years time or so!
We have rented a car for the past few days and now are back in Almerimar after a tour of eastern Andalucia which has taken us from Almerimar to Malaga and then north through the sierras to Iznahar and the home of our friends from the IoW. They live in a house with stunning views over a series of hills full of olive trees stretching to the far horizon. The whole area of south Cordoba is wall to wall olive trees and not surprisingly the major export is olive oil. After 2 relaxing and memory filled days we left to explore the major feature of this part of Spain, the High Sierras. After shopping for lunch in Antequera, we chose a route which crossed a number of high passes and took us to some high places of amazing interest. Mountaintop lakes vied with cave dwellings in Bobastro and blancoed villages were stark against the soft tree lined contours of the lower slopes. Ronda, an ancient Muslim fortress until the 15th century is a town divided in the present as well as the past. A gorge separates the old Arabic part from the modern Spanish town and we enjoyed dinner in a restaurant perched on the upper slopes of the cliff. As the sun set over the hills to the northwest, the swifts were wheeling and dealing in the sky before retiring to roost for the night.
After a morning further exploring the alleys and gardens that make up this town, we headed east to Granada following a route based on M Michelin's cartography. He indicates roads of scenic interest with a green border and we spent the day creating a route to contain as many of these roads as we could. It was not direct but for us upwind sailors who are used to tacking to our destination, it seemed entirely normal.
On Monday lunchtime found us on the outskirts of Granada resolved to visit the city again after they have installed their tramway. We had just taken an hour to not reach the city centre and had ended up back where we started. The Sierra Nevada 'Sol y Niege' ski resort was our first target, and the road up has been extremely well engineered. The resort was 'Closed' so we carried on up to the ski lopes at 2600m and enjoyed the cool and refreshing air by climbing a few hundred feet to the statue of 'Our Lady of the Snows' that overlooks the ski area. (It did reveal how little cool and refreshing air there actually was up there!)
After a scratch lunch we retraced our steps and headed south out of Granada to the Alpujarros – the south facing flanks of the Sierra Nevada. The town of Lanjaron, its western gateway is perched in a seemingly impossible way on the steep slopes of the sierra. We have decided to leave exploring the area in detail for tomorrow and today we headed south to the Sierra Contraviesa which sit east of Motril overlooking the south coast all the way to Almeria. The road runs along the ridge and it often possible to see the valley below the Sierra Nevada to the north and the Mediterranean to the south at the same time! The twists and turns over precipitous drops, often with no barriers and insufficient width to deal with oncoming cars kept our hearts beating until our return to Mous'le for dinner and a well earned rest
On Tuesday we spent a leisurely morning and headed for the Cabo de Gato. Passing a commercial centre we felt drawn to visit it and once again showed our stern resolve to part with money!. On through Almeria, a pleasing town with both a commercial harbour and a beach resort atmosphere. It sits on the flat coastal strip surrounded by hundreds of square kilometres of plastic sheeting covering the vegetable nursery of northern Europe. Around Almerimar there is virtually no agricultural land that is not covered!
After Almeria we followed the coast to the cape itself and ate a picnic lunch before driving north again heading past the salt pans and bird santuary north of the cape for the Sierra Albamilla and the town of Nijar. This is another picturesque town, a potters paradise with roads that get narrower the further up the hill one goes. We spent some time extricating ourselves and eventually found the road back up into the hills. This time we were in for several surprises as there had been a bush fire there in the recent past covering more than five kilometres of hillside and coming very close to a huge solar generating station up on the south side of the summit ridge. The valley to the north which was to provide our route back to the coast and, home was home of the Spaghetti Western and it is still possible to visit the sets that were built back in the last century.
Tomorrow we are off to visit the Alpujarros, our last day of land based travel
Leaving Almerimar involves driving for 7km through a dazzling scene of white plastic netting, and even heading West on the coastal autovia the blue of the Mediterranean contrasted with the white of the plastic and the green and brown of the southern face of the Sierras. At Adra we headed north through a pass in the coastal sierras to reach the valley of the Alpujarros, to the south of the 3000m peaks of the Sierra Nevada. A road that links the ancient silk producing villages perched on the southern slopes of the mountains winds its tortuous and stunning way along the 1000m contour, occasionally dipping below to cross narrow deep valley gouged out of the hillside by the melting snow on the high peaks, and then rising to over 1500m rounding the craggy bluffs. Under Islam, this area was world famous for silk production and coastal towns such as Almeria built their fortunes on the silk industry. All that is left now are the mulberry trees that share the narrow but fertile valleys with the villages of the Alpujarros. Arabic architecture vies nowadays with modern Spanish, but the building here has been sympathetically designed.
All to soon we reached Orgiva, the 'capital' of the Apujarros and again following M. Michelin's 'Route Verte' we were climbing south out of the valley to cross the Sierra Contraviesa and back to the coast road home.
This is the end of our week of exploration and we have covered 1,500Km and climbed well in excess of 15,000 vertical metres. Our hire car, a little blue VW Polo (marked as 'gris' in the paperwork!) has done us proud and has now been returned.
We are planning our return to Gib and intend anchoring at two or three points along the coast before reaching Fuengirola on Sunday evening to meet up with our friends.
We left Almerimar around lunchtime for the 2 hour sail to our first intended destination of Adra. We anchored just outside the harbour entrance sheltered from any westerly breeze that might appear, although there was, in fact, almost no wind. Unfortunately there was an irritating swell from the south west which posed a problem with rolling every time Mous'le turned on her anchor to face the fitful puffs of westerly wind that did appear. It led to an uncomfortable night and a decision to move on first thing the next day.
The sunset that night brought with it a wonderful cloud formation right above us and as it gradually changed from white, to rose and then to pink and orange, the fishing boats returning to harbour below were travelling through a rainbow of colours painted on the surface of the sea. To some extent at least it made up the for the unpleasant motion.
Saturday brought another day's motoring in calm seas as we carried on to our next anchorage. This was in a bay close to the resort town of Calahonda. It was surrounded by steep cliffs and sported a viewpoint where we had lunched in a gale on our way to Malaga by car a few days earlier. It seemed to offer good shelter from the breeze but again the swell intruded and Mous'le spent the evening rolling heavily, despite laying a stern anchor and us deploying antiroll devices. Eventually enough was enough and at 0100 we weighed anchor and headed for harbour at our next stop, Calete de Velez. THis little marina is in a busy fishing harbour some 40km east of Malaga, and we had arranged to meet our Andalucian friends there on Monday to go for a days sailing.
Monday started out with calm seas and blazing sun. Our crew turned up at about 11.00 and after a chat and cuppa, we readied lines and sails and cast off to go sailing. 14kn on the wind speed indicator as we left the mooring became 18 by the time we had sails up in the shelter of the harbour, 20kn as we left the entrance and 25knots saw us putting in 1 reef and then nearly 30kn meant a second reef before Mous'le was sailing uncomfortably in a bouncy sea and destroying the sealegs of her recently arrived crew! However just as we had got used to the conditions the wind fell away again to under 5 knots leaving a very disturbed sea and us with no real choice but to return to base and start the BBQ! Lunch was a lengthy affair with much talk and little action after the excitement of the morning and with our visitors departure around 20.00, we were left to consider our next move.
Fuengirola was the first place in Spain that Penny had visited, many years ago, so was to be our next destination. In the event, it was completely unfamiliar, probably because the redevelopment of the 80s and 90s left little of the old town remaining.
It has to be said that the changes do not seem to be architecturally successful in producing a town of any character. Disparate high rise developments have little beauty and the turrets and towers of the marina block do not enhance its appeal. We arrived in the early evening and decided to eat out. It was revealing of the basis of Fuengirola's ecenomy that almost all the restaurants on the front offered 'British' dishes to the exclusion of anything else! After walking up into the town we found a small bistro style restaurant with the menu in Spanish first!. This at least offered local fish so we went inside and ate an enjoyable meal with several other diners at the very un-Spanish hour of 20.00. This was however to prove typical as the town appeared to retire at midnight, unlike most other Spanish towns which are just getting going at that time on a Friday night!
On our way back to the marina we watched two girls annihilate there boyfriends on the go-cart track and we then admired a lovely 1904 fun-fare merry-go-round before retiring for the night.
The next afternoon after some shopping in the morning, we headed out to anchor outside the marina entrance. Although rolling was once again a minor nuisance, the shelter of the harbour wall gave us some protection. Here we were entertained by many jetskis, paragliders, and children in inflatable boats.
After breakfast it was time to depart, this time heading direct for Gibraltar. An early telephone call got us a berth and a trouble free trip in an absolutely flat sea took us in to Gibraltar by 19.00hrs. Some of our friends are still here and after a very late night over much wine and pasta, Paul (Twister) delayed his departure for the Guadiano River by a day so we could go out and try out his cruising chute.
Now we are back in our 'home port', we are now looking at our requirements for the next part of our trip - crossing the Atlantic and spending time in the Americas.
The biggest problem on the domestic front is probably the voltage difference so we are investing in an 'Isolation Transformer that not only automatically sorts the voltage difference, but also protects against shoreside faults, reversed polarity, earth leaks etc. Our emergency beacon is now past its sell by date and rather than spend out £200+ on a new battery, we think we will buy a new one that can be readily maintained in America.
The social whirl continues and on two or three occasions the crew of Mous'le have crawled in to bed as late as 03.00!
THe weather continues hot and sunny but with a breeze that takes the edge off the heat.
Penny's nephew and friend arrive on Saturday 18th for a couple of days but strong winds in the Straits have been forecast so sailing might be off the agenda....... time will tell. We then leave Mous'le for 5 weeks to return to the UK on Wednesday 22nd
We are flying back to the UK today to visit friends and family and sort out some of our business affairs. We arrive in Cowes late this evening and it will be interesting to spend a night in our waterbed at home (it makes feel like we are still at sea!)
With temperatures almost a half of here in Gib we expect to find it all rather Arctic! We wait to find out whether thermals and woolies are the order of the day.
We have just said good-bye to Doug (Penny's nephew) and his friend Caitlin who are over in Europe learning French and came for a couple of days from Tangier before flying home at the end of their course. Their trip over to Tarifa went without a hitch but the return leg from Algeciras was marred by ticket touts confusing them about ferry lines and times. The ferry was late leaving and even later docking as they had forgotten to book a berth. Apparently it was near mutiny (apart from our from our two students who politely refrained from any rabble rousing). They made it to their hotel eventually and are now back on their home soil.
After a trouble free trip we arrived back in our flat in Cowes in time for bed. Our return meant a rush of dinner parties and before getting the flat ready for our friends who borrow it on a regular basis and we moved out to stay with another friend at the other end of Cowes. Saturday saw us crewing on an X99 and discovering why we gave up racing as it involves too much damage to muscles we don't know we have. However a great crew made it great fun and we had to bow out after 4 days in order to save our strength and our livers!
We are now convalescing with Penny's parents and are researching mundane topics such as bathrooms and Barbados.
Back to the IoW next week to prepare for our trip across the Atlantic.
The time has come to leave the fleshpots of the Solent and the cool of an English summer and leave our shivering friends. We fly back to sunny Gibraltar tomorrow to begin our voyage to the Americas!
Back in Gibraltar things continue as if we had never left. Paul (Callum Star) has now retired completely from work leaving more time to sail and cry over the cricket. Dave and Elaine have had a horrendous stay in Smir having both been struck down with a bug and then ended up being tossed about in a confused sea with waves breaking over the deck and revealing leaks they did not know they had around their windows! They are now on a mission to buy up all the window sealant for miles around.
We are about to install our new isolation transformer, change a seal on the propeller shaft and have a hull survey for insurance before setting off for the Atlantic Islands.
We have been busy since our return with helping to repair the windows on a friends boat, installing an isolation transformer (it protects against leaky shore electrics), a new Emergency Beacon, planning and purchasing of stores for the Atlantic crossing and passage planning for the next leg of our trip to the USA.
In between times Mous'le's crew have not suffered from a lack of social life and we have had many more nights spent with friends than alone in our cabin.
Last Monday we had to arise in the middle of the night - well 0500hrs and leave with two friends for Sotogrande, a harbour about 10M up the coast, but nearly 20M by sea because of having to circumnavigate the Rock twice. A fraught trip up was caused by fishing boats deploying nets from the beach almost 2Km from the beach. Spotting the targets proved difficult from a distance but eventually we threaded our way through and into Sotogeande harbour where were booked to come out of the water just for the day. Mous'le's insurers had asked for this to be done prior to the trans-atlantic trip.
Last weekend saw a visit from the RAF's Red Arrows Aerobatic Display Team along with some Tornados and Typhoons, both extremely noisy, especially when on after burners and only 100m or so away!
Our EDD os fast approaching and next week we plan to leave Gibraltar (our home for over a year!) to head west to the Atlantic Islands.
We now almost have the boat ready and largely provisioned for the Atlantic crossing. The weather is looking good to leave on Thursday 15th and the tide too is right for a 1500 departure from Gib.
We will be sad in some ways to leave - we have been here on and off for 15 months and have made many friends. However it is time to move on and we will be commencing our trip along with a NZ boat 'Sojourn' at least as far as Lanzarote. More news in a week or so.
Our position at 2200BST 16th Oct is
34 24'N, 7 42'W
We are well and sailing in about 11Kn breeze ......from behind!!!!
Penny is asleep - due on watch in 45min
Our position is 33 00'N, 09 22'W All well. Almost half way.at 2200BST
Today we are at 31 34' N, 10 56'W
All well
We are now in position : 29 53'N, 12 32'W
All normal - PJ back in bed - making 6 knots -(good for us) most of the day and only 90M to go.
ETA Tuesday lunchtime.
We arrived in Puerto Calero at noon today - it is about 10K south of Arrecife, the major town. A somewhat desolate island from the sea with splashes of white where habitations dot the volcanic landscape. From afar it looks like snow capped ridges and valleys on a background of conical hills.
Puerto Calero is a resort marina and is nicely finished with polished brass bollards on the welcome pontoon and artwork of boats cast into the surface of the sea wall.
The trip went well, with a crossing time of just less than 5 days over a distance of some 609 nautical miles. We are both tired but well. A few problems en route, but most solved during passage. We sailed most of journey , which rather makes a a change for us. but we had to negotiate a number of problems such as a failure of our engine charging system which turned out to be a loose contact, a failure of our watermaker where the outlet pipe came loose and covered the heads floor with pure water, a loss of fuel during a transfer from our main tanks to our day tank, a loss of reliability with our autopilot where it gave up after an unspecified period of time and called for help and the learning process of setting up our windvane steering system.
We also learned that our self installed HF radio system worked and we were able to make contact every evening with another yacht, Sojourn, also travelling to Lanzarote. Some problems with signal strength have been identified for future investigation.
All in all, for our first nonstop ocean journey of over 600M 2 up, we are very happy with our performance. Mousle performed exceedingly well and we were at times attaining speeds in excess of 7 knots in 8-9knots of true wind.
The catering was a success in that Penny, who had undertaken to take this in hand found that her arrangements worked well and we ate well for the 5 days of the trip, ending up on our last morning with bacon butties for breakfast
The watch system of 3hours on and 3 off worked well over night and in the day we were able to deal with the various problems that arose in the voyage.
So, we retire to bed tonight tired but proud of our achievement in crossing 600M of the Atlantic. It bodes well for the next major leg from Gran Canaria to Barbados which we now face with considerably more confidence.
We have just spent 3 days visiting the length and breadth of Lanzarote. We hired a car and spent our first day visiting The Montanas del Fuego (The Mountains of Fire). This is the remains of the crater from an eruption some 250 yrs ago that transformed the island. It is located inside the Parque Nacional de Timanfaya that was set up, in part, through the efforts of a major figure in the tourist development of Lanzarote, Cesar Manrique. He was a local artist who made a significant impact on the appearance of the island from the 1970s to today. The landscape of the park is comprised of a number of volcanic cones, craters and grey/black lava flows, interspersed with multihued sand covered hills and valleys which change colour from reds to ochres with the movement of the sun and as the shadows of passing clouds speed across the mountains. After a delicious lunch cooked over a vent from the magma chamber far below, we took the coach trip around the Ring of Fire, the crater of the main eruption in the 1700s. Taking or leave of the mountains we headed for a taste of life on the beach and drove south to Playa Blanca a resort and fishing village at the southern tip of the island. THe harbour was neat and colourful, but the resort offered little to attract us so we decided to seek out La Geria, the centre of the local wine making industry and home to several bodegas. In the event we visited the Bodeagas Rubicon that turned out to have undergone an interesting modernisation. After one or two purchases we made our way homeward to say farewell to a Kiwi friend who was flying back to NZ for a couple of weeks.
Our second day was more overcast and misty but after a brief visit to the Fereteria Inox Navale of Arricife and IKEA, we drove to the north tip of the island to a viewpoint (Mirador del Rio) also designed by Cesar Manriques. This overlooks the narrow strait that separates Lanzarote from its small neighbour, Isla Graciosa. The cliffs at this end of the island are steep and dramatic and the western side of the island disappeared southward into the sparkling sea as the sun tried to break through the low cloud and mist .
The drive back climbs to one of the highest passes on the island and depite the visibility the views were stunning with clifftop viewpoints leaning out over hundreds of metres of space!
The day ended with a return visit to the north coast for dinner and and a folk music and dance display. Once again the venue was volcanic in origin and its development was designed by the great man. It uses a lava tube to house a restaurant , a couple of bars and cafeterias and some of it is open to the elements where the roof of the tube has collapsed, and the intact cave conceals an underground pool of crystal clear, mirror smooth water, the home of a species of blind crab and a large concert hall. The meal was excellent, the surroundings memorable and the show was enjoyed by all, including the performers!
Our last day of touring took us to the oldest village on the Island and after a wander around the old streets of Teguise, we made a stop for cups of tea and coffee in one of the oldest buildings on the island, now a tapas and wine bar. The owner refused payment for the cups of coffee and tea, saying he only specialised in tapas and wine and couldn't charge for something so simple!
After some buying some more provisions for our journey, mainly 18 litres of water and 24 litres of milk (both of which are heavy and easier to get back to Mous'le in a car), we returned home tired, happy and educated in the knowledge that Lanzarote can stand comfortably above the Michael Palins well known epithet - "Lazagrotty"!
Since returning our hire car, we have been getting ourselves and Mousle geared up for the hop to Las Palmas. With the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers or ARC, beginning to fill up the marina at Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, we knew we would only have a short welcome there. We are self confessed NARCs (Not The ARC) because the departure date in such an event is effectively writ in stone and can drive the incautious to leave when perhaps a delay would give a more comfortable or safer crossing. Mice are only occasionally big and brave and much prefer caution in all things!
3 days of preparation and the departure of a neighbour for Gran Canaria spurred us to be ready to cast off at teatime on Tuesday 3rd November. After topping up with diesel, we left the marina and headed out into the open sea with a gentle breeze from astern. An hours motoring brought us to the most southerly point of Lanzarote and we turned west out through the Biscayne Passage. Suddenly the skipper was startled by the appearance of a bright cloud in the sky astern which slowly revealed itself as the full moon emerging from the cloud. Looking aft the sea sparkled and shone a path from Mousle stretching back towards the moon and seemed to promise us a safe and secure voyage. After a brief shower of rain, the first for weeks, the clouds melted away and we crossed to Gran Canaria through a vividly bright moonlight that seemed to calm the sea as well as ourselves.
Our instruments also told us of the presence of a pursuer, a yacht aptly called Star Chaser and she remained reassuringly in company some 5 miles astern for the entire passage.
Dawn broke with the mists of the mountains of Gran Canaria gradually lifting and the colour of land becoming clear on the horizon. It always seems that the longest part of a journey is at the end as you wait interminably for your harbour to get closer.
By midday however we had cleared into Las Palmas Marina and Star Chaser followed us in about an hour later.
A walk through the city behind the marina shows a thoroughly modern town centre with all the lack of character that that seems to entail. Although separated from the sea and foreshore by a major highway that divides it from its docks and marina, all the facilities one would wish to find are here to hand. However, there is little to say I am in Las Palmas; one could easily be in any other modern city in the world once away from that narrow strip beyond the highway.
We leave tomorrow for Puerto Mogan (48M) and a rendezvous with Monica and her owner, Paul. They are actually out of the water for antifouling and repairs in Posito Blanco on the southern tip of Gran Canaria, and Paul may come to Puerto Mogan for a visit - watch this space.
We were up at 07.00 and had cleared the harbour by 08.00 with 20kn of wind pushing us on our way south round to our next destination, Puerto Mogan, just under 50M away. We have arranged to leave Mousle here until we leave for the Caribbean in 3 weeks time
Las Palmas was soon well astern and as the wind was steadily building, we took in first one reef, and then another. The seas were not to bad with about a 1.5m swell from astern and we were comfortable enough for about half an hour. Then the wind which had been gusting above 30kn from time to time strengthened further and we took in our 3rd reef. leaving us with about 40% of our original mainsail. We also took in some of our headsail and with this Mousle coped well with the wind which by this time was gusting over 42kn or Force 9. We were still making good progress and our observed record boat speed went up from 10.4kn to 10.7kn while Penny was driving. We also had to avoid an uncharted fishfarm that meant us having to divert inland a mile or so to clear its boundaries.
The Lighthouse on the southeast tip of Gran Canaria was now about 3 miles away and suddenly we were sailing in calm sunny seas with no swell in 5kn of wind! We had come out of the acceleration zone that occurs at the sides of the Island in northerly winds and were now in the peaceful waters in the lee of the island. The wind had dropped from 40 - 5kn in less than 10 minutes and we were shaking out all our reefs and then motoring until we met the wind from the other side of the island, blowing in from the West - more or less OTBNA!
With the calmer conditions, we were now able to check the instruments and found that the maximum recorded windspeed had been 48kn and the maximum boatspeed had been 12.8kn through the water - both were events that neither of us actually witnessed!
The experience of Force 7, 8 &9 winds and their effect on the waves and spray were clear to see during the gale and proved the descriptions often read about in books.
This leg of the journey tested both crew and boat and we were gratified that Mousle and her crew coped so well with the weather and seas. It is a pleasant change to face gale conditions wearing a short sleeved shirt and a lifejacket instead of rushing into full thermals and oilskins as one has to do in more northern climes! The warm sun certainly makes the conditions look less threatening.
As we turned more northerly we managed some sailing and were able to admire the amazing scenery that typifies this part of Gran Canaria - not unlike a New Mexico landscape with buttes and ravines that rise up close to the sea rather than from the desert.
Apartments are built into sides of these steep valleys and while some are interesting architecturally, others need to be demolished and rebuilt in a more locally sensitive style.
The further west we went, the better the developments seemed.
Puerto Mogan is an artificial harbour with a 2 storey complex of shops restaurants and accommodation built on the shore side of the marina. The buildings are neat and the balconies and bridges are all flower covered with bourgainvileas and other highly coloured plants.
After tying up and competing the documentation process in the port office we went for a stroll in the evening sun to explore the immediate vicinity of our berth. The most obvious difference from other marinas we have been in in is that a large number of the boats here are German. Others are Scandinavian, (Norwegian and Danish) with only a few British flagged yachts to be seen.
We will spend the next few days readying Mousle both for our departure to the UK next Thursday and then our return, followed by our friends a few days later for our Transatlantic Journey.
We flew back in to Gran Canaria last night from the UK after a week at home.
Our flat was miraculously tidy and clean (well almost!) after we had had two bathrooms created during our absence. The original one and its access corridor are now an en suite bathroom and a family shower room. The week was spent meeting with our crew for the next leg of our journey as well as family and other friends whom we will not see again for at least a year. The weather in the UK was wet, windy and cool, though not as cold as we had feared.
Puerto Mogan remains a little haven of sun and warmth and welcomed us back last night. We were a bit late to go shopping so ate dinner in the Irish Bar on the quayside before heading back to Mous'le for the night.
Final preparations for our trip and the arrival of our friends in a week's time will keep us busy for the next few days.
Well, they crew all arrived on Friday and we all managed to fit into the hire car with luggage and shopping. Boded well to then being able to fit onto Mous'le with the provisions for a 30 day sail for 5 people. Despite being told that we would catch fish all the way over and no other food was required, we managed to load some 200+ pieces of fruit, lots of veg (all delivered from a a local fruit and veg shop using 3 sack trollies!).
Lots of final preparations today and we are set for the off, an 0830 slipping of lines on the 29th. Have to calibrate a new log as we leave harbour, then aiming for an 18 to 23 day crossing time.
Great meal out this evening, and all in bed except me, so love to all and we will keep the site posted as much as possible.
XX The Mous'le Mob 2009 XX
20 32'N: 25 55'W
Our journey continues to be blessed with wind - F4-5 from the east, resulting in the trip is now a dead run. For the first 500M we were on a port tack which resulted in many minor inconveniences such as the fridge trying to disgorge its contents all over the floor every time it was opened and having to work at the galley from below while being thrown away from it all the time by the heel on the boat - downhill facing bunks needed lee cloths to stop the occupant being thrown out. Yesterday we gybed changing the side of the boat the wind comes from and are now running more or less dead down wind so for now we are on a more or less even keel apart from the rolling induced by the waves and swell. Spirits remain high despite no alcohol being drunk since we left port! Indeed once hangovers lifted and headaches cleared humour and banter returned among the crew.
We are now heading more or less for Barbados having made enough southward mileage to ensure we are solidly in both the NE Trades and the Atlantic Equatorial Current, both of which will carry us along on our journey.
Supplies are lasting well and we have 2 more days of fresh bought food before we start on tins and packets. Our resident Baker/Astronavigator has started bread production and it will become a staple from now on.
Some minor equipment failures have affected us. A drama in the early hours of yesterday morning was initiated by the steering failing completely! After panicking we diagnosed that the key (a strip of metal that holds the wheel to its shaft) had come out following a loosening of the shaft nut. Once the problem was identified it was easily fixed and we only lost 30mins in doing so.
today one of our reefing lines failed where it was tied onto the boom, the end disappearing into its channel in the interior. We carry an electrician's mouse wire made of thick monofilament nylon that we were able to thread down the interior and use to recover the errant rope. All is now secure and the crew are sitting in the cockpit watching a large yacht heading east in the opposite direction to us.
Thanks to all who have contributed to our blog or are following it - it makes a difference to us all!
The Crew of Mous'le
Position 6/12/09
17 21'N: 30 5'W
We have (or rather Jasmine has) caught two fish, the first two days ago was so big (about 8-10kg) it lasted us for 3 meals and today's although smaller gave us a delicious lunch, marinaded in lemon, lightly panfried with a side salad of salad and homemade coleslaw. Tonight we finish the first fish as a kedgeree along with a lamb stew made fresh on board - who says you can't eat well on a yacht! We have also caught several flying fish on the deck - the biggest was 2cm long!
We have passed two major milestones in the last few hours - 30W and 1000M from the Canaries. We are now truly in the mid-Atlantic and our half way point is only 350M ahead - about two and a half days sailing.
Once again there is no shipping to be seen and only an occasional storm petrel. We had a party with a pod of about 15 - 20 dolphins last night in the moonlight as the played around the bows of the yacht for about half an hour before disappearing as magically as they had come. The weather continues fine, our food is holding out well and the watermaker (seawater desalinator) is working well. The crew claim to be revolting, but deck showers etc have kept the worst at bay.
Our daily diet of fresh fruit is successfully keeping scurvy at bay, although none have ever actually seen a case so we can't be really sure.
The Baker is about to come into his own as the shop bought stuff is all finished and we are down to baking our own. We don't actually know if he is mechanical but rumour has it.....
Thanks again for all the messages. We can't reply to them all as we have limited air time but they are much enjoyed.
The crew of
SY Mous'le
Mid Atlantic
Position 9/12/09
16 42'N: 37 17'W
Hi
Another day another fish! As I write Jasmine has done it again! She is so proficient, we are having to impose quotas on her catch! (Richard resents the fact that Jasmine is the only person mentioned in this regard - he does try to help!) so as not to exhaust the local supply or upset the UK's fishing quotas! This morning she had been given a new order so was back on deck fishing away! Dorado is a delicious fish to eat with a chunky texture and nice flavour - it is especially delicious cooked immediately it is filleted and eaten with fingers in the cockpit. The night before last we had fish and chips for our evening meal and last night saw us making inroads into the last of our fresh mince. Personal hygiene is under control with the female members of the crew locking the males in the cabin before having a deck shower in the cockpit! We are still talking to each other which is a relief on our 10th day at sea out of the sight of land.
Two further milestones were crossed yesterday; first we crossed the 35th parallel of longitude then a few hours later we passed the official halfway point of the trip (marked with the consumption of a bottle of champagne - our 1st alcohol of voyage, and several giggly members of crew were to be seen later!) - 1335M in 9.5 days - an average of 6kn / day in windspeeds of 9 - 23kn. We have used 25l of fuel on the generator to date and made 250l of water approx. The Twistle sail - essentially 2 identical lightweight jibs with their luffs (front edges) stitched together, attached so they can be rolled away in situ, and sharing two poles to keep their clews (back corners) apart. This allows us to sail downwind without worrying about gybing as the mainsail is pulled till it is secured fore and aft. We saw our first ship for 6 days yesterday, missed us by 3.7 miles. All hands on deck to avoid a collision! The Bakery menu on board has extended to include 2 more high quality items, a bread and butter pudding and a bread pudding as well as pressure cooked bread.
Night watches have become a pleasure as the moon has been with us for most of our watch and it has cast its light on our wake for several hours at a time. The nights are balmy and it is only the slight windchill of 15kn of easterly wind that necessitates wearing a light fleece on deck. The messages keep us amused and informed! There is continuing debate on board about whether or not we have a mechanical Baker in the bakery on board and the Starman is to be found leaping about at all hours of the day and night, sextant in hand shouting "Mark" or swearing (it varies)! We at least know exactly where we are with 5 GPS machines on board plus an astro-navigation plot. The Admiral is scurrying about as usual, arranging things and people and generally keeping order.
All in all we are pleased with our progress so far and look forward to the second half of the trip. Regards
The Crew
SY Mous'le
Position 11/12/09 @ 11.35
16 07'N: 42 09'W
All continues well on our good ship. Minor problems continue to take up time so days are usually full with repairs, bread making, rigging maintenance, star gazing (well that's at night really) and communications.
Yesterday our communications (comms) computer keyboard lost some letters - esp 'P' 'L' and backspace. We have had to move the comms programs and data onto another one to re-establish contact. The strange messages that may have come from us yesterday should not be taken to suggest we had been taken by aliens or pirates! All seems to be working now.
Also our generator had a wobble yesterday, throwing out a 'coolant failure' message. This has now been sorted and is running well today.
We have sailed through some tropical showers, (these are showers that occur in the tropics!), which are really the same as at home but very heavy and bring with them big windshifts in both strength and direction. Winds from 15 - 25kn gave us an exciting and occasionally wet ride. Usually the helm was lashed to the wheel to stop them running away and the rest of the crew closed up the boat and hid in the dry of the cabin.
Jas is multitasking again, showing off her female gifts by helming and fishing at the same time. If you have never tried it it is a bit like trying to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time but with more point to it. However to date (late morning) no fish have bitten.
In about 30M at around 1700hrs GMT today we pass another milestone - less than 1000M to go - the crew will celebrate in their usual fashion, huddled together in the cockpit drinking tea(variously weak redbush, normal redbush, builder's tea and green tea with lemon).
This morning one of the crew gave us serious cause for concern - he was lying comatose on his back, unresponsive to external stimuli and exhibiting regular twitching movements. We had just diagnosed brain death when Richard woke up and took out his earphones - it transpired he had been listening to the Eagles on CD! We are still deciding whether he was ever actually brain dead.
Position 1800 13/12/09
15 00'N: 48 00'W
We continue to move steadily westwards. The northeasterlies that have prevailed for the last week have veered east and we have been sailing under our Twistle. We continue to make around 140M a day and last night we decided to leave the Twistle up overnight. As one of expect of friend Aolis, (we think the God of the wind; us all lacking a classical education!), The wind increased and backed round to northeast again. This forced us to sail more southwards than we wanted but for about 4 hours gave as a thrilling ride (described as driving a high power sportscar blindfold round a track!). Eventually we changed sails and had a much more comfortable - if sedate - ride until dawn.
Having now sailed over 2000M we have only 750M to go - about 5-6 days more days eating hardtack and weevils according to the largest member of the crew! In fact we are eating amazingly well having still got fresh food to eat for 1 more day and have only had one tinned meal so far after 14 full days at sea!
Fishing continues - we have now caught a skipjack tuna and unfortunately also a tern that insisted on diving for our lure and got its beak hooked. The tern was safely restored to freedom and full health by our resident animal nurse. On release from its operating blanket it indicated its opinion on us with a loud squawk! We didn't know what he said but it sounded rude!
The Admiral has been taken under Starman's tutelage and has now done her first sunsight, an evening shot of the sun's upper limb, taken while in her usual position; recumbent in the scuppers!
The Crew of the good ship Mous'le
Somewhere in the Atlantic
But gettin' closer to Barbados, man!
Position noon GMT 16/12/09
14 49'N: 54 25.3'W
The sun has just risen above the stern of Mous'le illuminating our wake with orange fire and turning our sails yellow for a moment or two. It's sights like these that explain why we do this! We are currently in 11 kn of wind reaching north of our course to get a better slant on the wind for the run into Barbados on Thursday when the wind is going to veer easterly.
We have just seen a rainbow, one end to the south of us and one to the north. THis raised the important debate about which end of the rainbow do we have to go to to find the pot of gold, or are there two. Answers by email please ASAP to put us n with a chance!
We wonder if we have emptied the Atlantic of fish as we are on our 3rd day with no catch! We have had to take recourse to tinned food and last night had homemade tuna terrine and a tuna pasta bake for dinner, washed down with Eau de Souris, Mous'le's own brand of still water.
Starman has acquired a couple of female assistants for his star sights - Starman's Ass1 & Starman's Ass2! Now known on board as his 'Pieces of Ass'!
We are still hoping for a Friday arrival, but with the light winds at present it may slip to Saturday. Time will tell.
The Crew of Mous'le
1800 GMT 17/12/09
14 04.0'N: 057 00.5W
All well
ETA Fri Evening/Sat morning
H&P et al
Position @ noon 18/12/09
13 22.5' N: 58 45.0' W
The rains in Spain may fall mainly on the plain, but here it is all saved up for the showers. Oh that we could capture one and keep it in the shower room! 10 - 15 minutes of cascading water - what with being in and on the sea means water on all four sides. VERY WET! We are on our last leg today - with just over 50M remaining and are being pursued by yet another squall. We hope this means there will be trees on Barbados. Still no fish so Jasmine has been invigorated to do better by an ice bath (yes - proper ice from a freezer!) It wasn't exactly voluntary but in the interests of hate cuisine...... Amazingly nobody has yet been eaten, but if there are no more fish today ....... However Richard and Jasmine are current favourites, Richard (Dugong)Parr being the more productive, but as whale hunting is banned in the Atlantic, we might have to opt for Jasmine (Dodo) Light as a more tasty delicate morsel! We have run out of another necessity however, the wind. It has more or less died with 2 or 3 knots only most of last night so we are now under engine - quicker but noisier and hotter. The after cabins are now known as saunas! ETA is sometime late this evening so hopefully we will be back in phone contact from about 6pm GMT We are running a poetry contest for the crew to see if we have any odesters (writers of odes and ditties) on board.
We now have a couple of 'StarBabes' with us! Starman has 'promoted his 2 'Pieces of Ass' in honour of them both successfully taking a proper sunsight!
Baker Babe has joined Master Baker in the breadmaking stakes and is now developing her own individual range of high quality produce! The Crew of SY Mousle Somewhere in the Big Atlantic but not sure where!
Now anchored having arrived in harbour 2300 UTC today after 20 1/2 days at sea. Average speed of 6kn and strongest wind of 30kn in a single gust, otherwise s largely sunny and starlit crossing with good winds and a good crew. We are about to celebrate our arrival with our first alcohol for 3 weeks, more or less
We are still rolling quietly in the Bajan sun off Bridgetown.
It is now 3 days since we arrived and managed the lengthy clearing in process. The whole thing. from upping anchor to motor round to the Customs House, clearing through Health, Immigration and Customs and returning to the anchorage, took nearly 3 hours. Getting ashore from Mous'le is a little bit of a hassle - we either have to do a beach run which involves trying to shoot the surf with a significant capsize risk and a near certain soaking, paying 20 Barbadian $ per head to land on a private pontoon (the money was deducted $ for $ off anything you bought in the bar however) and motoring 3/4 M into the centre of town. After spending our first afternoon ashore, Penny and the Baker went back in the dinghy to try to download some email using free wifi. She was hanging on to the side an anchored boat when she realised the next one along was Pantalonaki, and Jose, our old South African friend from La Rochelle. From then on life has been 1 long party.
Today was the Master Baker and the Nurse's last day so we hired a car to show them what the were missing as they trudge their way home through the snowy wastes of the South of England.
We visited several places of interest on Barbados - Holetown and Speightstown on the west coast where the large resort hotels clash with the small wooden 'chattel houses' of old. These little wooden houses could be dismantled and moved if required if the owner has been given notice to quit. After dropping into the marina complex of Port St Charles in the northwest, we cut inland through fields of sugar cane to the more wooded and less developed east coast where we met a Coconut Man who was selling sugar cane and coconuts from the side of the road. After drinking coconut water laced with rum, eating coconut jelly and the flesh of the nut served with raw sugar cane it was time for lunch and we drove down precipitous lanes, over grown by trees and suddenly revealing amazing coastal rock formations until we reached our lunch stop. A small village pub/restaurant with a menu of baked pork, chicken spicy beef stew, mahi-mahi and dorade with fries or rice and peas with salad. This satisfied all needs, but left us with the need to rush the last part of our drive to the airport and the end of the odyssey for our two Masters, the Master Baker and the Master (mistress) Mariner!
The Master Instructor lost no time in moving into the forward cabin and was heard to mutter "Why didn't they go home days ago!"
We are now ensconced here till after Christmas and our US Visa application hearing on the 28th December. and we will probably move up the coast to Port St Charles to await the delivery of the visa, before heading off to St Lucia.
The crew of
SY Mous'le
Carlisle Bay
Bridgetown
Barbados
We are still lounging around in sunny Barbados with swimming, rum punches and eating being the main focus of activities.
We have been joined by a Kiwi boat with Ross & Jo on board + daughter Emma - despite a 24 day passage in light winds, no body had been eaten and the wine stores were going strong. We welcomed them in last night with a bit of a party and then left them to collapse.
Today was our VIP day - Very Important aPPlication - we had to attend the US Embassy here for an 'Interview' after having had fingerprints taken and paid the Cashier our money ($231) It turns out that Hugh has a namesake born in the same year and the same city who has a record in the US dating back to 1989. So he nearly didn't get allowed in; however, saved by the fact that the officer must have seen the honest 'cut of his jib' he pronounced himself satisfied that Hugh was safe to allow in! Proceeding to Miss Penny, on spotting Country of Birth to be Zimbabwe he said 'Well that country has gone down the pan. and let her in as well. We can collect them in 2 days time so another hurdle is cleared.
We awake Richard for meals and at bedtime as required - he has now read 9 novels since joining and is munching them at quite a rate!
***
Our US visas were available yesterday and we have been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness and efficiency of the staff we met in the Embassy. We are now able to move on with our cruise several weeks earlier than we had expected!
We were at a part last night for several more successful transatlantic crews. One of them left from Gran Canaria the same time as we did and took 30 days! A 53 foot yacht took 20 days, the same as us. But they are all great people, Americans, Australians etc and a great evening of celebration ensued!
We celebrated New Year on the beach at the Barbados Cruising Club and in the company of members and their Commodore, a diabetologist from the UK. He has been tasked to reverse a substantial increase in the incidence of diabetes here over thlast 15 years and has an enormous job in front of him. The club provided a great party and with fireworks from the town and the neighbouring Hilton Intrnational was a fitting finale to an exciting year for M.ousle
We intend to move on later today to St Lucia..
We wish all our friends and family a really great New Year and a prosperous and happy 2009 and look forward to seeing more new countries and people in the coming year.
Hugh & Penny & Richard
SY Mous'le
Bridgetown
Barbados
We crossed to St Lucia on New Years day evening. Our attempt to clear immigration out of Bridgtown was (nearly literally) dashed by the swell in the dock so we decided to move up the coast to Port St Charles where things were almost as bad but we did manage to tie up and clear out officially. Unfortunately the swell was such that before we could leave,it ripped a cleat off, shearing 2 x 1cm thick stainless steel bolts like cheese. There was no hull damage but it is a minor inconvenience. After a showery crossing and a spectacular day trip up the west coast past one of the premier sights of the whole Caribbean, we arrived in Rodney Bay Marina and have booked to stay here for a few days to sort out various repair jobs we need to do.
St Lucia is surprisingly different to Barbados; it is steep and hilly, it has no sugar, relying heavily on banana and coconut plantations to pay its way. Tourism is much less developed here and the people while pleasant and polite do not initiate contact the way Barbadians do. The roads are precipitous and many are narrrow and extremely twisty. If each island on our future travels is as different as these two then we are in for a fascinating trip.
Today, Monday 4th, we hired a taxi and took a trip right round St Lucia. As mentioned before it is an island of huge contrasts, high steepsided mountains covered in rainforest and falling into deep valleys that run down to the sea. A few sheltered harbours are at the foot of these streams, but the most spectacular sight of all are the two Pitons, Gross & Petit, which guard the entrance to an idyllic little bay like giants. They are unbelievably steep and are dramatic wherever viewed from. Close to the Pitons is St Lucia's volcano. It is now considered inactive, but there hot sulphur springs and boiling mud to see. It blew its top many thousands of years ago and poses a major threat to the south of the island should it erupt again.
We lunched in a local St Lucian restaurant, much to the amazement of our taxi driver and ate mahi-mahi with rice, plantain, breadfruit and lentils + a salad - all for £6 a head including beer and bottled water!.
We are now back on Mous'le, about to break open a barrel of something before dinner.
9/1/10 1700
14 32.7N; 61 02.4W
Now in Les Trois Islets in Martinique - on S side of Fort de France Bay. Home town of Empress Josephine Napoleon! Pretty place with ferry to capital so may stay here instead of anchoring at Fort de France.
Sailed the whole war round from Marin passing a rock that was once known as HMS Diamond Rock and was a RN Naval establishment for 18 months in Nelson's time (They just wanted to get up Napoleons nose!) We did not try fishing today as reef fish can be poisonous here and didn't make bread as Richard did a croissant run for breakfast.
Have bought a dining table for the cockpit so will be eating in style! Penny is threatening even a table cloth and a vase of flowers!
Wall to wall sunshine with some nocturnal showers. Richard even had one en suite last night until he closed the forehatch!
H&P&R
17/1/10 12.00Z
15 34.95N: 61 27.87W
Hi
Sitting in Portsmouth Harbour waiting for the rain and squalls to pass through! Sounds familiar. It is tho this is Dominica and it is 30C in the shade!
We have just come back from a tour up Indian River, a nature park which is one of Dominica's several National Parks. No development is allowed and no engines are used - the guides row you up river in their boats. They are all licensed and have had to do college courses in the flora and fauna of the area to be accredited. A great bunch who seem to get on with each other as well as their clients. We left Fort de France in Martinique a week ago now and after a night at St Pierre we crossed to Dominica and stopped off in Roseau the capital of 'The Commonwealth of Dominica'.
Richard and Penny went off for a visit to a local waterfall, the Victoria Falls which was not, according to Penny, as big as the original! Pancho, the boatman who welcomed us into harbour, was their ebullient guide who also helped us with a lot of advice and information and ended up bringing his 2 boys, aged 3 & 6 for a drink on Mous'le. On our last evening he brought a fisherman friend who sold us some fresh 'Snapper' and told us how to marinade and cook it. Yesterday we sailed up to Portsmouth, a natural harbour in the northwest of the island. It would have been the capital but the swamps around the Indian River proved too much with yellow fever as well as malaria so Roseau developed instead. Today all such diseases are eradicated and it is safe to visit. Once the weather settles, we head for Les Isles Saintes, part of Guadeloupe before visiting Pointe a Pitre on the mainland. Love from all H&P&R
We left Dominica after an early morning shower than bathed the surrounding trees and hill in a rainbow of colours, and headed off round the point into the open sea. A force 5 -6 northwesterly met us and once again the wind was OTBN! A bumpy but fast run soon had us reaching the sheltered waters of Les Iles Des Saintes just south of Guadeloupe. Often referred to as the 'Jewels of the Caribbean', they have a charm all their own. There is one main town and after some trouble, we anchored successfully, watched by Richard who had swum ashore after our first attempt only to see us weigh anchor again and head off! He was very brave however and headed off to look for a pub!
The town has tiny streets and many restaurants and cafes. We cleared in and then went ashore for what proved to be a delicious dinner in an Italian/Caribbean restaurant called O Sole Mio!
The main income of the Iles is tourism, mainly from day trippers who come from Guadeloupe and after the last ferry goes it is left to the locals and the cruising yachties to enjoy in relative peace.
Next day we continued on to Pointe a Pitre on Guadeloupe where we will spend a day or two before traversing the Riviere Salee and heading north to Antigua.
We have now been in Pointe a Pitre Marina for almost a week. THe trip from Les Iles des Saintes was a pleasant reach and we decided to pull into the marina as we had several repairs requiring attention including the need to replace the wiring loom on the engine. The one supplied with it was no where near long enough and an extension was going to cost several hundred pounds and take 8 - 10 weeks to deliver. We therefore cut the short one and made up an extension for the middle. It was a tight fit to get it fed through to the control panel but it seemed to work. However the rev counter has intermittently not worked since and since leaving St Lucia the panel has made a screeching sound, although the oil pressure and engine temperature seemed fine. THe noise has persisted and, in the interests of crew sanity, we have decided to replace it.
A mystery bug has laid the crew low, although only one at a time. It was Richard's turn in Guadeloupe and the first couple of days have been spent allowing him to recover.
Attempts to hire a car failed until one was eventually obtained in Pointe a Pitre and we set off to explore the island in a day!
Pointe a Pitre is the main town and is very caribbean in the centre and French on the outskirts with many businesses strung along the main highways into the town.
The road to Basse-Terre, the capital leads round the southwest coast of the island and is well maintained. Basse-Terre itself is a difficult town to negotiate and we can't say we ever found the centre. However we managed to buy a picnic lunch befere getting lost again on our way out!
The west coast is similar to St Lucia and the rainforest in the interior is now a French National Park, one of only 6 in the country!
After visiting La Cascade des Ecrivan, we bypassed Pointe a Pitre and explored the south of Grande Terre, the east side of Guadeloupe. It is an extremely undulating semi-rural landscape with little overt poverty and attractive valleys.
Having failed to clear customs before the office closed on Saturday afternoon, the weather conspired to blow up a large swell which coupled with poor visibility and 25kn winds meant we would not be leaving for Antigua till at least mid week. Richard decided to explore flights home from here and was lucky enough to be able to get a seat for a relatively small excess to fly to Southampton. So within hours he was back from the airport, packed and gone!
Life on Mous'le will seem quiet as we have had friends with us for eight weeks now and it has been an enjoyable experience spending time with them. We hope that our moods and habits have not stretched friendships too far?
We intend spending another day or two here before moving on to Antigua to continue our odyssey.
We left the Marina after 15 days! When we went to clear out and settle up we were flabbergasted to find we had been there so long!. Illness and adverse weather were the main culprits, so it will be good to be on the move again.
By 1700 we had cast off with the aid of a marina man in a boat who towed us clear of the bow/stern mooring boys as there was a brisk breeze blowing us off course. All went well and soon we were heading up the Riviere Salee to anchor for the night below the first bridge. 3 other yachts were already there and we joined them for the night's vigil. THe Riviere Salee is not a true river but is a shallow and narrow passage between the 2 island halves of Guadeloupe. It winds through a mangrove swamp and is crossed by 3 bridges, 2 at the south end and one in the middle. These bridges only open to traffic between 0430 and 0530 in the morning! The river is as little as 2.2m deep in places and Mous'le needs 2m so an exciting trip was in prospect.
Thus there we were ready at 0445 with another 6 yachts to move through the bridges in a little convoy. The moon was a little off full and once through the first pair there was enough moonlight to reveal the ghostly mangroves on either side, sometimes tinged with green and red from the flashing channel marks. It was an erie sight. By the time we reached the last bridge, a kilometre further on, dawn was colouring the eastern sky with its purplish light and soon we could distinguish the features of the swamp. Although we tried to stop and anchor twice, there was insufficient swinging room and we had to proceed through the channel. Ay its northern end it opens in to a shallow lagoon, protected from the sea by coral reefs some 3M further on. The route through these shallows is tortuous and fortunately well buoyed so we eventually found ourselves popping out between two sets of breaking waves into the deep waters of the Guadeloupe Channel. The trip over the estuary had been magical in its own way. There was no wind and even the mosquitoes seemed to stand still in mid air! The sea was like a mirror until feeble puffs of wind kicked up little sets of ripples on the surface breaking up the smooth flat surface. Small local fishing boats cut across this tranquillity in the manor born, cleaving large weals in th sea as they headed out to their pots and nets.
Once in the main inter-island channel the sea became more unsettled and a 1-2m swell from the east made for a rather unpleasant motion. Added to the lack of wind which rarely exceeded 5kn it was the recipe for an uncomfortable crossing.
The sight of Monserrat 20m to the west, with its volcano puffing away was spectacular, even from this far away. We were pleased we had not decided to visit the Island.
Our destination was English Harbour, home of Nelson's Dockyard and part of Antigua's National Park. We arrived about 1400 and after some heavy showers had passed over, we went ashore to clear immigration, customs and to pay port fees. What a change from other islands. The staff were welcoming, chatty and efficient as we completed slightly less paperwork than on other islands.
We were recommended for our evening meal to the Trappas Restaurant and passed an enjoyable evening eating a tasty and well cooked meal.
Tuesday 9th Feb
English Harbour
We have now been here nearly a week and it is remarkable how one begins to feel comfortable in a place when you meet some people and learn your way around.
We have been trying to find a rather important piece of kit for our small outboard the end of the engine emergency stop button has broken off and unless it is pulled out, usually by a clip, the engine wont run. Nobody seems to have the small size we need for our little engine. (two ponies and a foal power!)
We have explored English Harbour and neighbouring Falmouth Harbour 2 or 3 times and keep finding things of interest. The biggest yacht in the world (when she was launched in Southampton), Mirabella 5, was in Falmouth in the Yacht Club Marina. She towered over the entire bay and her mast was 30% taller than the next biggest yacht there.
We heard about a French yacht, also in the Yacht Club Marina whose owners are professional gymnasts and make money by performing routines on board and in the rigging of their 10m yacht to the public and then sending round a hat. When we saw them, they had an audience of a hundred or so and the performance was extremely professional, clever and full of humour. The music had been specially written for them and fitted the scene beautifully. They have performed in Canada, France and around Europe and have established something of a reputation
Yesterday we hired a jeep and went for a tour around the island. We began by heading to the southwest coast and up to Jolly Harbour, another marina on the west coast where there is a large chandlery as well as a excellent supermarket. No joy on the switch front, but The Admiral has glued the broken bit back on and we must wait till tomorrow to see if it works. Then we headed into St Johns to buy some lunch and have a look around. It is a pleasant town and we bought a local lunch ($10US) from a local café and went round to a local beach to enjoy it. The road from there to the north of the island was everything a jeep is designed for and took us past salt pans and resorts and a large nature reserve for pelicans where the sides had been covered in bare mud, possibly from dredging the lake, but not doing the habitat any good. The east of the island was in some ways more interesting than the west we found Stamford Park, the sports/business park close to the international airport that has been developed by Sir Alan Stamford, the recently discredited financier. It contains the Stamford Bank, The Bank of Antigua, an impressive cricket/sports ground and a beautifully laid out park with a lookout tower that was unfortunately closed.
Our next stop was Parnham, the original settlement and onetime capital which boasts the islands finest church. It is octagonal, stone built after its predecessor was destroyed in a fire 150yrs or so ago. Although also closed the interior was visible through a window and had a simple grandeur that comes with quality design.
Next stop was the Devils Bridge, a natural rock bridge at the east end of the island that allows waves underneath it before they explode in a chamber and escape in a cloud of spray beside the bridge.
In order to catch the sunset over English and Falmouth Harbours, we headed back by a relatively direct route towards Shirley Heights, the high ground overlooking English Harbour to the west. This road deteriorated suddenly into a rutted track that would have been impassable to any normal vehicle, but our little Suzuki jeep coped with aplomb. We arrived at Shirley Heights in time to watch our last sun set over Antigua as we are leaving late tomorrow afternoon for an overnight sail to St Maarten. We should be approaching St Bartoleme at dawn and make Philipsburg in St Maarten by midmorning.
We arrived on schedule at 11.00 WAT and anchored in 3.5m about 200m from shore after a pleasant overnight sail. The only problem occurred in the morning gloom south of St Barts when we ran over a fishing pot in the dark. The float shattered but we were sure there were still bits below although the engine ran normally.
This is a busy port and 4 cruise liners were in harbour when we arrived. We are moored in the middle of a gaggle of 12metre ex Americas Cup yachts based here, that form a one-design racing fleet of 5 6 boats.
We have come here to explore the tax free prices. The skippers new Nikon lens was found to be damaged when we took the camera out of its bag in St Lucia the attachment between lens and camera had failed and we have only had a long telephoto lens since. It may prove more efficient to buy a new one and then have the old one repaired in the US and sold on.
Prices are certainly good and we indeed bought a replacement lens. We have also bought two more 12V cabin fans extremely quiet and low energy (0.3A) on full power.
The Admiral has been for her first solo scuba dive to clear the rope cutter in front of the prop of the bits of the pot buoy line that were still attached. !Only £600 a dive so far!)
Unfortunately there has been an extremely unpleasant swell coming into Groot Bai and we are going to move on today to Simpson Bay Lagoon for a day or two before heading for the British Virgin Islands.
We arrived here 4 days ago and it already seems like a week! The trip round from Philipsburg is short and we arrived with an hour to spare before the bridge into the Lagoon opened, so we dropped anchor in the bay outside a large beach resort. There were several other yachts obviously awaiting entrance also at anchor. With 10 minutes to go we were summoned by the bridge master to be ready for entrance and we formed an orderly queue until a Swedish boat tried to push us out of the channel. Entry was otherwise straightforward with no dropping of fees into an old clog hanging from the end of a stick as in North Holland. Our chosen anchorage was in a reach close to the Dutch French border and we soon found a spot and settled down for the evening. The major difficulty in the lagoon is your proximity to the end of the runway for the Princess Juliana International Airport. This is in use from 0700 till 2130 with a mix of 747s, Gulfstream jets and small private planes.
Next day, as we cleared customs and immigration we were given a fright by the lady behind the counter as she asked us for $170 in fees. It turned out she had read our length as 77 metres, rather than 11metres so having paid a much reduced fee of some $25, we headed for the chandleries as once again we had some spares we needed. Lunch out was our planned treat and we were recommended to the Yacht club by the entrance bridge. We arrived in time to find their kitchen closed so settling for a Caribe lager with limeslice we sat down to watch the 1730 bridge opening. This one is for incoming vessels only and after a few yachts and small power boats had passed through we thought that was it, but first we saw the point of an enormous bow appear through the bridge followed by a mega-yacht that only just cleared the entrance there was a loud bang and a fender was suddenly floating in the water. No damage ensued and the vessel continued on her stately way.
For us it was time for lunch (and dinner!) so we set off back to Mousle.
The French part of the Lagoon began at our stern and the next day we thought we would explore Marigot, capital of French St Martin so set off northwards to the rest of the lagoon. As we passed the French entrance we saw the familiar sight of Pantalonaki, the Lagoon 500 belonging to South African Jose! He was as surprised to see us as we him so after a chat we agreed to dine on Pantalonaki and we would provide the meal.
The afternoon was spent exploring Marigot, which is one of the most attractive towns we have seen in the Caribbean with a pleasing mix of old colonial and more modern buildings. It has two marinas, one of which is circular in shape with piers sticking out radially, all protected by a circular sea wall. We set off to try to do some shopping, which proved to be impossible as we had arrived on The Carnival holiday and the town was deserted save the area around the second marina. We stopped off at a supermarket near the lagoon entrance, that was open, to replenish our wine stores. It took only 20minutes to get our spoils back to Mousle, but soon it was time to head out again, this time in the dark, to Pantalonaki. Dinner finished in the early hours and we wended our weary way home.
This was our last day in Simpson Bay and we picked up Jose from Pantalonaki as he was going to show us the ironmongers where we could exchange our Camping Gaz cylinder for the last time in the Caribbean. Our 4 cylinders will have to last us unless we can get them filled in the USA or Canada. After a delicious lunch with Jose in a little bistro, we motored back to Mousle to ready ourselves for departure.
1630 found us ready and waiting for the bridge opening and we were first through out into Simpson Bay. We had already decided to drop anchor and have dinner as if we left too early we could arrive at Virgin Gorda in the dark; a problem as the south end of Virgin Gorda has a narrow passage with unmarked rocks to negotiate.
The trip was very straightforward and we were able to sail the last 1/3 although we negotiated the passage between the island of Fallen Jerusalem and Virgin Gorda under power to avoid the now very visible breaking rocks in the channel. We are now anchored off Spanish Town.
We went ashore to clear customs and immigration and after completing the forms we presented them to the immigration officer. He scanned our passports and then announced that, according to his records, The Skipper had 4 children on child support here and he was going to have to contact Social Services. After the similar event in the US embassy in Barbados where he had been accused of having a criminal record in the USA, this was somewhat worrying! It was not till the immigration officer scanned the Admirals passport and pronounced her a well known drug smuggler, we realised he was just teasing us. Quite the most unusual clearance procedure ever! The other officers proved just as good humoured and it turned a chore into a pleasure.
After a night at anchor we are going ashore in the dinghy to brave the marina entrance behind the reef to visit the town once again as we plan to move on to Tortola from here and from there to the American Virgins and our rendezvous with Doug, PJs nephew on the 5th of March.
We left Virgin Gorda and headed south past The Baths which had so many boats anchored off that we felt no desire to join the hundreds of people on the beach and simply carried on south, past Fallen Jerusalem, a rock strewn islet, then Broken Jerusalem, Round Island and eventually Ginger Island which we found had a bay on the southeast side ideal for a lunch stop. After a snorkel trip by the Admiral which converted her to the joys of the underwater life, we considered lunching on a mackerel that our dinghy had caught on the way down but in view of the risk of Ciguatera poisoning, we returned it to the deep and ate a pate, salami and salad lunch. We were alone in this beautiful anchorage, attached to a little patch of sand and out of the wind and waves.
All too soon we needed to move on and we crossed the Tortola Sound to Buck Island, a private island at the eastern end of Tortola and anchored in its lee. Across the bay, behind the shelter of a reef, was a marina and a branch of a BVI legend, Pussers Bar and Store. Part of the rum empire of the same name these merry havens are spreading cheer across the BVIs and indeed the world, as there is now one in Gibraltar as well. A chill beer at sunset looking down on the coral lagoon with its fish and birds is a famous way to end a day!
A wind change the next morning sent us scurrying west again and as Road Town was wide open to the new southerly wind, we decide to visit the west end of Tortola and an inlet known as Sopers Hole. Here there is no longer any room to anchor and we picked up a mooring, ostensibly fit for a 60foot vessel. The wind had picked up considerably and was now gusting to 30kn and encouraged by the wake of nearby ferry, our dinghy and outboard turned turtle while we were getting ready to go ashore. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to rescue the engine. We drained what we could and oiled the cylinders but could get no life out of the engine so we have put it into the care of the local outboard Doc (also his name) and await its discharge from his clinic!
Later in the afternoon we suddenly found our stern within a foot of that of a 42 catamaran on a neighbouring mooring. Pushing the vessels apart avoided a collision but a careful watch has had to be kept since.
More chores get removed from the pending list the generator has had its 100hr service, the heads awaits a stripdown and clean and a small leak in our Avon inflatable dinghy awaits attention.
Sopers Hole is a very small village with 2 marinas, a repair yard and guess what a Pussers Bar and Store!
Only a week has passed since our last diary and it seems like much longer.
We eventually got our outboard back in full running order, and set off to clear customs for an early departure to Jos van Dyke. The island suddenly becomes visible to the north as one clears the three hills on the West end of Tortola and in the prevailing south east wind and a northerly swell prudence dictated a visit to St John instead. We crossed the US border and hugged the coastline looking for suitable places to stop for the night. There are no marinas on St John amd 4/5ths of the island is a National Park. Also much of the coastline is further protected as a Coral Reserve. The Parks Authority have installed about 200 overnight moorings with others for diving and day use in sensitive areas. Having spotted an area to return to we headed for Cruz Bay ,at the west end of the island, the capital and only port of entry. Dropping anchor in the 3 hour waiting area we dinghied over to Customs and Immigration. They could not have been nicer and more helpful and it was once again a pleasure clearing in to their country.
After a quick stroll round St John, and some fresh provisioning as we have been eating up our tinned products on the boat in preparation for arriving here so a celebratory steak (huge) was purchased for dinner that evening. We met an iguana in the street who was quite unflustered and came within a foot or so of us. Probably after our supper!
Time was marching on and we needed to be in our chosen bay before sunset so we left Cruz bay and followed by the setting sun astern we headed northeast and then east to Francis bay, sheltered from both swell and wind.
The mooring costs $15 a night and the money is put in an envelope with the boat details on the outside and posted in a box mounted on the side of an small retired launch moored in the bay. A neat idea and much easier than trying to land a dinghy on a beach with surf running.
The next morning brought a forecast change in the wind from south to east southeast. We decided to visit the south side of the island and see if there was any snorkelling to be found. On the way we looked in to Trunk Bay where the National Park has installed an underwater guided snorkel trail. Unfortunately there was still a big northerly swell running and the trail was closed. We moored (free) in Caneel Bay and dinghied round to Cruz Bay to explore the town and have some lunch. A beachfront café provided the lunch and a view over a palm lined sandy beach to the harbour and the hills of St Thomas beyond.
By 5pm we were back on board and casting off the mooring for the 6M journey to our next mooring spot Lameshure Bay in the extreme south of the island. There was now a significant sea running and the wind picked up to 20kn as we approached the bay. It proved sheltered from the wind and sea but the swell, from the south, kept finding its way around the point and into the bay. It was a secure anchorage but a bit rolly.
The next morning we were awoken by shouts alongside Mousle and we emerged to find 4 kind people in three dinghies who had spotted our tender escaping from our stern and ending up on the beach. Fortunately her outboard was out of the water so no harm was done, but the first two Americans who had been packing up their boat to leave and had no outboard on their dinghy had rowed into the beach but were struggling to get both boats out and were rescued by another (powered) dinghy and towed out to Mousle where we gratefully accepted the return of our prodigal and thanked them all profusely. We left soon after and moored again in Caneel Bay where our snorkeller donned her gear and was dropped by dinghy just outside the boat exclusion zone maintained for the protection of swimmers. From here she explored the coral reef off the beach but sadly it is an example of a reef that is very badly damaged and much of the coral is already dead. After her return to Mousle, we cast off and returned to Francis Bay, picking up another mooring further into the bay than before. There is a reef here that is in better condition than Caneel Bay and much fun was had exploring this.
Today after a morning spent scrubbing the barnacles off the boat and some more snorkelling, we headed off to get ready for our Date with Doug who is due to fly in tomorrow (Friday) to join us while we sail to San Juan in Puerto Rico. We are now tied up in Redhook Bay, St Thomas, in a Marina for the first time in several weeks.
After a day spent on chores such as shopping, rearranging the stowage on Mous'le and making up the fore cabin bunk, we were almost ready when Doug jumped aboard after his taxi trip from the airport. It was time to do some catching up so after stowing his bag, we went ashore to sample the local beer during 'Happy Hour' and two hours later it was time to head home and eat dinner.
The next morning brought a deteriorating forecast so after a trip to the supermarket to stock up, we headed back over to St John aiming to anchor again in Lameshure Bay. We hoped this would offer some decent snorkelling and we were expecting to have to spend two nights there as there were 2 wet days forecast with strong easterly winds. When we arrived the bay indeed offered the hoped for shelter and the next 36hrs were spent snorkelling, snacking and sleeping.
On Monday morning the weather had improved enough for us to decide to head for Culebra, in the Spanish Virgin Islands, part of Puerto Rico. We thought we needed to clear customs in Cruz Bay in St John, so went in, anchored and went ashore, only to be told there was no need and we should just check in in Culebra. So back we went to Mous'le and set off on what proved to be a scintillating sail with speeds of up to 9knots! Even with this performance we did not get in to the Ensenada Honda (or Great Bay) until after the customs office closed. The Ensenada Honda is the natural harbour in Culebra where the island capital, Dewey, is situated and offers excellent protection from weather from all points of the compass. Dewey is a small town and most significant facilities are available on the Puerto Rican mainland, a half hour ferry ride away. After clearing in the snorkelers took themselves off in the dinghy and went through 'The Cut', a narrow channel linking the Ensenada to the west coast but blocked by a bridge too low for most vessels to get through. In the bay outside there was an old coral encrusted wreck that offered excellent diving and took up the rest of the afternoon.
Wednesday was the day that the weather seemed best fot the trip to San Juan on the north coast of Puerto Rico. It dawned sunny and calm and we motored out of the Ensenada and round the south west corner, then followed the coast until we were north of the 30mile reef that almost joins Culebra to Puerto Rico. The wind piped up to a steady12-15 knots, allowing to make good speed under our genniker almost all the way to San Juan. After entering around the spectacular fortress of 'El Morro' we turned into the channel that leads to the marinas to be faced by a cruise liner backing out of the terminal. We were waved over to the other side of the channel to keep clear by a Pilot Boat only to find ourselves being attacked by low flying private aircraft. We were only 100m from the end of their runway and had to make a rapid escape. We are now tied up in the Marina and have met up with Michelle and Sally, Doug's mother and sister for a few days holiday!
We walked over to meet up with Dougs mother and sister, Michelle and Sally, on Thursday late morning. Although their hotel is only about ¾ mile away it involves crossing an 8 lane expressway and then an iron bridge over another entrance to the lagoon that is at the centre of San Juan. With some practice we got quite good at crossing the highway and suffered no close calls. Their hotel had excellent facilities with a natural beach with its own snorkel tour, two pools and a sports facility that rented out kayaks, pedalloes and small sailboats for use on the lagoon. Access to wifi, a private shower and air-conditioning was also welcome. Some of the party were content to stay in the hotel and watch basketball on TV while the more adventurous went to buy some essential provisions. This proved to be about ¾ mile away and as we left the store the rain started to come down in torrents. A quick look around for cover showed the closest was a bar! Time for emergency Margaritas! Eventually we wove our way back to rejoin the younger members for a late lunch seemingly closely followed by dinner in a Puerto Rican restaurant over looking the sea where we sampled mafongo a local dish made from plantains, garlic, crispy pork and meat.
Friday was spent visiting Old San Juan, one of the oldest cities in the Americas and probably the oldest in the USA. It dates from the mid 15th century and has been successfully defended against Drake and Hawkins, the French and the Danes only to end up being sold to the USA after the Spanish American war. It is a maze of narrow streets often cobbled with blue glazed cobbles imported from Spain as ballast on galleons destined to return full of American gold, silver and other rare treasures. We found a delightful courtyard restaurant for lunch and the open grassy parkland surrounding El Morro, the fort defending the entrance to the lagoon, was an excellent place to walk off the calories. We caught the little free buses to move around the walled city and were enchanted by it. It is truly one of the treasures of the Caribbean.
On Saturday we hired a car and drove out to the National Forest Park of El Yunque, the only tropical rain-forest park run by the USA Park Service. One can drive up into square miles of forest and there are miles of maintained paths open to all and varying from a few hundred metres to many kilometres in length. It is quite different from temperate forest to be in with all sorts of animals, birds and flora to be seen. We visited two waterfalls, one by the roadside that is over 40m high and another with two large natural pools at the bottom where swimming is allowed. Although there was a 40min walk to reach it involving several climbs and descents, it was surprisingly busy.
Doug had to leave us the next day to fly back to Philadelphia and some university exams!
Michelle and Sally joined us later on for a meal on Mousle.
Monday The 3 Snorkellateers joined a trip to go snorkelling off one of the islands just off the east coast. This involved a trip to Fajardo a port on the east coast, embarking on a 50 sailing catamaran, sailing to the island and then snorkelling of the back of the cat. Sunset saw them back in San Juan happy but exhausted and fit only for an early night.
After a day spent working on Mousle we were rejoined by Michelle and Sally for dinner the next evening since The Admiral had undertaken to cook Mafongo again. It proved a great success and will undoubtedly feature in our meal plan in the future.
The Admiral and her niece had been seduced by tales of flying down mysterious valleys supported only by a wire and Wednesday was to be their day of adventure. While Michelle and The Skipper went for an educational tour of Puerto Ricos National Gallery (with some excellent at to be seen) they were whisked away to defy gravity and avoid trees while flying down wires. Known as Zip-lining the only thing that is similar to a Zip is if it all comes undone, you are also undone!
The party reassembled at the hotel pool for drinks before eating spit roasted pork with crackling to die for in one of the hotel restaurants.
Sadly Michelle and Sally head home first thing tomorrow so we will not meet up again till we arrive in Canada in the autumn (fall).
Also thanks to Geoff who pointed out that I had not posted for 19 days (me in blissful ignorance thought I had!).
We are packing up, paying our dues, provisioning and preparing for the off. Our intention is to leave the marina tonight and anchor outside ready for a 0900 start tomorrow to our next port of call, Santa Barbera de Semana in the Northeast Dominican Republic. We hope still to see some whales before they have all left for the summer. It is a trip of just under 200M so we should arrive on Friday all being well.
We have spent the last week partly in the company of a friendly American skipper who showed us how to get around San Juan by bus and joined us for a day exploring the second biggest city, Arecibo 50M to the west of San Juan. It is a difficult and exposed harbour not suitable for yachts and thus best visited from land. Thus began a day of navigational failures. We couldnt find the town centre, or a place to have lunch (until directed by a postman). The city has a large cathedral and an awful lot of doctors!
Next we did manage to find Arecibo Radio Telescope, the biggest single dish telescope in the world. It took a considerable feat of engineering to hoist the antennae above the dish. After an enjoyable and informative visit we left and set to find a Cave Park nearby. Despite driving round and round we never saw a sightofit and every time we followed signs, they petered out. Eventually we gave up and headed back to San Juan to visit a large shopping Mall in a suburb called Bayamon. First we missed the exit from the highway then, trying to back track we took 3 wrong turnings in a row, ending up so far into San Juan it was quicker to visit another plaza in the city!
We were trying to set Mousle up for life in the US and having sorted out the toilet, the generator and discovered 1 of our pair of battery chargers is dying we have investigated a replacement and will order one for delivery in Fort Lauderdale.
Our gas system requires changing to Propane with new cylinders, regulators and supply line, although the cooker will run on either butane or propane.
With these aims in mind The Admiral undertook two trips and failed to find the objects of her search both times. Puerto Rico is not being helpful.
2 nights ago we had an amazing sunset with a bright blue band across the sky that persisted for about 20 minutes.
So now its off to do the final weather and email checks before we leave the Yacht Club Marina
this evening.
We left San Juan at 0900 on the 1st of April and motored for an hour or two until the wind came up. In this part of the world that should mean from NE through SE; for us it was due north which meant that we were once again sailing on the wind. For a while our big genniker shifted us along at 7 knots or so, but soon the wind had increased to 16 20 knots and we had to drop it and use our normal jib. We were also still affected by the persistent 2m high northerly swell and the combination made for a bouncy ride. With alternating 3 hour watches we continued throughout the night and by dawn we were safely across the infamous Mona Passage without incident and closing on the NE coast of Hispaniola, the island that comprises the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti. It is the most mountainous Caribbean island and The Dominican Republic or DR is a tourist economy that is suffering a downturn following the recent world recession.
We were heading for the Bay of Samaná and the town of Santa Barbera de Samaná (often known as just Samaná ) on the north side of the bay. We were too late to see them but from mid -January to mid - March humpback whales arrive to give birth to their young. The entrance into the bay which is similar in size to The Solent in the South of England and similarly sheltered. The harbour is sheltered by a reef and some small islands to the south and The Bridge to Nowhere links the islands to the shore. It is a concrete footbridge built when the town was rebuilt about 50 years ago.
After anchoring it is necessary to remain on board till visited by the team officials involved in the clearance procedure, usually Representatives of the Navy, the Intelligence Service (Drugs), Immigration, the Port Authority and Customs. Sometimes Agriculture and Health are also represented. Most require a gratuity or favour and in some cases this is most of their income.
As we had arrived on Good Friday, we were not visited until the Saturday morning and 5 officials hailed us to come on board. Chito, the interpreter and fixer was a charming man with excellent English and spent over an hour with us completing the necessary procedures on Mousle and later on shore. As we were saying farewell and thank you, he invited us to join himself and his family for lunch in their home the following day, Sunday, as he was not working that day. We accepted with alacrity and then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the part of town adjacent to the harbour.
The evening was the end of the Holy Week holiday and a big party took place on the seafront with food and drink stalls, live music (very loud) and lots of people. We were tired after our two days at sea and spent a not to quiet night on board.
On Sunday we were ashore by 1100 to meet Chito who was waiting on the dock. We followed to his house that had built a couple of years before on a plot with a view across the harbour to the other side of the Baia Samaná. Typical DR furniture of heavy dark stained wood was occupied by some of his 5 children when we entered and although they spoke no English and we spoke little Spanish, Chito translated when required. In many ways we felt just as at home with them as we would at home, they were friendly, happy and made us feel comfortable in their home. Lunch was typically Dominican with rice, beans, beef stew and salad washed down with iced water and Presidente the local beer. The whole experience was one that we will remember happily.
A couple from a US flagged Catana catamaran (Kaya), moored next to us, helped rescue our inflatable which had made another bid for freedom (this time Penny just didnt tie her up!!, another shaggy dog tale) and we ended up being invited by Charlie and Liz over to their vessel that evening for drinks. We were joined by another American couple, also moored close by, Ned and Cathy with their little dog Molly. A noisy evening ensued and it was 2130 before we all headed home for dinner.
We are waiting for a change of wind and swell to allow us to sail on to Puerto Vita in Northeast Cuba where we hope to be able to meet up with our Kiwi friends, Ross & Jo Blackman.
Along with the Americans, Ned and Cathy from 'Journey', we hired a jeep to explore the Samana Peninsula. A beautiful mountainous hinterland showed the true mix of economies at work here. There are three main sectors - local peasantry, foreign resort based investment and government investment. It is difficult to see where these economies meet except in supplying construction jobs - most of the local people seem to continue their semi-marginal existence, more or less unaffected by the resort culture that has taken many of their more beautiful areas into private ownership.
The roads were in the process of being reinstated following the installation of a new water system. it does not seem that the mains water will be potable so their will be little benefit from a year of chaos on the local roads.
We lunched in Sanchez, at the head of the Bahia Samana and then tried to reach the Bahia Rincon, NW of Samana Town but the roads were too bad and we called it a day after taking an hour to travel 5M.
One of the problems living on a boat is that from time to time the floor moves beneath your feet and this depends on a number of factors - wind direction, wave direction and the whims of Neptune. Suffice it to say that after two very uncomfortable nights in Samana Harbour we decided to cross the Bahia to a sheltered lagoon that is part of the National Park Los Haitises created to protect the unique combination of mangrove lagoon and prehistoric caves. With the lagoon opening to the west it provides an excellent protected anchorage for weary sailors. Our friends on 'Journey' followed the next day after another bouncy night.
After the showers of the previous day Saturday dawned sunny and we set off in two inflatable tenders to find and explore the caves. We landed first at a jetty, only to find the offices unmanned and the main caves somewhere else. Hugging the steep tree covered cliffs we followed the coast until eventually, just after passing the remains of an old jetty, we followed a creek through the mangroves to another jetty from where we gained access to the main cave. Decorated with 5000 yr old drawings from the Carib/Arawak period, the cave is extensive, with four chambers and evidence of cooking.
Leaving the cave, Ned took us to a river through the mangroves which eventually led to an activity centre from where we were transported by motorcycle to the Park 'Welcome Centre' and enjoyed a well earned lunchbefore heading back to our yachts for a an evening on board Journey
The next morning we left early to return to Samana, as we needed to get a 'despacho', permission to leave Samana and travel to Luberon, further up the coast. This proved impossible to get and we had to remain until Monday. Now the weather is poor for the next week or so and our onward movements are uncertain.
Well not exactly, as we do not plan to visit either Haiti or Havana but it sounded good! We are heading for Cuba via Great Inagua Island, the southernmost island in the Bahamas. We will not be stopping there however as the Bahamanian Government seems to want to sting visiting boats for a years 'Cruising Tax' even for only 1 night at anchor. As the tax is $300 US, that is a lot of money to fork out.
We left Samana yesterday morning and are currently (2300UTC) at position
: 20 19.6 N, 71 49.3 W
There is only about 7 Kn of wind which was from thr north during the day allowing us to motor-sail with our code 0 (Big white flappy thing on the front of the mast!) but it has now swung east giving us no help at all. At least there is virtually no swell.
ETA in Cuba is Friday afternoon.
Contrary to our previous post, here we are in sunny Havana. We are lodging with a local psychiatrist and are discovering the sights of Havana after 3 days spent touring in Eastern Cuba.
Our arrival in Puerto de Vita was a typical bureaucratic marathon for all concerned; at one point we had had 5 men, a lady and a dog all on board at the same time. That was after the visit from the doctor before we were able to tie up!
After meeting a family from the local village, who took The Admiral under their wing and have organised nail treatment, a haircut and some local food - fish etc, we have hired a car and after a night in Santiago de Cuba, 'Birthplace of the Revolucion' we then took 2 days to traverse Cuba via the 'Middle Road' and then the Autopista. This is the only country we have ever been in where you can be driving along a 6 lane highway and still meet people on bicycles or horse drawn buggies driving towards you on the inside lane. The service facilities are also often between the carriageways with entrance and exits from the fast lanes.
The people are wonderful, friendly and, for the most part, do not try things on. Staying with them in bed and breakfast places is fascinating and teaches us visitors a lot about Cuba very quickly.
Tomorrow is May 1st - 'Labour Day' with parades etc and we also have to drive back to Puerto de Vita once we can get out of Havana.
Internet and email here are non existent outside of large hotels and not available to locals.
Next stop Florida, and we hope to make Fort Lauderdale by the end of next week
Well! Here we are at last. We cannot deny a feeling of personal triumph as we motored in to Fort Lauderdale in a misty sunrise, surrounded by peach coloured buildings lit by the new-day sun rising behind us. We just grinned widely to each other. The open Atlantic crossing was indeed the biggest single step and a major challenge made much easier by our staunch 3 crew members without whom this final achievement would not have been possible.
We left Cuba after a send off by a multitude of people including marina staff, government officials and the marineros who refuelled us by hand before we cast off. 210 litres in cans!
About 1/2 mile out, we had to stop, drop the main and sort a tangle in the reefing lines and then, with a 20 - 25 Kn breeze blowing we put in our second reef in the shelter of the Bahia and set off on the 400M hop to Florida. The first night was rather too bouncy to be comfortable and as we made more northing we came into the lee of the Bahamas Banks and picked a 2kn current which zoomed us towards our destination. Ar one time we thought we could arrive late in the afternoon of the 5th, but the wind veered southerly putting us on a dead run. Soon it began to drop and we turned on the trusty motor. Realising we didn't want to arrive in the dark, we curtailed our speed repeatedly as we got into the full effects of the Gulf Stream which runs north at 3-4 kn. Our boat speed was down to 2 kn at the end and we were still travelling at over 5 kn up the coast of Florida. Our timing however worked well and we entered the Harbour at around 0700 EDT.
The next obstacle to be tackled before finding a marina berth is a major road bridge with a clearance of 16.7m on the charts, we need 17m to get through, but the sign on the bridge said 57', 17.4m and we found we had allowed tomuch for our VHF radio aerial. So gingerly we moved through, to the amusement of some American fishermen who stopped and watched, gave advice, and then a big cheer when we passed under with no contact!
As an Alien (Planet of Origin : unknown) we have to contact the US Customs and Border Control for clearance to enter the USA.After a phone call, we were told to report to an office about 3M away. We hired a cab with 2 Norwegians who had also travelled with us from Cuba, and set off. Unfortunately our driver knew not where he was going and after several wrong turnings, he dropped us at the wrong door (tho' the right building) and we then were sent to 3 more offices before we found the correct one. On being called to the counter by various people and filling in several forms, we were forced to confess that we had illegally imported some alien tomatoes and we then had to return the 3 miles to Mous'le in another cab, followed by the 3 C&BP people in their own transport, to be searched, As a result we lost our dinner for that evening and all our vegetables! The only good thing about it was that the officers were all extremely nice about it!
We have been staying the Hyatt Pier 66 Marina which is typical of the resort hotel, marina complexes which abound here. Mind you, pretty much everything abounds here! We have spent two days driving around the commercial districts of Fort Lauderdale, and we have rarely ben off dual carriageways. Two the likes of us who measure everything in centimetres everything is on a giant scale, even the cars. All the chrome and big fin models have long since been exported to Cuba where they are almost all one sees on the roads, leaving the way free for the enormous 4x4 SUVs and pick-ups which are clearly needed to deal with the heavy snow that falls here every winter!
However, the people are generally people sized and all are amazed that we should want to sail a small (here 37' is small!) boat across 4,000M of ocean!We have 2 more days here, and hope to scoot across to a National Swamp Park and check out a few alligators!, then back to Biscayne Bay for some photos of Miami towers in the Sunset. We hope to make it up to Cape Canaveral in time to watch the penultimate Shuttle launch on the 14th May.
We are moving on again! We left the Pier 66 Marina because it was too expensive and moved into the Hall of Fame. It is the first time Mous'le has been considered suitable to be included in a Hall of Fame and we hope it has not gone to her head. Both of us have been afflicted over the past week or so with Florida Flu or Cuban Coryza, or some such so energy is in short supply. We are moving a bit north as we need to keep going and as the outside conditions are rough and breezy, we will stay inside the shelter of the Intercoastal Waterway for now. This means bridges, most of which have to open for us. Today's trip takes us up to Pompano Beach - a mere 10 M and several bridges.
We spent a day driving through the canyons of Miami and Miami Beach and also the flat expanses of the edge of the Everglades. The horizon is like at sea, but green/blue, rather than blue/blue. Miami is amazing to two visitors from The Isle of Wight. Some of the buildings look higher than the island itself!
But this is America!
The Hall of Fame Marina looked after us well but we need to move north and even 10 or 15 miles makes a difference. We set off to take on the first of a number of bridges on the next stretch of the Intercoastal Waterway. The first is usually a dawdle as you just call them up from the marina and say you will be there for their next opening and then cast off just when you can arrive at the right time. From then on however things become more complex, as transit times between bridges are clearly not worked out for sailing yachts like Mous'le. We missed most of the 'next openings' on our route as we simply can't go fast enough! We had arranged to collect a replacement BBQ which was being replaces under warranty by Cobb USA. We met the agent at a restaurant dock where we could tie up and enjoy a good lunch before proceeding on our way. We decided to stop overnight at a Hotel Marina where, after securing Mous'le, we went round to their Waterfront Bar and met a couple of Canadiennes on vacation from Quebec Province. It was great to renew our acquaintance with Canadians and Canada.
Moving on the next morning, we endeavoured (or is it endeavored?) to make as much distance as we could towards Palm Harbour, as we were hoping to leave the InterCoastal Waterway at Palm Beach Inlet and sail direct to Fernandino Beach.
As the sun dropped lower in the western sky we decided on Palm Harbour Marina for the night. After clearing the last bridge to the south, we came upon a Marina that was absolutely brand new. The City had renewed all the pontoons and the the shoreside facilities and the replacements were second to none. The very reasonable fee covered free Wifi, Laundry, a Palatial Club House with Pool Table, Multifunction, Multistation Gym Room, huge Plasma screen TV and a Kitchen - Utility area. In-dock pumpout is also state of the are . Compared to most marinas we have visited this is as good as any we have visited.
We met some interesting cruisers there; on couple had 'retired from sailing' and had bought a typical ex-sailing skipper's motorboat - a displacement trawler in a seaworthy style that puts most motor boats to shame. It confirms our opinion that sailors make the best motor-boaters!
One of the temptations of Palm Beach is the stylish shopping available and the Admiral set out on an expedition to explore the temptations on offer. Having explored Worth Avenue and found it wanting in term of affordable fashion, she crossed the river and came home armed with a stunning little number for (she said) a song! As all good skippers the world over would know, there is no response to this except "WOW"
All to soon we had to take our leave and leave southern Florida to explore the Florida - Georgia border at Fernandina Beach.
We left Palm Harbour in time for the opening of the one remaining bridge between us and the ocean. Navigating to the Lake Worth Inlet proved testing but soon we were heading out into the open sea in search of our magic blanket to carry us north in style. The Gulf Stream flows at speeds in excess of 3 kn here and soon we were being hurled north at speeds in excess of 10 Kn at times. Worryingly our boat speed was not up to Mous'le's usual 6 Kn and this was to delay our progress later when the Gulf Stream veered to the North East in order to head over towards the UK. Our speed over the ground steadily dropped and once again we had to slow our progress in order to avoid arriving in the dark. We motored most of the way and approaching the entrance to the St Mary's Inlet Channel, there was a lot of radio chatter on the VHF, involving both Coastguard and the Navy. As we motored down the approach channel all became clear. A US nuclear powered submarine was transiting the channel and all small boats were 'invited' by a Coastguard cutter with a man manning a nasty looking machine gun on the foredeck to 'clear the channel'!
We did and were thus able to watch a nuclear submarine and its support ships pass within a 100 yards or so of Mous'le - very spectacular. After the sub had passed by we were allowed to proceed.
Fernandino Beach is a town of contrasts. We are moored directly opposite the town marina and ashore to the south is a large chemical plant and to the north, a pulp and paper mill. Looking west reveals an vista like the fen country or parts of East Anglia; miles and miles of reed and grass covered tidal flats covering perhaps a couple of hundred square miles. On balance its a nice place to be apart from the noise of the train to the pulp mill which runs up and down the waterfront behind the marina and hoots mournfully every morning about 0645, disturbing our beauty sleep!
We chose to moor off as it was much less expensive than an alongside berth and we were due to leave for a week in Alabama as soon as we could hire a car.
The man from the hire company was late! We were looking here there and everywhere until he turned up at the entrance very apologetic but he had been held up by a train!
However he proved to be extremely pleasant and we were back to the office and sent on our way with quiet efficiency. We even got a better car as we were going 'out of state'!
Our first job was to find West Marine in nearby Jacksonville which is 50M off our route to Alabama (the same as separates Glasgow and Edinburgh). With the aid of the Google Map App on The Admiral's iPhone we drove straight there and started spending money - antifouling, wiring, a new Man Over Board life sling paint brushes etc, and while there, we met a man we had last seen in Puerto Rico in the West Marine there. Mike was employed by Raymarine (Marine Electronics) to represent them in West Marine's stores from Charleston, NC to San Juan, PR and all of Florida and South Carolina. It was great to see him again and while we ewre chatting he asked if all our electronics were OK. We had been having a minor problem with the Control unit for the autopilot and mentioned it. He said "Oh I have one in my garage that you might like to try and if it works, swap it for yours". It was arranged that one of the West Marine staff lives in Fernandino Beach and he would bring it up after we returned from our ambles in Alabama.
From Jacksonville we followed Interstate highways until we were at Atlanta, GA and the defining memory of the I85 is the enormous number of huge signs 5 miles before every exit for all the accommodation and eateries available. They were repeated at the relevant exits and also above most of the motels etc.
We stayed in a motel about 30M south of Atlanta and have to say that the choice of eateries was not the widest.
The next day was more interesting as we soon left the large dual carriageways and moved to more enjoyable rural highways through more varied scenery, culminating in the stunning Tennessee River Valley south of Huntsville which is an enormous expanse of shimmering water surrounded for the most part by forest and fields. There is maritime development of course with marinas and homes with private docks abounding near urban centres.
Huntsville is the Space Capital of the US and as you drive through it you are reminded rather forcefully by the amazing display of rockets from a Saturn V to a Patriot missile.
With the continuing help of Navionics and Google on the Admiral's iPhone, we worked our way through town to our destination. The home of the Admiral's sister and family. Our apartment would probably fit into their lounge and the temperature was COOL!!
Reportedly the AirCon was due for repair but until the repair man came and broke it completely all seemed acceptable. We were taken on a number of trips in the locality - a local dentist (for the Skipper), to Birmingham for a meeting and several shopping trips. We also spent much of a day in the Rocket Centre seeing a detailed history of America's Space effort. There was also a climbing wall for children and a couple of Hi-G rides which were included in the entrance ticket.
Our hosts also organized a 'cook-out' or 'braii' for us to meet some of their friends and it proved an excellent event. The other guests were a fascinating mix of interesting people and we were left with the feeling that we had made many more friends.
One of the services the family had provided for us was as a 'receiver' of goods that we had bought on-line and had delivered to Huntsville for collection by us. When these were added to our purchases from West Marine our luggage had overspilled from the boot/trunk onto the rear seat!
All to soon it was time to take our leave and we squeezed into the car and headed off to drive down the Tennessee River Valley to Atlanta and then call into Savannah for an afternoon on our way home to Mous'le.
We were poured of the Interstate highway into downtown Savannah with remarkably little forewarning; all of a sudden we were having to cope with street names rather than highway numbers and it took us a while to orientate ourselves to the reduced scale. Distances measured in blocks rather than tens of miles. Fortunately Savannah is reasonably well sign posted and with the aid of a 'Rough Guide' street map we found ourselves in the historic district lunching in a central square (of which Savannah has many) in the company of a tomb and a postman. He was quite the happiest and most laidback postman we have met and was content to stay delivering mail in downtown historic Savannah, despite having been mailman to a US Navy base near Venice anf having visited Venice on a daily basis for several years.
A stroll along the Savannah River revealed the changes to the city in recent years with reinvestment in the waterfront area reinvigorating the tourist scene and saving the old warehouses from destruction.
Georgia was, however, not yet finished with us! As we headed home to Fernandino Beach a thunderstorm attacked us with torrential rain and lightning as if to further impede our return to Mous'le. Fortunately it failed and we arrived back on board tired and looking foreward to a day or two of peace.
ANother year is now available to follow the intrepid exploits of SV Mous'le and her timorous crew!
The site is on-line again>
After celebrating the Admirals birthday, in some style in a local restaurant, it was time time to quit Fernandino Beach and indeed Florida, and continue our exploration of the eastern USA. As we left the Amelia River entrance, we crossed into Georgia and, with no naval escort this time we turned north for South Carolina.
The weather began fine but all too soon a northerly swell had begun to build accompanied by an increasing northerly wind. This was absolutely on the nose and after trying both motorsailing and tacking into it, our progress was so slow that we decided to head for St Simon's Inlet and continue the journey via the Inter Coastal Waterway. We dropped anchor in a creek to the east of St Simon's Island and revelled in the peace and quiet of an anchorage surrounded by tidal flats and marsh grass.
We spent the morning doing chores - the Admiral donned her snorkel and fins and attacked the barnacles on the bottom with a certain ferocity. By the time the tide was right to move on, she had scraped about 50% of the area. This had a substantial effect on our speed, and we did the days 30M journey comfortably before sundown. The next anchorage, in New Teakettle Creek, off Old Teakettle Creek was even more delightful. With barely 5 houses within a 3M radius it was seriously quiet, especially after the marsh warblers had had enough and retired for the night. Beautiful!
The next day we decided to leave the ICW at the next exit to the Atlantic Ocean and sail overnight to Charleston. The peaceful life of the ICW is hypnotically attractive but you don't go anywhere very quickly.
Transitting the Sapelo Inlet at low water had its anxious moments but soon we were in open ocean and motoring north. Through the course of the afternoon the wind slowly increased to a 25kn southerly and the southerly swell worsened till we were bouncing along at 6.5 - 7 kts. Our arrival in Charleston was getting rapidly closer!
We are safely tucked up in downtown Charleston at the Charleston Maritime Center. ) We had a 'bracing' sail last night with 20-25kn winds and 2m seas. Despite putting first one reef in and then a second, Mous'le refused to slow down and we arrived 3hours earlier than forecast, in the dark! The channel lights were easy to spot and the leading lights were the best we've seen. Dawn broke as we reached the main harbour in the company of a large freighter and lots of fishing boats. We sneaked in before the marina staff were awake and tied up to a spare pontoon.
Now sleepy but intending to do at least some sightseeing today
The Charleston Maritime Center is one of those marinas where everything is relaxed! From our arrival before anybody sensible was up and about the attitude was "Great, good to see you. Is that your boat over there? It would be just cool if you could pull her across to the next slip as that one is let to a 50' Classic, but no sweat, whenever will do!" We felt instantly at home! Having 'pulled her across' we decided to explore the immediate vicinity and set off in the midday sun to see what we taken on. Unusually in the USA, but perhaps a taster for the future, the first thing we had to cross was a football (soccer) training pitch which separated us from the railway that separated us from the town. We pressed on, persuading ourselves that we were used to the 35C(94F) temperatures and walked down the first likely looking street towards 'downtown'. By the time we found the supermarket 200yds down the road we were ready for resuscitation! We stopped to ask a tour vendor where a good place for lunch was to be found and he indicated the Cru Cafe just across the parking lot. As we approached it we saw the name of the lane which ran up the side of the Cafe, displayed directly above the name board of the Cafe. It was in Motley Lane, thus becoming the Motley Cru Cafe, much to our enjoyment!
Supermarkets in the USA have many similarities to those in the UK, but also one major difference> They have air-conditioning and that is lifesaving when the temperature outside is approaching 100F or 40C! We just had to call in to one on our way back to Mous'le!
The Admiral had spotted a poster for the 'Spoleto Festival of the Arts' and we decided the following day to take in a matinee performance of 'Private Lives' by Noel Coward. The production was by the Gate Theatre Co of Dublin and consequently the accents were recognisably British. The Dock St Theatre was the first purpose built theatre in the US and has recently been refurbished. Like the supermarkets and equally unlike British Theatres it was air-conditioned, in fact to such an extent that the patrons habitually brought sweaters and shawls to protect against the chill!
The play however was the thing and a great little play it was! The cast performed it magnificently and the audience responded with warmth and good humour.
As is traditional after taking in a play in town, we went in search of a bite to eat. We eventually found a deli that sells its wares but also presents them for consumption in-store. With a bottle of wine and a variety of dishes we dined well. Charleston had won our hearts twice over.
Position: 33 02.1N, 79 32.7W
After a very hot and straightforward trip from Charleston up the ICW, we stopped last night in Awendaw Creek near McClellanville, about 30M south of Georgetown. We Were scintillated over supper by a truly amazing thunderstorm to the north of us. The ssky was lit up continuously for minutes at a time with multiple simultaneous bursts of sheet and forked lightning covering an arc of 120 degrees and lasting for over 3 hours. At one time it looked as if we might get a taste but as soon as we had got Mous'le ready, the storm moved away northwards and the rest of the night was beautifully peaceful.
Today we are moving on to a creek just south of Georgetown as we hope to leave the ICW the next day and sail direct to Beaufort NC -about 200M meaning 2 nights at sea.
We are both well, tho' tired having just done a 36hr passage to get here. It took us about 15M out to sea just so we could avoid the Cape Fear Shoals. We are all for avoiding any fears that are going around.
WE"VE CAUGHT A FISH! ALL BY OURSELVES!! A 3 Kg Dorado,Mahi mahi or dolphin fish!! We had of course previously caught a much bigger one that escaped off the line just as we were about to land it! I know thats what they all say but..... ...the well oiled and perfectly trained machine that had dealt with the landing of fish in Mid Atlantic were no longer present but the Mice of Mous'le rose to the occasion and dined on delicious fresh dorado.
About 1/2 way up to Cape Fear the autopilot started refusing to go where it was told, and tried to deviate towards the shoal. It took a stern talking to and threatening to cut off its electricity before it behaved again. Typically there is either too much wind, as in our last offshore leg to Charleston, where we entered harbour running before 30kn with 2 reefs in the main, and last night where you could have played billiards on the sea at dawn! We stopped at breakfast time to retrain the autopilot, (the last step before the dreaded 'Factory Reset' that it had been threatened with. THe Admiral also took the time to don snorkel and fins an poilsh the hull till she could see her face sparkling. Well that's what she says and I can't argue! She also claimed to have heard the dolphins talking to each other about the fish they had stolen off our troll line just before we pulled it in to be ready to stop.
Shortly after starting off again, with only vague mutterings from the Autopilot, we were joined by a family of 3 dolphins; initially 2 teenagers, and then Mum, who wasn't going to miss any of the action. They stayed for 10 or 15 minutes before Mum put her tail down (Literally, on the surface of the water!) and they all swam off together.
The rest of the trip into Beaufort Inlet was straightforward and we were waiting at the bridge below our chosen marina 15 minutes before its 1530 opening.
Turning into the creek where the marina was we had to defend ourselves against the onslaught of a dozen juvenile pirates in Optimist dinghies, clearly following in Blackbeard's shoes. It reminded us of a previous entry into a strange and shallow port, Howth near Dublin where the same situation arose. Fortunately Optimists are very manoeuvrable and they just gybe away with sails at impossible angles.
We are now comfortably tied up in a 'slip' or pontoon berth with big piles at the entrance to tie one end of the boat to.
Tomorrow we have arranged to borrow the Marina 'courtesy car' to go shopping although we are limited to an hour and a quarter only.
We left Beaufort after re-fuelling somewhat later than intended and caught the tide up the next stretch of the ICW. Or goal is to reach Norfolk, VA in about 5 days which will put us firmly in reach of the Chesapeake for early July. The scenery is very different to the Georgia salt water marshes as the barrier reefs known as the North Carolina Outer Banks act as such an efficient barrier that the bulk of the enclosed waters are essentially fresh. The reeds are replaced with a tree based swamp vegetation which is crossed by outcrops of sandy higher ground on which the local 'civilization' is based. The scattered villages are the only visible signs of human presence in miles of trees and large open sounds such as Albemarle and Pamlico. These are 10 -15 M across but only 12 - 15 feet deep and almost tideless. We left Beaufort after re-fuelling somewhat later than intended and caught the tide up the next stretch of the ICW. Or goal is to reach Norfolk, VA in about 5 days which will put us firmly in reach of the Chesapeake for early July. The scenery is very different to the Georgia salt water marshes as the barrier reefs known as the North Carolina Outer Banks act as such an efficient barrier that the bulk of the enclosed waters are essentially fresh. The reeds are replaced with a tree based, swamp vegetation which is crossed by outcrops of sandy higher ground on which the local 'civilization' is based. The scattered villages are the only visible signs of human presence in miles of trees and large open sounds such as Albemarle and Pamlico. These are 10 -15 M across but only 12 - 15 feet deep and almost tideless. We anchored in a thunderstorm in Pungo Creek and then, for the second night, 30M further on in Alligator River. To reach this anchorage we had to thread our way through hundreds of fishing pot buoys and our reward was the peace that goes with being the only vessel or habitation for miles around.
The next day we crossed the Albemarle Sound and after a twisting journey up a river, moored up in Midway Marina in the delightful village of Coinjock that straddles the ICW. The marina offers free wifi and a swimming pool, which proved so attractive in the 38C heat that it was being used by other local residents (a pair of ducks) who had to be ‘invited’ to move before access could be gained.
Midway Marina also has an onsite restaurant, Crabbies, where we dined on their local crab dip with blinis and pan-fried fresh caught scallops washed down with an excellent Californian Merlot.
We were last to leave the marina the next morning and joined the ICW as it traverses the sounds of the Inner Banks until it joins the Northeast River for the stretch to the east end of the Virginia Albemarle Canal.
As we motored through the heat of the afternoon along a canal cut straight as a die through forest and swamp, with trees and stumps in profusion along the edges, we came across a small motorboat that had suffered engine failure only a mile from their marina. We took the family on board Mous’le and towed them back to their marina. As we drew alongside the fuel dock, we discovered that the promised 9’ of depth was in fact only 6 ’6”. However we dropped off the strandees without difficulty and also managed to reverse Mous’le back out into the stream. We stopped for the night at a public dock at The Great Bridge, where a battle was fought in the American War of Independence that secured Norfolk for the American Forces and allowed them a naval base for the duration of the war.
We will stay here for a day or two to explore this part of Virginia before moving on to the Chesapeake Bay.
We spent 3 pleasant days at Great Lock. It was an excellent stop as it cost us nothing, had easy access to a decent supermarket and had free wifi. Well it may have been unintentional but we enjoyed the internet access!
We took advantage of our rest days to hire a car and to set off to discover rural Virginia. Or, more specifically, the Isle of Wight, which is in deepest rural Virginia! We had a little trouble finding it, as it does not merit a mention on a large scale atlas. However, thanks largely to Google maps on the iPhone, we found ourselves outside the IoW Post office opposite the IoW County Courthouse! They must have very little crime as they have very small courthouses!
We took a tour round Boykin's Tavern, a house belonging to the family who were responsible for the Courthouse being built where it stands some 200yrs ago. The house has been restored and is substantial in design with many features in common with 18th Century English houses. We were recommended to St Luke's Church as a lunchtime picnic venue and to Smithfield Ham as the main course. After a short drive to Smithfield, we parked and walked up the main street. In many ways we could have been in a county market town in England on a hot and oppressive summer's day. We found a baker for our bread and a retailer of 'Smithfield Hams', (Purveyors to Queen Victoria). a local delicacy for our filling and then set off to find the church, the oldest in the area and one of the first in the US. Its situation is beautiful, lying in a meander of a small river and protected by tall stands of trees on both sides. It is surrounded by the graves of local families dating back many generations and the grounds offer shade and the opportunity to enjoy an excellent lunch.
Leaving Smithfield it was time to catch the Isle of Wight Ferry, or as it is locally known, the Scotland - Jamestown Ferry across the James River. Jamestown was one of the first British settlements in America and nowadays is a icon to the USA's heritage. That is to say that you have to pay to get in!
We returned via Newport News, famous for the building of America's biggest naval vessels, and the Hampton - Portsmouth Bridge. Passing through the restored downtown section of Portsmouth showed some of the similarities that exist with its elder sister across the water.
It was with a feeling of achievement that we returned to Mous'le that evening, of places visited and connections made.
The following morning we were up and at it for the early time of 10 o'clock to do battle with the many bridges and the US Navy as we made our way down the Elizabeth River and across the James for a stop in Hampton overnight.When we arrived in Hampton River, after crossing the James River and entering the Hampton River directly beside the South Island of the Hampton Norfolk Bridge tunnel, we found no safe anchorage in the town; most of the possible spots were too shallow for our 2 metre draught. There was an inlet to the east of the bridge island, Phoebus Inlet and that proved an acceptable place for the night. It is situated right beside Fort Monroe and most of the shoreline is military.
The next morning we hoisted sail and set off past Old Comfort Point Light and Wolf Trap Lighthouse for the next leg north. We had thought of visiting Deltaville, but the idea of a secluded sheltered anchorage appealed, so we headed past Deltaville to a place called Antipoison Creek, so called because some Indians used the mud from the bottom of the creek to save the life of Captain John Smith, after he had a bite from a stingray. He was the first Englishman to explore the Virginia Coast and stands large in Virginia history.
The Creek was a peaceful place with only a few scattered houses and the biggest problem to be overcome was threading Mous'le safely through the catfish nets and multitudinous pot buoys.
We had been going to spend 2 days here but the forecast suggested strong northerlies and we decided to move 20miles north to Millcreek in Ingram Bay as it offers shelter from all point of the compass.
We were able to sail most of the trip, duplicating our experience of the previous day. It is a great feeling to be sailing once again after so much motoring.
Mill creek is clearly a favorite spot as, by nightfall, 5 other boats had joined us in the anchorage, and all have stayed to shelter from the forecast of 25+ knot winds from the north.
The Admiral is redecorating! Not so as to require new carpet and curtains, but cupboards are being cleaned out and spruced up with a lick of paint! We'll see how far this goes now she has started! It may be because of the fact that today is the first time that we have enjoyed daytime temperatures below 35C since we arrived in the US in early May. We seem to have hit an initially unseasonable heatwave which has persisted for nearly 8 weeks! Today the midday temperature is a cool 28C and is invigorating rather than stifling!
We are hoping to leave tomorrow for Solomons Island in the Patuxant River a trip of about 45 miles so it will mean an early start.
We motored up from Ingram Bay and arrived in Solomons Island at dusk. We found a berth in Calvert Marina in Back Creek at $1/ft/night. This is the cheapest marina berth we have found in the USA and we were placed on the end of a jetty beside another yacht who's crew came to take our lines when we came alongside. The were chatty and friendly and by the time we were tied up, we had been invited to a dock party to celebrate Independence Day (The 4th of July). It was a 'bring your own meat' cookout or 'braii' and we accepted with alacrity. Our neighbour also offered to run us round to the supermarket and chandlery, but we were able to use the Marina's courtesy car at no cost and did not need to take her up on her offer.
The car proved to have no air-con, no opening windows and as the external temperature was in the high nineties, it was indeed an experience to go shopping in it. But one does not turn down free transport.
The party went with a swing and the food was plentiful and varied. After sunset, we were well placed to enjoy an un-interrupted vie of the fireworks that the town had put on. They were in the same league as Cowes Week fireworks and were entirely paid for by the town council! The evening was rounded off when Garry produced 3 different quality bourbons to try and identify. A challenge we Brits failed very enjoyably.
The nest couple of days were spent getting to know our American hosts better and they are the best ambassadors their country could wish for!
We spent the following day recovering from the party and the heat. We were just leaving the boat when Pam, one of the people we had met the previous day, appeared with a gift of some venison from her partner Garry who had promised it during a discussion on the deer hunting on both sides of the Atlantic. This was gratefully received and Pam immediately offered the freezer on their dock to keep it in until we could fit it in our fridge. We had also been invited to dinner with two other friends, Courtney and George that evening. Conversation ranged far and wide and ended with a malt whisky tasting to round off the evening. George endured this manfully - it is always a trial to have to enjoy good whisky.
We eventually took our leave of Solomons this morning,taking many memories with us ,and after an initially brisk sail out of The Patuxant River, we turned our bow to the north and directrly into the wind for the journey to Annapolis.
We arrived at dusk and have anchored in Back Creek (again - there seem to be many 'Back Creeks').
This is our 100th blog entry according to GetJealous so I hope, dear reader, your journey with us has not been a tedious one.
The morning after our arrival in Annapolis, we struggled out of bed and decided to go ashore in the mid afternoon when it was getting a bit cooler. After the 100F of Solomons Island, the 97F really didn’t feel any better so we inflated our small 2m dinghy and set off for the shore. Annapolis and Eastport, the district we were heading for, have a useful feature for boaters in that when a street ends at the water there is a municipal dock to allow landing and tying up a dinghy. As we neared the jetty a man sitting on the bench above climbed down and helped take our line. It turned out he was waiting for a friend from a yacht across the creek to come and pick him up. We offered to run him across as it was only 2 or 3 hundred yards. The admiral elected to wait on a bench in the shade on shore for the Skipper’s return. On returning to the jetty she held out our passenger’s cell phone for return to him - he had left on the bench: so it was back across the creek for a second time to return the phone to its owner. He was very happy to be reunited with it as he had only bought it that morning to replace one that had fallen out of his pocket into the sea!
At last we managed to set off to explore Eastport. This is part of Annapolis now but until about 70 yrs ago it was a separate town. Spa Creek separates it from Annapolis and every year a 1500m rope is slung across the creek and the two communities have a massive tug of war!
A week or so ago the Admiral had got fed up with her hair in the heat and gave herself a haircut. Not the most successful of outcomes although it was DEFINITELY short now. While strolling through Eastport’s leafy avenues we came across a beautifully renovated period property that was now used as a salon for hair and beauty specialists. It boasted a Vidal Sassoon trained stylist so we went in and we think they took pity on us because we were fitted in almost immediately. The hairdressers were an English/Scottish husband and wife team who had emigrated about 40 years ago and had become well established in Annapolis.
After the restyling and a long chat, we left to continue our stroll. Oddly enough we managed to find a pub and enjoyed a beer and crab-cakes in the setting sun
The next morning we upped anchor and moved round to Spa Creek. This entails passing through an opening bridge. Despite being impeded by a huge host of Optimist dinghies, we managed to time our trip so we didn’t even have to slow down for the bridge. Looking for a suitable spot we eventually found a place right at the head of the creek in 7 feet of water, giving us 6” of water under our keel at low water. It proved very shelter and we were unaffected by the thunderstorm that passed over during the night.
Ice-cream was the object of our trip ashore the next day. We had been instructed by some English friends at home that we must not miss the ice-cream parlour at the top of Main Street. Now, since we are known for always doing as we are told, we had to visit this establishment and indeed we made it at lunch time. They certainly make excellent ice-cream and fortified indeed, we set off to explore Annapolis. It is the state capital of Maryland and thus has a capitol building where the State Legislature meet, a University and the Annapolis Naval College which occupies an enormous site on the riverfront.
These buildings are surrounded by leafy streets of timber and brick buildings most of which seem to be of historical interest. It is a most delightful town and with the busy harbour area as well it has much to offer a visitor. We rounded off our visit by listening to a guitar concert in a Starbucks Coffee House, in the basement of an old hotel.
As we have no navigation lights on our inflatable, we had to be back on Mous’le by dusk and we deflated our dinghy in readiness for a 7.00am departure to catch the 0730am bridge opening. No fleets of maniacal pirates were out and about at this time in the morning and we had an easy trip out into the Chesapeake bay until we turned north to pass under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge the heavens opened and we were suddenly a pair of drowned rats! The rain managed to recur only on the Skipper’s watches and he has been heard to mutter about ‘unfair influence’ on the part of the Admiral and her ‘direct line to the heavens’!
The wind freshened enough to allow us to sail most of the way to Havre de Grace and the visibility cleared as we meandered up the long and winding entrance channel through the mudflats that were famous for duck shooting until the nineteen-seventies when pollution and over fishing put paid to their habitat.
We were soon tied up in our marina and after preparing Mous’le for an invasion of youth. (The Admiral’s nieces were arriving the next evening for a few days and were sleeping on board)
We were visited very shortly after our arrival by relatives of the Admiral's sister who live in Havre de Grace, Sarah and Bruce. They gallantly undertook to take care of us during our stay and started the ball rolling with drinks on board before returning to their house for a crab soup dinner on the deck.
We ate a late dinner and retired to re-energise ourselves for the next day when we were to join our hosts for a visit to the National Decoy Museum where duck decoys that were the mainstay of life here until the nineteen seventies are exhibited. There are also exhibits about how they were made and used and the famous carvers who created them. We then went to join Sarahs husband for a crabfest in the Susqhahanna's premier crab place, followed by ice-cream in Havre de Grace's best ice-cream parlour. We retired to Mous'le and. it is fair to say, slept the night away before the Admiral's sister and family arrived in the morning.
It was to be lunchtime before we were joined by the Fields Family and the midshipman and sub-lieutenant had a chance to see their sleeping quarters. We were to meet up with Sarah who had organized for us to visit the town Mayor in his office. An interesting experience and he explained that his role is as an elected CEO of the town and he reports to the Council but otherwise runs the town. After we left his office Sarah headed off and we went for lunch, which, for us, was to be a repeat trip to the ice-cream parlour followed by a walk around town. Unfortunately a thunderstorm put paid to the ‘walk’ and we ended up arriving early at Bruce and Sarah’s for an early BBQ.
The next day, Tuesday, we made an early start to spend a few days at Bruce and Sarah’s lakeside house in Gettysburg. The rural Maryland landscape is very English although the architecture is definitely local with timber being the almost universal building material. We stopped for lunch in a roadside café called ‘The Pink Pig’ which also boasted a sizeable antique shop. After a lunch off pitbeef or pulled pork sandwiches we had look around the antiques before moving on to Gettysburg. The house lies on the edge of a lake just on the outskirts of town and has its own dock.
After unloading our bags etc we climbed back into the car to take a trip through town to the supermarket to buy the provisions for our stay.
Gettysburg was the site of a pivotal civil war battle and the town is full of historic buildings and battle sites.
Wednesday brought continuous rain through the morning and we decided to have a lazy day so it was Thursday before we went to visit the Battlefield Visitor’s Center and take a trip around the sites of the battle.
The Visitor’s Center is well laid out and after an introductory film about the history of the battle we visited its centerpiece, the Cyclorama. This is a massive painting of the battle on a huge canvas that surrounds the viewing area and is 130yrs old! It is so carefully merged into a 3D foreground that the join is very difficult to see.
A detailed Museum completes the Visitor’s Center experience and was extremely informative and well presented.
We then drove through Gettysburg to find somewhere to lunch and to begin the Self-drive Audio Tour. This was to prove an excellent way to explore the battlefield and not miss out on the detail. However lunch was the priority and a micro-brewery provided the ideal venue from where we eventually emerged, fortified for the facts and vistas we were to see.
The battle, although not the biggest of the war, was the most pivotal. Along with the siege of Vicksburg, it marked the beginning of the end for the southern states.
With much opportunity to ponder its effects on history, both in North America and Europe, we left the battlefield for Cemetery Hill, the site of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and a National Monument in honour of all those who died.
The journey home was quiet.
Friday was our day to return to Havre de Grace and after cleaning the house we piled up the car and ambled home to a meal once again with Bruce and Sarah.
On Saturday the Madison Fields had to leave to begin their journey to Alabama but first came a sail round the bay on Mous’le who rose to the occasion and managed to sail in less than 4kn of wind and we ghosted across the Susquehanna until we had to change direction to avoid grounding on the duck flats. Under our Code 0 and helmed by the midshipman and the sub -lieutenant we sailed round an enormous barge moored in the middle of the river before it was time to return Mous’le to her berth so we could have lunch al fresco before the departure for Alabama.
The next day Bruce and Sarah were to visit his sister in Frederick, a town about 60M away and we were invited. Frederick proved to be a gem of a town with tree filled streets and a canal that has been turned into a park for the town with a ‘Community Bridge’ as its focus. The town has a liking for trompe d’oeil and there are several examples to be seen in prominent places.
We are now waiting for a weather window to allow us to set out on the next leg of our journey to New York. There is also the small matter of a broken hinge on our main saloon deck hatch and one is on order for Wednesday. Provisioning has been completed and we hope to move on in a day or two. Currently we in the path of numerous thunderstorms which can bring unpleasant gusty winds and torrential rain so we will wait till they have passed.
Last night The Admiral went 'line dancing' with Sarah. Nobody was injured and she reports that she enjoyed it.
Once again we have been warmly welcomed into the local American life and we have much to thank our host country and its ambassadors for. They have made our stop-overs interesting and enjoyable and we look forward to being able to repeat our visit in the future.
It was now time to take our leave of the Chesapeake and head towards New York. Our course took us east across the head of the Bay to the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal and then down the Delaware river to the Atlantic Ocean. The forecast was for essentially calm weather and we anticipated having to motor most of the 200M trip. We were blessed with favourable tides all the way to the mouth of the Delaware River and even from there to New York we only had one period of adverse tide. Consequently we made good time and had time to cruise around the harbour after entering under the Verrazano Suspension bridge. Despite having to avoid the streams of orange Staten Island Ferries and all the tripper vessels, we were able to see the Brooklyn Bridge, The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, The Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. As we cruised up the Hudson River to our marina, the West Side of the Manhattan Island and the Financial District was lit up by the yellowing rays of the setting sun, softening the angular skyscrapers and illustrating just one example of the magic of New York City.
Our marina was run by the City and was a bit rolly but extremely well situated level with the middle of Central Park. We were a quarter mile from a Subway to Downtown and also from a wonderful Deli – Zabar’s – which proved much too tempting to just walk past!
After securing Mous’le and sorting out the paperwork, we debated as to whether to have a drink in the bar behind the Marina office. It is situated underneath a roundabout on the Riverside Parkway and overlooks the Hudson. The problem was the blackening sky to the west. Ever optimistic we decided to take the risk and while we were finishing off our beers, people, who had been outside began to come inside. We thought “To stay or to go?” We decided to go as there were windows open on Mous’le and ran down to the marina and out along the jetty to our berth inside the outer end. Mous’le was being blown off the pier by a 35 – 40 kn gale and we struggled, in driving hail and surrounded by flashes of lightning, to haul her close enough to get on board. Our sprint had been of no avail. We were soaked, Mous’le was soaked where the windows had been left open but at least we were on board so after drying off, we settled down to enjoy our dinner and plan our days in New York.
We both wanted to see Central Park and, as the Solomon Guggenheim Art Gallery was directly across it from where we were, we decided to make these the object of our first day’s sightseeing. We left Mous’le and walked up West 79th St, crossing Broadway and Columbus Avenue until we reached an entrance to Central Park. As it was a Saturday, it was full of people lying on the grass, playing baseball, running, cycling and just standing still, all appreciating the beauty of this giant of a park in a giant of a city. After taking out time to enjoy the atmosphere, we spilled out of a park gate onto Fifth Avenue. This is a street with many faces and here it was also called ‘Museum Mile’ We had to pass the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art on our way to the Guggenheim. Pangs of hunger recommended a diversion for lunch and a suitable place was found on Madison Avenue. Fortunately restaurant prices do not always follow property values and we had an excellent Italian lunch for $10 a head!
We arrived at the Guggenheim at 2pm and the architecture was the first thing about the building that stands out. Like its fellow Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain it was designed by one of the world’s foremost 20th century architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, who created the masterpiece that is here today. Eye catching and pleasing both outside and in, it also satisfies its purpose as a place to display great art. The central well is surrounded by a spiral ramp that climbs through six revo;utions before it reaches its summit. The original exhibition spaces are all off this rotunda and new galleries have been added later to allow the exhibition of the galleries permanent collections and also some special events from time to time. We ascended through a cosmopolitan collection of photography past and present with tours off to see an incredible collection of world famous impressionists with virtually all the great names being represented by several major examples of their work. It was worth traveling 6,000M to see it!
Eventually however we were becoming saturated and it was time to go is search of further liquid stimulation in the shape of a cup of coffee. As we left the museum we found there was a queue to get in and apparently after 4pm a visitor is allowed to pay whatever he wishes. This is clearly popular as the line went halfway round the block!
We re-crossed Central Park by a different route and soon came across a Starbucks. This allowed us to catch up on email as well as waking ourselves up! Soon we were in conversation with an American-Irish Nurse, with whom the Admiral seemed to have much in common. So engrossing was the conversation that hours flew by and it was after 9pm that we eventually said goodnight to our new friend and wended our way home for a late dinner and bed!
Sunday dawned dour and grey, but dry so we set off Downtown to visit Greenwich Village and Times Square. We lunched in a little park in Christopher Square with items bought from our favorite deli and enjoyed an amble around West Village as the area is known to New Yorkers. Suddenly it started to rain and shelter presented itself in the form of a typical New York Bar. To celebrate Irish American relations the Skipper had a very nice Guinness while the Admiral had a local ale. After an hour we decided once again to just get wet and returned to the Subway to catch a train to Times Square. Emerging once again in the rain, shopping seemed an attractive option and Macy’s was immediately available. Despite being tempted by some items, our Scottish ancestry prevailed and no money was spent. Instead we returned to Mous’le to organize our departure the following morning.
The Hudson is a pleasing river, with different moods evident as its topography changes. Within New York City it is majestic, slow moving and reflects the majesty of the city it borders. As the traveler passes north of Harlem River, the northern limit of Manhattan Island the river seems to widen as if in relief and the banks slope a bit more steeply, giving the Hudson the ability to make its own reputation. There is no need for New York City here; New York State supplies the surroundings for the river now. To start with it runs gently through the hills with few bends, but as we traveled further upstate, it became faster flowing, held in place by steeper hills and tighter bends. For a boat such as Mous’le, sailing on a river is a rare pleasure, as all too often the wind is from directly ahead, but this time we had enough wind from the right direction and we were able to make good progress up river.
We stopped overnight in Haverstraw Marina. This serves a town with a sad history. The clay of the high river banks around the town had been quarried for brick making for almost a century when the quarries dug too close to the town and it was engulfed in a major slide causing many casualties. Quarrying is still carried out here but it is for rock and is a bit to the south of town.
The marina has a lovely deck overlooking the Hudson and on it we enjoyed a sundowner before returning to Mous’le.
We are heading for Catskill, at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, where we will have our mast taken down and loaded onto a framework on deck for the journey to Buffalo. There is a height restriction of 15ft on the Erie Canal and our mast is 55ft when upright. This part of the Hudson passes West Point, the Army College, and may be possibly the most scenic past of the river. We anchored for the night just 5M short of Catskill but are in a delightful bay, Duck Cove and watching the changes in the river as the sun sets for the day.
After a quiet night we upped anchor and headed back out into the Hudson for the short run to Catskill and the Hop o Nose Marina where Mous’le was to have her mast lifted and laid on the cradle we have assembled with the help of Bruce in Havre de Grace. We nosed our way in to the entrance to the river and found ourselves aground! We had managed to cut the corner and now had to unstick ourselves. Fortunately it was soft mud and soon we were back in the channel and motoring carefully up river. We tied up beside the crane dock and began the preparations for removing the mast. This involves pulling ‘mouse’ lines (Yes, this is the proper term!) for all the ropes that run through the channels under the side decks, disconnecting all the electrics and pulling the cables for radar, VHF, Wind instrument and navigation lights through the deck and sealing the ends against moisture. Then all the rigging attachments have to be made ready for removal, although this is not completed until the mast is attached to the crane. The support cradles had to be assembled and lashed in position on the bow and stern and a mid support would be added once the mast was down and supported at both ends. This took all day and the next morning to complete so it was lunchtime before the mast was finally lifted and lowered to the deck, and tea time before we had finished lashing and tidying up. The yard staff were unfailingly polite, helpful and knowledgeable.
The next morning we took a stroll through the town of Catskill and marveled at the Cat Art that decorates the street. Although it has been clearly hit by the recession, the town authorities are working hard to help the appearance of the town. Soon we had to return to Mous’le and take our new low profile craft out into the Hudson River for our final leg before entering the Erie Canal. We carried the tide up to Troy Lock without incident and tied up alongside the dock wall at Waterford for the night. By sundown several fishermen had mustered around Mous’le casting their lines ahead and astern of her. We had to point out that even if they succeeded in hooking our Mouse, we would not let them land their catch!
Despite the warning, the next morning we had a fishing line around our wind indicator!
The following morning we moved Mous’le to the floating dock and then set off to buy our pass for the canal. The lock-keeper was very amiable and made the process easy and interesting. We were now suffering severe hunger and, following advice, headed over to the Main St to get some lunch at Don and Paul’s Café. This is famous for its ‘all-day brunch’ and we enjoyed some best American cooking. After re-crossing the Hudson to the local supermarkets we ambled back to Mous’le. People here seem to like people! We have spent more time on the dockside chatting here than anywhere else we have visited. Sailor and landlubber alike, all seem interested in where we have been and where we are going next. Most are happy to tell about themselves and their lives and it is this caring that makes such meetings an important part of cruising.
Sunday brought the Sunday market, and while the Admiral was let loose with the cash and credit card, the Skipper was on his knees repairing a wiring fault that prevented the generator from putting out electricity. The plan now is to move up the stairway of 5 locks tomorrow, climbing to a height of 184’ in 2 ½ miles, almost ½ of the total climb in this section of the canal.
We are now some 75 miles into the canal. It is a beautiful meandering river with a few manmade cuts to shorten out the wilder loops. We have cleared sixteen locks and spent 4 nights moored alongside lock walls. We have met lock-keepers and fishermen, boaters and dog-walkers and people just out for a stroll. The river is a place for reflections, both visual, auditory and philosophical. The banks are tree-lined to the waters edge with branches leaning out giving shade to the shallows. When motoring along in flat calm water it is sometimes difficult to see where the actual horizon is and it can be confusing.
We have climbed about 320 feet in altitude since leaving Waterford and still have 100 feet to do before we reach the watershed at Rome, NY. Because this is now a part-time canal (it closes in the winter to allow for the runoff from melting snow and winter rains) the dams are also temporary and the sluice gates can be raised to 20 feet above the normal water level to allow winter debris to pass through unimpeded.
Our mast is little problem as it is above head height aft allowing free movement around the cockpit and there is access up each side deck to the bow for tying up up and managing Mous’le in the locks.
We spent Monday resting and recovering and on Tuesday The Admiral went for a walk to try and find a marine store that was supposed to be nearby. She failed to find a route and was taken pity on by a local man out fishing with his grand-children who offered her ca lift and she ended up back down in Waterford with no boat-bits but having updated our emails.
After leaving the wall at Guard gate 2 on Wednesday, we were ambling up the river when we spotted a helicopter water bombing the canal. As we drew closer, a power boat heading the other way filled us in. “They’re filming the firefighting for a movie. If you want to go through they’ll probably not drop water on you!” We decided to risk it and indeed, although the chopper picked up some more water and then flew straight at us, he dropped some well in front, then stopped until past us before releasing the rest astern.
We stopped in Amsterdam on that night along side a park adjacent to lock 12. There is a Canal Museum there and a large chimney with a VW Beetle right on the top! Unfortunately the main railroad from Chicago and Buffalo to New York City runs right next to the park and the trains have to signal their arrival what ever the time of day or night. They do not do this quietly!
Thursday dawned overcast and as we cast off after a fishing lesson on ‘jigging’ (a style of angling popular in these parts), it began to rain and as The Admiral began her deck watch it began to rain in earnest with thunder and lightning to add excitement. By the end of her watch it had lessened and lunchtime brought out the sun and a cooling breeze. We tied up at what is the prettiest lock so far and with no dam and the railway a fair distance away we hoped for a quieter night.
Friday was a day of strong winds and as we cruised along the canal we passed Herkimer Home, belonging to Sir Nicholas Herheimer, a General in the Revolutionary war and member of a wealthy landowning family who were responsible for developing trade in the area. It is a grand house in Queen Anne style and is set in parkland running down to the Mohawk River. Continuing on past the house were soon in sight of Lock 17 and an ascent of over 40’ in 1 lock. This is the highest lift in the canal and is one of only two locks in N America where the lower gate lifts above your head to allow entrance rather than opening on hinges. Apart from getting a bit wet going under it the system worked well and soon we were in Little Falls, a town that used to be the cheese capital of North America. They even exported their cheddar to England at one time! Now it is a town that, once again, is trying to turn its fortunes around by tidying up its appearance. The area adjacent to the canal is home to a number of restaurants and shops, many situated in old warehouses and one restaurant uses the old Station House. The line still passes by the front and the frequent passing trains are a constant reminder of its history. We ate lunch their and very good it was.
Friday evening saw us at Ilion and getting access to the Internet for the first time for several days. Marina prices here are either free or are $1 per foot, a different ballgame from those in Florida which were as much as $3.50 a foot. Our aim is to make Oneida Lake by Sunday and we will move on tomorrow.
We are now alongside at Newark, NY – not to be confused with Newark, NJ or any of the many other Newarks in the US. This is a free marina supplied for the benefit of boaters on the canal by the town, with free electricity, water, wifi, showers and laundry facilities. It is by far the best place we have stopped since we left Waterford over a week ago. We are two thirds of the way to Buffalo and we think we will stop for a couple of days to get our breath back and do some maintenance on Mous’le.
When we left Ilion we motored on to the next lock where we were asked to stay clear while the lock keeper released the east bound vessel he had in the lock. The ship that appeared was entirely unexpected however and is the biggest vessel we have seen on the canal. It is clearly specifically designed to fit into the locks and under the bridges with only a minimum of room to spare. It is a cruise ship that travels up and down of the canal during the season.
When it was our turn to enter we did so in the company of two other boats and after over 20 locks on our own we started our first locking with other vessels in the lock. As we left, we were warned that the next town on the Canal, Rome, NY was having a canal festival and we could expect to be doused with water from a pirate ship and that we would have to be careful of waterskiers. When we got there we were intercepted by a sheriff on a jetski who kept us back until a team of professional ski jumpers had finished their performance and then we could run the gauntlet of the pirate ship. Whereas in previous years there has been a crew of pirates to perform the mischief, this year the pirate captain cut a lonely figure on the poop deck, all alone at the helm. We passed by unscathed and were soon at Oneida Lake. This is a 15M long lake that is traversed by the canal and it has a reputation for throwing up an unpleasant chop in a westerly wind. For us things remained more or less calm and we made good progress after spending an hour trying to reset our autopilot. We failed and are now having to hand steer. Pulling into Brewerton at the west end of the lake we refueled and purchased some supplies for the work we need to do on Mous’le before heading on to our stop for the night. This western section of the canal is probably even more beautiful than the east. In places it seems even more remote and we were without a cellphone signal for 3 days.
The canal cuts through very flat terrain which is often marshy but the banks are densely lined with a large variety of different types of tree, predominately deciduous. Although it is not yet mid-August, the fall colours are beginning to appear in places and in another month or so this will be a totally amazing journey.
We stopped over night on a dock where, it is said, “city-dwellers have trouble sleeping”. Being well practiced in the art of somnolence the crew of Mous’le had no such problems. We had passed the branch of the canal that leads up the Oswego River to Lake Ontario just after Lake Oneida and now passed the other main spur down to the Seneca River to the Finger Lakes, a favourite tourist area in NW New York State. After another day’s travel we reached lock 25, our planned stop for the night, and as it was only 5.00pm, we decided to press on to Lock 26, just 5M further on. This proved to be an error of judgement as, no sooner than we had passed through the exit gates, it began to rain, lightly at first but steadily strengthening into a downpour. We passed through Lock 26 and tied up, soaked through and wishing we had stopped at our planned location
The final part of the journey took us through the town of Clyde and we passed below Glasgow Street causing the skipper to wonder if we should stop and visit the town with its Scottish ties but we decided to press on; wisely as it turned out as a Californian couple we met at Newark had stopped and told us that it was not a pleasant place and was badly affected economically by the recent recession.
We visited the Californians on their chartered canal boat for drinks and ended up spending the entire evening with them. While she was a true Californian, he was born in upstate New York and grew up in the general area. He was a fount of information about the locality and was of considerable help too with information on the Finger Lakes.
They are moored at the end of our dock, next to a bridge over the canal. The concrete abutment has been painted in a mural depicting local historical characters and is to a very high standard. The canal company and the town authority hope that it will become a model for other towns to follow.
After nearly a week spent in Newark where we began the process of preparing Mous’le for her winter break we cast off for the last part of the Erie Canal trip. We had laundered our cushion and seat covers, bedding and and all our clothes, cleaned all our carpets and repacked the forecabin. The Admiral replaced the broken main hatch with the forehatch and fitted our new hatch to replace it. We also diagnosed the fault with our autopilot to a broken wire and fixed that.
Casting off from the pontoon that had been our home for a week we off heading for a free dock in Spencerport about 40M further on. We passed some eye-catching sights along the way;
The first was a bridge where there are no two angles the same as it at different heights on either side of the river and is banked more on the south than the north. It is apparently in the Guinness Book of Records. Next was a stretch with so many large bridges that we had to be close to a large city and a check showed us to be in the outskirts of Rochester, NY on Lake Ontario. The next part, known as ‘The Cut’, was one of the most difficult bits of the canal to dig as it is through solid rock for about 15M or so and sometimes the sides are more than 25ft above the 12 ft deep canal. Passing beyond this stretch the terrain flattens out and becomes more agricultural with fruit a major feature including apples and strawberries. Spencerport offered the free dock and also a choice of places to eat ashore as we were both tired enough to succumb to the attractions of no cooking and no washing up!
Moving on the next day we managed to reach Lockport, the site of the last two locks on the canal and only 15M from the end. We stopped below the locks and went to look at them. This entailed walking up and then down through a wood till we emerged right at the base of the Niagara Escarpment through which the locks rise. There is a power station beside them and they used to create their own power with their own station until quite recently. This is now a museum. We met several people as we watched the locks at work and ended up talking away the sunset with 2 American cruisers from Michigan and a Swede from Goteborg who was cycling around Canada and the US. Eventually we made our way back to Mous’le through the wood in near total darkness and were pleased to reach the lights and safety of the highway.
The next morning was passed checking the cause of some dust on our alternator and doing oil changes on our main engine and generator. We had allowed an hour to clear the two locks and when we arrived just after lunchtime, we were lifted through both in only 20 minutes. This left us well placed to arrive in Tonawanda, the end of the canal by teatime. This final stretch began as a five mile stretch of more rock cutting, this time through the Niagara Escarpment before the banks flattened out and became more rural. Tonawanda was heralded by large houses with parkland grounds down to the water and a couple of public parks. Suddenly we passed under a bridge and we were in the center of town with docks on both side of the river. With the end of the canal only half a mile away we had an appointment at ten the next morning to restep our mast for the rest of the voyage to Canada.
Next morning the mast was soon up and firmly attached by its stays. By the end of lunch we had the boom and mainsail attached and everything we needed was in place. Leaving our berth to make room for a yacht from Wisconsin who was entering the canal and having their mast removed for the trip, we motored out into the Tonawanda channel which leads south of Tonawanda Island to the Niagara river and Buffalo. Two hours later we were tied up to a fuel dock while the Admiral walked round to West Marine and collected some gear that we had ordered. On her return we moved across the channel to a waiting wall outside the next canal – the Black Rock Canal that bypasses the fast flowing stretch of the Niagara river and lets one out directly into Lake Erie. By nightfall we were 90% ready for the Great Lakes and hope to set off in a couple of days time.
We spent Wednesday morning in Wardell's Boatyard in Tonawanda having our mast restepped. Once it was basically set up - straight and vertical - we left to make room for another yacht and set off out of the Erie Canal and down the Tonawanda Channel to join the Niagara River and enter Buffalo. By the time we arrived the marina staff had gone home so we tied up temporarily on a fuel berth while the Admiral nipped round to a branch of West Marine, who were holding some gear we had ordered. On her return we crossed over the channel and moored on the approach wall of another canal that by-passes some rapid flowing stretches of the Niagara River. This has one lock which raises you up to the level of lake Erie, about 7 feet or so, and is about 3 M long.
After a day spent finishing off the rigging and refitting the sails etc we set off bright and early to enter the canal only to find that it only opens for leisure traffic at 10.30 and we had to kick our heels for an hour before being allowed into the lock. It is a large lock and and it was 20 minutes before we were able to leave and head southwards towards Lake Erie. We passed the home of Buffalo Rowing club and there were a couple of dozen painted remembrances of successful crews in regattas all over the US and in Europe. Clearly, it is a successful club. Next was the Buffalo Yacht Club and it was typically busy as it was a Saturday morning and there was a steady stream of boats heading out into Lake Erie. We followed on and hoisted sail for the first time for several weeks. It felt good to have Mous’le a sailing boat again. Unfortunately the wind was fitful and more less on the nose, so we motored sailed out into the Lake, passing the mass of boats waiting for the wind to allow racing to start. After a while we got a bit more help from Mother Nature and made good progress towards Dunkirk, our destination for the evening. It is some 40M SW of Buffalo and offered one of the few deepwater harbours on this piece of coast.
We arrived about teatime and were initially taken to an alongside berth on a highish dock then the owner of the Marina decided we could move to the end of the neigbouring dock.
There we were met by several local boaters, who took lines, gave useful advice about tying up as there was a forecast of thunderstorms and wind overnight.
The rain was threatening and we threw up our cockpit canopy in record time, but still not fast enough to avoid a wetting before we got the roof on! The weather had settled in for the night and we got ready to hunker down on board Mous’le. However within the hour we were invited onto a neighbour’s trawler for drinks, his friend’s homemade wine initially and then shop bought as stocks were soon run down! Also present were another couple who owned a 31’ Hunter sailing boat and we were made to feel very welcome. As is often the case it was after 10.00pm before we were saying goodnight to Tracy, Fred, Janet and Ken with promises to see them all in the morning.
Sunday dawned slowly with a gray damp feel to it and Ken and Janet came by to offer us a trip to a local breakfast spot and a visit to a supermarket. This was to be our initiation into the Great American Breakfast and after some explanations of the menu we enjoyed a great meal with them, before visiting a Walgreens supermarket to recharge our cellphone. They then took us on a trip around the town of Dunkirk and although it is suffering significant depopulation and low employment, it is an attractive town with nice wide avenues of wooden houses with some stone buildings mixed in. They have several parks and an area of lake front for public use. All in all a pleasant place to spend a weekend.
We have a problem with our generator than means we are now unable to run it and are therefore reliant on the main engine to make electricity if we cannot access shore power. This is only really acceptable when at sea because of the noise level. if we can plug in when in harbour we have no problem, but most American marinas only offer 110V supply. It is possible to use it if we can use a pair of 2 sockets to get 220V. Unfortunately this is not always available. However, since we have only 400M to go to Bayfield, we hope it is not for long.
It feels strange to be on the home stretch after having been based on Mous’le full time since April 2009 with only a few breaks. She has become home and it will feel odd to be leaving her at last.
We will spend another day here sorting leaks etc before moving on, probably to Erie,OH on Tuesday.
We said our farewells and left Dunkirk to head for Erie, OH, where we hoped to anchor in the bay behind Presque Isle. This is a lagoon about 2M in diameter with protection from all quarters. We had experienced rising winds as we journeyed southwest and after watching a waterspout form under a thunderhead cloud about a mile away, we were happy to gain shelter in the lagoon. It is deservedly classed as one of the best anchorages in Lake Erie and is a beautiful quiet place to spend a day or two. Lake Erie is just like the Solent in that is it is less than 25m deep and subject to an unpleasant chop. Out trip from Dunkirk was just like sailing around the Isle of Wight. We watched the Erie Yacht Club Evening Race and it ended as so many Island Sailing Club Tuesday evening races do - in a downpour! We felt at home.
As we have been plagued with problems with Mous'le we are trying to make Bayfield as quickly as possible and had therefore decided to do a 24hr sail to Detroit. This is only 50M from Sarnia, our entry point into Canada.
The journey was a pleasant one with bright sunshine initially followed by a short spell of windy weather. This settled with the sunset and soon we were startled from astern by the bright orange light of the rising moon. The moon was to be our companion until we reached the entrance to Detroit River as it did not set till long after sunrise. The southern stretch of the river as it leaves the lake is pretty and a joy to sail past , with its many lighthouses and buoys pointing the way towards the narrow channels that lead upstream to Detroit and Windsor. The approach to Detroit is heavily industrialised but no sign of Ford, although General Motors Headquarters is right by the riverside. We spent our last night in the US in Keans Marina, north of downtown and only a half mile from Lake St Claire, our route to Sarnia and Canada.
We arrived in Bridgeview Marina, Sarnia at the end of a hot Sunday afternoon; so called because it has views of the huge US – Canada access bridge immediately to the north.
The trip across Lake St Claire started well with about 7 – 10kn of breeze over the starboard quarter helping us to motorsail into the channel across the lake. We had been traveling for less than 30 minutes when, with a sudden change in exhaust noise our main engine indicated that it was getting rather hot. A quick inspection revealed no cooling water in the exhaust and the engine was switched off while further investigations took place. The Skipper was charged with keeping Mous’le out of harms way under sail while the Admiral donned overalls and brought out her toolkit to determine the cause of the problem. In the event the problem was instantly obvious when we exposed the front to of the engine – the waterpump belt lay in tatters on the floor!. The Admiral then embarked on her first waterpump belt change and 30 minutes later we were back under engine power and making 6kn across the lake.
There was little adverse current in Lake St Claire and it was not until we entered the St Claire River at its northern end that the current became apparent. 1.5kn against us seemed the average in the middle but this would reduce to 0.5kn at the extreme margins of the river, but with careful navigation we were able to average 5 – 5.5kn cruising speed for most of the journey to Sarnia. In this stretch of the river the Michigan bank was heavily developed with almost no breaks in the riverside housing whereas the Canadian bank was either agricultural or industrial with only occasional stretches with residential development. We did come across a strange Canadian pastime where 6 – 12 people, in inflatable beach rings form into a group and allow themselves to drift off down stream, armed only with an occasional paddle and some hands for motive power. It seems that they require to be rescued eventually in order to get home!
Amazingly soon it seemed, we were approaching Sarnia and we entered Bridgeview Marina Basin about 1700. As we cautiously approached, we were hailed by a man on the nearest dock who asked if we were ‘transients’ and when informed that we were, he indicated where to moor and came round to take our lines. It turned out that the staff had all gone home and he (John) was a berth holder. On learning that we had sailed from the UK he was amazed and another passing power boat who over heard gave us a cheer! A great welcome indeed, near the end of our 6,400miles of traveling since Gran Canaria. He made sure we were supplied with electric power and water, gave us his spare key to the restrooms and said we were welcome to a lift to a local restaurant. We had to clear customs before we could leave the boat. A phone call was made and within 30 minutes 2 friendly customs officers were sitting in the cockpit. Within 10 minutes all formalities were completed and we and Mous’le were cleared to stay in Canada, much the easiest entry to a country for some time. We were then clear to join John for a very pleasant evening, with many sea stories being exchanged over the table. Time passed quickly and as we had had a long day and John had to be away early the next day we returned to the marina replete and very content with life. Bridgeview is an odd marina as the berths are on one side of a channel and there is a 1.5M walk to the office and the same back!
The next morning we had just got up when we had a knock on the hull. Another near neighbour (Barry) was offering us assistance and also the use of his car to drive to the marina office as well as to town to draw some Canadian dollars as well as some bread and milk. As it was already nearly lunchtime we needed to get moving as he was off sailing and needed his car back by the late afternoon. When we reached the parking lot we found we were getting into a Cadillac! We have to say we were simply stunned by the generosity and warmth of our welcome to Canada. That evening we met up with a family who are recent convert from sailboats to trawlers and we spent an evening in both camps learning to view the boating world from a wider perspective.
At 7.00 on Monday morning we set off on the final leg of this year’s voyage on Mous’le. It is nearly 18 months since we rejoined her in Gibraltar and it feels as if we have crossed half a world from then. We have sailed oceans and canals, lakes and rivers, motored and sailed and met a fantastic range of wonderful and warm people from Gibraltar to Gettysburg and Barbados to Buffalo and beyond. All have left their own indelible marks on our memory and we will cherish them in our hearts.
The voyage of 50M to Bayfield began in dismal mists and the gloom of dawn and finished with sparkling sunshine and blazing sunshine as we dropped our sails and motored into our winter berth in Harbourlights Marina in Bayfield, Ontario. In keeping with the welcoming spirit of the US and Canada we were still tying up when the first welcoming comments were already in the air. Within an hour we were drinking beer on the dockside with a group of local boaters, ordinary sailing folk in like company exchanging yarns and experiences as if we had been here forever. It felt like we had come home.
This will be our last Mous’le post on our Blog until early May 2011. Mous’le is due to be lifted on Friday for her winter lay-up while her crew are heading for Vancouver and The Admiral’s brother and sister in law for3 weeks motor cruising on a Grand Banks 46’ trawler in British Columbia. Along the way we will spend a week with the Admiral’s other brother and sister in law in Sudbury, Northern Ontario. After a week exploring the Rockies, we finally fly home to the UK, arriving on the 23rd of October.
We hope you have enjoyed this installment of Mous’le’s Voyages and we would like once again to thank everyone we have met along the way. The hospitality and friendship offered to us has exceeded our wildest dreams and turned a sailing trip into an amazing voyage of discovery.
We will rejoin Mous’le at the end of April, 2011 and we hope you will rejoin us in our travels around the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, another visit to Cuba and a cruise around the Bahamas.
Keep alert for further reports from Canada’s exciting western provinces!
In the beginning….
7th September
Sudbury, Ont
We left Grand Bend in south west Ontario and our hosts, Brian and Irene, having settled Mous’le into the yard at Bayfield for the winter. It felt odd to be leaving our home of the past 18 months although the next few weeks were to bring a new flurry of excitements and challenges. The journey to Sudbury was timed to coincide with transportation provided by Brian who was attending a conference south of Sudbury and it had been arranged that the Admiral’s brother and his wife would collect us from a roadside café to take us the last remaining miles to their home in Sudbury. All went smoothly and soon we caught our first glimpse of their new (to us) lakeside home.
We were to spend a week with them, catching up and exploring the local sights.
We visited Ramsay Lake for a walk around its western end boardwalk and also the town of Killarney on the shores of Georgian Bay. On a brilliant sunny day the town provided an outdoors lunch of freshly caught fish and chip and the forest park outside provided a walk with Este, Sally’s new dog, involving scrambling over rock slabs and marshy valleys and regular spectacular views across Georgian Bay to Manatoulin Island. Killarney is one of the ports on our itinerary when cruising Lake Huron next year.
15th September
Vancouver, BC
We caught the early morning shuttle bus to Toronto to catch our flight to Vancouver where we were due to join the Admiral’s other brother Kevin and his wife Jan, on a boating trip around the Straits of Georgia, Desolation Sound. the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands in Morveren, a chartered, US based, Grand Banks 47' trawler.
Unfortunately, hearing of our arrival, they had decided to visit Toronto, so we arrived to an empty house and had a day on our own to visit Downtown to replenish our wardrobes and prepare for winter.
We spent the next day visiting downtown and the Apple Store to replace the Admiral’s hearing aids (well really her earphones!) and the walk over Burrard Bridge gave us sparkling views across the inlet to the mountains of North and West Vancouver without the snow caps that they had had throughout our last stay.
In the evening we went to ‘Shakespeare on the Beach’ in a tent theatre especially constructed on Kitsilano Beach. It was a production of Falstaff and proved to be exceedingly entertaining.
The next morning we left early for the trip down to Bellingham with Kevin and Jan who were to leave us and return to Vancouver. We were to collect Morveren, our chartered Grand Banks 47 Trawler and take it up to Vancouver and collect them as soon as the weather was settled enough.
17th September
Bellingham, WA
Morveren was berthed in Squalicum Harbour and as charterers we had to pass an assessment of our abilities to drive a vessel which was about as different from Mous’le as it could be! With 47’ overall, 1000HP provided by twin Cummings diesels, 2 en suite Staterooms and two steering positions, one on the fly bridge (in the cold and wet!) and one inside in the warm with triple wipers on the front windshield. a fridge, a freezer, an ice maker, an electric hob and a microwave combination oven made life in the galley straightforward. Air conditioning and ducted air central heating completed the comfort inventory. A concealed TV/DVD player and stereo system supplied the entertainment when the conversation lapsed, which wasn’t often.
19th September
Vancouver, BC
After a couple of days the swell and wind dropped so we arranged to leave after breakfast and 0900 found us clearing the harbour mole and making course for Lummi Island and the Hale Passage
Crossing the US / Canadian border at 49N, close inshore we followed the 5m contour across Boundary bay and avoiding the shipping lanes and the myriad of fishing buoys we cleared Point Grey and headed east into Burrard Inlet. After a quick dash into Kitsilano Beach to allow Jan to walk the 200m from her house to see her boat at sea, we motored under Lions Gate Bridge and round to the Canadian Customs dock in Coal Harbour. Clearance was completed in little over an hour and soon we were tucked up in Coal Harbour Marina. It was a novel experience manoeuvring a 47’ boat into its berth as the access channel was barely 60’ wide and the berth allowed only a foot on each side.
Coal Harbour is close to some of the older parts of Vancouver such as Gas Town and China Town and we took a stroll through downtown to visit them before being collected by Kev and Jan at the new spectacular City Library. After collecting stores etc we all returned to Morveren to make ready for departure the next day.
We motored out of Burrard inlet under a grey and inhospitable sky and Kev took us on a detour around the islands at the entrance to Howe sound and then past Gibson’s Landing and the Sunshine Coast. We continued up the Straits of Georgia and the Welcome Passage to Pender Harbour where we moored up at the Garden Bay Marina for dinner and a night alongside.
21st September
Pender Harbour, BC
The next morning we left in a patchy mist to head up the Malaspina Strait towards The North. As we cleared Grief Point the wind perked up and we also decided that a fuel top up was needed and we pulled into West View Harbour. The swell was also increasing and we decided to stay put for the night. Unfortunately the marina had no space so we had to retrace our steps to a marina at Grief Point a few miles to the south. With the increase in the wind and waves and now heading into the weather we had an exciting run into Beach Garden Marina and mooring up in a full gale proved an interesting experience and congratulations are due to Kapitan Kevin for his boat handling. Thanks to the yacht crew who took lines on the jetty and helped secure us safely alongside.
23rd September
Grief Point, BC
We ended up being storm bound for the next 36 hours and enjoyed meeting the Saskatchewan crew from the yacht.
The wind died overnight and we left Beach Garden Marina, cleared Grief Point and headed north towards Desolation Sound. The mist lay about 50’ above the surface of the sea but under it the visibility was aver 5 miles and we had a clear view of Powell River as we passed by. Gradually the mist lifted and all of a sudden we spotted a pod of Orcas (killer whales) which live in these waters all year round. We spent over half an hour watching them, apparently playing, as they passed within 100m of Morveren.
Continuing northwards we reached Desolation Sound and after a short shoreside stop in a small isolated village, we continued through Waddington Sound to Toba Inlet and Toba Wildernest where there was a small dock for overnight stays. There are few anchorages in this area as the the 50m contour is often within metres of the beach.
24th September
Toba Inlet, BC
Toba Wildernest proved one of the most interesting stops of our trip. The small resort has a few cabins for letting and a couple with a young daughter live there year round. They have no road access and their daughter is taught at home until she eventually goes to High School in Campbell River, about 30M away by boat. They have a logging camp as a neighbour and we were to be entertained by a helicopter collecting boxes of young tree plantings to replenish the tree stocks in the areas of felling. We had to moor at the far end of the jetty from the boxes because the chopper flew over with a net swinging beneath it and this had to be detached and filled while the prepared net was attached to the hook and flown to where it was needed.
A large tree trunk had floated into the bay as a result of the bad weather of the previous few days and it kept swinging round close to Morveren. We had several attempts at keeping it clear until we eventually managed to tie it off clear of our hull.
The next morning the sun came out for the first time and in a calm sea we motored off through the Pryce Channel, Deer Passage and Calm Channel to the Yaculta Rapids which we reached at slack water allowing an easy passage through to Big Bay where we found that we had missed the shop opening hours - 1000—1400, 2 days a week!
25th September
Big Bay, BC
The next morning the sun was rising in a clear sky, burning the last traces of dawn mist from the hills and mountains as we retraced our steps through the Yaculta Narrows to gain experience of traversing this stretch of fast flowing turbulent water in more threatening mood but although the current was in excess of 5kn, Morveren had no trouble passing through in both directions at a steady 10kn. Our next stop was at Dent Lodge, only 3M from Big Bay via the Gillard Rapids
so we arrived at lunchtime and in the bright windless sunlight, the reflections of tree, cliff and sky in the mirror flat water showed why this area of Canada has such a reputation for scenery of stunning beauty that it shouts ’National Geographic’ Magazine at every corner. Dent Lodge is a quality fishing lodge with a reputation for excellent cooking and we had called in expressly to dine out in their restaurant. After the formalities were completed, including the opening of the resort gift shop, we split up to spend the afternoon enjoying the surroundings. Dinner lived up to its billing and it was a very satisfied crew who meandered home later that evening.
26th September
Dent Lodge, BC
Once again we awoke to a another fine sunny day with little of no wind. There was no mist and we left the Lodge marina after breakfast to traverse Dent Narrows. The current can run at over 11kn here and prudence dictated that we pass through near slack water. This we managed to do without trouble and we were soon heading north and west through Phillips Arm and Mayne Passage to Blind Passage Resort. Here we were in time to catch the store while it was open and the opportunity was made to stock up on food and wine. Once again the weather was holding and the wonderful thing about late season cruising is the lack of insects, especially biting ones.
27th September
Blind Channel Resort, BC
Dawn brought us the sun, although we could see a sea fog rolling down Johnson Strait to the west of us. We therefore took the passage to the east of East Thurlow Island to Mayne Passage and in very atmospheric misty conditions we cruised down Johnson Strait to the Okisollo Channel.
Owen Bay is opposite the eastern end of the Ossikollo Channel and in the calm sunny conditions of the afternoon was worth exploring before we crossed back to the Octopus Sound anchorage for the night. After selecting a suitable anchorage (we were the only boat in the inlet) we launched the tender for a trip around this delightful inlet. The water was once again mirror flat and photo opportunities were many and varied.
Waiatt Bay, as the anchorage is more properly known, was so appealing that we stayed another day and were joined by another two boats who were able to anchor far enough away as to not disturb the sense of solitude and peace that we had found here. The weather continued clear and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky.
28th September
Octopus Island, BC
All too soon it was time to leave the solitude behind and head back to civilisation. As there was another bank of mist to the southeast of Quadra Island we retraced our steps through Osikollo Sound and down the Johnson Strait to the Seymour Narrows. These are another rip current area best taken at slack water and our timing was so good that we might as well have been on a canal. After leaving Seymour Narrows astern we cruised south to explore Gowlland Harbour and Quathiaski Cove on the west coast of Quadra Island before entering the harbour at Campbell River.
1st October
Campbell River, BC
This in the commercial hub of the area with a large fishing fleet and support services for both the fishing and logging communities. We visited a shopping mall built on a First Nation Reserve which gives tax breaks to First Nation Family that own the land. This in turns allows the companies that open there lower rentals than they would pay on normal commercial land.
As this was Kev’s last day before flying back to Vancouver by seaplane, we all repaired to a local steakhouse for a final meal together.
The next day, after Kev’s departure a shopping expedition was organised to restock the cupboards etc before our departure for points south the following morning.
Our destination for the next day was a cruise down Discovery Passage to Comox, another fishing town which has benefited from a property boom that has accompanied the development of the oil reserves in Northern Alberta. It is only an hour or so’s flight to Comox and many people have decided to invest in a second home in the district. The town is very pleasant to walk through and has some very interesting buildings including one that has a boat sticking out of one wall and another that forms an extension giving both an extra room with its interior and a balcony formed by its deck!
3rd October
Comox, BC
Leaving Comox we headed south through Baynes Sound, catching a glimpse of the Comox Glacier up in the mountaintops to the west. Baynes Sound narrows to only a few hundred metres at its southern end, but the channel is clearly marked and soon we were out in the Straits of Georgia with 30M of relatively open sea between us and Nanaimo, our next port of call. Fortunately the weather gods were at lunch and we had a delightful trip with good visibility and near flat seas.
We almost missed the turn into the northern entrance to Nanaimo Harbour but spotted a yacht loitering outside the passage and looking like he was about to be run down by a tug and tow who were leaving port. A few toots of the horn soon had the yacht scurrying out of the channel and we followed him inside. We tied up in the town marina which is quite new and very splendid. At the end of our jetty we found a breakfast bar called Penny’s Place, but it had just closed for the winter so our waist lines lived to expand another day.
A stroll around town revealed a rather less attractive town than Comox but welcoming none the less and easily reached from the marina.
4th October
Nanaimo, BC
We moved on the next morning and headed for the Dodd Narrows and the Stuart Channel south to our next port of call, the town of Ladysmith. This is a logging town with a large timber yard and a large natural harbour to the west of which the town grew up. It proved a bit of a hike from our marina, a problem overcome by one of our ladies, who managed to blag a lift into town and caught the free bus back. We hardy crew walked it both ways and spent the rest of the day feeling very virtuous.
5th October
Ladysmith, BC
As we left Ladysmith, we re-entered the Stuart Channel and in deteriorating visibility cruised south into Maple Bay and the Sansum Narrows, then following the Satellite Channel south to explore Saanich Inlet. We followed it as far south as we could and then retraced our steps northwards to explore Brentwood Bay and Tod Inlet before tying up at Brentwood Lodge Marina for the weekend.
6th October
Brentwood Bay, BC
Kev was due to fly back into Victoria Seaplane terminal and join us for the weekend by hire car and a deputation bussed into Victoria to meet him (a great excuse for a shopping spree) and they all returned by car. The next day was spent in pouring rain, touring Victoria County and visiting both Sooke on the Juan de Fuca Strait and Sidney, on the northeast side of the Saanich Peninsula.
The next day we had a sunny interval and we visited the Butchart Gardens just across the bay and we were very impressed by the quality of both the design and execution of the garden design and maintenance. As Kev was leaving to fly out to Africa on business he and Jan spent the rest of the afternoon together before she caught a bus back to Morveren and her loyal crew mates.
11th October
Brentwood Lodge Marina
We set off up the Saanich Inlet to join the Satellite Channel for the trip through the Shute Passage, the Spieden Channel and the San Juan Channel to Friday Harbour in Washington State, USA. We were leaving Canada and returning to the USA with all the formalities that that entails. Unfortunately there were some ‘irregularities’ and it was only the timely intervention of tears from one of the lady crew members that won the heart of the Border Control Agent and he agreed we weren’t really that bad after all and let us in!
Friday Harbour is a nice friendly little town with some great stores and we enjoyed wandering around.
12th October
Friday Harbour, WA
Leaving our port of entry to the US astern, we cruised through the Upright Channel, the Lopez Channel and then via Thatcher Passage and Guemes Passage to Anacortes. This proved to be another magnetic place that encouraged us to spend two nights there. Things started before we had tied up when we saw a seal basking lazily in the sun on the end of a jetty. He simply rolled half onto his back and followed our progress apparently with one open eye to make sure we meant him no harm.
A late afternoon stroll through town for a cup of coffee confirmed that we should spend the following day exploring further and returning to Morveren we found that the sunset was casting magnificent reflections in the water of the harbour. The trash bins around the marina are works of art being disguised as cans of tinned fish, although standing a metre high!.
Visiting town the next day we began to appreciate the efforts made to make the town presentable with murals on walls all over town and large sculptures scattered about. There are many craft shops and a large marine store with an amazing mix of old and new goods for sale, all of a marine nature.
14th October
Anacortes, WA
Leaving Anacortes, we had decided to tale the long way round and hence we returned to Guemes Passage turning south past Burrows Bay and through Deception Pass, Skagit Bay and the Swinomish Channel to La Connor, a fishing village that would be our last stop before returning to Bellingham
Another fishing town on a long narrow tidal channel. La Connor also has a charming centre with many great shopping opportunities such as a hand carved wood outlet store and a wine shop and delicatessen that has a great wine bar as well. It was good enough to cause the crew of the good ship Morveren to delay their return aboard to sample a glass of wine and a ‘plat de deli’!
15th October
La Connor, WA
Next morning we said goodbye to our neighbourly heron and continued north up the Swinomish Channel and out into Samish Bay and then Bellingham Bay. All too soon we were entering Squalicum Marina and the end of our boating adventure.
17th October
Bellingham, WA
We decided to hire a car for a couple of days to visit Mount Baker and Seattle.
Jan accompanied us on the trip to Mount Baker and we set off in high spirits with a glorious sunny sky above and magnificent conifer forests hanging on the sides of mountains on either side as we drove up this long valley that seemed to bring the trees closer and closer over our heads. At last we began to climb and at last, snow capped peaks came into view. The road divided to form a one way ring around a small mountain lake and the litter of parked cars pointed to the best vantage point to view the peaks. Photographic heaven. Some camera fanatics come back regularly through the year to get the changing seasons as they unfold. For us, as autumn visitors it could not have been more perfect. An experience few places in the word can equal and fewer still can better.
Continuing uphill the top of the ridge reveals Mount Baker in all its grandeur and there are opportunities to walk into some of the corries and escape the tourist throng. In these mountain byways you meet walkers and mountaineers and even keen surfboarders up searching for a glove lost from a chairlift last season!
The next day we drove down to Seattle to visit the birth place of Boeing and Starbucks and the home of Microsoft and the Pike Place Market. We spent an hour or two in down town visiting the Market and the rest of the afternoon in the Boeing Museum of Flight. The trip home was at typical US Interstate Sunday afternoon levels, making it hard work but we were soon back in Bellingham and preparing for our departure the next morning and the end of our Vancouver Vacation
Welcome back to a not so brief update on Mous’le’s merry crew who have been boating once again. In the spirit of ‘if it floats on the water’ it must be worth trying we embarked on a brief visit to friends with a 61’ canal boat. This is wintering in the vicinity of Lichfield northeast of Birmingham (England) and we arrived just as the last of the ice melted after the Christmas freeze. Temperatures had dropped to below -10ºC (14ºF) but were now varying a degree or so above freezing. After a tour of the boat; it measures 61’ x 6’ and has 2 double berths, 1 at the stern with a multi-fuel stove and one amidships aft of the saloon and galley, we sat down to enjoy a glass or two of wine and to catch up with our friends’ news since we had last seen them in a wet and windy Falmouth where they were living on a yacht. They had decided that the rigours of ocean navigation were not for them and had sold up the previous spring to make the move onto the canals of Britain. They had also acquired a puppy, now 16 weeks old, who tried very hard to behave but was still too full of youthful exuberance. Named Fradley after the village where he was born, we all ended up thoroughly “Fraddled” at the end of each day!
The next day dawned cold but with clear skies and we were to head out into the local canal system to negotiate about 10 or so locks before tying up for the night. It is quite impressing watching these vessels passing through bridges with sometimes less than 3” clearance on each side and less still overhead. It was to be during Mous’le’s Skipper’s watch that the aft chimney would collide with a bridge and dive to the bottom of the canal to join all the other detritus in Davy Jone’s Land Locker!
After crossing the River Trent it was only a couple of miles to the turning or winding point (as in ‘the wind’), where it was possible to turn a 61’ boat in a 30’ wide canal before returning the 3 miles to Alrewas, our destination for the evening. As it was almost dark when we tied up, we left exploring the village till morning and instead Retired again to the warmth of the cosy saloon and a great evening’s chat over wine and dinner.
A quick stroll round the village the next morning showed all the beauty of the canals in winter with the winter sun already casting its spell on the trees overhanging the water and turning the whitewashed cottages a pale pastel pink as it rose higher above the horizon.
We were heading for ‘The Swan’ at Fradley Junction for the night as they hosted an open folk evening on a Thursday night and after The Admiral took her place at the helm we started through the series of locks leading to the pub. Unlike The Skipper the previous day, she steered us to our destination without drama or fuss! It was early afternoon when we tied up at the quay and a ‘pint’ seemed in order before walking up to watch the recovery of a sunken canal boat about half a mile further on. This had closed the canal for the day, but work had gone quicker than anticipated so the boat had already been lifted and cut in two for easier transport.
We returned to ‘The Swan’ for a delicious dinner before ensconcing ourselves in the window seat - only to find that we were in the middle of’ musicians corner’. This proved an excellent place from which to enjoy the music which ranged from English through Scots & Irish to include some French Cafe Jazz!
Eventually we left the warmth of the pub and braved the sub-zero temperatures to walk back to ‘Albert Edward’ our home for this visit. The canal was already freezing over again and by morning it would be solid enough to allow small birds to slide around on it. This was our final night on board and the end of our ‘boatman’s holiday’ as we were leaving for Glasgow at first light the next morning.
The Mice have landed again! This time we are back in Canada!
Well we actually landed here 6 weeks ago and have been staying in Grand Bend, Sudbury, Toronto and back on board Mous’le in Bayfield.
Since we winged our way eastwards across the mighty Atlantic Ocean last November, we have not simply spent the winter resting in front of a fireplace and exchanging yarns with other old salts over a glass of beer in the pub! We have instead travelled from The South of England to Scotland and then to Cornwall twice in the 6 months we were in the UK, a distance of over 5000 miles and actually spent just over two of our 6 months at home in Cowes! Such is retirement!!!
After a recent trip to Toronto to watch the Admiral’s niece playing tennis in the Ontario Schools Provincial championships we are now launched and living on board.
We had been awaiting the completion of some major work on Mous’le, involving sandblasting all the old paint layers and some of the hull surface of Mous’le’s undersides. This allows accumulated water that has seeped into her hull material to dissipate and she now has a nice smooth bottom with only one layer of antifouling bottom paint. She has also been repainted below decks and boasts a nicely finished saloon table that we carried up to Sudbury and The Admiral repainted during our stay there (using a heated workshop, what luxury!).
Mous’le has wintered in the Harbour Lights Marina, some 20km north of the town we were staying in called Grand Bend. This is a slight misnomer as there is only the slightest wrinkle in both the river and the highway (all the roads hereabouts are very very straight to the eyes of a visiting Brit!). In fact the river used to bend here to run down the coast for about 10km before eventually entering Lake Huron. However over a century ago, while the town was still called ‘Brewster’ the bend was blocked off and a new cut to the lake was dug – a distance of about 500m at most and the river was given a new route to Lake Huron, without a ‘Grand Bend’!
Our plans for the summer are based around us exploring the south and east coasts of Georgian Bay in June and early July before heading off to the Manatoulin Island area to meet up with our friends from Grand Bend for a few days cruising in company.
Currently (mid June) we are still waiting on replacement parts for the furling gear for the jib. As the required part holds the forestay onto the deck it is rather vital and we cannot leave without it. It is travelling snail mail via Fedex land shipment from Vancouver and is not expected here till early next week. This means we have time to consider plans in more detail for the next year or so and are considering the option of wintering again in Bayfield this coming winter before spending next year working our way down the St Lawrence to winter in Halifax before hopefully meeting up with a couple of crew members interested in joining us for our re-crossing of the Atlantic to Ireland in May/June 2013. Anyone wanting to consider the journey, let us know!!!
After a number of delays, we finally got our forestay replaced and the Furlex fixed at the end of last week. Our hosts from Grand Bend arrived on Saturday afternoon and after helping us rig our sails, kidnapped us with the temptation of a BBQ steak and wine evening and a proper bed in a bedroom with a shower – an offer we did not refuse. Refreshed we returned to Mous’le on Sunday but minor maladies put paid to departing on Sunday or Monday. Unfortunately a front is now coming through and bringing with it northerly winds and 2 metre waves. These are short and nasty here on the lakes and are to be taken seriously.
We had a short sail this morning and identified faults with our engine alternator supplied battery charging system, our tachometer and our autopilot. All three were simply not working and we have spent the afternoon putting them right.
Minor rigging problems are also being addressed and our departure date is now Thursday.
Our first port of call will be Kincardine (40M Northwards) followed by Tobermory (another 60M North-westwards) as soon as we can see a weather window.
We left Bayfield this morning with the help of of our trusty Arizonian friends who were on the dockside to help us out and make sure we finally left!
The weather was perfect for motoring but there was no wind for sailing. As we motored out into Lake Huron we were thrilled to be travelling once again and of to find new places and meet new people. The journey was all to soon interrupted by us becoming aware of a rhythmic squeak from the engine. It sounded like a squeaking alternator or water pump belt so we stopped and tightened them both but the squeak, of course, continued. It was not until the skipper, remembering his medical training, and using a screwdriver as a stethoscope, auscultated the engine and identified the source as a loose raw water strainer and sorted it with the same screwdriver in a jiffy.
We continued up the coast past Point Clark slipping through a flat calm sea under a cloudless blue sky until the harbour entrance appeared out of the dark shadow that was all we could see of Bruce County, Ontario.
This is the second time we have visited Kincardine this year, although the first was in March when we crossed the River Forth in Scotland by way of Kincardine, thus achieving the double of a Kincardine in two continents in little over two months!
The town was sprucing itself up for tomorrow's celebration of Victoria Day which is also known as Canada Day. All the gardens have been smartened up and the town hosts a parade with Scottish Pipe Bands etc and ending with a firework display.
Regrettably we have to be off early tomorrow as we have a narrow weather window to reach our next destination, Tobermory, before sundown.
Our departure from Kincardine was aided by the rising sun illuminating the channel from astern and we had the sails up and drawing within minutes of leaving our berth. Unfortunately the wind was fitful and within 30 minutes the engine was on and we were chugging up the coast. With 60 miles to go we couldn’t hang about. The lake flattened off and set the tone for the rest of the day – hot sun and calm seas. This brought the local insect population out in swarms p 3 different kinds of fly, mosquitos and no-see-ums by the cloud. They made the cockpit a no-go area until the wind reappeared as we entered The Hurd Channel approach to Tobermory.
This is the diving capital of Canada, despite the temperature of the water, currently 14 Celsius. It is the clarity of the underwater visibility, the wide range of species of fish and the number of shipwrecks in the vicinity that attract divers by the thousand every year.
The town is a similar size to its Scottish namesake and is also a busy ferry port with the Chi-cheemaun running a 3-4 trips a day to Manatoulin Island, the biggest freshwater island in the world. Chi-cheemaun means ‘the very big canoe’ in Ojibwa (a local First Nation language).
We spent two night here recovering from our two long days and exploring the town.
Friday, the day of our arrival was Canada Day, (also known as Victoria Day) and there was a celebratory firework display from just beside the fuel dock and directly opposite our berth. We had as good a view as we get at home in Cowes Week from our apartment.
Sunday morning had us both up at 7.00am to be at the fuel dock by 0800am. We wanted to spend a bit of time visiting Flowerpot Island on our way to Cabot head.
We cruised by the two amazing rock formations that have given the island its name and they are certainly spectacular. We are not allowed to land on the island (you have to travel with one of the launch companies and pay a landing fee) so we pressed on to Wingfield Basin at Cabot head. This is a circular bay with a very narrow entrance and we decided to go in and anchor for lunch. There were two yachts already there when we arrived and two more arrived as we were leaving.
The afternoon wind piped up enough to allow us to make good time to McGregor Bay where we are spending the night in perfect shelter surrounded by a First Nation reservation.
Tomorrow we are moving on again towards Midland another large town and the last sizeable population centre we will see for some weeks.
We have reached The 30000 Islands!
Well, approximately 30000! I am not sure that any one has counted them all and, in any event, when is a rock a ‘rock’ or an ‘island. Perhaps it would be better if this area was called ‘The 15000 Rocks and 15000 Islands’! This is the area where we have spent the last few days. After a night spent lying at anchor off Beckwith Island, an uninhabited proper island with trees, beaches, rocks and even some foot paths, we spurned the superficial attractions of civilised life and pointed Mous’le towards the fjords and inlets of this, the southeast coast of Georgian Bay.
There seem to be three major population groups here. Cottagers, who own land and cottages often on the waters edge, boaters, who like to anchor close to where cottagers build their cottages and The First Nation Peoples who were here first and have been shuffled off a lot of the best land. This leads to tensions. Boaters may be divided into two types;
a: thoughtful, and
b: thoughtless.
Mostly, sail boaters are in ‘a’ and motor boaters are in ‘b’, but each indeed is a mix.
This leads to other tensions as Group ‘b’ manages to upset all the other groups without appearing to realise it!
The 30000 Islands does live up to its reputation. It reminds us of the skaargard – that area of rocks and islands that guards much of Norway’s southern coast. Especially since so many houses are built on almost bare rocks. The maze of channels leads and blind inlets are not so well charted but share the beauty we found in Norway. However, for better or worse the buildings here are not all red!
We have stayed in some beautiful anchorages and only once have we been approached by cottagers who wanted to point out, very politely, that we were outstaying our welcome.
Tomorrow we will travel the last 5 miles of the channel into Parry Sound, the local metropolis to meet some friends who are spending a few days on Mous’le with us and to replenish our food stores.
Parry Sounds Farewell
We have just watched our friends drive off to rejoin the hustle bustle of real life. We have had 6 wonderful days cruising around Parry Island and exploring quiet anchorages both north and south of the Island. On the north side we spent a night anchored close to Rose Island, and yesterday, as we headed back into the North Channel from our idyllic overnight anchorage, we passed Hugh Island, then shortly thereafter we passed Cameron Island and Maclean Island. The skipper felt duly honoured that Canada has seen fit to name the islands after him in time for his visit.
While we have been exploring this area in some detail we have been absorbing some local customs such as wine drinking and Eucre, a local card game which proved less divisive than the Canasta amongst the crew.
While at anchor south of Parry Island we saw a lynx come down to the water’s edge and watched several loons and a beaver beavering away around his lodge.
We are now off to spend a few days pottering about before we start heading north again towards Tobermory.
Since parting company with our friends, we first tried to return to the anchorage in 5 Mile Inlet where we had seen the lynx, but it was already occupied so we tried the one immediately to the east of it and found it ideal, with good holding and shelter from all but the southwest. There was just enough room to swing a cat, so Mous’le had plenty of room!
We have been having increasing trouble with our charging systems. The main engine had ceased charging and we had an intermittent fault with the generator showing a high exhaust temperature immediately we switched it on. This gave us a work list to keep us occupied and we ended up staying for 3 or 4 days. The engine repair was straightforward enough as it just meant replacing a short piece of wire that had been left loose during the winter work and had got caught up in something and ripped apart. The generator was much more of a problem as the temperature sensor was obviously faulty as the generator would stop after as little as a few seconds, or as long as an hour. A replacement was ordered but the Admiral struggled to remove it: access being the most difficult problem. However she was successful and and as the sensor was somewhat carboned up, we cleaned it up and, after refitting it, it seemed to work so we decided to Pay a short visit to Parry Sound Town to re-provision and then stop off for a night in Sawdust Bay. This is in the north of Parry Sound and should be a good starting off point for the next part of our journey north.
Unfortunately the Skipper awoke with sever back pain the next day and as a result we have spent 5 days at anchor, the Skipper resting and the Admiral getting out her sewing machine and exhausting her list of running repairs to all sorts of fabric items, including putting a new edging tape around our spray hood.
She has also been able to spend time on her drawing and painting lessons.
We are now mobile again and are back in Parry Sound town again prior to starting north tomorrow morning.
We have just arrived in Byng Inlet after two days of travelling. We left Sawdust bay under a cloudy sky and after resetting our autopilot; we followed the local tourist trail and made passage through ‘The Hole in the Wall’ a narrow passage between Wall Island and Huckleberry Island. This was straightforward but fun and set us on course to leave Parry Sound and head north once again. The many anchorages we passed were all full of boats and the summer season is obviously now in full swing.
This part of Ontario, from Midland up to Pointe au Baril Inlet is known as ‘cottage country’ and the ‘Small Craft Route’ that we were following acts as the ‘Cottage Highway’! Leaving Franklin Island astern we continued to follow the Shebeshekong Channel towards Georgian Bay and then turned up into the Shawanaga Channel and towards our anchorage for the evening. The first site was rather exposed to the wind so we carried on north around a headland and ended up 200m from where we would have been but this time in a totally sheltered spot surrounded on 3 sides by sheltering rocks and islets. We had just finished tidying ship when a second yacht appeared, US flagged and obviously miffed that we had got the best spot. He tried to anchor in a little lagoon to the west of us, but soon after stormed out of the anchorage and disappeared, leaving us to enjoy the peace and quiet.
This morning we were off again and the Shawanaga Channel was a very picturesque area and tested the Admiral’s nerve as she picked her way between channel markers only 10m apart!
We passed a monument to Samuel Champlain, the French explorer who was the first European to visit much of this part of Canada by canoe and on foot.
When we reached the mouth of Pointe au Baril Inlet and we were suddenly enveloped in fog that had obviously rolled in off the lake so we sidled into an adjacent inlet and dropped anchor to wait for it to clear, There was no mention of fog on the local weather information so we hoped to be able to move on quite quickly. While she was delving in the anchor chain locker, the Admiral decided it was time to clean it out so she let out all our chain, hosed down the locker, then brought the chain back up again through a jet of water to make sure it was all clean. It hasn’t had a clean like this since we left La Rochelle!
The fog lifted after about an hour so we upped anchor and sailed past The Pointe au Baril Lighthouse before heading out into Georgian Bay for the next leg of our voyage. No sooner were we clear of the coastal rocks when the mist closed right in and we were reduced 50m visibility. We negotiated a crossing motorboat having spotted it on radar and then hoisted our sails and pointed Mous’le towards the outer mark for Byng inlet. During the 15M trip we were beset by fogbanks which on occasion reduced visibility to about 20m and also an increasing wind and sea state. We put in first one reef and then reduced to our third reef as we approached the time to turn shore-wards. The channel is very narrow in places and we did not want to be over canvassed if we got into a tight spot. All went well and it was in bright sunlit weather that we entered Byng Inlet and headed for the town of Britt, about half way up. We are now anchored just above the town and getting ready for the evening.
Britt lies in the picturesque Byng Inlet about a mile up from Georgian Bay. Although not a large town it has a well equipped general store attached to the marina and also 2 hotels with bars and restaurants. We decided to lunch ashore and explore the town so readied our dinghy and set off. The Admiral had noticed that we could get to the main street by going up a pretty little side creek called the ‘Still River’. This lived up to its name with high reeds along the banks on one side and cottage gardens sloping down to the water’s edge on the other. We stopped at a dock provided for the use of patrons of the other supermarket in the town but unfortunately its closing down sale was in full swing and not much stock remained. We did, however, pick up several packs of frozen prawns at 50% off that provided us with several meals over the next few days.
Back in the dinghy, we explored the upper reaches of the Still River until rumbling tums suggested we should head for the marina and our lunch stop. After buying some spare sealing rings we headed for the Britt Inn, a hotel with two restaurants, a posh one with linen table cloths and the cellar bar, which seemed suitable for two scruffy seafaring mice from Mous’le!
On the way we stopped in at a ‘yard sale’ where the admiral, ever true to form, found various items that we ‘needed’ and simply ‘must buy while we see them’! One was a new dinghy pump for our small inflatable and an additional ‘Solar Shower’ a large black plastic bag with showerhead attached that heats itself up in the sun and can be hung in the rigging for a deck shower.
The owner of the Britt Inn is clearly a humourist, to judge from the drinks menu, and the food is good enough to gain mention in travel guides and good food guides. We certainly passed an entertaining and satisfying couple of hours over an excellent lunch of a scallop burger and a scallop salad. Definitely an establishment to recommend.
As the weather forecast was suggesting a bouncy trip we delayed departure for Killarney by a day and instead spent it reading and doing basic chores.
Getting up before 10.00am is not something either of us excel at so we were pleasantly surprised when we found we had weighed anchor and were underway by 0900, our planned departure time. This included having to free our anchor chain from a ‘deadhead’ a saturated sunken log or part of a tree that sits uncharted on the bottom and fouls both anchors and cables.
The route to Killarney, our next harbour was straight across the top of Georgian Bay and about 40M in length. The sea was almost mirror flat as we left the rock strewn coast around the entrance to Byng inlet and we had to motor the entire distance to Killarney. Clouds were spreading in from the west as we motored past Killarney East LH into Killarney Channel. This is the narrow stretch of water that lies between George Island and the Mainland and is the focus of Killarney Town.
It is famous for Herbert’s Fish and Chip Van, a permanent fixture supplied by their wholesale fish business. There are also several marine based businesses and the town is also a floatplane harbour. We made contact with the Admiral’s sister in law and within minutes, it seemed, we were being whisked off to stay for 2 or 3 days with them in Sudbury.
Our stay was most relaxing, with the most arduous tasks being shopping and goin out for a picnic lunch and swim on a friends lake boat – a twin hulled bar and outdoor dining room. All too soon we were back in Killarney having been dropped off at the pier at 0820 in the morning! We do not like to remember what time we had to get up at to be there!
After refuelling and pumping out our holding tank, we left westwards again and motored across to an anchorage about 5 miles across Killarney Bay in Powderhouse Bay. Today we have braved rain and flat seas and are now 20M further on in a bay on the east side of Manitoulin Island while we decide where to go next.
We have spent the last few days sheltering from some strong westerly winds and are still in Manitowaning Bay in the east of Manitoulin Island. This is a pretty little town with a museum and has an old ‘Laker’ passenger boat lying being restored by a group of enthusiasts. There is also a First Nation Theatre and several groups who put on a variety of shows based on a First Nation perspective of Canadian history.
We have been cvery comfortable in our anchorage here but are setting off this morning for Little Current, the largest town on Manitoulin Island so we can meet up with visitors from Sudbury over the weekend.
Just as if to prove that it doesn't just rain in Spain, we have just enjoyed twenty four hours non stop! We have spent the past two days in Little Current; a small town with a big current running through the passage separating it from Goat Island and the mainland of Ontario. We arrived after an excellent sail up from Manitowaning although we had to motor sail at the end in order to make the 1300 hr opening of the swing bridge.
We were soon tied up in the municipal Marina and a very smart and modern operation it is. The whole waterfront has been refurbished over the past few years and it is run very efficiently by pleasant staff who make you feel welcome.
The next day therein started in the early hours and continued unremittingly until near dawn the following day. This did not dampen our spirits as we were welcoming family and friends from Sudbury for lunch. We threw up our cockpit canopy and dried up inside it just in time to welcome our guests aboard. The picnic at anchor became a munch on a mooring but as conversation was the main diet, the venue hardly seemed to matter. The afternoon was rounded of with ice creams from the '3 Cows and a Cone' a famous local ice cream parlour. Even it was still busy despite the weather!
Today (Sunday) has been spent reprovisioning and we are now anchored off the town ready for a foray into the delights of the North Channel and a visit to the rose coloured Benjamin Islands.
As the sun set over the North Channel to the west of us we were treated to a spectacular sunset and almost immediately, a full moon rise! This is what makes cruising what it is since neither were visible from the shores of Manitoulin Island.
While we were mooring up in Little Current, we spied the good ship ‘Sparrow’ whom we had met in Hopewell Bay, Britt and Killarney. An arrangement to meet for drinks on Mous’le that evening was settled quickly and proved so successful that it was late before the Sparrows flew home!
As would be expected, the travellers from Sudbury brought the rain with them! Thoughts of a picnic lunch anchored in the bay had to be put aside and the saloon table was made ready with a feast that took some hours to finish! Of course discourse took up a little bit of the time too and despite the weather, we all had a great time. Little Current is famous for its ice cream parlour, ‘3Cows and a Cone’ so before our guests took their leave for the trip back to Sudbury, we all repaired to their ‘Sitinery’ for a well-earned delight. Then it was time for farewells and we were once again left to our own devices.
The next day was spent in some re-provisioning and then emptying our holding tank and refuelling. We then left the marina and motored across the channel to a bay opposite where we joined a few other yachts at anchor for the night. The sun had come out and as the wind dropped and the water surface settled to a flat calm, the sun settled on the horizon spilling liquid gold in a river flowing straight to Mous’le! These are the riches a cruising life brings – family and friends visiting and fabulous sunsets!
The next day we set off into the North Channel proper to visit Croker Island and the Benjamins, 3 islands in a group, famed for their rose coloured rock and the security of their anchorages. This is wilderness country with virtually no habitation or cell phone signal to spoil the peace and despite the islands’ popularity we had no trouble finding a spot to anchor where we were entirely on our own. A day of rest and exploration followed and then it was time to head for the Whalesback Channel via an extremely narrow passage called Little Detroit. This is so narrow and blind that boats have to radio their intentions before passing through. As we approached there was a ‘Squall Warning’ from the Coast Guard who were warning of an approaching thunderstorm with winds of up to 40knots. This is weather that is best faced in the shelter of a harbour or sheltered anchorage, so we changed our destination for an anchorage behind the Otter Islands on the north side of Aird Island and spent the evening admiring the splendour of the cloud formations of the approaching storm. In the event we were perfectly sheltered and hardly moved at all as the wind howled above us.
The next morning dawned calm and clear and we had been intending to head the 5 – 10 miles to our intended destination of yesterday but a phone call later (yes we had reacquired reception) saw us making good speed through the channel and across the North Channel to Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island where we were to meet another Sudbury contingent for a day of fishing and swimming off Mous’le.
This time the weather smiled upon us and it was well into the evening before our guests disembarked and set off on the 2-hour drive home.
On our way ashore the following morning we once again spied Sparrow gliding into the bay. We intercepted them in our dinghy and found that they are here for a day or two to do some work on Sparrow and with one thing and another we joined forces for a meal in the restaurant overlooking the anchorage and marina before repairing to Sparrow for an evening of games – ‘Quiddler’ (a word making card game) and ‘Farkle’ (a dice game with 6 dice) which entertained us into the early hours.
We are heading west now to enter the USA on Drummond Island before exploring the Michigan peninsula on our way back to Bayfield for the winter.
Having left Gore Bay 3 days ago we have only just this evening arrived in the USA at Drummond Island. With forecasts of 25-knot westerly winds for Wednesday and Thursday we pulled into Vidal Bay on Manitoulin Island’s north-eastern side 25 miles westwards. Despite the strength of the wind we saw little of it and passed a restful 48hrs.
The Admiral went for a walk in the woods and was surprised by a wolf! That is also to say that the wolf was equally surprised by the Admiral and apparently they stood and looked at each other and then they both went off in opposite directions.
The hallmark of this anchorage has been the populations of Loons, a bird that is found throughout the Great Lakes and the $1 CAN coin is known as a Loonie. They are normally found alone or in small family groups on the water but they congregate on a daily basis into quite large social groups of 30 – 40 birds. Their most amazing feature is their unique call that echoed around our bay like a wolf baying across the ice pack in the Arctic.
Today dawned sunny with a mirror flat sea and we were up and off before 0900 am.
After motoring for an hour or so we reached the end of Manitoulin Island and the wind piped up, funnelled by the gap between the islands and we sailed for about half an hour till we were in the lee of Cockburn Island, the last Canadian Island before the US border.
The funnelling of the wind repeated itself as we crossed the False Detour Passage and enabled us to sail past the north of Drummond Island until we could enter the channel down to Drummond Island Yacht Haven and our entry point into the USA.
Docking was straightforward as we were assisted by a man and his dog and they offered to get the Customs and Border Patrol Officer to come down to Mous’le to complete the entry formalities.
After a short hiccough when he said he thought we would need to sail another 50M to Sault St Marie (Michigan) to clear in; the situation being remedied by him phoning the office in Sault, we were granted leave to enter and we are now free to complete our exploration of Lake Huron and northern Lake Michigan.
Shortly after we were back on board Mous’le our friends on Sparrow arrived and have berthed beside us in the Yacht Haven. Plans will be made to do some exploring here before moving on in a day or two.
We spent a day exploring the west side of Drummond Island and its ferry connection to the mainland before joining the Sparrows for lunch. They then headed off on their bicycles and we did some re-provisioning as we were due to leave the next day for the 48M sail to Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island and had decided to spend the night in the anchorage across the bay on Harbor Island.
Wakened by some early morning fishermen, we were able to leave before our planned departure time and get a head start. There was very little wind and we motor-sailed down through the Detour Passage and out into Lake Huron proper for the leg to Mackinac. The wind dropped progressively to flat come before eventually filling in from the west (RONBNA) (see last years diary for explanation!).
We arrived in the marina in the late afternoon and had enough time to go ashore for a prowl round the shops and finish with a beer on a patio overlooking the main street. Our stroll home took us past the Police Station and the Fire Station and the parking lot signage made for interesting reading.
The next day we hired bicycles and set off to circumnavigate the island. With no motorised vehicles of any kind allowed cycling is a pleasant and peaceful experience even with the late season traffic having a last fling before its back to school and work! It took less than an hour to complete the 8 miles and we stopped for lunch before heading into the centre of the island and a climb to Fort Holmes, the highest point on the island at about 325 feet. It is an earth redoubt and is over 200 years old.
Our route back into the town took us past the ‘Grand Hotel’ which lives up to its name in grandeur, and we returned to Mous’le feeling pleased with ourselves and pleasantly tired and ready for dinner in town.
We are moving on today to St Ignace, one of the ferry towns for Mackinac and on Michegan’s Northern Penisula. It is only 5M away and we hope to move again tomorrow, Wednesday, into Lake Michigan and Little Traverse Bay.
The weather is always an engaging subject and we were reflecting the other day about how much sunshine we had had. When rain has fallen it has been usually brief, lasting only a few hours before allowing the sun to reappear. This has, of course resulted in the last 24 hours with weather that has varied from the skies being overcast with hints of sun trying to break through, to long periods of torrential rain.
Yesterday we visited Lake Superior and the Tahquemenon Falls and had just reached the car park when the skies opened. We took a break for lunch in the microbrewery and pub onsite before braving the downpour for the drive across the middle of Michigan’s Northern Peninsula and our return to St Ignace along the North Shore of Lake Michigan. Despite the weather this proved to a very scenic route with forests that varied from areas of open scrub to tall stands of conifer forest and large expanses of deciduous trees just beginning the shift to their fall colours. In 2-3 weeks this road will be spectacular!. Three Great Lakes (Huron, Superior and Michigan) in as many hours is an exciting day out even for us well-travelled Mice.
We returned our rental car well satisfied with our two-day hire.
The previous day we had travelled south over the Mackinac Strait Bridge and stopped off to take in the old Mackinac Point Lighthouse as well as the view of the bridge as it soars over the Straits to the Northern Peninsula. Back in the car, we headed west along the south shore until it was time to angle south and our intended destination, Harbor Springs. The road passed through both forest and farming areas before ascending to Nubs Nob and the Boyne Highlands, two of upper Michigan’s ski and summer resorts. Soon we were heading along the north side of Little Traverse Bay for the township of Harbor Springs. It is sheltered from the west by a long narrow peninsula which runs out south-eastwards into the bay and giving excellent shelter from almost all winds. The town is by way of being an artists haven as well as a boating centre and boasts an incredible number of Galleries! Of course we had to browse and before we knew it we had bought 2 pictures. The artist was due in the Gallery that evening so we had a plate of seafood hors d’oevres in a restaurant outside on the pier overlooking the marina before returning to the Gallery to meet our artist, David Austin and his wife Lesley as well as the Gallery Manager, Kathleen who was organising everything. We had a great time!
All too soon we had to take our leave and followed the main highway out of town. This takes you past a series of lakes that formed away of traversing the northern tip of Michigan and provided a lovely backdrop for our return to the Mackinac Bridge and home.
The Sparrows have turned up with parents in tow having spent 2 very bouncy nights in Mackinac Island and a competitive evening of ‘Farcle’ seems to be in the offing.
Weather permitting we move on to Harbor Springs by boat (9hrs as opposed to 1½ by car!)
We are now in Harbor Springs, at anchor in the very sheltered bay. We arrived in the evening 2 days ago after a 50M motor-sail from St Ignace that took us under the Mackinaw Suspension Bridge and through Gray’s Reef. We spent yesterday in town sorting out the delivery of our painting to the admiral’s sister in Alabama. We will take it home from there when we visit for Christmas. The process entailed over 3 hours of frustration with the courier company website which was only explained when the Admiral spotted one of their trucks outside in the street and rushed out to grab him! He proved extremely pleasant and helpful and within a few minutes our package was on its way!
Taking our leave we felt that we just had to visit the local marine store in the Irish Boatyard as we are looking for a couple of spares for our Yamaha outboard. We have almost given up looking in the Lakes as nowhere has had them. Imagine our amazement when the parts manager produced both from stock for our 6yr old motor!!
Our new friend, the gallery manager, had mentioned the fact that she had never been on a sail boat so we put this to rights by taking her out for an evening sail and then dinner on board while at anchor off the beach. It was a beautiful sail in 10Kn of wind and our return to the bay coincided with a great sunset!
Today, Thursday, we are leaving for Charlevoix with our friend for company and her boss from the Gallery, will pick her up from there for the trip back to Harbor Springs.
From time to time we have to wonder at our good fortune to meet all the amazing people that we do. To us the world seems to be full of them but perhaps they are where we are and we see little of the seamier side of life in the US and Canada. Indeed, in Little Traverse Bay there is not much evidence of poverty in any shape or form. This is ‘America by the Sea’ with the lake the focus for most of the original big houses. Boating and golf were and are the major summer pastimes with winter sports creating another winter season. The number of art galleries in the area is a guide to the type of visitor who frequents Little Traverse Bay.
Our sail across Little Traverse Bay was complicated by the instability of the wind. In the space of about 90 minutes it went round the clock twice and The Admiral and our guest definitely worked their passage as we changed headsails 5 times before ending up completing the journey under engine.
No sooner had we anchored in Round Lake (in the centre of Charlevoix) when an email arrived from the Sparrows. They had just reached Harbor Springs and were intent on playing golf and cycling round to Petoskey before heading over to try and catch us in Charlevoix. Meanwhile we were relaxing ashore with our guest and exploring the town’s culinary delights with plates of oysters and smoked salmon to accompany our chilled white wine! Over the next couple of days we did some work on Mous’le and explored the town. It is small and well equipped and with the Lake shore of Lake Michigan to the west, the 15 mile long Lake Charlevoix to the east and Pine River and Round like sitting in the middle of the town, nowhere is far from a view of the water. Visitors are warmly welcomed, as befits a tourist destination, and we found non of the surliness we have seen in less favoured places.
One morning we were heading ashore in our small dinghy when we espied a familiar masthead coming through the opening bridge. It was our old enemies the ‘Sparrowhawks’ who having pretensions had ‘promoted’ themselves from simple friendly ‘Sparrows’ in our absence. They lured us alongside and then proceeded to capture us and attempted to tow us to their lair! Fortunately Cap’n Greg’s nottical knot came undone and we were able to make our escape!
See http://jgwanderings.blogspot.com/ for their side of the story!
We met again in the evening for a meal and a Final Farkle game in which the Mice failed finally to finish with a flourish at Farkle! Despite trying!
A window in the weather had opened up to allow us to leave and leaving the Sparrows standing in the deck, we set off for Beaver Island in the middle of Lake Michigan’ northern half and after an overnight stay in St James’s Harbor we set sail for The Straits of Mackinac and Mackinaw City. Here we had to pick up some boat parts we had ordered and fit them. There was also a cold change in the weather coming with strong winds and rain, conditions highly unsuitable for tender folks such as us. When we had called ahead to check on space we had been told “Take your pick!” and as we rounded the jetty at the entrance we could see why. There were only 3 other yachts in the Marina and about 60 empty docks. This is a fairly new marina and it is not yet in most of the guides. Our purchases were waiting for us and we carried them back to the boat to begin work. The most irritating problem was our fresh water pump that failed to turn off properly. The Admiral immediately set to work and in short order had the old one out and the new one installed. On turning it on the torrent that gushed from the taps was a shock to us and, as it turned out, to the plumbing! Suddenly water was gushing everywhere and, in short, we had ‘blown’ the system. Worst is our water heater vent that has failed and now leaks into the bilge. It looks as if the maker has been taken over and parts are unlikely to be available in North America. At least we have the cleanest bilges around!
We are now looking forward to getting back to Bayfield as the weather has taken a dive with frost warnings out for Michigan and a succession of low pressure systems swinging through the area.
After a week in Mackinaw City we had an opportunity to make some miles south-eastwards so we took our leave of the very friendly staff and left the Marina to its sole remaining tenant, a sail training schooner, who would be off to their winter berth after the weekend.
The trip to Cheboygan took about 3 hours and there was a chill in the air, even with the sun out. Our destination was the Duncan Bay Boat Club, a marina owned by its members and with superb facilities. We were there as a guest of our friend with the art gallery in Harbor Springs and his berth was available as he had just put his boat away for the winter the previous day!.
The Facilities block was like a high class hotel. There was even soft bathmats and fresh soap provided in the showers. You could swing a dog, never mind a cat in the shower rooms and the Lounge (or Great Room) was a beautifully warm timbered room with high ceiling, a central fireplace - and a real wood fire!
Our space there cost us nothing and the members who were around were extremely interested in hearing about our travels. One took us shopping in Cheboygan, thus saving us a 5M return hike.
The Skipper suffered a bit of an embarrassing disaster while mooring up after our arrival. While bent over a cleat, he saw a slight splash in the water as his iPhone decided to go for a swim! The Admiral dived to the rescue and in two shakes of a mouse’s tail she had recovered the escapee and exited the rather chilly water!
After turning the phone off and then immediately superficially drying and shaking it to remove loose water, we put it in a sealed box of dried rice for 36hrs. We can but hope!
After 4 days of luxury we had to drag ourselves away from the comfort and leave on our next leg down the coast to Presque Isle Harbor, about 50M away. With the weather beginning to close in again by evening we motor-sailed and averaged over 6.5Kn for the trip. As we neared our destination we called ahead on the radio, being somewhat surprised when we got no answer. Rounding the breakwater into the marina we were also somewhat surprised to find it almost empty. Some men working on the fuel dock informed us that they were closed for the winter but we were welcome anyway. It turned out the Washrooms were closed and there was no running water, but the wi-fi and electricity supply were still on. We are waiting here till the weekend, hoping for a chance to make the 130M voyage to Bayfield in a single journey from here.
There is an old lighthouse here, built nearly 200yrs ago and replaced 140yrs ago with the New Lighthouse, which is taller and stands well above the trees allowing it to be seen from all around. Both are open to the public and we took a stroll to the ‘Old’ one last night. It was lovely, lit by the setting sun and dappled by shadows from the surrounding trees. We were too late to visit the interior but were more than happy with the outside and the little park around it. Wandering through the woods back to the Marina stimulated our appetite for dinner in the marina restaurant so it was with anticipation we sat down at our table and placed our orders. Another couple at the next table were a course ahead of us and we were soon getting advice about what was good on the menu and watching each others choices being delivered to our tables. They were up on a break from southern Michigan and were fascinated by the fact that we had sailed form the UK and also that we had raced Mous’le before setting out travelling. He had raced in a former life and tales were told of exploits on the world’s oceans until they took their leave. We then settled down to finish our meal, entertained by a startling thunderstorm visible a few miles to the south. “A ‘Heat Storm’ ” our waitress announced, “all the lightning is horizontal”! Whatever type it was certainly spectacular and while we were watching spellbound, our waitress returned to tell us that our neighbours had settled our bill and we had nothing to pay! We were completely dumbfounded by this amazing generosity and some tears were wiped away at our good fortune!
We have met many Americans during our visits, both last year and now, in the USA and Canada and have been often made to feel welcome and never to feel that we were an imposition. It seems to be typical good manners here and we wonder how much North American visitors feel it is reciprocated when travelling in the UK and Europe.
While we have been waiting in Presque Isle we have been closely watching the various weather forecasts that govern the decision to depart and take on the vagaries of the marine environment. Eventually a suitable forecast appeared promising a backing wind from our starboard beam that would die away as it passed our heading before filling in from our port beam. We would be able to motor through the headwind phase in flat seas and relative comfort. No mention of strong winds, big seas, thunder and lightning or fog!
In good spirits we made a leisurely departure at lunchtime, planning to sail through the night and reach Bayfield in about 24 hours time. Initially all was well other than the expected easterly was, as we should have expected, right on the nose and we motor-sailed into it in seas that were increasing steadily in response to the strengthening wind that by midnight had driven us to take in 2 reefs to keep Mous’le at least reasonably stable. The problem with sailing on the Great Lakes is that the shallow waters cause short sharp wave patterns and changing winds frequently produce cross-seas with some very nasty wave patterns. While the seas we were facing were not in any way dangerous they produced movement in Mous’le that was often sudden and unpredictable. This can make even lying down and resting an active and wearing experience. All good things must eventually come to an end and late morning found us heading inshore towards Bayfield, flattening seas and eventually passing close to a local sailing race out of Bayfield. We motored in at 12.30pm and it was very pleasing to be recognised and hailed by several people who remembered us from the spring. We felt as if we had ‘come home’!
The sun was out and we were fearfully overdressed in our oilskins and thermals! In 27C degree heat we filled our fuel tank, pumped out our holding tank and headed to our dock to tie up and recover. The ‘Docks’ Restaurant beckoned with thoughts of iced beer and a burger for brunch and a chance to unwind and relax before starting to plan for Mous’le’s winter stay in Canada.
We have now been back in Bayfield for a week and it looks as if we would still be in Presque Isle in Michigan if we had not left when we did. Lake Huron has been a wind blown maelstrom since Monday last week with 2-3metre waves, frequent squally showers and rain accompanied by 20-40kn winds. Not a nice place for small boats!
We are extremely sheltered where we are moored and apart from the rain are oblivious to the wind until we climb out of the river valley.
The administrative district we are in is known as Bluewater so we have been keeping company with a lot more blue water sailors than we had realised. Such is life!
Our first trip out was to collect our friends car which they have kindly given us the use of while they are sailing in Europe. Then we had to visit the supermarket and the Mennonite butcher’s shop! The meat is so good that the car just turns into the parking lot almost without being driven!
The town of Goderich, 17M to the north, had been hit by a tornado in August that had caused severe damage in a swathe that passed through the historic town centre.
The buildings around the large central square (actually an octahedron) with the county courthouse and offices in the centre suffered particularly, although the facades are largely intact since they were built of brick rather than timber. Roofs, however, were almost all destroyed or damaged. The county building has moved on its foundations and although it looks undamaged (it is only 20 or 30 yrs old) it may have to be demolished!
The commercial districts around the town were undamaged and are back in full swing, but the centre has only a few businesses currently able to operate from their premises, and much of the central area is fenced off as it is still insecure.
We spent a day in the town and it still seems to be a thriving place to live.
The weather has been very variable but cool with frequent blustery showers have been the most typical. We took a trip down to the Pinery Forest Park to see the first signs of the fall colours and enjoyed a walk through the forest and along the bank of the Old Ausable Channel. This used to be the outlet of the Ausable River until the town of Grand Bend stole it by redirecting through the sand dunes and directly out to the lake. The remaining channel is fed by some smaller streams and is at lake level. It supports a species of local turtle and a wide variety of flora and fauna, as the Pinery Forest and the dune country on the lakeshore protect it from the worst of the weather.
We have been invited to spend the Thanksgiving weekend in Sudbury and are due to haul out on the 17th October so are working down through our list of jobs that need to done before we leave Mous’le for the winter.
Our Blog will return in the spring when we begin our exploration of the St Lawrence River and the Maritime Provinces of Canada.
We arrived back in Bayfield to find Mous'le in excellent condition following an extraordinarily mild winter. Despite this there were no docks in place in the river so that when launching of boats began they were struggling to find places to tie them up. After a brief visit north to Sudbury we commenced work in preparation for launch and 5 days ago Mous'le hit the bottom in the launch basin! The launch crew dredged a hole by the mast stepping crane and we managed to pull Mous'le's keel though the mud to the mast crane. Once the mast was lowered into position Mous,le sank deeper into the mud so that she we left to head for our temporary berth, we had to gun the engine to force a passage trough the mud in reverse. We popped out into the river channel like a cork from a bottle. That evening we were lucky to view a partial eclipse of the sun occurring at sunset, giving some spectacular views.
48 hrs later we war up at dawn for the 90M trip to Detroit. Our permission to remain tax-free in Canada expires on 31st of May so we needed to make it to a US port of entry to clear in. Arriving at Kean's Marina, our berth for the next 10 days, we again had to struggle into a berth through yet more mud. With a lot of help from some friendly local boaters and the security crew we managed to get a cab to US Homeland Security at the Kingston Detroit Tunnel to be formally admitted to the USA. Formalities completed we returned to Mous'le at 2300 with the same friendly Bangladeshi cab driver who had picked us up.
Next morning we had to move Mous'le to her long term berth as we were collecting a rental car in the afternoon to drive down to Alabama for the Admiral's nieces' graduations. A mere 650M!
The first berth allocation was in the next basin but we could only make it about 10m into the basin before we struck dirt and had to heel the boat over to escape. However by lunchtime we were tied up safely and the Admiral had done a quick trip to a marine store for some plumbing materials. Collection of the car went smoothly and after dinner we passed a pleasant hour in the clubhouse with our neighbour and his friends.
The next morning, Saturday, we left Detroit in torrential rain which lasted until we reached Toledo. From there it was sunshine all the way to Huntsville. We travelled through Ohio, Kentucky and Tenessee where we stopped for a coffee break.
We will spend a week here in Huntsville and next weekend are heading home to Mous'le and our eastwood migration.
We spent a long tiring day on Sunday driving back to Detroit, alleviated by a stop to purchase a waterproof, impact-proof iPhone case called ‘Lifeproof’ in view of the Skippers proven propensity for dropping his in the water. This can be used underwater to 2m, so may give some photo opportunities. After provisioning and returning our rental car, we returned to ready Mous’le for departure early on Thursday, the next day with a clear weather window. We decided on Erie, PA as our destination, a port on Lake Erie about 180M distant. This would take us about 30 hours and we timed our departure to allow the overnight section to be in the open lake, clear of the major commercial routes. We passed dozens of lakers, the large bulk carriers used to carry large cargoes to harbours around the lakes and further afield. The weather was atypically calm for Lake Erie with winds of less than 5Kn from astern and the normally choppy surface of the lake was mirror smooth for much of the night. We had been having problems with the chart plotter not seeming to like the Great Lakes Navionics Chart memory card. It seems to have become corrupted. During the first afternoon of our journey it caused the chart plotter at the helm to freeze. Several reboots, some cursing (!) and then a factory reset and reinstallation of the software on both plotters resulted in all seeming to be OK. It only had to work until we made it to Buffalo, so fingers remained crossed and as much as possible, away from fiddling with that chart plotter. The only other problem we had was during the afternoon and evening we had attack of flying insects; a repeat of one we had this time last year in Lake Huron. This time there were several different species, some of which were biting black flies and others that seemed to land just in order to rest. Large areas of the boat were covered with them and the shady side of the white mainsail was turned to a dark grey, they were so numerous. It took much hard work, as we closed on at Presque Isle, the peninsula that encloses Erie town, to clean them off the boat.
The Saturday was spent at anchor near the Erie Yacht Club and during the afternoon we motored in to refuel and to take on some water. Unfortunately, for the first time in months, the Skipper’s credit card failed as it seemed to send their till into a flat spin. As ‘WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH!’ was hung above the till, we could see ourselves doing the club washing up for a day or two. The cashier took down the card details and we await developments. Hopefully they can draw the money manually otherwise I am sure we will hear more.
Sunday was our day of passage to Buffalo, about 90M if you include the additional stretch to Tonawanda, the entrance to the Erie Canal and the venue of our mast unstopping the following day. After another a long day (well, it started at dawn) we transited the Black Rock Canal which bypasses the rocks and rapids at the beginning of the Niagara River. We dropped about 6 feet in the single large lock and were fired out into the Niagara River heading for the Falls. However we were to turn right long before the danger area and were relaxed about the prospect until we heard a Pan-Pan emergency call for a boat drifting, out of fuel or broken down only a mile from the falls. The call was repeated every 10 minute for about 30 minutes and we felt that by this time the boat crew were either white water rafting or rescued!
We tied up opposite Wardell’s crane in Tonawanda where we would take down our mast and settled down for the night. Monday morning was hot and getting hotter by the hour as we worked to prepare the mast for lifting. This means undoing all the electric cables which service the mast, pulling out all the halyards and reefing lines that run aft under the decks, (leaving little mousing lines to pull the ropes back again when we re-erect the mast on the Hudson), taking off the boom and kicker, loosening all the shrouds and stays except for four, building the frame that the mast will sit on during the journey through the canal and preparing the chair to hoist the rigger up the mast to attach the lifting strop. Eventually we were called over to the crane and within 2 hours the mast was lying on its cradle on the deck. The rest of the day was spent tidying up and we are now looking forward to a gentle cruise through the canal for the next three weeks or so!
Tonawanda is apparently the ‘Home of the Wurlitzer Organ’ and its importance is heralded by a sign that dominates the town and canal. The Visitors’ Dock is nicely laid out and we shared the gardens with a family of groundhogs. After a restful day spent recovering, we motored up Tonawanda creek. This is the beginning of the Erie Canal and it meanders gently past villages and houses fronting the canal. We even passed a giraffe! The canal is level right up to the edge of the Niagara Escarpment at a place called Lockport. Here it drops more than seventy five feet in a staircase of two locks onto what is known locally as ‘The Sixty Mile Level’ a long stretch of lock free canal interrupted only by lifting bridges which open on request. Bridge operators typically cover two adjacent bridges and the cruisers has to tread water until the operator can leapfrog the vessel to the next bridge and open it to allow onward passage. However waiting for an opening is rare unless the operator is some distance away.
We have been visiting towns on the canal that we skipped on our way through this part of the canal two years ago and they have proven to be worthy of the effort. ‘Medina’ is a sandstone quarrying town that supplied New York City and Buckingham Palace with sandstone, The trade became possible with the opening of the canal and continues to the present day, although the transport is nowadays by road and rail. The town has a Railway Museum and the largest model railway that your correspondents have ever seen! It is one of the largest in the USA and is fourteen feet wide by more than two hundred feet long!
The towns of ‘Albion’ and ‘Holley’ are at the centre of the New York Strawberry growing industry and travellers on the canal get a clue to this on the towpath in the shape of a twenty foot high strawberry!
Holley is one of the prettier towns on the canal and has canal-side gardens with a fountain, pond and access to the thirty-five foot high Holley Waterfall. The falls, which take wastewater from the canal and the creek into which it flows are attractively landscaped. The town is compact and arranged around a central square with colourful flags and flowers and comes compete with an Italian Gelateria!
Our Journey from Holley to Pittsford, where we have been for two days now, took us across the northern flanks of the City of Rochester. The stretch is known as the ‘Long Cut’ as it was cut out of solid limestone over a distance of some fifteen miles and was the most extensive excavations of the entire canal. This stretch is crisscrossed with bridges, carrying highways, small roads, railroads and pipes and services. Fortunately all are fixed with over fifteen feet headroom and so the boater can pass freely below and look superiorly up at the poor citizens stuck in traffic jams or having to endure the noise of hundred car railroad trains.
Entering one of the next pair of locks east of Rochester the Skipper’s foot slipped and hit the ignition key, loosening it and producing a loss of our rev counter and also the battery charging from the alternator. Afraid that we might have blown its diodes we pulled into Pittsford and spent yesterday morning sorting things out. It transpired that the alternator was fine but the switch required a small operation and this was expertly performed by our resident mechanic!
The Italian influence continues as on our first night here we attended an olive oil, balsamic vinegar and variously flavoured salt tasting session at the local library. So informative was it that the Admiral set off in 33C heat and 80% humidity to walk to the shop to get in some supplies. She made it to the store all right ( about a mile and a half) but was told not to think of walking back as the owner would run her and her 5 bottles of olive oils, 5 bottles of balsamic vinegars and 3 pots of salt back to Mous’le in her air conditioned car!
The next morning dawned hot and sultry once again and the gentle westerly breeze disappeared completely as we headed east at matching speed. It has consistently amazed us, used to travelling European canals, how quiet this canal seems to be. During our transit of the canal to date we have seen less than twenty boats using the canal and other than when we entered, where we shared our lock descent with a canal work barge, we have been on our own in every lock we used as well as not having to wait for a vessel to lock through in either direction ahead of us!
Our plan for the day was to reach the beginning of the Cayuga – Seneca Canal, a branch of the Erie Canal that liked it to two of the famous New York State Finger Lakes. These are long narrow lakes that run in a north south direction and there are half a dozen or so lying side by side and separated by only a few miles of land. Our destination was the town of Seneca Falls, situated at the site of the old rapids and falls, but unable to boast of any rapids nowadays as they were flooded when a dam was built to the east of the town during the construction of the canal. It also houses a power station. The two lock staircase raises vessels the fifty feet needed to access the town waterfront.
It is a pleasant town with a tree lined dock area and several waterfront parks already created as well as one on the opposite bank being built while we were there from a reclaimed industrial site. Also on the opposite bank is the sculpture trail with busts in honour of the women of the town who have played a part in the development of women’s rights in Seneca Falls. It was in this town that the origins of the US Women’s Suffrage movement were founded after a meeting held in the eighteen thirties following some women being prevented from attending a meeting promoting the abolition of slavery.
As this area of New York State is cited as a significant tourist destination, we decided to rent a car from a local garage and for $25 plus ten cents a mile with fifty miles free we set off in our Chevrolet Blazer with one hundred and sixteen thousand miles under its belt on our voyage of discovery. We had (wisely as it turned out) decided not to take Mous’le into Seneca Lake as although it was a lovely hot and largely sunny day, there was a brisk northerly wind blowing down the lake and creating a nasty short chop. Instead we sat in air-conditioned comfort and drove west from Seneca Falls to the town of Geneva at the foot (north end) of Seneca Lake. This is another town that has combined industry and architecture to produce an attractive community. One of its more interesting buildings is the Smith Opera House, named after its founder William Smith who established it for the town in 1894 and it ran as a theatre until it was bought by a cinema owner in the nineteen twenties. He ‘modernised’ it and it ran as a movie theatre until nineteen seventy eight. It was the subject of a remarkable campaign to rescue it from demolition and gradually the money was raised to restore the building to its current splendid mixture of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Baroque and Moorish styles.
Time was marching on and we had only used ten of our free miles in our Blazer so we set off down the lakeside highway and immediately entered ‘Wine Country’. This is New York State’s major wine producing area with a mix of both traditional Germanic wine styles and modern varietal wines. Temptation proved irresistible and we pulled into one, The Lakeview Winery for some tasting and ended up purchasing half a dozen bottles for our ‘cellar’ on Mous’le.
Our next adventure was a visit to Watkins Glen State Park, just outside the village of Watkins Glen which lies at the head of Seneca Lake. After a picnic lunch of home prepared sandwiches we set off on the three mile round trip walk. We were starting from the top end of the walk, which follows the Montalk River through the dramatic gorge that it has cut through the rock on its way to Seneca Lake. In a mile and a half we lost over eight hundred feet in height as we followed the one hundred year old path through the gorge, passing in front of and behind waterfalls, crisscrossing the river on bridges over chasms thirty or forty feet deep yet barely two feet wide at the top in places. Despite the fact that it was a beautiful summer’s day the park was not at all congested and on our return trail following the rim of the gorge, we saw very few people indeed.
For dinner that evening The Admiral had booked us into a Vineyard/Bistro on the east side of Seneca Lake in the village of Hector! Simply Red as the bistro is known is part of The Red Newt Winery and has a state wide reputation for gourmet quality food. They were running a ‘Southern Evening’ with a Cajun influenced menu and a country and western band playing live. The food was excellent and so generous we had another full meal with the take away the following evening. We had a taster wine platter with a ‘White Flight of three whites and a Red Flight of three reds. Not all from Red Newt, they included some other local wines that highlighted specific flavours. It was a very interesting and enjoyable evening. We drove home through a thundershower that fortunately had missed Seneca Falls allowing us to reach the security of Mous’le’s cabin dry but feeling well fed and watered.
Leaving Seneca Falls we dropped down through the two locks that were set into the dam across the Seneca River and began our journey eastwards. Our plan was to take two days in this section of the Erie Canal, following the Seneca River until it joins the Oneida River and becoming the Oswago River heads north to Lake Ontario and eventually to the sea. We spent our first night at the town of Weedsport before continuing on to Three Rivers where the Oswago Canal heads north and we turned east into the Oneida River which drains Oneida Lake, our route to the watershed with the Mohawk River and our access to the Hudson River and the Atlantic. We stopped at the western end of Lake Oneida at a town called Brewerton and spent one night tied to the State Dock situated beneath a railroad bridge. When a train passed over, as they did day and night, the boat actually shook from the force of the noise. We were keen to leave the next morning but suffered instrument failure as we entered the lake and with a strengthening wind beginning to produce a chop on the lake, we returned to town but this time selected the Town Dock as it was somewhat further from the railroad. However we merely swopped the rumbling of rails for the drone of drums as there was a power-boaters’ pontoon party. Like the railroad it stopped at midnight but some young people thought it funny to loose off some blasts on their foghorns at 0230 am. Just like kids at home!
Our problems sorted we took our leave the next morning onto a lake looked as if it had been newly ironed! It didn’t last however and once a few fast powerboats had cut up the surface, it was choppy until we were about five miles out. Oneida Lake is about twenty miles long and takes us about three hours to traverse. Our stopping point for the night was a place called Rome, (not the Italian Capital) but on reaching it we were unable to get along side the wall as it was too shallow for our two metre draft and we were forced to continue on till the next lock where we filled our water tanks and spent a very peaceful night below the lock on the approach wall. This was first of the downhill locks that end up at the city of Albany on the Hudson River.
After a leisurely Sunday morning, we left the lock and began the eighteen mile trip to the town of Herkimer where we hope to be able to do some shopping.
Arriving we tried to get along side a floating dock but were unable to get close because of shallow water so moved to alongside the canal wall in front of a Grill. This proved to have enough depth and we tied up with no further ado. The plan is to head for the shops in the relative cool of tomorrow morning as daytime highs have been in the mid to high thirties Celsius with humidities in the eighty to ninety per cent range since we entered the canal three weeks ago. There have been only a couple of cool days so far to relieve the heat.
Herkimer was another of the many towns on the canal which provide facilities such as water and AC electricity for visiting vessels free of charge and which often have wifi available in addition. It also proved to have an excellent craft and gift shop in its terminal building and it was only with great strength of mind that we managed to resist the temptation and spend lots of money. After buying just a few small gifts, we retired to Mous’le for the night. The next morning was the fourth of July and we took our leave of Herkimer with the aim of reaching the town of Canajoharie which once again provided a dock with electricity and water connections available again free of charge. They even have a ‘Port Captain’ whose job is to welcome visitors and ensure that they can find their way around. The town has a renowned Art Gallery housed within and around its local public library which has been given a stunning extension. The Arkell Gallery is the result of a bequest by Bertram Arkell and family who ran ‘Beechnut Foods Inc.’ based in the town, a successful company that made Beechnut Gum amongst other products. The core collection is of American Impressionists and Water-colourists with current local New York State artists also having space. Space is also given over to allow local artists from Canajoharie to present their art also.
After a morning in the Gallery we took our leave of this pleasant town intending to make Lock 7, the last lock before the descent into Waterford and the end of the canal. This took as through 4 more locks and the area of severe damage from Hurricane Maria in the early fall of 2011. Lock 9 was completely destroyed and the dam at lock 11 suffered severe damage and is still undergoing repair. All the locks have now been made operational and there is only a little cosmetic work at a couple currently outstanding. We continued down the Mohawk as it meanders with ever increasing tortuosity and reached the city of Schenectady which we had to traverse before we were able to tie up on the wall before Lock 7 in the gathering gloom. There we met a delightful two ladies out for an evening stroll hoping to catch the sunset over the Mohawk. They took a photo of Mous’le’s two crew and it is also available below.
We cast off the next morning having been told that there was a ‘Steamboat Rally’ in Waterford over the weekend and there were no berths available so we were heading for the wall above Lock 2 where we would moor up and walk down to the town. There is no lock 1 on the Erie Canal as its role is taken by a Federal Lock at Troy, NY so it would not be far to walk down to the town. However, the skipper of Journey, another yacht that we had locked through with since Lock 7, had spoken to the Terminal Office and we were assured we could moor alongside the wall so we both completed the staircase of locks down to Waterford. The wall is about five feet higher than our deck, but we were able to find a wall ladder to tie alongside of to let us get off Mous’le. For the rest of the day the peace of the river was to be repeatedly broken by the musical sounds of steamboat hooters announcing their arrival in port. There were about twenty all together along with a couple of old tugs who have come along for the ride. The Canal Authority have some lovely tugs still in service including a very tiny one we saw as we came down through the last 3 locks. When they are freshly painted in their blue and yellow livery they look extremely smart. The Rally finishes tonight with a firework display and we leave to travel down the Hudson to our date with a crane and the re-stepping of our mast.
With New York revisited and the crew suitably provisioned, we left Seventy Ninth St to sort out Mous’le’s needs as we needed to refuel her and refill with water as well as emptying out our holding tank. Then we pointed Mous’le towards the East River and acknowledging the wave of farewell from the Statue of Liberty, we moved to tackle the tide race called ‘Hells Gate’ where the tides from the Hudson meet via the Lower East River and Harlem River and clash with the tides from Long Island Sound. It failed to live up to its hype however and we were soon clearing into Western Long Island Sound and heading for Manhasset Inlet where we were to anchor for our first night of our cruise. Competition is already evident on board with our resident Admiral Mouse and our visiting Rear-Admiral Parr competing to outdo each other in culinary creations!
We found a nice spot in front of some large seaside mansions that was well sheltered from the west where any likely breeze would appear. The only rocking came from the wake of passing powerboats heading into Port Washington and its marinas.
Next morning dawned completely calm and after a leisurely morning we motored up the South Shore of Long Island Sound to our next overnight stop in Lloyds Harbour in Huntingdon Inlet. It was a hot and humid day with the cockpit temperature reaching thirty five degrees Celsius. The day became increasingly misty but once securely anchored for the night the sunset and mirror calm waters gave some interest. Once again we moved on in the morning, making progress towards our first sopping point in Gardiner's Bay at the east end of Long Island. This time our departure was accompanied by a good breeze and we sped along the thirty miles to our next stop in Port Jefferson Harbour. We found a good solid anchorage just inside the sandbank that acts as a breakwater for the bay and have now spent two days weather bound as first wind and then wind and rain have checked our progress. The wind has been blowing at twenty to twenty five knots from the east, hence make progress in that direction uncomfortable to say the least. We hope that Saturday will bring a more southerly and favourable wind.
The next morning did indeed bring about a dramatic change in the weather. The sun was out and the wind, although still in the east had moderated to a Force three to four. We set off exactly at our intended time of eight o’clock and motored out of Port Jefferson Harbour into a confused sea, an annoying headwind and a contrary current. Although there was sufficient wind to sail, we were forced to motor-sail in order to make enough headway to reach any possible destination before dark.
As we tacked our way up the Long Island Coast, the sea became less choppy and the wind backed enough to allow long tacks almost parallel to the shore, allowing us to only go about when we had to get into deeper water to avoid shoals and headlands. The coast here is largely sand dunes and there is only one harbour in this thirty plus miles of coast. We continue on our north easterly course and eventually the tide turned to hasten us towards Greenport on the ‘North Fork’
Greenport is on the south side of the north fork of long Island so we had to pass through ‘Plum Gut’, the passage at the end of Long Island to get back into Gardiner’s Bay and Shelter Island Sound, where Greenport is situated. It is a pretty town, with a dock area in front of Front Street, where all the activity takes place – clam shacks, lobster shacks, restaurants, cruises etc, and The antique shops and boutiques of Main Street. There is another harbour, Stirling Basin, where we stayed on a mooring ball which has quite the narrowest entrance at low water of any we have visited on our travels. Although it was deep enough, there was insufficient room for two vessels to sit side by side in the channel and indeed, as we were making our entrance a power vessel tried to exit over the shallower area and promptly hit bottom. A lesson in impatience to be learned by over hasty skippers!
After a couple of nights however, we needed to move on and the twenty five mile trip to Mystic Harbour on Connecticut’s south shore beckoned. One of the joys of cruising in this area of the USA is the number of harbours available with a twenty to thirty mile passage time in a sailing boat making them readily achievable under sail on most days. This was not to be for us however. We hoisted sail immediately and had a super sail, making over seven knots, for about ten minutes before the wind began to drop. We tried our downwind Twistle but to no avail and soon we were motoring once again. Mystic Harbour is a bit like many English river harbours with long winding trains of boats lining a narrow windy buoyed channel. Our marina was right at the head next to the railway bridge and will be our home for the next two nights.
The following morning we set off by dinghy for the one mile trip up the mystic river to Mystic Seaport, a museum of the sea, ships and ship building and restoration. It is a world famous site and a typical early nineteenth century coastal village has been recreated and fully stocked with contemporary artefacts. There are a multitude of sailing vessels on display, some in the water and some in museum sheds. Most are in excellent condition although one, The Australia’ is in a sorry state with missing hull planks and rotten decks. It is hoped she may at some stage be restored but at present is simply being protected from the elements. One can visit a New England fishing schooner and marvel at the skill of the dory men who, two to a sixteen to twenty foot rowing boat were launched at first light over the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to ‘long line’ for cod, halibut and hake. The lines could be fifteen hundred feet long with a hook every six feet or so. This meant that, with the average cod being around fifty pounds in those days and about one hook in five would hold a fish, when pulling the line from the sea bottom three hundred feet below there could easily be two to three hundred pounds of fish on the line. Once the boat was full, this would necessitate lowering the line back to the seabed with a marker buoy attached to where the crew had reached and then rowing up to a mile in heavy seas back to the schooner to transfer the catch. Then rowing back to the buoy to haul the line back up again. They would do this from dawn till dusk in most weather conditions and summer and winter alike! The crews might be away from port for weeks at a time and would only get a few days at home before they would need to be off again. Although paid by the amount of their catch, it was measured by weight but by number so those who caught the best fish would rarely make the most money and there was much ill-feeling.
In the Restoration Yard there was a deep sea whaler in for repair and restoration. Built of wood she was being re-planked with one and a half to two inch thick pine while we watched and once the planks had been secured they were being caulked with tarred wool and a caulking iron hit by a mallet to drive the wool home between the planks. She is due to be re-launched next spring for an appearance at a boat festival in 2013.
The visit took most of the day and after a quick tour round Mystic village we returned to Mous’le to get ready for the trip to Block Island that marks the official end of Long Island Sound and the beginning of the Atlantic.
The trip to Block Island was another motoring exercise and after a few hours we were entering the harbour known as ‘The Great Salt Pond’ These salt ponds were used for salt making in the early days but with the cost of salt falling many have been fully opened to the sea to provide sheltered anchorages for the increasing number of pleasure craft that frequent these waters today. Block Island is a small low island which lives mainly off its day trippers brought by ferry from the New England Coast. We spent just one night there before leaving the next morning for Newport, Rhode Island. This town is the famed centre of US yachting and was home to many America’s Cup races over the century and a half that ‘The Auld Mug’ has been being competed for. After a trip that began under engine but was completed under sail we dropped anchor in Brenton Bay just off the Ida Lewis Yacht Club and a stone’s throw from the New York Yacht Club’s palatial premises in a mansion whose green manicured lawns sweep regally down to the water’s edge. Newport is perhaps the closest thing to an English yachting town in the USA as the marinas and docks have taken over the foreshore and the town is a network of little streets and little buildings that surround Thames Street the narrow thoroughfare that is the main shopping street. We arranged to hire a car for the weekend to allow us to visit Cape Cod and Providence RI with our travelling companion, Richard.
Saturday dawned overcast and we collected the car and set off to drive the one hundred miles or so to Provincetown, on the tip of the northern hook of the cape. All of us had expected a windswept landscape with only coastal grasses and coarse shrubs able to survive the elements. Instead we found that the only part of the cape with these features was a narrow coastal strip with the whole of the rest consisting of leafy woodland, pastures and villages aplenty all decked out with the various types of accessory required for modern beach life on a twenty first century summer’s day. In other words it was a profligate panoply of pumped-up plastic paraphernalia perched on parts of the purveying premises to promote purchase to plenty of passer’s-by!
Passing round the top of the hook we did find a more exposed terrain for the last mile or two before entering Provincetown, claimed to be the first landing point of the Founding Fathers before they moved on to New Plymouth, thirty miles further west. Today it is one of the ‘gay’ capitals of the US as well as being a popular holiday destination. It has quality shops and restaurants and we strolled quickly around the town, buying a few things, before heading for a beachfront seafood restaurant for lunch. After lunch and exploring the pier and some more shops, it was time to head back to Newport. The skies, which had been overcast all day but had not produced any rain so far, had second thoughts and we soon had the wipers going. Despite this, the drive, off the main roads until we reached the Cape Cod Canal bridge, was through pretty, well kept villages reminiscent of the south of England and it was a pleasure to pass through them. From the Canal to Newport it was another story as the skies opened and the road surface would disappear into its bouncing waterfall.
We made it safely home and the rain even relented for the dinghy ride out to Mous’le much to the two members of the crew who had not taken any waterproofs.
On Sunday we went down to Providence, Rhode Island, the state capital, by crossing the two high level bridges onto the Western shore of the Naragansset Bay and then up to the Providence River where the town is located.
Providence boasts more original eighteenth and nineteenth century houses than anywhere else in New England. While this claim cannot be confirmed by our experience, they do have a fascinating old part around Benefit Street in the Art and Design College area. After a sandwich lunch we went off and did some provisioning for the next part of our trip to The Cape Cod Islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket
The weather was improving as we raised our anchor and set off south out of Newport. Sailing past the Newport Mansions on the Rhode Island South shore was impressive indeed and serves as a monument to the town’s heyday as the centre of USA yacht racing throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
We motored the thirty miles or so to Cuttyhunk Harbour, an island at the western end of the Elizabeths, an island chain reaching out westwards from the southwest corner of the Cape Cod peninsula. There is another ‘salt pond’ harbour and we managed to tuck ourselves into a corner in the inner harbour and spent a peaceful night in this little island paradise. It has about three hundred residents and only one village. The following morning we moved on, taking the ‘risky’ shortcut between Cuttyhunk and its eastern neighbour. Going through at slack water there were no dramas and we had cut seven miles off our journey to Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard’. We were able to sail the last half of the trip and against a strong flood tide it took an hour longer than expected. Arriving in Tisbury Harbour at the end of haven we were advise to go through the opening bridge into their lagoon, an area of water five miles long by about a half to a mile wide. Although much of it it shallow, there were plenty of spots where a deep keeled yacht could find an anchoring spot. We spent two nights there and the evening we arrived the Admiral and The Travelling Rigger opted to go ashore with a forecast of torrential rain imminent. This soon arrived and it was two drowned ships rats who returned after wading through the streets, avoiding spouting storm drains and taking refuge eventually in a coffee house when they were unable to find a bar! This part of the island has only just allowed alcohol, but only with food in a restaurant so our wet and weary wanderers had to wend their wake back to Mous’le and a well deserved wine or two!
The next morning was dry sunny and hot and we mustered early to go and explore the island by means of the local bus. $7 dollars for a day pass and $3.5 dollars for both old age pensioners in the party!
We passed through Oak Bluffs but did not get off the bus as it reminded us of cheap and cheerful holiday resorts at home. We did get off at the next town, Edgartown, which sits opposite Chappaquiddick Island and is the wealth centre of the Island. It boasts some beautiful old schooner captains houses and much unchanged architecture from the first half of the nineteenth century. Soon it was lunchtime and we wandered down to seafront clam shack that overlooked Chappaquiddick Island and had an excellent seafood lunch. We visited the local museum before rejoining our bus and continuing our tour of the island’s south. This is the widest part and it took a good hour before we arrived at Gay Head in the community of Aquinah, an American Indian reserve for the Wampumoags, the local tribe that has lived on these islands for over three thousand years. Gay Head boasts a lighthouse and cliffs very reminiscent of the Alum Bay cliffs on the Isle of Wight in England. There was also a tea bar and gift shops to keep us amused till we could catch the next bus back to Vineyard Haven an hour later. We rounded off the day with some provisioning and dinghied back to Mous’le for dinner and bed as the following day we were sailing south east out to Nantucket, the old whaling island thirty miles further east and the last point of land before the great Atlantic Ocean and the end of the continental shelf!
Nantucket is an amazingly busy harbour and the town has much of its old buildings still preserved. This is all the more surprising because the harbourside and adjacent streets were destroyed by fire in the early eighteen forties, and had more or less just been rebuilt when the bottom dropped out of whaling with the discovery of petroleum in Ohio in the late eighteen thirties. The Californian Goldrush of eighteen forty eight helped reduce the population by two thirds by the mid eighteen fifties. Despite these events and the fifty year sleep the island endured it began to recover when it began to attract a colony of artists and writers and with the increased self awareness such communities bring, attention was increasingly directed to saving the heritage of Nantucket and using it to give the island back its future,
The Nantucket Preservation Society dates from about 1904 and has been active ever since in promoting custodianship of the building and artefacts that have made it what it is. They have an amazing museum in downtown which is itself a re-borning of two old buildings to create the present display space. It kept the crew of Mous’le amused and interested for an entire morning and it was nearly two o’clock before we were making our way to a restaurant for lunch.
The end of Richard’s stay with us was fast approaching and with one further destination on his list we had to leave the next day and head for Woods Hole, a town in the gap between the Elizabeths and the mainland where the premier oceanographic research station in the USA is situated. The sail was what is politely known as ‘brisk’ with winds of Force six and seas around a metre. However Mous’le reveled in the conditions, speeding along at speeds of over nine knots with our inflatable tender enjoying a Nantucket Sleigh Ride astern. The original ‘sleigh rides’ could just as well have been ‘slay rides’ as they occurred in the early days of deep sea whaling when the hunt boats successfully harpooned a whale and it took off, towing the whale boat behind it in a crazy ride over the waves that was unequalled before the invention of powerful marine engines for small boats!
We shot into Woods Hole on the tide and picked up a mooring for the night.
For the last week the weather has brought temperatures in the high twenties with humidities in the high nineties and this night brought an abrupt change. The wind dropped, the rain started and my morning clarity had returned, the humidity had dropped by half and the wind had gone round to the west – just the direction we wanted to go. We dropped off the mooring and headed out to complete the traverse of Woods Hole passage. This suddenly began to look in doubt however, as our speed over the ground dropped to 0.2Kn despite a boat speed of 6.5Kn through the water. The tide was coming in! We persevered and once past the bottleneck it was just a question of motoring to New Bedford, the old whaling capital of mainland Massachusetts where we will complete Richards voyage of discovery with a visit to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, said to be one of the best such museums in the world.
This proved to be as interesting as the museum in Nantucket, although the New Bedford display is much bigger. There were several whale skeletons and a full size ships whaleboat as well as a half size model of a whaling schooner, fully rigged, inside the building. Opposite the museum is the Seaman's Bethel or chapel which had a 'Saltbox' or learning room on the ground floor and the Chapel was upstairs. The pulpit now is as described in Herman Melville's book 'Moby Dick' although when he came here it was a very high conventional pulpit where the preacher was at eye level with the people in the Gallery. By virtue of popular demand the pulpit was changed many decades ago to the current boat shaped one.
The harbour is protected from hurricane tidal surges by a huge barrier that can be closed in under ten minutes. It protects America's largest scallop fleet and since they have to first sail one hundred and fifty miles to get to their fishing grounds, they are big enough to take the full force of atlantic weather. Each boat only gets to sea for 40 days a year or so and profits must still be high to support such a large number of boats. Fish is in plentiful supply and the Admiral was rescued while out provisioning. She had gone into the Visitor's centre to ask where she could buy fish and the lady behind the desk first began with directions and then said 'Hold it! I stop work in a few minutes, hang on and I'll take you in my car." So, an hour or so later the Admiral returned with a dock cart full of provisions and news of a guest for Dinner!
A great evening with scallops and yellowtail and glasses of wine rounded off Richards visit and He heads home via New York today.
After an early breakfast we all headed up to the Marina entrance to await the cab that was to take him to the bus station to catch one to New York. The ordered taxi failed to turn up which we attributed to the 20cent tip he had claimed he had given her the previous day! The marina ordered a second but the bridge to New Bedford was closed to vehicles to allow passage of some fishing boats and when his cab eventually left he had four minutes in which to do a twelve minute trip. We suspect he had to settle for the later bus which still got him to New York in time but removed his margin of safety. We returned to Mous’le and after filling up with water we left the alongside berth and went out to a mooring buoy in the river. We were in no hurry to leave New Bedford and with access to public Wi-Fi, we were able to sort out a lot of the details of Mous’le’s shipment. The Harbourmaster turned up later in the day and in conversation over a ‘pump out’ he told us that in a previous life he had been the photographer for the pop band ‘Aerosmith’ and he was still doing occasional work with them.
We were to spend several more days in New Bedford and we also visited Fairhaven, the town on the east bank of the Acushnet River. This is also a charming town though without some of the grandest buildings that are seen in New Bedford. It has a quiet charm of its own, however, and is a pleasant place to stroll around.
By Tuesday it was time to leave and the forecast showed a band of weather travelling east through New England but it looked as if it would miss the coast. We set off out of New Bedford and by the time we were a mile or so south of the hurricane barrier it was clear that some of the weather was coming our way. The rain and lightning began in earnest and we were fortunate that we had upgraded our safety equipment by installing a transmitting Automatic Ship Identification system (AIS for short). All commercial vessels have to carry this and it meant that we were visible to the ferries that ply the entrance channel and coastal waters in this area. We were also able to use our automatic foghorn at the same time. After a while the visibility improved and we could see to the horizon once again. Suddenly the Marine VHF radio erupted with an emergency in Cuttyhunk Harbour. We had stayed in this little harbour a week or two before and followed the drama as it unfolded on the radio. 2 small motorboats had been anchored together on a single anchor (which are all to often inadequate for one boat) and had started to drag across the harbour in the wind. It seemed to take forever for the situation to be resolved and at least one boat was recovered before going aground and nobody was hurt. In our area we had not had any wind at all throughout the thunderstorm but there had clearly been enough in Cuttyhunk! The rest of the trip to Newport went without incident and we pulled into Brenton Bay to anchor for the second time this trip. The forecast was for more wet weather so we tidied up and hunkered down for the night.
Since our arrival we have been busy dealing with the logistics of our journey home as well as commencing customs clearance out of the USA and into the UK for Mous’le. This requires the use of agents at each end and emails have been flying around like snowflakes in a gale since we got here. The weather has been patchy with a couple of wet days as well as some warm ones. Yesterday we were in the middle of a race course for dinghies with a turning mark about 25m off our stern. Impressively, no-one hit us!
The MV Statengracht is due to carry Mous’le and two other vessels from Rhode Island back to Britain with stops en route in Maine and Quebec before finally heading across the Atlantic. She is currently in Jacksonville FL and is due to stop in Wilmington NC before arriving here for the 24th.
We will continue our blog as our journey unfolds and we eventually complete our North Atlantic Circuit.
The morning of the 23rd saw us finishing the necessary preparation for Mous’le’s Cruise to Southampton, when The Admiral suddenly spotted a large orange and white container ship heading up the Eastern Sound past Newport. It was the Statengracht arriving ahead of time and it seemed to us that the prudent thing to do was to present ourselves at the anchorage as soon as possible as the captain seemed to be in somewhat of a hurry. We quickly hauled up our anchor and gave chase. Mous’le seemed eager to join ship and we closed on the Statengracht at nearly 8 knots, an hour ahead of the timetabled beginning of loading. Within fifteen minutes we had been called alongside and the crew were preparing the crane and the slings under our hull in order to hoist Mous’le (and us, as it turned out!) onto the main deck!
The Admiral asked the loadmaster if we had to climb up onto the ship and she was told that it was too late for that, Mous’le was already being plucked out of the water and we were already several metres up the side of the ship!
We simply stepped across onto the main deck and Mous’le was then taken across to her position to join her cradle and be lashed down for her ocean voyage. Her cradle was chained and welded to the deck and she was lashed down with 6 truck strops each side to fittings on the deck. Within an hour we were climbing down the rope ladder into the waiting launch, our luggage was lowered and we were on our way home!
The flight back to the UK was uneventful and almost before we knew it, we were back in southern England and after a couple of days with family, we found ourselves at home awaiting Mous’le’s arrival in Southampton. Mous’le actually revisited Canada, travelling via Portland Maine and a port on the St Lawrence on her way home to the UK. About a day before her arrival in Southampton we received an email asking if we minded if the delivery port was changed to Sheerness! The main attraction of the trip with Sevenstar Shipping was the delivery to the Solent and this alteration was at the very least a significant inconvenience! However it rapidly became clear that there was no alternative and we had to set to in order to organise the reception and transfer of Mous’le back to Cowes, her home port.
The collection passed off without serious incident although we had to drive to Scotland, back to Sheerness, down to Southampton to collect our crew and then back to Sheerness once again. When we offloaded Mous’le from the ship we took her round to the little town of Queenborough on the Swale, the channel that separates Sheerness and the Isle of Sheppey from Kent. The port is managed by a group of volunteer locals who have to make it pay to keep it open. They were extremely helpful and welcoming and along with the pubs and shops of the town, it makes this a cruising stop of considerable charm. Richard and the Skipper left on the tide at 0530 the next morning and despite no wind and thick fog for half the journey, made the 160M trip back to Cowes in 25 hours, a very fast passage.
Mous’le is now clean and smart and ready for sale, and is represented by a local yacht broker who will, we are sure, do her proud.
This is the end of our 7 year adventure, which has seen us cover some 20,000 sea miles, approximately half of it under sail, and we have visited ports from nearly 60 N down to 12 N and from 12 E to 46 W. The high points have undoubtedly been the friends we have made, the people we have met and the welcomes we have received, especially in North America and Scandinavia.
And so we say farewell to all who have followed this blog and thanks to you for your interest. We will be travelling in different boats and vehicles from now on and hope our future lives up to our past.
Good bye to you all