In exaclty one month we are starting our journey through Peru. I am travelling again with Palmyre, my travel companion from last year when we biked our way through Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangkok. I am really looking forward to this. First there will be a 3 day trip in the Jungle near Puerto Maldonado with a trip on the Madre de Dios river and a walk through the jungle on the first day. Then the next day again on a boat on the Madre de Dios river and the Sandoval Lake where we will be in canos. That will be a great experience.
Still a lot of reading to be done before we start.
We had to wait 8 days before we really got some good winds coming our way (up to 5 bft) ! We had one day that we progressed by 210 Nm and 3 days in a row 190 n miles (Nautical Miles). That was really great. We were like flying ! Although sometimes at night it was litterally rock & roll in bed ......with some bruises the next watch as a result. And it was certainly a bit of a challenge when preparing food !
We had also company of about 20 dolphins who gave us their private show, although it didn't last long enough to take a picture.
The GPS showed a much nicer ETA : around 2nd of January. Given the fact that I had booked a return flight on the 4 of Jan, I was really happy about this. We celebrated St Sylvester's evening with tapas and the last botlle of champaing and emptied the last of any alcoholic beverage on board. We still had water and some Vittel with a raspberry taste for kids (yuk) !
On New Years day, we had the second catch of fish. This time it wasn't a tuna. We don't really know what kind of fish we caught but it had beautiful turquoise colour with yellow polka dots. The meat tasted really nice too. We also got our first bit of rain. It was great. We could take a shower just like that ! My joy didn't lasted long since I had to have a wet bottom.
And then we got nearer to our destiny. On the 2nd of Jan, we could tell that we were getting near Martinique since we got some signal on the cellular phones and the blackberry. And then out of the rain we saw the Isle of Martinique. Then finally we saw the waypoint to which we had been sailing the last 2000 miles and finally we got to Le Marin, a marina about 40 km from Fort de France, the capital. It was nice to get to a port ! But I really had a fit when the harbourmaster told me that the offices were closed and that we would not have access to the showers before the Sunday morning (ggrrrrrrrrr). Tom was kind enough to find a practical solution: we borrowed the hose from a neighbour yacht and had our shower on the pontoon. After that we went for drinks and dinner. Strangely enough no landsickness at all !
Only the day after we got there it dawned that I had done my very first Transatlantic crossing. It was a lifetime experience and I would start antoher one tomorrow. I will never forget the spectacular sunsets, nor the stars and milky way that makes you realize how small we are in this vast universe, nor the mysterious sun rise that occurs ever day again. I was under the spell of the rising moon that was full on the 31st of December and the immense vastness of the ocean with it's marvelous creatures. That is something that we should preserve at all costs for our children and grandchildren and the generations to come!
On Sunday we said goodbye to Betty and Guido who were heading for Club Med to rest a couple of days and travel around. On Monday we rented a car and went to Fort de France before heading for the airport and back to Europe where it was freezing.
I envy Dirk and his son Tom who will continue the oddyssea up to the isles north .... I wish them good winds and nice encounters. My special thanks for Tom, who was such a great company. I wish I was there to celebrate his 30th Birthday later in January but I will have one on his health.
This concludes the report of the transatlantic crossing. I am glad that I will be able to tell this to my little grandson and I hope that he will catch the sailing bug as well.
We started on the 19th of December and sailed from Mindelo, capital of Sao Vicente, one of the islands of Cabe Verde. The wind was favourable and the sailed straight West towards the sunset. There were 5 of us: the skipper Dirk and his son Tom and a dutch lady Betty and her son Guido and myself.
The skipper installed our watch routines and the ladies were going to have the watch from 20hoo to Midnight and then again from 4h00 Am to 8H00 AM. So that was the start of the journey.The first thing that we noticed was the starts and the milky way. I it a really awing spectacle looking at it and to imagine the existence of all these stars and planets. One starts wondering....
Close at the end of our first "dark:" watch (4 to 8 AM) we noticed 2 pilot whales quite near the boat. They only made a quick appearance and didn't stay long with us, but it was really quite exciting to see them. They can be up to 6m and weitht up to 3 ton !
The next days the routine settled in, but we had a bit of a problem: there was very little wind and we even had to start the motor when the progress was at 0.8 knot ! I was starting to get worried when the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) on the GPS showed 6th of the February!
The second appearance of pilot whales (I guess between 5 a 10 of them) was the hightlight of the 3rd day. The showed up around noon in front of the yacht and Tom was able to get a real good picture. Mine are less visible.... but it is really something to see these creatures. They have something mysterious about them.
We wanted to download the gribfiles with the weatherforecast but for some odd reason the Satellite telephone was only working with the voice not for data download. So we contacted via the short range radio some other yachts that we previously met in Mindelo and based on the forecast that we received we went down south to approximately the 13 NB. The weather was quite hot and we caught a tan helming during the midday hours.
Christmas eve was really nice: we had music and tapas that Tom prepared and a couple of bottles of champain. Quite nice under the stars. Christmas morning had it's surprise since suddenly the fishing line was moving. I woke Guido telling him there was a big sushi on the line and he caught a real big fish from the Tune family : a Wahoo. As you will notice on the pics quite a big fish. We ate sushi, grilled tune, stewed tuna and even tinned tune. So now for a while you will understand that I will refrain from having Tuna on the menu !
Another big event was our en counter with a Catamaran in the middle of the ocean. Since our VHF (short range radio) wasn't working at that moment we came quite near and had a chat. They were from Lille (France) quite near Ostend and they were heading toward Guadeloupe. It was quite fun to meet a yacht there.
We´re in Mindelo (Sao Vicente). Doing the last shopping (groceries and fres veggies etc..). It is really very hot 31C but there is some wind. We are leaving for Martinique today (evening) or tomorrow. We will see. I amnot sure that I will be able to update the blog during the crossing. Not sure that the satelitte telephone is working properly, so we will see.
Hopefully I will be able to give an update before X-mas. If not then i am wishing you a peacefull Christmas and a Happy new year
Yesterday I arrived in Boa Vista. Last time I was here there was no touristic infrastructure (1 hotel and pension in Sal Rei, the capital). Now I could see a couple of big hotel complexes already as we touches down. Construction everywhere !!! It makes one think abot the costas in Spain. The sea was beautiful but too rough to swim. The currents were terrible so no risk there and I stayed in the swimming pool. Today I am flying with TACV (loca Cabe Verdian airline) to Sao Vicente but as nothing is simple in Africa I first fly to Sal. I will have some time to browse around there and then in the evening I am flying to Sao Vicente, where I will board the Tomidi in Mindelo's Marina. The idea is to set sail for Martinique tomorrow the 18th of December.
Today is the big day. We're starting the journey. First and early flight to Boa Vista and then tomorrow to Mindelo (Sao Vicente) where I will board the Tomidi. We planning to sail on the 18th December depending on how awake we're feeling. I have not more info on the journey itself at this stage but will keep you posted.
Well the start is coming nearer. The Tomidi is now sailing between Tenerife and the Cape Verde Islands. On Dec 16th I will join then at Boa Vista one of the Isle overthere. We will start our transatlantic journey on the 19th and expect to take 10 to 12 days to get to Martinique. Hopefully we will be there in time to celebrate the New Year.
Today I went to the Cabo Verde embassy here in Brussels. The kindness and courtesy I encountered there were remarquable. I am looking forward to go back to Boa Vista. Last time I was there was at Christmas 1994. I was told to expect lots of changes and development (tourist sector). I remember that Boa Vista is a paradise for Surfers, Kiters and sailors. So Sal Rei here I come....
Some updates. They are sailing between Lisboa and Tenerife. Their start was delayed with a couple of hours due to a case of cocktail flu after the big goodbye party of the day before.
They had their share of problems: the motor refused to work due to fuel contamination and the autopilot had to be fixed and trimmed as well. But all is now working properly. Hopefully we will not have to fix anything similar during the crossing to Martinique in December.
Ze zijn vertrokken op Zaterdag 10 October :1000 ZM (16
dagen).
Op naar Lissabon met vermoedelijk een paar tussenstops:
vermoedelijk Guernsey en Brest. 1 stop in Galicia (La Coruna?) and dan nog 1
tussenstop in het Noorden van Portugal. Dat zal waarschijnlijk Porto worden.
Nog geen verdere info
In exaclty one month we are starting our journey through Peru. I am travelling again with Palmyre, my travel companion from last year when we biked our way through Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangkok. I am really looking forward to this.
