Days Two and Three of Passage to Gibraltar

By 0100 yesterday morning, the wind and seas were steadily picking up and it officially became uncomfortable. The waves are steep and sharp, which is not a pleasant motion to start with, and they are incredibly close together. So, the boat will be riding over three or four waves at a time, making the boat move multiple directions at once. It is constant and not good. On the bright side (literally), the moon is half full and giving off a lot of light, making visibility good.

By 1000, it had gotten a little better, but no much. Winds were down to 7 10 knots real on the nose, but the waves hadn’t calmed down as much as the wind. But that little bit of improvement made it more tolerable to be aboard. It was sunny and bright out.

At 1300, we passed the Prime Meridian. We are now back in the western hemisphere. Another milestone indicating we are getting closer to home.

The wind didn’t change much for the rest of the day. The seas slowly but surely got better all day, and when we say slowly, we mean it. By 1900, the ride was actually pretty good. By midnight it was very smooth. Thank God.

By 0300 this morning, the wind had shifted to our rear and was down to one knot. The ride was fabulous, like floating along on silk. The moon was half full and vibrant, the light brightly reflecting off the smooth water to make visibility excellent. About 0315, the moon set. As it got lower in the sky, it went from white to gold to a yellow orange as it dipped into the water. It was so beautiful. Once the moon was gone, millions of stars lit up in the sky. They reflected on the water, and the bioluminescence was sparkling like diamonds. It was pretty spectacular.

By 1000, the wind had picked up to 3 – 8 knots real and shifted to our starboard beam. Our magical ride was gone, but the waves are small and following, so it is still a good ride.

By 2000, the wind had Continue reading

Chore Day in Mallorca

We awoke to more heavy wind and rain. It was unbearably rocky. If we were in an anchorage, we’d for sure have the paravanes out. Since we didn’t get our chores done on the days the technicians came, we had allotted this morning as a chore day. We were overwhelmingly lethargic from the rocking in the marina, and we knew our standard chores would require considerable more effort today. That made us kind of grouchy. Strike One.

Normally, we don’t send our laundry out to be done. Christi likes to Continue reading

Spanish Pueblo and Castle de Bellver

We have mentioned a few times already that the boat rocks a lot in this marina, so much so that we feel like we are in unpleasant seas. We are constantly crashing into both neighbors. Thank God for fenders, but even with the fenders, it makes an unpleasant crashing sound. The ropes make loud, creaking cries as they strain against the wind. The loud noises wake us up multiple times during the night. Eric gets up a couple times a night to adjust the lines. We aren’t sleeping well, which makes getting up in the morning hard. Also, getting out of bed in the morning when it is cold is terrible. Eric has been running upstairs, turning on the generator and heater, then crawling back into bed until the bitter edge of cold is gone. And finally, the sun doesn’t rise here until almost 0800, which throws our internal clocks off. When we awake at a normal hour, like 0700, we think it is the middle of the night and go back to sleep.

Needless to say, we had a hard time getting up this morning and were off to a late start. We were happy to see that the skies were mostly sunny with scattered clouds, and it was not quite as windy. Most importantly, it was significantly warmer. We still needed long pants and a jacket, but not the heavy sweaters we have been wearing underneath the jacket.

We had an early lunch at the restaurant across the street before catching the red tour bus. We have noticed gazpacho on the menu at most of the restaurants we have been to, it is a traditional Spanish dish. Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup. This restaurant makes it with sparkling water instead of regular water, which Eric absolutely loved. We also ordered the scallops, which in and of themselves weren’t interesting enough to write about. But the way it was served was — on a bed of mashed peas, with a side of a hot salad of grilled vegetables, and some kind of foamy stuff, like the foam from steamed milk, except it wasn’t milk. Maybe steamed butter? Does such a thing exist?

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Fortunately, there is a Continue reading

Chores and Day 1 of Passage to Mallorca, Spain

Yesterday was yet another chore day. Sometimes we feel like the boat chores are cumbersome and we wish we were traveling like a regular tourist, where every day is a sightseeing day and you never have to take time away from sightseeing to clean and do maintenance. But our trip to Paris was a reminder of why we chose to travel by boat. Going to and from Paris we schlepped our bag on several trains, busses and subways, and up and down at least a million stairs. Our bag was small and light, but it was still a hassle, especially on the tightly packed subways. How much of a hassle would it be with the big, heavy bags we would have for long term traveling? And it is so nice to have your own bed and your own bathroom, never having to wonder if your hotel is going to be up to your preferred standards. Another bonus of traveling via private boat is not having to pack up your stuff every time you move on to the next place. And, we have figured out that no matter how you travel, whether plane, train, or boat, traveling for many hours wears you out exactly the same. We prefer the privacy and comfort of our own home as we travel, instead of in an uncomfortable, public medium.

Eric was busy all day. He Continue reading

Arc de Triumph, Angelina’s, and Electricity

We were catching the train back to Toulon in the early afternoon, so we didn’t have much time for sightseeing today. This morning we raced off to the Arc de Triumph, located in the center of the world’s largest traffic circle, Charles de Galle. The Parisians seem to have a weird fetish for putting important monuments in traffic circles. 12 streets radiate out from the Charles de Galle traffic circle, going to all sections of the city. There is an accident every 18 minutes in the circle, so some auto insurance companies have a clause that this circle isn’t covered. The Arc was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his victories, but when he started losing battles, the work stopped. It was eventually finished in 1836.

We got off the subway and went over to the intersection. Yep, it is an arch, much the same as the ones we saw in Rome. And it’s tall.

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We wandered from street to street on the outside of the circle looking for the tunnel that goes under the street into the circle. We eventually found it on Champs-Elysees. Like the other arcs we have seen, it is Continue reading