JULY 9TH - WE HAVE ARRIVED!! 39 DAYS, 3400 MILES, ONE STORM, ONE MINOR WEATHER DISTURBANCE, 4 CAUGHT FISH, 1 CAUGHT
AND RELEASED SEAGULL . ARRIVED SAFE AND SOUND 4 PEOPLE AND 2 DOGS. A VERY PLEASANT TRIP OVERALL.
We left the Azores on June 30th and immediately had bad weather to the north so we sailed east with a slight angle
to the south. On the 3rd we were below the major storm that was north of us and we had 27 KTS of wind with 12 ft
waves. At this point we thought - 6 days nice sailing straight east or try to go north into slightly rough weather with
at least 12 more days to go. Daah, let's think about that one. Portugal here we come. We all felt the
same, that we had enough ocean passage under our belt for this year. So we headed due east for a wonderful trip.
On July 4th we celebrated with hot dogs and baked beans for lunch and hamburgers, corn and brownies for dinner. We were
really happy that day. Good food and the end in sight. The next day we saw several pilot whales with a large pod
of porpoise. The whales even jumped. What a spectacular sight.
The night before we arrived in
Portugal we had to go through the shipping lanes. At one time we had 14 ships on our radar at one time. I didn't
do any reading on my watch THAT night. Then, 8:45 a.m. we tied up to the customs dock in Cascais, Portugal. We
did it. Customs opened at 9:00, not bad timing after 3400 miles.
We tied the boat up in the marina
and went exploring. We took a train to Lisbon to explore for a little while. Jade asked this nice looking man
in a marine store (where else would we be), if she could use his bathroom. He said, "Oh yes, my bedroom is right
upstairs. Let me show you." We all had a good laugh and he apologized for his poor English. This type
of thing seems to happen a lot with Jade. She is fun to travel with. We spent a little while in Lisbon than took
the train back and walked down this beautiful street with lots of little shops and restaurants. The street was paved
with small colored stones laid in a pattern. It was a bit steep and no cars are allowed. We had a celebratory
dinner.
I found out why the language doesn't sound anything like Spanish. The town of Cacais is pronounced
"kishkash". The area of Portugal was invaded by the Moors and the south Germans and imported African
slaves. That explains the language and the eye and hair coloring. The predominate is black hair, tan skin and
striking black eyes. But there are also quite a few people with blue eyes and black hair, the occasional blue eyed
blonde and the African blacks. So, there is no typical looking Portuguese. I had always thought that America was
the melting pot but it seems to be the world over.
The next day the four of us decided to go sightseeing.
Guess where we decided to go?? The aquarium. Just love those fish. It is the largest Oceanarium in Europe.
We met a young girl on the bus who easily figured out that we were lost. She told us where to get off for the aquarium
and suggested that we get off at the mall for lunch first. Nate swears female conspiracy - all want to go to the mall.
It was gigantic - 3 stories. Glenn bought a Portuguese phone. (More about that later)
We walked to the water
and then along it to get to the Aquarium. We kept walking and asked several people for directions. Then we walked
back out to the street to see if we could find a sign. Headed back the way we came and there, almost where we started,
about an hour after we left, was the aquarium. My favorite is the sea dragons. They also had a mola mola, sunfish.
It is so weird looking. It looks like it is decomposing and bit off at the back. We took the bus then train back
to the marina and had, would you believe, hamburgers for dinner.
7/11 The crew left today. We certainly
will miss them. They were so wonderful and helped us to make our dream come true. We truly appreciate them.
NATE
AZORES
TO ENGLAND?
It was hard to leave Horta but the final leg had to be done. Once again the weather information
proved its worth. Gale after gale flew north of us, and as we continued east, Portugal gained our attention. When it
became apparent that the gales would continue, and they were all in our path to England, Glenn made the decision to sail to
Lisbon, Portugal. Now, less that 60 miles to Cacais and its marina just to the east of Lisbon, my thoughts are on how
best to get home. (Janice`s note: he really missed Linda).
All in all, a delightful passage of 3400 miles on a very
sound boat with very nice people. Thank you Glenn, Janice and Jade.
(Janice`s note again: you can pay me for
the Linda points later, Nate.)
JADE
Gosh, let`s see, there are lots of things I have learned and developed
over what feels to me like, oh, I don`t know, 5 months, but yet it went by so fast. It`s funny how life does that, feels
like it takes forever yet went by so fast, weird. Anywho I`ve developed another quarter inch on each love handle (thanks
to Janice`s wonderful diet of all the food groups) and possibly ADD. I`ve learned how to carry on and and answer
a full conversation with myself. I know way more about sailing then I probably ever thought I would thanks to everyone`s
abundant knowledge of the ships, sea and the clouds. I also learned how Johhny Depp rehearsed for his movies in Pirates
of the Carribean. All he had to do was stay on a boat for a long period of time & poof you got yourself one stumbling
drunk, no alcohol involved. It saves money too. I learned that going airbourne in yur sleep is fun. It gives
a whole new meaning to flying in your sleep. We had a little adventure during the big journey, like we caught a bird
in our fishing line, nursed him back to health for about 3 days then, set him free by throwing him overboard and watching
him splash straight into the water without take off. But, rest assured, I have full faith that when he sees that big
shark come after him he will fly once more, alive happily ever after. We also caught 4 fish which was almost too much
excitement for me to handle. It`s way too much fun. Then we slice and dice them for a home cooked meal.
Except I didn`t eat it, yuck.
In Bermuda we survived the bus ride, which was an awesome rush. I only wish
I could have driven the bus. I did, however, get to drive in the Azores. They let me drive all day. It was
relaxing except when I had to pee at the volcano site and there were tourists so Janice was my lookout. I was hurrying
so much that I went to pull my pants up feeling so happy no one saw me. I lost my balance, grabbed a barbed wire fence
in front of me, in the heat of the moment. Of course, I cut myself and then did a full somersault in the grass and jumped
to my feet to search for my standing ovation. But no one saw it! Thank God. All I have to say is Janice
can be my lookout anytime. She is the best case she didn't even see me. Yay!
We got a rope
stuck in the propeller and that ate up about 20 minutes of adrenaline wondering if Glenn was going to have to get in the cold
water in the middle of the Atlantic to get it off.
(This is temporarily the end of Jade's section as I brought
the wrong page)
7/11 cont. We did 2 loads of laundry at the marina and it cost 22 euros.
At 58 cents to the euro that is about $35. We asked about having it done in a place at the mall and it is 4.50 euros
for one kilo which is about 2.2 lbs. We weighed one bag of laundry on our boat which was a little less that a load and
it weighed 3 kilos. We figured that to be 13.5 euros or $21.00. It looks like we will be washing our laundry on
the boat in buckets. It would be cheaper to throw them away and buy new. We also went to the phone store to find
out how to put time on our phone but didn`t have the PIN with us. (More on the phone later).
The majority
of the places here are not air conditioned. There is always a nice breeze but it is warm. They also never offer
water in a restaurant. They give it to you only when you ask. The photo here of the police car shows you that
they are certainly also conservative of fuel. Gas is about $7.25 a gallon. A lot of people bring their own shopping
bags to the store. (I have had canvas shopping bags for years) Europe knows how to conserve and the
USA is very far behind in that area.
The sky is a beautiful blue and the temperature is about 80 in the day and 65 at
night. We end up in a blanket before the night is over. Just wonderful.
7/12 We took the dogs
walking and went to a nice park with peacocks wandering around. And, of course, at the little refreshment stand there
was cheesecake. There are little cafes everywhere with outside seating. They all have coffee, whisky, wine, beer
and pastries. Such wonderful pastries. There are also ice cream stands everywhere you look. At least 30%
of the people in the street are eating ice cream at any given time. Currently Glenn is searching for a restaurant serving
sardines, a local dish. Finally made it to the phone store with our card. Their system, to load minutes, was down.
(More about the phone later)
We have been doing some sightseeing. We went to the area of Belem and saw a
musem in a castle, a cathedral with an attached cloister and the Monument to Discovery.
We had to go to the US Embassy
to renew our passports. We misjudged where it was in relation to the subway station that we chose and ended up walking
an hour to get there, 3 minutes before our appointment. There were guards with AK47s standing outside and we were only
allowed into the security room one at a time. Glenn had to leave our camera and phone behind. We then had security
escort us to the room we needed. The man waiting on us was from Mozambique.
From there we decided
to go to the zoo. It made sense to us. They had a wonderful sea show, one of the best we have seen. Of course,
we visited the meercats. From there it was 3 blocks to the subway station we should have come over to. We are
lucky to have had the subway experience we had in DC and Boston as adding Portuguese to the mix would have been a little confusing.
We
had lunch at McDonalds yesterday. I don`t know why. We were checking for free internet and felt guilty and bought
lunch. No internet. It was exactly like home. Though the kid behind the register had a problem with the word chicken.
I almost ended up with fish and I did get a full meal with fries when all I wanted was the sandwhich. Experiences just
adding up.
We made it to a pay station which we finally found out was where we needed to go to increase our
minutes. Everything in our phone is Portuguese. Where was this pay station but in the expensive laundromat.
Finally we have minutes. We can`t add them on ourselves, we have to find a pay station to have it done for us.
But we have minutes. Now, to find out how many minutes. (More on the phone later)
We are off for lunch
- grilled sardines for Glenn and salmon and cucumbers on toast for Janice.
Adios
We were invited over
to the boat "Meander" last night for congratulatory drinks. They had just crossed the Atlantic. We saw
them in Bermuda. They are a nice couple from Austrailia with their 13 year old son.
I mentioned going to the
grocery store here but I didn`t mention some of the sights - chickens with their head and legs in the package, not necessarily
connected. Pig heads. Squid, eels, octopus. And last, but not least, an aisle of huge (stinky) slabs of
salted cod. But they have wonderful cheese and pastries. Did I mention the pastries before? I have decided
to eat all Mediterranean - isn`t that some kind of diet?
I guess I have neglected to mention the fact that we have
decided to cruise the Med this year and perhaps next than head north after that. We have 3400 hard won miles under our
belts and have decided we don`t want to struggle through another 2000 miles against the prevailing winds to get to the Baltic
this year. I realize cruising the Med is a cruel fate. But we`ll make it. As I contemplate this I realized
that the only year we sailed where we originally planned was the first year.
Other observations of Portugal.
TOILETS I have had some interesting experiences with toilets here. Nothing to match the spacecraft in Boston (see
last year's trip), but still interesting. Êvery single toilet here looks different and flushes in a different
manner. I swear it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to flush in Horta. There are insets, big flat plates, handles
on the wall, just every variety. Then would you believe in the US Embassy they had American Standard toilets.
How much did it cost to import those toilets across the ocean? The other issue that I am trying to remember is that
the toilet paper goes into a small can beside the toilet, NOT in the toilet. I'm having a hard time breaking a 60
year old habit of swipe and drop. The bathrooms are all very clean, as a matter of fact the entire country is extremely
clean. There is, however, a large amount of grafitti everywhere. If there is a wall it has grafitti. Of
course, I can't tell you what it says.
7/18 Today we are going to Alfama. It is the old Moorish
district of Lisbon with steep, cobbled, twisting, narrow streets. Get the picture? We decided to visit the castle
at the top of the mountain. It was very hot and we walked up, up, up and then around, around, around. Some how
we managed to walk all the way around the castle without seeing it. We're talking castle here. After orange
juice, and a shared ice cream I felt much better. On the way back we got on the first bus as long as it was going down
hill. We were exhausted. We managed to find most of the cruising books that we need for the Med. I would
like to officially apologize to my children here for not only spending their inheritance, that was already taken care of,
but probably having to live with them now. I always did tell them that I had 4 children so I could live with each one
depending on where they lived and what season it was. The man in the cruising store warned us about the gypsy pickpockets.
We had already heard of them. He said a group of 6 stand in front of his store checking out the buses. When a
full one stops they run and get on. We haven't had any bad experiences.
7/19 Pastries and cappucino
with Meander and a couple from Austrailia visiting them in a little cafe on a cobbled street. Beautiful.
7/22
Sintra, a world heritage area. After one hour on a bus and then a transfer to a smaller local bus we arrive at Pena
Palace. The bus ride was fun. The area is rather dry in the middle, then as you head up the mountain everything
is lush and green and you are in the clouds. The driver had to stop and back up twice to make it around hairpin curves.
The last one required getting out of the bus and pushing the sideview mirror closed on a parked car. He got back in,
made the turn and everyone applauded. Cacais was the summer retreat for King Carlos and Pena Palace is his winter home.
There were amazing tiles absolutely everywhere, the ceilings were gorgeous and there was a wide variety of furniture.
One room was the Chinese room filled with Chinese furniture and all of its intricately laid ivory and mother of pearl.
The Queen's bedroom and bathroom were both larger than the King's, something that I have noticed in other castles
and palaces. The palace was surrounded by acres of land made into a park. We didn't have the energy after
climbing up all of the uneven cobbled trails to explore it.
From there we went to a Moorish Castle from an earlier
time. The outside walls were all that still existed but it was still very impressive. Again, up a mountain on
a ragged trail.
7/23 Today we took the metro to a famous museum that is composed of the life collections of
one man. It took 2 1/2 hours to go through it and he had such a variety of items. Basically, whatever he liked.
He had Chinese boxes, Turkish rugs, French furniture and very old books with leather covers and handwritten and painted pages.
It is no wonder that books were so rare and valuable before the invention of the printing press.
From there
we got back on the metro and went to a cold greenhouse. It had a collection of plants from all over. We met the
keeper and he had quite a talk with us. He has "loved all things American since the 60's". He knew,
not only all of the bands, but their lead singers, drummers and had all of the CD's. After walking around the garden
we had the inevitable ice cream and started walking through central Lisbon towards the coast. We got in front of one
hotel and 5 police cars came streaming up with two cars with flags. Everyone jumped out of the cars right on the sidewalk
and escorted some people into the hotel. I guess we saw someone famous. Just don't know who. We continued
walking for quite a while before we tired out and got back on the metro. The evening was beautiful with a wonderful
breeze. It is just so lovely walking around here.
We visited with Meander, their company and another boat
from Austrailia and went to bed at 10:30, a long day for us.
7/24 We got the call today. Our passports
are ready. We will go pick them up tomorrow and probably start heading south along Portugal towards Gibraltar Saturday
morning. Best to all until we find another internet cafe.
7/29 SPAIN
We
have made it to Spain. We had a lovely three days sailing over. We stopped at two anchorages by just pulling up
in front of a beach. We took Lucy & Ricky to shore and let them off their leashes for the first time since they
played in our son's, Glenn, backyard in May. Boy they sure did run. The second beach was fairly deserted,
one couple on towels, and of course Lucy has to go over to them and shake her sandy wet little body for them. It was
nice to see them have such fun. I was almost tempted to get into the water it was so nice looking. We did walk
in up to our knees to get in the dinghy and it is still too cold for me.
As we were sailing towards Spain this morning
I started to make the national flag as we always have to fly the flag of the country that we are in as a courtesy. It
is quite involved with double and triple stitched hems, webbing at one end for gromets, measuring exactly and of course working
on a boat bobbing up and down in the ocean. It took me about two and a half hours and I was quite pleased with my result.
I had been especially careful with it finishing it literally as we pulled up to the dock. Then I noticed their actual
flag had a crown drawn in the middle. All of the pictures that I saw were just red and yellow. Glenn said no problem,
he could draw the crown on. Then he looked again and said wait a minute. It's yellow in the center with red
on the top and bottom. I can't believe it, I did red in the center with yellow on the top and bottom. I can
only say F**K. I said it several times at the dock and I'm saying it again as I type this. I'm trying
to maintain a PG website or I would be typing it a few times here. You just can't realize the effort put into that
stupid flag. Right now I'm thinking of cutting it through the middle and sewing the top yellow to the bottom yellow.
I'll let you know.
Well, I fixed my flag and it was pretty easy so I take back my swearing.
The first
beach we stopped at in Sine was on the 10th and final day of an international music festival. They had the bands playing
on the beach with at least 500 people there. Well, the concert went all night and was still going when we left
the next morning. We could hear it when we were in bed but not enough to keep us awake. So we had entertainment
for the evening.
The third beach was really deserted so we let the dogs run again. One couple way off and
over head the dogs. The woman got up, shook her towel and laid back down. Glenn went to get the dogs and they
ran back over. They didn't think the dogs were very funny. I guess they're not as cute as we think they
are. So, back on the leash.
7/29 We have made it to Spain. We are in Ayamonte, right on the border.
We went to clear in and it is remarkably easy. We show the paperwork and fill out forms. We get no paperwork and
they just glance at the dog forms. After everything we went through getting the dogs' forms. It's like
going from state to state in the US. You don't clear out of a county as long as you stay in the EU.
7/30
We are at Pto Sherry. There is no where to leave our dinghy so we took our kayake into the beach. We walked 20
minutes behind the beach, then up the street to the ferry about a half hour. We took the ferry across the harbor to
Cadiz. What a beautiful city. It has cobbled, narrow streets. Each apartment building has a unique
and pretty tiled entryway. We went to the Cathedral, walked around and stopped at a cafe for a drink. I really
just had to use the bathroom. I could hardly figure out which was the woman's, the picture on the door was blurred
and didn't make much sense. Then I found that it was locked. They came and unlocked it for me and left the
key in the door. This bathroom had a pull chain from a tank on the wall for flushing. I finished, tryed to open
the door and found that I was locked in. This is a little side street bar with a bunch of men sitting around playing
dominoes. They finally came and let me out. I was wondering how long it would be before Glenn missed me.
(My family can understand this fear). I'm thinking of writing a book on "My Toilet Adventures in Europe."
The wine is cheaper here than sodas. Being one who always wants to save money, I had wine. We watched the men
play dominoes, quite different from ours. Then back out on the street walking around. We had skipped lunch so
we had dinner at a restaurant at 6:00. This is early for us as we have gotten used to eating around 8:00 or 9:00 like
everyone else here. The sun doesn't go down until 9:30 and you just keep going using the daylight. Glenn had a paella
and I had a dish of lentil beans with potato and red peppers. It was good! The stores are open from 10 - 2, siesta,
6-9. It makes sense since most of them don't have air conditioning so they just close during the hot part of the
day. I think we have been in air conditioning about 3 times since we got here. Museums, restaurants, stores, churches,
nothing is air conditioned.
We got back on the ferry, walked back down the street, along the beach, into the kayak
and arrived on the boat at 8:00 at night. What a nice, busy day.
8/1 My best day!
We got up at 7:30, kayaked in, walked past the ferry to the bus station in Pto St Maria. We were told to go to the train
station, about 20 minutes away, with a general point in that direction. So we started walking some more. We got
to the center of town where there was a big bull ring. Bullfighting is still very popular here in Spain. We were
invited to go with a few other couples in Portugal, where they don't kill the bull, but I really didn't want to go.
They still torture them. Back to our adventure. We saw a taxi and asked how much he'd charge to take us to
Jerez. We gathered that he said he didn't go there, he was just a local taxi. There is not nearly as much
English spoke here as in Portugal. So we aksed where the train station was. He thought I aksed how much to take
us there and he answered something. I thought he said 1.50 euros which seemed right to me so we decided to ride to the
station since we really didn't know where it was. So we're riding and riding and finally ask if he's taking
us to the train station, by this time we were seeing signs for Jerez. We then asked how much to Jerez. He wrote
on his hand 15 for the train station and 18 to Jerez (he must be related to Glenn, he always writes on his had). So
we rode the taxi to Jerez. This is part of the fun of traveling. We all laughed in the taxi when we were trying
to figure out what was going on. It's more fun when there's language problems. It was even more fun when
there was different money. I remember years ago when we had traveled 4 countries and had money from all of them.
Glenn wanted to buy something and basically forgot which money we were using. He held out his hand with a bunch of money
in it and the cashier took the amount out of his hand as if he were a child. That makes traveling fun. The Euro
and the more widespread use of English may make it easier, but it takes out some of the fun. It's still interesting
to try the different foods. When we got to Gibraltar we bought Sottish eggs in the grocery store. They are egg,
mayonnaise, ham in a bread crumb covered ball. Neat.
Back to my day. We were now at the School of Equestrian
Art and the Dancing Horses of Andalusia. I have seen them on TV and I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to see them
live. We walked the grounds, visited another palace and then finally went in for the show. It was great.
The horses are beautiful and just so magnificent in their moves. They wore period costumes and also had a carriage demonstration.
Unfortunately, they would allow photos until the absolute end as they were leaving. So I can't really let you see
how wonderful it was. This is my very best day. From here we went to the stables and I actually got to pet the
horses. We also went to the carriage museum. They had the carriage that their king and queen rode in when they
got married. After this we went to a local restaurant for lunch. We were the only non-Spaniards in the place.
What a big lunch. After this we got a taxi back to Pto St Maria at the ferry and walked, kayaked back to the boat.
We tried to watch TV but my Spanish just isn't good enough. The commercials are always interesting.
8/2
We headed to Gibraltar but had to stop mid-afternoon as the winds were heavy and, of course, right on the nose.
8/4
We have finally gotten as far as Tarifa, which really wasn't far. The current is very strong at the entrance to
the Med and at one point we were actually going backwards.
8/5 GIBRALTAR This page is getting long so I am
going to set up a new one.
