LIFE: Part 2

Current Location: Cagliari, Sardinia
Current Position: 39°11.72'N, 9°7.14'E
Distance sailed since last post: 0 nautical miles

On my last entry, we had just arrived in Cagliary, south of Sardinia

It was a really nice city, once we got through the ugly cement and cranes industrial nature of the harbour, and the long, hot and dusty walk into town.

 

Inside of it all, there is a nice place with a citadel at the top. Steep rising town with most of the city attraction, Cathedral, palaces, museums, and 2 towers, most famous the Elephant tower.

 

 

 

 

We spent a day and an evening there and the next morning we sailed down the coast along their famous 9kms long, Picolla del Pueto beach.

 

 

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We anchored in a really nice bay just outside the harbour in Villasimius. Very nice marina, with many shops, supermarket and nice cafes, where we enjoyed some good capuccino, while waiting for the rain to stop. We also met a fellow from Germany who was also on a yacht and leaving for Sicily the next morning.

He did!

We saw him on the way. The only boat we saw in the 160 n miles passage. We had barely seen rain in months. It was refreshing! Best part, the boat got clean…yey! That evening we got some more and collected enough water to do our laundry, bedding and all!

We needed another day wait for the right winds, so we stayed in and replaced one of our reefing lines that had chaffed through, and prepared for the passage for the next morning.

Gave me a chance to do my laundry. Sun shinning again,very hot and a nice breeze, wash and dry all it takes is 2 hours!

Made a pot of stew for the next day’s passage to Sicily, it’s always nice to have something made that you can just reheat, in case it gets rough, or you just get lazy…..or want a snooze,after being awake at night, haha!! We expect it to take about 30 hours or so

Stay tuned for the next adventure…Sicily

 

 

 

 

Current Location: Cagliari, Sardinia
Current Position: 39°11.67'N, 9°7.28'E
Distance sailed since last post: 105 nautical miles

Viva L’Italia…..

where the beer costs the same as water. 3dollars, a beer, 3dollars a bottle water???  hhhmmmm!!!!

We are still trying to figure out their menu. We decided to go out for a nice dinner of their local tradition, suckling pig. We went to this restaurant that had very high recommendations in the the cute village of Callasseta, Sardinia. We were greeted by the waiter who in Italian was asking if we wanted the A/C on. When I saw where he was pointing, I got the message!!! I just said yess….si, confusion!

After that he spoke some English to us.

They had two piglets roasting in the nice brick oven in an open fire. Our mouths were watering!!! Only to be told in broken English that we couldn’t order any. It has to be ordered the day before, because it takes 3.5hrs to slow roast! Well…..of course our second choice was fish and seafood.

Waiter recommended an appetizer that had a good variety. Sure enough it looked good, but the best was the shrimp cocktail in it, nicely wrapped in radiccio. The rest of the fish on the plate was cured and salty. Our second appetizer was another local tradition of pasta called malloreddus, it came in a nice tomatoe sauce with sausages. It was really good!

 

We chose fish for  main course, but forgot that here, you have to order your side dishes separately. Sooo funny, the plate came with the fish , only, right across the plate, head and all! Noel and I had a great laugh….but who needs more than that, after pigging out in the appys and all the olives and bread, that came with it. We enjoyed our fish, and at least 2litres of water and came out still laughing!!!

 

Stayed in town a bit longer, it was some band playing out in a Piazza, and by then was 11pm. Got to our dinghy, something was wrong with our prop, and we barely had any speed, unless you count side to side in the big waves. Luckily home was just around the corner from the harbour. But it still took some paddling along with it to make the trip a bit faster in the dark and big swells. Ahhhh, always an adventure with us.

We have really enjoyed our time here in Sardinia. Its quite a big Island, second largest in the Med after Sicily. It’s 260 km long and 135 km long. We have been here for the last 2weeks. Did the North coast, West coast and now we are down South. Just arrived in the city of Cagliary, capital of Sardinia.

 

Just 7 miles away from Corsica, the North coast of Sardinia we sailed through the Maddalena islands and stopped in Porto Cervo. They call it the millionaire’s playground. In the evening, especialy,  we just grabed a drink and watch the parade of luxurious yachts come in to the harbour. We were lucky to find a spot right next to the harbour, so we could watch the show!!!The book said no anchoring allowed in the area, but we though we would just check it out. We found a beautiful spot where you could fit only 3 boats and we were the 3th boat in. Lucky there!!! It’s a beautiful Marina, with all the shops and restaurants, surrounded by big houses, with beautiful stone work and amazing landscapes.  No wonder  stars like Mick Jagger and George Clooney have been seen in town!!!

 

We sailed down the West Coast, along many beautiful beaches, one of them was about 10km long. Great sand dunes, lagoons with pink flamingos. The coast is also very rocky, with lots of amazing rock formation and lots of caves that you can explore by dinghy or Kayak. Lots of cute villages with pastel colour houses and most of them with a citadel and their breath taking views , Castles and beautiful churches and the very narrow streets full of restaurants and shops.

south coast, near Porto Pino

A few of our favourite places at anchor where Stintino, a huge bay with it’s crystal clear water and the famous beach of Ancora with fine white sand and lots of room for us to do our knee boarding! Just attached a handle to a rope and use Noel’s surf board and our dinghy. Lots of fun. I think the neighbours enjoy watching too! We did have to watch out for macho man though, showing off in their motor yatchs, and spoil our smooth water.

 

Porto Conte, was another favorite. Big bay, surrounded by nice beaches, restaurants, hotel, caves, and nature walks. We also realized how popular it was, with the many ferries arriving to visit the Neptune Cave. In the post card, Cave looks very nice, but very similar to the ones we just saw in Mallorca, so we passed on that one.

 

 

We visited Carloforte, not much of an atmosphere there, but we needed to stop for the night and also some groceries. We visited their famous nature wonders, the Columns. It was worth the stop, and it only made it a very short sail the next day to Callassetta where we had our fish dinner and wild ride home.

the Columns, in Carloforte

Moving on along the South Coast now, we really enjoyed the bay of Porto Pino. We kayaked onto the gorgeous pink sandy beach and took along walk through the sand dunes and the amazing vegetation through out and a big lagoon with pink flamingos who have chosen this beautiful wetland area for nesting. Porto Teulada, Porto Malfatano, just as beautiful and peaceful.

 

Yesterday we spent the day in Nora, the very first city being built in Sardinia. The archeological site,Punic-Roman ruins in Nora in this spectacular setting dating back to 800 BC. Fascinating insight into the ancient city, complete with thermal baths and change room, massage parlor, heated floors, beautiful and still well preserved mosaics and Theatre.

The site is extensive, and is at the sea side. It is also surrounded by a nice beach, restaurant, palm trees, fields of wild flowers, a tower from the 1600’s and a lagoon. Hard to imagine this beautiful roman city    8000 people living in it back then. It is a work in progress, and our guide says that the original settlement is now under the sea.

It was sure worth the visit and the ticket included a visit to the museum in Pula, which was just a short bus ride inland from Nora, where we got to see a lot of the artifacts from the ruins.

Pula  was a very nice village, so clean and tidy, nice Piazzas and large supermarket (that’s always a bonus!)

Bought few groceries, bused back to Nora and kayaked back to Life Part2.

About 9:30pm we were delighted to hear some Beatles music from ashore. It was the Beatles tribute band playing at a beach bar not far from us. We quickly grabbed a drink and sat up front under the stars, in a warm summer night listening to the wonderful music and the clapping hands of the crowds, enjoying the drink, the company, savoring the moment and counting our blessings!

I started writing this blog post as we were sailing along from Pula to Cagliari. It was only a 3hour journey. We have just arrived at our anchorage  and I am now going to finish this. We had very smooth waters, not much wind but with our spinnaker up we did reasonable speed, had a great sail here and no noisy engines!!!! Cagliari is a big city, and the capital of Sardinia in the South Coast. It’s very touristic, we actually just noticed a cruise ship in the harbour just around the corner from us. It is popular for the hot weather and beautiful stretches of long white sandy beaches, dinning, nightlife,and many historical attractions. We probably spend the weekend here and look forward to do some sight seeing.

Weather has been hot hot hot. Have not seen any rain for ages and very few clouds.

The water in the Med has been warm and crystal clear. Amazing!

 

 

 

We have enjoyed Sardinia even with the language barrier……lots of fun! So far managed to  ask for a hair salon, take directions and get a hair cut. And as usual ran around town to find Internet.  We found Chandlers (here, they often dont exist in these small marinas…)and a place to buy oil and engine filters for an oil change, and parts to fix our propeller in the dinghy.  Had to also find a shop to buy a camera, mine went for a swim with me, after I fell from the dinghy. ( quite funny…..I held my hand out with the camera, above the waves trying to keep it dry I could only think of my pictures) We hit a big wave, from the macho man motor boat that went by….and I was busy taking, just my last photo of the day! It sure was the last photo for that cam, it has not recuperated since, from that little splash of salt water.

The ladies in the gift shops are a bit aggressive to sell you stuff. I just say no, grazie! I keep smiling and quickly walk out.

In Italy, they ask me if I’m Spanish. In Spain they asked me if I was Italian. In Peru they though I was Brasilian. In Brasil they right away told me I was from Portugal. And lately, when I tell them I’m from Canada, they say “but you don’t have a Canadian accent”. Ok, its a Canadian/Portuguese accent maybe. And they are very happy with that!!! It’s so funny. We have a laugh.

Arrivederci

What a difference from Spain and Portugal! We went into the store, bought a USB dongle and 3 months of internet at 10Gb per month from TIM for only 49 euros! We plugged in the stick and it installed itself (even offering English as a language). We pressed the ‘connect’ button and it connected instantly. No fuss. No bother. No activation phone calls. No 87 hours on customer support to Vodaphone.

Just fast internet that works.

Wow.

Current Location: Castelsardo, Sardegna, Italy
Current Position: 40°54.85'N, 8°41.78'E
Distance sailed since last post: 35 nautical miles

We crossed over to Sardinia and will start to work our way down the West Coast. However, we haven’t been able to sort out a 3G SIM card yet, so internet will be spotty (cafe’s etc) until we do – so if you don’t hear from us for a few days, that is why!

Current Location: Bonifacio, Corsica
Current Position: 41°23.42'N, 9°9.37'E
Distance sailed since last post: 75 nautical miles

In the Caribbean the stars have Mustique. In the Med, they have Porto Cervo, one of George Clooney’s favorite hang-outs. Very plush, very expensive, and with no character at all.

After the wild crossing from Calamoro, we arrived in Port Cervo early afternoon, just beating another catamaran on the way in. Just as well, as there are only two places to anchor inside the fancy harbour, and one of them was already taken with another Catamaran. We snuck in, anchored, and watched the third cat come in and then leave again. He He.

We walked around the town, had an ice-cream, and left the next morning.

 

The wind had dropped, but it was still a long beat. However, we decided it was time to go to Bonifacio.

Bonifacio is spectacular. Set atop some dramatic cliffs, it has a big medieval citadel filled with a bustling town full of 8-storey buildings and dozens of restaurants. All full. Lots of character, and lots of steep stairs to climb! With dramatic vertical cliffs on both sides of a narrow inlet, it is probably the most spectacular natural harbour in the Med.

After some fun med-mooring against a cliff face – for which privilege they charged us 40 euro for the night! – we went for a lovely walk around the spectacular city. Unfortunately our camera (thanks to Ceu’s impromptu swim) is dead, and our phone camera’s battery died. So no pictures. But you get the gist of it.

Today the sun is out, the wind is calm and after doing our cheese shopping, we will take off again, back to Sardinia.

Current Location: Vizzavona, Corse, France
Current Position: 42°7.68'N, 9°8.01'E

After the drama with our anchor, we spent a week or so in Calvi. First we had to buy some more chain, second, the wind was forecast to be SW force 5 – 7 for several days, which meant we couldn’t go further around the west coast until it had stopped, third, there was a Jazz Festival in Calvi all week, fourth, on the Sunday there was a classic car rally show that I wanted to see and, finally, we wanted to do some diving just around the corner, but for that, too, we needed some calm weather.

Fortunately, Calvi is a lovely little town with a very impressive citadel. We went for a long hike around to Revelata Point.

We wandered around the town. And we listened to lots of free jazz performances.

 

The Joy of Jazz

Be the end of the week, we concluded that jazz is pretty boring.

We heard only two bands with a singer. And both of those didn’t sing words. Instead they tried to pretend they were instruments, singing “la, la, la, bee, bo, di, la la” etc.

 

Now, as far as I could tell, the purpose of a jazz quartet is for each individual musician to get to show off with their own private solo performance. The saxophonist does his bit. The drummer does his. The vocalist pretends to be an instrument and does hers. And even the Double Bass player does a solo! Now that is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. This huge instrument produces barely any volume and certainly cannot sustain any kind of melody. But, hey! Who is going to deny the Bass player his moment of glory? Especially since they all seem to be so good at bobbing their heads with weird facial expressions while they try to coax some semblance of music from their monstrous instrument.

Ah well. Some of it is nice enough as background music. But a concert? No more for me, thanks.

Diving off Revelata Point

Eventually the wind settled and we went around the corner to do some scuba diving. This is supposed to be one of the best spots in Corsica with, supposedly, all sorts of marine life.

Certainly the water was crystal clear. You could see a long way.

Trouble is, there isn’t too much to see. Compared with the Caribbean it lacks color and variety. There are some fish. We even so a golden spotted moray eel. But there is very little in the way of coral, sponges and other colorful creatures. Apparently there are some. There are even supposed to be some turtles, but I guess we missed them.

Still it was Ceu’s first time down with the Hookamax. She did well, with no problems going down to the 7 metres that we did on that dive.

From Calvi we went down the spectacular west coast. Rugged, mountainous, and with dramatic red rocks, caves and cliffs. As spectacular as Nortwest Mallorca, but a lot busier. But then Mallorca is probably busy now too.

Knee Boarding!

After Calvi we stopped in Cargese.

This was a beautiful little village where we ate authentic Corsican Jugged Wild Boar followed by a chestnut crème brulee.

It was nice and calm so we also went knee boarding! How? Simple. We tied some string into a ski-rope and tied it to the back of the dinghy. Then one of us sat on top of the windsurfer board (with fin) and the other gunned the dinghy. What a hoot! It is rather like cross country skiing – half out of control all the time, making it hilariously funny. Who said the windsurfer is only good in a blow?

Ajaccio and Inland

Reaching Ajaccio we parked the boat off the beach and went ashore to catch a train. A narrow gauge two-carriage railway winds itself uphill to the interior of the mountains. We didn’t go as far as Corte, but got off instead as Vizzavona. There we joined the famous GR20 cross-island long-distance hiking trail, supposed to be the most challenging in Europe.

Fortunately the section we joined was pretty tame. We walked about 40 minutes to the Cascade des Anglais, a series of rocky waterfalls between boulders, with small pools in which one can dip. In spring it is probably a raging torrent. Now it is pretty low volume.

It is also a popular destination for tourists to come to cool off.

It was here also that we found the Adventure Parc and subjected ourselves to scrambling along tight cables strung 50 feet up above the ground. The craziest one was a skateboard, mounted on two parallel cables between trees. Holding on to a dangling rope, one is supposed to ‘skate’ across the void! Ha!

There were also countless zip lines, and various other constructions that looked like they belonged in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

After two hours of nervous energy we were done. We had some lunch, and then continued to walk the GR20 some more. It rapidly became a tricky scramble across sharp broken rocks. It would be tough to do a lot of that with a full back pack.

Needless to say, we finished our day with some good beer and food before catching the train back to Ajaccio.

Of course this was not the end of our day’s adventure. Riding the dinghy home over a flat calm sea, we ran into some waves from a passing ferry. The dinghy broached, spinning rapidly to port, and poor Ceu, who was trying to photograph the citadel, was flung overboard. There she was, grimly hanging on to the dinghy, waving the camera about trying to save it! Unfortunately it did get wet and hasn’t been happy since then. Oh, yes. Ceu was fine once she dried off.

Ajaccio itself has little to recommend it. It is the capital, though smaller than Bastia, and seems quite run-down in places.

It is, of course, famous as the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Onward to Sardinia

 

Once again a strong westerly wind was forecast, so it was time to head back to the east coast. We stopped briefly at Campomoro, just outside Propriano, thus completing our circumnavigation of Corsica.

The next day we set off for Bonifaccio. As with the last time we sailed this stretch, the wind gradually increased from 10kts to 27kts. With a single reef in both main and jib, we were reaching at a steady 9kts. Already there were 2-3 meter swells.

The original plan was to stop in at Bonifaccio, a long inlet in which there are supposed to be two small anchorages. The trouble was that we weren’t sure that there would be room in the anchorages, and if there weren’t we would have to battle the headwinds to come out of the inlet in order to proceed onwards. We decided to skip Bonifaccio, again, and head to the North East corner of Sardinia instead. But fear not, Bonifaccio! We will be back in a few days – we have to stock up on cheeses before we leave France!

 

Current Location: Anse Algajola, Corsica
Current Position: 42°36.79'N, 8°51.96'E
Distance sailed since last post: 19 nautical miles

From Centuri we tried to anchor in a small bay called Anse D’Algajola. Unfortunately the anchor snagged on a rock. As we tried to recover it, a wave lifted the boat and shock loaded the chain, which was bent around the side of the bow roller. One of the chain links bent and parted at the weld. They are not supposed to do that.

However, the anchor was till attached, so we went a bit farther on to the next beach. There we anchored in sand using our Fortress back up anchor on a nylon rode from the stern. Apart from all the nudist men on the nearby beach, which blighted the view somewhat, we had a peaceful evening and night.

The next day we moved on the Calvi and again anchored with the Fortress, this time from the bow.

We went ashore to top up our internet and to buy a new chain link.

Back on the boat it was blowing a force 7. We hauled up the Fortress and laid our main anchor,  with new chain link installed.

Very odd. The boat didn’t seem to want to settle on the new anchor. We let out some more chain to try to improve the holding. Still we were drifting sideways.

Being ultra smart, we realized something was amiss. So we pulled all the chain back in again, only to find no anchor on the end of it! And Ceu was laughing.

So, it was back to laying the Fortress, again!

The next day, with the benefit of a handheld GPS, and crystal clear water, we did a grid search with the dinghy and rapidly found our errant anchor. Once we pulled it up, we found it still had 20 meters of chain attached to it. Clearly the chain had parted AGAIN.

It’s not supposed to do that.

Time to get a new chain and, while we are at it, time to research a new anchor, as I am fed up with dragging this one around the bays! Turns out that all the anchors on board, except the Fortress which we bought in Grenada, as about half the size they should be! Fat lot of good that is.

Have tracked down some Rocna 33’s in Sicily, so shall pick up two, plus some longer chain when we get down there.

As you can see, the welds on the old chain (top) are not nearly as well done as the new chain (bottom). Probably some Chinese junk.

The new chain is 10mm G40 High Tensile.

Current Location: Saint Florent, Corsica
Current Position: 42°40.76'N, 9°17.58'E
Distance sailed since last post: 73 nautical miles

I was looking forward to arriving in Corsica – and, unlike St. Lucia, it hasn’t failed to live up to expectations.

Still unspoilt, it is rugged, beautiful and, of course, French. Which means cheeses!

Ahh! First visit to the supermarket and we see rows and rows of cheeses. I loaded up. Then on the next visit I loaded up again.

In between the visits to load up on cheeses, we also sailed around most of the island. Our arrival was on the west coast. But a Mistral was on its way, so we quickly sailed the Bonifaccio strait downwind in a Force 7 and headed around to the East coast where we found some beautiful beaches and some great windsurfing.

One of them, San Ciprianu, has a Club Med which, presumably, was the same one that I went to as a kid wich my family. At that time we snorkelled for sea urchins and my mum went waterskiing.  It is still unspoilt. And the water is still crystal clear.

Further up the Island we came to the ex-capital, Bastia, where our fuel tank for the dinghy was stolen. So that meant an extra half day there sorting that out. The compensation was another supermarket with yet more cheeses.

We continued north around the Cap Corse. Got in some snuba diving (a cross between snorkeling and scuba, with a compressor in the dinghy that supplies air down the hoses). It worked well, so we are looking forward to some epic diving in Calvi in a few days.

Centuri was a beautiful little harbour.

We also did a 21km hike in Giottani, I tiny bay that we had all to ourselves. Again fantastic vews across the bay from high up.

Now we are in St Florent. A bigger town, but still unspoilt.

Next stop is Calvi where there is a Jazz festival happening. Fortunatly no mistral’s in the forecast, so we will be able to enjoy the spectacular west coast.

Will keep you updated. BTW, we added a whole bunch of pictures to the picture gallery.

It doesn’t get any better than this!

Current Location: Golfe de Rondinara, Corsica
Current Position: 41°28.23'N, 9°16.18'E
Distance sailed since last post: 322 nautical miles

We arrived in Corsica yesterday morning, after a tiring but exciting two day crossing from Menorca.

The forecast was for light to moderate winds from the south, turning to easterlies right at the end.

Having filled up with water an fuel in Mahon, we departed in a brisk 15kt southerly wind, and put up the spinnaker in about 9 kts apparent wind. All was well for the first day, spinnaker pulling nicely with a sunny blue sky. By the evening the wind had backed a bit, so we took down the spinnaker and continued on a beam reach doing about 7kts. Knowing the wind would be backing us, we stayed high, aiming for the top end of Sardinia. The tactic worked perfectly.

During the second day the wind continued to pick up and head us, until we were close hauled sailing parallel to the Sardinia coastline. We then had to decide whether we stopped in Sardinia for the night, or carried on to Corsica. As it turned out, it would have been after dark by the time we tacked and made it to the Sardinian coast, so we carried on.

Through the second night the wind and waves continued to pick up to about 28kts, and the waves continued to build, so it was pretty bumpy – and then the reefing line for the first reef broke, so we had to go forward and put a second reef in. All in a night’s work! No need for flashlights with the bright full moon!

Anyway, 10 am, after 43.5 hours sailing, saw us sailing straight into Propriano, no tacking needed, at the head of a 5 mile bay nicely protected from the easterlies. We anchored and went ashore to find internet.

Nice little town, but getting internet involved a 2 mile walk to some big shopping center out of town. That is how we keep fit in this game! After buying the internet cards we sat down for a coffee and ice cream at the ‘No Stress Caffe’ on the main street by the waterfront – have to get the nice views of the water after being on land for so long.

Now, the challenge was that we knew that the easterly wind would be changing to a westerly the next day, making this lovely bay not so lovely any more. So early this morning we upped anchor, and set off down wind, spinnaker up again, headed for the east side of Corsica. The forecast was for a sunny day, with easterlies blowing at 4- 6 kts with gusts up to 7kts at the east end of the passage between Corsica and Sardinia. However, it was a flat calm and grey and miserable when we set off.

After a few hours moving nicely with the kite up, the wind started to increase. We went faster. It increased some more. We went 8 – 9kts. It increased some more. We decided to take down the spinnaker – and still did 7 kts. It increased some more, so we ditched our plan of going through the shorter, but very narrow passage that would involve 2 gybes, and took the long way around instead.

Good decision. The wind went up again. We decided to put in the second reef.  While we did so, Ceu saw the wind peak at 44kts – she stopped looking at that point. Now we were making 10.5kt. Yep, we even have a photo to prove it.

 

Pretty soon we were on the east side of the island, and pulled into a lovely small bay called Golfe Rondinara. Wind still blowing, but no waves here!

Then we had to connect the internet.

Ha! To activate it we had to call some french telephone number from our non-existent phone.

But, being people of resourcefulnes, we had the brilliant idea that the boat anchored right in front of us, being French, would probably a) have a phone and b) speak french, and thus be able to follow the phone instructions.

Turns out both were true, and following a successful activation, Alain and wife came over for some wine and beer to discuss cruising in the med – and Corsican cheese that comes complete with worms! Yes, let the cheese mature, and it will even crawl across the table to you.

Another adventure begins.

 

I must confess during my sailing voyages I have enjoyed reading some great murder, mystery and thriller novels many by John Grisham and James Patterson, amongst other great reads.

But I had better get my sailing books out instead. I think while away I forgot a lot of stuff, plus the other day when Noel said something to me about “aloft”  I started laughing! I couldn’t remember if it was up or down or behind or forward. How am I going to understand Noel when he’s telling me what to do?????

It always amazes me this sailing vocabulary. I started thinking back when I had to learn everything from Port to Starboard. How about the sheets??? Between main sheet, travelers sheets jib sheets, spinnaker sheet and painter. Ohh, its so crazy! They all looked the same to me, the same rope, just used for different functions. Still was forgetting the spring line too.  The same piece of rope changes name depending how or where you use it!

Ahh……jib and genoa, battens, tacks and clews, stanchions and lifelines, furling drum and forestay, pulpit and pushpit, bow, stern and deckhead.

Aft, abaft and aloft.

Cockpits and galleys, the saloon and galleys…the head (toilet) berths, vee-births and setee-births.

Not to mention the vocabulary for emergency and safety equipment, tidal streams with their springs and neaps, dead reckoning positions and way points.

I also had to meet Bruce and Danford, Delta, fisherman, CQR and plough. Together we had some fun in the sand, rocks, mud and weeds. Welcome to the show of anchoring!!!! We totally enjoy this sport…..versus staying in Marinas. We have anchored in some very beautiful spots.

I once read not to go to sea unless you know how to tie 7 very important knots.

Between a few hitches, a reef knot, a figure of 8 and the bowline, I think I’m there . Ohh yes! Was forgetting the sheet bend, I just had to use it yesterday when anchoring…..because the line on  my snubber in the anchor chain broke and I had to join it back  together quickly.

I still practice the knots, when I think of it, especially the bowline. It’s very very useful and it’s good to be able to do tie it under different angles and circumstances.

I have a lot to learn yet….right now I’m reading seaman’s guide to the rules of the road. It’s about the sound signals and night and day recognition of the lights. Talk about confusion!!

For now…I think I better just be in a look out, and consider all the vessels are coming towards us, and take action!

Oh, did you get to meet the boys?

Oops…the buoys. Or is it the “boo-ease” like the American call them?

Do they have a can, or is it a triangle, or a cone?

Bring out the binoculars. They have 2 balls? Isolated danger mark!!!  Only one ball….stripped or solid color?

Ohhh…they’re flashing! How often? Is that a flashing green? Or is it just the pharmacy sign onshore?

Red right return, or green right return? I don’t know if I am coming or going.

Clear to North, South, East, or West??? What does that one mean again?

Confusion!!!!!

Just keep your eyes on the balls (or is it the can?) and a good humor, and hopefully you are on the correct side, and you make it through the channel and safe into your berth. (Ahhhh…did you call ahead and reserve it???)

You deserve a good night!