Hello Folks, here I go again from
the Granddad desk… hope all is well back
home,
Monday 13th..After our
seal problem in the middle of no where… like 900 nautical miles from land….just
to note its 1200 nautical miles
from Forte Lauderdale to Bermuda. 1850 nautical miles from Bermuda to Azores, …1100
nm Azores to Gibraltar,… and Gibraltar to Palma 500nm…. So you can see our seal problem
was right in the middle of nowhere, unbelievable….wollowing around in the middle
of the Atlantic, the Americans call this a
motor yacht, kiwis would call it a launch,,.. so no big keel hanging to keep you
popping up the right way…I am certainly enjoying the experience. it alerts all your
senses. Rocka never looses it
especially under pressure. He has
good systems and discipline. And of course he has had a life time at sea… Some
of you might know, he used to be the skipper on the biggest sloop in the
world…family life changed that.
Tuesday14th. The seas have eased
a little..and a life ring is spotted…we change course to investigate it…no name
on it… It makes you wonder where it is from,…was it an aircraft… or a
boat/yacht…????. Is it that mystery from the Bermuda triangle…an energy from the
lost Ayantis, a pre historic civilization….that they are
now finding very real evidence of
its existence… 200 ton carved/ shaped
stones lying under the sea… 60 feet long and 15 feet wide… who knows???
We cruise on, the mystery seems far from our daily lives of cruising….of course
given time, there will be an answer
…as they say,, time will tell.
Wednesday 15th…Late
last night on Liam and Logans watch, they sight red white and green lights….
After ten minutes or so… they wake Rocka, Rocka decides to turn back towards the
lights and investigate…. We trudge back for 6 or 7 miles… the lights mysterisely
disappear… real strange I think Rock’s thoughts are, it could have been a life
raft who knows???
Rocka decision is a mariners responsibility to help those that might have had a
mishap… Strange… A real
chatter amongst the crew… even UFOs is mentioned…. What happened to the lights…where did
they go/disappear to…???? Leaves you wondering…
.
Thursday16th.
Friday 17th we motor on, hoping everything will hold
together….it appears ok.
Lots of bits and pieces are
spotted… like fishing floats… coils of rope….the weather is slowly easing
up…time has stopped…. To be free from time… almost bliss ….
SATURDAY18th,
Today we stop the boat for a quick
swim….the
Sea is calm.. we are a few
hours from Azores….Ahoy there we spot and glimpse land in the distance…Mount
Pico, its mighty peak stands proudly above the clouds….its higher than any
mountain in Australia….
….Rocka takes the boat into a
volcano. the crater has the side blown out and is a gateway to allow the sea
in….and us, ha-ha.. This volcano
erupted out of the sea in the 1950s… so we are about an age…but I haven’t got my
side blown out, and I haven’t let the sea in.!!!!
Azores is made up of 9 larger
Islands, owned and governed by Portugal.. The Islands are scattered over a big area. We tie up at Horta,
on the Island Faial. There are about 15,000 people on Faial, and about 300,000
people scattered over all the Islands….dairy
farming is a very much thriving industry here…so I felt right at home….
NOT….
Tourism is a growing industry…
they grow wheat, corn, tea, oranges, tobacco, and grapes for wine… and fishing,
especially tuna…
The first Islands of Azores were
first discovered in 1427 and others more west were discovered in 1452...they are
located in the heart of northern Atlantic.
SUNDAY19th…We can’t fuel up till
Monday, and the weather is extremely rough to Gibraltar…Rocka, Liam and I go for
a walk up to the top of one of the many volcanoes…great to be able to go for a
walk….some of the pictures on the
blog site ,,,are from the top… its
very green….very nice in many ways….all volcanic…people seem very friendly…and
of course its very isolated, 1100 miles to Gibraltar…Some of the crew go
swimming, and check out another volcano.
Monday 20th, we fuel
up… and are all prepared for sea…but the weather is still very rough...…
forcaster has advised the Captain not to sail to Gibraltar.
.Rocka and I visit the museum…a very small museum, but
very interesting…
Tuesday 21st..The weather has
eased slightly and at 4.00pm we depart, by midnight it has become
rough.
Wednesday 22nd.. The weather is
rough, day and night… rough, and rough. Becoming very rough….
THURSDAY 23rd
FRIDAY
24th
The roughest days yet…. Impossible to sleep
we all do our watches and then sleep or try to rest… thump thump… falling off
waves….everyone is tired out… some are feeling off color…. I’m Ok,, but I am
very very tired… there is no escaping the motion… pitching and rolling…thump…its
amazing how draining it is….physically and mentally….it seems like eternity,
especially night watches, you don’t know which way you are going to be hit
from….you are continually braced so that you don’t get thrown into a wall or any
other fixture. Interesting you only see crew when you change watches or meals..
I go for a walk around the boat. No one is around only the crew on watch or Sara
in the galley preparing a meal… meals is pre done and need to be only heated….
No way could you cook in these conditions. Everyone is lying real low… so I
don’t feel bad when I go and lie down. Even in bed you lie on your back with
your arms out each side braced as you try and doze… everyone is in good spirits
even though they are weary.
Me Hearty’s’
SATURDAY25th..This afternoon a few hours of
calm… a welcome break, after being constantly hammered…. It was short lived…..
Became rough again in the evening…..not as bad as the previous
days….I was lucky, I had a quick shower.
SUNDAY26th.. We arrive in Gibraltar about0
9.00 / 10.00am what a sight on one side Africa, the other Europe… Incredible… We fuel up and the crew does some
cleaning up after the boat being tossed about in the stormy seas…. The Rock of
Gibraltar stands out in all its glory, it was a
gloomy pommy sort of a day…. Low clouds, misty….
Gibraltar is six miles long and three and half
wide….a population of 35,000 people,,, the rock is riddled with caves and
tunnels… I had a quick look with Jenny, Rocka’s wife who had flown in the day
before…there is a mass of history in that rock…Stories of battles and sieges;
its location had made it a strategic military / naval base by whoever had occupation. In
prehistoric times ,approximately 120,000 years ago Neanderthal man occupied the
rock and hunted the coastal plains which now lie beneath the Mediterranean. Archaeological traces of their presence is
evident, as is evidence of the Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians. One
could write a book on it. Gibraltar for 300 years has been ruled and owned by the UK,…it now has a small local governing body…. . ten
thousand Spanish come over the border each day to work,….up to two hours wait
morning and night to cross the border… lots of construction going on here….The
language they speak is Gib… a cross between English and Spanish…I certainly
couldn’t understand a word of what was being said...
MONDAY27th All ready to go… just waiting for
our weather clearance…we are keen to get going…. Yip16.00 we depart Gibraltar
for Palma Mallorca. We motor close by a ship that had sunk in the
last two weeks. Five miles away from where it had sunk, it was in a collision
with another ship. It had drifted all that way. A good lesson for us to be vigilant in
our watches. You certainly wouldn’t want to be hit by one of these large ships..
[ Or any boat] If you were
hit by these large ships, you wouldn’t know what had hit you…
TUESDAY 28th.. The sea is flat, the calmest we
have had on the whole trip….FANTASTIC…Its amazing how much red dust from the
Sahara
Desert is in the air… The
boat is dripping in red goo… The crew is constantly washing it
off…
It makes you wonder how much red dust, people breath in when they are living
here all the time….Most of today is in thick fog.. visibility is 50 /80 meters
at the most… lots of ships on the radar… and close by… you can hear the fog
horns blowing….one boat kept coming
straight at us, after making a 15degree to
starboard it still kept coming straight for us….just under the half mile
Rocka went hard to starboard… it never altered its course…it could have been a
small boat with no radar….and with zilch visibility… you are always keeping a
vigilant look out…. Rocka and I spent the whole day on the bridge as all
the crew was very busy, preparing
the boat for the Owners arrival the day after we get there. Its astounding how
much work there is to do. Everyone worked extra hard today.
WEDNESDAY 29TH. We arrive in
Palma… about 10.00am… we anchor out in Nova Palma
Bay… very beautiful. Tomorrow I get off for a few days….
I’m going to try out my land legs….The boat is going to have some repairs done,
the shaft seals for one thing….Will wait till Monday, and if they are going to
fixed within a few days I will do
the journey to France…and from there head for home…
Till next time,
Love to all,
Rob… [ Now known as Grandad]
P.S check out The Boats web.. www.mailasai.coml
Click on
web diary,
Click on the boat
Daydream or just http://blog.mailasail.com/daydream
There is a chart of where we
have motored, and some pictures of the journey.
