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Date: 28 Sep 2010 00:12:48
Title: Yellow Submarine
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Friday 24th, Saturday 25th, Sunday 26th & Monday 27th

 

Probably best to call time on this blog for a while now as we are just spending our days preparing to fly home soon and so there are endless laying up type jobs to do so Serafina is ready to go again at the beginning of November when we return to the fray and set off across the Atlantic all being well. Everything needs to be inspected and cleaned from halyards to shackles. All moving bits have to be inspected, cleaned and lubricated (particularly since much of the Middle East sand and dirt appears to be attached) and there are a whole host of minor things all of which assume a greater importance once you leave the comfort zone of land and head out on a 2,800 mile 20 day passage to the other side of an ocean!

 

Puerto Calero is a pleasant enough marina although it is a little quiet at the moment. The big attraction here is the Yellow Submarine which is a tourist sub complete with underwater viewing panels. This is certainly the busiest feature around here and every day there are countless coach loads of people who are brought here and taken out for what seems to us to be a rather short ride. But then I haven’t heard anyone complain either.

 

The pontoon fingers are VERY short and Serafina is clearly a bit too long for them but it is the same for others here. It makes getting on and off quite difficult and when it blows (and it blew at 50 knots during the first night which was interesting...) it is almost impossible to tie the boat tight to the finger. By Monday night we had decided that it might be better if we turned Serafina round and backed her into the berth. This we did at dusk with the help of David and Lyn Wilkie from Moonbean who are moored next to us. This is better, but I will be asking the marina if we can actually leave Serafina in a different berth, downwind of the pontoon whilst we are away. Better peace of mind!

 

David Wilkie on Moonbeam arrived the same day as us and it was a huge and pleasant surprise to see him again. We were both directors of the British Marine Federation countless years ago (David was actually BMF’s Scottish President for a good many years.)

 

Steve and I watched the Grand Prix in one of the many bars here which at least got me out of working for two and half hours. Plenty of shops, bars and restaurants on site here, but at this time of year it is all rather deserted. Not too sure what the holiday season is out here.

 

Anyway I am going to call it a day for now and plan to resume the blog in early November as we head down to Tenerife and then off to the Cape Verde Islands which are around 850 miles south of here and then from there we plan to head across to Barbados.

 

Highlights of the year so far include the visit to Cappadocia and the balloon ride there. We also enjoyed our visit to Finike in Turkey and the overland trip to Petra in Jordan although Sarah is keen to forget her donkey ride there! We both loved Madeira and Porto Santo for a variety of reasons  but then we liked Malta (and its buses) almost as much. We are indebted to the EMYR organisers, principally Dave, Kath and Hassan who worked so hard to make their rally such a wonderful and quite unique experience. Equally thanks go to Trevor and Lesley who were such great friends and ‘crew’ during the rally. Dislikes were few really, but neither of us much enjoyed the atmosphere and attitude in Israel. Egypt was pretty dire but the camel ride near the pyramids was a favourite of Sarah’s. Syria had little to commend it, but that might be partially because the tour guides were so opinionated and very poor at their jobs. But overall we have had a fantastic year so far and not withstanding a few problems along the way, Serafina has looked after us very well indeed and we are full of confidence for the second half of this year’s travels.

 

Finally a big thank you to Chris and Steve on Scot Free who have been sailing along with us most of the time since we left Israel in July. They have been wonderful company for us both, full of really useful information and help whenever we have needed it;  their presence out at sea and our exchanges on the SSB & VHF radios during the passages has been a great bonus! They too are taking a break now and will definitely be appearing again in the blog as we start the final preparations.

 

Make a note in your diaries or wherever to return here around 10th November.

 

Best wishes to you all..

 

Rob & Sarah

 

Yacht Serafina

Photos at www.rhbell.com/photos_2010.htm  

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