'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West' - Caraminel & life in general

Caraminel & life in general

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'

Pete Bernfeld

Thu 10 Jul 2008 08:22

Quite a pleasant anchorage here, about 150 metres off a beach and a couple of minutes dingy ride to a suitable landing area. Fairly shallow [no problem for Troutbridge with a 1.05 metre draft] but it's sometimes a little disconcerting to watch the shell-fish gatherers walking waist deep about 20 metres away! They carry a sort of rake with a net attachment, which they use to dig out the crustaceans. Throughout the entire Ria, but particularly around these parts squire, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of the viveros - rafts where mussels are cultivated. Small boats go out every day to tend them, and periodically a larger boat with a hydraulic crane will go out and raise the the molluscs out of the water to harvest them.

A couple of people have emailed and asked what do I actually do with myself, so rather than reply individually I thought I'd put the answer into the web diary [don't worry, this isn't a 'blow by blow' account of a typical day].

The first idea to get hold of is that Troutbridge is my home. Virtually all my wordly 'goods & chattels' are onboard, so it's the same as if I was living in a small flat somewhere on terra firma [the more firma the less terra?]. Anyway, now that I'm retired and living on a pension I guess it's the same as being retired on land, i.e. you've got to watch the budget a bit, but you're rich in time. I'm not in Spain on holiday, nor am I on a month or so's 'summer cruise so I feel under no pressure to go sightseeing or rush off to quaint little bars & restaurants. I can take my time and get into the rythm of a place. Also, my only time constraint is to be in Portugal, preferably Lisbon, by the 20th August to meet up with a crewman. From here, if I went direct I'd probably be in Lisbon in four days and I have about forty in hand, so really 'no pressure'.

So, I guess I do what I what do if I'd retired in Bury Hill Farm [my last house]. I do a lot of reading, a bit of socialising if there are other boats in the anchorage & they look like they might be convivial company, and I listen to music. When necessary, I'll go and do the shopping,probably combining that with 'lunch out' and a beer [or two]. Some days I'll go ashore just to stretch my legs, but I really have plenty of room on Troutbridge....once you've lived on a cat you'll never go back [to a monohull]. Every couple of weeks or so I need to top up with water, so up until now I've gone into a marina for a night, which allows me to get the laundry done as wel! Here in Caraminel they seem to be OK with boats going to the holding pontoon in the marina and just topping up with water for free, but I think this is an exception.

You don't feel like a tourist because your'e home every night, in fact home all the time. I had a small 'drinks party' the other night and somebody off another boat, who'd seen Troutbridge in Laxe, Camarinas, Muros and now here - told me the other crews in the various anchorages had me marked down as 'a man who was not in a hurry'. How right they are, everybody else seems to be on the move every five minutes, a couple ( Ali &? -the old memory's going !) are going back to Scotland this summer [they came down from there, this is their summer cruise], John is off back to the IOW, also on his summer cruise. Imer & Johnny (an Irish couple) are on an extended cruise, but they're keeping company with the other two boats. However, once the others depart Northwards they'll slow down and decide if they're going to the Med or the Canaries. They've done one circumnavigation so are happy to ge wherever the fancy takes them.

I'm finding that the combination of solar & wind generation is keeping up with my power requirements. So much so that I can switch the immersion heater on in the morning for 20 mins for hot water [shower, shave & washing up], let the batteries recharge during the day & watch a DVD or two in the evenings, provided of course it's a clear day. Even if it's overcast the solar panels put out between 3 to 8 amps per hour, so all is not lost. Yesterday, I thought I'd use a solar shower bag for hot water. I left it on deck overnight, thinking that a couple of hours sun first thing would warm the water up [yes, I KNOW the moon doesn't do it, DOH!] but this morning it's overcast, so back to plan A, the immersion heater!

I'm 'doing' a Spanish course [Michel Thomas] at the moment and have finished the first two cd's (transferred to the Ipod]. I can have a very simple, halting conversation but the main problem is if I think out before-hand what I'm going to say, then say it reasonably fluently I get a 'rapid fire response', which leaves me flummuxed [lociento perot no puerdo ablar Espagnol muy buen - it's a speaking only course, so sorry about the spelling!].

Well, that's it. Thanks for the various emails and text messages. The production of 'Escape to the Rum - part dos' is well in hand [I made a DVD which I've sent to a couple of people] - something else to fill the time, on the Mac it's really easy - must be if I can figure out how to do it.Digital photography is great, just snap away and then delete the rubbish, how did we ever manage with film?

Hope you lot are all keeping well

'The un-hurried one'