22nd Feb 2009
OK – here we go again – first sail of the year and a start at heading back home. After being in VRSA since mid November last year it’s time to be moving; we had spent Christmas and New Year back home in Scotland and were back in Portugal on the 21st Jan and stayed with Fran & Richard in Castro Marim (5km up the road) for the first 3 weeks back. So we didn’t have to get straight back into ‘boat mode’; which was great. After moving back onto the boat we did a few jobs and had to change back to the ways that suit doing the various day-to-day things that are specific to living on the boat.
We left VRSA at 7:15am and arrived in Vilamoura at 3:30ish so that wasn’t bad – I was surprised that the paddle-wheel log (tells the speed through the water) actually worked – it normally gets a growth of weed or barnacles and stops working if the boat has been stationary for a couple of weeks or more. But we did have a moment of concern when the engine overheated – when I checked it out we found that the saltwater was leaking into the freshwater side of the engine cooling at the ‘Bowman’ heat-exchanger. The result was overheating and also the filler-cap (same as on the car radiator) was venting all the extra water into the bilge. “Pump ‘til you lose suction, Ballast Pump!!...” The good news was that it wasn’t a burst pipe in the heat-exchanger – just the ‘Jubilee’ clips on the end connectors - 45 minutes and the engine was back in action.
23rd – walked to Quarteira, about 3km away and will do the same tomorrow to see the Carnaval parade.
Internet and WiFi are not easy to get here either so we have to go to ‘O’Neils’ and suffer the beer / wine and comfy seats while we check the weather forecasts and e-mail.
All being well we will move to Albufeira on Wednesday but it’s only about 7 miles.
12th Nov 2008
Now parked up in Vila Real de Santo Antonio (Portugal) until about February / March next year, we came along from Isla Cristina on Monday 10th. More later....
30th Oct 2008 (photos and a few words)
We are now in Chipiona again and the following pictures are :- 9 from Fuengirola, including a couple of Bob & Di on Sheer Fantasy; 12 from Gibraltar, including 1 of us with Fran, Richard, Irene & Mick, 2 general photos of the Rock & Airport, 4 of damage in Marina Bay and 2 of damage in Queensway Quay after the storm force 12, and 3 of the Boat Beastie in Gib; then 1 of Cape Trafalgar, 1 of Cadiz and lastly 10 from Rota.
There have been a mixed bag of people that we have met recently that are either crossing the ‘Pond’ , heading into the Med or making towards their chosen wintering spot and others that are long term ‘live-a-boards’. Pete & Annie on Tigress of Deben who are crossing to the Caribbean and are now in the Canaries; Colin is living aboard in Gib and his boat was quite badly damaged after being caught under the cement jetty (when the surge came after the winds); Erin and Rob will winter in Gib and then explore the Med in ‘Juggler’ ; Dorthe & Jesper (from Denmark) on ‘Pinton’ will winter in Seville and then also explore the Med ; and Martin & Marsha (from Holland) will also go to the Med after the winter (and then possibly the Caribbean). We have tried to pass on the latest information ( as we have found it) and hope it will be of some use to the people travelling to places we have been.The weather windows are happening less now and I think we are ready to be parked up for a decent length of time , and not have to worry about watching the weather and tides so that we can move along to the next place..
There have been a mixed bag of people that we have met recently that are either crossing the ‘Pond’ , heading into the Med or making towards their chosen wintering spot and others that are long term ‘live-a-boards’. Pete & Annie on Tigress of Deben who are crossing to the Caribbean and are now in the Canaries; Colin is living aboard in Gib and his boat was quite badly damaged after being caught under the cement jetty (when the surge came after the winds); Erin and Rob will winter in Gib and then explore the Med in ‘Juggler’ ; Dorthe & Jesper (from Denmark) on ‘Pinton’ will winter in Seville and then also explore the Med ; and Martin & Marsha (from Holland) will also go to the Med after the winter (and then possibly the Caribbean). We have tried to pass on the latest information ( as we have found it) and hope it will be of some use to the people travelling to places we have been.The weather windows are happening less now and I think we are ready to be parked up for a decent length of time , and not have to worry about watching the weather and tides so that we can move along to the next place..
26th Oct 2008
OK ! Where are we now ? Rota – at the north end of Cadiz bay.. We have been to Barbate after Gib and then to Cadiz – and the story goes like this…. We had been having small problems with the cooling water (sea water) for the engine before Gib and it looked like a combination of the hose collapsing and cutting off the water supply to the pump and the pump not being as good as it should be ; well we gave the pump a severe talking to and went to the fuel dock to top up before leaving Gib – but there was a queue so we hung off and waited but the inside boat ( a big Oyster 655 “Solway Mist 2”, Royal Thames ‘Blue Flag’ ! ) had sent crew ashore to get shopping from Morrisons – so we waited about 1 &1/2 hours before we got the diesel (too late to catch the tide past Tarifa now…). However there was very little cooling water going through the engine so we had decided to remain in Gib to fix the problem. For whatever reason we were forced to stay in Gib - the entertainment was quite good -- a certain ‘Blue Flagger’ that was chased off the fuelling jetty was hanging about just outside the marina to waste time while waiting for the crew to return with the shopping.. However – they were just off runway and had caused a couple of flights to be delayed in take-off - we tried calling them up on ch16 and a couple of other channels that they should have been listening to but got no answer ; the airport staff were using loudhailers (Tannoy system) ; Port Control calling on the radio - and all got no joy. So eventually they were impounded at one of the off-lying jetties by the port police launch. There was a lot of follow-on to the incident – and all a good laugh (to us) – while I had another look at the cooling water pump and then it checked out OK. So the main talk of Gibraltar had been the ‘Hurricane’ and the yacht that delayed the flights….. We left for Barbate next day ; having a reasonable sail on the way (no engine temperature problems). But then from Barbate to Cadiz we had to nurse the engine with no wind to sail, at about 1500 revs to keep the temperature down. That was a very auspicious day as we were rounding Cape Trafalgar on Trafalgar day -- - there was even the sound of loud gunfire in the air. However it was not the ghost of Nelson and the ships-of-the-line but the firing range south of Cadiz. It was due to stop at 12:30 (utc) so we didn’t have a problem. Arrived in Cadiz OK but had decided ‘en route’ that we would not leave until the cooling pump had been fixed.. so we ordered up some spares via the internet on Wednesday afternoon and waited, went to the office on the Saturday morning and the parcel was there already, the lady in the office said that it had arrived on the Thursday – absolutely amazing!!!
It was also amazing the difference the spare parts made when fitted to the pump - those interested in the technicalities can ask me for the details.
We did not enjoy Cadiz this time as much as the last time that we were here – don’t know why - - maybe because Jaap & Diana are not with us.. We are ready to be moving on, and hopefully not go to the places that we visited on the way out to the Balearics ; although that will be un-avoidable in a lot of cases. So now we come across the bay to Rota which has come highly recommended by all the people that we have met that have already visited. It’s only a short walk into the old part of town ( which we like ) and also a totally new place to us. We’re trying to get the timing right (weather & tides) for going into Vila Real and Isla Canela but hope to get a few days here to explore before then
The next post should be some pictures of the disaster areas of Gib and a few others; and also to bring you up to date with some of the new acquaintances that we have made and where they are heading..
It was also amazing the difference the spare parts made when fitted to the pump - those interested in the technicalities can ask me for the details.
We did not enjoy Cadiz this time as much as the last time that we were here – don’t know why - - maybe because Jaap & Diana are not with us.. We are ready to be moving on, and hopefully not go to the places that we visited on the way out to the Balearics ; although that will be un-avoidable in a lot of cases. So now we come across the bay to Rota which has come highly recommended by all the people that we have met that have already visited. It’s only a short walk into the old part of town ( which we like ) and also a totally new place to us. We’re trying to get the timing right (weather & tides) for going into Vila Real and Isla Canela but hope to get a few days here to explore before then
The next post should be some pictures of the disaster areas of Gib and a few others; and also to bring you up to date with some of the new acquaintances that we have made and where they are heading..
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