Christmas in Grenada

Hi Everyone

 

Sorry we have gone a bit quiet, we have been super busy! We’re getting used to the yachtie way of living everyone has 2 names, their boat name and their actual names.  So if your rubbish at remembering people’s names then this is hard work! it’s the boat name that’s used mostly! ‘Hi, we’re Ocean Lady’  So we’re mixing with the likes of Spruce, Bluemoon, Secret Smile, Christina Pearl, Norna, True Blue, Maribel 2, Chalupa and the list of boat names go on! 

 

Since our last blog, we have moved away from Le Phare Bleu marina, and decided to go and explore some anchorages.  We spent a few lovely days in a quiet anchorage called St Davids.  It was a pretty anchorage, but not a lot to see when you go ashore.  We stayed there for a couple of days, had some very relaxing nights aboard the boat but Wednesday we made our way back to Prickly Bay to find a few long lost friends from our Atlantic crossing. 

 

We were delighted to be welcomed by ‘Spruce’ (aka Andy and Sue) and managed to find a space to anchor right by all the boats we met in the Cape Verde Islands.  Suddenly our social life seemed to be busy again (yeay!) we had a dinner invitation from Jan on Thursday (our friend living in Grenada introduced to us from Uncle Mike) and Spruce invited us over to their boat for a BBQ on Friday, Saturday was a big night for Christmas eve at the restaurant (De Big Fish). 

 

Our night with Jan was great, her house is just stunning.  She treated us to traditional rum punch overlooking the most incredible view we had ever seen from somebody’s house!  We were amazed, she overlooks Port Luis and St Georges.  A great evening, fantastic food, great company in a beautiful setting, thank you Jan!!!  We had a great night with Spruce, joined by Pete and Courtney from Norna who has just arrived in Prickly Bay after 25 days at sea. Excellent timing just in time for Christmas.

 

The View from Jan’s house

 

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas eve with a bit of a party at the restaurant ‘De Big Fish’.  We enjoyed a typical turkey dinner and a few festive drinks!  When getting back to Ocean Lady with 15 minutes to go until Xmas day, we put on our Christmas tunes and had a few more beers. 

Christmas eve at De Big Fish

 

Christmas morning we were welcomed with some heavy rain…boooo!!! But as always in the Caribbean it didn’t last long, and we set up our Christmas breakfast on deck.  Christmas pancakes and present opening! Yeay!  We had initially decided not to do presents, but Laura decided at the last minute this was a dumb idea and sent Stuart to the shopping mall.  The boy did well!!!  After some present opening, and calls home to family we set off to the beach.  What a great way to spend the day, on a beautiful beach, lots of food, great company and some frizbee in the sea after Christmas dinner.  We ended up in the Tiki bar where we enjoyed happy hour all night and free pizza kindly given to us by the festive owner.

Everyone just setting up the BBQ

 

Swim in the sea and a game of frizbee to help let Christmas dinner go down

 

Our next bit of socialising was pot luck dinner and open mike night (except it was afternoon).  Pot luck means you bring your own dish enough to feed 6 people, and that’s your ticket to the buffet, we baked a chocolate Christmas cake.  There were some great dishes made by everyone on the boats.  This was followed by Open Mic entertainment where everybody on the boats who could play a musical instrument got up and played a set.  The talent was amazing, Sue and Gavin showed off their talents on the saxophone and flute, while Pete and Courtney played the mandolin and banjo, they were brilliant.  There was a lot of great music and dancing!  Fantastic night had by all!!!we finished the night off at the Tiki bar to say goodbye to Ed and Alice who were crewing on ‘Christina Pearl’. 

Sue from ‘Spruce’ and Gavin from ‘Secret Smile’ play American Pie

 

Courtney and Pete off ‘Norna’ play the banjo and the mandolin

 

We have a local bus driver booked on Friday to take us to the rain forest and waterfalls and other hot spots of the island.  Then we head back to Le Phare Bleu marina on Saturday for some New Years Eve partying.  We plan to go to Hog Island on Sunday and then prepare to welcome back Alan with Margaret! YEAY!!!!

 

Happy New year to everyone at home, missing you all!

 

Laura and Stu

x

 

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone,

 

Love Stu and Lau xxx

Life in paradise/Grenada week one!

Hi Everyone

 

Since Tuesday we have been busy bees throwing ourselves into life in the marina, making friends with other boats who have done or about to do similar routes to us. 

 

We had a great day out in St Georges, such a beautiful city!  If you walk up to the fort you have the most stunning panoramic views across the bay overlooking the bustling city and beautiful marina.  We walked through the busy streets and the market, did a bit of shopping and then attempted to catch a bus home!  So they say catch the number 2 bus to Grenville! …. Not so easy!  We waited, we waited and then finally the number 2 bus to Grenville arrived, only to be told we weren’t allowed on! Humph!!! Probably not a good idea to try and catch a bus at rush hour!  Finally a bus agreed to let us onboard!  Lets just say we were happy to be alive when we reached our bus stop! The driving was interesting!  But a fun experience all the same!

 

Wednesday, we took the marina’s hobie cat out for a bit of a play! And Stu tried to teach Laura how to dingy sail.  I’m not sure he succeeded, but we had loads of fun sailing down wind, and around Calviginy Island which is an extremely luxurious private Island just over the water from where we are staying.  We took our motor dingy for a trip around some of the bays to the south of Grenada, there we found some beautiful little spots!  We even came across a boat that used to belong to the Sail Training project Stu and Alan sail with in the UK ‘Lily Maid’ (small world!)

 

Laura’s Uncle Mike and Jane put us in contact with a friend of theirs who lives out here, Jan has been brilliant. It is especially nice to get in a car with someone who drives more like people in the UK!! She has taken us to some great places such as a restaurant called ‘Umbrellas’ where her and her friends entertained us; and La sagesse a small cove with a lovely beach and restaurant. We were surprised to see cows being herded home across the beach and witnessed a fire baptis baptism.

 

Saturday evening We were entertained by the local chiropractor Doc Adams playing in a rock band, firing out lots of 60’s and 70’s classics. A fantastic night he was brilliant!!

 

Love to all at home,

 

Bye Bye Skipper

Hi Everyone

 

So we have now had a good few days in Grenada, what a beautiful Island!!!

And so nice to have all the creature comforts like electricity :-) we have taken the opportunity to upload a selected number of photographs from our trip.

 

We arrived in Prickly Bay on Thursday, after checking in with customs and having a lovely swim we took the dinghy to shore to have dinner!  We ate in a restaurant called 'Big Fish' here we were all able to skype home for the first time!  Lovely to hear from everyone!  The following morning we awaited the arrival of our Atlantic companions 'Spruce' (aka Sue and Andy) they were due in a day behind us.  A good clean of the boat, a shopping trip and another swim in the sea later and we were preparing to play host to Spruce!

Andy and Sue arrived and we had a lovely evening toasting our successful arrival in Grenada and safe crossing with Champaign!

 

Sunday we needed to stop in a Marina so we have now moored up in a beautiful marina, paradise is the only word! (We will upload photos!) We have access to a swimming pool, pool bar and restaurant and a lovely little beach with lots of shade!  We had live music on Sunday night, and we have enjoyed relaxing with a rum and coke (or few)!  Alan flew home yesterday to spend Christmas at home with the family, so it is just Stu and I left to look after Ocean Lady in Paradise!  (it's a hard life!)

 

We have lots of plans on how to fill up our 3 weeks.  The marina has a dinghy sail boat which Stu will teach Laura how to sail, we are going exploring today to St George's today and then just more chilling in paradise!

 

We hope everyone at home is preparing for a great Christmas.  Lots of love

 

Laura and Stu

Xx

Laura Keeping Watch during a squall.

Day 14 - Roast Pork, cooked by Stu (!)

We were treated to some fantastic Sunsets

Laura's catch the Blue Fin Tuna

Laura baking bread

The first beer - Well deserved!

 

We have arrived!

The subject says it all, Ocean Lady, Alan, Laura and Stu have safely arrived
in Prickly Bay, Grenada. A total of 2291 nautical miles sailed.
The first swim was divine. Ocean Lady's hull looked in great shape, with a
little netting around the propeller and the usual passage barnacles.
Now time to enjoy ourselves. Will post some photos when we have a wifi
connection.

Love to all.

More wind...?

Dear all,

Time flies when your having fun and have the engine on! Since our last blog
progress has been slow. Still managing 120 odd miles a day but mostly thanks
to our star crew member "Perkins" (the engine).
But it has allowed time to do some maintenance, sun sights etc. We are quite
amazed that the trade winds have disappeared, especially so close to our
destination! Frustrating! We are all ready to arrive now. Fingers crossed we
will arrive tomorrow lunch time.

We have put up the light genoa to try and get as much power as possible, and
even tried the cruising shute. Unfortunately there is just not enough wind!

On the plus side Alan was successful yesterday and caught a blue finned
tuna, which will go nicely on the BBQ. we also had another big bite shortly
afterwards, but the fish broke the snap clip - obviously very big and didn't
want to be supper!!

Hope everyone at home is well and getting into the Christmas spirit,

Love from all on Ocean Lady

5th Dec, noon position 12deg 39N, 54deg 41W
6th Dec, noon position 12deg 26N, 57deg 0W
7th Dec, noon position 12deg 13N, 59deg, 25W (estimated)

Headwinds??!!!

Dear all,

530 nautical miles left to go! Yesterday we had a great day of favourable
winds, stronger than forecasted. Ocean Lady continued to chomp the miles up.
After a lovely chicken and pasta supper the skyline got progressively
darker, Stu came on deck for the 8 til midnight shift and within what seemed
like 30 seconds We were experiencing torrential rain and 35 knots of breeze.
Soaked to the skin and four hours left of his shift! - thats the last time
we leave him in charge on his own!! For the next four hours the squalls kept
on coming, wind across the deck of 40 knots and persistant rain! Even with
the bimini up there wasn't a dry place to sit. At midnight Alan came on
watch, the weather wasn't any better and to top it off, Alan was attacked by
a flying fish who got a good clean right hook to Alan's face, the fish then
landed in the cockpit, jumped around a couple of times and disappeared down
the cockpit drain.

The weather has now cleared up, but unfortunately we have light headwinds of
around 8 knots. The sea is slight and we are taking the opportunity to dry
out from last night. We were treated to a pod of dolphins thismorning which
was beautiful and always makes a nice start to the day.

Our noon position yesterday was 12deg 49.9N, 50deg 14.8W
Todays noon position was 12deg 46.2N, 52deg 43W

Love to all at home, xxx

1 ship, 2 lures no fish!...

...On the plus side 5 days to go!!!

So Ocean lady continues to Grenada with good progress. We are hoping for
the wind to stay with us for the next few days and at last the Atlantic
current is favourable to us!!!. Traffic has been quiet, but we did see one
ship last night which came quite close. We are all excited at the prospect
of seeing land!!!

Yesterdays noon position was 12 deg 54.5 N and 48 deg 12.5 W.

The Atlantic has an overwhelming amount of seaweed floating on its surface,
we think it has blown over from the Doldrums. Yesterday Alan threw over the
fishing line only to find a few hours later another one of his lures had
been swalled up by the sea! We attached Stu's silver lure and threw that
over, but to our disappointment that fell to the same fate!!! We think that
the seaweed is catching it! so a trip to the fishing shop is needed.

Yesterday Laura baked a cake, and this morning stu has baked more bread for
us to have with our lunch!!!

Love to all at home

Ocean lady

Day 9

So last night the wind picked up to 35 knots, not forecasted, but still
Ocean Lady ploughed on making fantastic progress.

Then this morning Alan dropped the fishing line overboard and within seconds
caught another fish, Well Billy the fish wasn't interested in being a
splendid meal for three and decided to wrap himself around the towed
generator. To our surprize and Billy's gain he got away. Alan then spent
half an hour untangling the towed generator and resetting the line. it's now
been out for 5 hours and not a sniff!! Equally, Billy the fish will never
try and eat another green muppet!!

The bread has now all gone mouldy and we have resorted to making our own -
just from packet mixes at the moment, but i'm sure we may try a "from
scratch" approach in time. The fresh veggies are also looking worse for
wear. Unfortunately Stu's most disliked veg - cabbage seems to keep rather
well.

Our noon position was 12deg 56N, 45deg 40W, The wind is good at the moment
and favourable for the next 48 hours, before becoming lighter.

Love to all at home, xxx

Over half way!!

Dear all,

We reached the half way point last night, weather is still being
favourable - although last night was very rolly!!
Hope to reach Grenada in 7-8 days time, all being well.
Our noon position was 13deg 01N, 42deg 48W, (Yesterdays noon position 13deg
07N, 41deg 36W)

Hope all is well at home.
x

Good Progress

Dear all,

Sunday was a particularly cloudy and overcast day, winds between 20 - 30
knots. Ocean Lady romped along with her usual collection of flying fish on
deck in the mornings. Laura cooked a fantastc roast pork with roast
potatoes, peas and cabbage last night in very challenging conditions. Last
night was particularly special as we saw two ships during the night. That
has been the only traffic for 6 days!
We are still in radio contact with one other vessel from Cape Verde, we seem
to be doing a very course and speed.
Tomorrow We'll reach the half way stage of ths leg all being well.

Our Sunday noon position was 13deg 37N, 36deg 23W.

Love to all at home,

xxx

Wind at last!!

Dear all,

Friday was a particularly fustrating day, hot (too hot), slight seas and not
enough wind. It would take us a month to get to Barbados with the current
wnd strength! With the thought of missing Santa shimming down the mast the
engine was started when needing to charge the batteries!

Our noon position on Friday was 14deg 12N, 30deg 26W. it was Alan's turn to
cook are we were served with a lovely plate of sausage and mash. Then
steadily throughout the night the wind increased. it was lovely to turn the
engine off and be maintaining a good speed towards our destination.

After an early lunch today we were treated to our first squall. A thick grey
cloud appeared from astern. Alan and Stu quickly reduced the headsails and
in turn we treated to a soaking! The cloud has now past and we've dried out,
Ocean Lady is back on course and doing 6 knots towards the Caribbean.

Our noon position was 13deg 55N, 32deg 38W.

Love to all at home hope your having a great weekend.

xxx

Day 2 at sea - slow progress

Hello Everyone

 

Our GMT noon position was 14deg 40N, 28deg 39W.  Our night sail started off well last night and we made good progress. The wind has since dropped, and Stu and Alan are busy trying various sail combinatons to make the most of what little wind we have. 

 

The sun is boiling hot, the bikini is out, roast pork for dinner...happy days!!!

 

Love to everyone at home

 

Ocean Lady!xxx

Hello from the high seas!!

Hello all,

Our noon position was 15deg 58N, 26deg 49W, We have settled back into life at sea and all is going well. We have a mini radio net work with three other vessels who left at the same time as us, it is nice to know we have company out here, although the horizon is clear!

 

Love to all at home,

Stu xx

Good Bye Cape Verde Islands

Dear all,

 

After a short stay we are leaving today heading for Barbados. We anticipate it lasting about 14 days, but again that is weather permitting.

 

We have had a very short and pleasant stay here in the Cape Verde Islands.  The marina is nice with helpful staff.  Our biggest issue has been communication, wifi access is very sporadic, and once you’re on its not long before you get pushed off! So apologise to friends and family for lack of or minimal communication.

 

We have found the Cape Verde Islanders to be generally very friendly and keen to help.  There are definitely the general characteristics of a developing country when you leave the marina.  Food sellers in the street probing you to buy from them, ladies with food balancing on their heads, lots of welcoming locals keen to introduce themselves to you, with something they can offer you!  The atmosphere is very relaxed, chilled (bit of an African feel to the streets) lots of people looking generally very happy despite mostly looking for ways to get food or money.  70 % of the population are under the age of 30 which means there are lots of children playing and looking really happy which is really nice to see.  The architecture definitely has traces of Portuguese influence, and the roads are very straight and cobbled, a little roman like!  We like the feel to this Island, and wish we had more time to explore…but onwards and upwards to the Carribean! J

 

We will keep in touch as best we can!

 

Love to you all

 

Ocean Lady

 

2 fish caught, 1 bucket lost and Arrival at Cape Verde

Hello Everyone

Ocean Lady has successfully arrived at Sante grande in Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands.  The crossing from Lanzarote took us 7 nights in total, and such a lovely crossing.  One day of no wind, other than that we have had 20 – 25 knots of breeze from the North East. We ran under twin yankee headsails both poled out. This was fantastic, a little rolly on the first day of setting it up, but this was because of an underlying Atlantic swell. Once set up they were adjusted twice.  See photo uploaded.

 

The skies have been clear, the stars have been shining, shooting stars can be spotted almost every night! We had the most incredible encounter with dolphins as previously blogged.  Unfortunately in my desperate attempt to take a photo that will justify how amazing it was, I took about 20 photos none of which justified it.  See the uploaded photo.  There are others that we can bore you with when we get home J

 

The fish quota was lacking, we tried green muppet lures, silver lures etc! But in the end the green muppet won.  We were very excited to be called to the deck from Alan who was fighting to reel in the fishing line.  He had caught a Mahi Mahi weighing in about 10 Ib, the little thing put up a good fight,  but unfortunately it lost and Stu is preparing it for dinner tonight…yum yum!!! Alan’s skills in gutting fish were immense all done and dusted in 5 mins…Stu on the hand trying to clean the mess up not so good, and managed to lose Alan’s favourite 15 year old  bucket overboard, a bucket that has been with the boat since she was launched and seen Alan through 80,000 miles of sailing…feel guilty Stu??? J

 

We have seen flying fish scanning the surface of the sea, and one was even caught on board (see photo).  After 4 days of seeing no other boast the satisfaction of seeing land, and even better other boats was even great.  One British couple in the marina have recognised the boat from Lanzarote and it turns out they leave on Tuesday for Barbados like us, so we can try to keep in contact during our journey. 

 

Love to all at home

 

Ocean Lady

Any one around?

Hi everyone,

 

We are racing along towards Sao Vicente, with an eta of tomorrow lunch time. It will be nice to have more than four hours sleep, let alone in a bed that doesn't move!!

 

Progress has been fantastic a large swell is helping our cause, Ocean Lady even touched 9 knots last night, it was a good job it was during Alan's watch else I'd get told to take some sails down! We haven't seen any ships or yachts for the past three days!!

 

We have just had brunch in the sun, chorizo pasta left overs from last nights supper.

 

Love to all at home, and congratulations to my parents on their 34th wedding anniversary today!

 

Love Stu and all onboard Ocean Lady 

Dolphins...lots and lots of them

We are now into day 4 of our crossing to Cape Verde islands we are aimimg for Porte Grande Sao Vicente. The trade winds are still with us, and the boat is moving at 6-8 knots through the water. The waves are incredible some even higher than the boat, but the boat just casually glides over them! its a fairly smooth ride! Yesterday was amazing, we had a lovely dinner on deck, and Stu took a look out to see if any boats were on the horizon, he saw no boats, but he saw a LARGE pod of dolphins, chasing the boat jumping through the air, dancing for us!!!! This isn't the first visit from dolphins but this time there were at least 40 travelling with us and showing off.  They stayed with us for about an hour! (although whilst i write Stu has just shouted down that they are back!). That has made our day! 

 

Today, Stu is trying to use the sextant to navigate using the sun and the moon.  (dont worry mums...the GPS system remains on) its been a lovely day today, clear skies, boiling hot sunshine and plenty of wind to get us where we want to be.

 

Today at noon GMT we were in position 22 deg 23.1N, 19 deg 26.3 W

 

Love to all.

The trade winds have arrived!!

Dear all,

 

After spendng Monday motor sailing towards the Cape Verde islands around 9 pm GMT the wind started to fill in, increasing to 16 knots. We have lowered the main sail and are running on twin headsails. Ocean Lady is in her stride now touching 6 and 7 knots. it is quite rolly at the moment, but we are settlng into offshore life.

Alan hasn't caught anything yet but is persisting.

Our Noon GMT position was 25 deg 46.3N 15 deg 50.2W

Roast pork is on the menu tonight :-)

 

Love to all.

Where is the wind????

After leaving Lanzarote we headed south with a lovely 10 - 15 knot northerly wind, giving us between 4 and 5 knots of boat speed. it was lovely to turn the engine off and know that we are on our way again. it was Alan's turn to play chef and we were served with a lovely plate of sausages and mash.

Then around midnight the wind had decreased and the engine was turned on again!!!

There is absolutely no wind today, we knew it would be light to start off with but this is horrible. The deal was that we were going to sail around the world - not motor around! However, a good test for the new gearbox. Thank you Neil for your advice, glad we opted to purchase a new one.

Alan has started fishing again, so perhaps something fresh to complement our diet??

Our Noon GMT position was 27 deg 16.3 N, 014 deg 03.3 W

Love to all.

Bye Bye Lanzarote

Dear All,

 

Alan arrived about 5:30pm yesterday, with hand luggage consisting of a new gear box for the engine, by 6pm both he and Stu were busy installing it.  Thankfully all fitted nicely despite a few swear words when they dropped screws in the bilge.  We have just downloaded a weather file and have decided to set sail for the Cape Verde Islands today! Sun is shining brightly with favourable winds, so our journey should be a little better than our journey from Gib.

 

With a crew of 3 we have worked out a rotating watch which means Alan and Stu will be on watch for 4 hours and then have 4 hours off, and Laura will be with both for 2 hours, meaning everyone manages to get at least 4 hours sleep.  We are hoping for at least 2 days in Cape Verde Islands, but should the winds drop we may end up having to go straight over to Barbados (before heading over to Grenada for Christmas). We are looking forward to a pleasant sail nonetheless. 

 

We will update the blog with our locations and any interesting stories on our way!  Love to all at home!

 

Ocean Lady

xx

Life on board in Lanzarote

Stu and Laura have now been in Lanzarote for 4 days since Alan and Margaret left on Saturday for the UK.  The marina is lovely and the sun is shining.  We met up with Stu’s family friends John and Hilary on Saturday afternoon who happened to be holidaying here.  We were glad they were able to come aboard Ocean Lady, and were grateful to them for taking the time to see us on the last day of their holiday!

 

We have treated ourselves to a meal out at a nice restaurant, but have been good and cooked on board the other nights, although this is very difficult when there are so many nice looking places to eat!  We have been struggling with wifi here so apologies to family and friends waiting to skype. 

 

Turns out life on a yacht is very sociable, we have met other couples who have quit jobs and set to sea for a year or more!  Last night we were invited onto a Dutch couple’s boat for drinks, they left this morning so we are now waiting to meet the new neighbours. 

 

We hope to finish jobs today and then go for a look around the volcanoes here on Thursday. Fingers crossed we plan to leave on Sunday for the Cape Verde Islands.

 

Love to all at home especially those in West Drayton, thinking of you! 

Stu and Laura

xx

 

Hello from Rubicon, Lanzarote

Hello everyone,

 

Sorry for the lack of contact since leaving Gibraltar. We have had issues with emailing when at sea, followed by tough weather which made trouble shooting the issues impossible!!

 

Since our last blog life hasn’t been plain sailing. The wind turned off overnight so another day of motor sailing (Wed), then on Thursday the wind started coming from the south  west – exactly where we wanted to go!! The wind ranged between 20 and 40 knots, with a large Atlantic ground swell, making conditions challenging. Trying to sleep in the Saloon was akin to trying to sleep on a rollercoaster!!

 

We have been eating well, dinners range from Tuna and pasta bake  (not freshly caught – yet), roast lamb, Gammon etc, until conditions got bad when we opened Morrisions Beef stew and dumplings – new improved recipe (similar to dog food) served with some fantastic  visual effects of head over the side by Stu prior to eating.

 

Even in the windy weather the sunsets have been stunning, the night sailing has been moonlit and the stars are blinding every night.

 

Finally after a very drawn out voyage we arrived in Porto Calero around 3am on Saturday. Unfortunately the Marina was full and we had to move down the coast to Marina Rubicon. A lovely marina complex with pool, restaurants and good facilities. Sadly Alan and Margaret have unexpectedly had to fly home so Laura and Stu have been left with a 40 foot yacht in the sun. Unfortunately the yacht needs a good sort out and clean following the voyage! But we are looking forward to a few days of rest and catching up on sleep, followed by some exploring of the Island.

 

Love to all,

Stu

 

Laura’s additions for all non sailors!

Offshore sailing in not so nice conditions = NOT being in my bikini the whole way round, thermal tops and offshore kit have already been out! Before using the toilet battling with the pump to ensure you can pump your wee out before it leaks over the toilet due to the rocking of the boat.  Not showering for 5 days, banging your head whilst trying to get up for your watch in the middle of the night, or even better at 4am in the morning.  Waking up to find all our clothes on top of us after getting hit by a squall (lots of wind).   Cooking involves clinging on for dear life so that you don’t end up wearing your lovely hot dinner that is cooking on a moving stove! Oh yeah, your toilet is not a toilet its ‘the Heads’ a kitchen’s not a kitchen it’s ‘a galley’ my bedroom’s not a bedroom it’s an ‘aft cabin!’ jeeez I have lots to learn J don’t worry this all said! A great adventure! And despite being assured uphill sailing wasn’t going to be part of our trip, I have been assured that the next trip will all be down hill!  I am still typing with a grin on my face, and looking forward to the next chapter! Now off to absorb some sun, food and drink! J

xxx

 

Monday 31st October

Hello all!

 

I arrived on Friday to be greated at the airport by Alan, Stu and Laura, smiling from ear to ear, as it means no extra night watch now I've arrived!!! The first port of call was the local cafe for a full english breakfast.

I had a quick look around the boat, clean and tidy. However, when I was told that they had bought all the essentials I could only find a huge cupboard of kit kats, sweets and biscuits! But they had managed to buy a large sack of onions and potatoes - so off to Morrisons we went.

 

One overflowing trolley of shopping later and we were set for sea.

 

Saturday began with a clear sky and a good forecast. We left the marina and headed out into the Gibraltar Straits into 30 knots of breeze on the nose. With a speed over ground of 2 knots, it wasn't the most upbeat start to the voyage!!  However, a beautiful sunset, calm seas throughout sunday meant a little too much use of the engine, but an easy start to Lauras' first offshore passage.

 

Monday morning began with the wind filling in a nice 10-12 knots from the NW, Alan managed to get the cruising shute up, which we flew all day until the wind started to increase around half an hour ago.

 

So far we've seen a pod of pilot whales, a loan turtle and a sparrow who hitched a lift for a few miles.

 

At 1200 UTC today we were in position 33.52N 08.42W or 250 miles from Gib, around 50 miles off the coast.  

 

Hope everybody at home is well,

 

Love Margaret xxx

 

 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. . . Explore. Dream. Discover."

BYE BYE Gibraltar!

 

We’re ship shape and Bristol fashion! Full crew and all functional, 2 men with empty wallets after our 5^th trip to the supermarket provisioning! Stu and Alan have port rot and ready to go! We set sail tomorrow morning at 10am for our first offshore passage to Lanzarotte.  We anticipate it will take us 6 days of sailing to get there! There we plan to be there for 3 more days.  We will be in a marina so we will hopefully get good wifi and have lots of skype with friends and family!  We will make sure we blog along the way!!!

 

We have met a number of boats in Gib that have chosen to sail through the Suez Canal (danger waters!) and have some pretty close calls (like 60 miles away from the boat that was recently attacked by Somalies!).  One boat was a young family!  Crazy people!!!  We can confirm we are heading no where near those waters and area amazed by these stories! 

 

We are happy to announce the safe arrival of Margaret this morning, and we are all now waiting for Stuart to put together our feast tonight of  cooked chicken, salad and nice fresh bread!!! Yum yum!!!

 

Love to all at home and abroad!

 

Ocean Lady

xx

We have arrived in Gibraltar!

Wahay…Laura finally gets a chance to blog!!! Here it goes!

 

We arrived to a very sunny Spain (Roquetas) to a beautiful boat, unpacked, craned the boat out of the water so we (that’s the royal we!! I did the shopping!) can work on changing the propeller, I made the sandwiches for lunch! Which personally I think was the biggest contribution to the days activities!  Then after getting the boat back in the water, I was delegated the task of cleaning bird poo off all the boat covers, and this is where it all went wrong!!!  My plans of throwing myself into the yachtie life, hoisting the sails, grinding the winches and covering my night watch to Gibraltar didn’t quite happen!  Eeek…whilst bent over cleaning poo of sail covers my back decided its had enough and gave way! So the past 4 days has seen me in laid up in the cabin with a bad back!   Not quite the start to the trip I had planned!

 

So whilst Stu and Alan have prepared the boat for sea, sailed the boat from Roquetas to Gibraltar (overnight), cooked three evening meals, and made copious amounts of tea/coffee…Lady muck here has had her feet up watching them and being waited on hand and foot! Something tells me I’m not going to live this down! The good news is after 4 days of being laid up I am now on deck, moving normally and fighting off the mickey taking.

 

Apparently according to my two crewman, our first sail was accompanied with lots of showers and headwinds and then no wind and plenty of motoring! (didn’t miss much then did I J ) however, they were accompanied by a pod of dolphins following the boat at night distinguished by the phosphorescent glow, I hope we see lots more of this!!!

 

We arrived in Gibraltar this afternoon, sun is shining and all is looking good! We hope that Margaret will join us by the weekend, and we can all head to Lanzarotte together.  Please come soon…the male conversation consists of too much boaty language I struggle to understand. 

 

Missing you all lots but now I’m up and about we are all looking forward to a fully functioning crew, and a nice sail to Lanzarotte.  We think weather permitting and Margaret’s arrival we will leave either Friday or Sunday. 

 

xx

 

 

Preparations!!

Dear all,

We are safely aboard Ocean Lady. The flight was good and on time despite having to get up at 02.30 to get to the airport on time.

 

The sun covers have been washed, Ocean Lady was lifted out, bottom cleaned, propeller changed, anti-foul touched in. She’s now back in the water, we still have lots of provisioning to do and plan to leave Roquetas del Mar to Saturday to sail to Gibraltar.

 

Love to all,

 

Speak Soon

 

 

T minus 9 hours!

Here we go!!!

Laura’s leaving party was a great success, thank you Sian, Lisa and Elaine for your efforts organising a great send off. Well done everyone keeping it a secret - I know there were a few close moments!

 

Thank you Linda for dropping us off at Alan and Margaret’s.

 

Thank you everyone for your well wishes,

 

Ocean Lady

Nearly there!!

Hi everyone,

Just thought I’d better start using the blog site we’ve set up.

15 days left in the UK, Laura finishes work at the end of this week, before spending a week with family and friends in Cardiff. I’ve still got a week and a bit left in work L

We’ve moved out of my house and our tenants seem to be settling in ok. A big thank you to Matt, Steph and Grace for letting Laura and I use their house in the meantime.

Stu x