Studying lights

My captain is making sure that I read my signs and lights, every night - for the hearings in the mornings. He is a very strict captain, my man, and he doesn't accept me to run away from any lessons or fail on any of my homework. Good with some discipline for a sometimes unfocused and distracted girl like me though.

It is of major importance that everyone who's intending to keep a night watch on a sailing passage knows what lights are shown on the ships and ferries we might encounter on the sea to decrease the risk of colliding with them. This, and the color combinations of buoys are on my reading list for tonight. /Taru

Cards can be found here: http://www.flipcards.co.uk/

Portraits of the night

Stocking up the galley

The sun came back and... then it started to rain again. And what else can you do in miserable weather than wallow yourself in shopping. We have finally finalized our provisioning for the Atlantic passage and feeling content with the selections made (not the weight of it though but that's another story). Also we have had the chance to purchase the pressure cooker which so many people have been suggesting for us, I cannot wait to start using it - and a whole lot of other kitchen ware. One of my favorites for this week is this measuring cup in stainless, which indicates both Scandinavian measurements and American at the very same time. I am getting old apparently. Feeling almost as much excitement over a piece of baking equipment as I did with Chanel boots in lambskin leather for only a year ago. 

By the way, the maximum-spend-of-1000-Euros-per-month-budget we were planning to put into practice for this world tour, will have to wait even longer. At least until we get out of this place. We are way over that one for the moment and if we'll keep on like this we will most probably have to go Robinson Crusoe style very very soon. /Taru

Everyone loves The World Tour!

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Have a look at what the French sailing portal NewsWinch have to say about our blog and our tour around the world. Here translated to English.

Photo and link from Newswinch.com

Hot fish soup with saffron

This definitely reminds us of UK when looking out on the constant rain pissing down outside, for the third day in a row. Or wait a minute, we are actually in the United Kingdom, suddenly it all makes sense. It's raining cats and dogs, like the Brits would have said. Non stop downpour - and the teak which were supposed to have gotten it's final tlc this weekend, must now face a terribly destructive shower instead. We will most probably have to stay here for 2-4 days more as of the bad weather that is preventing us from finalizing what has to get finished.

It is quite funny in a way. We have left the normality for many reasons but one of the foremost is that we do not want to be controlled and manipulated by any authority or the laws of the society. Basically we have chosen not to live a life that someone else have chosen for us, but instead living our own life as we strive for being as self sufficient and free as possible - and here we are, always controlled by the weather and winds. A paradox that on the other hand isn't too hard to live with - but interesting to reflect upon. There's always someone/something that has the last word in your everyday life and decisions. If it is not the structures of the society or governmental laws, it is the nature that stops you from certain things.

Here's a soup I made to get us warm in this terrible cold we're facing over here in Gibraltar. Make one for yourself if you wanna keep yourself hot.

Soup of cod filet, saffron and chinese mushrooms

Pan fry slices of onion and add some garlic cloves.
Cut in pieces and pan fry cod filet, 250 g would be enough for 2 people.
Bring some sliced shiitake mushrooms and red pepper cubes to the pan.
Sprinkle over salt, pepper and cayenne.
Add a dash of soya and some saffron.
Add whatever else you have in your fridge that could make sense. I had some crab sticks which made a good combo.
Add 2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt and the same amount of water.
Pour some white wine into the soup. One tablespoon is enough.
Leave it all to simmer for a while.

And there you go. Hot fish soup for cold winter nights.

Vaccinations

Oh I forgot to mention the vaccinations we've made. We now have 10 years of vaccine against yellow fever, hepatitis b-c, polio, tetanus and diphtheria. We also got medicine to take in case we would get  bitten by mosquitos carrying malaria (important for the Panama/Colombia region) and some more powerful adrenalin ampuls. Well done. /T

Tikka masala

There's a quite a few Indian restaurants in this small town. We're still in search for the best one..

भली भाँति नींद आना

/T

Morning read

What y'all reading this morning? I'm reading about head injuries and informing myself on what I would do incase some of us would get injured by a fish hook - this is a very common accident on boats.

Some of you can't read, I see. There was an Epi-Pen on our picture there so no need to worry folks. Especially important is that little piece of medicament as Alex is allergic to wasp stings and could basically die would he get stung by a wasp. Epi-pen is therefore of major importance for us. So also to get a hold on morphine, imagine yourself. Being hit hard in the back by the boom or being close to death cause you accidentally stepped on a dangerous seashell or such - and you can't at least have your last high of some kind? Terrible thought. You guys on land have always a doctor or an emergency clinic to call on - on the sea we have to be our own doctor/surgeon/nurse etc.

We do of course carry with us codeine based tablets already which are quite strong but nothing goes up to the real deal. And I love that some of you are so worried for us and want to guide and lecture us in everything from how dangerous our glass ware in the galley is, to tell me how bad is my party/social smoking, to which medicine we should and should not carry and what is dangerous for us in general - but believe me. We are not born yesterday and we have good control of all sorts of things we could possibly have studied beforehand. So also the health and medicine department and as the control freaks we both are, nothing would get overdosed (to a dangerous extent), in case it wasn't the last minutes of our lives, obviously.

So, where is that morphine again? 

Also for all you nicotine haters out there: obviously I do know the side effects that comes with smoking and I do know how terribly dangerous it can be for ones health, but I would like to take the chance to inform you that tobacco would be able to save Alex's life, incase we wouldn't have an epi-pen on hand when he gets stung by a wasp. So I'll be happy to carry them both from now on thank you. And most comfortable and safe I'd feel knowing that there also is a good dose of opioid aboard, in case of some other serious accidents would occur.

Happy thanksgiving to all of our American readers by the way! I wish you all a beautiful holiday.

/T

The medical department

We've been to the doctor today for general consulting and health check up. We seem to be in good condition both of us, thank you very much. Just waiting for some test results and the tooth repair kits and then we're set for now. These are some of the medications we could get prescription for. Here we have most antibiotics and treatments for things such as diarrhea, chest pain, wasp sting, ear and eye infections, urine infection, stomach pain and other aches, sun burns, skin cuts and wounds, allergic reactions, skin infections etc. Hoping to not have to use any other than these.

Unfortunately they couldn't prescript morphine or other stronger pain killers in this clinic, which we must try to find somewhere in the Canaries. All very important to have aboard for our journey as doctors will be rare to find in tiny islands and remote locations. Not to mention if we get a boom in the head, get bitten by a shark or whatever else serious that could happen in the middle of an ocean. Obviously we will avoid all those kinds of serious accidents, but you never know - better to be on the sure side. 

If anyone can recommend a hospital/doctor in the Canaries who can write prescriptions for stronger medications for a journey like ours, please let me know. /T

Cous cous salad with chicken and buttered chanterelles

I'm all into living a comfortable and stress-free life. Some (Alex) may claim it is partly laziness that is living within me, I prefer to call my philosophy "the right pace of living and enjoying life while avoiding as much obstacles as possible". I have simply made a calculation and understood that I rather spend the precious minutes of my life on things that I enjoy, than on things that gives me headache, stress, too much work or just stupidities in general. When it comes to food I, too, make my life as simple as possible. Don't get me wrong here. I love superb, qualitative food and also to prepare it - so some work there has to be put in it, but I do like to make it easy and comfortable, cutting out all extra work that is not needed, according to preferred standard. For example, I have became an expert in using leftovers and also to cook more than I need, in order to be able to use the leftovers for suitable meals for a couple of days after the main dish. On a boat - this, along with great plastic storage containers, is invaluable as you wish to make things easy and painless to avoid messing up that tight little galley space (and to clean it after) way too often.

This salad is a great example of "the day after meals" - that actually is made one day after the famous chicken burger I made the other day, which also means, two days after the original chicken meal I made to start with. From the leftovers that was generated, I have here turned it all into a delicious cous cous salad with chanterelles. And this is how you make it yourself:

Boil some water and follow the instructions on your specific cous cous package. Basically, you just boil some water with salt and olive oil. When it's boiling, add equally amount of cous cous as of boiling water - into the hot water, take it off from the stove, whisk it all gently, put a lid on and leave it to soak in for some five-ten minutes. While this is soaking, pan fry the leftover chicken you found in your refrigerator. Cut some red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes in petite cubes. Throw it all into a bowl, add the cous cous, some rucola, the hot fried chicken and don't you forget to also pan fry some chanterelles in butter and salt and throw them in the salad as well. Add salt, pepper. Done!

Now when I think about it, I should have added a dash of truffle oil into it as well, I'm sure it would have been the cherry on the pie.

Cous cous is, by the way, one of those things we will stock up a lot of for our Atlantic passage. A great substitute to pasta and rice and it is so very quick to prepare. Definitely gives some good change to all that pasta we'd probably eat on that long journey. And it goes terrifically well with fish and seafood, as well. /Taru

A good day of sailing

Here's how we approached Gibraltar yesterday. Good speed and great conditions all the way through. This is how we like it. Enjoy our (wet) little ride. /T

Sails arrived!

Finally we have the new sails with us! Looking good and we will try them out as soon as we have the chance. Can't wait! By the way, we will be staying here in Gibraltar now for the next 4-5 days to finalize some work on the boat before we head on to Morocco and later on the Canaries and as we are new to this town, we would like to have some suggestions on some things. Can anyone please tell us where to find:

- A good, english speaking doctor.

- A dentist.

- Some nice and cozy restaurants.

- Marine chandlery.

- A sail repair shop where we can get our lazy jack stitched.

I know that many of you guys been here, so please give us your best tips, thanks! /Taru

Approaching Gibraltar

After leaving Benalmádena on late afternoon, Saturday, the sky looked something like this. Black and heavy clouds were covering the mountains and great parts of the sea. We realized that the thunder clouds could create some problems and messed up winds, especially with the wind that already were building up, but we wanted to give it a try anyway. Went OK for the first hour, 15-20 knots of wind from the land giving us relatively good conditions, but shortly after we lost it and the winds kicked up enormously.  More to the point, right after we passed by Fuengirola, we noticed the strong effect of the tides (there are no tides to fight in the Mediterranean, they are supposed to start in the border between the med and the Atlantic).

We were hoping to find a current right by the coast which could go our way, but unfortunately we had both wind and currents against us, no matter how we changed direction. The winds were completely erratic, clocking from SW to SE in some seconds and then back to NW where we started. Irregular gusts to 45 knots kicked us back and forth and spray and 1,5 meter (5.7 foot) waves splashed us and the boat full of water from all possible sides - for hours - and then it all went back to completely dead and calm with 5 knots of wind for ten minutes only to recharge and then it all started again. Do I have to say that we did a minimal progress? Ha! You should see the track on our plotter. Back and forth, back and forth.. After fighting with the completely non sense conditions for almost nine hours and only making a progress on the actual route with 18nm, we decided that we have had enough of getting beat up and we called it a day. I suggested for us to go to Marbella to get wasted and forget about the battle for a while and so we did.

We tied up in the fuel dock in Puerto Banus around midnight and went out for dinner and wine. We didn't get wasted though because 1. Alex drinks alcohol only on very rare occasions so I had to be the only one taking on that project and 2. Because one glass of wine was perfectly enough to knock me and my tiredness out. Oh god were we tired. 48 hours of non stop sailing (with a 30 min stop in Benalmáden) totally hit us hard. Haven't done this much sailing in a row since our summer vacation in Corsica/Sardinia/France in August. 

The day after (yesterday) it all looked much better. The sun was back, the dark clouds were gone and we got a pleasant 25-30 knots of wind straight on the beam with occasional gusts to 40 kt. We flew straight towards Gibraltar and we are now safely docked up in Marina Bay. Will show you a video from the passage, later on. /T

Soon in Gibraltar

Because of all the projects we still had hanging over us since we left Barcelona, and because we needed to pick up parts and things here and there along the coast - we haven't had the possibility to make longer passages until now. We left Aguilas around 9am yesterday morning and have now arrived in Benalmádena. 29 hours later and 160 nm away from where we started. There has been very little wind and we had to unfortunately have the engine on almost all of the time. Luckily it's still alive and working good.

Wouldn't we have had the need to stop here in Benalmádena to pick up one more thing for the air generator, we would have head straight to Gibraltar - but we'll make that last leg of 50 nm tonight. Better get used to longer journeys now as we have a 600 nm passage* to make to the Canaries in a couple of days from now, and then the exciting 2800 nm** crossing to the Caribbean in December. I don't think you can be even close to imagine how much we look forward to get out from the Mediterranean sea and enter the Atlantic side in a couple of days from now. And not to mention the thrilling day of when we will be able to cast off from the canaries for the long Atlantic crossing.. /T

Photo from last nights sunset. 

* This will take approximately 4-5 days.

** This leg will take approximately 3 weeks.

Chicken burger for lunch, yes please!

A very simple dish, perfectly suitable for moderate conditions on the sea is - the burger. Burger of any sort really (can't wait for Alex to catch some fish so I can make it a fish burger), but this is one of our favorites.

Let me present to you the super easy* chicken burger. (*because life aboard is all about making things easy, no?)

Take a couple of hamburger buns. Throw them into oven to grill for some minutes. You want them to get warm and crispy, but never too burnt so watch out.

Take a few pieces of grilled chicken fillet. You can either heat up some left overs from last nights chicken meal or simply use some hot and ready parts from a grilled chicken from your local chicken butcher, or make it hard for yourself and pan fry/grill a couple of fresh fillets yourself. The latter is as great as time consuming so I recommend one of the first two options because sometimes it is OK to be lazy.  Whatever piece of chicken you decide to go for, make sure it gets soaked up in some nice flavors. I would suggest salt, pepper, ground chili powder, soya and perhaps some garlic powder, in case there wasn't enough spices already.

When the chicken's ready, sprinkle some mayonnaise on the bread. Or why not try the delightful Cesar dressing that you can find almost anywhere nowadays. This is to be followed by some leaves of fresh rucola, some slices of a tasteful cheese, (I used the amazing Swiss cheese Appenzeller.. oh lord how glorious it is), finalize the deal with some red garlic and some red pepper. Sprinkle some fresh ground pepper of preferred kind and over with the top. Voilà! This is too good to be true - and so incredibly easy to execute. Perfect for a quiet day on the sea when you feel like enjoying the sun and the beautiful surroundings, rather than spending too long time below in the galley.

/Taru

After rain ...

... comes sunshine. The air seems to be a bit warmer today than the other night. The engine seems happier with a new thermostat*, the windpilot from Sailomat is installed again and is working perfectly, we're on our way again and we have only one more cape to round today before we can head straight to the West to eventually get out of the Mediterranean in the beginning of next week. We feel ultimately happy and blessed for having this opportunity to do what we are doing and to be able to follow our dreams - and despite some smaller technical or mechanical problems that occurs some times in between, it is all so worth it in the end. Thank you universe for this beautiful life we have been given! /T

*still need to replace the head gasket in Gibraltar though - hoping that this will make it enough for the engine for this time.

SPOT/MESS

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Clip from SPOT's FAQ site.

Clip from SPOT's FAQ site.
_____________________

Holy goddamn shit how we've been running around this stretch of coast to localize lithium batteries, as the SPOT trackers says (in big letters in the back of the machine) that this is the only type of batteries that can be used with it. When we have been searching in three cities for three days and even took a turn through Cartagena and ten nm extra sailing - only to search for batteries and still we couldn't find any - we just found out that SPOT only "recommends" the Energizer lithium batteries because they have a deal with Energizer and that actually the Alkaline batteries (from any brand) would have worked perfectly fine all the way... but "only in emergency situations" as they call it. We lost three days and peace of mind because of this bs.

End of this story now. We'll keep on with the tracker and our alkaline batteries (which were the only ones we could find) until we'll find a better and easier solution to track our position. Or until SPOT decides to sponsor us with their new SPOT communicator and free batteries for our tour around the world.

Until we announce anything else, you can now again find us here (with a strange turn through the country while we've been in search of lithium batteries.

By the way it is interesting to see that our world tour is the third most tracked tour in the world, according to SPOTWALLA's top ten trip list. /Taru

Winter weather

Wow it is really cold over here now. As a cold front is sweeping through Spain, we have not much more than 15°C (59°F) to look forward to in the nights. Brrr. Totally not what we find enjoyable, so similar to Scandinavian weather and that is exactly what I'm trying to run away from! Hoping that our journey around Cabo de Gata tomorrow will bring us one step warmer in direction. Here's some cold photos for you, it looks like winter doesn't it? We spotted a couple of large black Cormorants yesterday before arriving to Mazzarón, or at least we think they are cormorants. They were approximately 1,5 m (4,7 foot) between wings. And another large white bird that looked like a penguin of some sort, although we understand that here are no such things as penguins in Southern Spain, in case they didn't flew in wrong with the terrible cold front from Antarctis... (penguins don't fly, I know) Any bird lovers maybe can tell us what species we've seen here? Thanks.

Mazzarón is by the way where we still are and will be sailing away from in a couple of hours. (Find exact location here.) The stupid SPOT tracker requires by the way Lithium batteries only, not Alkaline. Alkaline batteries in size AAA are for your information very easy to find, so are not the ones made of Lithium... They are simply nowhere and in no town of Spain to find so no tracking until we eventually find what we're looking for. Hopefully they have them in Gibraltar at least.

/Taru

Good morning love

One of my duties in life, as far as I am concerned, is to be a good wife* to my man and try making him as happy as I can. And if he says he will miss excellent coffee on our world tour, I must find a way to deliver it to him. Just like any good wives would have done. So after trying out a couple of different brands and styles, I've found one that is  good enough for my discerning captain. Here served with hot milk, a little bit of brown sugar and breakfast of his choice. Freshly baked bread with butter and clementine marmalade from Corsica.

*No we're not married, we just love the word wife instead of the silly epithet girlfriend. I have a strong feeling that a marriage is not the best way to go to be able to keep the love alive and long lasting. Real, profound love is the key word in my vocabulary rather than social institutions, a ring on the finger and printed words on a paper. We'll see about this later on, might be I have to change my beliefs just because of having the opportunity to get to be called wife by the person I love most. (This is very unlikely though, I rather borrow that title now and then.) Any name suggestions other than soulmate, partner and gf/bf, are very welcome. /Taru

P.S: We still have no new batteries in the SPOT, but we're now on our way towards Cartagena FYI.

Last night

Danish Havarti cheese, some grapes, Spanish delicacies and a cheap bottle of the traditional Mediterranean wine, René Barbier - the best appetizer for calm nights like last night. /T

Mar Menor

Don't worry if you can't find us on the SPOT tracker, the batteries are dead and we'll get new ones tomorrow. We've just arrived to Mar Menor, some miles South of Torrevieja and just before Cartagena. Looks like a beautiful place, although it was a bit thrilling to enter. Under a bridge and through a couple of channels linked to each other with a depth of 2 meters (6,5 foot) in the lowest part. It was a bit scary to maneuver the boat in strong wind and currents but Alex made it well just like expected and now we're here and it's time for a home made dinner and some nice wine (or me wine, Alex probably juice as he doesn't drink much wine and rarely alcohol in general. Did I tell you that nights like this always ends with me drinking the whole bottle and Alex's totally sober? Nice balance.) Cheers and good night.  /T

Varnishing in Torrevieja

The five layers of varnish on the new cockpit sideboards* in okoume looks fantastic. Gives such a new, fresh feeling to the boat. Will show you more pics later on when the framings are mounted. 

We landed in Torrevieja late last night after a late departure from El Campello, 32 nm away. We've done some engine part shopping here today and will probably move on in a couple of hours when some additional things have got installed. This boat life is really a never ending project and we should be very happy if we arrive in the Canaries before December. Thank god we're not part of a race! /T

* is this the name of it in English? 

Various pics Spain November 2010

Captain filling up with vitamin C. 

This is how most of our nights looks like. 

Tired but happy..

Alex have found himself a new sport. 

Good spray going.

Pasta salad with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, rucola and salami for lunch.

Fishing-boat in fire.

Amazing skies... sometimes it feels like you're inside of a colorful painting. Surreal and magnificent.

Fruitsalad...

Docked up to the gasolinera in Moraira.

Check in paperwork in marinas.

Sailing outside of Benidorm.

The look from inside thorugh our new portholes.

Tonight's sky between Alicante and Torrevieja.

Morning in El Campello

Good morning folks,

It's a beautiful day today! I will now take my little shopping cart and do some provisioning for the next few days. Heading towards the Mar Menor area later on and the winds seem to be in our favor, this morning. Hopefully we do not have to motorsail today again. Fed up with having to hear that noise all the time. We want wind in our sails! /T

Afternoon tea on the sea

Some chai tea and english biscuits makes for a perfect warming on chilly afternoons on the sea. Cause even though the weather might be as close to summer you can get daytime, the nights are still pretty cold - for a few more days before we get even closer to the African coast I suppose. We're enjoying the last sunshine hours tonight like this. /T

Celebrating life in Moraira

One of our Facebook friends, Jeremy, advised us to go to Moraira which apparently was very pretty - and after doing some shorter research on Google, we found out that Moraira indeed could be something worth trying. We arrived very late in the night, like always, 25 knots of wind was pushing us from South straight towards the tight entrance full of rocks and shallow water. But we made it through safely and could get a more or less peaceful sleep docked up to the gasolinera. When we woke up this morning we realized what an incredibly beautiful place it was that we've arrived to. Such a genuine and somewhat untouched (at least very quiet now in off season) little fisherman's town with class and sophisticated style. 

We decided to make the Sunday breakfast into a champagne breakfast to celebrate a couple of things. Firstly, as we just received some wonderful, fantastic news from home which involves two very dear friends of ours - news which also reminds of what, too, is a beautiful meaning of life, and second of all because we just noticed that we are now closer to Africa than we are to where we started - and it suddenly feels more real than ever, this journey that we have embarked on.

We will stay here in Moraira for the day to finish a couple of smaller boat projects and move on towards Torrevieja later on. The weather is fantastic, 26°C (78°F) already in the morning and perfect Westerly winds are forecasted for the afternoon.

All of my love today goes to you two at home, I so wish I could have been there with you as we speak. /Taru