Morocco is a colourful land of contrasts – be it the deep blue Atlantic ocean meeting the red dry desert, the proud Berber culture mixing with westernised ideals, the traditional Muslim people living their lives next door to Christians and less adhering Muslims, the extremely rich and the extremely poor, the list goes on… It seems that most cities perpetuate this contrast by having an old or often ancient side to the city as well as a new, more modern city.

MOROCCO – 17th to 30th October 2010

The ‘metal works’ area of fez

What is particularly striking is that many of the old cities retain not only the architecture, the primitive sewerage and water supply systems, the smells – good and bad, fashions, shops, markets, but also the way of life, the traditional trades, crafts and modes of transport, whereas 1 mile away the modern end of town works in banks, air-conditioned offices, drive the latest European and Japanese cars and shop in French & Italian designer stores.

No cars allowed in old fez – deliveries are by Donkey or hand pulled cart.

The old city in Fez, is my favorite by far in Morocco and I would recommend it to anyone who visits this part of the world to go and spend a few days absorbing this incredible place.

Simon and Michelle returned to Squander a few weeks ago after three days in Fez, with a multitude of stories, experiences, souvenirs and not to mention  Simon’s ongoing reminder of the dodgy Moroccan lamb or was it the tagine that he ate… apparently Bali belly and Deli belly have nothing on the “Fez express” – ‘cause that’s what you need to make it to the bathroom in time..!

Simon admiring the Camping Gas bottles – we use these on Squander and have often spent days looking for a supplier, never knew they did home delivery!

So with Squander’s water & fuel tanks freshly filled, my latest BAS and tax returns almost finished and the recent memories of Fez still fresh in Simon & Michelle’s minds, we set sail out of the capital of Morocco, leaving behind some newly made friends and a modern city in the making.

It was a full moon, and other then the lack of wind, conditions were perfect for the next 36 hours – with night watches being illuminated by a huge moon that came up before the sun set and set after the sun rose – incredible to see a spectacular sunrise to port and a full moon fairly high in the sky to Starboard whilst sailing along the North African coast.

Sunrise to Port (our left).

The other good thing about full moons is fishing…!! which is of course different to ‘Catching’ but fun nonetheless – our rods were going off all day long hooking all manner of fish, but despite over a dozen hook ups we only managed to land 4-5 Tuna and no Mahi Mahi despite hooking a fair few of them only to see them getaway before we had a chance to slow the boat down and reel them in.

We sent this one back…!

Ahhh… that’s better!!

Michelle got in on the action and landed a great Tuna shortly after sunrise. We made good use of it that evening – a Sushi and Sashimi feast – kirko, if you’re reading this we dedicated this one to you mate!!

We’ve been doing extensive research on Tuna preparation and have drawn inspiration and guidance from as far afield as Japan, New Zealand and California to learn to properly kill, bleed, set and prepare tuna for Sashimi.

Strips of tuna ready to be made into Sushi.

Sushi rice and seaweed sheets – check.

Short on ingredients… improvise – tuna olive sushi!

Et Voila!! Freshly caught, lime juice seared Sashimi and Tuna/Olive Sushi…. served at sunset!

And what a sunset it was! definitely one of the most spectacular ones we have seen in a long time!   

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It seems that every passage, no matter how big or small is marked by something new happening. On our last night at sea this time around, we were motoring and managed to get an old fishing net tangled around our prop. It was midnight and I was alone on watch. Simon’s cabin is right next to the engine and he instantly heard the drop in revs and the banging sound as a big clump of plastic netting weaved itself around our prop and drive shaft – he was standing on deck before I even had a chance to slow Squander down… we fairly quickly ascertained that I hadn’t run over a working net and that whatever it was, the only way to get it off was to go overboard with a knife and torch…

Simon was still feeling crook from his dodgy camel burger in Fez, and so I volunteered to jump in – there was a bit of wind and some lumpy swell around – definitely a new experience – diving under a 10 tonne boat as it lurches up and down whilst moving at 2 knots through the water, holding on to a rope in one hand, razor sharp knife in the other and a torch half in mouth, half out – it was a professional operation – NOT!   it took a while, and wasn’t something I would want to do again in a hurry, but it was worth it as we managed to get going again within half an hour and it earned me a Hot shower at sea – yeaaaaah!!!

As a new day  & Michelle’s final day at sea awoke, the wind started picking up and the fish started getting bigger… the fishing lines were buzzing every hour or so but  today the fish were going to win the day… the elusive Mahi Mahi kept on getting away, however this did not deter us from going after them nonetheless. In the end, not only did  a big one get away, but it got away with one of our fishing rods… it was the skipper’s fault from beginning to end, who set the fishing line out for one last try, forgot to put on the safety line on the rod and managed to put it in the rod holder that wasn’t done up tight enough…. nice one GAV!!!

One of the last known photos of the fishing rod  lost at sea– we miss you!

By mid afternoon we were back in the land of contrasts – this time in Agadir… a kind of Moroccan Los Angeles where instead of a film industry there’s a large fishing fleet. Agadir was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 1960’s and as such is a very modern city by Moroccan standards. A sprawling, seaside city of lo-rise buildings, industry and 30,000+ beds aimed at European tourists.

Arriving at the Marina – friendly, yet thorough, officials are housed in this building.

We saw a couple of boats anchored outside off the beach, but at 120 Euro per week, we opted for the modern facilities of the Agadir Marina. It is right next to beach that stretches for a good 10 kms or so and it wasn’t long before we introduced our newest crew member, Andy Patrick from Queensland, to beach frizbee – the squander game of choice.

… and of course our other favourite pass time soon followed.

And as evening fell, the mountain behind the marina lit up in full glory, the streets came to life and for team Squander it was time to have one last night out with Michelle who was leaving us to continue her epic journey… I will let Simon take over from here. Simon’s Squander’s entertainer and comedian – keeping us all laughing aboard for hours on end – take it away Seeeemon!

Thanks Gavino. Well as Gav just said, we all decided to go out for one last night with Michelle. The night didn’t start off that well as the taxi we flagged refused to take the four of us in one cab forcing us to get another cab then both of them charging us double the normal fare so we ended up paying quadruple what we should have! Being that the total amount came to a little over $2.75 we decided to let it slide.

After a word or two to the shifty taxi driver we went to find a decent place for dinner then afterwards, at Michelle’s request, to the local English pub to watch her perform Karaoke.

She’d been hounding us to go for weeks and we’d all managed to side step it but being it was ‘her night’ we indulged her and we have to give credit when credit’s due, she was really good. Her rendition of Alicia Keys’ ‘Falling’ left many a Moroccan man in awe. Well done Michelle. Hope all is well in Amsterdam.

And then there were three. With it now an all Aussie guy crew with no exotic females to encourage us to watch our p’s and q’s, we stopped sucking in our guts, exhaled and went on a bit of an exploration of down town Agadir. We ended up at the local souk (market). Now I had only just met Andy and wasn’t sure whether  he was going to be a ‘stiff’ or not, so I kept him under observation for the first few days. He opened his account with a big plus by announcing he has an appetite that rivals mine and suggested we start our market tour with him shouting us a little snack. Next thing Gav, Andy and I are all gnawing on a ‘minced fish ball cooked in beef fat’ sandwich. Awesome. Keep it up Andy – you haven’t consolidated your spot yet but you’re on your way.

Once inside, the market resembled Flemington’s Paddy’s Market in Sydney only a little more old school and a few less birka-clad ladies around. All the expected stalls were there. Fruit and veg, nuts , meat and clothes. One of the highlights of the day was Captain Gav buying us a couple of kilos of the forbidden fruit – Bananas!. “Make sure these are eaten before we get back to the boat boys” was the order.

‘Hey my friend, buy my socks they’re 100% original’

We made our way through the wholesale mayhem picking up some good supplies for the trip to The Canaries. Gav managed to find a guy selling wooden products and went in to try haggling over a backgammon set. After 1/2 an hour of verbal fury he walked out of that stall with a snappy backgammon set and 400 of the 600 Dirham asking price in his pocket – Nice work Gav.

The magic potions made of the local of Argan oil

The local “Fatima’s secret” lingerie stall was doing a bustling trade, with “Bras, birkas & things” across the road in close second.

The most intriguing thing about this photo is the “Inspector Clouseau meets Inidana Jones” guy on the left of the picture.

This guy behind the counter was a bit of a meat head.

Farouk – North Africa’s most famous olive artist.

So much to choose from. In the end we couldn’t make up our minds and just left it.
Andy & Bessie hit it off from word go.


The Doogie Howsers of the Moroccan meat world, these young guns finished their apprenticeships at age 9.

I wonder if this truckie was an Albert Einstein fan who famously said “Life is like riding a bicycle, you have to keep moving to keep your balance.”

After a quiet night we rose early the next day, hired a car (small car!) and headed north to check out the surf. 50 kms later we ended up at ……………. where we found a nice little 4 ft wave. It was great to finally hit a beach with waves after hanging around the surfless Mediterranean.   

Another bonus of having a car was that we got to check out a few cool little beach towns. One town in particular stood out, Taghazout. We stopped there for some lunch and to check out the local surf culture. We took a look around and stumbled upon a surf shop which was selling ‘authentic’ Billabong board shorts for a fraction of the price. We actually couldn’t tell whether they were fake or not so needless to say we collectively walked out with 10 pairs – wardrobe sorted for the next few months.

They say that car break ins are common in the beach carparks – not today boys!
Scenes from Taghazout.

The Africa Surf Shop selling original Australian, made in China, Billabong board shorts for $20.

That afternoon we headed back to the boat to finish off a few  jobs in preparation for our leg to the Canary Islands. One of the more pressing items was to repair the dinghy which had a slow leak. You’ll understand the necessity of a reliable dinghy a little later on.

So with our work done and the boat ready to set sail , we thought we should invite our Swedish next door neighbours over for a drink. They were quite happy to join us for a quiet drink as they were planning on leaving bright and early the next day for the Canaries. Henrik, Kirsten and Kalle were the three people in question, Henrik and Kalle best friends and Kirsten, Henrik’s sister. These guys are on their way around the world in a boat half the size of Squander. They say that its a little crammed but comfortable enough, but after the ‘quiet’ drink we ended up having with them I don’t think that the Queen Mary would be comfort enough for them the following day.

After spending a good two weeks in Morocco it was time to set our sights west,  so on the morning of 30th October we left Agadir en route to the Canary Islands and beyond.

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CANARY ISLANDS – 31st October to 17th November 2010

On the trip over from Morocco, we couldn’t stop hooking tuna on the fishing rod that Gav didn’t drop into the ocean. Unfortunately the freezer on the boat was playing up and we were only able to keep two and throw the rest back. 8 lucky tuna live to see another day – Oh well, we’re after dolphin fish anyway.

The following afternoon we landed in Graciosa, a small island at the top of Lanzarote. We anchored at Playa Francesa at around 4pm and got word of a beach Halloween party so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately instead of the bikini clad girls that we imagined, it was a party for families with little kids and turned out to be the third most boring event I’ve ever attended. Fortunately a storm blew in and the party prematurely ended so we got to go back to the boat to eat our fresh tuna and afterwards watch a few episodes of Entourage over a few rums. 

Playa Francesa anchorage with a volcano to the right soon to be conquered by Gav, Andy and Simon.

There are no sealed roads on Graciosa.

We spent the next few days checking out the island and its main town Caleta del Sebo. A cool little town centred around the marina with laid back bars and cafes that we used wisely to pump a few Euros into the Island’s little economy.

On our final day on Graciosa we decided to do 2 things that we don’t get to do that often these days – wear shoes & walk. We had been hanging out on the boat every day being looked down upon by the highest volcano on the south of the island and decided we had to climb it.

Andy and Simon negotiating the steeper than it looked ascent in 50 knot winds

View from the top. Squander hiding in the crowd.

Not only did we climb it but we made our descent on the other side and trekked back around the island checking out the beaches and coastline. 12 kms in total – We’re not forgotten.

The next morning we were having a bit of a sleep in after our Everest like climb when Jim, an English guy on another yacht, came over in his dinghy and asked if we could give him a hand. The wind was up and he had a problem with his engine and needed us to push him with our dinghy when he raised his anchor so he didn’t get blown into the rocks. Gav was busy plotting our course to the next island so Andy and I went to sort him out. “ Andy you stay on my port side and give me a push. Simon you can raise the anchor” says Jim. I asked Jim where the switch for his anchor winch was but like everything else on Jim’s boat it was broken. “You’ll have to pull it up by hand” Jim say. 45 metres of chain later, we finally got Jim on his way. “I’ll buy you boys a beer in Rubicon if I see you there” were Jim’s parting words. We saw him in Rubicon and he didn’t buy us a beer….Stiff!

We hired a car in Lanzarote and went exploring and in search of a wave.
The old trick of wait for a van full of surfers and follow them from a distance to find the local breaks.

Hi everybody, Andy here – I’m new on the boat and thought I would throw some initial words down… As I understand it, Gav had huge ambitions for this trip. A direct quote from his advert on Findacrew.com – “My partying days are mostly behind me, we will be in search of unspoiled bays… avoiding party towns and tourist traps… blah, blah, blah”. As you can see from the following photos he has failed miserably. Nothing un-spoiled about air hockey, bowling, Sega rally and a good old fashion bender chasing girls. – Andy out!

Andy ended up air hockey king but I smashed him in bowling

We left Graciosa on the 3rd of November and headed down to Rubicon Marina on Lanzarote island, where we got a berth in the marina and did a bit of maintenance on the boat. Ran into Jim a few times but never managed to get that beer he promised… Such a Stiff. 

From Rubicon it was an overnight hop to Las Palmas, the capital of The Canary islands, on Gran Canaria Island. We had to be there by the 8th of November to meet two rendezvous’. Firstly Agatha, our floating crewmember was flying in to rejoin the crew for the Atlantic crossing. Great to have you back on board Ag. Secondly, the ubiquitous Juliana, our friend from Ibiza, was also flying in to catch up with our fearless leader.

We arrived a day earlier which gave us time to clean the boat and generally get it ready for female company. Agatha is good value and I’m happy she’s coming back but the down side is that I now have to share my double cabin with Andy as she gets the single to herself.

With the boat all clean and Andy relocated into my quarters we decided to go and check out the local sailor bar. Now it usually takes us 1 or 2 days to find our feet after landing in a new place but today it took just one afternoon. Introducing Mojgan and Rebecca. Two Norwegian girls of Persian decent on a boat called ‘MAD” who are participating in The ARC, a rally for cruising yachts starting at Las Palmas and ending in St Lucia in the Caribbean. We got talking to these girls and before long they became part of our posse joining us for our new found hobby…… bowling

Supercoach Simon… “If you just hold the ball like this Mojgan, let me put my arm on your hip… yep that’s it…, nice form”

Rebecca had her own style – Looks ok but ended up in the gutter

Just one more game… then back to the unspoiled bays. Gav was the king of Sega rally  but I smashed him in bowling.

Andy and Rebecca in a bit of road rage.

The next day our two new guests arrived on their respective flights. Agatha in from Paris and Juliana from London. We all met at the local bar for a drink then dinner at Pier 19 – good food and lightning quick wi fi internet. Then it was back to the boat for our jetsetters to get some rest.

The next 8 photos were taken over the following 3 days. You may or may not notice but there seem to be no images of Gav or Juliana. I wonder where they got to?

Denise, Rebecca, Agatha and Mojgan

With our new crew down to 3, Andy, Agatha and I hung out with Mojgan and Rebecca getting in on the official ARC party where free food, beer and wine was on offer. A good night was had by all, especially Agatha who led from the front after a good nights rest.  

Mojgan took a liking to Simon, wrapping him up early…

Now the following 5 photos show the benefits of having a reliable dinghy. Andy and I recently serviced the outboard, cleaned the fuel filters and threw some new spark plugs in – she’s purring like never before. 

Real subtle Andy…..

Skipper’s away, the crew at play – nothing like skurfing in a packed anchorage!

Nice form….

Anyway I think I’ll hand the blog reins back to Gav for the next series of photos which incidentally were taken over the same 3 days as the above ones. Back to you Gavino.

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Thanks Simon… nice work, I think we have definitely tapped into a hidden blogging talent and look forward to some READER COMMENTS!!!

Yes, when the skipper’s away the crew shall play – it was great to come and hear all the stories, meet new members of the cruising posse and recount some of my own experiences from a great three days exploring Gran Canaria with Juliana.

I sheepishly suggested to Juliana that we could visit a rum distillery… and to my surprise she supported the idea wholeheartedly… the 100 year old local producer in the town of Arucas holds approximately 2 Million litres of rum of various vintages and has started a fun tradition whereby famous people either autograph or paint a barrel – they wouldn’t buy my story of being a friend of a kinda infamous celebrity in the infamous town of Manly in Australia

A rum tasting at 11:00 am is always fun!

Then it was time for lunch in the town of Teror.
Before finding our hotel hidden in the middle of a Banana plantation.

The next day we explored the North western part of the island.
There was a BIG swell hitting the shores which added to the eerie isolation of this area.

Abandoned vineyard??

And time for an afternoon swim followed by an ice cold beer….! nice.

We spent the rest of the afternoon slowly exploring the dramatic western coast, before realizing that we were some 50 kms away from the hotel we had booked for night two – it was at 2000m, on top of a mountain that was accessed by a winding, single lane track…. nothing like a few games of Sega rally the night before to inspire putting a manual, 1.3 litre hire car through its paces, hammering up a mountain road with a sunset in the background…. oh and Juliana enjoyed it tooo!!

We arrived just on dusk, having gone form 28 to 15 degrees and thick fog.

The next morning we were greeted by some sensational views, blue skies and the realisation that it was time to say goodbye again. Thanks for a great couple of days Ju, hope everything worked out in Belgrade!

I dropped Juliana at the airport, and spent the afternoon putting final touches on my side project – www.ChartSwap.net – a website for buying, selling and swapping second hand electronic charts & cruising guides.

By the time I got back to Squander it was early evening and we all stayed aboard, cooked dinner and exchange tales from the previous three days.

The next day we ran around buying bits and pieces for Squander, fixing what needed fixing and putting final touches on the preparation for another Atlantic crossing. We got a lot done including replacing the Speed transducer, getting gas, buying a new flat screen TV for Squander, restocking our grog supplies, buying some scuba diving equipment, getting the Scuba diving compressor serviced, replenishing our fishing equipment and a bunch of other small things.

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Incidentally, as I write this, the fishing  has taken a positive turn… preview from the next blog below!

More of this to look forward to in the next blog!! This one metre long Mahi Mahi was caught 200 miles off the coast of Mauritania on 21 November 2010.

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Back to the canaries and some more parties…

Friday night, we invited the MAD girls and the crew from Birka (www.28fot.com) for a few pre going out drinks. 

Simon setting the rules early – we come as a package Mojgan – it’s ME &THE BEER or nothing at all – now gis a kiss!

ANDY: Looks like your partying days are behind you Gav…… Better stick to those unspoiled bays…! GAV: see what happens when you leave permanent markers lying around young kids!! 

Martin (MAD), Gavin, Agatha, Mojgan, Piers, Rebecca(MAD), Simon & Andy – incidentally MAD stands for Make A Difference – a charity project run by Rebecca and Mojgan helping street people get back on their feet by helping them develop business ideas.

Time to say goodbye to The Canary Islands and head for Cabo verde.

Andy’s super work softening the spreaders to save the mainsail over the next 20,000 miles home. 

and we’re under way – Agatha is adapting really well seen here having a shower off the back of the boat….as Andy contemplates a new haircut  – you heard it here first!

Until next time readers.

Simon & Michelle left for Fez 2 days ago, something about Simon wanting to buy an original Fez hat?? and left me alone to sort out my BAS, last year’s Tax return and do some much needed research & planning on the next phase of the trip – how exactly will I squeeze sailing across more then half the planet in less then 12 months is still a slight mystery, but one thing is for sure – we won’t be bored!!!!

Desperately seeking reader/researcher/summariser!!

So… back to Cagliari in southern Italy. I will never forget that town as long as I live, not because of its narrow streets, big harbour or many fun bars… but because of that dreaded unlocked wi-fi spot, the only one in Italy it seems, that allowed my iPod touch to get online and download a facebook update that announced to me (only 2 weeks after the rest of the world found out about it it seems) that Luciana was engaged to be married – yes, if you’re on facebook, then you definitely didn’t hear it here first… so apologies for being Hendo with the late news to all of you facebookers!

With that ‘interesting news’ in hand, we sailed out of Cagliari. It somehow seemed that the weather gods were mysteriously synchronised with me. In the next 3 days the weather played out my emotions to perfection.

First there was a blinding white light, or was that the headache after the quiet night out to celebrate my newly discovered eternal freedom….

Then came THUNDER AND DARK CLOUDS and to be honest they lasted longer then necessary – no really… we had a storm, and very uncomfortable seas for a good 24 hrs which was an unfair, yet extremely well handled introduction to sailing for Michelle our new crew member!

But as they say, every storm has to end sooner or later and as the chart plotter and instruments proudly announced that Ibiza was getting closer and closer by the hour, my mood lifted and with it the mercury rose on the thermometer, the clouds parted and we had ourselves a new day…

by the end of day 2 at sea we were humming along at 7.5 knots, with an inspiring sunset, great music and a chunky freshly caught Tuna for dinner – did someone say plenty more fish in the sea??!
 

And so it was that we arrived in the middle of the night to a great anchorage near a tiny fishing village on the Spanish island of Formentera. The next morning was brilliant, warm – sun was shining and we had free wi-fi again… hahah this time it was put to good use – we jumped on Skype and organised a couple of Parties to go to in ibiza! I might add that Ibiza has become the only place on the planet without surf  to make my “favourite places I would consider living in” list…!
 

What to do in Paradise?… work of course… hahaha Some months ago I met a fellow Aussie – Rosco – who described Sailing around the world as “Working on fixing broken sailing equipment in exotic places”.

Thankefully, nothing was broken as such, so we decided to work on our breath holding ability here by cleaning the entire hull which was starting to develop some speed reducing growth – Now Squander as beautiful as she is, is a well endowed lady with a fat ass, ahmm should I say…. a “disco butt” to match the best of them – so it was no small job for Simon & I to freedive with a snorkel and fins for 3 hours whilst scrubbing her derriere!! 
 

We love having girls onboard!! Squander seems to come to life – The fun of men behaving badly really wears off after a while and it’s an incredibly welcome change to all involved to treat our olfactory receptors to smells that are not derived from competitive noise attenuation! Not to mention the vacuum cleaner gets to see some daylight, the tea towels get boiled (WTF???!), the carpet stain remover gets opened … ahmm shit – we’re giving it away! Seriously though, great to have you onboard Michelle!
 

As the sun set on Formentera, Squander was squeaky clean, the mood had been restored and we decided to sail a few hours north to EsPujols – beautiful white sand beaches, crystal clear water and no crowds – such a stark contrast to when we were in this area some 2 months earlier in the peak of the European summer.

 
The only sailboat in the anchorage, Squander looks on as we explore the shore.

Should have been here last week!! This bar had its closing party for the summer 5 days earlier… as we admired the location and the potential of this establishment, Simon proudly announced “well I’ve found my wedding venue, now i just need a bride” – ladies you heard it here first… if this strikes you as a place you might utter the words “i do! “ email your profile photos to us for consideration. 
 
Where to next?? Ibiza in the distance, Squander makes the cut again and in the foreground a reminder of how much of the world there’s yet to see.
 

Ibiza here we come… again!
 
Introducing…. or should I say re-introducing Juliana… fun loving, Jet setting Ibiza local, who calls London home, hails from Sao Paulo, has a slight Aussie accent after living in Sydney some years ago and…. god I wish I was a gambling man – this has good odds – may yet become Squander crew member of the year in 2011!

Ju happened to be in Seville seeing U2 as we were battling storms in the med and suggested that instead of continuing on to dreary old Gibraltar, we all rendez vous in Ibiza for a couple of closing parties… what a great idea!

When we were last here, we researched what to do and where to go – and despite all of the recommendations as a “must do” party, we never made it to the Monday phenomenon, in an old airplane hangar near the international airport, known as Circo Loco at DC10 – so it was with great enthusiasm that we accepted the invitation to go to the party of all parties – the DC 10 Circo loco closing party in Ibiza!!

Despite being mates with the crazy clown, we had to pay the entry fee, which at $50 Australian Dollars was by far the most reasonable of all closing parties in ibiza – Space was charging $100+ just to get in… and once inside at all of these venues drinks are a mere $20 a pop!!! …. so, the idea is simple – get loaded before you get in, careful you don’t over do it and top ya self up once inside!
 

Drinking in the carpark brought back memories of Thursday nights at Epping pub, when as poor UNI students, we would go to the Coles supermarket car park across the road, throw down a half bottle of vodka and then go to the pub – c’mon – someone here has to remember those days!

This photo was meant to have a plane over our heads, but they fly by so fast that we missed it!

This Motley crue seemed to have all sorts of dares going on! or so we hope…

Pretty in pink – old Cesario wasn’t sure if he was Arthur or Martha!

Big Simon bitterly disappointed when he realised it wasn’t a jet plane, but a measly twin prop!

Carpark time with an esky on the hood – love it!

Juliana, Arancha & Sergio!

Ze Plane, Ze plane!

We checked out the lineup, and confirmed that we ran the risk of showing our age as I didn’t have the faintest idea who the headlining DJs and artists were, but nodded my appreciation nonetheless and made a note to google it as soon as I got near a computer…!

In saying that, as soon as we made it inside, we were in good company – it was great to see Marge looking as sexy as ever. She impressed us by bucking the trend to go easy on kids these days – in fact she seems to have adopted some of homer’s eye popping child rearing techniques when it comes to handling Bart!
 

Hello!!!

Simon, protecting Ju from the overzealous cop who pulled out his gun…. and squirted water in his handcuffed girlfriends’ face!

and on that note the party went into overdrive…. as planes roared over head, the sun set in the distance and we had one of our most fun nights in Europe!

The “slightly military PAN AM airways hostess” was having so much fun she was on the phone trying to cancel her tour of duty!
 

Absolute legend from Argentina – Sergio rocking out!

 
Don’t feed the animals… Simon befriending wolfman!

Simon continues his lifelong mission to befriend BIG UNITS – generally classified as massive monsters that most of us would shy away from at the best of times! This guy was self appointed as being responsible for closing the closing party! Nice keys mate!

And so the party wound down, Ibiza hung up its party shoes for another year and we had a couple of really fun days, hung out and relaxed but somehow didn’t take many photos… so you’ll have to take my word for it!

A special mention has to go out to Macao Cafe in Santa Gertrudis – great food and a wicked way to spend an evening – Thanks Juliana!

Before long, the 5 days of fun had ended and it was time for all of us to return to our respective realities, For Sergio and Arancha it was back to work, For Juliana it was a flight back to London and for Simon, Michelle and i it was time to leave the Mediterranean.

We sailed into the sunset with a great breeze behind us, however it didn’t last for long – the med gave us one last slice of what it does best – too much wind or NO WIND!!
 
At least it was warm and Sunny – motoring for 2 days in dead calm conditions – lucky we picked up some extra fuel in Ibiza!

Michelle getting stuck into her Kindle – that thing has web access anywhere and its free to surf the web on it!

The next day, approaching Gibraltar, we got caught in some annoying freezing cold Squalls and rain showers – not to mention the fog – first time I have not been able to see Squander’s bow whilst standing behind the wheel – seriously freaky with all of the traffic around us – Also the first time we have truly relied on the Radar for navigation – now I get why people sing its praises!

The marinas in Gibraltar were full, so we decided to try out the newly openned (September 2010) marina at La Linea de Concepcion – www.puertodeportivoalcaidesa.es – plenty of room, cheaper then Gibralatr and great facilities – only prob was that Wi-Fi was seriously overpriced!

Gibraltar was only a 10 minute walk away and so the next day we decided to go in and get some duty free supplies.  Gib, as it’s affectionately known, is a funny place – a tiny triangle of land at the southernmost  tip of Spain that belongs to the UK. The border is the widest point and only conceivable place for an airport runway – so, as you cross the border, (i.e. landing strip) you occasionally have to pause as British airways or Easy Jet steal the limelight!

It never ceases to surprise me how cultures survive borders – especially so in Europe, where a 10 mile trip can mean a monumental difference in culture, scenery and language.

And so it was somewhat predicable, that the first British thing we came across was in stark contrast to the excitement of Spain – This company has been in business for over a century! 

I love the “brand consistency” – it’s ALL bland!

But we didn’t go to Gib for the sights or the culture, we went there to buy 7 year old Havana club rum for under 10 quid per LITER!! and with Squander equipped with 10 solid liters we cannot complain…. in fact just to make sure our ships stores were ok, we kindly accepted an invitation from Lance for a rum tasting evening aboard “alf a bet” – a hilarious night that almost saw us moving to Wales for a few weeks – thanks Lance, Rhydian and Lauren. See you again soon!

Lance played footy in Australia in the 70’s, as well as some serious rep footy in Wales. I won’t given away his vintage, but it’s impressive and he still holds his own…. seen here suffering the pain of doing a one legged Squat – undefeated!

The next day our new Welsh friends were leaving their boat and flying home for a couple of weeks. We bid them farewell, went and filled the tanks full of duty free diesel and went out for one last night at our favorite Tapas joint in La Linea de Concepcion – http://www.haciendapatagonica.com/

Michelle focused on her complimentary “Chupito” – a shot of Schnapps!

Early morning departure from Gibraltar.
 
As we sailed across Gibraltar straight, an interesting cloud moving towards us – miraculously it produced zero change in wind. I reckon if that was coming towards you off Sydney you’d be in for a good 30-40 knots!!

There was also plenty of traffic to dodge coming in all directions and at pace!

Looks like MSC are good at “container Tetris”!!

and by the afternoon we had negotiated our way out of the Med, caught another Tuna along the way, and rounded North Western Africa into the Atlantic – it feelt good to be on an Ocean again!!!

We sailed overnight in fairly calm conditions and by the following morning we were entering the river that separates Rabat and Sale in Morocco!!
 
The pilot guiding us in through the shallow and at times sketchy entrance.

I felt a little like David Attenborough observing wildlife when I noticed that in the late afternoon every park bench in the city is occupied. It seems young couples don’t go out for coffee, dinner or drinks but instead they do “bench time” – they meet on park benches and sit there for hours courting – awesome!

So fun times in Rabat, Simon and Michelle came back from Fez, and tomorrow we plan to sail down to Agadir – it should take us 2 days or so.

Au revoir mes amis!

and so it was that we sailed into the sunset on a Monday afternoon with so many great memories still fresh in our minds.

5.5 days after leaving the Azores – approaching Cabo Sao Vicente, Portugal

The trip to mainland Portugal was fast – we covered around 1000 miles in just over 5 days averaging 7.4 knots. Unfortunately our rudder developed an ear piercing squeak as well as continuing to vibrate and move around – we knew it was time to address the issue once we arrived in Europe.

Almost there – Lagos here we come

View of Lagos from the top of the mast

But in true Squander style we had some partying to do before getting too involved in work and maintenance.

Dmitry and Luis were set to depart Squander and return to their lives ashore. Dmitry had spent 2.5 months aboard and had really become a solid part of the team – we were going to miss our Russian connection. Luis had only been onboard for 3 weeks but also left his mark.

Dman is a big fan of stripy shirts

We quickly got our bearings around Lagos, and what we couldn’t work out for ourselves we supplemented by chatting to the locals to work out what’s on where… we wanted beach party atmosphere and found it at the Bahia bar – a great Sunday afternoon session, live music, fun people and a balmy summer night – yeehah!

Sandy & Mandy rocking out

After dancing till midnight we were hungry and a little on the wobbly side – we headed back to Squander for a healthy meal of BEEFARONI – it was a joke purchase in America – a 1 kilo tin of macaroni with beef sauce – yum!!!

Cougar alert!!! Lady, you’re old enough to be my mum!

Dmitry took himself off to bed whereas Luis, Simon and I hit the town for round 2 – we ended up at Joe’s Garage where Dan the barman whom we’d met earlier in the day did his best to look after us with free shots and Pints of rum & coke – I don’t think responsible service of alcohol has quite made it over here – we again danced till closing – meeting countless people including big Bill – the owner of Joe’s whom we were set to meet on many occasions in Lagos – this really is a party town!!

Action befriending the bar staff

Joe’s Garage

Whytes – The cavernous underground bar

The rest of the evening is fairly hazy – but we all regrouped onboard the next day and other then a few sore heads all was in order!

The week was spent relaxing, going to the beach and partying most evenings. We bid goodbye to Dmitry and Luis and by Friday morning it was time to set sail again – not far this time – only 30 miles or so to Vilamoura to go and pick up my sister Agatha who was flying in for the weekend from Paris.

Coastal sailing in the Algarve

Sunset in Marina Vilamoura

Before leaving we booked Squander in to be lifted out of the water the following Tuesday. I was very impressed by Sopromar in Lagos who were very helpful, reliable and like many of the Portuguese people we have met spoke near perfect English – great to deal with.

Vilamoura was an interesting place – it seems to be a package tour destination for mostly British people, with many of the bars, restaurants and cafes catering to English tastes. We jumped online and tried to find some more local/traditional entertainment and weren’t disappointed – there was an opening party at the old Niki Beach resort on Saturday night as well as a great Balinese inspired bar/club open till 4:00am right next door to the marina… plus a beach on our doorstep as well as bunch of good Portuguese seafood restaurants which we found in the back streets away from the hustle and bustle.

After a late dinner of Portuguese Sardines (def my favourite dish in Portugal) Simon & I stationed ourselves at the bar at “Agua Moments” in Marina Vilamoura and waited for Agatha to arrive – she finally made it by 1:30am and in true Gorazdowski style came straight to the bar from the airport and tucked into a couple of quiet mojitos… good to see you sis!

Agatha learning the Squander salute

As 4:00am was approaching we met a great local couple who offered to give us a lift in their dinghy from the bar – a short 200 m by boat that saved us having to walk right around the entire marina. We invited them back to Squander for a nightcap before finally retiring for the night.

Agatha introducing style and her signature bloody marys

The next day was a cracker with the sun shining, and hardly any wind – we decided to stay another night in Vilamoura and headed for a relaxing afternoon at the beach, followed by a late seafood lunch complete with local beers and Mateus wine.

As evening was nearing we decided to have a little siesta which lasted till 8:00pm… we finally got up, had a few drinks and a bite to eat and headed out to the white party at around 10:30 – we managed to get ourselves on the guest list which saved us 20 euros each ($30) – and thank god for that – we only lasted 10 minutes there – an amazing venue but the mixture of less then inspiring music,  a stiff crowd and $15 drinks meant that it was time to head back to our favourite bar – Agua moments.

Agua moments with its own pontoon

This place was unreal, Balinese inspired, outdoor bar/nightclub with a very local crowd, well priced drinks and a fun DJ pumping out the tunes on the water’s edge at the marina – and the best part about it we got there by dinghy and parked it in the dinghy carpark… I wonder if there are rules against drink-dinghying??!

It was there that we met Rita and Marta – 2 cool girls from Lisbon – Rita’s a Soap opera actor here in Portugal and she had a mini fan club on the dance floor – in true Squander style we whisked the girls away in the dinghy for a round of sunrise drinks aboard. We eventually said goodbye to our new friends in the early hours and settled down for a short rest. We woke up around midday and set sail for Portimao.

We were hoping to anchor along the way, go for a swim and have lunch, but the swell had come up overnight and we couldn’t find a good shelter. Eventually we decided to head for the protected anchorage in Portimao, fire up the BBQ and have the last of the meat that we bought in America – we’ll miss those steaks!!

The last of the steaks
Portimao Sunset

Well after sunset, we jumped in the dinghy and went ashore to check out the town – very touristy and not really our scene but cool to check it out anyway.

In the morning we weighed anchor and set sail for Lagos – actually we motored the hour or so as there wasn’t much wind. We pulled into Lagos, tied up and went to one of our favourite cafes – Lazy Jacks for lunch with Agatha before putting her on the train to Faro.

Bye Sis… see you onboard again soon!

The next morning it was time to focus on Squander – we hauled her out of the water and the guys at Sopromar dropped the rudder and went about machining new rudder post bushes made out of Polyoxymethylene (POM).

A rudder-less squander

Straight into it – cleaning the rudder post

Rudder back in

Lagos Marina

The maxprop – is that the source of our vibrations???

Simon and I attacked many of the jobs onboard from fixing leaky water hoses, sorting out the gas oven regulator, replacing the furler block, replacing the anchor light  bulb ($45 friggin dollars for a light globe!!!)  finally sourcing the right o ring for the deck wash filter and a bunch of other stuff.

We also gave Squander a good wash and shampoo as well as polishing her topsides… and so with the rudder firmly in place and one last night out in Lagos, we set sail for Cadiz in Spain – world cup final fever was awaiting!

Lagos by night

Live music in the town square

Simon doing a bit of street art

Local sushi restaurant in Lagos – all you can eat for 15 euros!
The Spanish navy patrolling the waters

Approaching Cadiz

Two days into it and Spain is living up to expectations !!

Having sailed overnight from Portugal, we were pretty tired. So after a quick swim at the beach and some local fare on the way home we decided to have a siesta… a long one – we woke up at midnight – perfect!! just in time to go out and party.

many of the clubs here don’t open until midnight – by the time we managed to get organised it was 1:00 am – we drifted towards the centre of town and found a cool little bar that was going to be our place to watch the world cup final the following evening. We had a couple of beers there and headed for Imagina  – my new favourite club – great vibe, unreal music and a cool crowd.

Chicas espanolas – is that Elle’s Spanish daughter?!  

It was 8:00am by the time we finally made it to bed… a few hours sleep and then off to the beach again… life is tough.

It seems we weren’t the only ones with that idea!

a popular spot!

It was world cup final Sunday and the first time Spain had ever been in a world cup final – the nervous buzz was palpable!! … (incidentally apparently New Zealand was the only team to not lose a single game in the world cup??!!)

Freshly caught Tuna – a healthy breakfast at 2:30pm!

We showered up and headed straight for the little bar we had found the night before – when we got there it was full of Spaniards who welcomed us with open arms, offering us seats and beers – unreal vibe and awesome to watch the game in such great company!!

A couple of stand out classic dudes made the whole experience even more real – one guy was so nervous he sat outside the bar the whole night just waiting for the game to finish – the entire bar kept on making fun of him by doing the occasional coordinated “GOOOOOOOAL…!!!”

When the game was finally over and Spain had won the bar owner pulled out a hose and sprayed the entire bar – people were dancing, jumping for joy, hugging and crying…

Soaking wet, slightly tipsy and in the best of moods we bid our new friends goodbye as they thanked us for being their “Kangaroo good luck charms”!

The pressure is off – smiles all around – we are the champions!

We headed straight for the big central area where everyone was again jumping for joy and celebrating – having soaked up as much joy as we could we decided it was time to hit some more bars – and that we did – Woodstock Bar, followed by a great little club whose name we don’t know and then a finish at Imagina again….
Quick food stop


Midnight and the celebrations spill onto the streets!

Action befriending the locals

Half Hombre half Torro!

Time for a break I think – some healthy eating and exercise before heading for some more fun in Ibiza!

LATE UPDATE: We stopped in Tarifa and love this place. So will stay here for a week or so before heading to Gibraltar and onto Ibiza.