I initially considered a stop in Colombia a long time ago when planning the overall trip from Italy to Australia. I hadn't given it much more thought until some months later, when Andy came onboard and mentioned that he had heard the Carnaval in Barranquilla is meant to be one of the best in South America, second to Rio de Janeiro... That sounded like a good reason to go, and the more we researched it and the more we spoke to people along the way, the more…
In an effort to give as varied a perspective as possible, I suggested to team SAGA (Simon, Agatha, Gavin & Andy) that we each set a topic for each other and with 3 topics each we will come up with 12 short stories from our individual perspectives. The idea was embraced wholeheartedly both in terms of setting varied topics and in writing detailed accounts of what we experienced. Here are the topics by Author, in alphabetical order. Agatha's Stories Crossing an ocean - the expected and the…
Tuesday, 16th December 2010 - most things were done, the weather window looked OK for at least 4 days and it was time to set sail for the 900 or so miles from Las Palmas to Mindelo in Cabo verde. A few last minute things, we got the scuba diving compressor serviced, printed up some promotional materials for the best electronic chart swapping network in the world - www.chartswap.net and finally stopped at the local Fuel dock for some cheap diesel, water and a couple of ice…
On our recent crossing of the Atlantic from Europe to Barbados, we had a particularly bad run with losing fishing equipment, including one entire Rig (Rod, reel, line, lure - the friggin lot gone!!). Some of it I blame on myself, some of it is simply low quality equipment that fails and the majority is just part and parcel of trawling lines behind us for over 10,000 Nautical Miles in the past 9 months. Simon holding up a decent Mahi Mahi caught some 300 Nautical Miles off…
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…
Where were we.... Italy. It seems like a lifetime ago already as i write this from the capital of Morocco. There's a surprisingly pleasant wailing (a muslim call to prayer) in the mosque tower near the marina adding colour to my already colourful evening. Earlier, John from Solstice next door dropped off half a freshly caught Mahi Mahi for me for dinner, I cooked it up and have washed it down with plenty of Vino and am not allowed to get up from the nav station until…