New Years Eve

This is our fourth day out at the sea and the furthest we have ever been away from land. To date we have only done 400 odd miles. Probably our slowest trip yet. The last two days we have been averaging about 3 knots, with certain points in the evening going down to about 1.8 knots. We have been more or less becalmed for a period, which in one way is really nice, because the sea state was so calm it was just like being on anchor - I don’t think the cats even knew we were sailing. Sym cooked chips and we have watched movies and its been really relaxing, but then another part of you thinks that we could of achieved about 600 miles in this space of time, hence a few less days at sea.
The wind finally picked up yesterday evening to about 10 -14 knots. We encountered our first squall, which was very surreal. We stripped off our clothes , lathered ourselves with shampoo and took full advantage on the downpour. We are quite fed up with fish now - we have eaten it for a couple of days but there is still mountains of the stuff left, I know its wasteful but sym chucked the rest back in the sea. We certainly wont be fishing for a few more days!
We are making really good progress today and are travelling at 6 odd knots, and the weather has been sunny, unlike the last two days which has been cloudy and raining. We lost contact on VHF with Doris yesterday which im quite gutted about, its always nice to have a chat with someone because its nice to know that other people are suffering to! Ha Ha!Last night we saw two boats for the first time in 400 miles.
Tonight will be the first time in my life I have not been drunk on new years eve, we have some sparkling wine in the fridge which we thought we might have a glass to celebrate, but the sea is quite swelly todday and im certainly not in the mood for drinking. At this point we have only 1600 miles to go ( urg )

Setting off across the drink!

Atlantic Crossing.
27th December. The day after boxing day is the day we finally leave. I am not as nervous as I thought I would be and Sym is mad for it. We cannot wait to get to Antigua, it feels like we have been planning this forever. Sym plots out course before we leave and the total mileage is 2115 miles. Wow, that’s our longest trip ever by far. We check the weather, the wind is great but there is a massive storm up north which is sending down five metre swells which im not to happy about, but still we cant wait forever.
We clear the Islands of the Cape Verdes in a few hours and get our first sighting of Simon on Doris. The wind is all over the place and the seas are a bit swelly, but its not too long after that they settle down and the down wind sailing begins. The weather is really cloudy though. By nightfall we catch Doris up. Making really good speed at about 7.5 knots which is wicked. A few hours after the sun goes down the wind drops off below 10 knots and the annoying sound of the sails starts slamming. It is enough to drive you so insane there were times i thought about lobbing myself in the water. Throughout the night we sail really slow with hardly any wind at about 3.5 to 4 knots, Sym catches 2 really bizarre scary looking fish which are black with big teeth like they just stepped out of a horror movie, he decides they don’t look to appetizing so hes throws them back in. Very poor sleeping going on, which is always the same for us on the first night, it takes some time to get in to a routine.
Anyways first day all well and good and make about 135 nm.
Day Two.
Far nicer weather today, few clouds in the sky and the sun in shining. The sea state has calmed down so its really quite flat and the wind had picked up to about 14 knots so we are making good speed. We can still see Doris in the distance and have been chatting on VHF. Today is wicked, we go up the front of the boat strip off and have a shower which was lush. Then I catch my first baby Mahi - Mahi , so I fillet it which im so chuffed about, thinking about having a beautiful dinner. Then Sym catches one - a 5 kg one, its absolutely massive.(Edwardo would be really impressed) It takes my ages to fillet. So now I think we have a few months supply of beautiful fish on board.
That’s it for today cos this staring at the computer screen is starting to make me feel queasy. It takes me a few days to get into the swing of things!

Xmas in Cape Verdes

We ( Simon, Sym and me ) have a mad shopping spree in the town where we get all our provisions for the Atlantic crossing as well as all the fresh fruit and veg for Xmas. We finally find a butchers and they want £20 for a puney turkey. We decide to go for two small chicks instead. Everything so expensive here. We bought a kilo of Lemons which cost £5 from little old nana on one stall and then find out they are £2 per kilo in the supermarket. We cannot believe that we got scammed by a cute old nana! Where was her xmas sprit.
Whilst in the supermaket hunting for eggs( which are like gold dust ) we get hounded by this girl asking for ( yet again ) powdered milk for her baby. Sym has seen her five times this day, without the baby so god only knows!
Anyway Sym panics and tells her to wait outside. After 10mins she’s obviously getting inpatient and decided to come back in and pick up the milk for herself and try to put in in our basket. She picks up the biggest pack she can find. So I tell her to out it back and I get the smaller one! When we pay and give it to her, she does not even smile just holds her hands out and asks for more dosh- i could not believe the cheek of her. If she was that desperate, surely she would be more grateful instead of being so rude! This got right on my nerves!!
Me and Sym get back to the boat and decide to eat hot dogs and open a bottle of nice wine. Its our 5th year anniversary today- since we have been together. Sym makes a lemon cheesecake and we chill out waiting for xmas day. This must have been the first xmas eve I have not been wasted. Usually it’s a large session with my mates back home!!
Xmas Day!!
We wake up at 10 ish ( not as early as when I was a kid and used to set my alarm for 3 am )
Sym makes me bacon and scrambled egg which was a lush treat and we open a bottle of bubbley and have bucks fizz. I phone my family up and after I get quite upset! don’t know why, think I may have got a tadge home sick as it feels weird being away from Christmas, I would of loved to see my family, especially my nieces and nephew ( Layla and Oscar ) who were born a few weeks back so I have not even seen them and little lili my oldest niece who is so lush.
We go for a dip in the sea and take in the shampoo and have a wash. We then just rinse off with fresh water, it s so much better than just having a shower, don’t use a fraction of our precious water supply.
Simon comes around and we eat a wicked dinner ( cooked by my beautiful husband) he even made his own stuffing from scratch! It tradition to have piggies in blankies but we had to make do with little frankfurter, interesting( alot nicier than it sounds) As always after dinner , your two fat and sleepy to move, so the rest of the night was spent drinking wine and watching movies! Sweet Sweet!!! i love this cruising luife it rocks!

Cape Verdes continued

It’s a few days after Aliisa go and we were still waiting for Doris to turn up. We were both starting to get worried as they were already three days over due. They really should of arrived after 6 days max but we were approaching the 8th day and still no sign. We decided that if they didn’t turn up by the next day we would have to contact Falmouth to see if they’ve activated their Epirb or something.
Anyways that evening thank god they finally turn up in the night and we guide them in with our flashing torch. They had been taking it easy and decided to go slowly - so then we felt a bit silly after thinking maybe they sank or something. Well happy we were that they arrived safe and sound with no damage to Doris.
We go into town to try and sort Lindsey a flight home cos she’s needs to get a flight to the other island Sal and wants to get home before Christmas. Luckily she gets one for the following day and leaves to go back to Britain. Bye Bye Linds.
Poor Simon is back to being a Solo Sailor again with no one to look after him and cook him meals. Me and Sym decide to adopt him. This means his Atlantic crossing will be spent eating biscuits and chocolates.
Anyways it only two days till Christmas so we decided to stay until then having a proper Christmas day and leave the day after boxing day. We would have left boxing day but as it happens it was a Friday and regrettably we have learnt that its bad luck to start a voyage on a Friday - I wish I never knew this !! So now we wait another day before setting across the pond!!
A big hands up to Simon as he is the one who helped us set up our web site, a massive help! So take it slowly with me everyone , ive got another four months of updating to do so give me a couple of weeks!!

Mindelo, Cape Verdes

Our first week in Cape Verdes. 12 the December - 20th dec
The first day we arrive in Mindelo it is considerably different to what we expected. The pilot book tells us to expect to be hounded by the locals who board your boat without asking and never to let them down below on the boat because theft is a big problem.
Well our first morning me and sym are waiting to be hounded ,ready with our big fish to do a bit of trading and low and behold we don’t get a visit off anyone, we keep an eager eye out but no one is the slightest bit interested in us. Gutted!
The first day row into town and go to have a shower in club Natico which was quite crap, bet a hell of a lot better than smelling of grease and sweat and it only costs a euro so its well worth the dosh.
The mad thing we noticed throughout our stay was how poor the place is yet it is so expensive to buy anything. For instance the prices for food and drinks in the shops and restaurants were the same prices as the rest of Europe (some places we visited in Portugal were much cheaper) and yet we found out the average wage was about £100 a month. We really cant figure out how they can afford to eat!
We were approached by few of the local sharks on our first few days who were asking if we needed any services in return for dosh, but once you said no and walked off they seemed to get the picture! They did not continue to hassle us.
Day two our beloved friends on Aliisa turn up and we go out and paint the town red. We went to this bar where everyone in there seemed very wealthy and we nicely dressed. I asked for a gin and tonic and they bought it our in a pint glass with a quarter of it gin, I was drunk on my first drink. Lori gets talking to this local guy whom goes on to ask if he can buy him some milk powder, so off they go to the supermarket and Loir buys it for him. ( After spending over week here we get asked all the time for milk powder for baby twins but we never actually see a baby. Sym thinks it’s a scam and they re-sell it, while sceptical Simon thinks they use it to cut crack. Im not sure what to think, its seems a bit bizarre, it may be genuine!)Anyway we have a bit of a mad session and then we go out for a nice meal ( which came to 100 euros for the four of us) how expensive. We got told to be quiet by some idiotic up tight German bloke which was quite a shame really cos it riled us all up and the old singer dude was trying his best to get everyone up to dance and the rest of the restaurant were sitting there silently like muppets glaring at us. The manger came over to us and told us not to listen and to make as much noise as we wanted. We next needed up in Suzanne’s bar, which was a tadge rough ( lots of men with scars and broken nses ) who all said it was not from fighting but a bike accident. Ha ha
Turned out to be a brilliant night but very ill the following morning.
We spent the next few days chilling out waiting for Simon and Lindsey off Doris to turn up. We had some very entertaining nights aboard Aliisa, a big thank you to them! I was a little upset that to Finnish people managed to beat me in a game on English scrabble! Nice one !!
Aliisa leaves for the Atlantic crossing the following saturday so Sym cooks a Farewell dinner on our boat before they leave, where Annina wants to get pissed as possible as it may be the last time ever gets chance. Wolverine decides it’s a good idea to walk across the candle on the table. All of a sudden his fury belly is on fire and he legs it to the cockpit. Sym runs after him and puts the fire out and get black soot all over his hands. We think he may have been ready to jump in the water to cool down, anyways he ends up with syringed whiskers and he is very emotional the next day. Poor wolves. Ha Ha. We decide to wait for Doris to come and Syms got bits and bobs to do on the boat to get it ready for the crossing. I get on with all the important stuff like the Christmas preparations.

La Gomera to Cape Verdes

We left La Gomera on sat the 6th December at about 5pm to head for the Cape Verdes Islands. It is our longest crossing so far at 800 miles which we reckon should of take between 6 and 7 days.
We stocked up with a load of fresh produce a few days before in San Sebastian and had a massive dinner of eggs and chips before leaving ( because we cannot cook proper chips out at sea - it would be highly dangerous and if sym does not have chips for over a week he starts to get moody and get the shakes!!)
We checked the weather before leaving and for the first four days it was going to be quite windy about 25 knots which about a 2 metre swell. We left behind our mates on yacht Doris cos they were still in the middle of doing their diving course and there was some quite bad weather coming in so we could not hold on any longer.
Our other friends Lori and Annina from Yacht Aliisa left early in the morning and were a good 50 miles ahead of us. We caught up with them by the first night and had radio contact which was pretty cool. We were travelling well quick between 7 and 8 knots making about 140 miles for the first two days We lost Aliisa on the radio by the evening of day two and for the rest of the whole trip we did not see another boat. It was eerily quiet, defo the quietest trip we’ve been on so far.
Sym did some fishing and on the third day caught us a bullet tuna fish which was so tasty we I chopped its head off and gutted him and sym cooked it with Garlic and Lemon. Then the next day he catches 2 dolphin fish. Firstly we were not sure what they were so had to check in on our mates Brendon and Jewels from back home to Google it to check out whether it was edible. ( so the satellite phone has come in very handy indeed)It ended up being an amazing tasting fish so we ate one and kept one hoping that we would be able to trade it for a lobster with one of the locals when we arrived (wishful thinking )
By the last day ( day five ) we could not wait to get there, id had enough of the swells and sea state. We would catch the odd wave that would send the boat flying and flood the cockpit. It got all our bedding soaking and the cats were not very happy when they got a spray . We saw our first load of flying fish on this trip and they were nuts little suicidal things. Every morning we would wake up and there was some in our cock pit. The cats did not seem that bothered by them though. The only thing they were bothered about the tuna( surprise surprise) they don’t half have expensive taste ( sym says they are posh pusses). Wolverine will only eat prawns if they are the king ones
We are both so excited about making landfall, primarily because its 800 miles further south than the canaries and we were looking forward to some sun, cos the last few days in La Gomera was overcast and quite chilly. Would you believe it if I was to say that it never rains in Cape Verdes, some years suffering with a massive drought problem, yet the first day we arrive its chilly and it rains. How nuts is that!
We finally arrive at Mindelo harbour and drop hook about 5 am. The trip into the harbour was not that amazing as some of the leading lights were broken and there were ferries anchored up in the entrance covering all the navigation lights .
Woo Hoo, we arrived to our destination after five - not so lush days at sea.

La Gomera, Valle De Grey

Valle De Grey Anchorage.

After leaving the cram packed marina in San Sebastian, we decided to go and anchor on the west of the island with our friends Aliisa and Doris. We had to stay here and wait for a good weather window before our 800 mile crossing to Cape Verdes.
Bearing in mind we did not want to stay too long as we had just filled up with water and got a load of fresh fruit and veggies as we were not really sure of the situation in Cape Verdes. A lot of the pilot books we read said that it was difficult to get water there and terrible for stocking up, so we not really sure whether this had to last us a month until we got to the Caribbean.

Vale De Grey was a really beautiful anchorage with hardly any swell and with huge cliffs just on the edge of the water. When we arrived we had real difficulty anchoring and our anchor dragged three times before it bit. It is a real hippie town and we were anchored by a meditation centre full of naked people which was quite entertaining.

We had a really good view of the naked people walking from there along the path leading from the beach to town and what we found really bazaar was that they were walking in the nod, everything hanging out but were wearing hats aswell as socks and shoes, it looked soooo weird.

Anyways we had look round the town which was definitely the most unique out of all the canary islands. It used to be a bit of a mecca for the hippies back in the olden days and there are even some people still living on the beach since the 80’s. We had a Bbq on Quartermoon and went snorkelling a few times. We checked the weather on the intent and decided to leave on Sat 6th December for Cape Verdes.

San Sebastian

As you know we love anchoring and find it a real pain when we have to go into marinas, partly due to the fact that the cats keep running onto other people boats. Most people really like it and welcome them in, but others cant stand it, e;g Shackles escaped into another boat and jumped on their spray hood, he did not know we were watching tried to pick her up to get her off, she bit him, and so he slapped her round the head. When he did spot us watching starting petting her and smiling. It was quite amusing. Another time we came back in the night and forgot the lock the cats in. The man next to us told us he did not have a very good sleep as Shackles jumped through his forepeak hatch in the middle of the night when he was sleeping and landed on his guts. I had to turn away to pretend to do something while he was telling Sym this to stop myself laughing.

Sorry a bit of a diversion going on then. So we had to go into the marina to fill up with water and do some washing. It was tiny. We had to raft up to three boats. We we finally sorted out all our rope and shore lines, then come and ask us to move to another space. Half an hour later we have pour own finger pontoon. We spend the next two days getting the boat ready and doing some stocking up in the supermarket and in the evening we had some Bbq s with Doris and Aliisa on the Quay wall. All the boys got their guitars out and had a bit of a jamming session that went on pretty late on night and we got told to shut up by a French boat. Anyways it was good to catch up with them all again as we had not seen them all since Playa Blanca in Lanzarote.

Gran Canaria

We decide not to stop of at Las Palmas on our way to La Gomera as we have heard from so many people that it was a dive and the water water disgusting. We stop off on the north west of the island in a place called Puerto de las Nieves for a few days.

Well after being in Lanzarote for a month ( which is totally commercialsed ) it was so good to come somewhere quiet and beautiful. Unlike Lanzarote which was Baron, the island was lush and green and the anchorage was really nice. We went diving on the first day and there were loads and loads of wicked fish and the water was so clear. We went on ( what was planned a little walk ) and ended up on a few hour hike in between the valleys. The walk up hill took about two hours, but was probably one of the nicest walks we have ever been on, the scenery was to die for, ramblers would love it!! Anyway we found a secret way down, which got a bit hairy and low and behold it took about three minutes, how can that be possible ?

We decide to head off on the evening of Day Two and do a night sail so we can arrive in La Gomera first thing in the morning.

Last few days in Lanzarote

We all decide to drive up to Volcanic mountains and go on a guided bus tour, which was cool, but I think Chris and Sym loved it a bit more than me and Jo .I think the hour was plenty, as there is really only so much volcanic mountains you can see without getting bored. What I found cool was the bit where they cooked chickens and other food over a huge hole in the ground, and the heat was immense. The chickens looked gorgeous.
We spend the last night in a really nice restaurant where Lili eats her favourite dish spaghetti. They all get ready to leave for their flight home, and we are sad to see them go. Hopefully they can come visit us in the Caribbean. The time Lili actually learnt my name ( calling Sym ssssssssssssss) it was time to leave.

Bad luck day

After a few days we all fancied Chinese. We found a buffet style one, which im really not that keen on but it was cheap so we thought we’d give it a go. Well everything on our plate was cold, gross!! We complain to the staff and are left waiting for about 10 mins. Not that we mind cos at least we get freshly cooked food. Well at least that’s what we thought. The waitor came back with my plate of mushed up food which he’s just microwaved . We could not believe it, we said we did not want to eat that not to worry and asked for the bill which came to 16euros for three cokes.

Later on, we return to find that our tender and engine has been stolen. Great. It was actually the first time that Sym had locked it up with the padlock in ages. We go and report it to the police who claim that on an average per year 1 boat is stolen. Can you believe our chances. We have to Kayak back to our boat and go to be gutted.

The next day after spending hours sorting out insurance we are walking out of the police station when, I look over to the lake behind the police station and OMG its there. Our boat is moored up to a bloody buoy with all the local fishing boats. We could not believe the cheek of it, about 100 yards from the police station, and they had not even bothered rubbing our name off the side.Well we run down the jetty , wade through the muddy water and steal it back. The b******s had used all the fuel so we row it back a couple of miles back to Quartermoon.
We are so lucky to have found her and am so glad we did not have to fuss around getting quotes for the insurance, it would have been a major pain in the backside.

My sister Joline, her hubby Chris and my beautiful baby niece Lili have booked to fly out to meet us on the 20th November in Puerto de Carmen so we leave Playa Blanca in the morning to sail around to the anchorage.
Well it ends up being a night mare. The supposed anchorages don’t really exist. There are no other boats to be seen and they are completely open to the sea. We ask this dive boat where we can anchor and he tells us to go just in front of the next beach. The water is so clear that when we are dropping the anchor, we see an Angel Fish as clear as day. It was wicked. We settle down, happy that we have finally found somewhere ( only in settled weather, if the wind picked up, we would be totally exposed and have to move ) when the police show up and tell us we have to move. Gutted. The only other option we are left with is to sail up to the capital Affecife where there is a proper anchorage. We get there just before nightfall and drop the hook.

We figure that we will stay anchored here for the week and hire a car or catch the bus to Puerto De Carmen to visit my family. After a bit of a crappy day its all worth it when we get to see our family. Its been 4 months since we’ve seen them in Britain, so we all go out to a restaurant for a nice meal and a good catch up. It was wicked to see Lili , I don’t think she remembered who we were but it did not take long.

We spent the following few days catching the bus in the morning, meeting them in their hotel and lounging around the pool. We were a bit paranoid at the start just in case we got thrown out , which would have been quite embarrassing, but after a few days we chilled out cos all the staff thought we were staying there full time. Ha Ha.
Lili was brilliant in the water, she actually liked being splashed and having her head ducked under the water, which I found nuts, but she has been taken to swimming classes since she was born so I guess she used to it by now. Every time we got out the water and settled down on the loungers she wanted to go back in the pool. It even had a Jacuzzi there which was lush.

Lanzarote Part Two

Anchored up in Playa Blanca outside Marina Rubicon – Me and Sym quite smoking!!!!

After Menna leaving we decided to stay put for a few days to wait for my family to arrive. In the mean time Sym went to see the dive centre and booked in to do his first aid response course aswell as his rescue diver ( in order to complete his dive master to find work in the Caribbean )

During this week we met solo sailor Simon “Boo” from Yacht Doris from Brighton who introduced us to Lauri (Australia )and Annina (Finland) from Aliisa, and Marcus and Jess from Veracity from somewhere in England (sorry cant remember), and Simon’s mate Cool Crewey who came to stay aboard Doris. As you can imagine the next few days involved a lot of drinking and partying aboard everyones boats which ended up being great fun. We took in turns cooking food on boats, Tapas on Quartemoon and pancakes and fried rum bananas on Veracity and the famous Tuc biscuits and laughing cow on Doris ( Simon tried his best bless him but his cupboards only consisted of chocolate , biscuits and crackers ) so we did not get much choice. After chatting to everyone we decide to go to Cape Verdes and cut the Atlantic crossing into two parts instead of leaving staright from La Gomera.

Sym completed his course over the next four days and I made my self busy, cooking, shopping, sunbathing and snorkelling etc. We then decided to go into Marina Rubicon(which Sym really did not want to have to do cos the staff were so rude) to fill our tanks up with water.

While I was lifting up the anchor Sym decides to come up front to give me some advice of a different “ better” method of bringing up the anchor. Even though I was doing just fine!! One second later, oops blood everywhere, he had only go and crushed his finger under the chain and his finger basically exploded – it was gross. He was in so much pain, I surprisingly very cooley drove Quartermoon onto the fuel pontoon . Then Sym caught a taxi to hospital while I stayed aboard Quartermoon. Half an hour later he was back, fully stiched up and bandaged. The doc said he had to go back everyday for a week to have it dressed!!!! Nightmare!!!!

Arrival in Ile De Graciosa

After our two day crossing we stop off at this tiny island for a day or so before heading to Lanzarote. We arrive third out of the three of three boats ( including Starblazer and Ayesha )and Sym goes on and on and on forever about how he did not trim the sails that’s how we lost!!

We arrive in the calm secluded anchorage, dive in the water and Me, Sym and Menna swim to Ayesha and have a liquid breakfast. After celebrating our crossing we go back to Quartermoon eat some Tapas and go and sun bathe on the beach. Poor Menna all she’s been wanting is a bit of Sun so she does not have to return to England white and we arrive and it’s overcast and drizzly. We came to the conclusion that Menna was jinked with bad weather because as soon as her plane arrived in Madeira it starting to rain and did not stop. This was the first rain we had since leaving England.
Anyways we decided to take the tender ashore and go and have a nice meal. Well in Menna’s opinion this was the worst night of the whole trip (even including the two days crossing she had just done). We had a shower and dressed up in our glad rags, and Sym takes us on the two minute tender ride. Ha Ha,It ends up taking 45 minutes, into the current and wind; the waves are crashing over our boat. Well Menna may as well of jumped in she was that wet and cold. We spend the next half an hour in the toilets drying off, thank god for the hand dryer. It ended up being a wicked night, had some really good food washed down with some lovely Rioja and the tender ride home was fine.

The following morning Menna decides we should leave for Playa Blanca as she is desperate for sun and the beach as she only had three days of her holiday left. We sail the 35 miles and drop our anchor in Playa Blanca.

We all spend the next few days chilling on the beach, and the weather is perfect. The beach is beautiful as well but by god it’s definitely the touristiest place we have been to in a while. We ended up craving for a fry up and there was so much choice. We sit in this place for breakfast next to a man with a pint in his hand covered in lovely tattoos; it was honestly like a scene out of the series “Benidorm”.

We went out for a wicked Chinese where we were given free shots at the end with porn in the bottom of the glasses. Classy I know, we were so surprised cos it was a family restaurant. I’m gutted I did not think of nicking them like our friends Aliisa.

We had a awesome time with Menna and we were gutted she was going, she adapted to the boating life really easily even though the sailing trip was not very nice at all she was brilliant.!! Menna left on the 9th and the day after we both decided to quit smoking. Firstly cos we’ve been wanting to for ages and also because we figured out that to do the Atlantic crossing we would have to go into a shop and buy over 3000 fags. How embarrassing!! So we are not officially non smokers!

Bay of Biscay Crossing

We spent the last week or so hopping around the coast of France, visiting some really good places worth mentioning such as Concarneau and the Ile De Yeu. The weather has still been terrible but we are still having fun. Whilst hopping around the coast we got caught in 5 metre swells, which was really quite horrible, definitely the biggest seas we have encountered so far, but it was fine they we large swells so we just glided over the top. It was a brill experience.
The forecast was a force 6/7 SW and the sea state rough but we did not have much choice as the previous anchorage we were in in Audierne was completely exposed so we had to move on down the coast. I don’t know whether you can even call it an anchorage it is completely open to bay of Biscay and no matter where the wind is coming from there is a continuous swell. Sym has devised a plan where we put the boom right out and attach a sea drogue to the end of it. It is fantastic and works wonders, apart from the morning we woke up to find it soo rolly and go outside and the bloody thing had chaffed through and was at the bottom of the sea. Great 35 quid down the swanny. We are so fed up of exposed rolly anchorages, it fells like we have not had a decent night sleep since leaving Gosport. Cant wait to get to Espana.
Anyway, 21 st August we finally get a break in weather and we can cross the Bay of Biscay. The weather forecast is hardly any wind for the first day, but we jump at the chance, even if we have to motor the whole way its better than too much wind! We head of from Ile De Yeu and head for Giyon or Santander. The trip was so calm I could not get my head round it, it was like a lake. We saw our first set of dolphins and even saw a whale about 100 yards from our boat, sym had tears in his eyes. I might have to erase this if he sees this .This was quite scary, cos the amount of stories you read about Whales sinking boats must stay I was not ecstatic about it being so close.
The first night we had thunder and lighting, oh just our luck. Thank god it was calm though, the wind finally picks up the next day and we are able to sail the rest of the journey. We make good progress and the second night I get my first starry starry night that sym has been promising for so long!! I must admit it was soo beautiful!
We finally arrive in Santander at 7am and by god its lush. The weather is boiling and the first place we anchorage is just off a beach with golden sand and palm trees. We deserve it! We have finally done the dreaded Biscay and it was cool, now it the rest of the world to Conquer.
The anchorage is soo flat and well protected and the first thing we do is dive into the water ( still a bit chilly though )

Ouessant to Camaret

We spent a lovely few days in Ouessant. We got boarded by Customs which was quite exciting. They went through everything on the boat, under our bed, food cupboards, even opened and checked inside our box of flares. They went as far as to count how much money we had on board! I think we must of looked a bit dodgy but they were very friendly and professional. I made the mistake our falsely alerting them there were drugs on board. When they were looking under the bed there was a strong smell coming from Syms tool box which had some Resin and matting / fibre glass. I told them don’t worry its just resin and their eye brows raised and called the other guys from on deck. They thought I meant I had weed on the boat. Quite embarrassing really, what an idiot I am. Sym had to come down and un wrap it all to show them what it was! Phew!
We went site seeing around the Island and went into Lampout where we ended up in a old basket ball court on top of a mountain where there was a fete going on. Quite bazaar really. We ate some frites and had a couple of bottles of wine, as you do! The wine was really nice and only a few euros a piece, which wound Sym up where he spent a few hours talking about the prices of booze in Britain ( slight exaggeration )We got soaking wet in the rain on the way home, where we had to walk through some woods in the pitch black. Sym starting worrying about were wolves and kept talking franticly all the way back to the boat to stop himself being scared!
We are still waiting for a good weather report to cross Biscay and still SW gales in. So we decided to day hop as much as we can, doing a bit of travelling until the weather changes to cross.
Following morning we lift up the hook and head along the coast to Caramet. Weather sunny but on the nose again. Nearly every trip so far has been beating to the bloody wind. Is only a 24 mile trip so we fly there in no time at all and sail into the anchorage( looking like pro’s)
We find an amazing supermarket where we stocked up the boat with lots of wine, cheese and beer. The only down fall was we had to walk the trolley on a main road for 10mintues, down a public slipway and load it into our little dingy, where we rowed back to the boat which took about half an hour cos of the wait of it all. Quite a palaver.
Woke up this morning a bit concerned as there was a force nine coming in and anchoring in these conditions was a bit of a nightmare. I nervously waited up on deck for a few hours cos I could not sleep and I saw a boat in front of us dragging!
Sym comes up and starts flashing a torch in their windows trying to wake them. They come up after what felt like half an hour and tried to take up their anchor. After a few failed attempts they just chuck out a anchor over the side of their guard rail and go back to bed, no thank you or anything. That really riled me up cos if they dragged again they would most certainly bash into Quartermoon.
As it happens we woke up in the morning and they were gone, whether they dragged and sank is another story!
Weather is still terrible so we sit tight and wait

The Channel Crossing

For the last week we have been anchoring in Cawsand Bay, Plymouth just pottering around and waiting for a good weather forecast to cross the dreaded Bay of Biscay. Which I am sooooo nervous about that I just want to get it out of the way.
Originally sym thought it would be a good idea to leave from Plymouth straight across Biscay arriving in La Coruna - which we were all planned to do. I think he likes to chuck me in the deep end as the longest sail ive ever done is one day, now we plan to do five. A bit like the scenario when he told me that night sailing was so romantic with all the stars and I was going to love it. Then he takes me out in a force 8 head on into the wind across Lyme Bay ( on our previous boat ) and I honestly thought I was going to die, even the god damn fishing men were turning away.
Anyway a bit of a diversion there so ill get back to my point. The weather has been so shockingly shit - force south westerly for a week that we decide to take our chance and just cross the channel and get to France cos there was a break from SW winds for about 24 hours, so we decide to head of in quite windy swelly seas ( not ideal ) but long can you wait, good weather might never come we were starting to think.
Role on a different country, its only been a couple of weeks but we are getting so impatient and want to get going and I want this damn Biscay crossing out of my hair.
My first night sail was a bit daunting. I felt quite sea sick and the poor cats had not moved out of their blankets for 24 hours. We are starting to think this is very cruel!At the same time telling ourselves that we are at anchor 90 % of the time and fingers still crossed that they will get used to it.Plus Wolverine is so cute we cant get rid of him for selfish reasons.

I start to think to myself “what the fuck are we doing” and I go below to try and get some sleep, but my tummy is going nuts and I cant get to sleep. A few hours later I start to dread as I know its my turn on my own while sym gets some rest. When I come out low and behold there are bloody lights from boats everywhere and its rough as anything. Hopefully it will harden me up. Sym is soo good though, he looks after me on the whole trip.
Anyway it was not so bad on my own. The blessed sun finally comes up and we prepare to cross the busiest shipping channel in the world - where we did not see one boat!!
The cats are starting to come round and go down for something to eat We catch dodgy looking fish with a big beak, we end up chucking it back in the water cos I felt far too rough to be chopping of a fish head and gutting it all for the cats benefit, they can make do with dried biscuits tonight!
It feels good to be in France. We hoist up our first courtesy flag and the sun is shinning. We take off our British wintery socks and trainers and get the hats and shades out. A celebrating dinner of Moules and Frites me thinks, after all we really do deserve it!
Its funny how quick you forget the sea sickness and the pain in the arse its been and how scared you felt the night before. I thought to myself I was being such a pussey, it was not that bad and we survived!
Au revoir!

Lyme Bay

Despite the getting up at the crack of today, today we both feel amazing. It feels so good to be out of the marina, even though we are only a few miles away the voyage has started and its feels soo good to have finished working!

There was not much wind today so we motor most of the way. Sym decides to go through the race, south of Portland Bill. It is worth mentioning that at the time we are aproaching was the perfect time accoring to the tides but "Jesus christ" it was very scary.We were all over the shop and i started to sweat a bit. I would not want to test this piece of water out when theres a bit of wind and tide going on.NOT RECOMMENDED!!

We catch five makeral on this trip and the cats absolutely love it. This is the second night we ve given them fresh makeral. We had to lock the fat cat Wolverine in the bedroom so Shackles could get her fair share.

The pusses spend alot of time sleeping but im sure ( well hopefully ) they will get used to it!!

Thw wind increases to force seven ( to Lori this means about 30 0dd knots ) and we get into Brixham earlier than expected. We spend the nezt day or so chiling out and reading books, getting used to this cruising life style, WE LOVE IT!

The day we leave Gosport and set sail

After three years of preparation we are finally ready to leave Gosport marina. We wake early in the morning so we can get a early start but as usual Gosport Marina were lazy pieces of work and did not get their arse into gear till about 10am to get to the fuel pontoon.
Anyway we finally leave on a beautiful day and head for the Anchorage Lulworth Cove ( which is possibly the worst anchorage we have ever been to in our whole 4 years of sailing)

I am so nervous that i smoked 8 fags in half and hour waiting by the fuel poontoon.
It was a wicked fast sail and Quartermoon hit her record speed of 9.3 knots fully loaded with water and fuel, which is pretty quick for her.
Any person reading this we can recommed never to go to Lulworth Cove. The weather was probably as settled as you will ever get, but by god it was so rolly. We woke up at 5 am in the morning after a terrible night sleep and left in the dark cos we could not stand it a moment longer!! Cant wait to get to warmer climates, ROCK ON !!