Grand Slam

Thursday 7th May, Cala D'Or

Pam’s stopped complaining it is cold! Another blue sky day with wall to wall sunshine. There is a rather brisk wind to cool us down but this marina is very well protected with zero swell.

Last night the two German charter boats kept the noise going till almost midnight when I politely asked them to button it!....and there are more in today. The boat two down is from Norway – Stavanger in fact and the owners were involved in the North Sea race in the late 80’s and 90’s. We didn’t get too much time to talk but we will try and see them this evening. I do like Trevor’s (Balchis) comment from the last post but I would hate anyone to think we are racist (which we are not). ... so let’s settle with over krowded. ....anyway the German boat who gave us the longest display of how not to park a boat yesterday, managed to excel that performance when he took the boat out this morning, parking it against the string of bow lines. How he didn’t get a line around his prop is anyone’s guess. I just hope if he comes back tonight he is a long way from us.

Here is another pic from last week. This one is an action shot from Rob feeding the pigeons (Auduains Gull actually) when we were on Cabrera.

Trevor and Lesley on Kishorn called us on the radio from Porto Petro (1 mile overland!) and came over to see us for lunch. We went up the yacht club to show them what we have to put up with. Actually it is quite good value for food and drink – its just the membership fees that seemed high. Also it has great entertainment. While (or should that be whilst?) we were sipping our beer on the sun terrace we noticed a guy trying to set up a beer tap and barrel outside in the garden. Something didn’t quite go to plan and a small projectile spat out of the barrel just missing his ear followed by at least half the contents of the barrel. I think it was the assistant manager who came over and had a chat before rushing off to clean off the beer shampoo.

Last night Pam and I went out for a drink and ended up in the Jolly Roger – a brit themed pub- showing the Chelsea v Barca game. I was astonished a pint and a glass of red wine was 7.50 Euros. The yacht club was 2 Euros cheaper with nicer wine! I know where we won’t be going again. Maybe they put their prices up when there is footy on – but still. ......and Chelsea lost, letting down us Brits. Now if Liverpool had been playing it would have been a different story – but then I think Barca have a better chance of beating Utd in the final (pause awaiting a deluge of comments).

Going back to some pictures here are a couple of the moorings in Cabrera. The first one is taken from the castle. Grand Slam is sort of middle-ish towards the back. This was on Sunday night when only 20 of the 50 moorings were taken.

The second one is taken from the top of the 2nd highest hill on the island on the Monday evening when almost everyone had gone home.

 

Grand Slam is second from the left.

Where was I? Oh yes the main plot, Martin emailed to say he will be with us around 4pm on Saturday (that’s a day ahead of what I was working to) so we have decided to stay in this expensive marina Friday and Saturday night (no surprise there then!). Pam hasn’t had her ribs yet (that’s where we are going to eat tonight). It looks like there are a lot of south easterly winds through to next Thursday at least so we may have to change our plans and head for Menorca on Sunday and then over round the north side of Sardinia and down the east side – after I’ve spent two days reading the pilot book for the west and south sides (I lie – it was only 2 minutes). We have a couple of days to go before we need to decide. Trevor and Lesley are adopting the same strategy so we will probably catch up with them middle of next week (they are moving north tomorrow).

We heard from Steve and June that they were leaving Lagos to go to Faro. I’ll believe it when I see it. Tony and Margaret are probably 4.5 light years behind us now as they head for Cartagena. More tomorrow.

Wednesday 6th April – Marina Cala D’or

Cabrera was a great place. We spent two nights there, had some great walks and Rob saw 5 all time new birds including Auduains Gull and a Bee eater. Rob and Anna however had to leave for an early flight Wednesday so on Tuesday we headed back to Majorca to find a marina to drop them off. As the next part of trip is over to Sardinia, we decided it would be best to find a marina on the east coast of Majorca and have a couple of days there.

 

A rare pic of an even rarer Auduains Gull that came and sat at the back of the boat on Cabrera. You can even see his green legs!!

From the pilot book, Marina Cala D’or in Cala Longa looked to be the most attractive with promises of reasonable depths (unlike many marinas here). We sailed a bit of the way but once away from Cabrera, the clouds built up, it got quite cold and we ended up motoring into 15knts of cold wind. The sun managed to put in an appearance once we got to the marina – we radioed and they said they had space and were met by the marinier who told us to go right to the end of the river (er...Cala)! Now – the pilot book shows not a lot of water right down the end but that is where he took us, past hundreds of the obligatory motor boats. It did however open out into an area with a visitors pontoon and lots of big sailing boats. Grand Slam was dwarfed by all the other 50 footers. Depth up the cala was around 3 metres with 2.5 metres the shallowest.

Prices are going up by the day and although this is a really nice marina with great showers, it came at a price of 66 Euro per day. We’ve decided to stay for 3 nights and then come back to pick Martin up on Sunday. Loads of restaurants and bars serving every imaginable type of food at not too bad prices. We tried the local delicacy last night – roast suckling pig. Very nice!

We spoke to Trevor from Kishorn on the phone and he is somewhere near Magalouf in Palma bay and had been offered a marina berth for 64 Euro a night. His response was “oh really” – an “in” joke which I must tell you sometime.

Now I know I keep going on about high costs but we went into the local “club nautical” to see what it was like. Very nice modern building overlooking the marina. The plebs can go in and eat but to use any of the facilities (swimming pool, sauna, internet(!!) etc), one has to join the club. Membership was 20 Euro per day or 7,500 Euros for 3 years. Family membership was 600 Euro per month. It wasn’t very busy!!! There must be some rich people about.

Reading all this text must be boring so I thought I would catch up on some pictures.

Here is Bogey helming the boat into Cartagena. He really was on the helm - honest.

Bogey also caught up with his mum (that’s Lesley) when we got to Ibiza.

We’ve also heard from China Blue who are now 3.5 light years behind us so not sure they will make it to Majorca before we leave. Sounded like they had a lot of wind at times but have been doing shorter hops than us.

So it has been a lazy day today after seeing Rob and Anna off at 8.00am (along with one set of our boat keys!!!) ....duh!!! A bit more sleep, off to the washing machine to wash the ever increasing pile of dirty stuff, then to the posh sailing club for a late lunch and then off to the tourist dis-information office which of course was shut because it was after 2pm (and not opening again until tomorrow at 8.30am when there is bound to be a queue of tourists waiting at the door). What a great country! The guy in the chandlers was moaning about business being slack but then he tells me they are open between 9am and 12 noon and then again between 5pm and 7pm. Great business model!!

One final topic for today, seen as we are moaning about the Spanish is the number of Germans around here...... and they are all on charter boats. They seem totally incapable of parking their Bavaria 47’s even when the space to get into is twice the size of their boat. I did mention the war once but I think I got away with it. We recognised at least two of the crews from people in the bar in Cabrera. Doubtless there will be more comment on our Germanic friends in the next post.

Monday 4th May - Cabrera

Today we are bobbing up and down in one of the nicest places on the planet, the isle of Cabrera just off the south east point of Majorca. Cabrera is a national park with a very protected natural harbour. There are only mooring bouys here for which you need a permit – which Rob obtained before flying out. The sun is shining, the sea is blue and the beer is cold. Pam and Anna have gone off to a near by beach to try and swim (if they can avoid the thousands of jellyfish) and Rob has gone off in search of some Sullidae.

We got into Majorca a few days back – don’t ask me to remember how many – and tied up in Port Adriano. This was a marina occupied by 98% big motor boats. We managed to shoe-horn between two and there we were for 3 days whilst we said goodbye to Murray and Alan and hello to Rob and Anna. We did have a day overlap so had a good meal that night. The marina had all mod cons but I don’t recommend it to any other yacht. As we came in I was rather concerned that we only had 0.2 of a metre under the keel. I thought it was because we were swept towards a moored work boat (perhaps dredging). On the way out though, following the line advised by the marinier, we went aground. One minute it was 1m under the keel – the next zip!! It was only light sand silting up the entrance with all the new development work but I reckon 2.2m is about the max depth coming in. We got off with a bit of help from the marinier in his RIB but I don’t want to do that too often.

The weather on Friday was crap (rain and wind) so we went into Palma for a look-around. Now remember last weekend when Cartagena was closed for the weekend. Well this was hardly any better. Friday was a bank holiday as it was May 1st. I mean, what country would have it’s May day holiday on May 1st. Surely the first Monday is more logical .....err maybe not! So everything was shut again including the tourist disinformation office. There was a boat show on the harbour so we did that for a few hours to find some dinner plates (at vast expense) for the boat. The tacky green and yellow ones have now been consigned to the bin. Saturday (back to wall to wall sunshine) was a quiet day on the boat making sure the holding tank divert valve was working (another smelly job for me), which it is now and Murray went up the mast to fit the new Tacktick wind transmitter when it arrived with Rob and Anna. First thing Sunday, Alan and Murray departed by taxi and we filled up with fuel, ran aground and then headed off to Cabrera with a 12 knt following wind. We managed to get the Spinnaker up for a few hours.

Cabrera is a fantastic place. Nice and quiet. Free moorings. One of the few places to find Auduains Gull – which we spotted this morning – although Pam and I had seen them on Ibiza a few days earlier. We took the dinghy a couple of miles round the coast to see some caves and had the odd beer or three in the local army cantena (not unsurprising not the cheapest of bars). It must be warm because Pam has not complained about the cold at all for 48 hours!!!! There are 50 moorings here and yesterday (holiday weekend Sunday) about 20 were occupied. Today (mid afternoon Monday) there is only us on a mooring!!! The forecast is for some rain tomorrow though! Can’t recommend this place strong enough!! A “must see” place.

Rob and Anna are only over for a few days so we have to get them back to the mainland for Tuesday evening for a flight the following morning. We will either go up to the South East coast or back to Palma depending on the wind direction but we have now decided to try and get to the South East coast by Saturday to pick up Martin who arrives on Sunday for a two week stay – and passages over to Sardinia and Sicily. This means only a few 30 mile sails this week and quite a few nights away from marinas for a change. It was starting to get expensive with the prices rising all the time as we headed to Majorca. I’ve managed to miss the radio sked with Trevor the last 3 nights (beer, food, walking etc) so not a clue where they are – and we are out of mobile phone range so no texts. It has been nice though to chill out a bit and relax.

We’ve been keeping an eye on the weather west of Gibraltar to see if Steve and June on Piper manage to escape from Lagos but strong easterlies seem to have put paid to that (and probably for a while to come). Will they ever catch us up? I have to remind you though of how nice it was, sitting outside the army cantena, sipping a cold beer and looking out over the bay in 25 degs of sunshine. So that’s why we came south!!!!

Sunday 26th April - Cartegena is shut on Sundays

.....and most of Saturday!

I don't know. You get to these exotic locations with a view to sightseeing and it's closed. Come siesta time everything shuts down on Saturday and doesn't bother opening again until Monday morning. No shops, no tourist information. At least the bars are sill open.

We are now in Cartegena riding out a rather gusty 25knt wind blowing into the harbour after seeing all there is to see in the town. The memories of the last few days are now fading into a blur given a third overnight sail in a week. I think we got in early yesterday morning.....Yes, I am sure we did. Another uneventful sail under our belt and we are now nearly a quarter of the way to Chicken Turkey (or perhaps some other food related destination). We have done 3 overnight sails in a week totalling 450 odd miles. We left Almerimar around lunch time on Friday and had a very tedious beat for 9 hours to get round the cape 30 miles to the east. It was one of those beats where the wind and the current push you back so you can only tack through 110 degrees - and the sea state was not too flat so lots of slamming etc. By the time we got to the cape the wind died and it was then a 12 hour motor up to here.

Almerimar was nice. Less than 12 Euro a night although wifi access was restricted unless you paid for the marina system at 5 Eu per night. Lots of bars and restaurants but more expensive than what we have been used to. It is rather isolated though with nothing outside the "resort" marina.

We did not see too much wildlife on the way up except for the last few hours around dawn when the obligatory dolphins turned up. Before that - zippo! Well except for the 20 or so bees that came to pay us a visit as we rounded the headland at the end of the beat. They settled on the boat (and us) to spend a relaxing hour with the odd foray to the top of the stairs where they did a quick about turn and then back into the cockpit - Pam was cooking onions! All of a sudden then they flew off.

We got into Cartegena and headed for the Yacht Port marina, the new one on the right. It's not marked in the pilot books so consequently is quite empty. In fact it was only 30% full. The guy in charge is a Brit and very obliging so very easy to check in and out. There is a 24 hr security guy on the gate so no cards are needed. The toilets and showers are in a portacabin which were fine - although they may be a bit under pressure if the place was full. There is also a wifi server to connect to - look for Linksys. It is free and a very good connections speed. Fast enough for Skype to work well. Yacht Port was 22Eur per night which is twice the price of the older marina on the left but it was worth the extra. Oh by the way, it is finger berths with long fingers whereas the other is med mooring and looked more open to swell.

When we arrived, we were met by Trevor and Lesley from Kishorn. They had left Lagos at the beginning of the month and were making their way slowly towards Majorca. A quick coffee on Grand Slam and we had caught up with all the gossip from the early Lagos departees.

Saturday afternoon we did Cartegena. We walked up to the top of the castle and had a good look round. Definitely worth doing but if the walk up is too much, there is a lift on the east side of the city that takes you most of the way up. Apart from that we were a little disappointed wth the city and lack of things to see or do. We (the four of us) went out for an overpriced meal in the evening with Trevor and Lesley and then chatted 'till late. They left this morning to head for an anchorage further up the coast but we are likely to bump into them again in Majorca. 

So that is about it. Nice marina here and well worth a visit, but do it on a week day when at least the supermarket will be open. Don't expect a vast choice of things to do!

Our plan now is to get to Majorca by next Saturday to drop Alan and Murray off which we can do in 4 one day sails. We will push off very early tomorrow (Monday) and head north east. There is a bit of wind forecast but it should be behind us. I am still waiting to see a Woolly Mammoth but I'm not holding my breath. At least the wind we have today is keeping the mozzies at bay. We heard by email that China Blue (Tony & Margaret) were leaving Gib on Saturday morning and aiming to catch us up in Majorca. It will be nice to get to Majorca and have a rest for a week!

Wednesday 23rd April - Almerimar

Light wind? Light wind? You must be mad. The forecast for the overnight trip from Gibraltar to Almerimar was F2-3 mainly from the west and dying overnight. I had visions of motoring all the way! The wind Gods had other ideas and by the time we had motored out of the marina we were faced with 15knts on the nose as we headed out south with the rock on our left. Up went the main (with one reef in just in case) and we were then hit with 25knts from the west. Luckily we were turning the right way but still 25knts up the chuff with only one reef was more like racing mode - and Pam tells me we can't do that. It was a great sail for about an hour until SWMBO forced the 2nd reef. After that it was less exciting but certainly more stable.

 

This was an interesting shot of Gibraltar. Notice the ship "parked" against the lighthouse. I wonder if it has shore power?

The wind then kept up until almost dark with the sea a bit lumpy but not as bad as the first overnighter. Heading west though would have been pretty tough. Maybe we will stay in the Med.

 

Bogey was still feeling green and spent the whole voyage in his bunk

The sky had been clear all day so when the sun set, the stars came out in a moonless sky. The moon was the last of the waning moon and didn't rise until after 6am. The wind dropped to nothing and it was a case of motor on and head straight for Almerimar. By sunrise we could see the mist descending and by 8am we were in thick fog. On with the radar which performed flawlessly apart from turning itself on and off a couple of times at the most inopportune moments! We motored into Almerimar around 11ish after a 135 mile sail in 20 metres visibility. Thank god for GPS and radar. That is the first sail we have had to use the foghorn and it was good to hear the other boats that the radar was telling us we were going to crash into were hearing the horn and replying.

The AIS also proved it worth by letting us know the course and speed of the hundreds of ships plying up and down the straits. It gave us the advance warning an hour ahead so we could gybe out of their way and keep well clear.

No problem with the boat other than the tactick wind instrument ceasing to function after the sun went down. This had happened the previous night sail. I suspect it is a battery or charging problem in the wind vane at the top of the mast. Murray went up the mast today to clean the solar panel in the vane so maybe that will solve it. Failing that I think an email to Tacktick is in order!

Almerimar is a cheap marina. Around 10 Euro /day including the lecky. Med mooring again but this time there was not a lot of space between the other two boats so we went in forwards to create the space we needed. We didn't need the ladder this way! The ladder had worked well in Gibraltar apart from needing a better way to attach it to the back of the boat. We now have another cunning plan to complete this. Although the berthing fees are cheap, the restaurants around are fairly expensive with 50 Euros for two the most expensive we have had for a long time. Lagos was much cheaper. We can't complain though. With the sun shining and the temperature in the 20's, it is really nice.

The ssb radio is not earning it's keep at the moment with zero luck in contacting Kishorn, Balchis or Calaloo on 8101Mhz. I will keep trying each evening, now at 6,7 and 8pm local time. If you are listening guys, give me a shout - or anyone else that might be on.

Today then is a quite day apart from various jobs on the boat. Our plan is to leave tomorrow (Friday) and head up to Cartegana in another overnight sail ahead of some stronger winds forecast for Saturday night. We will stop there for a few days before the trip over to the Balerics. Trevor and Lesley sent a text to say they may also be there Saturday and Chica (one of the Dutch boats ex Lagos) were due in here today. Rick and Connie on Calaloo are in Alicante so we may catch up with them early next week. I think we are leaving China Blue behind and with the bad weather forecast for the weekend - they will have problems catching us up.

More to follow.

Tuesday 21st April - Gibraltar

After a days rest we are shoving off to head for Almerimar, another overnight trip but this time it should be in much more settled weather. The sky is blue, the wind is light and it's forecast to stay that way even during the night. Tony and Margaret on China Blue arrived yesterday afternoon so are staying here for another couple of nights to recover but there are strong easterlies forecast Thursday and Friday so we may pull out a big gap between us. Stern to med mooring was an experience, easy to do but rather bouncey here in Gib. I will elaborate in the next post. Anyway must rush as we need to leave (30mins ago!!). Bogey is starting to look green again.

Saturday 18th April - We are off at last!

Well that was a big wrench. We have finally left Lagos. After a great 7 months we set sail eastwards leaving behind some great memories (and some even better friends).

We had planned to leave early Friday when Murray and Alan arrived but a depression and front coming through made us reconsider as we didn’t want to do an overnight passage in the rain! Murray and Alan arrived on sked on Thursday evening and we spent Friday doing the final prep to leave and stocking up the boat. Friday evening it poured down so that was a good call. We went up to Petisco, our favourite restaurant in Lagos and challenged Alan to eat all he was given. He duly failed. Back to Lazy Jacks to listen to Duncan (ex Somebody’s cousin) but he wasn’t on so we stayed for the other guy who sounded awful with the new sound system they have go there. Time to move on – methinks! Lazy Jacks though was great and it wouldn’t have been the same without it. Place to miss for us was the Blue Door restaurant. I won’t say why here but we would never go back there again despite the nice food. Trust us. Go to Petisco instead.

So after saying our farewells to those liveaboards left (Steve & June, Jacky & Rob and Liz & Ju) we set off eastwards heading to Gibraltar early Saturday morning (not been up at 7am for many a morning!). We sailed with Tony & Margaret on China Blue expecting zero wind for the first 6 hours then it building to 25 knts for the overnight period. The forecast was pretty much bang on except there was a lot more swell around. This meant motoring with no sales up (or even sails for those of you not heavily into shopping) until mid afternoon and those susceptible to sea-sickness needing some help. As the wind increased so did the swell and it just got worse and worse. Bogey no mates was struggling. He was green. Well that’s no difference then! Put him in his lee cloth and that was the last we saw of him.

Despite the swell, the wind gave us a great downwind sail and we helmed all the way. Two on, two off. Pam was on shift with Murray and in one of my periods of sleep(!!!!!!!!) I remember Pam calling Murray up to look at the dolphins who had come to inspect the boat and give the now normal routine of “chicken” to amuse us. I thought at the time that if Pam called me – that was the last thing I would want to do. Dolphins...... now woolly mammoths , that’s a different story. If there were woolly mammoths around that would be worth seeing. I like woolly mammoths. You don’t see them often. They are fun! And woolly mammoths in the middle of Gibraltar approaches.....priceless. But Pam never saw any so I didn’t get woken up. Except for the dolphins......... now I am rambling.

We didn’t leave on Friday because of forecasted rain. Well it rained on Saturday night. I got wet. The new Henri Lloyd jacket leaked. The new DuBarry boots leaked. It wasn’t as bad as the 2007 North Sea race but almost as wet. We did take on a lot of water in the cockpit. The boat inside was very dry but it was a wet, windy and rocky night. Black as the ace of spades, no moon, stars for only half an hour and no woolly mammoths.

Dawn broke to a very grey morning with Tarifa in view but big seas and winds of 25knts made it tricky to sail. China Blue called us to say they were going to head for Barbate and then do the 40 mile last leg to Gib on Sunday but we had gone past and it would have been a difficult beat to get back to join them. Once past Tarifa, the seas miraculously calmed down and it was a great sail in the sunshine into Gib with us arriving soon after 1.30pm local time, a trip of 190 odd miles done in 29 hours.

It had been very lumpy and not a trip I would like to do every day (or even every week/year/ever). We have now crossed beating and F6 downwind of our list of approved activities. We headed for Marina Bay marina (‘cause that is the first number I called whilst fully intending to call Queensway – don’t ask!!) and despite all the bad reports of “building sites” it seems a very pleasant place. All the building work seems to have been finished and it is a lot better than it was 2 years ago last time I was here.

We went out up to town and then back to one of the marina complex restaurants. (it won’t win restaurant of the trip award so I won’t bother describing it. Everton won though! Now Everton winning a game is usually not of interest to me but this one was against United so it was great. Well done the blues. Good on you Liverpool.) I digress again! So now we are here for a couple on nights. SIteseeing tomorrow and then off east on Tuesday – if I can get an internet connection to check the weather – to maybe Albuferia to chase down Kishorn (and Trevor and Lesley – the couple responsible for Bogey no mates). Rick and Connie on Calaloo are not too far ahead either. So farewell Lagos, great place, we will be back!!!

Wednesday 15th April - The new arrival

Well I promised yesterday I would tell you of our new arrival. When we got back on the boat in mid March after a 6 week break back in the UK (actually it was anything other than a break as we filled the time moving house - renting our pad in Scotland and moving into a "developement" project near Cardiff, watching England nearly beat Wales in the 6 nations and spending 10 days in darkest Shekou in China before finally getting on the plane down to Lagos.....I digress), we found an intruder asleep in our bed.

No note, no sign of break in. He just arrived. We suspect Trevor and Lesley off Kishorn had a lot to do with this as he had been seen at the Xcel boat show a month before and that's where they had just come back from. He seemed quite a pleasant chap - Bogey no mates that is - not Trevor. He was very quiet at first but soon started to get his feet under the table.

He soon showed how good at Sudoku he was, helping Pam when she gets stuck and even starting to organise the forward planning for the forthcoming trip into the Med.

We called him Bogey no mates as he was green and didnt seem to have any friends.... that was until Colin and Anne came round to stay for the weekend.....

 

He took a fancy to Colin's car and took us for a spin to Selema.

 

....for a paddle in the sea

 

....a sunbathe on the beach of course

 

...a play with his bucket and spade (but we couldn't afford the bucket). Come to think of it we couldn't afford the spade either - we had to improvise

 

...and finally a Gallau in the local bar. What a great day! When we got back to the marina, Bogey no mates was keen to make new friends so we went off to find some. First stop was Arwen.

 

Everyone was very happy and I'm not surprised looking at where Jacky has her fingers!!

 

It was then on to Piper for beer with Steve and June.

Finally it was time to go and get something to eat so off to Lazy Jacks. It didn't take long before Bogey worked his way in and started to take over the place.

 

Chris and Claire certainly had their hands full with this one. Finally it was time to settle down to a plate of food and a nice beer.

As you can see, Bogey has settled in quite well. I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of him over the next couple of months. We are looking out for a bow tie for him so he can go and have a look round China Blue. I just hope he doesnt get sea sick!!

......and the weather has still been bad down here today with more very heavy showers. The forecast is for warmer weather this weekend but another depression bearing down on us has scupperred our plans for a quick get away on Friday morning. The forecast has improved a bit this evening though and we should be able to get off on Saturday. Anything else going on this week....? Oh, Liverpool didn't get through so lets not talk about that then.

More before we go.

Tuesday 14th April, Oh really!

Well after 7 months of inactivity - blogging that is - we are now back for more inane ramblings to bore everyone back home.

It's now mid April and we are sitting on the boat in Lagos Marina listening to the wind whistle round the boat at 20 odd knots. Quite a bit of rain and its now colder than last week - almost needing a jacket on to go out. Just like a Scottish summer in fact. The main reason for starting the blog up is that we are about to push off and head into the Med in search of warmer waters and something to eat - Turkey in fact!

The last seven months has been a real hoot. We spent over four of them here in Lagos and really missed the place when we went back home. Christmas day was probably the best one we have had in many years with 14 of us crammed onto "Spirt de Nord Est" for a full roast turkey dinner and a game of Matthew Mark Luke and Martha. There are lots of other live aboards here - many spending the whole winter on the boat - and we have got particularly close to 7 or 8 of them (the crews, not the boats silly!). I won't list them here as they all know who they are!! ...but what a great bunch. Oh Really.

Christmas lunch "Lagos" style

Focus for the marina has been Lazy Jacks "our local" where one or two beers have been known to be consumed. There are so many restaurants around that no one ever gets bored of anywhere to go..... and the supermarket is only 2 minutes from our pontoon (we are at the posh end). We've been out on a Spanish Galleon (actually a Portguese Caravella), done a power boat course, learnt how to pole dance and many many more.

The boat has been tied up virtually the whole winter although we did take it out a couple of times last week to have a shakedown sail and find out what's broken and what isn't. It was also useful to refresh our memories of how to sail. We bought a new inflatable dinghy, the Lupolight front bicolour has stopped working, the computer blew up, one of our unbreakable wine glasses broke and oh yes, Pam cut her finger - requiring 2 stiches. Yesterday Margaret (on China Blue) did the same. It's a great excuse to get out of any food preparation and washing up etc for a few weeks.

More from Christmas dinner. I will try and dig out the pole dancing shots from boxing day if I can find them. Talk about Gumpy old men!!

Plan A this year is to sail to Turkey - the same route as about 15 other boats leaving Lagos. Murray and Alan are flying out to help us do the first couple of weeks to Gibraltar and then on to Majorca and they arrive Thursday evening. We were going to leave first thing Friday morning and do an over-nighter down to Barbete but there is a front due through Friday night so we may delay a day to avoid sailing in the rain - what a load of whimps I hear you say.  There is no plan B at the moment so we will have to do a bit of work on that one. One thing for certain though is that we will be back here at some stage to stay, maybe even for an extended period.

I'll keep this entry reasonably short so not to bore you too much and be back with more before we go. On the next entry we will introduce our new crew member who appeared early March and explain the significance of "Oh Really" which is now one of the frequently heard phrases in the marina. Of course, let us have your comments and messages of encouragement - and I know just what we will get back from Liz and Ju!