24- Strife in Sardinia

Mallorca to Menorca to Sardinia

On Tuesday 5^th June we made the shortish nine hour journey from Pollenca, Mallorca to Menorca.  It was an easy sail, interspersed with bouts of motoring.  We were heading for a little anchorage called ‘Cala de Mort’, which I’m pretty sure translates as ‘Cove of Death’.  We arrived there about 19:30, but really didn’t like the look of it!  It was a very small anchorage, surrounded by cliffs and we were anxious that if we dragged anchor Braveheart would be smashed to smithereens pretty quickly.  So, we motored just around the corner and found a well populated anchorage to settle in for the night.

The next day we moved on to Addaya, where we were hoping to anchor as well.  However, when we arrived the anchorage was absolutely cram-jammed and a neighbouring boat told us that some people had put out an excessive 40 metres of chain.  Not willing to take the risk of catching on someone else’s anchor chain we reluctantly went into the little (and ridiculously expensive marina).

We spent the next day doing MORE jobs (there are always jobs to be done!) and preparing for the long sail to Sardinia.

Friday 8^th June: After a lazy morning we said goodbye to Menorca and started the 200 nautical mile journey to Sardinia.  It was a breeze.  Having three people on board made life SO much easier; we could do shifts of 2 hours on and 4 hours off, which felt like a real luxury!  The dolphins came to hang out with us and the wind kept us moving at an average of 6 knots, so we completed the journey in just 35 hours… brilliant.  We set the anchor down at 23:23 in Oristano, Sardinia.

Saturday 9^th June: Our anchor was well set, but we were pretty far off land, so in order to make life easier for ourselves we wanted to try out a different anchorage in the same bay.  We motored a mile or so to Torre Grande, where, to our delight, we found mooring buoys had been provided to protect the seagrass from boats anchoring there.

It was freaking beautiful.  The mooring buoys were located just outside some Roman ruins, so we had an amazing view.  That evening we settled down in the cockpit with the BBQ going, white Russian cocktails and some music playing.  It felt so good to be securely held on a mooring buoy.

About 21:00 another boat motored close by, also looking to grab a mooring buoy.  They seemed to having a LOT of trouble getting it and their boat was bouncing all over the place.  Dempsey nearly paddled out in his kayak to try and go to help them; we couldn’t for the life of us figure out why they were struggling so badly.  But… the wind had picked up.  We hadn’t felt it hunkered down in the cockpit, but it was actually blowing about 20 knots.

Suddenly we heard a loud ‘TWANG’ noise.  What on earth was that?!?  Going to the bow we realised that one of the mooring lines had actually snapped!  Luckily, we had put two lines on as a precaution, so we were still attached, but we needed to get another line on quickly.  Dempsey had the bright idea of reinforcing the mooring line with bits of hose to stop it from rubbing, so he was busy constructing his new design, when Dean and I heard another very strange noise.  It sounded a lot like we were dragging anchor… but we were safely attached to a mooring buoy, so it couldn’t be!

And we were still attached to the mooring buoy, but the flipping buoy was dragging.  The buoy was dragging and we were rapidly heading towards the Roman ruins we had been admiring earlier.

“Get the freaking engine on!”

“Clear up all this crap!”

“We’re dragging the mooring buoy!”

The combination of 27 knot winds and Braveheart’s 18 tonnes were too much for the buoy and it was being pulled along the sea bed.

What followed was probably the scariest 30 minutes I’ve experienced this year.  It was worse than the crazy waves in Portugal.  It was worse than running aground in Muros.  It was even worse than dragging anchor in Soller.

Once we cut ourselves loose of the buoy I stood on the bow trying to spot other buoys, fishing pots and miscellaneous floating dangers in the pitch black.  The wind was howling; the waves were crashing over me; I was slightly tipsy on white Russians and I wasn’t wearing a life jacket or life line.  I was terrified and pretty convinced that this was the night I was going overboard.

Dempsey was at the helm and Dean was furiously tidying everything up, including cutting down the sunshade that we had erected to protect us from the fierce heat earlier in the day.  I was beyond grateful to have Dean on board at this point; I don’t know what we would have done without him.  I could have kissed him when he carefully made his way to the front of the boat and put a life jacket and life line on me.  THANK YOU, DEAN!

We gingerly made our way out of the bay and headed north towards Alghero.  We were all exhausted and scared and annoyed, so the prospect of a 10 hour sail in crazy winds didn’t fill any of us with joy, but we didn’t really know what else to do!

Reefing the sails made the journey more comfortable, but none of us slept very well that night.  We arrived in Alghero at about 11:00 the next day and were all looking forward to a decent sleep.

23- Problems in Pollenca

Soller to Pollenca- Monday 28th May

Still feeling anxious with our anchoring in Soller, we were all looking forward to moving on to Pollenca; a much larger bay, about 40 nautical miles away.  Expecting the journey to take about 8 hours, we set off around 10:00 in order to arrive with plenty of daylight left.

As we motored out of Port de Soller Dean showed what he had learnt so far and began to get the sails up by himself for the first time.  Uh oh!  Foiled at the first hurdle!  I had furled the main sail in previously and not done it tightly enough, so as poor Dean tried to unfurl it it got jammed almost straight away!  Not a great start.

Eventually, the Braveheart team got all three sails up and we were making good time… although this didn’t last long!  The mountains of Mallorca were against us and we were too sheltered from the wind, so we had to steer five miles out to sea in order to be able to catch the wind. It added miles to our journey, but we hoped the extra wind would make up for it.

And it did!  Things were going well and we were whooshing along.  Then we started whooshing along a little TOO well.  The wind got up; it was gusting at around 20 kts and Braveheart was heeled right over.  I was no longer trusted to helm and Captain Dempsey took the wheel.  It was pretty exciting for about 15 minutes or so and then Braveheart swung wildly out of control and was heading towards the rocky coast.

“MARTHA!!! Get the engine on!  DEAN!!! Come and let the Jenny out!”

The wind had overpowered Dempsey and he could no longer control the steering.  For about 90 seconds the wind was in charge and we were in trouble.  Luckily, the crew acted quickly and Dean loosened out the Jenny to ‘spill’ the wind from her.  I got the engine on and Demps was back in control.  Dean’s heart-rate had only just slowed down after our disastrous  anchoring in Soller and I’m pretty sure this little incident sent it racing again.

We arrived in Port de Pollenca at about 18:00 and anchored some way off land; the depth was shallow and we didn’t want to risk running aground.  The wind was also howling at about 18 knots, but the anchor felt secure.  Unwilling to let complacency lead to trouble again we set hourly ‘anchor’ alarms; set an anchor watch on our AIS app and took plenty of bearings!

Being Tourists- Tuesday 29th May- Friday 1st June

We spent the rest of week exploring the local area and chilling out.  We took the bus to Pollenca old town one day and the walled city of Alcudia the next.  Both of which are gorgeous, tiny little towns full of quaint churches, cafes and souvenir shops.

On Friday 1st June we took a longer bus ride to Palma in order to check out a second hand chandlery that Emma and Aleandro had told us about.  We rented bikes and peddled straight there… they were right and it was amazing!  Mercanautics had everything we needed and all at a really good price.  Feeling good, we spent the rest of the day cycling about Palma and taking in the sights.

Things Go Tits Up- Saturday 2nd June

Feeling sprightly we sprung out of bed at 07:00 ready to head back to Palma and spend our hard-earned money.  Demps and I had rented a car, which only cost 10 euros for the day (the bus had cost 12 euros each)!

At Mercanautics we bought: 50 meters of anchor chain; a Lewman Delta anchor; two fenders; some random bits and pieces and a new (second hand) outboard to replace ours which refused to work again after it took a dip in Soller bay when we got the dinghy stuck on the slime lines!  We spent a fair bit of money, but it was a fraction of what we would have spent if we had bought the bits new.

Excited to try our new things out we rushed back to Pollenca and mounted the outboard onto our dinghy.  Demps gave the pull-cord a tug and it roared in to life, BUT (and it’s a BIG BUT) the new freaking outboard wouldn’t stay running and it began pissing out fuel everywhere.  For f***s sake!!!

We Googled, we researched, we took it apart, we fiddled, we filled it with fuel and we bashed it.  It wouldn’t freaking work!  I was fuming and Dempsey even more so… I couldn’t believe we’d wasted our money on a fricking busted outboard.  I was convinced that the shop wouldn’t take it back either, since we had bought it second hand.

Five hours later we gave up and poor Dempsey had to load the dinghy up with all our HEAVY goods and row it back.  I was left with the seemingly easy task of paddling the kayak back the Braveheart.  I say seemingly easy because I did not find it easy at all.  I got my bits and pieces in it easily enough, but then I had to get in.  I did NOT get the balance right at all and as I stepped in one of the carefully balanced fenders made a bid for freedom.  I lent over to grab it and SPLASH!!! Into the water I went!  For f***s sake!!!

Soaking wet, but determined to succeed I clambered back into the kayak paddled a few strokes out, before the wake of a little motorboat caught me by surprise and SPLASH! Into the water I went again!  For f***s sake!!!  This time I even had an audience watching me.  It wasn’t deep and I could stand up in the water, but I was getting very frustrated and it had already been a looooooooooong day.  The tears started falling and I cried.  Cried and paddled; paddled and cried all the way back to Braveheart.  I’d just about stopped crying when Dempsey called out to me, “You took your time.  You look wet!” and I started crying again!  It had been one of those days!

Dean had rented a moped and gone to visit a friend in Cala D’Or, so we had to go back to land to pick him up.  In order to cheer ourselves up, we had a few beers and a pizza… pizza always helps!

Pleased as Punch- Monday 4th June

Yesterday, we sulked.  We cleaned the boat, we did some jobs and we sulked.  Today we hired another car and made the trip back to Palma.  Anxiety filled my chest as I wondered whether they would take the faulty out-board back… but they did!!!  Yay!!!  So, we have no out-board, but we are not out of pocket!  Also, we sold them some spare anchors that we had and they gave us a very fair price for them.  I cannot recommend Mercanautics enough to anybody in Palma who needs bits for their boat.

So, today had been successful and I’ll end this blog on this happy note!

Tomorrow we set sail for Menorca.

22- Setting Sail for Soller

Setting Sail for Soller: 23^rd May 2018 – 27^th May 2018

Wednesday 23^rd May

The time had finally come for us to leave Badalona and head off towards Soller, Mallorca.  Braveheart was ship-shape; the water and diesel tanks were full; ‘sailing’ curry was prepared; our course was plotted.  All that was left to do was to ‘check-out’ of Badalona and settle-up with the marina.  It should have taken all of two minutes, as we’d paid all of our bills, except electricity and water.  But it didn’t; it took about an hour!  They’d made some mistakes with their paperwork or computer system or something, but they tried to charge for two months which we’d already paid.  Luckily, we had kept all of our receipts and could prove that we’d paid, but we still had to wait while they dilly-dallied around and looked confused and frustrated!  Finally, they got it sorted and we were on our way.

We slipped pretty easily from our berth and headed back out to open seas.  All three sails went up and we made great time.  It was an uneventful and easy journey; the best kind!  Having Dean on board was lovely; we didn’t make him do solo night watches, but the time went much quicker when you had someone to talk to.  Also, we were kept company by several pods of dolphins throughout the journey, which is always brilliant.

Throughout the night the wind dropped to zero, so the engine went back on; by sunrise land was spitting distance away!  The boys were catching up on their beauty sleep, so I had the pleasure of the incredible sunrise to myself.  Dolphins were leaping out of the water as the sun peeked over the horizon; it was like something out of a crappy romance novel.

 

Thursday 24^th May

We dropped anchor in Port de Soller at 09:30, just over twenty hours since we left Badalona.  We parked up next to Ulysses, Emma and Alessandro’s boat, and they came over for celebratory beer and catch-ups.  The rest of the day was spent sunbathing, chilling, drinking and relaxing; the sun was shining and there wasn’t a breath of wind… beautiful.  That evening we took the dinghy ashore for a little explore; it’s a tiny place and very touristy, but it’s nice enough.

When we got back to Braveheart we noticed the batteries were running very low.  When we installed the solar panels we set them up wrong and it seems as though we’ve almost killed our two domestic batteries; an expensive mistake to make.  Fortunately, Dempsey was able to reconfigure them somehow and swap the engine and domestic batteries over.  I was all for disconnecting the engine batteries completely since we were at anchor and didn’t need them, but Dempsey left one of them connected so it wouldn’t run flat.

This was a good idea, because around 01:00 all hell seemed to break loose.  The wind really picked up and boats all over the bay were dragging anchor.  One of our neighbours drifted past us, closely missing a collision.  We felt pretty good that our anchor was holding, but that feeling didn’t last too long.

 

Friday 26^th May

I woke up at 04:00 because the wind was really howling; I remembered that the boys had hung wet clothes on the line after they’d been for a swim and thought I better do and rescue them, before they were blown away.  As I was unpegging their bits another neighbour dragged past our stern, the crew was on deck trying to get the boat back under control.  I shouted to Dempsey to wake up and as he came out on deck Braveheart finally lost her hold and began dragging as well.

It was chaos; there were boats everywhere.  Poor Dean woke up to Dempsey and me shouting and running around.  The anchor had to come up; the engine went on; the torches came out and we were quickly drifting towards a beautiful (and very expensive) yacht.  Dempsey acted as a human fender to stop us from crashing into them, although he thinks we got their anchor chain stuck on our keel for a bit.  I finally got the anchor up, thank God for the electric windlass, and we battled against the wind to try and re-set.  Thank Dempsey that we didn’t follow my stupid suggestion and disconnect both the engine batteries; I dread to think what would have happened if we had.

It was no good though; we re-set the anchor four or five times, but it was futile against the wind.  So, we made the decision to head for the quay and berth up there for the night… it was the safest thing to do.  Not the easiest in the gales, but we managed it pretty well.

About 07:30 one of the mariner workers came over to tell us off for not radioing to tell him we were arriving and because we had moored side on, rather than stern on.  We tried to explain what had happened, but in the end just apologised profusely and this seemed to appease him slightly.  We paid an extortionate amount of money to stay on the quay heading for the day and night in order to try and sort our batteries out and re-charge.  Poor Dean was pretty shaken up by his first night at anchor and we all needed a good night sleep.

The calm before the storm!

 

Saturday 26^th May

Yesterday afternoon we tried to slip gracefully from the quay and back out to anchor again, but we couldn’t even manage that!  One of the ‘slime lines’ (they connect the bow of the boat to a mud-weight to stop you swinging) got caught around our dinghy and Dempsey had to leap into the kayak to untangle us!  It’s always nice when things like that happen with an audience watching!  Once we were free we motored back out into the bay and dropped anchor again.  The wind stayed calm and we have stayed in one place.  We’re definitely a little on edge though and daren’t leave Braveheart all alone yet, so the boys walked to Soller yesterday whilst I stayed on board.

 

Sunday 27^th May

I don’t think any of us slept very well last night, even though the wind was calm!  Tomorrow we are going to move on towards Palma, although we’re stopping on the way in a tiny little anchorage for the night.

21- A Catch-Up Blog on the Last Three Months!

Soller, Mallorca Picture from Emma and Alessandro

Still in Badalona

19th February 2018 – 21st May 2018

On the 19^th February we ventured out on our longest sail yet.  We left Talamanca Bay, in Ibiza, and headed towards Badalona.  Badalona is very slightly north of Barcelona (a suburb of sorts) and MUCH cheaper than staying in Barcelona central.

We were only supposed to be staying for a few days; we were going to move Braveheart further north to France, because Dempsey had some work there, but three months later and we are still in Badalona!

We decided not to sail onwards to France for a variety of reasons: the weather wasn’t great; the marinas were expensive, and Barcelona is brilliant!

So… what have we actually been up to for the last three months?

Well, as I said Dempsey had some work in France.  So, we hired a car from Barcelona airport (this turned into a pain in the arse and they double charged us!  Do NOT hire a car from Interrent as we are still waiting on a refund from them,) and drove the three hours to near Carcassonne.  Demps had three weeks work and I went with him for the first few days to see what he got up to and so I wasn’t all by myself for as long!

It was really interesting actually seeing what he gets up to when he goes off on these work trips.  I knew he was refitting hire boats, but I didn’t really understand what he was doing.  It was great getting to see it first-hand and to spend some time with the ‘Dream Team’ that he works with.

After a few nights there Dempsey drove me back to Badalona because my dad and step-mum were flying out to visit me and Braveheart.  They arrived late on Thursday 8^th March/ early Friday morning and we had an AMAZING long weekend hanging out and being tourists!  We saw all the big sites, ate delicious pintxos, drank lemony beer and had a wonderful time doing it.

Ice-cream on La Ramblas

I was meant to be staying in Badalona until Dempsey finished work; there were jobs that needed doing on Braveheart and it didn’t make much sense for me to just be hanging around in France watching the Dream Team work, when I could be getting on with my own chores.  However, on Saturday 17^th March my dad called me with the sad news that my Grandma had lost her long struggle with dementia and passed away.  Understandably, I was upset and so my lovely husband drove back to collect me and take me back to France with him so I didn’t have to be alone.  It was a really touching thing for him to do… THANK YOU, DEMPSEY!

It was also really cool to get to see the transformation of the boats they’d been working on; I got to see what they were like at the start and how they looked when they were completed.

Dempsey finished work in France a few days later and we made the final drive back to Braveheart in Badalona.  We spent a couple of weeks getting chores done (there’s ALWAYS work to be done on a boat) before flying back to England on Easter weekend.

MY BIRTHDAY!

MY BIRTHDAY!

Back in sunny England!

Dempsey had some more work in Ireland and we were also off to Faro, in Portugal, to celebrate his dad’s 60^th birthday with the family.

Portugal was amazing.  The weather was glorious, the company was excellent, the villa we stayed in was incredible and we found a bar that served delicious (and potent) cocktails for just 4 euros each.  It was a really wonderful holiday, and I needed the break after doing FOUR WHOLE DAYS supply teaching!

We arrived back in Badalona on Sunday 6^th May (at stupid o’clock in the morning after a stupid delayed flight) and had just over a week to continue with our jobs’ list, before two of Dempsey’s skateboarding friends came out to visit for a long weekend.  They got here on Thursday 17^th May and spent four days skateboarding pretty hard and drinking beer a little bit harder!  They’ve just left us today and our friend Dean has arrived!

Airport Delays! 😦

Cycling in Badalona

Dean is one of the members of the Dream Team from France and Ireland.  He’s a diving instructor in Thailand, but has been back in the UK for stag-dos, weddings and boat work.  He’s got some free-time before he has to be in Croatia for a stag-do in July, so has come to ‘crew’ with us for a month or so!  I’m really excited to have another pair of hands on board and it will make long sails and night shifts SO much easier.  It also helps that Dean is one of the sunniest, most positive, smiley people who I have ever met!

So… the plan is to set sail for Mallorca/Majorca on Wednesday 23^rd May.  We’re heading for Soller on the north of the island.  Some friends we met in Badalona, Emma and Alessandro, are already anchoring there so we’re hoping to catch up with them.

Promise to write an actual ‘sailing’ blog next time!

20- Living on a Boat When You’re Not a Sailor

Tips For Living on a Boat

Wednesday 14th March 2018

We’ve been living aboard Braveheart since July 2016.  The first year we spent stuck in the mud in Brundall and then we started our sailing adventure in July 2017.  During these two years I have picked up a few tricks about living on a boat.  If you are a seasoned sailor then I don’t think these will be very helpful for you; they’re NOT about sailing!  But, if you are looking at moving on to a boat or going travelling on a boat then (hopefully) they might help.

1. Keep it Minimal

When we moved out of our rented house and onto Braveheart we got rid of a LOT of stuff.  I mean, we were RUTHLESS.  We gave things to friends, sold stuff on Ebay and car boots, donated to charity shops.  It had to be done.  We had a house full of possessions and furniture and it simply wouldn’t all fit in a forty-foot yacht.

This process made me pretty anxious.  I didn’t want to get rid of my books or my collection of royalty themed china.  I wanted to keep all my clothes and my high-heels and my handbags.  So, we rented a garage in the city centre and put a LOAD of stuff into storage.  And guess how many times I went to get things from that garage over the next year?  That’s right… about twice!

It was full of things I may have wanted, but the vast majority of them I didn’t need.  And over time I realised that I kind of like living with less.  So, before we left the UK we went through the whole clear-out process again. Yes, sometimes it is really frustrating when I’m looking for a dress or a skirt that I sold for 20p at Arminghall carboot, but on the whole we really don’t need much.  Braveheart if pretty spacious for two people and we have a ton of storage, but most of it is full of tools and spares for the boat.  They are the NECESSITIES and most other things are LUXURIES.

So, try to keep your luxuries minimal.  If you’re feeling uncomfortable about getting rid of things, then put them into storage or ask a friend/family member to store them for you.  I bet after a while you’ll forget they are there!  You’ll definitely be more pleased that you packed a spare anchor when you need one, rather than your record collection!

 

2. Stay Ship-Shape

Owning less possessions also means that it is easier to stay ship-shape.  A small space can get untidy REALLY quickly.  It doesn’t take a lot to get Braveheart into a mess, because there’s less room.  Everything has it’s own particular place and it needs to stay there.  Firstly, just because it’s nicer to live in a tidy home.  Secondly, you don’t want to lose something important by not putting it away properly and finally because sometimes you have to leave quickly and you need to be ship-shape and ready to go.

We got asked to leave the anchorage at Cala Cerrada, by some guys on a speed boat who claimed it belonged to a marina.  So, we had to weigh anchor and go pretty quickly.  If you’re not ship-shape then either you have to spend time tidying (which makes the guys on speed boats pretty impatient) or leave and risk things getting broken when they inevitably fall over.

Currently, I’m trying to live by the ’60 second’ rule.  If a chore takes less than 60 seconds to complete, then there’s no reason I shouldn’t do it straight away.  Things like, putting stuff back in the cupboard or fridge; washing my mug after a cup of tea; wiping the table down; making my bed; putting dirty washing in the laundry bag.  I find that if I do it there and then it takes less than a minute and it stops the place becoming a total shit-tip.

 

3. Don’t Waste a Hot-Water Opportunity

This one is important if you’re doing a lot of anchoring.  Heating the hot water takes a lot of fuel and energy.  So, if you’ve used the engine to get into your anchorage take advantage of it and have a shower or wash-up.  The water will be hot from running the engine and you shouldn’t waste this opportunity!

 

4. Take Out the Trash

Supermarket food comes with SO MUCH packaging, which can be a real pain in the arse to get rid of when you’re sailing or at anchor.  So, the minute you bring the groceries home be sure to decant whatever you can into glass jars or Tupperware.  (I read somewhere that glass jars are better on a boat, because if they break you can put the glass into the sea, whereas you can’t put plastic Tupperware in obviously.)  Get rid of as much of the packaging as you can, because you’ll save space, but also you won’t be carrying a load of rubbish around with you.

 

5. Make the Most of Free WiFi

If Dempsey and I ever go to a bar or a café then we always take our laptops with us.  WiFi in marinas is usually terrible and obviously you don’t get it at anchor or when you’re sailing.  So, we take our laptops and download as many films or TV episodes as possible in one sitting.  It’s also when I upload my lessons to sell on TES, do work on People Per Hour, check emails etc.  Most cafes and bars have free WiFi these days and although some can get a little snippy when you sit there for three hours with just half a lager, it’s not usually a problem.

 

6. Keeping Your Pants Clean

Laundrettes are unusually expensive, so I do as much hand-washing as I can bear!  Usually, I’ll hand wash pants, socks, vests and tea-towels and then just hang them up outside.  Bigger garments like jeans, t-shirts and jumpers I’ll take to the laundrette, but it definitely saves money to handwash your smalls, especially if you’ve had the engine running (see Tip 3!)

I did see a YouTube video recently from Sailing La Vagabonde where he washed his clothes in the bottom of the shower, whilst he was cleaning himself, in order to save water.  I haven’t tried this trick, but I can see his thinking.

 

If you have any questions about living on a boat then leave a comment below and I will try my best to answer!  If you have any questions about sailing then ask Google!

19- Home is Where the (Brave)Heart is

Arriving in Ibiza

24^th December 2017- 10^th February 2018

I know it’s been a REALLY long time since I last blogged; I hope you haven’t forgotten about us!

On Christmas Eve 2017 Dempsey and I left Braveheart tucked up safely in Almerimar whilst we flew back to Norwich.  Dempsey had some work and luckily it coincided with Christmas, so we were able to see a lot of our families.

Also, Dempsey and I decided to get married, which we wanted to do in Norwich where we could celebrate with family and friends.  There was no big proposal or romantic tale; we just had a couple of drinks and a conversation.  Since starting our trip there’s been a lot of time where it’s just the two of us and, like I said in my previous blog, we’ve become a really solid team.  Getting married, for me especially, was important because whilst we’re travelling, and we only have each other, I wanted us to be family.  I know that you don’t have to be married to be family, but I felt as though it was an extra bond between us.  Also, now when I eventually push Dempsey overboard Braveheart will be legally all mine!

So, we flew into Stanstead on Christmas Eve and spent the festive period with our families, eating and drinking far too much.  Dempsey started at work in early January and I got in touch with my old school to see if they needed any supply teaching.  We stayed with my in-laws on their beautiful barge (THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING US!) and kind of went back to our pre-sailing routine.

On Tuesday 30^th January we toddled off to Great Yarmouth library and had the most understated and casual wedding ever.  I think I took about fifteen minutes!  My mum and father-in-law came to be our witnesses and one of Dempsey’s sisters joined us afterwards to take some photos.  For our wedding breakfast, we went to the beach café in Gorleston and had a fry up!  That afternoon we went for a pint in the local pub and then got a lift into Norwich.  Dempsey’s sister had booked us into a luxury, boutique B&B for the night (THANK YOU, KARI), so we checked in there, drank champagne, ate chocolate brownies and chilled out, before going out for dinner at The Tipsy Vegan with our families.  At the weekend we went out drinking (probably a little bit too much) with our friends.

It may not sound like much, but we had the BEST day.  The sun even came out for us and we had so much fun.  It was chilled and relaxed and easy and perfect; I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

On behalf of my husband and myself I just want to say a HUGE thank you to everybody who came to celebrate with us and sent well-wishes, cards, messages, presents and love… we are beyond grateful.

Thank you to @outofspite for the photos

We had such a nice time being back in Norwich, but we were both getting itchy feet again.  We’d fallen into the same routine we were in before we left and needed to get back to sailing.  Also, the weather was COLD and we needed some sunshine on our bones.

So, on Tuesday 6^th February we flew back into Malaga and headed to Almerimar.  At 02:00, after nearly twelve hours of travelling, seeing Braveheart (still floating) was blooming brilliant.  Being back on-board our sturdy, little boat really did feel like coming home.  We slept well that night and then woke to bright sunshine.

We were paid up in Almerimar until the 10^th February so we spent the next few days furiously doing jobs to make some improvements and get her ready for sailing again.  We’d bought a lot of bits and pieces in England and then put them in the hold of the aeroplane to bring back with us.  We had a productive few days and it felt good to be back on out boat.  We also had a new neighbour, Stefan from Austria, who had just purchased a beautiful, wooden, fixer-upper of a boat.  Demps and Stefan got on really well and he even cooked us dinner one night to say thanks for some help Demps gave him with his engine.  He is probably one of the most calming, peaceful men I’ve ever met (Stefan, not Dempsey!) and I wish him the BEST of luck with his adventures.

Putting up new LED lights

Sunday 11^th February 2018- Friday 16^th February 2018

Almerimar to Cala Cerrada to Mar Menor to Ibiza

We paid for one more day in Almerimar to give ourselves a break, and then on Sunday 11^th February we paid our bills, filled up some jerrycans with diesel and set off once again.  To get ourselves back into the swing of things we were doing a 20 hour journey to a pretty little anchorage called Cala Cerrada (Google it… it was lovely!).  We have decided that we need to shake off our fears of anchoring and spend much less time and money in marinas.  It was a great day for our first sail in a while; the wind was right, the sun was shining and everything was working.  We switched the engine off almost immediately and made great time under sail-power alone; we got up to 7 knots!

The engine had to go back on at about 02:00 as the wind completely died off, but we still made pretty good time and anchored in Cala Cerrada at 10:00 on Monday 12^th February.  We did reset the anchor and the kedge THREE times to try to get a comfortable position, but the combination of wind and swell made for a pretty bumpy day and night.  It was a gorgeous setting, but on Tuesday we set off again in search of somewhere calmer to rest our heads.

And we found it!  Mar Menor was just a six-hour motor-sail around the corner.  It’s a huge salt lake… have a look on a map, because it looks really weird!  We arrived at around 17:00, but had to anchor in the channel for an hour to wait for the swing bridge to open at 18:00.  By 18:30 we were securely anchored in the most peaceful, calm water ever.  It was almost creepy how still it was!  It was more tranquil than many nights we’ve spent in marinas and paid for!  If you are sailing and looking a great night sleep at anchor, then I couldn’t recommend it enough!

Arriving in Mar Menor

We just spend the one night in Mar Menor and set off for Ibiza the following afternoon; another uneventful, twenty-four hour sail through the night.  We had to keep the engine running for a lot of it, because the wind was extremely light, but apart from that nothing to report.  We chose a tiny little anchorage called Cala Llentrisca and arrived there about 11:00.  Again, it took as a looooong time to set the anchor how we wanted it- I think we re-set it four or five times.  It was tricky because we were close to rocks, lobster pots and buoys, so it took a few tries before we (by ‘we’ I mean Dempsey) were happy.  We spent the day chilling, almost swimming, reading and dozing in the sunshine.  Last night we cooked homemade pizzas using the pizza stone on the BBQ and went to bed pretty early.  Both of us had a restless night’s sleep; I think we were both a bit edgy being so close to so many potential dangers, but it was all fine when we got up this morning.

Currently we are motor-sailing to the east side of Ibiza in search of civilisation and the internet where hopefully I can upload this blog!

PS. We made it!  Braveheart is safely anchored in a bay called Cap Martinet and we are safely anchored in a bar with a beer and a view of our floating home.

18- What I’ve Learnt So Far

Saturday 16^th December 2017

Currently we are berthed in Almerimar and we’ll be leaving the boat here whilst we go back to Norwich, so there’s not going to be any sailing to blog about for a while.  Instead, I thought I’d write a more reflective piece about what I think I’ve learnt so far.

Quickly though, let me catch you up on where we’ve been since Marbella.  We had a relatively short sail to Fuengirola, where we thought we were going to leave Braveheart.  Dempsey had spoken to them on the phone and they had quoted us £550 for two whole months… a real bargain.  However, when it came time to pay it was actually £1,100 because they’d only quoted us for one month.  We couldn’t afford the fees, so we needed to move on again.  From Fuengirola, we wasted some time and money in Mona and Motril thanks to 40 knot winds which stopped us from making any decent progress.  On Tuesday 12^th December we arrived in Almerimar, where the facilities are fairly basic, but the rates are really good.

*****

Whenever I told people about our plans to sail away the most frequent response I got was, “You’ll learn so much about yourself; you’ll come back a different person.”  It’s been five months since we left Brundall and I’m not sure what I’ve learnt about myself yet… I think it might take a little longer!  I definitely don’t think I’ve changed that much, but I’ll have to let friends and family be the judge of that when I see them at Christmas.  There are a few things that I have learnt though…

1. You can miss the routine that you’re trying to escape

Dempsey hated the routine of our lifestyle back in Norwich, I think it was the number one reason that he wanted to leave.  Every day we just followed the same pattern… and I know that is just life and, of course, there has to be some repetition and monotony to it, but it didn’t suit Dempsey. I didn’t feel ‘trapped’ by routine, but I could definitely understand where he was coming from and why he wanted to ‘escape’.

However, now that we are ‘liberated’ from the routine I do find myself missing it.  It’s strange to not always have something you HAVE to do or somewhere you HAVE to be.  It’s weird to have hours and hours and hours to yourself to do what you like.  And no, it’s not all lounging around; there are still things that have to be done, but it’s not the same.  The jobs or chores that need doing are for us and set out by us; nobody is in charge of us or our time.  And I find it hard to always fill my time.  Dempsey is brilliant at it; I think being previously self-employed he is really good at managing his own time productively.  In general, he is a much more active person than me; he’s not good at sitting still or lazing around.  I on the other hand could win an award for it.  If left to my own devises I would happily slop around in pyjamas all day doing little to nothing, which I why I miss the routine of work.  Unless we’re sailing I’m never really sure what I should be doing and, even when I do know, I’m not always motivated enough to get it done.  Luckily, I have Dempsey to kick my butt into gear!

2. It’s easier than you think to spend 24/7 with someone

Before we left, my number one worry was that Dempsey and I would hate spending SO much time together.  I wasn’t overly worried about our lack of money or the fact we couldn’t actually sail.  I wasn’t bothered about the fact we didn’t speak any other languages or have a definite plan of where we were heading.  I was, however, pretty anxious about having to spend 24 hours a day with just one other person and what it might do to our relationship.

Now, please don’t get me wrong… of course I like hanging out with Dempsey, but during the years we’d been together we’d only once been on holiday for five days, we’d had a housemate for a long time and we both worked long hours.  We didn’t spend LOADS of time together.  Those of you who know us, will know that we are pretty different: we have different interests; different hobbies; we spent our free time in different ways.  As a couple it suited us to be fairly independent of each other… but now we were about to spend EVERY hour of the day together and sail off to places where we didn’t know anybody else.  We would only have each other.  So, I was anxious about it.

However, I am pleased to report that it is alright.  There haven’t been any major arguments; I would even say we bicker less than we used to.  We definitely do more things together and I think we’re much more tolerant of each other.  It’s kind of nice.  We feel more like a team, because it’s just us.

Obviously, sometimes we both feel like we need an hour or so to ourselves, luckily Braveheart is big enough to accommodate that.  Sometimes we will sit in separate rooms and watch different things on TV.  Or we’ll go for a solo walk or a bike ride or a coffee.  I’ve taken up my ‘Couch to 5k’ jogging again, so I get thirty minutes to myself in the mornings and Dempsey often goes out on his bike or board without me.  But, most of the time we are together, just the two of us, and I quite like it!

3. It’s easier to be healthier when you have no excuses

I’ve never been very good at keeping myself healthy.  I don’t really enjoy cooking, I’ve never been into exercise and, as mentioned above, I’m a fairly lazy person.  At home it was easy to blame my unhealthy life-style on my routine.  I worked really hard all week and in the evenings I would do more school work before flopping into bed.  At the weekends or during school holidays it was easy to tell myself that I deserved to relax and ‘treat’ myself.  Not enjoying cooking meant I wouldn’t really do it… especially if I only had to cook for myself.  Also, Dempsey does like cooking and he’s much better at it than me, so he did most of the cooking at home.  Again though, we didn’t always spend that much time together and, when left to myself, I would eat crap.  Once, when Demps went to France for three weeks I ate Cheerios for my dinner for at least seven days!  And it’s not a good enough excuse; I know people who worked just as hard, if not harder, than me and still keep themselves in impeccable fitness.  One of my friends and colleagues would always have a home-cooked healthy meal, went to the gym, played netball, did yoga and jogged after or before work.  Really, I was just lazy.

But now I don’t have work as an excuse. I’m not too busy to look after myself properly.  It’s easier and more budget friendly to cook a decent meal every day.  I have time to exercise.  I’m not left on my own to eat cereal for dinner.  Dempsey still does the majority of the cooking and I eat what he makes, which is largely vegetables, grains and pulses.  We don’t eat a lot of processed food any more, because we just don’t buy it.  It’s not in the house.  So, even when I do take a turn in the galley I have to make something from scratch, which is definitely better for me than take-away!

And, like I said above, I’ve started my ‘Couch to 5k’ jogging again.  I still don’t ‘enjoy’ it, but I don’t hate it either, which is a fair balance.  I am terrible at it, but I have managed to keep it up so far and intend to keep going until I can jog for thirty minutes straight.  I’m still some way off as I re-started the programme, but I am getting a little better every time.

I wouldn’t say that I ‘feel’ healthier, but I know that I look healthier.  The sun has given me a very slight tan; I’m not as ghostly white as I was when I left.  My skin has also cleared up, I don’t get the spots I used to.  I’ve also lost weight, which I know needed to happen.  I reckon I’ve dropped two dress sizes; my jeans don’t fit any more and I’ve had to put two new holes in my belt.  Hopefully, the feeling healthier will come with time.

It’s not all good though.  I certainly drink more beer than I used to and I’m pretty sure I’m smoking more too… can’t win everything!

4. I’m a fair-weather sailor

When we started on this adventure I pictured us sailing for days on end without stopping.  Our original plan was to cut across the Bay of Biscay, which would have been three or four days non-stop sailing early on in our journey.  We haven’t done that.  Our longest sail has been 24 hours.  And this suits me; I’m a fair-weather day sailor.  I like knowing that I’ll be done by the evening, really I prefer to sail for less than twelve hours if possible.

I wonder that if we’d done the Bay of Biscay in one go then I would feel differently about it now.  Possibly if would have felt more natural to do longer sails, but we didn’t.  We’ve always talked about eventually doing to Atlantic crossing, a journey of at least three weeks, but I’m not so sure about it now.  I just don’t know if I could cope with being cooped up on the boat and the constant motion for that amount of time.  I still get sea-sick at times and I still feel a little on edge when we’re sailing; it doesn’t feel 100% comfortable to me yet and I don’t think I’d want to feel that way for three weeks.

5. FROM DEMPSEY- Trust your gut

This one is very much from Dempsey, as my gut is not to be trusted yet!  He says that he has learnt to trust his instincts more and act on them quickly.  If you think something feels wrong, then it probably is.  We are not seasoned sailors and don’t have all the experience or all the answers, but you do get an edgy feeling when something seems amiss.  Dempsey is much better at this than me; he’ll often get me to change course or adjust the sails, when I haven’t noticed anything was wrong.  A great example of this was in Muros when he woke up because he heard a strange sound and we were dragging anchor.  I slept through it unawares, but I think even if I had woken at the noise I probably would have ignored it!

The one time we ignored our instincts was in Fig. da Foz. when we left on the advice of a stranger, and probably should have stayed put.  Even though we got caught out in a tricky situation, Dempsey’s instincts kicked in and he knew what to do.  Again, I think I would have tried to turn around and go back to the marina, so it’s lucky we rely on his instincts and not mine or Braveheart might be smashed up on a breakwater in Portugal!

I’m sure with time my sailing instincts will kick in and I’ll get better at reading the signs, but for now I think we’ll stick with Captain Dempsey’s gut!

17- Arriving in the Mediterranean

Tuesday 21^st November- Sunday 3^rd December 2017

On Tuesday 21^st November we said our goodbyes to Brian, Jacquie and Portugal.  We were moving on back to Spain and they were heading to inland Portugal to do some more exploring before their flight home at the weekend.  It was so nice to spend time with them and we owe them a HUGE thank you for treating us all week.  THANK YOU!

  We sailed to Cadiz and spent just over a week there.  I really rated Cadiz; I thought it was a lovely city; really pretty, but just busy enough to give it a bit a life.  That week we splashed out and rented a car.  One of Dempsey’s favourite bands, Graveyard, were playing in Madrid, and since they are one of the only bands that we both like we decided to take a road trip to go and see them.  It was a seven-hour drive, but well worth it.  Graveyard were brilliant, but I wasn’t a fan of Madrid at all.  It probably didn’t help that we went on Black Friday, but it was so so busy; there were so many people on the streets that it was difficult to get anywhere.  I found it completely overwhelming.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been surrounded by so many people and I didn’t enjoy it all.  I guess our lives over the last four months have become slightly isolated and I’m just not used to the hubbub and craziness of a large city anymore.

We also took a shorter trip back into Portugal to Lagos where Brian had said there was a great chandlery.  We needed some bits and pieces for the boat so took advantage of having the car and went.  In the end we didn’t buy anything; it was all out of our price range and they didn’t have a lot of what we needed, but Lagos was a nice place and we ate some delicious falafel in a little side street café.

One of the best moments though was a completely free one.  We’d taken the bikes into town to have a beer and use the internet at an Irish pub.  On the way home we stumbled across a huge fifty-piece brass band rehearsing on the street outside the theatre.  Accompanying the brass instruments were a ‘team’ of drummers.  Honestly, I have never heard music like it.  It was so powerful and moving and intense.  It made my insides all swell up and I couldn’t stop smiling.  My eyes filled with tears at the sound and sight of it.  I think, as well, what I really liked about it was they were just dressed in their civvies and there was a huge range of ages and styles.  The band/orchestra was composed of teenage boys in backward baseball caps and baggy jeans, alongside middle-aged women with grown-up haircuts and cardigans.  I liked the fact that all these people who looked like they would never spend time in each other’s’ company had come together to make this incredible music.  We stayed and watched them until they packed up, maybe just twenty minutes or so, but it is twenty minutes I think I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

From Cadiz we had an amazing sail to Barbate on Thursday 30^th November.  With the engine off we were still making 7-8 knots, which the best we’ve done in Braveheart.  Sometimes we can only make 4 knots with the engine running!  Luckily the wind and tide were behind us and we flew along.  It felt brilliant to be making such great progress under sail power alone; I felt like a proper sailor!

Arriving in Barbate we could see the coast of Morocco and it suddenly dawned on me how far we’ve come.  The following day we left Barbate and headed for the Gibraltar Straights… wow!  We had nearly made it to the Mediterranean. As we sailed through the Straights I couldn’t get a funny little song out of my head.  I was singing to myself, “Spain to the left of me, Africa to the right, here I am stuck in the middle of the two.”  It may seem silly to be so excited and proud of a journey that most sailors do in quarter of the time, possibly every year, but for me passing Gibraltar and reaching the Mediterranean was a huge milestone.  It’s what we’ve been aiming for, where we’ve been heading, and sailing passed Gibraltar felt like a massive achievement for two people who can’t really sail!  We celebrated by testing out the new anchor in Sotogrande and popping open a 3 Euro bottle of prosecco!

The anchor held fast, the prosecco wasn’t too bad and in the morning, we pushed our luck even further by sailing off the anchor without the engine.  It worked!  We were now on our way to Marbella.  The engine stayed off for the first two hours, but the winds were not blowing and we were making a measly 1.2 knots; it would have taken us 19 hours to complete the 23-mile journey at that rate, so the sails stayed up, but the engine went on.

Currently we are berthed in a marina in Marbella. We wanted to anchor again, but there aren’t any suitable or protected coves around here and the winds are getting up to 30 knots, so we are back in a marina.  This marina however did provide us our first opportunity to berth stern on instead of side on.  Dempsey manoeuvred us in flawlessly, but we were not close enough to the pontoon for my little legs or nervous disposition to jump from the boat to land!  I waivered on the edge of the boat for a long time, before deciding that I would just not get off in Marbella at all!  I couldn’t force my legs to move.  Yes, I’ve sailed ten-meter-high waves, sat up through the night in the pouring rain on watch by myself and steered through crazy winds, but I was not willing to jump a meter gap over the water!  Foolish I know!  So, I pumped up the dinghy to act as a little bridge between the boat and the pontoon.  Unfortunately, when I got up this morning the dinghy was no longer there!  And no… it wasn’t my knot tying skills as Dempsey also assumed, the high winds had ripped the little seam which held on the hoop holding the line.  Luckily, we found and retrieved the dinghy this morning and Dempsey has managed to reconfigure the lines so we are a little closer to the pontoon and I am no longer trapped on the boat.

To finish on an exciting note Dempsey and I are headed back to Norwich for Christmas.  Dempsey has got some work at the beginning of January and flights home were cheapest on Christmas Eve, so just like Father Christmas we will be bringing our presence (!) back home!  I am beyond excited and can not wait to see friends and family.  So, make some time in your diaries for us because we want to hang out with you!

16- Passing Through Portugal

The walled city of Obidos

Monday 30^th October- Thursday 9^th November

From Muros we had a leisurely seven-and-a-half-hour motor-sail to Baiona.  We ended up spending a week in Baiona; mostly we anchored in the bay next to the marina, but did spend a couple of nights in the marina after we dragged anchor again and lost our nerve.  It was on one of these nights that we met the delightful Pat and Martin; a lovely lovely couple from Wales who were taking some time off work to do some sailing.  They had spent six days and nights solid sailing from Ireland to Baiona.  It had taken us two months to sail from Plymouth to Baiona and they had done it in six days!  Obviously, they had cut across the Bay of Biscay rather than follow the coast, but they certainly put us to shame.  We spent a delightful, and slightly tipsy, evening onboard their gorgeous yacht chatting and drinking gin and tonics.

From Baiona we moved on to Leixos for one night and then on to Figuera da Foz.  There was a little bit of anxiety around sailing the Portuguese coast; there’s not a lot of marinas and they can be closed when the wind or swell is high.  We had to be very careful about checking the weather and whether the marinas would actually be open when we arrived.  We very nearly came unstuck as we left Fig. da Foz.

The very friendly chap who worked in the marina office told us that we were not allowed to leave the marina if there was a black ball hung from the mast on the sea-front.  So, at 06:00 on Thursday 9^th November we were all ship-shape, ready to leave for Peniche and eager to get going.  But it was dark; we couldn’t see whether the black ball was hoisted or not.  Walking down to the sea front we could see that the ball wasn’t hoisted, instead there were three lights: red, green, red.  Trusty Google informed us that this meant the conditions were dangerous and we shouldn’t leave.  But it didn’t look that bad… it looked fine and we were eager to get on our way.  It would be okay… wouldn’t it?  Then common sense kicked in as we remembered the age-old rule of ‘Safety First’; we would just have to stay another day.

Returning back to Braveheart we’d just about consigned ourselves to going back to bed and spending another night in Fig. da Foz when I spotted some gents preparing a pilot boat to go out.

“Ola!  Excuse me! The lights, red, green, red.  Do they mean we can’t leave?”  I hollered at him from the deck.  He looked at me, looked at the lights, conversed with his shipmates and replied,

“It is a little squally, but it is fine.  You can leave.”

Hurrah! We were back in business, so we followed the pilot boat out of the marina.  They were quite a way ahead of us and as they left the safety of the breakwater I saw their boat climb a freaking huge wave and surf down the other side.  And then another one.  And then another one.  The lights didn’t lie; it was dangerous and we were heading straight for it.

I’m no good at distances, lengths, and measurements, but Dempsey reckons the waves were ten metres high.  All I know is that they were massive and headed straight for us.  Our intended course would have meant that the waves would be hitting us side on and we were both convinced that if that happened Braveheart would be knocked over, so we had no choice but to steer directly into them and ‘ride’ them as best we could.  I was terrified.  Really terrified.  Even Dempsey admitted later that he was scared and his legs turned to jelly.  We just had to stick it out until we were further out to sea and they died down a little bit.  We couldn’t turn around because the waves would have smashed us into the rocks.

The worst of it was probably over in about forty-five minutes, but it definitely felt a LOT longer.  I was glad when the waves subsided slightly, although they stayed fairly intense for the whole journey.  I was on edge for the whole journey and pleased when we arrived in Peniche.  Although that wasn’t very easy either!  The winds were blowing strongly and we had to raft alongside another boat; it wasn’t a very gentle landing and we gave them a bit of a bump!  Luckily nobody was on board and we didn’t do any damage!

 

Friday 10^th November- Tuesday 21^st November

We were up fairly early to leave Peniche and head off towards Lisbon where my in-laws, Brian and Jacquie were flying out to meet us for a holiday.  The trip to Lisbon was uneventful, some strong winds which tested my hand steering skills, but they didn’t last for long.

Ten hours after leaving Peniche we were outside the marina in Lisbon.  We’d chosen the marina closest to the airport, which was about two hours up river.  When we got there we had to negotiate a pretty tight sluice, but we made it through.  Spotting some empty pontoons, we headed straight for them.

“There’s not a lot of depth here,” called out Dempsey.  Suddenly from along the pontoon came a grey-haired couple waving their arms frantically and yelling,

“STOP! REVERSE! STOP!”

Turns out that the reason all those pontoons were empty was because the marina completely dries out and we were about to run aground… again!  Saved in the nick of time, we found a berth with just enough depth and settled in for the night.

The following day Brian and Jacquie arrived, after getting only slightly lost on the way to the marina.  We picked up their campervan, from a company humorously called McRent, and went for a filling and tasty meal along the sea-front.  We spent a wonderful week with them including: a day trip to Obidos, a beautiful walled city; fitting a new anchor and electric windlass; an unbelievable all-you-can-eat sushi meal, where waitresses brought round platter after platter after platter of sushi; an explore around Lisbon and a day out in Seville.  Dempsey and I sailed from Lisbon to Sines, then Villamoura and then Villa Real Santo Antonio, while Brian and Jacquie raced ahead in their campervan.  I got slightly annoyed that a journey which took them a couple of hours would take us ten, but that’s sailing I guess.

I’ll end this blog with a little anecdote that really made me giggle.  Sines was a little town, with not much to see and we only stopped there for the night.  The wifi at the marina was terrible, as seems to be the case in most marinas, so Dempsey wandered into town to find a bar or café to satisfy his wifi needs.  Dempsey doesn’t speak Portuguese and the little old lady behind the counter didn’t seem to speak English.  Dempsey ordered a beer successfully and then asked for the wifi password.  Apparently, the lady looked a bit confused, asked if he just wanted one and then walked off, so Dempsey took a seat assuming that she’d gone to get the password for him.  Time passed and she hadn’t come back, so Dempsey had just about resigned himself to an internet free evening when she reappeared carrying a sandwich.  She placed the sandwich in front of him, smiled and left.  Somehow, instead of getting the wifi password Demps had ordered himself a pork chop sandwich!  As a vegan for many many years it wasn’t much use to him and definitely didn’t help him download any ‘Peaky Blinders’ episodes that night!

15- A Lucky Escape

The anchorage in Camarinas

SATURDAY 28th OCTOBER 2017

Dempsey hauled the anchor up at 08:30 and we motored out of the lovely little anchorage at Camarinas.  My wonderful in-laws are coming to visit in a couple of weeks and bringing a new winch for the anchor, which will make it much easier to get in and out and save Dempsey’s back!  We’d had a brilliant night’s sleep; the little anchorage had been quiet and perfectly still and we were both feeling well rested.  The sun was coming up and we had an eight hour sail ahead of us to Ria de Muros.

We arrived after an easy sail, with good winds, at about 15:30 and anchored in the bay.  We’re trying to anchor more and more to save money from our dwindling pot!  We’d had a great experience of anchoring the night before, so weren’t nervous about doing it again.  Our almanac book warned us that we should ‘beware of poor holding in weed,’ but I took bearings with the handheld compass, checked them twice over the next couple of hours and we were fine.

We took the dinghy to shore, had a little walk around (there’s not much here), stocked up on some essentials from the supermarket and went back to the boat.  I checked the bearings for a third and final time before bed, but we hadn’t moved.

Enjoying some time ashore.

About 03:30 Dempsey woke up.  He says that he heard an unfamiliar sound and knew something was wrong, I think he just needed a wee.  But… he woke up and that’s the main thing.

“MARTHA, GET UP!”

“What? Has the alarm gone off?”

“No, we’re dragging anchor.  Get up, quickly!”

And I did… leaping out of bed, I looked out the gangway and Dempsey was right.  We had dragged quite a long way and were now dangerously close to the quay wall.

“What should we do?”  I asked the captain.

“Well, we can either move and re-anchor or go into the marina,” Demps replied.  We decided on trying to re-anchor further out.  Berthing up in a marina at 04:00 in the morning would be tricky.  It was dark; it was really windy; we didn’t know the layout; we were tired etc.  So,  Dempsey pulled the anchor up and I manned the helm to motor us our of trouble, but I just motored us into more trouble.

Dramatically, the depth dropped almost instantly from 7.00 meters to 0.10m.  I accelerated forward thinking that something must have just floated underneath our keel and tricked the depth sounder.  It hadn’t and I had succeeded in running us aground and digging us in with my forward acceleration.  As you can guess, Dempsey wasn’t that happy!

“Why the frick did you go forward?  Why didn’t you reverse?  We’re flipping stuck!”

Luckily, it was low tide, so if worst came to the worst we would float off again in a couple of hours time.  We would just have to stay up and keep watch until then.  I went down below to put the kettle on, but Dempsey wasn’t feeling patient.  By thrusting hard forward and then in reverse he eventually managed to shake us free from the sand and we were floating once more.

Enough was enough, we motored in to the marina and despite the difficulties managed to berth without any trouble.

We had had a lucky escape.  We could have hit the wall, fouled our prop, hit another anchoring boat, got stuck on a buoy… anything could have happened.  It didn’t, thank the sailing gods.

I’m not sure why we dragged; probably a combination of reasons.  Like the book had warned us, we might have had poor holding on weeds; we had anchored near low tide so maybe we didn’t put out enough chain for when the tide rose; the wind had got up which probably didn’t help.  Also, in the morning we found a whole mess of discarded rope

Found dangling from our anchor!

hanging off our anchor.  No idea where it came from, but we’re really lucky that it didn’t get stuck around our propeller!

We’ve spent the day in Muros enjoying the sunshine and getting chores done.  Tomorrow we’re heading off to Baiona as we get closer and closer to Portugal.