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Alphacrucis MALLORCA - ESPANA

We didn’t intend to come here however we could be in worse places for sure!!

We arrived last Thursday after battling easterlies on and off for 6 days since leaving Gibraltar Friday14th of September. Both Friday and Saturday nights we took shelter along the South coast of Spain firstly in a fishing port called Adra and secondly we anchored near Cape de Gata.

Unfortunately we missed our rendezvous with sisters Valmai and Melva and their lovely husbands Gordon and Brian who were on a cruise of the Greek Islands on their way back to Rome – it was supposed to be a lunch on Capri! Nevermine that’s boating, but hopefully will still be in time for Melva and Brian to come on board later this week!

We spent the first night in Palma on the visitor’s dock – despite the high prices of a mooring it is a very popular spot – you are lucky at all to get a space so no wonder they can charge what they like!

Fortunately we met Tony, a friend of Graham’s from Essex, who picked us up after our arrival and took us to lunch at a fabulous little bar right on the beach near where he lives in Puerto Portals – a marina complex west of Palma. Then we continued onto dinner in the village and we returned home to AC around midnight – a little tired I might add!

The next day with Tony’s influence we brought AC around to Puerto Portals marina! What an amazing spot – certainly a place for the rich and famous! There are many fabulous bars, restaurants and shops right on the foreshore. And the boats – mostly very large motor boats! The price of mooring is even more expensive here! However we rationalised being here compared to getting battered around at sea!!

The area is very attractive with a great village atmosphere – it would be nice to come back to Mallorca generally and cruise around the island, there looks to be some super spots to anchor – maybe sometime in the future!

We also met some lovely German people whilst having a drink up at one of the bars on Saturday who live not far from here. We had them on board yesterday – great company!

So the weather looks good for us to leave today (Monday) with some northerlies kicking in tomorrow going northwest. So hopefully will be in Naples region by Thursday or Friday!!!

Love The Jolly Rogers

Alphacrucis Gibralta to Naples Sept 2007

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GIBRALTAR – SEPTEMBER 2007-09-14

We arrived in Gibraltar Sunday 9th of September – we have been here for 5 days now!

Our 8 day journey from Falmouth was relatively straight forward as far as motor sailing was concerned – very little wind. However we had a 26 hour Force 10 storm on our last day across the Bay of Biscay, off Cape Finisterre (translation “End of the Earth” and for a while it was!), which reminded us very much of our Atlantic Crossing with the difference this time that we did get hit by one of those following waves which took overboard – in a flash – our two diesel canisters, our lifebuoy with man overboard light and few of our things in the cockpit including Terry’s lovely Tag Huer watch. We were about 40 miles off the Cape so ran before the storm South West into the Atlantic.

On the positive side the gales that we were heading towards in the Gibraltar Straits subsided and we motored through in very calm conditions with a westerly wind!

The day before we caught a nice sized Mahi Mahi, Dorado or Dolphin fish so we were very excited about this and cooked it for dinner that first night – after the champagne of course as this is our entrance into the Mediterranean so naturally there is cause for celebration!!

On Tuesday our very spontaneous friend from Essex, Graham Waring, arrived by plane and we spent a great day wandering the town. Up by funicular to the top of the ‘Rock’ for the spectacular view – one way to the Med and the other up the Straits accompanied by the apes that run amuck up there – all part of the experienc

It is obviously a very small township but well laid out and quite quaint. Great shopping for duty free liquor (relief from England prices), electronics, watches etc. Of course we replenished liquor supplies, bought a camera and replaced Terry’s lovely Tag with a somewhat cheaper Citizen version which he was very happy about!

The next day all three of us jumped on a fast ferry in Algeciras in Spain – approx 35 minutes from Gibraltar and went over to Ceuta! On the African continent but still Spanish! Amazingly you still clear customs both ways???

It was a great experience and we had a good look around the town. We were lucky to find a lovely seafood restaurant near the water to have some late lunch, as we had left it a little late as our timing coincided with ‘Siesta’! Graham was excellent at persuading the owner to let us in!

On our return to Algeciras, friends John & Sandra Fitzpatrick from Soto Grande (15 miles up the coast towards Malaga who we met in San Diego 18 months ago ) picked us up from the Terminal and drove us back to Gibraltar and we had a very pleasant dinner overlooking our marina. John and Sandra were keen for us to come up to their area but unfortunately it was a little late in the day by the time we arrived back from Ceuta so we will have to come visit some other time!

We have had a fun time having Graham here for a couple of days - he left early yesterday and we spent the day getting organised so we are ready to push on into the Mediterranean towards Amalfi, Italy. We estimate about 8 days depending on the weather. So if we are tracking ok we will be able to meet two of my sisters and their husbands off a cruise ship in Capri for lunch on Monday the 24 September – very exciting.

Adios, Love

The Jolly Rogers

Alphacrucis UK to Med Trip Sept 2007

They are on their way!

ENGLAND – FAREWELL!! 1st September 2007

We are now in Falmouth – where we made landfall some 10 months ago in October last year! We arrived here a couple of days ago after spending 4/5 days travelling from Cowes, Isle of Wight via Port Portland and Salcombe.

As we said in our last update we experienced delays with our maintenance mode and when we were ready to leave from Cowes about 2 weeks ago the weather wasn’t favourable! Finally the weather pattern to head South is looking great for our journey towards Portugal and Spain and particularly past the dreaded (we will let you know) Bay of Biscay!!

However not all was doom and gloom during our 10 days in Cowes as we caught up with Jessica Schroder (met during Cowes Regatta week) once again on her yacht and was lucky to get an invite from one of her friends, Mark Heywood, for drinks at the Royal Yacht Squadron which was quite a treat and a step back in history of the centre of sailing!!

We also had a visit from our nephew Daryl and his lovely wife Adrienne (from Sydney) who came down from London to spend the night with us! During our time in London it has been great to have a member of our family resident in London and we spent many fun Wednesday nights having ‘family’ dinners together! Despite their much younger years we enjoyed spending time with them both and getting to know them – we will miss their company!

We have had a neat few days since we arrived in Falmouth! Some special visitors; my sister Melva and her husband Brian (from Christchurch) who arrived in the UK a week or so ago. We will meet them again on the Amalfi Coast Italy, with a bit of luck. Also our friend Graham Waring from Essex arrived on Thursday for the night to bid us farewell – how special for us in both instances!

Our last night in England we were the guests of a fun couple Tony and Helen from Plymouth on their motor boat, moored in the same marina. We enjoyed some great wine and local seafood - superb!!

So finally today is the day- we bid fond farewell to England and to all our friends – old and new, who made our rather long stay so ‘special’! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and hope to see you all some time as we continue our journey towards the Mediterranean.

Once again our UK cell number will continue to be our phone contact +447787793398 and of course text as well. However we will not have a message system on our phone! Our normal email is alphacrucis@110pct.com which we will check when we are close to land!

At this point it will depend on time and weather, whether we stop in Portugal or Spain. We may very well keep going, however our dear friend and confidant, Murray Aldridge, will be back updating the blog every 2/3 days, from his desk in Auckland, so you will be able to keep track of where we are and how we are going!

We are looking forward to experiencing some nice warm weather in the Med.
We have friends and family who are meeting us in the Amalfi Coast later this month so hopefully all going well we will arrive before they do!!

Lots of Love
The Jolly Rogers