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Rain collecting - another week in Morocco.

1st - 5Th October

What a week in Morocco!

It has been a varied week. School, trips ashore, sunshine, wind, rain, thunderstorms.

Helen had an attack of "the Malta experience" during 2 days of rain. The dinghy trips ashore were wet and mucky. There were three potential dinghy landing places; the step by the fishing boats, which meant an extra 1/2 mile walk around the quay, the tidal, sandy beach opposite us (a bit closer to the medina) or the breakwater rocks right by the Medina. The harbour was tidal, about 2 metres, and so the beach route would get us all sandy and seaweedy, the adults bere footing in the water to haul the dinghy up and carry the kids out. The rocky route was usually covered in mud and slime, and although closer was a nightmare. We tried all the routes, and by the end of the week the dinghy was full of sand, covered in mud and our clothes received the same treatment.

Ocean breezes ran out of water and not wanting to risk the local water quality, and unable to run their water maker in the oily water of the port, we pumped them over 150 litres (from our 400 litres). We were on water rations, so no washing could be done. .
Then it blew 25- 30 knots of wind. Chris and i were constantly upping and downing anchors to hold us in position in this small harbour. Then it rained....
But then we started to collect the rain. We all had fun putting every available container under the run offs of the awning; buckets, saucepans, even mugs under the drips. We were collecting about 5 litres an hour. I then took out a sheet of blue tarpaulin 4x8 metres and hoisted it on halyards at the bows and ran it across the boat to the window of the toilet. We filled the shower up in half an hour, ready for Helen to do clothes washing. Then I started getting the water Jerry cans and using plastic table mats funnelled the rain from the tarpaulin into the containers. We were now making 25 litres an hour !!!

We made 150 litres of water that day before the rain stopped.

Helen started to wash clothes.

Helen had found the "Thursday Market" when she went off with Louisa and Jack one afternoon. IT was the time when all the locals come with what they have and sell it, a sort of garden market I guess. It was a shame the rest of us missed it. It was a huge affair - with people selling fruit and veg to huge arrays of spices and pulses from beautifully oranges, sacks, second hand shoes to pots and pans. All transport was by donkey or horse and cart - all very local and Moroccan. But Friday we all went to the main market and stocked up on meat, fruit and Veg and bits and bobs. Bread was 10 pence a loaf, a Chicken was about 3 pounds and a kilo of filleted steaks of beef was around 5 pounds. The kids were interested and not really that phased by lines of chickens with their throats cut, hanging around, and the way the man was cutting the beef with an electric saw and then slicing it was a knife, I was surprised he had 10 fingers. I'm sure we could have haggled the prices, but frankly we didn't have the heart to.

Again we all had mixed feelings about the place. It felt sickly and unclean, but if you looked closely things were kept clean enough, it was the flies that put you off the most.

On Saturday after walking around the Medina walls in the afternoon, we went for a Morocco cup of Tea and ended up sitting down to a morocco dinner. We had just taken out (the minimum) 200 Dirams (20 Euros) from a cash point to buy some tea, and the man at the restaurant said he would feed us a good dinner for all of us for 200 Dirams. Again not really wanting to bartar over what was cheaper than a McDonalds we sat down in what Helen describes as "her old Great Aunt Kate's Living Room" on Moroccan sofas, around a knee high table in an alcove just big enough for the 6 of us. It was one of 4 tables in the whole restaurant. We were right beside two beautiful cages of canaries.

Just then the local fisherman came in with a huge tray of fish, we knew our dinner was going to fresh! We had a huge plate of Tuna Salad for starters, with unlimited bread, then a dish of herbed and spiced prawns in a tomato sauce, then a HUGE plate of fish and chips. There were about 5 different types of fish, and the chips were "just like mother made" - proper sliced potatoes. The kids loved it and well behaved, everyone eating everything. (We couldn't manage all the fish). We then moved to another table to sit and have Moroccan tea and cake.

Emmas 8th Birthday - getting ready to leave again.

6th October
Emma's Birthday

We awoke to blue sky morning for Emma's birthday. The weather forecast was showing variable winds, thunderstorms and rain. Emma was very excited and had been praying that we stayed in Morocco for her birthday so that she could have a party with her friends Connor and Finlay.

They all woke up at 6.30 to the shout of 'its my birthday ' and mad running around from everyone! She opened her presents after breakfast. Playmobil , a Gameboy and (85in1) games. a Musical box, books to read, and various trinkets and things from the nik nak shops here. Sophie got her a handmade magic box from the shops. You had to open it a certain way to get into it. She was very excited and couldn't believe that we had managed to get her any presents at all, very sweet. She was very pleased to have a box of 'after eight' mints all to herself!!!!

Chris and Rob headed off to the Internet Cafe to take a final look at the weather. The winds were northerly, but not very strong, going slack for 1 -2 days before picking up again closer to the Canaries. Its leave now or stay for at least another week.... and then who knows. We were approached yet again to buy cannabis, a daily occurrence here, we declined as usual, as it is illegal to buy it, but not illegal to sell it, grow it, or use it. The pilot warns that sometimes that seller gets a double wammy by selling you drugs and then shops you to the police, and gets his stash back!!!

Helen made tortillas the previous day, and while mixing the flour found a strange looking substance in the flour. We couldn't believe it. It was a normal sealed bag of flour from the market. But inside was a brown substance that looked on closer examination suspiciously like Cannabis resin. We all looked it over, sniffed it, dissected it and couldn't figure out whether it was or wasn't. We threw the bag of flour away! I did consider saving some for arthritic medicinal purposes, but then thought again. To this day we don't know why it was in a sealed production bag of flour.

Emma had a morning Party and birthday lunch out in the cockpit. Helen organised arts and crafts activities; making Power Rangers boxes, decorated silver foil mirrors, coloured power ranger drawings. She had a Power Rangers Cake (Banana Bread, iced with a Power Rangers picture cut-out and stuck on). The Power Rangers theme had grown from a mad craze on the boat that happened in Gib, after Helen found a church bazaar selling second hand books and Emma loved a 1994 Power Rangers Annual. We had pass the parcel, musical statues and pass the balloon between the knees. Emma had made beautiful party bags for all the kids and a wrapped up present for all the kids....so thoughtful! This all helped to pass a very rainy afternoon!

During the party the heavens opened and it poured with rain and there was thunder and lightening. While we tidied up inside the kids took their plates of cake and ate them under the cockpit table to shelter from the rain. (The awnings not that waterproof!). In the business of the party we all forgot that the bedroom windows had been open - so now we have 2 soaking beds .....and the dry washing is all wet again.

While they finished of the party Me and Chris went ashore to check out customs and immigration to "ask" permission to leave. Thinking that there was going to be a tonne of paper work, Boat searches, alcohol confiscated etc etc. They looked blankly at us and said, "yeah - no problem - leave when you like....!!".

We waited for the lightning to pass over and the pressure to start rising. We left at 1630 and set off out of the harbour into a relatively flat sea with no wind, motoring out west to find winds to take us south to the Canaries a 5 day, 600 mile journey.

We liked Morocco, but the thought of wintering here was not appealing. Speaking of which, if the northerlies don't turn up soon, then we WILL be wintering here!!

On Sunday we checked the weather online at the Internet Cafe and the northerlies that were finally kicking in on Tuesday following the departure of a low pressure, were going to be slight winds - NE force 3-4 maybe even going slack on Thursday/Friday and then picking up again SE on Saturday around the Canaries. This was not what we wanted, but we decided to leave after Emma's Birthday party on Monday. We felt we had to move on and with a bit of luck and a bit of diesel we might make Lanzarote.

3 days to Lanzarote - almost out of fuel and no wind.

Three days to Lanzarote

7th October

We headed west to find the winds. Supposedly at around 10 degrees west they are supposed to kick in, and the swell is longer, well away from the gently shelving Moroccan coast. We had to motor the whole evening and all the night into a southerly swell that started off uncomfortable, but by the morning had subsided into a long rolling rather than a disturbing banging. ( The waves hitting the underside of the bridge deck, between the hulls). Sophie was violently ill and didn't make the toilet, projectile vomiting all over the floor in our bedroom and then again 5 seconds later on the floor of the shower room. Thankfully Helen's cast iron stomach for the sea was put to use, as I was not feeling 100%. We had the water maker on all night and made 150 litres of water. The fridge was on all night, and the kids enjoyed watching telly and playing on the computer.

We caught a couple of fish but being too small (less than 12 inches) we threw them back. We kept one, it was 12 inches, to have for lunch the following day.

The night watch was split as follows: (1) 6-9pm, (2) 9-1am, (3) 1-5am, (4) 5-9am. Watch 1 putting the kids to bed and doing the washing up, and watch 4, getting the kids up and giving them breakfast. Watches 2 and 3 tend to be sleeping watches. The winds being light, an egg timer was used to go off every 20 - 30 minutes to wake the watch up, to take a look around, monitor everything, give a 12 mile sweep on the radar and then back for a snooze. (Helen actually used the time to do odd jobs (sorting out drawers with no prying fingers!, sewing up the edge of the new carpet that we bought in Gib, a bit of cleaning, having a bath! )t- it was I that likes to nap on watch. !)

The following day brought reasonable winds, just enough to fill the sails. We got the cruising chute out and made between 3 and 5 knots in 6 - 10 knots of wind over the deck from behind.
We had tuna on bread and crackers for lunch, and saw a school of about 30 dolphins.
We caught another Tuna, larger than last-nights, that's tomorrow lunch sorted out again.

The Atlantic swell is calming, long low swells, that move the boat in a relaxing way. The swell is about 2 meters high but not intimidating. Helen washed all day, and the whole boat was hung out with drying washing everywhere. During the afternoon a sparrow, tired, hungry and thirsty landed on the boat. It wasn't concerned by us, and gladly took bread and water straight from Louisa's hands, she was amazed and mesmerised by the little thing. Helen had to stay in the cabin!!!

8th October

My early morning shift was greeted at sunrise by the wind dropping to nothing. I lowered the cruising chute, pulled in the main, and turned the engine on. The sea was a glassy mirror laid over the ever-persistent swell. Our little sparrow, who had obviously found somewhere on the boat to rest all night, set off at sunrise. It hovered around the boat a few times, before leaving for somewhere.

After breakfast, Helen set the fishing line for another catch. The fish seem to be getting bigger as we move further out. And just to prove us right, we had a bite, Helen clicked the ratchet on the rod to stop the line releasing, and the rod bent hard over in an arc. She saw a sharp fin on the surface of the water before the line broke. We were certain it was a shark. She set the line up again and cast it out. We watched Fantasia 2000 in the morning, while Helen did more washing. The kids read some books, we all played and watched Harry Potter game on the computer and then had lunch, Tuna pasta and bread After lunch we had another bite. After a struggle, we landed a 2 foot long Mahi mahi. Vivid, luminous green, shimmering as it thrashed around, its color died with it. I had to harpoon it with the steel spike I found to bring it aboard. We had Mahi-Mahi steaks, with rice and homemade baked beans for Tea.
Helen did school in the afternoon, while I looked after Jack. I read the kids a story.

We motored all day, in zero winds, In the afternoon I was able to set the sails to motor sail. We had contact with two other boats that were travelling the same way as us - they had overheard us chatting on the radio to OB and called us up...one boat - a 65 foot catamaran has 3 kids aboard ( 9, 11, 16)- all doing Calvert - we have arranged to meet up with hem on a beach in Lanzarote

I'm unsure that we have enough diesel to motor all the way; there had better be some wind soon.

9th October

We spent a whole night of motoring, and another whole day of motoring. We have enough fuel to get us 150 miles from Lanzarote. The sea is a glassy mirror, the boat is having a good dry out and we are back to minimal clothes as it warms up. Later we spent a morning of washing clothes, reading, playing. We completed the Harry Potter Computer game. I (Harry Potter) beat the Basalisk and won the House Cup for Griffindor. ! Helen made some coconut biscuits.
After lunch we had another huge bite on the line. We managed to real it in, playing it carefully, letting it swim when it pulled hard, and winding in furiously when it tired. The fish was jumping out of the water; it was big. Managed to get it to the back of the boat onto the steps. I harnessed myself on and went down to spear it with the harpoon I had. It was a Mahi-Mahi, beautifully iridescent green and yellow. (But a very ugly face). It was maybe 2.5 feet long. I tried to get the harpoon through it so I could lift it onto the boat, but I couldn't get any grip on the harpoon to drive it through its body, So I tried again, all the time holding onto the fishing line to stop him falling back in the water. I tried three different parts of his body but I couldn't get the harpoon through. Then the hooks ripped out of his mouth, the taught line pulled three my hand and stuck 2 of the hooks in my hand - OUCH - luckily the barbs didn't get in, I was able to pull them out. Sadly the fish got away, with 3 holes in its side, and ripped lips. That would have fed us for days !

Speaking of which, we will be bobbing around here for days unless some wind comes soon.
So, we decided we had three plans;
1. Use all but 10 litres of fuel, to get us 150 miles from Lanzarote, bob around and wait for the wind.
2. Head East to Morocco, 77 miles away, and refuel.
3. Rendezvous with Ocean Breezes, and take onboard more fuel (they have literally a tonne of fuel - 1000 litres capacity).

We spoke with OB on the VHF and decided to push through the night and meet at first light at way-point "filling station", to dinghy jerry cans of diesel.

Helen did school in the afternoon, the girls are just accepting doing school while at sea - while Jack and me looked at books and magazines and planned a design for a second fuel tank storage under the cockpit floor.

Then there was a puff of wind. Instead of 4 knots of wind from behind (useless when motoring at 4 knots), there now appeared 7 knots. I put the cruising chute up (Jack had to join school, much to the frustration of the others). I turned the engine off and managed 3 knots. Then the wind just kept increasing. By tea time, we had 13 knots of wind and we were doing 6 knots - YEEEHAAAA !.

Took the Cruising chute down at sunset, as it was constantly wrapping around the forestay (it doesn't like dead- down wind) and needed constant attention. With the jib up, goosewinged with the main, we were doing 5.5 knots. I set the autohelm to response level 3, which steers more actively, senses wave motion etc, this ensures we don't accidentally gibe, but uses quite a bit more electric power. This is more like it !!! Real downwind sailing at its best ! Praying that the wind holds up for at least another 100 miles.

Tea was home made beef burgers with potatoes peeled by Emma - Sophie was extra good and persevered at finishing the extra work that her course needs , while the others played ' dragons' a game made up for Jack which involves pretending there is dragon in the hulls and running around variously shooting it and roaring at it! When jack gets out of bed in the morning now - he gingerly opens the door with his fingers out in the shape of a gun! The kids watched 'Petes dragon' this afternoon while Helen made tea!I

Caught 3 ( foot long) mahi mahi between 4-6 - sunset fishing is definitely the most productive.

10th October

Northerly wind, 13 knots, slight sea on a 1 metre swell. This is wonderful downwind sailing!!
It was a great night last night, sailing along with the Main and Jib, goosewinged downwind doing 5.5 knots. If only this wind carries on we don't have to worry about fuel anymore.
The night shifts were more active, checking the sails, and watching out for shipping rather than using the Radar (which is used all the time when the engines are on).

First thing - when the kids woke up - 6.30! We were surrounded by a shoal of 30+ dolphins - they stayed with us for a n hour The children were most impressed by the babies of the shoal - they looked to be showing off - leaping out of the water and landing on their backs!
Helen's shifts caught up with her in the morning and so she had a good sleep all morning till noon, while I played Lego with the 4 kids for 3 hours. AFter lunch we caught another couple of small (12 inch) Mahi-mahi and a Tuna. Helen froze them. Helen did school and made some Ginger biscuits, the best yet!, while me and Jack watched "Buzz Light-Year".

We had a slap up Moroccan-born-and-bred chicken roasted with Yorkshire puds and green beans, while the wind slowly picked up to 18 knots. With the Main and cruising chute we were now peaking at 8.5 knots. With sunset approaching we dropped the chute and with the Jib alone made 7 knots. I didn't want to risk the Chute breaking again, or getting it wrapped in the dark alone on watch.

We are aiming to pass a 150 metre "Conception Bank" shoal to the SW around 2am. I don't want to risk any breaking waves caused by the Atlantic swell going from 2km deep to 150 metres in the space of 2 miles. I don't think it will be bad, but it might make things uncomfortable if we pass over it. We are now only 120 miles from our destination, we could motor all the way now and we would have enough fuel - but the way the wind is at the moment we certainly don't need any.

Arrival at Francesca bay North lanzarote - BBQ on the beach with freinds

11th October

Well, the wind died down throughout the night and by morning the engine came on... very depressing - We thought we would be smashing along all the way today. When the wind did pick up to 8 knots around noon it was from the south west - straight on the nose. Our ETA at the anchorage was slipping all the time, what was going to be an afternoon arrival was now at midnight. I worked out that with both engines on for the last 100 miles we could just make it there at sunset. With the moon not appearing until around 11pm we pushed on hard so that we could anchor in the light - Anchoring in the pitch black moon-less night is no fun at all.

Helen did school again in the afternoon and "land ahoy" was shouted around teatime.
The wind came around to the west during the afternoon and we were able a close-reach with the engines on. The sea was slight and it was very pleasant sailing. We sailed through the northern straight of Lanzarote. The scenery was breathtaking; barren islands of sweeping cliffs of black. Burnt out volcanoes were visible on the landscape making it look like the moon. There were 2 metres of tidal range and we were arriving at low tide. The anchorage loomed around the corner. The Atlantic sunset was beautiful as we dropped the hook, pinks and reds lighting up half the sky.

20 boats were there, Amazon and Spartina were there, and they had left Gib a week after us a day before we left Morocco. There were 5 cats. Ocean Breezes were about 40 miles behind us and we just managed to speak to them on SSB 8122 Mhz, before we turned in to bed for a long nights sleep.

Sun, Sea Sand and swimming....again

12th to 16th October

The anchorage, Francesca Bay, is beautiful. Clear Blue water at about 23'c, sandy beaches, and blue skies with a radiantly hot sun was a welcome, from the past 6 weeks of the cold, brown waters of Gibraltar and Morocco anchorages and Marinas.

We didn't manage sleeping throughout the night, Our bodies seemed to be tuned into 5-6 hours sleep at night. Ocean breezes arrived at 4am.
These 5 days have been very relaxing, we have been swimming and playing on the beach. (after morning school). The beach is deserted it only has people from the boats on the beach. There are 6 boats here with children on; Dolphins, with 4 children, OB, 2, Amazone with 3 kids Emma, Louisa and Jacks age, and 3 French boats with children ranging from 5 up to 15 years old. We have spent some lovely afternoons playing on the beach - kids from whichever boat playing in the sand.

School is going well and we have set up a point's system where they get a sticker for good work done in each subject.
One day we set off to trek to the local town about 2 km away to find the local supermarket. The journey was along a sandy road, and we struggled with the push chair. Half way was a make-shift hand-made Zen-style Labyrinth made from rocks on the sand. The kids played for a while. When we got to the town everywhere was shut for the siesta. We had drinks and ice creams, and then Helen and the girls set off back and jack and I waited with the pushchair for the Super market to open. The French boat with the elder kids aboard: Clio (15), Thomas (12) and Lola (10) turned up in their dinghy for the supermarket also. We waited together at the local bar, sinking a few beers while we waited. Bi-lingual in French and English the Kids were teaching themselves from a French correspondence course. It was good to hear their experiences from the past year, and was encouraging to see the elder kids learning well and benefiting from their time aboard. We did the supermarket and they gave me a lift back in their dinghy. We have been swapping DVD's with them and gameboy games! - better than a book swap!

We organised a bonfire on the beach for the 16 children and other boats, that night. We all brought our own BBQ's. The adults cooked all sorts of delicacies on a charcoal fire using our cooker shelf - but forgot that there was no moon and we didn't bring any torches! We ended up eating like savages with fingers in the pitch black! ( we cooked all the fish that we caught on the trip down here - and i had in the freezer!) The beach was full - English, French and German families......we only told 3 boats about the 'get together' and mentioned some food and drinks......so it was pretty amazing that all the boats from the anchorage were there!
Considering there weren't any trees we managed to collect dead bushes to burn on the bonfire, I organised the children search parties and after a while they were all disappearing of into the dark reappearing with more dead bushes to throw on the fire. The elder kids were looking after the younger ones. Once the fire was blazing all 16 kids were sat in a semi-circle around the fire mesmerized by the flames. It reminded me so much of Lord of the Flies. All the kids played very happily together. 4 hours of fire later and as the embers dies away and the younger ones started to nod off on our laps we dispersed back into the dingies and home to bed.

We took a walk up the local dead Volcano another day, along with the French boat, with their elder kids. With Jack on my back and the girls walking we headed up the track. It was hard going but was worth it; the view was spectacular, over looking the anchorage and a panoramic view of Lanzarote. We had a quick swim back at the beach. We really seem to be feeling part of a community now; the Atlantic community. Everybody is crossing the Atlantic, some to the Caribbean, some to Brazil
I have set up an SSB NARC Network. (NARC being short for Not the ARC- The ARC being a massively organised cross Atlantic Rally, it costs thousands to join and they stipulate very stringent safety and communication requirements.)

So far Dolphins, Ocean Breezes, Spartina and Amazone have joined the network. We plan to transmit on SSB 8122, 6224, and 4146 at 1900 UTC every day. The plan is to exchange positions, discuss weather and relay messages when we cross the Atlantic.
Crossing the Atlantic is now a 99% certainty. We are feeling very confident and comfortable with the idea. We are aiming to leave at the begining of December.
If anybody has a Short-wave radio then it maybe possible to tune in......
16th - Finally a Spanish phone top up card was found in the tiny post office today - we could now communicate with the outside world......

Porto Naos - time to organise a haul out

18th October

We left the paradise beach and headed to Peurto Naos. We had a great Beam reach all the way in 15 knots of wind, pushing 8 knots all the way. Only when we rounded the headland 3 miles from Naos the wind came onto the nose and so we motored the last 3 miles.

I had woken up in a grumpy mood! - Louisa had woken in the night and came in bed with us, so I went in her bed and slept with Jack; he constantly fidgeted about and shouted in his sleep. I couldn't sleep what with thinking about all the things that "need" to happen before an Atlantic crossing. I say "need" as we probably don't need to do anything......
I eventually got over it by lunch time and we had a great sail. We caught a Big Tuna just as we were arriving. It was half dead when we reeled it in, there were huge teeth marks down its side, something big had tried to get at it before we could haul it in.
We arrived and anchored next to OB who arrived yesterday. Amazone had anchored in the outer anchorage. All three boat loads dinghyed ashore and sat in a playground with the 9 kids, and chatted

Need to organise:

1. Haul out somewhere, scrub and antifoul boat. (change transmission oil and Anodes) Also Install Through hull Grounding plate for SSB.
2. Find a place to fill up with Diesel ( we are running on fumes)
3. Arrange getting a spare down wind foresail (Cruising chute, Gennaker....)
4. Get the Jib checked over for repairs and possible strengthening
5. Get the Motorbike off and try to sell it
6. Change Engine Oil, Oil and Fuel filters
Need:
3 12v Fans
Small fore hatch for Emma's Room
Water Maker filters
water - manual hand pump

19th October to 23rd
Harboured in Lanarote
It is a bit of a come down from a wonderful week in beautiful surroundings. Anchored in Porto Naos in Arraciffe.
We spent 5 days doing school, and exploring the town.
Tried to take the Mothercare pushchair back. The stainless steel wheels are completely rusted after 6 months, and with an international 1-year guarantee we thought it might be easy to get it replaced/repaired. But Mothercare didn't want to know here. They y just pushed us to head office. Never mind, the wheels go round!
I rang around and finally booked us into Porto Celero to haul out to antifoul. They charge 60 euro cents per day per flat square metre on the hard, 80 Euros each way to lift, and 50 Euros to pressure spray the boat. 18 Euros per hour for work done. They would also charge me 1100 Euros for 20 litres of International Micron Extra Antifoul. I managed to negotiate at the local chandlery discount and a good price and only paid 650 Euros for 20 litres. It is A nice royal blue colour. I also bought 2x 91 litre fuel tanks that fit perfectly under the cockpit floor. Our capacity for fuel is now 480 litres. I have a feeling that we will never ever need that much again, but after our becalmed trip from Morroco to Lanzarote I think its worth it to have them.

Also had a great kids birthday party on Amazone. Celestine was 8 and with 9 kids all on their boat it was a great party. It seems that the owner, Helmit is a retired surgeon from Germany, his wife, a nurse. That explains the birthday balloons being surgical gloves, blown up with "Happy Birthday" written on them. The three of us men seemed to stay all the time in the cockpit drinking. The heavens opened while we were there, so Chris and I sped back to our boats to close hatches and take in washing.

We travelled down to Porto Celero early Thursday morning, as the winds were forecasted to come from the north. We had an 11am lift out time. Chris came with us on the boat as he had to drop off some water maker parts at Porto Celero. We left at 7am and with the wind on the nose from the southwest we motor-tacked all the way in 18 knots of wind to make it by 11.

Dolphins hauled out of the water and luxury in an apartment!!!

Hauled out and a week in an aprtment with the Maine Families.

23rd - 30th October

Porto de Carmen was only 2 miles away from the boat and the 3-bedroom apartment with swimming pool was superb. The kids loved it, jumping on the beds - 'a real house!' and jumping straight in the heated swimming pool..We met up with Ann, Michael, Steve, Nic and Natalie and Joe at their luxury apartment. Theirs was fantastic, a spectacular south facing sea view looking across to the island of FuertherVentura . The swimming pool was massive and the outside table was big enough to fit all 12 of us. We met everyday with them and chilled out by the pool, drinking, eating and playing games It was a great week and we are all very thankful to the Grandparents Maine for organising it for us.