January 14, 2005
First update - more to come..
First update - more to come..
We’re in the final weeks of shedding the old life here in Olympia. I made several full car runs to Goodwill before New Years, stopping off at CD Connections and the used book store to sell what I could. Prior to that we held a great potluck with our friends here, to give or sell things that they wanted. It is surprisingly satisfying to know that things I have enjoyed will continue to be useful to people we know. We have found homes for most of the things we intend to keep (Mostly family treasures). There is still quite a bit left, and I am hoping to sell as much as possible in the next couple weeks.
Other chores include trips to the doctor, getting health and boat insurance, and hoping the British airways ticket price drops by the end of the week. I am still doing a little bit at work - next week I am to go in for some orientation with my successor, Don Arlow. David is finishing off projects on his former boat, the O-My-God, and tackling house projects necessary to renting.
Happy 2005!
Susanne
January 16, 2005
T =-2 weeks and counting!
2 weeks from right now we are scheduled to be en route to Lisbon via Heathrow. Wahoo!! This weekend we participated in a yard sale and also sold a bunch of stuff direct from home. We did pretty well - there are still some things left to sell or get rid of, but we are getting down to just those things we plan to house with family and friends. I am glad Kasia’s not adopting the bed till next weekend! Remaining items include cars, a pressure washer, filing cabinets and misc household stuff so let us know if you are interested. A big thanks to Paige Lemcke who hosted the garage sale, and her wood stove which made hanging out in the garage all day bearable.
Dan Decker told us about Craig's list
Last Thursday Dr. Samantha Ritchie taught us how to suture. It’s not horribly difficult but there are some tricks to it. If I ever have to do it I will be glad to have practiced it first. Sam is also helping us complete our medical kit, as we will carry a few more serious remedies than are currently in my first aid kit. We also took First Aid and CPR, and are trying to follow up on the Travel Nurse recommendations from Group Health.
We’re also finalizing insurance and property management arrangements. I find it fascinating that world wide medical coverage comparable to what I had last year with Washington state costs $4,000 for us both, less than 1/2 as much as it would cost to stay on the state’s plan either as an employee or through COBRA. Raising the deductible to $2,500 each brings the annual cost to $2,500. Yes, something is quite wrong with the cost of American health care, and I am going to enjoy NOT thinking about that for a while, and focus on staying healthy instead.
Can you believe it - last weekend we found fresh chanterelles in woods near our house! Enough for us and friends, for several meals. I hope to go out and poke around at least one more time before we go - it is a good break from the chores.
In between the chores we are still fitting in lunches, dinners and drinks with friends and family. Dan Decker is hosting a party for us at his place the night before we go (1/29) - if you want to attend and didn’t get the invite, let me know & I will forward.
Next weekend we hope to move out of here and into Lisa Seifert’s guest room, which will facilitate remaining house projects. We’ll keep the phones on until right before we go, and of course will check email (but maybe less frequently).
I’m very interested in suggestions for good books for the Atlantic crossing and beyond. I can’t buy too many before we go, but I have heard that English bookstores aren’t too hard to find in Portugal due to lots of British expatriates and tourists (and there is always Gibraltar!). We’ll take recommendations for music and DVD’s, too.
Thanks for your support and good wishes. Keep your fingers crossed for us! I look forward to writing you from Portugal.
Susanne
February 1, 2005
We made it to London!
Just a quick note to let you all know we are successfully on our way. A huge thank you to the many friends and family who helped get us on our way yesterday. Will write more soon.
Love, a jet lagged D+S
February 2, 2005
Boa noite de Lisboa
We arrived Monday night, after an incredible week of getting ready. Despite attempts at preparation, the last two days before departure required Herculean efforts to finish getting rid of our stuff. We could never have done this without the help of many friends, some of whom were still working as we left. Dan Decker and his friend Terry with the trailer, Brian, Maria, Bill Weinsheimer, Gunner, Michelle, Bill Brosius all were instrumental in this effort. It was very strange to see all of our stuff making its way out the door, leaving us with just 4 overstuffed suitcases, 2 heavy daypacks, and the computer. At the end, we could actually see the walls and floor of the garage for the first time any of us can remember.
Lisa Seifert, Sam, Dave and Morgan, Judith and especially Paige were particularly helpful with the big move and all the other tasks of our departure. So many details. Finally, we made it to Seatac, on time, and onto the plane. As we lifted off, it finally started to sink in that we were leaving, about to begin our dream voyage.
We’ve spent the last day playing tourist in Lisbon, seeing just a little of this beautiful city. Many of the buildings here are covered with azulejos tiles in many colors and designs - others are painted in pastel and Mediterranean earth tones. The city, like Rome, is built on 7 (steep!) hills. It felt very good to stretch our legs on the climb up to St. George’s castle this morning, where were rewarded with a terrific view. The weather is “bracing” - clear, chilly but warming in the bright sun. In the afternoon, we went to see the Gulbekhian museum, which has a very eclectic collection from Egyptian to modern art - and everything in between.
On Monday night, we went to a fado house - definitely a tourista spot, but I enjoyed the music and the grilled squid. Fado is a soulful Portuguese vocal tradition, usually accompanied by guitar. There appears to be specific structure to the songs (sung in groups of 3) - common themes are unrequited love, and other life challenges. It sounds to me like a pretty direct descendent of the songs of the medieval troubadours.
There are multiple “tipico” restaurants on every block in downtown Lisbon, so today we tried to pick ones with interesting menus and Portuguese diners. We’ve had scabbard fish, caldo verde and rabbit with clams (an odd combination but good). Enjoyed some tasty vinho verde (young wine) tonight, reminded me a bit of Chateau Lemcke. We are staying in Pensao Globo (downtown Barria Alto), in a room mostly filled by the full bed, with a closet shower.
Portugese is an interesting language - it reads kind of like Spanish, but sounds a lot more like Russian. A lot of things seem to be pronounced or abbreviated with an “sh” sound. Every so often I can pick out a word or two, but mostly not. A lot of people here speak or understand English, so that is not a problem. But I try to stumble through at least simple conversations with broken Portuguese, and they humor me and sometimes tell me how to pronounce things correctly!
Everyone we have met has been really nice and helpful.
Tomorrow we plan to rent a car and head for Porto, before turning south to Portimao. We’ve already sampled some white port (good, but not like the red kind, and intended as an aperitif. Coffee is good, I am not missing Batdorf’s yet. More to come.
Love, Susanne and David
February 8, 2005
Next post, from Portimao
I’m writing this from Cheshire’s salon table. Finally, I get to meet her - and I like her very much! We arrived today just before 6 PM, and were able to check in with the marina and get our keys activated. Then we went up for a quick bite and drink, and met 2 other groups of yachties with catamarans (Brits). They made us feel right at home. We’ll spent the weekend tidying up and running errands, and try to get the boat hauled out Monday for a full body spa treatment of sanding and painting. Tuesday is Carnaval (Mardi Gras), and there are supposed to be big festivities in a nearby town (Loule).
Yesterday, we left Porto for a nice lunch in a little fishing village, where the older ladies all still wear black dresses. Then I ventured into my first “hipermercado” - think Walmart. It went pretty well - I learned that any kind of drug, including aspirin, must be purchased at a farmacia. But they have everything else there, including some pretty good produce. Unfortunately, we could not for the life of us find our way down the hill to the village of Vila Nova de Gaia, which is where the port cellars are. Finally we made it down, but we only had time for 1 tour and tasting, at the Calem cellar. Outside Porto looked very nice in the late PM sunshine. A fleet of old style sailboats, rabelas, were moored off the front street. These were used to transport the port from the vineyards to the cellars.
David’s ancestors, the Derby family, were leaders among early American traders, and I like to think that one of them sailed to Porto and looked on a scene that included many of the things we saw. Hopefully he also enjoyed his port!
We went to the medieval city of Coimbra for the evening. It is the site of one of the oldest universities in Europe. We stayed below in a neighborhood full of tiny alleys, and had a delicious dinner of roast chicken and accompaniments. Our host treated us to a glass of Ferreira port afterwards, which sent me right over the edge. Fortunately our pensao was just around the corner. In the morning, after coffee, we hiked up to the top of the hill and the old university center for a great view of the city and surrounding valley.
Then, back into the car for the last leg of the trip. Lunch was at the seaside town of Setubal, south of Lisbon. We drove across the flat plans of the Alentejo, which I think of as Portugal’s Texas. The hills were dotted with cork trees and the occasional flock of cows and sheep. Coming in towards the coast, we saw trees in blossom which I think are almond. Spring arrives early here, but the nights are quite chilly. Still glad I brought fleece and long underwear.
That’s it for now. I know there will be more to report soon as we dive into boat projects and figure out the Portimao area.
February 10, 2005
Happy Carnaval!
Today we went to Loule, about 30 minutes from here, to see a Carnaval parade. We were accompanied by Debbie, an English reflexologist who is planning a similar cruising route to ours. She and her partner have been here a while already, so she has been a great source of information for useful details like the nearest chandlery, availability of free internet at the library, the really good hipermercado is closer to the freeway, etc.
The parade was a bit cheesy, but fun. Some of the costumes were a bit worn, but they were very colorful - a la Rio, on a smaller scale. There were plenty of scantily clad women, including one in a brief tasseled silver skirt, silver boots, and body paint. Oh wait, I think she was wearing a headdress too. In the “traditional” carnaval spirit, there was a man with a large prosthesis, and other people with over dramatized body parts. I felt for the scantily clad babes, as it was not warmer than 50. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day, unlike yesterday when there was lightning and hail.
Several floats seemed to have a graphic political emphasis, with large headed dummies of what I think were political figures. This may be due to the upcoming election. On one float, one figure was cutting out the tongue of another. In another, the opposition candidate was surrounded by Klannish types with the label “Nao” (no). The procession circled the main avenue of the town, which was divided by a greenway in the middle.
There were Procession of the Species-like moments: samba dancers swaying down the street, with a drum band behind, and large creatures in paper mache. I had moments of nostaglia for my parrot costume of last year, as I think it would have fit in well. Plus I think you got in free if you were in sufficient costume (otherwise 2 euros admission). Popular costume themes were witches, Chinese, and among the younger set, princesses, Superman, and cats.
Besides Carnaval, other exciting moments have been getting a new propane bottle installed on the boat, which means cooking and limited heat; and attending a cruiser roundtable on Sunday where we met a bunch of our neighbors. Very good for information trading. Most of the people here are planning to go into the Mediterranean next summer, so that was the topic of discussion. One marina in Ibiza charges $170/berth/night in high season!!! Glad we aren’t going there.
Tomorrow we will find out when we can get the boat hauled. Our 2 critical tasks are to sand and paint the bottom and sides of the boat, and to get solar panels purchased and installed. Hopefully the haulout will occur either late this week or early next, and then the fun begins! We will move into the yard, which will likely restrict my access to internet and ability to write posts. On the other hand, boat sanding and painting are pretty boring as several of you know first hand, so there won’t be much to report for a while. Your wishes for good weather for us are encouraged.
February 13, 2005
Cheshire in the slings
Now we are hauled out, and sanding the paint on the sides (topsides) and bottom of the boat preparatory to painting.
We hauled out Thursday. The wind was gusting in the morning, and built to a steady 12-15 mph from the East by the time to leave the dock. This was my first time out on Cheshire and my first haul out, so I was a bit nervous and not entirely sure conditions were sufficiently favorable. We had a tight exit to make as we had to avoid the long boom of a folkboat across the way. So David let the bows blow down, and we backed out of our section and the marina, aided by a neighbor and his dinghy. I tried to make sure necessary fenders and lines were everywhere, but predictably it was a scramble to get set up as we entered the travel lift quay.
Pictures of the haul out follow - once the boat was in the slings, everything went very smoothly. It’s a bit weird to feel the boat become airborne - you hope the slings are all in good repair! We were impressed by our driver’s ability to skooch tightly into our yard space - typical of Portuguese driving. We spent the rest of Thursday and Friday getting organized, giving up our cute little Peugot (silver, of course!) after one last trip to Lidl’s to stock up on very cheap wine (more on that later).
Today we began sanding. It always takes me a while to get a good sense of how far to go - the trick is to not go past the paint into barrier coat or fibre glass, and to be even and not make divets. The sun angle after 2 PM was perfect for showing what needed more work. Although there is more surface area to work on than the O-My-God (our last boat), the sides of the boat are more perpendicular, and closer to the ground. So the work is easier.David bought a low end mountain bike today as well. I find it a bit small for me, but quite adequate for the commute across the bridge to town for groceries and Internet fix. I think we’ll eventually get another, which I hope can be larger. The constraint is, that it must fit through a forward hatch, which is 28” diagonal, and we don’t want to have to disassemble it any more than necessary.
That’s enough for today… will write more later. Wish us continued dry weather!
February 21, 2005
Cheap, red wine
Cheap, red wine
Portugal’s best known wine exports are Port, Madeira, and (more recently) Mateus. I was interested to learn that both Port and Madeira are actually fortified wines, which were developed in their current form for the English market several centuries ago. Like its other Mediterranean brothers and sisters, Portugal produces many types of red and white wine, although they are not as well known. Some are reputed to be of high quality and commensurate price, therefore we will probably not be tasting them. However, we had heard that there is an abundance of cheap wine available in the stores, and have not been disappointed. On our last trip with the car to Lidl’s, the bulk store, we stocked up with about 10 different wines, all but one for 1 euro or less (we splurged and spent E1.19 on one). Last we checked, a euro was $1.34 - so this makes Trader Joe’s 3 buck chuck look expensive!
About 2/3’s were reds (tinta), and most were “vinho verde” which means green or young wine. Other countries have a few varieties of wine, like Beaujolais, meant to be drunk young, but here there is lots. Sometimes vinho verde has a sparkling quality, such as one of my favorites Campo da Gruta (red). I definitely want to get some more of this, and try it with fruit juice to make a Sangria. Yum. We also liked Veleira (red) (so called because it has a picture of a sailboat on the label), and Portal do Minho (Branco-white). There is wine in boxes too, so far we find these to be unexceptional. Even some of the bottled kinds don’t taste too different from inexpensive stateside wines, but hey, for about $1 a bottle, you can make some mistakes!
Wish we had some more erudite commentary to make, but we are pretty plebian in our taste - either we like it (fruity, a little sweet, not too much after taste) or we don’t (tannic, boring, sour). David adds that that the reds in particular make pretty good cough medicine, as we are both recovering from mild colds. Cheaper than cold medicine, too!
Speaking of which, there are also quite a number of other local distillates (aguardentes), including some made from the fruit of the madrona tree (medronho). At the Carnaval, I tried a shot of cherry liquor (ginjinha), which was distinctly reminiscent of cough medicine, so I am glad I did not invest in an entire bottle. Did give me a nice buzz though. Open air roadside bars, in addition to coffee stands, are pretty frequent - there is one here in the shipyard which is the fishermen and dog hangout. The dogs entertain the fishermen by chasing hapless passersby such as yours truly on the bike!
The region we are in, the Algarve, has been a wine growing area at least since the Romans. But in recent years, many acres have been converted to more lucrative orange production, which corresponds to the view out our train window Tuesday on the way to Faro. The trees are laden with fruit, which is another disorienting element given that it is February. Fresh orange juice is plentiful and cheap, although apparently not quite enough to prevent colds. There appears to be another trend overtaking the Algarve, namely house and apartment production. New construction is very evident, especially in the towns, to support the tourist and expatriate influx. I am very glad we will not be here in the high season, as road development is not occurring on the same scale, and traffic is rumored to be horrendous. And I hope that enough wine production continues to sustain a good supply of cheap red (or white) wine.
February 27, 2005
Home, home on the hard…
Here we are, working away on the boat. We have moved from coarse 60 grit sandpaper, to 220 grit. It is getting pretty hard to see progress, with the white glare of the hull in the sun, so David has “rattle canned” the side of the boat with orange spray paint to help show the contrast better.
I am hand sanding the lip at the edge of the topsides, as we don‘t have a small detail sander. I am looking forward to getting rid of that special early 70’s shade of aquamarine - we will paint the boat white up to the deck.
Last Tuesday we were visited by Mr. Sandblaster, a British chap who did some clean up of our bottom. This is a more drastic measure than David wanted, but you can see the large gaps in the bottom where the paint was not adhering. So, we decided to blast it all off and start afresh, to avoid further problems. The sandblasting got rid of some loose material, but we could see that there was a lot more that needed to come off. So, we have spent the rest of the week doing that. I went after some of it with a chisel, and David attacked the rest with the sander.
We had hoped to complete sanding today (Sunday), and begin painting next week but we have our first serious day of rain since we have been here. This is probably good for the orange trees, not as good for our schedule. Oh well. So I am doing interior projects, and David is going out to sand between the hulls for as long as he can stand it.
Next week, we hope to be out of the yard and welcome Dave Stewart, who will be our crew for the crossing to the Caribbean. We plan to leave on or around March 14, weather permitting On the way, we will go to the Canary Islands, maybe Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands. I am very excited for the sailing part of our trip to begin.
February 28, 2005
Adventures in food - trying out the ‘anona’
I (Susanne) am particularly interested in adapting our provisioning to incorporate local foods, and to tackle the challenge of figuring our how to identify and acquire staples or reasonable substitutes.Grocery choices in Portugal are fairly similar to ours, especially as regards the basics. One can find some foreign foods (eg soy sauce) but not the diversity available in Washington. There is less diversity of choice than I’m used to (maybe spoiled for?) especially in the produce section. There are a few out of season items available from other countries such as Peru, such as red peppers and grapes. Mostly though it is seasonally available produce - leafy greens, cabbage, root veggies. The oranges are a nice treat. I made duck a l’orange the other night - very good but rich.
In the meat sections, I think there is more choice. One finds many more parts of the chicken than most US stores (feet, interesting looking innards, etc). Also, duck, rabbit, LOTS of kinds of fish and shellfish (whole, of course!) and the ubiquitous dried cod.
On the boat I’m also a little limited in storage space, and eventually by refrigeration, which we don’t plan to have. We still don’t have an oven yet - we have looked at a couple choices but haven’t found an ideal solution. Also, we are starting to get limited on time for such projects. So, we may stick with the broiler only for the Atlantic crossing - see how it works. This will dictate our menu choices.
My next challenge will be thinking about provisioning for our Atlantic crossing. Because the boat is weight sensitive, and we will be going places where restocking will be easy, I’ll want to balance buying enough food for emergency, with not buying in excess. Fresh supplies usually last no more than a week, then you are into “long term” veggies such as cabbage and roots, and canned or dried provisions. We hope a major protein source is freshly caught fish, but cannot necessarily depend on that.
Attached are pictures of my first food adventure. I had seen these bumpy green things in the store, so decided to buy some and experiment with them. The sign said “anonas”, which I could not find in our little Portuguese phrase book or Joy of Cooking, so I wasn‘t sure if they were vegetable or fruit. After a couple days, they got soft, so I sliced them open and tasted them. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find a sweet, mild, custardy interior. A little more research in Joy confirmed these to be cherimoyas. I highly recommend them if you see them in the store, just to try. You can eat the rind, or not - the seeds are not edible.
That’s all for today - regards from Portugal
March 11, 2005
Quick progress report
The pace is picking up here finally. We have lots of good new to report. We have finally finished sanding the boat, and David has also sprayed on all the paint for the sides of the boat, despite some rather windy days. Today, we hope to begin painting the bottom, including the dagger boards. If all goes well, we will be back in the water on Monday.
We have also been joined by David Stewart, who will crew with us across the Atlantic. He arrived Tuesday, and his baggage arrived Wednesday. He brought with us the key remaining components of our medical kit, and prescriptions thanks to his wife Dr. Sam Ritchie. Also, the books we couldn’t fit in to our bags, other important documents and letters than came after we left, and goodies like wasabi paste to flavor the tuna we hope to catch. It was like Christmas!
We are planning our exit strategy from Portugal, and hope to be underway next week. There is lots to do but we can get started in between bottom paint applications. I’ll write more soon…
April 2, 2005
Back in the water, again!
Cheshire is a boat again, and floating happily in her slip. Yesterday was a very big day: David Ames’ 50th birthday, launching the boat with a engine that decided not to work, going for our first daysail in a little too much wind and wave, and joining up with an in progress birthday party at the beachside “Yacht bar”. While we are very glad to leave the yard, we got a lot done and made some new international friends. This was good as one of them gave us a tow from the slings yesterday and off to a nice anchorage for lunch.
Cheshire rests after launching
The birthday bunch at the "Yacht Club" I’m happy to report that David Ames was able to get the engine working again when we were in the water, to our collective relief. We spent our first night at anchor as the winds were too strong to attempt going to the marina, which was another good thing to try out. This morning we came over early and are now settled in, with drying laundry everywhere. Today we are also looking at internet weather, taking care of final chores such as provisioning and finishing Dave Stewart’s head (marine toilet). We hope to leave for the Canaries in the next few days, ideally when the wind is lighter and coming from the north.
There has been much to do, so I have not been online a lot. I’ll write a little more for you before we leave. Ciao!
April 4, 2005
…And away we go
It’s midnight, therefore we plan to leave Portugal today now, not tomorrow. Today/Yesterday was spent organizing. David went through the hulls and cleaned up all the hard to reach little corners. With Dave Stewart’s help, he also set up the jacklines, which we will clip in to when we go out of the cockpit at night or in rough weather. I’ve been looking for reliable weather information on the Internet, and going through our medical supplies one more time to categorize and inventory them. Tomorrow I will go into town for one last shopping run before we go.
After dinner tonight, our friend Debbie and her partner Sean came by for a last visit, which involved toasting our trip with port and champagne. It seems quite a while ago now that we first met her and visited the Loule Carnival. They will explore the eastern Mediterranean for a while before following us across the Atlantic next fall. We hope to see each other again, maybe in Central America or even the South Pacific.
Yesterday we went out for our second practice sail, and things went much better than the first. We sailed back and forth across the harbor a few times, then went out into the ocean. Our objective was to sail far enough up wind that we could practice with the spinnaker, our big downwind sail. Catamarans sail much faster downwind than upwind, so we had to go out a ways. But it was a pretty day, so that was no hardship, and both Dave Stewart and I got to practice steering too. Even though we sailed out at least an hour, we still had barely enough time to raise the spinnaker and sail with it briefly before we were almost back to Portimao again.
Therefore, we are very interested in sailing downwind to the Canaries, not upwind, and have been trying to watch the weather closely. The next couple of days are OK for weather (not great) - winds will be light and there is some risk they may be more southerly than northerly. It’s about 650 miles to the Canaries and a pretty straight shot if we can hold our course, which is 222 degrees (southwest). There is a low pressure system moving in from the mid Atlantic which may affect our travels a little as the week progresses.
It has been fun to be back in the marina again, and see people we met when we were first here. Our four solar panels make for quite the conversation starter as people come by the boat. Most boats have diesel engines which are usually set up to generate some power through an alternator. This is typically supplemented by 1-2 solar panels and/or a wind generator. We have more panels because our little 9.9 hp Yamaha outboard (with the hard to find parts!) can’t put out enough power to make an alternator viable, and David hasn’t been so keen on wind generators due to the noise they make. The panels are mounted at the back of the boat on 2 aluminum masts, which can vibrate quite a bit at times. I am hoping they all make it across the Atlantic in good repair. Otherwise we may need to get a wind generator anyway, noise or not.
This will be the last email you get directly from me until we reach the Canaries, sometime between 1 and 2 weeks from now. During our first couple days at sea I’m not expecting to do much other than stand my watches and make sure there’s enough food around for those who feel like eating. We plan to stand 3 hour watches, which means 4-5 hours sleep during the night and catnaps during the day. We’ll only have a short stay there (I hope less than 3 days) before beginning the passage to the Caribbean. We will determine our most likely landfall in the Canaries, after watching weather there and weighing options.
If you want to send us a message while we are at sea, please keep it short and text only, and send to Paigeol@hotmail.com. Wish us luck!
