Madeira

I've been on land for almost a week now. Being on land is so nice and comfortable and... stable. The turbulence of last week seems so far away, and I'm starting to forget that I'm on a sailing trip. Well, except that I still go to sleep on a boat every night -- that helps to remind me :)

We're docked in a marina on the east side of Madeira, close to the city of Caniçal. We rented a car with Chris and Marinette to explore the island, and I'm sharing the driving responsibility with Chris.

On Monday we drove around the center of the island. We went all the way to the top of Pico do Arieiro, and then visited a few cities on the northern coast.

I'm doing most of the driving -- everyone is surprisingly okay with that -- and me re-learning how to drive stick-shift was an adventure of its own. I was quite panicky at first, but everyone else seemed unfazed. Actually, in retrospect I think they were just being polite, or maybe they were too scared to complain.

Some highlights: stalling repeatedly on the narrow pier, with a wall on one side, a ten-foot drop to the ocean on the other, and construction workers and a bulldozer at work in the middle; driving up and down and up and down and up... and down; LOTS of shifting between first and second gear; swerving to avoid a truck that was barrelling down the 1.5-lane switchbacks; thinking how ironic it would be if my driving made a bunch of experienced sailors get carsick. But everything turned out fine -- not one casualty! -- and at the end of the day, Marinette rewarded my driving with a lollipop :)

Here's a picture of our little-Renault-that-could:


Tuesday, we did more of the same, this time exploring the western side of the island.

There's something very nice about driving in the mountains with friends who are speaking to each other in a language you don't understand. I was able to be alone with my thoughts, without actually being alone; so I could ponder and daydream (and watch the road of course!) without being interrupted or feeling any pressure to contribute to the opaque conversation going on around me. But whenever there was a sight to be seen, there were people to share it with.

Some sights that we saw:










The fruit on Madeira is fantastic. There were lots of fruit stands along the road, and some areas where we just stopped the car and picked some for ourselves:





A few animals on the island:




On Wednesday, we visited the botanical garden in the morning. Later in the day, Marinette had to catch a flight back to Belgium, so Chris took her to the airport. Robert and I were dropped off in Funchal, the busy downtown of the island, where I had McDonalds for the first time in weeks. The Big Mac meal was deliciously familiar!

Pictures from the botanical garden:





Today we're in Funchal again, where they've got free WiFi in the streets. Our plan is to spend tomorrow checking the boat and making small repairs, and then to depart on Saturday for the Canary islands, stopping at the Salvagem Islands along the way.

Arrived in Madeira

32º44.474' N
16º42.679' W

Mission: Internet

This morning, we decided to take the dinghy from our boat to the marina so that we could visit an internet cafe in the city before we make the short afternoon sail to Madeira. But just as we passed the breakwater, the motor on the dinghy died, and we started drifting out into the ocean. We managed to use the dinghy's single paddle (the other was lost some time ago) and our hands to pull ourselves against the wall.

We climbed up the slippery breakwater and walked along it to get to Chris' boat to get a long rope to drag the dinghy to his boat. Later, he will tow it and bring us back to our boat. In the meantime, we are at the internet cafe -- a successful mission!

The adventure never stops :)

Porto Santo

33º03.482' N
16º19.234' W

We made it!!! However, we had one more thrill before it was over. As we were docking in the Porto Santo marina, the tiller broke, so we had to back out of the marina very carefully and anchor in the harbor. Later in the morning, we replaced the tiller with a backup aluminum tube, and we'll try to get the old tiller re-welded when we get to the main island of Madeira.

The stars last night were phenomenal, so I had no problem staying awake for my shifts. However, it meant that I was thoroughly exhausted when we got here at 8 AM, and I slept soundly for several hours immediately after we set anchor.

Chris and Marinette arrived around noon, and we spent the afternoon hiking around the island.

Some pictures of Porto Santo:

Duct tape

33º41.932' N
15º33.312' W

I discovered today that the boat is held together mostly by duct tape:

Eat. Sleep. Sail.

35º07.191' N
13º52.411' W

Because there are just two of us on the boat, we only get to rest two or three hours at a time while the other keeps watch. Last night's graveyard shift was quite demanding. The ship has three autopilots, none of which could be used last night for different reasons:

1) The main autopilot consumes a lot of electricity and the ship's batteries are old and on the fritz, so we only use it when the solar panels are actively charging the batteries (i.e. not at night)
2) The light-weight backup autopilot, which uses much less electricity, was not functioning properly
3) The wind autopilot couldn't be used because the wind kept changing

As a result, we had to steer by hand during our shifts, which meant we couldn't just sit in the nice warm cabin and keep an eye out for ships. Also, in order to conserve the charge in our problematic batteries, we left our mast lights off and only turned them on when we saw another boat's lights -- a dangerous thing to do, but we didn't have much choice. In spite of all the stress and cold, I still managed to fall asleep on my watch a few times...

Thankfully, we fixed the light-weight autopilot today (with duct tape), and after that, I've actually had a lot of free time to just sit and watch the ocean or catch up on reading.

"...makes me want to vomit"

37º32.153' N
9º22.245' W

Later last night, as I was doing the watch from 4 AM to 7 AM, I started feeling nauseous again. It was brought on by the strong wind and five-foot swells in the ocean. I didn't throw up, but as each wave relentlessly hit the boat, I scowled at it and silently yelled, "[Expletive] you, wave!" It actually helped a little.

I found out from yesterday's experiences that being tired, cold, or hungry can bring on or exacerbate a bout of seasickness. After learning this and actively taking measures against any of those three conditions, I have been doing quite well. I even went up to the bow and helped put on the gennaker today, which is a large triangular sail, set on a spar and used to increase speed in light winds.

It's a pretty sail:

"If you have to spew..."

37º32.153' N
9º22.245' W

Ugh, I just threw up last night's dinner. So all of you who predicted that I'd get seasick... you were right. However, throwing up made me feel much better, and I was pleasantly surprised that the ratatouille tasted just as good the second time. So there!

Petrushka

Just finished having dinner aboard the boat of Christian and Marinette, who are friends and compatriots of Robert. They cooked a delicious dinner of ratatouille for us.

Below are a couple pictures of their boat Petrushka, which is a ketch, similar to a cutter but with a second mast near the stern:



They are also travelling to Madeira, and we will be trying to keep radio contact with them along the way.

Sines

Birthplace of Vasco de Gama. We are en route to Madeira, and are just stopping in Sines for the night.

37°57.048' N
8°51.980' W

A few more pictures from Lisbon:





Sines:

Disconnect

Still in Lisbon -- we set sail for Madeira on Monday. In the meantime, I've been spending my days wandering around various sections of the city.

Last night I went to a dance club by the marina. It was pretty fun, but the only thing worth mentioning is the hot dog I bought from a street vendor afterwards. It came loaded with onions, corn, carrots, lettuce, and tiny potato fries, to which I added mustard and hot sauce. Very tasty, but nowhere near as good as those Pi Sq cream cheese dogs.

We looked at Robert's wireless bill a couple days ago and discovered that the rates for internet access from the boat are much higher than we initially thought, so we're pulling the plug. I'll continue to check mail and post blog entries as I find internet cafes along the way, but don't be surprised if there are long periods of silence in between.

Lisbon

We are staying in Lisbon until Sunday, which gives me time to adjust both to the jetlag and to living on a boat. I slept a solid ten hours last night, so I think I'm already over the jetlag. And so far I'm fine with living on the boat, but then, we haven't left port yet :)

I accompanied Robert this morning to El Corte Ingles, a shopping market in the middle of the city, to start making a list of what rations we should get. We will go back later this week to buy the food for the crossing -- even though we aren't crossing the Atlantic until late December, once we leave Lisbon there will not be as big of a variety of food or at lower prices anywhere else, so we are stocking up now. I was relieved by the abundance of familiar food on Robert's shopping list; I was a little nervous after eating only bread and water on the boat yesterday.

After the supermarket, I went off on my own and spent the afternoon exploring the city. The climate and vegetation here remind me of southern California - very dry and warm. It got a little bit hot this afternoon, somewhere between 85 and 90 degrees, but all in all a very pleasant day. I didn't feel like doing any sightseeing and was content to just wander around. I ended up walking the length of the wide and shaded Avenida da Liberdade, which ends in the touristy Baixa district, where I was promptly greeted by people offering to sell me hash. I politely declined, of course.

I came back to the boat and spent the afternoon reading, listening to music, and editing photos. Robert went over the various safety and security devices on the boat with me. His girlfriend Anne flew into town at 10 PM, and we had a nice dinner on the pier, which included pate, goat cheese, and port. She is visiting for the next few days and will be leaving on Sunday. We will be celebrating her birthday on Friday. She brought with her a whole bunch of chocolate and candy from Belgium. I like Anne!

That's about it. Nothing too exotic yet, but hopefully some more adventurous entries will be forthcoming soon.

Below are some pictures:

First, some pictures of Errance, as promised.











Dublin from the plane.


Some city in Portugal. I thought it was Lisbon, but then it was another 30 min. before we landed, so it was probably Porto or Alcobaça.


And lastly, the Golden Gate Bridge! Er, rather, it's the Ponte 25 de Abril in Lisbon, which is actually modeled after the Golden Gate Bridge. It looks sort of like San Fran, doesn't it? Well, ignoring the giant statue of Jesus on the other side...


That's all I have for now. Uploading pics on a cellphone is s-l-o-w (and possibly expensive), so I might have to wait until I get to an internet cafe to upload more.