SV Lumina Med Tour. Part 1 . Oct 2014.

 

Dear Friends,

We sailed to Anguilas (Spain) and decided to leave the SV Lumina in this nice marina, and left to explore the city of Murcia (old town centre, where back in the days the Moors had their way..).

We couldn’t rent a car in Anguilas, and so decided to go by train. When we finally arrived at the train station (by foot… side note for fellow cruisers: although the marina is nice, it is quiet distant from the city centre and public transport hard to find..). Had to wait a fair bit for the train to Murcia, but we arrived early evening in this nice town. Via internet we had booked a budget priced hotel in the centre of town, and had dinner at their restaurant (very good choice). The next day we explored the old part of town, a wonderful mix of little streets and alleys. In the afternoon we took the train to Alicante. Also in this town we had booked a budget priced hotel (actually this one was a little bit too budget for our liking, but anyway, it was going to be only for one night). We walked straight to Volvo Ocean Race Village. It was great to taste the atmosphere, as the next day was going to be the start of this mega event. 7 racing machines (now all the same built and equipped) are going to sail around the world. The word comfort does not excists on board these vessels.

Later on that evening we had dinner (rather disappointing… in fact our culinary experiences in Portugal and Spain had us choosing for the Portuguese quisine hands down, so far anyway).

Next morning the start of the VOR. Magnificent… Soon after that we took a bus back to Anguilas.

We wanted to leave the next day, but the weather was not helping, so we ended up staying an additional day (spent on laundry, internet etc etc).

With this over land detour, we had gained some time and we could now skip Cartagena and Alicante, and we set sail directly for Ibiza…

Downtown Murcia                                       Recycling made easy in Alicante

 

Central Boulevard Alicante                          VOR (Volvo Ocean Race)

  The Alicante YachtClub (Full to capacity)                         I have one…                       

 

The Brasil 1 turned into a museum                                             Yeah…                              

 

           Cool Keel                                      No comfort inside the Brasil 1

 

  3D street art: Neptune….                                   Crowds at the start of the VOR

To be continued in Part 2..

Be good

Pieter

Lagos to Gibraltar. October 2014.

 

Dear Friends,

The trip from Cascais to Lagos was easy going. A faint breeze and we arrived the next day at the excellent marina in Lagos. The afternoon explored the old city centre and had a great dinner (fish of course) in a restaurant off the tourist track.

The next day went by bus to Portimao, and checked out the beach scene. It was a great day, playing tourist.

Pleasantly surprised by FedEX, delivering the trampoline netting, sent to us by Fountaine Pajot. So we spent basically all day (under a sweltering sun) to get it properly attached.

Prior to heading for Gibraltar, some additional supermarket shopping and of we went.

It was an easy run for the strait of Gibraltar and even had to kind of slowdown in order to arrive in daylight at Gibraltar. The AIS showed a lot of vessel movement going in and out, but we stayed clear of the shipping lane on the Spanish side. The sight of the rock was amazing… Not so amazing was that none of the three available marinas had room for us, so we ended up anchoring out in front of the La Linea Marine (Spanish side). We went to shore and went SIM card hunting as we are constantly in need of internet connections. That, we managed at the Carrefour supermarket. We had dinner on board, and the whole look and feel of this place was not inviting enough to make us stay. The next day, early, starting our quick tour in the Med…

 

A day at the beach. Portimao                   

Portimao beach                                                                          LOVEly

How to install a trampoline netting on a Cat.. this is how you do it….

Leaving Lagos Marina heading for Gibraltar…

At daybreak approach to the Strait                  Gibraltar, aka the Rock…

Same Rock, different angle                                     on our way to La Linea, anchorage

Leaving for the Med..

Have fun

Pieter

Cascais – Lagos. Sept 2014.

 

Dear Friends,

In order to get all things done in one day, it was decided that I would go to Lisbon (to get an additional Comar Systems AIS with wifi at Nautiradar), and to try to get a tax refund on the items we had purchased in Portugal.

This last thing had me on a wild goose chase all over Lisbon, and finaly I was told that no such thing could be done, as we were not leaving by plane and also could not actually show the equipment (as it was already installed on board the SV Lumina).

Anyway, made it back by train to Cascais, where Dora had been able to get here tooth fixed, she had done some additional olive oil purchases and so we made it back to SV Lumina in the evening.

All set to go and  we are on our way to Lagos.  We hope and wait for FedEx to deliver a new trampoline/netting purchased direct at Fountaine Pajot in France.

No doubt, we will explore the centuries old town and soak up some of the Algarve sun. New adventures ahead.

Never get tired of this…                                    Rounding Cabo do Sao Vincente

 

Cabo Sao Vicente                                                Typical Algarve Coastline

                                            Entrance of the Lagos Marina

All the best

Pieter