22/5/2014

Yesterday we folded up and packed our bikes and took the opportunity of no wind last night to get our sails up. Here is our bike garage, while we were “on the hard”.

 We collapsed into bed at 1am. only to be woken at 6am. by the boat-lift’s arrival.  Artemis V was put into the water without any mishaps and she seemed happy to be there, jiggling her bottom as she touched the water.

 We departed Barcelona soon thereafter, having finished all our maintenance tasks and ready for a summer holiday.  We took leave of “Eclipse” who was moored just a little way from us, having major work done.  She is the world’s second largest private yacht, belonging to Mr. Abramowitz, the Russian oil magnate.  She is 535ft. long with a beam of 76ft. Her tender dinghy is longer than we are!  Mr. Abramowitz has bought Port Velle Marina, the most expensive marina in Spain and has gutted it, just so that he can keep his boat there.  We stayed in that marina when we first got to Barcelona last year, but now all the docks are gone and only superyachts remain.

   About an hour outside Barcelona, looking to the south, we could see a sandstorm coming across from the African coast.  It was a yellow band stretching right across the horizon and rising up several hundred feet into the sky.  Several times while in Barcelona we had woken to find the boat covered in reddish/yellow sand from the African deserts.  This is something one would expect in the Australian Outback, not out at sea!

We have had a beautiful afternoon’s sail, the wind is blowing around 16kn. on the beam, the sun is out, there are white caps painted on the blue sea and the Spanish coast is gradually disappearing into the distance.  We have also seen quite a few fishing and cargo vessels today, either on their way to or from, Barcelona.

23/5/2014

This morning around 10am we were buzzed by two Mirage fighter jets.  They came in fast and low and were just about on top of us before we heard them.  They really gave us a big fright. They did a circuit and then waggled their wings and were gone. Around lunchtime a little refugee arrived.  A  turtle dove landed on our rail and he has been with us all through the afternoon.  I have tried giving him bread and water but he will not have any. I guess that if he stays, he will arrive in Corsica with us!  There has been some very serious wind in the Gulf of Leon and perhaps he was blown far south.  Hopefully he will stay through the night as we are still 100nm  (close on 200km) from land.  He is sitting on our gennoa sheet and I don’t want to disturb him so I won’t let Dimitri put that sail out. Dimitri says that will cost us $100 in extra fuel – c’est la vie.

24/5/2014

. This morning, the sea was covered in blue-bottles as far as the eye could see.  It looked as though it was covered with bubbles. The turtle dove stayed with us all the way to Corsica. The last leg of the trip, he spent warming his toes on the solar panels – it was still pretty cold out there.  He stayed till the very end, only flying off as we rounded the Citadel, just above the marina.   As we approached land, we came upon high jagged peaks, with the highest of them still covered in snow.