Bayona, Spain – I am writing from the boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Our position is 42° 03 N and 18° 20 W (this is read as “latitude 42 degrees 03 minutes November and longitude 18 degrees 20 minutes Whiskey”) it is Day 3 since leaving the island of Terceira in the Azores. By the time you read this entry we will have already landed in Spain. We have already sailed 450 nautical miles and are more or less at the midpoint. We have another 3-4 days to go for a total of 6 days at sea, making it the longest sail for me and the kids. We have relatively calm seas, very peaceful, no sea sickness. Begonia is travelling an average speed of 6-7 knots.
We are on the radio twice a day: at noon with the boat PRATI (the wonderful couple from Spain we met by radio back in Puerto Rico, whom we met in person in the Azores) who we are traveling with and again at 11pm with the Argentinean radio net. The man who runs the net from Buenos Aires is Alejandro and is a radio-aficionado who provides weather information to sailors out at sea. There are about 4 or 5 other boats participating at this time, each at various parts of the globe, all Spanish-speakers. The great thing is that you see/hear people all over sailing and it makes you feel less alone out there in the vastness of the sea. It is also nice to be travelling in tandem with another boat. PRATI is actually a very luxurious 50-foot Catana catamaran, which is bigger than some condos I have seen NYC! Because of its size, it travels much faster than Begonia, so we really are not side by side, but the good thing is that any weather hits them first and by radio we know what to expect.
The sun does not go down until about 9:30/10pm and then it is pitch black. It is very ominous to be traveling in the pitch black, but inevitably the moon appears at about midnight and lights up the sky. Because everyone is asleep while we do the night watches, we always wear a life vest and harness when going outside of the cockpit. If someone were to fall in, the one sleeping would never hear it, so we need to be extra cautious. Even when we both are awake and the weather is bad, Sebastian always asks me to watch him while he is outside of the cockpit so I can respond quickly if he were to fall.
We have been eating dinner late… around 10pm, we put the kids to bed and do the radio net from 11-11:45. I have been doing the night watches from about midnight to six in the morning. I then go to sleep until about noon while Sebas takes over the helm. The night watches are not that bad. We keep ourselves busy by reading and/or watching movies. Mostly we are indoors during the watch - since it is colder here - and will get up every 15-20 to survey the situation outside. I have calculated that I can read about 12 pages every 15 minutes so that is how I keep track of when to get up and out to the cockpit to take a 360-degree view. Crews do all different types of watch schedules (2 or 3 hours at a time) but we have found it more comfortable for us this way: sticking it out and doing watches in one big chunk, because this translates into a large chunk of time that to get uninterrupted sleep. I definitely am more of a night owl than Sebastian, and he is one who likes to sleep early and wake up early, so this schedule works best for us. I do pretty well staying awake… but if I start dosing off, I just think of all the bills we need to pay back home and the anxiety kicks in and BOOM, I’m awake again! : )
We have what is called an AIS system that provides information on any other vessel with an AIS transponder. All international cargo vessels are required to have an AIS system. The information provided is the name, location, speed and direction of the vessel. We then call the boats by radio to make sure they see us on their radar and generally ask them to change their course if they are headed directly for us. This for me – not for Sebastian - is the scariest thing during night watches, as the darkness plays with your eyesight and depth perception. It is not clear where the horizon is exactly so there have been times where I have mistaken a low hanging star for a boat, or when I see a light that is a boat and I think it is a large cargo vessel off in the distance. After looking through the binoculars I come to find out it is actually a sailboat, for example, about 5 miles away!
We enjoy talking with the other vessels by radio… it breaks up the monotony of the watches and is interesting to hear where people are headed. A typical conversation might start like this: “Cargo vessel SAVANNAH, SAVANNAH, SAVANNAH, this is catamaran BEGONIA, BEGONIA, BEGONIA…. We are traveling at 5 knots in the direction of 90 degrees toward Bayona, Spain. We are 9 miles off your starboard bow. Can you see us on your radar?” Sometimes it takes a while for someone to answer, so we repeat this… then once we establish contact we can understand if they have seen us and if they will overtake us by bow or stern, etc. We have had people asking us questions like where we are from, who is travelling on the boat, how many people, etc. And we have asked other boats if our radar reflector is working, etc. Very interesting.
Anyway, before leaving Terceira, we did some major food shopping – the prices here were reasonable, not like in the Caribbean – and I precooked some lentils and rice and stir fry; sliced cheese and fruit and put them in Tupperware so it was ready to eat; and hard boiled some eggs. This way no one had to cook while travelling…. We simply heat up the food. I need to take a break here to give my husband some kudos. The other day he caught two black fin tunas. Not one, but TWO! When it rains, it pours! It was too much fish for us to eat, so we threw one back in the water, seared the other on the spot, and ate it with white rice and wasabi. Delish!
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| Black fin tuna, sushi!! |
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| Time of the day with the Argentinian radio net |
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| same size as Begonia |
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| Our own sleeping beauty |
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| Reading time, silence please. |
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| Our own super heroes |
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| Daniel Resnik style! |
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So, by DAY 4 things had changed drastically and I was not able to continue writing en route. I am now writing from Bayona, Spain where we arrived at 9am on Wednesday, June 28 after 5 days and 22 hours of sailing. The first half of our trip was “navegar como los caballeros” (sailing like gentlemen)… very smooth, blue skies… we saw our fair share of dolphins, flying fish, turtles and even two whales!!! I even cooked a nice chicken soup at sea … but by Sunday the forecast changed for the worst. We did actually know about this bad weather, and we tried to go as far north as possible to avoid it (up to almost 43 degrees latiude), but we did not make it in time. Neither did PRATI. By 3pm Sunday afternoon, we had about 25-30 knots of wind and although the waves were not especially high, they were very erratic and coming from all directions. I have never experienced anything like his type of weather - it’s the type of weather I often have had nightmares about – but you’d be surprised to know that it really was not that bad. We felt more comfortable having the kids right where we could see them, and felt better to be all together, even if one was awake doing the night watches. I did not get sick since I am using the trusty patches to avoid sea sickness (thanks to my friend Laura who visited me in Saint Martin and brought about 4 boxes full of these patches); however, once the weather turned bad I was not moving around the boat a lot… I basically stayed on the bed the entire time. Sebastian had the brunt of the work because he was the one going outside to trim the sail, preparing the little food we ate (this is where the prepared cheese, fruit and boiled eggs came in handy!) and taking care of everything. He was exhausted when we arrived.
This experience was surprisingly not scary, just uncomfortable. The waves were breaking right over Begonita, and water seeped through some of the hatches, making the beds and bedding wet (this didn’t matter too much since we were all sleeping together in the salon and not in our beds anyway); no one showered or changed their clothes for the remainder of the trip, we were not eating or drinking well and we were very parched when we arrived. The salon was damp because even though we had closed all doors and hatches to “seal” us up, water would inevitably get in when we’d open the doors. Every once in a while you do ask yourself, “Why am I subjecting myself and my family to this?”
Sebastian is an excellent captain and handled the boat very well under the circumstances. Rather than run the motor to try to go as fast as possible to get through the squall, which makes the boat pound hard into the waves, Sebastian’s strategy was to trim the sail to slow us down… this meant it would take us a little bit longer, but the ride was much more “comfortable.” I think deep down there is always the concern that something will break while out at sea, so Sebastian did regular checks on the motor and sail, etc.
We arrived in Bayona in the morning, with wonderful clear blue skies. PRATI had arrived earlier than us, at 3am, and once they saw us coming toward them in the harbor, they sounded a horn to welcome us. What a nice feeling… what wonderful people. It was a little emotional to have experienced such a situation together. It makes you feel you can conquer the world. And I have come to realize that the bad weather is a necessary evil in his type of lifestyle, but the benefits way outweigh the negatives.
About Terceira, Azores: I do want to add a little note about our time on the island of Terceira that we just left since I was not able to send a posting from there…. In a recent email from my brother Max, he did mention that there is probably a lot going on behind the scenes that is difficult to transmit by blog. This is true… there is so much to tell, so much detail that I am probably leaving out, which I know our family would like to hear about. For those of you who don’t want detail can just scroll down to the pictures!!!
Anyway, Terceira means “third” in Portuguese, and I guess after having been the first country to make so many of the discoveries around the world, the Portuguese became lazy with the names. You guessed it… Terceira was the “third” island they discovered within the archipelago that makes up the Azores, thus the name. Very creative. The capital city of Angra do Heroismo where we were docked is a UNESCO world heritage site meaning much of the original colonial architecture and cobblestone streets must be preserved. Many of the façades were well kempt, painted in various colors, with the typical wrought iron balconies with potted bright red and pink geraniums.
We arrived during the biggest festival of the year, “As Festas Sãojoaninas,” or The Festival of Saint John. The city comes alive for 10 days, where the streets are covered in lights, there are parades, music in the streets, typical dances performed, booths of typical Azorean food and lots and lots of bulls. Everything is on European time, meaning that the party gets going very late and goes on and on in the evening. Many times we would be on the boat trying to sleep and the music would be pounding away until the wee hours.
Every day there was always one of the following three activities related to the bulls going on:
They have a “corrida de touros,” which is your traditional bullfight in a ring… however in Portugal they do not kill the bull like in Spain; they just mercilessly torture it until it is so exhausted that of course the toreador “wins.” When you really analyze this, you see the bull never had a chance and although we are often made to think the toreador is very brave, everything is done to protect him and not the bull, with other toreadors running into the ring if anything ever got out of control, etc. What I do like about the bullfight is all the pageantry involved: the costumes, the music, the trumpets, the horses, the crowds, etc. Of course a lot of the toreador attitude carries over into flamenco and the toreador many times will turn his back toward the bull and walk away in a very proud manner, with his shoulders back and down and arch his back in a very arrogant way with a shout up to the crowd with his chin up in the air… similar to some of the flamenco poses. Even though the bulls are not killed, they still are hurt with small daggers… we were all a bit disturbed by this and I don’t think we have to go to another one ever again.
A “tourada à corda” is when the bull is left to run throughout cordoned off areas of the town, but held by a rope by six very strong men. These men have all have worked up the ranks to have the honor of this position for the festivities. They are all dressed alike in baggy pants, white shirts, a red scarf and black hat, and hold on for the ride. The bull then runs after whomever is “brave” (or stupid?) enough to get in its way while the group of men try to hold it back. There are many people who taunt the bull, run in front of it and then run for their lives when the bull charges, much to the delight of the crowd. I guess it is the teetering between life and death that makes this an enjoyable event. We actually saw many stores selling DVDs of scenes from previous festivals where people were mauled by the bulls… very entertaining.
The third bull event is just a “tourada,” which is basically the same as the above, but the bull is left to run free without anyone holding it back. So, the streets are cordoned off again and most people watch from their geranium-filled balconies everything that goes on down below. Still there are these “brave” (drunk?) souls who try to run from the bulls and some get very, very hurt.
Who are we to judge? These all are centuries-old traditions that he crowds seem to really enjoy! It just made us all uncomfortable.
Other than the festival, the island of Terceira has much more to offer. We went to a place called “Salgar do Carvão.” This is a volcano that exploded hundreds of years ago and left the entire inside hollow. One is able to climb down into the volcano, literally underground. Quite amazing and one of our favorite activities. The kids really enjoyed this and asked many questions, segueing into a great lesson on volcanoes.
On the other side of the island are groups of volcanic rock jutting out from the ocean creating natural baths that are popular to swim in. Still quite too cold for us, we just watched as the locals frolicked there in this beautiful natural setting.
So, I feel a little more caught up in our journey… I still have not talked about my stay in Saint Martin with Laura and will try to do so at another time.
NEXT STOP: For now we will stay in Bayona another day or so, and then on to Vigo… another Galician city.
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| Downtown Angra do Heroismo (Terceira) |
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| Keep me safe! |
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| San Joanina ornaments |
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| Important people, they forgot us! |
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| The king of the holidays! |
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| Terceira from the hill. |
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| Local people. |
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| Still trying to understand the deal of the bull run on the street |
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| Place to see bull abuse |
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| The abuser |
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| The abuser and the victim |
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| Not even close to Karlita's style. |
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| New friends, good friends! |
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| Terceira's country side |
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| Algar do Carvao with Carlos and Malena |
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| More volcano. |
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| Volcano experts! |
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| Empty volcano, out of this world. |
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| Do we look good? |
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| North coast of Terceira |
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| Begonia's princess |
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| Before the abuse |
Scroll down left panel to see prior postings!
FOUNTAINE PAJOT ATHENA 38 CATAMARAN FOR SALE – After our wonderful experience, BEGONIA is ready for its next sailing family – with or without children! Please contact sebastiankoziura@hotmail.com for more information.
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