dreamalive blog

Hungarian mudi Black Spirit meets big dolphins in the Atlantic

2008 06 21

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Turning back

2008 06 06

Thank You for your comments dear friends, we love’em :-). Will answer when less press here.

Yesterday when trying to get out in the Atlantic through the Strait of Gibraltar, we didn’t manage. Had to turn back after one third of the passage to Tarifa made. The stream against was to strong, and the wind also. When we made only 0,8 knots (1km/h) and the sea was quite white, we decided to turn back. Passed the night in Algeciras beside Gibraltar.

Today we are going out there to try again.

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The spanish way… or better the Costa del Sol way…

2008 05 29

Yes we do enjoy Marbella and the general going from harbour to harbour thing BUT I am really tired of all the work it is to be able to pay the expensive harbourfees. Not that I don’t want or can pay but that I need to beg for please let me stay … one more night pleaaaassseee.

We have been in Marbella 3 weeks now and the Marina is great with friendly staff, but it wasn´t funny when they put us the day we arrived in a 15m place clayming there was no more space, after some talking they arranged a 10 m berth as we were going to stay at least a week. Well with Jenny going to Sweden and with the winds we stayed longer, I knew from the beggining that there was a reservation for the end of the month so we will need to leave or pay for a 12 m place, thats ok. They actually called the person who reserved the place to ask when he would come with the boat, unfortunatly no answer. So they are very helpfull in the harbour BUT not from the beginning, it is necessary a lot of speaking and after that they do what they can. tiring…. very tiring!

IF the marinas where full and there was really no space I would understand, but each time we get a no, after some talk they always say yes, maybe it could be arranged anyway…. why not say that from the very beginning????

We have been meeting all kinds of people working in the marinas, most of them actually very friendly and welcoming. BUT some other ones…. I´ll never forget that lady in Benicarlo that wanted us to leave so she would not need to come on Sunday to charge us, yes and i could not pay in advance neither, so we must leave… of course i refuse as the winds where creasy outside, well after a nice ”friendly” discussion she calmed down.

I like Spain but i am quite fead up with it, not that i think that Portugal will be better. But there I am kind of at home.

We did do many friends with the harbour staffs of many harbours, I´ll never forget them and they know that. 🙂

Well I´m just feeling like complaining a bit. The winds are still from the wrong side and too strong for our little motor. I REALLY WANT TO MOVE ON. The atlantic is waiting with all the strengt but this trip is soon ending … Jenny being in Sweden reminded me of all the challenges that are waiting for us.
The taught was to send Siska with truck to Germany but now I don´t know if that will be possible; we shall see..

Thanks to everybody that as been making this trip a reality, without their support it would have been much more difficult to achieve.
My parents in law are incredible persons that not only support us but take care of all our life in Sweden. Thank you very much for the trust.

My mother, her support has kept me going when I needed it, and her prays have been helping too.

Faruk, my good friend Faruk who never says no and always does his best when I ask for it. Incredible person that even with the busy life he lives allways have time for his friends. I’m there for you my friend.

The Peter Pans with whom we sailed during this winter.

And all the other incredible people that give us all their positive and friendly taugths.

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Just some links

2008 04 30

Everytime we are about to leave harbour, I seam to get this incredible urge to write a lot on the blog. In case I can´t do it again, for a long time I mean.

In the sidebar you can find A LOT of links to sailors. In many of them it´s a certain movement at this time of the year. One of my favorites is the one of Roz Savage who crossed the Atlantic rowing in 2006 and now is on her way to go for the Pacific summer 2008.
I found this crazy you tube clip on her page:

Here follows some links to sailors, friends we have met here, which are not yet in the sidebar:

www.alnair.org with Muriel, Stéphane and Falco on Alna’Ir, in French
www.bluewatersailors.com with Bente, Arnd and Siri on Narwal, in German
www.castingoff.mysite.com with Phillippa, Paul and Oscar on Pondlife, in English
www.freewebs.com/onthenose with Liz and Bob on Yanina, in English
and of course:
www.sailingpeterpan.blogspot.com with Susan and Jan on Peter Pan, in German

…We got some Goodbyes to do, and hopefully a lot of See you soons too..!
I’ll get some more sites then..

Until then do check out, and fill in some harbours, at www.theharbourmap.blogspot.com!

And,
Best wishes from Tassa and Tiago!
They send two new favorite video links, for a more lovely world:

The cat, the rat and the dog
The kitten and the crow

Fresh photos from the beach today:

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Just some gestures

2008 04 30

…from here this last days with new friends in Almerimar:

I hope you understand why Nuno has no time blog-writing, as he is very busy out talking with everybody intensly, all the time :-)!

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The Harbour Map

2008 04 25

Fantastic news!!!!!!

It’s happening now; my new little baby is born;

THE HARBOUR MAP

This is so fresh and so young, I still don’t now all the tricks,
but it’s coming, and later on you’ll find it at http://www.theharbourmap.com,
until then the Google Earth map for boaters and sailors all over the world
will hang around at a blog-page (just click the link above).

You want to help me fill in harbours, marinas, and anchoring-places you know about!?

Please YES!!!

(there are probably some new-born situations for me to deal with,
but bring it on!!!)

Oh!!,
At The Harbour Map you’ll also find

THE SAILORS MAP,
where you sailors can add an message from where you are on this planet with a photo and a little message
-and your home site for example-

Love, from Jenny in Almerimar

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Dancing with dolphins…

2008 04 11

Hello everybody.

We are in Almeria. A very nice town here in the south of Spain. Nice and cheap harbour with free internet.
We have been here now 5 days, as the winds have been incredibly strong and from where we want to go. Hopefully on Monday we will move on, but according to the weather sites we consult we won’t go very much further the following days… too much wind again.
During this trip we have been having a lot of bad weather but also beautiful moments.

Here is one of that beautiful moments.

Love to u all,

The Kaptain

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Holy Week in Cartagena

2008 03 20

Tonight the processions go on until eight in the morning. Right now after the evening processions the Cartagenian restaurants are full, and people are eating dinner (23.45), while we are going to bed for a break. At four (04.00) we are getting up to continue the celebration of The Holy Week.
J

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Wikipedia next

2008 03 20

Okey, completely astonished, amazed and happily tired and content with the three, I repeat, three hour long processions from nine to twelve tonight, after the Pontius Pilate’s ”Washing his hands”-drama in the afternoon. I have seen photos of this religious parades before, and now finally, we have seen, heard and smelled this grand celebration of Semana Santa, The Holy Week – live.
Until now just made a short walk in the city, and love what I see. Loaded with history and archeology – everywhere and out of control. It’s not often I find a place where ruins from different decades are so… how can I explain this..?..hmm..
..Here places completely life-threatening to enter – because they are falling apart – are possible to stroll around in. I’ll have the pictures to show you what I mean, ready soon I hope. Layers on layers on layers just falling apart, in larger quantities than the city yet have managed to get under control. A kind of freedom we like to find after to much picturesque or designed architect organization. It’s truly great to be here! We love being here, everything is just perfect for us, right now, right here!
Words to study more about when you/we arrive to Cartagena, and in Easter:

Cartagena
Cartago versus Rom
Hannibal
Melqar
Passover
Easter
Pontius Pilate
Jesus
Ku Klux Klan
Spanish Civil War

…just some of the things I now have to check up and learn all about to be able to answer the questions of my children ..!
J

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We are alive

2008 03 19

Been anchoring by a desert island in Mar Menor, and today we went out in the tricky winds after the Palos Cape, Costa Calida (The Warm Coast! :-P), hoping to arrive to Cartagena for the very spectacular parades during Easter. A fishing boat was so close to ram us today, that it was a matter of 2-3 meters in high speed, when Nuno managed to turn Siska downwind risking a jib, and the Spanish fisher had still not noticed us, going straight towards us by motor when we were for sail only. We screamed, made lots of noice with the horn and Spirit barked like crazy – but nothing! He didn’t hear us, and just looked surprised when he looked up as we passed right beside each other, and we were red in the face screaming at him and showing him all our fingers, pointing to our brains… Doing all the big Spanish body vocabulary. And he just looked at us like ”que?!” And then after this seconds we realized how close it was to the end of Siska. 2-3 meters from sinking. I was all shaky.

Behind us there were ten dolphins jumping in the water, but we want to see them closer!

Now we’ll stay in Cartagena with a full schedule of things to do and see.

I’ll update soon with pics from this ku-klux-klan-looking parades! And maybe I’ll write some words. Since Costa Blanca – which is crowded with Swedes – I have noticed that when I write it sounds like the reportages in the Swedish magazine ”Dam” (you can buy them in the special Swedish shops here!!) and this is terrible for my self-confidence (not my kind of a magazine)!! I need to think a lot more than twice before I click on ”publish”…! Äääääh , see ya soon here anyway 🙂
J

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Hurray!!!!!!!!!!

2008 02 22

Big celebrations yesterday!!!
Happiness, Joy and Greatness!!!

Spirit did shit on deck yesterday during the sailing!!!

The party went on til late in the night, and we invited our neighbours on Peter Pan for wine and beer, and ate some great food after a full day at sea. The morning was dark and rainy, but turned out to be a sunny evening in Gandía, with a yellow fullmoon over a endless, wide beach with the softest sand.

Spirit was somewhat surprised with our reactions of joy and loud happy cheerings,
but kept cool and enjoyed the party with his sunglasses on.

Today we continue out to the point of the cape, Cap de la Nao, that seperates Costa Dorada from Costa Blanca. Hoping to catch up with WestMonsun. Sun is shining again.
J
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Everybody’s sleeping, except me and Tiago

2008 02 21

It’s been another long day, with things that are normally simple and fast made,

that when living this vagabond life, like camping, takes forever with complications and with calmness.
And is very pleasant when it’s warm and sunny. It isn’t warm and sunny.

It’s cold, wet, windy, grey and tough.

Some people tell us ”wooooow, you live in a sailboat – wooooow, I wish I could do that” – Ha! They wouldn’t stand one week of our life! And when Tiago’s shoes are wet and we put them by the warm to dry, most people would need a gas mask – but we survive! Sometimes barely, and sometimes with lots of laughter.

With the morninglight tomorrow we’ll probably leave Valencia, if the winds seems reliable.

(They are building a lot in this harbour, and often the showers are without water or electricity, and also homeless people come here and damage the facilities. Yesterday we had a group of teenagers here that let the boats loose on the bridge beside.. Some action ;-). We have enjoyed it here, it’s a good place, but it’s time to move on.)

I’ve just taken a shower in the dark (now there is water, but no electricity), and I’ve come back to Siska where it’s all dark and peaceful, cause everybody’s sleeping, except Tiago.

He holds up for me ..something – one of the earphones of the Ipod, and makes signs for me to come and sit beside him in the dark. Cuteness. He also has fallen in love with the song in the video from yesterday (here under). I sit beside him in the sofa, soon to be his bed . Outside it’s calm, and you can only hear the sounds of the ropes and fenders when the waves rocks us. We listen to Verily by Merz. Beautiful. We say nothing, just listen, in the dark. And we hold our hands over each other 1+1+1+1, over Tiago’s heart. And it’s big. A little moment to remember and carry in our hearts forever.

So many big things in the small things, and so many small things in the big things. But no middleway in sight.

And now everybody’s sleeping except me. I’ll crawl into a warm place beside my husband, after giving a goodnight kiss to Tiago, Tassa – and Spirit, resting beside her like a fluffy black ball.
J

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Verily, Merz, Loveheart

2008 02 19

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I’m not in the mood for blogwriting, but if you enjoy spectacular architecture do visit the following:

2008 02 17

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia / The City of Arts and Sciences (click)

Tassa and Tiago enjoyed this place.
J

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Still in Valencia

2008 02 16

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Letter in a bottle

2008 02 14

Nuno found a bottle with a letter. This is how it goes:

2 girls, the ocean and a bottle of wine

20 years old today, she now has wings

to fly and be herself. Her own person.

The other, will be learning to fly again,

to love life and trust it is something to love.

Nothing to escape from,

Nothing to come back to

a vast ocean of possibilities

the sky is no longer a limit

no more concrete sky or glass walls

we are free

like we are supposed to be

The waves crash and whisper to always

Remember this moment of freedom… of life

No past, no history. it’s now. All life starts at

the beginning.

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Tassa & Tiago film; Las Fuentes

2008 02 13

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Some photos to make some long stories short:

2008 02 13

Jenny doing dishes close to the fishes, while listening to some great music, ..and getting a glass-fiber problem;

The flatlands around the Ebro-delta where we lay for anchor;

Three pics taken by Susan on Peter Pan of Siska. Last one with little Siska in between Peter Pan and West Monsun;

Spirit felt the smell of his favorite lipbalm;

Nuno happened to buy the Mediterranean diet – MAGIC SALAD – wooooow, fantastic stuff, does it work?!;

Nuno happened to step in fresh cement, and Tiago happened to follow…;

I loved the Valencian old houses with their colours and beautiful doors;

Jenny amazed with Spanish graveyards;

Fishing boat, one of many making big waves, many times a day;

Susan and Jan from Peter Pan come and visit us with the dingy when we anchor together. Great friends;

Nuno and Spirit on the way to visit Peter Pan in the sunset;

Jan and Nuno in wet suits to check the boats;

Nuno and Jenny in the Metro fooling around;

Tassa’s art-work and love for stones, pearls and treasures from the beaches;

And some beauty from under the water;

Thank U for today! Tomorrow a little film by Tassa with Tiago, on a crazy beach in Las Fuentes. (New photos in the list to the right)
J

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Congratulations Love!

2008 01 25

My companion trough life, my love, my pain in the arse, my darling, my best friend, my husband, my captain – I wish you a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Some old pics with you I love from our life together..

Many beautiful days and years to come, and go, getting old together.

Jenny & Nuno

J, with Love

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Barcelona – Sitges

2008 01 23

Mmmmmmmm, we’ve had a perfect day today. The sea was pleasant and calm with quite fair winds. We were almost alone out there on the greenblue water. Only passing outside the big harbours of Barcelona we saw some big boats: And then impossible to miss – a never ending stream of airplanes right above our heads the hole day; as we passed Barcelona airport. When we left our friends in Port Forum it was a lot of waving, filming, etc, and I’m just to sensible with anything similar to a grandiose end in a typical Hollywoodfilm… Crescendos of emotions make me tremble on my voice and almost cry… What can I say..-
Anyway, the truth is we didn’t give Barcelona the attention it deserves. I think we’ll do Barcelona at some other point.Why? When we arrived to Aiguadolc today in the afternoon-light, then I knew for sure that I have been looking forward to be in a small harbour with a picturesque atmosphere, and big cities are just not very tempting right know for us. We want to get to a place were we can anchor safely and enjoy the nature, as soon as possible.Aiguadolc is the harbour by Sitges. Sitges is not a nature-reserve, but we did like it Big Time! We arrived late, and dinner and washing-up takes its time. (I enjoyed being able to do the dishes outside in the dark evening without freezing – summer here we come, soon, soon, soon!) And then we went out for a long nightwalk as we are leaving early Wednesday-morning and wanted to see more of this clearly exclusive place. Expensive – 23 euros/220kr for one night, but better than a museum – so well worth the money. Read more about Sitges in the link above. It’s famous for its film festival, carnival, nightlife, beaches, culture and history. So if you are looking for the best place to pass carnival in Europe – maybe this is it? Carnival is coming up around the corner!

And it’s well known in the gay-world. It’s very adult here, as a friend told me.

This cat passed the nightcold by the warm of the lamp:

We miss or lovely cats Kiwi and Jesus at home. – We miss you all, and we look forward to meet everybody again in the summer! Until then; we the crew of S/Y Siska are sleeping tight in the warm of each other 🙂

J

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Moana Kuewa

2008 01 21

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I’m a nice girl

2008 01 20

First, before I forget – look what came out of my lip!! A small piece of metal!

The pain started when suddenly during a dinner in Nunos cousins house with Sylvia, Jorge, Tiago and David, I felt a sharp little thing cutting out of the flesh of my lip. Me being the only one somewhat alarmed with my new uncomfortable situation, I had this disturbing visit sticking in and out with it’s presence for more or less two weeks.

And now I HAD IT! 😀 and I squeezed the little bastard out of my life and my body. It was another one of these remembrances I get from the accident together with my scar and my memories..

As you notice I’m being a nice girl, writing in English and everything. The everything – consist of me collecting everything written in English and Portuguese by us in this blog at a page you find by clicking “EM PORTUGUÊS / SOMETIMES ENGLISH” above. Find it? It’s right up in the center of the blogpicture with the boat, the sea and the sky.

I went to sleep at four in the morning to get that page working all right!

The next day we had an argument. Cause I try to please everybody but myself. As a stupid way of fooling myself that it’s pleasant. I should have went to the beach to take a lovely nap in the sun instead..!

Yes, we have sunshine here now! 🙂 I love it! Sincerely,deeply, yes very profound. I see better, I´m warm, I move more easy (not so much clothes on), and life is just more light, in all senses.

Okey, now I´m going to present a big bunch of photos again.. Please let me know which system is working best for you . With this new system in the latest version of Flock the pictures appear as thumbnails in the text and then you can click on them to see all the pics from our journey at Photobucket. I’m just worried that now this time they are to big and take a long time to upload for you on your computers..? Anyway, seams like I exceeded this weeks amount, and need to calm down a bit. There is another photostream at the right sidebar with pics in Flickr, as you probably know.

We went to a market not far from here, beside the Torre Agbar (more flashy site: Torre Agbar) and Glòries.

Here people find it very important to speak Catalan instead of Spanish, and the market goes by the name of Encants Vells in this language. Barcelona’s most famous flea-market. Also known by the name “The thiefs market”. Tiago and Tassa were curious to experience somebody stealing from their pockets, and Tiago of course did prepare some bait in his pockets. To his big disappointment nobody stole anything from him.

I was soon told I wasn’t allowed to take pictures here –forbidden– by the woman with here eyes on me, in the first pic. Which obviously didn’t stop me, but made me more careful with my moves. Had to keep an eye on the kids too because the loudspeakers above us brought up the subject of this over and over again with keeping children close, in sight, and our kids didn’t exactly bother all the time… Jakob was with us too. He made a search among the things thrown away.

Amazing quantity of all kind of human productivity.

We are about to drown with all the things we have on little Siska now. Seriously.

I was happy to just bring photos with me back from the market. Endless amount of details in the photos..

Then on the way back I remembered even better what really is much nicer to collect. Moments of eye-contacts and smiles. I like big cities. 🙂

In our harbour, Port Forum, it’s very peaceful at this time of the year. Some Swedes like us, and then mostly very big luxurious yachts with only the crew on board to keep on polishing for summertime. We’ll hang around here some more days. It’s nice here in a way.

..and us, on Siska, so small that you probably cant find the boat..

Sunshine from us! / J

And today: Happy Birthday to Sara and to António in Portugal!! 🙂

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Em Português…

2008 01 16

Ok meus amigos, eu irei comecar a escrever mais em português. Sei que muitos tentaram compreender o q para aqui se escreve sem grande sorte. Para os q não tem podido acompanhar as nossas aventuras, vou fazer um resumo do que se passou até agora. Em 17 de Junho de 2007 deixamos a marina de Helsingborg. O motor pifou 2 semanas depois. Apanhámos com uma tempestade tal na Dinamarca que toda a água da marina desapareceu.
Depois do Canal de Kiel, deparamo-nos com as marés, algo que não há no Baltico. Mesmo preparadinho e com o trabalho de casa feito, lá meti água e perdemos a entrada do porto de Cuxhaven na Alemanha. Acaba-mos por entrar á mesma e a minha familia julgava que ia morrer ou algo parecido com a quantidade de asneiras que disse enquanto tentava voltar ao porto contra a enorme corrente de maré que havia. O motor não é dos mais fortes.

Depois de uma serie de aventuras através de mar tempestouso e de canais tempestuosos decidimos atravessar a Franca pela fantastica rede de canais nela existente.
Quase que perdemos o helice e o motor aqueceu q eu sei lá. Mas todo correu bem acabamos por chegar ao Mediterraneo.

Há fotos de tudo isto no arquivo, mesmo não sabendo suéco basta seguir as datas.

(continuo mais tarde tenho que ir jantar)

O Kapitão

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Quando as respostas comecam a terminar!

2007 11 28

Estamos de momento em l’Estartit que me foi desanconcelhado por um velejador suéco , devido a ser uma marina cara. A paisagem e a natureza aqui é deslumbrante, vale bem o preco que se paga. Infelizmente já estamos aqui á quatro dias e como de costume isso irrita-me um pouco. Tenho treinar isso de relaxar e de ter calma.

Eu tive maus pressentimentos, não sei como explicar de uma maneira lógica mas acho que alguém ou alguma entidade superior toma conta de nós.
Quando eramos para largar de Roses, depois de uma noite de repouso e um pouco de turismo nesta cidade mediterranea , eu aqueco quase sempre o motor antes de largarmos. Mais rotina do que necessidade.
Pois passados uns quinze minutos comeca o alarme do motor que indica que este está sobreaquecido. Imediatamente pensei que se devia a um normal entupimento, o que aconteceu varias vezes nos canais.

Toca de por a velha rotina em marcha, depois da rotina de desentupimento meti o motor a trabalhar novamente, qual não é a minha surpresa quando este comeca a soar novamente. Esquesito dado que mudei a turbina, da bomba de água para o arrefecimento, fazia umas três semanas.
Ok vamos que ter que ficar em Roses mais um dia até eu achar qual é o problema.

Mãos a obra e toca a desaparafusar tubos, assoprar, olhar, testar e passado um tempo cheguei a brilhante conclusão que deve ser a turbina. Desmonto esta e … surpresa… completamente destruida!
Surpreso tentei achar uma razão para o estado da turbina, mas nada.
Bem há que arranjar uma turbina de substituicão e coloca-lá no sitio para podermos seguir viagem. Depois de umas voltas encontrei uma loja de pecas de automoveis que também vendia partes para motores nauticos. Incrivelmente encomendaram-se as pecas que chegaram no mesmo dia á tarde, comprei 4 só para ter umas em reserva. Mas quando as fui buscar, comparei as novas com a antiga e o tamanho não era o mesmo. O empregado á minha frente abre livros, dossiés e cadernos onde verificamos referências e modelos de motor, etc. Não havia duvidas. As turbinas que acabava de comprar eram originais e destinadas ao meu motor.
Por isso é que a turbina se estragou toda, tamanho errado!
Eu tinha comprado esta turbina na Holanda, aquando nos canais, numa estacão de servico para barcos na margem do canal. Como ela cabia nem pensei mais no assunto. Devia ter pensado um pouco mais.

Passado um par de dias estava na altura de largar. O mar estava alto. Muitas vagas e bastante grandes mas como não havia vento o mar até estava calmo.
O céu estava nublado com algumas nuvens baixas e a visibilidade não era das melhores. Mas a viagem era só até l’Estartit que era só 3 horas de Roses.
Vá lá Nuno, deixa-te de medos e larga que é para irmos mais para sul onde está melhor tempo! – pensei para mim mesmo. Eu até estava com um mau pressentimento mas…..
Passadas duas horas de viagem, viagem essa que parecia duas horas a andar numa montanha russa sem intervalos, o que não devia acontecer acontece… o alarme do motor comeca a apitar.

Passados os segundos necessários para minha recuperacão do quase ataque de coracão que me deu, com>ecei a pensar no que fazer, pôs o motor em neutral e comecei a avaliar a situacão:
Ok…. Nada de vento, vagas enormes, costa de montanha para estibordo a pouco menos de 1km… ouvia-se as vagas e via-se a espuma branca das vagas que tentavam mandar abaixo os rochedos….
Felizmente o alarme deixou de soar e eu colocei Siska em movimento, mas tive que fazer uma reducão nas rotacões, a velocidade era agora 2,5 nós. Antes estavamos a uma hora da seguranca da marina, agora vai levar-nos duas horas até ai chegar.
Se o motor aguentar!
Entretanto o Tiago vomita-se todo e a Natassjha tenta dormir sem grande resultado. A Jenny está com muita calma.
Devido aos movimentos excessivos de Siska, eu não quero tentar encontrar onde o problema está. A catástrofe só aumentaria se eu comeca-se a enjoar também.

Continuamos apreensivos rumo a l’Estartit. Entretanto alertei o Salvamento Maritimo espanhol da nossa situacão, dando-lhes a nossa posicão e o nosso destino.
Acabamos de entrar no estreito que nos separa do porto e o alarme soa novamente.
Merda… não há vento, as ondas movem-me em direcão a terra. De estibordo a costa de 85 metros de altura. A bombordo a ilha de Medes com a sua costa escarpada. O estreito não é mais do que 2000 metros de largura….
A mesma manobra, neutral, deixa de apitar, ainda menos rotacões e aí vamos com a velocidade de 1,5 nós. Sorte….
Se não desse para usar o motor, ia ser dificil, não levaria mais do que 10 minutos ás ondas a arrastarnos para as rochas. Uma alternativa seria a âncora, mas mesmo assim teriamos ficado perigosamente perto da catastrofe.
Finalmente chegamos ao porto e amarramos sem mais problemas.
Aqui temos estado nestes ultimos 4 dias, o motor está reparado, um termostato novo, e o sistema de arrefecimento limpo. Mas infelizmente o mar tem estado de tempestade. Mas o ceu tem estado azul e nós temos gozado umas voltas aqui nas montanhas. A Jenny até tomou um banho de mar….

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Um pouco mais de vento…

2007 11 17

Tramontana:

Mais uma producão Dreamalive
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Vento, vento e mais vento

2007 11 15

Sim ainda estamos em Portbou!!!! Iamos deixar Portbou ontem (Terca-feira), o vento enfraqueceu um pouco mas infelizmente não as ondas… tipico… como esta costa e tão bela como perigosa decidimos ficar… o vento comecou a soprar no mesmo dia á tarde…. Vejam as fotos da previsão para amanhã…——————————————————————————————
A angustia de largar de um porto…

2007 11 11

Angustia é algo que custumo sentir cada vez que chega a hora de largar um porto depois de uma longa estadia. O engracado é que quando largo as amarras, desaparecem todas as angustias e a minha adoracão pelo mar reaparece com todo o seu esplendor. Suponho que essa angustia tem a ver com o ter toda a minha familia comigo.
Eu tenho ter controlo sobre o tempo, controlo na economia, arranjar maneira de reencher todos os buracos existentes no orcamento, fazer com que a familia se divirta, reparar tudo o que se estraga,… enfim longe de ser um mar de rosas, mas não trocava a minha situacão por outra qualquer.
Todos estamos bem e esta angustia é algo de prefabricado que existe no meu cerebro, algo que se aprende a controlar passado um certo tempo. Um dia eu estava tão nervoso, diante da etapa longa que tinhamos á nossa frente, no mar do norte, que não só não dormi durante a noite, mas vomitei como se estivesse com enjoo de mar. Mas assim que largamos amarras tudo desapareceu. Assim me sinto agora, lá fora sopra um vento de forca 9 escala beaufort, 22 m/s. Estamos a navegar no Mediterraneo durante o inverno, as espectativas meteorologicas não são as melhores, a minha mulher não está completamente restabelecida (quase que desmaia quando está muito tempo de pé), o dinheiro está-se a encurtar, e eu prometi estar em Portugal para passar o Natal.
Enfim não posso sair daqui mas também não posso aqui ficar.O boletim meteorologico diz que TALVEZ vá fazer um pouco de menos vento na terca-feira, ventos fortes mas não tão fortes como agora. O mais ironico de tudo isto é que a 15 milhas daqui assim que passar o Cabo de Creus, já não há este vento forte. 15 milhas…. 3 horas de distância….. mas todos no porto me desaconselham de me fazer ao mar… tão perto…O mar está muito bravo devido ao vento que se tem sentido nestes ultimos dias. E o mar é especialmente bravo aquando da passagem ao largo do cabo, uma distância de 2 milhas. Encontrei um suéco, a caminho de volta para a Suécia, que andou a velejar 5 anos no Mediterraneo sem nunca ter tido um problema, mas há dois meses atrás teve que chamar por socorro… exactamente ao largo deste cabo… por isso talvez deva levar a sério esta pequena distância… e ter mais respeito por estas 3 horas! Angustia meus amigos, porque tenho um veleiro repleto de pessoas que amo acima de tudo, por isso tenho que me habituar a viver com ela, pois sem a minha amada familia nunca poderia gozar desta viagem fantástica!

NunoThe Capitain

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Mediterranio, peixes, sol….

2007 11 08

Hoje passei algumas horas a nadar e tentei tirar algumas boas fotografias debaixo de água, não fui lá muito bem sucedido….Levámos o dinghy e atravessámos a baia devido á Jenny não poder andar grandes distâncias e também o Tiago desejáva ir no dinghy para a praia e fazer um pouco de apneia.
O sol estva fantastico e o vento practicamente que desapareceu. Perfeito dia de praia.
Aproveitei também para fazer uma vistoria ao casco da Siska e montei um anodo de zinco no eixo da hélice. Já não sobra muito da porca que restringe a hélice, tenho que arranjar isso dentro de em pouco…

Todo o pessoal da Marina de Portbou tem sido impecáveis, sempre a perguntar se necessitamos de algo. Hoje quando fui comprar mais umas horas de Internet aproveitei para pagar estes ultimos dias, qual não foi o meu espanto quando me tinham feito um desconto de 50%!!! Que espectaculo, não existem palavras que definam a gentileza com que nos tem tratado…

Aqui quando se acorda pela manhã tudo está silêncioso e calmo, uma maravilha! Somos só nós que vivemos aqui e o pessoal que aqui trabalha nunca faz barulho apesar de trabalharem 24 horas. Os duches são muito quentes e agradáveis. A água dentro da marina é limpissima e não há lixo no fundo. O pessoal é minucioso no que toca ha limpeza da marina, sim eles apanham lixo assim que o vêm, até mesmo no fundo.

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La Transmontana….

2007 11 07
É o nome do vento que sopra de momento. Toda a Siska treme e vibra com a sua forca. É incrivel.
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Explicacão de acontecimentos….

2007 11 07

Pois é tenho que explicar a fotografia da minha Jenny senão ainda ficam para ai a pensar que foi eu que fiz aquele servico.

Infelizmente algo que não deve acontecer, aconteceu!
Ontem, dia 5 de Novembro, estávamos nós todos felizes depois de termos passado um dia espéctacular em Portbou, o primeiro porto quando se entra em Espanha, onde tomamos banho de praia, água espectacular, enfim um dia perfeito.

Pois de volta ao dia 5, partimos ás 9:30, dia bonito, sol, vento com fartura mas não demasiado e com um dia longo á nossa frente. O nosso próximo porto seria L’Escala que fica a umas boas 35 milhas de Portbou, iria levar aproximadamente 7 horas a realizar como o vento iria amoinar a seguir ao Cabo Creus.

Velas colocadas, estvame a preparar para pôr a minha windvane ao trabalho quando reparei que haviam umas defensas penduradas a estibordo, a Jenny tomou conta destas e no caminho de volta da proa esta veio no lado contrário de onde a retranca estava. Nós estavamos a navegar com vento de popa e o mar estava um pouco agitado, de repente a retranca decidiu mudar de bordo e a Jenny estava no caminho, só tive tempo de lhe gritar cuidado e a seguir com a forca do impacte a Jenny voou fora de borda…. Para quem não anda no mar só posso dizer que isto está dentro da categoria das coisas mais perigosas que podem acontecer no mar.

Felizmente a Jenny não perdeu a consciência e ela tinha o seu colete, que sempre colocamos mesmo quando o tempo está optimo. Rápidamente vi como ela ia ficando mais pequena com a distância que aumentava, Tassa baixou as velas, Tiago olhava para a mãe para que não se a perdesse de vista. Meti o motor a trabalhar e lentamente comecamos a dirigirmo-nos para Jenny que de vez em quando ficava ocultada pelas ondas, mas nada de pior aconteceu e foi relativamente fácil recuperala do mar. Estava obviamente em estado de choque mas mesmo assim bastante calma, mas com uma grande ferida no lábio superior, as criancas acompanharam-na para dentro onde retirou as roupas molhadas e se deitou com muitos cobertores pois estava a tremer descontroladamente. O pior de tudo é que ela não se lembrava de nada, onde estava, para onde iamos, etc. Enfim nada de anormal devido ao acidente violento que a cabeca sofreu. Tentei tomar contacto com a Guarda Costeira para q estes enviassem uma ambulância para nos esperar em Portbou, mas nada, mais tarde fiquei a saber que só existe GC do outro lado da montanha e o VHF não funciona até aí…

Aquando da nossa chegada ao porto rápidamente se telefonou a uma ambulância que chegou 5 minutos depois da chamada, enfim depois de radiografias, analises, etc. lá recebeu alta por volta das 19:30, ela tinha caido á água ás 10:15. Foi um dia longo mas felizmente todo correu bem e agora vamos ficar em Portbou mais uns dias até a Jenny estar restabelecida.

Estou super orgulhoso da maneira como toda a familia confrontou este acontecimento com calma e sabedoria, nada de pânicos, gritarias, ou algo desse genero, eu dei as ordens os meus filhos fizeram todo de uma maneira impecavel, a pobre da Jenny na água, esperou pacientemente por ajuda e mantevesse calma numa situacão assustadora, enfim sou um pai e um marido babado com a familia fantástica que tenho.

Nuno

Cmd. S/Y Siska

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Love it before dinner

2007 10 22

For the first time on http://www.dreamalive.se, a little film from us to you! 😀

I Love it before dinner:

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A short notice from Séte…

2007 10 19

Hello friends,we are still in Séte, unfortunatelly something wrong with the engine. After a lot of looking for the reason of the problem, with the help of Michael who lives in the boat besides us, we found the potencial problem. A faulty diesel pump! I wasn’t happy, so i call to Ulf in Sweden, my excellent boat mechanic and he agreed that that was problably the problem. So i went looking for a new pump. On the third place i asked they could help me, but it would take two weeks to get a new pump!!!! We have been here for one week and i’m geting creasy with staying sooo long on the same harbour.
But after seeing my desperation they tried to find one on some local dealers and they found one…. for the modest price of 160 Euro…. of course i bought it. 24 hours later i had it on my hands, now i just need to install it on the engine… :-\Jenny has been busy with fixing all the wood details of Siska, she looks wonderfull, and it feels great to have the mast up again.
We had some free internet for a while in the harbour but now it’s finished and i am seating on a internet café, we were leaving Séte on Sunday BUT after checking the weather it looks like it´s going to blow a lot… my family won’t like it… so let’s see if we should wait.We really want to get going south where the sun will give the warm we are looking for.
It is warm here but the mornings are starting to be cold.

Love to you all,Nuno the Sailing Coach
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The Captain speaking…

2007 10 10

Hi good people, now we are in the Mediterranean.

The toilet is broken (I shouldn’t have bought the cheapest!), the generator belt in the engine is almost broken; the water tanks need some cleaning, etc.

We are in Séte and we were supposed to go on threw the channels until Port-la-nouvelle, but the sea is calling and I long to put the mast up and start sailing again, the rest of the family would prefer a bit more of the channels, so we did not really decide yet.

The weather as been nice and warm but today is raining. I should have done a lot of things today but … I’ll do it tomorrow.

Now we are going to head to the south of Spain and search for a warm place to stay over the winter, January and February are the months to take it easy on a warm harbour. Christmas and New Year in Portugal don’t know yet how but we’ll find an answer to that later.

The journey as been more expensive then calculated, I guess 4 persons eat more than I taught!

That meaning that we will try to do some work during the winter so we don’t need to sail back home earlier than planned. Have some ideas of what to try to do, but if somebody got some good idea, just tell us. J

Even with plan changing and more motoring than sailing, this adventure as been fabulous! We are together and experiencing a lot!

After 3 months no one wants to go home yet, and that says it all.

We meet a lot of people, unfortunately not a lot of families with children, but we are going to the sea soon and it is going to be interesting to see the difference in people in sea harbours and channel harbours.

Siska is over full with stuff, I don’t really know what, but I guess its all “good things to have”! Don’t know what to do about that!

Take care and fair winds,

The Captain

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The Mediterranean!!

2007 10 10

Hello everybody! 😀

Now I am going to jump back in time to Sunday, the 7^th of October.The morning started with a lock that only took us down 20 centimeters…We would have expected a lock going down like 4 meters… We were very chocked when the gates opened just when we thought it all started.We were actually going to Sète, but we stopped in Aigues–Mortes instead. Every year in Aigues-Mortes there is a big party for a whole week. We were really lucky, we came to Aigues-Mortes in the very first day of the party-week. So we spent the day watching bull races and walking around watching all the people and stuff… There were a lot of people who had dressed up in funny and wired clothes and wigs. When we were at the bull race one of the bulls escaped. It ran out on the car parking, and destroyed more than one car! Then it ran over to the other side of the lake, to the salt heaps. I don’t know how long it took to find the bull again, but I suppose they did…

In Aigues-Mortes there is a tower that once was used as a prison were they locked in women who refused to be Catholics. One woman was locked in for 38 years! She was first locked in when she was 8… The tower had 7 meter thick walls. The Constance Tower to the right and Siska to the left in the picture:

No we jump to next day; Monday the 8^th of October.We were going from Aigues-Mortes to Sète. On the way there we went trough Camargue. In Camargue we saw wild horses and flamingoes. It was really cool, the horses was in the bushes eating. And flamingoes are very pink! It was quite an experience. When we got to Sète we discovered that is wasn’t Sète. We were in Frontignan, a city a little bit from Sète… Frontignan isn’t so far from the Mediterranean. So we went in to the city and got a map and then we went to the beach. It wasn’t a big beach but there were really many shells! Tiago and I dipped our feet in the Mediterranean for the very first time…=) Now that’s all for me right now…

Tassa <3<3

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Finally???

2007 09 05

Well we are in a very small village by the channel where there is a cyber cafe.

We are slowly going towards the Mediterranean, very slowwwllyyy. But it’s ok we are not in a hurry.
Two days ago we almost lost our propeller, but after some diving in the disgusting water of the channels i managed to fix the problem.

We are all well and happy, we still do not know where we will be during the winter but so what…. we all need some adventure isn’t it? It is very beatifull going slowly threw france with all the small villages and wineyards. It is starting to be cold in the mornings but during the day the sun keeps us warm.

Ok Bye for now

Nuno

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Finally I am going to write some words…

2007 08 03

Well a lot happened lately!

Right now we are in a harbour called Scheveningen that is the harbour of the capital of Nederlands.
We should have left this morning but there was a change of plans at the last minute, unfortunatelly we lost the good winds and now we need to wait for them again.

Amsterdam was very nice, the kids love it in big towns! We were in a small harbour outside of the center in north Amsterdam. Very nice pleasent place with a very cute street with very cute small houses. 🙂
We still don’t know if we are leaving tomorrow, our plans have changed because of all the bad weather that has been hitting us lately. Now we are heading towards Dunkerque where we will get on the channels towards Paris and later the Mediterranean. It will take us longer but the family will appreciate it better then beating waves and wind over the English channel and later the Biscaya. This means that we won’t arrive at Portugal in the end of this month. Difficult to say when we will be there.
Now we’ve decided to appreciate the beatifful waterways of France.

Today we were at the Beach for the first time this year and actually swiming in the north sea waters, waves and salt…. mmmmhhh… love it!
This journey has been tough, for the economy, for the family and of course for me too.
But we have been tougher! He He He!
I really don’t know what to write anymore….

Hugs to everybody,

The Captain

Ps Because of lack of internet I haven’t been checking my mail neither sending emails —————————————————————————

We are on our way….

2007 07 09

Today we left beautifull Dyvig and started heading south, excellent wind and SUNSHINE!!!
Now we are in another beautifull Danish city Sonderborg. Dyvig was very beautifull but there was no Supermarket, or anything else, so we ate Pizza today for celebrating and because the kids think our food is kind of boring….
The engine seems allright and i hope it will carry us over the Channels.Our windvane is in place too, we tried it today and it works perfectely like an Aries should do. I made some more improvements now we can eat outside on our table.
It as been tough but fun.Thank you Peter for all the help, Thanks to all the great people in Dyvig that helped us in many ways.

C U LaterNuno

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Dyvig – Danmark

2007 07 03

Yes we are still in Dyvig and yes it’s still raining.

Today we put the Aries windvane in place, not ready but on the way.
I wonder if there is some kind of meaning with all this waiting, the parts haven’t arrived yet, “maybe tomorrow” it’s the only answer i get.
On the other hand there is storms everywhere around northern europe.
I was rowing our dinghy with Spirit for the first time, it was allright, as long as he didn’t move, and that was difficult for him to understand.

Ok tired now, C U later,

Nuno

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blog info

2007 07 01

Allright! I just changed web browser from Explorer to Flock, and it was easier than ever to add an image here (cause I got Photobucket)!I´ll try it for some days to see if everything works out nicely :-).One more time; don´t miss the Flickr-photos a bit down in the sidebar here ->, and the Patial-MapKit in which you can zoom in and see the exact spot of Siskas position in the different harbours.J

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Some pics from yesterday´s storm

2007 06 28

Spirit desperate with panic when the storm shoke the bridge and he couldn´t get on board because the water sunk. And next pic; our new friends from Molinari, Christian and Marlis, looking very small hiiiigh up on the bridge, and happy cause their boat was finally safe at the end of Wednesday. (See also the broken front of Siska)

Images showing how the water went 2 meters down; something that has never ever happened here in Dyvig in summertime before. It has only happened some rare times in wintertime -until now

.

When the wind stopped blowing Tassa and Tiago had passed a hole day inside Siska cause it was not possible to get out safe.

Boooored!

J

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Sorry for not have been writing more…

2007 06 28

Hi good people, many get disappointed as the most of what is wroten here is in swedish.Well i try to write as much as i can but there has been happening a lot of things lately.
During the way to Dyvig we had a colision with a stupid fishing boat that just came out in front of us without any people attending the rudder. We broke our front, nothing very serious but a lot of work to get it back in working condition… later in Dyvig when we were moving our boat to another berth, the engine broke…As you can imagine I was desperate, but with the help of our new circum navigators friends, The Molinaris, I started putting down the engine to search for the problem.
We are lucky that this happened here, Peter, the maker of the Aries Windvane, that we are here to install, has been incredibly kind and helpful too.
We were going to stay here for a week but now…. maybe two. We are waiting for parts for the engine, and the top is being renovated. (Expensive and time consuming)And then….. the weather….. raining…..raining…..and raining. Yesterday it was blowing storm and all the water just disppeared from the harbour. Our new friends at the Molinari had a real busy night as they were anchoring and the anchor started to drag. Poor Christian needed to jump into the water in the middle of the night to save their boat. The anchor line had tangled it self on the prop so they could not use the engine to get to safety. But they managed allright and will soon go on.Now i have to go to Peters place to repair my broken stuff in is workshop.
Kindness and helpfullness is all over, give, help and you will too get help when you need.C U good people,Nuno

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A stressfull moment with internet….

2007 06 21

Hi People,now we are in Fredericia harbour, after a whole day of motoring!Yesterday we stopped at Samsoe, a nice island in the innerwaters of Denmark.
It was RAINING and the wind was strong, difficult time to do some bbq!The engine is taking a lot of oil and that worries me a bit, on the other hand it’s really economical with the diesel.
The family is getting used to the life at sea and we have been taking bigger and longer trips for each day. This last one to Fredericia was 35 nm it took us about 10 hours to do.Spirit is in great shape and starting to enjoy the ride that’s really good!The idea about having a Wifi anten on the mast is not so bad afterall if we had that we would problably have easier contact with internet.
Economically we been paying around 110 DKK in harbour fees.Food as been good and we make most of our meals onboard.
THanks to GO Green for the great food!Thanks too to our neighbour Ericsson that fixed our call sign labels, We’ll be putting the link soon.Tomorrow wi’ll be heading to Dyvig where we will install the windvane, then with fair winds we will not need to seat and steer all the time.Ok People C U LaterNuno

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On board, finally!

2007 06 16

Hi people, sorry i have been absent from the blogg, but it has been hard long days.We have been living on board Siska for 3 days now. When we moved in with all our stuff we really tought that we would be ready to go fast……how wrong!!!!There was stuff everywhere!!!! Now 3 days later we can start moving and feel more comfortable.This afternoon we just relaxed and looked at a movie while the rain fall outside. Felt great.Before that I needed to stretch the tropical roof because while tight from bellow, unfortunately Siska gets in a lot of water when it rains!A problem that will be fixed as soon as there is some sun. I can then make her tight from above.Our position is still Helsingborg, Sweden.

Hopefully we will leave Sweden tomorrow heading towards Dyvig in Denmark.

C U people

Nuno

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Offshore Yachtmaster…

2007 05 27

Hi good people, one more step closer to the departure day.Today I passed the examination for “Offshore Yacht master”, I had another examination before some years ago but I had no use for it outside Sweden, so I needed a new international one.Thank you very much Per!Per is the very kind examinator that took time from his Sunday to hold my examination.It as been very stressful days, buying a lot of stuff, expensive stuff! But thanks to the fantastic staff at Hjertmans in Råå, I got almost all the stuff we need. And they gave a very nice discount that I really appreciated! Thank you!Thanks too to my very good friends Micke and Mia, you guys are the best, always there when I need you!Lots of nice people everywhere!I bought a new toilet seat, because the old one needed a restoration and I do not have the time now. But unfortunately not the same size so I need to improvise to get it in place.I’m still mounting down things in Siska when it should be on the contrary right now!!!!I have no idea how this is going to work…. But I’m loving everyday…. ;-)Money is getting short, a lot of expenses and the company I worked to don’t pay me the last invoices I send them. That kind of makes me mad but for them: “what comes around goes around!”It makes me kind of sad that there are people that can be so dishonest.Well I don’t care BECAUSE it’s only two weeks LEFT!!!!C U people!
Nuno

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Almost done! Or?

2007 05 16
Hi again my good friends.
Today I almost finished the new stuff on my tenant’s bathroom, of course something would be missing and, of course I found that out when it was too late for buying what I needed. Fortunately I finished the part of the ventilation system that I could do, now I just need to wait for a friend of mine, to help me with the electrical part.

Many people ask us how we can afford this sailing trip. Well we are counting in having about 1000 euro a month, this budget needs to hold. So probably there won’t be so many visits to local restaurants and not to many beers I’m afraid!

So what! The important thing is that we will be together as a family for a whole year.

And I hope this will teach our kids about handling with money.

Then imagine when we can afford a visit to a restaurant! It’s really going to taste goooooooddddddd.

We needed to choose between doing it NOW while the kids want to follow with us, or wait for the PERFECT boat, and the PERFECT economy! That would probably be too late! So we are doing it now.

A small boat and a small economy, but we are doing it!

The most of the equipment is second hand, except everything that got to do with security, all that is brand new.

I will later write how much this is costing us, so that people out there know that this kind of project is not only for millionaires.

Ok people, Over and Out!

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First stage…

First stage of our one year sailing trip. It’s really cool with all this modern stuff!!!!

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Lossstttt and Found!!

2007 05 15

Hi People!

These days are “killing me”. Still struggling with the ventilation system, but I’m quite proud in what i have acomplished so far.

Checked out in the net and with a lot of phone calls to buy some water filters for Siskas water system. (my family is quite sensibel about water taste and bacterias)

Finally i came to some nice man that told me the right words: “No problem just give me the measurements of the filter and i’ll get it for you.”, love this words!

Siska got a water filtering system but I need the cartridges, it’s an american system,”Ametek” and definitively not easy to find.

Well anyway, probably I’ll start working with Siska on Thursday, softly!

I still have the electric system problem; I need to get that fixed so I can do all the other installation stuff.

Then I have the stove to install, a gas stove this time.

Isn’t it wonderful, I am coach and I have a really lot of challenges in front of me.

Yes I almost forgot… I have to move Siska because I have no harbor place this year.

C U 2morrow (or not!)

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Welcome

2007 05 11

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