Position: 49°43’07″N 2°00’14″W Time and tide wait for no one. Nor do currents. Our navigation skills grew fat and lazy in the Mediterranean, at least metaphorically, and the vigorous waters around Brittany put them back on the treadmill for some …
Position: 48°22’36″N 4°29’34″W Tonnerre de Brest! Twenty miles offshore and heading for Brest in the thick of a thunderstorm, Captain Haddock’s expletive, Tonnerre de Brest! (Thunder of Brest) became reality. Rain lashed the dodger and our radar circled colourfully, highlighting …
Position: 42°16’36.7″N 8°49’20.9″W Carol’s dad, Bob, asked us if we were going to see anyone on our journey north to the Baltic? It was a reasonable question. Our contact list is, after all, long. We thought about it during our …
Position: 38°47’14.6″N 9°23’27.7″W The Palácio Nacional da Pena is a shining “jewel in the crown” of Portuguese royalty. That Portuguese royalty, like Britain’s, were Germans is neither here nor there. The where, since you asked, is in Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, …
Position: 38°24’50.5″N 9°13’23.9″W “Aleta, Aleta, Aleta, Billaroo, Billaroo, Billaroo.” The VHF awoke with an unmistakably Australian accent. Twenty-four hours into our passage, we approached our final leg to Lisbon by rounding Cape Espichel and crossing the depths of the Lisbon …
Pop Quiz! You have ten minutes to complete this quiz. Good luck! You are motoring late at night towards the lights of Málaga. A vessel appears off your port side, but not on your Automated Identification System. Is it: A …
Position: 36°31’47″N 3°52’08″W As the sun rose over Aleta’s stern and Carol arose from her slumbers, it was time to change watches. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dolphin and called down to my first mate. …
Position: 45°37’26″N 122°40’42″W It’s only been four and a half months, Lauren reminded me. I thought it was six, and that we’d more than passed our sell-by date. After all, fish and house guests smell after three days. Then I …
Position: 37° 35′ 49”N 0° 58′ 48”W Easter. Holy week. Everyone is out on the town, and we haven’t seen this many people in Cartagena since the celebration of the three kings arrival by boat for Epiphany in 2020. Just …
