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A New Chapter With
the boat sold and our new Daughter Annabel barely a year old, we intend to
stay in Undoubtedly
we will put to sea again at some point in the future and relive some of our
happiest memories. Bagpuss Sold After
a little tidying and having the bottom anti-fouled at the VT Fitzroy naval
yard in Devonport we displayed the boat at the Auckland Boat Show. She
attracted a lot of interest and we were pleased to sell her to a consortium
of three couples who intend to sail her regularly in local waters and perhaps
take her back up to the Bagpuss for Sale ! Its a
sad day, but we need to move on to shore for a while so our beloved Road Tour of We waited until Bevs Mum and Dad arrived from the UK before setting out to explore New Zealand by car. With Bagpuss safely tucked up in Gulf Harbour Marina, Whangaparaoa we set off on a 4000km journey round the North and South Islands in February. The highlights were everywhere so you need to read the full report in the Monthly Diary section.
New Zealand via Minerva Reef After many delays waiting for weather we finally set off on the 1,200 mile trip to New Zealand and back out of the Tropical Cyclone area. Officially the cyclone season starts at the beginning of November but its rare to get them before Christmas. Nonetheless most people had already departed when we left. The weather was pretty miserable to start with then we heard that we would not be able to make New Zealand before a new and dangerous frontal system closed in so we decided to head for Minerva Reef to sit it out - possibly for a week or two. Minerva is 200 miles south of Tonga and is just a circular coral reef about two miles in diameter. The water is beautifully clear but we decided to give swimming a miss on account of the reported profusion of aggressive sharks.
What a
difference a day makes ! The morning after our first night in Minerva we get the
green light for the next leg to New Zealand and head out with a fleet of 6
other boats. The first part of the trip was windy and fast clocking up 180
mile days, but then the wind died and we had to motor for literally days, it
wasn't the time to sit around as the weather seems to change so quickly as
you get nearer the "roaring forties". And at last we are here - Goodbye Samoa, Hello Tonga We really enjoyed our time in Samoa, and spent much longer there than we anticipated. Its a beautiful country with lots to see and friendly people but few tourists. Its a cheap place to be and we made the most of the local restaurants and bars. We will particularly miss the famous cheeseburgers at Aggie Grays hotel.
The Coast of Samoa Tonga
has also proved to be a great place. Smaller and even quieter than
Beach in Vavau A Magical time in Suwarrow (Suvarov), Cook Islands We
eventually had to move on from the Society Islands and elected to take the
more Northern route westwards, as other cruisers had experienced unkind
weather on the southern route. Leaving from Bora Bora our passage took us
past a small atoll called Suwarrow. Its a nature reserve and part of the
Left to Right, Baker, Toto, Papa Joane Every day they conjured up a feast for us from the local natural bounty of coconuts, tuna, barracuda, coconut crabs, conch, breadfruit and birds ! Meeting Up With Friends in the Society Islands When we left the Marqueses Islands many of our friends took different routes through the Tuomotus Islands so it was great to meet up again in Tahiti and the Society Islands (Moorea, Riatea, Tahaa, Huahine and Bora Bora). We also found we had two engagements to celebrate Matt and Katey on Lionheart and Stephen and Karen on Trade Secret.
Beach BBQ in Moorea Snorkelling on Moorea and Bora Bora The snorkelling has really come alive in the Society Islands. The coral has been much more colourful than we have seen before. The fish are also abundant. We have seen a Napoleon fish the size of a sheep, lots of stingrays, reef and lemon sharks ! Dancing in Nuka Hiva and Coral Atolls in The Tuamotus We realised early on that we did not have time to reach Tahiti for the famous Bastille Day celebrations on the 14th July, but were delighted to find that the whole month around the 14th is a fete and is celebrated throughout French Polynesia. Whilst in Nuka Hiva we caught up with a traditional dance competition which was fantastic to see.
Much of July was spent in the Tuamoto's - small sparsely populated coral atolls - incredibly beautiful but navigationally very dangerous. Small motu's of white sand and palm trees fringe coral reefs.
Marqueses Islands We arrived in the Marqueses after 22 days at sea. It took as less time to cover the 3,000 miles than we expected and we made more than 170 miles on some days.
Our first landfall was the Bay of Virgins on Fatu Hiva, probably the most beautiful island in the group. Dramatic scenery and welcoming locals made it a great place to arrive. Galapagos Islands We spent 20 days in the Galapagos islands, where Charles Darwin famously devised his theory of evolution. Its an amazing place full of very tame wildlife -penguins, sea lions, iguanas, sharks, pelicans, flamingos... and of course giant tortoises.
Snorkelling with sea lions and horse riding up the volcano on Isabella where the undoubted highlights. We ate out every night as food and beer were very cheap and the locals tremendously friendly. It was a rough sail to get here but well worth the effort. April 2004 Panama Canal Transit The end of April saw us finally make our transit through the Panama Canal to the Pacific. Its something that has been playing on our minds for some time, due to the cost, bureaucracy and potential for serious boat damage that defines a canal transit. With the sterling support of our good friends Matt and Stephen we made it through the Canal unscathed in two days and passed under the Bridge of the America into the Pacific Ocean.
The bridge is currently the only one linking North and South America. Next we press on the 1000 miles to Galapagos and 3000 miles to the Marqueses beyond. It should take us about 40 days at sea !! San Blas Islands The San Blas islands are a semi autonomous region of Panama, comprising 340 low lying islands and home to the Kuna Indian people. They have gone to great lenghts to preserve their culture and it really has been one of the highlights of our trip so far to see them. The Kunas look like "red indians" or even slighlty Japanese but they are very short in height. They live in wooden huts with bare earth floors on incredibly small islands.
They were universally friendly and welcoming, but unfortunately didn't like having their pictures taken. Simpson Bay Lagoon, St Maarten Simpson Bay Lagoon is a 12 square mile area of water enclosed on all sides by land. This makes it a wonderfully protected place to stay. Most of all for us it was a great place to get jobs done on the boat, with the best stocked chandleries we have ever seen and a selection of big supermarkets selling just about any food item you might want, including things we have never seen in UK supermarkets. Nelson's Dockyard Antigua February saw us move further north through Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Montserrat and Nevis. There were plenty of highlights during the month like the 350ft waterfalls in Basse Terre, the rainforest in Dominica, having the bottom of the boat painted in Guadeloupe, the devastation of Plymouth caused by the volcano on Montserrat.
Nelson's Dockyard with "Tenacious" alongside. Tenacious crossed the Atlantic with us on the ARC Our best fun had to be Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour and the neighbouring Falmouth harbour in Antigua were we spent a week or so. Its a beautiful setting with lots of friendly people and plenty of lovely old buildings, good pubs and restaurants. We met several British people who had moved to the island and its easy to see why ~ apart from the beauty of the island there's no capital gains tax and income tax is practically non-existent, all other taxes for national insurance and the like adds up to only about 13% !! The Pitons of St Lucia We saw so many great things in January it was hard to pick out any particular highlight ~ Blue Lagoon on St Vincent, Marigot and Rodney Bays in St Lucia, Anse Mitan in Martinique and the outdoor splendour of Dominica were all great. In the end, probably the best place was the Pitons national park in the south of St Lucia. It’s the photograph you always see of the island and we were able to anchor a short distance off the beach, right between the two Pitons. The water was 20 meters deep but incredibly clear as the Atlantic sweeps round this corner of the island.
New Year 2004 in Canouan We hadn’t really planned to be in Canouan for New Year but we had such a sleepless time with the poor weather and crowding in Clifton harbour on Union Island we decided to seek shelter here. The whole area was being affected by strong 30-35 knot winds from the east and a big swell from the North West, so it was difficult to find somewhere comfortable to anchor.
The Tamarind Beach Hotel in quieter times Unfortunately although we were perfectly safe in the anchorage it was too dangerous to try to land the dinghy at the hotel, so we had to make our own fun on the boat – within sight, sound and smell of the festivities at the hotel. All the lightweights retired early but Allan, James and Callum stayed up for the bells and watched “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” on DVD. Christmas in Bequia Bev’s mum Joyce and Allan’s boys Callum and James, arrived on the 19th December. We spent a couple of days getting the boat back into shape then did an overnight sail to Bequia in the Grenadines. We really like Bequia, it was the highlight of our charter trip in the Caribbean two years ago and proved not to be a disappointment this time either.
We anchored close in to the bars and restaurants at “Bareboat reef”. For lunch we had a BBQ on the boat and later had a first rate Christmas dinner at the Gingerbread restaurant. During the day to boys made castles on the beautiful Princess Margaret beach and tired themselves out jumping off the boat into the water. Arrival in St Lucia We finally arrived in St Lucia in the early hours of Wednesday 17th of December after 24 days at sea. Neptune left the best till last and we had the strongest winds of the crossing in the last few hours of the trip, so much so that we actually had to sail past the island until it was safe enough to turn towards port. We drank a few beers and had the first good sleep since we left Gran Canaria. We are all much relieved to have made it here and are looking forward to Christmas in the sun.
Crossing the Atlantic We set off across the Atlantic, a 2800nm trip from Gran Canaria to St Lucia on Sunday 23rd November with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. Bevs Dad, Bill, was has never sailed before will be joining us on the trip which should last about three weeks. During November and early December you can follow our positions and daily diary logs at the ARC website – www.worldcruising.com . Bagpuss has been given number 163 in the rally.
Bev and the other ice maidens from “Girls For Sail” at the ARC fancy dress party.
Chilling in Tenerife Originally we thought we might sail round all the Canary Islands but in the end we spent the whole of September in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (or Santa Cruth as Allan calls it to try and be more authentic J). There have been a million and one jobs to do on the boat but we have still found time to get round the island and take in the sights such as Teide, Playa De Los Terristos, Las Americas, Los Christianos and Puerto De La Cruz.
As the month has worn on more and more yachts have arrived in the harbour and many larger cruise ships such as the Aurora and Oceania have been visiting as it gets cooler in the Med. Sledging in Madeira
Francesca came out to Madeira to spend a week with us. Madeira was a bit cooler than the Algarve but no chance of snow. That doesn't seem to put off the locals in Monte who push tourists down the hill on wooden sledges - for a small fee! We also “discovered” Madeira wine! It’s perfect with the heavy gingery cakes they make here. They both keep well so we’ve stashed a couple of bottles and a few cakes on the boat for a special occasion. Visitors from the UK
Bill and Joyce, Bevs parents, brought Callum and James over to Lagos in Portugal for a fortnights holiday. We got a few day sails in to a lovely anchorage at Portimao, where we built sandcastles and explored the sea caves using the Rib. Lagos is the nicest town we have visited on the Algarve, and its got a great beach. The waterpark was a particular highlight with the boys James decided to buy a fishing
rod and in no time caught his first fish. We wouldn't fancy eating anything
caught in the Marina but next door’s cat was very pleased with the catch. 16.5 knots round Finesterre
!!
We were reassured to have Gerard on board, who has experienced much worse weather on his own boat. Fortunately the rest of the trip through Biscay was calm and pleasant with beautiful sunsets and occasional dolphins to lift our spirits. Beaching the boat
It’s a nerve racking experience but in the first week of owning the boat we had to let her dry out on a concrete slipway in La Rochelle. This allowed us to get some damage under the bridg repaired and have holes drilled in the bottom to fit extra equipment. She floated off without any drama and no leaks yet (touch wood)…
We were lucky to have an old milk crate onboard so we could climb back on the boat! |
© Copyright Allan & Bev
Dornan 2005