ChaliGram 14-1: Escape from the Golfe de Lion!
30 May 2014 | Port Roses, Spain
Alison
Dearest Friends and Family,
Long time no hear, eh? Well, our Facebook friends know that we're alive and well in Spain now, but I figured it was about time I send out an update to EVERYone...
We stayed back in the States for 6.5 months this past winter, returning to ChaliVentures in Gruissan, France on April 30th... the longest time we've been off the boat since we moved onboard back in June 2003! While in the States we weathered one of the worst winters in history, but still managed to make our trips to visit family and friends. And...6.5 months DID give us some good time to increase our bond with our 4 grandchildren. Both Chuck and I got clean medical reports. So, all is good. Oh! and I took up yoga, which became a passion for me! Once back in France, it took almost 4 weeks for the boat to have all its normal spring maintenance chores done PLUS fix the several new problems that arose; then, when the boat AND we were finally ready, the weather just would not cooperate. In this area of the Mediterranean, we'd be lucky to get 1 good day out of every 7 or 8. When I say "good" I mean where the winds aren't too strong (creating horrible seas) and from the right direction! We finally "escaped from the Golfe de Lion" on Tuesday night, and arrived in Port Roses, Spain Wednesday morning, just a 60 mile trip. It would have been preferable to have our first time out in the DAYlight instead of a moonless night, but the hours between 8pm and 8am on Tuesday-Wednesday were the only ones with a reasonable forecast to get around some fairly treacherous capes between France and Spain. Happily there were no major disasters, just normal "first time out" mishaps.... the worst being the fact that our GPS in the cockpit finally gave up its ghost. After 10 seasons, the display just faded away to nothing... NOT a good thing on a boat. At night. Trying to stay 3 miles off the capes.... Fortunately, we had 2 spares, in addition to the one we keep inside the cabin. So... problem fixed. Unfortunately for Chuck, it happened during my watch when he should have been sleeping, but instead he had to do all the initialization settings in the new GPS. The sails worked great; the engine worked great; crew worked moderately well.
Now being in NE Spain, we are enjoying being surrounded by mountains again. Gruissan, France is on a flat plain between 2 mountain chains wayyyyy off in the distance (responsible for channeling those ferocious "tramontane" winds across the country). So, our day to day vista did not include the normal, beautiful Mediterranean mountains we have come to know and love. The weather has been very odd, according to the locals AND based on our own experience cruising around here in the NW Mediterranean for the last 3 years. By May, the weather USUALLY starts stabilizing -- fewer BIG WIND events, WARMER temperatures and generally speaking, more reliable cruising weather -- but not this year. It's been very cool, frequently drizzly and of course the aforementioned strong winds. The farther south we get, hopefully it'll be more pleasant.
The highlight of our 4 weeks in Gruissan was the sudden, unplanned arrival of our good Dutch buddies, Ineke & Albert. They took their boat back to Holland last summer, and in an email to them, I was bemoaning the fact that we wouldn't have any more boat rendezvous with them. Lo and behold, they jumped in their car THAT NIGHT; drove 12 hours and arrived in Gruissan for several days. They found a perfect little apt. to stay in on the beach, since a little beach holiday never does anyone any harm! We 4 travelled one day to beautiful Perpignan (right near the Pyrenees Mountains) and another day, we went to the big tourist destination and UNESCO world heritage site of the medieval fortress town of Carcassonne built up on a hill. It was spectacular looking from the highway, but inside the walls, it was one tacky tourist shop after another. The cathedral was beautiful though, and there were 3 guys singing Ave Maria, and hawking their CDs while they were at it. I must say, beautiful music certainly enhances visits to cathedrals!! We went to the "lower city" on the Aude River and had a yummy lunch and enjoyed walking around this much more GENUINE city. Ineke and I had "girl time" by going to the Wednesday morning market in Gruissan, loading up on cheese, salamis, veggies & fruit (cherries were in season!) and yakking over cafe & croissants. Rough life, I know. Anyway, it was such a treat that they visited! So many of our friends have left the Mediterranean for one reason or another, so the seasonal anticipation of meeting up with some of our fellow cruising buddies is largely a thing of the past. That being said, Johan and Eva's "Northern Light" spent the winter next to ChaliVentures, so it was nice to have some friends in Gruissan when we both returned. They left before we did and are moving at a little faster pace though. And there are still a few friends scattered around the Med,,, but not sure we'll be seeing them this year.... ("Just Tinkerbelle?" "Indigo?")
While Chuck was increasing his self-sufficiency in boat things by doing some parts replacements and other jobs himSELF for the first time (stress,stress,stress!), my major accomplishment (besides the normal constant boat cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, etc) was getting all my hair cut off. It's the shortest it's been since we crossed the Atlantic in 2005!! I LOVE IT. Having our 1 remaining 8 yr old rusty bike has made a huge difference... both in getting around Gruissan AND here in Port Roses, both towns where the boatyard and/or marina are kind of on the outskirts of town.
Our cruising plan this season is very un-ambitious. We'll just go slowly down the coast of Spain; possibly hop over to one or more of the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Fomentara), and then back to mainland Spain, visiting such cities as Barcelona again, Valencia, Alicante and Cartagena. Our planned 2014-2015 winter destination is Cartagena on the southern end of the east coast of Spain. We'll probably jump over to Morocco for a quick "business trip" to get the boat out of the European Union so we can restart the "18 month clock" -- for tax purposes -- before settling into Cartagena mid October-ish.
So....Sort of a boring trip report. Hopefully our adventures this year will warrant more INTERESTING ChaliGrams!
Hope you are having a delightful spring wherever you are. Except for our son and family in Boulder Colorado, I think MOSTLY everyone has seen the last of the incredible 2014 winter snowstorms!!!
Til the next time....
Love, Alison, Chuck and Madamoiselle La Reine Zoey!
https://picasaweb.google.com/chaliventures/ChaliGram141GruissanFranceToPortRosesSpain?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOD5_NPsq_LrlAE&feat=directlink
Alison Spinney
Onboard ChaliVentures III in.... Spain