Update 67 July 2014

Well as I said in my last update I would talk to you all shortly – well time travels very fast and 19 months is a short time! I think it is because not a lot has happened.
After returning from the UK we made our way to San Jose (do you know the way?) This was as far as we came into the med in 1999 and so marked where we crossed our line and therefore had completed a circumnavigation of the world. It was a special moment as we sailed into the small marina. It was also my 59th birthday – 9th October 2012. It was made very special as 2 of my sisters and their husbands flew over for a short holiday (in a hotel). We had a fabulous time with so much laughter, food and drink.
For those of you that like statistics it took 14yrs, 3 months and 4 days or 5210 days to circumnavigation the world. In that time we spent about 14 months back visiting the UK. We spent a total of 10495hrs (62.5 weeks) at sea from Milford Haven to San Jose covering 49678 nautical miles (57168 land miles or 92003 Km).
We have flown flags of 51 countries and visited many islands belonging to those countries. We have learnt to say ‘Please, Thank you and Hello” in 20 different languages (and forgotten most of them) but have been very lucky that most of the world want to learn to speak English. We have had some rough weather but never had a storm at sea and have felt that someone has watched over us throughout our travels.
After a wonderful week in San Jose we made our way to Aguadulcie where we spent our first winter in 1998. Then it was a great live-aboard community with 30+ boats of all nationalities. Sadly the powers that be decided they could make more money and put the winter fees up and naturally all the boats went somewhere cheaper and now they have no foreign boats staying there. They have reduced their fees but the damage was done and most boats now winter in Almerimar, which was where we went for several reasons. One of our older and closest friends Wendy was living on her boat ‘Margaret Alice’ there and ‘Orca Joss’ had decided not to cross the Atlantic and so we had another reunion party. There was also a good social scene with lots organised throughout the week. Clive became involved with the music jam session every week, playing his guitar and singing. We spent Christmas back in the UK with family and soon it was time to go sailing again.
2013 was to be a short sailing season for us. My nephew was getting married in August and as I was reaching the ripe old age of 60 and getting my works pension, I had plans (more of that later). Our cruising was down to Gibraltar and out to the Atlantic coast of south Spain and back to Almerimar. It was really good as the journeys were short, we stayed in marinas most of the time, visited the beautiful cities of Rota, Cadiz, Seville and Ayamonte. We were back in Almerimar at the end of July and had the boat lifted onto the hard as we would not be returning until the following January.

As I said earlier I had my works pension coming in October and I decided to spend it! I thought it would be a good idea to fly to New Zealand and Australia to see all the friends we made while there. Also I wanted to see the wild spring flowers of Western Australia. We first flew to Perth where our very good friends Bruce and Jo lent us their Hilux 4X4 with a tent on the roof that folds down and the bed is on the top, away from the snakes and scorpions. We spent 2 weeks north of Perth in the ‘outback’ and 2 weeks south of Perth in the Margaret River area. The flowers were stunning. In 2005 when we did the same trip north it was summer and all we saw was red dirt. Now there were carpets of colour everywhere. We had to keep stopping for me to take photos but, as most of the time we were the only people on the road, it didn’t matter.
From Perth we flew to Auckland and hired a car for a month. We drove to Whangarei where we were very lucky as our good friends off ‘Orca Joss’ had just bought a house there and we used them as a base. We spent the next 4 weeks going from the Bay of Islands in the north down to Wanganui in the south of the north island with a mixture of staying friends or in motels. We managed to see 15 different friends, some we had already told them of our plans to visit and others we would suddenly think “I wonder if they are about” and send off emails or try old phone numbers and were so pleased to find them home. We also met with 2 boats we last saw in Turkey and had just sailed in when we were in Opau. Sadly we had to leave New Zealand which is still my favourite country after Wales. But happily we were going to Brisbane to see more friends and then onto Sydney to see more friends again. After all the visiting we decided we needed a holiday and instead of flying straight back to Perth we went to Adelaide for 4 nights. It is a delightful city and with a car we were able to travel out to the Barossa Valley which, you may know, is a big wine region (lots of free tasting). Finally we went back to Perth for a few days before flying back to the UK. It was an expensive holiday but worth every penny to see our friends again especially as we may never see them again.



We returned to Almerimar in January and planned the next cruising season. After a lot of persuasion Clive convinced me that sailing back to the UK via the Azores was a good idea. I am still not wholly convinced but we are on our way home. Before leaving Almerimar in April we had our final farewell party with Orca Joss again! We travelled along the south coast of Spain to Gibraltar where I could shop at Morrison’s to top up on all the lovely things we miss like good tea bags and Branston Pickle. Then it was on to the Atlantic coast of Spain. For us this is the best part of Spain. It’s not as hot as the Med and you do actually get to sail instead of motoring everywhere. We sailed to our favourite place - Ayemonte on the Guardiana River which is the border between Spain and Portugal. We decided to ‘pop’ back home for a few weeks to see family again. It is a great advantage being back in Europe that with Easyjet it is reasonable to fly to the UK.
On returning to Jane-G and after stocking up with our favourite Spanish foods and drinks we went to Albufeira on the Algarve. It is a lovely place but I have never seen so many British tourists in one place. For a short time it is quite an experience and fortunately the marina was out of town making it a good getaway. We met up with our good friends Les and Jo. Les plays the banjo and Jo the flute and with Clive on guitar they make a very good trio, so lots of musical nights there. Portimao was our next port of call. After a few days we had an email from ‘Orca Joss’ complaining that the marina fees in Spain were going up on the 1st July so I told them in Portugal it was the 15th that they went up. Next email said ‘OK we will see you tomorrow’. So once again another reunion party and another final farewell party to come.
We were now waiting for weather to sail for the Azores. So many people we met who when hearing of our plans said “we tried to sail to the Azores once/twice/three times but had to turn back because of the weather”. We were a little concerned as we had not done an ocean passage for so long. The Azores are 800 nautical miles due west of the tip of Portugal so it would take between 7 and 14 days depending on the winds. We only carry enough fuel for 500 nm so had to be able to sail most of the way.
We are now in the Azores and plan to leave for Ireland tomorrow (16/07/2014). I will bring you up to date once we get there.
Talk again soon (I promise).