Azulita Adventure

450S Lagoon

Vessel Name: Azulita
Vessel Make/Model: Lagoon 450S
Hailing Port: Cruz Bay, St. John
Recent Blog Posts
16 August 2017

Time of Contentment...and...

Have no fear, Ziggy is here still applies :-)

15 August 2017

On the Seas Again - Alboran Sea

And we're off again! Back to a beautiful day and perfect weather! For the moment anyway!! I think we are giving up on weather forecasts!! No matter how many we look at, they keep being wrong! The research does say that weather is very unpredictable in the Mediterranean West though, and that it can [...]

14 August 2017

A Little SNAFU

Smooth sailing all day yesterday...until about 9pm. Then the wind kicked up and up and up, along with the wave action. Around midnight, we decided it was time to look for potential shelter to ride out the weather. So off we went to find a marina along the Spanish coast at midnight that could fit a 14m [...]

13 August 2017

The Calm After the Storm

What a difference a day makes :-) !!!

12 August 2017

Part II - Straits of Gibraltar - Success!!

So far the wildest ride around a point we've had on this trip, and I think that goes down in history for both of us!! Confused seas, wind over tide, 32 knots coming around the point of Cape Trafalgar. I know when LOML says, here comes a big one, he isn't kidding!! Brace!!

12 August 2017

Part I of the Straits of Gibraltar Passage

We are so excited to be off!! Goodbye Portugal! It’s so good to be back at sea in the fresh air and sunshine!! Beautiful day so far, wind and seas are calm and the sun is shining 😃 Ziggy has the music going, fishing lines are in the water, and we are off! Couldn't be a more glorious day :-)

Time of Contentment...and...

16 August 2017
Have no fear, Ziggy is here still applies :-)

Has been a fantastic couple of day passage. Winds, waves and temperature has been perfect. The dolphins have swum along with Azulita multiple times, playing in the bow wake and jumping all around the boat :-) and when I say dolphins plural, I literally mean like 30 dolphins at a time :-) Was a beautiful and awesome sight :-)

As the sun sets tonight, the realization of this being our last "passage" is dawning as we just see the outline of Ibiza 18 miles ahead. As we pass Ibiza and head in toward Mallorca, we should be there by morning and it will be the end of a blissful passage.

We even had fun solving for another little (ok, maybe not so little) SNAFU with the forestay misbehaving again. This time the screw that holds the furling foil to the torque tube popped out, which means the foil alignment of the roller reefing didn't work. Luckily, the wind and seas are calm, there isn't another boat to be seen, and we are still 30 miles off land to be able to deal with. We've learned that we make a great team :-) The three of us worked together to take down the genoa sail, repair the forestay with a screwdriver, nail file and duct tape (the essentials on a boat), rehoisted the sail and were good to go again !!! My job was to lie on the sail and not get blown away :-) LOML and Ziggy did all the hard work!! Ok, not quite, we all worked together to make it happen!!

Even as we work out the kinks on a new boat, with the chart plotter and the starboard engine and the genoa roller drum and the forestay... it has been an absolutely incredible adventure and learning experience :-).

I appreciate the words of Kenny Cheney's "Soul of a Sailor" all the more:

He walked in with a salty sway
Lookin' like Blackbeard in his day
A brother in arms just like me
I was born a son of the sea
I can't be still, I can't be tied
The only time I feel alive is
When the wind fills my sail
Riding on a lifelong swell
Let my heart take me where it wants to go
That's the soul of a sailor, the soul of a sailor
He slid a stool and a beer to me
Said, you know, we're both a dying breed
Here's to love lost and new found friends
And living out life in the boat we're in
I can't be still, I can't be tied
The only time I feel alive is
When the wind fills my sail
Riding on a lifelong swell
Let my heart take me where it wants to go
That's the soul of a sailor, the soul of a sailor
Let my heart take me where it wants to go
That's the soul of a sailor, the soul of a sailor

It has been an experience that we have loved. 1700 miles of ocean including the Bay of Biscay, Cape Finisterre, the trades of Portugal, the Straits of Gibraltar and getting through the Alboran Sea to the Med...

Yo me siento triste (I feel sad) that the passage is coming to and end, but excited to expierence and enjoy a bit of Mallorca :-)

Thank you all for sharing in this journey with us :-) xoxo

On the Seas Again - Alboran Sea

15 August 2017
And we're off again! Back to a beautiful day and perfect weather! For the moment anyway!! I think we are giving up on weather forecasts!! No matter how many we look at, they keep being wrong! The research does say that weather is very unpredictable in the Mediterranean West though, and that it can change quickly in a short period of time. No kidding!

We are all thrilled to be back on the water! We have left Almerimar, have the sails back up, lines back in the water and the music on :-)

Hoping the next stop is really Ibiza or Palma this time!

A Little SNAFU

14 August 2017
Smooth sailing all day yesterday...until about 9pm. Then the wind kicked up and up and up, along with the wave action. Around midnight, we decided it was time to look for potential shelter to ride out the weather. So off we went to find a marina along the Spanish coast at midnight that could fit a 14m catamaran. After a couple of attempts, we found one in Almerimar.

Course change and off we went toward the shore, still a few miles out. With wind of 25-30 knots, waves and current against us, we made it into the marina around 3am. The folks working at the marina couldn't have been nicer and more helpful in helping us dock Azulita in almost 30 knot winds at 3am at the fuel dock as a holding spot until "morning".

We decided it was only appropriate to keep our promise to Jim and to crack open the beers he left for us to celebrate the passage through the Straits :-) And over cocktails, the two very detailed and perfectionist captains on board talked about our night entry and docking, critiquing what could have been done better. And really the whole conversation focused on the amount of throttle needed on the engines to maneuver the boat to the dock...with really no further thought to the conversation than that. So off to bed we go

Around 10am we get ready to head back out to sea, having fueled and watered up. As we are taking to the port office and locals on the dock, they told us the "local weather" and explained what we are experiencing is call el Golpe - "the hit" of the force of the wind and waves. They said leaving in this today and making our way around the next point would make the Straits look like childs play!!! So we decided the prudent answer was to wait out the day and let the weather abate over the day (we hope anyway, who knows what reality will be vs the forecast as we've learned!!!)

So, the next step is to move off the fuel dock to a berth in the marina. I say berth, but really all that means here is which two boats to park between! It is med mooring, which means stern to (back in). And of course we have winds gusting 30 again!! But, we have two dockhands helping us with the lines and ready to meet us on the other end of the marina to help. So off we go off the dock...almost... it took full throttle to get the boat to pivot off the dock in the winds...hmm

But we get off, grumble grumble between Alan and Ziggy... and we head to the spot we're supposed to back into. So the logical thing to do is to square off the boat to the spot and back in, throw the lines to the folks waiting ever so kindly to help and voila! Well, that's the way it's supposed to work!! :-) As we go to reverse, nothing happens and Ziggy hears click click click on the starboard engine ... another hmmm.

So gusts of 30 in a tight marina with a 14 meter catamaran...wind carries us pretty darn quick!!! Anyway, it quickly becomes apparent we have an engine issue on the startboard side. No worries, now that we've figured that out, we figure out how to compensate for that and finally make our way into the slip with just a couple of attempts :-) Alan and Ziggy make a good team!

Now it's troubleshooting time... check the oil, smell for water, check the transmission and talk to a couple of mechnaics... long story short, we have a slipping clutch on the starboard side. And better yet, it's a known issue on this boat and a warranty issue !!! Argh.... sounding like the chart plotter story... not a quick easy fix to this one...

So after some consultations and calls to make sure the issue is understood and that there is no quick fix, the decision is to carry on and continue the journey. Bummer the Mediterranean style of berthing is all stern to requiring reverse!!! So, we may decide to explore a few more bays and drop anchor or pick up mornings more than we do marinas for the rest of the journey...

So after a long day IN the harbor :-), we are now at 6pm in the cool little village of Almerimar drinking Sangria at the Stumble Inn and doing laundry at the lavanderia next door.

Welcome to the life of boating :-)

The Calm After the Storm

13 August 2017
What a difference a day makes :-) !!!
Beautiful sunny day, calm winds of 7-10 knots, long rolling waves and back to t-shirt weather!!

After an exhilarating adrenaline filled day and night, it has been wonderful to have a nice relaxing day to reflect on the wonders of Mother Nature and the respect you must give to the elements. Reminds you to take things as they come and to roll with the punches, often applying a level of agility and creativity along the way. And sometimes, just moral support goes a long way with a cup of coffee and a cookie :-) Mariano - thank you for leaving us some chocolate chip cookies :-) !!!

We are basking in a calm day, with lines in the water and motoring our way along the coast of Spain. Just had fish tacos made from the tuna we caught yesterday. Yum!! Pam - not sure they are as good as yours, but they were pretty darn good! :-) something about eating the fish that you caught and cleaned and cooked that just makes it taste so good!!

Alan, Ziggy and I toasted with cranberry juice to the accomplishment of passing thru the Straits, and are all very much looking forward to cracking the 3 beers that Jim left for us when we hit landfall to toast again! No matter time of day :-)

And speaking of landfall, we are all in a rhythm now and quite happy with our respective shifts, fishing and motoring/sailing (ok, Alan could do without the fishing, but he's very indulging :-)) and the sunshine and calm winds...that we've decided to carry on to Isla Baleares. Ziggy is happiest hanging out in the sail bag, loml at the helm and me with the fishing pole :-).

Ibiza or Palma will likely be the next stop with another 350ish miles to go :-)

Part II - Straits of Gibraltar - Success!!

12 August 2017
So far the wildest ride around a point we've had on this trip, and I think that goes down in history for both of us!! Confused seas, wind over tide, 32 knots coming around the point of Cape Trafalgar. I know when LOML says, here comes a big one, he isn't kidding!! Brace!!

And the forecast shows 15 knots of wind! I can't imagine what this would be like in bad weather!!!

Ok Graham - loml just said "I'll never worry again about going to Culebra in 20 knots of wind!" ...

But, the good news, we think, is we're through the worst of it!! We hope anyway :-) !!

Ok, forget everything we said above! 32 knots is nothing!! Happy to see a number starting with a 3!! Passing the point of Tarifa with 2 knots of current against us with 42 knot winds!! Holy cow...it's like Ride em Cowboy out here!!! Thank goodness for foul weather gear, life jackets, safety lines and jack lines!!

And by the way, the weather forecast called for 15, not 42!! Predict Wind Offshore has been great and super accurate until now!! Offshore was predicting 15 knots! My goodness, can't imagine what it would be like out here if they predicted bad weather! The Weather Channel however is now calling for 30 with gusts of 40. However, tomorrow is showing gusts of 50!!

Ok, 431 am and we have just passed the Rock of Gibraltar!! Very cool to see Europe on one side and Africa on the other going through the channel. Woohoo we're in the Med!! Time for some shuteye and handover to Ziggy !! :-)

Part I of the Straits of Gibraltar Passage

12 August 2017
We are so excited to be off!! Goodbye Portugal! It’s so good to be back at sea in the fresh air and sunshine!! Beautiful day so far, wind and seas are calm and the sun is shining 😃 Ziggy has the music going, fishing lines are in the water, and we are off! Couldn't be a more glorious day :-)

Day turns into night at the perfect moment of passing Cape St Vincent as we round the southern most tip of Portugal and into the Algarve.



After a relatively calm night, has been a much more eventful day today :-) !!! High short seas all around, though wind only about 15 knots, gusting maybe 20.

B&G we've learned stands for broken gauges!! We've used an iPad and Navionics for charting most of our course and have the iPhone running 2 AIS apps to see the ships around us!! After waiting for a couple days in Cascais for a new plotter, they informed us they didn't ship it and sent a tech that said..."it's a warranty issue and it's August in Europe, so I suggest you keep going"!! So off we go, with an occasional plotter that works for either charting or radar!!

And then, the genoa... the roller furling line caught in the drum as the drum wasn't tight enough to hold the tension. But have no fear, Ziggy is here!! He climbed to the front and got a bit of a splash in the cold Atlantic, as the seas crashed upon him !! With some clever maneuvering between Captains Ziggy and LOML, they were able to set the line free, fix the drum and bring in the genoa.

And then!! Just as Ziggy got warm and clean with a hot shower, guess what??!!! We finally caught a fish!!! Woohoo!! All the fishy songs and dances finally worked!! A blue runner tuna :-)



Time to get dirty again ;-) !!



And to top it off, the weather has shifted on us !! So, in lieu of stopping for a night or two in Cadiz, we are heading for the Straits of Gibraltar tonight!! Sorry Jane and Michael, we were looking forward to a rendezvous tomorrow morning :-). But as sailors, we know you understand weather!! Thank you :-) and maybe we'll see you further along the journey!! :-)

Stay tuned...more to come!!
Azulita's Photos - sbd3gnbhc

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