Pura vida...Evita's voyage to the Seven Seas
The second part of our voyage, which at some point will get us all the way around the world. The first part was a mad dash across two oceans to Australia. This time we are taking it a little more slowly....
| Vessel Name: | Evita |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Moody 44 |
| Hailing Port: | Gosport |
| Crew: | Ian, Paula, Raul(13), Oskar(11) and Eva(9) |
| About: |
05 August 2016 | Muros
And then there were two
The final passage of our trip was to take us from Sao Miguel to Muros in Spain. Paula had long said that she would fly to Spain - the circumnavigation was done after all and this gave her some more time to spend with her family. Oskar and Eva joined the ranks of deserters, so the crew was down to the [...]
24 July 2016 | Ponta Delgada, Azores
Portuguese Jewels
The Azores are made up of nine islands divided into three groups. Horta, on Faial, was our first port of call and is in the central group. Horta has for years been a welcome stop for yachts making the crossing from the Caribbean back to Europe, and being well out of the tropics the passage to get there [...]
12 July 2016 | Horta, Azores
A Circumnavigation
Some 40 miles north of Santo Antao in the Cape Verde Islands, on the first night of our passage to Horta, we crossed the track in the sea that we had laid down back in December 2010 and completed our circumnavigation.
11 July 2016 | Horta, Azores
Arrived in Horta
We set off for the Azores back in May, and we finally got here on Saturday. The second half of the passage was much calmer than the first - we spent almost three days motoring in flat calm conditions as we passed through the Azores High. The wind came back for a while, and we had quite a fast sail [...]
07 July 2016 | Mid Atlantic Ocean
All balmy now
What a difference a few days make. We are now into our third day of motoring, becalmed in the Azores high pressure system. When we started out from Mindelo this was sitting up NW of the islands, but as we have moved north, it has come down to meet us, forming a windless barrier between us and the Azores. [...]
02 July 2016 | Mid Atlantic Ocean
Why we go westabout
Most of our sailing, and in particular the longer passages, have been downwind. This is the nature of a westabout circumnavigation which follows the trade winds around the equator. Our extended stay in Brazil meant that we were unable to continue on our planned route which would have taken us downwind [...]
Greetings from Newcastle
We arrived in Sydney a week ago and spent a couple of days battling the jet lag and the cold for which we came totally unprepared. We first went to Canberra to stay with Ian's cousin and uncle. It's an interesting and beautifully manicured purpose built capital city.
We really enjoyed our time here spent in total luxury with lovely family. We managed to enjoy a typical Australian Barbeque under the rain and got introduced to Vegemite and as a consequence now three out of our five crew members are really hooked on it. The kids really enjoyed spending some time with their Aussie second cousins Zara and Damon.
We then made our way to Newcastle where Evita was waiting for us. The kid's excitement was hard to contain and it hasn't diminished yet. The first couple of days were quite overwhelming trying to fit our lives and its things in such a confined space but it was all done with good spirit. Lots of memories came back as the boat smells started kicking in. Evita was quite humid when we first arrived and has spent this few last days adapting her body to ours with the wood expanding with crackling noises during the night and warming up slowly.
We have filled the boat up to the brim with books and it's a wonder she's not sinking, although we haven't quite tested this yet. I don't quite understand why Ian needs so many sails and ropes and bits and bobs filling up my lovely floating library....
The captain is in good spirits working really hard but also complaining about the Australian bureaucracy.
Unfortunately while we were in the U.K we naively expected lots of work done on the boat but not all of it has materialised. All of the electronics still has to take place. This involves fitting in a new chart plotter, new radar, new HF Radio, etc... It's a wonder we managed to do the first part of the trip two and a half years ago with such little technology. Let's hope we find enough time to learn to use all this gadgetry. All of this is happening during the weekend so well have to be in Newcastle for at least one and a half weeks.
Newcastle is a peculiar place. For some strange reason it was voted as one of the ten "Must See" cities in the world by Lonely Planet!!! We still have to find its treasures which so far have been hiding away from us very successfully.
At the moment we are renting a berth in the marina that belongs to a local couple. We have all the facilities here and I am very pleased to have two washing machines at my disposition for whenever I have a laundry emergency. This keeps me happy and consequently out of the captain's way.
There is also an amazing Fishmonger Cooperative nearby where I can get plenty of seafood supplies to keep us well looked after. So no time for me to scrub the deck but the kids have so far been fighting over our two brushes nonstop. Let's hope the novelty does not wear off.
While I'm here on deck watching the sunset Ian is shouting from down below reminding me that is not all glam here as he is refitting the heads that I managed to break while ferociously scrubbing yesterday....
It would be a good time to start the home schooling with the kids as there is going to be quite a bit of waiting around but at least two out of the three pupils refuse to do any work, so hey lets enjoy a bit of winter and chill out.
Well keep you all posted with some pictures of a newly fitted Evita hopefully within the next week.
It's nice being here and it's just great seeing the kids so enthused....
 |
A bit of Europe in the middle of the Atlantic, so finally cheese and wine...
16 Photos
Created 5 August 2016
|
 |
Our unplanned stop in the North Atlantic. Other worldly islands.
37 Photos
Created 19 June 2016
|
.jpg) |
Still on water, but nowhere near the sea...our side trip to the Amazon
22 Photos
Created 8 May 2016
|
 |
Possibly the worst place in the world to try to rebuild a Volvo engine, but one of the best places to be forced to stay - there is so much in this country.
63 Photos
Created 29 March 2016
|
 |
A rock in the middle of the Atlantic. Talk about isloated...only contact with the outside world is the three-weekly visit of the RMS St Helena (although all will change with the imminent opening of the new airport).
12 Photos
Created 11 March 2016
|
 |
With Evita moored in Cape Town we hit the road for a safari through Botswana, Namibia and back into South Africa
52 Photos
Created 24 December 2015
|
 |
Arrival in the African continent and the end of the Indian Ocean crossing
62 Photos
Created 22 November 2015
|
 |
 |
The big red island off the coast of Africa, home to lemurs and baobab trees.
58 Photos
Created 25 August 2015
|
 |
A little bit of Europe in the Indian Ocean, but at only 3 million years old a baby of an island. Big supermarkets, traffic jams and some stunning landscapes.
34 Photos
Created 12 August 2015
|
 |
An island whose population tells the sorry story of colonial exploitation, but who now represent a fascinating mix of cultures.
33 Photos
Created 11 July 2015
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
About & Links
.jpg) |
08 May 2016
22 Photos
|
 |
22 November 2015
62 Photos
|