THE CAPTAINS' LOG

II.  THE THIRD LEG:  The Azores to Spain and Its Environs

Trip Report # 16

Date: 8/12/99 11:05:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Hi Everybody:

We are now 4 full days out from Sao Miguel, headed for the Ria de Arosa in Spain. As I write this, our position is 43 04N 19 14W. We have sailed 490 miles and have 451 to go. At this point, our ETA is Monday p.m. The first two days were sailed in real mal de mer conditions: big waves and sea swells and light winds. Both of us experience similar symptoms of mal de mer: sleepiness and yawning, dull headache, slight queasiness, loss of appetite, lack of interest in anything much, loss of initiative and a real aversion to doing anything that requires looking at charts and print. We don't take anything for this, because we don't like taking medications that might make us drowsy and even more inattentive. We usually just sip ginger ale and munch on saltines for a day or so, try to stay on deck, get frequent naps, and we know that it will all go away in a day or two. And it has.

There was a great deal of coverage on the BBC yesterday about the total eclipse of the sun that was seen in northern Canada, Great Britain and parts of Europe. We were too far south to see any of it. However, we are watching for the Perseid meteor showers at night and we have been seeing lots of shooting stars. We have a new moon and we've had some very clear skies at night, so we should have a good show. We have two planets that are bright and clearly visible (in addition to Venus): Mars and Jupiter. And Orion is in the sky again - he was missing on our last trip.

We have met 3 large ships on this trip so far, one on each of the last 3 evenings. Two were freighters which passed within 1/2 mile. The captain of one of the freighters called Tom up and reported that he was taking wheat from Ontario to Algeria. He seemed amazed that we had sailed from the US in a small boat,and asked a great many questions about it - like 'do you have a motor?'. We also had an Argentine Naval Vessel pass within 24 miles of us. Of course we never saw him; he was just on the edge of our radar screen. But he called us on VHF radio and told us he had us on his radar, gave us the coordinates of his position and wished us good sailing, all very polite, amiable and professional. We are again in radio contact with a number of boats traveling from the Azores to various ports in Great Britain and Europe. Just talked this morning with Pooh Bear, en route to Ireland, whose owners we met in Oriental and are fellow members of the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club.

We changed down from genoa to yankee this morning, since we are expecting more wind as we get closer to Spain, but also because we have some abrasion and ripped out stitches in the UV protective patch along the edge of the leach on our roller-furling genoa and we don't want to have any more damage. We'll get it repaired when we get to Spain. Getting the sail change done was pretty time-consuming. Actually, most things on a sailing vessel take a little more time than if you were doing it on a boat at the dock. We had about 15 knots of wind and 6-8 foot waves. We were both on deck wearing harnesses, and trying to do something wearing a harness can be frustrating. It's like being on a leash that is just short of where you need to be to do the next part of the task. They also seem to get tangled up with whatever you are working on. So we seem to be constantly unclipping and reclipping our harness onto the jack lines as we move about the deck. But it's an important safety feature and we don't leave the cockpit without it.

Check the website, there should be some more pictures we took in the Azores posted soon:

http://members.aol.com/crbright/starboard/home.htm

73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,

Peg & Tom

Trip Report # 17

Date: 8/15/99 11:02:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Hi Everyone:

We have been out 6 full days now and are at 42 46N 12 21W. We have traveled 795nm and have 145nm to go. Our ETA is 1425 utc Sunday, Aug.15. On Thursday the wind picked up to 15-20 kts. from the north and a cold front went through during the night. After the frontal passage, our winds increased to 20-25 kts. from the NNE and we were really ticking off the miles. But Thursday night was a miserable night: cold, misty, completely clouded over, no moon, no stars, poor visibility. It gave us the eerie feeling of careening through a tunnel blindly. On nights like those, we increase our vigilance, looking for lights of other boats and checking the radar. Ordinarily, we do a visual check of the horizon about every 10-15 minutes. We've noticed that on a fairly clear day, it takes a boat that we can see on the horizon about that long to get into our "worry" zone.

We wonder what people did to occupy their spare time on long passages before email and on-board computers. Even Thursday night when much of our time was occupied with watching for other boats, navigating, maintaining a log, making adjustments in the sails, and checking on a myriad of things, like whether the batteries are sufficiently charged, etc., there was down time. To occupy that time we do the usual things:

--We read lots of books. When underway, we read a lot of fiction, usually mysteries, something that doesn't take too much concentration or analysis, yet entertains. Just read a great one by Peter Staub, entitled "The Throat". Tom's enjoying Follett's "Lie Down with Lions".

--If conditions are not good for reading, we use books on tape-all kinds of books - fiction, biography, history, etc. Some recent tapes include Toni Morrison's "Paradise", the Kunhardts' "Lincoln", and Sagan reading "The Pale Blue Dot".

--We keep a journal--names, places, dates--you're all in it!

--I do crossword puzzles and I like the games on the computer.

--Tom likes examining weather charts and trying things on the computer that actually make it work and help us get things done.

--We listen to the radio. The BBC has some good programming and an interesting perspective on the news.

--We do a lot of radio work, ham radio and single sideband, checking into weather nets and social nets.

--We look at pictures of children and grandchildren.

--We write cards and letters.

--We're both reading a text on CD-ROM, "Mariner's Weather Handbook--A Guide to forecasting and tactics" by Steve and Linda Dashew, a really well-written explanation of weather and how to use technology and weather information that is available to today's mariners.

--We enjoy keeping up with our email. We have noticed a big increase in the number of cruisers who are using email via on-board equipment or internet-based email (like hotmail.com or email.com) that is available at almost every port. We spend a great deal of time writing and answering email to family and friends and we have a fair amount of interboat email as well. It makes us feel connected to everything and everyone important to us.

Looking forward to your next email

73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,

Peg & Tom

Trip Report #18

Date: 9/4/99 4:52:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Buenas Dias, familia e amigos:

We arrived in Spain on August 15, making landfall south of Cape Finisterre in the Ria de Muros. It is so exciting to see land after any passage and the coast of Espana was no exception. But it was very different from what we expected. We had thought of Spain as a hot, dry, country, with the shimmering kind of heat that distorts the horizon (and clouds of sandy dust raised by the hoofs of bulls chasing matadors and Papa Hemingway watching from the shade of a local bar, the ceiling fan revolving slowly - egad, we really should get out more!). But this northern coast of Spain in the province of Galicia reminds us of Maine, with rocky hills, granite boulders, evergreen-covered mountains, cool weather, and light fog that rolls in and out of the rias (rivers). The rias are beautiful, ringed in hills, with red tile-roofed villages nestled in the valleys. Their entrances are wide and deep, with few and well-marked hazards to navigation. Once in the rias, there are many large, unlit rafts which are used for growing and harvesting majillones (mussels) and these create a potential hazard, but they are not found in the main channels in the rias and there are navigable fairways between them, so they were not a problem for us.

The Ria de Muros was easy to find our way into and we did not have to sail very far before we found the Ensenada de San Francisco, a nice quiet anchorage off a sand beach, protected from the northwest wind. The next morning a fishing boat pulled up nearby, checking a line of traps. With sign language and a little Spanish, we asked what they were catching. The fishermen held up a trove of shellfish and other fish, including large and small crabs, shrimp and octupus. We motored up the ria to the town of Muros, which looked very inviting. Other cruisers have told us what a wonderfully welcoming place it is, but we still had our yellow quarantine flag up and wanted to get to Villagarcia to check in with Customs and to pick up our mail, so we just peeked at the harbor and then went on to the Ria de Arosa.

We tried to call the Villagarcia Marina on vhf, but got no answer.  As we approached the marina, however, a man in a red shirt was waving and pointing to a bow-to berth. We thought we would have to rig up our stern anchor, but they (and apparently most of the European marinas) have a very nice system of stern lines attached to an underwater cable that makes the stern anchor unnecessary. He took our bow lines, handed me a line that I worked aft to the stern and the boat was secured, all explained in sign language, neither of us speaking the other's language. The marina was very nice, a short walk to the heart of the city, and the cost, including water, electricity and showers, was 1400 pesetas (about $9) per day. There was no customs office as we know it in Villagarcia and there was very little interest in "checking us in". Local officials kept shrugging their shoulders and saying "it is no problem". They insisted that they were not "a stamping country" and unless we were going to sell the boat, there was no need to get our passport stamped. However, we thought we might have difficulty getting into Portugal, if we did not have something from Spain saying we had checked in and out. So we ended up at the Polizia station, where they gave us an official looking paper saying we had properly checked in.

Villagarcia is a very nice city, with traffic excluded from many of the shopping areas which are arranged around broad plazas. We strolled and found a restaurant for dinner, but once seated found that we had no idea what to order and there was no one around who spoke English. So, we ordered the menu du dia (specialty for the day) and were served a very nice fish soup, loaded with all kinds of fish, and a salad with pork chops, very nicely basted with a slightly spicy-hot sauce, wine, dessert and coffee, for about $25.00. There is a public market for fresh veggies, meat, and wonderful bread at great prices. There are also several well-stocked supermercados (like small supermarkets) and a huge hiperfroiz (a large supermarket and department store, like a Super Walmart) that, given prior notice, will deliver your groceries to your boat, free of charge. Near the hiperfroiz is the laundry, where you can leave a huge load of laundry and pick it up, clean and folded, the same evening at a cost of 1500 pesetas per load, about $10.00 US per load. I must say that the size of the load did not seem to matter. I had 4 huge laundry bagfuls and it was counted as 2 loads: white and non-white. I was pleased with the results.

From Villagarcia, we and a young couple we had met in the Azores took a train to Santiago de Compostelo, about a half hour away through beautiful countryside, for $4.25 round trip each. Santiago is the site of a beautiful cathedral, the building of which began in 1075 AD and continued into the 18th century, which houses the tomb of St. James the Apostle, patron saint of Spain, and attracts people on pilgrimage from all parts of Europe. The old town of Santiago is a medieval city with stone streets and gothic and Romanesque influences evident in its buildings and monuments. While there, we also toured the Museo de Pobo Galego. All in all, a delightful day.

Some of the many good things to eat that we've become very fond of include grilled gampas in the shell and Pimenti de Padron. The gampas are a large shrimp that are grilled whole and peeled as you eat them. They are delicious! Pimenti de Padron are small, mild green peppers, shaped like Tuscan peppers. They are sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt and eaten as an appetizer. We can buy them fresh at the market and on the boat I steam them and serve them with a fat free Thousand Island dressing as a dip - not quite the same, but good and fat-free.

On our last night in Villagarcia, we were awakened by loud booms that sounded like cannon fire. We went up on deck and were treated to the best fireworks we've ever seen, and it went on for almost an hour. Apparently this marked the end of a festival that was going on in the city and we have since noted that fireworks happen very frequently, several days a week, usually about 11 or 12 pm, and have enjoyed the show from many of the places where we have anchored.

As we left Villagarcia, where we had been for a full week, we were hailed on vhf by people we'd met in Oriental, Bob and Judy on Pooh Bear. We knew that they were also crossing the Atlantic but we had left both Bermuda and the Azores while they were enroute. They are still exploring in the Ria de Arosa and we are in touch by email.

Our next stop was in the Ria de Pontevedra where we anchored at the Playa de Area Adra, in front of a small beach resort. A father with two little boys in a canoe paddled over to say "Ola". The boys, about 8 or 9, came aboard and had a great time exploring the boat and practicing their English. They spoke much better English than we speak Spanish and told us they were from Madrid, spending their holiday in the area. After sailing up the ria the next day, we tacked out and were hit by a small squall and dense fog. We found that the small fishing boats show up pretty well on our radar and at one point saw the echo of a large freighter within 1/4 mile and heard her foghorn quite loudly, but never had visual contact.

On our way to Bayona in the Ria de Vigo, we stopped at the Isla de Cies, islands that are a government-supported nature park, with camping sites, great hiking trails, long stretches of beach and beautiful clean, cold water. It is unprotected from the east, but the weather was so nice there that we stayed for 3 days.

We arrived in Bayona at the marina on Aug. 29. On the hill at the the entrance to the harbor is an estate with what looks like the wall of a castle surrounding it. This was built as a summer residence for Franco and is now a tourist attraction. On the dock, we ran into Alfredo Lagos, owner of the Astilleros Lagos, a well-known boatyard with an excellent reputation, in Vigo.  He is the Port Officer for the Royal Cruising Club and Ocean Cruising Club and speaks English fluently. He enjoyed seeing our boat and took us on a tour of the hills above Bayona to get a good view of the city and harbor and to see the wild horses grazing in the hills. A very friendly and gracious man in a very gracious city.

At the dock in Bayona there were 8 boats from Norway, many from Britain and Holland, a few from France, a few from Germany. When I made arrangements to mail a package back to the States, the owner of the store asked me if our boat at the Marina was a Tayana. I told him it is a Valiant and asked how he knew which boat I was on. He said "Only American boat". And of course we are. It is really interesting that the only 2 other American boats in the area are people we know on Pooh Bear and Revision II with an Oriental hailing port!

We promise to be brief next time.

73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,

Peg & Tom

Trip Report # 19

Date: 10/14/99 5:58:57 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Hi Everyone:

We are presently at 36 55N 006 58W, sailing in the Bay of Cadiz. We left
Bayona on 9-2 to continue south, exploring the coast of Portugal. On our
last day in Bayona, we anchored in the harbor, staging up to leave early
the next morning. We were nicely anchored when we noticed a catamarran
getting closer to the boat, apparently dragging its' anchor, with no one on board. The cat eventually seemed to stop dragging, but too close to us for our comfort. We weighed anchor and moved, but then had difficulty
anchoring, bringing up old fishing nets and gear on the anchor. We finally got the anchor to hold in a safe place just as a thunderstorm hit, almost out of nowhere. It lasted for about 2 hours, with winds up to 48 knots, sustained. Our anchor held, but others were not so fortunate. Two boats at anchor were driven into the mole (jetty/seawall), sustaining damage to their boats. Quite a few boats dragged and some people put out to sea. In the marina, one boat had the stern line break away from the undersea cable,
but managed with help to tie on to the boats on either side of them.
Several boats on moorings were damaged by the catamarran and other boats
that dragged. All in all an exciting last night in Spain.

We motorsailed to Viana do Costelo, Portugal, in fog and haze. Viana is a very attractive medieval town with a large central plaza, the Praca da
Republica, with 3 architecturally interesting structures: the Drinking
Fountain, the Casa da Misericordia, and the old Town Hall. We stayed two
days, long enough for Tom to find a cybercafe to tap into the internet. It was in a small shop on a side street off the central plaza, a narrow
residential street with balconies strung with laundry, with only a small
sign above the nameplate on the door. One would have to be looking for the precise location to find it. It was run by a young man originally
Portuguese, but raised in Mozambique, and was very well-equipped and
modern.

On our way from Viana to Peniche, we stopped at the Isla da Berlenga, once inhabited by monks who were compelled to build a fort around their
monastery to ward off attacking pirates. The fort is now a hostel and the islands are a bird sanctuary, many parts of which are off-limits to the public. As there was really no place to anchor overnight at Berlenga, we continued on and tied up at the visitor's pontoon in Peniche, a fishing harbor. Fishing seems to be a community effort here. We saw fisherman stretching out great piles of nets on the paved areas along the harbor and marina, and people from the town would casually stop for variable periods of time and sit with a sewing kit and help mend the nets. It reminded us of an old-fashioned quilting bee. The main street of the town is lined with restaurants, all of which boast an outdoor grill used to cook the customer's selection of fish, and there is no point in even considering meat or chicken.

The fish is fresh and seemingly unlimited in variety (how does squid-kabobs sound? We didn't try them and probably missed a great treat). It does make a lot of cooking smoke on the street, though. The night we spent there, however, was a bit uncomfortable, as the fishing fleet - large boats that throw a lot of wake - seemed to stream in and out all night long, bouncing our boat against the pontoon.

Our next stop was at the marina at Cascais. We saw very little of the
Portuguese coast as we made our way south, because it was invariably hazy and we stayed quite a distance off the coast to avoid fishing nets and traps. We also did a lot of motoring or motorsailing on the way south, as there was no sign of the Portuguese tradewinds, the steady 20 knot wind from the northern quadrant that is usually the prevailing wind during the summer here. This year's weather pattern was very unusual, probably affected by La Nina, and noteworthy for the absence of these tradewinds.
Cascais is a pleasant old town about 30-40 minutes by train from Lisbon
and the marina was a delight - brand new and free for the 3 weeks we stayed there. They had just opened for business and did not yet have their billing systems or computers up and running, so they simply didn't charge us. We went into Lisbon about twice a week and had a great time exploring the city. We spent hours at the Oceanaria (aquarium) at the '98 Expo site and thought it as good as or better than the Baltimore Aquarium. The Gulbenkian museum, which houses an extensive collection of art from ancient Egypt, Rome, Mesopotamia, Greece; a fantastic and extensive collection of Lalique; Turkish and Persian carpets, tapestries and decorative art; European art from the 14th to 19th century; 18th century French furniture and much more, was truly impressive.

The tour of the Monastery of St. Jerome, an awe-inspiring example of
Manueline architecture, commissioned by Manuel I in 1544 (financed by
profits from the spice trade-thank you, Vasco de Gama) was equally
impressive. We had drinks with friends atop the Elevator de Santa Justa, a neo-gothic structure designed by an apprentice of Eiffel.

While in Cascais, we explored the botanical garden and library of
Gandarinha Park (the museum was closed for repairs but the library had
internet access). We watched a Triathlon Race, starting with a 1-mile swim, a long (not sure how long) bicycle race, and a 10 km run. We had dinner with a group of friends at a restaurant overlooking the Boca de Inferno, the Mouth of Hell, a spectacular area where waves boom into fissures and caves in the cliffs along the shore. And we went to a movie, American with Portuguese subtitles. We purchased our tickets and were escorted to our seats by an usher with a flashlight. We also bought popcorn (what's a movie without it?), but - surprise!- it was sprinkled with sugar and tasted something like crackerjacks. We found out later that you have to indicate which popcorn you want - sugar or salt - and if you don't, you get the sugar.

Next time: Getting to the Algarve

73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,

Peg & Tom

Trip Report # 20

Date: 10/28/99 4:06:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Hi Everybody:

We left Cascais (pronounced caz kaysh) on Sept. 27, and after spending 3
weeks in a marina, we ready to be at anchor for a while. We made our way
down the coast to Sesimbra, but found the harbor there to be small and very exposed to the Atlantic. Even though it was late, we continued on into the Rio Sado and anchored in the river just after sunset across from the city of Setubal and behind the Peninsula de Troia. There was a 3 knot current running, but we felt that the anchor was firmly planted and slept well. The next morning, it took us an hour to get it unplanted. It was hooked onto a very strong rope and had an old fishnet and trap attached to it. We were able to get the anchor up out of the water, but unable to remove the encumbering material. After trying every other means unsuccessfully, Tom finally had to lower himself, stepping on the dangling anchor, to cut away the offending material. Once free, of course, the 3 kt. current started us on our way downstream, I had to tend the wheel, and Tom was left dangling on the swinging anchor to climb aboard as best he could - a daring feat requiring muscle and agility! Our recent experiences with Mediterranean mooring, requiring us to climb over the bow pulpit to get on and off the boat, paid off, and he was able to reboard safely.

We next spent one night anchored in the harbor at Sines, the birthplace of Vasco de Gama, a bit rolly, but otherwise very pleasant. The weather
became warmer and visibility improved quite a bit as we cruised down the
southern coast of Portugal. We could see long stretches of sandy beaches
and periodically we would round an enormous point of land, designated as a Cabo- Cabo Espichel, Cabo Sines, Cabo Sardao and eventually Cabo Sao
Vincente. These areas of the coast were very rocky with high cliffs, waves splashing and thundering against them. Cape St.Vincent, called the Sacred Promontory by the Romans, is 200 ft. high and was once thought by Europeans in the Middle Ages to be the end of the world. Once around Cape St. Vincent, we were officially cruising along the Algarve coast, which extends from Cape Vincent to Gibraltar. We anchored in the small fishing harbor of Baleirra. The harbor bed here is reputed to be foul with all sorts of fishing debris, but a local fisherman told us where to anchor. We set a trip line on the anchor and found that it was not necessary, as we had no problem weighing anchor. There was only one other cruising boat in the harbor, from Germany, and we both had a very quiet night with no swell at all.

Along this coast of Portugal, the wind tends to be calm during the morning, picking up in the afternoon to about 20-25 knots off the shore (The local people call this wind the Nortada). So we finally got a very good sailing day, cruising along the Algarve coast. The scenery was spectacular. I  is no wonder it is popular with European vacationers and crowded in the summer. There are huge, fissured cliffs of an orangey/salmon-colored hue (reminiscent of the buttes and mesas of the American Southwest) interspersed with sandy beaches. As we neared Lagos, the fissures and caves in the cliffs became so large that one can take a dinghy into many of them. The grottoes found among the boulders and cliffs are large enough in some areas to hold several boats. We went into one of them with our dinghy and found 4 medium-sized fishing boats with fishermen taking their lunch break and enjoying the cameraderie in a beautiful, cool setting out of the glare of the mid-day sun.

In Lagos, we stayed at a very large marina, just a short walk over a
pedestrian bridge from the town. We arrived there Oct. 1, in time to take advantage of the low-season rate, about $9.00 per day. We enjoyed Lagos. Every evening there were street performers in the central plaza of the town who were really quite good, usually musical groups playing a nice mix of music- traditional and modern.

Our next anchorage was behind the island of Culatra near Faro and Olhao for one night on the way to the River Guadiana, which is a border river between Portugal and Spain. When we got into the Guadiana, we anchored in the river just upstream of the towns on either bank, Villa Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal and Ayamonte in Spain. On our way into the river, a boat from the Portuguese Gardia Fiscal called on us before we were even anchored, boarded the boat, very politely checked our documentation and passports, wished us a good stay and left us to continue anchoring.

After anchoring in the river and commuting back and forth via dinghy to the two towns, we went into the marina in Ayamonte and arranged to rent a car.
We then took a trip through Seville, over the Sierra Nevadas to Almeria and back along the coast toward Ayamonte. (Unlike almost everything else, we found the cost of gasoline to be very high here, about $1.26 a liter. When we left the U.S. in May, we paid about $1.05 a gallon, which is approximately equal to 4 liters.) On our way we checked out several marinas on the coast as possible places to leave the boat, since it appears that this may be as far as we get this season before heading home.

We are now on our way to Rota, Spain.

73s, 88s, Love & Hugs,

Peg & Tom

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Trip Report # 21

Date: 11/16/99 2:18:43 PM Eastern Standard Time

Buenos Dias:

We are now in Rota, Spain, and and we have noted a definite change in the cruisers that we meet, no matter where they hail from. People are no longer discussing the best restaurants, the location of the public market, or the sightseeing that is not to be missed. Everyone is beginning to talk about their plans for the winter and where they will be keeping the boat. The weather here seems to be settling into the fall/winter pattern, with many gales, lots of rain and cold (well, 55-75 degrees), and unpredictable appearances of strong Mediterranean winds (levanters from the east and the libeccio from the southwest). Sailors who have not yet made a decision about their winter berthing appear to be anxious and distracted, and those who have made plans seem relaxed, discuss their preparations and go about the business of preparing the boat for winter and making their travel plans.

After exploring marinas along the Spanish coast and Gibraltar from Ayamonte to Almeria, we have decided that here (Rota) is where we will leave the boat for the winter. The town is appealing, friendly and charming and with good transportation to the interesting cities of Cadiz, Seville, Madrid and Barcelona. We can put the boat on the hard here and it can be hauled out of the water without our having to remove the forestay. The marina staff is wonderful, the facilities are good, and the price is excellent. If we continued on into the Mediterranean, we would have to keep the boat in the water, moored bow-to a pontoon, and we are reluctant to leave the boat Med-moored for the length of time we will be home. So, the boat will be in Rota from now until we return on March 15.

While here we took the bus into Cadiz, a beautiful city, probably the
oldest in Europe, with an historic old town to explore, as well as a huge cathedral and the Cadiz Museum. We also rented a car and spent 3 days exploring Seville, our favorite city so far. It's quite beautiful, right on the Guadalquivir River, with lots to see and do. We took an open-topped double decker bus ride tour around the city to orient ourselves. Then we walked through the old city, the beautiful parks, the cathedrals and museums.

We have really enjoyed our trip through Portugal and Spain, but we are
definitely ready to go home and particularly eager to see all of our family and friends.

So, until March - Hasta Luego

Peg & Tom

Page Created:  August 13, 1999.

Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page,  Anastasia's Home Page  Isabelle's Home Page