Trip Report  #2-2004: Albuquerque to Palma

Filed from Gibraltar

36  09 N    005  21E

September 23, 2004

Photo:  Peg with 2-hours-old granddaughter, Anastasia, in N.M.

    You know, the birth of a grandchild, each one of them, stops life as we know it and starts a whole new adventure.  Anastasia, daughter of son, Rob, and his wife, Alex, was born on June 7.  She's a really adorable little girl and it's so fascinating to observe your children as parents.  Rob is a dedicated Dad, sharing the nighttime walking and rocking and diapering and all that comes with a newborn.  He tells us that it's a lot harder than he and Alex ever thought it would be and he can't imagine ever having another child, but every time he holds her, he is extraordinarily moved.  Me, too.  I look at her and wonder what kind of person she will grow into: will she be like Rob or Alex?  Like either of them would be good, but she'll most likely be her own true self, a personality yet to be discovered and cherished by the rest of us. 

    Tom came back from Vibo Valentia to see our newest family member; and we decided to buy a small, adobe, typically southwestern, home in Albuquerque in the University area, close  (but not close enough to be a nuisance) to Alex and Rob. We made arrangements for the closing (Rob would handle it) and headed off to July Fourth at camp in Massachusetts.

    After enjoying children, grandchildren and lobster in Massachusetts, we flew from Boston back to Rome.  At the Rome airport, we rented a car that we could drive down the coast and leave at the Reggio Calabria airport.  This cost us 140 Euros, but was convenient.  We stopped at 1:30 am, a little jet-lagged, at the small city of Caserta and stayed at the Regina Hotel.  The room was very nice, cost 70 euros, not too bad for high season in Italy, included a garage and a continental breakfast which, we were told, would be served until 10am.  We slept like logs and at 9:45 am, we headed for breakfast.  The waitress in the dining room brought us a coffee and melba toast.  When Peg asked for some bread or a roll, she said "finito - 9 am"  Peg simply got up, went to the manager and asked nicely for bread.  It arrived at our table in minutes.  A short time later, a young couple came in and sat having coffee with dry melba toast.  Tom said to me, "I'm glad I'm with you".

    We arrived at the boat at 5:30 pm and the next day drove the car to Reggio Calabria.  For 6 euros each, we took a train back to Vibo Valentia.  Our ticket allowed us to get off the train at Tropea, and Tom showed me around the old city.  In a small restaurant in the old city we had the best pizza we've ever eaten and then re-boarded the train back to the boat.

    The next 2 days were spent in washing, organizing and provisioning the boat, and on the morning of July 16, we left Vibo Valentia bound for Tindari, Sicily.  With very little wind and a lot of left over waves from a dying wind, we motor-sailed most of the way.  We noticed that we were not able to get the speed from the motor that we normally do running it at 1800-1900 rpms, and it was running a little hot, but a check of the system didn't show anything alarming.  We sailed past Stromboli and could see steam rising from the volcano, and at 7:30 pm, we motored into the huge anchorage at Tindari and passed a very pleasant night with only 2 other boats in the anchorage.

    Early the next morning, July 17, Tom dove into the water to clean the bottom of the boat, thinking that was slowing us down.  He found a yellow polypropylene line wrapped around the shaft and removed it - probably the source of our motor's inefficiency.  While he was doing that, I was on the boat composing emails, when right before my eyes, smoke erupted from the computer, accompanied by an acrid odor; and the screen went blank, never to be brought to life again. If you're wondering why there are no pictures to accompany this report, wonder no more.  They had been downloaded from the camera, but not backed up yet, and died with the mother board.

    We set off from Tindari after lunch, intending to stop at Teulada, Sardinia, 245 nm away.  The day was sunny with a slight haze and a light wind that built to 15 knots from the southeast, a good wind for sailing.  The evening of the next day found us well past the island of Ustica and with winds of 20-24 knots on the port quarter.  Big waves came at us on a long fetch from Tunisia and the night air was a little chilly (down to 77 F!).  The sailing was very good and stayed that way as we neared Teulada, and we decided that we would simply keep sailing on to Porto Colom on Mallorca.

    During the trip from Tindari to Porto Colom, we used "Bob", our Monitor wind vane, to steer.  We really have not used Bob very much in the Mediterranean, as the wind changes so frequently in speed and direction, and it changes to conditions where Bob is not very efficient. Bob tends to keep the sails full when he steers, requiring us to make very frequent position checks to make sure we stay on course.  "Otto", our Autohelm, steers a course no matter what, and rattling sails alert us to the fact that the wind has changed.  We've mostly used Otto in the Med, since we spend a lot of time tinkering with the sail trim anyway.  But we plan to use the Monitor for the Atlantic crossing and have been working on getting used to it again.  And sometimes, we just let Bob follow the wind.

    We arrived in Porto Colom on July 21 to find it much as we remembered from our visit there 3 years ago, except that there were many more moorings than before.  There was still plenty of room to anchor and space for many boats.  We spent a pleasant night there before heading for Palma.  In Palma, we went directly to El Arenal, a marina recommended by Aart, of The Rigging Shop, who would be doing rerigging work for us preparatory to crossing to the Caribbean, which we will do in January, 2005. El Arenal was convenient for Aart to do his assessment and it was close to the airport.  The marina charged us 43 euros a night plus tax, including water and electricity;  and there was a self-operated laundromat that cost 5 euros to wash and dry a large load.  We had checked with the city marina in Palma and the cost there would be 43 euros, but they also charged 36.81 euros every ten days (a stay of eleven days would generate the 36.81 euro charge twice) for a port tax.  The advantage at the city marina was that it was in the heart of the city and very convenient.  We had also checked with the Club Nautico, also very conveniently located; however, they had no room because of a regatta at the club.

     On July 27, Peg left for Albuquerque to settle the new house there (and to hug Anastasia) and Tom went back to Porto Colom to await a date to have the rerigging work done.  When Peg returns, our trek generally west will continue.

                       Hasta Luego, familia e amigos

                       Tom and Peg

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