Having acquired our lovely new (old) Amel Maramu it was time to consider whether a name change was necessary. It’s considered unlucky to rename a boat, but she’s currently named Sea love! We set about throwing names into a used yogurt pot, thoroughly cleaned and dried of course and decided that we’d bung in suggestions …
Buying and Selling our Boat
A bullet point account of how we set about swapping Gianti for something a little larger to take us on the next phase of Our Big Boaty Adventure: Find a boat. Preferably one that’s afloat or can float.Make sure your chosen boat is for sale. If not, convince the current owners that it no longer …
Captains Blog 40 – AlmeriMartin
The sheltered bay just north of the entrance to Mar Menor is an ideal stopover when heading along the Spanish coast. The anchor had just been dropped when I accidentally caught my best and most valuable sunglasses catapulting them onto the deck, where they flexed and sprang into the deep blue briny. I needed to …
Captains Blog 39 – Whoa, we’re going to Ibiza!
It had been the best sail of the year. We’d been heeled over and hand steering most of the way, right on the limits of our point of sail. We headed straight towards our destination with the odd deviation to keep sailing, pulling back on track as we closed in on land. We arrived at …
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Captains Blog 38 – José Cabrera!!
Marina Arenal nestles in the Bay of Palma, approximately 10 miles from the capital. Our decision to head there was not confined to engine and iPad issues. There was a storm forecast, so it meant that we’d be safe and able to head ashore, rather than being confined to Gianti. First on the lists of …
Captains Blog 37 – Our Big Goaty Adventure
“Don’t speak about it anymore, I don’t want to hear.” The First Mate seemed a tad frustrated and, indeed annoyed, that the Bowman 45 we’d been heading towards Barcelona to see had been sold. To an American! He hadn’t even bothered to visit, just brought it on a whim. The world’s gone mad. “So umm, …
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Captains Blog 36 – Petanque? in the Calanques?
Having enjoyed Porquerolles, it was time to head off and we were keen to keep moving towards Barcelona, where a lovely Bowman 45 was for sale. We sailed into a cracking little anchorage in Toulon Harbour. There were stiff Westerlies forecast and we were ideally positioned to get some protection. After anchoring overnight, we headed …
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Captains Blog 35 – You, Me and the Mepewete
After a short snooze at anchor, the bacon was on and we pondered our surroundings. Menton Garavan looked okay from out here. We’d booked into the marina and after a short wait were allocated a berth. We got there and waited for someone to give us a hand with mooring lines. It was a long …
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Captains Blog 34 – Jelly Fish and Chips
We called the marina in Ajaccio as we approached. No response, so we tried again, nothing! And then again, and again. We tried again. And bingo! Contact was established. “Do you have a reservation?” they asked. “Well, we tried to e-mail but didn’t get any response”. “You should have used the online booking system, it’s …
Have Things Gone to Plan?
Let’s go back in time to last October. We’d chosen Licata as our winter home for 2 reasons. Firstly, we wanted to head to the Greek Islands the following Spring and secondly, we wanted to take all the old antifoul off the hull, re-prime and apply new. So, Licata seemed like a good option. And …
Our Big Boaty Adventure 