Lat N 36 42 / W 002 48

Arrived.
Now we are in Puerto Deportivo Almerimar. A soulless place on the Costa del Sol. We've been treated well and here is space. When we got in last night, we got help with the mooring. It was the last gale we will be sailing in for a while and it tore in properly when we rounded the piers. This morning, we have cleared up, arranged to get lifted out of the water on Wednesday and then we are packing our bags, to leave the boat for a period.

There is much that has become worn - now even the camera cable is getting verdigris. The trip has worn more on the boat and equipment than on the crew. We get home, rested and fresh, confident that everyone should take a similar voyage in life.

Anna Karin

Lat N 36 15 / long W 004 42

This is probably the last mid-day positioning blog-via-satellite on this
journey. After catching our breath in Gibraltar and cleaning the propeller,
we are on our way to a marina on the Costa del Sol, which we have received feedback from. We are estimated to arrive late tonight or in the night. We hope that there is room for Anastasia for some months, for now we begin to long for home.

Anna Karin

The Barber again

This time I went along to supervise. The result was splendid.

Tomorrow we sail for Spain.

Anna Karin

Gibraltar

A rock projecting out in the sea, that's all, the city is wedged in behind an old wall. The shops are targeted at tourists, cheap liquor, tobacco and chocolate. It is a mix of English, Spanish and Moorish style. The cars are crowding, if you want to get on you go by scooter. The town has expanded seawards, large landfills and lots of high-rise buildings. Most look empty. Despite this slight oddness, it is very pleasant here in Gibraltar.

Anna Karin

Catch of the day

The water in the port of Gibraltar is very clear and inviting, and therefore in the morning Th pulled on the wetsuit and mask to check out what's up under the surface. After a minute he came up and said: - "I think I have found the solution to the problem". A diver team were working across the harbor to construct a new floating pier, we got one of the divers to help us, he carried on for one hour with his great diver's knife, and here is the harvest from around the propeller.


After this catch, we started our Yanmar, still moored, tried both forward and back and it sounded quite normal. Guess if we are happy.

Anna Karin

Marina Bay, Gibraltar

The night was a real setback, what should have been an easy end to a long voyage turned to sour looks, blues and nooo, motorpaj is not fun. But with some good phone numbers, a working telephone, and an English speaking country the problem was resolved quite well. We fought against the wind and tacked our way through the strait, where traffic is so heavy and arrived in the afternoon.
Now we are berthed in Marina Bay where there are repairers available. There will come a Trevor on Monday, so suddenly we have a great weekend for us to just sleep and check out Gibraltar.
We shall do some compilations, evaluations and reflections on why you make a long trip like this, what it gives and what it takes. But now we say CHEERS for a fantastic sailing we've done, from San Francisco to Gibraltar.

Anna Karin

Lat n35 56 / long W 005 36

Day 32
Everything was ready last night, we headed towards Gibraltar, got in the way
for a lot of fishermen - they thought, and started a pretty aggressive game
with us. We started the engine and got away from them. Continued by engine, then again
what must not happen did happen. The reversing gear broke. So now we
are tacking in the Gibraltar Strait, the ships swooshing past and we can
not use the engine. The Blues is on board, understandably. We
have contacted a Marina and the Port Authority and explained our situation,
so we will come to berth iallfall. Need Assistance .....

Anna Karin

Lat N 35 17 / long W 008 11

Day 31
Tonight the thing happened that you do not want to happen.
A large wave made it into the cockpit, splash,
completely drenched Th who sat on guard, washed through the whole cockpit,
went down into the interior and threw the rest at the foot end of
my bunk where I got a quick, cold and wet awakening. We have
had the same weather for 24 hours, then an extra large wave exerts itself a little extra. In the cockpit there were left a struggling
flying fish and a slimy octopus, and inside the boat, so much extra
inconvenience, it was very wet in my bed so now the whole boat is a
clothesline, salty textiles do not dry well. We are very pleased to have only about one more day to go before we're in port.
If I could make a wish now, sailing on the penultimate day is: that I
would like to see a "shore team" on the quay with buckets and rags
saying - "Hey?"
E and S, where are you?

Anna Karin

Lat N 34 24 / longitude W 011 32

Day 30
The sea was not calm for long, now it's freshening again. A fresh breeze from
South, yes you are right, SOUTH. We could not be happier,
it allows us to leap towards Gibraltar, where we first stop. From there
we will find out where it's best to put up Anastasia over the summer.
Not only has this been a windy night, there has also been rain and thunder. I saw
several bursts of lightning flounce down to the sea through an illuminated sky.
While we have some kind of lightning rod on top of the mast, we are
a small exposed dot on the sea in a thunderstorm.
When I was out camping with the family as a child, we had to sleep
in the car all night if there was thunder.

Anna Karin

Lat N 33 20 / long W 015 00

Day 29
Yesterday we passed Madeira, it took all afternoon and evening. We
had a couple of hours coverage on the GSM phone, so we took the opportunity to
call friends and family. It was fun to get a break in the otherwise
permanent view of the ocean. Gray ocean or blue ocean, calm seas and wild
seas. We have seen some water flowing past, or are we flowing
through? Never mind, we have now been four weeks at sea from Rio.

Anna Karin

Lat N 32 12 / longitude W 017 40

Day 28
When we sailed in the Pacific, we looked for the mountain of garbage which we had heard about, but there was no floating island of garbage, it was clean. French
Polynesia Marquesas, Tuamoto it was clean water. What could be seen
floating around was coconuts, palm leaves, branches and twigs.
In Patagonia, didn't see any trash in the water either, just kelp,
lots of kelp.
The garbage zone started off Rio de Janeiro, where it was like sailing in
a sewage plant. We believe that all debris from the beaches just went right
into the sea. In recent days, the trash has increased where we are sailing, we are
on the level of the Canary Islands and Madeira. If you just look down
is always something floating in the water. Buoys, fenders, PET bottles,
plastic bags. Plastic bags are sneaky, they float about half a meter below the surface.
World, recover!

Anna Karin

Lat N 31 17 / long W 020 28

Day 2
On such a long route you are guaranteed to get becalmed in some
part. We did not get our share around the equator, but have had it now.
The wind is so weak that it does not blow out the sails.
We have been running the machine more or less the whole
night. It's okay because we have plenty of diesel left. At the start of a trip, we have 500 liters in the tanks, plus 150 liters in cans. With this we can run by motor for approximately 1200 nm.
The weather is also nice, sunny but not too hot, and a crystal clear air.
We expect that this is the last Sunday at sea.

Anna Karin

Lat N30 14 / long 22 53 W

Day 26
After three weeks on the starboard tack, the wind has now given us
conditions to turn and sail by the port necks. The wind has
backed down and is currently NNW. We enjoy steering almost directly towards our
goal. Now everything must take its position on the other side. Things that
were safe in the bookcase before, now go flying across the floor. We must re-package
and fix down. The body has become used to compensating in one direction,
it must now use other muscles. Ocean sailing makes you lose strenght in your
leg muscles, when we went ashore after 30 days at the Pacific just before Christmas
I felt shaky the first few days.
Today we record less than 1000 nautical miles left.

Anna Karin

Lat 29 27 / long W 025 17

Day 25
Knäckebröd, I thought when I woke up today. Would be nice. Why do you find
it almost exclusively in Sweden? It is such a practical bread that does not become
stale when properly stored. One can enjoy it alone or with various
toppings. My absolute favorite is the butter and grevé cheese. We bought lots
at IKEA in Alameda in August. Due to a salt water leak on the first
stretch, we were forced to dump it all overboard. Now you dare start indulging
your fantasies about certain foods, we are approaching our destination. There is today not much more than 1200 NM to go.

Anna Karin

Lat N 28 00 / W 026 40

Day 24
Another stowaway. You may remember the last bird of indeterminate species,
which spent one night huddled in the outboarder, then went away. Our new
stowaway landed yesterday afternoon. He introduced himself as Mr
Dove. Walked around and inspected the boat. Toward evening, he had
decided he would stay overnight. He crawled into the rubber boat,
where he has been since. We have set out a dish of water for him. Mr Pigeon
has a ring around one leg, perhaps he has a letter attached to it. Then
he is a mail pigeon. I'm not going to touch him, I'm not so fond of
birds, what if he carries the bird flu virus.

Anna Karin

Lat N 26 11 / longitude W 028 07

Day 23
Destination?
Many wonder where in Spain we are going?
It is not yet decided where we will moor Anastasia. We are looking at
different options. It is likely that it will be in the Cadiz area or any
Marina on the southern coast.
When I sit and look at the chart around Cadiz, among other things, I see the river
Gaudalquivir with places like Seville and Cordoba. Then I think of
Red Orm, my favorite book by Frans G. Bengtsson and how Red Orm became a
galley-slave of Alemansur in Cordoba. To be a galley-slave, was no fun,
one day was ever the same so it was difficult to keep track of time.
However, he noticed three things, which showed that the time went. He was chained
to the oar as a beardless youth, and after a while his beard began to grow,
albeit it grew no longer than the oar, where it got worn away. "Of all the
ways to trim a beard, this was the worst". For my own part, I began
this journey from Rio, maybe not as a youth, but still beardless, and I
conclude it with a beard.
The other two ways that the Snake could measure the passage of time? Read the book!

Thomas

Lat N 23 56 / Long W 029 35

Day 22
Now we are on the "right" side of longitude W 30th. It's been a long and tough
struggle to get there. Not since March 28, we have been east of the line.
It's been a struggle to pass it again. Fighting the
Northeast trade wind. But this morning began with W29 59 on the GPS, and gradually convert in the right direction.
We have now got a wind that carries better towards the goal. Yeeapeee.
After three weeks under sail, you find that our focus is quite
limited. Our everyday events, which govern the whole world, or is
it not so?

Anna Karin

Lat N21 15 / long W 030 39

Day 21
The overview chart that we use now is called North Atlantic Ocean, Eastern
Part. It's the same chart we used 27 years ago when we sailed
to the Caribbean with our previous boat Aurora. We have it lying on the
chart table under the plexiglass sheet, we mark the 12-o'clock position and
sometimes we plot the low pressure tracks. When we took out the chart, I discovered
that the old plot from 1983 was visible still. I can read the dates and
positions for every day. Why I mention this is because today
we cross our own old track, then it was January 9, 1983, and today is the 5
April 2010. Then we calculated our positions with the help of the sun and
stars. Now we have 5 GPS's on board. Then we lived on 200 liters of
fresh water. Now we are producing our own new, if necessary. We had no refrigerator,
now we both fridge and freezer.
We had a good voyage then, and we have even better now.
Hooray for ocean sailing!

Anna Karin

Lat N 18 46 / long W 031 39

Day 20

Long-distance sailing calls for milestones. Previously, the equator. Beyond
that we have had "having less than 2000 NM left." It is a bit difficult to
calculate because we do not know how wide a turn we must make up towards the
Azores. Total distance could always be longer.
But we now hope that the in the next day we will reach the milestone.
2000 NM is still a long distance, for comparison, I remember
from the time when I sailed on the Mediterranean that the distance Skagen-Gibraltar
is 2000 NM and also Gibraltar Haifa.

Anna Karin

Lat N 16 05 / W 031 36

Dag 19

HAPPY EASTER from Anastasia to all blog-followers.
In a valiant attempt to convey the Easter mood, we got into a
yellow sail bag, took pictures, compressed one and sent it via satellite, up, down
to webmaster, to be able to publish the very latest
photo evidence of the two, still sailing. If you can see on our fruit net you can see it has turned all brown. We have sand from the Sahara all over the deck. Our latitude cuts through the Cape Verde archipelago.

Anna Karin

Lat N 13 29 / W 031 29

Day 18
April,April, month of fools

One of our ways to receive weather reports is Inmarsat C. Very good
addition to the GRIB files. Now we are in NAV / MET Area 2, which is
run by France. For a few days now there have been reports, but only the
first row, where the date and time is .. It has been very annoying since
we want to follow weather developments all the time. This morning I was watching
one like that, a one-line message, and came up with the idea to use the arrow keys to follow the row. Believe it or not but the whole weather report is there in only one
long, long, long list. When you select it and cut and paste into Word,
it becomes a full A 4. You can imagine how long that line is. Many thanks to
the French. International standard?

Anna Karin

Lat N 10 38 / W031 37

Day 17,
1 April, Change of plans
Since the trade winds now carry us in the direction of the West Indies,
we are going to bear up and set course for Barbados.
Carpe Diem. After the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and to the south again.
Another round, quite simply.
Is there someone who wants to come long? Submit an application, to address
mail bouy Atlantic, we will pick up the letter when we pass.

Anna Karin