Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label of. Show all posts
Monday, May 29, 2017
Calpe and Altea Sailing the Costa del Blanco of Spain
October 1-2, 2012
If you want to get a bird’s eye view of Calpe, its white beaches that give this coast its name, and the surrounding countryside, then the way to do it is to climb the famous Penon D'Ifach, the huge rock headland dominating the landscape. It was high on Rob’s agenda on this stop as he didn’t get a chance to do it when we were here earlier in the year on Moksha.
Marc decided a gentle walking exploration of the town was more in order while Karen wisely decided the climb may not be advisable given the track to the top is described in Lonely Planet as very physical with the warning that you ‘take your life in your own hands.’
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| Morning coffee looking out at our boat still has us pinching ourselves to check it's real |
After a coffee stop at a beach front café we all headed off on our separate adventures with the plan to meet for lunch two hours later.
The going up the rock proved to be quite varied and ranged from easy paths lower down until a rough, unlit tunnel through to the seaward side is reached. There’s a sign in multiple languages at the entrance with the English text simply stating that ‘It is dangerous to go beyond this point’. Very reassuring. It’s very steep and the limestone has been polished to a slippery sheen by all the feet that have passed through over the years. The ropes strung on each side are needed to pull yourself up and onwards in a number of places.
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| Beyond this point things get very interesting |
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| Tthe famous Penon D'Ifach rock at Calpe is not the place to slip off the trail |
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| This is the widest and safest part of the track up Penon D'Ifach rock at Calpe. |
Emerging into the light you’re greeted with a very narrow path of equally treacherous polished rock and need to hug the cliff face as you make your way across to where the trail becomes a little less frightening for a short while. The climb continues to be quite steep as you progress upwards and the path splits into various trails different people have blazed. It becomes necessary to stop and take a good look at what goes where before choosing a route. It’s all quite steep and by the time you eventually approach the top some rugged bolder hopping is required. Grab ropes are very few and far between. Australian health and safety officers no doubt would have a nightmares if they ever saw this place.
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| WOW FACTOR PLUS. The white speck nearest the breakwater is Alcheringa. |
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| Every minute of the twenty minutes at the top was needed for re-oxygenation. |
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| OK - Time to go down, down, down. |
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| Meanwhile Karen and Marc were sipping drinks waiting for lunch on the beachfront |
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| Karen in control as we say goodbye Calpe |
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| Cruising past the church on the hill at Altea peaked our interest to have a look |
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| So calm, so peaceful, so nice. |
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| Alcheringa with Calpe in the background |
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| Up, up and up some more at Altea |
We then climbed up through the steep lanes and narrow streets to reach the big church on the hill that dominates all views of the bay. The church is fronted by a delightful square lined with cafes that we soon discovered were all priced for the Northern European tourist market. As usual, we were required to drop the obligatory gold coin in the box at the door to enter the church. Rob still struggles with that concept. After all, the churches of the world aren’t exactly doing great business these days and charging at the door is unlikely to encourage new clients.
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| Time for a breather halfway to the top |
After viewing more beautifully decorated altars, idols and some magnificent art we wound our way down through more delightful cobblestone streets devoid of motor vehicles and discovered the Cellar Bar. It was hot. We’d walked a long way and we needed some rehydration plus it offered free WIFI and Rob had been lugging his lap top around all day waiting to upload the latest chapter of our travels. The appropriate blog sacrifice was soon offered up to the gods of the cyberworld while we consumed 2 beers, 2 wines and 4 tapas all for a grand total of 5.50 Euro ($6.85). We had a hard time keeping a straight face as we paid the bill. How can anyone be making money at that?
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| All roads lead to the Celler Bar - well eventually they do. |
Our next task was choosing one of the many beach front café/restaurants to have lunch at. In the end we settled on a huge bowl of steamed mussels each accompanied by lashings of fresh crispy bread all washed down with the obligatory bottle of vino tinto (red wine) for the price of a Big Mac Meal at home in Australia. This was developing into a very good day.
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| It was a long way back to Alcheringa anchored up in the lee of the point |
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We then embarked on our ‘great march’ mark two to return the five kilometres back to the beach where Alcheringa was bobbing gently in thankfully still very calm seas just a hundred metres from the sand.
Some people have asked how we get any exercise cooped up on a 13.2 metre long yacht. Well apart from cranking winches, pulling on lines and constantly working muscles to balance ourselves to the constant movement of the boat when underway, if you think back on our activities in this chapter of the blog you’ll get an insight into our fitness regime. Other than the very, very occasional taxi ride, we walk everywhere. We haven’t actually driven a car since being in the UK in early June. Hopefully this will keep us fit enough to sail the globe for many years to come.
For more about our travels check out and 'like' our Dreamtimesail facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/DreamtimeSail?ref=hl
For more about our travels check out and 'like' our Dreamtimesail facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/DreamtimeSail?ref=hl
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| Altea turned on an awesome sunset to cap off a fantastic day |
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Design 2222 C1 Prospect of Whitby V and Dorothea
Design 2222 was the sixth and final boat designed and built for Arthur Slater. (Others are posted within these pages). She was designed for Admiral's Cup racing. Two boats were built to the design by Walter Huisman of Vollenhove, Holland.
These images are of the second, Dorothea. The boats were constructed of aluminum and launched in 1975.
Here are the plans.
Principal Dimensions
LOA 44'-5"
LWL 33'-1"
Beam 12'-4"
Draft 7'-1"
Displacement 21,414 lbs
Ballast 10,577 lbs
Sail Area 842 sq ft
LOA 44'-5"
LWL 33'-1"
Beam 12'-4"
Draft 7'-1"
Displacement 21,414 lbs
Ballast 10,577 lbs
Sail Area 842 sq ft
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
How to build a boat motor out of a weed eater
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Friday, December 16, 2016
Types of canoe wood
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Island deliveries of kits and materials
With another order of okoume marine plys to BS 1088 due to ship to a customer in Mauritius, it reminded me of some of the other islands we have shipped to from Cape Town.
The Marshall Islands, which was materials to refurbish a French made yacht around 40ft long. Johnston Athol, a Didi 38 kit, which included the mast, sails and engine, Honolulu, a Didi 26, come to mind. We also filled an order to Wilbur Smith when we traded as Commercial Lumber cc, was he building a house on an island in the Seycheles, I believe so.
Johnston Athol, this is as far away from Cape Town as its possible to find land, almost dead center and opposite Cape Town on the globe!
http://www.blogspot.com/2009/03/didi-38-kit-to-south-pacific.html
The fact is that with a global view of the map South Africa is central to the world, we are well connected with shippers and their agents world wide.
The Didi 38 kit being built on Johnston Athol, note the Yanmar engine, we shipped that also.
Plus its no more expensive to ship from Cape Town to California by sea than to move the same order from the east coast to the west cost of the USA by road.
Your order does not have to be for yacht and boats, we can normally source most materials, construction types also.
Roy
The Marshall Islands, which was materials to refurbish a French made yacht around 40ft long. Johnston Athol, a Didi 38 kit, which included the mast, sails and engine, Honolulu, a Didi 26, come to mind. We also filled an order to Wilbur Smith when we traded as Commercial Lumber cc, was he building a house on an island in the Seycheles, I believe so.
Johnston Athol, this is as far away from Cape Town as its possible to find land, almost dead center and opposite Cape Town on the globe!
http://www.blogspot.com/2009/03/didi-38-kit-to-south-pacific.html
The fact is that with a global view of the map South Africa is central to the world, we are well connected with shippers and their agents world wide.
The Didi 38 kit being built on Johnston Athol, note the Yanmar engine, we shipped that also.
Plus its no more expensive to ship from Cape Town to California by sea than to move the same order from the east coast to the west cost of the USA by road.
Your order does not have to be for yacht and boats, we can normally source most materials, construction types also.
Roy
This is the latest island order shipment, it was collected today and will next be fumigated before being shipped to Mauritius, the top and bottom plys are pine exterior, the rest is okoume marine plys to BS 1088 standard.
Friday, September 9, 2016
Isola di Giglio and the wreck of the Costa Concordia
July 10-11, 2013
We raised the anchor a little before eight for our passage from Elba across to the island of Giglio, a little under 40 nautical miles to the south east of Elba. There was no point in leaving any earlier as the wind was not predicted to strengthen enough to sail until a bit later in the morning so we motored out to the cape on the south east corner of the island to pick up the first of the breeze.
Striking out for Gigliowe had to head 25 to 30 degrees south of the rum line to fill the sails but by late morning the wind began playing the game and we were able to adjust our course for a direct run to the northern tip of the island. The water around Giglio is quite deep virtually all the way to the shore in most areas but with a couple of off lying shoals. We noted one, small rocky shoal on the chart located off the north eastern tip. At 10 metres there would be more than enough water for us to sail right over the top but these pinnacles of rock that climb straight up from the bottom a hundred metres below have a habit of throwing up some odd waves so we elected to keep well clear anyway.
We’d no sooner cleared the shoal and rounded the tip of the island than a picture of absolute devastation came into view. We hadn’t realised this was the location of the wreck of the cruise liner Costa Concordia. There she lay on her side, against the shore ahead of us surrounded by huge cranes. She was a very sad sight, with her once gleaming superstructure now rust streaked and her exposed lower hull displaying the long, jagged 50 metre wound torn in her steel that allowed the cold, winter waters of the Mediterranean to flood her so quickly.
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| The Costa Concordia makes a forlorn sight laying on her side off the harbour at Porto del Giglio |
The ship is perched on a narrow ledge rocks just outside the small harbour of Porto del Giglio. If she was too slide off the ledge she’d disappear quickly as the bottom slopes steeply down to depths of 40 and 50 metres. Sailing by, we could now understand the complexity of the salvage operation which eight months after the tragedy was still far from over and not assured of a successful outcome. The hardest thing to understand was how the accident happened in the first place. The shoals are clearly shown on all charts and avoiding them is hardly rocket science.
We continued south past the harbour to anchor in the bay at Cala Canelle over the point from the township. Here we found a number of boats lying at anchor and it took a bit of exploration before we found a patch of sand at a reasonable depth to drop our 20kg Bruce and all the chain we had. Even then we didn’t feel all that secure as the offshore breeze was a reasonably brisk 15+ knots and the bottom sloped away to over 60 metres fairly quickly. A little before sundown a couple of the boats sitting in shallower water to our north weighed anchor to return to their moorings in the harbour so we took the opportunity to pull everything up and re-anchor in a much safer spot. As usual, Rob put on the snorkelling gear and had a good look making sure the anchor was well set and checked for any possible hazards within our swing arc. To be honest, while it is listed in the pilot guide as a reasonable yacht anchorage, Cala Canelle has very limited space in under 20 metres of water close to the shore and we were very relieved to have been able to stake our claim in the middle of the best of it. We watched a number of boats spend upwards of an hour trying to get securely anchored in the deeper parts of the bay and still a number dragged loose.
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| The bay at Canelle looks like a good anchorage but most of the shallower water is the swimming area and out of bounds to yachts. |
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| Red pin is where we first anchored. Yellow arrow is the Costa Concordia. Red arrow is Giglio Castello |
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| Elba to Giglio 37.4 nautical miles – 6 hours 45 minutes Average speed 5.5knots - High speed 6.9knots |
Next morning Rob got back in the water again and made sure the anchor hadn’t moved overnight and well satisfied the boat was nice and safe we headed ashore to explore the port and the very interesting Castillo on the mountain top above we’d spied from the sea.
Walking around the harbour front you can’t help noticing how the presence of the Costa Concordia just a couple of hundred metres away and its attending salvage fleet totally dominate the scene. Stopping by the memorial containing the 32 names of those that lost their lives in the disaster further emphasises the pall that the ship’s presence casts over the island. Considering there had been 4,252 people aboard the toll could have been mind numbing but any loss is one too many. Rather than seeing the wreck as a tourist draw, the locals can’t wait for it to be gone and the island’s undoubted natural charm to be restored as THE reason for visiting Giglio.
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| 32 names on the Costa Concordia memorial provide a stark reminder that the sea can be a very cruel place if you get complacent. |
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| Another flotation pod being placed on the Costa Concordia |
The idea of walking up to the mountain top Castello never really got off the ground in the 40C heat so we parted with 15 Euro for a ride up to the top in an air conditioned cab. Thankfully it was a little cooler exploring the delightful narrow, cobblestone laneways of the old fortified township. Once you make your way through the town gate this is a totally pedestrian community. Only the electricity cables slung precariously from building to building and a small handful of tourist shops inside the entrance provide concrete signs of the 21st century. The defensive walls and all the homes and buildings within are incredibly well preserved and the lack of crowds made our visit a very enjoyable experience. It was a very relaxing couple of hours wandering the maze of alleys and the opportunity to sample some of the excellent local wines was an added bonus.
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| Giglio Castello is a fantastic walled hilltop town |
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| La Cistenna was a great little wine bar beside the town well. Perfect watering hole. |
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| We caught the bus back down the twisting mountain road but got a little nervous when the driver kept turning around mid corner to chat to his lady friend |
For more about our travels and lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at Dreamtime Sail Facebook page
If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it! Let's just go sailing anyway.We hope you enjoy reading the previous posts to catch up on our story.
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