ittam

"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf." - Walter Lippmann

27 december - 0430 - arrival at Crown Point on Tobago. Sleep then readying the dingy to get to the beach. 

26 december - day 23 - 4 ships within an hour we sighted - land must be near. Finally "terra firma". Peace of mind is nigh.

25 december - day 22 - worst food of the trip. some kind of salad. Nearly got the better of me.

24 december - day 21 - Christmas dinner. Good food and wine. This should remain the best food of the trip. The night was a nightmare - felt like hell, so hot, barely able to close my eyes, not a chance of sleep. The revenge of the indulgence.

23 december - day 20 - sleeping while the engine runs a arm length away might seem fantastic at the beginning - but nonetheless sleep awaits. The dreams on a boat are as vivid as never before, staying in my memory well after waking up. Is it the food, is it the waves rocking the boat, the drone of the engine?

Strangely there was suddenly the message that we did have enough fuel to reach our destination - Crown Point on Tobago. Calculation error I guess. 407 nautical miles to go.

During the endless days a different kind of illness befalls me - homesickness - Christmas is near and family far away.

21 december - day 18 - No wind only sun, taking refuge in the shade of the genoa that hangs purposeless in the air. There are still 660 nautical miles to go and not enough fuel to cover it - so it seems. This distance could be covered in 5 days or in worst eternity. Hope of wind long gone we dive into our books and our thoughts.

20 december - day 17 - Yesterday after sunset, the sky was dark, sparkling stars and a rising moon the only source of light. Suddenly there was a breathing out kind of sound right next to the boat - excitement -  a whale some mere meters away from us indiscernible from the choppy sea it stayed with us for some time while we tried in vain to shed some light on our nightly companion.

Still no wind despite the forecast. The sound of the engine running overshadowing any other noise and making it hard to think. Strangely enough lying in the bunk next to the noise it is quite easy to sleep. The monotony of the noise lulling you into dreams - dreams of which I had a plenty.

Looking forward to some other food. Anything but fish.

A quick sighting of a whale (or multiples of).

Blog writing. 

A few days ago there was a small incident between Annelie, me and Francine, Michel. In short, we did not see eye to eye. The boat is quite small for something like that. Well this is the risk of going on a boat with strangers, strangers you do not know you get along with. In other circumstances you would never have met and even if you would not have made friends. Now here on the boat where you can not get away it is .... hard.

Later there was some wind. Real wind that got the boat going to an average of 6.5 knots. Steering is just fun and gives you a feel for the boat.

Sadly during the night and we were woken by the scream of the engine starting, telling us that the wind had dissipated. Sliding back into sleep I think to myself if there would be a next wind coming along to take us on our way.

Millenium I-III by Stieg Larsson - The whole story is very captivatingly written, not letting you go so easily. The first book is more or less stand alone which you can read just like that. It has an ending that does not need a sequel. The second and third book are connected and in my opinion do not have the same amount of suspense. Sometimes the whole story feels a bit drawn out and some parts are slightly repetitive.

"The stupiest Angel" by Christopher Moore - A funny story about a small town during Christmas time. This book attracts with its mocking violence and strange people. For me there are some similarities with the boulevard news paper which sells due to violence and sex topics. It was fun to read but had no real substance. 

"the other hand" by Chris Cleave - A book of fiction about two women whose life got entangled. One a refugee and the other a newspaper woman. The story is written very well and the switch between the two main characters after each chapter provides you with two sides of the same story. The book affects you by bringing you the topic of being a refugee nearer. While reading I was wondering how the author got the facts right or if he just made up the whole story.

"The naming of the dead" by Ian Rankin - A detective story with a main character not unlike Peter Falk in "Colombo" but not that straight forward with solving the case. A kind of antihero doing investigative police work while living a life that is not overly exciting. I like it. Good book to have to pass the time.

"Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown - Thought it was crap right from the start. Annoyed by the lack of creativity. Dan Brown borrows from actual facts and things and distorts them so that he can enclose the story in mystery while making the reader believe that there is a possibility that it might be true. He is so superficial while doing it. It feels more like an attempt to screw with ones mind. I actually did not get past page 118, which was already a struggle.

"Rock of Refuge" by John Haworth - A book I only struggled through because it was the best for a tired mind of the selection I had left. The interesting thing was the view on Lebanon of the situation there at the time of writing. I had no idea before and now that is different.

When you stare out for a while you will for sure be able to catch a glimpse of flying fish. Sometimes there are clusters of them taking flight at the same instant and in formation. In the Mediterranean we saw them too but always in conjunction with hunting tuna fish. Here they seemed to be prey to no apparent hunter.

Another cargo ship crossed our way. Contact established to pursue them to share some diesel oil with us. This cargo ship was much bigger and they did not want to stop for us but agreed to drop some tied together cherrycans into the water. They did this twice. The first drop we saw and rushed to the pick-up. The second was harder. They gave us the GPS location without any digits after the minutes. One minute is equal to one nautical mile which again is equal to 1.852 kilometers. Quite an area to search. The current was not to strong luckily so we could hope to find them at the drop site. Again Francine's hysterical voice boring through your head did not help at all. Knowing it better all the time while everybody knows what to do already. After searching for a while - I did not look at the time, but it was around an hour I guess - we reestablished contact with the diminishing cargo ship to ask if he could point us in the right direction, since he had the drop site marked and us on the radar. After two such calls and a climb to the mast top (by me) something shiny was glittering about three hundred meters on port side in the choppy water. It was one of the cherrycans reflecting the sunlight. Hurray! +60 liters of diesel oil for us and about 1 day extra of motoring.

Apart from this it is pretty boring. No wind at all just is not so good for sailing and for moral. The motor was running well. 

Almost forgot - I saw a nice whale. It jumped into the air and dropped with his back first back onto the water. Might have been a humpback whale. Just 150m beside the boat. What a sight!

Another day on the boat.

Repairing a rip in the main sail by applying a special repair tape to it. A quick thing to do but then mounting the sail again in the right order, well that is not so easy.

The next day early in the morning we got woken up by an insistent Francine who stammers something about cargo ship and gasoil (french for diesel oil). I could barely make sense through the haze of sleepiness after having just done night watch mere hours ago.

Looking out there was a cargo ship on the horizon coming our way. Apparently Francine had called the ship on the radio asking for help with her non-existent english vocabulary. Francine and Michel, the proprietors of our sailing boat, restricted themselves on mastering only french.

Taking over the radio and talking with the radio operator and captain of the "BBC New York" the situation cleared. The question about the weather conditions for the following days and if some diesel oil could spared was answered by an affirmative. After a while of back and forth about who we were and how much diesel we had left they turned around to rendez-vous. Some diesel oil was transfered into cherry cans and dropped into the water for us to pick up. So we got diesel and they got a bottle of Pastis. The whole exchange took about two hours. Everything went smoothly despite Francine's hysterical shouts that did no good except putting everybody on edge and reducing any trust in her abilities further - quite unnerving actually.

At first this whole transaction with the diesel oil seemed to be pointless since we really had many cherrycans (about 20 of various sizes) and a full tank. Later I had to correct this assessment, when the wind stayed away from us.

The same day the first fish took the bait and we pulled a "Daurade Coriphène" (a seabream of some sort) on board. This should be the first of many. Tuna, Barracuda would also bite a bit later.

Dolphins came to greet us as many as three times a day. Playfully accompanying us for 5 to 15 minutes by jumping in front of the bow. Really cool actually. Some even jumped up vertically several times a bit further away. It looked like one of them wanted to say "Pick me! Pick me!"

Today is sunday, or it must be, I think. One of these days I will definitely loose the feeling of time and the days their individual significance. It does not really matter what day it is, actually. We are on a boat heading west. No opening hours that need to be considered, no exact timetable to be followed.

The wind left us yesterday in the doldrums and since then we are motoring our way towards more favourable sailing conditions. The main sail is up and now and again flapping undecided in the wind. The sea is devoid of small curly waves which indicate the presence of wind or at least of gusts. The flatness kind of depressing.

So far we covered 425 nautical miles after leaving the Canaries behind us. There is nothing between here and Tobago, where our destination lies. Just the sea and the sky. During the day the blazing sun turning the hair on my arms blond and during the night the moon and the sparkling stars.

Doing night watch every second night is easy, looking at the black sky with its glittering diamonds free of light pollution impressive, the Orion constellation very prominent. What can I occupy my mind with next - a book, some writing, some spanish language vocabulary...

To give a little insight in the daily agenda...

We (Annelie and I) raise at about 9 o'clock and get some food (bread and Nutella - yes there is still some bread left) into us washing it down with tea. Then we talk a bit with the other four people on the boat (there is Francine and Michel, who the boat belongs to and then there is Philippe and Samatha who are like us members of the crew to do the night watches).

Thanks to the Scopoderm patch which I placed behind my right ear just before leaving Las Palmas no motion sickness so far could be sensed. Today was the time for the next patch, but I decided to take the risk of not using one again and to look what happens next. So far so good. I feel fine still.

Thanks to this the absence of any sickness I was able to read and write. I have finished the second book of the "Millenium Trilogy" by Stieg Larsson and am on the third one. I have to admit that the first one is so far the best. The second and third are closely connected and could as well have been just one book.

After some reading there is lunch, which consists of salad, bread, salami, ham and whatnots.

In the afternoon the reading and sunbathing (not forgetting to put on sun block, which I often do - the forgetting I mean) continues.

Dinner is around seven and is something warm with a bit of meat. We try to catch some fish by trailing two baits at a distance of 50m behind the boat. So far no luck there. I hope this will change when we are no longer making so much noise (we are still motoring).

If we are on the night watch (beginning at midnight to six in the morning) we go to bed early (meaning 8 o'clock), while the others do the dishwashing.

Today we saw dolphins, about ten of them. They kept us company for about 10 minutes. Every time it is an exhilarating experience and always leaves me with the question why they are doing this.

The mood on the boat is sometimes good sometimes not so good. Francine has a special personality that does not leave any room for discussion. Apart from that and the boring part it is quite nice here. 

For the last 24 hours we have not spotted one single ship out there, that is quite amazing.

Newest News first: The launch has been postponed until Thursday very early morning due to too strong wind on wednesday.

The last few days Annelie and I did many things...I got to see the beautiful sailboat "Julie" on which she had spent the last three weeks coming here. 13.5m long and on the inside it has more of a feel like a sailboat of the old times than this "caravan" turned to sailboat on which we are going to do the crossing.

We also went with a bus to San Mateo to go to the sunday market there. Pic-nic we bought and picnic we made in the sunshine watching a lot of motorbikes passing by and being parked. The biggest one had a 1800cc engine, which is the size of mine and of Annelie's combined :-)

A stroll in the town of Teror did not give us anything new but, well...we saw it and we left not in terror.

Today was to be a day of shopping for provisions for the trip. We bought food for over 400 Euros and filled the small rental car with it. We (the four of us) barely fit in there as well. After all the things bought had been cleared away we got in the car and went to see the Dunes of Maspalomas. Maspalomas being the Nr. 1 holiday destination on this island, nowhere can more sunseekers or party people be found.

Our way back we did by crossing the island. A beautiful way to go. When the sun had vanished first behind the mountains and then later behind the horizon we found ourselves in the dark on a road that went still up the hill. Fog started clouding our vision of where the road was and where it was not. When the rain also decided to fall down upon us it became slightly dreamlike. At the beginning the signs along the road where perceptible but later one had to guess where the road might lead next. We came to a saying "In doubt always turn left" which was quite accurate. Only once we thought about testing the integrity of the car against a concrete wall. In the end the split second decision was against it so we made a left turn :-)

Life here is good. Health too. My skin is already burned to a darker tone. Always hungry I seem to be when on the boat and not due to lack of food. 

Soon the great pond is our only fixed point. My thoughts move back and forth about how it will be and what to do when there is not so much to do. Will I be able to read? write? What else?

Oh, yeah! Today we went up the mast. A nice view from up high. "Been there, done that - check"

Yesterday after a timely long trip back from Tenerife I was greeted by Annelie before I could even reach the sailboat :-)

Now we sit in the Sailor's Bar and surf the net updating whatever needs updating and reading up on Emails. And the Netbook of Annelie needed fixing. Damn Windows. Thank good that I am a MacUser. Life's soooo much easier. It just runs and runs and runs.

So here I am waiting and waiting. Finally when the time is here you discover that it is the wrong island you are on. So much for High-Technology.

Discovering once again that you are a man of action and not of reaction - hmmm...

So here I go again on the ferry back to Las Palmas :-)

Oh, by the way I found a book which I really read within days, it really reeled me in. It's the first of a trilogy by Stieg Larsson. Well I admit - I bought all three. The first one was really good, captivating and the characters entertaining and you can relate to them in one way or other.

Letters headlined the book saying "Now a major film". It somehow was familiar (kind of what you call a "déjà vu") and then it popped from my memory. When I was last in Finnland there was this film shown in the cineplex I went to (to see another movie) and it was exactly that, this book.

The El Teide National Park is definitely impressive. It felt as if you would step onto a different planet when you cross the park border which also represents the timber line. At this time of year there is barely anything visibly alive up here. Some bushes have a slightly greenish hue but apart from that. I saw a teeny-tiny spider and a bird (a Berthelot's pipit by my guess) that was all animal live there was for me to discover. I can only guess what it looks like when the rain comes and goes. Reminds me a bit of the time in the Colca Canyon where only the Cactus were alive. As then here now a lot of dust. Some seems to have made it onto the chip of the camera - damn. 

Back to the El Teide - the colors of the ground, all these brown and red tones are really alive. And the lava stones...some porous some obsidian and with high density. I've been on several volcanos and this is once again an experience to treasure.

The walk up was strenous. What little air there was you needed dearly. Up and up it went seemingly without end. But then some spaniards told the story of it only being "una media hora" to the top - a last struggle and there I was. But alas, without a permit there was no going all to the top. "No" was the answer of the two guards and with that it was said. So I turned my attention to food - which tends to up my mood (which was great my mood not so much my food, but starving I was nonetheless). My meal I took in sight of the "Pico viejo" - the next door volcano - which immediately took my awareness. Well there is need for something later, isn't there?

Coming to Teneriffe after Gran Canaria is quite a change. Strolling through this town on the next island gives you the impression of more wealth or more accomplishment. Everything looks kind of nice here and is nicely arranged. Santa Cruz de Teneriffe has a real town center where the shops and bars are clustered. There is even a tram and many parking spaces to leave the car.

The bus I took was a slow one, stopping every now and then, giving me time to take in the surroundings. The jagged form of the island stands in strong contrast to the many buildings that are located everywhere on the coast.

Now I am in the town of Orotava, which I thought to be a good base camp place before going on a hike to the El Teide. The boardinghouse "Silene" I was directed to is like worlds apart from the place of last night. A balcony, bathroom belonging to the room and breakfast - and everything for just 9 Euros more. It is an building from the 19th century located in the historical centre of the place. Tomorrow I will enjoy my breakfast on the balcony with a nice view out to the sea which I intend to cross. Wow, now that thought makes me just a bit nervous :-)

"The silence inside a volcano

extinguished he is

Wind, birds, insects

The civilisation is missing"

A short trip to the "Caldera de Bandama", a collapsed volcano cone, now a huge crater. Happy to be moving my feet strolling down the inside and finding myself in a place of quietness. The absence of civilization noise is deafening. Birds sing, the wind that make the palmtrees sway their leaves and some insects going on about their daily business.