First leg going west

Our first ocean leg back towards the USA was devoid of vomit or drama so if that's all you want to read about you can stop now...

We left Oeiras, Portugal on Monday Oct 18 and reached the island of Porto Santo about 7 PM on Friday October 22. Here we are with Oeiras and Lisbon in the background as we leave Europe.

Pat steering with Lisbon in the background - Bye Europe !!!

We had smooth sailing with winds from 2 to 15 knots. We motored through our first night when winds were low to make sure we got clear of the European shipping lanes. We saw several ships each day and several each night. We stood fixed watches as a trial to see how that went. Tom had 7 to 10 pm - Pat had 10 to 1 am - Tom had 1 to 4 am- Pat had 4 to 7 am and then when Tom woke up (7 to 8 or so) Pat would nap for a couple hours and then we were usually up for the day. Sounds complicated, but it worked.

After our first day out we started to troll for fish during the day and on Wednesday we were alarmed to find we caught one! You know you have a fish because all of a sudden the line starts to run out and our audible warning is the clicker on the reel. Our first hope is that it is not a fish that is too big and our second hope is that is not something too creepy to eat. We were lucky this time - we caught a very common ocean fish - a Mahi Mahi also known as a Dorado. We estimated its weight at 15 pounds. This fish went from landed to our plate in less than one hour since we were getting ready for dinner anyway and had not yet cracked open any chicken or tofu...

Tom and Dorado - Tom is on the left

If there are any fishers out there here are some photos of our ocean gear.

Pat with our wire line fishing rig

Squid lure with a big hook hidden in the feathers

We're not sure why but we really didn't have many pretty sunsets on the way over here from the US. But we sure had some this week. Here are some.

And just to prove we were there - here is Pat

We headed toward the small island of Porto Santo in the Madeira group of islands. Here is what it looks like from a sailboat!

Looks kind of foreboding, doesn't it?

Here is what the island looks like from a hilltop bar - Ahhhh, that's more like it!

This bar is a converted windmill !



Christopher Columbus lived here around 1460

Christopher Columbus married the daughter of the governer of Porto Santo and his first son was born here on the island. This is the actual stone house he lived in, now a museum. Here is what 550 years of technology can get you: Here is Pat, just one block from the Columbus house reading his Kindle.

I hope he is reading about Columbus

Our marina is down at the end of the 4 mile beach. The wind comes whistling down those hills making lots of noise as it blasts through the rigging - like sailing only we are not moving...

Tonight we are taking a ferry over to the big island of Madeira for a couple nights. You can see the ferry at the marina. Why not just sail over? The marina at Madiera is full and the ferry serves beer.

For those of you who haven't been on this boat and would like a quick video tour of the cabins - here you are.We shot this in New York shortly before our departure - you will see a quick look around the boat, a view of Rob looking for wind so we can leave, and some of the other features. Mostly narrated by Skipper Pat, with comedy by Tom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9zPSgt4Jfg