Life’s a Beach
Mykonos, Greece We have been fortunate to spend much of our lives living near beaches. And when we didn’t, we...
Our adventure has turned out to be even more than we expected in many ways.
In the summer of 2009, after returning from the Caribbean and Venezuela, we developed our plan for the next few years. While we had enjoyed the last two years of island life in the Caribbean, we were looking for something new and different. Our choices boiled down to the Western Caribbean (Panama, Honduras, Mexico, and Belize), the South Pacific (Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia) or the Mediterranean Sea (Spain, France, Italy, Greece). In the end, the Mediterranean won out because it offered something more than beautiful islands and white sand beaches. So the plan was set, we would sail to the Caribbean in November 2009 and then cross the Atlantic and spend the next few summers cruising around the “Med”.
But things don’t always go as planned, and in late 2009 we canceled our winter trip to the Caribbean. While this was a disappointment, it gave us more time to prepare for sailing across the Atlantic and having Berkeley East away from the US for an extended period. In May 2010 we began our trip leaving from Hampton, Virginia and finishing the season in Barcelona, Spain.
Highlights of 2010:
- The Atlantic Crossing – It took just over 45 days with 19 days at sea and was broken into three separate legs:
- Virginia to Bermuda – 3 ½ days of beautiful sailing.
- 10 Days in Bermuda preparing the boat, enjoying the rum and meeting up with fellow cruisers.
- Bermuda to Horta, Azores – 1,900 Nautical Miles in just over 10 days with five days of gale force winds.
- Cruising the Azores Islands- 13 days
- Azores to Portugal – What was anticipated to be a leisurely sail turned into the toughest passage of the crossing, beating into the wind and seas for five days.
- ARC Europe – We crossed the Atlantic with 22 other boats as part of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, making many new friends.
- Berkeley East placed third in the Bermuda to Azores leg and first in the Azores to Portugal leg.
Touring Portugal – We spent a month in Portugal and drove thorough the country visiting towns, villages, churches, monasteries and wineries.
Six weeks in the Balearic Islands hanging with friends.
Touring Spain – Seville, Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz, Tarragona, Rioja, Priorate
All in all, we sailed over 5,000 nautical miles.
Everyone asks about the Trans-Atlantic passage, and yes it was exciting, challenging and even scary. We had rough weather a lot of the time, even more than was expected, crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the wrong direction. While there were other boats in the rally, we rarely saw any of them while at sea. One of the rally boats sunk, everyone on board was rescued. We were on our own, thousands of mile from assistance. But it was all worth it! We felt a great sense of pride and accomplishment when we arrived on the other side of the ocean. While Berkeley East is a fairly large sailboat, she feels very small in the middle of the ocean.
We learned that Berkeley East is more durable than we are. While she pushed through difficult conditions without a problem, we wore out. The longest part of the passage took a little over 10 days, and was 1,900 nautical miles. We were impressed by the stamina and courage of the other rally participants in smaller, less comfortable boats, some of which spent up to 19 days on the same passage.
Portugal and Spain were everything we expected and more. We spent a month recovering from the passage and touring Portugal. From there it was off to Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar, with a quick visit to Morocco. The Southern Mediterranean coast of Spain was a disappointment, like we were told it would be. There was little wind to sail, so we did a lot of motoring and it was full of hi-rise vacation resorts for Europeans from colder climates.
The Balearic Islands (Ibiza, Menorca and Majorca) and the rest of Spain were great. We met up with old friends and cruisers we had met in the Caribbean, enjoyed touring the island and just relaxing out in beautiful calas (coves).
We arrived in Barcelona in September and spent a month enjoying the city, visiting Madrid and touring some Spanish wine regions (Rioja and Priorat).
There is more information about our travels in previous blog entries for each area.
We left Berkeley East in the Port Vell Marina, Barcelona for the winter.
With 2010 firmly behind us, the plan for 2011 is starting to take shape, but like any of our plans it can, and will, change at any moment. No large ocean crossings or passages this year. We will be sailing along the coast of Mediterranean Europe and ending in Turkey. Everyone asks why Turkey? The answer is that it is a beautiful country, wonderful cruising ground, and it is not part of the European Union. After 18 months in the European Union we can be required to pay a Value Added Tax of 18% – 20% of Berkeley East’s value. Since we do not plan to stay in the Mediterranean indefinitely, we will move in and out of the European Union as required in order to meet the 18-month limitation. Other non-EU options like Tunisia, Libya and Egypt are not very comfortable for us at this time, so Croatia or Turkey are our best bets. We selected Turkey as it is as far east as we plan to go. From there, we will work our way back west for the next few years.
The 2011 plan looks like this:
April – Return to Barcelona, prep Berkeley East for the season and tour Spain
May – French Riviera and Monaco
June – Corsica and Sardinia, possibly Elba (North Tuscan Islands)
July – Sicily, Aeolian Islands and Southern Italy
August – Greece
September – Greece, Cyclades Islands and Dodecanese Islands
October 1st – arrive Turkey and store Berkeley East for the winter