We reached the Med (Portugal and Spain) in CY 2003 after crossing the Atlantic. Our starting point across the Atlantic Ocean was Trinidad. Portimao, in Portugal, was our first landfall in Europe. Between these two points we did hopped our way up the Caribbean chain to the USVI, and from there, we went to Bermuda and the Azores. It was a tough trip between the Azores and Portugal, which only made us appreciate all the more making our European destination. By then, it was late Summer heading into Fall and we made our way via the coast of Spain to Gibraltar where we spent a few days learning about the rock and replenishing our stores. Upon our entrance into Gibraltar, we got a taste of their famous afternoon winds when it hit a brisk 54 knots. L'ame Libra, our sister ship who was also sailing with us recorded even higher winds. We enjoyed Gibraltar but the late time of the year meant that we had to move on. We did short hops up the coast of Spain as far as Alicante, where we parted company with L'ame Libra to make our way for a short 1-2 week stay in the Balearics, namely Ibiza and Mallorca, leaving Menorca for the following year. I must admit that we felt quite vulnerable in some of the exposed anchorages that seemed to have bad or questionable holding as the winds always seemed to be coming from a contrary direction proposed by the weather reports and sometimes they were quite stiff. Fortunately, all went well and we enjoyed d our stay, seeing all the beautiful people going frantically about their holiday vacation. We did an overnighter to Barcelona where we spent the Winter.

There was a large contingent of cruisers there, only outdone in numbers by the number of thieves in Barcelona (See Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, the thieves of Barcelona, for some interesting reading.) While in Barcelona, it was time to get to the maintenance chores that had been neglected. There was a daunting list of things to do! But it wasn't all work either. We joined the local gym, met lots of locals, learned Spanish, ate lots of Spanish food, played tourist and visited lots of museums and did touristy things like that, went on group bicycle rides on Sunday mornings with the cruisers at the marina, went to English speaking movie theaters, and celebrated of the American holidays including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Xmas, New Years, Easter, etc. in the company of fellow cruisers and guests who joined us from the States. We also went to England and stayed with Roger Burroughs, who is the European distributor for Hylas Yachts, as his guests in their town home in Pemlico. It is in a great location to see London. We also visited with our friends from the 1995 Caribbean 1500 Rally, Bob and Cindy aboard God Speed, which they were keeping in St. Catherine's Marina in the heart of London. We wrapped up the Winter / Spring season by renting a camper van to tour the French Riviera, Chianti, Tuscany and Provence. We didn't even get out of the marina before I had rammed the camper into an overhead sign. So our first stop was back to the camper dealership to get the camper repaired. That only took about 2 hours but I have had to eat crow ever since<G>. We enjoyed the trip but I am not sure that I would do it again. The hills were to steep, the bends to tight, the congestion to great and the cat too persnickety in the evening. None-the-less, it was worth it. Next time though, I'll do it in a fast sports car with overnight reservations at hotels.

Our Summer Cruise in 2004 was done in company of several boats. We left Barcelona for the Balearics, then moved on to Italy, where we visited Sardinia, the Aeolian islands (where we put some nasty scratches in Dakare when she slipped her anchor on a wind shift while we were on shore touring in some of the local museums), Sicily, Brindisi on the East coast of Italy, Croatia, Venice, Greece and finally Turkey. While in Croatia, we rented a car and searched for Karen's relatives in a little town in the hills of Croatia, Dresnigrad. We were successful in finding some people who shared the same last name. They were delightful and showed us every consideration, including inviting us to their homes and serving us some home made Sijivovica, Croatian Plum brandy.

We spent two winters in Mamaris, Turkey at Netsel Marina (04/05 & 05/06.) After our experiences in Barcelona, we were ready for Turkey. We find it clean, friendly, and relatively cheap compared to its European (EU) neighbors. We find the language tough to learn. It has a very different sound the romance languages we are used to. Fortunately, a lot of English is spoken here and when we find a shop keeper who cannot speak English, there is usually someone close by to help translate. Services seem to be comparable to what we found in Trinidad, so we had a number of projects done here, including restiching our bimini and dodger, that had bit the bullet in all that Caribbean sunshine. Karen is also having new cushions made. It appears that Dan is just too rough on them. Karen is taking flute lessons and Dan is taking Piano lessons. We both are going to yoga and an acupuncturists. The acupuncture really seams to work. So it is again another busy Winter filled with activities and projects.

Web Page Topic	Comments
2003 Cruising Includes Atlantic Crossing	Includes Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda, Azores, Portugal, Gibraltar & Spain
Winter 03/04	Barcelona & Sitges, Spain;Tuscany, Chianti, Provence, Pisa by Camper
2004 Cruising	Includes Spain, Balearics, Sardinia, Aeolian's, Sicily, Brindisi, Croatia, Venice, Greece and Turkey
Winter 04/05	Marmaris, Konya, Rhodes all in Turkey
2005 Cruising	Includes Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon & Egypt
Winter 05/06	Marmaris, Istanbul Turkey, USA
2006 Summer	Includes Med-Red Rally, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Greece & N. Aegean
CY2007	Includes Italy, Sardinia, Malta, Tunisia , Balearics and France