What have we been doing since we arrived home …. short answer, trying to stay cool and of course spending time with the kitties…..who have generally been asleep (with a few intervening meows for food delivery)
The month of August has certainly been a hot one – it’s meant that we’re up before sunrise everyday in order to get at least a breath of cool air. The thermometer hasn’t dropped below 27 degrees (in the early hours of the morning) and every afternoon it has been well into the high thirties. It has rained for less than 3 hours all month, so we’ve really had to take it easy. We’ve run errands in the mornings and taken siestas in the afternoons.
There have been some stunning sunrises…..
And some gorgeous sunsets too.
We have missed Gemini J a lot, Skipper Nigel has even written a few thoughts / words of advice while we’ve been here (and he’s fed up with doing house jobs) ……
A blog within a blog from Skipper Nigel for some light reading over summer
Nigel´s top mistakes and some very simple advice
- When setting off to a different country such as Italy or France check your plotter/GPS has the country you are going to down loaded. (and not just the outline, the actual detailed stuff)
- Check crossing times to hopefully arrive in day light.
- Keep the crew happy (this could be include music, chocolate, taking an extra shift at the helm or even making extra cups of coffee)
- Don’t fall asleep on watch
- When you think it do it, don’t ever wait, JUST DO IT
- Be happy and have fun
- Rest as much as you can (cat naps, siestas, full on afternoon snoozes, especially when you´re not at sea)
- Check and check everything before you set sail, one small mistake can be a big problem later.
- Don’t refuse to finish your night sail shift, you will end up asleep.
- Always listen to everyone and take advice ,agree the next departure and look at weather most importantly the swell and then the wind. Also ask friends what they think about the weather.
- Keep calm if things get fun, especially if wind or waves pick up or ships are heading towards you just take it as it comes…be cooooool.
- Ok this is my super top tip , forget the med in August, Spanish holiday’s
We have taken our boat out of the water, to be stored for the month of August and flown back home for the month then fly back in September and will continue on our way back to main land Spain, our home port
Why? You may ask ….it’s crazy here in August all the boat idiots come out from hiding in central Spain, crash into each other, have no idea what they are doing, charter boats, baby charter pop pop boats all buzzing about and the worst – jet skis, not fun… Or you may like it……I call it boat TV, sometimes it’s better than Bargain Hunt and Tipping Point.
Simple advice keep away and come back after the Spanish August holidays are finished. Also the costs for marina’s, mooring buoys, everything is extremely expensive in August half the price in September
Well thanks for reading and that’s my very mixed up top tips
Kind regards Nigelxx
As August comes to an end it’s harvest time here, the grape harvest has started in certain parts but not where we live just yet. We will be leaving the almond harvest in full swing – we even collected our own from the few trees we have.
Once again it’s time to travel – this time back to Gemini J and we’re most excited about it – ready to continue our journey exploring more of the Balearics on our way back, watch this space for more updates on our travels xxxx
The Adventures of Gemini J 