TransAt - Sardinia to Miami - Jan 2015

Call of North - Oyster 665

9/1/2015

Nic very kindly transported me to the airport for my 11:40 flight to Milan.
Andy Dell met me at the check-in desk for Flybe.
After an in-terminate wait for him at security (he has a metal knee, which for some reason caused absolute havoc with the metal detector, surely they've come across this before !!!!!).
Eventually sorted , off we trundle to wait for our flight.
The plane was soon boarding, off we went into the queue, over the tarmac, into the aircraft via the rear door. it very quickly became clear there was only about 30 people on a 100 seater aircraft............spread out time...............excellent...........a very comfy flight followed.
We got caughtup in a very strong airstream and i actually watched as we shot past another aircraft about 2000 feet above us, it was amazing !!!!
Then the Alps appeared out of the clouds............lovely all covered in snow.
We landed at Milan without a problem.........now the 5 hour wait.
We found our bags and meandered to the customs exit, as we had to move to Terminal 1 from 2.............woooow.....some geezer in a pair of jeans, a floppy jumper and a scarf around his neck stopped us and demanded our passports and asked if we had anything to declare...........hang on a mo.....who the h#ll is he ???
Turns out he was Italian customs officer.......he looked more like a hairdresser...........
Anyway, off we trundled again, caught the bus for T1, sorted.
Now then a brew, i'm gagging said Andy.........hey up there's a cafe .............off we pop.......2 coffee's please in Andy's best Italian..................well Gordon Bennett.........the strongest coffee i've ever tasted was the result..............blooming heck.....i was on the ceiling for about an hour !!!
The we see our flight is boarding...................off we go................streuth.......it's chocka.............full to the gunwhales............TO OLBIA !!!
At least it's only a short flight, we are soon in Sardinia.
Kevin meets us at the airport and we quickly make our way to the boat.
We meet Carolyn, have a couple of beers get ourselves sorted and hit the sack.

10/1/15

Not too early today.
Had breakfast, looked around the boat and went into town to do some shopping / provisioning for the boat. Wifi is rubbish, gawd, it's like being back in the Arctic !!!
Gave the boat a quick wash before we set off for Palma. It looks we will take a northerly route to Palma, between Sardinia and Corsica.
Went to a local restaurant in Porto ottiolu tonight for a pizza.........woooow.....the defo best i have ever tasted, we watched them making the pizza dough...........just superb........so soft and doughy......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......i had calzone.........yum yum !!! :-)

11/1/15

We had a run down the coast in the hire car to find some decent wifi.
Yeah, yeah, here..............it's a cafe with internet access........in we go..........we order 4 coffees ..........ooooh sorry all, the wifi is not working............BRILLIANT !!
Drink up we're off.
200 m down the street.............aha......another cafe......more coffee..........at least it has decent wifi !!! WE all get in touch with our families, excellent.
Back to the boat.
When we are back at the boat, Andy says lets try the water for a swim..............i try it first..............FFFFFFFFFF that it's bloody freezing.....even colder than Windermere & Cambridge Bay !!!!!
We are off in the morning, no rush................say 10:00 says Kevin.

12/1/15

Up sorting out the boat ready for our departure. We eventually leave about 11:30......set of North for Corsica................engine on..........wind on the nose......AGAIN.
We make the Benafacio Strait by night fall......wind better we soon have the sails up..........flying along at about 8 knots.

13/1/15

the wind eventually drops and we are back motoring.
At about 02:00 hrs i hear the engine thud, struggle and eventually die........what the FFFFFF was that.....................Kevin thinks we have caught a rope or plastic bag.....we are just off the NW coast of Sardinia about 5 miles West of "Point Ta. Dello Scorno"...............
Kevin tries in vain the release the prop.................he tries a few times to run the engine...........it struggles a bit then sounds awful...............a real grinding noise............he puts her in reverse..................still no good !!!!!
The wind is a bit better, we manage to put the sails up and make some way.
About 12 hours later, after a slow passage.....we have another go at the engine, thinking the sailing might have eased the prop/ moved the rope/plastic bag.
I watch at the stern as Kevin puts the engine through her paces, forward...in reverse.......forward..........in reverse...............suddenly a large plastic fertiliser type bag comes floating up from the stern and we are clear.........engine revs at full speed......we're on our way again !!!

14/1/15

We pass south of Menorca in the night, during my watch i see a couple of fishing vessels, a NATO ship F69 and a large tanker.
We are making good time now, the wind comes and goes, so we have bouts of sailing and then back on the engine.
We arrive off Cape Salinas around 14:00..........about 3 hours to go.
We enter Palma port just after 17:30 as the light is fading.
We moor up at Port De Mallorca......phew................a few beers.
Marina ( the owners partner) arrives from the airport, she has just flown in from Oslo.
Foie gras and champagne from Marina for us all......................very nice !!!
15/1/15 to 19/1/15
Working on the boat, doing some boat provisioning and generally getting "Call of North" ready for the TransAt.
We motor over to the STP berth on the opposite side of the dock, for a lift out and the undersides power washed. During this operation we notice the sacrificial anodes are looking a bit tired, so we get them to replace those as well.
Total amount of time at STP, about 2 hours, just enough time for a relaxed lunch.................the bill for all the work comes to $1300 !!!!............i knew i was in the wrong industry !!!!
We leave Palma at 17:00 hrs........the winds are'nt  perfect on "Passage weather", but hey they rarely are. There are a number of "bale out" points/ports on the way to Gib, so not too desperate.
By night fall we are just North of Ibiza........Andy and i reckon we could slip in a few clubs as we pass !!!!! :-).................Kevin is having none of it.............meany !!!!!
Winds pick up over night and we have quite a rough crossing to the Spanish mainland coast............35 to 50 knots at times..............................woooooooooow hhhhoooooo !!!

The forecast is not good.............winds getting bad again the "Levante", (a strong wind between Morocco and Spain) is about to blow from Gibraltar. Time to get into port. Cartagena is near , so we head there.

"Call of North" at her berth in Sardinia

Mr. Dell looking a bit glum, you would'nt think he was on a free trip to cross the Atlantic would you !!!!! LOL :-)

Mr. Dell still glum and Carolyn, the other member of the crew.

A $4 million boat..............good job i brought my £10 binos from the Oxfam shop !!!

Palma from the sea

On the berth at Port De Mallorca

The cathedral in Palma

Being lifted out at STP for a wash and brush up.

Palma from offshore

Sailing out of Palma for Gibraltar.........before the bad weather.

Mr. Dell........STILL glum........i think it might be the snow on the hills.

A tanker passes by.

Sails are up

Nearing Cartagena

At the berth in Cartagena.

Leaving Sand Point, heading for Homer..............belay that.......make it Kodiak !!!

25th & 26th Sept

We do a few minor jobs on the boat, washing her down etc etc.
Go for walks and do some shopping.
Later we see a sea lion in the harbour looking for scraps off the boats, he does quite well !!!
We meet a guy called Paul, one of the fishing boat skippers, he gives us some good local information and says he woud leave tomorrow to get to Homer. We look at the gribs and think it looks better on Sunday morning........we'll see tomorrow.

Heavy rain on the 26th

27th Sept

Lovely morning  this morning after all the rain.
Around lunch time after downloading some more gribs we decide to take Paul's advice and have a go at it. So we release all the lines about 11:30 and head out.
Not too bad for the first hour or so................then it starts...........port beam reach..25 to 35 knots and getting rough.
We carry on and it gets worse, we have a reefed main up on the aft mast, this suddenly blows out, the reefing line has snapped !!!! Blooming heck thats not good.........no second reef on the aft main now, it's impossible to run another line in these seas.
During the evening and over night it gets worse and the seas get bigger.............talk about a "sting in the tail" !!!
The Alaskan Gulf is being a bit of a sod !!!!
28th Sept
Still rough and windy.We had a text from Fred overnight .............Sunday NW winds ...40 knots .......oooooooooooooo joy !!!! We decide to carry on and see how it pans out. There are  a few bail out ports on the way, so we'll keep those in mind !!!
It gets rough and windy, however, we never saw any 40 knot winds..........yyyyyahoooo !!!!
Very slow going though.................quite a lot of 3 to 4 knot sections....................just big seas slamming into us on the bows...............not fun !!!
Above Foggy cape and just before we entered the Shelikof Strait proper, Steve decided enough is enough..............
"bear off, we're heading for Kodiak......we'll over winter there".
Best news ever, we were all getting a bit pi##ed off with it.
So off we go.........SE now for about 60 miles.......................good run....wind a bit up & down, but far more comfortable.

29th Sept.

We entered the channel between Kodiak Island and Aiaktalik island, just about 07:30..........the sky just showing the first signs of light. In the pilot book it says, " beware strong currents and tidal rips, rocks, kelp beds and shallows...........BRILLIANT......i'm at the wheel..............we're flying in at about 7 knots....massive sea behind us and around 25 knots of wind.........................GORDON BENNETT !!!!! here we go..........into the channel, passed Russian Harbour.............blimey...........winds dropped, seas have calmed down.............blooming easy peasy this (mind you we had timed it just right with the tides, they were on the ebb and flowing out at 1.5kn).
We flew through....9.2 knots at times............tide carried us of course.....brilliant we're out on the east coast of Kodiak Island.......wind good, sea calmish, brilliant sunshine...........all is good !!!
It's fairly barren up the east coast of Kodiak, however, there are some cool looking fjords on route. We may well come and have a look around these next year when we get back. Kodiak should be in our sights on my watch from 20:00 to 22:00. Then that's it the end of the voyage for this year folks.....................LOL !!!!!
We entered Kodiak harbour at 23:00......ok a touch late. We moored up and gratefully got into bed....after a few beers to celebrate.......of course !!!

30th Sept

Busy day today, taking down sails and generally clearing the decks ready to winterise the boat. MacDonalds for coffee.....only wifi we could find....honest Gemma !!!

Nome - Unimak Strait - Sand Point

22nd Sept.
Interesting night last night, we have'nt seen any vessels much on this trip, apart from a tanker going into Nome when we left, but last night we had a fleet of fishing boats from Kodiak all over the place.......we did'nt really clear them until 08:00 this morning.
Beautiful day today...................sunshine, with light to no wind..........so motoring again.
We did discuss leaving the boat in Dutch Harbour yesterday, however, when Steve mentioned it to Doug he recommended we stick to the original plan and head for Homer, a far better port for shelter and  facilities. Dutch harbour was scrapped.
Saw a couple of whales today, just too far away to ascertain type...............DOH......later one came within 50 m of the boat and crossed in front of us........still could'nt tell what it was..............he / she never broke surface much.

23rd Sept
Another beautiful day breaks today, and a very interesting one. I'm woken by Steve shouting "Orca's"............it's 11:00........so, out i run in my under crackers and fleece..wooooow......amazing.
They are blowing and coming out of the water about 300m away from us......brilliant.
Later we start to enter the Unimak Pass, a strait between Unimak Island and Ugamak & Akutan islands, the volcanoes then appear on the island.
As we pass to the south of Scotch Cape, a smoking volcano appears.......it's Shishaldin volcano !!!!!!!!
Wow, that's impressive..........hope she does'nt blow.
We carry on to Sanak Island, which we reach around midnight

Orca's in the Unimak

Beautiful day for a sail

Arty farty shot

and another

ooooo and another

First sight of Unimak Island

 Into the strait proper

Steve looking a tad reflective........possibly thinking of home

Akutan & Ugamak Islands to our south west

Scotch Point

We could'nt figure out where the smoke was coming from at first

then it became a bit clearer..........Shishaldin was smokin !!!!

24th Sept
Fred contacts us by text to say there is some bad weather further on and maybe best to shelter for a day or so. Looking at he chart there is a good marina in Sand Point on Popof Island, so we head there.
On the way we see humpback whales, they appear to be followed by flocks of sea birds, we can't figure it out at fist. Then we track over where one of the whales had just "blown", there appeared to be a milky substance in lumps all over the area, it must be a residue from the whale, we wonder if that's what the bird are eating.
We run into the strait between Popof and Unga islands.............a few fishing boats are about. They all seem to heading the same place as us.
Into the marina at Sand island, we moor up just in front of a large fishing boat called "Destination".......weird name !!!
Lots of fishing boats in here, we get tied up and go for a walk..............nice little spot. There's a large canning factory.
We pop into the local bar for a few sherbets, interesting !!! The local drunk is in residence, trying to trap off with a couple of local ladies.
It transpires he is a skipper off one of the fishing boats. He has just returned from 2 days fishing with 45,000 lbs of Pollock.................no wonder he's drunk !!!!!
Everyone is very friendly i have to say........always a warm welcome wherever you go. Even people in cars passing you on the road wave and say hi.

Local fishing boat

Novara tied up alongside

A Sea Lion comes by Novara ............we wonder if he caught the salmon himself, or is it bits thrown over by the fishermen....

Nome....sweet Nome

18th Sept

After a good kip we woke fairly early , weighed anchor and motored into Nome harbour.
Interesting place with quite a number of floating pontoons that we later found out are gold prospectors............they have "airlifts" (it's a system of blowing compressed air down one tube inside another and the bigger tube brings up debris from the sea floor.) It turns out there ar 11 submerged beaches off Nome, all covered in gold dust and nuggets. Showered and smelling sweet..........well sweeter than we have for a few days !!!
Into the metropolis we venture, coffee and wifi are the main item on the agenda.
We soon find it at the Airport Pizza........a cafe / restaurant. The owner Bill, a cool guy, he even volunteered to take us on a road trip around Nome and it's surrounding interesting locations. This was really good of him, but we soon discovered we had to leave tomorrow, big winds coming in later next week around the Aleutians.............a hurricane in fact.......ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh joy.......just what we need.........NOT !!!!
Hopefully, we should reach Homer before it hits !!!!!!! HOPEFULLY !!!!!
Arctic Tern arrive later in the afternoon and we had a good few sherbets to celebrate the transiting of the NW passage.............phew ...........too many sherbets !!!!
Tel and i found the post office, bought a few stamps and cards...............the first we have seen in the last 3500 miles !!!!

19th Sept

Mike Johnson from "Gitane" (they overwintered in Cambridge Bay last year and came through this year), came on board for a look around.
Gordon Bennett, this guy has done some stuff.
He was a US Paratrooper / Ranger. Then he went into sailing square riggers and worked his way up to Bosun on the square rigger "Churchill". He has sailed all the 5 capes in the southern ocean, rounded Cape Horn on numerous occasions and is a member of the coveted "Cape Horn Association" ....................incredible bloke and really easy to get on with........................coool dude.

Steve has arranged for diesel at 15:00, Les has also sorted some for Arctic Tern. Nic, Nicky and Randall are departing Arctic Tern here, so farewells were the order of the day. Nic & Nicky reckon they will be in Homer, when we arrive. They are going on a road trip for a week or so.
We raft up at the Fuel dock and wait. We took on 150 US gallons, that should do to Homer.
 The weather forecast is rough to start with strong winds, but improving and dying down over the next 12 hours. We decide to go for it............Homer here we come...........
We leave Nome around 16:30 and yes it's rough !!!
It's the shallow water in the Bering Sea that makes it so rough...................anywhere else a 25 to 35 knot wind would be a bit rough, but here..............it's really bad. Very choppy confused seas.
It does eventually drop off and we end up motoring & sailing through the 20th and 21st..........so nothing off any great interest to note there.
We spend our days doing sail changes, reading, watching movies.......sleeping and eating off course.

Of course !!!

The finish line for the Iditarod race from Anchorage

Sun in the wrong spot..........DOH !!!

Statue to the local militia from the second world war

This plague is a memorial to the local ethnic guard that fought the Japanese at the Battle of Attu. This was the only battle during WW2 fought on US soil.

The town square in Nome

A panorama of the harbour ............ and some of the gold dredging boats

Top of the harbour and "Boot Hill" in the background

Arctic Tern arrives in Nome........it's great to see them.......time for a few beers !!!!!