Captain and first mate resting

The Hard worked crew!!

Pax Nostrum latest

Hi everybody

Have realised most people will be saving up and getting ready for christmas
in December, so don't have much time or money to go off sailing. Therefore
we are considering sailing straight from here [ ie the bottom of the Rio
Guadiana where Spain and Portugal meet in the south] direct to Lanzarote in
December. This should take about 5 or 6 days max.
So anyone interested in such a trip please get in touch with available dates
as soon as poss and we can start making plans.

All fine up the river at the mo although nights are gettng cold and we have
had a bit of rain. Still not complaining been working in shorts most of the
day and now off to the bar for a few cold Sagres.

Hope to hear from lots of folks, cheers H&P

Pax latest

Hi everyone

Finally made it up the Rio Guadiana, good to see lots of old friends and be
made very welcome by the locals too.
After leaving Gibraltar we did some great sailing through the Straits,
although we managed to shred the staysail rounding Tarifa in big winds.We
were windbound in Barbate for a couple of days but set off round Cape
Trafalgar in lively seas and big winds, and anchored in Sancti Petri safely
for several days while thunderstorms passed over us. Sancti Petri was well
worth a visit,an old village which was abandoned during the Franco era,it is
gradually coming to life with bars , restaurants, watersports and holiday
homes developing.Whilst there we made an expedition up the narrow waterways
towards Cadiz by dinghy accompanied by Cape and Tengy's tenders -that was
fun!
Gradually we headed west calling in Rota, the lower part of the Guadalquivir
[the river that goes up to Seville], and El Rompido to the entrance of the
Rio Guadiana. Entering El Rompido proved testing as we missed the channel
markers and touched bottom on our way in, fortunately Paul got us off and we
found the poorly marked channel eventually and enjoyed anchoring in another
well shelered river.
We actually came up the river at the end of September but ended up returning
with Samarang [a 25tonnes, 18meter ex-RAF pinnace] in tow down the
Guadiana, west to Culatra and up the channel to Bruce's yard , Faro. All
went well and it was an extremely interesting experience, felt good to
rescue her as she had partially sunk in the river and is now on the hard
awaiting lots of tlc.
Back up the Rio Guadiana we are spending some time on the quay or anchored
off Alcoutim and getting on with maintenance and more improvements. Our
pickup was still here after 18months and once Paul had recharged her battery
she fired up first time, so we are able to drive off down to the coast for
essentiel supplies.
Cape , Moxie and Pax made an expedition upriver last weekend and anchored
off a small tributary, the Rio Vasquo. We took our tenders up so far and
then walked further upstream until we could wade to a roman dam and enjoyed
a picnic , swimming and exploring the beautiful valley.
Our plan now is to get Pax ready for December and head off to the Canaries,
most likely via Gibraltar and the Moroccan coast to Lanzarote and Graciosa.
So we are looking for crew for that trip, allowing 2weeks to complete it
from here [or at least 1week from Gib].
We have met up with Paul and Maura on Noble Warrior , they may join us along
with Cape. So hope to hear from you all and better still see some of you
soon.
Chhers H&P

Carole and Hilary playing in Santa Ponsa

Pax latest

Hola,
Called in to Estepona but unfortunately swelly seas prevented us staying
there for more than anight, as expensive marina fees meant we couldn't hang
around there.
Have spent a couple of weeks in Gibraltar, both in the marina and on anchor
over in La Linea, and have caught up with a lot of old friends. Also played
a lot of music both on boats and in The Tunnel Bar jam sessions. Sad news as
we arrived - Alan {as in Helen and Alan who lived on Francis] died very
suddenly, Helen was getting on with things as she said but it was a terrific
shock for everyone.
Sue has now rejoined us, along with her beau, John so we are getting resdy
to head off through the straits tomorrow, forecast easterlies picking up to
gale force so we are leaving early and hope to be round Tarifa before the
wind builds, then plan to anchor off Bolona or in Babate and nip into Sancti
Petri for a couple of nights and explore that unspoiled part of Spain. Cape
and Tengy are with us, so we hope to celebrate Sarah's birthday in a
restaurant in Sancti Petri and sample the fresh fish.
Paul has acquired another knackered dinghy, which he assures me is
reparable, this one was formerly tender to Bacchante [Peter and Vivien's
boat ] and is the largest retrieved so far; that takes us up to 8 dinghies,2
outboards, 5 bicycles and 2 motorbikes !!!!!! So should be busy sorting out
things when we get up the Rio Guadiana.
Will let everyone now our plans after that. Hope to see more of you soon.
TTFN H&P

Pax news

 

--- Date: Monday, 16 August, 2010, 10:49 Hi everyone, We are now in Almerimar and have been for over a week!! Did go round northern Mallorca and spent some days in Santa Ponsa, Carole was great and had a go in the sailing dinghy whilst there. We had a brilliant sail across to mainland Spain and made our way down to Alicante before Carole had to sadly leave us. She was a quick learner and very willing so managed to develop quite a few musclesw pulling up sails and anchors!!! Paul and I tootled down to Torrevieja and Mar Menor. Unfortunately Paul had picked up an ear infection but have managed to get that sorted here in Almerimar. Batteries were beginning to hold little charge and we came across some cheap deep cycle one's not far from here so P is currently installing 10 of those!!! Met up with Linda Roswe here and spent a great night up in her cave house with family Cape, had a bbq and of course music session. Making the most of good shops here, and having a load of folks onboard tonight for a nother barbie and music. Heading for Estepona and Gib, so no doubt will catch up with a few friends along the way. Then will go up to Cadiz, Villa Real [Portugal] and probably up The Rio Guadiana for a couple of months , get a few jobsw done and prepare for heading down to the Canaries. So start thinking about jpining somewhere along that route. Must dash as on borrowed computer, looking forward to seeing lots of friends soon!!! Cheers H&P

 

 

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5422 (20100904) __________

 

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

 

http://www.eset.com

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5422 (20100904) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

---

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3110 - Release Date: 09/02/10 20:50:00

Pax Nostrum latest

Hi Everyone,

Latest update from Pax.
We sailed from Carloforte in Sardinia, and had to use the engine.
Unfortunately the deadwood around the sterngland set on fire, Pax filled
with smoke and we had to flood the engineroom . Paul rigged a stream of
water from the generator feed and we made it to Mahon, Menorca , pumping out
the bilges every 15mins.
It wasn't possible to lift in Menorca so we limped round to Alcudia, Majorca
and lifted here, so that we could clear out all the old sterngland packing
and replace it with the correct size packing and antifoul the bottom. Aweek
later and mucho dineros we splashed on Weds, 7th July.
We meet up with Cape again in Mahon and they accompanied us to Alcudia,
where they decided to lift and sort out their engine and antifoul.
Unfortunately they discovered a few more probs but hopefully they will
splash tomorrow. Paul is helping David reinstall their engine today, so
fingers crossed.
Carole has joined us today from London for the first time. She is taking a
welcome break from training to be a doctor and will be with us for 3weeks.
We plan to leave here in a few days and head around the north of the island
to Santa Ponsa, then on to Ibiza and Formentera, before heading to the
mainland, we hope to make it to Gibraltar for the regatta on 24th july, but
may not make it [depends on wind and what happens enroute].Cape is in the
water and appears to be ok.
It is v hot now but cool seabreezes everyday make life onboard v pleasant.
Hope we will be seeing some of you v soon, lots of reasonable flights ou to
the islands and the mainland..
We did another gig last night for a few beers so keeping up the music
sessions.
Cheers to all, H&P

Pax latest

Hi Everyone,
We made it to Malta, almost 2weeks ago.
Had some lovely sailing from Greece, altho got blown back when we
tried to pass between Kefalonia and Zakinthos and had to spend a
couple of nights in Ayios Nikolais, Zakinthos.[the water was crystal
clear but cold]
We left there and sailed straight to Syracuse, Sicily with Emily and
Andy as crew.We saw dolphins, a turtle and Emily swears she saw a
shark , Paul thinks it may have been a sunfish but she's adamant.
Every night we had several swift type birds seek refuge and sleep on
top of the radio or curtains in the caboose, or snuggle up outside;
sadlythey didn't all wake up and fly of but most of them did.
After a rest in Syracuse we set sail south and had to take refuge in a
small port on the se corner of Sicily, as the wind too much on the
nose. We had hoped to set off early the next day but heard water
swishing around in the bilges and discovered the sterngland was
leaking rather more than it should be. So after pumping the water out
we nipped ashore to a boatyard and managed to explain the problem and
asked for a quick lift so we could undo the gland and repack it but
their licence to lift was not operating and they were unable to help.
However the yardowner assured us we would be able to take it all
apart, put in new packing and retighten it without sinking the boat
.So it was with a little trepidation we did just that.Emily and Andy
had their bags packed ready in case they had to get off quickly and
try to get a flight back to the UK from Sicily instead of the ones
already booked from Malta.
All went well and we sailed off to Malta that evening, making such
good progress that we had to drop all but one sail inthe middle of the
night to avoid reaching Malta before first light. Andy treated us all
to a full english before he and Emily leftthat evening to take those
flights that night.
We are enjoying Malta very much-they are very friendly, english
speaking, drive on the right and have shops full of British food, plus
they have excellent pie shops everywhere. There are some stunnung
places to visit and we have even had a few beers in 'The Pub', famous
as the place where Oliver Reed dropped dead in 1999!!! Paul's dad has
had 2weeks holiday with us too.
So now thinking about the next leg, planning to go from here to
Tunisia, probably via Sicily, then on to S Sardinia, across to Ibiza
and mainland Spain. We will leave early june, so now's your chance to
join us.Lots of cheap flights seem to be available to Malta,Trapani in
Sicily and Cagliari, s Sardinia. Not so sure about Tunisia, but there
probably are. Please get in touch asap, noone confirmed yet but one or
two are making arrangements to join us for some of the next sail

Pax Cruising 2010

Hi Everyone,

Happy and healthy 2010.

Started thinking about cruising plans for this year and are now hoping to leave here [Messolonghi, Greece] and heading for Malta during the latter half of April. Route and timing will depend on crew numbers and weather to a certain extent of course, but anyone interested in joining for that leg of our journey please get in touch.

There are lots of cheap flights from Malta and Catania in E Sicily to several UK airports at that time. We are about 3/4hours by bus from Athens,which is the cheapest way to join us and probably the nearest airport ,and the easiest to get to from UK,etc..

We will probably stop off in Malta for 2-4weeks and then head off west from there but more of that later, we'll see how this idea pans out.

Plenty of space so the more the merrier!!!

Cheers for now, just think of nice sunny days and pleasant sea breezes!! H&P

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2010.

We are thinking about cruising plans for this year.

Probably we will leave Messolonghi [gulf of Patras, Greece] and nip over to Vlikho Bay, Lefkas island, Greece to get Pax ready for heading east. Aim to leave from there round mid April and sail to Italy, either the southern mainland or Sicily, depending on crew and weather conditions. Hopefully then to Malta, maybe Tunisia and from there to Spain and Gibraltar.

So start thinking about joining us if you can and get in touch so we can think plans thro!!!

Alls well in Messo;onghi altho a bit wet at the mo, nothing like as cold as UK, etc,. so not complaining, but looking forward to sun and sailing once again!!

Good luck and all the best Paul and Hils