May 28 - June 25, 2005
As it turned out, the trip north to Cartagena had soaked the V Berth so our first chore on arriving was to dry out the boat. We took the cover off the foam cushions and sprayed down everything on the dock. Our neighbor boat was watching the whole process. We we got to the part of drying the thoroughly soaked cushion covers, he asked how we were going to dry them. We told him we were going to trust them to the sun. He then offered to use his "spinner." Seems they have a portable washer and a spinner in their boat. He took us aboard and showed us "the spinner." Its like they have at swimming pools - you put your swimsuit in it, then it spins the water out. This was just a bigger version. We were speechless when we saw cups and cups of water pour out of the bottom of the spinner. When it finally stopped, the cushion covers felt totally dry, but we hung them up anyways.
Then we started quizzing them about the machines. They also introduced us to "the washer" - the world's smallest plastic washing machine. You can turn it on for wash cycles of 1 - 10 minutes. Then you lower the exit tube and the water runs out. Fill it up with the hose again and presto, you have the rinse cycle.
The next day we needed to rent a car and pick up our tickets to China at the DHL office in Alicante, so we got the name of the store where he purchased the washer and spinner. Next day, were they ever surprised to see us hauling a washer and spinner down the dock! Each is light enough that Jan can move them around and they fit in the cockpit. We can wash and rinse and the dirty water then runs directly out of the boat through the scuppers in the cockpit. Now whenever we overnight in a marina, in addition to filling the tanks with water, we plug in the washer and spinner into the marina's 220 volt line and set up the Sugilite Laundry Center. Our buddy boats are amazed - first our air conditioner and now a washer/spinner. But, they are all closely eyeing it and taking down the name of the chain store.
After several days, we finally got the weather window we had been waiting for. There had been strong northerly winds for several days. They were still on the nose, but were not so strong, so we weren't bashing so much as we headed north for a little town called Calpe and then the following morning East for the Balearic Islands, landing at Ibiza. This island apparently is well known by the under 30 crowd as the new "Spring Break" getaway so Justin, Steve's son was totally amazed that we had gone there. We spent several days working around the island bays then we hopped over to meet up with most of our buddy boats which were in Port Andraix on Majorca. We had a great reunion feast as we hadn't seen them since leaving Rota in April. We spent the next day touring Palma, the major city of the island. The marina there is huge and very expensive so we were thankful we were safely moored in a scenic bay an hour away by bus. The next day we took a train ride to a port on the northern coast of Majorca, Sollier. Its quite a trip over and "through" the Serra de Tramuntana Mountains on a pretty little restored train from the turn of the last century.
The next day we bid them all farewell as we headed north to Barcelona and they headed on to the last of the islands. We were meeting up with Brian and Michelle who again "volunteered" to boat-sit SUGILITE while we went to China to work with the factories. We flew to China via Rome. The night before we left, there was a dock party and we met a fellow who had over-wintered at a marina near Rome. He had a friend, who he suggested could pick us up at the airport and drive us around to look at marinas. We need to find a place to park Sugilite for next winter and we have been eyeing the Rome area. Stefano met us as arranged and drove us around for the afternoon looking at various possible marinas. Most people who visit Rome for a day are probably headed for the Spanish Steps, Coliseum, Forum, Pantheon, Vatican etc. Not us. We are focused on crane tonnage, hard standing options, cradle strength and a myriad other requirements to winter a boat.
While in China, we got an email from Anne Marie and Geoff (Maratpan - we had met them last summer in Northern France) to say they were moored next to us in Minorca. We emailed back to say they might be moored next to us, but we weren't on the boat! They were a bit surprised to find SUGILITE without us. They thoroughly checked out Brian and Michelle to make sure they "belonged." It was surprising to hear how other of the cruisers had also heard that "Sugilite" was now in Minorca - so, if someone steals the boat, it would be hard to keep it in the same general area as you get to know the boats cruising near you.
We had a whirlwind tour in China. Got the new products pretty well set for 06/07 and had some interesting times with the plants. I did the Wuhan trip by myself while Steve did the tour of the fleece and one of the knitting factories. All in all it was a good trip. The night before leaving, we had to resolve some issues on the embroidery program so we worked via "Instant Messaging" with Mai-Ling back in the office, going over each and every detail. IM works very well and we got it done, but it literally took all night. We had enough time to eat breakfast then head for the airport. Because we hadn't had any sleep, it was easy to sleep on the plane so we had an easy time adjusting to the time change. We flew in and out of Rome so had about 5 hours Tuesday night to visit the Pope and walk around Rome. It's such a beautiful city we're anxious to come back again and have more time to explore. Its amazing to see the names of places you've read about in history books all nicely printed on the tourist map and within easy distance.
We arrived back in Barcelona to see Brian and Michelle doing the final wash-down of the boat. They had toured Barcelona then decided to head for Minorca so gave us all the low-down and the best bays to visit. They were off to England the next morning so we headed south from the marina, back to Minorca. It turned out that Anne Marie and Geoff were still moored in the same bay, so we anchored next to them "again" and had a wonderful time catching up on where they had been since we last saw them in Portugal.
Next is Sardinia and Corsica.