23 Saturday Nov 2019
I flew to London yesterday, went out with Andrea and today we came to Manchester to meet up with Sheila and Jessica and her family. We spent the afternoon in a museum, a Christmas market and a great family restaurant. Great fun!
20 Sunday Oct 2019
Posted in Family, Mallorca, On the water, Travel
We have arrived in Mallorca, Jessica and her family came, my parents and Sheila’s mother. It rains only on about 50 days a year here, but after two sunny days we are hitting a few of those days. The kids (and adults) nevertheless enjoy the warm weather and ocean. We also have access to a pool, great to sit at, have a drink and look at our WhatsApp messages.
16 Wednesday Oct 2019
Wir sind auf dem Weg nach Mallorca und machen zwei Tage Pause in Siegelbach. Den sonnigen Nachmittag haben wir für einen Spaziergang genutzt.
07 Wednesday Aug 2019
Sheila and I came back to Vancouver yesterday, after a great time in Germany with the family. Because of the jetlag we were up early this morning and walked around Stanley Park on the seawall. It was empty at 5:30, but by 7:30 it had gotten quite busy.
03 Saturday Aug 2019
Posted in Family, On the water, Travel
We are enjoying our time with the family in Germany, but took a break this weekend to go on a cruise from Hamburg to Heligoland. We walked around the island this afternoon, looked at the famous rock “Lange Anna”, which now houses a colony of Eurasian gannets. The evening there was a “Pappboot” regatta, youngsters in boats built of paper and glue only. Some even made it all the way around the course of about 200m.
24 Wednesday Jul 2019
Posted in Travel
I played tourist today and drove the Golden Circle. First I visited, and walked around the site of the Parliament Assembly in the Thingvellir National Park. This is a stunning site and was used as assembly fields from 930 AD on, shortly after the settlement of Iceland. It was also used for judicial proceedings including executions. Today it is a park with beautiful vistas and many walkways.
The next stop was a famous waterfall, quite impressive but also rather crowded.
Geysers are called geysers because there is a fountain called The Great Geysir in Iceland. Unfortunately, it is not active right now, but close to it is a smaller one that regularly blows.
I stopped for a recovery session in the hot pool at Secret Lagoon, which is not all that secret anymore, but was not too terribly crowded.
23 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in Travel
I flew through the night to Reykjavik and walked through town today (in sunshine and so hot that the locals complained, 18 degrees Celsius). Tonight I am staying close to the rift valley of the two tectonic plates that form Iceland. A geothermal plant is close by, not much else. The hotel has a hot pool and cold beer, just what I needed.
13 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted in Travel
We had a great time in St John with our friends from the Blue Water Rally. Teri and Lee organized a great program, including a sail with snorkeling and a tour of the island, which has many wonderful beaches.
Now we are on our way back to Vancouver and are stopping in Atlanta for two nights. We are staying in an old house that serves as a B&B, and visited a few sites today.
09 Saturday Mar 2019
Posted in Travel
Teri and Lee are hosting the Blue Water Rally Reunion this year and invited all 29 of us to their beautiful home tonight. It is great to spend time with our friends again and catch up with everyone.
08 Friday Mar 2019
Posted in On the water, Travel
We flew from Miami to St Thomas yesterday, in the US Virgin Islands. The island group was named by Columbus on his second voyage and they have a checkered history. From 1671 on the Danish ruled this area, but sold it to the Americans in 1917. We took the ferry to St John, which boasts one of the safest and oldest harbors in the Caribbean. The island was settled by Taino Indians a couple of thousand years ago and I visited one of their sacred sites today, a waterfall with a pool and some petroglyphs. It was a wonderful hike, about 4km from the road, down to a nice beach. Coming back in the heat (28 deg C) was rather more strenuous. I met a deer and a few tourists on the way. We are staying above Cruz Bay in a lovely place. Tomorrow the Blue Water Rally Reunion begins here and we look forward to meeting our friends again from the time we sailed from Gibraltar to the South Pacific (2007-2009).
