Ana
Sailing from Gibraltar to Lisbon, Portugal - Aka Orcas Lane!
Moment of panic, were they Orcas or just dolphins? Two more sightings with the binoculars confirmed they were Orcas coming in our direction
LIFE ABOARD
The day-to-day of living full time on a boat with a dog, the life at sea and at anchor.
Where have we been?
Albania Balearic Corsica Croatia France Gibraltar Greece Italy Madeira Malta Montenegro Morocco Portugal Sardinia Sicily Spain Tunisia Turkey
Ana
- May 11
Sailing West along the coastline of Southern Europe - France to Gibraltar
Eyes glued on the water, Ella going crazy and there it was a huge whale surfacing 50-100 meters to our starboard!
Ana
- Apr 22
Crossing the Bonifacio Strait and making way to mainland France
We took a sneaky short cut exiting the Ajaccio gulf by passing in between the Iles Sanguinaires (the Bloodthirsty islands, interesting name)
Ana
- Apr 16
Crossing the Tyrrhenian
The boom jumped further to port side with a slam and stayed in that position. The German Mainsheet system looked weird but it was not broken
Ana
- Apr 14
Crossing the Messina Strait
At this point we experienced 3 knots of current against us. Running the engine at 2000RPMs we were only doing slightly above 3knots of speed
Ana
- Apr 7
Crossing the Ionian
Think it’s safe to say that at this point we both felt this was more than we had bargain for, the winds were way stronger than forecasted
Ana
- Apr 2
Crossing the Aegean
I woke up due to the rolling swell and feeling really cold. John was furling the Jib, the winds had just picked up that extra notch
Sailing The Dream
- Mar 27
Building a hardtop - stainless steel works and installation of equipment (part 5)
They were quite surprised that John and I could lift it reasonably easily just the two of us
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 25
Building a hardtop - joining the pieces and painting (part 4)
With a plan in mind, we prepared a set of lines and straps, arranged in a way that allowed us to flip the 3.8x3.8m hardtop
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 19
Building a hardtop - fairing (part 3)
Once all the fibreglassing for both pieces was completed it was time to start working on preparing for fairing and primer painting.
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 12
Building a hardtop - the construction (part 2)
With the decision of building the Bimini on the foredeck, we wasted no time while still waiting for a few work supplies we built a mockup
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 4
Building a hardtop - the idea, concept and material choices (part 1)
After living on board for four years, we became more and more convinced that a rigid Bimini was one of the items that would improve our life
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 16, 2021
2020 Fuel, engine hours & nautical miles summary
So what do we have to say about our favourite taboo subject, that no one really wants to discuss, in the year of 2020? Seems like...
Sailing The Dream
- Mar 29, 2021
2020 Budget
The time spent in lockdowns and repairs under insurance in cheap or affordable countries allowed us to keep the budget controlled.
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 4, 2021
Italy - Costituto in arrival per il naviglio da diporto (ships arrival declaration/transit log)
Not much can be found online regarding the real need of having this document while sailing in Italian waters or the details on how to get it
Sailing The Dream
- Dec 9, 2020
The costs of ownership - maintenance (version 2020)
On the follow up of the 2019 overall maintenance costs for The Dream, we have further updated our schedules with additional "jobs"
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 18, 2020
Greece, Itea - checking in
This had been the easiest check-in in Greece so far and we had finally managed to get on the Transit Log!
Ana
- Nov 13, 2020
Sailing through two Engineering marvels in Greece
As we were still passing over the submerged bridge the warning siren for the raise of the bridge sounded and we could already hear the...
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 4, 2020
2020-10-23>25 Syracuse, Sicily, Italy > Zakynthos, Greece
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Siracusa, Sicily, Italy to Zakynthos, Greece 276.4 nautical miles in 50 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 19, 2020
2020-10-18 Valletta, Malta > Portopalo, Sicily, Italy
After trying to sail under full sails we heard a loud grinding noise that seemed to come from under the emergency tiller cap (rudder top)
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 30, 2020
Malta, Valletta - checking in and out
I will stamp you both on the crew list (not on the passport - so the time spent in Malta doesn't count for the Schengen time) but be sure to
Ana
- Sep 20, 2020
Another long haul across the Eastern Mediterranean
With visas expiring dates approaching, the Covid19 restrictions and including the fact that the Greek borders were closed to all vessels...
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 17, 2020
Turkey, Marmaris - checking in and out
We arrived quite late in the night and after a quick realisation that we couldn’t identify the customs dock in the middle of all the lights
Sailing The Dream
- Jul 18, 2020
2020-06-28>2020-07-05 Hammamet, Tunisia > Marmaris, Turkey
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Hammamet, Tunisia to Marmaris, Turkey 887 nautical miles in 183h25 hours
Ana
- Jul 15, 2020
A Mad-Dash accross the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Tunisia - Turkey non-stop
After having stayed in Hammamet many months more than we had planned for due to the collision we suffered while in the Marina back in...
Ana
- May 15, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 9
Day 57 (2020-05-08) Rest day. The goal was to do absolutely nothing and we achieved it Day 58 (2020-05-09) Yeah, rest day, too good to...
Ana
- May 12, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 6 > week 8
Day 36 (2020-04-17) > Day 56 (2020-05-07) After having spent two days working a template for a helm cover it was now time to start...
Ana
- Apr 18, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 5
Day 29 (2020-04-10) Continuing developing my new love relationship with our neighbours Sailrite machine. Today we tackled the repairs and...
Ana
- Apr 9, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 4
Day 22 (2020-04-03) Supermarket/veggie stand/internet shop day. This is the one time I leave the boat once a week to replenish what I can...
Ana
- Apr 3, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 3
Day 15 (2020-03-27) Today we tackled the winch for the furler, this one was also impossible to service fully. Of course, repositioning...
Ana
- Mar 27, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 2
Day 8 (2020-03-20) Went shopping with our french neighbour to avoid getting taxis. We were all positive after passing the nearest...
Ana
- Mar 21, 2020
A Quarantine diary - week 1
I’ve decided to write this little diary of our experience of self-isolation aboard The Dream while docked in Hammamet, Tunisia. Day 1...
Sailing The Dream
- Mar 1, 2020
Batteries failure - what went wrong!
Before moving onto The Dream back in 2017 we had spent a lot of time doing research and arriving at our decision with regards to the new...
Sailing The Dream
- Jan 26, 2020
The costs of ownership - maintenance (version 2019)
Since we decided to change our lifestyle and moved aboard The Dream we have been coming across with "guidance numbers and percentages"...
Ana
- Jan 15, 2020
The Dream smashed!
My marina nightmare just became true and to make matters worse I was all alone on the yacht, John was on his way to Australia getting ready
Sailing The Dream
- Jan 10, 2020
2019 Budget
On our third year sailing and second year in the Mediterranean Sea, we kept the 2017 and 2018 target of a 2000€ monthly budget for the three
Sailing The Dream
- Dec 26, 2019
2019 Fuel, engine hours & nautical miles summary
One year later the fuel consumption is still a taboo subject, no one really wants to discuss it.
John
- Dec 16, 2019
2019 Winter projects list
Some projects from last years jobs list weren't completed and there's also the new projects that another year living aboard demand a
John
- Dec 9, 2019
Wrap up of Season 3 - Eastern Mediterranean Sea
Well, we can say we had a season full of adventure from big storms at anchor to big fish at the back of the boat. I can say that the 2019 se
Ana
- Dec 2, 2019
Last crossing of season 2019 - an eventful passage!
Now that it has been a bit over a month since the passages that brought us to another winter in Tunisia it’s time to think about the events
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 29, 2019
Greece, Preveza - checking in and out
The first time we arrived in Greece we chose Preveza on the west coast as our port of entry and then again as our port of exit on our...
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 17, 2019
2019-10-19>21 Siracusa, Sicily, Italy > Hammamet, Tunisia
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Siracusa, Sicily, Italy to Hammamet, Tunisia
258.3 nautical miles in 43 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 10, 2019
2019-10-18&19 Rocella Ionica, Italy > Siracusa, Sicily, Italy
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Rocella Ionica, Italy to Siracusa, Sicily, Italy
96.6 nautical miles in 16 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 8, 2019
2019-10-14>16 Preveza, Greece > Rocella Ionica, Italy
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Preveza, Greece to Rocella Ionica, Italy
266.8 nautical miles in 46 hours
Ana
- Nov 5, 2019
A return to Greek waters and getting hit by two boats
We ran to the bow to grab some fenders and in panic watched the catamaran align itself perfectly with our bow, less than a meter between the
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 14, 2019
Greece, Corfu - checking out and back in
This was our first attempt on getting "stamped" in the Transit Log, but unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as we had expected.
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 11, 2019
2019-08-29&30 Brindisi, Italy > N. Othonoi, Greece
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Brindisi, Italy to N. Othonoi, Greece
87 nautical miles in 18 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 9, 2019
2019-08-21&22 Tivat, Montenegro > Brindisi, Italy
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Tivat, Montenegro to Brindisi, Italy
123 nautical miles in 26.25 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Aug 30, 2019
Italy, Brindisi - checking in
We went to this door on the side of the building, entered the room and found a small lobby with one armoured door on each side and an empty
Sailing The Dream
- Aug 30, 2019
Montenegro, Zelenica - checking in
The place in itself was a bit eerie, feeling very much like an abandoned dock next to a vacant parking lot.