CS: Sat 28 March: we trained to Ghent and walked up the main street following tram tracks into Centrum. The weather was rainy but there were plenty of sunny patches in between, and while cold it was not bitter. We found Ghent to be a very interesting and pretty little spot. We stopped at a bistro, overlooking the Law Courts building to avoid a downpour and Lily introduced us to locally brewed Belgian beer. We then walked on to see the 3 towers Ghent is famous for and the older historic parts of town. More walking and then we bought some [View Full Entry]

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Major Seas all done (no offence Mediterranean) CS: Friday 27th March: We worked our way up the English Channel and into the smaller Dutch Westerschelde. We proceeded slowly up the passage which is very shallow in parts and into the river until we got to the lock gates at about 3pm. We had a longish wait to get through the gate into the port area proper because procedure seems to be to fit as many waiting vessels as possible into the lock area on each transit and we had three barges come through with us. The narrow lock apparently operates to [View Full Entry]

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CS: Thurs 19 March: We were out of the river and into the Atlantic by about 7am. The weather is sunny, cloudless and the sea calm. Captain still wants to outrun bad weather, our current speed indicates an ETA in Antwerp of 27 March. The weather turned nasty during the night. The Low has obviously caught us, the sea is lumpy and a grim gun metal grey, the sky a grey canopy of low clouds and we have strong winds. The ship’s motion so far is not too bad; we’ll see how long it lasts. We advanced our clocks an hour [View Full Entry]

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CS: Mon 16 March: Having read a good deal about that part of American history that deals with the War of Independence and the Civil War, prior to our arrival, we were looking forward to our next port. At 6am it was still dark as we approached our first mooring, the day brought weather that was fairly bright but overcast, with showers later and maximum temperate around 60F. We are scheduled to stay here all day unloading the heavy ship’s engine then leave around midnight to go the rest of the way up the Delaware River to Tioga. We are [View Full Entry]

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CS: Thursday 12th March 2009: We slipped our mooring around 7.30pm on Monday 9th (yes darkness again) and negotiated the river under two bridges then under a 3rd bridge into Galveston Bay. Next morning we were abeam Louisiana and heading to Florida Keys. The weather is bright and sunny, the Gulf of Mexico showing some white caps but generally calm and our motion is steady. The weather continues fine with strong sun and blue skies. We are in the Atlantic by Thursday and the sea is still very quiet. We are making good time as our Captain likes but we cannot [View Full Entry]

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CS: 8th March 2009: We cruised up the river into Huston in the dead of night and woke to the now familiar portside scenes. Having completed formalities elsewhere and because the new ‘red line’ rules have not been implemented this far south yet we were free to go ashore. We walked through the port area, which as usual meant a long way to the gate. However the first of many kind helpful people we met here, a port worker, picked us up in his vehicle having noted we looked somewhat lost. He suggested the bus to downtown and took us to [View Full Entry]

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CS: 5th March 2009: After a bit of lumpy travelling from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico our passage to Galveston was cruisy (as usual, dare I tempt fate to say). We anchored off when we arrived to await the coast guard. We had a lengthy drill before arriving and also came across the first yacht we have seen in open sea. It was a ketch with its large headsail flying but strangely it looked like it was luffing up and floundering somewhat; we didn’t get near enough to say for sure. There were many small oil rigs in the [View Full Entry]

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CS: 25th February 2009: We went through the channel of the Caribbean between mainland Venezuela and the islands of Netherland Antilles with Curacao well off to our port side. We have come around the tip of the headland and are likely to be at Puerto Cabello later this afternoon, travelling at around 17 knots. I tune in to many radio programs on FM from Curacao, broadcasting in Dutch. We arrived in the bay around 5pm. It is quite hazy over the land; we are in a large open Bay with tall mountains down to the sea in most places along both [View Full Entry]

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CS Sat 21 Feb We have arrived in the bay adjacent to Balboa. There is a lot to see and many other ships at anchor, but not too much activity. Some smaller vessels and ferries come to take advantage of the lovely Saturday conditions in the course of the day. It is quite murky in the distance which is a pity after the clear air we have been enjoying but it is likely to be salt spray and distant rain rather than smog. There is a large settlement some way off, Balboa on the right side of the entrance into the [View Full Entry]

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CS: Tues 3 Feb. We cast off without stress, rather more quickly and efficiently than on arrival and headed out of Yokohama. It was unfortunately very smoky but with no wind (the blades on the large wind generator on the shore were hardly moving) so we had an easy but murky passage out. We were soon well out to sea and it remained calm; the North Pacific was indeed pacific so far. We were embarked on our longest single leg; we would be at sea for about three weeks without a break, slowing then to go through Panama Canal and onto [View Full Entry]

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