Obiahman Endeavours

Dubai: The unfinished city

2009-10-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Dubai, and can’t help to share a few thoughts about it because I cannot wait to see where Dubai is headed in the future. Why? Because I get the feeling that Dubai has won the lottery a couple years back (they found oil) and started having a party. And… I personally have gone to enough parties to have learned that … they END. Actually they end sooner than we would like. We want it to continue as long as possible because we are afraid of a hangover and everything else that comes with reality.

From what I have seen, I would estimate that 85% of Dubai is still under construction (not counting stakes in the ground). The first question that popped into my mind when seeing Dubai was: who is going to occupy these buildings once they are finished? From what I have been reading… 85% of the party attendees are expatriates and many of them are starting to apply their exit strategy (Hung over?). Or will the question prove to be obsolete in a couple of years because many of these buildings will never be finished?

Second question was… where does Dubai get its power and water from and how much are we talking about? Apparently, most of its power is derived from Oil and gas plants and the water comes from desalination plants (they use electricity). Well… my name might not be Einstein, but what will Dubai do when they run out of Oil? (Estimates show that they have between 10 and 15 years of Oil left).

Third question, who is going to pay for the maintenance of the infrastructure to be? Let’s be honest, Dubai does not have a lot going for itself at the moment except that it’s tax-free. Alcohol is hard to come by, you will be locked op for 4 years when in possession of so much as a poppy seed, you have to import your own women and, I have noticed that not a lot of people smile?!? (Just the tourists) So, the day Dubai will start charging income tax it will go back to being a desert overnight if you ask me.

But Dubai is fun for those who are not hosting the party. Because it’s a good party for now... and who cares what the house looks like when it’s over? It’s not yours! Right?

Oh... and don’t forget to spend as little money as possible when there, for Dubai is an environmental and ecological catastrophy (to busy partying I guess).So…the less you spend, the faster Dubai will be the scene for the next Mad Max Movie, the better for our planet, our future and our children :)

Corcovado Part 3: The beach scene

2009-05-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

The day after arriving at La Sirena we took it easy. We knew it's not a place someone is likely to return to soon, so we figured its worth staying an extra day. We let our stinking feet dry some more and explored the surroundings. We saw a great variety of animals and insects, some very much appreciated, some not at all .... (Damn ticks!)

Well rested, feet still sore and a 12$ breakfast we set of to hike from La Sirena to La leona. Apparently it advisable to "consult" the tide tables, because there is multiple stretches of beach that are hard to access around high tide. If you Ignore them like we did however, you are in for a whole lot of extra fun. Meaning: running like a madman from one rock to another while the ferocious sea retracts! The fun part -obviously- is looking at the other not making it, getting wet and smacked into the rocks by the upcoming wave. What a Thrill, I felt like a kid again!

The trail is beautiful, there are parts that go inland through the forest, but most of it goes along the beach. Both sandy and rocky bits. There are some beautiful lagoons where you can have a refreshing dive...and so we did. Paradise you ask? My guess is that if you can stop your mind from thinking about an ice cold beer, it comes pretty close.

(Do be careful, as you can see in the pic, the sand is extremely hot!)

A couple of Km's before the end of the park we were slugging ourselves over the sandy beach using the side of our feet. It was the only part left without open and bloody blisters. From the end of the park to the little village (hardly a village at all) it was still an hour. What a bummer... we had not been expecting this. All neurons had been shouting for a rest and some accompanying alcohol for the past 5 km's allready.

And there it was... Finca Exotica, what would become our Serendipity of that day. Marcus (the owner) was just cutting up the testicles of one of his pigs to be prepared for dinner, when he noticed us stumbling in. "Common'in guys" He said. 5 minutes later we were drinking an ice cold beer and had our feet duct taped by Martine from Step Out Experience. (Thank you!). Needless to say, we slept like babies that night in one of the Tiki Huts (yes.. after having tasted some lovely pig balls).

The next day, before taking the collectivo back to puerto Jimez, Marcus kindly showed his around his sustainable property and had us taste a masive variety of fruits that I had never seen or even heared of. All and all we can look back on a wonderfull experience that has taken us on step closer to nature and a giant leap further away from the consumer society. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Corcovado Part 2: Wet wet wet

2009-05-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

We started the first bit of rain forest trail from Los Patos to La Sirena with not a lot of spare time on our hands, since we started at 9.45 AM and the trail is estimated to be an 8 hour hike. The slightest mistake would result in hiking in the dark (since sunset is around 5:30). No matter how bright your flashlight is, the Jungle is probably one of the most scaring places on earth to be moving around in at night. This is when all the creapy insects come out! This is when you get bitten and have no idea what it was. You'd be going frantic, jumping up and down trying to find the invisible bugger, probably still undiscovered by mankind. The doctors would be speculating for ages what caused your nutsack to grow the zise of your head and grow glow in the dark pubes.

Anyway....... The start was bad. I slipped from a stone trying to cross the river, and using both hands to protect the borrowed DSLR (my DSLR and video camera traded owner against my will in Puerto Viejo the weekend before) I hit my knee, and got both of my feet wet. I learned two valuable lessons. 1) Shit also happens in the Jungle. 2) You want to keep your feet dry in the jungle at all cost.

After about 5 km's in we heared a waterfall in the proximity. A huge one... it was the kind of waterfall you do not go to....it will come to you. And it did! It stayed with us for about 3 hours. There was no hiding. We got wetter than a horny mermaid.

But we continued.. and after sogging on until 17:15 we finally arrived at the ranger station. Dinner was served at 17:30 and at 19:00 we layed down on a bug infested piece of antique foam. But we did not care... our legs and feet (or what was left of it) needed rest because we had hiked for almost 30 km's that day. Besides that, there was not much else to do at the ranger station anyway.

Part 3 soon to be posted.

Corcovado Part 1: Ogling down on the rainforest

2009-05-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

The colorful twin otter from Nature Air containing me and my brother landed in Drake Bay (from San José) in heavy rains for a 5 minutes layover. I did not mind at all, two thrilling takeoffs and landings in the jungle for the price of one! After dropping some luxury resort saps, we continued to Puerto Jimenez.

I was happy, and could not believe that we where soon be hiking underneath the thick canopy I was now ogling down on. Boy oh Boy... Nature in its purest form was waiting for us... and so of course where the 17 species of deadly snakes. (Three days before I had almost stepped on a bushmaster, barefooted!)

After a good night sleep in La palma, we climbed in the back of a pickup truck to be dropped of at the first of 27 (or so) river crossings that would lead to the first ranger station "Los Patos" the official beginning of the prime rain forest. We arrived there at 9:45. Little did we know that you were not allowed to set course to the next ranger station ¨La Sirena¨ after 10:00, so we were lucky timing wise.

p.s.
Prior to going to Corcovado I googled for some waypoints but found little to none, so I marked some myself while hiking from Los Patos to La Sirena to La leona for sharing. Altough GPS reception is poor under the thick canopy of the rainforest, there are some open spots allowing you to check if you are going the correct way and how far to go still. The trails are very doable without a guide. Take the waypoints and Enjoy your hike.

Waypoints Corcovado National Park Costa Rica.

Los Patos Ranger station

N 08˚34.345'

W083˚30.488'

Old Patos Ranger station (from here it is 17km's to La Sirena)

N08˚34.258'

W083˚31.332'

La Sirena Ranger station

N08˚28.827'

W083˚35.375'

La Leona Ranger station

N 08˚26.860'

W083˚29.312'

Drinking source (on La sirena- La leona trail)

N08˚26.454'

W083˚32.615'

Pulperia Carate (Beer selling point and Stop for the 'Colectivo' for Puerto Jiminez)

N 08˚26.620'

W083˚27.730'

Corcovado Costa Rica....

2009-04-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

I have some thrilling news for all my trusty reader(s) (Hi Mom, Dad and Ross!). I shall soon (15 May 2009) be endeavouring a hike in Corcovado park and shall report back on it, right here… on this Blog. YES!

I expect the trip to be of sublime nature….and here is why:

The owner of Mrtico, will be venturing with me ... to explore all posibilities of bespoke and exciting trips to meet demand of its adventereous customers…..and… it is supposibly “the most biologically intense place on Earth" according to the National geographic.

If you are now thinking that you made a big mistake by booking an “el cheapo” two week all inclusive near the red sea with your future ex-wife and your mother in law …. you are right. Even if you have opted for the adventerous ” PADI diving course” for minimizing “quality time”.

I mean ... with the amount of poiseneous snakes, bullsharks, alligators, africanized bees and even pumas and leopards, the chances your mother in law surviving a "Corcovadian" trip are practically nihil.

Luckely, soon you’ll be able to book a similar trip on http://www.mrtico.com/, without the incumbrance of extensive preparations and planning.

To be followed….

Back from Africa!

2008-09-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

Proudly we announce that we have made it back in good health (knock on wood for malaria has an incubation period). The car clocked a total of 8600km’s before being handed over to the next owner for a modest wad of CFA’s in the town of Mopti (see pic).

From Mopti we continued our journey to the Dogon country. This region constitutes of a 150km’s long valley, and is mostly visited by trekking around on foot. Since we had jobs waiting in the Western World restricting our time frame, we splashed out and rented an old 4x4 from some greedy local that knew we had more money in our backpack than the local bank in its save. With the old Nissan and Hamidou as our guide, we ventured into the bush, to visit old towns.

First up was Sogho; a town where once in three years (or so the ‘sub guide’ tells us), the boys aging from 8 to 12 have their female part removed from their manly hood in a sacred place, decorated with wall paintings. If any woman in the village hears them shouting, they are banned from marrying a girl from their own town. Luckily the threat of a snakebite is persuasive enough for most of them to suck up the pain, for there is no anaesthetic. During the 25 day healing period, they all learn how to play one of the 1000 instruments for ensuring a successful celebration of a smaller penis at the end of the ordeal.

After that we moved on into the Bandiagara escarpment. Our guide told us exaclty like it descibed on wikipedia: we saw the house where Marcel Griaule wrote his book, we traded respect with the village Hogon's and the jackal devine sandboxxes, so no need to mention it here. Funny detail, we have taken pictures that look almost exactly like the ones posted on wikipedia.

And there it is.... Bamako!

2008-09-22T05:57:00.000-07:00

Exactly two weeks after departure from Amsterdam and some 7600 kilometers we have reached our destination. Bamako! It shows that one can actually combine a bit of adventure and the coorporate life. No need for "off the shelf" vacations, or an all inclusive when you have only 3 weeks in between projects.

The last kilomters before rolling into Bamako we pictured ourselves finally resting in a loungechair, in a nice quiet and calm atmosphere, with a cold beer. Hell... we even had a bit of hope for a cosy chat with some lost female backpackers on the side of a pool filled with refreshing blue water.

Instead we found ou that Bamako is a very dusty and bustling city. The sun had started to move to the other side of the world as we cursed the Lonely Planet for not stating coordinates! How is one supposed to find their "pick" when there are no coordinates? Asking for directions always resulted in the same answer "est ce que la voiture est a vendre?". Fortunately good food can be found in Bamako . Unlike in Sevaré , were I was served a chicken with 4 legs and a tale (see pic!).

We ended up in hotel Tamana. Not quite what we had in mind, but looking back it wasn't all that bad... We stayed two nights before fuelling up for the road toward Segou. A nice quiet town on the river Niger (see pic).

Route de l'espoir to Mali

2008-09-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

The ridiculous amount of checkpoints on the 'route de l'espoir' to Kiffa messed up our mojo, resulting in an exciting night drive through Mauritania's mountainous scenery. Not an ideal situation I'll have you know, especially with a grumpy police officer on the back seat next to our vodka filled water bottle (heu...of course we'll give you a ride... you do celebrate Ramadan right?!). After dodging “soon to be road kill” for about 2 hours on a pitch black road, we finally made it to the 'phare du desert'. An overly expensive, but fairly decent resting place.

The next morning, after embarking the first passenger of the day (military!), we steered for Mali. The road was crappy, and on some occasions the road spontaineously turned into a river. Only one time did we get stuck in swampy grass while taking a detour through the cattle fields (see pic).

After the never ending border crossing formalities we found ourselves in the objected country... Mali. Major milestone!

We spend the night in Nioro du Sahel. A lovely little town with lovely people and ice cold BEER! (In case you didn know, Alcohol is Illegal in Mauretania). The sky collapsed on us and the families started washing, praying and eating. Everthing was Irie....

Mauretania, Nouakchott.

2008-09-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

Am am writing this from the country with an unpronounceable currency: The Ouguiya. Yes, we are in Mauritania, the capital city of it to be more precise. Nouakchott.

The pic below is the biggest oases in the world. It's in the Atlas mountains of Morocco. You can clearly see the divide.

The Benz clocked 6150km's so far and has seen his fair share of adventure. I am writing this from the lobby of some hotel, so I have to be quick writing this update. Apologies.

Here are some headlines. Rino and I both managed to get a speeding ticket in the Sahara. One would think there is nothing but sand, but this is not the case. There are two bushes, and behind those to bushes there are people that have gotten a radar for Christmas. Here is a picture of me, helping the guy out writing my speeding ticket.

As far as the car is concerned. The Benz never ceases to amaze me. The thing just goes and goes... and goes. Even in the terrible heat of the dessert. The tail end started to hang a bit low, but it is not affecting the driving of it. At some point we noticed the muffler had broken loose, but we got out some wire in the middle of no where (western sahara) and it was ok again (see pic).

The road from Agadir to here was a long one. And there is only so much sand you can see. But camping out in the desert is mesmerizing. The road is pretty good, you just have to watch for crossing camels and such. The border crossing between Western Sahara and Mauritania was no picnic. Or actually... it was. A very long one.... Waiting games to get out of the country and corruption games to get into Mauritania. Between the two countries there is a stretch of 'no mans land'. I'll write about no mans' land later on.... but we got stuck and digging out did not help.

On the way from Nouadhibou to Nouakchot we had to give two military guys a ride. We already had one passenger in the back, so it got crowded back there. Clearly the coup de l'etat was the conversation of the day. We can clearly feel a divide between those for the coup and those against it. However, we do not feel any immediate danger. There are a lot of road blocks, but that is business as usual. We have to answer the same questions over and over again. What a pain......

Anyway... a lot of nice pics to show... but not enough time... We have to set course to Kiffa now. 650km's in the heat and many roadblocks to go (duane, military and police roadblocks). The last pics is one of people that did a similar trip and had to walk away. The pic was taken in no mans land between Western sahara and Mauri. RIP.

Suicide Donkeys

2008-09-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today I was going to write about getting yelled at by a Moroccan police officer for not noticing his road block and flying past it, but it got degraded by a very cinematic moment in the Atlas mountains.

Let me set the scene: I was driving towards Er Rachidia and Rino had dosed off (I think its his hobby). The Benz was rolling about 80 in a 60 zone (end of a little village) when 3 donkeys and their owner decided to cross the street. I took me a little while to realize that the had actually decided to do so, because it seemed like suicide to me. I hit the breaks ... hard, and as we skidded towards the three donkeys Rino opened his eyes. We had no time to place bets, but judging by the size of his eye balls, Rino would have placed all his money on at least one dead donkey. I remember wondering what the going rate is for a donkey in Morocco. It was a moment of make or brake. The Benz came to a halt 1 centimeter (I kid u not) from a donkey. The donkeys didn't even blink. Business as usual for a Berber donkey I guess.

We have now driven 3200 kms and I am writing this while chilling in Hotel Riad in Er Rachidia. Tomorrow we will continue course towards the biggest Oases Allah has provided the world with.

Funny Fact, we just found out that there is a 2 hour time difference between here and Amsterdam. Tracking back its hilarious. We now realize that we left the campsite ridiculous early, went to bed ridiculous early and ate ridiculous early. It explains why the restaurants were always empty and why we were the first ones awake of the entire campsite (including the owner).

Camel Head

2008-09-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

We departed from Amsterdam Saturday september the 6^th at 13:00. The first day we drove until 02:00 and spend the night in a 1 star hotel just outside Bordeaux. It cost 41 euro and it reeked of sweat, but hey...the first 1000 Kms were a fact.

The Second night we spend in a field between Madrid and Cordoba. The only campsite on that stretch of road was closed and we felt like we deserved a beer and some rest, so we set up camp in the wild. Not the best night of our lives, but very doable and cheap.

The third day we really started to feel the vacation atmosphere while driving through the Sierra Nevada towards Algeciras to grab a ferry for the African continent. After 2500kms, 205 euro's and one hour later, we were in Morocco indeed. After some hustle at customs (They thought I was filming and had to be convinced I was not) we felt like the 'walk away car project' had really started. We spend our third night on a camp site in Tangier, named Montemira. Of the German owners no sight, the pool was not to be used during Ramadan, and a cold shower cost 50 euro cent but otherwise very decent. After setting up camp and a beer we grabbed a 'petit taxi' (fiat uno with no shock absorbers) to the old Medina for 7 Dirham (70 euro cent) and had a Tagine. That night I really got Rino jealous when it took me about 1.5 seconds to fall asleep.

The fourth day we drove form Tangier to Rabat. We had found some coordinates for a camp ground near a beach in Rabat on the Internet and set course to reach that and chill for a while. When there we found out that what once might have been a camp ground, now is a building site. Bummer. In Rabat we did - however- get the question answered we asked ourselfes upon entering Morocco 'does traffic from right have the right of way?'. The question seems obsolete since the driver showing most balls has the right of way. Approaching at fast speeds, and looking the other way seems to work best for us so far. Anyway, we drove on to Meknes and camped there. The old medina (city center) of Meknes is magnificent I found.

While in Meknes, we were looking for some meat for the BQQ, we (especially Rino) were very disappointed to learn that there was no camel meat left. Just the head! Oh well. Go ahead and try to spot the difference....

trip preparations

2008-09-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

I write a couple of days before departure.

De Benz is as ready as she'll ever get. The upholstery has been wiped, two new tires have been put on for grip, an armrest has been custom made by Rino, 4 new looking hood caps for LA style *bling bling* are tie ripped on and an Ipod connection has been installed for onboard entertainment. If we get around to washing the bird droppings off she'll "looka like a new!"

As for other preparations:

Visa for Mauretania en Mali have been issued for the both of us. We have obtained them trough a visa agency for saving hassle at the border crossings.

And although the political situation in Mauretania is unstable and no one wants to go there, a single entry visa still goes at a rate of 32 Euro's. What a joke. Rino has acquired some malarone against malaria, I will just do with 50% DEET and 50% Beer in the blood stream to keep those little malaria injectors from being attracted to me. Shots (Yellow fever, Typhus and what have you) have been checked and updated where necessary. International driver's licences that will probably never see day light have been purchased, and thats pretty much it ;)

project: The Walk away car

2008-07-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

A colleague of mine asked me if I had any holliday plans this summer.
“yes” I said “I’ll probably be going to Mali this year”.
“Oh nice” my colleague replied “what will you be doing there?”
“fly back!” I said.

There is only one way to travel to Western Africa in order to get the full flavor off it’s offerings - mine fields, unbearable heat, corruption, despear, robbery, hassle, sand and terrorists- by car and low budget. So that is exactly what me and a friend of mine will be doing this summer. Just to add a little extra flavour we’ll doing this during Ramadan (September 2008).

What people do to compensate the corporate office life! Really.

We named our new endeavour: Project walk away car, for the simple reason that If it breaks down and the costs to repair are greater than our budget we should be able to just "walk away". We considered a 4x4 but found none within our walk away budget. Apparently it is doable in a 2wd (with aironditioning).

Happy to inform you that my friend and I congratulated eachother with becoming the proud owner of a Mercedes benz 200 D recently (for the conneseurs: the w124 model without airconditioning). We are hoping she will take us through the Sahara from Amsterdam to Bamako with limited issues. Why this car? Good value for money, its known for its endurance and apparently can be quickly resold.

To be continued soon....
In the mean while.. you might want to know what we are taking with us? What is it you need to think about when going to the Sahara in a TwOWhEeL drive? Click here

Kopenhaven

2007-09-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

Location: Copenhagen, objective: Job interview with A.P. Moller Maersk.

While I rang the bell at the H&R headquarters of AP Moller Maersk in Copenhagen for my Job interview looking like a tourist, my Hugo Boss suit was laying on a beach in Lanzarotte. The bagage handelers had "misplaced" my luggage, and it did not arrive on time for the job interview! A worn down pair of counterfeit Diesel jeans from Bangkok, Ecco sneakers and a stained Abercumbie&Finch polo was all I could count on for first impressions. Oh well... the H&R girls at Maersk were lovely and seemed to comprehend. Well see if they invite me for a follow up...

Anyway, while there, I spotted three super yachts. First up, the PARSIFAL III. An absolutely stunning 54 meter ketch (two masts - a main and a mizzen- with the steering wheel between the two) build in 2005 by Perini navi. She is 60 meters high, and her draught is 4.5 meters. If you have an extra 200.000 euros laying around, you could rent her for about a week (Don't forget to invite me if you plan on doing so). Click here for more info and pics on her offcial website.

If you happen to be the skipper of the Parsifal III and are reading this, click here to hire me as a Deckhand cook and scuba intructor (RYA certified, Padi certified and good food lover;)

Second the Anakena, a 40 meter sailingyacht also a ketch. Build in 1996 by Royal Huisman. She has won a couple of awards including "Best sailing yacht" and "Best Interior". If you would like to have a peek at this interior and dream away, click here.

Needless to say, if you googled on ANAKENA because you are the owner and now reading this, do not hesitate contacting me for some good company while exploring the icecaps (she has been reinforced for ice). I like oysters and champagne, so stalking up on that before mailing me would be grant ;-)

Last but not least: SKAT! yes, SKAT. The

64the Largest yacht in the world, owned by a former software engineer from Microsoft. She is over 70 meters long and it will cost a staggering 1/4 million euro's just to fill her up (she'll take 210.000 liters of fuel). There are elevators, jacuzzi's, a gym, motorcycles, and ofcourse a helicopter in matching colours. For more info and pics on this immaculate yacht with her beautifull lines, click here or here.

If you would like to know who has the biggest, check this site.

Greece! After 9 days at sea.

2007-06-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

After exactly 1628 Nautical miles, and exactly 9 times 24 hours, we arrived on Kos. My longest non stop trip ever, and despite the many rude awakenings, I would do it again no questions asked. Obviously the Swan 68 makes such a trip a lot more exciting than say a Bavaria cruiser, a Sun Odyssey or even a Halberg Rassy, but I would even have done it on a 30 foot sailboat (as long as there is an Epirb). The ‘Lady in Red’ is not your regular 68 Swan. She’s fully loaded with 15 Lewmar winches, the biggest one being a size 111 (see pic) and most of them being push button with three gears. There are two coffee Grinders (or pedestals) for buffing up your biceps underway or for use when racing. The mast and boom are carbon, and there is a set of Kevlar racing sails as well. Below deck you will find a dishwasher, a washing machine, dryer, ice maker, water maker, air-conditioning, stereo and TV, fridges, automatic toilets, etc… etc… obviously all carpentry is done in teak. Very Nice!

Does all this luxury lessen the adventure sensation? Well, maybe, but luckily we had a rope stuck in our propeller (you would be amazed of all the garbage you see floating in the middle of no-where) allowing me to go for a free dive at 7 o’clock in the morning (after 1 hour of sleep for I just finished my watch) in a 3000 meters deep swimming pool. With flippers that were too large, a snorkel and goggles that where to small, a rope tied around my waist and a leatherman® in my right hand, I took a deep breath and swam for the Maxi prop. While hanging on the prop, cutting the rope like a madman I couldn’t help to peak down into the great unknown. There it was. The Med, the sea I was used too, but vertically this time: a shade of blue that slowly gets darker and darker and is filled with aquatic animals. A priceless moment! Luckily I had ten other such moments, for I had to come up for air that many times. I had to hurry, an ocean tanker came our way and did not respond to hour radio call “please alter your course, we have a diver down!” What are the odds?

Need you sailboat delivered, moved, or you just bought one and have little experience? Send me an email. We’ll sail it together and I’ll teach you a trick or two…Or you have a boat and want to go round the world? Not alone? I might be interested… send me an email, besides sailing: all expeditions welcome! None of the above? Send me an email anyway!

Do you want to expand your sailing experience yourself? I built mine up using crew seeker websites.... They work! And remember… sail to travel. Don’t travel to sail!

p.s. Click on images to enlarge

Dolphins, Sea turtles, Whales and helicopters

2007-06-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

The trip is very nice, we’ve been visited by dolphins at least two times a day since departure, and we spotted some blowing whales in the distance. A very nice big sea turtle of about 1.5 meters in diameter floated next to the boat as well. During my night watch, sailing close to the Sardinian coast the funniest thing happened. The weather was a bit rough, I was dressed in foul weather gear and the rest of the crew was sleeping. At one point I looked behind me, and saw a – what I thought to be – a sailboat closing in very fast. I clearly saw a hoisted sail and the port and starboard light (red and green). At first I thought it to be a hydrofoil Catamaran or something. I quickly grabbed the binoculars to get a positive ID. At first, no sails where to be seen, I thought I was hallucinating, clearly something was there. As it closed in, it appeared to be a helicopter, with its search lights on. It had me in its spotlights for about 5 minutes, hovering maybe 30 meters above sea level just next to the boat. I looked up, wondering who was looking down at me and why. I guess the where checking for illegal immigrants from Africa or so?

From Malaga to Mallorca

2007-06-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

After exactly two weeks I find myself sailing back into the bay of Palma for the second time, this time on the ‘Lady in Red’ the nr 19 of the 68 Swan series. And although Mallorca is filling up with the world finest Superyachts because of the Superyacht cup to be held here next week, the Swan still manages to turn a view heads. And righteous so, she’s drop dead gorgeous. I would have contented myself with just a peak of the interior, and a walk on deck, but luckily faith has given me a lot more. If you have to do a sailyacht delivery, it might aswell be a Swan, right? We started the journey in Puerto Sotogrande (near Malaga) about three nights ago (about I say for I have lost track already), and are headed to the other end of the Med, Kos Greece. It is approx 1600 NM. We have planned to do it in about 10 day at sea without landfalls. Just a quick fuel fill up in Palma and off we go again. Funny detail, during the fill up I spotted Limitless; the worlds 10th biggest super yacht I believe it is, owned by Victoria Secrets (underwear!) founder.

Hoisting sail again

2007-05-30T04:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday 2nd of June, I’m flying back to the Med. I will be sailing from Malaga (Spain) to Kos (Greece). It seems I am moving up in the world of sailing, because this time the boat is a real jewel. A 72 foot 1999 Swan, one of the nicest and fastest production sailing yachts of its class. It’s unbelievable really. Every time I saw a Swan in a port or Marina somewhere I got real excited. I would look at the Swan Yachts for hours, wondering what it would be like to sail one, or what the interior would look like. In less than 4 days I will know al this. And I will be able to enjoy her for 10 days straight… at sea. I’ll be posting my experiences here soon….

In the mean while you could surf to Swan’s website. Or if you are sitting in the office, and want to dream away a bit you might want to click here . If you are looking for a way to spend a quiet vacation with your wife, this little ship would be the thing to charter. If planning on being promiscuous on a big scale, purchasing this baby would get you 99% there.

Mallorca

2007-05-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Let me say something about the Mallorcan hospitality: there is none. As soon as a traded the boat for the bus to Palma, I got confronted with this lovely fact. The bus driver was not shy about expressing the fact that he did not like me paying with a 20 euro bill. With a lot of Goder! this and Puta! that, he pointed to the poster the size of a zigzag, printed out by an empty matrix printer inside of the bus, stating the rule! My excuses and explaining that it was my first time taking a bus on Mallorca left him cold. So I pocketed my 20 and sat down. Similar with the reception lady of the hotel in Palma, she simply shrugged her shoulders after she did not receive my reservation which I had made via http://www.booking.com/ . A reservation nr was worthless…

When I arrived at my lovely 3 star hotel Torre in El Arenal I discovered why the hospitality was lacking. It is the Mc Donald’s Mecca of the tourist industry! Now read carefully for I shall only write this once: if you consider yourself to have so much as half a brain cell, you want to stay well clear of Arenal, or the whole of Mallorca for that matter, just to be safe really. Unless you fancy eating what you eat at home, speaking the language you speak at home, being surrounded by the same neighbouring cultures (and luckily they all proudly show their nation somehow) while getting extremely drunk and while being profited by the tourist industry with the lowest of standards. The hotel was as sturdy as a carton box I think. During the nights I had to snap on the light every ten minutes to convince myself there was no one sleeping next to me, snoring the night away. I must not complain, for I had a window in my bathroom. Not being able to close the window because of the flush build between it, did not bother me as much as the view, the neighbour’s bathroom! Very amusing if you are located next to a hot lesbian couple I suppose, but I am afraid they don’t venture anywhere near dubious places like that.

Then Transavia topped it off by wanting to make me pay 24 euros for 4 kilos too much luggage while checking in for Amsterdam. 24 euros for 4 kilos? You’d have to be lugging around solid gold for it to be profitable to cough up the money. Maybe the extra stars at the hotel where because of balance scales at one’s disposal, and I was withheld that information. I sure wasn’t going to pay 24 euros for some worn down dirty underwear. So I did them one up, I got out a pair of shoes and a sweater. You can imagine this was quite a scene, for my duffel was packed to the max with the heavy apparel at the bottom. Very dirty clothing and chorizo sausages spread over the airport floor. I could see some people slam their forehead, ‘Why had they never thought of this themselves’. . The flight was delayed by the way… 2.5 hours!

Luckily ‘we are still free to question all rules, and apply logic!’

From Sicily to Mallorca - 350 NM

2007-05-17T01:55:00.000-07:00

Its 15 May 5:05 AM as I am writing this. There is 2800 meters of sea beneath the boat, who knows what swims there? We are about a 100 Nautical Miles separated from the Mallorcan coast. The last 50 Hours or so have been a wild ride. We were clause hauled in 25 knots of winds, doing about 10 knots in a savage sea. For those that do not know about sailing; picture trying to sleep, eat and drink, get dressed and so on … on a mechanical bull for 50 hours, and you get a pretty good idea what its like. Needless to say, I was only able to acquire a grand total of about 4 hours of sleep. The other reason being, there is only two of us sailing the boat, doing 4 hour shifts night and day. My greatest respect goes out to all those professional solo sailors. I can now vaguely imagine what a mental discipline they must have.

Finally the winds have settled down now allowing me to write this piece. The sky is clear and filled with stars. I am guessing the Dolphins will be with us soon, they usually do come and pay us a visit at sunset. They’ll approach us like little torpedo’s from the side and joyfully play with the bow of the ship. I can’t wait. There is nothing like being greeted by dolphins early in the morning on a little ship on a lonely sea (I have only seen one other vessel for the last 50 hours), while watching the sun rise out of the water. It makes the 50 hour bull ride worth while J

The trip will come to an end on Mallorca. What started April 15th in Le Lavandou, ends after 1700 NM on May 16th 2007 on Palma de Mallorca. It´s been a great adventure and I have learned quite a lot. Not only about sailing, but also about people, the sailing way of life, the emotions that come with sailing, ocean creatures and how not to troll a line to catch Tuna (or have I been unlucky?). I have also met some interesting people, like Stephan that I met in Velletta, a 45 year old Swiss dude that is sailing around in his 8 meter sailing boat (a dheler) with aft cabin and shelters a little cat ‘Gatusso’. He has been sailing around the med, and is now planning on descending the east coast of Africa all on the plastic tip of a shoe string. What a Character… Solo on an 8 meter boat! I have been on the boat, and I can assure you, it feels like little more than the rubber Dinghy we use to get to shore when at anchor. But I do have to agree with him, “The worst day at sea, still beats the best day in the office!”

Or the Englishman I met in a restaurant in Cagliari that I had recognized from the Marina. He looked like someone that had been missing in action for a while and walked straight out of a Vietnam movie. You just don’t see that many people wearing a piece of worn down T-shirt as a headband anymore. But when I asked him about his story… Boy, was I in for a treat. You can read books about sailing, put people have to write them first, and it is a shame this man is just too lazy, or does not see an added value of writing one. But this is his story in a nutshell.. .

Apparently he had moved from the UK to North Carolina US and was working as a roofer and living out of a Van. Living out of a Van, might sound like an easy lifestyle, but you are not considered to belong to Society, well maybe somewhere beneath the lower part of it. Anyway, he was getting a lot of hassle from the police and it was tiring him. A colleague then suggested he needed a boat. A sailboat! If you life in a sailboat, you are a traveller, and an adventurer and you move up the scale of society. Somehow he ended up with a Contessa 32 for 14 thousand yankee dollars. It worked, the hassle was over, and he lived on board for a couple of years before someone approached him, and told him he admired his boat, ‘ nice Contessa 32’. He knew nothing about boats, and was just using it to life on, but curiously he then searched after ‘contessa 32’on the internet, and discovered that his boat was worth three times as much in the UK than the price he had paid for it. A no brainer really, he needed to get the boat to England.

Now, the one liner in this conversation that did it for me was the what he said next, and I quote: “The first time ever I hoisted the sails on my sailboat -or any other sailboat for that matter- was when I set out to cross the Atlantic”. BOINK! Here I am, going of to South Africa to get RYA Certified, sailing 1700Nm in the med to get some experience because one day I want to sail around the world… this guy just sets of across the Atlantic with no experience at all to make a couple of bucks. 28 days it took him to cross it, he was given a handheld GPS with one waypoint and that was it. When I asked him if he stood watch at night he told me that he had an alarm set at 20 minute intervals. It would sound; he’d have a peak around outside and got back to sleep for another 20 minutes. This lasted for three nights. After that, he decided it was well worth trading the remote risk of a collision, for a good night sleep. During his 28 days he saw 5 other vessels ´Spics on the horizon´. He only ate Pasta by the way.

He never did sell his Contessa, he wouldn’t sell it for ‘No money’. He’s been across three times since, and now realizes how lucky he’s been first time round. He didn’t even know the existence of reefing back then.

From people like these, I learned that "it takes a lot of talent to age without getting old".

Beating to Sardenia

2007-05-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

Well.. The trip from Sciacca Sicily Back to Sardenia was quite an adventure. Although the winds were comming from were we had to go, we decided to head out anyway, resulting in beating against the waves and the wind for 2 days and 2 nights. It is amazing how a nice spacious boat becomes an place where even the most simple tasks become very difficult in certain weather conditions. Going to the toilet, or having a cup of tea becomes a menace. But, we made it.

Tomorrow we are of to Mallorca. A 325 Mile run, just me and the owner. Vince had to leave to take care of other things. It will be a tough one, but at least the winds are promising so far. I am not expecting to get much sleep, instead I will get a nice tan.

During trips I run a fishing line behind the boat, to try to catch a Tuna. No luck so far, but who knows what the next trip brings. Tuna season has just started anyway....

Arrival Malta

2007-04-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived at malta at 6:30 in the morning. I had about 2 hours of sleep the past 24 hours or so. After we checked in at the customs, we had some breakfast and went to bed. I woke up at 16:30.

.... pic of a whale by the way............->

Don't have much time for blogging really, I will try to do my best and write some more in the future. Today we did some wreck diving at 35m deep. Please content yourself with the pics, as tomorrow we set sailf for Sicily at 8:00 in the morning. :)

From Sardenia to Malta

2007-04-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

We have been at sea for two days straight. Still 100 Nautical miles to go to Malta, we will probably arrive at night. We departed from Cagliari in Sardinia, after having sailed down the east coast of it. A lot has happened, we got pulled over by the ‘Guardia Finazia’, and Nelson the autopilot died, and we had to steer by hand for a while. Not very hard, but it makes a big difference for the night shifts. With the auto pilot on, one person can sail the entire ship. Trimming the sails, staying on course, and dodging other vessels can all be done while the ship steers it self, allowing the others to sleep. Luckily we were able to fix it. Yesterday we received some company from a school of dolphins, it must have been thousands. Curious animals, some of them swim on their side right next to the ship, just to look up out of the water interested on what is happening on deck. At least so it seems. They seem to have hypes and hypes of fun.

We sailed across a family of whales as well. I know, I couldn’t believe it myself! Flabergasted as we were, we almost forgot to be careful not to hit one. Sometimes we encounter a sea turtle coming up for some air.

The start. Hyeres - Ajaccio

2007-04-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

We had about 10 knots of wind, the evening sun and a comfortable air temperature as we sailed away from hyeres. Dinner was served, and a bottle of red opened in the cockpit. Nelson the auto pilot and our most appreciated and respected crew member was doing the steering. We had finally set course towards Ajaccio Corsica and were ceasing the moment.

As the sun slowly disappeared, so did the land and the sea was pitch black to be lit only by a million stars. We split the night three ways, and the first watch was mine. I couldn’t see much, but some faint lights in the distance. The lights closed in, and I started to distinguish cruise ships, big tankers and other little sailboats. Everything seemed to be the way I had imagined it. Using the radar, I was able to predict the course of other vessels, and alter course in advance to avoid collisions. Forget Second life people, this is the real thing.

The next morning we encountered dense fog, close to the coast of ajaccio. One behind the wheel, one behind the radar, and one running back and forth between the two for communication seemed to work best for us. Pure excitement it was.

Projected course to steer

2007-04-12T03:28:00.000-07:00

Obiahman is going sailing again. After having obtained the RYA day skipper practical and the RYA coastal skipper/ yachtmaster theory in South Africa, Obiahman is ready to put it all to the test in the Med. Obiahman shall embark on a 48 foot Dufour prestige, and sail it across the seas in the Mediterranean Sea together with Vince and the proud owner.

The projected route for the sailing trip is from hyères to Corsica, Sardinia, Malta, Sicily and finally to Mallorca (see picture). Visit this log, to follow it all to a T.