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Logbook and Photos

Update 8 - Christmas 2004

This is a reprint of our Christmas and New Year Update 2004 sent by e-mail to friends and family.

December 16, 2004

Hello all! It has been far too long since our last update, so when better than this special time of year when we can wish you and your families all the best. We know you are all busy with your individual Christmas traditions and life in general so we will keep it brief.

We have had a busy year with a lot of sea miles under our keel. It’s hard to believe that we were in Mexico on the Pacific side last Christmas and have since sailed over 7300 miles. We are now in Seville, Spain taking a breather over the winter.

Atlantic Crossing - Our last update had us busily preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Well, we did it! With our dear friend, Wayne Boldt once again on board to assist with our huge undertaking, we set out from Stuart, Florida on June 12th, and 26 days later we set foot on the Portuguese island of Faial, one of the nine mid-Atlantic volcanic islands known as the Azores. The old fabled saying of ‘Land Ahoy!’ takes on new meaning when you have been rocking and rolling at sea for almost a month! Our plan was to spend two or three days restocking the boat and resting before pushing on to mainland Europe. But the weather for the final passage was not co-operating and Wayne ran out of time, having to fly home from the Azores. Though sad to see him go, it allowed us to explore the islands…and that we did. After numerous exploration expeditions like climbing the volcano on the island of Pico (a survival story in itself - watch for our website update), running in the streets with the bulls and soaking in natural, healing hot springs, we managed to pull ourselves away in late September after two and a half months of these beautiful Portuguese islands.

Our trip across to the mainland went well and though it was only an eight day passage, our actual arrival in Lisbon, Portugal had an even more amazing feeling of accomplishment … we had successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean! Here, we are getting ready to drop anchor on the European mainland for the very first time!

Europe – Very European! Since our arrival in Europe, it has been one living history lesson after another and it’s a great way for the kids to learn (and us, too!). We have visited numerous charming and picturesque places and have tried to slow down and reward ourselves for a busy year so far.

In Lisbon, Joel & Gerrit had a friend from Calgary join us for some adventure. Together, we headed south and worked our way around the most southwesterly tip of Portugal and into the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar.

A few quick stops along the south coast of Portugal and Spain brought us to the mouth of the Rio Guadalquivir, a river that is navigable inland 100 kilometers into the heart of Seville, Spain. Here ships laden with treasure returned from their conquests of the new worlds. Seville is an amazing city with beautiful old buildings and parks at every turn. Within a short radius, there are Roman ruins, Islamic Mosques, bull rings, fortresses and castles, ancient walled cities, and forested mountains, just to name a few of the sights.

We managed to arrive in Seville in time to organize a Halloween party and trick o’ treatin’ at the docks of Club Nautico Sevilla, where we are now tied up until late April 2005. The club is actually a social and sporting club for members only. The Halloween party turned out to be a great way for the boys to get introduced with a bunch of the Spanish kids in the club.

We have now been here in Seville for almost 7 weeks. Being stopped and having a sense of living somewhere is such a welcome treat after such an intense year of travel. We picked up a used car for the winter, so getting around and exploring is easy and more economical than public transportation for four.

The kids are doing great in school and are thriving with a bit more of a regular routine. We even have a ‘class room’ to use at the club, which the various boat kids come together in to do school. There’s even recess at the basketball court!

Last week, a nice Norwegian family and we began Spanish lessons three times per week – one class for the kids and one for the adults. Our teacher is a lovely Spanish woman whom we are all learning so much from.

The New Year has us flying to Holland for a quick visit to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of Sheila’s aunt and uncle. It will be exactly 20 years since a much younger Chris and Sheila visited all her Dutch relatives on our ’84/85 tour of Europe via a VW campervan. So much has changed and Sheila is very excited about Joel and Gerrit meeting their international relations.

Later in the spring, we are expecting other visitors including Chris’ parents from Victoria, BC for Easter celebrations. After Seville’s world famous April Fair, our current plan is to enter the Mediterranean Sea and head quickly east, destination Croatia, Turkey and Greece. After a winter in Turkey, the hazy crystal ball says back west to the south of France, via Italy, and into the French canal system and up to Holland and England. By then, it will be late 2006 and (we can’t believe it) likely time to wind down our trip. We plan to sell Tioga in Europe.

Thanks for tuning in and for all your continuing correspon-dence, which we always enjoy receiving. And we promise to get our web site caught back up (it’s a lot of work!!). With that, we once again say ‘Feliz Navidad’ and ‘Feliz Ano Nuevo’… Hasta Luego!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from our family to yours!

Sheila, Chris, Joel, & Gerrit _/)

s/v TIOGA

Seville, Spain