Curare's Adventures

Yacht Nero

A few days ago as we were motoring into one of the marinas that fill the north west end of Palma Bay LE spied a familiar looking superyacht with a black hull, cream coloured superstructure and a bright yellow smokestack. The yachts name is NERO and she was last seen by us in February 2015 in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.

First a few statistics: length 90.1 meters, beam 12 meters, top speed 17 knots, range 5,200 nautical miles at 12 knots.

NERO's original owner, Neil Taylor, intended to restore a yacht from the 1930s but was unable to find one that met his requirements, so he built a modern replica inspired by J.P Morgan's Corsair IV yacht. Taylor actually established the Yantai Raffles shipyard in China to build his yacht and it took 400 workers nearly four years to complete. She was launched in 2008. NERO has a crew of 20 and can be chartered for a mere 497,000 Euros per week. She can accommodate 12 guests in six cabins and boasts a beauty salon, a gym, a swimming pool, a movie theater and every water toy you might ever want to play with. She is a popular charter vessel in the Mediterranean during the summer and the Caribbean in the winter.

Almost as soon as she was launched she was for sale. In 2009, the yacht was listed at US$98 million, in April 2011 the price was reduced to US$88 million, and in 2012 the price was further reduced to US$78 million. In 2014 she was finally sold to Denis O'Brien for a price of US$70 million and he immediately sent her to Barcelona for an intensive refit. Then in 2019 while in dry dock in Genoa, Italy she fell to her side causing some damage. This accident led to another refit - completed in 2021.

We assume she is waiting for a suitable weather window to cross the Atlantic back to the sunny Caribbean because the Mediterranean yachting season is over and temperatures are falling. Today it only reached 24 C.

A Busy Airport

For the last week or so we have been moving around the large Bay of Palma, anchored in different places while we do some much needed chores. At one of these anchorages, S'Arenal, we had a perfect view of the planes landing at night with their lights piercing the blackness. It seemed to us that the landings were very close together so LE timed it on her watch. The interval varied between one to two minutes, but on average it was one minute and 20 seconds between planes. This was a lot of planes landing on a small island.

A website sponsored by the Mallorca Airport reports statistics. In August 2022 - 4,161,847 passengers passed through the Palma Son Sant Joan airport, the majority of them from England, Germany and Spain. The passenger statistics for September have not been compiled but in September 2022 a total of 32,585 flights landed representing 81 different airlines, including private jets and smaller planes. In the year 2021 - 14.5 million passengers passed through the airport and a report from 2019 says 29.7 million passengers arrived and departed.

It is the third largest airport in Spain and handles as many as 1,100 movements, dispatching 12,000 passengers per hour during busy periods. This is almost as busy as London-Heathrow, the busiest airport in Europe. From Palma de Mallorca it is possible to fly to 156 destinations in 28 countries. All very interesting data that helps explain the huge hotel developments along the shoreline. But seriously, with a plane landing every minute how do they process that many people quickly enough for them to get out of the airport to enjoy their holiday?

Colonia de Sant Jordi

Sometime in the middle of July 2022 Curare and her crew anchored in front of a long beach on the south coast of Mallorca. We did not know that this was the famous Es Trenc beach which stretches for about 10 km between the towns of Colonia de Sant Jordi and Sa Rapita. All we saw when sailing past was a a large number of boats at anchor and, as we were looking for a spot to drop the hook, this seemed ideal. The beaches were crowded with pink and bronze bodies, for GG's entertainment it was clothing optional, there was a nearby grocery store and the water was warm enough for swimming. We stayed five days.

On our return to Mallorca in October we returned to Es Trenc beach as it was convenient and enjoyable, but what a contrast. Although there were still unclothed people enjoying the sun, most of them were pasty white Germans and GG did not find the view quite as entertaining. The water had cooled dramatically so we did not go swimming but we went on a few long walks and discovered the salt pans.

The most visually obvious salt works are east of the beach at the town of Colonia de Sant Jordi, but there is another salt works to the north named Salinas d'Es Trenc because it's sea water comes from a location at Es Trenc beach and flows to the pans through a rock lined channel (we started to walk to the inland pans but after one km the road was not getting any shorter, so we gave up and turned back).

The pans of Sant Jordi have been known since the 4th century BC when Punic merchants extracted the salt for trade, a sign states that they are the second oldest in the world. Salt extraction in Sant Jordi has always been, and still is, carried out by traditional methods. Sea water is drawn into the salt pans and as the water evaporates the salt remains behind. Most of the salt precipitates to the bottom of the pan and is harvested as coarse sea salt but some delicate, pyramidal, salt crystals float on the surface. These are harvested by hand, skimming them from the surface with what looks like a swimming pool skimmer and depositing the salt into woven baskets to dry. This is Flor de Sel and very little is produced; only 0.8% of the total 12,000 ton annual salt production. It's rarity makes it expensive, costing $80.00 per kilo or more, and it's alternate name "caviar of sea salts" seems fitting.

The harvesting at Sant Jordi is done in August so we missed seeing it. All that remained were large piles of coarse sea salt waiting to be bagged and shipped. We could have purchased some from the local shops for a souvenir but Curare has enough salt encrusted rigging, so we didn't.

Steering Wheel Fail

We arrived in Europe in the fall of 2017 and the Schengen shuffle began. We have written about the Schengen shuffle before, but to remind those who are not familiar with this phrase it means that we can only stay in the Schengen area for 90 days in each 180 days. The Schengen area covers most of the European countries that we have visited so our boat maintenance to-do list has been badly neglected. We would rather be sailing than working on Curare during our precious 90 days so for the past few years we have been doing the bare minimum (and let's not talk about leaving Curare for 22 months during Covid - that probably caused maintenance issues that did not even make it on the list). Lack of routine, preventative maintenance means that things break and then they need to be fixed and we have been fixing things far more than we are used to.

When we returned to Curare this July 2022 GG completed a number of small maintenance tasks while LE prepared for our summer of sailing. One task was to repack the rudder post bearing so that the rudder wouldn't fall off, as well as reduce any water intake around the gland. While doing this GG was reminded once again of the rusty condition of the steering bracket connection to the rudder post. This has been on the maintenance list since we arrived in Europe and it's been a difficult item to cross off because it would use up a lot of our 90 days. GG would have to empty the aft lockers to remove the rusty, seized bracket and find a machine shop to fabricate a new one, then reinstall it, next he would have to reconnect all of the plumbing and bilge hoses and then re-stow the amazing accumulation of bits and pieces previously removed for access. And of course all of this work has to be done while he is hanging upside down and squeezed into a locker.

So the reward for his laziness and negligence was that the weld on the steering wheel bracket failed with a bang at 0300 while on passage from Sardinia to Isla Cabrera. To add a little extra drama we were in the middle of a squall and lightening event while LE was on watch. After rousing GG from his off watch slumber we managed to get the sails down quickly, the emergency tiller installed and back on course in quick time. Once the tiller was lashed in place our Hydrovane was able to hold our course for the remaining 250 miles to our destination.

Curare has a beautiful laminated teak wooden tiller that has always sat in a specific location in the port pilot berth. We've pulled it out occasionally to wipe off the dust and remind ourselves how it works but it takes up a majority of usable space in the forward cockpit so we never leave it out. Until now. In a way it's enjoyable to steer again with a tiller but it does require some effort with a moderate wind blowing.

Our to-do list is ever expanding. We need to find the time to address our maintenance issues.

Isla Cabrera National Park

We sailed two overnights from Sardinia, Italy and made landfall at Isla Cabrera National Park, 8 nautical miles (14 km) south of Mallorca, Spain. This island archipelago was declared a National Marine-Terrestrial Park in 1991. The National Park protects an area of 10.021 hectares, 8.703 hectares are marine and the remaining 1.318 hectares consist of the main island of Cabrera, a second large island named Conillera and a group of 17 small islets. The marine protected area is the second largest national marine Park in the Mediterranean, after Alonissos-Sporades in Greece, and boats are not allowed to anchor anywhere inside of it's boundaries. However the Parks have established a mooring field in well protected Es Port Bay, with 50 moorings for various sized vessels, so visitors can enjoy the park on their own boat. The entrance to the bay is relatively narrow but it has no hazards and a minimum depth of 40 meters. To reserve a mooring is a two step process: First you have to apply for a navigation permit (free of charge and good for one year) and then you apply for a mooring ball; Curare is less than 12 m in length so this cost is 9.30 Euros per night. During the summer months the maximum stay is two nights, out of season a boat is able to stay for seven nights. The reservations are done on this page https://intranet.caib.es/rescab7front/?lang=en. The island has limited resources (no store or garbage facilities) and very poor cell phone reception, but it does have one cafe/bar with an excellent wi-fi signal and cold beer on tap.

The island has been documented since 603 A.D. when Pope Gregory the Great wrote a letter about the sins and debauchery of the monks who resided in a monastery there. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Barbary pirates frequently attacked the Mallorcan coast so a castle was built as a watch tower. It is situated 72 meters above sea level on a high cliff overlooking the moorings and sailing into the bay is a dramatic experience. Then during the time of the Napoleonic wars, from 1808 to 1814,  a total of 9,000 French prisoners were sent to Cabrera and were incarcerated in appalling conditions. They had to construct their own living quarters from the islands stony outcrops and food was in short supply. Historical records state that some prisoners resorted to cannibalism; only 3,600 survived. At the end of the 19th century, the island of Cabrera became the private property of the Feliu family who tried to cultivate vines and built a winery; this building is currently used as the Park museum. Then in the early 1900's the island was expropriated and used by the Spanish Army as a target practice area until 1991 when it became a National Park.

Apart from the castle and the ruins of a salted fish factory from the 7th century A.D. there is little of historical interest, but there is abundant and unique fauna and flora. While we were visiting a group of bird watchers were wielding cameras with huge lenses to photograph an elusive and rare small bird, we never even saw it. But we did see an abundance of iridescent lizards, lilfords wall lizards, so many underfoot it was a challenge to avoid stepping on their tails. But for LE it was the sight of a soaring booted Eagle and a flowering plant named the Sea Squill which were the highlights of her visit.

We only stayed for two nights, Mallorca and it's golden beaches was beckoning us to return.

Incident in Malta

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Malta by touring the Grand Harbour, seeing the historic fortified city of Valletta, walking through a few boat chandlers to marvel at the selection of parts available, and re-provisioning with European foods after being in Tunisia for over a month.

However one incident severely dampened our enthusiasm of the place. While in Cap Monastir marina, Tunisia we met a fellow boater who was from Malta. We mentioned we were going there and he offered us his mooring ball in the anchorage area of Sliema. As anchoring space is tight and marinas are expensive we jumped at the opportunity. Our new friend described the exact position of his mooring, the colour of the four balls that hold up each mooring line and the adjacent vessels. We found the mooring easily enough and enjoyed a couple of pleasant nights, leaving Curare during the day to explore the town.

On the third evening, as we were sitting in the cockpit having dinner, a sailboat came by and unceremoniously demanded that we vacate his mooring. "What? Who are you? How do we know this is your and not our friend's mooring?"  In less time than it took to get a reply the captain of the other boat was in his dinghy and cut our mooring line. A huge battle ensued with lots of yelling and screaming from everyone on board. No body ever cuts some one's lines or attacks another boat, unless you are a pirate. It was the most irrational behaviour we have experienced in all our years of sailing. Very strange.

Of course we untied the remaining three lines and left the mooring as we could not further defend our insistence that we were at the correct location, and we wanted to save the other lines. It was approaching dark but in the gloomy dusk, we managed to find enough room between a couple of large charter boats to drop our anchor. No one else in the entire bay was anchored, all boats were on moorings. We didn't have a choice and  were concerned that after 2,000 years of occupation there would be an enormous amount of foul debris on the sea floor and we would be permanently attached. A storm was forecast for the next two days and it did blow up hard. Curare held fast, and we wondered if the anchor had snagged a piece of history.

When the time came to depart our anchor pulled up without bringing along any unwanted items except for some very foul smelling black mud; Curare and crew were free and once again on our way. We never did figure out what happened with the mooring mix-up as we could not contact our Maltese friend in Tunisia - just another mystery of the sea we decided.

Two Marinas in Tunisia

Before beginning our sail trip for 2022 we had decided to take Curare to Tunisia to allow us time out of the Schengen area and as a change of scenery from mainstream continental Europe. It certainly was a cultural contrast but the two marinas we stayed at were typical marinas like everyplace else we have visited.

We booked a month long stay at Marina Monastir using the Navily app. This app has worked seamlessly for us in the past and this time was no exception. With our yacht parameters stored in the Navily database we simply have to select a marina and dates of visit and a request is sent off. If space is available the marina confirms through the app and by email, along with the cost of the moorage. Besides the booking service, Navily provides user comments on the marina and nearby anchorages.

Marina Monastir was a well run marina, relatively clean and most everything functioned most of the time. The shower block was clean, plenty of water and was co-ed. Garbage collection was an odd affair with a large block separated by the ubiquitous doors of separation for glass, metal, plastic, organics, refuse. Of course it was all just one big bin that got loaded onto a hand drawn trailer and carted away everyday. The marina made an effort to remove plastic garbage from the water and this was appreciated.

The docks were concrete with Med style mooring of lines taken to anchor blocks in the fairway. Most boats go stern in with the lines off of the bow. On Curare we prefer going bow in with the mooring lines off of our stern. This protects our Hydrovane rudder from accidentally hitting the dock but also allows us to climb off the boat using the anchor platform. Marina Monastir is part of an older established resort community with apartments and restaurants lining the entire marina walkways. There is even a gym that the crew was considering signing up for until they realized that it wasn't air conditioned. The marina itself is well protected from winds but a strong storm surge out of the south causes a lot of rolling at the docks.

The other marina that Curare visited while in Tunisia was Marina Bizerte on the north coast. Leaving from Malta we were headed for Sicily but when we realized the weather conditions were not going to allow that to happen we chose to go to Bizerte instead. Again using the Navily app we sent off a request while still in cell coverage and quickly received a confirmation reply. Unlike at Monastir, when we radioed Bizerte on our approach they replied and were waiting at the dock for us when we arrived.

This is a brand new, unfinished marina. It was started in 2012 and the docks have been operational for a few years, but the entire marina complex of hotels and restaurants is a long ways from completion. Police, customs and marina office are housed in the main building by the fuel dock along with a restaurant and shower facilities. Everything was kept very clean. A doctor was called to check us and declare us fit for arrival but in reality all he did was look at our vaccine passports!

We were taken to a concrete dock where a couple of other small boats were moored. Taking the mooring lines to our stern to hold Curare off of the dock, GG kept pulling hard on the messenger line trying to get to the larger diameter line that would secure Curare. There wasn't anything larger. The only mooring line was a 5 mm diameter string covered in sea life that seemed extremely inadequate, but that's all there was. We rigged a secondary line to a bollard further up the dock to relieve some of the strain on the skinny lines. After discussing this situation with others in the marina, what typically happens with longer stay vessels is to get a diver come and attach a proper sized mooring line to the anchor blocks in the fairway. We were only staying a couple of days so didn't bother with this. With a large breakwater protecting the marina it seemed quite secure inside.

Following the Carthaginians

We sailed from Tunisia to the island country of Malta, following the Carthaginians who conquered Malta in 480 B.C. But the history of Malta is much, much older and Stone Age farmers were living here in 5900 B.C.

Malta (and Gozo island) are part of an underwater ridge that connects North Africa and Sicily which became emergent when the Strait of Gibraltar closed and sea level was lowered. When this ridge first emerged it still connected Sicily to Africa but subsequent erosion has left Malta (and Gozo) as the only remnants. This tiny speck of land, only 27 km long and 14.5 km wide has been the most coveted spot in the Mediterranean for centuries. It occupies a geographical strategic position equidistant between Europe and Africa and close to the Middle East, and whomever controlled Malta controlled the Mediterranean trading routes. It's history post Carthaginian was turbulent with battles, sieges, and forceful takeovers; by the Romans, the Byzantines, Arabs, the Normans, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, the French, and finally the English.

The Knights were an 11th-century order that provided shelter for pilgrims to the Holy Land and took on a military role to protect Christianity. In 1530, the Spanish King, Charles V, gave Malta to the Knights and they ruled for 250 years. In 1565 forty thousand troops from the Ottoman Empire attacked Malta laying siege to it for 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days, destroying buildings and infrastructure. However the 9,000 Knights were victorious and the ruthless Ottoman Turk invaders left without gaining a foothold. After the siege the Knights decided to rebuild their capital city better than Europe's finest and at the same time build defenses that would make it impossible to take by force. The grand and beautiful baroque architecture reflects the Knight's stature as aristocrats from the noblest families in Europe, and as you stroll along the cobblestone streets you can sense their presence in the palaces, churches, streets and gardens.

We arrived in Valletta on September 19 and as we took CURARE on a tour through Grand Harbour, looking upward to the city's heights, a 21 gun salute was fired in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. Then on September 21 it was Maltese Independence Day, it gained it's liberation from British rule on this date in 1964. We were fortunate to visit this remarkable city on two important dates, a moment in our history we will not forget.

Refuelling in Tunisia

Accomplishing tasks in Tunisia varied from easy to difficult. Some things were simple and straightforward, like grocery shopping, other seemingly normal tasks were very complicated to complete. Getting fuel was one of those complicated tasks.

Marina Monastir has a dedicated fuel dock at the entrance to the marina and this is open throughout the day. Unfortunately you can't land at the fuel dock until cleared into the country, which requires going to a slip in the marina, tying up and doing the police, immigration, customs, marina office check-in-shuffle. By then, who wants to untie lines and motor back out of the marina to get fuel? Besides, there was a very large ship sunk in the waters off of the fuel dock so space and maneuverability was limited. Wanting to take advantage of the low cost of diesel fuel in the country, GG decided to use our jerry cans to carry fuel back to the boat. Having motored more than expected, this exercise took three trips. LE got coerced into helping slog the, very heavy, four 20 litre containers of fuel around the walkway of the marina and on board Curare. It was hot, sweaty work, but we were getting some exercise!

After a quick sail to Malta and back we ended up in a marina in northern Tunisia, Marina Bizerte. It was the same issue here in that you couldn't take on fuel until cleared through immigration, customs and, this time, a doctor. Fortunately we were tied alongside the main pier and not tucked into a designated slip yet. GG inquired about getting fuel by jerry cans and was told by the Customs officer that it would be fine so we proceeded to our slip, leaving the fuel for another day.

The next day we launched the dinghy to take the empty jerry cans to the fuel dock; LE's arms still hurt from the last re-fuelling. Unfortunately another boat was there slowly taking on fuel and the second diesel pump was out of commission. After waiting two hours, GG became impatient and went back to Curare for lunch. After nearly four hours the original boat finished fueling up and as GG was about to put diesel into our jerry cans, a different Customs officer came by and said in no uncertain terms that it was prohibited. Having wasted more than half his day trying to refuel, and knowing what a potential delay this could cause when trying to leave in the morning, GG persisted. After some excited, heightened talk and gesturing the officer threw his arms in the air and stomped off. Finally we had a full contingent of fuel back on board Curare and were ready to depart.

Cost of diesel in Tunisia is 2.008 Tunisia Dinars per litre which is approximately $0.84CAD per litre. Probably worth the time and frustration caused.

Tunisian Travels Part 2

During the time GG was in Canada LE decided to see some more of Tunisia and in early July she booked a 7 day camel trekking excursion in the northern Sahara desert. It would be her, a cook, a guide/camel handler and two camels. The camels would carry the luggage, food and water, LE and the others would be walking in the sand. The caveat was that the desert temperatures had to be 35 C or less. As mid August approached and daytime temperatures on the coast were reaching 47 C she began to worry. Several email responses from the trekking agency kept repeating that they were hopeful temperatures would decrease - it was NEVER this hot in September. Finally on August 27 LE wrote another email and made the decision to pull out, but would they return the deposit? NO. Instead they offered another trip, this one a drive through southern Tunisia with an overnight camel trip as one of the attractions.

On August 30 LE took a bus from the Tunisia capital of Tunis to the southern island of Djerba, an 8 hour trip. Thank goodness the bus had AC. The driving tour did not start until September 4 so she got to know Houmt Souk (a small city on Djerba) very well. Not a lot to say about the place, it had a lovely fort by the ocean but other than that it was very ordinary with a lot of tacky tourist articles to buy, the same things we had seen in other places we visited.

LE was collected on Sunday morning, September 4, by a car with the driver/guide. We would be together until September 10 eating at the same table and staying in the same places, it was a strain on both of us. The main meal was lunch, this was the same with variations; a salad for starters, then a deep fried pastry filled with meat, vegetables or eggs, then a large bowl of Couscous, followed by melon for dessert. Dinner was usually pizza, almost always covered with a can of tuna and a handful of frites. On September 7 the guide started to cough a lot, he blamed it on the car's AC, LE thought it was COVID. From that point on she wore a mask while driving and, if it was COVID, the mask did it's job.

The trip involved a lot of driving and the guide kept saying he was exhausted after a 250 km day. The roads were in good shape, there was little to no other traffic, and LE did not have the heart to tell him that in Canada we might drive more than 800 km in a day to reach a destination. From Djerba we drove west to an area of the indigenous Berber inhabitants. The Berbers have lived in Tunisia for more than 4,000 years and their fortified villages were built on mountain tops or in underground caves to defend themselves from invaders. Now almost all of the ancient villages are uninhabited, the present day Berbers live in modern houses, but the original villages have become tourist attractions. We visited the hilltop villages of Chennini, Ksar Beni Barka, and Ksar El Mourbatin,and the troglodyte village of Matmata (Luke Skywalker's home in one of the Star wars movies). We also drove into the desert near the city of Tozeur to see the movie set from the first Star Wars movie, this set is popular with younger tourists but it was near sunset and all the other visitors were on the dunes waiting to capture the perfect Instagram moment. LE was visiting Luke Skywalker's world by herself.

 

Southern Tunisia has a lot of date palms, and a corresponding number of oases. Before this trip LE thought of an oases as a little cluster of trees in a vast expanse of sand, but the date oases are man made. A spring, often boiling hot water, emerges in one location and is channeled great distances to irrigate an immense area, then the date palms are planted. Tunisia represents 50% of the global population of Deglet Nour dates, the queen of dates, and the country is also the number one exporter by value. But there are also smaller, natural oases where the spring bubbles up from a geologic structure creating a stream or a pool and date palms and other vegetation grow at the water's edge. LE saw one of these natural oases in Midas Canyon in the Atlas Mountains, on the border with Algeria. She had no idea the trip would take her close to this border, the government agency "Travel Canada" has issued guidelines that Canadians should not travel here, but it was probably the second best day of the trip. The rock formations were incredible, more than awesome, something not to be forgotten, a geologist's dream destination. Two days later she visited another unbelievable geologic feature: Djebel Tebaga. The outcrops here mark the separation zone of the single continent Pangea into the Gondwana and Eurasion plates and are the only marine upper Permian outcrops of this scale in Africa. Not many people get to see that. And then there were the dinosaur footprints - nothing else to say.

The best day of the trip was the overnight camel excursion. LE went on a 1 km trek into the Sahara with a guide/cook/camel handler and two camels: the white female drama queen and a goofy, brown  male. We left at 1700 when it was a tolerable 34 C and walked to a bivouac spot where we spread out our bed rolls under the stars, collected sticks for a fire, and ate a delicious meal of pasta stew from a shared plate. Dessert was dates - what else? During the night we experienced a minor sandstorm and woke up to find everything, including ourselves covered in six cm of sand. All of our footsteps from the evening before were gone, it was a brand new world. After a pot of black coffee, more dates and some bread we walked 1 km back, creating a new path.

Many other things were seen and done but these are the highlights, a trip to remember for many years to come.