TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

I would just like to share with you my typical Christmas Cruising tales whilst in the Med.

 

I have found, now, that come October I am looking for a place to park my boat for the winter months, somewhere safe and cheap! Last year I stayed in Northern Spain and this year I am in Northern Portugal. Both places have been great, friendly and helpful people and despite the language barrier, on my part, very understanding with my halting attempts at speaking their language. I have been spoilt in Portugal because so many people speak very good English, but I am still picking up Portugeuse and trying it out on the locals.

 

The weather is very stormy during the winter months, and in this part of the world there is lots of rain. Many hours are spent inside the boat waiting for the rain to pass before dashing out to take out your rubbish or do some shopping. The dry spells make up for it though, there are more dry spells in the winter months in this part of the world than in England during the summer, this means that lots of work can be done on the boats, getting them ready for the next summers cruising.

 

So, if you are planning on cruising for a long period of time remember that it is not 12 months of sunshine and that many months will have to be spent in a marina! I made a big mistake before leaving England and gave away all of my electrical goods thinking that they would not be used on the boat but because you actually spend a considerable time in the marina during the winter the electrical goods would have been very useful. I have the use of free electric, so my microwave, kettle and toaster, heater and dehumidifier would have been very useful. I have had to buy these products again – so don’t leave yours behind!

 

Christmas was fun this year as there are a lot of liveaboard cruisers in my marina. Last year, in Spain, I was the only liveaboard cruiser in my marina!

 

In fact, there are so many of us that I suggested that the women get together once a week for coffee in one of the local cafes to chat about their lives on the boat and female stuff! There is a mixture of different cultures, which is very interesting, in a few years time I will be speaking a mixture of about 5 different languages!

 

I had roast chicken for Christmas dinner with all the trimmings! I asked my mum to send out some essential supplies, like Bisto gravy, which you cannot get in Spain or Portugal, Cheddar Cheese and she also sent out christmas puddings, brandy butter and a chocolate yule log! Yummy!!! It was very exciting to get parcels from England with presents and I thank everyone for them! My mum also sent me some money for a christmas present and I bought a dehumidifier from another cruiser, brand new, for half the original price, and it has a heater as well, it has been brilliant, keeping the condensation at bay and heating up my boat, I haven’t had to use my little fan heater at all whilst using the dehumidifier.

 

I hope you all had a good christmas too!!

 

Love Sassy x