Goodbye Canary's

Good times, lots of laughs and the joining of two new crew members.

Rob Cooper, 20 years of age (makes him the youngest on the boat), Irish, Favorite food......... Potatoes, Favorite sport Kite surfing, Favorite Drink Jamesons Irish Whiskey. Over-all an asset to the crew and a great laugh.

Sophie Oliver, 32 years of age, Welsh (not English), Favorite food.......... Any sort of curry, Loves energy within the universe, has an equal in Australia (Sonia), Favorite Drink Camomille tea........ Yeh, you get the picture. mind you a fantastic cook and also an asset to the crew.

The Canary Islands have had their part to play in our journey and have created more good times for the memory banks of the crew of Mawali. We have fully provisioned for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean and have completed all repairs on the boat, we are ready to set sail at full speed ahead.

To all our loved ones,

+*+!!!MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!+*+

We will now only have satellite comunications until the new year with our next port being Antigua in the Caribbean, just in time for the festivals. Hope all is well and again best wishes for the holiday season.

Over and Out,

The Mawali Crew

 

Street Art in the Canary Islands

This is amazing, the whole scene is on one straight wall so using the panaramic shot on my camera I tried to get it all in, the first photo is the whole wall and the others are the sections in order.

The Canary Islands

We arrived to the Canary Islands at about 10pm so we weren't able to see much. As we awoke the next morning we found Las Palmas (our current port) is bigger than any of us expected. although it smells a bit like Spain (not amazing) it maintains it's own simple little carms, grid planning, quaint beaches, Spanish style architecture and a lot of hippies trying to get a ride to the Caribbean (we did pick up an Irish kid for our journey accross the atlantic). Las Palmas is a nice port to be in and we will be so until monday as we are getting the rigging checked over and fixed.
Keep you updated on our movements,

 

Over and Out,
The Mawali Crew

Gibraltar to Canary Islands

As we set sail for the Canary Islands we had a few things to go over; Auto-pilot, Navigation, Leaks, etc. Once all had been looked over and given the OK we set sail around 7am. The beginning of the trip was pleasant with light breezes and low seas.
We weren't very confident in the stability of the rigging so it was agreed that we would take it easy and not put to much pressure on the rigging. As the first night passed the seas become far more vicious that expected and winds got up to 20 knots, a speed we didn't feel the rig would quite handle at full capacity, with the main sail reefed we continued our journey toward the Islands.
As the third night passed the winds increased and were reaching up to 30 knots and the seas maintained their vicious heights.
Overall, we arrived to the Canary Islands safe and in one piece after 6 long days and nights.

Mawali, WELCOME TO THE CANARY'S

Over and Out,
The Mawali Crew

Goodbye Gibraltar

After a number (4.5) of weeks in Gibraltar it is finally time to set sail. We have spent the past few days squaring the boat away and get everything ready for Mawali's maiden voyage toward the Canary Islands.

We expect calm seas and light winds toward the Canary's and believe the trip will take 5 to 6 days depending on wind. In the Canary's we have a few repairs being done that we couldnt get done in Gib and from there we will be heading straight across to the Carribean.

Gibraltar has been a fantastic place for port over the past months and has provided a number of interesting expieriences, some qoutes from our time in Gib:

"Cigarettes are so cheap here, you cant afford not to smoke",

"The flies here are slow",

"Iv'e never been to Galapogos! Really I havn't! Ever!",

"Why does everyone get up so late here............ Because they're all alcoholics......"

"Holy S#^T, It's George Clooney!"

To all our loved ones we will be out of interent connection range until the Carribean unless we get lucky in Canarys.

Good Travels,

Over and Out,
The Mawali Crew

Week 3

This week has been a week of wit testing. Alothough we had planned to be sailing away for Gib by the end of the week, due to a number of set backs (Boom End Fitting and Spinniker Repairs), it seems we are going to be here for another week.
We have experienced a number of large surges from weather out at sea but other than life in Gib remains relaxed and laid back.

Keep you up to date with our movements,


Over and Out,



The Mawali Crew

A Day Up the Mast

Today was an eventful day, Where Glenn was given the mission to climb the mast. Apparently being constantly scared 100ft above the ground is exhausting because there was not much else that was accomplished today. Below are some great pictures of the view from the top of Gib and from the safe and sound ground level.

 

 A View of Mawali from the top

of the mast (Left), Glenn in scale to the

   boat (Right - (he is the small dot on the   top of the mast))

Gibraltar by Day



                                            



 

 

 

Gibraltar by Night

Spain and Beach Gun Tower

 

   A Fantastic View From inside and ontop of the300 year old gun tower on the Spanish Coast

Week 2

As the hours in each day fly by we're now into week 3. Week 2 was a little more relaxed than week 1 as we get through all the repairs on Mawali.

Good progress with the repairs as we started up the engines for the first time, very exciting (mainly for Glenn), although it was nice to hear them run smoothly. The biggest problem that we have run into thus far is trying to figure out what the settings and cycles on the washing machine mean as they are all in spanish.

Other than that this week has been a little boring with trying to get enough done so that we can do some exploring over the next couple of weeks. We have plans to visit the kiteboarding town of Tarifa and do the cliff face walk of the famous Camino Del Rey. Also this week we have been informed of some fantastic dive sites around the Gib area, including a WWII bomber.

Good News, Following this post will be photos of Gib and Spain.

To all our loved ones, hello and happy days.


Over and Out,


The Mawali Crew

Week 1

Hey guys,
So there goes the first week and it has been as hard working as it has been enjoyable. We're well through a lot of the major repairs that we had to do on the boat and as of today, WE HAVE POWER!!! Chris has been helping Glenn alot with all the electrics and mechanics of the boat and Benny and myself have been doing alot of the organising.

So far we are still on schedule to leave before the end of the month as we go through the systems that we need in place for our ocean passage. We have recently discovered that it is very important to have the ships papers with you when shopping in Spain (Dad and Benny had some minor difficulties explaining to customs that the washing machine we purchased was for a boat).

On the other hand we havnt had any major issues apart from the fact that I have been able to put myself through some form of painful experience at least once a day including sacrificing my body to get the price of a pineapple in the local Spanish supermarket.

I am still awaiting to get some good pictures to post, but look forward to them because they will be amazing ;)


Over and out,

The Mawali Crew

Welcome to Mawali

Hey guys,

Sorry it has taken so long to put a new a post up I thought I would bring some suspence into the equation. We arrived safe and sound after the long 36 hours of flying, but certainly worth it. Once we flew into Gibraltar we had to find a taxi big enought for our 3000 bags and then make our way to the marina where the boat is mored, Ocean Village.

Gibraltar is nice, there is something about it that makes you feel like your on holidays. it has little qwerks about it that make it. Colourful lights along the marina and shore line, old run down spanish/english buildings, cafes with freshly baked croissants. all these little things are what Gib is about. (Locals like ourselves call it Gib).

Mawali, while we have alot of repairs to do on the boat she is a beauty. big, white and what seems fairly solid for our next few months accross the atlantic and pacific oceans. We are currently spending alot of time going through everything and making sure all systems are go and we have everything repaired and ready.

Ill keep you updated on where our journeys are taking us but thats it for now untill i get some pictures that make you think we are in paridise.

Over and Out,

Mawali Crew

New Photos of Mawali

Hey Guys, here are some new photos of the boat. As we get closer to our leaving date our bags are packed and all systems are go.

Clcik For Large Images

Some Photos of Mawali

 

                                                 

Click on the Images to enlarge

The New Boat - Mawali

Mawali is a Fountaine Pajot Marquises 56'. Mawali is currently lying in Gibraltar, Glenn and Ben will be flying to Gibraltar on the 29th October to make the boat ready for an 8 month trip accross the atlantic and pacific oceans in the year 2012. They will be joined by Chris, Curtis and many others over the course of the trip. Mawali is a very comfortable vessel making voyaging easy, fully equiped with scuba gear and water toys to play in the many exotic locations along the way. Below is a Photo of Mawali.

In Port in Gibraltar