A few people have told me about 'spiritual experiences' they've had when sailing long distances - such as finding a dead relative sitting beside them in the cockpit on night watch which they found comforting. If that were to happen to me I'd probable die of fright, at the very least scream my head off and wake up Tony and the dead. I think these experiences are fuelled by extreme exhaustion. I had something like that happen on the last passage from Malta to Menorca, which is where we are now for a few days waiting out nasty weather. Just after we left Malta I got a very bad cold or flu - whatever it is its really horrible and should definitely be treated with rest - REST, that's a joke when there's just 2 of us running the boat and one of us is always awake. It may not be such a bad thing to nod off out in the ocean when its very unlikely that you'll hit anything, but in the Med its a bit different - there's quite alot of traffic day and night. In fact it seems like alot more ships show up on our AIS at night than during the day. So - 3 nights out in stormy conditions with a bad cold and very little sleep I was having a bad watch. Standing up in the wind and rain will certainly help to keep one awake but not as comfortable as sitting under cover in the cockpit. Every time I sat down I would nod off - and wake up just as my head hit something close by - the bimini/dodger framework or the edge of the steering pedestal. It happened many times but I couldn't wake Tony because he really needed his sleep too and had already been very generous with giving up some of his sleep to me as I was sick. So my spiritual experience was when I fell into more than a 'nod off' and something whacked me around the head pretty hard - this time it wasn't something I fell against. So someone else must have been on watch with me and obviously a gentle shake 'awake' wasn't going to work. So for the last hour of that watch I stood out in the rain and wind and kept myself busy. So we're in Menorca, the Ballearics, Spain. We got here 2 days ago. We had hoped to make it to Ibiza a bit further south west on this leg but we had to deal with a technical problem and Menorca was closer. We've not done much other than REST, check out the chandleries for things we need aboard and work on Moondancer. Today will be more of the same, but tomorrow we'll do some sight seeing. Its a very lovely island - so clean and the people are polite and courteous. Instead of running across the road in fear of one's life - we stand on the curb and wait and people actually stop to let us cross the road. Incredible. Menorca reminds us so much of other countries we have visited - particularly Bermuda in its tidiness and cleanliness. Funny how when we come to new places they always seem to have characteristics like other places we have been. The video and pictures I'm posting speak for themselves and as yet I know nothing about Menorca as we have not really been out and about - we hope to rectify that on Saturday, our last day here before the weather turns in our favour for getting further along. We knew when we left Malta that getting out of the Med was going to be tough - so far that's exactly what it has been. We'll have to work within weather systems and there are plenty of harbours on the Spanish coast to duck into until we finally get out, then once in the Atlantic we'll basically have to work with the wind direction until we get far enough south to head west. We obviously hope that the trade winds will then carry us across as fast as Moondancer can go.
A few people have told me about 'spiritual experiences' they've had when sailing long distances - such as finding a dead relative sitting beside them in the cockpit on night watch which they found comforting. If that were to happen to me I'd probable die of fright, at the very least scream my head off and wake up Tony and the dead. I think these experiences are fuelled by extreme exhaustion. I had something like that happen on the last passage from Malta to Menorca, which is where we are now for a few days waiting out nasty weather. Just after we left Malta I got a very bad cold or flu - whatever it is its really horrible and should definitely be treated with rest - REST, that's a joke when there's just 2 of us running the boat and one of us is always awake. It may not be such a bad thing to nod off out in the ocean when its very unlikely that you'll hit anything, but in the Med its a bit different - there's quite alot of traffic day and night. In fact it seems like alot more ships show up on our AIS at night than during the day. So - 3 nights out in stormy conditions with a bad cold and very little sleep I was having a bad watch. Standing up in the wind and rain will certainly help to keep one awake but not as comfortable as sitting under cover in the cockpit. Every time I sat down I would nod off - and wake up just as my head hit something close by - the bimini/dodger framework or the edge of the steering pedestal. It happened many times but I couldn't wake Tony because he really needed his sleep too and had already been very generous with giving up some of his sleep to me as I was sick. So my spiritual experience was when I fell into more than a 'nod off' and something whacked me around the head pretty hard - this time it wasn't something I fell against. So someone else must have been on watch with me and obviously a gentle shake 'awake' wasn't going to work. So for the last hour of that watch I stood out in the rain and wind and kept myself busy. So we're in Menorca, the Ballearics, Spain. We got here 2 days ago. We had hoped to make it to Ibiza a bit further south west on this leg but we had to deal with a technical problem and Menorca was closer. We've not done much other than REST, check out the chandleries for things we need aboard and work on Moondancer. Today will be more of the same, but tomorrow we'll do some sight seeing. Its a very lovely island - so clean and the people are polite and courteous. Instead of running across the road in fear of one's life - we stand on the curb and wait and people actually stop to let us cross the road. Incredible. Menorca reminds us so much of other countries we have visited - particularly Bermuda in its tidiness and cleanliness. Funny how when we come to new places they always seem to have characteristics like other places we have been. The video and pictures I'm posting speak for themselves and as yet I know nothing about Menorca as we have not really been out and about - we hope to rectify that on Saturday, our last day here before the weather turns in our favour for getting further along. We knew when we left Malta that getting out of the Med was going to be tough - so far that's exactly what it has been. We'll have to work within weather systems and there are plenty of harbours on the Spanish coast to duck into until we finally get out, then once in the Atlantic we'll basically have to work with the wind direction until we get far enough south to head west. We obviously hope that the trade winds will then carry us across as fast as Moondancer can go.
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