Inspection plates in plexiglass are now designed, cut out and mounted inside of the water tank. Looks amazing and also it feels very good to have cleaned that dirty little place. Still need to repeat the cleaning process a couple of times before it's perfectly fresh. Alex will also shortly start the installation of the second water tank, which will be connected to our new watermaker. We're very excited for the possibility to have enough fresh drinking water for our longer ocean crossings. Not to mention the ability to take fresh showers, every day! /T

Not much action on the sea lately, but this is how it can look like - on one of the most quiet days on water. This video pretty much sums up the feeling and tempo of our life at the moment. Slow and easy, no stress and hurries. Just going with the flow, taking the days as they come, sailing shorter legs, working on some projects here and there and mentally preparing for the big adventure we are having in front of us. Which will be starting for real once all installations are done and we have gotten out of the Mediterranean. /T

The passport has been found! It was in one of the pockets in Alex's jacket. A jacket which he barely wear, but had on for some days ago. For some reason I had given the passport to him to guard after we picked up something from the postal office. So let's partly blame him for this disappearance, no? Thank you all for your help in this drama. I guess John Butler was the one with the nearest solution, so we'll welcome you aboard one day if our paths would ever cross!

We have just arrived to Cambrils by the way. Not very far from Tarragona where we today started, but we've decided to take it slow until we have fixed what has to get fixed. At least we're doing a tiny bit of progress further down South every day, and at the same time we have enough time, each day, to do some work on the boat. We do not want to get stuck in too rough weather or head out on longer passages before a couple of important things are done on the boat. Such as the final work on the teak, the reinstallation of the air generator, the inspection plates for the water tank, the final mounting of the toe rails and the installation of the watermaker. We're taking it easy here in Cambrils tonight, working a couple of hours tomorrow morning and then leaving a bit further down after lunch. There is a mistral expected from tomorrow onwards underneath the Delta del Ebro, so I guess we'll have some time to just stay around on this stretch of coast for more boat projects for the next couple of days. We're not in a hurry and finally we're both starting to feel a bit more harmonic and peaceful - now when we're having all the main stress behind us. There is actually not much things we need to worry about at the moment and there's also no schedules to adjust to. We're just happy if we reach the Caribbean before New Year, that's all. The passport issue solved itself in the end - like most things do in life and we are incredibly happy for that.

Now: a light dinner, some wine and falling asleep to some sweet reggae dub tunes.. Good night y'all. /T

Once again I've made the impossible possible. I have lost my passport! I can swear it is inside of the boat somewhere as we both recall it was on the chart table just some days ago. We've been searching all over the boat, lifted all things out a couple of times and back in again but we just can't seem to find it anywhere. Either it is hidden somewhere where we can't find it, or it has gone out in some of the trash bags? Although the latter sounds like nonsense. Who could possibly be so abstracted? Me? Well... A control freak most of the times, always making sure things are in order and well organized, yet extremely clumsy at the very same time. Figure that contradiction out, someone.

Anyone clairvoyant reading this blog? I am desperate. The one who brings in the best tip leading to a reunion with me and my passport, will be honored with a day of sailing with us, aboard Caos. Now help me please!

It is covered by a black leather case, saying PASSPORT on it, if that is of any help. Ha!
Thanks in advance.

/The mess

We're finally on the way again! As much as it was a perfectly effective and much needed working pause we got in Port Ginesta, we were dying to get further away from Barcelona. None of us really feel like we've gone far away from home before we have gotten out of the Mediterranean, so it feels nice to proceed with the journey, again. We're nicely cruising along downwind and hoping to reach somewhere close to Tarragona tonight.

Weather is perfect: clear blue sky, warm sunshine, 24C degrees (75F), fresh air - just what makes life worth living on the sea. Couldn't ask for anything more today!

P.S: Don't forget to follow our steps on the tracker! /T

We have a sort of an issue. We are stuck here. Although we wish to proceed, we're still having so incredibly much to do that we can't leave. Or we can but at the same time we wish to finish with at least a couple of the thousands of pending stuff still to check off from our list.... Port Ginesta is also one of the best harbors we visited in the Mediterranean so far and we're very happy to stay here. They have everything available. All types of workshops, welders, wood-shops, shops with all types of spares, clean and fresh laundry facility, OK restaurants and a grocery store etc.. We were really supposed to leave last night but things got in the way, and now we were supposed to leave today but more things got in the way... and it's never ending. Hopefully making some progress on this world tour of ours, tonight. Just need to clean the dinghy, organize the washed clothes and replace a couple of lines... 

A berth for a 35' (10,5 m) boat costs 27 Euros a night, which should be considered as a bargain in Spain. There is free wireless Internet included in that price, as well as water and electricity.

/Taru

I'm loving the subtle morning light shining through our new portholes. In fact I do love all light coming in through the small holes and hatches of a sailboat. Our sailboat. Indeed there is sunlight shining in also in flats and houses, but on a boat you'll find the discreet light penetrating from everywhere, in much smaller quantities. From the side through the portholes, above your head through the hatches, through the crannies in the companionway door and through every other little hole and cranny, making for a dramatic and beautiful light show. A show that is constantly moving and changing structure depending on the suns and the boats position. I love how the mahogany turns from brown to soft yellow, red and orange. All changed after the time of the day - making it all feel so real and alive. /T

This Spotwalla software drives me crazy.. it is not very easy to get a clear view of what's going on from the first glimpse and I can't seem to understand how to change the pre-setting. Anyhow, if you want to know where exactly we are located, you can change the history from 1 day to let's say the last 7 days, so that you can view the total progress of this journey. There are not much progress at the moment though, as we've been hanging around here in this very same harbor of Ginesta since day 2 (day 1 is gone as we forgot to restart the tracker before we left Bcn).

When this is done, you can also zoom into the specific place where the track-point is, and get so close that you will see exactly which berth we're tied up to, as shown on picture above.

If anyone know how to change the settings so more than the last day is shown on the first page, I would be very happy. I would love it to be easier for our followers to catch up on the progress without having to click around too much. Thanks. /T

We're still in Ginesta. The weather has been perfect for the last couple of days, but we have had sooo much to do that we've decided to stay here until tonight to get back on track. Doesn't matter much for the progress though as we'll need to await the new sails in Gibraltar anyway. At the moment we're changing the cap shrouds, which we just received the parts for (yes, we're still in Spain, remember, everything takes time here) and later on we'll start the serious cleaning number two - which means that everything that is not mega ultra necessary to bring with us around the world, will get dumped off. The waterline stripe is in a critical situation as is the ability to maneuver the boat -  so we'll need to get off at least 500 kilos weight (1.100 pounds) before heading anywhere further. This means my wine is in major danger!!! /T

Now we're ready for those big tunas again! Tons of sesame seeds, wasabi, rice vinegar, soya and nori sheets are purchased for a part of this tour. Is there anything more fulfilling than being able to catch your own fish and preparing fantastic sushi straight off the boat, under the sun, in the middle of an ocean? No! Will try making sushi with some other fish than only the tuna, next time. /Taru

This is our new dinghy. With the new Suzuki outboard motor. Working really well compared to the other disaster we had, with heavy wooden planks in the floor making it super heavy. This one is so light you can lift it up one person from the water onboard to the boat. And it's fast too with the v-shaped keel. We're loving it! 

We're still in a bit of a dizzy mode from all the work, sleepless nights and countless dinners and parties we've attended lately. So tonight we're having the most quiet and calm night in months. Alex is slowly  organizing inside of the engine room while I'm laying in the saloon like a half dead, unable (and uninterested in) to move anywhere. Reading an old classic and eating the Swedish candy that my dear friends brought on Saturday. Let's call it a day with the smooth voice of Marvin Gaye. /T

Hey there,

We've been totally exhausted lately, therefore the lack of updates. I haven't even opened up my laptop for the last one and a half days and that is something extremely unusual. We had our good bye meeting in the harbor on Saturday night. The farewells lasted until around 11 pm and when we have said our good byes and had some drinks, we decided to leave the boat where it was and go to sleep... We just couldn't imagine ourselves going out there with that tiredness we felt, so we slept and slept and 14 hours later we left, towards Port Ginesta - where we still are and most probably will be staying until tomorrow. We really needed to catch up on that sleep for sure.

Photo from Saturday's farewell evening. Taken by Adam Hansson. More photos from that night of farewells can be found on Adam and Camillas blog. 

We've just found our SPOT tracker in this messy little boat, so now you'll be able to follow our journey on our tracker online, again. (I just don't understand why the START-thing has moved to Port Ginesta, and not staying on Barcelona?? Probably cause we haven't used the machine for quite some time? Too tired to figure that out now.)

Thank you all for your good luck wishes and greetings here on the blog, on our facebook and by email, we appreciate it so very much!! We'll be back with updates soon again.

/Taru