Fish are jumping

OldBawley

OldBawley

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We are in winter mode. That means we more or less stay in the same safe area. A bit as weekend boaters do.
Anchored on a spot people believe to be photoshoped. Bathing suit weather, water temperature is great.
Fish are jumping.
This time of season swarms of sardines seek protection under our boat. At attacks they jump out of the water, unfortunately for them into our dingy and on deck.
At times it is as someone is throwing pebbles onto the boat.
I collect the three inch long sardines. Each time about a dozen of them.
I use some of them as bait for octopus fishing, we eat the others as meze.
Life out here can be cheap.
The other day one of the hunters landed in the dingy. Foot long Pompano ( Carangidae Trachinotus ovatus ) Mjum!

Some of the latest threads in the liveaboard forum give the impression cruising is difficult and expensive. In my opinion cruising is a lot easier than competing in the rat race.

Cruising can be as expensive or cheap as you want it to be. I meet more and more cruisers who´s education and skills are not ideal for liveaboard cruisers. As an example, a highly respected business accountant mostly has no clue of simple mechanics, yet a yacht is a simple mechanic tool.
Money and electronic gadgets give a false feel of security until Aeolus really hits.
The sea and weather are the same as ever, electronics and fancy gadgets can make living on a yacht more like “Home” but cost a lot and will fail.

I agree with Jerome FitzGerald in his book Sea- steading. ( except for the engine less part )
Keep it stupid simple, that way cruising is affordable.

Probably the best decision I made in the pre cruising time was to stop looking for a “ Proper” cruising yacht and first give it a try with the boat I already owned and loved. I could always buy an other yacht later, first wanted to see if the cruising life pleased me. Id did.

We are now starting our fifteenth year in the Med and love it. The money for the “ Real “ cruising yacht is still there, our old Bawley proved to be so good we don’t think at changing any more.

Twenty years ago a 54 feet yacht was something special. Now, most charter yachts are 54 feet and the trend is 54 feet catamaran. The funny thing been that 20 years ago there ware a lot more liveaboard cruisers. Where does it end ?

For all those dreamers who cant afford a 54 feet yacht, don´t give up, small and simple is a way to go to.
 
What a lovely thread to read, thank you! After reading that I asked the Boss why we hull up in a marina for 6 long winter months when we both know we truly don't enjoy it or many of the surrounding aspects.. Silly isn't it? Looking to change our patterns, cheers and enjoy those sardines :)
 
All so true! It amazes me how many people believe they have to sell their house and buy an expensive boat to go cruising.
The boat is so valuable no wonder it is cosseted in a marina most of the time with full insurance, plus depreciation to worry about.
The view is the same from a cheap boat, which can be insured for third party only. Relaxation is easier this way!
Not that you'll have much time with all the maintenance!!
 
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I do wish I could retire completely and be able to anchor all the time, but as a working man, albeit two weeks away two weeks home, its just not possible. It would be considerably cheaper to anchor and not need the marina. I dream of your way, but will have to wait. But soon! I do have all the bells and whistles, but luckily I am a mechanic/woody/techy and can repair almost anything aboard, apart from electronics, but even the simpler ones of those I can manage. So can live with the techy bits. The fresh sardines sound yummy, last time I had really good ones was in Portugal! L:ike herring sized they were and yummy!! Enjoy yourselves and fair winds to you!
 
Thank you OldBawley.
Have read the other threads and swallowed the offered doses of realism, but it's lifted my heart a little to read your post.

We already see simplicity as a benefit and not a sacrifice, and know from mountaineering about rewards that need patience with a bit of graft and hardship sometimes, but it's lovely to hear your view too, so we can know what we're aiming for...
 
Wonderful to hear that it is still possible to live on a budget. We are leaving next month to go boat hunting in the Med with a view to being afloat by Feb/March next year. We have a very limited budget but are determined to give it a go. My main concern is my lack of knowledge on electrics, something I will be trying to get my head round over the next few months :-) Looking for something smaller than 54 ft though :-) Hope to meet you out there next year :-)
 
rolfbudd said:
Wonderful to hear that it is still possible to live on a budget. We are leaving next month to go boat hunting in the Med with a view to being afloat by Feb/March next year. We have a very limited budget but are determined to give it a go. My main concern is my lack of knowledge on electrics, something I will be trying to get my head round over the next few months :-) Looking for something smaller than 54 ft though :-) Hope to meet you out there next year :-)
Click to expand...

Good luck with your boat hunt :-)
 
I have been working in the yachting business for 10 years.
First thing new owners of a second-hand yacht always did was buying new instruments.
I still wonder why.

We started with a hand lead. Later I obtained a electronic depth sounder. Did not want to make a hole in our hull so I mounted it onto our transom hung rudder.

With a depth sounder, VHF and a hand-held gps we started our cruise.

Now we have a laptop and a gps mouse. Who needs more?

Electronic instruments are daddy´s toy, the amount of money spent not realistic, after all they do nothing for the boat.

A few years back we ware moored in Mandraki Rhodes. About 10 liveaboard yachts on the floating pontoon. Eight of them had radar. I did an enquiry, most of them admitted the wind catcher did not work, one said his radar worked but after I asked if he could “ See “ our wooden boat, it turned out he was looking at the demo program, had no idea what so ever he saw on the screen.

First big saving : Minimum instruments.
 
Yes in the Med w mostly good vis radar seems like an anachronism but it's still strangely popular (and costly in amps too).
The same is true of wind vane self steering. Most owners seem to remove the rudder and vane, maybe 'cos of the complication of Med mooring.
If you have both that's a huge unwarranted expenditure. KISS must rule!
 
In support of the Wind Vane

tri39 said:
Yes in the Med w mostly good vis radar seems like an anachronism but it's still strangely popular (and costly in amps too).
The same is true of wind vane self steering. Most owners seem to remove the rudder and vane, maybe 'cos of the complication of Med mooring.
If you have both that's a huge unwarranted expenditure. KISS must rule!
Click to expand...

Agree with you regarding radar in the Med (we've just decided to sell the one we inherited and have never used).

But I can spend hours watching Wanda our wind vane steering in action. For me she is as magical as the sails and better than an extra crew member - does not need feeding, never tires and has no need of 'comfort breaks'. She is in action for us whenever there is wind and our passage is longer than an hour or so.
 
What a lovely read - just wish the sardines would jump a little wherever we are as apart from mackerel when we were in UK waters we've not caught anything yet... good job we weren't relying on fish to supplement our diet.

And I agree- go with the yacht you've got otherwise your dream will remain just that

S
 
Petronella said:
Agree with you regarding radar in the Med (we've just decided to sell the one we inherited and have never used).

But I can spend hours watching Wanda our wind vane steering in action. For me she is as magical as the sails and better than an extra crew member - does not need feeding, never tires and has no need of 'comfort breaks'. She is in action for us whenever there is wind and our passage is longer than an hour or so.
Click to expand...

I have just turned up this thread and, although we no longer live on Junica, I felt the urge to offer my twopenneth.

Background: I have sailed for over 60 years and have latterly lived aboard our Moody 42 Junica for 19 of those years. Health questions and a lack of insurance prevented us from sailing the world but we did not plan to anyway. We have spent time in the Canaries, the Azores, the Balearics and Croatia, apart from the mainlands of England, France, Spain, Portugal and the islands of Corfu, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and others too small to mention. We do not feel that we have been very adventurous but we have seen many great places and sailed many many seas. The time came to respect the health warnings, forsake the gipsy life and join the ranks of the land bound house owners again. We love France and your pound stretches very much further, if you are buying a house. We now live in the middle of very rural France, surrounded by ducks, chickens (not ours) and dogs and cats, which are ours.

Budget. Yes you can live very cheaply on a boat and during the summer it is relatively easy but I have never met anybody, who did not need a little heat and warmth during the winter. Sadly the cheap town quays are becoming more and more difficult to find. Living on our boat was never meant to be a test of endurance and we have never enjoyed a rolly anchorage in temperatures in single figures. We have always taken to a nice snug marina for the winter with the benefits of electric heating and pontoons to walk on, when you want to go ashore. I, personally, like to live and drink well and, with berthing, maintenance, spares and sustenance, we would need rather more than the quoted £12,000 to live in reasonable comfort. Having said all that, we have never tried to winter further south. We have not visited Greece and the Greek Islands, nor Turkey. I am told that, if you live very simply, it is possible to live very cheaply.

Radar & GPS. I mentioned above that I have sailed many boats for many years. I bought my first cruising boat in 1970 and life was very simple. No radio, no radar, no GPS or chart plotters, no spray hood, auto pilot or wind steering. No furling sails, just 5 different heads'ls of various sizes. We still sailed with dead reckoning around the north coast of France, the Channel Islands, Belgium and Holland. Not to mention the British Coasts and headlands. This was normal for us and I think we got more satisfaction from a good landfall made by dead reckoning than ever I get by following a waypoint on the GPS. We never had a radar in the 'old days'. They certainly existed on ships but there were no small units for yachts. We did not miss it because we had never had it but the ships were fewer and much slower. You had a lot more time to identify lights and ship's headings. Now I have sailed with radar for over 20 years and would not night sail without it. The manners of big ships are atrocious and I have lost count of the number of times I have called them on the VHF, altered course for them, despite the fact that I was sailing or even in their give way quadrant. You do not need the radar on all the time, unless you have enough battery power to use it for an anchor watch but it gives great comfort to be able to use the EBL and VRM facilities. You know exactly where a ship is going and whether there is any potential danger. Having identified the hazards, you turn the radar off again and enjoy the stars.

Auto pilot and wind vane steering. I see that you have a Hydrovane, from the photos. Our's is called Horatio and he has steered the boat for more miles than I have. As you so rightly say, he is the best crew we have. He has steered us through force 10, with just a scrap of jib and a very heavily reefed mizzen. He has steered us round the Atlantic and the Mediterranean with twin headsl's set or with the cruising shute. I would not want to sail single handed or with just my wife as crew, without him. When the wind falls and you are within a reasonable distance of your destination then start the engine and, with all your added electrical power, start the autopilot. There is nothing heroic about sitting out in the cockpit freezing your butt off, when it can be done for you by one of your uncomplaining crew.

I do not say that all the modern gadgets should be fitted, indeed I am a firm believer in KISS but if the invention is going to make your life easier, then use it. I do not see the reason for AIS, I do not like the integrated systems, as, if you loose 1 you run the risk of loosing them all. I have never had a chart plotter as my GPS is interfaced with my old lap top. My watermaker has not been used for years and my hot air heater will probably never work again.

Lots of luck and my best wishes to those who are just starting off the cruising life.
 
tri39 said:
Yes in the Med w mostly good vis radar seems like an anachronism but it's still strangely popular (and costly in amps too).
The same is true of wind vane self steering. Most owners seem to remove the rudder and vane, maybe 'cos of the complication of Med mooring.
If you have both that's a huge unwarranted expenditure. KISS must rule!
Click to expand...

If you ever do a couple of transatlantics with just two people and hand steer for days, you will appreciate a windvane. We did. Our 3rd and fourth were far more pleasant.

If you have ever been in serious fog for days, Radar and knowing how to use it is excellent.

Having 2 gps options is not gadgetry, its safe navigation.

Having 2 sextants and knowing how to use them is mostly for fun, but we can.

What suits some, doesn't suit others. There are no rules, each to their own.

16 years living aboard....
 
Oldbawley young man,,,,, that was a great read,,,it keeps me spirits up while I sit here in damp cold north devon waiting for our one way ticket
to start on march 31st,,Even though Greece has thrown a spanner in the works, ,,,The dream is finally happening, so will have to catch more fish to
offset the new TAX,,,
 
Congratulations with your escape from the rat race. You will not regret it.

I see the yacht is in Marmaris, much more fish in Turkey than in Greece.

In winter in the Fethiye Göcek bays, I used to lay 50 yards of net every evening. Most of the days the catch was enough for two persons and a cat.
Learned where and how to lay a net from an old French salt.
Did a lot of line trawling with our sailing dingy to. Some days I had to give the fish away, barracuda and cornet fish.
Things are changing, I just read that fishing is forbidden now, ( http://cruisingtips.net/mbc/?p=4457 )
During our last winter in Turkey, some jealous big mobo Turk who did not like me pulled his cellphone twice. Göcek coastguard officer was a good guy, line fishing was allowed back then and nets have no name on it.

Greece is different, fishing is a way of life for many people, My nets are not used here, and the fishing I do is, let us say ”unseen“
The poor Greeks have a difficult time, no need to provoke them.


This morning, rowing ashore to collect some water, I spotted an octopus. Big one, took me some time to catch him. He squirted his ink all over me and managed to escape. Later I landed the dingy at the shipyard, and Kostas, the owner of the yard new already what had happened. Binoculars.

A water tanker used as a floating reservoir is moored in the west end of the Poros lake. When full ( twice a day ) his deck is almost level with the sea. The jumping sardines are gathered there by the dozens.
 
"Greece is different, fishing is a way of life for many people, My nets are not used here, and the fishing I do is, let us say ”unseen“
The poor Greeks have a difficult time, no need to provoke them."

That's right, ive been following the rules about fishing and they are quite tight now, but the licence is fairly cheap,
Ive fished a lot around marmaris and have struggled to catch any thing, but im learning and have a bit more gear now,,,all home made of coarse,
Ps hope you cleaned your ink off ok
 
Did catch the ink spitting bugger this evening. ( They almost always return to the same hiding place )
I had already bought meat for today and tomorrow so I cooked the octopus one hour in diluted red wine with a sniff of cinnamon for the smell. Cooling off in the cockpit now, Cold enough at night not to need the fridge.
In Turkey I used to conserve octopus. Cut in pieces, in a clean jar, then the jar “Bain Marie “ for an other 30 minutes on the wood stove. Later ( Holds for years ) wokking the pre cooked pieces in a garlic – pepper sauce.
Without the wood burning stove all of this cooking would be more expensive than eating out.

Out of season, all but some restaurants are closed. The only good one in this area has the cook ( An Albanian woman ) in holiday at home, so no more restaurant for me for some months.

Did I mention learning to be a good cook is one of liveaboards basic needs ?
 
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