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Tuesday, April 3rd, Badalona, Spain
Our Semana Santa
vacation began yesterday with windy, gray and rainy
conditions, and it hasn't stopped since. Cassie
and Juliana are off from school all week
and next Monday too, for the Easter holiday. We
are planning on sending them back for another four days
of school the following week, making their last day
Friday the 13th. The school has been accommodating
with our somewhat vague schedule, but they did ask
for a last day date. Even if we wind up staying a
little later because of weather, we won't send them back
after the 13th. It has been a wonderful experience
for them, and they are lobbying to stay through the end
of the school year in June. I'm afraid it is not
an argument that they will win!
They got report cards
on Friday and everyone is very pleased with their
progress. The school was kind enough to provide an
English version of the report. In fact, they
prefer to speak to me in English rather than Spanish
which I hope is a statement on the politics of
castellano versus
catalán in the schools
rather than a statement on my Spanish! Basically,
both texts indicate that the girls adapted very well,
met friends quickly, preformed well in math, and, after a short while, were able
to communicate in Spanish and catalán
using basic sentence patterns. I'll put the
complete text of their reports on the
kid pages.
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Of course, we are all
anxiously awaiting the arrival of Nana and Juliana Boyle
tomorrow night. They depart San Francisco tonight
for a marathon journey, arriving in Barcelona at 8pm.
We are hoping that the jet lag doesn't hit them too
hard. We are also keeping our fingers and toes
crossed that the rain and gray skies exhaust themselves
in time for their visit. The Zia crew will
definitely be ready for some sunshine!
In the meantime, we are
taking the opportunity to do a bit of spring cleaning.
Having guests is always a great incentive to give the
boat a thorough cleaning, inside and out. This
time, I am taking it a step further and trying to get to
all the nooks and crannies that have been neglected for
the last year and a half. Although it is a small
living area, you tend to cram so much into every last
space, getting to the bottom of it is a big project.
At least that is my excuse for not having done it
before! At least I'm not feeling sorry for myself
because it is beautiful and sunny outside and I am stuck
inside, cleaning!
After our guests leave
next Thursday, we will be looking for a weather window
to head for Ibiza. We have some friends joining us
in Sardinia on May 13th so we will have about a month to
explore the Balearics. It is about 150 miles to
Ibiza so we'll probably leave one afternoon and arrive
the next day, mid day or so. It will be
sensational to get back out on the water. Or maybe
I should say to go somewhere in our boat! We
certainly haven't been missing the feeling of being on
the water all winter, with all the surge that makes its
way into the port!
I'm excited to check
out the Balearics. They are also part of the
region of Catalunya
and consist of four islands. Formentera is the
southwestern most island, with Ibiza just to its north.
I have heard that Ibiza is the party island, where most
of the young kids of all nationalities go, with perhaps
a slight majority of British.
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Formentera is famous
for being the "Italian island" with lots of fancy yachts
at its small port. Mallorca, where we went for 10
days or so last fall, is the largest island, with a few
large cities. It is being bought up predominately
by German ex-pats. Menorca is said to be the most
rugged and the most Spanish of the four. We are
looking forward to checking them all out, given some
decent weather. Then we'll cross the "Abyssal
Plain" for about 200 miles from Menorca to Alghero,
Sardinia, where we meet Larson and Gav. You might
remember Larson,
who hooked up with us in the Bahamas last May to do the
passage to Bermuda with us. This year, he is
bringing a friend along, who we have also met on a
couple of occasions before. I can't blame the guy
for wanting a little company that is able to stay awake
past ten o'clock! Anyway, the islands between
Corsica and Sardinia are supposed to be some stunning
cruising grounds. I can't wait!
Here's hoping you are
having a better spring than we are! Brrr.
Next
Entry>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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