CROSSING THE POND

Dear friends,
MOODI is in Santa Cruz Tenerife waiting anxiously for Saturday 14 December , which is the date
Chosen for the D -DAY.
I arrived with Leila my spouse here 17 November and started to prepare for the journey. Leila worked hard ,cleaning and organizing things in place. She left 27 November. I miss her.
Amos and Kineret Bloch joined me 02 December and we continued with the preparations.
The boat is finally ready : 560 liters of diesel,30 liters of fuel for the Yamaha, 430 liters of water in the tanks, 100 liters mineral water ,juice,coca cola and tonic water 40 liters, 100 cans of beer,
22 bottles of vine, 10 bootlegs of hard liqueur.... This is for the fluids. We have vegetables,fruit and other commodity to last us for 6 weeks. We are stocking only a few steaks, chicken and other meat products , while we are counting for Amos fishing skills to keep us in daily fish diet.
We have 15 kgs of flour , rice and pasta. Carton full of crackers, chocolate and other sweets to keep us happy Kineret has two kgs of "sukariot gumi" = vine gums for her sweet tooth. Sometimes Amos thinks that She is like a 14 years old little girl  ( we even have MR Jonny hanging on a peg. Jonny as Kineret christened it is a salted,smoked and air dried hind leg of pork, which the Spanish call HAMON ... It weights 7 kgs)
Kineret took charge of organizing the gulley and the food provisions. You should see the boat....
AMOS has among other things mastered the deck. Tied 14 Jerrycans to the railing, arranged the sails, ropes deck gear and fishing equipment + done various carpenter jobs.. He really has all the skills and a magic touch. He did all with a fractured rib and bruises from a nasty fall from his motorcycle (Kineret and Me have decided to dispose the bike) a few days before His arrival to the boat . He is finding what to do the whole time. A real turbo man..
We attended a concert in the Santiago Calatrava auditorium and have toured the city, which is really charming...and has many interesting buildings and monuments,parks and a lots of Pedestrian streets...
The weather has been warm, but unfortunately we have had a lots of rain... 
The only thing left is to dive and clean the propellor and the hull, while the boat has been stationary for 15 weeks..
During the sail Amos is in charge of the sails and the deck and fishing. Kineret is in charge of navigating, plotting,charts and keeping the travel journey . I am in charge of the weather and making the most important decisions like what will be in the menu each day..
Kineret has organized a blog for me that you can have a look it is : MOODI SAILING  jlivson.blogspot.com/
The next mail you will receive in mid January from Virgin Islands.....I am once again reminding you that : LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE BREATHS WE TAKE, BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATHS AWAY..LAST PREPARATIONS
Fvbbn

From Sardinia to Palma

 MOODI Sailing from Sardinia - Italy to Palma - Spain 

Dear Friends,

I have sailed alread four months and slowly getting my sea legs...

I am at Palma Airport, where Ruth Schilling left and Noam and Varda are joining me...

Ruth came to Olbia Sardinia 12 July and we continued Northbound. The first night at anchor south of Cala Di Volpe. We reached Madalena Marine park noon time and picked up a boy.

The wind was 22-26 kts and I did not pay enough attention and got 4 scratches right side from a producing stone.... Apparently I was drifting... Luckily the damage was not serious.

Day three to Bonifaccio  in Corsica. Day four we entered a small fishing village on the North West Coast of Sardinia named Castelsardo. Beautiful. Day five to Alghero, where we stayed  for two days. We visited the Neptunes Cave and toured extensively the Old Town of Alghero..

Day seven  left Italy and crossed to Machon in Minorca. First night anchored in a beautiful Fjord named Cala Teulera. Unfortunately we were kicked out from there by the port authority and spent another night on a floating pontoon with no water and electricity... We visited the largest fortress in the whole Europa, which was impressive...

Day 10 brought us to Ciadella which lies on the West Coast of Minorca . Anchored out for two days and sailed the night to Porto Colom in Majorca. Entered a proper Marina for two days with water and electricity... Now a lesson that I learned : the potable (drinking) water was horrible and I did not check forehand, so filled all tanks with brackish water, which is hard to drink. We changed to mineral water to drinking and only use tank water for showers till  I have disposed all the water from the tanks.. Next time I will see that the left tank will be full and closed when filling water and I WILL TASTE THE WATER FROM THE TAP BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE TANKS,!!

Yesterday we hired a car for 3 days. Toured the Island yesterday, took Ruth to the Airport and am waiting for Noam and Varda..we will tour the Island by car tomorrow 

Report 11 you will receive from Valencia 7th August... 

Jerry Livson

Jerry Livson sailing voyage on S/Y MOODI - START

Dear Friends, 

May 18, 2013 at 18:21:58 

8 weeks have passed, since I left Israel for my extended voyage Westwards.

My first stop was Kastellorison and second Rhodes to pick up my electronic equippment and Water Maker. Although my papers were for SHIP IN TRANSIT , the Greeks charged me 2860 euros for VAT and custom clearing. I am supposed to receive 2100 back, but I am skeptical, while nothing has happened in 7 weeks.

From Rhodes to Yacht Marina in Marmaris for installation and antifouling. I was a month in Marmaris. Turkey is expensive. I paid 120 euros for a transit log for entrance,  80 to get out , 25 euros due work in shabbat and a fine for a missing BLUE CARD.... ALL IN ALL 268 euros.

From Marmaris we proceeded ( crew Leila and Smulik Leviatan) to Simi for two days,to Kos for two days, Patmos for two days, Myconos for to days. The wind was howling in Myconos 22-27 knots while berthing and received my first  scratch due too high fenders. Next Island was Kythnos for two days. We liked the island. The big mistake was to proceed to Hydra, where was a real chaos. In the evening we received the first storm with CB rainclouds and 35 knots winds in the  town marina. A 50 foot Charter boat got loose and pinned us to the concrete. I held both boats with full engine forward until help arrived. We got our anchor fouled twice under a chain and Smulik dived to release it...

From hydra we sailed to a beautiful small harbor : Porto Nea  Epidaures.  In Peloponnesos. Peaceful and most enjoyable.

The Corinth Channel we passed  the next day and reached Corinth Marina for 2 days. Smulik left and I continued with Leila 40 miles to a small marina called Itea. Tomorrow to Delfi for a visit.
Monday to an island called TRISONIA ,where we will probably stay for 3 days. Avi Levy writes that time stops there. We will report.
We have toured all the possible sights in the Islands, by car,by foot or climbing....
We have had quite a. Lot head. Wind during the last 10 days, but now wind has eased up.
We have had also rainy days to cope, fuel line problems, while we found some small nasty pieces of plastic in the fuel tank that blocked 15 times our fuel line till we got rid of them. I bought an air pistol for my diving bottle that opened all the blockages easy.
For the last 4 days the engine has been 100% ....
Finally  i have learned a lot and Am learning the whole time more.
I am enjoying my freedom greatly and only thing that I am not organized is    With Crew, which will make me to sail some legs SINGLE...


Jerry Livson