Logbook

We are about to cast off, heading towards the Philippines in pursuit of the deserted anchorages and pristine bays. However, at the very moment we write this, we are literally still trapped in the heart of the civilization.

Our gypsy wagon

We live on a 31 feet long sailboat in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in the tourist area called Xiziwan. We sleep and work in the main cabin, which is basically a 3x3m room with a small galley, navigation table and two settees with another table in the middle. Towards the bow, there is a 1×2.5m closet and a V-berth. Cockpit (2×1.7m) at the stern is our porch.

Janna is tied with her bow facing the shore. Every ten minutes a ferry full of cheering tourists passes approximately ten meters behind our stern. We no longer pay attention to all those hellos, howareyous, wieheisstdus (our boat is now registered in Germany), that from time to time reverberate over the water surface. Instead we rigged a piece of canvas at the stern to prevent the zestful tourists from peering into our porch and from there directly into our living room.

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The end of the blackout

By Petr Šimon & Jana Benešová

Apologies to our readers. There is nothing wrong with your television set. We were just unable to find the time to write down all that has happened.

Next week we are going to finish a temp job as boat cleaners of a shiny new motor yacht Azimut 60. At the beginning we thought it will just be a bit of scrubbing, polishing a waxing, that we will have plenty of time to translate and write. Pity, that the visions of bright futures much too often vary from the reality. In fact, we could have plenty of free time. If only there were not the circumstances. It’s always by the force of circumstances that we are made to throw away those rose-coloured glasses and tuck up our sleeves. In our case the circumstances took the form of two typhoons, broken pontoons and more.

Now we finally have the time to sit down and put it all down on paper. Be patient, it will all appear here gradually during next week.

And did I mention how badly we miss our little boat?!

“Our” Azimut awaiting the approach of super typhoon Jelawat

By Petr Šimon

Our temporary boat cleaning career is going well. Bisha harbour has beautiful surroundings, we’ve got great neighbours here too. If only the typhoons gave us a break! We went through a hell during the last one, being tied to a pontoon that broke in the middle of the night. Now we are supposed to be in the safest spot in the whole marina, we’ve got plenty of cordage spider-webbed to concrete pilings on one side and concrete wall on the other. We sure hope to get some sleep this time!