They left Trepassey this morning, with the tide, at about 3:00 am local time. When they called home it was 05:00 here in Ontario, 06:30 for them. It was foggy and the sun was trying to burn through the fog. They had just set their course and radioed the details and ETA to the coastguard.
They should reach St. John's by supper time today.
I know that from the start they have said that St John's was the halfway mark but for me it feels as though the adventure has just begun
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Wednesday July 11, 2007
After 2 days and 2 nights at sea Mokum and her crew which now consists of Jan Pieter, Pim, Reiner, and Erik + sat phone, have arrived in Trepassey. For those of you who don't have your atlasses handy Trepassey is on the south east coast of Newfoundland. Trepassey Bay is to the east of Placentia Bay and St Mary's Bay and is the last big inlet just before they "turn the corner" to head north to St. John's. You can replace "turn the corner" with some appropriate nautical term if you like - I prefer not to launch into my Long John Silver imitation yet - although the sun is over the yard arm, me hearties! Aaaaargh!
There was little wind so they did a lot of motoring and motor / sailing. They continually see whales and yesterday were accompanied by a - is it a pod? - of dolphins. The whales are within 20 meters of the boat and make a lot of noise when they "blow".
Erik's cell phone does work because he subscribes to Bell. It seems that we who subscribe to Rogers are out of luck, or service, to be more precise.
They are grateful for the (3?) GPS they have on board as once again the approach ( I think this is a "flying" term...again you sailors can substitute something nautical) into Trepassey was plagued with fog....did I just say plagued?!!! Aaaaaaargh!
Captain JP (fortunately he'll never know I called him this because he will never sit still long enough to read this blog) says he will call again on Friday - maybe sooner!
They will be entering ice berg territory! Stay tuned...
After 2 days and 2 nights at sea Mokum and her crew which now consists of Jan Pieter, Pim, Reiner, and Erik + sat phone, have arrived in Trepassey. For those of you who don't have your atlasses handy Trepassey is on the south east coast of Newfoundland. Trepassey Bay is to the east of Placentia Bay and St Mary's Bay and is the last big inlet just before they "turn the corner" to head north to St. John's. You can replace "turn the corner" with some appropriate nautical term if you like - I prefer not to launch into my Long John Silver imitation yet - although the sun is over the yard arm, me hearties! Aaaaargh!
There was little wind so they did a lot of motoring and motor / sailing. They continually see whales and yesterday were accompanied by a - is it a pod? - of dolphins. The whales are within 20 meters of the boat and make a lot of noise when they "blow".
Erik's cell phone does work because he subscribes to Bell. It seems that we who subscribe to Rogers are out of luck, or service, to be more precise.
They are grateful for the (3?) GPS they have on board as once again the approach ( I think this is a "flying" term...again you sailors can substitute something nautical) into Trepassey was plagued with fog....did I just say plagued?!!! Aaaaaaargh!
Captain JP (fortunately he'll never know I called him this because he will never sit still long enough to read this blog) says he will call again on Friday - maybe sooner!
They will be entering ice berg territory! Stay tuned...
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Hello all
Jan Pieter called on Saturday morning from the Shopper's Drug Mart in Port aux Basques. They had been in St. Pierre / Miquelon before that but were unable to call because their credit cards wouldn't work in the pay telephones there. Pim had called Nel because he had a European phone card in his wallet. According to JP the islands were unimpressive and the weather was poor. They had gone there because they had extra time to kill waiting for Erik to arrive. They had to motor in to Port aux Basques and there was thick fog. It was a long trip and they had to be guided in over the radio from one buoy to the next. They treated themselves to a big breakfast in Port aux Basques when they arrived.
Once the Shopper's drug closed on Saturday they were unable to make any more calls!
I have not heard anything since. Hopefully the Sat phone will get there soon - and Erik too - of course !
Now that I have figured this blog thing out I will let you all know when I hear something.
Lesley
Jan Pieter called on Saturday morning from the Shopper's Drug Mart in Port aux Basques. They had been in St. Pierre / Miquelon before that but were unable to call because their credit cards wouldn't work in the pay telephones there. Pim had called Nel because he had a European phone card in his wallet. According to JP the islands were unimpressive and the weather was poor. They had gone there because they had extra time to kill waiting for Erik to arrive. They had to motor in to Port aux Basques and there was thick fog. It was a long trip and they had to be guided in over the radio from one buoy to the next. They treated themselves to a big breakfast in Port aux Basques when they arrived.
Once the Shopper's drug closed on Saturday they were unable to make any more calls!
I have not heard anything since. Hopefully the Sat phone will get there soon - and Erik too - of course !
Now that I have figured this blog thing out I will let you all know when I hear something.
Lesley
WHEW!!!!! They made it to Port aux Basques ............... last Saturday, but they had limited communications resources, apparently, so no-one called or e-mailed me to let me know. I have to admit I was getting a bit anxious since I had expected they would arrive before yesterday (Monday) and no word from anyone seemed to indicate to me that they were in some sort of difficulty away from radio/phone range. Anyway, Erik has joined they and MOKUM is on its way to St. John's along the rugged south coast of Newfoundland. No pictures at this time, but Pim and Rainer will be returning early next week or on the weekend and they ought to have a lot of wonderful shots of the trip from Quebec to St. John's, complete with whales and whatever caught their fancy
Friday, July 6, 2007
Erik is packed!
Erik will be leaving on Saturday to join MOKUM in Port aux Basque Nfld. He will be taking the satelite phone (if all goes well tomorrow) and we can expect more regular updates from that point on. At present, MOKUM is in the middle of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as much as 500 miles from any cell phone relay so it isn't surprising that we haven't heard from them for a few days. Don't dispair, they'll get there!
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Where's MOKUM?
I haven't had contact with Pieter's cell phone for 2 days. Not unexpected as they are in the Gulf and likely well out of range. If anyone has info please call me and I'll update here for everyone else. I imagine they will pull into a port in the next 24 hours or so (perhaps in Gaspe). Weather has been good so don't expect any problems for them whatsoever.
Martin
Martin
Monday, July 2, 2007
Sagenay
I spoke to the skipper yesterday afternoon and they were well on their way to Sagenay. Elmer has left and took the train/bus??? to Montreal and back home to Hoorn. He is replaced by Rainer who flew to Quebec.
The going will be a bit tougher now as the river is very tidal below Quebec. When I spoke to Jan Pieter, they were motoring against the tide and making about 4 knots.
No photos this time. Hopefully, they will send some when they get the satelite phone at Port aux Basques next weekend.
The going will be a bit tougher now as the river is very tidal below Quebec. When I spoke to Jan Pieter, they were motoring against the tide and making about 4 knots.
No photos this time. Hopefully, they will send some when they get the satelite phone at Port aux Basques next weekend.
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