II Stagione lirica in alta definizione. Prossimo appuntamento il 3 marzo 2011 con il "Don Giovanni"

Rassegna lirica che, grazie al supporto tecnologico del "Digital network microcinema", trasmette, in alta definizione, le grandi opere liriche direttamente dai più prestigiosi teatri internazionali presso il Piccolo teatro Don Bosco, via Asolo, 2 - Padova. Iniziativa patrocinata dal Comune di Padova. Ecco il programma completo.

   

Prossimo appuntamento
3 marzo, ore 20.30

DON GIOVANNI, opera di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in differita dal Festival di Salisburgo

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Atlantic crossing - Day 4

Your prayers made a good impact, thank you very much. We've been sailing along with an average speed of 6 knots since the last 12 hours and we've done a good 129 miles progress on the route in the last 24 hours. The NE tradewinds are already encountered although they've been pretty light until midnight last night. Our best approach for this downwind condition have so far been mainsail out to leeward and jib poled out to windward. Getting a steady and good speed like this.

Some statistics of the first 72 hours of this Atlantic passage:

Total route to make: 2850 Gran Canaria-Martinique

Sailed of the actual route so far: 310 nm (total sailed: approx. 360 nm)

Engine used: 18 hours.

Average speed the last 24 hours: 5,3 knots over ground.

If we keep on with the speed of the last 24 hours, we will soon get up in an average distance on 130 nm/day. Hoping that the tradewind is fully established with stronger winds the more SW we get and that the conditions will stay at least like the one of today. We haven't really had the need of using the engine since Monday night thankfully but we'll need to get in on later tonight to top up the batteries and for using the watermaker for an hour or two.

The weather is excellent, it's very very hot in the days with a warm sun and no clouds as far as my eyes can see, the water is crystal clear with a beautiful indigo tone. Seen tons of dolphins. The nights are still terribly cold though and I need one sleeping bag and thick jacket in the night to keep myself warm during night watches. Routines are working good otherwise. We start our night watches at 10pm and switch every second hour until 10am the morning after. We both get 3x2 hours of sleep and equally 6 hours divided by three times of watch. This is what have worked best for us since we started to sail over-night passages together in the winter of 2009.

It feels like the sea is totally ours out here as we haven't encountered almost no other ships or yachts. Last night we saw one cargo ship and otherwise there hasn't been anything else in our close surroundings for the last two days and nights. We've seen a couple of more cargo ships on the AIS but none of them has been in closer distance for us to see them with bare eyes.

It is a strange feeling to be so many hours in total peace and quietness. In a positive way I mean. No phones, Internet, people or anything to disturb the tranquility and it gives us time to reflect and to talk about things and happenings we usually don't have the time or space for. Very interesting also what type of feelings, thoughts and memories this total peace brings with it. It has struck me how much there is inside of us to discover and/or rediscover and that can best be obtained when one cuts off the normal life in a way like this. I love the whole idea of being away from it all for a while and I'm looking forward to what more my brain will encounter during these next 19-20 days on the ocean. Also we're very happy to be just the two of us, far away from all the stress we had filled our lives with from the day one we met for 15 months ago until the very day we left for this crossing. /Taru

Full Moon Over London Bridge Station

As I was rushing to catch my train after a particularly long and weary day yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice the brilliant (almost) full moon in the sky.  It really was a sight to see but alas, I only had my iPhone with me and the trusty Hipstamatic app.  How does the full moon look where you are today?

Atlantic Crossing Day 3

Hi there!

I hope you all are fine. We are. We've started to get used to this rolling now which probably is a good sign. It's been terrible little wind until now and we haven't made as much progress as we wanted to but we do hope to catch some stronger winds when we get more to the SW. Hopefully tomorrow. Wind direction has changed at least, NE now although very light, between 5-10 knots most of the times. Added to that there is a mixed swell coming from both E and N so that in total makes for a rolly ride unfortunately. One good thing is that it gets hotter and hotter for each day and we are very close to approach the tropical latitudes of the earth and today the thermometer showed above 28°C degrees already, just what we've been waiting for. It was a delightful sound to hear that Bacardi Breezer bottle(s) popping up under the warm sun earlier today. Alex was complaining: "You're drinking like a man". "Well, someone has to do it", I replied and enjoyed getting a bit tipsy three o clock in the afternoon with the beautiful navy blue water sparkling around us from every direction I turned my head. No land in sight and it will so continue for the next three weeks. Aaah those simple yet beautiful things in life. This is freedom! Then the dolphins came, the first ones we encountered on this trip. Around 30 bottle-nosed creatures jumped around us for half an hour or so.

According to our chart plotter, we have now 2653 nm left before we arrive to Martinique. That divided by an average speed of 130 nm/day (which we hope to establish very soon) would make it approx. 20 more days to go and we still think we will be able to get over to le Caribe before the 7th of Feb but we might also be one or two days delayed if the wind keeps on blowing with such a light force as it does right now.

Just like I said earlier, we are ultimately happy to not had to have used the autopilot at all, as the Sailomat windvane works fantastically also in very light winds. We have started to produce some water as well with the Power survivor and that too works just as fine and it is such great news to be able to top up the water tank whenever its starting to dry out. Shower at least every second day=paradise on the sea. And tomorrow my sprouted beans should be ready to eat, good now when we start to run out on the most of the other fresh stuff. Still a lot of fruits left though. Fishing we haven't even got started with as yet, maybe tomorrow when the meat is gone from the fridge.

Is the Spotwalla tracker working by the way? I hope so that you all can follow our (slow) ride across the Atlantic. And pray for us to get some more winds, will you. Find our position on the link to the right.

FYI: we can't answer any comments as it is from the sea, we'll take care of it all when we get to faster connection. /Taru

Atlantic crossing day 2 - Calm seas

Not much news from here. Wind died out last night so we had to motor for a couple of hours, very frustrating. Early in the morning it picked up again and we have now been sailing with wind coming from the SE and a wind speed of 10-15 knots for the last 10 hours. We're cruising slowly towards Cape Verde and having some 650 nm left to go South before we can turn to the West and towards the Caribbean. We're not doing much at the moment. Eating, sleeping, reading and trying to get used to being on the sea again. We are btw so very happy with our Sailomat windvane, it works totally flawless. /Taru

Atlantic Crossing day 1. Goodbye now Europe (finally)

Finally back on the sea. We are very excited and happy but also very very tired due to having to wait for and search all over the island to get a hold on butane gas which were supposed to be awaiting us at the gas station yesterday afternoon. Anyway, today we got it solved and we're now underway. We are just rounding Gran Canarias most Southern point as we speak.

Too tired for any longer contemplations right now so let's speak again in the morning. /Taru

Peang Prai Restaurant

New Years resolution number 1 - try some different restaurants for the blog, and also so we get some new experiences. Sure we have our favourites and anyway we can't afford to eat out that much, we tend to eat at home during the week, or maybe get some cheap Thai food at small places near our house (the kind of places where all dishes are 35 - 50 Baht). In fact, the next restaurant on this blog will be the cheap local place we eat at most often.. but I do want to try some new restaurants this year, and the first was Peang Prai.



Peang Prai (pronounced PeeYang Pry) is a restaurant I have meant to try for a couple of years. It's been recommended by friends, it's in a part of Phuket that we head to quite often, it always looked "interesting" ... so we finally tried it a couple of weeks ago. When I am thinking about eating, there are several considerations - 1. Location - I like a nice view, a quiet area, an interesting location - Peang Prai is at the entrance to the Bang Pae Waterfall park, well off any main road, views of trees, flowers and a lake. So it's a good place to combine with a visit to the waterfall and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project.



(above) the view one way, and (below) the other way ...



It's not a huge restaurant, could maybe hold about 30 people, with seating on the 2nd floor of an octagonal building in the trees. A couple of tables were already occupied by Thai families - which I would normally take as a hint that the food is good here - the locals know where to go! We ordered a selection of things - our kids are normally happy with a fried rice or garlic chicken, whereas my wife and I like to eat spicy salads and local specialties - the menu was pretty big - all the normal Thai dishes but lots of Phuket/Southern Thai food which always pleases my wife.



I was a little miffed that the service seemed a bit slow - the place was not really busy and there were 4 ladies cooking in the kitchen. Sometimes you have to slow down a bit. This is a family run restaurant and this kind of laid back place can be a little too laid back for some people. You can't expect snappy service at a place like this. Fortunately, they had very cold beers, served with an iced glass too. A couple of these went down very smoothly.

Food was good too - we ordered a bunch of things, and the menu has many other dishes to try, so I am sure we'll eat here again. I had a salad called Yam Tua Pu - made with wingbeans, prawns, cashew nuts. We also got some Hor Mok, local style fish curry cooked in a banana leaf, and a similar dish made with mushrooms...





They do good coffee here too - my wife said her ice coffee was great. We had actually thought about just having a drink here and then eating somewhere else, but once we saw the menu we had to give it a proper try. I mentioned that location is important to me when trying a restaurant - so is price! Peang Prai is not cheap like a little street restaurant but most dishes were decently priced at 60 - 100 Baht, and the beer only 45 Baht. The 3rd consideration is "how good is the food?" - you don't know until you try! In this case - good enough that we will eat there again, helped by the friendly service, yeh a bit slow, but slow with a smile :)

And then we got free dessert too - fried banana done in their own way, small pieces of banana fried in batter with sesame seeds and a sprinkle of sugar ...



I think our total bill was about 500 Baht. I have some more photos of Peang Prai on my Flickr site: Peang Prai Restaurant. We like this part of Phuket. Within a few miles are a couple of other restaurants - Bang Pae Seafood and Chumchon Floating Restaurant from where you can go Kayaking in the Mangroves. This is the Phuket that we go looking for.