Summer 2007

Well, well, well. Hello Blogspot it as indeed been a while.I do have all of my excuses and explanations for not updating you for so long readily prepared, so here goes.......

i couldn't be bothered! no no no- just kidding.

Last time you all heard from me I was in Siracusa, Sicily on Speedo watch, ow the good days, then my first Mediterranean season began.

We started by heading north to the South of France. The sea was rough on this crossing and many of the crew suffered because of this. My cabin on the boat is the most forward and by far the worst place to be in such conditions. All of the girls headed aft to the guest saloon and set up camp there for a few days.There was many a chick flick and a lot of tears shed.

Whilst on the subject of chick flicks, I recommend all women to watch "The Notebook"- great movie.

Places we visited in the South of France included Cannes and St Tropez, the super yacht hot spots of the Med. We had the guest on for 3 months and visited many places in the Med. When we have guest on the crew are limited to a few hours an evening to check out each of the places, so we don't really get to explore too much. When we do its usually straight off to the nearest bar.

We did go to Ibiza for a few days and I got some time off to spend with my Dad and brother. One of the other places we went I would like to mention is Corsica, purely because I loved it! Most of the island of Corsica is a national park so it is breathtakingly beautiful. The people are French speaking but are nothing like their mainland relatives. The people of Corsica are lovely and their island is probably one of the most stunning in the med. There are beautiful beaches and many sail boats to occupy you in the summer and in the winter you can head to higher land and enjoy one of the ski resorts.

For the few days we didn't have guest on we spent the time in Palma, majorca and yes I am sad to say we partied it up in "maga- ruff" for a night. Proper Brits abroad sites to be seen.

We left Palma on the 1st of September and did a 4 day crossing heading East towards Venice. All of this, like most of our crossings that are more than a day, was without guest.

Venice was something that I am glad that I have now seen. One of those been there, done that things. You know when you go there that there are no cars but you don't really think into it, it does take you back when you see the locals pulling up to their houses in a row boat and unloading all of their shopping bags etc. Imagine going for a big night out then having to row home, NOT FUN! After going to Venice I actually watched my first Bond movie, Casino Royal, of which the ending is set in the stunning San Marco Square.

Then we spent a month in Croacia, without a doubt my most favourite place of the trip. Altogether we probably had about 2 weeks in Croacia without guest on, meaning we had a chance to explore and explore we did. Me and my room mate Hannah ( The Ugly Kid as she is known by my mum. If she was an ugly kid then she had the ugly duckling syndrome because she is gorgeous.) hired a car for 2 days and drove the full length between Porec and Pula, stopping at all the major attractions along the way. We spent the night at a 17 dollor a night hostel, met some great peops there- hello you Irish bums! and became acquainted with the most funniest card drinking game ever. After our time off the owner of the boat arrived and for 2 weeks we toured them around the Croaction Arcagpelo.

Now crew and yacht are heading to Tunisia to refuel then to Palma where we will be based until December. I'll be visiting London this weekend then i will be in Bolton for the 1st 10 days of November.

I'll add some pictures of the boat soon. xxxxxxx

VICE- Speedos

Now here's a fact about Italy- it is SPEEDO CERTRAL. My brother and a few others (Norbert) will appriciate that comment.

There are so many Speedos here that you stop making fun of them, so Dad, Mum, Sean n Norbert I sugest you come here to overcome your phobia of "The Speedo!".

You have my room mate to thank for these photos. I share a cabin with two girls, Hannah from Scotland and Ania from South Africa. Ania has a fetish for taking photos of inadequetly attired people for a magazine called "Vice"- hence these shots. This a pic of her sneaking a shot at the guy in pink pants.

Siracusa, Sicily.

Siracusa! A little island off the eastern coast of Sicily is where I am right now.

Most evenings, after my mandatory 45 minute run, I spend chilling with a coffee in the sea front ice cream parlours- this island as got to have the best ice cream I have tasted! Most of these quiet evenings would somehow end up with me in the bars, enjoying the nightlife.

Right now I’m enjoying a day off, sunbathing on Siracusa’s rocky coastline. The water is so clear you don’t need a mask to enjoy the underwater view.

Yesterday we hired as minibus and 8 of our crew ventured out to Sicily’s greatest natural attraction, which is also its highest mountain, “Mount Etna”. Mount Etna is an active volcano, its summit reaches 3350meters and it has so many craters that when it explodes nobody knows where the lava will come gushing from. Upon arrival we toured around one of the lower craters at 1986meters (my DoB) and enjoyed a random game of throw n catch directly in its centre with the tennis ball I conveniently brought along. Finally we decided to hike “Etna”. This is a picture of us outside the ticket office after finding out that not only is it 50euros each to take the 4wheel drive bus just 400meters higher than we actually were but then u would have to pay to spend the night in the tour company’s hotel and join the group tour of Etna at 9am- SCANDALOUS!!!!!! Our crew is actually freakishly organised-to the point of “OCD”- so the fact that no one researched the volcano and its entrance fee is actually quite surprising.

The Malta Experience

Well it has been a little while since I last wrote my blog. Last you guys heard I was in Egypt and about to make my way across the Southern Mediterranean Sea to Malta.
I am glad to say that I made it safely and have been enjoying it here in Malta for the last 2 weeks.
In the 2 weeks here I have had a total of 3 days off work. I have been to Malta’s capital “Valletta” and it as got to be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Valletta is a fort on a peninsula, the whole city is this peninsula, its coastline is high walls with built in cannon holes and little secret passage ways all through it- the cannons actually have the English Crown Emblem on them. Its clear to see that Malta was under British rule from the world war until around 1975, it has got the same post boxes, phone boxes and the lamps outside the police station as in England, plus they drive on the left hand side of the road. Other than this I’ve not really seen that much of Malta, been working too hard and long hours trying to get the boat “blinging”. The one bit of advice I do have for anybody planning on going to Malta is, avoid the taxis, they are way too expensive and the public transport is great and cheap.

Pyramids & Camels

Just got back from our crew day out in Cairo to see the Pyramids. I had an excellent time and can really see why this is one of the wonders of the world. The shear size of the pyramids is breath taking and all of them were built by hand. Each piece of stone was carried along the Nile by boat and with no cranes or machinery, pushed and pulled, to and then up the pyramid. Each pyramid would take 30 years to build and all of the workers died in the process, if not by shear exhaustion then they were executed at the end. They all considered it an honor to die by the hands of the king, whom they saw as a God, and were buried in a massive grave, containing 100 thousand bodies, next to the pyramids.
I rode a camel to the pyramids and then a horse back. I think once you master riding a camel its just as fun as a horse and they are just as fast I believe.
We didn't leave Cairo without a visit to its famous museum which contains all of the artifacts recovered from inside the pyramids. We had to rush our tour through the museum which was closing- i was gutted about this because once inside I could have stayed there all day. Taking into account how long ago this era was, all the things were in pristine condition and beautiful. Some of these pieces not so long ago were just lying at the side of the road with the Egyptian people just stepping over them. I'll definatly be back to that museum one day- I'd love to see and know more about this period in time.

Maldives to Egypt

Its official, we are out of Asia. I love Asia, the people are relaxed and the cultures are immense. Just walking down the street is a great experience that once you’ve been there for a while you just take for granted. Your first time in Asia the sides of your face and your forehead start to ache because your eyes are constantly staring and taking in this new world, its hard to explain the difference between Asia and Europe. Like I said, I love Asia but damn am I glad to be almost in the med right now. I guess you just need a break from paradise once in a while.

The second leg of our journey was from the Maldives to Egypt. The 3176Miles took us close to 2 weeks and was for about 4days whilst cruising the Somali coast line quite scary.

Pirate attacks have increased in recent weeks off the coast of Somalia after dying out during six months of strict Islamist rule in southern and central Somalia at the end of last year. There were scores of pirate attacks in the unpatrolled waters off the 3700km Somali coastline between March 2005 and June last year and in recent months pirate attacks have become more frequent. The pirates of Somalia are advanced, using current technology and probably them selves’ military trained. Only last week were 3 Finish fishing vessels seized and the crew held captive.
This is the information that we get once we arrived in the Somali waters and we quickly tried to get as far away as possible but were on high alert for 3 days.

This is a copy of a chat I had with my parents on skype when we were in pirated waters:
Dawn Greenhalgh 07:56 hey cant have a chat now coz im on watch 07:58 We are just off the coat of Somalia Mum n dad 07:58 700 hrs Dawn Greenhalgh 07:59 Most dangerous place in the world 07:59 Its 4am here Mum n dad 07:59 Yes I know Dawn Greenhalgh 07:59 Look it up online, 3 boats seized by pirates last week 08:05 Me n the other guy on watch were just about ready to get our snack pack n water n hibernate in our hiding place- perk of being the deck hand. I know all the hiding places 08:06 We had a boat heading to us at 25kts, but turned out to be a cargo ship 08:06 I was nervous man, so as normal I spent the last hour laughing Mum n dad 08:07 Just looking at the web and the pirates are using cargo ships that they have seized Dawn Greenhalgh 08:09 Thanx for that dad, me n Joel really appreciate that. he says there is a faint smell of poo coming from his side of the bridge Mum n dad 08:11 Be carefully and take care. The International Maritime Board has warned of an alarming increase in piracy in Somali waters and has urged ships to avoid the area. Dawn Greenhalgh 08:13 Ill be careful n ill let u know when we're out of Somali waters. so guna get back to watchin out 08:13 xxxxx Mum n dad 08:13 I think that’s wise. Love you and take care
That was all an adventure, which we got out of totally unscathed. I still think that pirates are more feared than they should be and think that it is not as dangerous in these places as the western world make it out to be.

After this we made it up through the red sea. We had a few days of rough weather, as you can see on the picture. But this just all makes it that little bit more entertaining I guess- we had fun seeing which would be the biggest wave to hit the boat and the one on the picture was defiantly not it. We actually had a wave brake on the top deck of the boat, lots of fun!!! At the north end of the Red Sea we entered the Suez Canal (this is a picture of me in the Suez Canal).

The Suez Canal is a large artificial canal in Europe, west of the Sinai Peninsula. It is 163km (101 miles) long and 300m (984ft) wide at its narrowest point, and runs between Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Red Sea. The canal allows two-way water transportation, most importantly between Europe and Asia without circumnavigation of Africa. Before it’s opening in 1869, goods were often offloaded from ships and carried over land between the Mediterranean and the red sea.

The history in to all of the different leaders and ways that they thought of to construct a water way from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean is quite interesting. Apparently Pharaoh Senusret (1878BC – 1839BC) did actually build a canal linking the River Nile to the Red Sea, this was an east to west canal through Wadi Tumilat, and thus allowing trade indirectly between the Red Sea and Mediterranean. Also Napoleon made plans for the Suez many years before it was actually constructed but in his calculations he somehow came up with the fact that the Red Sea was 10meters higher than the Med, which off course is a fault, and because of the extra expense in construction of a lock system he did not go through with it. Like I said I find this all really interesting but I won't bore all of you with history- well at least no more on this blog anyway.

We are now at the Med end of the Suez and are getting ready to go and see the Pyramids and take a camel ride.

Singapore to Maldives

So now we are ready to leave Singapore, all of our provisions have been bought and the crew do some final party cramming before the month passage to the med. All 13 crew onboard are ready to spend the next 29 days out in the ocean with only the company of each other, good job they’re all good guys or that could drive you crazy. Once we leave Singapore we head north through the Malacca Strait, then across the Indian Ocean to the Maldives. Here is a little bit of info for you on the strait.

The Malacca Strait The Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, an equivalent of the Suez Canal, or the Panama Canal. The Strait forms the main ship passageway between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, linking three of the world's most populous nations: India, Indonesia and China. Piracy in the Strait has risen in recent years. There were about 25 attacks on vessels in 1994, 220 in 2000, and just over 150 in 2003 (one-third of the global total) Some security specialists say a terrorist group might hijack a large ship, sink it in a shallow point (it is just 25 m deep at its shallowest), and block traffic, slowing shipments and causing economic losses around the world. Another risk is the yearly haze caused by raging bush fires in Sumatra. It can reduce visibility to 200 m, forcing ships to slow down in the busy strait. Some fear it might also give cover to terrorists or pirates.
We braved all of this and started our crossing to the Maldives unscaved. During our Indian Ocean crossing we were blessed with great weather, sea was calm and the sun was shinning- most of the time anyway. We did see some pretty amazing storms heading our way and a few water spouts (these are tornados that sucks up water). Apart from the storms all we saw in the 7 days at sea and the 1915miles we covered was about 10 boats and 2 dolphins, pretty uneventful really. All the crew, as you can imagine, couldn't wait to get off the boat once we reached the Maldives. Now I know that every ones picture of the Maldives is lots of idyllic islands with perfect beaches and pristine sea and your not far wrong, the whole of the Maldives is like this apart from one island, Male. The Maldives consist of 1200 islands and from north to south spans 900km. All of these islands are mainly resorts and they all receive their provisions from the one island of Male, where we were anchored. The crew headed into Male for a walk around once we arrived, the sea around Male is so clear and the whole coast line is a dock with boats loading and unloading cargo, it’s a busy little place. These guys are in the middle of nowhere and they import everything they use from toilet paper to potatoes. We walked around the whole of the island stopping for a juice along the way, no alcohol there due to the strict Muslim regime. We spent the night at anchor then the next day got our snorkeling gear on and headed out to some of the pristine waters and beaches you hear about. The whole crew is now sitting around our table doing final correspondence before we set of for the next leg of our journey.

Singapore to Jakarta and back again.

I arrived back on board Motor Yacht in Singapore to a boat without air conditioning and in the tropics that is a nightmare. I spent my first night on board sleeping outside on deck and received multiple mosquito bites. I shouldn't really complain about this too much as it got fixed the next day and all the other crew had to put up with this for a week.
After only one night in Singapore we headed off to Jakarta to pick up our tender (pictured). This tender had been there for 7 months, we left it behind to have some engine repairs and never received it back- welcome to the Asian way. The sea on the crossing back was just perfect; think these pictures say it all.

Christmas 2006- Easter 2007.

PREVIOUS BLOG IS BELOW THIS ONE.

What I see as the most travelled and amazing year of my life to date comes to an end.

For Christmas 2006 I plan to go back home to Bolton. I miss my family and friends, it as been 16 months since I was last there, most of all I miss my brother and nephew.
The boat is now in Thailand having some work and paint done for the next few months and although my holidays are not due for another month, they feel long over due, so I’m off.

I head south to Koh Samui. I haven’t seen my parents for a year, I miss them and I am looking forward to 3 days with them in their gorgeous newly built house (pictured) that was just an hole in the dirt last I saw of it.

I spend my Christmas in the UK then after the Christmas pudding rituals, I decide it’s about time I learn how to ski. My Auntie Susan has the crazy idea to just book a flight to Switzerland and see if we can find a hotel on arrival. Now, I don’t know if anyone has showed up at one of Europe’s top get away resorts, at 9pm, on new years eve and just randomly tried to find a place to stay, so for those who haven’t, the laughs off other people and the crazy looks you receive are quite normal. A hotel owner took pity on us after he laid witness to us dragging our suitcases through the snow and skidding on the ice. He put us up in the fire escape of his hotel; equipped with 2 mattress’s and a cold-water tap, with our shower an elevator ride away. None of this damped the mood of our holiday, due to the sadistic attitude of my family, it actually lightened it. We took full advantage of the snow. Despite the ten tumbles down the slopes per day, we thoroughly enjoyed it! All of this was great practice for the 6 weeks I was about to spend in the snowy town of Vail, Colorado in the USA.

Beginning of January I find myself heading to America for the first time (except for the obvious childhood trip to Disney Land).

Arrival in Denver International Airport
Driving to an altitude of aprox 3000mts wipes it out of you. One glass of wine, so to say, “puts you on your ass”, not that I was even old enough to party in the US- a fact that I did not consider when accepting my boss’ offer to house sit for him. But, what’s age got to do with it? I lived it up and became quite the little skier by the end of the 6 weeks.

So now you’re all pretty much up to date on dawnstravels. I made my way back to Koh Samui and spent a few days with my dad, mum and brother. I’m now sat in Samui airport waiting for a flight that will take me back to the boat.

I’m ready for a new adventure that will start with us crossing the Indian Ocean and making our way to the Med. I’ll keep you entertained and up to date along the way.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to my blog page, dawnstravels.blogspot.com. I wish I started this two and a half years ago after leaving school. I’ll give you a quick over view of my post high school lifestyle and on what got me where I am today.

After leaving St James’ C of E Secondary School, Farnworth, Bolton I spent my life roaming between the sunny island of Ibiza, Spain- where I worked as a waitress, and the other half of the year on the also sunny island of Koh Samui, Thailand- spending my days here training and studying to be a pro diver. At the age of 18 I took a year out of the sun, and the clouds, to spend a year on the Isle of Wight, UK. Here at UKSA I studied sailing and worked towards my “Ocean Yacht Master Certification”.

All of this diving and sailing paid off when I landed my job as deckhand/diving instructor onboard a 175ft/53mt motor boat planning on spending the next year cruising around Asia.

So cruising around Asia is what I’ve done on this yacht for the last year. Starting my journey in Langkawi, Malaysia, under the watchful eye and supportive attitude of our Captain, we slowly made our way South East down the idyllic island groups of Indonesia- visiting some of this planets most breath taking coast and dive sites. After a 3 month break in Singapore, during the summer of 2006, and after celebrating my 20th birthday, yacht and crew set sail again, this time bound to explore Borneo, Sulawesi, Philippines and all in-between.

Some of my highlights of the last 12 months have included:

• Walking with and hiding from the infamous Komodo Dragon on the island of Komodo, Indonesia. And yes, they are as scary as they sound.
• Climbing the active volcano- Krakatoa along with some of my crewmates. Staring into the crater at the steaming lava I knew this was a once in a lifetime experience.
• Laying witness to Kalamantan's “Men Of The Forest”- the Oran-gutans. I walked with these human like apes in South Borneo.
• After a short trek through jungle like conditions on the island of Kakaban, Borneo, myself and crew arrived at the famous “jelly fish lake”. Donning our snorkeling gear we went swimming with the thousands of jellyfish, which inhabit this lake. We were, mind you, fully aware of the fact that these particular jellyfish don’t sting due to lack of predators.

These are just a hand-full of great experiences I have had on my first year onboard. I have met some great people and exceptional new friends along the way, all the time never forgetting my old ones.
I love the life I lead now and I have my friends- old and new, my family back home in Bolton and especially my parents, Ian and Deb, to thank for that.