|
How It All
Began
Position:
37:06.36N
008:40.25W
This blog will
(hopefully) tell the story of the cruise of Mina2 from
Portugal to Brazil in the autumn and winter of 2009 via
Madeira, Tenerife, West Sahara, Senegal,
Cape
Verde
islands and across the Atlantic to Salvador. After which we will be cruising down the Brazilian
coast to Rio de
Janeiro finishing
in March 2010.
The Story So Far
Mina2 is a
cutter-rigged Oyster 485 owned by Tim Barker of
London, England. Built in 1997 by Windboats Marine in
Norwich on the east coast of
England, she was bought by Tim in March 2003.
"Mina" is Argentine slang for an attractive
and curvaceous temptress.
Cruises to date
2003 Shakedown cruise to
North
Brittany and the West
Country (it would have been a cruise to Southwest Ireland had it not been for continual NW gales in the
Irish
Sea!).
2004
The Norwegian Cruise. London
to the Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle at the top of Norway, then a cruise
down the spectacular Norwegian coastline, thence back to St Katherine Docks by
Tower Bridge in London for the winter.
Lofoten landscape at
Reine
Mina2 at Aesoya –
one of the lovely anchorages of Lofoten
2005
The Baltic Cruise.
London to the top of
Denmark then through the middle of
Sweden on the Gota Canal . Thence round the Baltic via the
Aaland
Islands,
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Denmark, and Germany. Out through the Kiel Canal and back to the
UK via Helgoland.
Vadstena castle in the middle of
Sweden – 100 miles from the sea!
2006 The Iberian Cruise. From Helford across
the Bay of
Biscay to the rias of
northwest Spain and down the Iberian peninsula. After going up the Guadalquivir river to Seville, Mina2 overwintered in Chipiona.
The fort on Isla Berlenga with Mina2
at anchor
2007 The Lotus-Eating Cruise. Into the Med to the Balearics and later over to
Corsica and Sardinia, over-wintering in Cagliari at the bottom of Sardinia.
Cabrera harbour - a beautiful
nature reserve with a tragic history
2008 The Adriatic Cruise. Wending our way down the
Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, and south via
Montenegro and Albania to Ionian Greece, overwintering in Preveza just
south of Corfu.
 
Kotor Bay – Montenegro
Mina2 in front of Ali Pasha’s castle - Albania
2009 The Aegean Cruise. Through the Corinth Canal and up to the Northern Sporades, down the Aegean to the south coast of
Turkey, thence across the Cyclades. Then The
Med Exit. 2000 miles in three weeks out of the Med via Crete, Malta, Tunis
and Ibiza, to Lagos in Portugal.
Anchorage on Skopelos – with Mamma Mia! wedding
chapel in background
Greater detail of some of
our earlier cruises can be found on our website www.mina2.com
| 