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Decembre 25th, 2008 : With the Global Warming everything is changing, even the snowmen and the father Christmas adapt themselves to tropical atmosphere !  Like us besides !!  

After these wheater considérations, it is now time to wish you a 

MERY CHRISTMAS as well as a HAPPY NEW YEAR full of warmth, sun, love, happiness, smiles

and the most important 

HEALTH 

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December 20th, 2008 : Thanks to a good weather and a easy wind (NNE), our sailing from los Roques to Tortuga and Puerto La Cruz went on one take under very nice conditions. Thats was a kind of compensation, after our difficult departure from Margarita to los Roques due to the formalities (4 days to obtains all necessary papers...), bur anyway our 2 weeks in Los Roques with our friends Claude and Bernard were just great the water still beeing as turquoise and warm as it was in our memories from 17 years ago on Cassiopée, our previous sailing yacht. We are looking forward to be back again there on December 28th !

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November 21st, 2008 :  The last checks done (engine, pilote, navigation's instruments) and problems solved, we will leave tomorrow for Margarita (Venezuela) on our brand new boat ! Hollidays in the transparent water of Los Roques with our friends Claude and Bernard is exactly what we need now ! But then, when the next news ? At the latest for Christmas ! 

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October 20th, 2008 : Nearly on line here is TiTOM at 0800 am freshly painted, should  be back into the water this afternoon at 1600 am !

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October 11th, 2008 : TiTOM just on the hard Friday, than on Saturday the work is going on smoothly.

Soon pictures of TiTOM's new look !

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September 25th, 2008 : The Titom's team as you can see is still very busy !               

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September 10th, 2008 : on TiTOM the crew is extremely busy, rust treatment, paint, major engine service , inside modification as well as outside... the TiTOM's team is running at full gear ! Now, we are just dreaming of turquoise water, looking forward to the month of November !!!          

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August 23nd, 2008 : Five and a half years later, we are back at the exact same spot in the Tropical Marina in Chaguaramas (Trinidad), with a Circumnavigation in TiTOM's wake ! We will take advantage of Chaguaramas excellent possibilities to make a thorough service to our brave ship, who fully deserve it ! If the Trinidad inhabitants are as welcoming and nice now than the last time we were there, the cost of life went right up !

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August 12th, 2008 : We spent 3 days at the Iles du Salut , and then sailed under light winds to Suriname River. TiTOM motored up the river for about 15 miles before anchoring in front of Paramaribo, Suriname's capitale. 

Relax athmosphere , nice and safe anchorage in front of an hotel situated right downtown, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Not to be missed neither is the Central Market, very colourful.

Thursday we will be leaving for Trinidad, around 500 NM up North, which means for us 5 days sailing. There TiTOM will cross her route and will be completing her circumnavigation ! It will be also the start for TiTOM's crew of around 1 to 2 months work for maintenance and renovation.

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August 2nd, 2008 : Flying between Cayenne and Maripasoula give the opportunity to realise the density and the expanse of the Amazon's forest (more than 90 % of French Guyana). Even if the dry season is late this year (should have already started at mid-July), we went down the Maroni River between showers. But because this year was very watered, the Maroni's level is pretty high, making the dugoutman's job easier and the rapids less frightening ! Border between French Guyana and Surinam, the two banks downstream Maripasoula are populated with bushinengés, slaves descendants  escaped from the plantations before slavery's abolition. But on top of that many Brazilians, attracted to the French salary work here, and the illegal gold diggers abound along the French Guyana rivers. St Laurent du Maroni, end of our river voyage, used to be one of the French Guyana penal colony  , even if the Salut Islands, next destination for TiTOM  (next week), are more well known from the general public.

Degrad des Cannes is also well known for its papillonite epidemic , wich could occur every 3 months. What's that ? The Hylesia Metabus, better known in French as Papillon Cendre (ash butterfly), has a natural protection very deterrent , the  microscopic venimous stings falling our of their wings, which provoke severe nettlerash on every skin on show, and becoming ingrained in your cloths. This epidemic starting just before we left for the Salut Islands, the unbearable itch forced us to get back to Kourou and its medical facilities the day after we anchored there, fortunatly situated at only 10 nautical miles. A soon as we will get better, TiTOM will go back to the Salut Islands again, to visit it more. Then next step will be Paramaribo, capital of Surinam.

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July 18th, 2008 : From Jacare it took us one night to reach Natal, and then two more to Fortaleza's marina. After enjoying its swimming pool for a few days, we did all the exit formalities required from the Brazilian authorities before leaving for the French Guyana, a 1000 nautical miles away, reached in one week TiTOM making its best mileage in 24 heures with 185 NM, thanks to the Guyana Current.

Arrived on July 10th, in the small marina of Dégrad des Cannes, situed on the Mahury River about 12 km of Cayenne, we take advantage from its security to go exploring French Guyana. First with a rental car we visit the coast, only part of French Guyana wich has roads build. 

In the West where the Oyapok River makes the border with Brazil, as there is no bridge to link the two countries the dugout's traffic between St Georges and Oyapok is fairly intense.

Kourou is well known from its Guyana Space Center and its visit as well as for the Space Museum is a must ! Unfortunatly, the last launch happend 3 days before our arrival, and we will be already gone for the next one !

Next  week we plan to go down the Maroni River on a dugout from Maripasoula (reacheable only by plane or by dugout) to St Laurent du Maroni, linked to Cayenne by road.

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June 15th, 2008 : During the week spent in Ste Helene, we repaired and tested Bob, and of course visited this isolated island . With only 4500 inhabitants, everybody knows everybody and soon you as well ! which is nice because at every corner of the street people greet you...

But time is fliying and on May 3rd, we hoist sails to Brazil. Bob back, the navigation is easy, and let us appreciate sailing again. Unfortunately this time it's the wind which is on strike , and even with all sails up, TiTOM is going dreadfully slowly. Some days we can even swim in the middle of Atlantique ! For this reason we decide to change our destination from Salvador de Bahia to Recife which shortend our passage. Finally after 20 days 8 hours for 1850 NM we reach Brazil, our slowiest long passage up to now. At least with weak winds, the sea stay flat and the navigation is confortable !

At first glance, Recife is not nice, but after a few days its charm win and we start to enjoy our stay here. Just 6 km North, the small town of  Olinda, listed by Unesco, is a well renovated typical colonial old city, which make you nearly forgive its tourist side in a kind of "Disneyworld" ! 

From Recife, after one night of navigation we arrive in Jacare, small village along the shore of the Rio Paraiba and meeting point for quite a few sailing yachts, due to its situation. Nearby the city of Joao Pessoa, Jacare has the quietness of a village with all the facilities of a town. After a few visits around, we will carry on our way  North.

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April 28th, 2008 :  We finally arrived in St Helene after 12 days sailing. We had very gentle breeze. Bad luck 4 days after we left Walvis Bay Bob (our auto pilote) decided to go on strike. You can imagine how exhausted the TITOM's team arrived in St Helene. Luckily our friend Bernard   is with us which allowed us to steer 8 hours a day each instead of 12 hours/days if we were only the two of us. 

  We shall stay here for about one week, time to repair Bob and to go texploring  this beautiful  and isolated insland . 

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April, 14th 2008 : Ready to cross Atlantic ocean ! We had a nice sailing (except the cold temperature...) from Cape Town to Lüderitz, then Walvis Bay. We left TiTOM for 9 days to visit Namibia inland (go to L'Amarre 39). Then we provisionned, finished our newspaper (l'Amarre) and published our site. Today we sail from Walvis Bay to Sainte Helene, where we should arrive around April 24th. After a few days visiting the island, TiTOM will carry on to Salvador de Bahia (Brasil). More feedback later on.

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March, 13th 2008 : Our South-african visa expiring adding on arrival of our friend Bernard L. R. in Walvis Bay, obliged us unfortunately to leave Cape Town . Short stop in Dassen Island at its north anchorage of  House Bay where we meet some fisherman and lots of penguins !, then to Saldanha Bay. We will be leaving tomorrow for Lüderitz, in Namibia.

Due to cold current coming up along the west cost of Africa, the sea life is abundant and we see lots of whales, dolphins and seals around here.

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March, 8th 2008 : After nearly 3 weeks in Hout Bay, TiTOM finally arrive to the Cape Town Royal Yacht Club, ready to sail from South Africa to Namibia. Having seen the bay of Cape Town from the top of the Table Mountain the day before, sailing to Cape Town Harbour is quite spectacular, with the Table Mountain and Lion's Head in background.

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February, 20th 2008 : The weather forecast beeing excellent, we leave Mossel Bay Saturday morning the 16th to sail around the southern point of Africa wich has such a bad reputation ! Fortunatly, the weather encountered just confirm the forecast wich make us sail under a light breeze on a smooth sea around the Cape Agulhas (southern point of Africa) and then the Cape of Good Hope (also known under the name of Cape of Tempest !) visited later by land. We arrive in the marina of Hout Bay , Cape Town's south suburb, early on Monday morning, February, 18th, where the locals sailors give us a warm welcoming. Some of them have already been a few time around the world. The scenery is also quite breath taking, the bay  beeing surrounded by some mountains behind the famous Table Moutain. The typical atmosphere of this fishing harbour and the numerous sea lions playing around the boats just add to the charm of this stop.

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February 14th, 2008 : Once again we we had  nice sailing conditions between Port Elisabeth and Mossel Bay,  besides bad reputations of South African's seas. On Saint Valentin's day (by the way happy  Saint Valentin's day), we were granted with a welcoming     of  a couple of sea lions ! As you can imagine sea lions means we are not anymore in tropical climat. During day light it is very warm but very cold during the night !

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February 6th 2008 : After a week end visiting by car the Addo Elephant National Park, TiTOM left East London intending to sail directly to Mossel Bay. But when approaching Port Elisabeth, the weather forecast pushed the crew to take refuge in this harbour and wait for the next good weather window to carry on. That's the advantage of long terme voyage, you can afford to stay and wait for not beeing caught on rough sea ! 

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February 3rd 2008 : Finaly TiTOM and her crew are out of Durban ! Thanks to the Agulhas current running south between 1 to 5 knots along the East South African coast, TiTOM surpass her speed limit, reaching regularly over 10 knots and making nearly 7 knots average to reach East London , South Africa's only true river port.

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January 21th, 2008 : First of all, we hope that all of you had a good New Year start .

We left Richard's Bay the 30st and arrived in Durban on the morning of the 31st of December. To have a nice year ending, we participated at the New Year's eve organised by the le Royal Natal Yacht Club, but unluckily just before mid-night while dancing Christa twisted her ankle. And now, with her ligaments teared, she needs athele and crutches . No panic, while Christa wait  (+ or -...) patiently that her ankle improved, the captain take advantage to work on board. Painting on the front cabine, new floor, new hatch installed. If it's not always possible to do what we want, to take the best of each situation is what we should always do. 

We will certainly take advantage of the nex favorable weather forecast window to sail to East London.

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