It was my night to cook dinner tonight. I’d been looking at the crepe page in the Moosewood cookbook for ideas for dinner crepes ever since I made them for breakfast a few days ago. They were a hit for breakfast, so I figured dinner was the logical next step! Moosewood suggested a spinach and ricotta filling. That sounded ok, but a little bit boring. I was also a little worried about finding ricotta here. Spanish supermercados are a little funny about cheese. There are often 15 variations on manchego, but no other kinds. Want parmesian, ricotta, or brie? Too bad! ...

I said before that on watch we only need to check for traffic and other changing conditions. If that’s all we have to do, then who’s steering? The answer is the autopilot! Wonderland has two autopilots on board. The first one is an electronic one. The other one is analog and operates off of the power of the wind and the boat going through the water. They are both pretty interesting, so I’ll explain them both. ...

You may have noticed I’m not sending out many updates. Plenty is going on, it’s just hard to squeze in time to go write an update at an internet cafe. So I’m trying a new system where I write updates offline when I get a chance, then upload them when I am online. My last update was from Graciosa, a small island in the northeast of the Canaries. That’s where we made landfall after our passage. It was a great place to unwind from the passage-making lifestyle and get back into the cruising lifestyle. ...

Well, I survived my first open ocean passage! We are now in the Canaries on an island named Graciosa. It is very rural, with no paved roads. All the cars here are Land Rovers and models of Toyotas meant for use in Africa! It’s pretty neat to be in a place so different in architecture from Europe. The culture here is still very European, which I guess is good, because it makes the culture shock less. As we head south toward Cape Verde, things will get increasingly less European. ...

You can see Wonderland’s position by visiting this link. We will update it every day or so. The technology we use to do it is nifty. I’m learning lots of cool stuff about packet radio. I’ll write up some info on it when we get to the Canaries. Back to boat chores. It really looks like we’ll make it out to sea today!

This might be my last entry from Ayamonte, Spain. We are working furiously to get all the last minute chores done to be ready to set sail for the Canary Islands this afternoon. The trip should take 5-7 days. I’ll be off the net until we arrive there, but I’ll send out an update as soon as I can. I had a great birthday dinner with Evi and the girls last night (thanks Evi!). We ate tapas until we almost burst. The baked tuna was really amazing, so we had two! ...

When I last wrote, I was on my way to Newark airport. The trip to there, then on to Lisbon was uneventful. Lisbon airport was small and efficient, so getting through the airport, then into the town center was also uneventful. Portuguese sounds nothing at all like “Spanish with a French accent” as someone suggested to me. In fact, I never understood a single bit of Portuguese spoken to me the whole time I was there, it seems. It’s easy enough to read, as it is a Romance language, and at this point my brain pretty much translates written Romance languages on the fly into English (that survival skill comes from all my time not speaking French in French speaking places). So I wasn’t exactly incommunicado, but close. The people are nice, and enough speak English to get by, but it’s not exactly smooth sailing. ...

My first big trip after leaving Tellme has commenced! I am writing this from Jim Fanning’s apartment in the Upper West Side of New York City. I got in yesterday at 3:30pm, and took the subway in. I had time to kill before visiting Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for a prospective volunteer open house. I went through Grand Central Station on the way to the main branch of the public library. I gawked at both of those for a while, then walked along 42nd Avenue toward Times Square. I hit an internet cafe there, got dinner, and took the cab to MSF. Perfect timing! ...

I got an email from Chris Shipley today, who is also writing a blog about Measure Q. Chris is right, I did vote no on Measure Q when I sent in my absentee ballot last week. I did so for two reasons, each of about the same importance to me. For one thing, I feel like the Yes on Q campaign is bought and paid for by a developer who is ramming this development down our throats, and I want to send the developer a message that democracy still works, and money does not buy votes. The other reason that I am against it is because I believe such high density development should be within walking distance of Caltrain. I don’t mind the idea of high-rises on the Peninsula, but I want to see them someplace which will at least make it possible for people to live car-free. ...

So, I’m sitting here minding my own business on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I hear a car pull up, and some pounding in the front yard. I look out the window, and it now appears I am a Measure Q supporter, because I’ve got a brand new Yes On Q sign in my yard. So I go ask the guy what’s up. He says, “you’re on the list for a sign”. I say, no, that’s a mistake, the only list I should be on is the do not call list. “Take it away!”, I say. ...