FROM MADRID

As we suspected, we were not able to navigate on the Rhone the week we were in Valence, so after three days with our friends we took our car and drove to Provence where we visited the beautiful towns of Gordes, Lacoste, Roussillon and others. The weather has been glorious since we left Valence. On Easter Sunday we happened upon the Feria, which was taking place in the ARENES or Roman Colosseum. Although we had no tickets for it, we experienced it all by sitting outside the circus eating a great paella listening to the music and watching all the people enjoying themselves. We drove through the Pyrenees to Lerida through some breath-taking landscape. We are now in Madrid where we have been for three days seeing friends and the spring. Yesterday we went to an exhibit of Rembrand´s engravings at the National Library. It was an incredible show. Tomorrow we will leave Madrid for SanSebastian via Burgos.

IN VALENCE

We arrived here in Valence after 2 days of travel, one night which was spent in Chartres. We had the privilege to attend Palm Sunday High Mass at the Cathedral. It was a sung mass officiated by The Bishop with procession and all. As you know,Chartres is one of the largest and most impressive cathedrals in France with beautiful stained glass work and the largest laberynth of any church in Europe.
We have joined our friends Willemijn and Kess here in Valence in order to travel with them on their yacht to Marseille from where they will leave on a cruise through the Mediterranean. Right now the Rhone River is rather flooded, currents very strong, so it looks like we will not be leaving this week. We must decide what to do tonight, but since we have our car with us, we will make our way down to Spain stopping at new places and eventually we will meet our friend Paca in Madrid around the 20 of April. Since we will be bringing our boat south this summer, on the way back to Cambrai, we shall be scouting for places to moor our boat this coming winter. Right now it is still pretty cold and windy, but we hope to have warmer weather in Spain.

BACK IN FRANCE

After a great flight and a good night's rest, we are back on our boat. Although this has been a severe winter, the boat shows no sign of wear, and not a leak was found at all. Because of the fact that the water tanks were emptied before our departure, we tried to get a hotel room for the first night, but not a room was to be found anywhere. The people at La Chope, a small hotel where we spent a few weeks when we first arrived in Cambrai, offered to let us shower there until our tanks are filled. The friends who kept our car in their garage for the winter had it all sparkling and clean waiting for us in the parking lot. We are so lucky to know such kind people. It is a shock to feel cold--45°after 90° in Miami-- however it is sunny, so no complaints there. We will leave for Valence tomorrow to travel to Marseille with our Dutch friends. We do hope to be able to do some postings from there

WE'RE BACK!

We had a great flight on Business class, great food, and a few hours sleep. We rented a car in Brussels and drove to Cambrai, dropped off our luggage and drove to Lille where we had to return the car. We took a train back to the boat and had a great night sleep. All is great there, and it is sunny. Today everything was covered with ice, but now it has warmed up to about 9°.

GETTING READY TO RETURN

After a short 5 days in New York where Sylvia visited her friend Stella, she is back and getting ready for our return. We have 2 weeks left in Florida before our departure on April 3 when we will be going to Alabama to visit our friends Skip and Jill for just 2 days. On April 6 we will be flying to Brussels, will be picking up our car in Cambrai to travel south for a while. We will be meeting our Dutch friends in Valence and will travel with them on ther boat as far as Marseille. We are so looking forward to that trip. Upon our return to the continent, we will be looking for future locations for winter mooring in the south before returning to Cambrai. This year we will have visitors pretty much every month until October. We look forward to seeing all of them and to having them on our boat with us.

VALENTINA

We are happy to announce the birth of Sylvia's niece's daughter, Valentina, born on Feb. 23 at 1:05 pm. She weighed 6.8 lbs and measured 18 inches. Both mother and baby are doing splendiddly.

STILL IN MIAMI

We have been so busy, that it has been difficult to get to the computer to update our Blog. Since our last entry, we have been sailing on my broyher's catamaran in good and not so good weather, helping my god daughter Sandy with a shower she had a coupke of weeks ago and spending time with my brothers Also, we had the Miami Boat Show, so we moved to the apartment on the beach to have easier access to all the events. The weather was beautiful all four days, and both my brothers and Bill were pretty busy getting parts for their boats.

Our plans were to leave FLA around the 19 of March because my brother Diego was supposed to come to see us in France in early April. His plans have changed, so now we decided to stay until the first week of April. Sandy is getting married on April 1, so we really want to be here for the wedding. Next week Ian will be here for a few days, so we are very excited to see him once more before we leave.

BACK IN MIAMI

I have been tinkering with the Blog, and was able to add a couple photos of Biesbosch for you all to enjoy. We are sitting at a cafe in Coral Gables where the temperature is a perfect 81 degrees. Bill and I are now taking brisk walks every morning at a park nearby and try to walk as much as we can. We are supposed to get a cold front sometime this week, so we are taking advantage of the weather for now.

BIESBOSCH FINISHED INTERIOR

BIESBOSCH IN THE SNOW

FISHING IN FLORIDA

While in Ft. Pierce, we have gone deep sea fishing for the last three days under varied weather conditions. The first day we had no luck, but a great time was had by all. Yesterday I caught a 35 lb. barracuda, which apparently is not eaten in Florida. Although it gave me a good fight, it went back in the water. Today was our best day. All of us caught fish, mostly dolphin, all between 8 and 15lbs. To attract more fish, we had live bait on our lines, but the sharks were the ones after it. Dolphins (mahi) put up quite a fight and jump rather high. The whole experience was fantastic, and after 4 days of sunshine at sea , I must say we have quite a tan now.

Tomorrow we go back to Miami, and are already looking forward to getting together with our friends Melvin a Lana next winter when we come back to Florida.

From Fort Pierce

We arrived here after about 2 1/2 hr. drive from Miami. We met Melvin at the marina where he keeps his boat. He was washing it after having caught a mahi-mahi, or dolphin, for dinner. Their condo is right on the ocean, and the view is breathtaking. The beach extends for over ten miles from north to south, and the ocean is blue and green, although, today it has been very windy.

Melvin made a Mahi Ceasar's salad--outstanding--which we accompanied with some very special wines. This morning, after a walk on the beach we had a wonderful brunch of eggs and smoked salmon with cream cheese and bagels. I just found out that they have wireless Internet access here, so I am glad to be able to do an entry. We are now going to take a drive around. The wind is kicking up, so we will not go out on the boat today.

This is our boat

From Miami

We have been here since the 17th. We are staying at the cottage that our friends Justo and Stella have in their garden. It is totally independent, so we can come and go without bothering anyone. Tey have exotic birds everywhere, even a pair of very colorful pheasants. Tomorrow we wil be going to visit Bill's college friend who is in Ft. Pierce. We will be there for 4 days, and will return to Miami.

FROM THE CENTRAL COAST

This has been a great week as well. We have been visiting with friends and colleagues, and having a very good time. The weather has been glorious, as well as the food. Sylvia is feeling much better, recovering very well. Tomorrow, Saturday we return to L.A. from where we will be flying to Miami on Tuesday.

FROM LONG BEACH

We have been in Long Beach visiting with friends and spending time with our son Ian. Tomorrow we go back to the Central Coast where we lived before to see our old friends. On Jan. 16, we fly to Miami.

WINTER IN CAMBRAI.

WINTERIZED BIESBOSCH DECEMBER 2005.

IN CALIFORNIA

We are at Bob and Alicia's house in Long Beach while they are away in Panama. Their house is only minutes away from Ian's.

BIESBOSCH HAS BEEN LEFT FOR THE WINTER

THE COATES FAMILY IS HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!