Windjammer - part three

I first boarded Star Clipper in Cannes from where she sailed to Mahon - a Royal Navy base during the Napoleonic Wars - on the Balearics. From there to Puerto Pollença on Mallorca, onetime holiday destination of Winston Churchill and Agatha Christie - though certainly not together.

Next stop Ibiza, still renowned as a party island, but not with the cachet it once had. I'd planned a 'cabin party' (pictures in previous post) and so stocked up on wine for the long Atlantic crossing.  

Here's the Clipper moored quietly in the harbour. The steel-hulled vessel is a four-masted, square-rigged barquentine.

A couple of pictures from our next port, Malaga: a flower stall, which speaks for itself, and statue of Picasso silhouetted against a building in his old neighbourhood.

The Battle of Trafalgar's 200th anniversary was October 21; one day later. we pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, close to where the battle took place. Astern and under power is another tall ship. Behind her, the mountains of Morocco, one of the 'Pillars of Hercules.'

A few days later, Funchal, Madeira. A welcome stretching of the legs, sidewalk cafes, lovely gardens and mail ten postcards, which must be a record for me. 

Along the harbour wall, crews of other sailing ships have left a record of their visits.

As the sun's going down and we're about to cast off, I spot these runners on the breakwater. 

At Las Palmas on the Canaries, it seems appropriate to visit the house where Columbus reputedly stayed in 1492 before leaving (he hoped) for Cathay. Doubtless historic, but I was most taken by the parrots.

Find some Pringles and replenish my wine supplies ... we can safely head to sea. Two-and-a-half weeks to St, Maarten in the Caribbean. 

Captain and second officer consider the set of the sails.

Time to explore the very traditional bridge ...

...and wander the decks. 

A small cannon, sometimes (carefully) fired to salute other ships. 

Early morning sextant practice.

Approaching the Caribbean, our course displayed at the mainmast's base.

Land! The island of Nevis as we near our final destination, St. Maarten. 

Windjammer was such a big production you could send postcards from the cinema announcing you'd seen the film. 

Consider this blog a postcard. A lifetime after seeing the movie, I finally - and most satisfactorily - went to sea on a tall ship.