So glad to see that you've made the most of your time in the Azores. I'm sorry you didn't get to spend a little time in Vila Franca do Campo. My husband's family left here in 1904, and we've made several visits back over the years. June is a great time to visit for the Festa de San Joao.
I know I have said this more than once but it bears repeating. The editing , composition, music choices, areal footage etc are impeccable . People might get the impression you are wandering around with a professional camera crew but nope. Cudos on yet another amazingly entertaining episode. Fair winds and following seas.
Well done you get the good with the bad sailing Red morning is ok , be prepared early , it’s common in my country nz , but your boat can handle it ok reading thoes clouds I saw it’s an easy sail , bumpy , good vids guys , your doing it where’s there are not Thanks
Yes, much nicer conditions than we've experienced in our past (constant 3-4 meter waves on our Canaries - Caribbean crossing in 2015)....but we know Elements is a good boat that will get us through it. Just a taste of what's to come this next spring and summer in the North Sea!
Sometimes I feel like i am there after watching you come all this way, and seeing you earn your dreams with all those month slaving away in Indiantown marina. I have to admit I kinda miss those days a little bit.
In about a month we'll be caught up to Spring '19 videos, which will be a lot of boat work in the marina of Terceria before we're ready to shove off. 😃
Congratulations and Cheers to you both for your successful 90 visa extension!! I love your videos but do worry about you and the weather..stay safe my friends!!😃
Great video again as always. Fantastic editing and production. Very informative as well. I learned a lot regarding what's involved with doing something like sailing across the World. I remembered the sailor sayings from when I was a kid in Boy Scouts doing my Boating Merit Badge many, many years ago. "Red sky at night sailors delight" "Red sky in the morning sailor take warning". 😏 Keep doing what you're doing. You'll have fantastic memories many years from now. 👍
Not sure if anyone gives a damn but if you guys are bored like me during the covid times you can stream all of the new movies and series on InstaFlixxer. Have been binge watching with my brother these days xD
Loved this episode. Great drone footage of the old volcano. I would definitely put that place on the list of places to go back to before leaving. Jess, very pretty dress you're wearing in the out take portion of video. Only to be far, Matt - nice shorts dude. LOL Give George a scratch from me. Take care you guys; until next time. Al
Great video. You guys are coming to frickin' Norway this spring? Wow it will be the most expensive place you're ever going to visit. Don't forget to stop and buy food and booze in the beautiful little Swedish bordertown called Strömstad before you enter Norway. Fair winds:-)
I'm planning on stocking up as much as I can in the Azores before we leave....food is so cheap there!! (At least get all the pastas, can food, and other non perishables we can carry.)
I'm not sure if it can beat the prices we've seen for food in Bermuda, but I know it will be the highest beer prices we've experienced. I guess I'll just be drinking water :( Matt
@@MJSailing A beer in a hotel in Oslo can run in @ £10-12 and you don't want to ask about the price of a bottle of spirits - stock up young fellas or go teetotal!
A cow hitch works well to prevent hanging up on rigging, but it's almost impossible to remove once set for a year. We use it until we need to cut it off and end-over-end the lines. Matt
Just like my parents listen to classic rock, we've hit that point where we keep gravitating to music from our youth. I'm haven't listened to A State of Trance since episode 350 (it's now at 900). Ugh... old age. Matt
A tip for hot weather..... try not to mention it. As soon as you admit to yourself its hot, you will find yourself saying it over and over all day... try to relax into the heat... let it wash over you... This seems to work for me. Haha...
I think we may be stopping in your port on our way North this year. We need to head up the Channel (can't easily stop into the UK with the cat) from the Azores to Norway. The current plan is to run straight to Norway from Brest, but we may have to costal hop to the Netherlands depending on weather windows and how we are feeling (we've never sailed in traffic like the Channel). Matt
We adopted Georgie when she was six months, so she's spent most of her life on the boat and is used to the motion. We keep her litter box under the companionway steps with an opening for her to get in and out....but on our last boat we just left it at the entrance to our aft cabin.
Great video thank you! $120 a month for two people for health insurance? I'm ready to move there right now! In the US $600 to $800 is common per month but that's for one person!
It's from a company called IMG. Not sure how good they are, but they are large, so they won't be bankrupt if we had a claim. It's only valid in the US if we are there for less than 60 days of the year. Matt
@@dwightturner3070 my Canadian friends and relatives tell me that relatively wealthy Canadians sometimes go to the US for elective surgerys because there's no waiting. Elective surgerys can have a long waiting list in Canada. The quality of Canadian Healthcare is every bit as good as the US. Check out the World Health organization's ratings of healthcare quality by country.
You guy's are so great hope you keep going and I am so glad to have found you to subscribe with the bell also to get all your videos.Again keep up the good work and say hi to Georgie for me.
I wish we had filmed our first trip across to the Azores in 2014. From Miami to Bermuda (we got chased there by a forming hurricane), there were nothing but thunderstorms sprinkled around us at all times. We were on a 2 hour cycle of sailing in 5-6knts wind, then being overrun by a thunderstorm bringing a half hour of 40+ knts w/rain, and then all the wind was sucked out and we bobbed along for an hour. And we got lucky! For the first 7 days the alarm on the VHF was going off every few hours for severe storm warnings/ small craft advisories, and we could hear the one-way conversations from the coast guard trying to rescue small boats. We chose to go the southern route on the leg from Bermuda and again were lucky. A few boats with all hands were lost in storms in the 39 degree area. Matt
Hi Matt and Jess, another wonderful video, thank you. I am curious what brand of wind generator you have and your thoughts on it, regarding quality/noise/output. Thanks in advance for your reply, Cheers
Ours is a D400 from Eclectric Energy. Now, before I describe our experience, know that we bought it well, well used. While we were in Florida we found it on Craigslist for $500 (they sell new for over $2000). It was in an area of Miami that looked to be full of chop shops and other illegal activity to pick it up (I had Jess stay in the van with the doors locked). And the guy selling it said he bought it at a swap meet and fixed the regulator before selling. Everything did not seem 100% but it did produce positive voltage when testing it by hand, so we bought it. Yes, I did check to make sure there were no reported thefts of a wind gen. The wind gen has never really lived up to its potential. We're lucky if it produces 1a continuously. During high winds, it can hit in the up to 7-8a (it should be in the 20s), but that is only a spike for a second or two before it drops down to + or - 1a. It also has a tendency to rotate out of the wind every few seconds, completely stopping any power production. We keep saying we're going to send it in to have the company look it. We thought we were going to winter in the UK this year (it's a UK company), so kept waiting until we arrived to drive it there. Now that we are wintering in the Azores, shipping is more than we want to spend. The biggest negative with having it mounted is that it severely shadows the solar panels and cuts output a lot of the time. We bought it because we were going to Norway and solar wouldn't be as great as the Caribbean, but since we will be there during the 24hr sun, I think adjustable solar would still give us more output. Matt
Question, if I may? Would it be possible to stay in Jersey or Guernsey to avoid the Schengen area? Or even the UK, don't think they are part of it, at least, I have to show my passport when travelling to the UK.
You are able to, and that had actually been our plan originally. But then we realized we didn't want to spend a cold gloomy winter in the UK if we could avoid it. That will be the winter 2019/2020 plan, but we figured if we could get some extra time in the Azores, we wanted to take it.
Have you taught about having dual citizenship? I carry 2 passports (U.S. & Portugal) every time I travel. I only use the U.S. passport to enter or exit the U.S. Having my Portuguese passport has allowed me substantial savings in visa and hotel fees. I'm sure if you did a genealogy test, you would find EU roots. Don't know if this would work but doesn't hurt to look into it. And it may be quicker than the other options.
It seems most countries need at least your grand parents to have come from the country you are applying for. Jess has Polish roots, but it's her great grand parents and doesn't seem to count. Otherwise, dual passports would be amazing. Matt
Wintering in the UK was our original plan...and then we realized we didn't want to spend 6 months under gray skies freezing our butts off (we did that too many times in Michigan 😉). So for the '18-19 season we opted to stay in the Azores with a much more temperate climate, knowing we'd have to still leave for 90 days....but with plans to do the '19-20 winter season in the UK....and still leave for 4-6 weeks just because we'll want to get out.
So why no S.E.Asia vids? Are you three months behind? Hope you went to chaing mai, cheaper than BKK and food is better. Hope you get to see Madeira someday. If so , go to the fish market. There are some truly interesting fish there., like the black scabbard fish. If you need extra Asia info let me know. Just was in Thailand two months
There will be SE Asia vids to come, we have two more in the Azores to wrap up the season. We're actually in Chiang Mai now, with plans to visit Doing Inthanon this week. 😁
We went to Madeira in 2014 and loved the island. Never went to the market there, but fell in love with everything else it had to offer. We're in Chiang Mai right now. Haven't done much yet, but plan on renting a scooter and heading to the mountains tomorrow. We're back in BKK on the 19th, so this stop will be quick. Matt
We missed it our first time to the Azores too, so it was high on our list of places we wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we came in with some weather and the dock in Flores wasn't protected, so moved on to Faial. Matt
oh happy wednesdays! got a couple of random questions. whats your least fav AND most fav place you have visited? where CANT you visit, even if you wanted to?
Most favorite place is Madeira, although there are a lot of highly rated ones. Least favorite was Jamaica, but only because of how much we were harrassed there. Places we can't visit would include any place that either wouldn't accept or would quarantine Georgie. Iceland, Australia..
@@MJSailing that is insane that you cant go to certain countries because of a cat. I cannot wait to see you guys hit up Norway, its on my bucketlist. another random question, how often do you guys go off the radar without any means of communicating with anyone while sailing? (if that made sense)
@@JeffyPop247 Some of those countries would require a six month quarantine, and we could never do that to Georgie. We'll be offline for sometimes a day, maybe up to a week. Anything longer and we usually have a sat phone with a data plan.
@@thatguyryanissocool they might be in Thailand or wherever they were planning on going to right now? that hurricane was back in Sept 2018. thats a long time ago and the 90day residence in the islands ended long ago.
@@thatguyryanissocool FYI...We list the date in the part of the video with the google maps. We unfortunately had to leave Georgie back in the Azores when our extension was up. We found a long term pet sitter on the island (wonderful couple), and she's living at their house for the 90 days. We get photos and updates telling us how she is doing, but we miss her and can't wait to get back. Matt
@@mattjohnson6716 I think that was a good decision - flying pets around the world never seemed like a great option to me. Thanks for the quick response
So impressed with you knowledge of weather/meteorology! Just curious....you mentioned having to provide financial proof that you had enough money in your accounts for the extra 90 days. How did they determine/quantify that?
Brian, I think they required something like $600 per person per month (that's just based off memory).... so $3600 for the two of us. All we had to do was print out a bank statement showing we had money in our account. Matt
We left her in the a marina with the estimation that she'd be hauled by mid January..... she's still in the water as of today :( Not a huge deal, but the marina is more than twice as expensive as being on land, so we have a large bill when we return in April. Matt
Sorry Robert. Our chartplotter only keeps a limited amount in its storage and they are long gone. The approach we used worked great and we were never close to anything dangerous (that we could see). Good luck and enjoy! Matt
@@MJSailing And I think you made a great choice! It was really to just point out that if you are at the end of your Schengen visa and need to leave the area for a short time before going back, then perhaps a visit to the UK could be an option.
@@jmayuk We're still thinking that the UK will be our wintering option for this next coming winter, but without the boat with us to live on the cost of living there is a tad high. 😯. Plus we wanted to hit a tropical climate one more time before freezing our butts of for the next year, lol.
No that is hitting EU citizens. If I leave NL and comeback I have to pay 21% over my boat if I can not proof that it has already been payed. Proof of payed VAT is the most important one of your ships documents. Since "Elements" has no proof of payed VAT, it will cost you 21% of the estimated value. 90.000 X 21% = 18900 Euro. EU is not sailor friendly at all.
@@Nerd3927 Welp with climate change, maybe Desolation Island will be more hospitable soon. ultima0thule.blogspot.com/2013/03/kerguelen-remote-but-magnificent-sub.html
You've got to take the boat out of the EU every 18 months. We'll be resetting the clock when we go to Norway, so will be ok for another 18 months. We'll see what happens then. Matt
They are in SE Asia now! They didn't want to spend the winter in northern Europe. Visa requirement, I believe, says people have to leave Portuguese territory for 90 days in order for the boat to winter over in the Azores. Then they return to the boat and resume the journey.
We put Norway off til 2019 due to seasonal sailing and visas. When arriving to the Azores in July 2018, we knew there was not still the time to reach it and cruise through the summer months before the weather turned. So, we're saving it for June - August of this year.
Wait, ADDITIONAL 90 days in Schengen? How the heck did you pull that off? No one has been able to find a documented way to extend the limited 90/180 Schengen limits. Or do you mean, Portugal somehow is allowing you "residency" and that is...doing what exactly? A little more detail on the details please?
Here you go: imigrante.sef.pt/en/prorrogar-permanencia/vcd-iv/ Keep in mind that it is only valid in the country that you extend in. We had to make sure our flights out of the EU left from Portugal and did not land in any Schengen country (not even a layover). France, Germany and a few others offer similar extensions. I'd search the immigration site of any of the countries you are interested in. Matt
Norway next spring? Well if you fumble your way into Hardanger fjorden let me know, you are welcome to stay at my island, an maybe we could do some sightseeing. Send me an email , you'll find my email address on my channel. Best regards Jarle Børve / Life on an island.
Thanks for the invite. There should be a box or two at the marina with guide books for Norway. As it stands, our plan is to go as far North as the Lofoten and work our way South over the summer. We'll see how that goes. Matt
So glad to see that you've made the most of your time in the Azores. I'm sorry you didn't get to spend a little time in Vila Franca do Campo. My husband's family left here in 1904, and we've made several visits back over the years. June is a great time to visit for the Festa de San Joao.
We did end up making a drive with a rental car later....it is such a beautiful town!!
I know I have said this more than once but it bears repeating. The editing , composition, music choices, areal footage etc are impeccable . People might get the impression you are wandering around with a professional camera crew but nope. Cudos on yet another amazingly entertaining episode. Fair winds and following seas.
So, I'm on a limited program. This channel is one of three that I watch at 7 or 10p! Good stuff!!!
Red nights, sailors delight.
Red mornings, sailors take warnings.
Fair winds.
You three are just ... AWESOME !
A great episode again, with special guest GEORGIE........thanx!!!
What an adventure! Stay safe and well
Well done you get the good with the bad sailing Red morning is ok , be prepared early , it’s common in my country nz , but your boat can handle it ok reading thoes clouds I saw it’s an easy sail , bumpy , good vids guys , your doing it where’s there are not Thanks
Yes, much nicer conditions than we've experienced in our past (constant 3-4 meter waves on our Canaries - Caribbean crossing in 2015)....but we know Elements is a good boat that will get us through it. Just a taste of what's to come this next spring and summer in the North Sea!
So happy for you that all went well .
you two are awesome thanks so much for sharing your experience
Happy days...to you both.
Just to let you know how much I look forward to my Wednesday mornings.
You make my day .
Sometimes I feel like i am there after watching you come all this way, and seeing you earn your dreams with all those month slaving away in Indiantown marina. I have to admit I kinda miss those days a little bit.
In about a month we'll be caught up to Spring '19 videos, which will be a lot of boat work in the marina of Terceria before we're ready to shove off. 😃
Some fantastic footage of the volcano, one for the bucket list I think
Congratulations and Cheers to you both for your successful 90 visa extension!! I love your videos but do worry about you and the weather..stay safe my friends!!😃
Y'all always give us excellent videos! Keep them coming.
awesome !! Greetings from Greece !
Great video again as always. Fantastic editing and production. Very informative as well. I learned a lot regarding what's involved with doing something like sailing across the World. I remembered the sailor sayings from when I was a kid in Boy Scouts doing my Boating Merit Badge many, many years ago. "Red sky at night sailors delight" "Red sky in the morning sailor take warning". 😏 Keep doing what you're doing. You'll have fantastic memories many years from now. 👍
Intrigued by the thoughtful leveraging of technologies to analyze weather and path alternatives.
There's so many options out there we're not even using. Will be very interesting to see what even the next 10 years bring.
: there sure is a lot to learn to circumvent issues arising being in other countries. Thank you for all the great videos.
Norway ! Awesome !
I know where yal are now, and still was worried for yal when I heard about the weather. Great video
Y'all ?
Happy to hear that you were able to get the visa extension. As always really enjoyed your video. Safe sailing.
Thank you! We can not get enough of the Azores and we're very thankful to get extra time there.
LOVED THIS EPISODE... THANKS FOR SHARING =] GREETINGS FROM MINNESOTA
Not sure if anyone gives a damn but if you guys are bored like me during the covid times you can stream all of the new movies and series on InstaFlixxer. Have been binge watching with my brother these days xD
@Ira Memphis yea, been using instaflixxer for years myself =)
@Ira Memphis Definitely, I've been using instaflixxer for since november myself :D
Loved this episode. Great drone footage of the old volcano. I would definitely put that place on the list of places to go back to before leaving. Jess, very pretty dress you're wearing in the out take portion of video. Only to be far, Matt - nice shorts dude. LOL Give George a scratch from me. Take care you guys; until next time. Al
Another lovely video , glad your got your visas sorted. Your videos are so good you deserve more views really. Cheers 👍
Great video. You guys are coming to frickin' Norway this spring? Wow it will be the most expensive place you're ever going to visit. Don't forget to stop and buy food and booze in the beautiful little Swedish bordertown called Strömstad before you enter Norway.
Fair winds:-)
I'm planning on stocking up as much as I can in the Azores before we leave....food is so cheap there!! (At least get all the pastas, can food, and other non perishables we can carry.)
I'm not sure if it can beat the prices we've seen for food in Bermuda, but I know it will be the highest beer prices we've experienced. I guess I'll just be drinking water :(
Matt
What is the price for a pint of beer now a days? Is it 80 NOK (US$ 9.5) or around that price??
In the Azores, the cost of living is actually quite cheap. I'd say a pint of Sagres or Super Bock usually runs about 1,80 euro, or just over $2 USD.
@@MJSailing A beer in a hotel in Oslo can run in @ £10-12 and you don't want to ask about the price of a bottle of spirits - stock up young fellas or go teetotal!
Wow you guys actually went to my hometown Vila Franca do campo please if you guys go back I’m usually there in the summer.
Your knot on the foresail is much better than two bowlines. cool
A cow hitch works well to prevent hanging up on rigging, but it's almost impossible to remove once set for a year. We use it until we need to cut it off and end-over-end the lines.
Matt
Play some good old trance guys , nice to see life is good .can you creep inside it with elements.
Just like my parents listen to classic rock, we've hit that point where we keep gravitating to music from our youth. I'm haven't listened to A State of Trance since episode 350 (it's now at 900). Ugh... old age.
Matt
Despite the cat (jk) this is becoming one of my favourite channels. Great job narrating you two.
A tip for hot weather..... try not to mention it. As soon as you admit to yourself its hot, you will find yourself saying it over and over all day... try to relax into the heat... let it wash over you...
This seems to work for me. Haha...
What a life, but, a bit light on the power behind the scenes, Georgie.
I know, she did not get enough screen time in this episode! 😻
Nice!!!
Why do we have a plan? To change it! Stay flexible and stay save.
Whishing you Fair winds and save sailing, from Rotterdam, the Netherlands
I think we may be stopping in your port on our way North this year. We need to head up the Channel (can't easily stop into the UK with the cat) from the Azores to Norway. The current plan is to run straight to Norway from Brest, but we may have to costal hop to the Netherlands depending on weather windows and how we are feeling (we've never sailed in traffic like the Channel).
Matt
You have the most beautiful eyes. Great video...Sub'd. I've been a Sub on Capt. Rick for a couple yrs now, I look fwd to your travels as well.
How does your cat manage on the boat? Is it used to the motion? What if it needs the loo? All the vital questions.....!
We adopted Georgie when she was six months, so she's spent most of her life on the boat and is used to the motion. We keep her litter box under the companionway steps with an opening for her to get in and out....but on our last boat we just left it at the entrance to our aft cabin.
Great video thank you! $120 a month for two people for health insurance? I'm ready to move there right now! In the US $600 to $800 is common per month but that's for one person!
It's from a company called IMG. Not sure how good they are, but they are large, so they won't be bankrupt if we had a claim. It's only valid in the US if we are there for less than 60 days of the year.
Matt
@@otto.kretschmer as a civilization you Canadians are way surpassing us Americans. Plus every Canadian I have ever met has been super nice!
@@richardnwilson -- Then why do Canadians go south to the U.S. to get more excellent health care?
@@dwightturner3070 my Canadian friends and relatives tell me that relatively wealthy Canadians sometimes go to the US for elective surgerys because there's no waiting. Elective surgerys can have a long waiting list in Canada. The quality of Canadian Healthcare is every bit as good as the US. Check out the World Health organization's ratings of healthcare quality by country.
You guy's are so great hope you keep going and I am so glad to have found you to subscribe with the bell also to get all your videos.Again keep up the good work and say hi to Georgie for me.
Thanks for the kind words.
Matt
Georgie 🤗
Hi guys.
A friend of ours ran away from the same storm, they ended up in Spain.
Thunderstorms scare me man, hope my first crossing isn’t to thematic.
I wish we had filmed our first trip across to the Azores in 2014.
From Miami to Bermuda (we got chased there by a forming hurricane), there were nothing but thunderstorms sprinkled around us at all times. We were on a 2 hour cycle of sailing in 5-6knts wind, then being overrun by a thunderstorm bringing a half hour of 40+ knts w/rain, and then all the wind was sucked out and we bobbed along for an hour. And we got lucky! For the first 7 days the alarm on the VHF was going off every few hours for severe storm warnings/ small craft advisories, and we could hear the one-way conversations from the coast guard trying to rescue small boats.
We chose to go the southern route on the leg from Bermuda and again were lucky. A few boats with all hands were lost in storms in the 39 degree area.
Matt
Visa,visa,visa,- glad it turned out ok. Welcome to Norway in the spring. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,/),,,,,,,,,,,,
Georgie is the star of the show.....
Just take 5 shots of Captain Morgan!
love azores ~
Hi Matt and Jess, another wonderful video, thank you. I am curious what brand of wind generator you have and your thoughts on it, regarding quality/noise/output. Thanks in advance for your reply, Cheers
Ours is a D400 from Eclectric Energy.
Now, before I describe our experience, know that we bought it well, well used. While we were in Florida we found it on Craigslist for $500 (they sell new for over $2000). It was in an area of Miami that looked to be full of chop shops and other illegal activity to pick it up (I had Jess stay in the van with the doors locked). And the guy selling it said he bought it at a swap meet and fixed the regulator before selling. Everything did not seem 100% but it did produce positive voltage when testing it by hand, so we bought it. Yes, I did check to make sure there were no reported thefts of a wind gen.
The wind gen has never really lived up to its potential. We're lucky if it produces 1a continuously. During high winds, it can hit in the up to 7-8a (it should be in the 20s), but that is only a spike for a second or two before it drops down to + or - 1a. It also has a tendency to rotate out of the wind every few seconds, completely stopping any power production.
We keep saying we're going to send it in to have the company look it. We thought we were going to winter in the UK this year (it's a UK company), so kept waiting until we arrived to drive it there. Now that we are wintering in the Azores, shipping is more than we want to spend.
The biggest negative with having it mounted is that it severely shadows the solar panels and cuts output a lot of the time. We bought it because we were going to Norway and solar wouldn't be as great as the Caribbean, but since we will be there during the 24hr sun, I think adjustable solar would still give us more output.
Matt
Question, if I may? Would it be possible to stay in Jersey or Guernsey to avoid the Schengen area? Or even the UK, don't think they are part of it, at least, I have to show my passport when travelling to the UK.
You are able to, and that had actually been our plan originally. But then we realized we didn't want to spend a cold gloomy winter in the UK if we could avoid it. That will be the winter 2019/2020 plan, but we figured if we could get some extra time in the Azores, we wanted to take it.
Have you taught about having dual citizenship? I carry 2 passports (U.S. & Portugal) every time I travel. I only use the U.S. passport to enter or exit the U.S. Having my Portuguese passport has allowed me substantial savings in visa and hotel fees. I'm sure if you did a genealogy test, you would find EU roots. Don't know if this would work but doesn't hurt to look into it. And it may be quicker than the other options.
It seems most countries need at least your grand parents to have come from the country you are applying for. Jess has Polish roots, but it's her great grand parents and doesn't seem to count. Otherwise, dual passports would be amazing.
Matt
Guernsey and Jersey in the English Channel are outside of the Schengen and so it the UK if that helps
Wintering in the UK was our original plan...and then we realized we didn't want to spend 6 months under gray skies freezing our butts off (we did that too many times in Michigan 😉). So for the '18-19 season we opted to stay in the Azores with a much more temperate climate, knowing we'd have to still leave for 90 days....but with plans to do the '19-20 winter season in the UK....and still leave for 4-6 weeks just because we'll want to get out.
@@MJSailing Well, if you come past Guernsey, look me up
So why no S.E.Asia vids? Are you three months behind? Hope you went to chaing mai, cheaper than BKK and food is better. Hope you get to see Madeira someday. If so , go to the fish market. There are some truly interesting fish there., like the black scabbard fish. If you need extra Asia info let me know. Just was in Thailand two months
There will be SE Asia vids to come, we have two more in the Azores to wrap up the season. We're actually in Chiang Mai now, with plans to visit Doing Inthanon this week. 😁
We went to Madeira in 2014 and loved the island. Never went to the market there, but fell in love with everything else it had to offer.
We're in Chiang Mai right now. Haven't done much yet, but plan on renting a scooter and heading to the mountains tomorrow. We're back in BKK on the 19th, so this stop will be quick.
Matt
Hi to both of you M&J. Hope you’re doing fine. Did you have the opportunity to see Flores island ? I have some stories about this island.
We missed it our first time to the Azores too, so it was high on our list of places we wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we came in with some weather and the dock in Flores wasn't protected, so moved on to Faial.
Matt
oh happy wednesdays! got a couple of random questions. whats your least fav AND most fav place you have visited? where CANT you visit, even if you wanted to?
Most favorite place is Madeira, although there are a lot of highly rated ones. Least favorite was Jamaica, but only because of how much we were harrassed there. Places we can't visit would include any place that either wouldn't accept or would quarantine Georgie. Iceland, Australia..
@@MJSailing that is insane that you cant go to certain countries because of a cat. I cannot wait to see you guys hit up Norway, its on my bucketlist. another random question, how often do you guys go off the radar without any means of communicating with anyone while sailing? (if that made sense)
@@JeffyPop247 Some of those countries would require a six month quarantine, and we could never do that to Georgie. We'll be offline for sometimes a day, maybe up to a week. Anything longer and we usually have a sat phone with a data plan.
georgie safty comes first then the boat and its crew. southeast asia? thats going to be interesting
As a pet owner with wanderlust, im wondering about this as well. Curious to hear your plans for the furry one. Cheers!
@@thatguyryanissocool
they might be in Thailand or wherever they were planning on going to right now? that hurricane was back in Sept 2018. thats a long time ago and the 90day residence in the islands ended long ago.
I bet you're correct so we'll probably get a quick answer! I only keep up with them here and didn't know they were that far behind
@@thatguyryanissocool FYI...We list the date in the part of the video with the google maps.
We unfortunately had to leave Georgie back in the Azores when our extension was up. We found a long term pet sitter on the island (wonderful couple), and she's living at their house for the 90 days. We get photos and updates telling us how she is doing, but we miss her and can't wait to get back.
Matt
@@mattjohnson6716 I think that was a good decision - flying pets around the world never seemed like a great option to me. Thanks for the quick response
So impressed with you knowledge of weather/meteorology! Just curious....you mentioned having to provide financial proof that you had enough money in your accounts for the extra 90 days. How did they determine/quantify that?
Brian, I think they required something like $600 per person per month (that's just based off memory).... so $3600 for the two of us. All we had to do was print out a bank statement showing we had money in our account.
Matt
Thought the 90 day extension might be the best option. So was the boat hauled out? How is/was SE Asia and the lunar new year?
We left her in the a marina with the estimation that she'd be hauled by mid January..... she's still in the water as of today :( Not a huge deal, but the marina is more than twice as expensive as being on land, so we have a large bill when we return in April.
Matt
I wish you would have said either the $ amount for the VAT or the % that would’ve been required for the residency.
I believe VAT is about 21-23% of the value of the boat, but I'll double check with Matt since he was the one researching it.
Would you consider sharing
the waypoints thru Devils Backbone
Sorry Robert. Our chartplotter only keeps a limited amount in its storage and they are long gone. The approach we used worked great and we were never close to anything dangerous (that we could see). Good luck and enjoy!
Matt
Ireland and the UK aren't Schengen either.
Ireland and UK were the original plan for fall & winter, but then we fell in love with the Azores and wanted to spend as much time there as possible.
@@MJSailing And I think you made a great choice! It was really to just point out that if you are at the end of your Schengen visa and need to leave the area for a short time before going back, then perhaps a visit to the UK could be an option.
@@jmayuk We're still thinking that the UK will be our wintering option for this next coming winter, but without the boat with us to live on the cost of living there is a tad high. 😯. Plus we wanted to hit a tropical climate one more time before freezing our butts of for the next year, lol.
If the boat stays and you leave do they still apply that VAT tax? Wondered about leaving a boat there full-time.
No that is hitting EU citizens. If I leave NL and comeback I have to pay 21% over my boat if I can not proof that it has already been payed. Proof of payed VAT is the most important one of your ships documents. Since "Elements" has no proof of payed VAT, it will cost you 21% of the estimated value. 90.000 X 21% = 18900 Euro. EU is not sailor friendly at all.
@@Nerd3927 Welp with climate change, maybe Desolation Island will be more hospitable soon. ultima0thule.blogspot.com/2013/03/kerguelen-remote-but-magnificent-sub.html
You've got to take the boat out of the EU every 18 months. We'll be resetting the clock when we go to Norway, so will be ok for another 18 months. We'll see what happens then.
Matt
Why not go to Norway now ?
They are in SE Asia now! They didn't want to spend the winter in northern Europe. Visa requirement, I believe, says people have to leave Portuguese territory for 90 days in order for the boat to winter over in the Azores. Then they return to the boat and resume the journey.
We put Norway off til 2019 due to seasonal sailing and visas. When arriving to the Azores in July 2018, we knew there was not still the time to reach it and cruise through the summer months before the weather turned. So, we're saving it for June - August of this year.
Wait, ADDITIONAL 90 days in Schengen? How the heck did you pull that off? No one has been able to find a documented way to extend the limited 90/180 Schengen limits. Or do you mean, Portugal somehow is allowing you "residency" and that is...doing what exactly? A little more detail on the details please?
Here you go: imigrante.sef.pt/en/prorrogar-permanencia/vcd-iv/
Keep in mind that it is only valid in the country that you extend in. We had to make sure our flights out of the EU left from Portugal and did not land in any Schengen country (not even a layover). France, Germany and a few others offer similar extensions. I'd search the immigration site of any of the countries you are interested in.
Matt
Norway next spring? Well if you fumble your way into Hardanger fjorden let me know, you are welcome to stay at my island, an maybe we could do some sightseeing. Send me an email , you'll find my email address on my channel. Best regards Jarle Børve / Life on an island.
Thanks for the invite. There should be a box or two at the marina with guide books for Norway. As it stands, our plan is to go as far North as the Lofoten and work our way South over the summer. We'll see how that goes.
Matt
@@mattjohnson6716 sounds like you in for a treat. Best of luck!