Insurance, a bit of a rant....

Ok so three years ago Lynne and I had an idea to sail across the Atlantic Ocean. At the time we were happily insured with insurance company A, with whom we had a small claim which was swiftly and efficiently dealt with. Unfortunately this particular insurance company was not in a position to insure us south and west of the Canary Islands so we moved to insurance company B, they were happy to insure myself and Lynne as sole crew anywhere from 40 degrees North to South (that's Nantucket to Montevideo) in the north and South Atlantic Oceans. The premium increased south of our European waters (Gibralter ) as did the Excess, but we could live with that.
Two years later.............after 4 years without a claim insurance company B increased our premium to sail to the Canaries to over £500 and our excess was £1000. they also would not cover us any further south or west than the Canaries, claiming that the underwriters would not insure any vessel with a smaller value than £60,000 for an Atlantic crossing. That includes us.
We had a bit of a rethink and got back to insurance company A, "Yes we remember you, Canaries to Eastern Mediterranean, £350, with a £250 excess, of course you can live aboard and cover is continuous for 12 months, if you wish to fly home we will insist that the boat is left in a marina............as if we wouldn't?
Guess who we have just renewed our insurance with?
So you will not be surprised to discover we are heading towards Greece, possibly wintering in Malta for a major re-fit.
Whatever is going on with insurance companies?  I'm guessing that its smart young men with computers and their risk averse algorithms. See young drivers as an example, the same logic does not apply to boats, smaller is not necessarily higher risk, in fact bigger boats with smaller crews are in my opinion at greater risk, particularly certain modern designs of GRP yacht (Cheeky Rafiki ) for example. Seaworthiness does not equate to value, insurance underwriters would possibly disagree but luckily I don't sail with them.
So it boils down to this........
scenario 1
Hi there, I would like to sail to the Caribbean in my 35 ft very seaworthy steel yacht worth about £50,000. It is equipped with every safety consideration , life raft, EPIB , Satellite phone, redundant systems, etc. and my wife and I have already done this before and I am a commercial yachtmaster.
Sorry.......................
Scenario 2
Ok I have a 12 year old Jeaneu 45 worth around £65,000 , suffering from osmosis and a leaking stern gland and I have just bought this boat after selling my business...... I will pick up crew in Las Palmas on the basis of whether or not I like their faces........welcome aboard.

Ok Insurance company's this is the real world, if I have  a small, income I buy a small yacht, if I buy a small yacht I can afford to maintain it to a good standard and can repair it on the same basis.
If you force me to buy a more expensive yacht because of your policy of having a minimum value my upkeep and maintenance schedule may well become more lax, from here there are two scenarios, one the yacht doesn't move, so you win, or two, the yacht does move and there is a good possibility you will need to pay out, so you lose.
I realise all this is a bit subjective but insurance company A have been consistent throughout whereas insurance company B seem to be at the whim of the underwriters, which is only to the detriment of all long distance sailors.

enuie again

We decided that after a good three weeks of rain we should revisit the museum of money, it would at least allow us to stay dry. We cant recommend this highly enough, one thing we had neglected on our previous visit was an interactive feature that basically involves picking up a solid gold ingot, I certainly have never done that, and it would appear that due to very weak arms Lynne never will!

But she did try.....trust me it isn't easy. Again a solid recommendation for a great museum and all for free....

An ongoing and looming problem was my passport, due for renewal I was lured into the                       "online renewal" process. this actually turned out to be surprisingly good. A new departure for Gov.com. Apart from having to fork out over 30 euros to post back my old passport (no fault of .gov ) it all went surprisingly well. New passport turned up (as did old ) it was all correct and even had a nice picture of Gypsy Moth 4 as well ! Bloody marvelous, of course its all about to go to hell in a handbasket along with a lot of other stuff.....

It now turns out that just as the passport office was due for praise Brexit has reared its ugly head and future passports will be made in France with the biometric component being the only British input. Personally I couldn't care less who makes passports but the delicious irony caused me to smile awhile
.

We also have HUGE bugs landing on deck. Its nothing to do with Brexit of course unless you read the daily mail......

Palace de Pena continued

 I suppose fittingly we ended up in the kitchens, which along with reflecting our proper social standing also made us remember how hungry we were....

Wandering back out to the balconies we took a last look at the bright yellow castle turrets beautifully complimenting the blue winter sky. We briefly considered having lunch on the cafe terrace below one of the said towers but decided that we had had enough of people for a time and we would explore the extensive gardens and find a secluded spot to eat.

The gardens or more properly grounds are very extensive and would easily take a day or more to walk thoroughly. We had decided for no real reason at all to aim for the highest point. This involved a walk of a few kilometres through lovely pine woods, we soon found a spot for lunch.

Apparently a favoured spot for the queen to enjoy. A further climb found us at our goal of the High cross. Yet another replica of a previous incarnation destroyed by an act of God. In this case lightening.

The views back towards the palace were truly breathtaking.

Beyond was to be seen the coast we had sailed past last year.

The style of the cross was Manueline . A style we have become quite familiar with. hint (the intertwined effect)

As I mentioned earlier the grounds / gardens are quite extensive. It would be quite eay to get lost.

There are various points of reference. Above is a small temple, this one is dedicated to St Anthony.

This is a statue of a warrior, purely imaginary, in Britain it would be refered to as a "folly".

The gardens are a magical place to explore, there are ponds and glades of a tranquil beauty its almost impossible not to stop and rest awhile to just soak in the atmosphere.

We discovered small chapels.

A lovely glade descending to the Garden of the Camellias.

And there they are!

This is a Pavilion of obvious Moorish influence hosting the Fountain of the small birds.

The birds in question are delicate carvings hidden in the eves, around about the Arabic inscription on  the dome but on the inside.

we descended via the Valley of the Lakes.

A series of Lakes drops down to another entrance to the gardens, It is obviously the home of several species of wildfowl, unlike the normal social strata the grandest reside at the bottom of the descending series of lakes.

Above is a plaque to the founder of the gardens Fernando II
And below is the last and grandest duck house of the five lakes....