The adventures of OÏ and Marie – #Episode2
Do you remember Oi and Marie? Marie adopted Oï, a Labrador cross spaniel, at the SPA and took him on a sailboat adventure for three years. Oï is a real sea dog. Yes we can say that! After testing several sea trips with your dog, having checked which country accepts dogs and having taken all possible precautions to be safe on a sailboat with her dog, Marie and Oï left for three years of adventure together a few weeks ago! (See Episode 1: Oï, the dog who is about to sail around the world)
Last I heard, Marie and Oï were on the Canary Islands. I asked him a few questions in order to share with you episode 2 of this journey too Wouf! It is a good example that traveling with your dog is possible and wow good!
A 12-day boat trip with a dog
Hello Sophie !
The trip took 12 days non-stop from La Rochelle to Arrecife in the Canary Islands. It was the longest sailing that Oï has done so far and to tell the truth, he managed like a boss!
No signs of seasickness or anxiety. However, the first 4 days were eventful in the Gulf of Biscay. You should have seen him go to the bow of the boat with 2 meters of waves... A real tightrope walker! The only thing he doesn't seem to like on the boat is when you start the engine. We don't know if it's because of the noise, the vibrations or the smell... but it calms down after a few minutes!
The canaries with a dog
In Latin, Islas Canarias means Islands of the Dogs, in reference to the wild dogs discovered on the islands when they were still uninhabited.
There are many places where dogs are prohibited on the archipelago because there are a lot of national parks… Likewise on the beaches. It's always infuriating to be told that the beach is forbidden to dogs for a question of hygiene and to see all these humans full of sunscreen who bathe while destroying an entire ecosystem... Hmmm, to meditate...
Yes there are dog parks specially designed for them. Huge parks with agility courses in which they can run freely. Yesterday all the people who walked their dogs in Las Palamas, capital of the Canary Islands, had with them a bottle of bleach with which they sprinkled their dog's urine as soon as the latter raised its paw... We ended up questioning a couple who told us that it was a request from the municipality to keep the city clean….
We came across a sailboat with two dogs on board but it was a person who lived on the boat, he was not traveling with it.
Oï is like our mascot, he has an incredible sympathy capital and people stop all the time in the street to pet him. In Ireland, our last trip, we were always told “nice doggy! ” here we have the right to “lindo perrito!”
Sea water and dogs
He likes to bathe but from land only. He likes to get into the water on his feet, he never jumps from the boat, which is quite practical by the way!
When he bathes in sea water, we also rinse him to avoid itching, as for us in the end!
The return to earth
We thought that after 12 days at sea Oï was going to go completely crazy when it touched down, but in fact, no. We arrived at night, so I don't know if it's related to fatigue, but he reacted as if we had left 5 minutes earlier. It confirmed our idea that he was very comfortable on the boat!
Next destination: Cape Verde with a dog!
Next destination, Cape Verde! We are leaving in a few days. This is the first country outside the EU where we are going with our dog, we will be able to discover the joys of paperwork and customs who do not know the regulations on the importation of pets into their territory… We can't wait! Go on vacation with your dog sometimes holds a few surprises...
Mary's story
As for life on board, we have cardanic cookers, that is to say on a gimbal, with a tilting system which allows the cooker (and therefore what is on it!!) to be kept upright, despite movements. Of the boat. By observing Oï in nav, we realized that it worked in the same way: it tilts from right to left or from front to back to follow the movements of the boat, it's very funny to watch, so we now called “the cardanic dog”!