SV ICE BEAR

Vessel Name: ICE BEAR
Vessel Make/Model: Privilege 39
Hailing Port: Victoria Canada
Crew: Don and Cindy
About: From Vancouver Island British Columbia. Retired and enjoying relaxing Cruising.
Extra: we were hard core racers having sailed many many miles and loved the Long distance races with our previous three boats and friends boats but now we are pulling the throttles back. Even though ICE BEAR has a very nice turn of speed.
27 July 2019
12 July 2019 | Nydri marine
30 June 2019
07 May 2019
25 April 2019 | Temple of Zeus, Olympia
11 September 2018
03 August 2018
13 July 2018
27 June 2018 | Nafplio
11 June 2018
01 June 2018
19 May 2018
10 May 2018
06 May 2018
25 April 2018
20 January 2018
06 January 2018
19 December 2017
08 December 2017
Recent Blog Posts
27 July 2019

Paxos / Corfu

The next morning we paid the new Greek cruising tax said goodbye to the guys on Mangata and the lovely town of Preveza. Our next stop was Paxos. The island of Paxos was only a short hop up the Greek coast. It was a great place to wait for good conditions to cross the Adriatic sea to Italy. The harbour [...]

12 July 2019 | Nydri marine

The Bank

With our return to Vliho bay the weather cooled back down and the rain returned we spent the next few days doing more boat jobs.Found the rattle in the steering system there was wear in the linear drive and to fix it we needed new parts sigh one more job for Tunisia. Replaced the fresh water pump, fixed [...]

30 June 2019

The Aussie

We motored to the stern of Mangata and knocked. From inside we heard a hello woohoo he was home well we kinda knew he was home the dinghy was tied to the stern. We climbed aboard and went below for a quick tour and drink. I always forget how much room is inside a Bavaria. There must be at least [...]

07 May 2019

The next ten days were spent in the boat yard. Unlike last year there was no red dirt but it was cold and wet.Fortunately we had a heater and electricity. When it rained we went to the stores for parts and food when it dried for a few minutes we painted the bottoms, serviced the engines, repaired [...]

25 April 2019 | Temple of Zeus, Olympia

Adventure 2019 begins

The 2019 travel season started on April 2nd with a ferry ride to Vancouver where wonderful friends put us up for the night before the flight to Greece. Thank you so much. The flight was just the way we like flights uneventful. Once we passed through customs and satisfied the man at the exit that the [...]

24 April 2019

Wrap up of 2018 sailing season

When we left our intrepid traveler Emmet he was in Poros waiting for a weather system to pass. While waiting food was consumed and roads were walked. One of the boats near us had its anchor lifted and ended up side tied to the quay which wasn’t a great place to be. The surge from the storm and other [...]

Split day 2

17 September 2017
Day two in Split started early for one of us. The propane tank was delivered to the marina office and the old bow roller was delivered to the guy with the lathe who promised it would only be a few hours
and we would have a new roller only 100 eu omg for a little piece of rubber? correction teflon. Expensive but at least it will be exactly what we need. We removed the old anchor by tying a line to it and then lifting it straight up and slowly swinging it towards the back of the boat then prepared the spot for the new roller that we were going to get hope hope hope.
Now the moment we had been waiting for. We removed the sales slips and bubble wrap. It was so shiny and so big. Wait one minute does that label on the anchor say 40 kg? omg is it to big?
The 33 kg anchor that was ordered was a little on the big side for Ice Bear but 40 kg thats a big anchor. Would it fit? Can the windlass lift it? Did we order a 40 kg? Do we keep it? How would we get it back to the store? and of course the most important question will it look weird on the bow. While we were pondering our next move a guy appeared at the stern of the boat with the new bow roller it looked perfect. To late we had already decided to go to town. Once again we walked. There was a new collection of large yachts to look at including a huge sailboat that actually looked like it had sailed.
The boom vangs where massive not to mention the size of the things passing for the stay turn buckles. Once downtown we entered the Diocletian's Palace and went into the Substructure (basement ). When the palace was still used as a palace this area was used as storage. As the city and its inhabitants changed they used the area for different things. At some point people lived and worked in the underground rooms. Olive and grape presses
were both found during excavation and as the city above grew over the site holes were dug into the ceiling so the city's garbage could be tossed down inside. Hehe there has been a lot of cleanup and
now this area is amazing to walk around in. There are ancient stone pipes that both brought fresh water and took waste away as well as examples of carved stone figures and pillars. This is also the
area that was used to keep the chained dragons in the Game of Thrones. We shouldn't have told Emmet this as now hes convinced the prints in the Concrete floors were from dragons. The Palace above is mix of all the types of architecture from The Roman era to modern day all mashed together. It seems to work well though. You never quite knew what you would see as you wandered around the small streets. One time it was a cathedral then up a few stairs into a round room with an open ceiling the brochure called it a vestibule. There were sphinxes from Egypt and temples to gods repurposed for Christian needs. Around another corner was a group of men loading firewood into two baskets so that other men standing way up on a balcony could pull them up. All so the restaurant with what must have been an amazing view could cook the evenings meals. I would guess by the size of the woodpile they would be at it for hours. Some of the small streets had wires overhead that hung samples of whatever the store underneath sold and when you were going up stairs you needed to watch that you didn't step on the pillows or customers of whatever cafe claimed the steps. There were even a few roman soldiers walking around willing to pose with you for a few kuna. We found out that a large % of the residences inside the walls were actually occupied by locals perhaps that explained the relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We found a hole in the wall restaurant that must have had a good rep because they were turning people away and other restaurants not to far away had tables to spare. It did not disappoint plus homemade bread mmmm.
It was dark when we returned to Ice Bear luck smiled on us and the loud party in the charter flotilla near us was just heading to town.
The third day in Split was all about leaving for the next destination. We installed the anchor roller wrestled the new anchor to the bow tied on a line and slowly lowered it into place. Found a new home for the old anchor in the forward storage locker. Cleaning it out in the process. Noted the 5 guys in itsy bitsy speedos sunning themselves on the flat surfaces of the powerboat they just arrived in and wondered about the male dynamic in Europe. Retrieved the filled propane tank and purchased food and liquids at the marina corner store. Then as we were leaving split we stopped at the gas station and fueled up. We really liked Split if it wasn't for the fact that we destroyed the budget we could have stayed for a week to properly explore. However the next place came highly recommended it was a little hop in the wrong direction but we were promised a place we would never forget.
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ICE BEAR's Photos - Main
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Created 24 April 2019
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Created 25 April 2018