Will
05/07/2010, Kalamata, Greece

Since I haven't been blogging lately, I'll give you a summarized version of what happened since my last blog.

We got splashed in Agios Nikolaos and spent 2 days sailing to the west end of Crete before taking off on a 73 mile trip to Porto Kayio (the middle point on the Peloponnese). After spending a night there we went on a 50 miler to our current location -- Kalamata. We'll spend one more night here before heading off to Methoni (see previous blogs).

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Will
04/18/2010, Ag. Nikolaos, Crete, Greece

Just after we got hauled out in Ag. Nikolaos our salt water pump stopped working. I wonder why...

Anyhow, we just made the hulls sparkly white and clean today. Sounds fun doesn't it? If you think that moving scaffolding forward and backward along the side of the hull 25 times and using 8 different grains of sand paper on each pass was fun, well...never mind.

But the important thing is is that we got the hull clean. Unfortunately we still have to sand and Acetone the bottom; which we've already done once. But after that we only have to paint before we'll be able to relax and maybe we'll even be able to go see the rest of Crete. (Yeah right.)

The photo is of a scooter that doesn't look like a very comfy ride. :-)

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Will
04/12/2010, Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece

It was a long trek to Agios Nikolaos. We started off in Marmaris, Turkey and headed down to Rhodes Town, which was a nice sail. Then we headed down to Lindos (still on Rhodes), which was in strong breeze, but we were going downwind, so it didn't seem as strong as it really was.

Lindos is a really cool place with an old castle set on top of some high cliffs. The town is really nice too (the gallery will have pictures).

Anyway, after Lindos we went to Karpathos and Kasos, two very windy and wavy days. But the anchorages were stunning (at least Kasos' was) with cool rock formations and scenery. We also caught a fish on our way to Karpathos. Again, the gallery will have photos.

After Kasos we left on a 60 mile day that became a 30 mile day when we decided to stop sooner at a nice protected anchorage we had found. When our protected anchorage turned out to be protecting more than just us (it was a Hellenic (Greek) navy base), we moved aver one bay and there spent the night. In the morning we found that the wind had switched around to the west and was now blowing directly into our bay. Since we were going west, this was not good news.

To make a long story short, we motor-sailed off into the sunset against large seas and 20 knot winds for a couple hours before we became concerned about our fuel level and turned off the engine. That lasted for a little while before we turned the engine back on to get around an island. Then we had a fun reach into Ag. Nikolaos.

We get hauled out tomorrow. That will be a busy time. I doubt that I will have much time for blogging and e-mails then.

The photo is of my dad driving on our way to Crete.

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Will
04/05/2010, Rhodes Town, Rhodes, Greece

We made it! We had a nice sail over here (upwind, but still fun) with 15 knots and no big waves. Now we are in Rhodes and plan to sail to Crete in the next few days. Supposedly there is a couple storms coming through and we will have a couple 60 n.m. days (up at 5 a.m., anchored at 5 p.m.) to avoid getting caught in bad anchorages.

That's it for now! We've had some pretty uneventful days lately! :-)

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Will
03/31/2010, Fethiye, Turkey

After we left Marmaris we took 3 days sailing to Gocek (near Fethiye) with our friends on Mehari. Now we are in Fethiye planning to leave and cruise the huge bay. Apparently there is a water pipe we can fill up at across the bay, so we will go there with Mehari today.

But we are still getting used to life out of the marina. I think we went through our water twice as fast as we normally would've if we hadn't gotten spoiled at the marina! :-)

So far all of our major projects have been done. The solar panels are in, the dinghy motor is fixed (again), life is good! :-]

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Will
03/15/2010, Marmaris, Turkey

It's true. Soon the dread day of March 20 will arrive and force us to leave Yacht Marine. After that we're at the mercy of my dad's decisions.

But really, it isn't that bad of an idea to look forward to. I mean we'll be getting our hull cleaned off and new scenery to boot.

Our schedule's getting crowded as we come closer to the end of our stay in Marmaris Yacht Marine. My dad is ordering new solar panels at a really good price from Ístanbul; the boat jumble is coming up; our departure date is coming up; we are just busy!

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