Gummy sharks and other tales
| Vessel Name: | Amble |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Beneteau Oceanis 43 |
| Hailing Port: | Sydney |
| Crew: | Jane and Brett Campbell |
| About: | |
| Extra: | 'Gummy sharks' is a ref to my fear of dying slowly. Good to be positive! In the early days of coastal sailing I was worried about drowning slowly if I fell overboard. The thought of a shark speeding things up cheered me up—but, bother, no teeth. |
23 July 2014 | Zante Town, Zakynthos
Calm to chaos (unusual?!)
Here we are in Zante Town It’s a surprisingly big place, which shouldn’t be a surprise as it’s the capital of Zakynthos. Then again, Argostoli is the capital of Cephalonia and, other than great yacht and knee services (and people), not much there. Altho lots of watermelons! Great fruit and veges. Anyway, [...]
20 July 2014 | Ay Nikoloas, Zakythos
Dimitris Theodosis
It is just so wonderful to meet met men such as Dimitris Theodosis. Nothing is too much trouble for him, and although young (I'm getting old!) he's endlessly patient helping, if need be, yachties moor their boats on the town quay; his domain it seems. We even watched him row out to yachts, climb aboard [...]
19 July 2014
Washing machines, Zakynthos
Being Saturday (now that took awhile) we've been on the island of Zakynthos for three whole days. Two of which here in St Nikoloas, a tiny village of about two tavernas and a tourist shop -- and quite a few boats, caiques, that take tourists to the Blue Caves.
17 July 2014
Navagio Bay, Zakynthos
Up at dawn to sail with the tide. Or not! Up at 7 to have a cup of tea, and then leave Argostoli about 7.30 for the five-or-so-hour motorsail to NW Zakynthos. The weather's looking great, which is handy, as the prevaiing winds are from the NW so rather not get caught on the west coast in bad weather. [...]
15 July 2014 | Argosotlli, Cephalonia
Relay part for anchor!
Well, my vocabulary might not be increasing but context is. 'Relay' being my new word of the day.
Paradise indeed
Greece is colourful with bougainvillea and jasmine winding around walls and over roofs, plants tumbling down balconies, and pots of all things bright: petunias, geraniums, daisies and . . . things! (Don't know many any other plant names, other than our last year's hardy orchid that's in bloom with its second-generation flowers and buds. A miracle.)
We hadn't seen many dogs since leaving Gibraltar but here they snooze contentedly on the warm stones while cats roam around, hopefully eating any rats in the vicinity. Not that we've seen any, but have heard tales. Ratty tails.
Although we'd been told about the free town quays I couldn't quite get my head around the idea, until now, that you can actually 'park' at them for free. Every other country we've been to charges for mooring--ranging from a lot to a ridiculous a lot. Yesterday we were at Sivota, opposite Corfu on the mainland, not only at a free quay but with free water and electricity as well. Perhaps this says something about the Greek economy! However, it does have a spin-off effect as some cash from we miserly sailors is spent in the local villages. And at hairdressers! I lashed out €15 for a haircut, which included coffee and a golf-ball-sized chocolate (filled with runny chocolate). Gone are the days of expensive haircuts--and hair that looked tidy. Tis now indeed blown dry.
At Sivota Paul and Ness, from the 60' cat 'Paradise' came alongside us at the quay, which was lovely. Hotel Paradise! Happy to have them as neighbours any time. We invited ourselves to (a shared) dinner on Paradise when at anchor at Petrita last week, to find we'd gatecrashed their sixth anniversary. Lucky them!
Now sailing back north to an island off Corfu Town to hopefully meet up with Marjolein and Maarten, from Mobilae.
Arrghhhh, it's raining. What?
