09 October 2012 | Mid Aegean
05 May 2011 | Nidri Greece
04 May 2011 | In sight of Greece
03 May 2011 | Half way there
01 May 2011 | Marzamemmi Sicily
29 April 2011 | Marzamemmi Sicily
24 April 2011 | Yasmine Hammamet Marina Tunisia
19 February 2009 | Hammamet Tunisia
24 September 2007 | Back at work!
21 June 2006 | Channel Islands
22 May 2006 | Hamble Point Marina
Getting ready for our summer cruise
17 July 2013 | London UK
Colin in a very hot London
Jane and I are planning our late summer cruise of the western coast of Turkey. Right now our boat is in Didim marina under the care of Baltic Marine. As Jane is still working she can only manage 3 weeks away but as I retire on July 31st I'll have the luxury of staying on for a further 3 weeks returning at the end of October.
Looking forward to exploring Turkey, we last cruised the coast from Marmaris south during a charter holiday in 1996.
An update from Solent Venture half way acoss the Aegean
09 October 2012 | Mid Aegean
Colin
We left the UK on September 16 2012 and it's now October 2nd. For the first 10 days of our holiday we were joined by Jane's daughter Leanne and her husband of just one year Simon. The four of us completed the first leg of the trip from Preveza on the west coast of Greece,south through the islands of the Ionian and through the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth as far as Athens where Leanne and Simon left us to fly home. I would add that it was pre arranged that they should fly home just in case you get the idea that we'd had a major falling out. In fact quite the contrary, as all four of us were able to enjoy some excellent sailing (a little too hairy at times). The passage down the Gulf of Patras and passing under the massive suspension bridge was an awesome experience. In typical style I decided that it was not the done thing to motor a sailing boat under such a major edifice so I raised sail in little or no wind and allowed the merest zephyr to waft us beneath the giant structure. Now just the other side of the bridge the Greek god in charge of wind for the day pulled the lever or whatever it is Greek gods to to switch on a hefty blast to catch out the unwary seafarer and we fair hurtled down wind at speeds between 8 and 9 knots (that's V quick for us)and found ourselves just over one hour and 12 miles later doing a handbrake turn to get into the shelter of the beautiful little harbour on the island of Trizonia where we were greeted by other yacht owners. As they helped us to tie up amidst the noise of the wind they were asking us if we really had just arrived from Patras and when we said that we had the looks they gave were either pity,surprise or disbelief. I did not enquire further!
Later that afternoon and evening several other yachts arrived to the shelter of Trizonia all of their crews looking a little shell shocked and dressed for the North Atlantic.
We stayed in Trizonia for a couple of nights whilst the weather gods had a meeting and finally decided to pull the off lever meaning that we had to motor further down the Gulf to our next destination. I'll gloss over the detail of most of them except to mention the lovely harbour of Galaxidhi where we hired a car and took ourselves off to visit the ancient city of Delfi perhaps 20-30 miles distant. An excellent day which provided me with my fix of ancient ruins for the week.
Simon also took over 'tarzan' duty of jumping off the back of the ship with a rope to attach to a convenient olive tree on the shore. Those who read of our exploits during our last holiday will recall that then I performed the task which Jane referred to as 'Herculean', so if I'm Hercules, Simon can be Tarzan.
Athens was another opportunity to get a good fix of ancient ruins and museums as the place is full of them and they are not to be missed. The Acroplis museum is a truly spectacular building. When it was being built in 2006 they uncovered the remains of the old town that surrounded the Acroplois dating back to 700BC. Correctly deciding that you can't just run concrete over the lot they cleverly designed the museum to stand on 100 massive concrete stilts so that the ruins below could be excavated and will eventually become a new 'floor' (or should it be basement) of exhibits of the museum.
Since leaving Simon & Leanne in Athens we have been sailing in no wind and too much wind. In the worst passages the waves have been large and confused but we have made it to half way across the Aegean and as I sit here at the chart table on a sunny Tuesday morning at noon, we are motoring (there's no wind) on a course of 078 degrees towards the island of Patmos 48 miles away and our eventual destination of Didima in Turkey is a mere 73 miles away from our present position.
Before signing off I would like to mention the impact of modern communications technology and how it has changed in the 6 years we have been sailing. All of our email was done in the past by this Sailmail system sending over the short wave radio link to ground stations in either Belgium or the Red Sea. Now, given a decent cell phone signal I can post photos to Facebook, pick up my work email and log on to the Web to get the latest weather forecast and 'check in' at the most unlikely places (the Temple of Zeus in Athens comes to mind). The romance of being out of touch with the world is under threat so for now here is our sailmail from somewhere in the Aegean where there is no cell phone signal.
Colin & Jane
Arrived in Nidri
05 May 2011 | Nidri Greece
Sunny
After anchoring in Tranquil Bay Nidri GREECE yesterday afternoon at 15.15 we went ashore in our tender to meet up with Chris, who we haven't seen for 25 years, had a few beers and generally chilled. Returned to the anchorage had dinner and a couple of drinks then to bed for the best sleep ever in a bed that only moved very gently and with the calming lap of little ripples against the stern to lull us to sleep.
Going ashore to check in and do the Greek formalities, then to Lefkas to book coach tickets for the trip to Athens on Saturday. Would you belive that during the night before we arrived here they had a major rain storm (we saw none of it at sea) and the rain carried red dust from the Sahara!!! Will we never be free of the stuff?