Vessel Name: | Tortue de Mer |
Vessel Make/Model: | Jeantot Marine, Privelege 39 |
Hailing Port: | Sete, France |
Crew: | Michael Karamanof et al. |
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We made landfall here in Agia Patrikia, Tortue’s home port, on Sunday at 0600 hrs. Some light breeze in the Ionian, but mostly motoring or motor-sailing, we were blessed by some good tuna catches on the way, so much so, I sold a couple of fish to a local restaurant! Nearly 24 months ago we left here with long distance sailing in mind, well, we haven’t gone around the world, but did sail a fair bit, nearly 20000 miles and lots of adventures later, going to the Caribbean and coming back went a long way in making a man out of me 😎... Small sailing tours planned for the rest of the summer, lots of farming and other land-based activities in between! I will soon conclude with the blog, it was a lovely way of keeping track of my travels and in contact with all of you. Thanks for your comments and encouragement at times, highly appreciated!
Four days of sailing and -mainly- motor sailing from Palma brought us to Marsala, where we refueled the boat with diesel and our stomachs with a 3-course lunch! We set off straight after that with a light breeze, going ESE, we are going home, to Kithira, where we set off on 8 August 2019 bc (before COVID)! No fish liking our lures since Porto, but have you seen a whale (a real one!) in the Med!? Here is one we spotted off Ibiza last week, majestic! Till soon with the last update from our home port!
Lovely catching up with friends in our little bay, we swam, snorkeled, ate and drank, toasted to various things, including the world’s sanity and left a couple of hours ago for Kithira, where it all started nearly 2 years ago! Maybe a short stop in S Sicily... Hope our systems will last until then, Tortue is still in good shape, but also wants a break, like its skipper! The summer seems to have arrived in Europe, have a good, healthy one all! 😎🏴☠️
Long trip we had from Sotogrande, only one day of good wind, but nice to be in Mallorca, anchored in Ses Illetas, just outside Palma. Weather got substantially warmer, it’s fun to jump in the water again, at least I miss the Caribbean a bit less! 😎🏴☠️ So, a bit of regrouping here and getting ready for the last legs to Sicily and Kithira.
After a day and a half of motoring we passed Almeria and anchored at about midnight yesterday in the delightful bay Fondeadero del Morron, seen here on the pic as we are leaving this morning destination Mallorca. At last some light SW wind pushing us gently and we enjoy the peace and quiet! Eta Palma Tuesday morning, it feels like a little jump after the Atlantic adventures, but the Med can be full of surprises! Till soon!
We had such an uneventful, pleasant sail from Porto, through the straights of Gibraltar and 15 miles up, in Sotogrande, we set up camp, visiting friends and repairing the boat (lost one propeller a day before arriving here!). Today, 5 days later we set sail on our final leg to Kithira! Due to confused winds and a couple of deadlines we are planning to make very few stops, Mallorca, South Sardinia, South Sicily and that’s it! As always, nothing is cast in stone, but it’s good for the spirit, to have 1000 miles left after having “swallowed” over 4000! Will let the Garmin run till the end for the people who track us on that platform and will be in touch from our next stop, first we have to climb a very long E Spanish coast...