It was warm, sunny and calm the morning we set off to spend a few days in the romantic city of Venice, not the promised strong 20kn southerlies to push us up the coast. A good weather window is vital for a 400nm plus journey (3 days) but as our cruising tax was running out we had no option but to go.
I had been to some places I had never heard of and knew nothing about. I had the even been to countries I knew nothing about, for example Djibouti and Albania but at least I had heard of them and knew they existed, but in all honesty I didn’t realise Montenegro was a country in its own right – so to sail there, check in and discover all about it was very intriguing. -continue reading….>
Albania lies only a few short miles from Corfu which surprised me as I had grown up with Albania being a completely closed country where people got locked up if they ventured into her boundaries. Having spent 3 months -continue reading …>
We had just one month left in Greece and decided to spend it in the Ionian sea which meant either sailing 150nm south to get round the Peloponnese or cutting through the Corinth Canal. We opted for the latter and were really pleased we did. -continue reading…>
All three cats had visitors arriving on the same weekend so we all headed to a bay about 20 mins away to wait for their arrival. We got there about midday and decided to have lunch on board. While we were sitting in the cockkpit the whole boat started to shake and the mast shuddered. -continue reading…. >
We spent a few days in Naxos in an isolated bay with a couple of other yachts before catching up with the Red Sea gang. There were no restaurants or bars and only a couple of farms and of course a tiny little church, but it was an interesting place as the goats had to walk across the beach to get to their milking shed.
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Agios Nickolias – Crete
We had really no idea where we were heading to after leaving Egypt, with a choice of Cyprus, Turkey or Greece. It was dependant on the weather and the problem of the Shengen visas which only allow 90 days in most countries of the EU in any 180 day period. Continue reading
The long sail down the Gulf of Aqaba and up the Gulf of Suez was a mixture of brilliant and frustrating sailing. We flew down from Jordan with the wind behind us and little traffic on the water. Once we reached the beginning of the Gulf of Suez things changed and we flogged the 200nm against the wind.
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We had decided at the last moment to visit Jordan as it was just a 100nm detour with our friends Gigi and Patricia. We arranged to meet at the Royal Jordan Yacht Club at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba which is a small body of water that has Saudi Arabia on one side and the Sinai desert on the other which is Egyptian. As sails go, it was quite fun as we had a following sea which pushed us up at 7-8 knots and we arrived 10 miles shy of the yacht club to a rather unusual request. The radio call went something like this…..
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We woke up the next morning to see that we were in a great anchorage with plenty of room for all of us. True to his word, Mohammed our agent, was waiting on the dock to be picked up and he duly arrived with all our paperwork and cleared us in in about 30 mins. He had SIM cards, money for exchange and organised our diesel. We were then free to go off and explore this small town so Donazita, Mike and us headed into town. We passed many buildings in ruins but this time it was due to neglect not war which seemed very sad. It was seriously hot and most people were inside but when we got to the market we saw stall holders braving the midday heat – along with the various goats, chickens and cats. – continue reading …->
