Karpathos, Greece

Unfortunately on the sail over from Crete to this island, only 180nm away, I came down with a head cold. No fun when you have to stand watch in the middle of the night, or when it starts to rain as it inevitably does sailing in winter. To top that off, the power system on the boat stopped working. With the wind dying, the wind generator or what we call “Meap” (Mechanical energy appliance producer), would do us no good. Additionally, the engine did not seem to be charging the batteries either. Hmmmm. So not only did the wind die in the middle of the night, so did our nav lights, wind instruments and compass light. Great.
Our 36 hour trip ended up taking us 50 hours, as we had to sail around to allow the wind generator to charge up the batteries to start the engine, not really so bad, except I just didn’t feel well. I wanted a couch, a fireplace, a blankie, a hot cup of tea, a TV with copious amounts of movies, and a place to plant myself for hours. Home sounded good.
Anyhow, this is a very cute Greek island, totally something out of a brochure, but really small. The whole town where we stopped is only like three streets deep. Upon doing boat chores (and something we knew about from when we were underway), the head (toilet) was wobbling, and needed repairs. When Brian went to fix it, he discovered that both brackets that hold the toilet down were broken completely. Yeah…He had to remove everything including the vanity to get the repair done. Oh, this boat has like 3 screw drivers and a pair of pliers Brian bought.
Okay, since Carl was at his friends, we stayed on the boat, but the next night we checked into a hotel. It’s no fun to have to wait until the café opens in the morning to go to the bathroom! Did I mention that there were no facilities here – bathroom or shower, or did I have to? On the plus side, I feel much better, but it’s still raining.
So, my shower average is now 6 days. Gross, I know, and probably way TMI, but it’s not all glamorous, all the time people. I am so looking forward to warm weather and warmer water (ocean) where showers are not such a concern since all you have to do is jump in to the sea – ahhhhhhh………
Oh, I finally got a gyros, a spanikopita, and a piece of baklava. Yummy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157623109371813/

Crete – Chania

After 20 years of wanting to come to Greece, I finally arrived. It just wasn’t in summer, like I had hoped. Okay, trying to make the best of it, my heart just really wasn’t there. Anyhow, this town had a very picturesque waterfront and romantic interior, something of which I expected. However, again this port had no shower facilities for women and even less of a bathroom if you could call it that. What’s up with these European countries and their sub standard facilities? Mexico was a dream compared to what I have been experiencing here.

With that said, Brian & I checked into a room. I stunk, and knew it. Being totally grateful, I took full advantage of the shower and private bath right after we got some boat chores done first – like getting camping gas to cook with. Ya, we arrived on a Saturday, knowing that everything is closed Sunday, we had to hustle. Anyhow, we managed to have a nice dinner where we ate huge Greek salads. I swear, I ate about 3 whole tomatoes myself!

Due to weather, it was decided we would not leave until maybe Monday. Great, more time to explore. There is supposed to be a great hike and some nice beaches on the southwest side of the island of Crete. Renting a car, Brian and I took off on our adventure. It being already late afternoon and we hadn’t eaten yet, we rushed out of town to make a sunset dinner in Sougia.

Our Rental Car

Well, it was romance “interrupt-us” as we came around the corner of a windy mountainous road and encountered a truck coming down in our lane. We had no where to go but into him, literally. Yes, that’s right – smack-a-roo! Luckily, we were headed up the hill and only in first gear, impacting at 5- 10 mph, so no one got hurt. That’s the good news. The bad news was we were Americans. Oh, and they spoke no English (in the truck). Then it started to rain. Right. Three hours later, a trip down to the police station in the police car, a trip back up to get the car, and a discussion with our rental agent (who showed up) about who was at fault (as they tried to blame us – good thing we had the camera & the evidence was clearly against them, but still it was bad – the driver even went so far as to pick up the glass & plastic and move it into his lane to try and blame us, bad), and still no dinner or food, we were escorted back to the boat. Yes, you heard correctly. They had no other car to give us. Not that it mattered since our plans were ruined. Their Insurance - it's all Greek to us!

Starving, we headed into old town for some quick dinner. Not wanting to spend the big bucks on a tourist trap water front restaurant recommended by the rental car agent, we went to what we thought would be a reasonable place. Yeah, it was except we just didn’t expect them to take our dinner out of the freezer right in front of us! Laughing, because what are you going to do, cry (?), we decided to write off the day. The only welcome site was the big beer Brian ordered – it was well, big.

The "Freezer"

A "big" beer :)

Desperate to improve my mood, we ended up getting a car (no charge) the next day. We drove in the opposite direction this time up to the next big city – Rethyknos. I could see in summer what fun it could be, but in winter there wasn’t really anything to do. We ate at a “noodle bar” but came out thinking, where were the noodles? Really trying, we located the movie theatre and ascertained that yes; they did have movies in English. Great, this always lifts my spirits. Well, we went to the Hugh Grant, Sara Jessica Parker movie – Did you hear about the Morgan’s? It wasn’t good, but it’s funny how you enjoy anything in English, and at this point, I did. Anyhow, another day was awash.

Tuesday we leave for Karpathos, Greece and to visit with one of Carl’s friends.

Sorry, we didn't take many scenic photos, but what we did you can find here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157623221747998/

Passing through the Ion Stream

This was another heinous 6 day sail crossing from Malta to Greece via the Ionian Sea. In the middle, we were hundreds of miles from anything. It rained often, I was cold, everything was wet, & we ran out of cooking gas. We all knew that would happen since we could not procure it over the holidays while in Malta, but it still blew! Okay, anyhow, we went from wet and windy, to wet, to no wind, to wind. When you came on shift you would ask, any rain, any big ones (waves that came over the whole boat soaking everything)?

Sleeping Giants:

Twelve miles off of Malta is a spot where the Med is just a few hundred feet deep and we passed through 35 huge ships sleeping at anchor. Brian was doing the Porky Pig " Be wery, wery, quiet" as we sail silently between them.

This ship wasn't sleeping!

On the windless nights the stars shone so brightly that one has to concluded that there has to be life out there just based on numbers. If 0.000001% chance were considered, there would be at least 100 possiblities. Yeah, we got a lot of time on our hands to think up this stuff, especially in the middle of the night, alone, at the helm.

Malta - a sailing country with a history problem!

It only took us 3 days to get to Malta. We arrived at 3am the morning of New Year's Eve and tied up between a large fishing boat and the Coast Guard station. Well, at least we made it. After being greeted by a very curious cat, who joined us in the saloon for snacks, we all turned in for a rest. The rest lasted until 6 AM with someone telling us we were in the wrong spot. After we moved, I couldn't wait to take a shower, get some laundry done (since we had been doing it by hand in a bucket for the last 3 weeks), and go exploring.

Hi, I'm here for the boat kitty interview?

Two out of three isn't so bad, unless of course the one is no shower facilities! Oh, and it being a holiday weekend and all, most shops were closed or closing by 1pm today (Friday, NYE). Okay, send out the scout! Brian jumped on Carl's mt. bike and off he went. We needed new navigation lights as the last one melted due to a short, and we were sailing with one of those " stick to the wall" battery lights inside the colored lense. I grabbed the passports, and Carl & I checked into the country. We were then greeted by some other cruisers, in Malta for the winter, who pointed us in the correct direction, & invited us to a New Year's Day BBQ - Great.

Carl at the BBQ - did I mention all the kitties?

We were all expecting Malta to be extremely expensive, according to all the guide books and the fact that as an island country it imports everything (but aparently baked goods)! So you can imagine our pleasant surprise when we found things to be very reasonable indeed. As a bonus, everyone speaks English because Maltese is so difficult.

And all the yummy treats!

and all the Maltese kitties!

Instead of doing the tourist, hop on, hop off bus, our lonely Planet guide suggested taking the local bus loop around the old city of Valletta, for $0.47 euro cents! Now that’s my kind of tour guide. Another plus side, the old buses are so cool and fun to ride. We also did a lot of walking, which is fine by me.

This city and what we’ve seen of the country, is like something out of a romantic movie. Actually the waterfront reminds us a lot of Venice with San Marcos in the background of the grand canal. Malta even calls this section the “grand harbor”. Boy is it amazing, hence all the photo’s we took of it.

One of many city buses - Bri's in the drivers seat!

Anyhow, We just loved Malta. The food/treats were yummy (and cheap), the history immense, the coffee good, everyone spoke English, and it was so romantic. Such a different island experience for me too. I am use to islands looking like Hawaii, you know, tropical, and it is definitely not like Manhattan!

However, even though English was spoken, it doesn't mean there were not translation issues. Speaking to one man at the bus stop, he asked if we had pizza's and cheese cakes like they had back in the US. I was eating a pizza slice and said, "sure. We actually have a place called the Cheesecake factory with like, 27 different kinds. " Later I would find out that he mean these filo dough, ricotta, savory, pastry things that were only .25 euro cents! Oops. I would show you a picture of one, but I ate it. :) Meow

Enjoy the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157623221585018/

Tunisia – Our “homestay” visit

First, if ordered in a restaurant, couscous must be reserved 24 hours in advance! What, it takes you guys 24 hours to make it? Yup. It’s like the easiest thing in the world and 5 minutes max. But, whenever we asked, they all said the same thing! Wow.


Anyhow, Carl on one of his treks out exploring the town befriended a local jewelry vendor named Jed. Jed was one of the few English speaking vendors. Long story short, they got to talking and went out for a coffee. You know, the local having the low down on all the “spots” to go. Funny thing however, because of Tunisia’s fragile and budding tourism industry, the port captain would not allow Jed on Carl’s boat without first registering their friendship with the local authorities! Wow, that was a new one for us all. Cool, and Jed happily obliged. He was straight up and not trying to scam anyone. He even went so far as to invite us to his home for dinner. Again, very cool.

Saturday night (the 26th) arrived, the “big night”, and Jed met us at the boat to escort us to his home. He lived up on the hillside, in one of the four homes his uncle owned. It was a lot like China, in the fact that families all lived together in homes owned and passed down for generations.

Anyhow, upon entrance into the courtyard of his house, we were greeted by his wife, his mother, another girl staying with them, and a brother. It was a family event and a huge deal for them. His mother and wife had spent all day preparing. However, they did not eat with us because they spoke no English and were uncomfortable. We were lead directly into the dinning area/ living room, which was separate from the rest of the rooms of the house – kind of like a hutung. Anyhow, it was a modest room, sparsely decorated, with a TV (turned on to the National Geographic channel – where Jed learns/practices his English), a china hutch, an old 1950's radio, and some Muslim art work. Their were also some padded benches/couches along two of the walls. The floor was titled and beautiful.


Long story short, it was really nice. They served couscous and even prepared some special "vegetarian" items for me. I got 2 salads! Anyhow, the main point was Jed especially wanted us (the Americans) to walk away with a different perspective/outlook on Muslim people. Not all Muslims are from Afghanistan, nor are they mean evil terrorists. Quite on the contrary. There are so many Muslims, from all over the world. Anyhow, you get me point, and we certainly got Jed's. It was quite the olive branch.


Tunisia Pictures are finally uploaded - Enjoy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katnbrian/sets/72157623221252110/

Tunisia- The Kingdom of

We were all so happy when we landed here, mostly because we were all tried and needed a break. None of us knew what to expect. Up until a few months ago when we looked at a chart, no one really knew of Tunisia. Funny how things turn out.

As we sailed in , the Mediterranean turned from it intense cobalt, rich blue, to a light turquoise. The sky parted and after a short rain, followed by a beautiful rainbow, the sun began to shone in what felt like days. From a good distance we could see the castle like fort upon the hill, knowing the marina was right behind it. Then we saw the long, crescent shaped beach, and I just knew I was going to like Tunisia.

Docking, we were greeted by two English people whom also sailed in. They were on the way to the store and asked if we needed anything. They said they'd get us a baguette, already knowing how long customs takes. Yeah, right. We weren't in an EU country anymore. We were then told by the harbor people to stay on the ship until instructed. Okay, dokay.


The forms showed up in French, hmmm, or we could have them in Arabic. Ya, French will work. Good thing for that baguette, as we were all hungry, and it took a while to walk around the marina, being escorted to Immigration, then customs, then the port captain. After a quick 15 minute search of the boat, that looked more like someone ran-sacked the place, we were free to go ashore!

As I put the boat together, straighten up all the wet gear from the trip, Brian ran off to the nearest ATM. Oh yeah, we were not on the Euro anymore either. Right.

It seemed like only 20 minutes, and he was back, but in that time he got Dinar (money), found the bakery, the market, the Internet, & got the bathroom key (if you could call it a bathroom). (Just call Brian "Scout".) It was definitely a zero on our three point scale (1 point for each - light, seat, paper). It was actually a negative number but we won't go there. At least it had hot water for the scary shower. Good thing I don't leave home without my shower shoes!

Anyhow, the Tunisian people are very friendly and helpful. The big thing here is the Red Coral. Jewelry vendors are everywhere trying to sell their wares. We, of course, were descended upon immediately. French? German? English- ooooooooh! English is not spoken a lot here by the locals in the tourism industry, but as in any case, they managed as they wanted to sell us stuff. We obliged.

Other great stuff about Tunisia - the olives! So good, so inexpensive. Well, food for that matter is very inexpensive unless of course, you go to a restaurant. Brian and Carl ended up eating at the burrito cart (for lack of a better term) everyday. They even came up with the "burrito rules" and the "burrito scale" to measure everything against. I guess I should describe them. Well, you take a large crepe, fill it with mayonnaise, olive spread, hot sauce, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, red onion, squash, mint, french fries (the secret ingredient), and for the meat eaters - grilled lamb. All this for 2 dinar - or like $1.55 (1US = 1.30dnr). Yeah, it was the deal of the century. Quickly followed by the donut. As Homer Simpson would say....MMMMMMmmm, donuts!

I'm not sure if it was the 30 or so salty, but oh so delicious, black olives I ate, or the yummy, greasy, sugary gut bomb, jumbo sized donut I had, or a combo of both, but that night and the next two days the kitty was down. I had the worst stomach cramps ever - like menstrual pain coupled with gas, and complete digestive shut down. I didn't get out of bed, bad. Anyhoo, I didn't eat the donuts anymore.


As it would be, we ended up here over the Christmas holidays awaiting our weather window. Their was not a whole lot to do, as most people hung out at coffee shops, while others (all men), played soccer on the hard top tennis courts by the sea. We did manage though to visit that castle fort up on the hill, that we first saw when we came into port. It was something but I'll let the pictures tell the story.


For the holidays, I decorated the boat with tissue I folded into balls and shinny ribbon. I even made a tree out of green tissue paper. We feasted on the famous butternut squash soup and my cayenne, beet & parsley pasta (it's red and green!), accompanied by fresh baked rosemary cream scones, and followed by some cookies I managed to bake on the boat. All in all, it turned out pretty nice. I still missed my family and all my friends though. It is just not the same.


The only bummer was someone stolen our shoes (Brian & mine) off the dock. Good thing I got a pair for Christmas but they aren't really boat proof, like my Keen sandals. Oh well, what are you going to do? I guess we just need to get to warmer weather, pronto, where no shoes are needed.


Pictures to be uploaded on Flickr soon, we promise!

Happy New Year!

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 2010!
We are in Malta.
Kat & Bri