Welcome to Bali, Crete, Greece

We were in bed early and slept soundly. We are always so darn tired after a passage. When we did finally get up, we got right to work scrubbing down the exterior of the boat. The salt was really caked on and we had a hard time getting it off. It took some serious scrubbing. We now have a renewed appreciation for the South Pacific, where it usually rained hard for an hour every day, washing away all the salt and dirt. We rarely washed the boat there — nature kept it clean for us. And when we did wash it, very little scrubbing was needed. We miss that.

When we were finally done, we got Kosmos situated so we could be gone a couple of days and we headed to Bali (not to be confused with Bali, Indonesia) along the main highway. The drive is beautiful. About a third of the road is inland, the other two thirds along the water. The highway is well maintained, with good signs. Crete is mountainous, with very little flat land anywhere that we could see. The road winds up and down the mountains, so you get incredible vistas from mountain peaks and close ups of the foliage in the troughs.

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The vast majority of cars on the road are Continue reading

Welcome to Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece

By sunrise, we were in more protected waters and the seas calmed down significantly, becoming a pleasant ride. At 0645, we rolled up 3,333 hours. We left San Diego with 333 hours, so we have done exactly 3,000 hours at sea since leaving home. We are at 17,875 miles, so our average speed has been 5.96 knots. We are averaging 1,375 miles a month. We have been seriously moving.

We neared our destination, the town of Agios Nikolaos on the island of Crete around 0700. From the distance, it looks just like all the photos you see of the Med, with blocky buildings nestled in tall hills along the shoreline.

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We pulled into the marina, where someone was waiting to assist us. We backed into our spot and threw him two lines, which he tied to the sea wall. Then he handed us each a mooring line, which we pulled up to the front of the boat, securely fastening each side on a separate mooring. No dropping the anchor, which was good. We were snugly tied up between two very large yachts. Within a few minutes, the marina guy, Stratos, Continue reading

More Time in Suez and Egypt Thoughts

Yesterday we were going to go to Cairo and do more sightseeing, but when it came time to actually get out of bed, we opted for a day at home, instead. Christi spent the day cooking up all the produce, doubting it would last through this next passage. Eric changed the fuel transfer filter and the forward and aft fuel filters on the main engine. He also drained the sump on the fuel supply tank and didn’t find any water. Yay! The fuel we got in Ghalib was good.

We did go into town for dinner, determined to find this fabulous restaurant we had been told about (and still can’t remember the name of). We lucked out and found a local that works with the yacht club who was on his way home, and he agreed to drop us off there. Good thing, because when all is said and done, we would have never, ever found it. Here is a picture of the exterior. What is funny is that the grill they cook on is literally across the street, and they run the grilled food inside as it is ready. Hopefully, one of our readers speaks Arabic and can tell us the name of the restaurant.

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We walked in. Most of the tables were occupied. Everyone in the entire restaurant stared at us for a long time after we sat down. We ordered a couple shish kabob plates. When the food came, we were surprised by Continue reading

The Cairo Museum, and a Glance at Cairo and Suez – Part 3

Continued from yesterday”¦ We left the sphinx on foot from an exit different than the one we came in, and walked a block down a street lined with tourist shops to the restaurant. Lunch was included in our tour package, and our hearts sank when we saw it was a buffet geared at big tour groups. We probably should have asked to go somewhere else. They probably would have been happy to accommodate us, but we didn’t ask. Once again, the food was OK. We did try a new food, pickles stuffed with rice in a tomato sauce that was surprisingly good. The bell peppers (capsicum) on the tray along with the pickles are stuffed with the same rice.

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From there we went to the Cairo Museum. No photos are allowed in there, either. It is a good size museum, and it is jam packed with over 120,000 artifacts. The museum Continue reading

Mexican Food in Egypt?

We unpacked the most basic essentials and went to bed. We slept for a solid 18 hours. It was great to be back in our own house, in our own bed. Now that we are well rested, we are feeling pretty good, but are not particularly motivated to work on our infinitely long list of boat chores.

This morning we went to breakfast at the hotel. Included with breakfast was a selection of juices. We tried hibiscus, cantaloupe, tamarind, and licorice. None of them had a particularly strong taste, and except for the cantaloupe, none were very sweet. The hibiscus looks like grape juice and the taste is somewhat similar to cranberry juice. Had it not been labeled, we would have assumed it was cranberry juice that was somehow not right. The cantaloupe juice is a bright orange and tastes like yummy, vine ripened cantaloupe. The tamarind juice is very dark, almost a dark brown. It is pretty good, something different than we have ever tried. Now that we have tasted the juice, we realize over the past few months we have had quite a few foods that probably had tamarind in them. We both eyed the licorice juice skeptically. It is a light tan color, and had little black things floating in it that resembles pepper. We braced ourselves, expecting it to taste like Jagermeister. Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as bad. It definitely has a black licorice taste, which neither of us likes much. But it isn’t terribly strong, and we could have drank a full glass if nothing else was available. We also tried a new fruit. We are pretty sure it is called a greengauge. It is the size and texture of a small cherry, but inside there are tiny, edible seeds instead of a pit. It tastes a lot like an apple. They are good.

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After breakfast, we booked Continue reading