Category Archives: Activities

Things we have done during our travels.

Passage to Trapani, Sicily, Italy

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By yesterday the storm had passed. Skies were clear and brilliantly blue, and while it was warmer than the previous two days, it was by no means hot. We languidly got ready to go to sea and headed out around 2:00 pm.

The passage was pretty uneventful. Winds varied from 11 -17 knots apparent, always on the nose (which makes real wind speed more like 5 11 knots). The seas were the typical Mediterranean small, sharp swells at rapid intervals. Not the smoothest ride of all time, but certainly not a bad ride, either.

We arrived in Trapani around noon today. From the distance, it looks like a series of blocky mid-rise apartment buildings on a flat of land. A large hill rises in the distance, and the hill is mostly barren, both in terms of construction and foliage. The hill is basically a big mass of brown, much like the hills of southern California at the end of the summer. From the distance, the harbor area looked to be primarily industrial, and the farther into the harbor we ventured, the more industrial it became.

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We called in and were told they had space in the marina. The marina is Continue reading →

Boat Maintenance and Tunisian Foods

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It rained more throughout that night we woke the next morning (yesterday) to dark gray skies, intermittent light rain, and cool temperatures. It was almost cool enough to need a thin long sleeve shirt, but not quite. Shorts and tees are still comfortable, but barely. We are so happy about the change in the weather. After a year and a half of perpetual summer, we are ready for the cooler temperatures of autumn. We are most happy for those celebrating Ramadan. Life without water will be so much easier with it being relatively cool out.

Since our trip to the desert had been long and exhausting, yesterday was a quiet, relaxing day aboard Kosmos. Our big adventure was going to eat. We tried the Tex-Mex place. Turns out there were a few Mexican food items on the menu, but they hadn’t posted them outside for some reason. The rest of the menu was pretty standard western fare, with pasta, seafood, steaks. The Mexican items looked a bit scary. Fajitas and burritos were listed under the “cold appetizer” section. The main courses were totally non-descript, such as “Mexican Fiesta Platter”. Christi decided to stick to normal western fare. Eric, ever the optimist, ordered a burrito. Out came Continue reading →

Quad Riding in the Sahara and Lightning Storms

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Continued from yesterday”¦ From the hotel/set we walked over to another one of the privately owned underground houses that the owner has turned into a “museum”. This house was similar to the second house we saw, except that the living room was at the end of the entrance tunnel, near the outlet to the courtyard, rather than at the front of the tunnel. This is the owner in her living room.

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We found out that several families used to share these houses, with communal kitchen and storage areas, and each family lived in one room. The rooms are Continue reading →

The Medina and Special Ramadan Dinner

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Today we made sure to have a big meal in the marina complex before leaving to go sightseeing. We each ordered the biggest breakfast on the menu, the Arab breakfast. It came with eggs and bread, as well as a healthy serving of a thick soft cheese covered in honey. The cheese is different than anything we have had before.

We can see how it would be easier to be faithful to Ramadan when there are no restaurants open, you get to go home from work early, and everyone around you participating. But we don’t know how the people who work in Port Yasmine Hammamet do it when they have to watch tourists stuffing their faces and don’t get to go home early. So we asked our waiter about fasting. He said it was a way of life and you just deal with the headaches and thirst and stomach pains. When we pressed him about how hard it must be to serve food while not eating, he commented it would be a heck of a lot harder for him to resist Tunisian food than it is to resist the western food.

Anyway, we drove back to Tunis. Yesterday we forgot to comment on the driving. Driving in Tunisia is significantly better than in Italy or Turkey, but still crazier than America. The roads are nice and wide, which helps a lot. In Tunisia, red traffic lights are viewed as a yield sign. They slow down, and if Continue reading →

Diving and Exploring Tunis & the Coast

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Today we started the day by going diving. The dive center is near the marina office. We met at 0800 and piled into a large speedboat. The boat took us out about 15 minutes away from the marina to a site called Rochio Venus. It is a nice dive site, with excellent visibility and warm water.

Like in Greece, there isn’t a whole lot of color in the water here. There is a plant we believe is called Posidonia that dominates the area. Posidonia looks like thick, long grass. It is green near the roots, but turns white higher up on the grass blades. We saw it in Crete, as well, but there is not very much of it there. Eric said he felt like we were flying above grain fields.

In and amongst the Posidonia is a round, green, delicate plant about the size of the top of a soda can that looks like a green flower. There is also a Continue reading →