Category Archives: Cruising Guide

Information for other cruising boats. Our experiences finding places to anchor, dealing with officials, provisions, etc.

Welcome to Rhodes, Dodacanese Islands, Greece

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This morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Rhodes. Like Santorini, the marina in Rhodes is first come, first serve, and the anchorages are not good. We figured we were better off leaving Kosmos safely in Kos than to risk having to anchor her in an anchorage infamous for its poor holding.

The ferry over was a fast catamaran, similar to the one we had taken to Santorini. It was a quick two hour trip, and a smooth ride. We were dropped off at the main town on the island, the city of Rhodes. The imposing fortress walls of the old city of Rhodes loomed in front of us, similar to the walls in Kos. We walked from the bay to one of the city gates. Christi felt like we had walked into a history book. It is a true medieval city, different than anything we have ever been to before, with gothic buildings made of stone block and stone block roads.

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Rhodes is Continue reading →

Welcome to Kos, Dodecanese Islands, Greece

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Yesterday we went through our normal “get ready to go to sea” routine and pulled out at 1600 (4:00 pm). While we were getting ready, Stratos, one of the helpful guys who works at the marina, asked us if we were sure we wanted to go out in these conditions. Eric said he didn’t think it would be too bad. Famous last words. Continue reading →

Welcome to Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece

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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 →

Transiting the Suez Canal

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This morning we were up early to get ready to go. Here is sunrise over Suez.

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Normally, small yachts transit half the canal one day, spend the night in a town called Ismalia, then transit the second half of the canal the next day. We had committed to being in Greece in 4 days, and the only way to make it on time was to do a one day transit. For it to happen, several pieces needed to come together. First off, we needed to leave by 0700, because if we didn’t make it to Ismalia by 1300 (1:00 pm), they would make us stay in Ismalia for the night.

We paced around nervously waiting for the pilot. Meanwhile, Heebe finally told us what our transit fees were. The trawler that we had mentioned seeing in Port Ghalib had been charged USD$485, and we expected our fee to be the same. Ours was USD$540. Heebe never showed us any government paperwork to verify the fees, so we suspect he upped the fee and kept the difference. He also charged us an extra fee of $70 for the quick transit and we are not sure if it goes to him or is a government fee, but we suspect it goes to him. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to argue with him over the fees, both because we were out of time and because we were afraid if we made him mad that he might sabotage our effort for the one day transit and charge more.

Heebe took care of our exit stamps on our passport before we left and promised that our boat clearance would be waiting for us in Ismalia. We were irritated that he hadn’t taken care of the boat clearance yesterday.

The pilot arrived at 0815 and Continue reading →

More Time in Suez and Egypt Thoughts

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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 →