Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

TLC for Kosmos and Lots of Greek Foods

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After a leisurely breakfast and some more time spent looking at photos, we said our goodbyes and drove back to Agios Nikolaos. We made a stop for lunch, and were back at the boat by 1400 (2:00 pm)

It was finally time to pay attention to our poor, neglected boat. Between the beating she took in all the rough seas over the last few months, the constant hard running, the extra salty Red Sea, and the combination of extreme dust and no rain throughout the Middle East, Kosmos was in desperate need of some TLC in every single area. This is the ideal place to do it. Right now, the climate is temperate, making it easy to work outside and in the engine room (no, no air conditioning in the engine room. Actually, it gets hotter in the engine room when the air conditioning is on due to the generator). Bugs also aren’t much of a problem. The boat is securely tied and the water in the marina is flat, so we can do all the things you can’t do when it is rolly. There is a sufficiently stocked boat store literally at the edge of the marina, so it is easy to run and get that one little thing you need to finish a job. There is internet here, so we can look up on-line resources to help make the job easier. There is an oil drop off station here in the marina. We have our own hose connection with great water pressure. There is staff around to offer you pointers in the right direction for help and supplies. It just doesn’t get much better than where we are right now.

Once we got back, we Continue reading →

Welcome to Bali, Crete, Greece

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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 →

Passage from Port Said, Egypt to Crete, Greece

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Day 1

It felt good to be moving on the sea. By morning, the wave speed had slowed down. There was little wind chop, and it was an overall pleasant ride. Wind has varied from 8 knots to 16 knots. What makes it an even nicer ride is that we are running at a normal RPM and speed for a change. Kosmos is happier running in her sweet spot than she is running flat out, the ride is smoother for us, and fuel consumption is much, much better.

We crossed near the 31N by 31E line, which we thought was an interesting numerical moment. We had a beautiful sunset, with the sun especially red.

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It is much cooler here. We actually have to shut the windows at night and wear blankets when we sleep. We almost forgot what that was like aboard, since we have been so used to the heat of the tropics and desert.

There has been a ton of traffic on the radio ever since we left Egypt, mostly from warships calling every vessel that pops up on their radar. So far we have heard ships from Canada, NATO, and Israel. We have never heard so many military groups in one place before. The war ships will Continue reading →

Making Friends in Suez City

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We were up early and all ready to go when we found out that we weren’t allowed to leave today, after all. An American military ship was transiting the canal today, and anytime there is a military ship going through, small boats are prohibited from entering. The big boys can still go through, but not the little guys. We begged the agent, explaining that it should be OK for an American boat to pass an American military vessel, but it isn’t his decision. The worst news was that a British military vessel was transiting tomorrow, so we couldn’t go tomorrow, either.

Since we weren’t leaving ASAP, the yacht club asked us to move the boat from the dock to a near by mooring so other boats could access the hose. We were delighted to do this, because it would make it a little harder for Sayeed to harass us. BTW, he had been harassing us non-stop since very early in the morning.

Once situated, we decided to head into town to look around and have lunch. From what we saw last night, we thought Continue reading →

Port Ghalib to Suez City – Days 1 & 2

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Yesterday, we had breakfast with our French friends at the hotel, then quickly got Kosmos ready to go to sea. We headed over to the other side of the complex, where we pulled into the fuel dock near the harbor master’s office. Like everything in Port Ghalib, the fuel dock is new and modern. Fuel cost $1.15 a liter, which is pretty high, compared to other ports in Egypt, but overall a pretty good deal considering rising fuel costs. We don’t like leaving without polishing the fuel first, but we think it will be pretty good considering the amount of fuel the dive boats must go through. We’ll see how clean the filters are after we start running.

The attendant started fueling us up, and Eric went over to the harbor master and got us all checked out while the fueling was going on. Eric tried to tip the marina staff, and to our shock, they wouldn’t take the money. They said they weren’t allowed. This was very odd for Egypt, where tipping is always expected for everything.

We pulled out of Port Ghalib around noon. The weather forecast said conditions were going to be pretty good. The conditions were slightly worse than forecast, but overall not too bad. The wind was around 15 knots apparent, with small, but rapid interval head seas that had us bouncing. That night, the moon was full and bright, offering a lot of light, and the night visibility was excellent.

After 12 hours at sea, conditions drastically worsened. The wind Continue reading →