Passage from Bodrum, Turkey to Agios Nickolaos, Crete

This morning we got ready to go back to sea. At 1100, the lift came to pick us up and put us back into the water. The wind had been screaming yesterday, and the forecast was the same for today. But, so far, the wind wasn’t too bad and the sea in the bay seemed to be calm. This is a very good thing.

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We had planned to take Ali and his family for a quick ride around the bay so they could experience being on a Nordhavn for themselves. There were a few cruisers staying at the yard that were watching Kosmos being put back in the water, so we invited them along, too. We were only out for 30 minutes, and it was a fun little ride.

We dropped off the guests, then took the 2 ½ hour ride over to D-Marina, where we tied up to the customs pier and checked out of the country. This was the fastest and easiest check out of all time. Within 15 minutes of tying up, we were pulling out again. We were so sad to see Continue reading

Kosmos Haul Out and More Turkish Food

Recently, someone e-mailed us from Bodrum, Turkey. He said he read our blog, admired our trip, that he owned a boat yard, Yatlift, and would happy to be of service if we needed work done. He generously offered to haul us out for free. Wow. We have mentioned a couple times now that we really needed to give Kosmos some more attention. We weren’t planning on taking her out of the water to do the work, but this was an opportunity way too good to pass up. Most of the work to be done would be easier out of the water than in.

Yesterday we spent the day preparing for the haul out. Christi did laundry and housework. Eric found and read the manuals pertaining to the various jobs he was planning on doing, and also gathered together the tools, which required some digging into storage spaces.

We did go out to breakfast and dinner. For breakfast, we got a traditional Turkish meal, which consists of one egg, cheese, sliced meat, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, white bread, honey, butter and a cup of tea.

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For dinner, we tried coban kovurma, which turned out to be Continue reading

Welcome to Kos, Dodecanese Islands, Greece

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

San Diego to Crete, Adjusting Back to Life Aboard

When we got back to Egypt from the US, we had a hard time getting over the jetlag. For three days we slept a lot, slept at weird hours, and were incredibly lackadaisical. This time the jet lag has been much worse, with us sleeping even more and at even odder hours. Today is day three back in Agios Nickolaos, day 5 back in Greece, and our bodies are still out of sorts. Of course, it may be possible that this is our way of decompressing from the fast paced lifestyle back in America.

It is also really, really hot outside here in Greece. Last time we went home, we had a hard time adjusting to the cold weather in Southern California (compared to Egypt and the tropics, at least). We were actually happy to go back to the warmer weather. This time the weather in San Diego was idyllic, and we are having a hard time re-adjusting to the heat.

In between all the sleep, we have managed to do a few chores. Unpacking and lots of laundry topped the list, of course. We had to do some reorganizing of storage spaces to put away the stuff we brought back. We filled up the stabilizer oil, which sounds easy, but is in fact a messy, two person job for us.

Eric also tried to fix the slow draining sink in the master bathroom. It seemed like just a simple clog. He undid the pipes and cleaned out all the goo, then put the pipes back on. It was better, but still not draining quite right. And now the pipe was now leaking. Hmmm. He must have broken the seals on the pipes. He brought out the plumbers tape and taped up every area where it could be leaking from, then put the pipe back on. He tested it out. Still leaking. He re-taped again and used silicone. The second try did the trick, so no more leak. But still draining slow, and we can’t figure out why.

Costas and Koralia and a couple of their friends came to visit us yesterday. It was good to see them. We spent a low key evening catching up on the last few weeks and getting to know their friends.

We tried more new foods. The first is called keleftiko. It is a leg of lamb that is amazingly tender, juicy and delicious. We think it is cooked pot roast style, and it is cooked with assorted veggie chunks, including carrots, potatoes and zucchini. The second is called stifado, and is a tasty beef stew. We are partial to stewed meats. We like how tender they are. The third was thin slices of pork wrapped around prunes. It is really good, and we don’t remember the name of it.

Work Week 3 in San Diego

We have just completed week three back in California. We are leaving in two days. Just like last time, we are eager to go back to our slow paced boating life style. Last time, adjusting back to high speed life was somewhat traumatic. This time we adjusted OK, but just because we adjusted didn’t mean we liked the faster pace.

We again spent the weekend with Eric’s family and spent time with Christi’s family. We have also squeezed in a few more visits with friends. We had a great time with all the people we did get to see, and are sad that we didn’t get a chance to see more of our friends. To everyone we didn’t get a chance to call, know that we love you all the same. We were crazy busy with Eric’s work and Christi’s project and there just wasn’t enough time for friends. While we don’t miss life in America much, we definitely miss all our friends and family a lot.

We have lots of good news to report! Eric’s project looks like it will be completed before we go, most of the loose ends we left behind last time were taken care of, and it looks as if we are going to be able to wrap up our surprise project before we leave. It won’t be the nicest wrapping up job, but it will be sufficient. Last time we were kind of stressed about all the loose ends being left behind, but this time we feel good about how neatly most things have been wrapped up. To reiterate, if you want to travel, there will never, ever be a time in your life when everything is perfectly wrapped up, so you just have to decide go when it is “good enough”.

Here is another observation about life at home versus life for us in other countries: Continue reading