The closest we were able to bring Gyatso to Russia was 30 miles offshore. Photo by Lisa Borre.
Watching the Olympics this year, I envy the athletes, but not just for their incredible athletic achievements at the world’s premier international sporting event. My added envy is because they’ve done something else I haven’t. They’re in Sochi, a place my husband David and I were not allowed to visit just a few years ago.
We’ll stop in Istanbul for two days on our way to Gyatso.
We’re in the final countdown to departure for some seasonal cruising in the Med after nearly 18 months on dry land. We hauled out and stored Gyatso at the end of the 2010 cruising season and returned home to write a cruising guide to the Black Sea. The book is scheduled for release later this month, and we’re now looking forward to our return to Marmaris, Turkey where we will begin this year’s cruise. Continue reading Countdown to Departure for Seasonal Cruising in the Med→
In hopes of the galley countertop project being competed today, we’ve decided to move back onboard our floating home after five months of living on land even though the cabin is a total wreck (see Galley sink and countertop refit). Lisa tried to look at the bright side and commented, “At least I don’t feel like a fish out of water anymore.”
It was nice not to live aboard while refitting in Marmaris.
Logbook Entry
Date: 2/22/10 Location: Marmaris, Turkey
The decks are scrubbed, the topsides are washed down, and the bootstripe is re-painted. But these are just the first three things on a list that is two pages long before we re-splash in two weeks. At least the guys in the yard can get back to work on the second coat of bottom paint while we work the rest of the list.
We had to dig our cousin’s car out of a two-foot deep snow drift to get to the airport for our flight back to Turkey. It was a record-setting year for annual snowfall in the Washington, DC area this winter.
Logbook Entry
Date: 1/10/10 Location: Annapolis, MD USA
Happy New Year from snow-covered Annapolis! Yes, that’s right, we decided to postpone our return to Gyatso in Turkey until mid-February. Having visited family and friends for six weeks in October and November, we decided to spend two months in our homeport. We’re using the time to focus on health and fitness, among other things, as we head into our fifth year of full-time cruising and living aboard a 37′ boat! Since Gyatso is hauled-out in Turkey and our house is still rented out, we borrowed our cousin’s car (they’re cruising in the Bahamas this winter), found ourselves an apartment, and joined a gym which is only a five-minute drive away. We will resume our website updates again when we return to Turkey.
We arrived in Marmaris, Turkey today and arranged a six month contract at Yat Marine, a large marina with 300 berths in the water and space for 1,000 yachts in the yard. It feels a bit like we are in a protective bubble here — the marina has its own supermarket, bar, restaurant, laundry, etc. That’s okay for us since we will be busy for the next week. Gyatso will be hauled-out of the water in a few days and stored in the yard while we return to the U.S. for family visits. We plan to do some refit projects and bottom painting when we return in January and then to re-splash on 1 March 2010.
We’ve “cleared-out” of Greece here in Simi and are headed to Marmaris, Turkey tomorrow. Since we chose to anchor in this beautiful bay rather than taking a berth in the town of Simi, we had to make a bit more effort to complete exit formalities.
The forecast was for 10-15 knots of wind, and we had hoped that by waiting until today, this would actually be the case. The harbor in Paroika was completely calm, so we decided to get around the north side of the island before the wind picked up too much, but by the time we rounded the point and headed north, the wind was soon blowing 20-25 knots on the nose. We managed to slowly make our way through the rough seas — the staysail is great for this job — and point our bow south through the channel between Paros and Naxos, the island to the east. We had a great downwind run between the islands, admiring the rocky coastline and pretty little villages on either side. Then we turned east, rounding the southern end of Naxos and snaking our way through some small islands before sailing on a reach for the final ten miles to Amorgos. Except for struggling to make it around the north end of Paros, it was one of those great sailing days which made waiting in Paros for five days worth it.
