Rethinking things a bit
Well, it’s coming up fast….just over a year from now we will be embarking on another adventure to Greece aboard a sailboat. The exact destination is still to be determined, but I’m sure it will be fun wherever we end up and whoever we meet.We thought we had it all figured out. We were going to head up the Corinth Canal and out into the Corinth Sea…recent reading has us taking a second thought about that. So, back to square one, will we go up and around the Peleponese, or will we go South and around the bottom and back up the East coast, or we will travel the Turkish Coast, or we will head back into the Cyclades….. decisions, decisions…in a nutshell, we have no idea at this point
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A Woman Has the Right…..
….to change her mind that is. I know I said the Corinth Sea was out…but I may have changed my mind. I have always really wanted to go see this shipwreck….I mean, look at that place! How cool is that!?!? –> It’s a beach called shipwreck beach (how original) and it’s on the island of Zakynthos! (or Zakinthos, or Zante…remember last time how I said everything has two names?). But see, here’s the problem, I didn’t know where it was until now…and it turns out that it’s up at the top of the Peloponese. So what’s the problem? Well, for starters it’s about 300 nautical miles to navigate around the bottom and get there. Secondly, I’m reading that the bottom of the Peloponese has a bit of a “Cape of Good Hope” area that I’m not 100% sure I want to tackle. Going around the other way, up through the … …..continue reading →
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What was I thinking !?!?!?!
We had a momentary lapse in judgment there…we thought “Hey” let’s get married in Greece! Of course that meant that we would have to invite people…and then they would have to stay somewhere…and then we would have to stay somewhere for an extended period because friends were there…and then they would have to spend lots of money just to get there…and we thought….uh…no…this is supposed to be a sailing vacation, remember? So that’s a bad idea….
Sadly, no takers…..
Well, rethinking that bit about “getting married in Greece is a bad idea”. The wedding planning (planning a wedding in a mere 8 weeks was perhaps insane) was (and still is) stressful. But the trip lies ahead and that is a beacon. Sadly though, we have had no takers. Lots of people expressed interest, but no one seems to have made any steps towards coming along. So, it will be just the two of us. I wonder what trouble we can get into this year? Hopefully none, and it will just be a great trip. Period. We have made a few inquiries on a boat but the costs haven’t been what we are willing to pay yet. Hopefully things will drop a bit. One would think with the economic difficulties that things would get a bit sweeter…but I’m not sure what’s happening in Europe exactly and how it compares with … …..continue reading →
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Plans are forming
OK, so in amongst all this wedding planning I have been thinking about Greece and starting to poke around for boat prices. We had thought that we would head out from Pireaus again. But now that it is just the two of us on board, we are a bit more flexible. In fact, we wavered for a moment and took a look at boat charter prices in New Zealand and the Narrow boats in the UK. Prices weren’t any better though and, since it’s really going to end up being our honeymoon, we are going to go back to Greece where we are sort of familiar with things. However, prices have really jumped since we were there last time and this trip is proving to be much more expensive than the last one was….which is sort of freaking me out. When we were saving for this trip, the ridiculous cost … …..continue reading →
Some new ideas
Sadly, or maybe not, the boat I thought we had…we have lost. With the wedding planning and then the aftermath, things were delayed and the charter company has chartered the boat to someone else as of May 23rd. So we could only have it for three weeks. Oddly enough, I’m not that upset about it, I had a funny feeling about it (older boat, still rather pricey…) and I’ve since contacted a couple of other companies. One company has said they would charter to us out of Corfu and we would return the vessel to Lefkas. That would be awesome since it would be a one way charter and we would not have to make the haul back up to Corfu. This may work! So, if we could make it happen, we would fly into Corfu, pick up the charter there. Spend a week around Corfu and then head off … …..continue reading →
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We have a boat!
OK, I finally managed to confirm a boat for Greece! Our home for 4 weeks in May will be a 2006 Bavaria 33. We will take her from Corfu, most likely from Gouvia Port/Marina. We will likely spend about a week around Corfu before moving on. On May 2nd we receive the boat. I imagine we will spend a day or two there provisioning and visiting the area since we won’t be returning the boat here, so no return visits. Since most charters start on Saturday, we will probably hang out until Monday to get behind the milkrun and have a bit of quiet time. There are a couple of small islands up to the North that we may go visit before running down the inside between Corfu and Albania and heading down to Paxos and the rest of the Ionian Islands. The weather conditions sound a bit more relaxed … …..continue reading →
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Starting to get excited…!!!
OK, now that we have agreed on a boat and a price…it’s starting to feel like a reality. Before we were so tied up in wedding “stuff” that we couldn’t really even think about it. That, and the fact that we were kind of freaking out about the costs associated with an unplanned wedding where we had been socking everything away for the trip. This one is only about a week longer than our last trip, but it’s going to cost almost twice as much I think. Costs have gone up, the dollar has gone down. Bad timing all around. Oh Well. To Quote Bertuzzi…”It is what it is.” Chip? Now we start to make lists. Lists and instructions for our live in critter-sitter. Lists of things we need to remember to take. Like insect repellant. I remember that mosquito and Kirk and their all night war. I don’t need … …..continue reading →
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We Have Flights!
Gads! And I thought getting the boat sorted out was frustrating! We have gone through four travel agents that have provided us with itineraries ranging from milk runs with four stops on the way to London, to others that have given us potential bills for upwards of $5000 each for flights! And yet when I look for flights, I can manage to get the two of us there for about $4500 all in. One agent couldn’t find Preveza. Another couldn’t book with Aegean Airlines. A third wanted to charge us $1000 for a flight between Athens and Corfu when I found a flight for 14 Euros! Go figure. It turned out that the problem for all of them was the flights between Athens and the islands of Corfu (arrival) and Lefkas (departure). Because we are at the beginning fo the season, there are very few flights. There is only one … …..continue reading →
Getting SO excited!
Getting SO excited! As the days warm up, and the sun comes out, we are getting more an more excited about the trip. Today was absolutely gorgeous in Vancouver. The temperatures crawled up to about 10 degrees C and we joined a few friends down at the Yacht Club to sit on the deck, soak up the sun, and partake of a few Strongbow ciders. A friend needed to fuel his boat and so we hopped on board for the short trip around to the fuel dock. But the weather was so lovely, and he just couldn’t resist going out for a jaunt, particularly when it’s a bit bumpy outside of the harbour. So we went out and rode the waves and enjoyed the afternoon. And being out on the water just makes me look that much more forward to the trip. It’s only a short few weeks away! The … …..continue reading →