A Broad Abroad

riding camels in the desert

welcome to the middle east the above was my greeting entering Lebanon. We answered giving boat number crew flag etc. This happened entering Israel water only there you could see the war ships plus small PT boats. We are enjoying out trip and have alot of pictures to share. The internet has been hard to fine here not good wifi. We head to Egypt tomorrow morning....

We left Cyprus at 3pm for Mersin,Turkey. Started out nice flat seas some wind on the nose but by 10pm heavy seas and winds of 27 knots. Marco took my watch and helmed for the next 6 hours the only way we could get speed to point into the wind and we were doing 6.5-7 knots and the toe rails were in the water but we sailed and beat all the big fancy boats by 2 hours Marco was in seventh heaven.He was singing italian love songs to the sea as I fought to hang on  standing was not easy so sat on the floor. Most of the boats have no idea how to sail they get scared and pull in the sails and motor. We arrived at 11am tried but happy.

coast line of southern turkey

S/Y INTERLUDE  sailing along side DASTE

This boat hit my boat and damaged the push pit and swim ladder. They took off yelling NO PROBLEM , LADY  this was at 3 in the afternoon and they were drunk . The Russians have a bad reputation too much money and too much booze.

tomorrow we join the rally here in Kekova. We have been here 5 days. The town is very small 500 people. The town has installed a new pontoon and the old ones which 3 restaurants own will be destroyed the end of May Hate to see the old ways go for progress. The way it works you choice the rest. and go to their pontoon and if you eat there no cost for your boat its a nice way many people come back to the same place every year like we have. Oh well progress. Will down load pictures later the internet is too slow here.

As most of you know Marco is italian so english is not his first language .Sometimes what he says is a delight yesterday was one of those days. He was checking the bilge pump in the bilge under the floor boards and discovered the bolts holding the keel on were rusted much mumbling and a few choice italian words he removered the rust and painted them the whole time complaining about the French builders of this boat. He finally looked at me and said " Pat Its like putting clear underwear on and not wiping your butt". So if you are putting clear underwear on wipe your butt or maybe you are French.

22 Fathom Bay

Table for two. We arrived at 22 fathom bay and was the only boat there. The boat resturant was up and running but the family said we will fix dinner for you here under the olive tree and build a small fire. So Marco and I had dinner under the stars.

The boat heels in 10 knots so a few things went flying. Marco just looked at me and said you will be working tonight and so I am. everything is now safe and sound. We leave on Monday and will sail for a few weeks before joining the rally. My blisters should be healed by then.

hope Marco lets me down

fat ass up the mast

Well we are getting there the empty purse more things can go wrong when under pressure. The genoa has sun damage on the forward edge so needs repair. 500 euro part breaks after only one use. And so it goes the endless black hole. But we will be leaving on monday to sail and then join the rally. Good thing I ordered 3 cases of wine.

I have changed my plans for this years sailing. I had the chance to join the EMYR which is a yacht rally. Go to  www.emyr.org to see the countries we will visit. It is well organized and has a great reputation. So we have the boat on the hard and working to get the boat in shape well I should say Marco is working hard. So we will be off in 2 weeks to join the rally. I hope to keep the blog going with pictures and words of wisdom so family can enjoy the journey with me. The trip down the Nile has always been on my list of things to do.