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"There's always a plan, but unexpected things happen and we just go with the flow. Though I do believe that fate and destiny often play their part"
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When I read the consultants letter detailing the extent of my injuries, I noticed it said wearing the boot for four to six weeks was necessary. Therefore, I decided to meet him halfway and booked new flights at the five week mark. On 4th October, we flew back to Corfu - better late than never! Sailing was too risky, my foot was still rather fragile, so we resigned ourselves to a gentle three week holiday on Comino staying put in the marina. To be honest, all that really mattered was being there. And there we jolly well were! Here's a brief summary of the trip. First two nights in a nearby hotel allowed us to get on Comino and check everything was ship-shape before we actually moved onboard. She had been protected by the all-over canvas cover, but even so, two years worth of sand, dust and grime made the decks look rather grubby, Thank you Sahara Desert for sending so much sand our way. Nothing a hose pipe couldn't put right. Thankfully, down below it all looked immaculate - just how we left her all that time ago. Next, we needed to test if everything worked. Electrics, toilet, gas supply, water pump, heating, lights, nav systems, VHF, engine etc. etc. Everything fired up perfectly - a big relief. It meant our stay would be comfortable and no need to set about fixing things. The underwater hull looked interesting to say the least. I think a marine biologist would have had a field day exploring the sea life going on down there. Time to book a lift-out and find some people to clean things up and do the antifouling. Mmmmm....another consequence of Covid. The backlog of boats wanting to come out of the water, having been unable to do so last year, was huge. The 28th April 2022 was the earliest slot we could get. That set the time frame to return next year, which is pretty well when we would have booked anyway. We lined up a marina based company we know to do the work, so we're all set for next spring. And then the storms came. Ten days of spectacular electrical storms with non-stop tropical downpours, day and night. Floods everywhere, roads and bridges washed away, landslides and cars floating out to sea - the island was thrown into a state of emergency - nothing like it had been seen before. The weather did calm down a bit, but it rained most days in-between sunny spells. During one storm on 7th October, a 50 knot gust of wind snapped my port side mooring line. We veered off touching the boat on my starboard side. I shouted for help from my neighbour and between us we managed to get another line attached and pull ourselves back into position without any damage. I quickly checked my other mooring line and to my horror it was hanging on by just a few threads and would have also snapped at the next big gust. Here's the thing. Had I not broken my foot, we would have travelled home on 4th October as per the original booking. That means this incident would have happened after we'd left. In other words, with nobody on-board, Comino would have lost her stern mooring lines completely and drifted off into what could only have been a catastrophic disaster. And that's why I passionately believe in fate! The pics above show the two lines in question. This was not as a result of weakness in the ropes, but from chaffing caused by the rubber snubbers I had put on before we left in 2019. There's a lesson to be learned!!! The next set of pics below show some of the effects of the storms on our local beach. I imagine the courtesy flag on Comino will have completely disintegrated by the time we get back next year. No adventure on the boat, whether cruising or simply chilling in the marina, would be complete without a plate of king prawns at some point. On the one proper hot sunny day we had, off to the beach we went (as shown above). Our favourite seafood taverna just so happens to be there too. Natali's didn't disappoint - the prawns came with a sizeable portion of Calamari and their unbeatable homemade Taramasalata. A little smidgen of wine was consumed, purely for medicinal reasons, and I had the best siesta I've ever had! The walk to the beach takes us past the filming location for The Durrells TV series and it was clear that all the rain had helped create a lush garden backdrop to the house. I'd quite like to live there actually. On the subject of food (again), we did something for the first time in all the ten years since we've been abroad with Comino. We ordered a Pizza delivery to the boat from our local Italian restaurant. Twenty minutes later a chap with a crash helmet wandered down our pontoon with two large boxes. Epic. The next instalment on here will, I hope, be a bit more boaty and less culinary. It is a sailing blog after all. I'll post plenty of pics of the lift-out and tales of our sailing adventures around the Ionian. We did have a route plan for this year, but it went out of the window. No worries, I'll dust it down to use next year.
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A FEW PICS OF COMINO Click a photo to enlarge and use side arrows to scroll through. COMINO IS CURRENTLY HEREDID SOMEONE SAY SEAFOODOn our journey from Portugal to Greece we enjoyed amazing seafood almost everywhere we stopped. Finding the local fish market was always a priority because seafood was so plentiful and so reasonably priced. And, the displays were a feast for your eyes.
Locating a market sometimes meant pounding the pavements in searing heat, but if you kept your eyes peeled, you often came across a little clue. The pic below was a rather less than subtle advert for a fish market - it was eight feet tall.
Freshly cooked onboard, a plateful of giant prawns, baked in wine and garlic, washed down with a few glasses of local vino, was like heaven. Watching the sunset on the boat eating a meal like that was the epitome of "living the dream".
Now we're in Greece we've another favourite to savour. I'm talking about fried Calamari. It's usually good, but every now and then it's off-the-scale fantastic. At Natalie's Taverna on Kontokali Beach in Corfu, it was nothing short of epic.
We're based in Lefkas now and It's been a bit of a mission to find somewhere just as good. And we have. Rakias is a mere ten minute walk from the marina and this little fish market, with its very own taverna attached, is quite sensational.
Oh...and it's also worth mentioning that, on occasions, a bit of barbequed Octopus is on the menu at some of the tavernas we frequent. Can I resist....no. SUNSETS AND DRAMATIC SKIESNo filters, or any other monkey business, have been used to enhance these images.
OUR ADVENTURES FROM THE BEGINNING CATEGORIES
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