OUR BLOG
"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"
sailing blog
OK it's true…...most posts on here do include references to our social goings on and yes, you could be forgiven for thinking our life involves quite a lot of eating and drinking. However, in reality, this is not always the case……honest!…...let me explain.
If you think about it, a boat is a fibreglass shell full of electronics, a sophisticated engine and all sorts of other complicated mechanical systems designed to get you from A to B without getting your feet wet. But all of this sits in salt water for most of the year. In O'Level Physics we leant that salt is highly corrosive, which means, not unsurprisingly, our floating home is actually desolving away little by little every day like a sugar lump in a cup of tea - only a bit slower. Neither of us want to step out of bed one morning and plunge waist deep into a half sunken saloon because Comino has sprung a leak. How could that actually happen you ask. Well, it's an unavoidable fact that a boat is full of holes under the waterline, all of which have pipes leading from the deep blue sea outside, to the nice cosy dry rooms inside. Think about it…..flushing the toilet means a hole in and a hole out. The engine needs cooling water so there's another hole in (cold water) and another one out (hot water). We have three sinks, two in the galley (kitchen) and one in the heads (bathroom)……yes you've guessed it, they all need holes to drain away. So, all these pipes equate to potential disaster if we don't spend time cleaning, checking and replacing anything that looks iffy. In the case of the engine, it's even more complicated. Cold cooling water is pumped all round the unit meaning that there are dozens of different places corrosion could cause a leak. This leads me neatly onto the fact that when we've returned from the last few trips out to sea, including Sicily, there's been a significant amount of water in the bilges. I don't do water in the bilges AT ALL. If they're kept completely dry then any sign of water is a clear indication that you've got a leak somewhere. And that's what we had……a leak. In other words, we've slowly been sinking! To cut a long story short, the main bearings on the engine cooling water pump had corroded and worn allowing sea water to trickle out of what should normally be a sealed system. Luckily, we found the problem quite easily, but replacing the whole pump cost the equivalent of the gross national debt of Guatemala. We're therefore dry again, but poor. And if that isn't bad enough, for the past few weeks the beer and wine coming out of our fridge has been unacceptably cool rather than stone cold. Another man was summoned to the case and after topping up the compressor with a dose of R134a gas, all is working fine again. Needless to say he needed paying as well. The emersion tank isn't working so we (Nicki) have to boil a kettle to wash up. The steaming light bulb up the mast has blown. I could go on but I won't. The list of maintenance issues is steadily growing and therefore this is a formal notification to say that all forms of social activity will cease forthwith in favour of me getting my arse into gear with my toolkit in order to avoid paying any more tradesmen. Nicki has returned to the UK for a short while leaving clear instructions to get the boat sorted in time for her return. Being on my tod means there's no excuse. I shall be working diligently every day for the next fortnight to get things ship shape and Bristol fashion. Did I mention that I'm going out on another boat with a big group of friends tomorrow to anchor and have a picnic somewhere….I hope SWMBO doesn't read this. NB: SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed !
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A FEW PICS OF COMINOClick 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 BEGINNINGCATEGORIES
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