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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"
sailing blog
It's a bright sunny day and the view is pretty terrific. No...we haven't dropped the hook in a picturesque bay somewhere around Malta...we've actually come home to the Cotswolds. This last blog of the 2016 sailing season is being written from high up in the hills inside the comfort of my office (man cave) with a pile of admin stuff on one side, a few bills to settle on the other and a waste paper bin overflowing with two months worth of junk mail. It's a good job we didn't do our normal six month stint on the boat otherwise we wouldn't have been able to push open the front door!
I blame the education system for our slightly earlier departure from Malta than planned. You see those clever clogs at the cattle transport company (Ryanair) know only too well that many people will take to the skies for the forthcoming school half-term holidays. And why not, the sun is still shining in most parts of the Mediterranean, meaning thousands of eager tourists are going to pack some shorts and sandals (hopefully not socks) and hop on an aircraft bound for the beach. And so what do Ryanair do......yes you've guessed it......they hike up their prices to astronomical levels knowing that those with enough motivation and money will pay silly prices to get away. In our case we simply couldn't entertain the prospect of forking out the equivalent of the GDP of Guatamala just to stay on for a couple of extra weeks. Departing last Saturday whilst fares were still reasonable saved us a small fortune and to make matters even better we managed to come home with just hand luggage for the first time in five years. Her indoors wasn't happy at first, but I managed to persuade her that she was unlikely to wear 15 sarongs and 22 summer tops during the arctic like winter we usually experience up in the Cotswolds. The week before our return was a tad hectic cleaning the boat down below, polishing the gelcoat, removing the sails and generally doing all the other necessary things required for the many months Comino will be sat in the marina, hopefully safe and secure despite what the winter storms throw at her. Walking away on that last day is always a slightly apprehensive moment, but luckily our good friend Alfred has his boat on the same pontoon and he'll be keeping an eye out almost every day. Bless em....our friends hastily organised a (large) number of farewell parties and dinners to make sure all of our gang got to say good bye, which means we'll be eating lettuce leaves for much of October - or until we can get back to our normal belt notches. Nicki will be returning to her school work for a few hours a week and I've been asked to do a contract for the Royal International Air Tattoo that takes me up to next July. I start in a few weeks time, which allows just about enough time to sort the garden out after two months of total neglect. James (our son) said he preferred the wild meadow look whilst we were away - a rather lame excuse for not deploying the lawn mower. And that's where I shall take myself right now. Into the jungle, into the fresh country air, into a slightly different lifestyle to the one we've just had. We're both filled with so many happy memories of the summer of 2016 aboard Comino and before you know it we'll be back on the ocean waves again. Here's a few reminders of the last couple of months.
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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.
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