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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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I just got a really important letter. It's from the yacht delivery company confirming all the details for Comino to be relocated to the Algarve in Portugal next spring. Hopefully, it'll be the same skipper that took my mate Adrian's boat there three years ago. He did a good job.
Now I need to book a marina berth, and start writing a list of all the maintenance and repair jobs needed before the voyage. Am I a bit nervous about Comino going across The Bay of Biscay.....YES. Hopefully, she'll be in good hands and the weather will be kind. I'm not intending to be on any part of the journey down South myself because I want to use all my holiday entitlement cruising around the Algarve. Anyway, it looks like the plan is coming together. Comino will be based in Portugal and we shall spend a year coming and going before we join her full time.
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Just had a great weekend on Comino with my brother in-law, Kevin. We had a gentle sail over to Cowes, followed by a few beers and a belter of a curry. To round off the evening a rather good bottle of Rioja was quaffed in the cockpit.
Going back to the Hamble next morning was a much more lively affair with a F6 Westerly on our port quarter. We flew home with just the Genoa out and my word the cob webs were well and truly blown away. On 27th Aug we set off in brilliant sunshine for one of our favourite spots on the Solent - Lymington. With a strong spring tide pushing us along we recorded an amazing 9.5 knots, which meant the journey took us just 2 hours. Once safely tucked up in Berthon Marina we set about doing not very much at all for a few days.
On 30th it was off again across the Solent to a surprisingly empty Yarmouth. We managed to achieve one of our ambitions on this short holiday - a BBQ on the beach. After two attempts at getting the thing going, we enjoyed some top nosh accompanied by chilled white wine and a spectacular sunset. It's at times like these that we dream of a different life in the Ionian. The next day we motored back to the Hamble in even more sunshine, allowing "Tarquin" do all the work whilst we sunbathed....(we call our tiller pilot Tarquin for reasons I can't quite explain). Because I'm going back into hospital for more hand surgery, this might possibly have been the last sail of the season, although I'm trying to get one last trip organised if possible. |
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.
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