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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
I'm having a Victor Meldrew moment - here goes..."I just don't believe it" ....in ten days time we'll be back home in the Cotswolds, no doubt enduring pouring rain every day and chilly nights huddled round a warm radiator. Or we might be blessed with an Indian Summer? Or pigs might fly! I must say the thought of crawling under a duvet for the first time in months seems a little strange given that we're still coping with daily temperatures of 30 degrees plus over here. But as the saying goes.... "the end is nigh" and our thoughts are now slowly turning to the alarmingly long list of jobs that need doing on Comino before we disembark for the winter. Actually, if the truth be known, we have every intention of returning later in the autumn for a two week holiday to coincide with The Middle Sea Race. It's an event not to be missed and the yacht club goes into party overdrive - as indeed do its members! Besides, Comino will need quite a bit of maintenance work doing once the extreme heat has given way to cooler days. Well....that will be my excuse for booking flights back at the first available opportunity. So, what's been occurring. Hectic is one way to describe the past few weeks, but as ever there's been no shortage of magic moments to savour along the way. I guess the highlight was picking Em and her hubby up from the airport for a week's holiday with us on the boat. Skype is a godsend but it doesn't substitute for a welcoming hug from your daughter after nearly four months apart. In just six days we did just about everything on their slightly demanding wish list. A couple of days sailing, including anchoring for lunch and swimming from the boat. We did a pool day, a beach day, a day with Jane, which included plenty of eating, drinking and more swimming plus a bit of cultural sightseeing. To tell you the truth, when they left we were completely exhausted and needed a couple of days of doing nothing just to recover. I tell people all the time....when you walk around the boat please wear deck shoes so that if you accidentally kick a cleat, or some other immovable object, it won't do you any damage. Shame I didn't follow my own advice. Sorry if this pic makes you feel a little queasy but do spare a thought for my pain. When I did it, I'm afraid the air was rather blue with four letter expletives....in fact, I sounded like the opening scene from Four Weddings and a Funeral. F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** and F*** This past weekend our good friends and our little armada of sailing boats decided that we would all risk a few days on the Island of Comino. Going over earlier in the season would have been horrific because of the marauding crowds and the hundreds of day boats that converge on every bay, beach, nook and cranny. In peak season if there's a tiny patch of spare sea bed less than six metres deep someone parks a sodin boat on it and then turns on their stereo at full volume to make sure everyone knows they've arrived. Was that another Victor Meldrew I just had? Our gentle sail over on Saturday was nothing short of magnificent....peace and calm personified. The water is particularly blue at this time of year and the weather, although still hot, is not quite so humid. That means you didn't lose four pints of bodily fluids every time you walked from one side of the boat to the other. Our destination was Santa Maria, a small bay just round the corner from the Blue Lagoon. Idyllic just about sums up the place. For the first time I tried a new anchoring method whereby I dropped the hook close to the rocks and tied a line from the stern back to the land to hold me straight, preventing the boat from swinging as and when the wind changed. It meant that at the rear of Comino we had our own private swimming pool in water that was gin clear. One of the highlights of the weekend was a BBQ on the beach....another first this year. We had to get permission from the local bobby first on account of the fact that it's not really permissible, but he clearly thought we were sober, clean living sort of folk looking for a quiet night sipping mineral water and cooking the odd sausage or two. WRONG!!!! I prepared the meat mountain (and a bit of fish) for our group using various spicy marinades and aromatic sauces and although I say so myself the food fest turned out to be pretty damn good. We ate and drank and laughed long into the night and eventually jumped into our dinghies for the pitch black journey back across the bay to our respective boats, still giggling all the way. Thankfully nobody took a wrong turn and ended up half way to Sicily, although I don't think any of us made it to our boats in a straight line. Sunday brought yet another first and perhaps one of the most poignant experiences since we set sail nearly four years ago. We took our dingy round to the Blue Lagoon and swam in water that is so spectacular it's off the scale. Yes it was busy, but not packed. All I can say is WOW. Twenty years ago we came into this place on a friend's yacht and I promised myself I would one day return in my own boat....and there we bloody well were....amazing, just amazing. OK, we poked our nose in a month or so ago for a quick look amongst the literally dozens of big tourist boats and hundreds of people swarming around like ants, but to actually dive in this time when it was relatively quiet was something special. After yet more swimming we lifted the hook on Monday morning vowing to return for another spell in paradise next year before we head for Greece. I think we'll squeeze in one more boat trip before we come home on 10th September but I doubt anything will compare to the weekend we just had in Comino on Comino. The long awaited pilgrimage has now been completed. The deed had been done. We can come home contented.
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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.
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