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
Crossing open sea for 9 hours from one country to another is quite an adventure, but because our trip from Malta to Sicily wasn't our first, we were well prepared for the journey - by that I mean a full fridge and plenty of sun cream. Our little armada of three boats all set off just before dawn on Friday morning and as we passed under the towering black bastions of Valletta the calm water of the harbour quickly turned into an uncomfortable rough swell. All the forecasts predicted a couple of hours of "rock n' roll" until about ten miles off-shore, when things would settle down. Thankfully they were right and as the sun began to burn brightly, so did the sea ease off, making the rest of the journey a real pleasure. For the first four hours the wind was on the nose, which meant we had to motor. Then it backed towards the West, increased to around 12 knots, giving us a cracking sail (with engine on still) with speeds of up to 7.4 knots. Alas no dolphins joined us along the way, but we did see two giant turtles inches from the boat slowly paddling their way to goodness knows where. I thought I might have hit one it was so close, but given its rock hard shell was about the size of a small family saloon (slight exaggeration) I'm sure we would have come off worse if we had.
At 14:20 we were all tied up in Marina di Ragusa alongside the other boats, Nereida and Galene, whose crew members were already in party mode. Actually, our good friends from Malta are always in party mode, only when they travel abroad for a bank holiday weekend the fun factor goes up a few notches. Our first evening was spent in a rather posh restaurant on the promenade overlooking the startling bright blue Mediterranean. Naturally sea food was the sensible choice, so I indulged in a "misto", consisting of swordfish, prawns (giant of course), langoustines and grilled squid. To say it hit the spot would be something of an understatement. Nicki shared a whole fresh fish caught that day. She wasn't disappointed either! Saturday, we all went our separate ways. The lure of Italian clothes shops in a nearby town was too much for the Maltese contingent. Nicki and I spent the day walking and exploring the stunning area around Marina di Ragusa, with its glorious beaches, elegant seafront promenade and delightful residential villas. The town itself is very up-market, frequented by wealthy visitors from all around Italy during the summer months. There's no other way to describe the evening other than riotous. It was spent on Nerieda (the largest of the boats) and all ten of us shared plates of food fit for kings, all prepared by each of us in advance. In my case, I contributed a couple of trays full of baked garlic king prawns. The wine flowed, the jokes got more outrageous, the behaviour deteriorated and we all ended up laughing until our sides split. It was a quiet Sunday - I wonder why? Some chilling, some walking, some food shopping for more fresh fish and a rather more sensible supper back aboard Nerieda. In your dreams - I think it was marginally worse, or better, depending on your outlook. Monday morning really was a little slow. Some hangovers were clearly in evidence, although Nicki and I had not pushed things too hard, given that we had a long sail back to Malta ahead of us. We all set off at 9.00am in brilliant sunshine and a sea that was eerily calm. Sometimes it can look like gloopy oil it's so still. Probably just as well given the delicate condition some of the group were in. After an uneventful eight hours crossing, apart from more turtles, we arrived at Selmun Bay in Malta, anchored up and immediately dived into the crystal clear water. This was just a one hour stopover to freshen up before we motored for an hour and a half back to our base at Manoel Island Marina. Shortly after we moored up the light faded, and so did we. One glass of wine each to celebrate our safe return was enough to send us into a deep sleep, exhausted after another amazing set of memories had been created with the dearest of people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
|