TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

First Mate Sue and I flew out to Marmaris last week to relaunch Hilda May at Marmaris Yacht Marina.  All went according to plan, and after a few days scrubbing, polishing and attaching stuff back on we were ready yesterday for a little shakedown sail into Marmaris bay.  Nothing fell off, sails weren’t upside down and with a little nudge from the marina dinghy we safely returned into our spot on the marina unscathed and unsullied.

We do have a swanky new passerelle (ie. posh plank) and it was a sad day to wave goodbye to the homemade plank which we got to the boat by bus in Palma Majorca two years ago; at least we managed to give it away to a good home on another boat.

Weather isn’t great yet, and with temperatures well below 20 and intermittent rain we’ll probably continue to enjoy the delights of Yacht marina for a while longer before venturing further afield.

Just one update on useful iphone apps – Ned (from our home village of Tattingstone) recommended Anchor Alert, a program that tracks your drift by GPS and warns you if you go outside the limits you can set.  After much tweaking in the bar the other night we then returned to our boat (safely tied up on the Marina dock) – about an hour later just having nodded off the damn anchor alert on the iphone went off.  Aint technology wonderful!

This is Hilda may being taken out last October (just found the camera onboard from last year!)

We arrive in Turkey on 1 October 2010, just in time for Church!

We picked up Roger and Carol on schedule and headed off to Vathi further around Sifnos to tie up in front of another picturesque Chapel.

The next day we sailed on to Paros.  Thirty years ago Sue and I arrived here in a thunder storm of biblical proportions by ferry from Santorini at 2.00 am in the morning.  As we were isalnd hopping on a student budget we had no accommodation arranged.  The only shelter we could find was one small bar by the beach – fortunately the bar-tender took pity on us and after a few Harvey Wallbanger’s he invited us to stay in his sister’s spare room.  We were also invited back to the bar a few days later for a memorable Easter feast – fantastic hospitality as usual.

We tried in vain to find the bar, but it seems like it has long disappeared, probably converted into a car rental operation!

After a bumpy night on the outside of the mole at Paros (the harbour being full with boats on long term stays),  we bid farewell to Martin and Neb as they headed back to Athens on the ferry,

and set off for the neighbouring island of Naxos – a much better harbour to tie-up in.  From Naxos we headed east to the small island of Livitha.  There’s only two families living on the island and one looks after the buoys in the bay for a safe overnight mooring and the same guy runs a small Taverna which caters for the resident sailors – a great overnight stay.

The next day, with a favourable wind we sailed up to Patmos.  After anchoring stern-to in the harbour I took a short walk to the town beach which looked very familiar.  About nine years ago we charted a boat in the Dodecanese, and visited Patmos.  We had dinner on the town beach at a table on the sand by the waters edge.  Halfway through dinner I leaned back in my chair and continued slowly falling back into the sea!  I had to recreate this moment in the same spot: