Dreaming of Croatia

This morning got our juices flowing! We met some other cruisers up in the ‘library’ to hear a talk about sailing in Albania, Montenegro and Croatia! It was given by a woman who spent two seasons in Croatia a couple of years ago. She gave the low down on procedures for checking in and out of ports, places to avoid and places not to miss. Everyone says it is breathtaking and magnificent. The only downside is that it can be expensive and people have their little scams for trying to get your money. But if you are ‘canny’ then you can avoid the pay offs and get by with spending very little, especially if you spend most of your time on anchor. This gives us the motivation to get the boat more energy efficient so we don’t drain our batteries after only a few nights. Solar panels and a marine refrigerator (under the counter) may be on the list of next projects. I hope we have enough money left once we are on the water… ! The day ended nicely with another pizza and movie night (get used to this).

A little history....

Our sleep patterns still don’t seem to be quite normal yet. We’ve been waking up consistently around 3am each morning but I’ve been able to stay in bed and get some more sleep. Mike doesn’t have as much luck, and usually gets up, makes coffee, and does very important stuff I’m sure. It can make for a really long day for him. And the mosquitoes (which are starting to appear) don’t help much either. But overall today was a pretty quiet day….actually can’t really remember what happened. I finished sanding the two aft handrails….did some varnishing. Mike did some various odds and end jobs. Ishmael continued his work on the head. We had a crappy shower, made some dinner and then the best part of the day….got into bed and watched Avatar! We shoulda’ seen it on the big screen…

Since there isn’t too much report today maybe we will provide some background to the folks who have no idea what we are doing here...

So in 2006 Serena did some volunteer work in India (that is another story altogether) while Mike was hiking the PCT. And the original plan was to meet up in India, travel some in S.E. Asia, and make our way down to New Zealand and work as nurses. We had spent some time getting our NZ nursing registrations and wanted to be able to live and work outside the country for a little while. But after Mike sold his boat, Krill, in 2005 he had always been on the look out for the next one. After not being able to find the right fit on the West Coast or BC he expanded his search to the rest of the world. Before he came to join me in India he had found a boat that intrigued him in Cyprus. So since he was flying that way anyways… She was a step up from Krill (at least in size, not in style or spirit). A Bruce Roberts’ design, ‘Mauritius’ model. 43’ steel center cockpit ketch. Bulletproof. A definite blue water, go anywhere boat. He liked her and after much consideration we decided to pursue plan B. How could we not? Mike had this dream of sailing in the Med and it really felt like everything was in alignment. It was the right boat, the right price, at the right time. If we had said no, we would have always wondered “what if?”. We didn’t want to regret not doing it. It was while we were in Varanasi, India, that Mike made the offer on her. A short re-route through Moscow later, we arrived in Cyprus on Valentine’s Day 2007, bought the boat, and spent the next 2 months hauled out in Larnaca. After a few fix-um-ups and some time getting to know the boat a bit more, we set off into the unknown. That first crossing from Cyprus to the city of Fethiye in Turkey was a bit of a test. 145 miles, 26 hours on a new boat. Battling sea-sickness and fatigue, our first approach of the Turkish coastline is actually quite memorable. Heavy, leaden clouds that broke with dawn’s first light to reveal huge snow-capped peaks. There was this scent coming off the land that we could smell from miles and miles away. A mix between vanilla, orange blossoms, and spice. It was sweet, foreign, and inviting. After about a week making our way west along the south coast of Turkey, we crossed to the Greek island of Rhodes at the end of April and spent the next two months sailing (and motoring) our way through the Cyclades and Dodecanese Isles. The dream is happening! Along the way we met up with Mike’s mom and step-dad, our friend Chad and Mike’s dad and step-mom. It was fantastic to be able to share the boat with our friends and family! There were parts that were challenging and new things to learn but overall it was really dreamy. We left Independence in Marmaris, Turkey at Yacht Marine (for the 1st time) and returned the following spring. This started a routine of spending a few months a year in Turkey with the boat, and going back to Seattle to work and save money to finance our next fix. It’s proved to be more work than play (at least in time spent), but the playing by far outweighs the work! Between quiet bays, amazing coastline, friends and family coming to visit, it’s been an incredible few years. Last year Mike made the journey solo and spent 3 months working his ass off. He says “the boat won” but was successful in getting many important projects done, with the help of his dad and brother. And that leads us up to this year….we got married, quit our jobs, sent our dog Sunny to live with Mike’s mom and step-dad (thank you!) and rented out our house for one year with the idea of spending that entire time on the boat. We are hoping to get back in the water the first of June so Independence can get her belly wet again since it has been a couple of years. As far as a more detailed plan, we know we are meeting our friends, Shan, Heather and their little boy, Lucca, in Croatia the second week of August! After that, maybe more time in Croatia, maybe Italy. Winter over somewhere…Croatia, Montenegro, Spain…? Leave the boat in Tunisia and travel by land somewhere…? Bring the boat across the Atlantic…?! Run out of money and come home…? It’s all a bit up in the air, but stay tuned and find out!

Town Day

Today we woke up and got ready for a day in town. After listening to “The Net” and being a little too slow on the VHF to catch some good bargains we ran to the dolmus. We spent the morning going from shop to shop asking questions and pricing windlasses (what lets down and brings up your anchor). We may go for it and purchase a new one which is much needed. This is very exciting to me since my job is to be on the anchor and the windlass we have now sucks. I usually have to bang on it with a wrench or something to get it unstuck and then the chain runs out like crazy before I can stop it. Sometimes I feel like it’s going to take my fingers off! Amongst other errands, we did the all important stop by the DVD shop to pick up some more movies to add to our bootleg collection. I think we got 9 new movies for less than 2 bucks each! Which one to watch first……? Then after a stop for some lunch at our favorite doner shop we headed to the grocery store for another resupply. For some reason the dairy section really struck me today. There are three huge refrigerator cases and the bottom is nothing but yogurt. Good old plain, creamy yogurt in gallon containers. Impressive. We got back to the boat in the mid afternoon and were a little hesitant to put our dirty work clothes on but managed to get a little work done before snacking on an early dinner. It was an early night to bed so movie marathon will have to wait for another night.

Yogurt for as far as the eye can see......

It's Sunday!

Ahhhhh……quiet, what a wonderful day. On Sundays the marina staff are off so that means little work is happening, which means no 330 ton travel lifts going by, no banging, no yelling. We could actually hear the birds chirping in the trees. It was also a gorgeous day, blue skies, temps in the 70s and a nice breeze. We woke up slow and decided to make a nice breakfast for Easter. Shortly after getting up, we got a phone call from our friend, Hasan, who we met 3 years ago when we brought the boat to Datca. He has become a dear friend and he stopped by to say hello. We enjoyed catching up with him for a while, and after he left decided to get a little work done. It was actually enjoyable and just felt more relaxed because we could listen to some music and there just wasn’t the frenetic energy that is present on the other days. Later in the afternoon we decided to take a walk and check out other boats in the marina to get ideas for how we want to build our dodger. With an ice cream in hand, we leisurely walked the docks and looked at boats with the warm sunshine on our faces. We both noticed how relaxed we felt today and it felt good. The relaxation only continued as we returned home, shared a beer, read and played stupid computer games…. Only 6 more days until Sunday comes again!

Hey! It's Mike!

The first speedo sighting of the season...here we go.

Walk It Off Cry Baby

Today was hard, at least for me. I think I am adjusting to our new lifestyle, albeit a temporary one. Honestly, it is difficult for me to live in a construction zone, on the boat as well as just outside our door. The noise, dust and general environment is going to take some getting used to. And I think what makes it more daunting is having been through this before. The first year I had no idea what to expect and just went with it. The second year I was only here for a month before going in the water. The third year I was at home while Mike worked his ass off. Now this year I am in for the whole shebang. Mike and I do get through it but have our moments. I feel inadequate because certain aspects don’t come naturally to me. I can find my projects such as painting, sanding, varnishing but the more technical stuff is challenging. And Mike gets pretty consumed with managing everything and is a bit hard to distract at times. So after a day of working on the decks and trying to acclimate to the sun, I was pretty wiped. We were in the cabin and Mike went to pull something out of his pocket. Instead he pulled out one of Sunny’s blue poop bags. Well, it sent me over the edge and into tears. But it led to a good conversation and better understanding. It was Saturday night after all, so we decided to drink the last bit of gin we found on the boat from 2 years ago. We made the decision that we will start the habit of relaxing on Saturday evenings and Sundays. So that being said….as we were on our way to the store to buy another bottle of gin we heard of a crew party going on. We made our way aboard a very big and fancy motor yacht and met the captains and crew from other boats outside our tax bracket and reality. They were a young crowd, many from New Zealand, but a few Brits and South Africans thrown in there for good measure. Most have just arrived for the season and are preparing the boats for the owners to start their series of summer holidays. They will take the boat to wherever the owner tells them to…Greece, Croatia, Italy, Spain. They have a very different existence from us. They are actually paid to work on these boats and anything they want is only a phone call away to the owner. It always sounds appealing at first but then wouldn’t trade that feeling of independence for anything. (get it?)

The first G&T of the season (and it looks like he needs it)

Shantytown or Retirement Village?

Our routine in the morning is the listen the “The Net”. It’s a daily VHF broadcast between the boaters in Marmaris Bay and gives information on weather, general concerns in the marinas, items needed or for sale, people for looking for advice, etc. Some of it is useful information but most of it seems be filled with social announcements and chit chat between the live aboards. Easter Sunday seems the be throwing the schedules off because ‘the ladies stretch and tone class’ has to be rescheduled due to the ‘tea and talk’…… as you may be able to tell many of the live aboards are a bit older than we are and seem to be very comfortable in this home away from home. Or maybe I am just jealous because they don’t seem to have as many boat projects as we do!
The first item on the morning’s agenda was getting our internet working. It has always been a big frustration while here because the signal is never very good. And living on a steel boat doesn’t help. We end up putting our wi-fi adapter on a cord and snaking it outside for better reception. It seems to make its way higher and higher up the mast in hopes of a better connection. But when it didn’t even work at all in the office I knew we had a problem. We found the IT guy and apparently he worked his magic. Because I have spent my day in the library updating this blog while Mike and ‘Apache’ are working on the boat. The blog is important too, right? I had a pleasant return home when I saw the framework for the cabinets already completed in the head! Even though we won’t be able to use its ‘facilities’ until we get back in the water, it sure will be nice to have the space.

Rabbit Rabbit

Another early day, at least for Mike who woke up at 2:30am. Luckily, we went to bed early so he got 6 hours of sleep. But it didn’t seem to phase his energy or mood because we had a great and productive day! Saying rabbit rabbit on the morning of the 1st must have already brought us some luck. Mike called his old friend Mehmet who has done some great work for us in the past and asked him if he knew of a carpenter. He brought over Ishmael, also known as Apache. With his long gray hair in a pony tail, leather vest, earrings and “smoked too many cigarettes” voice I can see why he has his nickname. He said that Mehmet told him Mike was a very good guy and to give him a good price. Ishmael quoted the bathroom remodel at a very and I mean very good price. The deal was sealed especially after hearing his ring tone of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and his story of seeing Deep Purple in Istanbul. He seems like a character who will be fun to get to know. Mike also had another Mehmet come by who did some steel work on the hull last year. He seemed to think he could help with our dodger problem and we are waiting for a quote. See, there was no reason to get so discouraged yesterday! I finished sanding my bits and pieces and got a coat of varnish on them. And then I started on some of the rails on deck. It hardly felt like work because the sun was out with temps in the low 70s so I was very comfortable in shorts, t-shirt and bare feet. And to top the day off, we enjoyed a beer in the cockpit, made our usual yummy meal of pizza and greek salad (somehow it just tastes better here), drank some wine and watched a movie. I just hope that most of our days can be this good.