Malta

We have been in Malta since Sunday afternoon - loving it here! Earthy, gritty (but in a charming way), rich with so much history. We will be here until Friday/Saturday waiting out high winds and stormy weather coming from the NW. Once it has passed we will make a dash for Sardinia.


The following was written by Ellen during our passage and approach to Malta......

Sunday Oct 19th 12:00  We are about 25 nautical miles out of Malta.  We are passing through the gauntlet of about 18 ships of all sizes anchored in the open sea waiting for their turn to enter Malta.  This is day 5 of our passage to Malta.  We have been fighting a strong head wind from the west for 3 and a half of the 5 days.  For most of the time our sailboat has been heeled {tilted to one side}.  So life has been interesting with regard to eating, sleeping, cooking and going to the head.  The stove "floats" so we can always cook.


We take turns doing night watches, Cress and  I (Ellen) from 9pm to 2am then Irena and Barb till 7am.   Barb and I have moved into to the salon to sleep.   The v berth {in bow} is too rough for sleeping and also we have a leak coming from the forward hatch from the spray of salt water coming over the bow.  The weather has been great but the nights and star gazing have been outstanding.  Barb has an app on her iPhone to help us figure out some of the constellations.  There is always the milky way and the big dipper no matter where you are the world.  Last night Cress put out a lawn chair on the aft deck so we could watch the meteor shower show.  I relaxed and had my feet up in the lawn chair gazing the sky. 

We are looking forward to about 3 or 4 days in and around Malta.  Have you noticed that I have been using sailing terms?  Yes!!  My education of the language of Sailing is expanding.  It started before I stepped onto the gangplank onto the sailboat.  O silly me, it's not a pirate ship.  I was thinking of the grandkids. The parisole is the correct name for the gangway.  Cress and Irena have been so patient in showing us the ropes and there are a lot of ropes on board but they are not called ropes but rather "lines". Sometimes they look into our eyes to see if we understand but they see only the "deer in the head lights" blank stare.   We have 3 sails; the Mainsail, the Genoa and the Staysail, all of  which in turn have there own lines.  The line to pull up the Mainsail  is called the halyard.   Good thing I knew where port and starboard are MOST of the time. 

As I walk around the deck of the boat I hold onto a lifeline which encirles the boat. The most important rule? "Do not fall off the boat, DO NOT FALL OFF THE BOAT!!!  From reefs, boom ,vang ,windvane, backstay, topping lift, dodger, and list goes on, good thing there is no written test.  When I am at the helm, Cress asks me to sail high (he does not mean on drugs!) so I have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.  I have warded off Alzheimer's for at least a few more years with all this new knowledge.  As we zig and zag (Opps I mean tack) across the Med, I am looking forward to every new moment.  Land ! I see LAND!!!  Malta here we come.

Onward - to Malta and Beyond!

After 11 days out we are just about to begin our first overnight passage - from Crete to Malta. The past 10 days have been very busy getting ourselves organized, getting everyone used to the routine, provisioning and squeezing in a bit of sight seeing in both Rhodes and Crete. Barb and Ellen got a real taste of all different points of sail, especially with the 5 days of upwind tacking in 25-35 knots of wind. Now that was work! But now even Ellen's stomach has adjusted and all of us feel quite ready to move on.

The high winds have subsided and it looks as though we will be in for a pleasant, albeit slow passage to Malta. This will be a first for Ellen and Barb - sailing all night long, taking turns on watch and trying to sleep while underway. They are doing great though - our meals have been fantastic and all photos are courtesy of these 2 fine women. It is a real pleasure having them on board. And Cress gets lots of 'well done!' looks when everyone sees his all female crew! He just keeps smiling and letting them wonder how in the heck he managed it!




We are now tied up to the seawall in Chania in Crete, loading up with water and fuel and as soon as we pick up our laundry and a few more fresh veggies, we will be outta here.This 400 NM passage should take about 3-4 days depending of course on WIND :-).

By the way, I am truly having a hard time being without a phone!! No texting, no facetime, no instant emails.... but am slowly adjusting (NOT!). But mostly I am missing contact with Jenn and Krissy. Cress has managed to get a wireless working on the boat now, so we can all connect whenever we get a data cardin each country - so that will help!

Out for now,
Irena

Farewell to Turkey

 I guess I don't really believe it just yet! We have actually left Turkey and have landed in Greece - Rhodes Island is our first stop on the long journey 'home'. It feels just like any other weekend so far, it is Sunday and my mind is still filled with work related 'stuff' and I find it strange that I don't have a phone that I am checking every 2 minutes, or a computer with skype that is making noise - calling me to respond. I am still feeling the pressure though - I imagine that will take a little longer to let go of! Sort of restless and uncomfortable- like I am between worlds. Not quite left the work world and not quite arrived in the cruising world.

 But the adventure of sailing back to Canada is slowly going to take shape.  We have an excellent trip planned with many family and friends joining us along the way. First up is my sister Barb and a friend from 'The lake' - Ellen - who will be with us until mid-November - all the way out of the Med to Morocco. So we are starting off slowly, cleaning, provisioning and just getting ourselves into the sailing frame of mind. Cress has been here for the past 2 weeks already getting Conversations' prepared, so much has already been done.

 In many respects I feel that I am already 'home' - just being on the boat. Cress and I have all the comforts we need and we love being in nature and being self-sufficient and having the freedom to 'boldly go' where ever we want to go! The route we have chosen takes us from Turkey to Greece, then Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Balearics, Gibraltar, Spain, Morocco, Canary Islands, Caribbean, ABC (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) Islands, San Blas Islands, Panama Canal, Galapagos, Hawaii and finally Vancouver. We expect to get to Vancouver sometime in June - almost exactly 10 years after we left there in 2005.

But that is just the plan! Who knows what will happen along the way! We try not to get too attached to 'plans' - they have a way of changing on you when you least expect it. And that's ok - we will be open to anything that comes our way. The one thing Cress and I do well together is this. We support each other, we allow one another to do what we are good at, we respect each others' talents and limitations and we both get enjoyment from sharing our experience with our friends and family.  This is what we have, this is who we are - it is our gift and we intend to keep sharing it as long as we possibly can!

Out for now
Irena