VdeG Cyprus to Egypt, day one.

Suleika beneath the sun.

Some time ago, I driveled 'last of the long hauls'. I didn't know at the time that we would be sailing from Cyprus to Egypt and would have to take another two day sail south, some 215 miles to Port Said, Egypt. The port fixer 'Tony', who charged for the water, was given the job of organizing a fuel delivery for those that needed a top up. It was arranged for 9am. At 12 he had not been seen. Come 6pm people were getting concerned. He finally arrived after dark and said there was no fuel delivery arranged. This obviously upset those waiting for the fuel and some exchange of opinion as to his parentage ensued. Thankfully I took five fuel cans up to the garage earlier and bought 100 liters at €1.38. A problem was sorted when another local got his friend to come at 6am on the day of departure, (before the port was awake) and supplied the required diesel.

Sunrise on thundercloud.

As it was decided that as no two boats sail at the same speed, a free start was given from Paphos, the skipper deciding how long his yacht would need to get to Port Said. The problem was, those on the inside could not leave till those on the outside had untied themselves and free the inner boats from the raft.

Port Said, Suez Canal

We had decided, with a few others that a PM start would be OK for an arrival in the morning, two days later. This gave us time to watch the F1 car 'parade' and get a cooked breakfast in the local bar. No wind was forecast for about 12 hours so drifting with the Cruising chute was the only option, very dull. Several boats motored past as we bobbed along at 3knots. Night fell and the wind came in as promised. The wind was driven by thunderstorms that decided to chase Jigsaw and Christina. We  both motored as fast as possible and kept a safe distance from them using the radar to locate the rain. Both boats got a shower but thankfully nothing more. I was reminded of our crossing from Italy to Corfu, big strikes were regularly hitting the water within two miles. The wind rose to a regular 18kn so we reefed down the genoa to play safe. We still made 5kn on average but the boats with bigger rigs were doing 7knots. Suleika is a 20 ton ketch that needs similar wind to us to maintain reasonable speed. I called John to let him know it was us 3 miles east of his position and we agreed to keep in touch. Jigsaw was also close and Kerching was catching us from behind. We were soon dropped as both Moody yachts sail better than Colvic's. In the morning we were on our own again. The sea state had picked up to make sailing beam on to the swell rather uncomfortable. Gay took some Stugeron and went to lay down.
The day passed without any major interest. We had a few birds visit us, Pied Wagtails, Swallows and Sparrows but saw no Dolpins or sea birds. Didn't see any ships either which was strange? Day became night again and we sailed on, the distance to go getting ever shorter.

VdeG Tusucu Turkey to Cyprus

My Birthday LtR Ian, Self, Gay, Melanie, Michelle, Andy.

Blue Magic's mystery crew member

A dog called Bollock, for obvious reasons

The Skippers were now getting itchy feet and wanted to get going from Turkey. We had had our last supper with full support from the local Mayor who provided us all with a bag containing hats and tea-shirts, Fuel had been delivered and food hoarded. The last detail was checking out of Turkey. For some reason we could not check out till midnight, meaning we would leave on Monday from 0000hr till 7am. We were ready to go so rather than wait till morning we left Tusucu at 1am to do the 140 miles to Paphos.

Paphos Fort and fishing fleet.

An ideal and unusual Easterly wind was in our favour as we cleared the headland and set a southwesterly course to West Cyprus. Large thunderstorms were to our port side over the mountains of Turkish Cyprus and I expected them to remain there and not bother us. We could see and hear the flashes and rumbles some 60 miles away. During our passage the wind blew from 25 knots to zero, mostly on our rear quarter making for a pleasant sail. The last part we had to motor as the wind died but we arrived in Paphos ahead of the others only by one hour, at 0600 on Wed 3rd October. The fleet were not so lucky and got caught up in the storms, some getting 35kn of wind but no lightning strikes. Most of the way they had to motor.

Rafted with seven others, Paphos.

Paphos is not a Marina as such so we were required to raft up alongside each other, the largest boats on the inside going down to Jigsaw on the outside, eight boats in all. Another group were tied together next to some local boats with lines running in every direction. Kiwi, Gavin from catamaran Sol Maria dived down and got a line to a secure block behind us so we became the anchor point for the raft should we get any strong Easterly wind....
For most of us, Cyprus was an opportunity to re-stock supplies not available in Turkey. I'm not talking Marmite and Tetley. Very reasonably priced spirits meant every available space on the boat was filled with bottles, cartons and cans. Lydl provided tins of ham and other preserves that would make the winter easier to 'endure'.

Vasco da Gama Yacht Rally

Christina pimped, Alanya.

Gay, Nemrut Dag 6am.

This winter we will be back in 'Africa', taking part in the VdG (as it will be called from this point), a yacht rally to the Red Sea, Egypt.. The rally was conceived by Dutch sailor Lo Brust. Lo has made a living from organizing rallies, usually from India to the Mediterranean over the last decade but due to the Somalia Pirate issue, this trip terminates in Eritrea. It has always been our plan to come down the Suez Canal and spend some time diving the worlds best sites in this much troubled region. The Arab Spring has followed us through the Med, though our time in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey has not been effected by any revolutionary activity despite what is reported on the TV. The last twelve months in Egypt have seen greater changes than in most of the Arab counties. The Muslim Brotherhood have taken the reigns of government and are trying to bring about change, restricted somewhat by the powerful military that have controlled things under Mubarak for many generations.

Tusucu port.

Sunrise Nemrut Dag

The discussion I had with Lo at a Sunday BBQ in Finike in 2011 convinced me to encourage others to join us in this next adventure. Wives can be more cautious of such endeavors so it was important to bring as many of our Finike friends with us who could be persuaded. Thankfully this was not as difficult as it first seemed. Given a few months summer sailing and time to consider another winter in the Med our friends Andy and Michelle on yacht Kerching and Ian and Melanie on Yacht Jigsaw (with cat 'Puzzle') signed up for the Rally. We all get on well and having spent a winter together in Finike the Wives had bonded with recipe exchanges and shopping trips.

Gipsy girl Mosaic, Gaziantep.

Due to a slight detour back to England to get married, our summer cruising was limited to going East. We spent five weeks in Alanya Marina getting 'Christina' ready for the winter. A long list of jobs were completed during the scorching heat of July, the last being new anti-foul before being gently lowered back into the water. The VdeG was due to start from Alanya Marina on September 22nd but we decided to sail East to Mersin so as to visit Nemrut Dag etc and then back to meet the rest of the participants at Tusucu port, the jump off point to Cyprus.

Arriving before the other twelve yachts meant we got our previous place back on the wall, in earshot of the Rocky punch ball machine. A more annoying machine could not be envisaged. It plays an irritating blend of Western pop and Turkish music on a loop tape from 8am till the owner decides to unplug it, usually about midnight. Just as I am about to fall asleep, some tough guy will feed one Lira into the machine and then punch the ball as hard as he can. The resounding Kaboom as the punch ball flies back into the bowels of the device is similar to the sound of a car crash without the tinkle of broken glass. I never want to hear 'eye of the Tiger' again!

No excuse, time to move on.

                                          What a mouthwatering sight, Jane's roasties.

Sprung Arabs 2011

The Eastern Mediterranean has seen great uprisings during our time here in Turkey, though Turkey itself has remained quiet and peaceful, despite a general election. The Greeks, having been living off the fat of the Germans for the past few years are now up in arms at having to cut back and work for a living. The Syrians are being massacred by their own army for demanding western style (?) democracy while the Libyans have had NATO to ensure that the oil is in safe hands. Egypt is looking forward to elections and renewed tourism, but the poor Palestinians are still being shat on by the Jews. One cannot but wonder who it is making the rules that allow one nation freedom while others are left in tyranny. The British just put up and shut up.

Our time has not been wasted so far this year following our six months commitment to a berth in Finike. Christmas came and went; Gay stayed in England for three months while I fettled the boat and learned a few chords on the guitar. On her return we took a trip to the local ski resort with some of the neighbours (see last post) Snowboarding was excellent but one day was enough this late in the season with lots of rocks and very little base snow left. Gay stayed on her feet and walked the empty, unfinished ski lodges from a previous time of plenty.

Our old friend Nutty Norma came to join us for a couple of weeks, staying in the local hotel. We didn’t go far as her legs are 85 years old, her brain thinks she’s 35. We then went to Cappadocia as mentioned below, with Tony and Claire. Come May we had had enough of land travel and took the boat off to Rhodes via Fetiye with a good easterly breeze pushing Christina Lee at 5 knots. Mandraki harbour in old town Rhodes was chock full of Charter boats so we anchored next to a huge war supply vessel in the commercial port. It was bound for Libya, full of armoured vehicles etc. The following day we got on the wall, stern too, with some other Brits in Mandraki. I cheekily suggested to our neighbour that he might run us up to Lydl to get some supplies (Alcohol) while he still had his hire car. Top bloke! It was the quickest we had ever filled a trolley with beer and got back.

Rhodes is a fascinating City that I last visited in 1990 but since then cruise liners have made the place a tourist hell hole full of carpet shops and crap trinket outlets. We soon left and sailed down the east coast in 25 knots to Lindos Bay where we met some old sailing friends I hadn’t seen for about seven years since they went off on their circum’ from the Solent. What a very small world. It was great to meet them again and get an email address. From Lindos we motor sailed south and then west to get on the west side of Karpathos, one of a small group of islands that nobody has heard of between Rhodes and Crete. Next island south was Kasos, also barren but unspoilt by tourists. As we were in a hurry to meet our friends Kerry and Helen in Crete we pushed on the following day with three other yachts into 15 knots almost on the nose. We made enough to keep sailing to windward while the wind was good but as it slowly dropped we had to give up and motor straight into the weather.

We all got to Sitia eventually but the place was full and we were obliged to go against the wall at the end of the breakwater where we had to stay for five days due to the incessant westerly wind. We got to have our transit log stamped at last! Our Swedish friends (Eino and Annette SY Vicki) from Tunisia were also in port so we had a chance to catch up with their news of the previous 18 months since we last saw them . Though our next destination was not more than 40 miles, it took forever to get there with the crap wind that we tried to beat against. Poor CL does not do sailing to windward in less than 15 knots of wind so we tracked back and forth till I got bored and put the motor on for the last ten miles to Spinalonga.

This island used to be a Leper colony till the late 50’s but has hundreds of years of history as a fortification. It held out against the Ottomans for three months of bombardment till they were forced to capitulate due to food shortages. We anchored off in 4m of water and took the dinghy ashore for a quick tour with the boat loads of others from the mainland. It was another interesting but sad place, the small museum gave an insight into the pitiful lives of the Lepers. Spinalonga anchorage is idyllic, protected from all sides and very shallow all over so the anchor can’t get levered out of the silt. We had some reasonable westerly winds that made using the dingy a bit of a task. Dont like to use the engine when so close to the shore!

The local village/town, Elounda, was geared up for taking the numerous hotel guests over to the Leper colony, competition was hot amongst the boatmen to capture the few tourist that were available. Elounda also had a great butcher where we could buy frozen packs of bacon or pork chops. We also availed ourselves of a full English breakfast at the nearest hotel, it was very ex-pat! The trip south from Spinalonga to Aios Nicolias was interesting as we were blessed with a massive thunderstorm over our heads. Loads of rain but strangely no wind? It only lasted ten minutes and gave the decks a good wash. Couldn’t see a thing around us so we basically stopped where we were and waited for it to stop. The Marina staff were not responding to VHF so we motored in and used hand signals with the marinaro who was standing on the pontoon. All was well and they were very pleasant to deal with.

The marina is owned by the local authority so it was cheaper than most and the facilities OK. Our Swedish friends had got in a few days before and were soon round to say hello. We met also another Englishman, John who has a house in the hills and makes his own wine, very reasonable it was too. The Island is incredibly attractive in the spring as all the flowers are out and the multitude of birds are all looking for mates and singing their lungs out. I renamed it Blackbird Island as they were at least four singing at any one time throughout the day, as well as all the other songbirds. A car is a must as the busses can’t get out into the sticks where we wanted to explore. I did a deal with a local funny man and got an automatic Toyota for €100 for five days. It was pathetically gutless and I wished I had not been so tight fisted and got a car with an engine. We got used to crawling up hills and it was good for the trip to Lidl.

Hello friends and family, hope all is well and you are all enjoying the
lovely spring weather. From what we hear, England has had some good
weather to kick start the new growing season. Thankfully it never gets
cold enough to wear long trousers for very long, it's now shorts and
shirts for the remainder of our time here in Finike.

Gay and I have just returned with two friends (Tony and Clair from
Burnham on Crouch) from a week travelling through some of the remote
parts of the country. They are keen bird watchers so were happy to
join our trip to the east to visit a huge delta region of Goksu Milli
park, Silifke. The road has not been completed along the coast to this
area so we spent a good deal of the journey driving along a dirt track
cut into the mountains with no safety barriers, the views were amazing
down to the sea.



Our first day was complicated by strong wind so many birds were not
out of the scrub and in view from the many hides that ring the lakes.
We did see: Marsh Harrier, Ruddy Shelduck, Stork, Pelican, Hoopoe,
Hawks, Oyster catchers, Stilt, Spur winged Plover, Cetti's Warbler,
Woodchat Shrike, Spanish Sparrow, Hooded Crow, Linnet, Rock Bunting
and a strange animal that slunk past as we sat observing Hoopoe from
inside the car/hide that could have been a badger but it was not
really badger territory? We spent about five hours there before
heading for Cappadocia, missing the worst of the snow showers. Look up
the place on Google Earth, its quite spectacular.

We spent four days in Cappadocia in a small village away from the
worst of the tourist traps, staying in a 150yr old stable complex
called 'Killim pansion', also very clean with reasonable food. Our
yachtie friends Tertu and Heiki also turned up by coincidence, ( we
knew them from Tunisia) so we stayed another day to celebrate Heiki's
70th. Lukily a bunch of local Bankers were having a meal at our
pansion and had a couple of good local musicians to play for us all.
It turned into a long night of singing and dancing (and drinking) but
we got to hear some Turkish folk songs played on the traditional Ud, a
six string guitar type intrument but strung like a mandolin in pairs
and tuned half an octave lower per string to give it a unique sound? I
tried to play it but the technique is very different from a regular
guitar. (I cant play one of those either!)

Having avoided the obligatory balloon ride at 200 euro's a head (160
for cash!) we headed off to Konya as Gay wanted to see the Whirling
Dervishes. The free show is on sat night and 3000 locals (98% women)
come for the ceremony. It was too satanical for me and obviously a bit
of a farce but at least we can say weve seen them? We then drove out
to the lake area in the center of Turkey for more bird watching. Sadly
we didnt see many birds and no new species but passed through some
biblical villages as we crawled our way through the hills. Some of the
topography remided us all of france, lots of Poplar trees and tons of
Mistletoe growing down to the ground. Its not of any significance to
the locals so grows without regular harvesting from romantic
europeans. We stayed in a place recommended in Lonley planet at
Egirdir lake. A small settlement that was once populated by the greeks
till kicked out in 1923, part of a deal from Attaturk's new Turkey.
Bizzarely, our swedish friends also arrived about 20 min after us,
having read the same guide book! Our host spoke excellent english so
it was good to understand better how they came to be working at bed
and breakfast having come from the Black Sea part of Turkey. We sat on
our enclosed balcony and drunk the half litre of Rahki I borrowed from
the Kilim Pansion. ( I took it as compensation as the huge dog they
keep as a pet, bit my hand when I tried to stroke it! Good job I was
not a child.)

Our last day was spent driving over the last of the plains and a small
mountain back to Finike. We did just over 2000km and agreed we had
been very fortunate with the weather and the accomodation etc, it all
went well with no problems and lots of laughs.

Many of the winter residents in the marina have now gone west to
explore the Greek Islands and beyond, some of them are heading for the
Pacific and Asia, via the Carribean. We wont see most of them again I
fear....

We hope to leave for a month of cruising localy before coming back to
Finike and then leaving the boat as we return to the UK for the
summer.

Anyway, work to be done.

Love to all, G&G

Asia Minor

The title of this article may sound like a little place near China that got taken over and forgotten about, or would it be a Morris made in India? It could be a black and yellow bird that likes to mimic others but it’s not, it’s (Roman) Turkey.
We have finally arrived at the end of the Adriatic and found Turkey, just where the Romans had left it years ago.

Hold on! What happened to the Greek Islands you enquire? Sorry, I’ll go back and see if I can remember what we have been doing for the last few months or so since we were in Ithaca.....

...... We entered the Gulf of Corinth from the west obviously, the wind nonexistent as usual at 8am. It was a couple of hours due east on the motor before we got the cruising chute up. I decided that if the cat behind us could sail, then so could we? He soon caught us up and passed us, doing about six knots to our four. The last we saw of him was heading for the canal, a long way over the eastern horizon.


A new suspension bridge has been built to improve transport links to the Peloponnese; it has the largest span in the world and can be seen from Mars. One has to call bridge control on the VHF to obtain clearance (no pun intended) before you can sail under the massive structure, small craft can transit the outside edges, large freighters through the middle. As you can see, it disappears over the horizon. Need I ask who paid for it?

We planned to visit Navpactos (38.23N 21.49E) one of the oldest medieval ports in the Med, just past the bridge but the wind was now blowing 25kn straight into the tiny port and the sea state was getting rough making anchoring on the outside a dumb idea. It looked an interesting place too, lots of old castle type buildings set on the hill behind the port. Never mind, Trizonia was ten miles to the east so we had a full on beam reach through the building seas to get there, proper sailing weather for a change! As is often the case, the wind gets stronger the nearer to the port you get. We were running down wind in 30kn, preparing to slip up the channel that separates Trizonia island from the mainland. For once we actually came up into the wind to drop the sails before motoring round the North of the little island and into the almost abandoned port. We decided it was best to anchor in the shallows rather than muscle out way in against the wall, someone would be leaving in the morning so we would be able to go stern too then.


Bizarrely, our Colvic Victor owning friends, Peter and Manuel from Gozo were tied against the end of the pier. They sailed straight from Gozo in three days! It never ceases to amaze us how often we bump into our sailing mates but to meet in this place, well off the beaten track was quite a surprise. Obviously we had to drink a few beers and discuss our travels thus far.

The island seems to be a safe dumping ground for European yachts whose owners did not want to spend money in marinas. At least 75% were empty and many were in a state of disrepair, torn canvas and sun scorched paintwork. One yacht had actually sunk and was blocking the quay, the transom torn off as she settled at 45 deg on the bottom. Her name was ‘Wild Bumble Bee’, about 60 foot long and beyond salvation. I looked on Google Earth and she was afloat when the picture was taken. We stayed a couple of days before heading further east to our next port of call some 20 miles away.

Galaxadia is an obvious favourite with the locals as the dodgey bloke who controls the water and electricity on the hard, only charges 10 Euro’s per night. We elbowed our way in and spent two days washing and ironing. We then moved across the bay to Itea, another of Greece’s’ unfinished marvels. No water or electricity or charge so we were more than happy. A great selection of shops opposite so we could restock the meat supplies etc. The reason for coming here is to visit the ancient site of Delphi from where a great Oracle gave wisdom to many. The archaeological museum here is the best we have seen, well laid out, signs in English and some incredible Roman artefacts found in the region. I would recommend taking the bus up to the site, its impressive.

Leaving Itea, we sailed southeast down to Corinth, another great city ravaged by 2000 years or more of territorial disputes. The ancient Corinthians had a reputation for playing hard, hence the Rugby players obligation to drink lots and have orgies that last for days? We didn’t get to see the old city as the busses were not running. No wild sex parties for us sadly... We had to move the boat from the fishing dock as we seemed to be sitting on the bottom and I was getting concerned that the situation might get worse. The commercial dock was not busy so we went along side the wall and were presently joined by three others, also waiting to make the transit through the canal. One of the yachts was owned by a journalist called Tony Birtley who worked for Al Jaseira in south east Asia. He was sailing with his wife and kids before being sent back to Israel to work there. Type his name into You tube and watch his reports on the suppression of Monks in Rangoon, Burma. Very interesting work!

Lastrygonians, part two

About the 5th August, the days all blend into one so forgive me...

Having extracted ourselves from the nightmare port of Frikas, we went south down the east coast of Ithaca towards Vathi, the capital port town of Ithaca and home town of Odysseus. The contrary winds had long blown themselves out and we were forced to motor most of the way. The natural harbour is surrounded by high mountains and so mostly protected from large waves but sadly not from high winds. We dropped anchor north of all the other yachts so as not to be run down by any of them should they drag their anchor during the night. Paranoid? No, just used to Italian anchoring techniques. The flotilla groups love this place as they have a long sea wall right near the tavernas that they reverse up to. We were happy to be well away from the noise and the smell of fresh chips making us feel hungry.

We took the dinghy ashore and did our usual sweaty walk of the seafront to check which bars have wifi (one of the downsides of being far out in the bay is that we can’t skank free internet.) The town was an attractive place but not so different from all the others, lined with restaurants and bars, tacky souvenir shops and fishermen’s houses that were converted into apartments. The money had been spent, that was plain to see. Much of the infrastructure had been restored, new pavements, street lights and a fancy plaza. They must have been given a blank cheque from Brussels and told to smarten the place up. As a transient yacht tourist, we see the same improvements in all the ports. What it was like ten years ago is hard to fathom but they seem to have preserved most of the charm. We made plans to come back and have dinner the next day at a real Greek food restaurant that we found. The dishes were fantastic and as we had not been out to eat since the expensive pizza in Stromboli, it was time we did.

The following morning we decided to get out of the bay and go and find a quiet anchorage so we could do some snorkelling. As most yachts discharge their shit straight into the sea (we have a holding tank) it’s better to swim in places they don’t congregate. Just outside the bay we dropped our anchor in 7m, just off a pinnacle island that was unspoilt and had crystal clear water all round it. Lovely.

Having had a swim and tried out the new underwater camera we motored the boat around the bay to find another quiet spot for lunch. Only two other boats were in the bay, one a huge Spanish motor yacht and a local doing some fishing. By the time we had got to the bottom of the bay the wind had started up again and it was not practical to try and anchor near the cliffs. We aborted lunch and went back to the original bay so we could anchor early and get a quiet spot. This time we went nearer the shore on the north side, only a very presentable ketch was near to us so we were safe. The wind strength got up to 20kn again and we were being jostled by the waves, not uncomfortable but annoying all the same. True to form, before long an Italian decided to drop his anchor right in front of us and finished up sat on top of our anchor, despite us having Wilson out to defend us from these cretins. I called them up on the radio and told them that we would be leaving and they would have to move forward so we could extract our anchor. Luckily an American voice assured us they would move. The next spot we chose to anchor was well out in the bay and in front of all the others as before. Only a big catamaran was further north. The wind was still blowing and it made it impossible for us to go ashore and have our much needed dinner as the dingy won't row very well in waves and has a tendency to fill with water and soak the occupants.



We stayed aboard and watched a film instead or at least we tried to. At 10.30 we were visited from the Port Police and told to move as we were too far up the bay and the delivery ship needed room to swing round when it arrives at midnight. It seemed a bit ridiculous as we were miles from the other side where we had seen the ship dock but it was pointless trying to argue. We put our gloves back on and raised the anchor for the fourth time that day. As the wind was still blowing like stink it was not good to be close to the shore but all the available space was full further inside the bay. The only spot was just off the fuel dock but still in front of the other yachts, in 5 metres. We grabbed it and got the hook well stuck in the mud, just to be safe. The big Cat also had to move and had to be told twice, he eventually left altogether as space was tight though he could easily have got in close to the noisy tavernas as he was only 18’’ deep? We went to bed, the remainder of the film would have to wait.

The delivery ship arrived again just after midnight and woke us from our restless sleep. Were we ever going to have a good night? No, it was not to be, we left with the masses the next morning, having decided that the Laistrygonians did not want us in Ithaca. It had not been good to us and we had wasted our days, time to finally leave the Ionians and make for the Gulf of Corinth to continue our journey east and south towards the canal and finally the Aegean sea.

Picture shows the mouth of the bay, west of Vathi. We have to turn right and right again to head off to our next anchorage near Nisis Oxia, 20m east, the entrance to the Gulf of Patras. For those who have an interest in sea battles, Oxia was the place that the Turks got a good pasting in the battle of Lepanto. It was the last sea battle that Galleys were used, rowed by slaves and put an end to Turkish control of the sea. Byron also hid here to evade the Turks, prior to their demise. The poet died in Messalonghi, just up the coast on 19th April 1824. History lesson over.