Hi all
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from the crew of Alexina.
STOP PRESS: A selection of our 2007 photos can be found at the following address: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alexinaofshoreham/2007 Hit Slideshow to see our year in pictures and words.
Our autumn cruising ended with Alexina safely tucked up in her winter moorings at Yacht Marine in Marmaris, just in time for the annual Halloween Party. From the bric-a-brac of the bilges and lockers we created one ghost, one mad surfing surgeon and a vampire from St. Trinians. I’ll let you guess which crew member chose which costume.
The social life can be hectic here . Parties, language lessons, morning walks, salsa dancing! What a contrast to our month of October spent in perfect peace and quiet and splendid isolation. At least, it would have been peaceful except for those raucous kingfishers hanging out on our mooring ropes at every anchorage and calling joyously to each other. The title “The Kingfisher Cruise” was duly born.
Planned some eight months in advance, our October cruise was always going to be something special as normally we do not even know where tomorrow will take us. Our companions were to be the cruising family aboard the French yacht Maritea and October was the only month were we could be at the same place at the same time.
After the rigours of the EMYR we had a new set of rules.
No night passages.
Minimal long passages.
Idyllic anchorages with plenty of time to explore them.
A little school every non sailing day.
No Mayors or dignitaries - in fact almost no other people at all.
OK, I have to admit it, we were being unsociable wimps, and the Gokova Korfesi on the Turkish coast just north of Marmaris in October is the perfect place to be unsociable wimps. Plenty of interesting, quiet anchorages offering, in those words we love to read in the pilot book, “excellent all round shelter“. For October can be a stormy, thundery month with winds that can hit very quickly. Five miles away in the Datca peninsular they saw nights of up to 50 knot winds, but the Weather Gods smiled on us and we rarely saw our wind generator turn. We were helped along with some local knowledge after meeting a Turkish single handed sailor who knew the coast intimately.
I’m not the most superstitious of persons but find bad things often come in 3’s. So when Tiger managed to fall in to the sea, not once, but twice, I think a mild sense of foreboding would be natural. On the first occasion she lost a bicycle to the murky depths and was left hanging on to a mooring rope with one hand. Then an attempt to attract the attention of a jellyfish ended with Tiger swimming with it! However 4 year old Damian from Maritea would be number 3, falling head first down a hatch way and breaking his arm. Despite us being berthed in the busy Greek harbour on Simi Island, there were no x-ray facilities; the nearest being Rhodes or Marmaris. Damian is all mended now.
The final trip of the year was started with a synchronised team swim. Un, deux, trois, plouff! Brrrr. Time to get to the marina, hot showers and plug in electricity. In formation, we weighed anchors, and left under sail, just for the hell of it.
Back in Marmaris reality struck as Eric from Maritea headed back to his day job and we addressed the dreaded “TO DO” list. Some biggies are on the list this year, including rebuilding our main water tank, replacing solar panels and fixing a leaking gear box.
There are loads of children here this winter so Tiger will be kept busy with shared school lessons, French lessons and plenty of time to play. The children have been treated to special seminars on star gazing, pancake making, sewing and are in trouble with the marina’s gardener for some unauthorised work on his flowerbeds.
For the next 5 months the crew of Alexina has grown from 3 to 4. Hobie the Cat, from the American catamaran Zia, was looking for a foster home till the spring. He charmed us and has taken to life on board Alexina with gusto; sitting in our cockpit in the sun, out of the wind watching over his new Kingdom. Beware any cat who dares stroll over the decks of Alexina this winter!
Christmas this year will be a 3 week whirlwind trip toUK, so lock up those gin bottles. We will then enjoy the delights of Marmaris ‘till April. Next update will be in May 2008.
Lots of love
Helen, Peter, Tiger and Hobie
Crew of Alexina
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all from the crew of Alexina.
STOP PRESS: A selection of our 2007 photos can be found at the following address: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alexinaofshoreham/2007 Hit Slideshow to see our year in pictures and words.
Our autumn cruising ended with Alexina safely tucked up in her winter moorings at Yacht Marine in Marmaris, just in time for the annual Halloween Party. From the bric-a-brac of the bilges and lockers we created one ghost, one mad surfing surgeon and a vampire from St. Trinians. I’ll let you guess which crew member chose which costume.
The social life can be hectic here . Parties, language lessons, morning walks, salsa dancing! What a contrast to our month of October spent in perfect peace and quiet and splendid isolation. At least, it would have been peaceful except for those raucous kingfishers hanging out on our mooring ropes at every anchorage and calling joyously to each other. The title “The Kingfisher Cruise” was duly born.
Planned some eight months in advance, our October cruise was always going to be something special as normally we do not even know where tomorrow will take us. Our companions were to be the cruising family aboard the French yacht Maritea and October was the only month were we could be at the same place at the same time.
After the rigours of the EMYR we had a new set of rules.
No night passages.
Minimal long passages.
Idyllic anchorages with plenty of time to explore them.
A little school every non sailing day.
No Mayors or dignitaries - in fact almost no other people at all.
OK, I have to admit it, we were being unsociable wimps, and the Gokova Korfesi on the Turkish coast just north of Marmaris in October is the perfect place to be unsociable wimps. Plenty of interesting, quiet anchorages offering, in those words we love to read in the pilot book, “excellent all round shelter“. For October can be a stormy, thundery month with winds that can hit very quickly. Five miles away in the Datca peninsular they saw nights of up to 50 knot winds, but the Weather Gods smiled on us and we rarely saw our wind generator turn. We were helped along with some local knowledge after meeting a Turkish single handed sailor who knew the coast intimately.
I’m not the most superstitious of persons but find bad things often come in 3’s. So when Tiger managed to fall in to the sea, not once, but twice, I think a mild sense of foreboding would be natural. On the first occasion she lost a bicycle to the murky depths and was left hanging on to a mooring rope with one hand. Then an attempt to attract the attention of a jellyfish ended with Tiger swimming with it! However 4 year old Damian from Maritea would be number 3, falling head first down a hatch way and breaking his arm. Despite us being berthed in the busy Greek harbour on Simi Island, there were no x-ray facilities; the nearest being Rhodes or Marmaris. Damian is all mended now.
The final trip of the year was started with a synchronised team swim. Un, deux, trois, plouff! Brrrr. Time to get to the marina, hot showers and plug in electricity. In formation, we weighed anchors, and left under sail, just for the hell of it.
Back in Marmaris reality struck as Eric from Maritea headed back to his day job and we addressed the dreaded “TO DO” list. Some biggies are on the list this year, including rebuilding our main water tank, replacing solar panels and fixing a leaking gear box.
There are loads of children here this winter so Tiger will be kept busy with shared school lessons, French lessons and plenty of time to play. The children have been treated to special seminars on star gazing, pancake making, sewing and are in trouble with the marina’s gardener for some unauthorised work on his flowerbeds.
For the next 5 months the crew of Alexina has grown from 3 to 4. Hobie the Cat, from the American catamaran Zia, was looking for a foster home till the spring. He charmed us and has taken to life on board Alexina with gusto; sitting in our cockpit in the sun, out of the wind watching over his new Kingdom. Beware any cat who dares stroll over the decks of Alexina this winter!
Christmas this year will be a 3 week whirlwind trip toUK, so lock up those gin bottles. We will then enjoy the delights of Marmaris ‘till April. Next update will be in May 2008.
Lots of love
Helen, Peter, Tiger and Hobie
Crew of Alexina
