3 Day Bliss!

Bada Boom! After getting off a summer vacation and getting slammed at work, waking up at 5:30am for a neurological conference, including Sunday(!), having a 3 day weekend is just what the doctor ordered. The winds where “nice” 🙂 and Friday morn we head out to the Petalious Islands for the obvious.

before

after

But before I get into that…. the weather has changed. (It’s September, dummie). It RAINED!!! At long last Zoot Allures is squeaky clean!

 

So the approx. 50 mile route was the same as last year (click to flash back) , but in a clockwise direction. Heading out was great. Full sail cruising at 4knots. But halfway through, we dropped to a knot so the iron genny was fired. But we were on a beat, the sails still worked and so did the windvane. I luuuuuv my WindPilot!!!!

After anchoring off the beach at the top island and taking some good swims and relaxing, Kostas and his brother Giannis (not Nikos, dummie) rolled in from his 24 hour motorsail from Ikaria. They rafted up, we ate, had a few pops and vegged. Kostas turned in for a nap and woke up the next day! The rest of us just hanged and took it all in, enjoying the perfect evening.

It never ceases to amaze me how a conversation can go on until 2am! I have no idea what we were talking about… it didn’t matter. It was just sooo nice and soooo quiet! If you snooze, you loose!

 

Once again, which also never ceases to amaze me, at 5am the wind and waves started up from the open bay and we were galloping at our anchors. I almost always get up anyway at 5 for a piss overboard, but this is ridiculous. But all was fine, just annoying. When the sun came up, we moved over to the other side of the island to enjoy breakfast, swimming vegging etc.

At noon Kostas headed back home (after 2 months!)  and we headed to the south of the Big Island to the Vassiliko bay via the sunken bridge passage. It’s either the time of year, day or whatever, always breathtaking-ly beautiful.

After anchoring, the first course of business, a swim to the cave beach.

And then proceeded to the regular routine. But there is a twist this time. The first day we had pligouri. Did you know that you don’t need hot water? Neither did I. You just let it soak for a couple of hours (eg, while sailing) and then just add tomatoes, onion, parsley etc and… “Bob’s your uncle”.  But then we had a wonderful potato recipe slowing cooking all day in a solar oven. How funky is that!?!.

Just don’t watch it cook. It’s like watching water boil or paint dry. It takes a long time. And potatoes were probably asking for too much on a partly cloudy day. So we steamed them for half an hour at the end…. hunger was kicking in. But we did get a shot of the spuds we fed to the fish… and they loved it! (the wd40 was for some TLC… the oven has seen better days).

flee little fishys, fleeee!

The evening was just as wonderful as it should be. Some fishing boats came by but it was mostly quiet and calm with the exception of a few tsunami waves coming from afar passing ships. And we woke up late to no wind at last. After a lazy morning we wrapped it up to head back home at a leisurely pace. The weather was getting “iffy” so at 2:30 we raised anchor.

Nice breeze, full sail, we were doing great at 4knots again. And that’s the way I like it. Set course, trim sails to the course, tie of the tiller, set the windvane, check the horizon, crack open a beer….. cruuuuise!

Zoot Allures prop spins while sailing. It’s a bit annoying but the noise tells you if your trimming your sails the correct way gaining speed. It also lets you know if you are loosing speed. Sure enough, the prop sound was going slower and slower. Looking to are destination showed a squall which apparently sucked our wind away. The prop silenced, the sails flopped…D’Oh! Time for the iron genny again. A bit of a drag,  but hey…. at least it starts up…. no complaints at all! We missed the rain and the sky gave us a spectacular show.

You know what? I could do this kind of stuff over and over and over again!

And then some more!

Stay tuned,

Capt Pete.

ps… have I ever mentioned how much I luuuuuv my WindPilot windvane. ‘Gotta find a way to make a video and show y’all what I’m talking about.

pss…… having crew with a camera is a must!!!!