And then there were 3... 4.....3....4....3...

Amaris Sails the Globe

Anchored in the ancient city or Nora (modern city Pula)

Enjoying the local Jazz festival

39 degrees 00 North 

9 degrees.00.06 East

9/30/13

And then there were 3...  4.....3....4....3...

Phew- what fun we had exploring the Greek Ionian islands - Sorry for the lack of recent posts, but we have been busy!

After a 2 day sail to the Ionian islands of Greece from Sicily Shawn and I met our friend Ron who flew in to visit us fulfilling his life long dream of sailing in Greece - or at least so he sold us on visiting Greece.  We met Ron in the harbor of Zakynthos on the island of kefalonia and with him traveled as far north as Paxos - where we anchored in the most amazing crystal clear water.... (where we also learned our holding tank wasn't exactly, uh - holding)  

Towards the end of Ron's visit we made arrangements to pick up our first crew member for the ARC - Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.  Crossing the Atlantic is a relatively big endeavor as one can imagine, and having a bit of help is both an advantage for us and strangely something that people readily volunteer to do.  In total, we will likely have either 3 or 4 crew members when we cross-but certainly are benefiting from having Ross on board to help with the long passages between now and the start of the crossing as we travel the 1500 miles getting to the Canary Islands off the North West Coast of Africa.  And so there were 4 of us.

After making reservations to fly out of Zakythos to make his connection in Athens - Ron decided to make last minute flight changes to return home flying out of Agistoli.  Not a big deal for us to switch airports, cities, islands etc at the last minute - in fact it made for an easier departure for Malta.  It certainly helped Ron however as he had originally booked a flight into Athens arriving some 6-7 hours after his flight departed Athens.  We all got a good laugh when we realized that his calendar had auto corrected his departure time from Athens with the time change from Pacific Standard Time. No one rubbed in the fact that the week before i made a similar mistake in booking a flight from Paris to La Grande Motte the day getting to Paris (day changes...  UGH)  Fortunately these mistakes come relatively cheap.  So then we were back to 3 - Shawn, Ross, and Myself.

Our trip to Malta was a combination of hiding from too much wind in a tiny little village - all our anchor chain out in 35 knots of wind to the perfect dream come true sail from the southern tip of Sicily to Malta.  I think the Sail solidified Ross's enjoyment of the trip so far.  

In Malta we stayed at the Royal Malta Yacht Club. Prior to this stay, we have had few nights in marinas due to the associated costs.  That said, with our friend from NYC coming to visit, a lot of work to be done on the boat (life raft repacking, gelcoat repairs, battery testing, and in general getting things done to ready the boat for the Atlantic crossing), and the desire to see much of Malta and it's glorious history - we opted for 5 nights at the Yacht Club.  This fortunately coincided with the final 10 or so races of the America's cup - with the AMAZING VICTORY on our last night at the club.  And so there were once again 4!

Miles came with a splash.  Literally.  As our gangplank is still awaiting parts from France (I think the parts are "im - po -sible" (a common word in French) we have created a solution that worked using a bit of engineering, a few zip ties, and a part from a fish farm that we were given by an elderly couple cruising in Fiskardo (Ionian Islands).  In sum, we had a working gang plank that didn't likely have the original shear strength of its original stainless steel components.  In crossing the plank from the dock to the boat with his suitcase - Miles apparently exceeded the strain these zip ties could handle - big spash - luggage and all.  Miles was a trooper - and to his credit was amazed that he benefited in purchasing "water proof luggage" thinking that was a trait he would never really need.  Turns out, if you visit us, waterproof luggage may be a good choice.

We had a wonderful week in Malta and were sad to say good bye to Miles, but needed to carry on (with favorable winds i might add!) to Spain -in preparation to meet our friends Sue and Benita.  I suppose that takes us back to 3, but with eager anticipation of soon becoming 5!