In which we get our asses in gear.

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Last year at this time we were frantically working through boat maintenance projects, ticking off the to do list items, all while completely terrified about what lay ahead of us. A year later we’re in the same boat (see what I did there?) except for the terror. We’ve graduated to mere trepidation!

And although we waited until almost the last minute, we have taken time this past few weeks to explore more of Lesvos, and even fitted in a weeklong trip to Turkey. Our tour of the island this past weekend was a joy: we knew this was a beautiful place, and now we have even more images and memories to carry with us as we prepare to leave Lesvos for good. [See imminent post, Exploring Lesvos.]

In the meantime, hustle, bustle. Peter is doing all the engine maintenance this year and has had the benefit of several mentors among our friends here to provide a little instruction for the tricky bits. That’s two diesel engines, a Yamaha 20 hp outboard, and the generator motor. I’ve inventoried and re-organized the tool shed (our port fore cabin) – including new crates for everything – and had a lovely time polishing all the chrome all over the boat. I’ve put off doing the final provisioning until tomorrow, but among other things that will ensure that at least one bilge is full of beer and prosecco before we get to Turkey. Countless other tasks have kept us busy most of every day, and there is plenty still to do.

Our greatest source of consternation as we prepare to leave was the fact that our new sails (main and genoa) have not arrived in Mytilini yet. The new parasail was always going to be coming after we left – we were planning to get a ferry from Kuşadasi (Turkey) or Samos (Greece) back to Mytilini to pick it up when it arrives at the end of the month. But the sails were meant to have arrived by now. We should be installing them now, ready for our departure. Instead, they’re not even out of production. In British Columbia.

We have also had some logistical challenges to sort surrounding our trips to the states in May, such as where are we going to tie up while Peter is in Ohio for his conference from the 12^th through the 18^th? While I’m away from the 19^th through the 28^th? And while Peter is in Montenegro again from the 24^th through the 27^th? And how will we get from wherever that is to Athens for our flights? And back again? We’d been making assumptions about everything from the existence of marinas on likely islands to the frequency of ferries among various islands and Athens, never mind the significance of three different ferry ports around Athens. As you can imagine, those did not help. Ferries simply don’t go to every island from every other island or to all of the three ferry ports in Athens every day of the week. One cannot take a ferry to Piraeus from Kea, that ferry goes to Lavrio. Poros does not, in fact, have a marina. Aegina’s marina is actually a town quay, and lovely as the harbormaster reputedly is, he’s not going to watch our boat with the same care as a marinero in a proper marina would.

So we’ve booked The Fish into Porto Cheli, a very proper marina that is wayyyy over on the northeastern edge of the Pelopponese and about three hours southwest of Athens. This is good because she will be safe. And because they accept packages on behalf of their clients, our sails and parasail can be shipped there instead of Mytilini. This is less than ideal because that means we are going to have to make serious tracks across the Aegean between leaving Kuşadasi and getting to Porto Cheli.

When we crossed into the Aegean on our way to Mytilini late last year, we moved relatively quickly through the Cyclades, and even more quickly through the Dodecanese. I told myself it was fine: we would take more time in the coming spring to see much more of all of it. Now we will have to absolutely fly through it all and try not to cry as we pass by islands begging to be explored and experienced.

So, this Wednesday, assuming the weather doesn’t vary too much from what’s forecast now, we will cast off our lines and leave our beloved Mytilini and Lesvos. We need to be in Kuşadasi by the 21^st to have some metal work done – a new cage to hold our life raft so I can deploy it by myself, another to hold dive tanks, and fixtures to secure lifelines at the bow. The moment that work is done we will head back to Greece and try to see as much as possible on our way west. We’ve just learned that Peter’s sister and mother will join us in Porto Cheli – they fly into Athens on the 28^th too, and we’ll travel to the boat together. Things will slow down only slightly then. We’ll take just 10-12 days to go around the Pelopponese to Zakynthos, where Brooke and Suzy will get a flight back to Athens.

The plan at that point becomes more conceptual than tied to dates or people. We do have to be in Palermo, Sicily, to have The Fish hauled out on August 6^th for bottom cleaning and new antifoul painting. But before then we will simply “sail to Malta,” and then, sometime later, “sail to Sicily.” Once we’re back in the water at the end of August it’s still pretty simple. Sail to Sardinia. Sail to Mallorca. Spend time with Molly and Henry. Sail to Madeira. Sail to Gran Canaria. Sail to St. Lucia. See? – so simple!

But in the meantime, like last year, we’re seeing our dear friends new and old finishing up their boat projects and leaving the marina to head off in all different directions. The community here in Mytilini marina is smaller than our hordes in Porto Montenegro last year, but it has grown into an equally strong and supportive group. It is heart breaking to see people leaving, yet we know we’re right there with them, itching to get a move on and looking forward – with only some trepidation – to the season ahead.

And then there are the goodby parties….

Clockwise from top right: the Mytilini Mariners, the Dutch and Austrian contingent (Jaap, Jolanda, Irene, Thomas, Ignacio -ok, he’s Chilean, Loreta, and Frank) Sandy/Sarah/Debbi, Tim/Karina/Peter/Lorna, and some very large steaks.