Hey Lady !

We left Marmaris at 6 am on Sunday.  As the sun rose, I reflected on my brief stay in this picturesque vacation spot referred to by Europeans as the Turkish Riviera.  Lovely beaches, endless sunny hot days and friendly people.  The one thing that really struck me about the people were the Turkish men and the terms that used to refer to me by.  They had no problem calling Fred by his first name but when the men spoke to me, they referred to me as  “lady”.  It was strange to hear,“Hey lady can I get you something?” or “ Thank you lady” ! One poor older Turkish man (aka Ali Freeze) who came to our boat to help fix our refrigerator and  had  next to no  English words in his repertoire, including the word lady,  called me ``mother'' ! I guess being called a lady is better then being referred to as a mother any day of the week -if you know what I mean!

Our goal the first leg of our  trek was to Croatia was to sail 24 hour to get to the tip of Greece, then head up to Montenegro where we would stop to get refueled which would take  another 2.5 day then another 24  hours to get to Croatia.  Since we would be sailing non stop to Montenegro, I needed to prepare meals that could be frozen and nuked since cooking on the stove would be impossible while under sail. I purchased a pressure cooker to speed up the cooking time- an item I have never used before.  I made Colombian chicken with tomatoes and potatoes, beef stew and beef bourguignon.  Hearty food that has the  protein and carbs  one needs to keep the old body nourished.  By the way, the pressure cooker , who I refer to as “the  lady,” is my new best friend and I intend to spend a lot of my time with her.

So, let’s talk about our first 24 hours.  First off, here is a quiz for you.  If someone were to ask you if you would like to sail upwind in the Med in the summer, what would your answer be?  (a) Sail the Med? Hell yes!, (b) Are we talking Club Med? I ‘m in!, or (c) Upwind!  Have you ever heard of the Meltemi wind??  Hell no! .  If you guessed (a)  or (b) I wish I could have changed spots with you right before we started this journey!  Sailing up wind in general is tough under the best conditions.  It is like the sea is fighting you the whole way.  Recall what it was like giving you toddler oral medication through one of those eye droppers. A lot of thrashing, medication flying everywhere and you just could not wait to get the job done.  I was drenched head to toe in sea water as the waves slapped the front and sides of the boat and I had to hold on tight to anything as we crashed into wave after wave. This was the Meltemi versus CoKeMa! Epic I tell you! By midnight we realized we would not make it to the tip of Greece and needed to take shelter off one of the Greek islands.  I was relieved to hear that we would anchor and take shelter for the night.  By the time we got to the island we thought it would provide shelter, it was too dark and the winds too unpredictable to anchor, so the decision was made to motor on to the next  island.  I was beaten and exhausted and went to bed, leaving Fred and his brother,Tony, to continue on our quest.  I was asleep before my wet soggy head hit the pillow and woke up 5 hours later to this beautiful anchorage overlooking the town of Nisos Astipalaia (see picture above).  

Was it worth it you ask? A resounding -HELL YES!  We ended up in paradise after paying our dues to the winds and the sea.  All I can say is that Meltemi is no lady but most certainly can be a mother- if you know  what I mean :)