http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Kate-and-Andy-wandering/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Kate and Andy wandering en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:08:54 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:08:54 +0000 After several emails and phone calls the rendezvous with Derek and Jane aboard Stroller was set for Knidos in Turkey. Only 2 things to do before then fix the blocked toilet pipe and make our formal entrance into Turkey. Neither was easy but both were completed successfully one significantly less smelly than the other. Bodrum was our port of entry and we enjoyed our day there we will go bac http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Turkey/Aegean/blog-453335.html Whatever nextAfter Anne and Joe left we started comedy of errors or was it a tragedy. First there was the visit to the doctor when Katersquos eye swelled up. After 15 minutes she had some cream tablets and a 150 euro bill. After a little disagreement Kate calmly said ldquowhat I am going to do is say thank you give you 50 euros and leave nowrdquo. And she did she was spectacular Th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/blog-441475.html Skiathos Skopelos Alonnisos Peristeri SkantzouraWe had just a few days to potter about before our sailing guests Anne and Joe arrived. So having just fixed the electric motor on the anchor windlass all was ready for them to join us. We set off from Skiathos to Loutraki on Skopelos in strong winds and with both sails reefed. This was when the stitching along the back edge and the bott http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/blog-438443.html We are now in lovely breezy sailing conditions so much more pleasant. We crossed through the opened bridge at Khalidi tidal currents of up to 7 knots at midnight amongst all the other boats milling around waiting for the radio call from the coastguard. You can imagine the chaos. Stopped off at quite a few cute little places on route but nothing spectacular. Although we do get very excited abou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/North-Aegean/blog-435424.html Good PlanningAfter a week of gale force winds on Paros and a forecast of the same for another week we decided to travel the 200 plus miles north to the Sporades where the Meltemi wind doesnrsquot blow as strong. We set out at 7am on 19th July knowing the wind was forecast to return on the afternoon of the 20th. There are 2 harbours on the island of Andros that would be safe and if we were lucky http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Attica/blog-428336.html In our third and fourth weeks we went from Kythnos to Siros Mykonos Rinia Delos and Paros. There were some fabulous sailing days with good winds calm seas and clear skies. We saw dolphins a couple of times Common Dolphin we think moving along with young ones we took time out to drift and watch.In Mykonos we moored in the ldquomarinardquo. This is much like most marinas in Greece buil http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Paros/blog-421438.html Here we back on Freedom bobbing around the Mediterranean again. We arrived in a heatwave and spent the first 2 days doing jobs to make the boat seaworthy and then craned into the water on day 3. We were so relieved to be on the water itrsquos just so much cooler. We bought all our heavy supplies whilst we had the hire car for 3 days and filled up with wine water milk beer and the essential http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/South-Aegean/Kithnos/blog-414455.html SundayThis morning it is so lovely to wake up with the sound of the sea washing on the shore and the birds singing in the trees. No sounds of drills or hammers and no tools or paint pots in sight. In the next few days we can enjoy Carnival and maybe do a bit of reading and painting arty type stuff and snorkel and hang out on the beach. We are now officially finished on the house for this year a http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-375936.html Every single morning we glory in just being here. Yes we have spent too much time indoors working but when we sit down for lunch on the deck or stand with a cocktail in he evening or drive along the coast road or so many things we just look around us and love what we see. Kate keeps saying she canrsquot believe we own this beautiful house. It is all just too wonderful.The tableThe table wit http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-375873.html With time running out we promised ourselves we would do one of the tourist headline trips before we leave We chose one of the many waterfalls and Middleham falls because it is 40 minutes each way not too long but long enough to keep the cruise ship passengers away and we read it is one of the most spectacular.The start was slow as we combined the day with taking Son to see the eye specialist i http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/blog-375550.html This last week has been fullon. We have worked really long hours getting the house ready for a visit from Carol from Ross Medical University on Thursday. We are considering letting the house to parents of students who visit the island so we are trying to finish all the ongoing jobs. It is really exciting that all the design ideas we had are now coming together and look even better than we though http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-372585.html The work on the house continues. It is time to decide what will not be done so we can finish and enjoy Carnival before we leave. Kurt and Casso come every weekend to make sawdust lots of sawdust. They have cased in the shutters beautifully cut pine for all the detailing we want and routed all the picture rail. Son comes 2 or 3 days a week he has built more steps through the garden cut more tre http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-369112.html Our neighbour Son grows his own coffee and one day he brought us some beans... http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-364853.html Lots of work still happening at the house and garden and everything starting to take shape. We have taken a few days off and made the most of them. Our trip to Chaudiere Pool was fun although our timing was a bit out. It had rained constantly for 4 nights and the river was quite high. The lsquoboiling potrsquo which is normally great for swimming became quite tricky trying to suck you under. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/Toucarie/blog-360324.html I wrote this back in February and no idea why I didn't publish it...We won't go to them all but here are the places the filmed in the last 2 films.Indian River site of the witches house a great river trip on 8 FebVieille Case Old ChurchHampstead Bay WaterwheelTitou Gorge swam up it 2 FebLondonderry River BeachHigh Meadow Soufriere Scotts Head Cannibal village Interactive map of Dom http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/blog-244847.html This last 3 weeks have just flown by and one of the best things is that we just keep finding more and more lovely things about living here. The whole village seems to have taken us under their wing. Everyone is genuinely friendly and very proud that we love Dominica. Toucarie is a quiet spot and being on the Caribbean side of the island we avoid all the wild weather of the Atlantic side. The bay http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/blog-353969.html We arrived from St Lucia by ferry at 10 p.m. and our hire car was nowhere to be seen. An hour and a half and an expensive taxi ride later we were at the house with no water and no electricity. It was Sunday night and the next 2 days were public holidays 30th anniversary of independence so no hope of going anywhere or getting anything done.Despite this we walked the few miles into Portsmouth http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/blog-348831.html Continuing our southerly route along the Peloponnese coast and through the Saronic Islands we have been travelling considerably slower than our first 2 weeks. We have visited reasonable sized towns and found a few lovely bays but not many.Old Epidavros is a safe harbour and nice town. While there we took the bus inland to the ancient archaeological site and the ldquotheatrerdquo which is ver http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-286487.html This summer we really hit the water running had no problems to delay us. We landed in Greece at 10am on Sunday morning. By the end of the day we had antifouled polished and prepared for launching. We spent the night onboard still on the hard. On Monday morning we did a massive shop with our hire car visiting 3 different supermarkets including LIDL and Champion. At 2 in the afternoon Freedom wa http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Greece/Pelopennese/blog-280341.html After a pretty disappointing whale watch in California last year it was with high expectation we handed over our money to go out yesterday. We werenrsquot disappointed. We were lucky to have a PhD student in Oceanography and an expert in Sperm whales as our guide and we learned all there is to know about these fascinating animals. As they stay in family groups and in the Caribbean Sea west of D http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Dominica/blog-249009.html