The search for Europe's best fried calamari

Yes, it’s true – we never have a meal out that one of us does not order fried calamari (maybe because it’s one thing all 4 of us absolutely love… other than wine…)  There have been very few “losers” and at the moment the title is held by a small café in Alghero, Sardinia.  However, the competition will continue.

We certainly made the right decision to “get out of Dodge” and leave Sicily a few days ago, as they did indeed get 30 knot winds and huge seas.  We got to a really nice anchorage Sunday night outside the town of Argostoli (pop. 10,000), on the Ionian island of Kefallonia.  The next morning we were bombarded with the same 30 knot winds that had hit Sicily.  Even though Greece is a part of the EU, and traveling within these countries is supposedly very easy, the Greeks must be trying to boost their dismal economy by making it difficult and expensive for boaters, particularly, to enter their country.  We had no issues going from Spain to Italy, but we were advised by many sources to hire an “agent” to facilitate our getting permission to travel through the Greek Isles. It is quite a rip-off, but after delicately declining the services of the biggest agent in Greece, A-1, we found a local fellow who was much more reasonable and who helped us a lot over the next few days.  (Presenting him with a few Andrea Cay shirts didn’t hurt…)

The most important thing he was able to do for us, was to talk one of the local officials into letting us dock at their commercial pier for a night (a bargain rate of 60 euros), which was a huge relief.  The winds that night were steady at 30-35 knots and gusting to 45 knots.  We had every line on the boat tied to their heavy-duty cleats and even then it was a little freaky.

We had a fantastic day though, this being the first time in over a month that the Andrea Cay had docked (the last being in Halifax).  24 hours of being able to jump off and on the boat – come and go as we each pleased, was very exciting to all of us.  We walked and shopped (our allotted 30 minutes) and ate many wonderful meals out.  But alas, the seas calmed and the winds died, and Captain Bligh sounded his horn (for real…) in the midst of our gelato splurge indicating we would be left on shore if we didn’t scramble back to the boat immediately.  In truth, the captain wanted to get underway so he could get to his nap. 

Real wildlife sighting (loggerhead turtle)... unlike the rock bear from last post... 

                                                                  Approaching Kefallonia

                                               
                                                              Enjoying calm seas

                                                            

... and a lovely sunset at our anchorage

Town of Argostoli

                                                 
                                                     Shopping on a marble paved street

                                                                  Greek Orthodox church

Yet another patio lunch

                                      
                                                         Yea!  Safe at the dock!

                                                                       Provisioning

Departing Kefallonia

Ominous weather predictions lead to change of plans

We’re on our way to Greece and will be safely tucked into yet another beautiful anchorage by this evening.  We had planned on spending a few more days in Italy with our first stop in the Aeolian Islands at the lovely little port town of Salina, known particularly for its many excellent restaurants.   We had timed our transit through this chain of volcanic islands, with the hope of seeing a night-time eruption of an active volcano on the island of Stromboli. The following day, we had planned a stop in Taormina, one of the most breathtaking towns in Sicily, perched high on the edge of a cliff above the sea.  From this town, there are often great views of smoke pouring from Mt. Etna which last erupted in January 2012.

But, with our first really bad weather forecast of the trip – 30 to 35 knot winds and 9 to 12 foot seas lasting for 3-4 days, we decided it would be best to move on quickly (“quickly” being a relative term considering the speed of the Andrea Cay is 10 knots/hour).  After 3 days and 2 nights at sea, we will have traveled another 500 miles when we reach the Ionian Islands later today, where hopefully we will continue to be blessed with perfect weather.

Our crew transition has been surprisingly swift and painless.  Sean Allen, who had captained the boat when it was first built (along with his one-time-partner-in crime, Neil), was here within 36 hours of Mike and Lori’s departure.  Sean was able to get quick permission to come and fill in temporarily as a “relief” captain (or maybe I should say a “rescue” captain) from the owners of several properties he manages.  More importantly, he got permission from his girlfriend, Linda (a professional chef and caterer)!  It has taken John very little time to bring Sean back up to speed on all the wheel-house computers and navigation systems, as well as the motors, pumps, fuel transfer system, and all the other complex equipment in the engine room.

We have hired a new crew who will arrive Sept. 3 for a two month engagement.  John and Sharon (otherwise known as Joc and Shaz), are from New Zealand and Australia, respectively, and have done extensive cruising in the Med. 

                                   
                                                              Wild life sighting

Aeolian Islands 

Aeolian Island

Welcoming Sean

Sunrise

Sunset

Our wine personalities must not be as charming as we thought...

OK… John and I are really beginning to think we have a serious personality problem right now (… no comments from our children, please).  Our crew is deserting us.  Harold bailed in Halifax, Ed in the Azores, and Neil and Howard in Malaga.  And yesterday, Mike and Lori jumped ship.  We have chained Peter and Carol to the boat, although her leash is long enough to allow her to bring wine to John and Peter on the top deck, and for both of them to get to the bridge table.  After weeks of childish games such as chickenfoot, oh hell, slapjack, war and go fish, John and I have undertaken the daunting task of teaching Carol and Peter bridge.  It’s too early to gage our success, but I am happy to report that retired accountant Carol can now count the points in her hand without using her fingers or a calculator.  (Side memo to Howard:  don’t worry, we’re still playing gin, too!)

Our weather has continued to be perfect.  Light winds, 80 degree temperatures during the day, no humidity, and cool at night.   We have had incredibly beautiful anchorages the last few days and have dined on the aft deck and the fly bridge as we have watched some stunning sunsets.

We left Alghero and have been working our way across the northern tip of Sardinia.  We have spent several days in the Maddalena Islands, which include a national park, several scenic little villages and some of the best beaches in the region.

The Mediterranean water is much warmer than we had anticipated and the four of us have been doing “exercise” swims at least every day.  Of course Carol is exercising enough for all of us – swimming, biking in the bowels of the boat (boring…), and getting Peter to drive her to shore for an additional run.  I have to say, she makes the rest of us feel like slugs!

                                                             
                                                       Northern coast of Sardinia 

                                                                Sunrise

                                 Anchored here and had windsurfers crashing into the boat

                                                              ... gosh, life is tough

                                   One of our prettiest anchorages so far in the Maddalena Islands

Carol & Peter climbed a hill to get this picture

                                               
                                                                Shore excursion

                                                              The town of La Maddalena

                                                                   Street in La Maddalena

                                                            Discovered on a beach walk

                                                          More of the scenic coastline

Anchorage last night 

Missing Andrea Cay crew member found in Sardinia!! (with wife)

Yes… it is truly amazing, but we found Neil and Carey on a late honeymoon in Alghero, Sardinia this past Saturday.  Carol and I tried to kidnap Neil for a blogging lesson, because we are still falling short in the picture-posting area.  After a short (and obviously unsuccessful) tutorial, we had a typical Spanish alfresco lunch on the aft deck:  wine, cheese, wine, Serrano ham, wine, fresh shrimp, wine, olives, etc…  While few of us stayed on the boat and napped (Peter still recovering from his food poisoning), the rest of us headed off to a lovely, less-crowded-than-usual beach with Neil, Carey and Maria, a friend of Carey’s who grew up in Alghero and now lives in Baltimore.  We all went to dinner together, too, and Maria was a great tour guide and had lots of good stories about growing up in Alghero.

Alghero is a picturesque old city surrounded by imposing seawalls that make for wonderful walking and incredible views of the sea and the high cliffs in the distance.  We had dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants along the top of the sea wall.   The only disappointment came after 3 in our party ordered the local specialty of roast suckling pig, only to have the waitress return and tell us they had just run out! (Considering we were about the only ones in the restaurant at 8pm, and most Spaniards don’t eat until much later, it must have been a very small pig!)  Fortunately, the second choice was excellent – fresh fish fileted tableside.  The fresh pasta dishes were incredible, too.  

The next morning, we did a little more sightseeing (and about 10 minutes of shopping allowed by John), followed by lunch at a café and a last short visit with Neil and Carey.  The old part of the city which is all cobblestone streets and closed to cars, is very historic with balconied residences above the many shops, restaurants and cafes. All in all, a very charming Sardinian town. 

                                                            Entrance to old town Alghero

                                                  Neil and Carey on break from honeymoon

                                                      
                                                          Dramatic cliffs of Sardinia

                                                           

                                                                  Narrow streets of Alghero

                                                         View from seawall surrounding city

                                                     Sunset from restaurant

                                                         What???  No more pig??

                                                         Fishing boats in the harbor

                                              
                                                 Oh my gosh!!!  All this candy!

Rejected at Menorca

Menorca (also spelled Minorca) is a small island 45 miles east of Mallorca with a population of 100,000.  We were excited about visiting this island which is known for it's well-preserved megalithic stone monuments dating back to prehistoric times and fortifications from the middle ages.  We were also looking forward to tasting their famous gin.  But, the guide books were also correct in predicting that this was not any easy island to visit.  We circled for about an hour in a beautiful bay at the base of the fort, but were told by harbor patrol that there was no where we could anchor.  So... we took a couple pictures and headed for Sardinia where we were much more kindly recieved.

Peter was struck the previous day by food poisoning from eating a tapas of raw seafood for lunch. he slept for 40 out of 48 hours and did not care that we were not allowed to stay in Menorca.  



Entrance to Menorca

Waterfront

Fort View




Another fort view

Harbor view

Eating, Drinking and Shopping in Mallorca

Thanks to a good friend, Elliot Jacobson, who grew up here in Mallorca, we have had a wonderful few days on this island.  Elliot gave us advice on where to anchor, the best towns to visit and where to eat, which included the most well-known bars to the “local’s” favorite restaurant.  He even told us what we should eat:  the local snails which were delicious, and  small, green peppers seasoned and grilled (we dubbed them "Russian Roulette peppers", as most were mild but every now and then, you'd get a really hot one, which led to excessive wine drinking...)

Palma is a lovely, old historic town with very narrow streets and beautiful old buildings, including a cathedral that was even larger than the one we visited in Malaga.  Our frustration was that the day we went into the city was a religious holiday, so it was packed with tourists and many of the restaurants and shops were closed.  Of course that was not a concern for Peter and John, but Carol and I were disappointed that all the really nice stores were closed.  (The junky souvenir shops were all open, naturally.)

We braved the crowds one afternoon and tendered to a beach where we were quite lucky to find about 6 sq. ft. to park ourselves under the umbrella we brought.  Carol got in a good run around the town and the rest of us did some swimming.

Before leaving Mallorca, we managed to find a supermarket that rivaled US grocery stores.  Good place for our first major re-stocking since we left Florida a month ago.  Prices were less than in the US, which we could hardly believe.  John had a great time with a local guy helping him pick out Spanish wines (couldn’t find one more than 10 EU – most were 4-5 EU).  John, who usually refuses to even go to a grocery store, was extremely proud of his 4 cases for 300 EU.  It was good we were able to stock up – the “crossing crew” decimated the on board supply!  According to Lori, they also consumed 14 lbs of butter!!

                          

                                                 Entry point to old city of Palma

                                                                     Streets of Palma

                                                                   Cathedral in Palma

                                                      We arrived as service was ending


                                               
                                                           Inside of Cathedral in Palma

                                              John and Peter enjoying shopping (but not)

                                            Famous Bosc Bar - hangout for local artists

                                                  Lovely ladies in front of ancient olive tree

                                                     Sangria tasting with giant straws


                                   
                                   
                Church of St. Francisco for those who think this was just a drinking excursion

Afternoon boat ride before naps

                                                    Dinner with local snails and peppers