Fifth time is a charm??

 Rend Lake - Southern Illinois

 

STILL in the US... Our flight to Turkey has been cancelled four times so far!  After the first cancellation I decided to work a bit longer so that I could get both doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine before leaving.  We are still not sure when Michael will be able to be vaccinated but our hope is to have him vaccinated when we return (provided we actually leave)!.  After the second, third and fourth cancellation we decided that we needed to find a direct flight from the US to Turkey, as it was often the last leg from somewhere in Europe to Turkey that was cancelled.  We managed to book a flight direct from Chicago to Istanbul BUT we have to drive to Chicago to catch the flight.  That is about a 6 hour drive.  And to make it even more complicated Turkey now requires a negative PCR Covid test 72 hours before your flight.  That means we have to test tomorrow - January 10th and pray that we get the results back the morning of January 12th.  We then have to drive to Chicago to catch our 2130 flight.  Fingers crossed :).

 

Rend Lake
 

 The good news is that the latest flight (so far) has not cancelled!!!  There is hope.  The timing on the test results is dependent on the number of people being tested.  As of yet we are not seeing the Christmas/New Years surge of Covid cases so maybe we will be lucky and there won't be many testing tomorrow.  Again - fingers crossed. 
 

 The community left us all kinds of nice messages at the hospital - Pandemic Art

 

 Sidewalk leading to employee entrance at Good Samaritan Hospital

With any luck the next post will be from Turkey.  Stay tuned!

Return to Talaria

 

Purple sunset

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our flight for Turkey is booked for January 1st, 2021.  We will arrive in Antalya and spend one night there to catch up on sleep.  The next day we will take a shuttle from Antalya to Kas where we have rented an apartment for one month.  Our fervent hope is that the weather will be nice and we can get the bottom painted in January.  

Rend Lake sunset

 Our list of repair and maintenance tasks to complete keeps growing... unfortunately.  It will be a busy winter but we will manage to make time for exploring Turkey.  We have some friends that will be arriving in February so we are excited about seeing the sites with them.  A trip to Cappadocia is planned!

October sunset

 In the meantime, we have been enjoying some spectacular sunsets from our campsite at Rend Lake.  It has become a bit of an obsession each night.  Just beautiful!

Pelicans in flight

 And it was an added and unexpected treat to be at the lake when the migrating pelicans arrived.  There are well over a hundred pelicans at the lake right now as they make their way south.  Majestic creatures.

At present Greece is not allowing any travel from Turkey to Greece.  This is largely due to the refugee crisis which in turn is due to the humanitarian crisis which is due to the war in Syria (Turkeys neighbor).  That could present a problem as our plan is to get boat work completed over the winter and then sail to Greece in April -ahead of the crowds and the harsh meltemi winds.  I have written to the Greek consulate in Chicago and am waiting for some response.  Always something.  What was it Ben Franklin said "change is the only constant in life...".  So things change and we adapt to the change... life goes on :).
 

Arrival - Kaş, Turkey

Checking in - Kaş, Turkey

 Its been a long, long spring and summer.  Just amazing how quickly and completely Covid-19 disrupted everyone's life.  But I am happy to report that after 1600 nm Captain Andrea and his lovely daughter have arrived in Turkey with Talaria.  Sadly, they were held "hostage" for a bit in Greece as the harbor master in Rhodes was feeling particularly cantankerous.  So even though they were only checking in and immediately out he would not give them the necessary departure papers.  They were 70 short miles from Kaş but unable to check out of the EU due to insurance technicalities. So frustrating!  I literally had to have the insurance company write up a certificate stating that all coverage was in accordance with Greek law.  So... another 52 dollars and that was done.  Bureaucratic nightmares are not exclusive to the US it seems!

Captain Andrea and his lovely daughter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All is well that ends well.  We are exceptionally happy that we were able to locate such a competent Captain to sail Talaria out of the EU for us so that we did not overstay our welcome there.  Captain Andrea reports that the marina is very nice so that was great news.  In addition, fortunately for us we have a friend of a friend there that will be watching the over Talaria until we arrive - another plus!

Talaria in Kaş,Turkey

So the next morning after arrival Talaria was lifted from the water and is now in "dry dock".  It is much safer for her to be out of the water until we arrive as there is no chance of sinking!  It is likely that she will be on the hard for a bit longer even after we arrive as we have a considerable amount of maintenance work to do.  This is the longest we have ever been off of Talaria.  It has been an entire year!!!  At most we have been off of her for a few months but never, ever this long.  Maintenance on a boat is a constant thing so she is in need of some love.  Currently our plan is to fly to Turkey the 1st of January.  But... if the virus gets bad here and they close the OR again then we will just leave sooner.  We are ready to leave today - but I need to honor commitments.  More later.
 

The Corinth Canal

It is easy to see how from ancient times to more recent times the idea of a canal through this small isthmus was something to be desired.  Of course, the thought and the reality of actually digging a canal were two different things!  Eventually the canal was finished and is now used by mostly pleasure craft. The body of water to the left is the Gulf of Corinth. The Gulf of Corinth is reached directly via the Ionian Sea.  On the other side of the Isthmus (which the Canal cuts through) is the Saronic Gulf which leads directly to the Aegean Sea.  

 Quite a feat to cut that canal especially when you consider that they started digging by hand!!!  You can see how narrow the canal is which means the boats go through single file.  All boats have to wait until they are told they can go through and which boat they are to follow.  After the traffic goes one way they will close that direction and then allow the boats on the other side to file through.  

 You can also see that there are a few bridges but they are high so sailboats with tall masts go under without any problem.  

 It looks pretty peaceful motoring through there but there is actually a significant tidal current in the canal.  And as you can imagine, the wind will funnel through that narrow passage.  That being said Andrea's 16 year old daughter drove the boat through there without any difficulty!  So now they are on the other side of the canal and in the Aegean on the way to the Cyclades.  Now that they are in the Aegean they have good steady wind which is perfect for sailing.  A few more days and they should reach Turkey.

Welcome to Greece

On the Greek Island of Kefalonia

Officially in Greece!  Captain Andrea and crew arrived with Talaria in Greece on Friday night.  By this morning they were tied up and getting on the list to go through the Corinth Canal.  The canal is only 4 miles long and 70 feet wide.  Not large enough for commercial traffic but fine for smaller boats.  The canal both separates the Peloponnese from the Greek mainland and connects the Ionian and Aegean Seas.  Emperor Nero was the first to start building the canal although it was thought of way before his time. Of course, Nero did not complete the construction, it was not finished until the late 1800s.  Private boats must pay a fee to transit the canal but it is worth it as it shaves many miles off the trip.  

 The Ionian Sea is so clear.  Talaria looks as though she is suspended above the water rather than floating in the sea.  I told Andrea that we were so jealous right now!  It is so odd to see pictures of your boat sailing or at anchor and you are not on her.  This is a new experience for us and one we hope to never repeat.  Although, we feel completely confident in Andrea's abilities we would prefer to sail her ourselves.  It is beginning to sound cliche to say these are extraordinary times but they are.  Just waiting semi-patiently for a vaccine so life can continue.  As is everyone else in the world :).
Once they get into the Aegean Sea the wind blows consistently.  The north wind (Meltemi) is a seasonal prevailing wind that can be quite fierce in the summer but will help them move along and cool things off a bit.  They are expecting to arrive in Turkey by the 31st of August possibly sooner.  More later...

Italy...Nearing the halfway mark

Flying the Italian Flag

Captain Andrea and crew arrived in Italian waters the other day.  There has been little wind and it is stifling hot there as Europe is in the middle of a heat wave.  Temperatures have been as high as 104 degrees!  Without the wind it is fairly miserable.  And it has been very hot and humid at night as well which, of course, makes it hard to sleep.  After a couple of days in Sardinia they departed for Sicily.  Sicily is now requiring everyone entering to have a Covid-19 test.  Initially, they were going to go to Milazzo which is very close to the Straits of Messina.  But they found out that they would have to go to a hospital for the test.  The decision was made to head for the Aeolian Islands instead in hopes that they would be less stringent.  Europe is in the midst of a "second wave" of Covid and as a result many countries are re-instituting restrictions that had been lifted. 

Arrival in Italy

It is now about midnight as I sit here writing and it looks as though they have just arrived to the Aeolian Islands so now they will just have to see what the requirements are.  In addition, to all the Covid stuff another wrinkle was recently added.  Apparently, tension is rising between Greece and Turkey over drilling in the Eastern Mediterranean.  Trouble has been brewing for awhile over this issue but recently bubbled over when Turkey sent a guarded survey ship out to investigate drilling very near to a Greek Island.  

 

 That island is Kastellorizo and you can see that it is just a few miles from Kas.  So the conflict is directly at Kas' front door.  And of course, Kas, Turkey is our destination.  If things heat up too much they could halt all ship traffic in the area.  That would not be a good thing for us.  At present Turkey, Greece and France all have a military presence in the area.  France joined in to defend Greece - an EU member country.  This is a boat delivery Andrea will not soon forget!  So now for the weekend we just wait to see what goes on with the Covid testing.  I am sure everyone is negative - they have been at sea for a week now.  But still they will have to wait around for test results.  At least, they can go to a marina and fire up the air conditioning for a bit.  That will help everyone to get rested up before continuing on.  With any luck they should arrive in Turkey in another 10 days or so.  Fingers and toes crossed.

Sailing again...

Talaria is pleased to feel the wind in her sails again!  It is so odd to see your boat sailing and you are not the ones sailing her.  Captain Andrea departed Cartagena, Spain on Friday - August 7th.  His original plan was to depart on Thursday but there was a delay getting the food they had ordered and they were worn out after all the prep work for such a long trip.  In the end, they needed one day to just rest up before departing.  On Friday, the tracker wasn't picking up but we got that straightened out and it is now working fine.  By Saturday, they had made it to Formentera in the Balearic Islands.  After a stop for lunch and a weather check they set sail for Sardinia.  We don't expect them to make landfall until Monday afternoon.  They will then head to a marina and rest up a bit before starting off again.  We are in no rush as we cannot fly to Turkey until January.  Really, really hoping there is a vaccine by then.

 A friend of a friend sent this video of Kas, Turkey.  Kas will be Talaria's home for awhile.  We plan to fly out the 2nd of January and spend the winter there.  Hopefully, by spring we will be able to sail to Greece.  That is the plan anyway.  Fingers crossed!