Its the 1st October, its raining and the leaves are beginning to turn into their autumnal shades and leave the trees. I am up early and am in the midst of the mountain of washing which came back from Greece with us. Steve is up and getting ready for work, which I don't have until tomorrow.
Our holiday was an enjoyable experience, sailing the boat was fun, though tremendously hard physical work. I have humongous bruises which were probably gained when moving about the boat, getting fenders in and out and mooring ropes ready as we we came into port. It took a few days for Steve and I to get the hang of things, he expected me to be able to do things at a drop of a hat. I'm not a 'natural' sailor and Steve found this hard, but after a few altercations we worked things out and I was given plenty of clear instructions, with plenty of time to carry out the task!
There were twelve boats in our flotilla and a lead crew boat. Our skipper was a 26 year old New Zealander named 'Clarkie'. This guy worked his socks off, was calm and encouraging, he was there to help us into the bay at the end of the evening, he checked lines and anchors and on the odd stormy night he would be out of bed making sure all our boats were secure. Clarkie is returning at the end of the season to work on his family sheep farm having spent a few years working for sailing holidays. I'm sure Mr & Mrs Clarke are aware of there sons immense talents and I'm sure are very proud of him and they jolly well should be. Dan the young engineer was always cheerful, also worked very hard and even harder if the "All Blacks" were playing and he wanted to get to a bar and watch the match, another thoroughly nice young New Zealander. The third member of the crew was also from New Zealand. Jules, was the hostie, a very energetic young lady whose job it was to keep us happy, inform of us of the amenities or lack of them at each port! It wasn't the girls fault when the sanitation was primitive or the only super market had closed its doors early for the season . Poor Jules took the stick when Olga the proprietress of the tavern with showers in our last bay threw a 'hissy fit' and wouldn't allow us to use her showers! Well, we had showers on the back of our boats, so out came the shower gel and we showered alfresco. A few of our fellow sailors were disappointed that there wasn't enough social events organised, speaking for myself the three group meals that were organised were very nice indeed. I didn't want anymore activities as I didn't want a holiday camp culture!
We'd gone on the holiday with Sandy and Paul. They had one boat and we had another. Paul being a qualified yacht master was a real asset, his expertise helped us along the way. We went free sailing with them and his knowledge, confidence and patience was really appreciated. Most days we anchored in quiet little bays, had lunch and swam off the boat. I discovered at nearly fifty that I can swim more than the 25yards that a certificate gained at the age of 11 says I can. For the first time ever I swam in deep water, jumped in from the boat and attempted to snorkel. I suddenly gained confidence in water which I'd never had before! There were other firsts including swimming naked, which felt very liberating.
We got along well with everyone in the flotilla, especially Mary and Chris a lovely Irish couple who live in Oxford. We spent most evenings eating in Taverna's, Chris and Mary's great company really enriched our holiday. I do hope that we get to see them again sometime.
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