Almost Time to Go

Again the time has come to book fares, buy (even more) boat bits, pack bags and make nav plans for the year.  Just where do the months go?  So far, about the only commitment we have is to a route that will take us from Turkey to Venice.  After that we will haul out somewhere; although probably not backtrack to Turkey (to avoid that dreaded Meltemi again and long distances).  It seems a lot of boatyards in this part of the world don’t approve of live-aboards & certainly don’t support DIYers.  I can see we will have to beg, cry or shell out for baksheesh.  Our plans after leaving home mid-May 2014 are kinda, sorta:

This is the MELTEMI through Greece & green = nasty
(click on the picture to see the daily wind status)

Stage 1: Splash - Marmaris, Turkey (3 weeks - May)

The Motley Crew plan to take a side trip to Gallipoli and spend a few days in Istanbul ; ) before jetting down to Marmaris for two weeks of boat work and provisioning before splashing on 2^nd June.  

Stage 2: Turkey to Greece (4 weeks - June)

Our plan is to remain non-EU and non-Schengen for as long as possible, so rather than head straight out for the Greek Islands we will head north until a convenient jump off point on Turkey’s coast. Cesme might well be it – we’ll see how we go for time and fun-factor quotient!

Stage 3: Greece to Montenegro (4 weeks - July)

From here, we’ll strike out for the Cyclades  - a bit of a base jump more like it – and make our way slowly through to Athens and then ride the exceptionally narrow Corinth Canal.  Then it’s only a hop, skip & jump on to the Ionian Islands. (Ahhh, Corfu - especially in peak tourist season!)  In prep for our Greek odyssey, we’ll be reading “Peel Me a Lotus” (Charmian Clift), singing anything Leonard Cohen and attempting to decipher Homer.      

Stage 4: Montenegro to Croatia (2 weeks – mid August)

As Montenegro is also non-EU, we will explore its coastline for a few weeks.  This will give us (& WJ3) good grace before slipping into Croatia.  This opportunity also means we do not have to dash back to Turkey.

Stage 5: Croatia to Venice (4 weeks – mid September)

We have no specific cruise plan for Croatia other than to head north...slowly.  Until we read the pilot, we won’t make any specific decisions.    

Stage 6: Venice to Croatia (2 weeks – early October)

September should be a good time to be in Venice with most of the European world over its holiday exodus.  We do plan to anchor (which means not being in the heart of Venice) hence giving ourselves at least a couple of weeks to explore.

Stage 7: Croatia (2 weeks – home early November )

We will then head back to Croatia to haul out.  We think!  At this stage we are still checking out boatyards and that list spreads from Croatia, Greece, Sicily to Malta…  Oh dear!  With any luck we’ll have a few weeks up our sleeve to do a bit of land-based touring before coming home early November.  Otherwise, we will spend the time getting to our boatyard of choice.  Any of these locations will put us in a good position to make next year our year of Riviera cruzin’ (with the high rollers in Italy & France) as we make our way back to Spain/Portugal.

 

Visitors note: We will make our way to Istanbul to catch flights home if all goes to plan. Keep in touch by email if you’d like to catch up with us.  GS will endeavour to keep WJ3’s map and tracker updated regularly (hopefully) so that you can see where we are.  We will try to fit in with your plans but as we are strictly “regulated” by our 90 day visa, can’t wait anywhere for too long, or indeed drastically change this itinerary.  Check the updated Visitors Guide if you are keen on catching up.