Land Ho!

Jungle is in her final resting spot, where she'll stay for the next 6 months. A little touch up here and there and we'll be back on the Med. Yassou Kypros. (Goodbye Cyprus - for now)

We even had time for a wadrobe change!

Quite a system the yard employs - it works.

Jenée is getting a free ride.

Yeah, Nicos has done this before.

Oh well, time to take Jungle out of the water. OK boys, we've done this before, right?

Did I mention the concert began at 11:45 PM and ended after 5AM. And not a word of English was spoken or sung. I found shoving a fork into my eye sockets helped me to stay awake. Helpful party tip - no charge. Honestly, a great time for us.

That night we were invited to a mini concert - Greek style. This is Demetris good friend Alex - great guy. He and Demetris competed as high jumpers throughout high school and college (in the US). This is Despina Olimpiou, famous Greek singer, who happens to be Alex's cousin. She was great! She invited Alex up to sing a duet and our boy nailed it. Very impressive.

Lenka and Jenée enjoyed the opportunity to catch up. Lenka flew back to Abu Dhabi the next day.

This is Debbie, owner of the restaurant we enjoyed. This sweet ladie gave us a ride to pick up our car which was in town.

I can't get enough of them Jungle shots!

Did I mention Demetris pulled his calf muscle - big time. I prescribed medication which he is taking here. Good patient.

The weather was perfect - still summery. Demetris and Lenka set a nice pose in front of Jungle.

Back to the beach! We sailed back to Ladies Mile for our final week on the water, for 2011.

Return to Lemesos (Limassol)

Here is the birthday boy now, with Lenka.

Happy Birthday Demetris! A great time with Demetris friends to help him celebrate.

A final look before we go.

Tres amigos. We had a great day, thanks to Demetris.

As do the Captain and Jenée. Hey wait, "Muskrat, Muskrat ..." I'm getting tingly.

Demetris and Lenka provide a pleasant foreground.

We hustled off the mountain to make a sunset visit to the Rock of Aphrodites. Greek legend has it, this is where she came out of the sea. Aphrodites name was changed to Venus by the Romans. The Romans took all the Greek gods and changed their names. Saves time.

Nice view.

I'm showing Linka the proper technique for an overhand fastball - John Lackey style (Red Sox pitcher). Unfortunately, I walked the side. Linka booed and walk away. That's an inside joke. Oh, how I kill me! Did I mention the Red Sox are looking for a fork to stick themselves with? I love my team. Honest.

The weather was perfect for our tour - very comfortable on the mountain (Trodos).

Demetris getting a little work done while Lenka chats. Demetris took time out from his busy schedule to show us around his beautiful country. It was greatly appreciated.

Great views all around. The peak of Mount Olympus is over 6000 feet. Complete with a nice ski resort - Vittel. Who knew?

Time to head for the mountains of Trodos! We caravan-ed up the hills behind Demetris and ended up in this little village - quite the view.

A great meal after a long day.

Lo and Behold! What a recovery by our sailors. I must admit, they both handled it like troopers. As I explained, it was probably the nastiest 10 hour sail we've had. I forgot to mention the dinghy tow line snapped and we had to perform another rough sea rescue. Fun times.

OK, in this photo we can possibly surmise the following;

a) Kathy really feels bad - kinda like she's gonna die

b) Kathy really feels bad - kinda like she can't die soon enough

c) Kathy really feels bad - she just learned of another Red Sox end-of-season collapse. Again.

d) All of the above

I'll go with d.

So, we head out of Larnaca Marina sailing for Lemesos (Limassol) - a 6 hour sail in decent weather. Unfortunately the immigration folks were not ready for us to leave in the morning and we were delayed until 1 PM. Weather forecast looked OK, but it turned out to be a bad idea. The wind whipped up to 40 knots on the nose and 4-6 foot seas, not very comfortable. Did I mention this was the maiden cruise for Jackie and Kathy? The photo above is a seasick Jackie and a seasick Katie. For some reason Katie found it more comfortable to lie on top of a sleeping Jackie. Thanks Jackie.

Agia Napa !

Kathy, Jenée and Jackie have been doing a lot of catching up. Syria is 100 miles behind.

That is Israel over Jenée's left shoulder, about 120 miles away. Lebanon is over her right shoulder, about 70 miles away. Both are great sailing destinations we may try later. We've run into many Lebonese and Israelis at our Larnaca Marina - all very nice folks. Turns out Larnaca is a favorite destination of both.

This is a little cove set up like a pool. We waded in and peed, just like a pool.

Jenée and I strolled around the beach at Agia Napa - very pretty.

Upon return to Agia Napa we were able to eat again! Demetris friend Linka from Abu Dhabi has joined us.

Such a night we had. Andreas loaned me his car to return to Jungle - a spent man! The next day I dropped the girls off at the beach at Agia Napa (I-ah napa) and took a bus back. Lovely bus route! I got to see all 50 stops on the way - winner!

This is the ultimate specialty called Kleftiko (clef-tee-ko) which translates into "stolen meat". Centuries ago, tribesman would steal a lamb and put it at the bottom of a pit. They would then build a fire over the top so it would look like a campfire - no meat! The result would be a wonderfully roasted lamb as shown above with potatoes. (Of course with bread and Greek salad) Only lamb and potatoes, nothing else in the pan. Andreas has a special made oven in his back yard to properly roast the meat, including mud used around the door to seal in the oven.

Barbeque man was in tears as he sampled the best tasting meat in his life! I hand my magic barbeque tongs to Andreas. There can be only one king!

Lovely dinner! Demetris parents, Artemas and Andreas invited us over for a home cooked specialty. This is souvla (soove-lah) roasted lamb on a skewer. The box keeps the wind from blowing the ashes on the meat. Barbeque Man got down on one knee and gave thanks.

Lovely ladies...

Time for the beach! First up is Proteras (pro-ter-ahs) at the southeastern tip of Cyprus. Lovely beach, lovely day ...

Yassas Kypros (Cyprus)

Here we are again. John and Eva live in Macon, France when not on board Destiny.

We are enjoying a celebratory dinner. From left to right, John Bird, Jackie Vigil, Kathy Hoffman, me, Eva Bird and Jenée.

Jenée, Jackie and Kathy walked around Lanarca and toured St. Stephens Greek Orthodox church.

This M/Y Destiny and John and Eva Bird. Now here is a story for you, so please bear with me;

We arrived in Lemesos (Limassol) Cyprus and checked into the country. The next day we sailed for port city of Larnaca as we found availability in the Larnaca Marina. Jenée's good friends Kathy and Jackie were due to fly into Larnaca from London the next day. We were about 4 miles outside of Larnaca, under full sail and travelling at 7 knots. We hit bottom - HARD! Boat leaning to the side with sails under full power from the wind. All I could think of was Titanic (heavy Brit accent): "ICE! Dead Ahead! We immediately dropped sails (not easy at all under full wind) and attempted to move Jungle, first in reverse, then in forward - no movement. I called into the marina and asked for help. After about 5 minutes, I get a call back and I'm told 40 minutes and $1000 Euro fee ($1500). No choice, so I agreed. Jenée suggested I dive and check to see how bad it is in order to advise the rescue crew. When I checked it out I could see we had hit on a grass covered reef and we had plenty of clearance going in reverse, nothing forward. Back on board I put the engine in full reverse. Now I looked like the damn helmsman on the Titanic with water churning, waves slapping, wind blowing and I'm mouthing "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon ... Jenée is outside doing the same as we are both looking over the side at the reef, praying for movement. The waves keep hitting us broadside which can be a good thing when your stuck. Feels like we moved! No, No still stuck. More throttle, engine now screaming, more waves, more bumps - it moved! It moved again! We are moving in reverse! Back up a little more, shift into forward and head straight out.

YAY-F-ING-HOO!

I call the marina on cell phone and let them know we were free and to call off the troops. I also asked for the coordinates as I was concerned we had the wrong ones. They didn't understand my request:

Marina: "OK, so, you OK?"
Me: "Yes sir, can I have your coordinates please?"

Marina: "OK, you want condiminium?"

Me: "COO-ORD-IN-ATES please"

Marina "Coca Cola? OK? You OK?

Just then a British skipper of Destiny calls into the Larnaca Marina on VHF to let them know he was coming in. I immediately called him back and asked for the marina coordinates. I confirmed what I had was good. Still, I headed way out and circled in to avoid another grounding. Jenée and I had a nice dinner and crashed - long day.

The next morning, I'm checking into the marina office and this nice couple is doing the same. They hear me say Jungle and introduce themselves as John and Eva of Destiny. We met up later at their boat for a cocktail and here is where it get's interesting; Destiny is a sailing motor trawler (not an exotic dancer) called a Diesel Duck. It is built by the same shipyard, Seahorse Marine, that built Mandarin 52 - Jungle! This may be the only Diesel Duck in this hemisphere, and I'm positive Jungle is the only one of it's kind here - wow, what are the chances!

Here is where it get's wacky. John asked what I do and I explain that my career has been in the high tech field. Usually, 98% of the time the conversation stops there. Not so fast. "Oh yeah, me too, what field were you in?" I tell him the semiconductor field, and 99.99% of the time it stops there. "What field exactly?" Now I have to explain I was in the small, backwater niche industry of ATE, (Automatic Test Equipment). That's always my closer and even my wife and family stop there with, "Oh yeah, that's nice." John says, "Me too, I worked for Fairchild Test Systems for 10 years, Eva worked there as well."

I run into these folks in the middle of nowhere sailing on MY BOAT, doing MY JOB! Someone hold me! In the world of uncanny coincidences, this is what amounts to discovery of a parallel universe! Easy, Jimmy, easy. Don't hurt yourself. I'm telling you, my buddies from Teradyne and other friends in the industry will find this cool. Then again, maybe I'm just a geek! Oh well, I think it's cool.

We'll come back to this ancient island upon our return. Lot's of history.

About 6 hours from Symi we pass close to the northern point of Rhodos (Rhodes). We were so close, we could actually dive off Jungle and wade in to say Yassas! (hello)

One last shot of Nisos Symi on our way out. It will take us about 50 hours of straight sailing to make it to Lemesos, Cyprus.

Efharisto Nisos Symi

Poor Jenée doesn't have a cool T-shirt to show off. Oh well. We are on our way back for a 2 day sail to Cyprus. As I write this, we are in a cafe in Larnaca, Cyprus. We'll have more from here in a bit. Yassou.

Not only am I striking a cool pose. This is a tribute to my buddy Chuck Haddad and his restaurant in Brant Rock, MA - Haddad's Ocean Cafe. Best seafood anywhere! Hi Chuck and Cap'n Eddie B.

Jenée decided to hike up the hillside the next morning and took this shot of Symi. I, um, was busy working ... yeah working on the boat. I wasn't sleeping.

Symi was pretty happening at night. Unfortunately Jenée and I were not. Good night! (Kali Nihta)

Symi at night. That white stripe up the hill is a lit stairway that goes to the top and over to the next town of Pethi (Pete-hee).

Another view of Symi harbor.

Time for a spot of lunch.

Look how clean the water is in the harbor! The water people!

The trick to Med Mooring" is the need to drop the anchor well out into the middle of the harbor, then back the boat up to the wall. Piece of cake! Quite a challenge for Jungle's crew of two.

Jungle at rest. Now this is what I call getting immersed into the town life. Our spot was dead center.

Jungle pulls into the main village and harbor of Symi. We are about 8 miles from the Turkey coast - next to the island of Rhodes.

Here's a night time shot of Katie the wonder kitty.

Jenée took to this place like a fish to water! Speaking of which - it has been crystal clear water throughout the Mediterranean.

We made an early morning arrival into the Greek Island of Nisos Symi. We found this pretty little anchorage of Ay Marina.