Sailing Adventures of Mai Tai

Sailing away from Monastir, Tunisia on a still April morning, couldn’t have been more perfect for our first sail of the year. Even the dolphins happily escorted us out of the bay. The steady light winds lasted for the first 12 hours of our 190 nm passage to Malta, but by nightfall the seas became glassy calm and the wind

It is hard to believe that it was 6 years ago since we set sail from New Zealand on this circumnavigation. And now here we are, still in the Mediterranean, and still not quite half way home. We can blame Covid for at least one of those years, waiting in Indonesia before we could move on. However, as we slowed

When cruising in the Mediterranean, you will often hear cruisers ask “Where are you wintering over this year?” Generally the weather in the Med is dominated by the strong winds that blow down from the north over the European mountain ranges, and funnel through the narrow channels between the many islands. In winter these strong gusty winds are icy cold,

So much has happened since our last blog, written in beautiful Syracusa, Sicily.We were running short of our time left to be in Schengen countries, so we planned to sail south from Sicily to Malta, to spend a few weeks exploring this beautiful and fascinating island, and then on to Tunisia where we have booked to spend the winter months,

We checked out of Turkey on the 12th of May to sail to the Greek island of Leros, an island in the Dodecanese Island group, just 36nms from the Turkish coast. After a lovely sail with light winds from the northeast, we dropped anchor in a beautiful, protected anchorage in front of the village of Lakki. The next item on

On the 2nd April we finally untied our mooring lines from the marina at Finike Marina, where we have called home for the past year.  Day of departure; cruising friends came to bid us fair winds and we are looking forward to meeting up in different anchorages along the way. Since the end of March, the snow has begun to

We really love this life and here in Turkey, where we have met the kindest, warmest and most generous people. We have been here in Finike Marina, spending the cold winter months along with dozens of other long-term cruisers. This is the time to take trips home or prepare the boat for the next cruising season. However, now spring is

With Christmas behind us, we will soon be entering 2023 and looking forward to our onward adventures, sailing west towards Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean. But for now, we will stay here, waiting for the winter weather to pass. Many of the cruisers here, fly home for Christmas, leaving their boats, safely moored in the Finike marina. But those of

We are back onboard Mai Tai now. We were only gone 16 days, but it seemed much longer than that. Probably because of all the stuff we packed into each day. Turkey is an amazing country to travel in. We rented a car so we could be completely independent, and we booked into small pensions/hotels along the way. We ended

Since my return from the wonderful trip to Australia and New Zealand, already 7 weeks have flown by.  Lane had the boat all clean and tidy, but still with a few unfinished jobs.  In his defence, he was waiting for the spare parts that I was carrying in my suitcases back from NZ. Finike Marina has been a perfect place