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June 4 – June 18, 2008 Island Hopping across the Aegean from Turkey to Greece, Part II This was the passage where we discovered the fickle winds of the Mediterranean, and that sailing this part of the world is not for wimps after all. (More) |
June 4 – June 19, 2008 Island Hopping across the Aegean from Turkey to Greece This was the passage where we discovered the fickle winds of the Mediterranean, and that sailing this part of the world is not for wimps after all… (More). |
July 11-13, 2008 Night of the Nets: Passage to Italy The first day of the passage was uneventful, although lumpy at times. By evening of the second night, a light sirocco (south wind) came up. We raised the main for the first time since our crew, Kaela and Randi Jo, came on board Pacific Bliss in Porto Rafti, Greece. But by 0200, in the south of Italy near Sicily, we learned first-hand about the Sicilian custom of tuna fishing, called Mattanza (The Killing). The Pacific Bliss mascot is the dolphin. Now we can truly sympathize with those dolphins—trapped and struggling to find a way out as the nets close in an ever-tightening circle—because we were trapped ourselves…(More). |
June 1, 2008 Magical Cappadocia Awesome. Incredible. Stupendous. There are not enough adjectives to describe this mythological, fairy-tale land. There is no place like it in the world… (More) |
May 8-14, 2008 Culinary Cruising: Sailing the Turkish Southwestern Coast Gunter has fallen in love with this new form of cruising wherein one determines the destination of the day by the menus offered in the various restaurants along the way…More. |
April 27, 2008 Touring along the Southeastern Turkish Coast You know you’re rushing the season when you come out of a hotel toilet to find mothballs in the wash basin…“No way,” says Gunter in Kaunos. “I’m not slip-sliding through the mud for an hour…” More. |
April 6, 2008 Tiptoeing through the Tulips We are fortunate to arrive in Istanbul—on our way back to Pacific Bliss at Marmaris Yacht Marina—during the spring tulip festival. It turns out that tulips came to Holland via Turkey…More. |
March 27, 2008 A Mock Global Warming Debate It appears that the global warming train has left the station during the years that we have been immersed in our mission of sailing around the world, and I’m not sure that I am on it. I have much more to learn. But one thing I have found: there is definitely not a “consensus” on this subject, so let the debates continue! More. |
February 29, 2007 The Enlightened Environmentalist I returned from seven years of sailing around the world with first-hand knowledge of the environment and a global perspective. Even so, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I will jump, headfirst, into those risky shoals called Man-Made Global Warming…By far the largest destruction of reefs we encountered personally was in the Maldives…More. |
February 22, 2008 Messing with Boats, Part IX |
February 14-18, 2007 Uligan Island, The Maldives “Good healthy reefs…” the Guidebook had stated. But what we found in Uligan was a fringing reef of dead coral, not due to the 1998 El Nino, but from coral mining…More. |
| September/October, 2007 Trentino-Alto Aldige, Italy Snapshots of Sudtirol Precious memories and moments of bliss on our road tour from |
| Bodensee, Germany September 19, 2007 A Special Corner of the World There is this special place where three countries meet: Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. A beautiful alpine inland lake links and separates them. The locals call it Bodensee; the tourists call it Lake Constance. (more) |
| September 26, 2007 Munich, Germany My First Oktoberfest by Lois Joy Oktoberfest is one great big international celebration,
a 16-day party with visitors from all over the world. The first Oktoberfest
was actually a wedding celebration party…(more). |
August 22, 2007 Messing with Boats Part VIII : Lessons Learned |
June 11, 2007 Marinas of the Eastern
Med: Ashkelon, Finike, and Marmaris Yacht-Marine Pacific Bliss has not berthed in any real marina between Yacht Haven in Phuket, Thailand last January and Abu Tig Marina in El Gouna, Egypt this April. So this story about three marinas is a rare departure for our Voyage Six. Our passage to Turkey, however, was yet another hurdle… (More.) |
| May 30th, 2007 Ashkelon, Israel Sderot: My Adopted Town by Lois Joy The government of Israel is in a double bind, as usual…But when one is right here, one cannot ignore the human element…I’ve heard so many stories from people all over Israel, but it’s the ones from the little border town Sderot that have burrowed a hole into my heart. (More). |
May 29, 2007 Sights and Sounds of Ashkelon. Life goes on here in Ashkelon Marina, despite the rockets being lobbed over the border by the insurgents, despite yet another escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, less than 10 mile to the south. (More.) |
May 16-21, 2007 Pacific Bliss Transits the Suez Canal After one month in Egypt, we are all ready for a new country, a new adventure. Our reservations are usurped by a coalition warship (thats what they tell us) but finally we get to go through. Tired of African flies and Egyptian baksheesh, Pacific Bliss reaches the Med and sails on to Israel…(More). |
April 17/18, 2007 Arrival in Yachtie Paradise Our passage to Abu Tig Marina was true to the blessed is boring theme. Pacific Bliss is med-moored, safe and snug in her berth and her crew is into R & R. Now in “Yachtie Paradise,” Lois, Chris and Gunter deserve a rest. They have sailed 5264 nautical miles (9475 kilometers) since leaving Phuket, Thailand in mid-January. (More) |
April 6-15, 2007 Boredom is Blessed: Passage to Egypt On the chart, it is not so far from Sudan to Egypt, but it seems to take forever. After the long struggle up the Red Sea, Lois, Gunter and Chris refer to Egypt as their Promised Land and become increasingly eager to reach Abu Tig Marina, called Yachtie Paradise, for some well deserved R & R. But it takes many more days to reach their goal, and during that passage, bridging the Easter season, they learn that boring is blessed. More. |
April 4, 2007 Letter from Pacific Bliss in Suakin, Sudan We are finally anchored in the Old City of Suakin harbor. We arrived at noon and are so glad to be here! It has taken us one week to sail (motor) the 250 miles from Massawa, Eritrea, a distance you landlubbers can make with your car in ½ a day. It is times like this when we say, “Why on earth are we doing this? More... |
| March 28, 2007 16.02.33 N, 39.27.03 E The Red Sea Taking Refuge at Sheikh El Abu Island by Lois Joy At 0645, there is still no sunrise. The wind continues to blow from the north, as it has all last night, all day yesterday, and all the night before that. The cloud cover is 100%, gray and ominous. More... |
| March 26, 2007 Anchored in Port Massawa, Eritrea 15º36.76 N, 39º 27.74E Forty-eight Hours in Massawa By Lois Joy Saturday: Pacific Bliss drones on through a becalmed Red Sea, finally reaching the port city of Massawa in this small country of five million souls called Eritrea. More |
| Sunday, March 25, 2007 Massawa, Eritea, Africa The Countries of the Red Sea By Lois Joy Get out your atlas or globe, for this is a lesson in geography as well as sailing: Pacific Bliss has crossed The Red Sea from the Arabian Peninsula to sail along the African coastline. Then we'll be sailing north along the Sudan coastline and on to Egypt. I remember back when we were planning our circumnavigation. More |
| March 21-24, 2007 Passage to Where? By Lois Joy March 22, 0615: I am on morning watch, approaching the islands clogging the "neck" of the strait between Africa and Middle East called Bab el Mandeb, the Gate of Sorrows, or the Gate of Tears. More |
March 2007 The Qat Chewers of Yemen I had never heard of qat chewing before Pacific Bliss through Pirate Alley to Aden, Yemen in March of 2007. The extent of the habit and the disastrous psychological and economic effects on an entire population amazed me. Back in San Diego, between Voyages 6 and 7, I decided to investigate… (More). |
| March 7-12, 2007 Passage through Pirate Alley by Lois Joy It is 1500 on my first watch of our 600-mile passage to Aden, Yemen and all is well on board. We have passed a bay off the coast of Oman loaded with stationary fish traps. Chris caught two mahi-mahis within one-half hour, but gave them both back to the sea to finish growing up. In less than fifteen minutes after throwing the line back in, he was rewarded with a nice-sized yellow-tailed kingfish. So we already have fresh fish for our passage. Not bad! More... |
| Passage to Oman by Lois Joy February 18, 2007 Day One. The wind is up! A good omen for Oman. We had planned to check out today anyway; Immigration would open at 0730; if there was no wind, we considered snorkeling at one of the outlying atolls as a back-up plan and leaving the following day at dawn's light. But waking to wind infused the three of us-Captain Gunter, able-bodied seaman Chris, and yours truly, Ship's Navigator-with a new energy.... More |
February 14-18, 2007 Uligan Island, The Maldives “Good healthy reefs…” the Guidebook had stated. But what we found in Uligan was a fringing reef of dead coral, not due to the 1998 El Nino, but from coral mining…More. |
| 06º 01N, 80º13E Galle, Sri Lanka February 9, 2007 An Unplanned Stop in Sri Lanka,
the Land of Serendip Sometimes part of the joy of traveling is encountering the unexpected.
So it has been with Sri Lanka. For despite signs of war and poverty,
the country has a natural beauty and impressive history that made our
visit here quite interesting. More. |
| A Strange Sight January 27th, Saturday By Lois Joy 0900: I dry off the helm seat and sit down to relax. I've already hung out our wet towels, clothes and even the damp rugs, hoping that this time, they will actually dry...I turn to scan the eastern horizon beyond our stern. Just above the bank of clouds lurking there, I behold a strange phenomenon. More... |
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