Sailing the big blue
Sailing between the islands of Greece is an experience in itself. Out at sea we’re quite alone; the vast openness challenges our senses. Gliding in rhythmic motion with our surroundings in this biggest of big blue I’m transfixed watching Christina drying her hair, as she seeks far horizons. Sailing together for the first time, our harmony with each other and our surroundings makes us feel we’re seasoned travellers. Our past lives of only weeks before are forgotten, it’s so easy to be a world away from reality in a yacht on a living ocean.
Cristina a marine biologist is spending most of her time at the bow watching our yacht cleave through the water as the rays of sun descend into the deep and pass below our hull.
We’re on Dolphin watch, as Cristina calls it, waiting for our friends to visit again; we’d been regularly checked on this passage yet the dolphins never stayed for long.
The skyline ‘in this heat haze’ has merged with the sea, only 5 miles from shore we’re too far out to see any landfall. Only our compass and charts indicate our position, it’s times like this that can challenge the senses of many a sailor. ‘Yet for us the vast openness of this ‘big blue’ is a welcome change from the Islands.
We’re happy together, yet we’ve barley spoken during the last hours each of us chilling on our yacht as the wind drives us east to Parga.
The night before we’d sailed through a phosphorescent sea. Plankton disturbed by our wake flashed in alarm, bioluminescence being the result, a shimmering tale of light stretched from our stern as we glided through the night…
Our arrival in Parga was at nightfall; only the afterglow of the sun helped is anchor to the Beach. Our Stern line anchored out in the water prevents us going aground as our bow anchor is dragged up the beach securing us to the land during the night. Sitting in our cockpit an orange moon rises above Parga’s Venician Castle, the next destination of discovery on our tour of the Ionion Islands.
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Tags: dolphin watch, dolphins, greece, heat haze, ionion, islands of greece, marine biologist, Parga, rhythmic motion, sailing, skyline, yacht
[…] This little corner of Parga attracts the flotilla and liveaboard sailor alike; it’s an ideal location for traversing the Island of Corfu and Lefkas. It’s also an ideal spot for impromptu beach parties and getting to know other sailing enthusiasts. […]