Baby steps to departure

Wild poppies abound

It is getting close to time to leave Cyprus in our wake.  Four boats have already left.....M/V Lady Capelia, S/V Mascot, S/V Shamal and S/V Rock Hopper of Lune.  M/V Dora Mac will depart for Israel this Saturday evening, and several other boats plan to depart next week.  We are now checking weather every day or so and looking for a decent forecast to head north.  Winds in this area are normally from the west or north,  but every couple of weeks there is a day or even two when the wind comes from the east and then from south.  That is what we are hoping for.  Not like we are in a hurry.


Today Bill removed the outboard engine from the stern lazarette, filled the outboard fuel tank with fresh gasoline and took the dinghy outside the breakwater for a quick spin.  Then we mounted the outboard on the rail block and put the dinghy upside down on the mizzen deck and covered it.  Unfurled the jib sheets and ran the sheets through the carrs and blocks.  We unfurled the sails and reattached the outhauls for both mainsail and mizzen sail.  And tightened the main and mizzen halyards back to their normal positions.  Then he ran the watermaker for awhile, discarding the product water back into the sea.  Ran both the generator and the main engine for a bit.


Yep; everything still works.  I am keeping fingers crossed that we might be able to leave next Monday or Tuesday but Bill is not liking the weather forecast yet.


This island has changed so much since our arrival last year.  In August everything was brown and beige......totally dry like a dessert....and hot as blazes.  Autumn was time for the olive harvest.  Then there was the wet season when it was very cold and VERY windy.  Late winter and spring first brought brilliant yellow flowers of rapeseed (canola oil) and 2 species wildflowers covering the countryside; then barley and other grains ripening in the fields and flowers on the thousands of almond trees.  Wild asparagus was sold along the roadside by enterprising little girls.  Then more yellow blossoms on large bushes, lavender wisteria and some kind of large white wildflowers.  And now the green hillsides and fields are filling with red poppies.  We have seen Cyprus go through almost a complete seasonal cycle.  And this island is very, very different during the hot dry season than during the wetter growing seasons.

Mosque in nearby village of Yenierenkoy

A few days ago we happened to be in the local village of Yenierenkoy when the noon call to prayer was sounded.  VERY LOUDLY!  The village mosque was about 3 blocks away and it sounded like those amplified speakers were inside our heads!  


Guess we better get used to this custom again......because we fully expect to hear calls to prayer soon in Turkey.