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Mike and I have left the village of Simi after some days. We have moved to the lower end of the island to the Monastery at Panormittis. There are only 3 boats in the bay currently when I have seen as many as 45.
The lone monk came out in a small rowing boat to sell us bread he bakes daily. With time and not any boats he stays and talks. I am drinking red wine and invite him on board and he accepts.
After 2 bottles he says to come in the morning to the monastery and he has something to show us. We arrive and he takes us through some doors and then to the lower levels in like catacombs. Walking along we get to an area where there is stored hundreds of bottles of wine dating back to when the Germans occupied the island and brought their wines from France and Spain. There were bottles that they had made through the years. He gave us a bottle of his wine from 1996 that we will drink on a special occasion.
Pretty cool over all.
Brad

Greece, Simi May 16, 2011

We are now in Greece. Simi is a town where the sponges where harvested years ago but we think they get them from China now becuase it is more cost effective. The boxes are behind the buildings where we are at.
Being at the quay for 3 days you begin to see how things work in the village. Ihave added some pictures of this town.

The weather is finally getting warm and the sun is out.
Usually the rain in now gone until Sept. I have been doing some trading for new clothes for me. Vicky will be so proud of me. Nothing is broke on the boat right now so that is a nice feeling.

We were in some bays before arriving here that where so removed they were driving uncle Mike to the edge. A little bit of that is good but not too much.
Maybe moving tomorrow if the weather is good to look at a momestary where there are still monks that sell bread to the boaters in their bay.

Later,
Brad

Turkey May 12, 2011

The Evergreen is now located at a small harbor, Keci Buku, in Turkey. The wind to the west 20 miles has been blowing at 25 to 30 knots for about 5 days. The wind here is low and we are down in the bay so it has been fine. The weather has been cold during the nights and cool during the days.

We will be moving to a new anchorage today and most likely be in Simi, Greece by next week. Since it has been cold we are not venturing out much because when there is no sun and cold you lose interest in the surroundings.

The boat is in great shape do to Mike helping out on all the surfaces exterior, refinishing the interior floor and refinishing all the teak on the outside.

Here at Ersoy restaurant, the people are so nice and helpful you can hardly stand the kindness. Rorger, Gill and Doug from the motor yacht RIOCCA recommended it and are here with us now. We have enjoyed there company.

Some pictures are attached.

Brad
Evergreen

Mike Brunet and Brad Faber are back in Turkey preparing the Evergreen to set sail on the first of May.
We are refinishing all the outside teak with a sati finish instead of the high gloss that it has been in the past. Everything seams to be working now that we are back in the water.
We will start adding picture of Marmaris Harbor in the next days.

Weather is warm during the day and cool at night.

More to come. Brad

Have arrived at Sivota. The harbor has two fleets of rental boats that base here. This is monday morning and they cut them loose. Between the excitment that each boat has and the inexperience with the boats it is quite a show to see them leave.

The harbor is well protected and we are at anchor. The quay is out of the wind and is very hot.

we are going to stay one more night here before moving to Vasiliki.

Spain won the World Cup last night against Holland. It was an event at the local pub.

The resturants here are good and the people are concerned that your visit is good.

The olive trees cover the hillside and you can see trucks going up the steep roads hidden by the bush. I'm sure they know where every tree is. We havn't seen any rain in a few weeks and everything is still very green around here.

Brad

We have landed in Levkas after going through a canal and a swing bridge. We are anchored in the harbor where it is cool because of the wind. The town is hot hot.
We should stay a few days here before moving to the south. If you just come and go you never get a feel for the place.
On our way here we stopped at a harbor, Lakka, where we passed some people we met in malta while anchoring. Reinhold, Deborah and their friend Ray. It is always good to see people you have met.

We went to dinner a couple of nights to their favorite place. They have been coming for 3 or 4 years. By going to the same place you get special local drinks and desserts. The people are so friendly and helpful if you need to find something.

We then moved to Gaios town and parked at the key. I went to a local place where they press olives. I got a liter of olive oil right from the barrel of the first pressing. Rumor has it, that Harrods comes here to label their olive oil.

We will be moving to Sivota harbor in the next days. The water there is supposed to be so clear. The water here is at 85F. It is almost warm enough for me.

Check in a few days as we move to the port where we will pick up guests. We will put on the spot.
Brad

We are now in Corfu. We sailed 36 hrs. to get here and nobody is ready for the 4th of July weekend. No one is even talking about it.

It is nice to be back in the EU, something about going from the Harbor Master, to the Police, to the Customs guy, back to the Police and then back to the Harbormaster to get out of the country. All of them have a large stamps. and copies are in quadruple. Seems like a lot of paper work. Not only that, there are 3 people in each office waiting for you.

It is hard to break a system once it has been in place for a long time.

It is hot in Corfu, and it feels warmer here. We will be moving to the south starting tomorrow to pick up guests on the 14th in Athens. We should make it if we don't stop to talk to people. Seems to be our downfall for moving along. Ian is on his way to town tonight, you know it is Friday.

We are in a harbor tonight so we will fill up with fuel and water and move along. Most places we will anchor unless we go to a tie up for a dinner out.

I will send some good pictures once we start moving.

Brad and Ian