Author Archives: victoriaboucovalas

It was just off the SW tip of Ikaria! We survived the storm and ended up at a safe haven of Fourni island! I was so happy to be alive, but I told Jeff that the threshold of a successful journey could not be mere survival! Two days ago, we got into a storm andContinue reading “…when we survived a storm”

Ἦμος δ᾽ ἠριγένεια φάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠώς…. (Ilias, Homer) …it was a few minutes before 7 am at Astipalea island. The sea was almost completely motionless and there was a salty light breeze. The sunrise was not an explosion of colour, rather a soft mix of orange, yellow and pink paint brushes in a blue sky that slowly wasContinue reading “…. when early-born rosy-fingered Dawn appeared… “

We are at Rhodes, the island of the knights! Rhodes is beautiful! Crete was amazing! Karpathos was incredible! I realized that I have been sharing with you all the “near miss”, completely scary and “almost disaster” days and although those times are very sensational and stand out in our minds when we relate our adventures,Continue reading “…when words are not enough!”

It’s not that we didn’t try to leave…it’s that the moment we drove our boat out of Chania old port we had to go right back in! At least the very noisy alarm showing the engine overheating insisted that we did! Last Friday was our first attempt to leave Chania, 5 days later and we’reContinue reading “…when we just couldn’t leave from Chania!”

Isn’t that poetic!? It makes you think of a nice mellow breeze and jasmine scented winds making long dresses float, exactly perfect for the “natural and unpretentious” Instagram picture…not insane gusts of wind that turn the kayak upside-down and take the paddle flying to no one knows where…! we gave up looking for the paddle.Continue reading “…when we became captives of the wind!”

We are at Kalamata marina, first few days of August and yesterday the sun was blocked by black smoke from the fires in Peloponnese. From time to time I could see the sun turning into a bright orange color and then red. It was early in the afternoon and the wind was strong and burningContinue reading “…when the sun turned red!”

We were at Paxi, a beautiful little island south of Corfu with crystal clear blue/green waters. We were anchored at a little bay called Mogonisi and were 100% protected from all winds from any direction. Perfect little natural safe haven! There were many boats anchored there and tied with lines to the shore, from rocksContinue reading “…when I tried fishing!”

It was on our way to Greece from Italy. We left the marina Santa Maria de Leuca, which is located at the Southeast tip of the heal of the boot of Italy and we were heading towards a tiny Greek island called Othoni, Northwest of Corfu. The sea was a little bit wavy but theContinue reading “…when we saw a shark!”

It was HORRIFYING! We were trying to dock at a tiny marina called Cleopatra Marina (!!!…I cannot see the reasoning for adopting the name…! admittedly Cleopatra was technically Greek, given she was descendant of the Ptolemeos dynasty but…in the Ionion sea, at Preveza, cannot quite understand why “Cleopatra”…unless it’s a play on the sound ofContinue reading “…when we almost wrecked the boat!”