Sailing SV Gargoyle

10/08/2024

The summer is flying by! Before we knew it, we had completed our 90-day stay in Greece. The crew has been enjoying the summer weather, it has been hot; the sea has been cool and refreshing and our crew has finally shed their winter fur. We have been sampling all the amazing things these little seaside villages have had to offer from the local cuisine to maybe one or two Ouzo shots to finish a perfect day.

With the Ionian filling up with charter boats, we decided it was time to head East to check out more of Greece as we make our way to Turkey. Gargoyle made her way up the Gulf of Patras then through the Gulf of Corinth to pass through the ancient but not so ancient Corinth Canal. Another bucket list item checked off for the crew!
Touring the Ionian and Saronic Islands, we were able to enjoy the island and tour friends & family along the way. There are too many great spots to mention, Lefkada, Palairos, Nydri, Kalamos, Poros, Moni although we must admit Hydra was a crew favourite!

We have also had the opportunity to meet some amazing cruisers along the way, a few from our hometown of Vancouver, so it was great to hangout with some Canadians as well as enjoy “sun-downers” with new friends.

Now, Gargoyle is relaxing in Turkey. Soon work will begin, she needs a good belly scrub, new bottom paint and of course the long ToDo list of things to make sure our little home is ready for the rest of the cruising season. While she is taking a vacation on dry land, so will her crew. Samantha and Dean will be relaxing at a kitty hotel in Didim, while Kevin and Carla…..well, stay tuned to see what get up to!

PS - we are having issues loading pictures, hang tight for a Greece Reel coming your way.

03/08/2024

Heading into our first port of call in Turkey and the captain is sporting his new favourite shirt! We really can't imagine navigating the Med without Navily and we've become big fans. Ambassadors even! If you haven't checked it out, do so. This isn't a paid advertisement, just a recommendation from sailors that use it. Love the chat feature to reach out and get real time feedback from users in our next potential anchorage.

16/07/2024

What do you do on a brilliant day in Greece? How about a Clark Pump rebuild party with our friends from Small World III. Darren absolutely loves new mechanical challenges and Carla welcomes help more mechanical than her hubby so it's a perfect day! Now, cross those fingers and let's hope this fixes our ongoing watermaker nightmare!

22/06/2024

The Captain has a new coffee mug from what's become a new favourite stop. Absolutely loving this amazing little town and its friendly people. Not to mention the beach bars, tavernas and curry restaurant. Pair that with a huge calm clear anchorage and you've got a winner for everyone.

04/06/2024

Gargoyle has been making some miles! After the cruise up the Adriatic from Roccella to Venice, Italy, the crew headed south and made the 3 ½ day journey to Greece. The rainy weather and thunderstorms were forecasted for Northern Italy, and it was time to escape to find the warm summer weather. After beating into the wind for three days, the crew pulled into Gouvia, Corfu to check into Greece.

After our check-in was completed and we had all our paperwork, it was time to explore. We did the short hop to Corfu Old Town to check the city out, stock up Gargoyle and do a little tourist shopping. The anchorage was beautiful, and you could see the Venetian influence throughout this ancient city.

From Corfu we did a quick hop to the quiet, paradise of Paxos to check out the crazy anchorage of Lakka. They say this anchorage can have up to 300 plus yachts in the summertime and well, we were glad there was only about 50. It was great to sit on the bow and watch the daily activities of yachts arriving, anchoring, bumping, dragging and then leaving.

We decided it was time to escape the hectic charter boats and go for a quiet anchorage. Another little hop to Two Rock Bay, gave us the perfect escape. Crystal clear water, caves and rocky shoreline to explore and of course a local beach bar to make it absolutely perfect. What is better than this??

Now we do have one small problem, Gargoyle’s watermaker still does not want to cooperate. After a week at anchor, it was time to head to the next destination to see if we can find some expertise in getting it back in operation. So we are headed to Lefkada town to see if we can get it going so we can enjoy more of these amazing Greek islands.

01/06/2024

We've been to a lot of beach bars in our travels but this place is a serious contender for top three! And right now I'm having trouble coming with any serious contenders for the top spot.

26/05/2024

Gargoyle and her crew are finally back where we belong, at anchor.

24/05/2024

We love being at anchor or in small marinas but sometimes you just can't beat a big, well run, marina complex. Here you'll find Gargoyle on the dock in Corfu, at D-Marin Gouvia. We've found to be the best we've used here in the Med for consistency, service, marina services and quality. In addition they're app let's you book a specific mooring spot so you decide how close or far you are to the amenities. No, they're not the cheapest options and we don't use them often but when available they tend to be our first choice.

Cheers from Greece! Country twenty something, we're starting to loose count.

19/05/2024

The sign of an impending passage. Carla's shoes make the transition from cockpit to storage.

13/05/2024

It has been a busy three weeks on the good ship Gargoyle. We had a great 4 day passage from Roccella to Lignano, Italy - Carla did take great pictures along the way however, an incident where she sacrificed her phone to Neptune means only the mermaids and the fish will ever see them.

We spent a week in Lignano, one of the many beach resorts along the Adriatic to catch up with Carla’s cousins who grow grapes in the Friuli region of Italy. Relaxing with family, eating amazing home cooked food, walking through vineyards, visiting local villages and wineries filled our days. Oh and yes, not only did we drink wine, Gargoyle’s ship stores are well stocked for the summer season.

After a week of visiting and the completion of a few jobs on our ToDo list, the family joined us for a day sail over to the canals of Venice. Now Gargoyle is tied up to Marina Santelena in Castello, Venice and the crew is going to hang up the sailing gear to tour Carla’s favourite city!

26/04/2024

The spring weather has settled and it is time to get Gargoyle moving. We are on our longest passage of the year, sailing from the Mediterranean and through the Adriatic Sea. If you want to follow the dot, check out "Where is Gargoyle" on our website.

This is our journey as we write the next chapter in our lives

25/04/2024

The crew has been working to manage the spring weather here in the Mediterranean. With a quick hop to Sicily, we thought we would be able to make our way up the boot of Italy however, the winds kept coming and coming. We sat back, relaxed, toured the beautiful town of Ragusa, Sicily and waited for the window to head East.

After a few days, the winds changed from Easterly to Westerly and we had another window to sail overnight to mainland Italy. The weather was not stable enough to make the hike to the heel, so we tucked into Porto delle Grazie to shelter for the next big blow. As the sun rose over Italy, the crew pulled in at 9am sharp and the marinaios had to set down their morning coffee to assist with securing Gargoyle to the concrete pier.

Now, a big high pressure is moving into the Med and Adriatic Sea and we have a large enough window to sail about the boot and up to Northern Italy. One more day to explore the seaside villages of Roccella and Canne…..then we are off!

14/04/2024

We have been enjoying the past two weeks taking in Malta while we wait for spring to roll in. The best part of the past two weeks was reconnecting with our Vancouver friends Karen and Chaim. They rolled into Manoel Island Marina, then there was a flurry of activity and touring shortly after.

Along with helping them with some boat projects, we made sure they took some time out to tour around Malta. Visiting Valletta, Birgu, Mdina and Mjarr, the crew took in the famous Strawberry Festival, war museums, forts, cathedrals and wandered around the ancient streets of the cities.

We were so wrapped up in the history of Malta, we missed the perfect weather window to hop to Italy! We thought the spring weather would bring a break to continue our journey, but Mother Nature is not having anything to do with it. We decided we needed to make an escape from Malta before the winds came from the East and then swung over to the West.

A quick day run and we arrived in Sicily to wait out weather. Gargoyle is relaxing in Marina di Ragusa and now we wait to make the next run to mainland Italy on our way up to the Adriatic Sea.

11/04/2024

Gargoyle is on the move! With the arrival of spring, it is time to explore the Mediterranean. If you would like to follow the dot and read another of Kevin's midnight watch blogs, check out our website.

This is our journey as we write the next chapter in our lives

27/03/2024

25/03/2024

Easter greetings from the crew here in Malta. We have been touring around this beautiful island for the past week and learning about its amazing history. Every corner in these ancient cities have a story to tell and to be honest we are having a bit of history overload!
At the same time, we have been checking items off the list of things to do. Most of which has been safety gear, as we are coming to 5 years at sea, this means EPIRBs, liferafts, lifejackets, MOB beacons are coming to their expiry date. With items on order and recertifications done, the crew decided it was playtime.

We have wandered through Valletta, Brigu, M’dina and Rabat, all beautiful cities with narrow streets filled with friendly locals and many, many churches. We have taken in the local cuisine of pastizzis, aljotta (fish soup), stuffat tal-fenek (rabbit stew), zalzett tal malti (sausage), all washed down with Kinnie, Cisk and one or two Aperol spritz. As you walk through these narrow streets, looking over fort and castle walls, you can hear the tourist humming the Game of Thrones anthem….and we have to admit we, have been humming along with them.

There are some many celebrations and processions for Easter here on the Island and we have been able to see how the Maltese celebrate this holiday. With Good Friday and Easter Sunday coming up, we are going to be heading to the streets again to hopefully partake in the processions and celebrations. The time seems to be flying by, so we are going to have a few busy days ahead before we depart Malta.

12/03/2024

Gargoyle left Yasmine-Hammamet Port and after a quick 24 hours of smooth sailing, along with some help from our Yanmar, arrived in Malta. It was our fastest passage yet, as we sailed 195 nautical miles into Marsamxett Harbour and tied Gargoyle up to Manoel Island Marina.

We have now had a couple of days to settle into our new “home” for the next few weeks. First major stop, the local supermarket to stock up on all the favorite foods we found hard to source in Tunisia. Cheese, butter, fresh milk, Italian wine, the list goes on and on. With the ship’s stores full replenished, the crew is doing the usual boat tasks to keep our home ship shape and Malta has many chandleries to help us complete the little jobs for Gargoyle’s 2024 cruising season.

Gargoyle has the perfect view of the old city wall of Valletta and as we watch the sun go down in the cockpit, we start to make a list of all the things we want to explore in this small but mighty country.

06/03/2024

Gargoyle is on the move! Over the past two weeks we have been waiting for a weather window long enough to make the short hop to Malta.

Finally, a beautiful high pressure system is going to settle for 48hrs in the Mediterranean, before the next low comes racing in.

If you would like to track our progress, checkout the link to our website below. And don't forget to join our mailing list for our monthly updates!

This is our journey as we write the next chapter in our lives

27/02/2024

What a perfect way to spend a cloudy morning in Tunisia. Italian coffee, fresh local dates and a happy cat in the background. Here's to perfect Tuesdays.

25/02/2024

Some days you just need a bit of sunshine.
Dean's great at finding that warming ray of sun in the boat and one can often find him slowly creeping along to stay in its warming embrace. Cats like are smart, we can learn a lot from them.

25/02/2024

Marina Yasmine Hammamet cruisers happy hour! We've had the pleasure of spending the winter season here in Tunisia with a great group from Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and France. Here's the gang celebrating a Friday night at local favorite La Plancha.
It's funny but we had heard that there's not the same level of cruiser community in the Med vs the Carribean. We totally disagree! Cruisers the world over come together.

19/02/2024

It's hard to believe it's been four years since we met Audrey and Garrett from since then we've stayed in touch and Audrey has just published the first two chapters of book recounting their sail down from San Francisco into the heart of the covid outbreak where we met in Nicaragua.
Check out the first two chapters now on Substack link in their bio

16/02/2024

We couldn't have asked for a better neighbor over the past three months here in Tunisia. Not only is she a gorgeous yacht, she does a brilliant job protecting little ole us us from the prevailing winds. Just wish the owners were about as we would love a tour. Oh well, will be a definite stop for us next week when we arrive in Malta.

.yachts

06/02/2024

The 90-day Schengen clock has been ticking away and we are coming to our 180 days where Gargoyle’s crew is allowed back into the EU. Time to finish up the winter jobs and start prepping our home for her next journey.

With the updates on the interior and the new enclosure, the crew is making this tiny home just a bit more comfortable for the cruising season. Samantha and Dean are comfortable with marina life right now but as the days grow longer and with the sunshine, they are ready to use the upper decks.

The next two weeks will be system checks and of course some last-minute trips to explore a bit more of Tunisia. There is enough history here to keep us busy for months, but the crew is looking forward to the next big stop. Stay tuned!

19/01/2024

It has been a quiet couple of weeks here on Gargoyle. We have been laying low catching up on video editing and getting Gargoyle ready for the new cruising year. Over the past 5 years, we have been focused on ensuring the sailing systems are upgraded and well maintained. Now it is time to spend some time and money on her creature comforts.

In the next two weeks she will have a new enclosure, bimini, sprayhood and updated foam and upholstery in the main saloon. Meanwhile, under cabinet lighting, new reading lights and new vinyl along the hull have been replaced after many years of use. Just like a home renovation, the crew is enjoying the new additions.

We have another month here in Tunisia, so after all the work is done, we will do a bit more touring and then Gargoyle will start sailing again!

15/12/2023

It has been quiet on the good ship Gargoyle for the past week. The crew has been working on odd jobs, enjoying the Tunisian sunshine and catching up on videos so we are up to date for the New Year.

Now we have Gargoyle packed up for the holidays and we are setting off for home. Samantha and Dean will be staying in Tunisia with Dr. Slim at his vet clinic in Tunis while taking in the local culture. The rest of the crew, we are packed and ready to do the whirlwind holiday visits!

07/12/2023

Hello Tunisia! The crew has been settling into their new home, getting the lay of the land and working on a few projects. Including catching up on YouTube Videos and hopefully we can catch up and be back to one video per week in the new year.

We have also been touring around this country and it is truly amazing. We jumped on a tour bus for a couple of days to head South. Along the way we were in El Jem to visit the Roman Colosseum, stopped in to visit a Berber village, rode camels in Douz the gateway to the Sahara, watched the sunrise over Chott el Djerid (salt flats), hiked to the mountain oasis of Chebika and finally rode 4x4’s through the Sahara’s sand dunes to visit the 1970’s Star Wars set. It was a 2-day grind, but it was worth every minute, even the 4:30am breakfast!

When we arrived home, our next-door neighbor asked if we might join him for another journey. Matt’s great uncle was killed in WW II and is buried here in Tunisia. He wanted to visit the grave site, so we set off Matt to the Medjez el Bab war cemetery to assist him with finding his family here in Tunisia. The cemetery was beautifully kept and there were grounds keepers who welcomed us and assisted in finding Matt’s great uncle.

Our driver for the day, decided to surprise us and did a quick detour to take us to Dougga! This Roman village/city is a UNESCO site and covers over 75 hectares in Northern Tunisia. It’s temples and amphitheater have been well preserved since 150 AD and you could spend hours visiting this Roman city.

The crew is also getting used to the weekend markets, local stores to find items for the boat and spending time with the Tunisian and ex-pat locals. Everyone has been very helpful in providing tips and taking us on quick trips when we need supplies. As the holiday season approaches, we will continue our daily tasks and get the crew plus Gargoyle ready for more adventure.