For the most part, Greece is corralled by two seas. To the east lies the Aegean, stretching across the waters between the Greek mainland and Turkey. It is home to the Dodecanese, Cyclades, Sporades, and the Saronic Gulf islands. To the west of the mainland, the Ionian Islands rise from the Ionian Sea. They are…
It was becoming difficult to pinpoint the reason as to why, but we have warmed to Greece, and in particular the Dodecanese. Perhaps an excuse for us still being here. But, the region is truly delightful! It is now early June and approaching our two month anniversary since arriving into the country. The weather has…
Opa (Greek: ώπα) is a common Greek exclamation used to express high spirits, joy, enthusiasm, or celebration, often shouted during dancing, music, or weddings. It is also frequently used to signify oops, surprise, or to alert someone after a minor mistake, such as breaking a plate or dropping something. Not yet out of the woods!…
Wind and waves on the beak, again! All the research we had conducted before this leg of the journey warned that the northward passage through the Red Sea would be an unpleasant game of two distinct halves. The first half, from Djibouti to Suakin in Sudan (roughly midway up the Red Sea), was forecast to…
Djibouti 🇩🇯 Six months ago, if you’d asked me where Djibouti was, I probably couldn’t have pointed to it on a map with any confidence. Now, after sailing there myself, chatting with locals, and digging into some reading, I’ve come to see it in a new light. What now strikes me as odd is how…
Indian Ocean, not so small! Our oceans are immense, but you don’t truly grasp their scale until you’re sitting on a small boat, bobbing in the middle of one. Emptiness stretches as far as the eye can see—until the Earth’s curvature hides everything beyond the horizon. And believe me, hundreds (even thousands) of miles of…
The Republic of Maldives The Maldives archipelago, made up of 26 atolls and straddling the equator, is the smallest of the Asian countries with a land area of only 298 square kilometres. It is the second least populous country in Asia with only 515,000 people according to a 2022 census. Brunei takes the chocolates for…
An estimated distance of 450nm’s, which, all going well should take us a little under four days to navigate. After a 1,100 nm ocean leg to reach Sri Lanka, it would be easy to let the door swing open for complacency. Yet sailing teaches a hard truth: a 500-metre stretch near shore can prove far…
Ceylon Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as she was named prior to her independence in 1972, has a storied history. The island experienced European colonization by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British starting in 1505. Following independence in 1948, the country faced a 26-year conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) severely…
Day 1 Though I didnt realise it at the time, Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli serenading us as we left Nai Yang anchorage was entirely fitting. Bocelli’s work (originally titled “Con Te Partirò“) became internationally recognisable after he teamed up with Sarah Brightman in 1995 singing the tune duet style and renaming the piece “Time…
The waiting is over, nearly Nai Yang proved to be the perfect anchorage after us having left the dockyard. Located only minutes from the home, we were able to steadily take stock and execute what we needed onboard, and what we didn’t need. Regular dinghy runs ashore began to wear thin, as time ticked over.…
A dockyard again!!! I am not a religious person. My parents made a half baked attempt at putting me through Sunday School, partly, I presume, to show the neighbourhood we were a fine upstanding family, partly to try to instill some behavioural guidelines, but mostly because they served Arnotts assorted biscuits after the lesson. I…
Langkawi Until now, at least for us and from the perspective of Malaysia for visiting yachts, the country had been solely represented by it’s north western most region of Langkawi. Langkawi, unconvincingly nicknamed the Jewel of Kedah, is made up of an archipelago of some 99 islands, a handful more if you wish to include…
The Andamans The Andaman Sea cradles a breathtaking archipelago of some of the most stunningly quintessential tropical islands anyone is likely to see. Making this region so attractive to yachties is the benefit that many of the islands offer safe haven from either of the two prevailing weather patterns impacting the region. The North East…
A Clio or a protest? Ignorantly, certainly to this author, the French aren’t particularly known for their manufacturing and construction industries. France, and its outposts, which are all for the most part stunningly beautiful, is singularly know though less so admired for its national sport of protesting. A distant second and we have a basket full of stereotypicals. Fashion, Wine, Baguettes,…
After thirty years in commercial dry-bulk shipping, I was satisfied I’d stared down the presumptive doyen of jargon—those adopted acronyms and abbreviations that walled the trade, and myself, off from outsiders. But five years of boat ownership and the requisite interactions with other boat owners, literature, YouTube channels, et al, and I quickly discovered I…
Since purchasing Luna Blu (ex Alure) in 2019 she had been wonderful platform upon which to enjoy the cruising grounds of Thailand and specifically the Andaman Sea, centered around Phuket, and include popular spots like Phang Nga Bay, the Phi Phi Islands, and then further south toward Malaysia, including Langkawi. Several upgrades had been completed since then. Some were necessary, others were unnecessary…
Hull No.: FR-FPA18019C808 Luna Blu. Italian for Blue Moon. It is a nod to the village I grew up in. More specifically, it references a little hardware store that carried the same name. Sadly, with the onset of the mega-store concept, The Blue Moon has long since closed its doors. The Italian translation carries no…
The genesis of this website was to have something that served as a living archive of our adventures aboard SY Luna Blu, our FP Salina 48 cruising catamaran. We set sail from Phuket, Thailand, bows pointed west, into the unknown. What lies ahead? Only the sea knows. If these occasional posts blossom into regular, captivating…
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