Autumn 2023: Planes, Ferries, and Automobiles (and Gondolas)
Perhaps you’ve been wondering what Sunny, Rhett, and Dan have been up to—particularly since our last post was over five months ago. Or, perhaps I flatter myself with self-importance and you’ve moved on and forgotten all about us. Or—most likely—you have given us the grace of time. Regardless, I’m happy to report that we are…
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Hazel on the Hard
I apologize for being incommunicado the past several days. Until then I had been pretty darned good about my daily satellite tracker posts (on the HJ Sailing home page) but the last couple days have been a crazy whirlwind of prepping Hazel for the winter and getting her hauled out. After our return to Sounio…
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Quick Reminder of Daily Micro-Posts
Kaliméra! (Good Morning!) Happy Labor Day to all our friends back in the US. A good reminder that even in a highly digitized world, concrete, steel, rubber, petrochemicals are still the foundation of our human world and thanks to all who labor to make that possible. Just a quick reminder that we’ve been pretty good…
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Ionian Odysseys and Destinations
Odyssey1 : a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune2 : an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest Last winter, as Rhett and I were poring over Grecian charts and pilot books planning our cruising for the summer, we thought of the Ionian Islands (those west of the Greek mainland and…
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Quick Update—On the Move!
Καλημέρα! (Good morning! Transliterated from Greek to English as “Kaliméra.” Pronounced just as it looks with the emphasis on the accented syllable.) All is well with Sunny, Hazel, and me; Rhett is making progress on the home front back in Florida. I’m currently anchored in the harbor of Agia Effimia (“Agia” translates to Saint) on…
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My Worst Self Living My Best Life
Divining between correlation and causation is always a challenge, and sometimes a fool’s errand. Two variables seem to consistently change in a pattern but is it “α” that causes “β”, or β that causes α? Or is there no causality between the two and they are merely correlated? (Perhaps some other, as yet unknown, variable…
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Video Problem Fixed
Καλημέρα! (Pronunciation: Kaliméra! Translation: Good Morning!) Thanks to those of you who gently pointed out that the videos in yesterday’s post could not be viewed. You’d think that someone who grew up professionally doing software testing and frequently and self-righteously foments about app and website developers not testing their products would, himself, be better at…
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A Passage of Time
Given all that’s happened aboard Hazel James recently, I think it best to organize and annotate, illustrate, and “video-ate” our recent 543 nautical mile (625 land-based mile) passage from Gaeta, Italy to the harbor and town of Benitses on the island of Corfu, Greece. While the overall distance we “sailed” (i.e., sailed, motored, and—yes—floated) was…
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Arrivederci!
Ahoy! After several hectic days in Gaeta, Italy starting to recommission Hazel James, we treated ourselves to a nine-day “Amalfimoon” (belated honeymoon in the Amalfi Coast). We then returned to Gaeta, and spent another week finishing HJ’s recommission, trying to figure out all the formalities required to enter Greek waters at least somewhat legally and…
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British Isles Part III: Titanic Hubris
Titanicadjective : having great magnitude, force, or poweradjective : of or containing the element titaniumnoun : a family of giants in Greek mythology who were believed to have once ruled the earth, they were subsequently overpowered and replaced by the younger Olympian gods under the leadership of Zeusnoun : a luxury British cruise-liner that struck…
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Troubles
Although I like to think I have a “tell it like it is” blog-style and pull no punches, in this post I feel compelled to change a few names to protect the innocent. While typically “the innocent” are the people whose names have been changed, in this post we’ll switch it up since the innocents…
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A Best Day Ever, in 43,500 Words
Quick navigational note: This post makes extensive use of “galleries” (groups of pictures). These galleries seem to display differently depending on the viewing device and browser. If you see one large picture, there’s actually a group of pictures with it (a gallery). Midway down the picture look to the left and right for clickable arrows…
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Now THAT’s Interesting,
British Isles Part I: Republic of Ireland
Our previous travelogue—Now THAT’s Interesting (mainland Europe edition)—spanned Northern Italy and Paris. Here, we pick up from where that post left off. I stand at a crossroads. Down one path a cacophonous scrum of blogosphere professionals, wrestle for likes, followers, and retweets. Down the other, a slight solitary silhouette is bathed in a heavenly glow.…
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Rome-antic
OK, so I’m promising myself upfront that I will make this a simple post with just a couple reminders—and not some sappy spill-my-guts soliloquy. Here goes… Rhett and I are lining up for the final approach to our wedding (5 Days 17 Hrs 50 Mins. But hey, whose counting?). Here is the link to the…
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Eggshells
“I feel like I’m walking on eggshells,” she muttered dejectedly. Followed by, “You take everything so seriously and so literally. I was just talking and your reaction is so much more dramatic than what I said.” I’m beginning to think that Mark Twain lied when he said that history only rhymes but doesn’t repeat itself.…
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Now THAT’s Interesting (mainland Europe edition)
So just what can a person learn from sailing across an ocean solo, reuniting with a soulmate, spending a summer cruising the Mediterranean, wintering his boat in Italy, and then traveling across Europe for three months? Surprisingly, quite a lot. Rhett, Sunny and I got back to the US on New Year’s Eve and since…
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