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Hi everyone,
Today we make our way to the island called Sifnos. I'm awake at the crack of dawn again. This stop was technically meant to be on day 8 but with the combination of the strong winds and high waves Dean thought the way to Sifnos would be a lot easier then trying to make our way an other island.
After having some greek yoghurt with a banana and a nectarine. I'm never usually a fan of greek yoghurt or nectarines back home because the yoghurt is always quite bitter and the nectarines are always very hard and I could never eat them but these nectarines were soft and juicy with the added bonus of masking the taste of the yoghurt. I was also reminded to take my seasickness tablets because I may have told everyone I know I get sea sick and told the story about going whale watching a few years back and not actually seeing any whales just the toilet bowl. Great fun that was!
We were all starting to get into the routine of prepping the boat to sail. Close the hatches, make sure all the cupboards were close and locked into place and clean all the items of the top surfaces. I personally made sure my face was washed and sunscreen was applied because we all know what happens when I don't put sunscreen on. From one particular occasion from memory my skin goes a bright red colour then turns a beautiful purple colour depending how long I'm in the sun for and we all don't want me turn into a beetroot do we now???
So we were all ready to sail and Dean mentions that we will actually be raising the front sail and actually sailing today but also when we start to sail the boat will tilt to one side. The side we will be leaning to was the opposite side took my cabin. So I went back down and put all my belongs onto the floor against the wall so nothing falls off my bed and breaks. My only real main concern was my camera.
So we set sail and head for Sifnos. The atmosphere was quite relax and excited with anticipation and here I was so bloody nervous that I would be sick again like the first day. Everyone spread out in various seats around the boat and one of the seats had no one sitting on it so I decided to lay down and have a nap. I figure that would be the best way to win against the sea. I actually managed to dose off for what felt like only a short while and I was feeling great but I woke up to poor Ange brushing past me to be taken down to into her cabin. I didn't really know what was going on but generally when someone gets helped down to the cabin it means they have been sick. I asked everyone if she was ok and fell back into my nap. I wasn't completely napping because I could hear everyone talking and after a while I heard Richard being sick. Ahhh the chain affect was starting to occur. Once somebody was sick it gets the ball rolling for everyone else to soon follow on. At this stage I refused to open my eyes because I figured if I can't see it, it wont roll onto me. Yep I was right soon after Andrew was sick, I seriously had no hope in hell of surviving this trip to Sifnos.
At this stage the angle of the boat was almost 45 degrees but because I was laying down I didn't quite realise just how much of a slant the boat actually was and Sarah was sitting at the back of the boat on the highest point holding on for dear life getting wet with every wave we went over. The poor girl was drenched. With only a patch of her singlet was dry and she was using that to wipe her face.
The wave were getting a bit crazy and Jules was getting quite wet so she asked if she could sit next to me and I could lay my head on her lap. So I sat up and at first I thought this wasn't to bad and I asked Jules how long had we been sailing for. We were going on 4 hours so far but we still had around an hour and half remaining and it then occurred to me that the sickness tablets need to be taken every 4-6 hours after the first tablet is taken. I didn't have the tablets on me and there was no way in hell I was moving from the spot to go downstairs. All I was thinking was ohhhhh Jesus I'm in for it, no if buts or maybes about it! I'm a gonna!!
As I was sitting upright I was starting to feel very uneasy so I asked Jules if I could lay my head on her lap in the hope that my stomach would settle down.
Yep. You guess it.. It wasn't working at all and the sickness feeling started to rise. I sat up and I must have been white as a ghost because Sarah asked if I was ok. All I could manage was to shake my head and at that moment I needed the bucket. I felt like I was in some type of action movie because I had the intention of going for the bucket but the movement of the boat sent me crashing into the centre table then the floor trying to hold myself in place so I didn't go flying across the other side of the boat. So picture this.. There's a girl who white as a ghost sitting on the deck of the boat with her legs either side of her to lodge herself in place so the sway of the boat doesn't send her over board wanting the be sick but the bucket was tired up out of reach. Andrew scrambles to untie the bucket whilst I'm doing my best at holding my sickness in my mouth (sorry about that much detail). My God I've never seen someone untie a knot that quickly in my life and I swear it was the most hilarious scene!
After I had my sickness episode and I'm pretty sure my abs got a great workout I needed to get rid of the evidence quickly because no doubt the smell would set someone else off but I couldn't move. Sarah being the preschool teacher that she is offered to throw it out the back of the boat. But some of it went in the water some of it down the back of things we tie on the sides of the boat when we dock to protect and stop us from crashing into the already docked boats. Richard then swayed himself over to help out and the bucket was almost cleaned when Andrew must have got a wiff of my horrible and he snatched the bucket out of Richard's hand, threw the remaining water over the edge and decided to go for round number two. Here I am still stuck on the floor not able to move saying how sorry I am for making him sick meanwhile Richard continues to spray water from the outdoor shower to clean down my remaining evidence, Sarah is laughing her head off at how funny it all was and Jules decides joins in with her as well. All this happened whilst Dean was downstairs doing god knows what!
When he returned back up on deck it was like nothing had ever happened because we were all sitting down laughing at what just happened. When Dean asked his usually daily question whilst sailing "Is everyone alright?" Sarah said to him "You miss all the action!" And then told him what he missed whilst having a good old laugh. Yes it was great fun had by all. All you can really do is laugh about it and move on. So far this sailing experience hasn't been the best and I'm thinking to myself that it's going to be a long long seven days to come if this is only day three... After all that drama we still had about an hour of sailing to go. I started to feel ready good which is what Dean said usually happens but then you start to feel bad again. All I was hoping for was that we will get to Sifnos in time.
We finally pull into the bay of Sifnos with thankfully not another sickness episode. I figured I would clean the boys things (I can never remember what they are called) just to make sure all my evidence is cleaned before handing them to everyone to be tied onto the sides of the boat and we docked into port shortly after. I think everyone was starving so it was decided that lunch was in order. Whilst we were getting everything ready Dean went out to check out the bus timetables so we could work out what time we could head up to the town in the morning because we were going to set sail at about midday the following day as we were only going to be traveling a short distance.
After lunch we decided to relax on the beach for a bit since we had the afternoon free. I didn't last long in the water because it was FREEZING!! So we all did a little sun baking to dry off. As we were laying there this old man with a kite came onto the beach to fly his kite. Because it we a very windy day he could easily get the kite up in the air but it didn't have a very good weight system and the kite kept flying into either the water or the group of family set up about 50 metres way from us. So then the man decided to put a few hand fulls of sand in the tail of it. I think he over estimated because he could get it up in the air but it was doing the exact same thing as before. He also had this massive big bundle of string attached to this kite. While all this was happening Jules and Sarah were giving a live commentary event. I would stop laughing! Those two together have the funniest conversations. My abs have definitely have had a work out today. The poor man noticed we were laughing and talking about him so after he packed the kite away he comes walking over to us and starts talking in greek. Jules replays with "Only speak English" then he say "I noticed you girls laughing at me before" all Jules could do was try to cover her ass and try change the subject so she asked him if he was going to have another go at it to see if he could get it to fly again. He caught the bait and said "a little later if the wind gets better". Let's just say I didn't see him flying it again that afternoon.
After the man left us Ange and I decided to go back to the boat because the wind was still pretty strong and it was like laying in a sand storm, it was horribly painful and I'd imagine the other girls wouldn't be to far behind us. When we got back on the boat the showers were starting but not very many people can use the water at the same time because the pressure of the water would result in the water trickling out. I ended up having the last shower and it was freezing again. I'm starting to really appreciate the everyday use of hot water and have learnt not to patiently wait because you will be the very last person to get a freezing cold shower.. Haha lesson learnt for tomorrow. I'm getting in there first!!
After I was out of the shower we all headed up to dinner. We were trying a new place because the place Dean usually takes his tour groups to the restaurant wasn't that good the last time. I wore my winter woolies to dinner and borrowed Ange's warm jumper because I only packed a spray jacket. Dinner was delicious as always. Now I can understand way the Greeks love their food so much. They are so passionate about it!
After dinner I was to wrecked to go to a bar for a drink. This Nana needs as much sleep I can get.
I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the town and anchoring in a bay tomorrow night.
Hope all is well back home!
Xox
- comments
Megan Clayton Oh Jess, i couldn't help but laugh at your sea sickness story. Being sea sick sounds horrible but you write them in a such a good way you cant help but see the humor in it.