Esprit’s Cyprus coastal route.

Before we realised it, twelve days had passed in Larnaca marina – at the very reasonable cost of 13m x E0.60 = Euro 7.80/day, which equates to AUD 12.48/day. Having done all the sightseeing inland, jobs on the boat and cleaning, we set off again on Monday the 7^th May, motor sailing to Limassol, 38nm to the west. We anchored outside the marina, which is very modern and expensive and out of the wind. The next day was spent exploring the marina and the surrounding city area, before motoring 4 miles to Ladies’ Mile Beach.

Limassol, approaching the marina.

Limassol marina houses.

Limassol marina boats – check the scale of the guy washing the decks.

Black boat: “You may be bigger than me, but I have bigger Mickey Mouse ears!”

Sign in a Limassol supermarket – fortunately, I found a youngster to buy me some Retsina.

Let’s dance!

Next day, sailing around the aptly named, Cape Aspro.

The following day we sailed around the Akrotiri Peninsula to anchor in Pissouri Bay, taking shelter from the strong westerly wind. It should be noted that the prevailing wind on the south coast of Cyprus, is a westerly wind, which starts at about 10am and builds up to 25 knots in the afternoon, before dying down again in the evening – leaving an uncomfortable swell in unsheltered anchorages. The coastline is dotted with windfarms of dozens of wind turbines, providing clean energy. Our next stop was to be Coral Bay, but one look at all the Jet skis and tourist boats with blaring music, had us hot footing it to Lara Bay – quiet and undeveloped.

Pissouri Bay

The reason we left Coral Bay.

Esprit anchored in Lara Bay north.

Lara Bay north – turtles come here to lay their eggs to hatch.

Lara Bay south – Van Gogh could have painted this scene.

We motored the 8 miles from Lara Bay to Cape Arnauti, the the north western tip of Cyprus, before anchoring 3 miles down the east coast of the peninsula, at Aphrodite’s Beach (According to legend, Aphrodite comes from this area). Our anchorage opposite Ttakkas’ restaurant was in crystal clear water, on sand, 1.5m under the keel. The fold up bikes were taken ashore and we cycled into Latchi town, about 5 km away, over an undulating landscape of olive trees and wheat fields. Latchi is quite a pretty town, built around the harbour.

Aphrodite Beach – Ttakkas’ restaurant.

The beach in front of Ttakkas.

On the Sunday, we cycled to the 300-year-old village of Neo Chorio, pushing the bikes up the steep hills for the last kilometre, before enjoying fresh pomegranate juice and baklava at an elderly lady’s small taverna. The ride down was quick, so we pushed on to Aphrodite’s pool to look at where the goddess reputedly bathed. Arriving back at Ttakkas’ restaurant we sank a few refreshing Keo beers, before going for a swim.

Stopping for a welcome drink, going up the mountain.

300 year old Neo Chorio mountain village.

Annie inspecting the menu at the Taverna where we stopped for refreshments.

View from Neo Chorio down to Latchi town and harbour.

Arriving at Aphrodite’s bath.

Me and my Aphrodisiac at Aphrodite’s Bath.

Ttakkas’ Sunday special lunch of lamb Kleftiko, which he starts at 6am with lamb cuts and potatoes on top of green Carob branches, bakes in a sealed clay oven for six hours. At 12:30 the Kleftiko oven was opened and we sat down for lunch with Mike and Sarah, who arrived on Soul that morning. The food, wine and company was excellent. After the very smooth house red wine, we had a Nanna nap in the afternoon.

Ttakkas’ uncle plastering the oven closed.

Ttakkas opening the oven 6.5 hours later.

Inside the oven -yum!

Lamb Kleftiko with Mike and Sarah.

View from our lunch table to Esprit and Soul.

Tuesday the 15^th of May was a milestone for us – it marked two years since we set sail from Sydney and when I threw away my $7.95 Aldi Limited Edition watch. During this time, we have covered 16,739 nm (31,000 km) by sea, via Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt and Cyprus. It has been a wonderful experience for us, meeting the local people in the countries we have visited, as well as sailors from all corners of the world. Health providing and with no grandchildren on the horizon, we estimate our circumnavigation of the world, will keep us busy for the next five years, maybe more. A great transition from work, to eventually chillaxing in retirement.

Latchi harbour approach.

Latchi on the north-west coast was our next stop. Panos, the harbourmaster at Latchi harbour, allocated us a berth at 9 Euro/day, including water and electricity, for 5 days – an absolute bargain, in a lovely harbour/marina. A coastal cycle/walkway leads to Polis town, a couple of kilometres away, where we shopped at the local Papantoniou supermarket. We cycled back with the bikes laden with wine, vegies and believe it or not, some excellent “boerewors” from the butcher, who once worked in South Africa.

Our marina berth with Mario’s furniture to relax on.

Dramatic cloud build up over Latchi every afternoon.

Our neighbours on the marina, Malcolm and Ann from Oxford, came around for drinks and we made a good impact on our white wine collection. Mario the other neighbour, lives on board and has an outdoor patio setting and an excellent collection of 60’s and 70’s hard rock music. The next morning after her morning walk, Annie cycled to Polis again for a haircut, while I dismantled Esprit’s winches to clean the gears in diesel, from the dust from the Red Sea and lubricate them. Quite a messy job and tricky to re-assemble.

Cycling to Polis – old farm buildings next to the road.

Cycling to Polis – prickly pears next to the road.

Sampling the prickly pears.

Polis church.

The winch stripped bare.

Right, all clean, now let’s put this together again – repeat this 4 times!

We have now almost spent a month in Cyprus and would be happy to spend another month here. But Turkey beckons – so on Monday the 21st May we will set sail for the Turkish coast – only 55 nm away.

Until later.