kateandjohnsail.boats

Quintessa has now left behind the Ionian Sea and have entered the Aegean. Like many sailors over the centuries, we knew the trip around the Peloponnese could be long and potentially dangerous. Fortunately for us, there is an alternative—the Corinthian Canal. The canal, which was completed in 1893, is literally a 4-mile long ditch that…

Long ago, in the mists of time, Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the world to find the center of the Earth, and they met over Delphi, Greece. Concluding that Delphi was the “navel of the world,” Zeus placed the Omphalos, or sacred stone, at that place. Delphi became the religious and cultural…

On VHF Channel 14: Rio Traffic: Quintessa, Quintessa, Quintessa, this is Rio Traffic, Rio Traffic, Rio Traffic. Quintessa: Rio Traffic, this is Quintessa, Quintessa, Quintessa. We had planned to call the traffic control when we were five miles from the Rion-Antirion Bridge, but they beat us to it. RT: What is your port of destination?…

SPEAK, MEMORY— Of the cunning hero,The wanderer, blown off course time and againAfter he plundered Troy’s sacred heights.Of all the cities he saw, the minds he grasped,The suffering deep in his heart at seaAs he struggled to survive and bring his men homeBut could not save them, hard as he tried—The fools—destroyed by their own…

After several nights in marinas and towns, we were thrilled to pull into a quiet bay for a peaceful night closer to nature. But this bay was not always quiet; in decades past it was a bustling Club Med. The resort did not last; now only goats enjoy the ambiance of the sea wall, the…

In anticipation of spending several months sailing in Greece, it seemed right to prepare with intentionality. Here is the regimen we followed: 2. Savour olives. Shockingly, neither of us cares for olives. But in recent months we resolved to try to get over disliking them by forcing ourselves to eat them. John is doing much…

It’s not every day that you can look in the evening and see the route you’ve traveled since dawn, but one day we found ourselves able to accomplish this. A generous part of Montenegro’s coastline is the Bay of Kotor, an enormous, fjord-like natural harbor sitting under majestic mountains. After spending a few days in…

Okay, so it’s just a crane in a boatyard in Montenegro, but I couldn’t not share how my crazy brain saw it…

Slap is Croatian for waterfall, and they know how to do waterfalls in this country. Having visited the other major national park, Krka, last spring, we were ready to make the effort to visit Plitvice Lakes this fall. We had to leave Quintessa in a marina, ride a ferry, take two buses, rent a car,…

On the quay in Zadar, Croatia, there is a work of public art known as the Sea Organ. From the seaside walkway there are steps down to the Adriatic Sea, and in the steps there are special holes and chambers that allow the water to flow in and out through tubes that have openings like…