Planning the Cambio dream

This is the first version of the Cambio Dream, from Lake Ontario to Batumi Georgia with stops along the way. Google measurements say it is 17,700 kilometers long, which is 9600 nautical miles. Cambio can do perhaps an average of 100 nautical miles per day, so this is, in total, 96 days, or just over 3 months of straight sailing. Geez i hope my math is right. I expect to take 2 years to get to Batumi, and while I’m sure that the course will change over time, this means there’s about 20 months of sightseeing, lazing around, maintenance, sitting on the anchor and enjoying the scenery. I think that’s a great ratio of sailing versus tourism, and I think tourism may not be the right all inclusive word.

If you are reading this and have suggestions, please leave comments. This is a high level view of the voyage and it ends 9900 nautical miles from home, so clearly this is only part one.

So lets start:

Lake Ontario to New York. Because we have to get to the ocean and sailing seasons are short. I want to get south before it gets too cold, and may have to dodge storms if we leave on Sept. 1.

Norfolk A great starting off point to test offshore. Also a great naval history (yes, I know I skipped Lunenburg and Chesapeake with their great naval lore)

Bahamas What a great place to stop for December and drag the keel around interesting islands.

Turks and Caicos They look like a great place to take a break.

Monserrat and St. Martin Probably as far south as we can go, but I’d like to see them both. If we arrive in Bahamas in December we have 6 months to mess around the northern part of the Antilles before heading to Bermuda.

USVI and Puerto Rico Just looks like great cruising. Maybe head to BVI as well but the whole area looks good.

Bermuda Get out of Dodge before hurricane season starts. There’s no point in trying To Reason With Hurricane Season. This would be sometime in May 2023

Azores Horta looks like such a cool place to visit. It is the first big crossing and hopefully we’ve learned important white water lessions on the 5-7 day trip from Puerto Rico to Bermuda.

Morocco I’ve never been to Africa so Casablanca has to be on the list. Hopefully we can take the Marakesh Express ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TYq9RjdYYU ) and visit Tangiers and Gibraltar as we head for the Mediterranean.

Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia seems like nice places to go and they named an orange after Valencia. How cool is that?

Barcelona It’s on the list because of the architecture in Barcelona, and a friend I’d like to take to dinner.

Corsica and Sardinia They are on the way to Rome and I bet I can find some older guys to play backgammon with on either side of the straight that separates theml.

Rome I’ve never been there, despite a classical education, so it seems like a great place to start the trip down the western coast of Italy, stopping at interesting places.

Calabria Here in Canada I’ve met a lot of Canadians of Italian descent and most of them seem to have come from Calabria. My barber, my tailor, my other barber, and a host of others have all been decent people, who are proud of their heritage so this is an opportunity to see the land that birthed such honorable people.

Messina Messina splits Sicily from the Italian toe and it’s a great way to take the shortcut to Malta.

Malta was the gateway to the East during the Crusades and an undefeated country during World War II. I’m looking forward to seeing ancient buildings and meeting an island full of indomitable spirit.

Thera I hear the South of Turkey is a wonderful place to spend the winter, if time on the Med must end for winter. But how can we miss the island that houses Santorini? So it is on the list.

Limnos and Lesbos Two Islands that have some interesting things going on. Limnos produces a wonderful dessert wine that I’ve tried once and loved. It is also known for its natural ingredients,  almonds, figs, melons, watermelons, tomatoes, pumpkins and olives. The main crops are wheat, barley, sesame, honey, and oregano. And I want to try their cheeses. They also say jokingly that the tallest tree on Limnos is oregano.
Lesbos, despite the jokes (“You aren’t a lesbian unless you were born on Lesbos” – The Mayor of Lesbos), has a million olive trees and so is quite different from Limnos, although it is only a few miles away. Both islands are on the way somewhat to Istanbul.

Istanbul I was last in Istanbul in 2011. I met some fantastic people, like Simsek and Orhan and Levant in the Grand Bazaar and Deniz, the security guard out by the airport. I had a fabulous time in Istanbul and would love to dock in the shadow of the Galata tower, if they’ll have me.

Black Sea From Istanbul, the Black Sea opens up. We would want to stay south, away from conflict and explore the more conservative southern shoreline of Turkey until we get to Georgia. I’d like to visit an old friend, Timur, and see the modern architecture of Batumi and Tbilisi, and the ancient Kakheti wine regions. I think it might be nice to winter over in Batumi.
It is too bad that I’ll likely have to miss the Northern Black Sea like Hungary, Odessa, and Crimea. Whatever time of year we are in the Black Sea I’ve been warned to be off the Black Sea by September 1 due to storm season.