Mediterianean Sea.
Mediterianean Sea.
I am Kevin Greer, a boy on a two year trip in the Mediterranean Sea with my Canadian family. We spent the winter in Monastir Tunisia. Tunisia is in North Africa right across from Sicily.
Dragonsinger at the dock in Marina Cap Monastir
This is one of the nice days in Monastir, Tunisia. As you can see, this is a very tight spot to get into and out of. There used to be a boat in that gap. Imagine if we had to get out and it was there! If you look very closely in the background you can see a tall blue crane. We were pulled out of the water by that crane, and had the bottom cleaned. One very surprising thing was that they balanced, pretty much the whole boat on its keel. I thought that it would break off!
So this boat, Dragonsinger, and its crew are going on a two year adventure in the Mediterranean Sea. Many people think that this is a privilege beyond some people's wildest dreams. But I would rather be back at home with my friends, than be stuck on a boat.
David indoors and hard at work.
As you can see, the boat looks quite big, but if you cram five people in it and live full time it gets quite cramped. Jocelyn, my sister, sits where my Dad is sitting now. This is her school space. It is quite convenient though, because you just get up in the morning and you take three steps and you're at school!
Also you can see that the deck saloon, or the raised part of the deck, gives a lot of light. That makes school very easy to see in the day. In one of the next pictures, the saloon looks like eyes. One problem is that on overnight passages, if anybody turns on a light downstairs it shines through the windows and ruins you're night vision.
Crowded Monastir marina.
Here is Monastir marina. It was this crowded all winter. I was lucky I had a friend because we stayed the winter (five and a half months) in Monastir. My friend's name is Charlie and he's fourteen. He also lives on a boat which is 53 feet long and 15 feet wide. We would usually scooter around the marina and go to a big hill.
We decided to get bikes because we had to go to the market every day. My friend Charlie got a bike too. Now you can guess what we took on doing! But there was just one problem, the bikes were so crappy that I couldn't ride mine for two weeks! We paid $170 Canadian dollars for each bike (we got two), and there were constant problems with them. Let's just say that we got totally ripped off. We did because a man came and asked to buy one for $60. Now you can probably see that we were still learning how to negotiate and buy things in Tunisia.
This is a view from our rented apartment on the top floor.
We rented an apartment for five months and it came in very handy. We stored all the spare bags and our deflated dinghy in one of the closets. It's weird to have so much space compared to the boat.
When the boat was pulled out of the water, we didn't want to do school on the boat, so we lived in the apartment for two nights. It has been good for me because I don't work well with noise, so I go up to the peace of the apartment to do my school instead of on the boat.
You probably think that Monastir is very green looking at this picture, but it isn't. This is the wealthiest part of town. If you go to the suburbs, the houses are crammed together and there is a dirt field out front. You don't see it in this picture, but there's a graveyard between the gold building and the green plants. It just looks like the graves are thrown there.
Kevin Greer sitting on the passer-rail.
This boat is very good for us to live in. Off the back you can see a ladder. I like the way the back is made. It is just the right height off the water when you're swimming. We named our boat, Dragonsinger, because all our other boats had Dragon in it. We got the name from a series of books by Anne McCaffrey. One of her books was named Dragonsinger, so we thought it was a good name.
RVYC means Royal Vancouver Yacht Club. That is where we stored our other boat before we sold it. One thing that is much different than in the Med is that in Canada we have wooden docks and separate fingers because there's a five meter tide twice a day. So if you want to go out, you need to plan around them. Here there is very little tide change but more wind. We need to plan around the weather more than tide.
Dragonsinger's deck saloon.
This is the outside of the deck saloon. To me, I think that the saloon looks quite unique. We met up with some boats with kids in Croatia. I travelled with one for the day. When we arrived at the port we knew when Dragonsinger came in from the saloon. It gives the boat a sleek look.
We tried to order the boat before the summer in 2001 but the factory closed just before our boat was going to be made. So we ended getting the boat during the winter. Most people stop in a marina for the winter, but last year we didn't stop because we were way behind time. I'm glad that we stopped this winter because we can stay in one spot for all the winter storms.
We got loaned a small sailboat for the winter.
We met Roland over the winter. He has a 57 foot classic boat. We went looking around the marina for a sailboat to rent during the winter. We saw this one and learned that it was owned the owner of a big wooden boat that takes people out for the day. Roland and I tried to find the captain for this boat, but there weren't many people to take out so the captain stayed home. About a month before we left the captain came and loaned us the boat for the rest of the time that we were here.
After some time I was allowed to go out with my friend only. So that worked until the spreader broke off by hitting the bow sprit of the big wooden boat. Then it was unusable until we left. Too bad too.
Here's us learning how to sail a small boat.
You may not think it is, but it is much different to sail a small boat than a big one. As my friend Roland said that some people come on his boat to charter it for a month and they put two wraps around the winch because they're used to sailing small boats. You need to have at least seven wraps on the winch of a big boat if you don't want you're hands ripped off.
One thing that isn't so great in Tunisia is that everybody has to have permission with they're boss even if there handing out brochures! That is why the crew can't say if we can go out on the boat. They have many different rules in Tunisia.
We had swimming lessons in monastir every Friday.
That is me under number four swimming platform. We usually swim for two hours, but when my friend left, I only swam for one hour. This was an excellent exercise for us.
Here is the big Monastir beach.
When we got to Monastir, we went swimming on this beach. It was October and the water was very warm. I'd hate to think what it's like in the summer. About five months later we tried the water again. Freezing! So the temperature varies a lot from winter to summer.
This is called the Mausoleum where the old president was buried.
We went to see the Mausoleum and it is weird the way that Muslim people bury there leaders. They put the president in the center of the room where the light gets it. I'd think that is would ruin the coffin. Then we went up one of the tall towers and could see the whole view of Monastir. The gold building is where the president is buried.
This building is called the Ribat.
This is the Ribat. It is an old fort that was built to protect Monastir. We went up there once and it was great. There are many passages there. Then we went up the tower. There were no guard rails to stop you falling. Most of the passages lead to the same place.
This is a person trying to make money by taking a tour with horses.
Tunisia is a third world country. Most people just think at the end of the day, that they lived through another day and they don't think about the next. This guy takes you around Monastir for fifty Dinars. They asked us to go but we didn't want to. He lowered the price to five dinars and we still didn't go. In Tunisia you bargain a lot.
This is the most common mode of transportation in Monastir.
In Tunisia you'd be lucky if you didn't see one of these every five minutes. Most of them are old, rusty, and tired sounding. There are many small and narrow roads in Monastir so this is a good way to get around.
This is a Kellog's Cornflakes box.
Here is an example of Arabic. I tried to learn how to write Arabic. I didn't try to speak it because I didn't even know where to start! It was very different hearing and seeing Arabic when we got there but we got used to it. One good thing is that they speak French and we can get by with that.
This is how much space I have for my head when I'm in bed.
At first I thought this was a big bed, but when I slept in it for a couple times, I found that it was small. This bed is much different than I thought it would be. In the boat I have very little space and Allen takes that space. So now I have no space. I have always slept with Allen and I do not like it. I wish that I had my own room and Allen doesn't see that he is invading my space.
But in the whole, this boat is huge compared to our other boat. But still, I wish that this was all a dream and one day I would wake up in my bed back home.
I have almost out-grown my bed at the foot.
Everybody who met me in Monastir says that I've grown. Like if they don't see me for a week and then see me, the first thing they say is you've grown Kevin. So I'm glad that we are going home soon because my feet are already at the end of my bed!
This is my bike that we got, to go around on.
My bike is green and if you look in the back you can see a red one. My Dad was thinking of geting a run down bike so we could get food at the market and then a perfume shop owner said that he'd get two bikes second hand. And guess what he got? Two new bikes! We went to pick up the old bikes when we saw the new ones. We explained to him that we didn't want new bikes but he got us into geting them anyway. All of them would have gone to peices if we didn't maintain them! I couldn't ride mine for two weeks because we couldn't pump up our tires and I didn't have brakes! Then we took a trip to the south of Tunisia and saw some of the same bikes for sale. We looked and couldn't believe our eyes! It cost $140 dinars for each bike and we paid $175 dinars for each bike! We're still learning.
Our bent boom.
Do you see the little black thing on the boom holding the mainsail? We were crossing from France to Spain and the wind changed dramatically. The boom did an accidental gybe and everything looked OK. Then we stopped for fuel at a near port. As we dragged the fuel tube across the deck, we saw the boom. It had totally bent like an 'S' where the sail was! I couldn't believe it! I've learned a lot about sailing during out time on Dragonsinger.
Kevin, Karalee, and Allen in the Monastir, Medina
This is one of our last days in Tunisia. When we left Canada I was just below my Mom's chin. Now you can see how much I've grown since then.
Thanks for reading about my exciting adventures in Monastir, Tunisia! I hope you enjoyed it!