Gibraltar to Corfu

Well we have certainly covered some miles since leaving
Gibraltar, we managed to get the A Frame fitted, Matt from Gib Stainless Steel
was working on the frame right up to 1800 on the day we left.

We left Gibraltar on the 4^th May, at 1840, we had
hoped to fill up with fuel before we left as fuel prices were cheap, but
unfortunately one fuel station was closed and the other had ran out of Diesel,
so no fuel.

As we left the marina the wind speed picked up to F5/6 at
120% off the boat, by now the sea state was quite choppy, and coming at all
different angles and so we decided to take down the main sail and sail on the
head sail only. The swell remained with us all night making it difficult for
either of us to get much sleep, whilst the other was on watch. The following
day the wind died down to virtually nothing and so it was time to motor.

We had planned to stop at an anchorage just past Cabo de
Gata but as it was getting dark and the conditions were ok we decided to keep
going onto Cartagena where we stayed for two nights before heading off to san
Antonio on Ibiza where Kevin’s son David was coming out to join us.

Whilst in san Antonio at anchor Kevin managed to install the
Solar Panels and only dropped one screw in the water, at times he was in a
precarious position as he lay across the top of the A Frame whilst a trip boat
sped past causing a large bow wave to hit Kailani make her rock about with
Kevin holding on to prevent himself falling in the water.

With the solar panels fixed it was time to make a start on
installing the water maker, we had taken the one off Miss Lilly and bought
extra parts from Mactrashop in the UK where we had bought the original water
maker in order to go from 30 Litres and hour to 60. After a lot of cursing and
swearing Kevin decided it may have been easier, even though more expensive to
have just bought the 60 litre water maker already assembled. The rest of our
time whilst we waited for David to arrive was spent cleaning and polishing the
boat.

David arrived on 18^th May late evening making it
a late night as we spent time catching up and showing off the new boat. The
following day we set of for Formentera where the water is clear blue and you
have no excuse for not dropping the anchor in the sand. David was the first in
the water soon followed by Kevin, it was far too cold for me so I declined and
stayed on board with a very cold G&T.

Unfortunately the weather was not all that good for David’s
visit and so we weren’t able to do as much sailing with him as planned, but we
did manage to visit the old town of Ibiza and took a trip to Cala Bassa where
David was able to take the wheel.

After David left us we sailed back to mainland Spain to
Javea as my daughter and her family were there for a week’s holiday and as it
was only a day sail across (50KM) we thought it was an opportunity not to be
missed. However trying to contact the marina to arrange a berth for three days
was a bit of a night mare. We phoned the day before we were to arrive as
instructed via email, however the person I spoke to could not guarantee a berth
and told me to phone the next day between 0900 and 1200, we tried to explain
that as we would be halfway between the mainland and Ibiza we would not be able
to do so, and so we arranged for my daughter to phone. She too found it
difficult to get a confirmed agreement that we could berth for three nights, so
as we approached the marina we were not sure what to expect. However it all
turned out all right, our problem had been that we had not spoken to the head
Marianaro, he is the only one who can confirm berthing arrangements, with
everything sorted we headed off with my daughter to spend two nights with them
in their rented villa.

It was great being able to spend quality time with them, and
Isaac seemed to have grown up so much since we had last seen him. We spent the
time building sandcastles on the beach, fishing off the rocks and swimming in
the pool.

The two days were over so soon and so we sail our goodbyes

and headed off back to San Antonio where we stopped  for one night before heading to Palma Nova in
Majorca. There was absolutely no wind ad so we motored the majority of the way
there, about two hours from our destination the wind picked up and so we
hoisted both sails, due to the angle of the wind we had to tack to miss the
headland, but then we seemed to be heading back the way we came, and so we
decided to take the sails down and motor the remainder of the journey (about
3KM). By now the sea state had got quite choppy and the direction of the swell
meant we would not get any shelter in Palma Nova and so we turned around and
headed for Santa Ponsa instead.

The next day we were on the move again, this time to Sollier
on the west coast of Majorca, the last time we had been there it was really
busy and so only stayed the one night, we hoped that as it was early in the
season it wouldn’t be quite so busy, and our luck was in. We stayed there for
two nights, and took the opportunity to take the tram to the old town of
Sollier, we were not sure what to expect, on arrival we were pleasantly
surprised at how busy and picturesque it was.

From Sollier it was off to Porto Pollensa where we waited to
get the right weather conditions to get us over to Sardinia another two day
sail, each day we looked at the weather forecast it kept changing and so did
our plans on when to go, we didn’t seem to get a window where we could sail the
whole journey.

We eventually headed off on the 5^th June, this
time we sailed around the north coast of Menorca as opposed to the south as we
had done last time in 2013. The trip was a mixture of motor, motor sailing and
sailing, not as much sailing as we would have liked though. We seemed to be going
through diesel like nobody’s business, by the time we reached Lucia in Sardinia
we had done1209KM since leaving Portugal and most of it under engine a total of
207.5 hours.

Whilst in Sardinia we took the opportunity to visit some of
our favourite places, and only moved from one location to another when there
was enough wind to sail. On one occasion we managed to find ourselves in the
middle of an international yacht race, each time we tacked to keep out of their
way they tacked and came in our direction, which I thought was very
inconsiderate of them.

Our final destination in Sardinia was Portisco where once
again we waited to get the right weather conditions to get us down to Vulcano,
a small volcanic island north of Sicily. Once again the forecast kept changing,
we decided to head off late afternoon of the 13 June, we had had strong winds
the day before (up to F 8) at times and again on the 23th but not quite as
strong as the day before. The wind was due to die down in the evening to a F4/5
and so we prepared the “Stay Sail” which we had never had on Miss Lilly. We
sailed on the Stay sail until the wind started to drop and the hoisted the Head
Sail which we reefed, shortly afterwards we heard a loud noise, followed by the
head sail flapping about, at first we were unsure as to what had happened and
the we realised the clew had shorn completely off and so we had to pull in the
head sail and motor. In the morning we once again hoisted the Stay sail and
managed to sail for most of the day until the wind died at around 2100.

We arrived in Vulcano at 1715 on 15 July having managed to
sail most of the day, on arrival we took both the Stay sail and the Head sail
down which proved to be a pig of a job folding it up on deck to get it small
enough to fit in the sail bag, unfortunately we didn’t make such a good job of
it as we got it in the bag but it was too big to get in the sail locker so we
sowed it in one of the spare cabins. We then hoisted the spare head sail so we
were once again fully rigged, by then it was time to sit back and chill out.

On the 17 June it looked like we would have the right
sailing conditions to get us down through the Messina Starits and across to
Lefkas in Greece. We set of at 0915 and although there was not much wind we
were able to sail, by the time we reached the Messina Starits just after1500
the wind had picked up in strength to 16K and we raced down the straits where
at one point we clocked 10 of speed over the ground. As we sailed passed Porto
salvo the wind had picked up even more and was gusting at times to a F7 and so
we re-checked the weather forecast before we lost our internet signal. It
showed F7 for the following day with a swell of 3 to 4 metres and so we decided
to stay close to the coast and head towards Crotone where we could shelter. As
we approached Castello we once again checked the weather, the predicted NE, F7
and swell hadn’t changed but we were able to determine that we could get better
shelter at an anchorage by Castello rather than Crotone and so headed there
instead.

The anchorage was lovely and peaceful, but the wind seemed
to be blowing more SW and so we hoped we had made the right decision,
eventually the wind did change to a NE, the clouds rolled in and the rain,
thunder and lightning started, however the anchorage remained calm.

The following day we headed off towards Lefkas Greece, the
swell from the previous day’s high winds remained, though no longer 3 to 4
metres high by now it was more 2 to 2 ½ which still made for a roller coaster
ride for much of the day. The good thing was we were able to sail which made it
a lot more comfortable.

We had intended to head for Sivota which is in the south of
Lefkas, however due to the wind direction we ended up arriving in the north of
the Island just in time to go through the bridge opening at 1100. However due
to a barge being brought through the bridge didn’t open until 1200 and so we
had to hang around for an hour before we could make our way down the canal.

As we headed down the canal we somehow managed to ground
even though we had remained within the markers of the channel, after speaking
to a few other sailors later we found that they to have been caught out and
that they think the dredgers have accidentally dropped a mound of sand in that
particular spot.

As we came out of the channel we spotted Helen and Marcels
Boat Dakini on the AIS system and so tried calling them up on the radio with no
response, however we did get a response from our friends Jeff and sandy off
Nawii, after a brief conversation we agreed to meet up and sail onto Aboliki in
Menganisi.

We had a great evening with them especially as we had not
expected to meet up with them again since leaving MdR.

The following day we headed south to Sivota, which was
really busy, after several attempts at anchoring we eventually managed to find
a secure spot. As Helen and Marcel along with Debbie and Campbell of Walanthea
were already there we invited them over to Kailani for drinks. Unfortunately
the wind picked up and Debbie and Cambells boat started to drag, after several
attempts to re anchor they gave up and headed round to the next bay and so it
was only Helen and Marcel who could make it over.

Just as we had got settled and poured the wine Polish sailor
in a small yacht decided to anchor at right angles across our anchor, the next
minute both his boat and ours was drifting off down the bay, he had snagged our
anchor. After a few choice words from me he managed to free our anchor from
his, no mean feat I should add as our anchor is 33K, we eventually managed to
re anchor and spend a nice evening with Helen and Marcel.

The following day we set off again along with Helen and
Marcel, Debbie and Cambell and headed off to Port Leone on the island of
Kalamos, along the way we were joined by Jane and Brett on Amble, which led to
a great evening of Walanthea.

The following day we took a trip ashore to take a look at
the church which is the only building left after the earthquake which
devastated a lot of the Ionian, apparently even though the village was deserted
after the quake several of the women came back each month to clean the church.

From Port Leone it was off to Abalilki on Menganisi one of
my favourite places, where we met a lovely couple from Slovakia called Peter
and Catia who had also just bought their boat. We spent a few nights there
before parting company with Helen and Marcel, Debbie and Campbell, they to head
south and us to start heading north and Nidri, where we met up with friends
John and Sally.

The chandlery in Nidri has got to be one of the best we
managed to pick up several items that we had been trying to get for months, we
also managed to get our main sail repaired at Souix Sails.

From Nidri it was off to Ligira where we met up with friends
Rick and Barbara off Far Out, we hadn’t seen them since they left MdR in 2014,
it was great to catch up with them and once again we had a large amount of
alcohol was consumed along with some great food. The following morning we
headed north once again and over to Gaios in Paxos, we had intended to anchor
outside the south mole but the anchorage was busy and so we moored on the town
Key at a cost of 23 euros much more expensive that last year.

From Gaios we were going to go to Lakka, but we had heard
how much more busier it was this year (its being nicknamed the great sailing
Parking lot) so we decided to give it a miss and head up to Corfu and the
tranquil bay at Pititri. On arrival in the bay we noticed Brett and jane on
Amble were already there and so invited them over for a barbeque that evening,
which unfortunately cut short as it started to rain and jane and Brett had left
their windows open.

From Pititri we moved onto Gouvia where we finally
registered with the Port Police before heading into Corfu town and arranging
internet access via Vodafone so no more free wifi cafes.

Over the last couple of days we have met up with friends
from the UK which was most unexpected, Andrew Karen, Russell and Sharon booked
a late holiday in Moraitika just north of Pititri, so we met them there for a
day on Kailani, including barbeque. They provided the majority of the food and
drink for which we thank them, then after the barbeque the men provided the
entertainment when they reverted to little boys again and used the main Halyard
to swing off the boat before falling into the water.

Once again copious amounts of alcohol were consumed and all
the men had a thick head the following morning, but that didn’t stop them from
having the hair of the dog the following day.

Unfortunately Andrew and Karen had to return to the UK and
so we took Sharon and Russell for a sail to Corfu, where the plan was for us to
have a meal ashore before they caught the last bus back to their resort.
Unfortunately by the time we had had our meal and found the bus park the bus
had already gone and so they spent an unexpected night on Kailani.

The following morning we were joined by Roy and Jessica of
Tatamanu some more friends from MdR for coffee before saying our goodbyes to
all of them.

On Thursday we fly back to the UK for my son Stevens wedding which
I am really looking forward to.

It feels as if we have already done a full seasons siling,
we have covered 2062KM since leaving Portugal, (last year we didn’t manage 2000KM)
and still have another 4 months to go where we will be having lots of friends
and family coming to stay on board with us. Over the last few months we have
had our ups and downs with things going wrong with the boat, the weather not
always doing as forecast, buts as Kevin keeps telling me “it’s only a forecast”.
However I think we have experienced more of the ups with places we have visited
and the friends we have met along the way. Would also like to thank Marcel for
sending us the picture of Kalani under full sail the first we have had.

Season Four

I can’t believe we are about to start our fourth season as
live-a-boards, it doesn’t seem six months since we arrived back in MdR after
our trip to Malta, so much has happened over the winter.

On arrival in MdR the social activities began in earnest,
Monday and Friday evenings were happy hour in the Stella Marina Bar, the “Men’s
Crack”, (basically where the men met at the bar for a few drinks and discussed
how they could put the world to rights), was on a Wednesday, followed by the
writers circle which I joined and wrote a children’s story for the
grandchildren which I was quite pleased with.

Then there were the special events, one of the American
couples, Wanda and John organised a Thanksgiving party, I don’t think they
expected so many to attend. At the last count there were over 80 people, the
original plan was to hold the event in the marina meeting room but it was not
big enough and so one of the local restaurants helped out. The next problem was
how to cook three large Turkeys and a joint of Pork, once again one of the
local restaurants helped out. Everybody attending was to bring a dish, either
starter, vegetables or a dessert, in the end there was so much food, but hardly
anything was left, the even was a resounding success.

One Sunday several of us went olive picking, this appears to
be an annual event within the marina, the wife of the farmer used to work at
the marina and each year they ask for help with picking the olives. They are
not well off and any help they get is greatly received, and so a group of us
hired a couple of cars and set of for the mountains/hills, laboured for the day
and then paid for our evening meal, never paid to work before but we all had a
great day.

At the beginning of Christmas our Dutch friends put on an
event to celebrate Christmas, they provided traditional Dutch food and
everybody attending had to bring a small gift in a shoe, at the end of the
night you collected your shoe where your gift had been replaced with another, a
bit like the English “Secret Santa”,  
again another resounding success.

Another event organised was an Open Mike night, several of
the Live-a-Boards got together to either sing or play and instrument, at first
Kevin and I weren’t too bothered about going as we thought it would be a bit
like Karaoke, which we are not too keen on. I have to say though we had a great
night, one of the best and one we will never forget, the talent amongst the
Live-a-Boards was amazing.

On another occasion we five of us from the marina joined a
local walking group to do an 18K walk from Ragusa to Santa Crotche, what we
didn’t expect was to be joined by 250 other walkers, it truly was an amazing
sight to see all these people get off the bus to commence the walk.

Over the winter we also made new friends of different
nationalities as well as meeting up with old friends from the previous winter,
our pontoon which had been quite quiet the previous year was full this year and
people often stopped to chat as they went by. A couple of my favourites were
Wiley and Rosie a couple of terrier puppies adopted by Maggie and Broncho our
Canadian friends, they were so cute, the puppies that is. There were also
barbeques and invites to other boats a plenty, Kevin and Brett were invited
onto Mobilae for a Thai cooking lesson curtesy of Maarten who is a very good
cook, between them they cooked up a great meal.

We had originally planned to return to the UK on the 22^nd
of December, but Kevin found a 50ft Beneateau Oceanis for sale in Portugal with
a good specification. We had been looking for a bigger boat throughout the
season and although viewed several none fitted our requirements, this one
seemed to fit the bill. So we changed our plans and headed to Portugal to view
the boat.

We spent five days looking over the boat, having it
surveyed, going for a test sail and finally negotiating final cost and the things
we wanted the owner to do before we purchased. Before we left for the UK the
price had been agreed and we were set to be the owners of a new boat, all we
had to do was pay for it.

We spent Christmas and New Year with family first staying
with my daughter Claire in Milton Keynes, it was great to spend time with her,
Steve and Isaac, Christmas morning we were woken early by a blue flashing light
and a siren, Isaac had had a policeman’s outfit and couldn’t wait to show us, I
had forgotten what it was like to be up in the early hours of Christmas
morning. 

After breakfast, sharing out presents, and watching Isaac as
he opened his with sheer excitement, we headed up to Derby to see Kevin’s
daughter and the two granddaughters, the girls were so pleased to see us and
made a big fuss of Kevin, it was great to see the delight on his face, and
again the excitement as Summer and Taylor opened their presents and showed us
what Santa had bought them.

It was then off to Kevin’s brother’s house, where we were
treated to one of Madeline’s scrummy Christmas dinners and more present
swapping. We spent a relaxing three days with them before heading back to my
daughters for New Year.

It was soon time for me to head back to MdR, Kevin was
staying behind as he was going to work for his old boss until the end of the
month. Back in MdR it was great to catch up with everybody and I had so many
invitations for dinner I don’t think I spent one night in the first week I was
back.  

The weather was much colder however and I ended up having to
buy myself a hot water bottle, haven’t needed one of those in years. Each
morning at 0800 it was Shibashi on the beach sometimes it was so cold the sea
felt warmer, and on some days we were even doing it in the rain, must have been
mad, but as I sometimes lead the group I felt I had to turn up as did everybody
else it seems.

It was soon time for me to head back to the UK, however on
the Wednesday before I left friends at the marina put on a surprise 60^th
birthday party for me, I was totally shocked at how many people turned out for
the event. It was a great night with the marina bar supplying three birthday
cakes all extravagantly decorated and a glass of bubbly for everybody.

Back in the UK I had even more surprises as Claire took me
to London for lunch and to see Circus Solei, I must say some of the acts defied
gravity, and totally awe struck at the positions two girls could get their
bodies into. On the day of my birthday Claire had arranged for us to all go out
for dinner to the local restaurant. Isaac couldn’t wait for me to see the
balloons which he had helped his mum attach to the chair.

We spent the rest of the month staying at our friends Linda
and Dave’s  house in Derby as they had
gone on a two week Caribbean Cruise, again we spent time with our family and
friends, and spent two lovely days with Summer and Taylor, Kevin’s granddaughters.

The final treat for
my birthday was to go and see 50 Shades of Grey with Madeline and Evie, I have
to say having read the book it was what I had expected to see.

Instead of going back to MdR as originally planned we headed
to Portugal to take ownership of our new boat and start to get her ready for
our fourth season. Things didn’t seem to get off to a good start, both battery
chargers broke and so we had to purchase new ones, I broke a mirror, a bung
came out of the water pump and so we ended up with the water tanks leaking into
the bilges, at least they are now clean.

We also decided to change the name of the boat from La
Chamare (which is a mythical monster) to Kailani which is a Hawaiian goddess of
the sea and the skies. It took some deliberation to arrive at a name we both
liked and even then with a shortlist of three we still could not make up our
minds, and so we put it to the family to decide for us and it was a unanimous
vote Kailani.

We had both heard that it is unlucky to change the name of a
boat without going through some sort of ceremony first and so I spent some
considerable time looking online at what we needed to do. There appeared to be
a lot of alcohol involved mainly for the Gods of the sea and the four winds,
and we were to ensure that the old name had been erased completely off the
boat, easier said than done. I wrote down the various speeches that had to be
made to the god and with the required alcohol at the ready we proceeded with the
ceremony, by the time we had toasted the gods there was a small amount of
bubbly left for us so we are hoping we will be well looked after by them.

Within a week of Miss Lilly going on the market we had a
call from the broker informing us someone was interested in buying her. After
their initial visit they wanted to proceed with a survey and a test sail and so
we hastily made plans to get back to MdR, on this occasion we decided to drive
there in a car big enough to enable us to offload all our belongings from Miss
Lilly and transport them back to our new boat Kailani.

Our drive through Portugal, Spain and France was an
enjoyable one, but unfortunately we had only just driven over the boarder to
Italy when a car in the outside lane drove across us, pushing us into a car on
the inside lane, fortunately there was not much damage and both of us were
unhurt, but it delayed our journey by and hour and a half whilst we had to deal
with the Italian police.

The overall trip however was successful as we sold Miss
Lilly, the down side was we couldn’t get everything into the car so we ended up
giving stuff away, however Helen of Dakini said she would look after my handbags.
Our last night on board Miss Lilly we managed to get 16 people all at once on
board to help us dispose of all the wine and beer we could not fit into the
car, it was a great farewell night.

On the trip back we stopped off for a couple of nights in
Florence a place both of us wanted to visit, we found a great hotel just
outside the city with a shuttle bus which would take us in free of charge.
Unfortunately the museums were closed and so I did not get to see the tribute
to David, I did however climb the 466 steps up to the top of the cathedral,
plus the bell tower to look over the city.

Back in Portimao we spent most of our time cleaning and
polishing and repairing things that had gone wrong on Kailani. We took her out
for another test sail to find our brand new Gold  Navionics chart did not seem to be working.
So Kevin was straight onto the supplier, who was baffled as to why it was not
working. Kevin soon found the answer, our new card only started from Gibraltar,
he had inserted the wrong card into the plotter.

We also tried to get our rigging checked and someone to
build us a Stainless steel frame to house the solar panels and hoist the dingy,
however neither chap turned up as planned and so we would have to find somewhere
else to get the work done

As the time drew near for us to leave Portimao we kept an
eye on the weather forecast, the winds were predominantly south east, which was
not what we wanted, eventually a window appeared in the weather and so we
planned to take it even if it did mean we would get wet from the rain.

On the day we left the skies did not look as dark as we
expected and so we hoped that the predicted rain would stay away. We cast off
and headed out to sea, outside the breakwater the sea was quite choppy and the
boat rolled from side to side, once clear of any obstacles we prepared to hoist
the main sail. It was then that we noticed the main halyard had become
disconnected to the sail and it was soon swinging about all over the place.
Kevin tried to retrieve to no avail as the boat was rocking and rolling all
over the place, and so we left it and prepared to motor sail all the way to
Canal de Olhao, and inland waterway, one of our favourite anchorages, so
tranquil.

On arrival at the anchorage we found one of the caps of the fresh
water strainer had broken and a large amount of water has leaked into the
bilges (another good cleaning) and so we had to make an unplanned visit to
shore to stock up with some water bottles, plus partake in a beer.

The following morning Kevin attempted to try and mend the
cap of the water pump, which seemed to work, but we were not sure how long it
would last and we just hoped we could get a new one in Gibraltar. We left the
anchorage around 1100 and headed back out to sea, with me at the helm, however
when we got to the exit of the channel I handed the wheel back to Kevin, the
tide was against us and the sea looked a little exuberant for my liking,
however once out into open sea everything calmed down and we settled back for a
long sail, at least 24 hours.

The journey was quite uneventful really, we saw hardly
anything during the day, just as it got dark we saw tuna nets off Puerto de
Conil, they were well lit and we saw them miles before we were anywhere near
them. From there we passed many fishing boats along with larger ships as they
came out of Gibraltar straits, we passed Tarifa just after dawn.

We arrived in Gibraltar at 1050 on Friday 17^th
April and moored up with help from the marina staff, no wind for a change
whilst mooring and the boat handled really well in a confined space, Kevin was
well pleased. We planned to spend at least three nights here but ended up
staying longer, we had arranged to pick up our new Rocner Anchor we had
purchased plus the new water maker, both of which arrived on the Monday.

However the chandlery didn’t have the required caps for the
water pump and so Kevin had to find another source which meant he had to take a
trip to La Linea just over the boarder to pick them up. There were several
other items we needed from the chandlery but unfortunately their range of stock
was not as big as we had expected and so a lot of things on our shopping list
could not be obtained.

I on the other hand I  took a trip to Morrisons to stock up on some
of our favourite things that we can’t normally get such as Millicano coffee and
Speckled Hen for Kevin, a real treat, real beer.

Whilst here we have arranged for someone to give us a quote
for the Stainless Steel A frame so that we can mount Solar Panals (which have
been a nightmare to source) and lift the dingy, so hopefully once this is
fitted we will be on our way again.

Our location can be seen on marinetraffic.com by entering
our MMSI number 235109362 into the vessel details, it will then come up with
the name Kailani, or you can just enter Kailani and select us from the choices
available. Marine Traffic will then show you the boat details.  

Nearly End of the Season

Our sailing season is fast coming to an end we have said
goodbye to the beautiful Greek Ionian Islands, made our way back to Siracusa in
Italy and then on to Malta where we have met up with several friends from Ragusa.

During our last few weeks in the Ionian Isles we met up with
Kevin’s brother and family, they were staying in a villa in Lourdos bay on the
south coast of Cephalonia, unfortunately there were no safe anchorages where we
could leave the boat to visit their villa, and so we moored alongside the town
quay in Argostoli. On our first night there we were visited by a young surly
gentleman from the port police, we were requested to take our passports and
papers to the office within the hour which we duly did. However I can’t say our
experience with them was that pleasant, which was a change from previous
encounters with the port police in Greece who had all been very friendly and
welcoming. To top it all in Argostoli the port police charge from 12 midnight
to 12 midnight the following day meaning we had to pay for two days for a
single overnight stay, mind you it was only 7 euros a night so not expensive.

It was in Argastoli where we saw several Loggerhead Turtles
close up, apparently in the bay there are supposed to be 25 in total and at
times they swim passed the back of the boat. We saw more turtles here than in
Turtle bay in Zante where their breeding ground is claimed to be.

The day after Kevin’s brother arrived we caught the bus and
headed off to Lourdos bay for the day, or possibly two, their villa was set on
the hillside overlooking the bay with an infinity pool that was just so
inviting, even if it was a little cooler than the sea.

On a couple of occasions Steve Madeline, Sophie and Harry
visited us in Argostoli where we took them out for a sail, the first sail was
to the top of the bay north of Argostoli there Steve and the kids swam ashore whilst Kevin took Madeline in the dingy.
Back on board Kevin set up the main halyard so that Sophie and Harry could
swing off the boat, Kevin decided to have a practice run first to make sure it
was ok, however it was not possible to get a good run of the boat and so he
couldn’t swing far enough away before he started swinging back towards the
boat, the look on his face was a picture.

Our second sailing day took us to the bay just south of
Argostoli, where those of us who had been nominated to undertake the ALS ice
bucket challenge completed our task. Unfortunately we didn’t have access to any
ice and had to settle for a huge bucket of sea water, the bucket was that big
and heavy it took both Kevin and Steve to lift it. Have to say Madeline’s
challenge was the best as the force of the water nearly de-frocked her.

We also tried our hand at synchronised swimming, however it
soon became apparent that none of us could follow the instructions as we
all  ended up all taking on different
poses.

During Steve and Madeline’s second week, they hired a car
and so we arranged to meet them in Sami on the east coast of Cephalonia, we had
heard that a front was coming in and so here was the best place to take
shelter. When we arrived around 1530 it looked as if we had managed to get the
last spot on the inside pontoon. However not long after we arrived there was a
steady stream of boats arriving all trying to get a safe haven, to the point
some boats ended up rafting three abreast. Then at 1700 a large wooden sailing
boat arrived and we thought no chance would that get in, but by moving a few
boats around the port police managed to get it in and moored up.

The following day the predicted rain and thunder storm
arrived, which meant most of the day was spent on board, before going out for a
meal in the evening sporting our wet weather gear and brolli’s.

On the Wednesday we headed up to Fiskardo where again we
were to meet Steve, Madeline, Sophie and Harry, who arrived just as we were
mooring up, after which we met them ashore for lunch.

Back on board in the afternoon the kids got back to doing
what they liked best jumping of the front of the boat, Harry in particular, who
was very rarely out of the water.

It was great to have them all stay over on the boat as the
following day was to be our last day with them before they headed back home.
Unfortunately though the weather took a turn for the worse whilst we had our
breakfast ashore and so we ended up spending most of our morning at the café
taking shelter.

However not long after the rain stopped the sun came out and
we were able to enjoy the rest of our time together swimming off the back of
the boat before we had to say our goodbyes.

After Steve and Madeline left we stayed a few more days in
Fiskardo before heading back to Lefkas, then to Preveza and then back to Lefkas
we then decide to take the next weather window back to Sicily and then on to
Malta which hadn’t originally been on our agenda.

We said goodbye to the Ionian Islands and left for Siacusa,
Sicily  at 0600 hrs on the 16^th
September, which would take us two days. At first the wind was quite fickle one
minute we had wind the next we didn’t so it took us a bit longer than
anticipated before we passed the headland and were out in open water. On our
first day we managed to sail averaging 6.5knts until 1900hrs before the wind
died on us and we had to take the sails down and motor. The second day we
managed to sail using the cruising chute but our speed was nowhere as fast as
the previous day, but still we were sailing and the sea conditions were great.

During the crossing we were visited by the occasional
dolphin, one of which made sure we saw him by jumping high out of the water
just by the boat before landing in the water on his back, winking at me as he
went. Our second visitor was most unexpected, a small bird who landed on deck
just by Kevin’s feet, as I went below to get the camera he (the bird that is
not Kevin) decided to take a peek inside to see what I was up to, a very
friendly chap.

We arrived back in Siracusa at 1218 on the 18^th
September, the sun was shining and it was great to see land again. Our plan was
to move on to Malta as soon as we got the next weather window, however that
proved to be some time away.  On the Sunday
after our arrival in Siracusa we were joined by Jane and Brett of S/Y Amble, it
was great to see them again and for us to swap stories of our trip around the
Ionian. Later Pete of S/Y Arganauta also arrived.

On the Wednesday it looked like we had the weather window we
were waiting for, as we were going to do the trip in one go, and as we did not
wish to arrive in Malta in the dark we decided to leave around 1900 aiming to
get to Malta mid afternoon the following day. However as we sailed out of the
bay the wind was much stronger than forecast, and not in the direction
forecast, and as we cleared the headland the wind speed picked up to 23knt
gusting to 25knt and so we made the decision to turn back as in past
experience, the weather could get worse. We arrived back in the bay and hour
and a half after we left it, just as we entered the bay the wind died
completely, so in this case the weather improved, but it would have meant us
motoring all the way to Malta had we of kept going.  

The next weather window didn’t materialise until Monday 29^th
September nearly two weeks after we arrived in Siracusa. This time we decided
to do the trip over two days calling in Porto Pollo on the South East of Sicly
before heading to Malta the following day, this time we were to be joined by
Jane and Brett who were also making the trip to Malta.

The pilot book did not give a very good write up in relation
to Porto Pollo and so we were pleasantly surprised how nice it was, just shows
you need to check places out yourself and not rely on other people’s
perceptions.

The following day we left Porto Pollo at 0530 and headed off
to Malta, followed by Jane and Brett an hour later. There was insufficient wind
to sail and so we had to motor sail all the way, with the swell coming up
behind us which meant we were rocking and rolling the whole trip. We arrived in
Malta at 1700 and anchored in a bay on Comino a small island between Gozo and
Malta, there we were met by Helen and Marcel who had invited us all over for
dinner. A great evening was had by all but I think its fair to say we all had a
little too much grape juice, and as we said our goodbyes and got into the dingy
Kevin took an unexpected dip, on surfacing the expression on his face was
priceless.

The next day we had a leisurely few hours in the morning,
with Marcel doing his impression of Rodin’s The Thinker, or was he just cutting
his finger nails.

Before we set off to explore the caves in the bay, Marcel,
Helen, Brett and Jane in Kayaks, and Kevin and I in the dingy, we don’t have
room on board for a Kayak.

The following day we headed to Mgar to get provisions and
sort out internet access before moving to another bay on Comino, we weren’t too
keen on this particular anchorage as it was over rock and so made the decision
we would move somewhere else the next day.

The next day Marcel, Helen, Kevin and I sailed to Mellieha
Bay whilst Jane and Brett headed to St Julian Bay. We spent three nights here
and on our last day Kevin and Marcel took themselves off to go diving, leaving
at 10:30 and not getting back until 17:00, when they got back they both looked
like the cat that had all the cream.

Each night we had been in Mellieha  bay we had we were treated to an electrical
storm with skies being continually lit up, along with the sound of thunder, but
worse to come had been predicted and so after three days in the bay we headed
down to Rinella Creek just inside the entrance to Grand Harbour. We had a good
sail down, at one point however we had a large motor boat heading straight for
us, Kevin tried on several occasions to turn so that we would go Port side him,
but each time the motor boat turned in our direction and didn’t veer away until
he was nearly upon us causing us to have to turn into the swell he created. It
was obvious his manoeuvring had been deliberate as he watched us in his swell as
he went past. We arrived in Rinella Creek without further problems, several of
our friends were already here including Helen and Marcel, we dropped anchor but
were not happy with the position and so we lifted it back up and dropped it a
second time. Before we got chance to check the hold it was like a switch had
been flicked there was thunder and lightening all around, torrential rain, and
winds up to force 8, at that point Kevin shouted we have a hold, unfortunately
several others around us did not and so those boats lifted anchor and tried to
re-set others moved further out of the bay and just sat the storm out before
re-anchoring.

The storm lasted some time, before abating after which we
were treated to a spectacular sunset.

During the night we were subjected to more rain and thunder
storms but nothing on a par with the earlier storm, and in the morning we awoke
to blue skies and sunshine. We plan to spend a few more nights here before
moving on and tonight we are all going over to Mobilae  for a bring your own meal, really looking
forward to that.

Ithaca, Cephalonia & Zante

I can’t believe it is just two weeks since our last blog, we
seemed to have moved about quite a bit. From Sivota we retraced our steps and
headed back for a night in Menganisi and then up to Lefkas town where we
anchored just of the town key then headed into town to pick up several litres
of our favourite wine (very important not to run out) before heading back down
to Nidri.

The following morning we headed of south again to Ithaca, the first
part of the journey was quite tranquil with very little wind but we did manage
to sail most of the way down between the island of Menganisi and Lefkas. However
as we came out of the shelter of the channel between the two islands the wind
picked up along with the swell. We decided to cut our journey short and head
for Sivota, and it seemed everyone else had the same idea, as several other
boats were also heading in that direction as well. As we approached though we
noticed the boats ahead of us all did a complete u-turn and headed back out of
the bay. We soon found out why as we entered the bay, the wind was howling down
between the mountains causing a huge swell in the bay making it untenable to
stay there, so we to did a u-turn and headed back out. We decided to head for
Kalamos another small island as the wind was right behind us which meant we
should get a good sail, we hauled the head sail and set of reaching 7 knots,
then all of a sudden the wind just stopped. As Kalaomos was the same distance
as Ithaca and we had to motor either way we decided to go back to plan A and
head for Ithaca. It was not long however before the wind picked up again, talk
about the lull before the storm, and so we quickly reefed in both main sail and
head sail as there was no turning back now.

As we approached Ay Nikolaos on the North East coast of Ithaca
the winds had reached 30 knots, I was so glad to get into the bay and find some
shelter, it wasn’t over yet though, there were several other boats in the bay
and there was no swinging room and so we had to moor with the anchor down and
two lines to shore. As soon as the anchor was down I was in the water swimming
with the shore line to attach it to one of the rocks, the problem was there was
very little foot hold as it was quite deep right up to the rocks, plus the
water was much colder here. I finally managed to secure the line, swim back for
the second and secure that, then it was time for a well-earned G&T, after a
shower of course.

I can’t say I was particularly enamoured with the bay, it
looked cold and oppressive and was very windy and so the following day we set
of for Kioni, which is an attractive if not small town with a few cafes and
tavernas. It is however popular with flotillas and charter boats as well as
live aboards, making it quite a noisy place

We spent one night here before heading further down the
coast to Vathi, which is quite a large bay where you can moor alongside the
town quay or at anchor, we chose to anchor hoping to get a quieter night. This
was not to be though as the winds picked up again and howled all night, it felt
as if the boat was being swung about like a hammer thrower swings his hammer.
By morning the winds had died down to a more acceptable level and we took the
dingy ashore to have a look around. On first impressions it looked like a big
town but once ashore we found that this was not the case, but it was still
quite quaint. Back on board the winds again picked up but thankfully not to the
level they had been the day before, by evening more and more boats were coming
into the bay for shelter and as people tried to anchor tempers were getting
fraid, and you could hear sailors shouting at one another to move away as a
boat was to close or crossing their anchor, it certainly kept Kevin
entertained.

The next leg of our journey was over to Fiskardo on
Cephalonia, another very popular place for Flotillas and charter boats, and so
we left early in the morning with the aim of getting there around 11:00 in the
hope of finding a mooring. This was based on it being a Sunday so hopefully
Flotillas and Charter boats would be back in their base and most people leave a
mooring between 10:00 and 11:00, and this assumption had worked for us before,
not in this case though, however we did manage to find a spot, again it was
drop anchor and swim ashore with the stern lines.

I have to say I was not sure what I expected in regards to
Fiskardo, although I had been to Cephalonia a couple of times on holiday I had
never been to Fiskardo, I had heard how beautiful it was, and I was a little
concerned that my expectations would not be met, I could not have been more
wrong, I fell in love with the place, not I hasten to add because it had some
great cloths shops as Kevin suggests. It had a real buzz about the place
without losing any of its charm.

Whilst here we went on a couple of walks, the first one was
10K so we got up early in the morning and set off, the walk took us up and over
the top of the Island before circling round to head back towards Fiskardo, the
walk was mainly through the forest and so you couldn’t see a great deal other
than the trees but we did came across a couple of lovely bays though.

The second walk which we took the following day was 5K long,
this was called the Cyprus tree walk and so we expected it to be amongst the
trees again, this was not the case, it started in the trees but was soon
without shelter, but it was a much more interesting walk and took us past Foki
beach which looked lovely.

Sadly we had to leave Fiskardo, I could have stayed a lot
longer, we started off by doing a detour around the north coast of the island
to Myrtos beach supposedly the best beach on the island, and being famous for
one of the scenes in Catain Correlli’s Mandolin. The waters were clear blue,
and the beach was full of people topping up their tan, so after lunch Kevin
decided to take a swim ashore.

From Myrtos beach we travelled back around the north coast
to a small bay just south of Fiskardo called Dhaskahio, we had several attempts
at anchoring before we managed to get a secure holding, with both anchor and shore
line. There was only one other boat in the bay besides ourselves and the
occupants invited us over for happy hour, they were two Israeli couples on a
five week holiday, we ended up staying for dinner as well. We had a very
enjoyable evening but in the morning neither Kevin nor I could remember their
names as they were so obscure.

From Dhaskahio it was a sail across the bay to Porto Polis
on the east coast of Ithaca, again a really beautiful bay which had several
boats already moored up. We anchored with a shore line and sat down to relax
but the anchor dragged in the weed and so we had to re-set it, this time we put
60m of chain out just to make sure, especially as the bay was quite deep in the
middle, which shelved quickly toward the edges. It was so nice we decided to
stay here for two nights, make some water and get the washing done.

On the second night, the winds picked up again and the
anchors of the two other boats in the bay beside us,( the others having all
gone) started to drag, they tried many times into the night to get a secure
hold to no avail. We were concerned that as they dragged they may inadvertently
catch our anchor and drag it with them and so we kept watch until the early
hours of the morning, about 02:00 one of the boats gave in and moved of out of
the bay, the other continued to persevere, in the end we went to bed. In the
morning the other boat had gone.

Our intention was to move south and anchor in Katlios a bay
on the south east coast of Cephalonia, we had a great sail down the channel
between Ithaca and Cephalonia, but as we rounded the headland the winds whipped
up and we were now head to wind. As we entered the small harbour of Katlios we
quickly realised we could not stay here, for one it was too shallow and for
another there was nowhere to moor, and so we had to do an about turn and head
back into the rather rough sea state. Again we looked at our options, did we go
back to where we had just come from, which meant we would be head to wind going
back up the channel, or did we go to Argostoli again it would mean we would be
head to wind or did we head across to Zante where we would at least have the wind
in our favour meaning we could sail across. We chose Zante, we set of on a
reefed headsail only, then we noticed the dingy which we had been towing had
flipped over and so we had to hoist it onto the boat and secure it before we
could get going again. The winds continued to rise along with the swell, with
the wave’s broad side on, which meant that Kevin had to frequently turn the
boat into them to prevent them breaking on the side of the boat. One wave
however got the better of us, it broke on the starboard side near to the stern
causing the boat to heel right over so that the guard rails were in the water I
thought we were going to totally roll the boat, but as luck had it we remained
upright.

I was so glad to get into Ay Nikolaos and moor up along-side
the harbour wall, unfortunately though there was quite a lot of swell in the
bay and all the boats were bouncing about and banging against the harbour wall,
by morning our fender covers were ruined despite having a plank between them
and the wall, but that said it was better than being out at sea.

Before we had managed to finish securing our lines though an
old Greek gentleman came along on his little tractor selling his wares, I
bought some lovely tasting olive oil but passed on the wine, it tasted like
vinegar.

That evening we treated ourselves to a meal out, I really was
not in the mood for cooking. The town is quite small with a couple of taverna’s
and shops, apparently one family owns a tavern, one of the two supermarkets (if
you can call them that) and some of the tourist boats.

In the morning we were woken suddenly with a big bang on the
bow of the boat, we rushed out of bed to find one of the local Greeks had
crashed his tourist boat into ours, there was no apology, he basically made out
it was our own fault as we had secured one of our lines across the steps of the
harbour wall. I have to say this is the first time we have come across anything
like this the whole time we have been in Greece. Luckily he had hit the bow
sprit so had not caused any damage to our boat.

We decided to move on and head south to the town of
Zakinthos, we had a great sail all the way to our destination, the contrast
from the day before couldn’t have been more different.

The harbour of Zakinthos is quite busy with several ferries
coming in and out during the day and night, after mooring up we took a stroll
into town, unfortunately all the shops were closed, so we found a nice bar and
had a couple of beers before heading back to the boat.

We spent the evening on board watching the locals and
holiday makers strolling along the harbour and several of them sat and watched
us eat our dinner, at times I felt a bit like a monkey in the zoo.

As we had access to water here which cost us 5 euro a day we
gave the boat a good wash down to try and get rid of all the salt that had
accumulated from the breaking waves during, our crossing over to Zante,
including all the outside cushions.

During the afternoon whilst chilling out we acquired a new
neighbour one of the biggest yet.

Usually the ferries dock on the other side of the harbour
and cause quite a bit of swell, this one however manoeuvred very gently into
position causing no swell at all, most unexpected. Kevin was rewarded with yet
more entertainment when several would be passengers trying to board were turned
away, arguments broke out and one poor girl started crying, however after about
45 minutes everyone bar one was aloud on board and the ferry set off for Sami.

That evening we went into town and what a contrast from the
day before, all the shops were open the bars and restaurants were heaving and
in the square there were hundreds of kids driving around in  little motorised cars all over the place, it
was real hustle and bustle.

From Zakinthos we have moved further south to Lagana Bay
where we are presently at anchor, it is here that the loggerhead Turtles have
their breeding grounds and so a large part of the bay has restrictions in
relation to anchoring or moving at speeds greater than 6 knots but I don’t
think anybody has told the locals this.

From here we will head back to Cephalonia where we plan to
meet up with Kevin’s brother and his family for a few days whilst they are out
here on holiday, before heading off to who knows where as we haven’t planned
that far ahead yet.

Total miles travelled this season 1117

Total cumulative miles 3455