Bye bye chania

Just left Chania, Crete bound for Malta

Lower Greek Islands

On the way down to Ios, we saw a black tower like figure in the water coming at us. It turned out to be a Submarine, semi submerged and steaming along with what looked like Diesel smoke coming out of the stack. First submarine Id ever seen out on the water and even though it was obviously an older type, it was still very menacing looking.

Ios-

We arrived in Ios to find it was the Anchor out option, so had a go at this and didn’t do too bad for the first time and considering the side wind. Price was 15 euro a night here.

We met an Australian couple with two friends on board a  Beneteau Oceans 43 with a  huge cockpit and we had the proverbial reciprocal drinks on each others boat. That went on to Dinner at a Local restaurant and another late night.

Next day we hired 4 wheeler bikes and went exploring, went to the Far Out Beach which was beautiful and  had a drink at  the Beach Bar. The waitress couldn’t believe what we were doing re the Trip when she asked, and proceeded to tell all the other people at the beach Bar. Then went to Homers tomb, having a laugh with two up on 50cc bikes and trying to get up the hills.

Next day Shelly and Sue were going to the local beach with plans to go to the far end where it was more sheltered, but didn’t make it past the first part of the beach that happened to have a Bar by it.

That night we went to a Local bar/Hotel called Cheers which is been run by Paul and Jose, a couple we met from England. He was the splitting image of Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones and a laugh a minute with his quick wit. We watched the World Cup opener here with Croatia vrs Brazil. Paul backed Croatia, so we had a wager on it just to make it interesting with me taking Brazil. Brazil took it out 2-1 but I couldn’t take the money off him as the game was a Rout that Croatia  should have won, but I suppose it would not have gone down too well, Brazil losing their opening game at Home ( I think the Ref is retired on a beach somewhere in Brazil now)

Santorini

We motored all the way to Santorini as the wind was not favorable and it was a messy sea. At Santorini, I was a bit disappointed. The houses are all built on the edge of a Volcano and it was very deep close in with very little options in Anchoring.  The marina entrance was not deep enough to get Falshator into and there are few options there for safe Anchoring as the Island is virtually a Volcano with rocks and Lava everywhere.
Amazingly, we stumbled upon our Ozzie friends again while out on the water just south of Santorini who echoed our thoughts on the low water at the marina there

                 Just after this encounter, we decided we didn't have enough Flags on Falshator!

We found a bay down the south end of  Santorini that was probably the best option around. I set a trip line on the anchor as it was a rocky bottom and anchored.  We decided to have a cat nap as it had been a bit of a hard night before hand, and then wake up for an afternoon swim as the bay was deserted.

So anyway, we are sitting in this bay all on our own and after having a swim and enjoying the serenity, when all of a sudden around the corner came a flotilla of catamarans filled to the brim with Back packers and we were under serious invasion. They were all around us with people swimming, BBQs going and the music was cranking.  So much for the serenity!

Crete

We made for Crete and with very little wind ended up motoring most of the way.

Got some local wind approx. 10  miles out and got the Gennaker up running it very shy.  Close to Chania we went to pull it down and had trouble with top of the Sock getting a twist in it and wouldn’t allow it to come down so the whole lot had to come down and we would have to repack it in Chania

Chania was very hot and we had to stop outside the Marina for a swim and showers on the back of the boat.

We moored stern to the local dock with the one front mooring line and the  dock very high, making it not easy to go up the Gang plank

It is a very busy downtown there with bars/ Restaurants all along the waterfront,  people everywhere and going on into the early hours. Met Paul and Audrey, an English couple who had sailed around the world and spent the last 5 years in the Med. They had wrote a book called ‘A Leap of Faith”

Great people to talk to, had a wealth of experience and very Hospitable.

We drove a Rental car to Elafonisi Beach-unbelievable, crystal clear water, shallow, out in the middle of nowhere and it was chocka full of people, don’t know where they all came from!

Next day we tried to find a place to fill Gas Cylinders, we went on a wild goose chase, drove for miles and found nothing! Finding someone to fill Gas cylinders on Crete is a mission. Gave up and went back out with the boat to get out of the city, as driving around it was driving us all crazy.

Went to an anchorage up the NW end of Crete at an Island called Gramvousa, had drinks after Swimming that went on quite late. Got woken early as the wind had changed and decided to move the boat but were still close in.  Gramvousa was a Pirate hide out originally and it has an Incredible Fortress up on top of it so we thought we would go and explore it, on this secluded Island.

Just as we were going ashore a Large Boat turned up and what looked like thousands of people came off this boat on our own deserted Island so we turned around and retreated to the Boat.

On the way back Shelly was complaining of pain in her foot but we couldn’t see anything. After a couple of hours the pain was still there and the ferry with all the people on board had left so I decided we would go ashore and get an opinion on the pain from one of the locals. It turns out she was bitten by a small tiny fish who are poisonous, nothing to worry about and the pain will go away after a few hours, nice to have some local knowledge.

The wind had died so we decided to overnight back over at the original Anchorage as it had far better holding there. We went ashore and went to the local Taverna there for dinner and drinks. Its amazing how you come across these remote Islands with what looks nothing else on it but a Taverna right on the Beach!

It was getting dark when we left the Taverna and went to make our way back across the what was shallow Lagoon to our Tender. By now though, the tide had come in and even though I mentioned this to Barry, Shelly and Sue, they decided to still go across it, while I was carrying the bag and chose to skirt around the outside. It was a bit of a laugh watching them getting deeper and deeper and eventually having to swim across the Lagoon in their clothes and come out looking like drowned rats the other end. At least the water was warm. J

We sailed back to Chania and encountered some strong gusts coming down close off the Hills, some gusting over 30 knots. Then 10 minutes later the wind drops to nothing, 20 mins later, its back up to 20 knots making the Docking interesting. Its crazy how variable the wind is up here.

We are about to leave Crete and the Greek Islands and make for Malta, our longest leg yet which should take around three days. There’s a weather window open and she supposed to be blowing favorably in the next few days so we plan to make use of it!

Cyclades, here we come!

After leaving Levkas, we headed down to Maganisi which had great little bays for anchoring and obviously a very popular spot going by the number of boats in there. We tried our first attempt at anchoring and taking a Stern line ashore. Shelly volunteered to swim the line in and I don’t think she realized that it was not going to an easy task swimming with the line as it gets heavier the more the line goes out, but she managed to get to shore without having a heart attack or drowning!

The wind turned later in the afternoon and was coming side on to us making the cockpit exposed so I released the Shore line and chose to swing with the wind. Not really sold on this stern line to shore method yet, especially with the extra work involved. Can see the benefits if the bay is crowded, but if you have room to swing, Id rather do that at tis stage (NZ style)

After Meganisi, we sailed down to Vathi, N Ithaci which turned out to be a wind tunnel with the wind accelerating down the surrounding hills and making it a challenge to find a decent Leeward anchorage. Anchored there for the night, went ashore and had a couple of drinks at the local Bar/Restaurant and the wind as seems to be the norm around here died down into the night making for a better sleep.

From there we headed to Patras as I was wanting to go ashore and see Olympia, home of the original Olympic Games. So we got into the marina there, hired a car the next day and drove for an hour and a half to find it. We got there and have to say it was a bit of a disappointment with only rubble to view out of the remains that has been dug back up. The earthquake that hit Olympia and knocked all the buildings over plus the following looting of what was left ended its rein as the home of the Olympic Games and it was a shame to see it come to the state it was.

Entering the Gulf of Corinth we had to go under the Rion Bridge, which at 2,252 meters long, is the longest Cable stayed bridge in the world. We had to call up the bridge Control on the VHF to ask permission to pass uner it and they then give you the appropriate bay to use.

Going down the Gulf the wind picked up and the Gennaker came down and the wind was right behind us, we were running down the Gulf doing 10-11 knots just with the Main up which made up for some of the other slow passages.

On the way down to Corinth it started raining and I couldn’t work out where the rusty water was coming from until I realized it was all over the boat and sails as well. The boat was covered in an orange muck, which we believe comes from the Sahara desert when winds carry it up into the atmosphere and when the wind blows from the south, it blows up toward the Med and dumps it down when it rains.

We arrived at Corinth and stayed in the old town port there. We squeezed on to the dock with inches to spare in front of a large catamaran and I spent 2 hours washing the boat down getting rid of the drying Orange mud. As soon as I finished, it rained again and the boat was back to the same as when I first started. I decided not to do it again, have a beer instead and leave it for the next day, which was lucky as it rained again through the night. I met an old guy fishing off the Dock who had lived in New York and was a great guy to talk to. He had done so much in his life, including cooking in the top Italian restaurants and even spent a bit of time tied up with the Mafia. Amazing who you meet fishing off a dock in the middle of a little old town.

After cleaning the boat again the next morning, we were off and going through the Corinth Canal which was amazing. It is 3.2 miles long and only 25 meters wide and 6 meters deep. God knows how they get large ships through it.

Nero started digging it out with the help of 6000 Jewish slaves but didn’t even get down to the rock. The French then took it on before being finished by the Greeks in 1893. It was pretty inspiring driving the boat through there, thinking of the work that had gone before, whilst looking up at the what must have been 60 to 70 meter high sides.

Coming into Athens was like driving down Queen St with 30 odd Tanker Ships all queued up and anchored waiting to get in to the Port there.

We backed the boat in to the Zea Marina there in Athens and planned on staying for a couple of days.

Friends from NZ, Barry and Sue joined us on the boat here and brought the good weather with them as the sun was out and the Temperatures were climbing.

While there, we went to see the Acropolis, which was incredible and it was good to see the work being done there to bring it all back to the original condition it was. It is still mind-boggling the amount of History here and the Acropolis dates back to 5000 BC.

We headed out of Athens and going south called in at various Islands, but the favourite so far was the Anchorage at N Kinthnos where two nice anchorages are separated by a thin sand bank. The water was crystal clear and it was like swimming in an Aquarium.

We went ashore after a few cold ones on the boat and it was pretty humorous with four of us in Little 3 meter Falshator, we were lucky it was so calm.

We had a great dinner there at the local Restaurant, which was the only building around the place and overlooked the bays. Cheap prices and unbelievable views.

We left there and are presently holed up in a Lee bay on Serifos Island sheltering from the 37 knot winds at present. Still cant get over how it changes so quickly here. Shelly and Sue were right in the middle of cooking and had Omlete mixture and did well completing it without spilling a drop! 
We also have great Afghans to go with the Coffee :)