Equinox 2023

At last the bad weather had passed and we could slip lines from Preveza about 8.00 in the morning and have a leisurely trip across the bay to the north end of the Lefkas Channel. This is a rather narrow channel with a floating road bridge, at the north end, which opens every hour to allow boats to pass. When you read all the notes in the cruising guides, etc, you could easily be put off attempting to go into this channel, and take the long route round the outside of Lefkas, but where’s the fun in that. There’s a challenge to be had. There was a light breeze, allowing us to sail very slowly across the bay, to time our arrival at the entrance, so that we wouldn’t have any gilling around waiting. As we had been advised, we let the four other boats in the vicinity go through first, so we wouldn’t feel pressured by another boat that might be tempted to be too close behind us. There must have been twenty or thirty boats going in the other direction, but there is room for two way traffic and ...

The weather was too unpleasant for us to leave Preveza Marina; the thunderstorms and rain continue. We used the time to get to know Preveza and it’s surroundings a little better. It’s a working town, with a busy main road leading out to the north. Around this is a network of small streets with a mixture of residential properties and shops. It appears chaotic to the visitor, because cars are parked all over the place, but it clearly works for the locals, who know the system. We were able to source butchers, fishmongers and green grocers to replenish our food supplies. I love being able to buy in these small establishments, where the proprietors are always very happy that you came to buy from them. When it’s raining outside we are happy to stay home and watch a film in the evening. Miles today                 0 Miles in 2023       1018 Tricia (and  Steve) 

This seems like our first spell of poor weather since our return.  The wind was up today as had been forecast and rain is due both overnight and tomorrow.  We manged to complete some of the chores and found a good shop selling fish for our dinner, swordfish today, the barracuda looked too big for the two of us to eat.   After lunch, we walked around the coast road to a partially ruined Venetian fortress. This was obviously built to last and only showed a few signs of erosion on the outside, despite having been here for several hundred years. Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if there is much maintenance going on, and the entrance was barred, so we could only gaze from a distance. The Venetian fortress guarding one side of the channel to Preveza On the return journey we found a café for refreshments overlooking a small beach. Tricia said she would have swum if she had her swimming gear with her, maybe another time. Anyway, after a number of days at anchor it was good ...

Preveza Marina is a modern, full service marina, opened in 2021. The facilities are excellent and the staff very helpful. The marinaros know their job. We happened to arrive at a busy time, with boats leaving, others arriving and some wanting fuel. It wasn’t difficult to be patient and wait our turn for the fuel dock. Once filled up, it was a nice easy manoeuvre into our berth. We moved into the marina because there is bad weather coming over the next few days. Today was my birthday, so it was great to have easy access to the land.  In the evening, a nice breeze came in and it felt very nice to have fresher air, rather than the high humidity we have had for the last few days, perfect for an evening promenade along the town quay, before enjoying a delicious Greek meal at one of the restaurants in town. It had been a relaxing day, allowing us to catch up on some rest. Cleopatra Marina on the opposite shore is vast, as you can tell by the forest of masts Preveza used to be described i...

After a more restful night we woke feeling more refreshed.  We planned to go just about 6 miles to the southern end of Paxos, so we were not in any great hurry to leave.  There was no wind and we were resigned to motoring all morning, with the expectation that we would arrive early, get a good space and then go ashore for a walk. By late morning we arrived in the small bay at Mongonissi.   There were a few other boats anchored and we tried to select a suitable spot, in the right depth and far enough away from the other boats to allow us to swing.   We tried 4 or 5 times to get the anchor to set, but each time it refused to dig on.   Actually the one time that it did dig in, a guy from the restaurant came out and said we had to move as we were too close to his quay and would impede his potential customers. In the end we gave up! Now for Plan   B. We knew that the weather forecast is not so good over the next few days and we had only planned to stay at ...

We didn’t have to rush to set off this morning, because it is only sixteen nautical miles to our destination, Lakka at the north end of the island of Paxos. That was just as well, as we had had a very disturbed night, being bothered by mosquitoes. The boat is rather hot inside at the end of the day, so we need the hatches open. We have mosquito nets, but had just omitted to drape the loose one over the companion way. Boy did we pay for that omission. The wind was blowing a nice F3 from the south, so we had an excellent sail, tacking down to Paxos. Lakka has the reputation of being a very popular harbour and is rammed during high season. It is also very shallow, so we knew that we would be anchoring close to the entrance. It would remain to be seen how full is would be in late September. As we approached, we could see it was pretty full, but we found a space. Politely, we asked him the people on a boat nearby if they were happy with the distance we were from them. They weren’t. Fort...

Benitses has a rather expensive supermarket, but a very reasonable greengrocers, bakery and a fish stall. Food stocking done and deck washed, I was able to join my yoga class on Zoom. Doing yoga in the cockpit caused a few smiles from people walking by on the quay. It was great fun to connect with my yoga class from afar. It is just twelve miles across to the mainland from Benitses, which gave us a pleasant afternoon mixture of sailing and motoring into a large bay by the town of Plataria. This would give us shelter from the south wind, expected during the night. It was a bit of a surprise to have a F3 northwesterly blowing straight into the bay when we arrived at the anchorage, presumably caused by the afternoon sea breeze. By supper time this had dropped off to nothing and as night fell we had the pretty scene of the lights of the town twinkling away. Miles today             20 Miles in 2023       961 Tricia (and  Steve) 

As we had booked into the marina for 2 days, but completed the necessary maintenance tasks in 1 day, we took the opportunity to go into Corfu town for some site seeing. The bus stop was right outside the marina, so it was very easy,  there was even a ticket machine at the bus stop (of which more later). Alighting from the bus, we started to wander through the narrow streets and alleyways of the old town. It was the sort of place to ignore the maps and just wander and see what you would find. Like many other places in this part of the world, Corfu has a very long history.   It was one of three Greek naval powers in the fifth century BC, with Athens and Corinth. Since then it has changed hands multiple times. It was part of the Republic of Venice from the 12th century, and there are still many buildings and avenues which seem typically Venetian. They built two huge forts to guard the city against pirates and the Ottomans, making it one of the most fortified places in Europe....

It being Monday, it was time to go to Corfu Town (Kerkyra), to check in to Greece. It was 28 miles and we managed to avoid having to go through the narrow channel between the north of Corfu and the mainland without worrying about large ferries or cruise ships. The northwest coast of Corfu is green and stunningly beautiful. We passed several small bays with super yachts at anchor. Corfu Town lies on the south side of a large bay, which is five miles wide. There is an anchorage a short distance west of the harbour, which is a far less stressful option to stop, rather than go into the harbour and have to make way for the numerous ferries going in and out very regularly. Having secured our anchor and dinghyed to a small quay close by, it was just a ten minute walk to the office of the harbour police. After two visits there with a trip to customs in between, we had paid the fee to enter Greece and had a Transit Log, which the authorities insist we have to have to sail in Greek waters. Lot...

Erikousa Island is the most northerly island of the Ionian Sea, being eight nautical miles north of Corfu. It covers only five square kilometres and has some small villages. Most of it’s residents emigrated to America in the last century, but they return to their homes for holidays. It is a very green island but it turns purple in October due to and abundance of the Reiki bush. Porto on the south coast, lies in a wide bay and is the main port for the arrival of ferries and the odd day tripper boat. Tourist’s are few, and it has the feel of a quiet, sleepy place. It is a good anchorage to stop off after crossing from Italy and rest, having some shelter from the prevailing northerly winds. The water is crystal clear turquoise and, at the moment a lovely warm temperature, so excellent for swimming. We met up with a Kiwi couple, who had travelled across from Otranto on the same day as us, for a coffee in the taverna, sitting outside in the cool shade under the trees. A top temperature ...

Well today was interesting in several ways.  It started last night, when we were running the generator to top up the batteries. We have to do this every day when we are at anchor, as the lights we display overnight eat into our battery level.  Anyway, the generator suddenly stopped and showed a warning light to say that it had overheated. We were at the end of the charging cycle, and knowing that it would be too hot to touch, we left it for the morning. We were up and away from our anchorage in Otranto by 7:00, and as the water was relatively flat, I got on with looking at the generator, in case it was something that would keep us in Italy to be fixed.   On opening the water filter, I found the remains of a jellyfish that had obviously been sucked in and got stuck in the filter. It stank. Cleaning it out of the filter was not a pleasant job (but we hardy sailors have to do these things).   The next thing to check was the impellor which pumps the cooling water aroun...

We’ve spent a few lazy days at anchor in the outer harbour of Taranto. Each day we have gone ashore in the tender and explored different aspects of the city. It is a wonderful mixture of old and new, contemporary and ancient, with modern tourism co-existing with the ancient walled city. It was a city even in Greek times, and like so many other places in this part of the world, it has changed hands many times. It was important for the Romans as the most southerly port on the Adriatic, but now sees very little commercial shipping. There is a small commercial fishing fleet and an armada of small pleasure boats, many of which are also used for fishing. The castle is imposing, but we passed on the opportunity to go inside as it was being used a for a fashion shoot at the time, and appeared that this would limit where we could go. Maybe when we return. We visited the cathedral, which is quite magnificent.    The floor is covered with elaborate mosaics, depicting animals and saints...

This Sunday was a day of rest to allow us to recover from a long first day out on the water, yesterday. That is, other than laundry. My domestic science teacher at school would have extolled the virtues of this wonderful drying day, with a good breeze of warm air. These days we set up a washing line from the forestay to the mast, to minimise use of the drier. Marina di Brindisi has its our laundry area, so it was just a short walk down the pontoon and across the car park, meaning no need to sit and wait for it.  In the evening we called the marineros to ask them to come to collect the key card. Three of them arrived, one under instruction. The boss man told us what a beautiful boat we have, which always goes down well with us. He then said several times that we should race it. It’s always the racing sailors who see the racing potential to be had. On Monday we slipped out of Brindisi harbour just after a big cargo ship had arrived, pushed into place by two tugs. There was little w...

We are on the move!  We slipped out of the marina in Bari and started our trip south and east.  The moment of departure was well chosen, one ferry had left just before us and 3 more were heading for the entry just after we had exited. The weather was good with a medium strength wind from almost behind us.  It was just to one side enough, to allow us to sail reasonably comfortably although at times the waves made the boat roll. Just to prove that I am here. Spot the (lack of) clouds We had contemplated anchoring en route for the night, but the potential anchorage is subject to swell, so we decided that we would get a better nights sleep by pressing on. We saw very few other vessels while we were under way, clearly a lot of people have packed up for the season.  It is still hot, so the wind was very welcome.   We were glad to arrive at the end of the voyage, 60 miles is quite enough for the first day back on the water, and we were both weary.  The marina...