THE LAST FEW DAYS, TRANQUILITY THEN AUTUMN STORMS AND FINALLY ASHORE FOR WINTER - 17 to 30 SEPTEMBER, DAYS 134 to 148

THE LAST FEW DAYS, TRANQUILITY THEN AUTUMN STORMS AND FINALLY ASHORE FOR WINTER - 17 to 30 SEPTEMBER, DAYS 134 to 148

If you are still keeping up with our sailing travels from one paradise to another, with some adventures and challenges  in-between, thank you. I know our photos bring pleasure to some friends, and hopefully some education about Greece if you are unfamiliar with this lovely country of many islands. It seems that more people read when Anita wears less in the photos !!

After a few days relaxing in Levkas island we took advantage of some light inconsistent winds especially from west and south to return to Meganissi, this time to Port Atheni, then north to the south end of the Levkas Canal where we spent a quiet night before traversing the three miles of canal next morning, passing through the opened bridge (opens once an hour) and slowing sailing back to Preveza.The fishermen brought the fish to sell to us.

After a stop to replenish food supplies we used the west wind to sail swiftly back into the Gulf of Amvrikikos once more, a large inland sea rich in marine life and where we had seen dolphins and turtles a few weeks ago.

In the Gulf we had been recommended Vonitsa and a quiet bay Ay Markou to the west of Vonitsa. The bay was perfect shelter from the strong west wind which took us there, and we anchored with just one other yacht. Enjoying the tranquillity and calm water we stayed three nights. We saw kingfishers, and walking ashore saw fox cubs and a small wild boar. The loudest noise was the deep grunting of an animal. Anita wanted to walk away hearing the sound but on investigation we found a huge pig behind a wire fence. We heard him again from the boat.

Temperatures have fallen and we swim just once or twice a day, naked there in nature.

Autumn Equinox came while we were there and another amazing full moon. We took many photos of the bays with distant mountain in many different light conditions from calm moody, to dynamic.

We had booked a lift to the boatyard for Tuesday but not wanting the bliss to end we put the lift back one day. That created a challenge. On Wednesday morning we sailed the short distance to Vonitsa with the intention of tying to the wall to go ashore to charge the computer, but the only space was not calm with NE wind sending in a small swell. We have seen the place and will surely go again next year when perhaps there will be some available space.

We rolled out the Genoa sail again to anchor to the west side of the small island of Koukouvitsa expecting wind to go to East. It stayed in the NE while we made lunch, then at about 15.00 went to East. The forecast was for very strong East winds by 19.00.

We started to sail west towards the entrance to the gulf and very soon were headed with rising west wind up to Force 4. We tacked a few times as we wind tried to decide from which way to blow. Once out of the Gulf, with Preveza to the west, it died down and we motored not knowing where to anchor for the night with the strong wind forecast.

Whilst the afternoon wind was completely opposite to forecast at 19.00 on the dot the East wind kicked in and was soon blowing at least Force 6. With that we decided to take shelter from waves, but not wind, behind the low land where the three large boatyards have been established. We were not alone. A number of other yachts did the same. I am sure the winds reached gale force.

We checked that we were not dragging the large anchor, and lay to the wind all night. By early morning it had gone from East to North East and we weighed anchor about 07.30 and motored one mile to the boatyard and our appointment to lift. The NE wind made it sheltered close to the yard, despite the very strong winds and before long Apataki was safely ashore from the winter.

It was a great relief and for the next three days the area was lashed with strong winds. We could watch anchored yachts having most uncomfortable motion. Finally the winds eased and yachts returned to the open anchorage. The reason for these extra strong winds was a revolving tropical storm which had it centre between Greece, Sicily, Calabria and Libya. We escaped the worst but by Saturday was causing much havoc in the south of Greece and islands in it’s path.

The end of a season lift out needs a few days to clean up and prepare the boat for winter so work continues, but the blog ends here for the 2018 cruise.

We lived on the boat for 5 months, first in Sicily for preparation, then ten days of sailing, motoring and sheltering from strong winds moving north through Italy culminating in the 36 hour passage to Othoni Island at the north end of the Greek Ionian Island Chain. Then followed almost three months of cruising, always steering by hand as the autopilot did not work this year, and often sheltering from strong winds. We spent two nights at sea, and 100 at rest, 90% of the time at anchor. We logged 844 nautical miles, about 1350 kilometres.

We found that the solar panels  did not run the fridge full time and had to use the motor most days to bring it down to temperature after leaving it switched off for more than 12 hours at night. About 5 times we tied to the shore to connect the charger with shore power to the batteries. We managed by daily monitoring of battery levels. On a few cloudy days the system struggled unless we happened to be motoring somewhere.

We dragged anchor three times. Twice others dragged at the same time. Some sea beds have better holding than others, but I usually swim with mask to inspect the anchor after arriving.

This was our first long season of cruising in our tiny 8.3 m catamaran which I had sailed from UK to Spain in 2001. My longest trip before was just 7 weeks. Anita was new to sailing in 2016. We spent some time preparing for this challenging adventure.

Things which really helped were the new Yamaha 9.9 hp outboard engine which never let us down, even in emergencies. It also gave valuable trickle charging to batteries and brought the fridge down to temperature after being off overnight.

The battery charger allowed us to charge the batteries when occasionally we connected to shore power.

The new secondary (kedge) anchor system worked really well and made my life much easier not having to haul the main heavy system by hand each time.

Anita had reorganised our living space to give us more comfort and space below decks.

Some new ropes gave better sail control. New uv protection on the genoa looked after the sail.

Stocking up with some foods in Sicily helped us when we had little access to good shops. Our 8 kilos of oats lasted us a while and occasionally we found somewhere in Greece selling them. Italian products of course cost more in Greece. We would bring more next time if we come by car. Of course some things we can buy in Greece. We love the Greek yogurt and always had at least one 1 kg pot in the fridge.

Some things break and we fixed what we could with available resources and resourcefulness..

We carried too much water, slowing the boat, not knowing how easy it would be to access water in Greece. Even without mooring to the land we often found a tap to fill containers especially where fishing boats moor.

We used more petrol than we expected, often because of calms, also to help the fridge. In total 220 litres seems a lot to me, but actually it is like filling a large car’s tank about four times. On the longest passage of 36 hours we had to motor for 22 hours in calms.

We cook with camping gas and used 4 x 3 kg cylinders. We bought new once, and one rusty one was scrapped. It is easy to access full cylinders to exchange with empties in Greece.

Apataki is secured for winter and we plan to return in April to prepare her for another adventure around these beautiful islands next year. The weather has been cool and wet but now as we leave it is improving. Those staying can expect some lovely weather into October.