tropea

this is a medieval city of calabria that seats high upon the cliffs with the most wonderful beaches below. italian friends recommended we stop here and of course we followed their advice. not bad at all. in fact we loved walking around the narrow streets, enjoying the fabulous views and as always on our trip: taking so much pleasure in the food. we stopped at the marina which was very comfortable and close to the town. here we washed down the salt from the last storm and enjoyed southern italy hospitality while relaxing in this picturesque town.

taormina

we arrived in a beautiful spot in giardini naxos and anchored and relaxed after the rocky and wet arrival. from the anchorage we had the most amazing view. we could see the town bordering the shore and also anther city high above the cliffs called taormina. finally we had mount etna at a distance with some snow still in the summit. it was a view to remember for sure.

we relaxed in the town for a few days and walked around naxos and also taormina. we visited the old theater and the streets full of restaurants and shops. we later discovered that taormina is one of the jewel cities of Europe, or something of that sort. we now understand why. everything looked too beautiful and fancy as well.




after enjoying ourselves in sicily; paying the most expensive diesel of the entire trip so far; and checking and double checking the weather and tides in preparation for the messina crossing, we finally headed north. the messina strait is known, at least among sailors; as a little body of water that must be crossed with caution. It is only 3 miles long and possibly 4 miles wide. it separates sicily from calabria in italy. the wind generally funnels from the mountains on either side and increases its speed significantly; and also, and this is the difficult part: the currents change every 6 hours from north to south but can run at very strong or high speeds. from reading some guides we knew that if we had some wind against and a minor current against, maybe our boat with engine and sail would not overcome the south going stream; so we definitely had to prepare to cross with a north current and hopefully favorable wind. the wind part has not been in our favor since many months ago, so hoping for a good south easterly in this part of the world was out of the question. It blows from the north west and it blows hard. so the best we could hope for was little or no wind at all. Unfortunately we were having constant 20 kts every day in the area. not good. finally the current is calculated based on the tides in Gibraltar at UTC time and for some reason this calculations are not always accurate… why there is not a simple tide table strictly for messina with local times is beyond me, or maybe we just couldn’t find it in the books, guides or the internet.

so, with our experience of strong winds so far in the med, plus the gale of a few days before and a forecast for the next weeks of at least 15 knots, we were getting a bit anxious and preoccupied about crossing this strait. luckily one night we felt the wind die down and we took the opportunity and just left. we had calculated the tides but were not sure if we were going to make it on a good time before the tide started to run south. but we left through the night and motor sailed with some boat traffic through the strait. finally when we arrived at the most complicated and narrow part of the strait we could not believe our luck: the wind died, the water was flat and the current was favorable; and we glided through in less that 30 minutes. once again, maybe we were lucky, or it was our accurate calculations and good planning…? Good planning sounds better I think!

sailing towards sicily

we had a very pleasant 3 day sail towards sicily accompanied with dolphins. only in the last five hours when we crossed the gap between the tip of italy and sicily the weather turned bad. the winds blew at force 7 at least (35 knots) and the sea became nasty. the boat was with minimum sail and was healing a lot and of course we were soaked, specially esteban who was at the helm. it was quite the little storm. nothing happened to us or the boat but we started feeling a bit scared of crossing the messina strait in a few days. we had already read that it was bad, but with a lot of wind and from the wrong direction, it could be really really bad… but we continued towards sicily and decided to worry about crossing the messina strait to the north later.

cephalonia

for us this was our last island in Greece and it was beautiful as all the others. we enjoyed the town of sami and the view of fishkardo and prepared the boat for a long crossing ahead (for med standards of course – 3 days only!). we really fell in love with this country and its people. everyone was extremely kind to us. sailing in greek waters is easy and comfortable. the places are friendly and inexpensive; maybe that is why there are so many tourists and charter boats. we leave already planning to come back again!!

corinth canal

with the same idea in mind of going where the wind best allowed us, we moved further north to cross the corinth canal that separates mainland greece and the peloponnese. the canal was built around 1822, it has 3 miles in length, 20 meters wide and surrounded by huge limestone walls that went up to 75 meters tall. this canal became the third of our trip so far. it was different from the others. there was no need for advisors or pilots. this one we crossed on our own.

it was simple and short. the entire document exchange and payment lasted only 10 minutes, and the actual crossing lasted 45 minutes. so within less than one hour we arrived, got the office formalities out of the way, signed, paid and crossed to the other side. motoring through such a narrow gap is at the least very bizarre. we enjoyed it.







once on the other side we were greeted by more wind on the nose that we had to struggle against. but we motor sailed and arrived with the last light in trizonia, a little island with a free and abandoned marina and of course the same usual taverns and restaurants where we ate and drank some more… adding more extra pounds to our already bigger bodies… courtesy of the hummus, halawa, pita bread and feta cheese, just to mention some ….

the next morning we continued west and for the first time in the med with the wind strong and completely behind us. we checked our GPS and saw we had to go under a bridge of only 49 feet tall… we could not believe this!!! our little boat would not pass through. we contemplated we had to return through the corinth canal again….! but of course we thought there had to be a mistake, and sure enough there was… upon seeing the bridge we realized where we were. we crossed the antirio bridge which is the longest hanging bridge in the world and is huge, magnificent and plenty tall for our boat to go under and three more on top of us. we had seen on the discovery channel a few years back how this engineering masterpiece was built and finished well in advance before the greece olympic games of 2004. it was pretty amazing to know the story of it and actually see it and go under. it was fantastic.

paros

paros was a surprise. we went there as a recommendation from our neighbor French sailors from the previous island. we anchored in the north of this medium size island in the town of naousa.

first of all we found the anchorage to be an idyllic place and second, the town was beyond our expectations. it was fantastic. very upscale and again with the tiny streets and white houses all over. there were great restaurants and shops everywhere. we loved it and did what we do best in greece: eat, drink and enjoy. what a place!!!

despotiko

after ios, we moved north to despotiko because the wind was not allowing us to go south to milos; where we originally intended to depart from Greece. the winds in greece did not agree much with our route. they basically blew from all directions but always against us. but I guess this is normal, or at least we think so because every time we talk to other people sailing, everyone always tells the same stories of having the wind on their noses. … so this time we tried to sail with no specific island in mind and simply went out to sea with different options in different directions and of course headed towards the one we could sail to. and we were glad we went north and found this place. with flat shallow water, islands all around, some mountains, some caves.. and just a little of everything but mostly not very crowded. it was the perfect place to slow down after ios. we had the luck of full moon in this magnificent anchorage. What a place. it reminded us of how lucky we were to sail around greece and around the world of course!

the med moor fiasco

as explained in a previous post we are not too crazy about the med moor maneuver where we need to throw the anchor and back up the boat to a wall and tie with lines to the shore. Aside from the challenges our boat has with the manual windlass and the difficulty backing up caused by the long keel, there is also the issue of the other boats. of course there are too many and once you are in a marina that you think is fully packed, in comes another boat and squeezes his way in using the engine to push the other boats to the side while making some room for himself where there was really none. We had this experience in ios. There was a place next to us enough for a kayak, according to our calculations… but of course not according to a 42 footer power boat that literally squeezed his way in pushing our boat to the side smashing us on our starboard side and making us collide with the boat on our port side. Here we were on a total sandwich with all the fenders touching the boat and therefore scraping the paint off. As if this was not painful enough, at least for esteban, the wind picked up while we were on the beach and the boats next to us left. As they did, they picked up their anchors which managed to tangle with ours, and in doing so they picked up our anchor too. Without the anchor securing our bow and the strong wind blowing from the nose, the boat completely backed up and smashed against the concrete wall. It tangled and probably damaged our wind vane auto pilot and took away the paint and damaged all the fiber glass in the transom, not to mention completely cutting the electricity cables that we had attached to the shore power.
Sure enough when we came back from the beach we saw our beloved puerto seguro smashing against the wall. Two other boats felt so bad that they put some fenders to protect it from getting more damaged, but the truth is that it was too late. The boat was moving wildly in the space left by the other boats because we did not have any anchor holding us in place. Upset as we have never been, we untied and had to do the entire re-anchoring maneuver in order to secure the anchor again. All this while in the middle of the wind gusts and with two huge ferries coming in the port and maneuvering at the same time. Because the difficulty in handling our boat in reverse was now worsened by the strong wind, esteban was at the helm and I was at the dreadful, manual, useless windlass which I now not only dislike but absolutely hate. Somehow I managed to tangle one of my fingers with the chain and hurt it. at least I was lucky not to have broken it. in addition a line that was tossed to us from shore got tangled in the propeller and it jammed the gears and also cut the screws from the cutless bearing in the shaft leaving us with no engine to maneuver. But somehow we finally moved into our original position again, secured the anchor and boat, and started inspecting the damages.



By this time my finger had started to swollen and I was in serious pain so I took some ibuprofen to relieve it somehow. I am allergic to aspirin and have known this all my life, but I did not know I would have the same reaction to the ibuprofen. in fact I think I have taken it before without any harm… but this day was the day I learned that I am also allergic to whatever is in ibuprofen. Within minutes my eyesight was diminished and my eyes and face were completely swollen. Luckily there was a hospital in the island and esteban and the coast guard took me there. I was treated immediately with iv medicine and watched closely by the very young doctor who was very nice to us. Luckily we reacted fast and the swollenness did not affect my breathing. After a few hours of personalized supervision I was finally disconnected from the needles and was able to go back to the boat. Today, 24 hours after the incident there was a boat coming in who decided to drop anchor and then decided to lift it up again and go elsewhere. Before lifting his anchor he started dragging his while doing the same with ours. When he finally picked it up he had already messed up our chain and finished it by also pulling our anchor out of place. We saw him and yelled at him but it was to late. He had picked our anchor up and simply dropped it again and left, and once again our boat quickly backed towards the wall smashing all over the place. We could not believe we were living the same story all over again. Luckily this time we were on board and prevented any further damage. This time esteban put the diving gear and went to reset the anchor manually. I must say we were very surprised by everyone’s attitude. They pick anchors just like that, see the damage they are causing and do not even bother to come and help or even to say sorry. we get the impression that the people who charter boats, and those are the majority we have seen, simply do not care or do not have the experience. after the events of the past 24 hours I am still swollen but feeling much better; the boat is damaged and we may have to pull it out of the water to fix the cutless bearing. of course there are no facilities to do so here in ios, so we have to sail like this to italy and hope the shaft will holds. Needless to say, after this experience we will never med moor again. It will be strictly anchoring for us from now on.

santorini

from ios we took a ferry to the island of thira, which is famously know as santorini. we decided this was best given the difficult conditions to leave the boat while visiting the villages above the cliffs. the high steep mountains going straight to the bottom of the sea leave no room for anchoring and make it very deep to anchor anywhere near the rocky shore.

so with the boat safely in the harbor we took the super modern and fast ferry to this volcanic island. it was pretty startling to see the cliffs and all the white houses on top. we were surprised though of how full of tourists it was. there was traffic; the narrow streets were packed; and the shops made us feel like on a shopping mall.

but of course the view of the ocean and nearby islands was amazing, not to mention the narrow streets and the architecture, which are so famous and typical of this place. here we said good bye to arava and eran and their short but great visit. they flew back home while we took another ferry back to ios and our boat.

IOS

we were supposed to go to santorini but upon checking the weather we noticed the forecast predicted strong force 7 winds ahead (28-33knots). after checking out the possible anchorages in santorini we quickly decided we did not want to be caught in a strong wind there with no safe place for puerto seguro. so we bought us some piece of mine and sailed to ios instead.



just like simi, this unexpected stop was a great surprise. the marina was excellent and the town amazing. we went partying to the same places i had gone to 15 years ago only to find out that the age of the crowd had not changed. we were double the age of everyone there!!! we felt quite old but nevertheless enjoyed watching them partying like silly teenagers. we felt glad to have left those years behind.


luckily we were not so old to rent an ATV and go around exploring. this was a lot of fun and allowed us to see this entire beautiful island. we had a wonderful time in ios and enjoyed the town, the marina, the excellent beaches and as always the superb food!

vathy

after a quiet and much needed relaxing stay in skala we moved to vathy which was another anchorage in the same island only 18 miles away. this place was so remote and beautiful we could not believe it. the mile long lagoon was almost completely closed in by mountains and had only a narrow entrance. inside the water was flat and beautiful. there was a little tavern on shore and many goats in the surrounding mountains. we noticed this because we heard their bells around their necks. we all loved the feeling of being in such a remote and amazing place. eran cooked a lovely meal, relieving me of my galley duties for one night and we enjoyed the wine, food and the company after another safe sail under a sky full with stars!

astypalea

with the weather still bad we left for astypalea because we were meeting my friend arava and eran from israel there. we had planned to sail with them around greece and decided to meet in this next island on a particular date. we had 36 hours to cover only 30 miles in order to meet them. we though we could be there in 12 hours but it turns out we took the entire 36 hours and the boat took one of the worse beatings so far. we were introduced to one of the local strong winds of this part of the world: the maltemi. it was blowing so much that we; actually only me; felt like crying just of pure frustration. we had already stopped at simi seeking protection and did not have the time to make another stop if we wanted to meet our friends on time and as agreed. so we dressed up in jackets and all our foul weather gear and just sailed at 2 knots towards our destination. to add to the frustration we had to run the engine also while we sailed. If we only sailed the tacks would significantly add miles to the trip possibly adding an extra day, which we did not have. so we had to spend the diesel; at 9 USD per gallon in this part of the world; and still tack trying to fight the maltemi coming from our nose… a terrible idea but unfortunately we did not have too many options. after this trip we learned a hard lesson: there are really no short distances when the weather is not favorable or even OK. 30 miles in rough conditions are worse than several hundred of them in any other setting. but we finally made it. we arrived to astypalea completely wet, cold and with the boat all covered in salt.


upon arriving the french folks from the boat next to us were surprised to hear we sailed in such a rough weather and gave us the first bitter taste of the med mooring experience which we had read about. in europe, because of the lack of space, boats have to anchor and back-up to a wall to tie to with ropes. this sounds simple except that our long keel boat makes it almost impossible to back up on a straight line, so this is definitely hard if not embarrassing in tight spaces. in addition, our manual prehistoric windlass to pick up the anchor chain is worthless and possibly the only piece of equipment we really hate of our boat. every time there is any maneuver with the anchor chain we are reminded that we really need to change that piece… but because we have not done so, we have to still maneuver with it, adding more challenge to a maneuver that we already hate and consider difficult. finally and to top it off, there is always the sailor that is already there and acts as if he owns the wall and space he only tied to the night before, but because he was in first he considers he can watch and not help and warn the newcomer boat of where his anchor is, in order for us not to anchor on top of his, and of course not to touch his boat with ours… definitely not helpful or friendly specially after our long and violent last 30 miles. but we managed to get in somehow in one piece, not touching anyone one of our neighbors and just in time to clean the boat from the messy and rolly night, greet arava and eran and enjoy the warm sun and this new island.


astypalea was the first greek island with white houses and blue windows. it was quiet and charming. we had arava and eran on board and we were safely docked. what else could we ask for?! we quickly went around skala, the main town, and enjoyed yet another good restaurant with excellent greek food and finally introduced our friends to the life on board.