Sunday, May 14, 2017

From Greece to Italy

The weather conspired to keep us in Serifos for a few more days after we said goodbye to friends Kenny, Liz and Lucy on Princess Lucy so we had to fit in a couple more hikes around the Island.

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Ambeli Beach, Serifos

Cute Kids !!

First we walked to Ambeli Beach to the South of the Island, a fairly easy 10km hike on decent paths and tracks with some great views of the interior of the Island as well as some local wildlife. This time of year is great for hiking with pleasant temperatures and the stunning sights and smells of the Spring flowers and herbs everywhere you go.

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Livadhi Bay, Serifos

In Need of Repair

A couple of days later we had another easy walk around Livadhi Bay to Tsilipaka Beach, a sedate 6km stroll on easy tracks with only about 150m height difference. Not as pretty as some of our other hikes but interesting nontheless.

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Downwind to Milos

Kleftiko Rocks, Milos

So after nearly two weeks in Serifos we finally got a favourable weather forecast to head round the bottom of the Peloponese. First was a 34 mile trip to the SW corner of Milos, we managed to sail almost all the way, mainly with our two headsails set wing and wing. This is nice easy sailing for us if we are going dead down wind or very close to it, at around 8knts we are travelling at about the same speed as the waves so it is very comfortable. We anchored under the cliffs at Kleftiko for the night before heading off again next day.

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Monastery, Cape Maleas

Elafanisos Beach

Next day was a long 70nm passage to the Island of Elafanisos on the South East of the Peloponese, just past Cape Maleas that is the south eastern tip of mainland Greece.

It Turned out to be an Eventful Day!!! 0620 Departure to spend the first 3 hrs trying to sail but mainly motorsailing as the wind simply would not behave, forecast was for about 12-15knts NE but we had 2-8 from SE and E with occasional gusts to 20 just to keep you interested. Eventually the wind settled down to 15-20 from E to SE and we managed to sail for the next 4 1/2 hrs at good speeds. Approaching Cape Maleas the wind dropped and we motorsailed for an hour with just the main while keeping an eye on all the traffic passing around us. Then the sky went black, lightning flashed and thunder roared, wind up to 25-30 so main was quickly dropped and we motored into building seas and 20+ knts of wind. Earlier the turning block for the jib furling line had failed so I needed to jury rig a replacement so we could use the jib to motorsail into the wind and seas. Next there is a clattering noise at the back of the cockpit - a check round showed the screw shackle between the main halyard and the head of the sail had come undone and bounced down the boat, luckily it landed in the dinghy but now the main halyard was swirling around in 25 knts of wind - no chance of doing anything in those conditions so it eventually got wrapped around the topping lift and lazy jacks where it was easy to recover it from when we stopped.  2 hrs later we are approaching the anchorage at Elafanisos as the winds calmed and the sun came out, next the oil pressure alarm goes off on the port engine!!! Quickly stop the engine and change to the stbd engine, a quick look in the engine bay revealed lots of oil on the outside of the engine instead of the inside - not good. Anchored in a lovely sandy bay  in bright sunshine and 6knts of breeze, 70nm and 11 hrs after we left. The engine oil leak was found to be a faulty sealing ring on the oil filter so a new filter and 6ltrs of oil solved the problem apart from 6ltrs of oil in the engine bay to be pumped out and cleaned up.

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Porto Kayio Anchorage

Cemetry Above Porto Kayio

The anchorage in Elafanisos was a bit rolly so we were away early for a short 25nm trip to Porto Kayio. This time the wind was a bit more favourable than the forecast and we sailed about 2/3 of the way. We hooked our first fish of the season but it managed to get away about 30m from the boat – shame!!

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Stunning Spring Flowers

Found on the Trail

A couple of days break in Porto Kayio gave us time for another hike down to the S of the peninsula. We found a trail from a website but both the tracks out of Porto Kayio were completely overgrown so we had to use the road and a bit of improvisation. Once again the spring flowers were everywhere and the countryside around the area was lovely.

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Vathy Beach, Near Porto Kayio

Porto Kayio Waterfront

We walked down a well cleared path to get to Vathy Beach but the track out on the other end of the beach had not had any tender loving care at all and it was barely visible in the undergrowth with an occasional blue paint mark to give us a clue. We did eventually find our way back to the road to continue on our merry way (although Sue was not too merry after scrambling through the undergrowth)

Sue here, just got to add that my version of a path is totally different from Chris!! Every hike we go on we seem to end up at some stage fighting our way through the undergrowth and all I can here is Chris up in front shouting keep going I’m sure we are still on the right track!!! Its like where’s Wally, he is a little figure in the distance!!

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Entrance to Navarino Bay and Pilos

Fairy Castle, near Agrilos

Now the weather decided we would not have any wind for about a week and since the normal wind direction for this area is from the N and that is where we were going, we decided we had better do some motoring to make some miles in the right direction. From Porto Kayio we headed West and North to Pilos where we tied up in the unfinished marina for the night, we did manage some sailing on this passage but it was to be the last for a while. Next day was further North to Kipparissia, followed by a trip up to the ferry port of Kyllini. No time for any hiking or shore side visits as we still had little or no wind forecast so we carried on to One House Bay on the small Island of Atokos and then onward to Vlikho Bay on Levkas. So from Pylos to Vlikho Bay we motored about 130nm, but at least the sea was flat and calm.

A few days stopover gave us a chance to meet up with some old friends, Ian & Bobby on Carlina and Frank & Agetha on La Bassine. This meant a visit to Vlikho Bay Yacht club for Sunday Dinner and a few little drinkies!!

Sue here, normality at last!! So nice to stop for a few days and socialise. It was really lovely to catch up with these friends again and share some happy memories.

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Trail to Nydri Waterfalls

Some Nice Views to be Found!!

Now this is my kind of hike, proper paths and a impressive waterfall at the end, for once I thought we had done an easy hike but oh no there was more to come!!

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We Made It!!!

Place to Ourselves

Lets go back a different route he says as it would be boring to go back the same way. We set off in search of some elusive springs but sadly we did not find them. We did see a lot of the countryside though and picked a lot of lemons, which my freezer is now full of. Ready for all the summer sundowners!!

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Interior of Levkada

Oranges and Lemons Going to Waste

In Lakka we met up with friends Vic & Chrissy and spent a couple of evenings with them eating and drinking Aperol Spritzers and of course the obligatory hike around the island.

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Lakka Bay Anchorage

Lakka Lighthouse

This is a really beautiful island with a lot of really plush properties. We also came across an abandoned Monastery which must have been very grand in its day. So of course we picked a few more lemons

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Rugged South Coast of Paxos

Old and New

After 2 days here it was time to move on to Corfu Town but only for one night as we had to keep going. We then sailed to the island of Othoni where we stayed for one night. Onwards

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Beautiful Hiking Trail

Wild Flowers in Greece!!

Italy was our next stop. So we headed off bright and early for Bridissi. On the way Chris decided maybe we should take advantage of the southerly winds and keep going overnight to Vieste. It had been a bit of a roly sail so far but I wasnt feeling too bad so I agreed. Then it all changed!! I will say no more as I’m sure Chris will explain it better but I didn’t like it!!! In my defence I will point out that I hadn’t been well for a couple of days with a urine infection so wasnt feeling 100%!!!.

As Sue says we had an “interesting” trip from Orthoni!! The wind was forecast to be from the SE, great as we were heading NW, wind speed was predicted as 10-12knts early morning building to 20-25knts through the day. For once the forecast was pretty good and the wind was good with occasional gusts into the low 30knts, all very nice and comfortable with boat speed around 8knts so making good progress, sea state was not too bad as the wind had not really had time to build up any waves. So as we got nearer to Brindisi late afternoon further studies of the weather forecast showed that our 20-25knts wind should continue overnight and from mainly the same direction. Since we need to make some miles N when we can we decided to keep going overnight another 120nm to Vieste. Seemed like a good plan until we were about 2hrs past Brindisi when the wind chaged direction more to the SW (still OK) progress with just the headsail was now a bit slow so we had to raise the mainsail with two reefs, everything now OK with a bit more speed for another hour or so, as it was going dark the wind decided it had not listened to the same forecast and so it increased to 30-35knts with gusts up to 45knts. It was now impossible to turn back to Brindisi because the winds and seas would have been on the nose and it would have taken about 4hrs in horrible conditions to get there. No option but to keep going, so the mainsail was reefed down to the third reef and the headsail rolled away to a fraction of normal size and we kept going, we have never sailed Nimrod in conditions that need 3 reefs in the sails but she handled it all very easily and we carried on in the right direction at 7.5 knts. After 2 or 3 hrs (it felt longer) the wind eased, the sea flattened out a bit and more sail was needed to keep the speed up so once again it seemed like the right decision to keep going!!. Overnight and next morning was all fairly pleasant with much lighter winds and slower speeds, we arrived in Vieste around midday after 195nm and 30hrs at sea for an average speed of just under 6.5knts.

So sitting at anchor outside the harbour at Vieste we study the weather forecast again to see when we can head North up the coast towards Venice that is still around 290nm away. The Italian Adriatic coast is not blessed with many yacht friendly harbours, with long distances between the ones there are and even less decent anchorages – nearly none in fact – and the weather forecast was for mainly NW winds for the next 5 or 6 days, not looking good!! All of a sudden sailing to Croatia and going NW up there with a multitude of safe anchorages and short distances between the Islands seemed a much better idea than the inhospitable Italian coast. Strangely from Vieste to Venice via Croatia is only about 30nm further than going up the Italian coast and we can make progress much more easily. Chances are by going to Croatia will be about 100nm nearer to Venice by the end of the week than if we stay in Vieste.

So tomorrow (Monday) we head to Ubli on the Island of Lastovo to check-in to Croatia. The plan now is to head up the Croatian coast as weather permits then cross to Venice for a week or so before heading back to Croatia for the rest of the summer. We hope to visit Montenegro later in the year before heading back to Greece and then on to Sicily for our winter stop. However you should remember that cruising plans are written in the sand at low tide so our next blog could have a completely different cunning plan!!