Pension Games

Cokertme to Okluk Koyu English Harbour

2009-09-17T19:21:00.234+01:00

Tuesday 8th September

Off to explore

We woke to the sounds of the gulets leaving the bay. When i stuck my head out to see what was going on, I got a bit of a shock....no sun and LOTS of cloud. It got worse when I checked Navtex and it stated " gale, force 8 S.W. Turkey".

Naturally, Marco thinks it will come to nothing. Hmm...we'll see!

After breakfast, we checked the pilot guide and decided to head to English Harbour today. First, though we needed some lunch provisions, so we jumped into Balina Junior and headed off across the bay to investigate the hamlet where we'd eaten last night.

We dragged the dinghy up the beach and walked along. Our boat-driver greeted us and we carried on, but got all to the end and saw no market except for a normal one that sells rugs, clothes etc. Heading back, our driver beckoned us over and took us through last night's restaurant to the fridges. These were huge walk-in ones and he spread his hand out, indicating that we could have what we wanted! As we were really only after salad stuff, we chose two huge tomatoes, 2 cucumbers and a courgette and paid 2TL. Back at the dinghy, we struggled to start the outboard and quickly discovered that again, we had a line wrapped round the prop. We got free and were quickly back on our boat. Having tidyed up and prepared ourselves as well as we could, we slipped the lines. That makes it sound easy - ha! What it entailed was Marco going out again in the dinghy and spending a large amount of time trying to untie the bowline that our boat man had tied last night which was now stiff with sea salt! All this whilst avoiding sea urchins and in a rocking dinghy! Eventually he managed to loosen the line enough to slip it over the rock and hurried back to Balina and, pulling up the anchor, we headed out.

It didn't take long for the wind to get up to 16kn and we were reefed with a smaller genoa to stop us heeling so much. We were able to go along at 5kn on a broad reach but we were heading in the wrong direction. With the wind directly behind us as we moved round, we pulled down the main and sailed on a full genoa and were impressed to do 5.5kn, flying along.

There were a lot more yachts out today, but clouds were heading across from the north and it looked pretty dire for later on. But we spotted the two islets outside Degirmen Buku quickly and sailed across, only putting the sails down when we were very close. We spotted the entrance to Okluk Bay. We needed to be here in order to get a meal tonight (it was too far to motor from the other side of the bay) so we rounded the head where there is a mermaid statue, erected by Sadun Boro, the first Turk to circumnavigate in a yacht.

Moody cloud cover

Even with the cloud, it was a lovely place and we scanned the bay looking for a suitable mooring spot. The restaurant pontoon was clear except for one yacht that we recognised as a Yildiz flotilla yacht, so we guessed (rightly as it happened) that the pontoon would be filled up later which we didn't fancy being part of, so in the end, I found a gap between a line of liveaboard boats opposite, all of which had 2 lines ashore. We prepared, dropped anchor and I ran to the back of the boat, leapt in with the line, and took the line around a tree, waiting while Marco took up the slack, then tied the second to a larger tree and we were in!!

It was still cloudy and also cold compared to our other days but we still managed to catch a small amount of sun at the bow of the boat, where we sat reading and drinking beer. We'd decided to have an early dinner so while Marco dozed (hard life being a skipper), I showered and while he showered, I prepared a G&T for us. What a team!

We left for the Yat Limani restaurant just before sundown, and managed to get a lovely table at the water's edge. We had meze (again) and for a change tried meatballs which were lovely. We polished that off with a slice of baklava. We drank beer tonight in an attempt to save some money as we are running a bit over-budget but I think we coped ok!

Back on Balina, we had a Baileys each and Marco thrashed me at Connect 4. Thunderstorms rumbled ominously in the background and flashes of lightning lit up the bay.....but no rain......yet!

Palamut to Cokertme (with life jackets!!)

2009-09-17T19:21:00.161+01:00

Monday 7th September

Before the lifejackets - Gulf of Kekova

Anyone who has sailed all their life, or been living aboard for a while would consider sailing across a gulf in Turkey to be childs-play. For us however, it became our most exciting sail to date (all 2 years worth).

The day began with Marco banging his head on the companionway hatch and swearing, which then turned into a debate about where to have our morning coffee - me wanting to go back to last night's restaurant for a change.

After we'd had coffee in the cockpit, we then went off to last night's restaurant where we had another! We also got to see a lot of kittens gamboling in the sunshine and have a bite to eat too!

Back on board there was the obligatory impatience from Marco, who was keen to fill the water tanks, slip the lines and get going. I hope he's not in this much of a hurry when we are living on board otherwise we'll be like Jules Verne and have seen the world in 80 days! I was keen to get the chap from last night to help us untie, but no, we have to learn (!) so we had to do it all ourselves. I suppose he had a point. While Marco was doing boat jobs, I busied myself tidying the saloon and took some photos of Palamut, then returned to Balina, where he was spending time working out which lines were useless and could be recycled to make slips that would hold us in place while we untied the rather tight bowlines that had been rather too expertly done last night.

Once we were ready we started the engine and - oh! A large fishing vessel had parked dead ahead of us during the night..more than likely over our anchor. But we carried on regardless. All was working well until the chain started pulling to starboard and we locked. We then knew that the anchor was caught under the fishing boat. We were dragged right over to it, where fortunately there was a crew on board who held us off while Marco reversed back up towards the jetty, allowing the anchor to come up straight in the roller. We could see that we should have really just drifted very slowly forward so that the anchor could drag out from under the fishing boat, but with the ballast on one side and berthed yachts on the other, it would probably not have worked either. In the end, no harm was done and we were on our way again, Marco muttering loudly that the whole episode made us look like amateurs (but we ARE amateurs!). Personally I'd defy most people to successfully get out of the corner we were hemmed into.

Once out, we had a mixture of nothing and large gusts, so we waited until we were well out of the bay of Palamut, then put up our sails. We did ok, managing 4kn in around 15kn of wind. Occasionally we got 'scary' gusts of up to 26kn but they didn't last and it was relatively easy for us to get round to Knidos and Cape Krio beyond, although we had to sail out and come in again to ensure that we weren't going straight into the wind.

As we rounded the Cape, we put the motor on and, just as Rod Heikell describes in the pilot, the wind was patchy so we knew we had done the right thing.

Our plan was to head round into the Gokova Korfezi and head for Cokertme on one tack. Sempra from the restaurant in Palamut had done her best to put us off. "It's far too windy", but Marco of course, wanted to give it a try. I found to my surprise that I am becoming quite trusting of his judgement around the sailing so was ok with his decision. After all, we could always head back to Bodrum if the conditions weren't right.

The lighthouse on Cape Krio

As we passed the lighthouse on Cape Krio, the wind went from 6kn to a steady 17kn. We started to heel uncomfortably and Marco gave me the helm so that he could reef. Unfortunately, as I turned in to the wind, there was a huge gust and the bow was taken round 180 deg. Lots of shouting and swearing ensued, followed by the engine going on so that we could right ourselves again. Once that little drama was over, Marco set a course that should get us near as dammit to Cokertme.

Once we got ourselves into the Gulf of Gokova, things really took off. The wind was steady at 22kn, gusting 26kn and the waves were building. Spray was coming into the cockpit and covering us both. It was great fun, but nervewracking at the same time, especially as we headed more central with land a long way off in both directions. I started to feel sick - it was getting rougher and I suggested that life jackets might be a wise idea. Marco didn't object so i went down the companionway steps to retrieve two jackets from the locker. I swore continuously to myself as I struggled, both to put on the life jacket, and with the feelings of nausea that were starting to overwhelm me. I needed to get back in the cockpit.

With lifejackets on, we continued happily on a single tack across the gulf doing on average 6kn, occasionally 7kn. As we got to the north side of the gulf, we could make out a yacht, heading in the same direction as us, and it was then that we realised this was the ONLY yacht we had seen all afternoon. We'd been almost alone in the gulf. Did this make us brave, stupid, or simply normal (compared to perhaps other charterers)??

Nearing our destination - just in time

I went to check the chartplotter downstairs, only to find that it still showed us just outside Palamut. With nothing electrical to guide us, I reached for the charts and hoped i could still remember enough of my dayskipper theory to check our position. Hmmm....GPS also buggered! Nothing for it but to rely on pilotage! I checked the charts for any potential hazards to our approach and there were none, so all that we had to do was look for some steel masts that indicated the entrance to Cokertme. We motored for a while, getting as close to the shoreline as we dare and just as the sun was touching the horizon, we saw the masts. Down came the sails and we motored in.

We did a little reccy of the place, and a little boat from the Ibrahim restaurant pottered around but didn't come to us. The boat from the Rose Mary did however! He tried to get us to come to his pontoon (which was full), and then indicated that we should come inside the jetty. I would advise anyone else that is in this situation to refuse. We made a polite attempt, but clipped the bottom and Marco immediately put the boat hard astern and we reversed quickly back out. Despite the boat owner's protests that this was fine, Marco (wisely i think), refused and we motored over to the other side of the bay. Luckily for us, the Rose Mary boat came with us and helped to take the lines ashore, tying us on nicely which was just as well really as the anchor chain got stuck. He asked us what time we would like to be collected for dinner and, as we were quite a way from the restaurants now, we gladly agreed that he could come and collect us at 8:30.

Well, after all that excitement, it was a wonder we had any strength left to open the beers, but heroically, we found some somewhere and gratefully guzzled one back, then showered and changed.

Right on the dot, we heard the whirr of the outboard and our boat friend was by our side to take us to dinner.

We ate right on the sea-front, and had kebabs, fish, meze and a bottle of wine. It was another idyllic location and afterwards we were chauffered back to Balina. Full of wine and food, we crashed out - fast asleep by 10:30 again!

Bozuk Buku to Palamut

2009-09-17T19:20:00.007+01:00

Yes! Let's row...it's only a mile across the bay!

Sunday 6th September

Not another crap sleep?! Yep, the cabin is getting warmer and we both wake up feeling rather dehydrated. Not sure if that's the previous night's beer or just the heat, but anyway, the long and the short of it is that if you MUST have a cosy bed and a good sleep at night, you won't like the early days of cruising! For me however, lack of sleep just means an excuse to get up at 6.30, make coffee and sit at the bow watching this little part of planet earth wake up.

I'd wanted to go and see the fort at the other end of the bay, but Marco didn't fancy putting the outboard on the dinghy so he rowed instead. Mistake! He quickly got pissed off with the whole thing and started making faces - and who would get the blame? Yes the wife! So i kept helpfully suggesting that we went back for the outboard but he wouldn't have it (why ARE men so stubborn?) so we limped on until we got to Sailor's House where we got out. However, in only our flip flops (well prepared again), it was almost impossible to climb up and so we gave up and went back to Balina, where the outboard was fitted and away we went again. We then motored over to Ali Baba's place. We quickly wished we had gone there last night - there was a rickety jetty that all the yachts had tied up to, a dog with big ears and a lovely looking restaurant. Oh well, next time blah blah......

We still couldn't easily get to the fort, so abandoned the idea altogether (sniff) and came back to the boat. We slipped the lines and motored out to Serce, a large bay just around the corner. We dropped anchor and had a lovely breakfast with a swim. Once refreshed, we motored out and were immediately able to put the sails out in over 15kn of wind. The conditions were very similar to the previous day, so we were on a close reach until we were near to Symi and then it died again. We tacked and found enough wind to take us up the side of Symi, deciding that we would try to go through the Nisos passage. This is a short cut that enables the sailor to avoid having to go all the way around the island of Nimos, thus saving quite a bit of time. However, two things have to be stated. One is that it is technically out of bounds, being as it is, in Greek waters. In practise the Greeks tend to turn a blind eye to this little short cut. Secondly, the water shallows up considerably and suddenly.

Light blue means shallow!

We had read about the shallow traverse in Heikell's book so were prepared. As we approached the passage, Symi town could be clearly seen with all the picture postcard houses spilling down the hillsides. We would have loved to go there, but didn't want to take the chance without a Greek courtesy flag. As we entered the Nisos passage, the depth sounder came up sharply from 25-30metres to 2.5metres. As we went through the passage the water became crystal clear. We trusted Rod Heikell's book which stated that it was alarming to see this rise in depth, but that there was absolutely no danger, and soon, the depth sounder was showing 10-20 metres again. We were through unscathed.

Next problem on the horizon (almost literally), was wind direction. We were heading west....wind coming from......west. Damn! So we went on a close reach towards Datca, then tacked back up again to go round the peninsula. This was the intention anyway, but it all went a bit wrong, as something had happened to the genoa track. Won't bore you with the details, but eventually, after 'words' between skipper and crew, it was fixed. By this time of course, the wind had dropped to 6kn and we weren't moving. So we took everything in and switched on the motor. We wanted to make it round to Ova Buku - another great sounding bay and restaurant - for a quiet night and dinner at 'Oguns Place'. But as we set our course due west, the wind that had been so non-existent for an hour or more, decided to pick up again on the nose. We bounced around in 18 knot winds, motoring into confused seas with a sinking sun.Oh good! By this time we were both knackered, but knew that sanctuary was just around the bay. The waves kept coming and breaking over the bow. What a nightmare! We were so relieved to see the watchtowers of the bay and motored in, just gagging for a beer and a relaxed night. Bloody hell!!! Not a berth to be had anywhere. Just 6 boats had filled up the entire jetty. Nobody came to see if they could squeeze us in anywhere and lots of swimmers were bobbing about in the water....anchoring was not an option in any case.

There was nothing for it but to motor back out into the wind. Quickly we decided Palamut was our only hope, being just around the corner and so it was spray, waves, bobbing etc all the way, and to cap it all, just as the sun was setting and we could see a nice little gap for us ahead in the harbour, a 43ft yacht raced past us, got in and was tying up before we'd even got into the harbour walls. We were, instead directed to a corner of the harbour where it was all fun, fun, fun tying up with massive help from a local guy who had to pull us away from a huge pile of underwater ballasting on the starboard stern side, then I had to let out more and more anchor to get the stern round and near enough to the quay to be able to drop the passerelle. Finally we winched ourselves in and were safe for another night!

After another niggle about whether to bother showering or not (hello, I'm covered in salt), I went off to do just that, while Marco skulked about with a beer, then graciously decided he would have a 'quick wash down' too.

The lovely Jardin de Sempra

Palamut is a lovely little town and we were really very glad that we ended up here. We found a lovely restaurant called Jardin de Sempra, and treated ourselves to fillet steak, fish fillets, and a bottle of red wine before heading back for a Baileys nightcap and an exhausted sleep.

Bozborun to Bozuk Buku and a choice of restaurants!

2009-09-17T19:20:00.006+01:00

Saturday 5th September

If the book's true we'd better not bother

What a rubbish sleep! It's quite amazing that when swinging several tons of boat around a small anchor we can sleep like babies, yet when safely tied up to a nice little harbour wall, every sound reverberates around and conspires to keep waking us up every hour on the hour...although by 'us' I mean me, as the exhausted skipper (!) slept as usual, like a log.
The fridge was making all sorts of weird sounds during the night - this was unusual as it hadn't happened before, and I wondered if it had anything to do with Marco flicking various switches yesterday in an attempt to locate the second water tank....I dozed off. Then woke up with a jump. Someone was on the passerelle (the board used to get from land to boat)...shit! I listened for another sound - nothing. I was imagining it....lots of creaks and groans on a yacht. 'Click' 'creak' oh bugger there it is again. I lifted my head, just in time to see a shadowy figure leap from the companionway steps to the galley sink - followed by a plaintive 'miaow'. It was a bloody cat!!! I couldn't believe it. One more creak up in the cockpit and before i knew it, another cat had stuck it's head through the hatch. The first cat's mate. We had two night-visitors. As i got up to see what they were doing, they jumped back off the boat and sat on the path by the boat, staring at me. Then they wandered off as quickly as they had arrived. Back in bed I only managed to doze before the mezzuin started calling for early morning prayers so I grabbed my camera and took a few early sunrise pictures (which came out badly) then put the kettle on. We went and got some provisions from the minimarket nearby, then after breakfast Marco cleaned out the cockpit (wetting the bed through the open hatch in the process).

Once we were ready to leave, the lines were slipped and I was given the signal to raise the anchor. Pressed the 'up' button on the windlass......nothing! The anchor windlass was dead. Hmmm, this wouldn't have anything to do with M playing with all the switches last night would it?? We tried everything we could think of, then called Yildiz. This was the second time in two hours, the first due to having called them already about the location of the second water tank switch. Within minutes, Yildiz had fixed the problem.....there was a trip switch that was lit green, but was meant to be red (bizarrely). But within minutes we had got the newly working anchor up and were off.

The ruins at Kiseli Adasi. As close as we got.

We had planned to stop off for a visit to the ruins at Kiseli Adasi island on the way out, but a large gulet was already anchored with lots of daytrippers splashing about and screaming at the top of their voices so we gave it a wide berth and added the island to our 'must do next time' list.

Once we were out into the Yesilova Korfezi, we were able to sail straight away on a close reach towards Symi at 4kn. It was really lovely to be able to sail so early in the day and with such reliable winds. We switched on the autohelm, grabbed a cold beer each and sat at the bow of the yacht listening to Bob Marley and scanning the area, both taking in the fabulous scenery and looking for would-be hazards at the same time. We made ham and cheese rolls and ate these along with beer number two as Balina gently heeled and stayed on course.

After lunch, we tacked around towards Marmaris, only needing the engine for a very short while when we got too close to land and lost the wind. Having figured out where Bozuk Buku was, we followed a catamaran into the bay, passing by the very impressive fort ruins to port. There were a couple of nice looking restaurants as we entered, but Marco had read about Loryma restaurant and reckoned it sounded the best.
As we approached their jetty, two men rushed out and had picked up a lazy line for us to grab. Ha! little do they know i'm an expert now. As we approached though, the wind suddenly picked up and was reading 12 knots - well, it was a farce really! I chucked a stern line to the waiting Turkish boys, who passed me the lazy line in return. But before I could run it to the bow, Marco let go of the helm for a second, and the wind took the bow away and we ended up alongside instead of stern-to. Not what was intended - oh no! One of the chaps asked if we'd like some help and before we knew it, Balina was tied up with a lazy line at the front and side, effectively achoring us in twice....were we in for a blowy night??.

Bozuk Buku at dusk.

Having switched the engine off we sat and admired the beautiful bay that we were looking into. Had it not been for the noisy generator of the Loryma restaurant, it would have been idyllic. Time for a beer and we sat, watching all the yachts coming in. Without fail, they all turned to port on entry and went to Ali Baba's place. Eventually just one boat came to share our pontoon. Two Germans who obviously knew just what they were doing as they perfected the lazy line mooring perfectly despite there being more wind than before. They then leapt out and sat drinking beer with the owners of Loryma.

We played music to try and drown out the noise from the generator, then got ready for a very lazy dinner. Loryma didn't really look too inviting all in all, but in reality of course, the food was lovely - meze and fresh fish. It was nice to be almost alone and to look out at the entire bay. After all that relaxing, we were more tired than we thought and were both asleep by 10! We had wondered about our choice of restaurant, given that everyone else had gone over to Ali's, but it had actually be quite nice to eat on our own.

Keci Buku to Bozborun

2009-09-17T19:20:00.005+01:00

Friday 4thSeptember

Balina looking across to Bozborun

Hmmm! And we thought that Turkey was meant to have wind??Well there ain't none in these parts! We woke up to see Balina on what resembled a mirror. The scenery was beautiful so we thought we would hang around in the area for a few hours and relax. So after our coffee, Marco decided it was time i learned to dive off the boat. No, not the sort of diving with a wetsuit and tank - I can already do that thanks! No, being able to actually dive head first into water is one of two childhood things I can't do. The other is ride a bicycle - I know, cruel parents! Anyway, learning to dive off the boat took about ten minutes and consisted of me working my way up from the bottom rung of the swim ladder to the top. Piece of cake! Don't think I'll be diving off the deck anytime soon though. Afterwards we had breakfast and said goodbye to Keci Buku - for now. Another place though on our list of places to return to once we become liveaboards.

We motored out into the Hisaronu Gulf. We intended to have lunch in a bay called Sailor's Paradise which had a restaurant, but first wanted to visit Bencik, a sheltered cove across the bay. We managed to sail for most of the way over but dropped the sails and motored into Bencik, avoiding the sunken rock which was marked by an extremely rusty looking red can. Bencik was beautiful and peaceful. It would have made a fabulous lunch stop - if only we'd had any food! I trust by the time we do this ''for real'' we will have learned the art of provisioning. Retirees cannot live in restaurants every day, and liveaboards won't get very far on half a pot of Greek yoghurt and some dry crackers.

Spot the gap to reverse in to.

As it was, and being as we are only on holiday and therefore decadently eating out whenever we fancy, we motored up to the top of the bay, back out again and headed across to Sailor's Paradise. Again, it was a bit confusing to see where the entrance was until we were quite close, when it became more obvious. Binoculars help when you are a way out! We followed two other yachts in and waited for them to moor up, then took our turn. Lazy lines are used here so I played it thick (not having to act much when it comes to lazy lines I'm afraid) and, as Marco reversed into the space, a man from the restaurant jumped aboard and took the lazy line around the cleat at the front. There was a bit of a hashing of stern lines when Marco threw it too high and it hit the bimini, coming back down on his head with a thud. Second time lucky and we were all moored up relatively hassle free.

We sat at a shady table outside away from the small flotilla that seemed to have taken over the main restaurant. We waited a while to be served but when the food arrived it was amazing. King Prawns in garlic butter with bread to mop up the juices and a large Efes beer to wash down lunch. Marco decided on the lamb roll, which turned out to be 'lamb 'n' fat roll'. Conveniently, there was a rather hungry looking cat sitting right next to our table (trained to look out for those who order lamb roll, no doubt) so it was the cat that ate rather better than Marco. After paying, we went for a swim, then dropped the lazy line (so easy hah!) and motored out.

The wind was patchy but we managed to sail with about ten knots on a close reach until we had to turn the peninsula to get down to Bozburun. We motor sailed in order to keep some control as we went pas the Atabol Kayasi - a rock just under the surface which has apparantly claimed a lot of yachts.

Having successfully passed the danger (which was marked by an isolated danger sign), we started looking for the islet of Kizil Adasi which we wanted to go around so that we could approach Bozburun from the south. Once on the approach, we could see there was plenty of space to moor stern-to within the harbour so we motored in and dropped 40m of chain and reversed in. The harbour master appeared, to catch our lines, one of which naturally got wrapped around the wrong side of the pushpit. One of these days, we'll do everything right!

Bozburun is a lovely little village with numerous shops, three mini markets and several restaurants. We went for a walk around the harbour, avoiding all the waiters who came out trying to get us into their place for dinner that night. As we got the end of the harbour, we came across a restaurant called (imaginatively) Bozburun. We went in and the friendly owner offered to show us the meals being prepared for that night's dinner. We watched as a young Turkish chef filleted fresh fish, chopped fresh veg, and marinated fresh meat......one dinner for two - sold! We booked to return at 8pm and retraced our steps back to the boat. By this time, our peace and quiet had been invaded by a huge catamaran which had moored right up next to us. Catamarans must be lovely, comfortable home-from-homes inside but the racket they make when the 'crew' switch on the generators is enough to put me off. I wouldn't like hearing that every night - it's bad enough having to hear someone elses.

One of our water tanks had run out of water and it took us (read - Marco) ages to work out how to switch to the second tank - so while he huffed and puffed, I made us a G&T and we sat at the bow, looking across to Bozborun before heading off for dinner. The food at the restaurant tasted as good as it looked, especially the meze which was some of the best we'd had on this trip (although we tend to say this every night). After a lovely chicken casserole, fried squid in garlic and a bottle of white wine, we wandered back around the town to Balina 95TL worse off and polished our evening off with a large Baileys.

Really - if we really do this liveaboard thing, our annual booze quota will have to be scaled down dramatically!

Dirsek to Keci Buku

2009-09-17T19:18:00.202+01:00

Thursday 3rd September

Skipper takes a 7:30am swim

We might have had heaps of trouble mooring up, ruined the painter to the dinghy and had a 5 mile journey to get food yesterday but to wake up and be totally alone in our little corner of the bay more than made up for it. There were goats grazing on the shoreline nearby and the entire bay had a chilled out feel to it. It was truely wonderful and so relaxing that it felt only right to have an early wake-me-up swim.

There was plenty of time to have coffee and breakfast while taking in the scenery and we entertained ourselves by sitting at the bow watching other yachts leave. At 10:30 we left too, this time taking just seconds to untie the line and get everything (including the skipper) back on board. We toured the bay a bit before we left, taking pictures of the restaurant and the mirror-like water, then motored out into..........no wind. While we were waiting for the meltemi to get going and actually blow us somewhere, we ventured in and out of some of the surrounding coves, making a mental note to return for lunch to one of them on the way back down the gulf.

The scenery as we entered the Hisaronu Kofezi is incredible. Pine covered hills replaced the sinai-like, barren hillsides further towards Greece and we quickly decided we wanted to stay in this area overnight and spend a bit of time doing it justice. We were aiming to stay overnight in Keci Buku, with a lunch stop over the other side of the gulf at Kuyulu Buku where there are two bays. As we were approaching, the wind picked up and we were able to put out the main and genoa and sail close hauled up to our destination and into the entrance of the bays. We chose the anchorage to the north, anchored easily, fitted the outboard onto the dinghy and set off to explore. The bay seemed quite Amazonian with lots of cicadas chirping to break the silence, and reeds everywhere. Once at the shore, we headed in the direction of the restaurant, but were disappointed to discover that it was closed and that the area was full of Turkish caravanners, so we headed straight back to Balina and had pasta for lunch with a refreshing glass of white wine that we just happened to have in our fridge (top tip: always carry an 'emergency' bottle of wine and a few beers in the event that a recommended restaurant, as often happens in Turkey, fails to materialise.

After lunch we had a quick swim, then I roared across to Keci Buku in 2knots of wind! Passing the Marti Marina we made a mental note that it looked a nice place to perhaps see out the winter one year!

We dropped anchor near the restaurants, after I handed the helm back to Marco when he started going into man-moan mode, saying what are you doing, where are you going when i was attempting to avoid grounding us on an obvious sand spit at one end. All the restaurants have a jetty and on approach, someone comes out from each one, gesturing wildly at you to use THEIR jetty. This is with the expectation that you will eat in their restaurant....in return, water and electric are "free". However, we wanted the freedom to eat where we liked and as we had only filled up with water and had shore power two days previously, we didn't require those facilities again yet.

We motored around the bay in the dinghy and took some pictures of people on the sand-spit. Because it was just under the surface of the water, it looked as though people were just walking on water. If Jesus was an illusionist, this is surely how he persuaded everyone that he could do this trick!

Back on the boat, we relaxed with an obligatory afternoon beer. Marco phoned his parents, then we got a phone call from Thomas Cook, cancelling a holiday that we had booked as the flight had been discontinued. I was annoyed (with British Airways), so Marco decided to get annoyed with me being annoyed. Don't know why! What annoys him never seems to annoy me and vice versa....one of the many happy things that makes married people roll their eyes behind each others backs....!

I showered and got ready to go out, and, after a G&T sundowner, motored across to our chosen restaurant called Ersoy. The owner rushed out to tie us up (well, the dinghy, not exactly 'us'), and welcomed us to his place. The restaurant was delightful, with a decorative hole in the wall so that diners could see into the kitchen. Marco went inside to choose our starters, and also to choose our cuts off of a large Dorada which we were going to have for main course. The food was lovely and melon was served free for dessert. We (or rather, Marco) got chatting to a Dutch lady who took our photo and told us that they keep their boat at Marmaris marina, but come out to sail for 5 months in the summer all over the area. Another Dutch couple got involved in the conversation. They had a large dog with them and told us that they owned the gulet that was moored up at the jetty, and take people out on the water for day trips and holidays for 6 months of the year from Fethiye. What a great life.

We made it back to Balina eventually for our usual Baileys nightcap and sleep. Another successful day under our belts, although the sailing was limited.

walking on water!

Knidos to Dirsek

2009-09-17T19:18:00.170+01:00

2nd September 2009

The ampitheatre at Knidos

Knidos is a beautiful area to be in but my God the wind roars into the bay when it's in the mood! And it was certainly in the mood last night!! Thank heaven then to wake up to the views of an ancient city that's over 2000 years old. So after a bit of a fitful sleep, we were both up by 7.30 and, after our coffee, took a stroll up past the restaurant and were directed by a tourist official towards the ancient city.

Having paid our TYL8 to get in, we were surprised to have our own personal guide: Knidos the dog had decided to join us on our self-guided tour.

Knidos is one hell of an amazing place. It gets very little press as far as we know and, as it's stuck out on a peninsula with just a small road in and out of the area, it also gets very little by way of tourists......and believe me it's all the better for it. The area of Knidos roughly dates from around 400BC and seems to have enjoyed many prosperouis incarnations between then and around 700AD when it was invaded by Arabs and the fun all stopped. Subsequent earthquakes caused the city to be abandoned. It has been under excavation for over a century and there is so much to explore, including mosaics, still-standing pillars and the highlight of the trip, a fantastic ampitheatre which must have been an awesome place to watch your entertainment in those days.

Marco and I, along with Knidos the dog, wandered alone around the site for well over an hour. It was inspiring and is, at least for me, one of the kind of things i'd like to see more of when we do our 'for real' world trip. I would have loved to walk to the top of the hill and been able to over look Knidos on one side and the Gulf of Gekova on the other. Alas, on a two week sailing holiday every day involves a new adventure and a new harbour so we needed to move on to our next port of call. We will return to Knidos one day though and stay a bit longer.

Whilst we were exploring, Knidos the dog followed us everywhere, occasionally stopping to wait for us as we photographed a pillar or view. He was exceptionally friendly and we began to dream of one day owning a boat-dog. If we could have smuggled Knidos onto the boat (and onto the plane home) we might have done although i'm not sure what our three cats would have to say. However, once the tour was at an end, Knidos flopped down on the restaurant floor, happy to be home and never gave us a second glance!!

Back on Balina, we had yoghurt and honey for breakfast and prepared to leave this beautiful place. We slipped the lines at 10:30, feeling as though we'd already done more in Turkey than in two weeks in the Ionian. Out of the harbour and into the sea, it was lovely and windy so we quickly unfurled the genoa and had a great sail downwind to the next peninsula where we started to have a bit of our famous sail-trouble. If only we never had to change direction this sailing would be a piece of cake really. But oh dear, land was inconveniently in the way and so we had to gybe. Doing this (wrong probably), meant we lost what wind we had and the boat started bobbing around going 'La la la' and not going anywhere. Marco was determined not to put the motor on though.

We put the motor on...Then we passed by Palamut thumbing our noses at it and saying we didn't want to go there last night anyway....then we put the autohelm on and had lunch with a beer. It was all too easy this motoring.

As we entrered Datca Bay, the wind returned with a vengeance.....the wind vane got a bit confused and spun round like the wheel of fortune eventually ending up pointing out a south west wind, which then dropped to nothing. We motor-sailed across the bay and saw the Greek island of Symi on our starboard side, with the pine-clad hills of Turkey to port. We started to notice wavelets ahead and all of a sudden the wind got up to 20kn gusting 27. We had a terrific sail for a couple of hours, all the way to Dirsek and, as we passed Symi, we could see the town of Pethi and the dimly lit houses littering the slopes around it.

Dirsek proved a little difficult to spot until you were quite close to the entrance and we nearly ended up in the wrong cove, but eventually we got there and motored in. There were already plenty of yachts and the jetty was full with only 4 boats! Most other yachts had anchored with a line ashore so we circled around trying to pick a spot well away from another boat. We decided to go to the south-east corner of the bay, taking a line back to the rocks.

What a giggle that turned out to be as we were hopelessly under-prepared...The anchor set out well first time but the yacht drifted forward a bit, away from the shore. The rope we wanted to use for the line ashore was knotted up and it took Marco a few moments to untangle. Once he'd done that, he jumped in the dinghy and headed off to find a suitable rock to tie on to. Meanwhile, I had to get back to the helm to put the yacht in reverse so that it went back to it's original spot. The line wasn't long enough so i had to reverse back a little more. Finally the rope was secured and the boat was steady. Then the outboard on the dinghy failed. Marco, tired and a little fraught, yanked at the starter.....ruh-duh-duh..(yank) ruh-duh-duh (yank)....nothing! From where I was standing i could see that the ropes that we normally tied the dinghy to the boat with were in the water. Once Marco checked it became obvious that a rope had fouled the outboard prop. Oh joy! Marco pulled his way back to the yacht along the line ashore and (rather than be patient and unpick the rope from the prop), cut it off with scissors. Now we were left with a very short line with which to attach the dinghy in future. Number 140 of 'things' not to do when it's OUR boat".....!!!

After all that excitement, we just wanted to have dinner. Hmmm...we were moored just about the furthest distance from the restaurant. So off we went in the dinghy....half way across the bay, the motor cut out again. Damn (or something like that)....fortunately it started again and we made it to the restaurant where we had beautiful home-made meze, swordfish steak and kebabs. Oh, and a few beers! By the time we went back to Balina in the dinghy we were merrily merry and the calm waters meant we sped back with relative ease.

It must be said that getting from our yacht to point B and back by dinghy is a tale of two sides. On the one side is calm waters, quiet bays and a moonlit sky to keep you company while you get around. On the other is choppy waters, dark, moody skies and a good soaking en route. Tonight was the former and, as it was such a trek across the bay we were really glad. Back on board we had a Baileys to congratulate ourselves on a successful day and both fell asleep in the cockpit I left Marco there when I got cold!

Bodrum to Knidos

2009-09-17T18:42:00.000+01:00

1st September 2009

Knidos the dog surveys our mooring skills

I had the most fantastic sleep that i think i've ever had on a boat. It must be a relaxing lifestyle after all! I got up, put on the kettle, wandered off to use the marina showers and was back on the boat, making morning coffee before Marco had even woken up! It was a beautiful day and we sat in the cockpit admiring the view and listening to the clink of halyards against masts. Once Marco was ready, we popped to the bakery for some fresh bread and, on the way back, called in at the Yildiz Yachting office to ask for some decent sized glasses. The ones on Balina were an insult to the liver of decent mariners like ourselves...would hardly hold a nat's wotsit of gin, and with our ongoing 'learning processes', I felt sure that it was a sure bet that we would be hammering the gin bottle most nights after mooring, to celebrate a decent day's sailing you understand...

Once back on board, we had breakfast and came to the conclusion that we were probably the only bareboaters that week. There were lots of Dutch people around and the Yildiz flotilla leader happened to be Dutch too. He came round to say hi, but lost interest somewhat when he realised we were not going to be joining his team for the week. Marco asked him cheerily which direction he thought the flotilla would be heading. When the Dutch flotilla leader said "Into the Gulf of Gekova", Marco shot back "In that case we'll head into the Gulf of Hisaronu!" The flotilla leader gave us a withering look and stalked off up the pontoon.

Well we can't help it if we don't like flotillas!

When we were ready to leave, we called the marina and they sent a pilot boat to let us out. Due to the fact that all yachts are on lazy lines in the marina, it is somewhat difficult to manoeuvre. Therefore, the pilots come along to nudge your yacht around. I handed the mooring to the pilot and dropped the lazy line. Once we had left, he tied the line back to the pontoon. Couldn't be simpler eh? We motored out of Bodrum. The castle looked spectacular behind us as we left and we could see in the daylight just how far we had walked last night.

We headed south towards Knidos, intending to arrive there for lunch, then going on to Palamut for dinner. The wind was easy on us at first, coming from the North West, keeping us nicely at 6knots on a broad reach but it soon picked up (dastardly meltemi) and suddenly we had 20knots with all sail out and the yacht started to heel quite dramatically. At first it was exciting but then the wind shifted round to the west and waves were starting to hit us sideways on. Hmmm...this wasn't so much fun and when i went down below to fetch something, I ended up feeling very sick very quickly. I recovered ok once I was back in the cockpit and Marco reefed the main so we were steady again.

We carried on across the gulf, with Kos on our starboard side but were still being knocked about more than we felt comfortable with for a first day and decided to turn towards Nsiros (a Greek Island south of Kos), then gybe around past the headland towards Knidos. The trouble with this strategy was that we were then on a dead run (wind directly behind) and, as we have no idea yet how to goosewing our sails, we decided to motor into Knidos.

Once we were on the approach to Knidos, it was hard to see where the breakwater was as from a distance it looked to be attached to the land. But when we got nearer we could easily spot the entrance and motored in. Our first attempt to anchor on the starboard side of the bay was a dismal failure, although we had read in Rod Heikel's book that it was bad holding. Then as luck would have it, a large catamaran left the jetty, leaving a large space so we quickly motored round and threw our lines to the waiting pontoon owner there. Having secured ourselves to the pontoon we quickly came to the conclusion that Knidos was a place we would like to see more of and decided to stay overnight. We had a swim in the rather refreshing water (read COLD) and Marco had a look under the boat to see that our keel was resting in the sea grass there. Yikes!

Having had our compulsory first-day swim, we got out and relaxed in the cockpit, reading/sleeping. When I woke up I got the feeling I was being watched and sat up to take a look round. Right by the boat staring /straight in at us was a lovely brown dog with floppy ears (see picture) who we called Knidos for, quite frankly obvious reasons. Knidos obviously loved new people and lay right by our boat for about half an hour until a new yacht arrived when he changed allegiance and went to sit by that one instead. Turncoat!

We got ready for dinner and chatted to our neighbours on Su-Su, then paid TYL25 for our pontoon mooring which included electricity and water. We hardly needed it, having only just left Bodrum but decided to get our money's worth by having extra long showers.The restaurant at Knidos was very busy considering the amount of yachts in but we got a nice table and, like in Spartakhori on the previous holiday, we had to choose our own dinner from a selection in the kitchen. A really nice thing to do. We both chose sea bream and salad and had meze for starter - peppers, aubergine and watercress salad and stuffed courgette flowers.

All were fantastic. And the entire meal, with a good bottle of wine came to less than £70. The views of the bay were amazing. Back on the boat there was quite a commotion caused by a yacht coming in late and getting itself caught up on another boat's lines whist trying to squeeze into a gap between two boats already nicely moored up. Chaos ensued and everyone was watching and offering to help collect lines etc, but in the end, the arriving yacht hobbled off (probably embarrassed at causing such a fuss) to the end of the jetty and we returned to Balina to toast a great day with a large Baileys nightcap.

Turkey for Two

2009-09-17T17:20:00.001+01:00

31st August 2009

The skipper relaxes after an introductory beer

After the Shotley Farce, we were looking forward to being on our own again with the added pleasure of warm sun and new surroundings. And so it was that, for the second year in a row, we stayed at the Sofitel Gatwick (saves all that driving in the small hours and "we're going to be late" panicking you see), and for the second year in a row I was awake at 2am staring into space, wondering what sort of excitement the next two weeks would throw at us and how different this might be to the "Ionian Starter Charter" for beginners (seeing as how we are now experts right?)

Blah blah airport, departures, good flight etc etc and a few hours later we were in a taxi, being spirited along the coastline towards Bodrum. The trip from the airport takes just 35 minutes with some quite amazing views of the sea en-route. The first sight of Bodrum Castle is one to savour. More of that later: the only thing we were interested in looking at were the masts......hundreds of masts belonging to yachts moored at Bodrum Milta Marina. We drove along the promenade until we reached our base, right at the end. We were dropped at our pontoon "C". The driver leapt back into his cab and drove off, leaving us both all bemused, wondering where on earth the office was for Yildiz Yachting. Marco took the initiative and wandered down the pontoon , quickly finding Balina, our home for the next fortnight. We dropped our bags by the paserelle and went in search of the Yildiz office. Having located it down a side street (to be fair it was on our little map that Nautilus, the UK agent, had sent us - we just prefer to look bemused and confused in new places) we filled in the necessary paperwork, handed over our security deposit of €1000 and returned to Balina to find maintenance men touching up a few bits and pieces. We had a yacht briefing booked for 3.30, so unpacked and went in search of food and beer. The marina area was nicely landscaped with a well-stocked Carrefour and a few chandleries as well as designer shops and a bar that overlooked the marina...oh and a 'yacht club restaurant'. We had some lunch and tested out the Turkish beer - a large Efes each.

Having had two of these 'testing beers', we made it back to the yacht in time for our briefing. I hoped that Marco was taking it all in because I certainly wasn't! We then went provisioning. Our basic starter pack for ourselves consisted of the following; butter, cheese, beer, tonic, water, yoghurt, milk, sundowner nibbles. You can see how healthy we are and how much liquid we considered essential in this heat! By the time we got back to the yacht it was almost dinner time. Can you see a pattern emerging here?Perhaps the blog should be changed to reflect it more as a world culinary experience rather than a sailing blog as precious little sailing seems to be taking place.

Anyway, having decided to stay in Bodrum tonight and get sailing first thing in the morning, we took advantage of the relative luxury of the shower facilities and went wandering.

From the marina to Bodrum Castle takes about 20 minutes if you are forty-something.....adjust up and down according to age and alcoholic intoxication (it took a bit longer coming back for some reason). The castle was closed (opening times 9am - 6pm) so we came back along and ate at a place along the front called 'Bulvar'. There was no reason to eat here particularly other than the fact that we didn't have the energy to keep avoiding all those nice waiters who step to one side and spread their arm out majestically to display their menu and/or fish counter. You know that the smile will disappear as soon as you pass by - just don't look back and you won't get upset!

After dinner Marco said he had noticed some quaint looking streets behind one of the squares towards the castle. So we retraced our steps and were soon among the throng of tourists darting between bag, leather, spice, Turkish Delight shops. The atmosphere however, was great. Every so often we could look through to the end of a shop and see the castle, lit up and looking majestic. As we neared the end of 'shopping street', the whole seafront opened up and another long street took over: bar street! Right at the end of Bar St was Halicarnas, the famous night club - one of the very few open-air clubs in the world. We decided we might go there at the end of our holiday for a laugh. We're only in our mid-forties...should be fun!! The music was ambient although to be fair it was only 11pm, and being all tired and old, we retreated back into Shopping Street and the comforting buzz of a dozen different languages, all excitedly discussing their plans for the next day.

Nightcap time! And Marco had seen a spot near the castle on our way through. It was called Campanula/Al Atika and it had a divine roof terrace where a band was playing. We climbed the steps and sat on squashy cushions drinking beer, looking over our shoulders at the castle and sea, then looking down at the busy street below us. On the next table a Turkish family were clapping and singing along. The atmosphere was friendly and right up our alley! We could have stayed all night.

It's a toss-up who started to nod off first, but eventually we sauntered back to the boat and were asleep by 01.30. What a great first day.....it feels so good to be back on a yacht.....even though it's a daunting situation when you don't sail regularly. What will the next fortnight bring?

Lessons learned in Shotley - a cautionary tale

2009-08-10T14:08:00.000+01:00

August 1st - 2nd 2009

One of the advantages of chartering for the weekend is that you can give the yacht back after a few days on the water. For us hard-working people, half a dozen weekends doing this works out to be pretty good value for money compared with owning your own boat and all the marina fees and upkeep that it involves - and at the moment half a dozen weekends would seem like a luxury to us!

On an evening round our friends and fellow novice sailors Robert and Tina, we decided to have a jolly weekend away. Hamble Point Yacht Charter were very good when we chartered with them in March but we all quite fancied the East Coast so we booked up with a well advertised sailing school which also charters yachts. In fact the reason we decided upon them was because Marco and I gained our Comp Crew there. As the yacht has to be in one person's name, Marco booked and so he automatically became 'skipper'.

The day before the charter began, we were told that our chosen boat was 'unavailable' and we would be getting an alternative.

We turned up excitedly on the Friday evening with our weekend provisioning boxes, filled in the paperwork and were shown to our yacht.

At this point, we were advised that the depth gauge wasn't quite giving the correct information....oh and the furling drum on the genoa needed to be 'handled with care'. Huh.......try telling the wind to pipe down in case it hurts our furling drum!
All went well on our first day. Ok so we drifted off a bit and came a bit close to grounding - it happens! And me and Tina set fire to a tea towel. Oh, and near the end of the day it absolutely poured down but we heroically all did our bit to get into Ipswich marina and spent a cosy evening 'at home', pretty pleased with ourselves.
Next day, going down the Orwell, the wind was right behind us and while Robert helmed, Marco was on the sails trying to ensure that we didn't gybe. Once out, the wind picked up and we were able to have a great sail, tacking all the way out towards Walton, before turning back because of the time. A fraught time was had as we got a little bit close to a green can and Marco was 'forceful' in giving out his instructions. In fairness there had to be one skipper as there was no time for us all to sit down and have a pow-wow about it but it was an awkward half hour as all our nerves and patience were wearing a bit thin by now.
I excelled myself by not reading the pilot guide for Shotley Marina (there's a dirty great lock with an inogon system) where you have to line up the chevrons to avoid the silting either side of the narrow channel.

We grounded. Not badly, although is there a 'nice' way to ground a yacht? We scraped the bottom and came off again into the correct channel and vowed to do better next time.

Alas, there will be no 'next time'.

We gave back the yacht, and the charter owner was on another yacht chatting with some people. We waved and gave him the key back and were on our way.

Next day Marco got an email. The furling drum was bent. It was beyond repair (allegedly) and would have to be replaced. The company was taking our deposit which was another £600.

Bastards

We learned an awful lot that weekend. Not about sailing, but about human nature and trust. We shall share these via this blog so that other novices can learn from what happened to us.

1) NEVER accept a yacht that has to be used 'with caution'. It's impossible to do.......and in any case, why the hell should we? We paid over £600 to take a yacht out on water.....in East Coast windy, rainy conditions it's very hard to pootle along as if you are on the Ionian. The company changed our yacht at the last minute, and gave us what was, in effect, a sub-standard replacement. We should never have agreed to this.
2) ALWAYS take pictures of anything that doesn't look right. I should have photographed the furling drum on the first night to compare with the photos we were sent by the company.
3) The fear of a libel case prevents me from naming the company involved in this shambles. But there are clues. The owner tried the old "You should know me better than to think I would try and con you" trick. But we think that is exactly what he did. We were all novices and he knew that. We WERE competent to take the boat out, but we were all naive in our knowledge of the mechanics of a yacht and I think he took advantage of that too. The drum was already on the way out and we helped him pay for it's replacement. Marco and I became a couple of mugs who ended up parting with half the cost of the charter plus the entire deposit (over £1000) for a two day weekend. Not that we're bitter.......!

And of course, he's shot himself in the foot. Marco and I would definitely have chartered again and again with this company, the East Coast being so beautiful and relatively uncrowded. As it is, the £600 extra that this little outing cost us, is the last money he will ever see of ours. We will never use him or recommend him to anyone else.

...........prefer Cowes anyway.

Lorraine the Dayskipper

2009-06-05T22:33:00.001+01:00

May 2009

I don't like courses or 'tests'....I thought I had given them up when I left school and I definitely gave them up straight after I qualified as an advanced scuba diver. Oh, no - hold on a minute, didn't i do Dayskipper Theory for a year as well with 2 exams at the end? Ok, so maybe taking tests are better if you are actually enjoying the learning? With this in mind, and using it as a reasonable excuse to have a 5 day break with the girls, I booked the Dayskipper Practical course with Ann and Tina (the friends on the 'buoygate' weekend tale, told in the previous entry).

The course lasted 5 days, starting on Friday evening and finishing Wednesday afternoon. We booked with Commodore Yachting, based at Gosport Marina and I can highly recommend them. We learned such a lot and had a real laugh along the way, with the help of our shipmates Phil and Ingela and the antics of Tom who was our skipper and teacher. The course involved navigation, night sailing, man overboard retrieval, mooring techniques, helming, ropework, testing of rules of the road and lights/shapes etc etc. Of course there was a fair share of socialising too which was always a laugh.

Fear and Loathing in the Solent Part two...

2009-03-23T19:37:00.008Z

Where was I? Ahh yes i was being smug and saying that the next day would be different. I suppose that's one way of putting it.

We headed off, after showering and breakfast back into the Medina and turned to port, heading towards Lymington, following the tide. There was no wind at first, then we had 5kn and, with our newly discovered sails out managed a respectable 4.6 (although 4 of that was probably S.O.G). We tacked over to Lymington, arriving at low water, and crept along the tight channel, mooring on the first pontoon we came to. We got out the sarnies and soup and were having a jolly old lunch, when the harbourmaster turned up to announce that we were on a pontoon reserved for racing yachts and shouldn't really be there. However, as we were nearly finished with our lunch and about to leave, he let us stay for an extra 15 mins.

We were looking forward to an afternoon tacking back and forth towards Cowes Yacht Haven where we were due to meet up with our friends Ann and John who were on their Vancouver 36 (http://www.moonlightadventure.co.uk/) with our other friends Tina and Robert. But don't expect an uneventful afternoon in the lives of 'us'! Oh no! We slowly motored out of Lymington and as I took the helm, Marco hoisted the sails and declared 'Turn to port and set sail for Cowes' (he really said "Turn it left, LEFT.....no....LEFT...oh bother....."or words to that effect - well i'm still a novice aren't I? ). At this point, our weekend charge decided she'd had enough and wanted to sit next to 'Jack in the Basket' for the rest of the day. In other words she stopped moving. Marco took over and revved the engine (a lot)...but no chance...she was well and truly stuck on something. A quick look over the stern confirmed our worst fears. We had caught on something..probably the prop. Oh joy, Oh happy day!
After the initial panic of having something wrapped around the prop, it slowly dawned on us that we were also sitting rather close to the ferry route that moves between Lymington and Yarmouth. In fact we were so close that we could make out the scowl on the captains' faces every time one went past. It was time to ring 'Sea Start'. After about half an hour our hero arrived in his rib, surveyed the area and declared that we were indeed stuck on something
(well done that man!!). He announced that he would have to go and pick up Mike the diver, who would go and investigate the problem. Off he whizzed. We waited, stranded while others passed us, some offering help, others looking mildy disdainful as if we'd decided to just park there for the night with a nice cup of cocoa and a book, blocking the shipping lane!
Another 45 minutes passed. Perhaps Mike the diver was on holiday?
Suddenly they appeared in the distance and were soon alongside our stricken vessel.
Mike the diver looked like all he needed was a copper diving helmet and he would have been straight out of a Jules Verne film. An old 'cove' with an impossibly long, grey beard, he was already kitted out in his wetsuit and the oldest looking dive tank I've ever seen. Quick as a flash he was over the side in a "I'll handle this" sort of way - I could have imagined he had his serrated dive knife in his teeth......and within two minutes an arm came out of the water like he was carrying Excalibur....except in this case, it was an old buoy.
"That'll have drifted from it's mooring that will," said the SeaStart chap. "It's invisible from the surface. Unlucky that, to get caught on it!" You don't say........
We were presented with the buoy as a souvenir and Mike the diver and SeaStart gave a cheery wave and were off, leaving us to start the engine and carry on. We gave a cheery wave of our own to the next ferry captain we saw...
By this time, it was getting late and we'd telephoned our friends to let them know of our impending non-arrival in Cowes. However, they'd decided (bless 'em) to wait and see if we turned up, so we motored quick as we could down to Cowes. Luckily, the tide was with us and we got there in just an hour. I've never been so glad to get anywhere in my life. The prospect of spending the night in the middle of a ferry lane hadn't appealed.
Lines were thrown to our waiting friends and within moments we were all done. Without even bothering to change clothes, we were out with our friends and hot-footed it to a lovely pub called the Union Inn. Cosy and welcoming, we managed to get a table for six and spent a very happy evening supping beer, eating tradtional pub food and recounting our sailing tale of woe.
But hey, Sunday had to get better didn't it!

Errrr......well.......after a night of booze, food, mariner's tales and rum (yes really), we had a fry up at the working men's club in Cowes high street as it was the only place open on a Sunday. It was pretty good too. After a bit of browsing in the chandlery, we said our goodbyes to the others and headed off back into the Solent for our last jaunt of this trip.
It was great - the tide was heading west and coming back east in the afternoon so we turned again to port and meandered along until we got to Newtown Creek. Decided to go in and have lunch there although it would be low water in a couple of hours so we had to be careful where we anchored. We chose our spot and the anchor held well. Soup, pasties and a large mug of tea went down a treat. We were chuffed with our spot, although the boat next door moved away after half an hour and, as he left, muttered across to us that he thought we were moored too close to him. Couldn't see that ourselves....
Reluctantly we had to leave as we only had three hours left of our charter and wanted to try and sail back with minimal stress. Stress? We don't know the meaning of the word.....yet.
As we left, I heard the call of nature and decided this would be as good a time as any to use the heads (pootling slowly out of Newtown Creek).......as I was sitting, contemplating the 'incident' of yesterday I heard a thud, the sound of swearing from the helmsman and simultaneously I shot off the seat and cracked my head on the door of the loo. Regaining my composure (and consciousness), I staggered upstairs to find Marco beating the wheel up and swearing, looking skywards....probably how we got into this mess..you're meant to look at the water. I however was looking seawards and it rather quickly became obvious that we had grounded. Bugger, balls and bedlam! The boat turned into a competition of headless chickens as we bumped into each other, turned in the other direction, then back and into each other again, both trying to sort out the mess but doing absolutely nothing in the process.
Back on the helm, Marco revved it into astern....nothing. Forward...nothing......oh great! Talk about a comedy of errors!
We could see what had gone wrong. He had cut a corner, not noticing a rather large (now you come to mention it) red can in the distance that we should have gone around.
We remained there chatting (read blaming each other) for about 20 minutes then Marco had another go with the engine. One, two, three, rev it astern! It worked! He gave me the helm whilst he went to re-stow the uninflated dinghy that we'd considered using to lay out an anchor.
Obviously liking us, and not wanting to go back to Hamble, there was another bump, thud and as if by magic, our boat had crossed the narrow exit channel of Newtown Creek, only to drift too shallow on the other side!!!! Fortunately this was just a minor handshake with the bottom and we were soon on our way again. There were no more 'incidents' and we returned our girl to her rightful spot at the marina, rather relieved that we'd made it back in one piece.
Lessons learned today and yesterday...
1) There was nothing we could do about the sunken buoy. We were just unlucky. At the time though it just felt as though we were not cut out for this sailing stuff.
2) Always check the charts and plan your passage. We were lucky at Newtown Creek that it was low water and after 20 minutes we had enough water under the keel to lift us off. Had it happened at high water we might have been there all night - another call to SeaStart???
3) I wrote on YBW scuttlebutt about the 'incidents' of this weekend as we were suffering rather from a lack of confidence afterwards. My post got over 70 replies, nearly all of them really encouraging. Thanks guys. Three months later an article by Libby Purves appeared in Yachting Monthly - all about lacking confidence every so often.and starring 'Mr and Mrs LandM...us! A picture too...fame at last. We learned so much about sailing and about ourselves this weekend and can't wait to get out on the water again - as long as there's enough of it and no floating buoys!

Fear and Loathing in the Solent.....part one

2009-03-23T19:36:00.002Z

Ahh the Solent! Training ground of would-be Knox-Johnstons everywhere....and the destination for our first solo UK yacht charter.

Hamble Point Yacht Charter had caught our eye at the Boat Show earlier in January 09, so we'd booked ourselves onto a lovely Hallberg-Rassy 342 for a weekend in March. To add to the excitement, friends that we'd made through Marco's evening classes were going to be sailing as well and we arranged to meet them in Cowes on Saturday night (as one does). We were really looking forward to it.

For about five minutes

Paperwork carried out, inventory checked, we hopped, skipped and jumped onto our new home-for-the-weekend, started her up and Marco reversed merrily out of the pontoon. We ignored the salty old sea dog on the opposite pontoon who was jumping and pointing and he seemed to be calling out and waving at us. Clearly mad, we tried to ignore him until we reversed closer to him where we could hear the words "line", "water", "prop" (he probably said 'novice idiots' as well but we would have chosen to ignore him anyway)....quick as a snail, I shot over to the stern and rescued the trailing line, thus preventing an early disaster.

Once out into the shipping lanes of Southampton water, I proceeded to get a wee bit confused by all the markers and buoys although it all made sense when a large million ton cargo ship seemed to become rather larger than life behind us (astern Lorraine, astern....) and we moved across to generously let it through. We caught some wind and couldn't wait to hoist the sails. As I took the helm, Marco puzzled, scratched his head, chin, arse, whatever and came to the inevitable conclusion that this being a Hallberg Rassy, it therefore wasn't a Bavaria and he had no idea where to find the halyard. Cue lots of stress, frustration, shouting and conclusions that 'we' weren't cut out for this sort of thing. We then discovered the halyard lurking by the topping lift area (what a silly place to leave it), then had trouble finding the topping lift. We ended up taking out the genoa and 'sailing' over towards Cowes at 5knots which made us rather pleased with ourselves (but God only knows why).....

There was much smugness to be had at East Cowes as we successfully came alongside our designated pontoon at the first attempt. Having paid our dues for the night at the harbourmaster's office, we treated ourselves to a beer/wine for the economical sum of £2 each at the marina pub. Having chatted away to our neighbours, who found the topping lift over by the mast for us and introduced us to their boat cat, we decided that we would sail to The Folly Inn for dinner. As i say, we were smug and, having successfully moored up in daylight..hey, why not be REALLY smug and try it again in the dark?!
So we sailed off up the river Medina and moored alongside the pontoon right opposite the pub. This was the life! Having called a 'cab', we waited for half an hour for the river taxi chap to turn up and transport us over the water. We settled down for the evening on squashy sofas with a large glass of wine each and an order of fish and chips and ruddles beef pie to look forward to.

In my opinion, all this Greek sailing with no clouds, endless sun, diving off the back of the boat and Mythos on tap is all very well, but there is definitely a very big place in every sailors heart (well, ours at least) for a nippy March evening, roaring fire and a large fish and chips in a cosy(ish) pub anywhere in the UK after a day on the water.

We stayed until 9, then got taken back to the boat by the same water-taxi chap who had been 'waiting patiently' (read drinking the bar dry).
Ha ha, the idea of a nice easy mooring up sesh at night after a wine doesn't really work. It took 3 attempts!!

OK, so lessons learned from today......
1) Learn everything about your yacht before you take it out of the marina! Sounds obvious but not if you are slightly smug and think you know it all when you dont!
2) If you are a smug novice, revise sailing knowledge anyway just in case. Then you won't be surprised (read:caught out) in the middle of the Solent.

Ahhh....but of course, tomorrow would be different, and indeed it was!

Nikiana to Vlikho

2008-10-25T17:10:00.025+01:00

Saturday 13th September

Achtung! I was awoken from my peaceful slumber at 01.15 by the Germans singing 'My Way', accompanied by a guitar! Naturally, Marco snored all the way through it so I just lay there wishing I had some ear plugs and eventually dozed off.

When we got up at 8am the Italians had already left..we had coffee (surprise) and watched a man fishing at the end of our mole. We were also treated to the bizarre sight of an old man in his underpants tightening his sheets....yes it's them Germans again! It's a funny old life! This didn't put us off our breakfast as you might imagine it would although we decamped from the boat to get provisions and hoped that they would be gone by the time we returned with our booty. We picked up some lunchtime beer, cheese pies and water and when we returned the Germans were just leaving! Hurrah......peace restored, we ate, reading our books and watching fishermen. We left at 10, motoring towards Skorpios. We wanted a relaxing last day and for a change, there was wind in the morning so we had a good sail down. Cloud was building as we motored in to see Onassis's landing platform on the north of the island. There were hoards of daytrippers there so we didn't hang about and carried on. Around the corner we came across a huge super-yacht - so big it had a heli-pad on it! We eventually moored around to the south of the island and dropped anchor in a bay which was sectioned off by a line of buoys. These are there to 'discourage' people from anchoring too close to Skorpios - and while you can swim around in the area, you are not allowed to set foot on the beach. Winspit crossed the line slightly as we spun on the anchor, and......maybe not coincidentally, a little red van whizzed down within 5 minutes to 'eyeball' the area and possibly us! Cameras are everywhere on the island apparantly......and although nobody lives on Skorpios now it has a full compliment of security staff to care for the grounds (and keep out noseyparkers).

We swam and read and decided that next time we come to the Ionian we should spend a bit less time sailing from A-B in a rush to fit everything in and see a bit more of the places we go to. ,

Eventually, it was time to leave and we headed out straight into WIND! We spent an hour or so sailing back and forth between Skorpios, Lefkas and Meganissi and managed around 6kn in 13knots of wind. Woohoo! It was then time to take Winspit home so we took the sails down and motored into Vlikho Bay, following another S.I. yacht. Naturally we forgot to switch the VHF on or radio ahead with our arrival and therefore we didn't hear the message to stay out of the bay for now! Chris sent Robin out to eventually get us and within 10 minutes we were moored up nicely at the end of the quay. We chatted to a group of yotties next door for a while and then got showered and changed for the Pimms party that Sail Ionian host every Saturday to end everyones holiday. Chatted to a newly engaged couple, Dave and Deb for the entire evening, eventually ending up at a restaurant recommended by the S.I. crew.......the restaurant were hosting a pig-roast barbecue which Marco really fancied the idea of. BIG mistake....the owner was friendly enough, but the food was rather ordinary which made for a disappointing last meal. Enjoyed our last Mythos of the holiday though! We all ended up in Vlikho Yacht Club which doesn't really feel like a yacht club at all...rather a bar/restaurant with a nautical name. However, the atmosphere was great and once Dave and Deb had left, we decided to stay for one more drink. Bizarrely, we ended up bumping into a couple whose blog i've been reading to learn a bit about the Ionian. A lovely couple called Tim and Katie who were on their first trip back, having sailed up to Montenegro the previous year. We chatted for 10 minutes or so then we left them to catch up with their friend who they'd come to visit. Back on board, sleep beckoned.....our last on the water for a while! Boo hoo!

.....and another thing.......

the next morning we awoke to menacing black clouds - the first of any colour cloud we've seen in two weeks. The day after we flew home, a violent storm hit Fiscardo and many yachts were wrecked on the rocks....the very place that Marco had wanted to moor just a week earlier. Makes you aware of just how much weather matters when you are a sailor.

yukky black cloud...

Paleros to Nikiana - changing plans and wasps for lunch

2008-10-25T17:10:00.018+01:00

Friday 12th September

We liked Paleros so much in the dark that we decided to see if we could break the habit of a lifetime and get a coffee somewhere other than the galley of the boat. So we made an early start and walked about watching the town wake up. I wanted to walk up to the church at the top of the town. Marco wasn't keen so i started out on my own but it didn't seem too steep so i went back and got him. I'm glad I did because there was a lovely village atmosphere at the top of the hill and we found an excellent bakery by the church and bought cream pies, eating them on a bench nearby. We then meandered back down to the bottom and had a coffee at Dionysos. A few couples were already inside and we noticed they were all reading from charts. Fellow sailors - how nice. We were three quarters of the way through our coffee and the cafe was nearly full with 'fellow sailors', when we heard a familiar voice. Yes it was the pole-dancing chap from Port Athene who swaggered into the restaurant with his wife and another couple saying VERY loudly "We're 'ere - you can start now". Again everyone collapsed into peals of laughter. It was painful. We left before the rep arrived and, back on the boat we read for a while before leaving. We decided on Vassilikos for our last night as we've not been there yet and it sounded good in the pilot guide.

We motored out and looked in on a large hotel down the coast that is home to Sunsail. Looked quite nice. Off towards Skorpios there was again no wind. Very frustrating....we tried to find some wind but there really was nothing so we ended up motoring all the way. Past Skorpios, Marco had identified Dessimou Bay as a good lunch stop. Recommended by the Di and Neil at Sail Ionian we had high hopes for the place. And it looked idyllic. There were just two other boats anchored and the taverna looked lovely. We rowed in and ordered a couple of Mythos and lunch. Our starter was a gorgeous tuna salad and Marco had the chicken souvlaki while i had the longed-for-all-holiday aubergine slippers for mains. However, before we were half way through the salad we knew we had a big problem. WASPS! The table next door had loads around them and as they finished eating the wasps headed our way. By the time our mains arrived, there was nobody else eating and it was as though we'd invaded a nest (we might well have done for all i know)......we must have had 50 or more wasps buzzing around. There was really no way we could eat anything...not only was it more than a little irritating having to bat the wasps away, there was a real danger that one of us could accidentally swallow one which wouldn't have been much fun at all! The restaurant waitress didn't seem to bat an eyelid and Marco was getting seriously cheesed off, stalking up to pay and leave while i was disappearing in a sea of wasps. Fortunately, an old guy came from the kitchen with a roll of foil and packed everything up for us into a carrier bag. Great stuff. We dashed off, leaving the wasps to scratch their heads and wonder what they were going to do for entertainment for the rest of the afternoon. Back on board Winspit, we unpacked our impromptu takeaway which was still hot and it turned out to be very good.

After a relaxing, post-lunch swim, we made our way down the Meganissi channel for the first time. There were some beautiful caves and scenery so i'm glad that we did it. However, once past the south tip of Meganissi, the wind whipped up and, although we were able to sail perfectly in any other direction, we had a very rough sea and the wind was right on the nose. We weren't really going anywhere fast and eventually Marco admitted defeat and we decided to leave Vassiliki to the experts and headed back into the channel where it quickly calmed down. I leapt off the boat for a cooling swim in one of the coves and Marco did M.O.B to come back and collect me.

We decided on Nikiana for the night and had to motor there as there was zero wind in the channel. When we arrived it seemed perfect. We had a lovely spot right at the end of the jetty and moored up stern-to. We got out and wandered around stopping for the all-important Mythos. There were lots of supermarkets on the high street and Marco managed to bring us back to the harbour via several Greek back gardens and the grounds of a hotel. Back on board we were enjoying another Mythos when......horrors.......a yacht was mooring right next to us. it was a boat full of very loud, drunk Germans. We helped them in and I stood on the quay waiting to take their line but the chap on the boat hurled it at me, hitting me in the face and laughed. Nice!

Marco was all for upping anchor and leaving but they then helped a yacht full of Italiens who moored next to them and we were more or less stuck there. They all got the drinks out again and offered us a campari and orange. Marco declined so I took one so as not to appear too unfriendly. M eventually took one as they were the sort of people who just went on and on until you accepted. They were harmless really but just too loud and annoying. We started to get ready and to really cheer Marco up, the water ran out while i was in the shower, so he had to wash in my leftovers on the bathroom floor!!!! There was no water in Nikiana so we'll need to use bottled water until we get back to Vlikho tomorrow. We went out and avoided the Germans who were already loudly settled in one of the restaurants around the bay....we ended up in a nice little place right in the corner by the sea. We had a lovely meal, which was only spoiled by the "white wine"which looked like wee and tasted little better (I would imagine anyway, obviously I don't know for sure). Back on board the yacht, we finished the bottle of Baileys and went to bed at 11.....we could hear the Germans in the taverna right across the other side of the harbour.

Port Athene to Paleros

2008-10-25T17:10:00.011+01:00

Thursday 11th September

Woke up on deck to the sound of the fishing boats going out. It was only 04:30 so I went downstairs where Marco had already gone earlier (the swine left me to the elements!)...Woke up properly at 7.30 (again)...and came back up on deck to another beautiful sunrise. We had a quick glass of juice, then made our way in Junior to the shore. We then walked up to the village of Katameri which was lovely, but there was nothing open, not even the bakery. We could see the potential for an evening out or even a lunch stop but breakfast? Forget it....! On the way back, a little old Greek lady in black, watering her garden, turned her hose on us. I think the intention was to cool us down as it was already hot. Can't imagine how we would have upset her otherwise!

We made it safely back to Winspit and had a lovely breakfast of honey/yoghurt with the traditional coffee and watched the Sailing Holidays yachts leave...they turned to port as they left the bay and we noted with regret that we would probably end up bumping into them again at some stage of the trip.

We left eventually ourselves into 11 knots of wind and sailed on a beam reach towards Kalamos at 5kn for a while. As we tacked and came back towards Abelieke Bay, our lunch stop, the wind died again and we motored in. The bay is much hyped and Rod Heikel is very complimentary but we didn't really think it was that exciting. The atmosphere wasn't helped by two diggers that constantly jiggered noisily the entire time we were there and when we tried to leave, the anchor chain ran away and we had to let it run right out. Marco reversed the boat back and I tightened the gypsy before successfully pulling up again.

There was wind and although it was already 3pm, we decided it was too early to go to Paleros, so we decided to sail around Skorpios. It started well enough, good tacking, up to 6kn speed, but it all went wrong as I was helming and took Winspit off course. Being a nervous ''What do I do now?" kind of sailor I was heading towards an oncoming ferry. Marco took the helm rather huffily and i then proceeded to mess up the tacking too. Names were called, tears were shed (can't say by who)...and the result was that we had started to run out of time to get to our destination, so Marco took in the genoa and we motored fast to Paleros.

Getting there, another boat ahead of us entered the little harbour and came straight out again. We did the same. There was no space. Why?? Well, Odysseus Yachting have their base here so one pontoon was entirely taken out by their fleet. The other pontoon.....? Hmmm Sailing Holidays had tacked themselves onto the end . Having experienced them so often now, we actually preferred to anchor again just outside the harbour, thus avoiding any noisy parties and disco songs from the "Brits Abroad". We chose our spot and Marco signalled to drop the anchor. It dropped alright....and didn't stop..! Brought up several metres of chain until we could tell we were well in. We had beer and nibbles on board watching the sunset and all the day's traumas were forgotten once again.

We motored in Junior over to the shore and walked around the town. We liked Paleros - our first visit to the Greek mainland. It had real old charm, lots of cafes and tavernas too. We chose 'Dionysos' and had a lovely meal, sitting by the sea where an old lady was fishing with a single reel and line. Afterwards, we walked around the town eating ice cream before heading back to Winspit for a coffee and Baileys.

Frikes to Port Athene

2008-10-25T17:09:00.032+01:00

Wednesday 10th September

Had a disturbed night - not sure why but we still woke up at our usual time of around 7am. I came up into the cockpit and witnessed the most spectacular sunrise of the holiday so far...no sound except for a small put-putting outboard belonging to a Greek fisherman. We were facing East with nothing but sea and the sun seemed to come right out of the water. It was very beautiful. After our coffee, we clamboured over the other two boats to get ashore. We walked into Frikes and around to the other side of the harbour. There isn't really very much to Frikes and it made us wonder why it's so popular - compared to Kioni for example it's really not so pretty. There was a small supermarket there though, so we bought a few little bits to keep us going and got on our way. Having dropped our lines at 09:40, we motored out past the pontoon and there was enough wind to be able to put up the sails. A huge 'Easycruise' liner waited for us to leave before skirting around the outside of the bay and heading south to show the non-sailing cruisers what the little ports looked like.

I helmed and managed 5kn in just 8kn of wind. We enjoyed it so much it more than made up for the exertions of last night's voyage. When we're in control of our vessel there's no better feeling at all. We videoed a massive ferry which passed behind us just about 50m away. The wash made us bob around a bit for a while but it was interesting to see this kind of fast-ferry life from a slow, lazy perspective of a yacht. We reached the small islet of Atoko and stopped for lunch at Cliff Bay (so called because......err....cliffs!). There was us and a supersize yacht all the way over on the other side of the massive bay and we put the outboard on and motored around marvelling at the sheer height of the cliffs and investigating the many caves in the area. It was great fun

...intrepid explorer!

We had one of the best lunches here......Greek salad, tsatsiki and a bottle of white wine....all to be shared in the cockpit whilst watching other yachts come and go. Lots of Dutch yachts started to arrive as part of a flotilla and we decided to leave them to it. An arguement ensued between skipper and first mate about whether to leave the outboard on the dinghy or not. I won and the outboard came off. Going through open sea with the outboard dangling off the back of the dinghy didn't seem to be the done thing to me and i think i was right - it's not ours to damage after all!

We motored past 'one house bay' so called because........oh use your imagination......it was lovely but packed full of yachts including the lads we had rafted up against the previous night. We crossed the sea towards Meganissi - no wind whatsoever and Marco started moaning that this was not a sailing holiday but a cruising holiday. We managed to get the sails up a few times as the wind hit 8kn (cor!) but really, the breeze was only just there and in the end, we gave up. We motored around the N.E. tip of Meganissi and down into Port Athene, being careful to avoid the underwater rocks near the entrance to the bay. It was beautiful with a single taverna to port as you enter. We anchored off and I offered to swim ashore with the line. If i say so myself i did a top job and even got my bowline spot on! Having winched in the spare line so that we were secure, we re-fitted the outboard.....much moaning from the husband! We then motored over to check out the taverna. The Mythos went down very well after all that....motoring....and we enjoyed the company of a small kitten that took every opportunity to sit on our laps purring loudly. We got the dinghy back to Winspit, had a refreshing swim about and got ready to return to the taverna for dinner that night.

.....Back to Winspit with the taverna behind us.

We left the dinghy by a rickerty pontoon used by fishermen and nearly fell in twice trying to get out of it. Once in Niagas restaurant, we got a nice table well away from the ''Sailing Holidays" flotilla that were moored all along the harbour wall (of course, where else?)! I had mousakka AGAIN because they had no stuffed aubergine and nothing else appealed. It was the best yet. A high recommendation from me! One of the guests from the flotilla obviously styled himself as the in-house entertainer and proceeded to swing around one of the poles holding up the awning and rub himself up and down on it whilst impersonating Marilyn Monroe. This made all the flotilla crowd hoot with laughter and call encouragements like ''Ooh Jeff, you are awful'' etc. which served to remind us of why we don't ever want to do flotillas. It was very tiresome and just not funny! We found our own entertainment in a family of mum and 5 kittens, all feral, who approached our table with varying degrees of boldness. We hope they survive the winter..and we gave them some of our leftovers to fight over. There's a massive problem all over Greece with feral, un-neutered cats and they depend on tourists and kind locals for life......when all the tourists leave, who feeds them...it's just survival of the fittest and it makes us sad but this is unfortunately the way it is here.

We returned to Winspit and had a Baileys on board, after which, both of us went to sleep on deck, listening to the Sailing Holidays party shattering the atmosphere with renditions of 'Staying Alive' and 'Sex Bomb'.....oh dear!

Ay Eufimia to Frikes - Lakes and Caves

2008-10-25T17:09:00.025+01:00

Tuesday 9th September

We awoke early again and watched Eufimia wake up while drinking a coffee on board and chatting to the South African catamaran owners next door. We then took a stroll up to the taxi rank and booked a Greek taxi driver to take us to the Melissani Lake. The lake is up to 20,000 years old and was officially discovered in 1951 where relics dating back to the Minoans were also found. Part of the roof of the cave collapsed during an earthquake, bringing sunlight into the interior and giving the water a beautiful blue/gree hue in the middle of the day when the sun is highest in the sky. The cave was opened to tourists in 1963 and a tunnel leads down to the edge of the water where you can pick up a rowing boat and be taken on a small tour around the lake. As we were very early, the cave had just opened and we were the only ones on the lake. This had obvious advantages over being in a long queue with coach parties of tourists. However, the down side is that the water isn't a very dramatic blue colour yet as the angle of the sun isn't high enough. But that didn't bother us - we're surrounded by blue water every day aren't we! So we marvelled at the stalegtites and little plants that are now able to grow in seemingly impossible places and listened to our Greek rowing guide telling us mythology stories about nymphs that used to live in the cave in ancient times.

The taxi driver made to take us back to the town but we mentioned that we wanted to see the Drogorati caves too so he performed a Greek U-turn (just do it and all the traffic will grind to a halt for you) and within moments we were at our destination. In many ways these caves were even more spectacular...stalagtites and mites, formed over thousands of years were displayed in a huge corridor that opened into a 30m x 40m room. Pictures were meant to be forbidden. However, that didn't stop the coach load of Saga tourists who snapped away to their hearts content - so early in the morning, the cave guides weren't awake enough to be bothered stopping them. We took a few pictures without flash and managed to get one or two that weren't blurred.

We were taken back to Eufimia and stocked up on breakfast goodies from a bakery along the promenade. The freshly baked pain-au-chocolat were sitting in trays next to an open oven and were still warm so we bought some and they were the best we've ever tasted.

At Ay Eufimia there is a little ticket office along the prom and, having investigated, found out that we were meant to pay for mooring and water/electricity. Unfortunately, we hadn't been provided with shore power by Sail Ionian. I imagine this is due to the fact that 90% of harbours don't have facilities, plus, as you need to motor everywhere for half the day, everything charges itself!

Having settled up with the harbourmaster, we weighed anchor and motored around to Ak Agriossiki, the little inlet that we'd seen on the way into Eufimia yesterday. It was as beautiful as it looked - from a distance. But when we got up close and dropped anchor we quickly discovered that the bay was full of wasps! Not only that, but I swam ashore to take some photos and was very disappointed to find the shore covered in broken glass, barbecue remains , plastic bottles etc. It really annoys me that people think someone else will come along and clear up their mess. Why do people think it's ok to leave their child's dirty nappy on a beach?? Grrr.....! Rant over, we decided not to stay but to motor across to Ithaka and a bay to the south.

Half way across, we looked back and saw junior bobbing around in the middle of the channel. Somehow the dinghy had untied itself. Time for a M.O.B. rehearsal - and we succeeded in retrieving it at the second attempt. It was fortunate that we discovered our loss quickly. Greek fishermen are always on the lookout for this sort of thing and there's a kind of finders keepers rule which means basically, that if "found" we would have to pay for it's safe return...in other words it's a bit of a racket and a hassle that you don't need when you're on your hols!

When we got to our destination bay, a lot of boats had beaten us to it and several attempts by us to drop anchor in water that was either too deep or too close to the rocks failed so we ended up back in Pighada Bay, this time slightly nearer to 'rat island'. Had a swim and a late lunch in crystal clear water - lovely!

We then motored between Pighada and Ithaka and were encouraged to see sails up in the distance. Finding just 10kn of wind was all the encouragement Marco needed to hoist everything and we travelled all of a few feet before the wind died again and we were drifting. Suddenly, it picked up again and we were off...woo hoo! The first proper sail in three days - we were really moving and it was exhilerating to feel the wind through the sails and no motor sounds! Of course, our good fortune couldn't last and, already having reefed the main, Marco decided to put out more genoa..."just a little" which was way more than i was comfortable with. In no time we were doing 5kn in 16kn of wind. Then it all started to go wrong....The wind, which had been nice and consistent, suddenly became 25kn - bloody hell! Winspit heeled and Marco turned her back into the wind to right her. This was fine, but then we lost all our speed...bringing her back on course made her heel again. The genoa took a dip in the sea and my feet were glued to the vertical opposite coaming! It was all happening too quick to be scared but on writing about this now...hmm it wasn't great. Heeling again, anything in the saloon that wasn't tied down went crashing from one side to the other and I for one, was convinced we were going over. This seemed to give Marco a reality check as he shoved me onto the helm and quickly furled the genoa. Having little experience and also trying to keep my balance, we gybed and tacked rather badly for a while - fortunately, with the main pulled in, this wasn't a problem but it really showed us how ridiculously inexperienced we are! All the sheets ended up in a tangled mess and it was impossible to reef the main properly in these conditions so we stuck the motor back on and limped towards Frikes, covered in sea spray.

We followed a German boat into the harbour and once past the breakwater and floating pontoon, we did a reccy of the area. We had been warned against using the pontoon due to the wash from passing ferries, and we certainly weren't going against this good advice. I spotted the familiar sight of a Sail Ionian boat moored alongside on the west of the bay and asked if we could raft next to them. The chaps on Sandpiper all helped us to moor up with lines to shore and springs etc. and we were, at last, safely 'home' for the night and could relax with a beer and dissect the days events.

Having chatted to our new neighbours and had our sundowner, we went out for dinner and chose a little restaurant called Symposium. It is one of many around the bay. The food was ok but nothing special, and we finished our evening in a little bar, drinking Irish coffee and listening to the waves lapping on the shore.

Ormos Polis to Ay Eufimia

2008-10-25T17:09:00.013+01:00

Monday 8th September

Another glorious day in paradise as we woke up and raised our sleepy heads out of the companionway to watch Polis Bay waking up. Actually the only things that seemed to have woken up early were the goats, and we could only tell this by the hollow,tinny sound of the bells slung around their necks which echoed around the bay as they skipped down the hillside to feed. Oh, a digger had also woken up and that was an altogether less natural sound which we could have done without! We took video, had a refreshing morning dip, then breakfast. We could have stayed in this beautiful bay a lot longer but we don't have 'longer' - we have more places to see and only a few more days in which to see them. We chugged out of the bay into zero wind - a phenomenon that we were getting more than used to during Ionian mornings - and carried on around and into the Strait of Ithaca heading south west (ish) towards Ay Eufimia. There was less than 1kn of wind in places and it was a bit disappointing not to be able to raise the sails. However, we were the only ones on this stretch of millpond-esque water and that's rare in this area so we took our time and hugged the coast of Ithaca, taking in the landscape and playing a chillout cd.
As Ay Eufimia is on Kefallonia, we crossed over the strait and were rewarded with a lovely little bay which we promised ourselves we would visit tomorrow. Ay Eufimia's breakwater was only visible once we got right into the bay - we motored in and Marco picked our spot. There were plenty to choose from and we chose to go near a catamaran which we could see was already hooked up to shore power....another rare thing here it seems. It was all so easy for a change; line up, drop anchor, reverse and we're in! First time! No problems! WOW! A Greek man on the quay helped us to tie up and we found out later that it was his job - it was just as well he was there as the quay was too high to jump onto and the passarelle ended up at a very awkward angle. Once the engine was off, we quickly found water and filled up Winspit - so we have enough now for the rest of the week. Then it was time for the obligatory Mythos. Panic! Only one left in the fridge so we shared it and toddled over to a restaurant, imaginitively named 'Spiros' which looked nice and as it turned out, WAS nice! Cheese pies, tuna, stuffed tomatoes and a couple of large Mythos later we were happy. While we were eating, we were temporarily ad

opted by a couple of cats, one of which was cross-eyed so we called him Clarence after the lion with the same problem.

We made our way back to Winspit, where we had a lovely, lazy afternoon sunbathing and swimming around near the boat. For most of the time we had the place to ourselves as our catamaran neighbours were out. Later on, we strolled along the promenade watching the boats come in and out and lots that were mooring near Winspit. We headed back eventually and Marco helped a Swedish guy moor up, then some Austrians just nipped in-between the two yachts - a shame really as the Swedes were a young, quiet couple and the Austrians were about 10 to a boat and shouting loudly to each other! We got ready for dinner with plenty of music for company, mainly to drown out the noise from the catamaran's generator. We sat in the cockpit having our G&T/nibbles-for-two party, while watching promenaders researching the best dinner venues. By the time we ventured out, many of the restaurants were packed. Against our normal "go nowhere twice" policy, we went back to Spiros. A great meal as it turned out and the bonus was a large glass of brandy each which the restaurant gave us at the end of the night. Maybe it was because we had already been there for lunch - we never saw anyone else get one. As we left, I put forward the question of 'nightcap' which didn't seem to go down too well (skippers do get rather more tired than crew I get the impression). However, we compromised and bought a bottle of Baileys from a supermarket, then I popped back to Spiros where they gave me two plastic cups full of ice cubes. We sat, watching Ay Eufimia's evening draw to a close, sipping Baileys in the cockpit then, at some later stage, we both woke up, still in the cockpit and rather colder than before..........

Fiscardo to Ormos Polis

2008-10-25T17:08:00.031+01:00

7th September

Fiscardo is a nice place to wake up to. Let's face it, compared with the 7.05 Thameslink from Flitwick, most places, bar the Bangkok Hilton must be better! But it was lovely to take a stroll around Fiscardo with hardly anyone around, watching the place wake up. Deliveries were being made to fruit shops, restaurants and everyone was just calmly going about their simple lives. It was great. We walked to the end of the harbour and had breakfast at The Yacht Inn where we had something appropriately named Fiscardo Omlette (feta, tomatoes, oregano, olives) plus a fresh orange juice. It was relaxing to watch fellow sailors preparing their lines and motoring gently out of the harbour. Back at the boat, a loud Sailing Holidays rep was giving a lesson on sailing to some even louder Canadians....yes really they hadn't ever sailed before and were about to be let loose on a yacht.We found that bizarre. As soon as our neighbours (who were tied to us) left, we left too. There was absolutely no wind at all as we motored out of Fiscardo. The Ithaka Channel was very quiet and still so there wasn't much point in putting up the sails as we meandered across to Ormos Polis.
Ahh Ormos Polis. What a find....well ok we didn't actually 'find' it. We were recommended to go there by Chris at Sail Ionian so thought as we were sailing past it we might as well pop in to see what it was all about.

Polis Bay as us Brits call it, is just a mile or so down from Fiscardo, across the Ithaka channel. It's reasonably well hidden on the approach from the North until you get quite close. The bay itself looked beautiful and we were the only boat going in there so we would have the whole place to ourself. What a result! We dropped anchor in the north east of the bay and Marco took a line ashore. It didn't take us long to decide that this looked like a perfect place to spend the entire night. So our original plan to simply lunch here and then head to Ay Eufimia went right out of the window! It was good to know that we were going to be here for a while and it gave us a chance to relax and take in the atmosphere of this place.

We went for a swim. The water was 5m deep and full of little fish were soon collecting under the yacht. The fish were a bluey grey colour with a white spot near the tail. I'd like to say that, as scuba divers we should know what they were but we had no idea! We had lunch on the boat before deciding to it the outboard and motor around. We investigated some coves nearby one of which is meant to be Homer's meeting place. But there was nothing interesting to see so we made our way to the shore where we heaved Junior onto the pebbles and walked to the bay where there was a small café selling nothing much except crisps and refridgerated drinks. We had a Mythos and watched the locals going about their business, then it was back to Winspit for more swimming and sunbathing. We'd by now been joined by a large catamaran. Why oh why, when there's a large EMPTY bay do people choose to moor up right next to the only other boat in that bay???? They were within swimming distance in an empty bay, obscuring our view out which was a bit of a pain, especially as the tranquil view was now of a boat full of naked Austrians!! Hmmm..interesting. Their 'tranquil' view was rapidly obscured by yet another yacht arrival. Six people arrived on a yacht, most of them diving into the water and swimming to shore, leaving one person to row their dinghy for the journey home. Together, they all made their way up to the village of Stavros up the hill.
Stavros was a recommended 'must see, must eat there' place by Sail Ionian and we'd been given the name of a restaurant which we'd now forgotten. Marco texted Chris to ask it's name. A few hours later he replied with a name and number and Marco tried to call. There was no answer and without thinking, he put the phone in his swimshorts pocket.......five minutes later he dived into the sea - uh oh! Now we had no phone and no name and number of the restaurant...damn!

Going...............................................................................gone (along with the phone )

So we got ready and jumped in the dinghy. Marco insisted on motoring all the way to the café jetty whereas I thought the beach would have done just as well but we made it ok. We tied up and walked all the way up the hill to Stavros. The views across the bay back towards the yacht were spectacular and I loved the walk. Marco wasn't so keen and kept enquiring as to why we couldn't have just used a pasta sauce and cooked on Winspit! Really, the walk was not that bad and the village of Stavros more than made up for it. There were a lot more tavernas than we expected so finding the one we wanted was quite a task, considering we didn't have the name or number! Around the square, at a normal looking taverna, were the people from our neighbouring boat. We carried on looking as this place didn't look too inviting. Eventually we found a beautiful looking place with a private garden. We decided to eat there and of course, it turned out to be the very place that Sail Ionian had recommended to us. The food was divine. Lots of mezze, fresh fish with garlic mash, lamb in paper and lots of fresh salad. The owner was a very friendly German lady and the place was called Polyphemus. If you go to Ithaka go to this restaurant!
We returned to Winspit back down the hill and the moon lit up the bay and the boat. We started the dinghy and got half way back to the boat when the outboard conked out! Oh help....slightly tipsy couple in the middle of the bay in a small dinghy, no oars. Hmmm...paddle with hands?? Marco yanked on the outboard a few times and thankfully, it started and worked for long enough for us to pootle back to the boat. Back on board we celebrated our safe return with a can of coke then I slept on deck, waking up at 5am freezing cold. Back to sleep in the warmth of the cabin.

Kioni to Fiscardo (or where NOT to park your boat)

2008-10-25T17:08:00.015+01:00

6th September

Grrr.....flotillas! It doesn't matter what time you turn up at a place, they are always there first, bagging all the spots. It really makes life hard for the novice sailor (i.e. US!!) trying to do it on his own. Still, we made it albeit with a little help!

The day started well. Kioni is such a pretty picture postcard place that it was a pleasure to wake up there. Ashore, we had a little wander around, taking advantage of all the photo opportunities there. After breakfast we said goodbye to Mick and Tanya next door and Mick helped us with our lines - just as well really as Marco dropped the long line at both ends and we had to go back for it.....a good throw by Mick and it was safely back on board. Once out of Kioni, the wind got up to 6kn and in minutes up to 10kn so we were quick to put the sails up and take advantage of a bit of morning sailing at last. As it turned out, we had fantastic wind all the way around the top of Ithaka and down to Fiscardo which was great....I even sailed while Marco tacked, and managed to keep her on a close reach on both tacks without stalling..hurrah! Fiscardo wasn't too easy to spot coming in from the north, but soon, the lighthouses mentioned in the pilot guide loomed into view. We took down the sails and motored in. So far so good eh? Well, it didn't last! It quickly became apparant that even at 2pm, you can't beat Sailing Holidays into any harbour in the Ionian! So we did a little circle, surveying the area trying to decide where to moor for the rest of the day. We managed to find a space between a dinghy and a yacht towards the NE of the harbour and were feeling quite pleased with ourselves, especially as we managed to drop the anchor and reverse in first time! I cracked open a couple of Mythos and came up the companionway, ready to celebrate. Our smugness was short-lived though......a Greek chap emerged from the shadows of a nearby shop and told us we had to leave as it was the space for a local boat. Marco (being tall and therefore allowed to be smug) ignored him, cheerily calling to the chap 'first come, first served'. I shifted nervously on my cockpit cushion. The Greek chap didn't bat an eyelid as he lit a cigarette, drew heavily on it, blew out the smoke and said menacingly 'you'll pay' . I became rather nervous and was assured by 'the smug one' that he was all smoke, no fire or words to that effect. Fifteen minutes later, another Greek chap, this time, better looking with better English told us the same story about the local boat and it was up to us but the owner was a bit wild. So I then shifted rather more nervously than before and Marco rang Chris at Sail Ionian for advice. Chris asked where we were moored, and advised us to speak to the port police. Marco headed off and I sat in the cockpit competing with The Man with No Name for who could scowl the most, the one with the fag or the one with the beer! There was no winner, as Marco returned looking as worried as I felt and said 'let's get out of here'.

As if that wasn't bad enough there was more.

A friendly enough guy came up to us as we were preparing our lines and asked if we wanted help leaving. I opened my mouth to say 'yes please' but found myself beaten by the 'no thanks' of Marco...damn! Marco gave me the nod and I started to pull up the anchor.....within seconds it slowed,then ground to a halt. The anchor would neither go up nor down. Fab! Out of the corner of my eye I could see the friendly guy climbing into a dinghy and motoring out towards us. Upon reaching us he told me to release the anchor from the windlass and let it fall......so I obeyed....he then asked me to try again, and the anchor started to come up with no problem. I asked what had happened and he laughed. 'Look over your left shoulder' he said. With a sense of foreboding i took a glance, to see the owners of all the yachts on the north quay looking from their bows to me and back again........dropping our anchor in that spot, we had crossed every one of their lines. When I tried to pull the anchor in, it simply brought all their chains together risking fouling every last one of them. Luckily, they all seemed ok and meandered back to their G&Ts or whatever, leaving me rather red-faced at the bow of Winspit.

The friendly guy asked if we needed help finding another spot. Without hesitation or looking at Marco I immediately said YES!! We motored out a little way and as luck would have it, as we did so, a Sunsail yacht was leaving a berth right by the Captains Cabin. We dropped anchor and squeezed into the gap he left with no trouble at all. I thanked the friendly chap profusely and he gave me a cheery 'it's all part of the job' kind of salute and headed back to his warm beer. Once we'd moored up safely and tied our lines, Marco started moaning about where we were parked and how we would get so much noise ....blah blah and how he'd wanted to moor on the east wall with a line ashore. Ah well, never mind that we were moored outside the most famous canopy in Fiscardo then!

We walked away from Fiscardo up the hill and found a lovely bar with Mythos on tap where we could overlook the sea and watch the yachts coming it (we called out ''it's full'' while smugly sipping our beers). It was idyllic. Marco called his dad to tell him how fantastic everything was while we had our two beers each. Wandered back to the boat to find next door having trouble keeping their boat off the quay. they tried to tighten the anchor but ended up pulling it up. So they tied a stern spring from their stern to our bow in order to be secured without having the hassle of relaying the anchor and possibly crossing ours at the same time. By way of thanks they offered us a glass of wine and so we sat chatting to them for a while....a lovely family (even though they were with a flotilla) who were en route to Corfu. They went off for dinner eventually and we speedily got ready and did the same. The quay is chock full of restaurants and there were lots of people around and a great atmosphere. We wandered to the end of the harbour to see what we fancied and ended up choosing Tassia's. It was a great place but pretty expensive as is most of Fiscardo in comparison with the other places we visited. Lobster pasta and filet mignon with a 1lt bottle of wine came to €90. Not content with our litre bottle of wine, we stopped off for a cocktail on the way back to the boat for a nightcap. We had amaretto, vodka, baileys, metaxa 5* and ice cream, all in one glass - YUM!! It was great at the time, but oh boy it hit us as we got up to go back to the boat. I made it back in one piece but only as far as the cockpit. Spent a couple of hours catching flies.

Woke up thinking 'where am I', to a whole shed load of noise coming from the other side of the harbour. A wedding was going on in a large taverna over there and cars were all honking their horns, people were shouting, laughing and generally being rather boisterous....at 3.30am. How glad was I that we were moored outside the tranquil Captain's Cabin instead of that awfully noisy eastern side ha ha!! Who's the smug one now???

Sami to Kioni

2008-10-25T17:05:00.014+01:00

5th September

Not only is Sami a great place to moor up in peace - it also provided a top sleep. We slept with hatch wide open and when I awoke in the middle of the night, it was wonderful to just stare up at the stars. This is one of the highlights of sailing and is a truly fabulous experience.

We both got going at 8 and had our coffee, watching the fishermen going about their business. We then took a stroll around the town. Sami was a provisioning paradise, with bakeries and supermarkets in abundance. We stocked up on all the basics, which of course included more Mythos before heading back to Winspit. Along the edge of the water, other cruisers and holidaymakers were enjoying breakfast in the sun, overlooking the sea, sipping on an orange juice. It was simple and idyllic. Despite it being the busiest place we had been to yet, it was still relatively quiet - a real find!

Sean and Ruth departed first. We wished them a happy remainder of their holiday and we swapped numbers. We will definitely keep in touch, not least because they only live 40 minutes from us in England - what are the chances of that eh? After we'd waved them off, we prepared our lines and cast off. As we already knew, we had crossed the lines of the other boat, so Steve came out in the dinghy and helped to free us, at the same time showing me how to free ourselves if this should happen again. Then we were off - out of the cocoon of the sheltered harbour and into the bay and from there into the Ithaca channel. We picked up 10kn of wind and sailed around to the base of Ithaca where the wind died and we ended up motoring again. We had a vague idea of going either to Vathi, Kioni or Frikes this evening and decided to keep our options open and see how the day panned out. By lunch time, we had made it to Pera Pigadi, a small islet off Ithaca with a couple of lovely bays nearby. We had heard stories of the islet being rat-infested and not to moor by the pontoon. We didn't moor there simply because the bays around it were so much prettier. However, we did see yachts moored there, and no rat evidence so not sure if the problem been addressed or not? We'd definitely give it a go next time.

There were mountain goats up the side of the hill in a small bay and we tried to drop anchor there, but despite trying twice, it didn't hold so we aborted that idea and moved around to the next bay where we anchored first time. We jumped into the clear, blue water and had a refreshing swim. Marco got into the dinghy and had a ten minute power-nap then woke up with a cold Mythos. I snorkelled - it was so clear you could see the bottom. We left at around 3pm and started to motor up the side of Ithaca. Having checked the options, we decided to try Kioni and were hopeful of finding another Sail Ionian yacht there again, to perhaps help us with our shaky mooring. However, having spotted the familiar white flag of SI, it was heading towards Vathi so it looked as though we'd be on our own...figuratively speaking. There was not one knot of wind and yet we could see sails ahead so we carried on motoring hopefully. As we rounded a rocky outcrop past the entrance to Vathi, we were suddenly hit by 12 knots from a lowly 2, with gusts of up to 20knots. We put out all our sail and Winspit picked up speed. Off went the engine and the exhileration of sailing took us over once more.

Minutes later we were heeling at what I thought was a rather alarming angle (but then i'm a bit of a girl when it comes to this!!)When you are a novice sailor as we are....heeling is a very alien experience and one that takes some getting used to. All around us were yachts that were also heeling but somehow they seemed to be totally in control. By comparison, I felt uneasy, probably because I know how inexperienced we are at this. Did we have the sail trim correct? Should we reef? Aggghhh!!! The wind was getting fiercer and it got to the stage where every time Marco turned the boat to starboard, she heeled A LOT, and every time he inched her to port, the sails flapped about which was no good either. Eventually we hauled in the genoa and sailed on the main which was an improvement.

Kioni was now in sight but to get there we would be heading straight into the wind. It felt like a bit of a nightmare to be honest. Massive flapping of sails but the sea was getting so rough that I was a bit worried about getting up to bring it down. Oh for in-mast reefing at this point!!! As we approached the bay of Kioni, I took the helm and prayed i'd keep her straight, while Marco got up and pull in the main. Once into Kioni it quickly became apparant that there was a) still 16knots of wind (joy) and b) no space! Yikes! We motored around a couple of times and ended up choosing a spot next to antoher Bavaria (a 34ft). We had to make two attempts as the wind was blowing us everywhere. But on the third attempt a man appeared to take our lines and Marco reversed in perfectly. The man tied us on the windward side and we were tight. After securing all other lines we felt safe. It would have been a struggle though without the man's help and we still had to jump into Junior to get off as there was some very shallow water at our stern.

We walked around the quay of Kioni. A beautiful place. Across the harbour, naturally, Sailing Holidays had bagged all of the better bays. We settled down for a smug Mythos in a large green bottle and admired Winspit across the bay in her spot. Suddenly and without warning all the yachts in our row started bobbing madly about. Before it happened we knew what was coming next - the grating of Winspit's rudder on the shallow rocks beneath her almost made us choke on our beer. The wash from a large ferry, miles away had come into Kioni and was pushing her backwards onto them. As I gulped the last of my beer, and went inside the bar to pay, Marco was already racing back around to Winspit. I followed soon after but by the time I got there, he had already loosened the lines, tightened the anchor chain and was happily chatting to our neighbour, leaving me to paddle across on my own using Junior. Marco gave me a merry wave and carried on chatting, leaving me to catch my foot in my sarong as I left the dinghy and nearly go head first down into the galley! Having regained my composure, I joined Marco and the neighbours and we had a sundowner, while their baby boy played in the water.

After freshening up, we went out for dinner, finding a lovely place right in the centre of the bay. The restaurant gave us free desserts, plus we had a starter each, main course each and half a litre of red wine all for €27 - a bargain! There was a great jazz club that we passed on the way back but we were just too tired to go there.....another place for 'next time'! Back on board, we chatted to our neighbours again for an hour or so then crashed out to sleep at midnight. Another few lessons learned today and lots of excitement too!

Kastos to Sami (with no wind)

2008-09-29T15:32:00.003+01:00

4th September

Life on board a yacht, we have discovered is 90% joy and 10% mild discomfort. The entire 10% can be accumulated during the hours of sleep! Marco is 6'6" and believe me you need sizeable cabin space to stretch out when you are that tall. If there is no such space, then the answer is simple; takeover the majority of the bed while your wife curls up into the foetus postion and makes the most of the square foot she has left to her!!!

And so it was that I had a rubbish sleep due to it being too hot, zero air and zero space. I ended up sitting in the cockpit with a bottle of water listening to the cicadas and thanking my lucky stars that we had decided to take up sailing!

When we both woke up properly, it was again fun to jump in the tender (affectionately we now called it Junior) and go ashore. Naturally, only wanting to sail, Marco showed no interest in going all over town looking around so we were straight off to the mini-market for supplies. We found everyone here to be a lot friendlier than on Kalamos, so I decided I prefer Kastos! Everyone smiles and/or says hello. It's lovely. We got away by 9.30 racing in .......2kn of wind! The whole Ionian sea seemed like a mill pond and it was so clear, you could see for miles - beautiful, hazy sunshine, hardly a cloud in the sky, it was perfect - apart from the lack of wind. We motored away from the Kalamos/Kastos area and down towards Atoko, a small islet north-east of Ithaka. Gradually, as we went along, Ithaka started to loom out of the haze. Now, look at the picture at the start of this post.....if you didn't know better, you would think we were lunching on a boating lake. But no, this was literally in the middle of the Ionian sea. We were able to stop the boat, switch off the engine and eat our lunch right there, no wind, no sail, no noise! It was a real delight. We set off again and with it being after 2 we were hoping for the wind to pick up but it didn't. We ended up motoring around the south of Ithaka raising the sails in hope, only to have to lower them again when nothing happened. However, once we reached the channel between Ithaka and Kefalonia it was different matter, and suddenly out of nothing, we had 11kn of wind. We put out sail and genoa and we were off! We tacked and gybed our way around the bay of Sami, then motored in. There was a Sail Ionian yacht already in but it wasn't Sean and Ruth on Ciaran. It was Cormorant, with Steve, the skipper and his holidaymakers Toby and Sara. Steve helped us moor up and we all had a beer together (sailing is SO sociable)...then Steve noticed that it looked as though we'd crossed their chain with ours so we will have to be careful how we leave tomorrow. Ruth and Sean arrived about an hour after us and could still berth up right next to us, so it looked like a mini Sail Ionian flotilla! We all went out for a large beer at Captain Corelli's bar - the first was so nice, we had a second! Sami is a beautiful, bustling town, mostly ignored by the flotilla companies and for that reason we liked it all the more!

Toby and Sara decided to have dinner by themselves (well it was their honeymoon) so we invited Steve to eat with us and the five of us had a pre-dinner G&T at 'our place'! We provided the drink, Sean and Ruth provided the nibbles and Steve provided the story of his Sweden yacht and how he plans to sail it around the world. We found a lovely taverna with minimal tourists where I shared a bottle of red wine with Sean and Ruth, while Marco and Steve went on the beers. The food was lovely and so was the company. Afterwards, Sean invited us back to their yacht for a red wine nightcap. I opened my mouth to say ok and heard Marco saying 'No thanks, I 've been on the beer all night'. Bugger! Our last night with our new friends and no nightcap.

Kalamos to Kastos

2008-09-29T15:31:00.008+01:00

3rd September

Not a bad night but we're finding that we always wake up really early, then can't get back to sleep. The area where we were moored seemed to belong to the fishermen, one of whom delighted in starting his engine at around 06.30 and revving it, waking most of us along that side of the quay. We had a coffee on board which turned out to be a bit of an error because on the boat next door but one to us were the loudest people we've ever heard - along with the revving engine next door, it was hardly a relaxing start to the day! We decided to leave the noise behind and take a walk up to the bakery in the village up the hill for a few supplies. Thank heavens for some painted signs guiding the way otherwise we'd never have found it! The bakery itself was a scrum - mainly old ladies jostling us 'foreigners' out of the way - it's weird really. They treat you as if you simply aren't there whilst at the same time staring at you as if you've just stepped off of a spaceship! The views on the way back down to the boat were beautiful across the sea to Kastos.

We had our breakfast in the cockpit - a quiet one..just us and a hundred wasps. We then walked around the quay to see Sean and Ruth and planned our next meet-up to be in Sami tomorrow night, both couples wanting to do their own thing for this evening. We swapped numbers, walked back round to Winspit, raised the anchor and cast off. I decided that in the end, I wasn't as keen on Kalamos as I thought I was. Grumpy old women and noisy fishermen etc....Therefore, when we return to do another Ionian charter, which we will invariably do, we'll need to return and try to see it in a better light (and with cheerier locals!).

We motored out of Kalamos and immediately hit 5-7knots of wind. Ooh quick, raise the sails before it all dies down again..it was great. A gentle sail, tacking back and forth between Kalamos and Kastos - really easy and within an hour we were down at Port Leone. Of course, we weren't lucky enough to have the bay to ourselves and a couple of boats were already anchored up so we decided to anchor off and just sit in the bay. So far so good..we swam and snorkelled and it was just fabulous to do this in the shadow of this beautiful deserted village. Because of the massive earthquake that devasted many of the islands in 1953, Port Leone was reduced to a ghost town when the water supply was destroyed. There's an calm aura here though and it's definitely worth dropping anchor for an hour or two. Much to Marco's annoyance, I insisted on investigating the village so we got into the tender and (he) rowed ashore. The church was locked but in good condition considering the rest of the place. We had read that it is looked after still by the locals and it was a shame that we couldn't take a peek inside. Still, the views down to the bays made up for that and we took some pictures, heading back to the tender after a while. Here, a weird thing took place. As we rowed back to Winspit, she was spinning on her anchor. This gave us the impression that she was on the move. The more Marco rowed, the less ground he was making up and the further away the boat seemed to be. Being so naive, we really thought she'd dragged her anchor and was moving away from us. It was quite scary and we had visions of having to ring Chris or Neil and tell them that we'd managed to put one of their Bavaria's on rocks within two days of being let loose on it. Of course, we eventually managed to reach her, scramble on board panicking like mad, only to realise that she hadn't actually moved at all. So here was another lesson - we are crap rowers - in future we should use the outboard and we'd be back with our floating home in relative comfort!

Relieved, we had lunch in the bay and decided that after the hassle we'd had mooring at Kalamos we'd get to Kastos nice and early(ish). The sailing was quite tricky for us, although not as bad as yesterday's fun and we headed up to the top of Kastos, intending to go around the top. Marco of course, thought that sailing between Kastos and the small islet to the north of it looked quicker. I quickly studied the chart and it was ok as long as we didn't go too near to the islet where the waters were very shallow with rocks under the surface. Of course Marco developed a small case of forgetting his left from his right and started heading straight for the islet.....with the wind blowing us on.....HELP!! Luckily we had by now taken the sails in and were able to steer away under power but it made us sweat a bit! Once around the other side of Kastos we got some wind and up went the sails and we were off. Approaching the harbour there again looked to be a lot of masts already there, despite it only being 4.30pm. And this time it was 'Sailing Holidays' who had rather selfishly bagged the entire jetty. They had even moored one of the yachts alongside, thus preventing anyone else from mooring there, AND they were waving us away...lovely and helpful (not). We motored around a few times looking for any available space and decided to drop anchor and reverse between two Sailing Holidays yachts near the beach. From there we could take a line ashore - yikes, our first one! We postioned ourselves perfectly and Marco was doing a sterling job, until a chap from one of the SH yachts popped his head up and shouted "You can't park there, you're crossing our line". We took a good look and it seemed that all of the SH yachts had their anchor chains going out starboard of the bow. This was frustrating. The SH reps could see we were struggling yet completely ignored us-they were really unhelpful... so we made a mental note never to go on a 'sailing holiday' with them (that'll teach 'em!!!). Every time we attempted to drop anchor someone else would start having a go at us. I was getting really cheesed off and we were really beginning to flail, not knowing what to do and with the wind getting really strong, we were being blown away from any desired spot.

Suddenly, a tender appeared alongside us with a guy in it wanting to help. Joy! I could have hugged him. He advised us to take the line ashore first to steady the boat in the wind, then we could calmly drop anchor and winch in to steady her. He held our boat steady while Marco rowed across to the beach with the line and tied it around a rock. Marco was then able to row (yes we STILL hadn't attached the outboard at this stage) back to Winspit and tighten the line while I anchored. Job done. We were secure. The guy in the tender, it turned out, owns a yacht called Bayan Blue from which he and his wife host luxury crewed sailing trips. They were on their own holiday at the time and we will be forever grateful for his assistance. It really helped us out of a spot and made our first go at taking a line ashore a happier memory than it might have been.

It was fun getting into the dinghy and going ashore along the line. We strolled to a place called 'The Windmill' - a bar/restaurant. We had a huge beer each which was thoroughly well-deserved, then I had a smaller one while Marco treated himself to another large one (well, all that rowing is tiring). After going back to the boat and getting showered and changed, we returned to The Windmill for dinner. It was packed! We got the only table left overlooking the sea and soon found out why it was free...the smell of sewage was appalling. Despite the stench we stayed and had an ok dinner of spag bol (they'd run out of moussaka) and downed a bottle of Greek white wine whilst chatting to a couple on the next table who were from North Wales and owned a part-share in a yacht. Also, we were approached by one of the women who'd shooed us away from an anchoring spot earlier. She'd come to apologise for her abruptness. That was nice of her (still don't want to go on a flotilla holiday with SH though!).

Back on the tender, I thought it was hilarious to take pictures in the dark of our struggle to find our way along the line. Marco wasn't laughing though and we had a row about my lack of assistance. Oh well - the picture was funny though!

Sivota to Kalamos

2008-09-29T13:25:00.003+01:00

2nd September
Today's lesson was - don't be inexperienced sailors and attempt to sail 20knots downwind!!!

Firstly, If you've never sailed before let me just say that waking up in a new place every day is the best feeling in the world. It's like that feeling you get on the first day of your holiday - a new place to explore....and on a boat you get it every day!!

We decided to explore Sivota and get some lunch in one of the many supermarkets lining the front. Before that, we washed and brushed up in the showers at Yiannis taverna. I was disgusted to find that one of the loos was blocked with toilet paper. EVERYONE knows that in Greece, the loos everywhere get blocked really easily and therefore, a bin is provided for you to dispose of your paper. It was so early in the morning that I imagine it could only have been fellow boaties that would have used the toilets during the night. Some people are animals honestly and really should know better.

Having shopped for provsions and complained to Marco about the state of the loos, we started what was now becoming the daily battle to eat breakfast and swat wasps at the same time. Having dispensed with 5, we were just finishing up when Chris arrived. He'd come to fix us up with a new genoa as the one we had on was too small (not that we'd noticed). It was interesting to watch him and it took a matter of minutes to take the old one off and put the new one on. Marco helped out enthusiastically. Sean came across and we arranged to meet up with him and Ruth in Kalamos tonight.

We cast off and motored around the corner to Ormos Rouda and the tiny village of Poros. Oh WOW! WOW! WOW! This place was lovely. We picked a spot in between two other yachts and dropped anchor. It held first time - hurrah! We were being blown towards the shore and although I say so myself, Marco did a top job for a first 'lone' attempt. We went swimming off the back of the boat and I put on a chillout cd. Marco launched himself into the dinghy and I chucked him a can of Mythos from the boat. Then we looked at each other and started grinning inanely. This life is bloody fantastic! We're on our own (well, it felt like our own) boat, anchored in a beautiful bay, surrounded by water, drinking Mythos and with no inclination to go ashore! We felt ridiculously priviledged to be doing this.

We stayed in Poros for a couple of hours eating Greek salad for lunch, bread, tzatziki etc. It was like a dream. Eventually, we raised the anchor and motored out into the big wide world! Quickly picked up wind and it hit 10/11 knots before we knew it. Put the genoa and full sail out which in hindsight was probably a mistake as there was far to much of a sail/wind ratio. However, this is how you learn isn't it?? We headed for Arkhoudi, a little island between Meganissi and Ithaka and although that was ok being on a beam reach, we knew we'd have to tack round to get to Kalamos and would be heading downwind. Easier said than done especially when you don't know what you're really doing, and each time I tried to turn to port, the boat heeled and I freaked out. M took the genoa in and it was better after that. However, the best thing to do was gybe down to Kalamos and this is when it all went horribly wrong. My helming skills aren't finely honed yet and so when I turned the boat as I was meant to, it went far too far and whizzed off course to the stage where we were now on a beam reach and nearly heading back the way we came. Help!! Lots of ''What the hell are you doing'' from the skipper! We tried it again...same thing. Then because we still had 20kn of wind, M tried to reef in. Oh dear - the reefing system's not what we're used to and my helming was crap! Decided that the best thing to do in the circumstances was take down all the sail and motor up to Kalamos as we were now losing time. We could check the reefing tomorrow in calmer waters.

Nearing Kalamos, we could already see plenty of masts. Inwardly groaned as we approached and saw how full it was. Despite our best efforts, we'd happened upon a flotilla of 'Sailing Holidays' boats who had taken the prime harbour wall spots. Obviously we should have arrived earlier. No matter....Sean and Ruth were already there and were with George, the local taverna owner who helps hapless sailors like ourselves find a spot to moor up for the princely sum of eating at his taverna! Geroge indicated that we should go bows to between the anchor chains of two other boats. Hmmmm sod that for a first time solo park-up. M was all for heading off elsewhere but I knew it would be like this anywhere else and Kastos was apparantly smaller than Kalamos! Having been persuaded to find us somewhere else, George parked another boat and we ended up coming in stern to next to him and in front of a local boat. The chap next door, took our lines and tied us up through his boat with a bow spring. George took a stern spring to the shore and we were done! We'd made it. Got off the boat and had our first beer of the day sitting in the sunshine with S&R and a guy called Steve from S.I. who was teaching a couple to sail who were on their honeymoon.

Later, having showered and changed, we emerged again from the boat to find George at the quayside. He shook our hands enthusiastically saying "My name is George, you eat at my taverna". So we did!! The food was so-so. I had swordfish and it didn't set me alight but of course it might just be my bad choice because everyone else raved about theirs! One thing that was true to form was the red wine. Very drinkable and of course, we got through another 2 bottles. An early night was in store - very tiring this sailing. Apart from the mooring nightmare I rather liked Kalamos.

Spartakhori to Sivota

2008-09-28T17:43:00.008+01:00

1st September

Well, we slept but I've no idea how well really. I was awoken at some unknown hour by the distant voice of a chap gabbling away in Greek. Went back to sleep and dreamt that Spartakhori had a big tidal wave coming in (weird!) - we got up at 7.15 and had a coffee, sitting in the cockpit overlooking the bay. We seemed to be the first up apart from the local fishermen, so it was pretty special to have the place to ourselves for a while. Next door (Sally and Peter) were next up and we chatted to them for a while and then walked up to the taverna to see what we could find for breakfast. We went for the yoghurt option as we already had bread and we'd bought some honey in a little shop in Vlikho yesterday. Sat in the cockpit eating our yoghurt and fighting off wasps, then Chris (son of Neil and Di) turned up to announce that he was going to teach us stern mooring - in Vathi, the bay next door.

Once we were ready to leave, we managed, with Chris's help, to squeeze ourselves out of the ridiculously small parking bay by reversing out. Fun and games! We then did some runs at reversing up to a mooring buoy before doing the same up to the harbour wall and Rodney (the rib). Marco seemed to be doing ok so Chris sped off round to Vathi and we followed on a few minutes later. Ruth and Sean were already there practicing their stern mooring and we followed suit. Evidentally we didn't do too bad because after a couple of goes, Chris let us moor up ourselves on the other side of the harbour. Naturally, all the stress of worrying that we WOULDN'T be able to do it called for a large Mythos and this seemed a good time to order some lunch to go with it. Ahhh the first Greek salad of the holiday - oh, and the first stuffed tomatoes of the holiday. Hurrah! Chris sat with us chatting about his oh so fantastic life (grrr we hate you Chris) running a successful yacht charter company in Greece all summer (!) which most of us can only dream of. After a while, Ruth and Sean came across and we struck a deal to sail down the east coast of Meganissi together, ending up in Sivota in the evening, where we would meet once more with Sail Ionian. I should stress here that this was NOT a flotilla holiday - and never felt like one - but we did feel reasonably 'safe' knowing that the guys from S.I. would be there to catch our lines should we get into trouble!

However, the best laid plans and all that meant that Ruth and Sean sailed off ahead of us, and we never saw them again until Sivota. As per yesterday, we struggled to make any headway with our feeble attempts at sailing and they obviously found wind where we didn't! Marco was starting to get a bit pissed off motoring everywhere so I put on a cd, brought out a beer and we chilled out for a while watching other boats motoring around like us. Suddenly the wind picked up! Sail up again, genoa out, engine off and suddenly we were doing some real-life sailing for the very first time. I think we were sailing on a beam reach but what do I know (well, what did I know at the time). It was great and all was going really well.....until I took the helm so that Marco could do some videoing. Everything went pear-shaped - I took the yacht about 90 degrees off course and M went a bit mad at me!!! He got it back on course but we lost the wind, it was taking ages and we weren't getting anywhere (again). As we reached the bottom of Meganisi, there's a separate little islet just off it. We decided not to sail between the islands but to go around the little islet. Mistake! We should have gone between. The gap was much bigger than we originally thought plus we lost speed and it was getting late, so on went the engine and we motored the rest of the way to Sivota where we knew S.I. would be waiting. It seemed to take forever but after Marco gave me a rough lesson in chart reading, I managed to chart our progress quite well though i say so myself.

We approached the headland of Sivota where there were some little houses on a hill, and motored in. This was really easy, plus Neil was all ready and waiting to help us in. We'd already picked our spot to moor up and as luck would have it, Neil chose the same spot so that gave us confidence. I dropped anchor, Marco reversed Winspit up and Neil grabbed the rope, wrapping it around a post. Unfortunately, as Marco was pulling the line tight, the rope slipped off the post and Marco careered backwards into the cockpit landing on his backside with his legs in the air. The first of many 'comedy moments'! Neil apologised and Marco put the line through one of the more reliable mooring rings! Now we were safe. Neil had a cold beer waiting at the Olive Press bar across the bay and offered a lift across on Rodney. However, Ruth and Sean arrived as we were getting in, so we all got out and helped them moor up. Eventually we made it across to the bar and got stuck into the beers and wine. The setting was idyllic and we could see the entire bay from where we were. We strolled back to the boat and got ready to go out, using the showers available at Yiannis taverna where we were moored. Before dinner, Sean and Ruth came over for G&Ts in the cockpit. Very civilised eh? Then we went for dinner at .....Yiannis - well it was close by and looked good. We sat upstairs where we had a great view across the harbour. Of course, wine had to be drunk, and we owed R&S a bottle as they paid last night, so we downed another couple of bottles with dinner. Afterwards, we were invited back to their boat and we ended up with their neighbours joining us on board with another bottle. Bloody sociable stuff this sailing malarky. At some stage in the evening, around midnight I think, we staggered back to Winspit where we had a top night's sleep - obviously we're getting used to sleeping on the boat...or were we just knocked out by alcohol????

Sail Ionian Greek Sailng Odyssey

2008-09-28T16:53:00.007+01:00

31st August 2008
I'll leave out the boring stuff about how we got to Greece - for the record though, we stayed at the Sofitel Gatwick, then got the 06.30 Preveza flight with Monarch. Outward journey was fabulously non-eventful. The flight left on time, we had extra legroom seats which actually WERE extra legroom, and we were off the plane at Preveza nice and quickly - waiting with Linda from Sail Ionian before we knew it for another couple with whom we would share a taxi ride down to Vlikho. As we all travelled through Lefkas, we chatted with the other couple (Sean and Ruth). Turns out that they were quite inexperienced as well so it looked as though we wouldn't be the only 'beginner' sailors taking a boat out! I was getting a little nervous as we sped along the coastline looking at the yachts and the glistening sea. What were we letting ourselves in for? Would we be able to sail the boat on our own? Would Sail Ionian think we were crap sailors and insist on putting a skipper with us for the whole holiday (help!!)? As we drove through Nidri, a tourist was waiting to cross the road next to the taxi. It crossed my mind that if this holiday was a roaring success, we may not want to do a traditional "hotel package" holiday in Greece ever again!!

Eventually, we reached Vlikho and got out of the taxi to be greeted by Di who is very friendly, much like everyone else in the Sail Ionian 'family'. We boarded our boat, a Bavaria 32 called Winspit and dumped our bags, eager to take a look at her (Winspit that is, not Di). She had a fore and aft cabin - which Marco quickly bagged as his 'dressing room', loads of storage, one head (toilet to the non-yachties who may read this) and a good sized saloon for the two of us. On the table was a welcome pack of food - a bottle of red wine (yippee), bread, olives and a fruit bowl. In the fridge (yes we had a kitchen too), was tzatziki, milk, juice and BEER (yippee yahoo). We couldn't wait to get going, but first, the boring bit - paperwork! We sat with our first Mythos of the holiday under the vines of a small café while Neil (Di's husband) went through the charts and pilot guides advising us of great places to go and where wasn't so good. The top tip? Avoid flotillas!!!! This advice would come back to haunt us almost every day. Having then signed our lives away (better not sink the boat then), we were nearly ready. The boat was officially handed over to us, along with a what-does-what talk through and we were confirmed as skipper and crew of one!

The agreement was that everyone heads off and those who want to, meet the family at Spartakhori in time for sundowners/dinner etc. We cast off and started to motor out of Vlikho. This was it....the start of two weeks of bareboat sailing.......just the two of us on our own boat. A boat of lads ahead of us on a S.I. yacht immediatly put the sails up. It didn't look a good idea to us, with a narrow bottleneck to negotiate before the Ionian opened up so we carried on motoring out.

Once we were through the bottleneck and Nidri, we attempted to put up the mainsail. Hmmm...take two inexperienced sailors, one mainsail and 4knots of wind and what do you get? Answer? Nowhere really! We faffed about a bit watching all the other S.I. boats whizzing off towards Meganissi and wondered what we were doing wrong. Of course, they were probably motor-sailing but we hadn't thought of that at this stage - we MUST sail!! That's what we're here for. However, after an hour of going about half a nautical mile, we gave up and motored with the sails up towards errr...Spartakhori?? Didn't look much like it to me, and especially as all the S.I. boats were heading into the harbour next door. We decided to follow everyone else and of course, as we got nearer it became obvious that they were right. On arrival, there didn't look to be any room at all and we were aware of a burly Greek bloke yelling something from the end of a pontoon...was that aimed at us??? We never found out, but Neil came out on Rodney-the-Rib and pointed us towards the corner of the harbour and the tiniest gap you've ever seen in your life. He expected us to get in there??? Well, we would never have done it on our own or even attempted it, but of course, with S.I. help it was a doddle (of sorts). Came in bows to and Matt from S.I. jumped on board and assisted us with the lazy line. Our first ever park!

We jumped off and headed to the taverna on the beach and had an ice cold beer. Luxury-our first ''end of proper sailing'' beer! We then stepped back on to Winspit to freshen up then back again to the taverna for dinner. The taverna had no menus - instead, we were invited to view the kitchen. Everything was fresh - fish, chicken/meat kebabs, marinated steak etc. We ordered a carafe of white wine and our food and spent an hour or so watching it get dark over the Ionian. As we were finishing our wine, our taxi friend Sean came over and asked how we'd got on with our sailing. He invited us over to where he and Ruth were sitting so we sat with them while they had their dinner. They offered us to share their wine, so of course it would have been rude not to. It would also have been rude not to offer to buy one back so another bottle was ordered and drank while the conversation flowed and the waves lapped against the moored up boats. Eventually, we managed to stagger back to the boat and got to sleep at about 11.30pm. What a great start to the hols....already we've sailed to a different island and made new friends and we've only been in Greece for 12 hours! Is this perfection?????

The Start of The Journey

2008-09-15T15:22:00.002+01:00

"The Journey" actually started in Mykonos back in 2002 when we were sitting on a beach watching a yacht appear in the bay, where it anchored up. Half a dozen lads leapt into a dinghy, motored across to the only taverna in site, clambered out and went inside. Just over an hour later, they piled out full of Mythos and moussaka and motored back to the yacht. Anchor up and off they went to the next bay. We looked at each other and both said 'Bastards - bloody lucky bastards!'

Imagine having your own yacht and being able to sail wherever you want. An impossible dream? We thought so - we assumed these people had rich parents, city jobs or were drugs runners. Where else did they get the money from to sail a yacht around the Greek islands???
Fast forward to 2007 and we were in Menorca. Once again, we watched yachts come and go in little bays........that little light went on again and we started to think that maybe this was something we too could get into. A quick question at the local yacht centre confirmed our worst fears. All we could hire with our (zero) experience would be a bathtub. To sail a REAL boat, we would have to do (horror) exams and gain some experience.

The return from Menorca was swiftly followed by enrollment in a Competent Crew course, followed by Marco doing DaySkipper theory and practical. Based on the fact that he would of course pass, we booked a bareboat charter in the Ionian at the end of August, with a view that if we enjoyed it so much, maybe...just maybe we should one day do this sailing stuff for good.