See some pictures from the boat yard. It's very intersting how she was taken off the water in the old fashioned slipway.
Eyal
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| Princess Nayeli - Nidri to Preveza |
Friday, August 29, 2008
Back at home
The boat was lifted in Aktio Marine, Preveza and is now "parked" on dry dock, waiting for us to be back towards the end of September.
See some pictures from the boat yard. It's very intersting how she was taken off the water in the old fashioned slipway.
Eyal
See some pictures from the boat yard. It's very intersting how she was taken off the water in the old fashioned slipway.
Eyal
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Going home
This is it. After countless nights in bays where we could see the thousand stars, clear warm water around us, lots of swims, many fishing ports, and lots of good wind, this trip has come to its end. It's true that we'll be back here shortly, but it still feels like and end of something. We're flying back home after 2.5 months that I've been away from my home town.
And BTW Doron and Roded, the wind blows here every day 10-25kts staring at about 1-2pm, so here, waking up in the morning and running to the next destination is not the best way to sail here...
Tomorrow we're flying back to get ready for the new school year.
We're now in Lefkas marina getting ready to stow the boat for a month. We'll sail through the Lefkas bridge at 8:00am to get to the boat yard on time. From Preveza, we have a long way to Athens.
A few anecdotes from the past few days:
1. We finally caught a nice fish. It was with a hook in a quiet bay in Meganisi:
2. We spent a day in Fiskardho, Kefalonia and had dinner at the famous Tassia restaurant.
3. We windsurfed once more in Vasiliki.
4. Sailing back from Fiscardho we had 22kts in our back.
5. The private island of the Onassis family is strange. Tons of boats go around it, and even use it's wonderful beaches. Not much privacy they have on their private island...
6. Today, we spent the whole day cleaning, packing, folding sails (well just the jib...), etc. It was a nice busy day. Everyone took part, especially Naama.
And the pictures:
And BTW Doron and Roded, the wind blows here every day 10-25kts staring at about 1-2pm, so here, waking up in the morning and running to the next destination is not the best way to sail here...
Tomorrow we're flying back to get ready for the new school year.
We're now in Lefkas marina getting ready to stow the boat for a month. We'll sail through the Lefkas bridge at 8:00am to get to the boat yard on time. From Preveza, we have a long way to Athens.
A few anecdotes from the past few days:
1. We finally caught a nice fish. It was with a hook in a quiet bay in Meganisi:
2. We spent a day in Fiskardho, Kefalonia and had dinner at the famous Tassia restaurant.3. We windsurfed once more in Vasiliki.
4. Sailing back from Fiscardho we had 22kts in our back.
5. The private island of the Onassis family is strange. Tons of boats go around it, and even use it's wonderful beaches. Not much privacy they have on their private island...
6. Today, we spent the whole day cleaning, packing, folding sails (well just the jib...), etc. It was a nice busy day. Everyone took part, especially Naama.
And the pictures:
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| Princess Nayeli from Vasiliki to kefalonya |
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| Princess Nayeli from Meganisi to Nidri |
Saturday, August 23, 2008
From Sami to Vasiliki again
We started the last period of this trip by sailing to One House Bay on the Island of Atokos. The pilot book says that this is a “more popular bay” but we didn’t know how popular. Getting there we were amazed by the number of boats that could be squeezed into one bay. Naama suggested that we move on, but then we saw that boats are starting to leave so we found ourselves a nice spot, next to an Italian boat, with a line ashore.
This time of the summer, the Islands are full of Italian families. There was almost nothing but Italian boats (some private and some chartered), and maybe a few Greek boats.
Anyway, with all the crowd, One House Bay, is a lovely bay, with a beautiful beach made of tiny colored stones, crystal clear water, and a very nice scenery with the steep green land around us.
From One House Bay, we sailed to Kastos. We sailed in almost no wind to start with, so at some point while we were doing about 0 knots, two boats tied long side one to the other were coming at us. It looked as if one was towing the other and they paid no attention to anything around them. They were going straight at us! As they kept going, I decided to try and use the horn for the first time in my life – but it didn’t draw their attention. They were so busy playing their game... We had to start the engine and get out of their way. So we did, and tried turning left and then turning right… Whatever we did – they followed us. So I just sped up running away from them. I was thinking, maybe one of them had lost her steering or her engine. Surprisingly enough, once the wind started, with some ripples, and it became uncomfortable for them, they separated, and each boat went on her way. All looked well…
We arrived to Kastos. A deserted town, where only the old people remained and a couple from New Zealand who run the local mini market. No Ferries arrive here, only yachts, and a group of French youth who were rowing Kayaks around the Islands, with just a small dinghy accompanying them and carrying their bags.
The quay at Kastos was occupied by a small Greek yacht, and a lot of charter boats from a British flotilla. We were lucky (as already happened to us several times), to take the last berth next to the Greek boat. The flotilla guide was trying to squeeze another boat in, but the Greek guy, who was a real scamp, did not let them get any more boats in. He even tried to steal one of their fenders that Yasmin found in the water. He was really nasty, and we felt uncomfortable mooring next to him.
We then sailed to Port Leone, in Kalamos, where we met a very nice British family, with 4 daughters, a little older than ours. We had a nice afternoon with them. Noga and Yasmin were excited playing with the younger two.
From Port Leone we sailed back to Vasiliki. The perfect windsurfing site so I could rent a board again. This is just like the sea of Galilee, but a lot better. They have wind every afternoon from May to September (but mainly in June to August), flat water, 25-40 knots of wind, shallow sandy beach (well, the sand is just in the water), nice hotels and windsurfing clubs, and a very nice port just next to it. Just perfect!
This time of the summer, the Islands are full of Italian families. There was almost nothing but Italian boats (some private and some chartered), and maybe a few Greek boats.
Anyway, with all the crowd, One House Bay, is a lovely bay, with a beautiful beach made of tiny colored stones, crystal clear water, and a very nice scenery with the steep green land around us.
From One House Bay, we sailed to Kastos. We sailed in almost no wind to start with, so at some point while we were doing about 0 knots, two boats tied long side one to the other were coming at us. It looked as if one was towing the other and they paid no attention to anything around them. They were going straight at us! As they kept going, I decided to try and use the horn for the first time in my life – but it didn’t draw their attention. They were so busy playing their game... We had to start the engine and get out of their way. So we did, and tried turning left and then turning right… Whatever we did – they followed us. So I just sped up running away from them. I was thinking, maybe one of them had lost her steering or her engine. Surprisingly enough, once the wind started, with some ripples, and it became uncomfortable for them, they separated, and each boat went on her way. All looked well…
We arrived to Kastos. A deserted town, where only the old people remained and a couple from New Zealand who run the local mini market. No Ferries arrive here, only yachts, and a group of French youth who were rowing Kayaks around the Islands, with just a small dinghy accompanying them and carrying their bags.
The quay at Kastos was occupied by a small Greek yacht, and a lot of charter boats from a British flotilla. We were lucky (as already happened to us several times), to take the last berth next to the Greek boat. The flotilla guide was trying to squeeze another boat in, but the Greek guy, who was a real scamp, did not let them get any more boats in. He even tried to steal one of their fenders that Yasmin found in the water. He was really nasty, and we felt uncomfortable mooring next to him.
We then sailed to Port Leone, in Kalamos, where we met a very nice British family, with 4 daughters, a little older than ours. We had a nice afternoon with them. Noga and Yasmin were excited playing with the younger two.
From Port Leone we sailed back to Vasiliki. The perfect windsurfing site so I could rent a board again. This is just like the sea of Galilee, but a lot better. They have wind every afternoon from May to September (but mainly in June to August), flat water, 25-40 knots of wind, shallow sandy beach (well, the sand is just in the water), nice hotels and windsurfing clubs, and a very nice port just next to it. Just perfect!
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| Princess Nayeli in One House Bay to Kalamos |
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| Princess Nayeli - Vasiliki, Lefkada. The windsurfin |
From Sivota to Sami
Today, Tuesday, August 19, 2008 is the first day we’re on our own on the boat. Just my family. Noam and Tami left last night to Tel Aviv, and we have about a week’s worth of sailing left before our summer trip comes to an end.
We got to Sami by sailing from Sivota to Vasaliko, the windsurfing spot, and then to the magical bay near Fiskeradho, next to Eufimia to meet Tami, Noam’s mom, then to the picturesque Kioni and finally to Sami.
In Sivota we met an interesting Jewish Australian family with two children and a nanny who bought a new Beneteau 57 to be able to sail the Mediterranean for a few months. They intend to leave the boat in Turkey for the winter.
As I already mentioned, Vasiliko is the perfect windsurfing site. We’ll probably go there next summer again.
We then sailed down from Vasiliko to Kefalonia, planning to find a nice bay for the night. We sailed down in a strong side wind that died on us only when we got close Fiskeradho at the sunset. We found a bay with only one yacht anchored in, a nice little cave, and a lot of small dinghies wondering around the cave.
Naama and Noam took our Dinghy to the cave, and returned a little later asking for a flash light and shoes. They said that you can land in the cave and then it gets dark. Yael wouldn’t let them go on their own so I joined them to this mysterious trip.
From within the cave starts a network of tunnels (see the pictures), that goes deep into the Island. We walked one after the other, holding hands. Only the first could see his way with the flashlight. The two others were walking in complete darkness. We took one of the tunnels and kept walking in. The tunnel never ended and at some point we decided to back off, not to get lost deep under the ground. We couldn’t find anything in any of the tour books about those tunnels. The only thing is a small sign painted on the wall that says “Danger”.
Except for the cave, this bay has beautiful scenery, with crystal clear water.
Next stop was Eufimia, to pick up Tami. It’s the first time we had electricity since we left Gouvia marina in Corfu and maybe the 2nd time we had water (after Sivota). It’s also the first port that has free wireless Internet.
Tami had a terrible time getting from Tel Aviv to Kefalonia and we finally met her at 12:30am on Friday night. After waking up at 4am, spending the day in Athens, waiting for hours at the airport for a delayed Olympic flight, she was Exhausted.
We only had a couple of days sailing with Tami. On the first, we sailed to Kioni on the island of Ithaca which is believed to be the homeland of Odysseus. In Greek mythology, arriving to Ithaca is symbol for ending of a very long journey.
On the way we sailed along two 50+ feet boats and they beat us as we were going only 8.5 knots. I guess this is because we were dragging a dinghy and a fishing line…
Kinoi. It’s a tiny village, set around a lovely bay with some restaurants and a café. We were able to find a berth and anchor. While moored there, a couple of tripper boats, spilled out hundreds or maybe thousands of tourists that were squeezed like sardines on the boats. By the time they all disembarked, they already had to board again. It was hilarious.
That night, I could watch the lunar eclipse through the binoculars (see some pictures).
The next morning, after checking the forecast, we realized we need to find a good shelter for the night, because a 7bft wind was expected. We decided to sail to Sami.
Crossing the Itaka channel, we experienced a unique phenomena: We were sailing west in a south wind, so we had the wind on our left but a little ahead we could see the white caps going from north to south and boats heeling on the opposite direction. We prepared for a drastic wind shift. A few minutes later it happened: It started with no wind, and then quickly climbed up to 25 knots. This made the entrance to Sami interesting…
The plan now is to start sailing up to Lefkas marina through Atokos, Kastos and Kalamos.
And pictures:
We got to Sami by sailing from Sivota to Vasaliko, the windsurfing spot, and then to the magical bay near Fiskeradho, next to Eufimia to meet Tami, Noam’s mom, then to the picturesque Kioni and finally to Sami.
In Sivota we met an interesting Jewish Australian family with two children and a nanny who bought a new Beneteau 57 to be able to sail the Mediterranean for a few months. They intend to leave the boat in Turkey for the winter.
As I already mentioned, Vasiliko is the perfect windsurfing site. We’ll probably go there next summer again.
We then sailed down from Vasiliko to Kefalonia, planning to find a nice bay for the night. We sailed down in a strong side wind that died on us only when we got close Fiskeradho at the sunset. We found a bay with only one yacht anchored in, a nice little cave, and a lot of small dinghies wondering around the cave.
Naama and Noam took our Dinghy to the cave, and returned a little later asking for a flash light and shoes. They said that you can land in the cave and then it gets dark. Yael wouldn’t let them go on their own so I joined them to this mysterious trip.
From within the cave starts a network of tunnels (see the pictures), that goes deep into the Island. We walked one after the other, holding hands. Only the first could see his way with the flashlight. The two others were walking in complete darkness. We took one of the tunnels and kept walking in. The tunnel never ended and at some point we decided to back off, not to get lost deep under the ground. We couldn’t find anything in any of the tour books about those tunnels. The only thing is a small sign painted on the wall that says “Danger”.
Except for the cave, this bay has beautiful scenery, with crystal clear water.
Next stop was Eufimia, to pick up Tami. It’s the first time we had electricity since we left Gouvia marina in Corfu and maybe the 2nd time we had water (after Sivota). It’s also the first port that has free wireless Internet.
Tami had a terrible time getting from Tel Aviv to Kefalonia and we finally met her at 12:30am on Friday night. After waking up at 4am, spending the day in Athens, waiting for hours at the airport for a delayed Olympic flight, she was Exhausted.
We only had a couple of days sailing with Tami. On the first, we sailed to Kioni on the island of Ithaca which is believed to be the homeland of Odysseus. In Greek mythology, arriving to Ithaca is symbol for ending of a very long journey.
On the way we sailed along two 50+ feet boats and they beat us as we were going only 8.5 knots. I guess this is because we were dragging a dinghy and a fishing line…
Kinoi. It’s a tiny village, set around a lovely bay with some restaurants and a café. We were able to find a berth and anchor. While moored there, a couple of tripper boats, spilled out hundreds or maybe thousands of tourists that were squeezed like sardines on the boats. By the time they all disembarked, they already had to board again. It was hilarious.
That night, I could watch the lunar eclipse through the binoculars (see some pictures).
The next morning, after checking the forecast, we realized we need to find a good shelter for the night, because a 7bft wind was expected. We decided to sail to Sami.
Crossing the Itaka channel, we experienced a unique phenomena: We were sailing west in a south wind, so we had the wind on our left but a little ahead we could see the white caps going from north to south and boats heeling on the opposite direction. We prepared for a drastic wind shift. A few minutes later it happened: It started with no wind, and then quickly climbed up to 25 knots. This made the entrance to Sami interesting…
The plan now is to start sailing up to Lefkas marina through Atokos, Kastos and Kalamos.
And pictures:
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| Princess Nayeli - Sivota to Itaka |
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| Princess Nayeli - Itaka to Sami |
Saturday, August 16, 2008
In Eufimia Kefalonia
We found an amazing windsurfing site in Lefkada. It's called Vasiliko and it is rated in the top 10 winsurfing sites in the world!!!
I was able to rent a board with 4.5m sail and had a great time.
Naama and Noam took windsurfing lessons the following day.
It's very much like the sea of Galile except that all is much better: Access is great, you have sand under your feet and not rocks with broken glass, wind is more stable and steady day after day. It's calm in the morning so the can do the lessons in perfect conditions and then in the afternoon a strong wind starts with no waves at all (it's a protected bay). Scenery is beautiful.
Tami, Noam's mother joined us today for the weekend and we'll be sailing together around Itaka.
Pictures to follow.
Eyal
I was able to rent a board with 4.5m sail and had a great time.
Naama and Noam took windsurfing lessons the following day.
It's very much like the sea of Galile except that all is much better: Access is great, you have sand under your feet and not rocks with broken glass, wind is more stable and steady day after day. It's calm in the morning so the can do the lessons in perfect conditions and then in the afternoon a strong wind starts with no waves at all (it's a protected bay). Scenery is beautiful.
Tami, Noam's mother joined us today for the weekend and we'll be sailing together around Itaka.
Pictures to follow.
Eyal
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
With the family again (Ioannina to Lefkada)
The morning started early. I got ready to take the ferry to Igoumenitsa where a minivan was waiting for me. I had the whole morning to drive to Ioannina to pick up the family. I took the 7:30 ferry and had a pleasant 1 ½ hour ride to Igoumenitsa.
The road to Igoumenitsa is beautiful. You climb the high mountains of the mainland with a road that’s still half motorway and half just an old tortuous road.
I was lucky to get early to Ioannina because later in the day it became unbearably hot. I did some sight seeing in the old town that was once divided to three: Turks, Jews and Greeks.
You can see some pictures of Ioannina at:
I haven’t met the family for about 10 days but it looked more like a month that we haven’t met. The airport in Ioannina is so tiny that I could wait at the luggage belts with some journalists who were waiting for some soccer player that came on the same flight.
I could see them going down the airplane’s stairs and walking into the terminal. It was a very exciting moment for me.
We tried to see the synagogue in the old town but Mr. Samuel Cohen, a very old man who maintains the synagogue, said it’s too hot and that he can only get out of the house at 8pm. We decided to turn around and go quickly to the port and catch the 6:30 ferry to Corfu. We got there at 6:23. Those ferries leave on time!!! We waived to the guy at Europecar that we leave him the car with the keys in the port, dropped all the girls with the luggage so they can load it all to the ferry, I drove quickly to buy tickets about 500m from the ferry and got back just on time before they closed the door.
The following day, after a relaxed morning at the pool in Gouvia, we met the Segal family on the boat. Segal couldn’t go on the boat for more than a minute, so he left us there to sail up to Kassiopi where he would meet us. His wife and kids joined us for the sail.
Kassipoi is less than 10 miles North of Gouvia so we just motored up the Corfu channel (in a 17kts wind) and fortunately the wind doesn’t get into Kassiopi so we could moor safely. Here was the first time we used the stern anchor, because the water at the quay is too shallow. Our fortless anchor with the weighted rope is so light and so easily managed that the whole maneuver took a couple of minutes.
Kassiopi was a pleasant surprise.
We went up to see Segal’s house at the village, 400m above Kassiopi. They have an outstanding view of the Corfu channel, the Albanian mountains, and all the boats crossing between Corfu and Albania. They say that at night they can see the ferries lighting the sea and can hear their engine humming through the silence.
Pictures from the sail to Kassiopi:
The next day we sailed back to good old Moutros. The same bay where we already spent a couple of nights. I would call it “Fish Bay” because we caught a lot of fish here several days earlier). For some reason, you can still find your own bay in this lovely spot (unlike what we had in Lefkas and Meganisi).
The sail down to Moutros was wonderful. We sailed the 30 something miles with the Spinnaker.
After a peaceful night at Moutros, we sailed relatively early to Gaia in Paxoi. It’s a very crowded place so we just motored down with no wind till closer in a good wind started on our nose so we had nice tacking against the wind till Paxoi.
Paxoi is really crowded. As Yael said: Now I know where all the boats are. Even the sea plane has a station here and he kept coming and going all the time.
We were able to anchor in the busy channel that leads to the city with two anchors and two lines ashore. We were properly secured this way.
Sunset at Moutros “Fish Bay” and pictures from Gaia on Paxoi:
From Paxoi, we sailed down to Preveza and the huge half salt lake behind it. With 15+ knots on our back, we had a great sail down. It was a little too choppy for the girls. Noga and Yasmin were a little sea sick for the first time. It took them a couple of hours of bad feeling till they were able to vomit after which they felt as good as new and started playing again. The entrance through the narrow channel with this wind and waves on your back was a little challenging and mainly scary when you go there for the first time. We furled and stowed both sails fearing from the unknown. Eventually – it was nothing. Once you’ve done it, you know it’s a piece of cake.
We passed Preveza and the three huge boatyards at the entrance (looks like a good place to winter out) and went into the large bay. We headed south to Vonitsa. It is a small sleepy village with a nice harbour and nice people. The boats around us were mostly old private boats that were sailing around for years. On our morning walk we saw a big sea turtle swimming around the harbour. It was a good place to relax before we got into the rushing resort bays of Lefkada.
Pictures from Vonitsa:
We sailed out of Vonitsa and Preveza towards Lefkas Bridge. The bridge opens on the hour for passing boats. We planned to be there at 2pm. Thanks to some good wind, we got there 15 minutes prior, and had all the time we needed to drop the sails and get ready to pass. We were early enough before the afternoon wind started to get to the passage with no worries. It’s an interesting, beautiful passage. It is a floating bridge that opens up horizontally by motoring (with something that looks like a bow thruster) and mooring alongside the east bank of the channel. It’s really amazing. The whole procedure takes 10 minutes so at 2:10 cars were already passing on the bridge.
Motoring down the channel is quiet tiring because you have to keep a close watch on other boats and make sure you don’t land on the shallow water around the channel. We passed it eventually and just motored all the way to one of the bays at Meganisi. We tried one, but it was so crowded with boats, and no beaches, so we decided to go to another one. The other one was more reasonable and had a nice beach at the mouth of the bay. We anchored next to two other boats and had a nice time swimming in the bay and spending time on the beach with the girls.
From Meganisi we continued south to Sivota. We were lucky to get in early. There are now about 100 boats moored and anchored in this small bay. It is a natural bay around which they built some houses, and a lot of restaurants. We have a nice bar (that used to be an oil-press house) just across the street from out stern that will probably keep playing loud music till the morning. I’ll send pictures from Sivota later on.
Some pictures from Lefkas:
Regards from Eyal and everyone on board of Princess Nayeli
The road to Igoumenitsa is beautiful. You climb the high mountains of the mainland with a road that’s still half motorway and half just an old tortuous road.
I was lucky to get early to Ioannina because later in the day it became unbearably hot. I did some sight seeing in the old town that was once divided to three: Turks, Jews and Greeks.
You can see some pictures of Ioannina at:
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| Princess Nayeli - Ioannina |
I haven’t met the family for about 10 days but it looked more like a month that we haven’t met. The airport in Ioannina is so tiny that I could wait at the luggage belts with some journalists who were waiting for some soccer player that came on the same flight.
I could see them going down the airplane’s stairs and walking into the terminal. It was a very exciting moment for me.
We tried to see the synagogue in the old town but Mr. Samuel Cohen, a very old man who maintains the synagogue, said it’s too hot and that he can only get out of the house at 8pm. We decided to turn around and go quickly to the port and catch the 6:30 ferry to Corfu. We got there at 6:23. Those ferries leave on time!!! We waived to the guy at Europecar that we leave him the car with the keys in the port, dropped all the girls with the luggage so they can load it all to the ferry, I drove quickly to buy tickets about 500m from the ferry and got back just on time before they closed the door.
The following day, after a relaxed morning at the pool in Gouvia, we met the Segal family on the boat. Segal couldn’t go on the boat for more than a minute, so he left us there to sail up to Kassiopi where he would meet us. His wife and kids joined us for the sail.
Kassipoi is less than 10 miles North of Gouvia so we just motored up the Corfu channel (in a 17kts wind) and fortunately the wind doesn’t get into Kassiopi so we could moor safely. Here was the first time we used the stern anchor, because the water at the quay is too shallow. Our fortless anchor with the weighted rope is so light and so easily managed that the whole maneuver took a couple of minutes.
Kassiopi was a pleasant surprise.
We went up to see Segal’s house at the village, 400m above Kassiopi. They have an outstanding view of the Corfu channel, the Albanian mountains, and all the boats crossing between Corfu and Albania. They say that at night they can see the ferries lighting the sea and can hear their engine humming through the silence.
Pictures from the sail to Kassiopi:
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| Princess Nayeli - sailing to Kassiopi |
The next day we sailed back to good old Moutros. The same bay where we already spent a couple of nights. I would call it “Fish Bay” because we caught a lot of fish here several days earlier). For some reason, you can still find your own bay in this lovely spot (unlike what we had in Lefkas and Meganisi).
The sail down to Moutros was wonderful. We sailed the 30 something miles with the Spinnaker.
After a peaceful night at Moutros, we sailed relatively early to Gaia in Paxoi. It’s a very crowded place so we just motored down with no wind till closer in a good wind started on our nose so we had nice tacking against the wind till Paxoi.
Paxoi is really crowded. As Yael said: Now I know where all the boats are. Even the sea plane has a station here and he kept coming and going all the time.
We were able to anchor in the busy channel that leads to the city with two anchors and two lines ashore. We were properly secured this way.
Sunset at Moutros “Fish Bay” and pictures from Gaia on Paxoi:
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| Princess Nayeli - Moutros to Paxoi |
From Paxoi, we sailed down to Preveza and the huge half salt lake behind it. With 15+ knots on our back, we had a great sail down. It was a little too choppy for the girls. Noga and Yasmin were a little sea sick for the first time. It took them a couple of hours of bad feeling till they were able to vomit after which they felt as good as new and started playing again. The entrance through the narrow channel with this wind and waves on your back was a little challenging and mainly scary when you go there for the first time. We furled and stowed both sails fearing from the unknown. Eventually – it was nothing. Once you’ve done it, you know it’s a piece of cake.
We passed Preveza and the three huge boatyards at the entrance (looks like a good place to winter out) and went into the large bay. We headed south to Vonitsa. It is a small sleepy village with a nice harbour and nice people. The boats around us were mostly old private boats that were sailing around for years. On our morning walk we saw a big sea turtle swimming around the harbour. It was a good place to relax before we got into the rushing resort bays of Lefkada.
Pictures from Vonitsa:
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| Princess Nayeli - Vonitsa |
We sailed out of Vonitsa and Preveza towards Lefkas Bridge. The bridge opens on the hour for passing boats. We planned to be there at 2pm. Thanks to some good wind, we got there 15 minutes prior, and had all the time we needed to drop the sails and get ready to pass. We were early enough before the afternoon wind started to get to the passage with no worries. It’s an interesting, beautiful passage. It is a floating bridge that opens up horizontally by motoring (with something that looks like a bow thruster) and mooring alongside the east bank of the channel. It’s really amazing. The whole procedure takes 10 minutes so at 2:10 cars were already passing on the bridge.
Motoring down the channel is quiet tiring because you have to keep a close watch on other boats and make sure you don’t land on the shallow water around the channel. We passed it eventually and just motored all the way to one of the bays at Meganisi. We tried one, but it was so crowded with boats, and no beaches, so we decided to go to another one. The other one was more reasonable and had a nice beach at the mouth of the bay. We anchored next to two other boats and had a nice time swimming in the bay and spending time on the beach with the girls.
From Meganisi we continued south to Sivota. We were lucky to get in early. There are now about 100 boats moored and anchored in this small bay. It is a natural bay around which they built some houses, and a lot of restaurants. We have a nice bar (that used to be an oil-press house) just across the street from out stern that will probably keep playing loud music till the morning. I’ll send pictures from Sivota later on.
Some pictures from Lefkas:
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| Princess Nayeli - Lefkada |
Regards from Eyal and everyone on board of Princess Nayeli
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Doron' s 10 day experience on Princess Nayeli
The journey started in our Amsterdam office. One cold and gray morning, Roy mentioned a friend he has. “ We know each other from Kindergarten “ he made sure to add, each time the name Eyal was brought up.
In the next few days we stopped working and sailed on the web. Looking for the places we will explore during the upcoming sail. I am not talking about a search we made just a few days before sailing, but few long weeks. Probably while the new boat was still in its Italian made factory, we were already on it sailing. With full mind a sole.
Few days before our flight to Croatia a possible cancellation was hinted. Roy’s position at our company came into a serious risk and only a false warning cancellation relaxed us all.
Our first day in Dubrovnik, began with a visit to the old city center. Nice historical monuments, but tons of tourists. The first meeting with Eyal, took place in the city. Surrounded with family members, but equipped with small yellow radio device, things became bit more serious. We smelled the ocean.
Good sailing must start with massive food and drinks shopping. Though basic stuff was already loaded well in the boat, we visited local place and bought great deal of stuff. 5 on the boat, Gili to join and already lots and lots of food. Men on a sailing adventure are usually very creative with all that has to do with food. Great menus were structured between the shelves of that local supermarket.
During the up coming day the team, still counted 5 had to deal with very serious decisions. Some as - shall we eat now or in ½ hour ? another was shall we sail to this bay or the next one. Or where will we pick Gili ? in this harbor or the next one. As prices of public transportation at Croatia, mainly taxies, are determined by the face of the tourist, without any connection to distances, we felt like moving ahead and sail.
Gili will pick us instead of us picking Gili.
Cavtat, was the place. Sailing there was short in calm sea. As we felt lucky and fully loaded with all we need we anchored at the small bay of the village. Just in front of a tiny harbor. Basic plan was to stop there for the night and pick up Gili the next evening. Than comes Antonio…
Very early in the next day, small motor boat with one guy on it. Wearing white clothing and a little black side bag. “ I was calling you the whole day yesterday, but you didn’t hear “ Antonio screamed. “ You must pay here also when you anchor in the bay “ added. “ It’s a beautiful place and everybody must pay, so do you “ For our question “ How much “ he replied with no thinking “ You will see “ .
Later in the day, watching the very high number of coming boats we took a place at the dock. Each one of us found something to do. Me on the BB, Roy at the kitchen, Eyal found remote connection to one of the restaurants….all went well.
Then came Gili.
Forgot to mention, but Eyal’s birthday took place on the same exact day while Local village festival took place. We have celebrated it from the boat. Loud music, Good Cherry brandy and very high spirit of the team formulated a good birthday party. Late at night the plan to leave early to the next destination became reality.. Monte Negro. Custom and police exit at Cavtat and sailing with light wind in a very gray morning, direction Monte Negro.
Just before leaving Croatia we discussed potential complications we may face there.. Worries that found later as totally false. The coming few days at MN were just beautiful. Great sea. Great accommodation. Easy and comfortable.
Gray sky and light rain accommodated us during the whole sail from Cavtat direction south. Temperature was rather warm so no real irritation. We have decided earlier to visit 2 places there. The deep and long bay of Kotor and the harbor of Bar. Entering the bay of Kotor was real fun. High mountains of the side of the bay escorted us while sailing there. MN is known for its high and stiff mountains, some covered with sort of black color pine trees. Some of the mountains are so high, their tops are totally bold with no plantation at all. Old castles remains structured of the 2 sides of entering the large bay. Some more will escort us while entering deep into it. With the foggy view and light drizzle falls it all looked bit mysterious. In order to get warm, hot and spicy drinks are brought up. Fruits and snacks came along too. The city of Kotor looked magnificent already from distance. The high mountain above the city was decorated with old and heavy wall heading to old castles ruins on its heights. Entering MN, required us to stop at distanced custom and police dock. Paper work didn’t last too long. Proper place was found for the night stop and all were heading to tour in a near by small market and marina club. From first look the facility looked new. Short visit at the marina free shower place indicated 2 stand up jet showers. Those round cabins, containing some 10 jets, with the ability to spray a sailor from 10 different angels. Early plans to celebrate on long hot showers ended with a declaration of one of us, “there is no hot water “ Yelena, the hostess of the facility promised to fix the problem by 23:00. Eyal tried his luck at 22:00 and found a locked facility.
Asking for a restaurant, we were recommended to visit a place called Dobrovsky Dvori. Sound more as a name of a Russian philosopher than a fish place. In MN there are 2 types of taxies. Regular ones and Red ones. The second is to be used by tourists. Ordering 2 taxies, we were introduced to 2 young drivers. Both looked not older than 15 years old. After short drive, paying not more than EUR3 ( MN is probably the only place in our journey where we paid the real price of the taxi travel. In all other places we were cheated by all drivers… ) . The restaurant was found as very good. We ordered local food. Simple, good salads and fish. The size of the fish was exceptionally big and very tasty too.
Next morning we decided to climb up the mountain, along the old wall to the top castle. One of us had to stay and watch the boat. All were excited to shake their lazy bones and visit the historical sight. After a short but loud discussion of the team I realized nobody wants to stay and continuous discussion may break years of good relation. I immediately volunteered to stay. (…Well…maybe they didn’t shout…or discuss it loudly ….and maybe I also wanted a bit to stay … read a book….. you know what ???? OK !!! I DIDN’T WANT TO GO THERE….!!! )
The guys came back after 2 hours. They all looked tired but happy. The view of the mountain top is just great.
Shopping in the vegs market, visit to the supermarket and we were ready to sail to Bar. Our second and last stop at MN.
Sailing to Bar was easy and in calm sea. The city lays within the bay of Budva. On our way there we stopped by what looked as a blue cave. 3 volunteers rowed the dingy to search around and entered the cave. It was found as nothing to write home about and we continued in our way. The marina of Bar was rather empty with few foreign boats in it. Waiting to refuel the tanks with diesel, took about ½ hour. Topless lady swimmer escorted by strong north west wind left skipp all alone to fight nature. At the end we moored long side as all hands and eyes were stuck in the wrong direction.
Next morning, early in the day, ready for the long leg we left MN direction south. Greece, here we come. Leaving the bay of Budva, we were welcomed by strong wind. The boat sailed wonderfully fast. The silent of the sea, whistle of the wind and some Slivovica did its work. North west wind accommodated most of our day and the initial 30 hours journey shortened as we progressed. When possible and quite for long time, spinnaker was lifted. The speed of the boat touched 8 knots. 4-5 meals were served. Lots of fruits, drinks, and other specially made food by the creative chefs. As 12 miles distance from the coast line of Albania are mandated, we sailed deep into the see, up until only blue water surrounded us. The night was divided to 3 shifts and 3 teams of 2 member each took command. During the long day we saw on our way only few boats. As we made progress into the Greek territorial waters, more ferries crossed our way. The night was mainly calm with almost no wind. Early in the morning sails were lifted but after short time, put back in place. After about 20 hours we could see the north tiny island of Greece. Erikoussa. As we figured out its going to be a warm day and breakfast was in progress, we anchored in a small south bay of that Island. In about an hour, after a good meal and cold and refreshing swim we headed to Corfu island, to the Gouvia marina.
Gouvia marina is huge. Facilitated with hot showers ( …that offers cold water only ), shops, restaurants, bars and such. By the south part of the marina lays a small village offering big supermarket, shops and plenty of restaurants. This should be our home base for the next days with a few bay visits.
After loading the boat with fresh food, cleaning it, we headed the next morning to the group of small islands of Moutros. Lying by the main land. The islands were found as great surprise. Just a few boats in the area we anchored behind one of the island preparing for a night stop. There was a pressure by the guys to check out the dingy. For the question, “ what about fuel “ ?, Eyal replied “ you have petrol for an hour “
Roy and myself took the dinghy to tour around. After 2 minutes, the engine died on us. Roy, remembered his days form the army and ordered “ Row “ . Doron remembered his days from his army and replied “ you row “. Luckily a small motor boat, with 6 French guys was passing by. We asked them if they enjoy their vacation and explained them we do not enjoy ours. As member of the EU, Collaboration treaty was established and a rope handed to us. While singing French chansons, we were towed back to mother ship. The left crew ( “ you have petrol for an hour “ ) welcomed us with loud cheering up and clapping hands. Night there was just excellent.
Next morning thy guys felt like having Frappe. We sailed to a small harbor a bit north of our last night position and after short stop there, once all came to their satisfaction we headed back to Moutros. This time we anchored in the north side of the group of small islands. Dinner on Saturday night was royal. With a 2 course dinner, freshly cooked bread and self made cake. Roy at his best. Morning swim and back to Gouvia. On our way we stopped to swim at the near-by harbor bay and to view perfect water tank aircraft landing by our boat.
Gili left next morning. Yoel in the afternoon after the 5 of us spent most of the day at Corfu city. Dinner at George’s was tasty but nothing to compare to the dinners of the past 10 days, with the 6 of us around the table.
The 3 Dutch left today. Eyal is in the boat. The family arrives tomorrow…
Some pictures of those 10 days:
In the next few days we stopped working and sailed on the web. Looking for the places we will explore during the upcoming sail. I am not talking about a search we made just a few days before sailing, but few long weeks. Probably while the new boat was still in its Italian made factory, we were already on it sailing. With full mind a sole.
Few days before our flight to Croatia a possible cancellation was hinted. Roy’s position at our company came into a serious risk and only a false warning cancellation relaxed us all.
Our first day in Dubrovnik, began with a visit to the old city center. Nice historical monuments, but tons of tourists. The first meeting with Eyal, took place in the city. Surrounded with family members, but equipped with small yellow radio device, things became bit more serious. We smelled the ocean.
Good sailing must start with massive food and drinks shopping. Though basic stuff was already loaded well in the boat, we visited local place and bought great deal of stuff. 5 on the boat, Gili to join and already lots and lots of food. Men on a sailing adventure are usually very creative with all that has to do with food. Great menus were structured between the shelves of that local supermarket.
During the up coming day the team, still counted 5 had to deal with very serious decisions. Some as - shall we eat now or in ½ hour ? another was shall we sail to this bay or the next one. Or where will we pick Gili ? in this harbor or the next one. As prices of public transportation at Croatia, mainly taxies, are determined by the face of the tourist, without any connection to distances, we felt like moving ahead and sail.
Gili will pick us instead of us picking Gili.
Cavtat, was the place. Sailing there was short in calm sea. As we felt lucky and fully loaded with all we need we anchored at the small bay of the village. Just in front of a tiny harbor. Basic plan was to stop there for the night and pick up Gili the next evening. Than comes Antonio…
Very early in the next day, small motor boat with one guy on it. Wearing white clothing and a little black side bag. “ I was calling you the whole day yesterday, but you didn’t hear “ Antonio screamed. “ You must pay here also when you anchor in the bay “ added. “ It’s a beautiful place and everybody must pay, so do you “ For our question “ How much “ he replied with no thinking “ You will see “ .
Later in the day, watching the very high number of coming boats we took a place at the dock. Each one of us found something to do. Me on the BB, Roy at the kitchen, Eyal found remote connection to one of the restaurants….all went well.
Then came Gili.
Forgot to mention, but Eyal’s birthday took place on the same exact day while Local village festival took place. We have celebrated it from the boat. Loud music, Good Cherry brandy and very high spirit of the team formulated a good birthday party. Late at night the plan to leave early to the next destination became reality.. Monte Negro. Custom and police exit at Cavtat and sailing with light wind in a very gray morning, direction Monte Negro.
Just before leaving Croatia we discussed potential complications we may face there.. Worries that found later as totally false. The coming few days at MN were just beautiful. Great sea. Great accommodation. Easy and comfortable.
Gray sky and light rain accommodated us during the whole sail from Cavtat direction south. Temperature was rather warm so no real irritation. We have decided earlier to visit 2 places there. The deep and long bay of Kotor and the harbor of Bar. Entering the bay of Kotor was real fun. High mountains of the side of the bay escorted us while sailing there. MN is known for its high and stiff mountains, some covered with sort of black color pine trees. Some of the mountains are so high, their tops are totally bold with no plantation at all. Old castles remains structured of the 2 sides of entering the large bay. Some more will escort us while entering deep into it. With the foggy view and light drizzle falls it all looked bit mysterious. In order to get warm, hot and spicy drinks are brought up. Fruits and snacks came along too. The city of Kotor looked magnificent already from distance. The high mountain above the city was decorated with old and heavy wall heading to old castles ruins on its heights. Entering MN, required us to stop at distanced custom and police dock. Paper work didn’t last too long. Proper place was found for the night stop and all were heading to tour in a near by small market and marina club. From first look the facility looked new. Short visit at the marina free shower place indicated 2 stand up jet showers. Those round cabins, containing some 10 jets, with the ability to spray a sailor from 10 different angels. Early plans to celebrate on long hot showers ended with a declaration of one of us, “there is no hot water “ Yelena, the hostess of the facility promised to fix the problem by 23:00. Eyal tried his luck at 22:00 and found a locked facility.
Asking for a restaurant, we were recommended to visit a place called Dobrovsky Dvori. Sound more as a name of a Russian philosopher than a fish place. In MN there are 2 types of taxies. Regular ones and Red ones. The second is to be used by tourists. Ordering 2 taxies, we were introduced to 2 young drivers. Both looked not older than 15 years old. After short drive, paying not more than EUR3 ( MN is probably the only place in our journey where we paid the real price of the taxi travel. In all other places we were cheated by all drivers… ) . The restaurant was found as very good. We ordered local food. Simple, good salads and fish. The size of the fish was exceptionally big and very tasty too.
Next morning we decided to climb up the mountain, along the old wall to the top castle. One of us had to stay and watch the boat. All were excited to shake their lazy bones and visit the historical sight. After a short but loud discussion of the team I realized nobody wants to stay and continuous discussion may break years of good relation. I immediately volunteered to stay. (…Well…maybe they didn’t shout…or discuss it loudly ….and maybe I also wanted a bit to stay … read a book….. you know what ???? OK !!! I DIDN’T WANT TO GO THERE….!!! )
The guys came back after 2 hours. They all looked tired but happy. The view of the mountain top is just great.
Shopping in the vegs market, visit to the supermarket and we were ready to sail to Bar. Our second and last stop at MN.
Sailing to Bar was easy and in calm sea. The city lays within the bay of Budva. On our way there we stopped by what looked as a blue cave. 3 volunteers rowed the dingy to search around and entered the cave. It was found as nothing to write home about and we continued in our way. The marina of Bar was rather empty with few foreign boats in it. Waiting to refuel the tanks with diesel, took about ½ hour. Topless lady swimmer escorted by strong north west wind left skipp all alone to fight nature. At the end we moored long side as all hands and eyes were stuck in the wrong direction.
Next morning, early in the day, ready for the long leg we left MN direction south. Greece, here we come. Leaving the bay of Budva, we were welcomed by strong wind. The boat sailed wonderfully fast. The silent of the sea, whistle of the wind and some Slivovica did its work. North west wind accommodated most of our day and the initial 30 hours journey shortened as we progressed. When possible and quite for long time, spinnaker was lifted. The speed of the boat touched 8 knots. 4-5 meals were served. Lots of fruits, drinks, and other specially made food by the creative chefs. As 12 miles distance from the coast line of Albania are mandated, we sailed deep into the see, up until only blue water surrounded us. The night was divided to 3 shifts and 3 teams of 2 member each took command. During the long day we saw on our way only few boats. As we made progress into the Greek territorial waters, more ferries crossed our way. The night was mainly calm with almost no wind. Early in the morning sails were lifted but after short time, put back in place. After about 20 hours we could see the north tiny island of Greece. Erikoussa. As we figured out its going to be a warm day and breakfast was in progress, we anchored in a small south bay of that Island. In about an hour, after a good meal and cold and refreshing swim we headed to Corfu island, to the Gouvia marina.
Gouvia marina is huge. Facilitated with hot showers ( …that offers cold water only ), shops, restaurants, bars and such. By the south part of the marina lays a small village offering big supermarket, shops and plenty of restaurants. This should be our home base for the next days with a few bay visits.
After loading the boat with fresh food, cleaning it, we headed the next morning to the group of small islands of Moutros. Lying by the main land. The islands were found as great surprise. Just a few boats in the area we anchored behind one of the island preparing for a night stop. There was a pressure by the guys to check out the dingy. For the question, “ what about fuel “ ?, Eyal replied “ you have petrol for an hour “
Roy and myself took the dinghy to tour around. After 2 minutes, the engine died on us. Roy, remembered his days form the army and ordered “ Row “ . Doron remembered his days from his army and replied “ you row “. Luckily a small motor boat, with 6 French guys was passing by. We asked them if they enjoy their vacation and explained them we do not enjoy ours. As member of the EU, Collaboration treaty was established and a rope handed to us. While singing French chansons, we were towed back to mother ship. The left crew ( “ you have petrol for an hour “ ) welcomed us with loud cheering up and clapping hands. Night there was just excellent.
Next morning thy guys felt like having Frappe. We sailed to a small harbor a bit north of our last night position and after short stop there, once all came to their satisfaction we headed back to Moutros. This time we anchored in the north side of the group of small islands. Dinner on Saturday night was royal. With a 2 course dinner, freshly cooked bread and self made cake. Roy at his best. Morning swim and back to Gouvia. On our way we stopped to swim at the near-by harbor bay and to view perfect water tank aircraft landing by our boat.
Gili left next morning. Yoel in the afternoon after the 5 of us spent most of the day at Corfu city. Dinner at George’s was tasty but nothing to compare to the dinners of the past 10 days, with the 6 of us around the table.
The 3 Dutch left today. Eyal is in the boat. The family arrives tomorrow…
Some pictures of those 10 days:
 |
| Princess Nayeli from Kotor to Corfu |
Pictures from Corfu
Hi,
I'm in Corfu, waiting for the family to be back here tomorrow.
My foreign phone number has changed to a Greek number: +30-694-394-5133
A new post is on its way with great stories about our last 10 days.
In the meantime - you can see the pictures at:
Eyal
I'm in Corfu, waiting for the family to be back here tomorrow.
My foreign phone number has changed to a Greek number: +30-694-394-5133
A new post is on its way with great stories about our last 10 days.
In the meantime - you can see the pictures at:
 |
| Princess Nayeli from Kotor to Corfu |
Eyal
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