Zakynthos to Pilos

We're now anchored on a beach at the North of end of Navarino bay: Map of where we are
 It is very peaceful here, not so many boats and the weather is calm. It's just the four of us on the boat (Yael, Noga, Yasmin and myself), so we have plenty of room and plenty of water to stay in bays for a few more days.
We're planning to stay here another day and just relax before we start our last couple of legs into Kalamata.

We had great sailing getting here. The first leg, was 45NM. We sailed most of it with the Gennaker. The wind was right behind us, about 18Kts, and we had some waves. The only event we had on the way was that out of a sudden, while I was at the helm (trying to make the Gennaker happy), the sail disappeared! We lost sight of it, and only when going out of the cockpit, we saw it fluttering way above us! The tack snap shackle unlocked for some reason and the sail was only holding on two lines. Fortunately, the sleeve was still working and we could sleeve it back rather easily. At that point we just opened up the jib (which we just talked about doing anyway cause the wind was increasing), and pointed the bow at Kiparissia.

Kiparissia: So first, the port of Kiparissia has been extended and it is well protected now, with water and electricity on the quay. Rod Heikell warns boats from going in here because the port is not protected and suggests to drop an anchor in the middle of the port. I waned to update him, but then I saw that he has a blog post from this summer with an update along those lines.
The town is really strange. Many brand new house, next to ruins and empty roads. No tourists at all. The castle and old town are lovely, with great view over the South Ionian sea. At the main square, we found a lovely Cafe where the highlight was that they had a 1 month old puppy. He was beautiful and we had to go back there the next day to see him.
Noga keeps saying that she likes Kiparissia and that we have to go back there. It's a great stop over between Methoni and Zakynthos.

From Kiparissia, we did a short, 30NM leg, to the famous bay of Navarino where we are now.

Some more pictures were added to this summer's sailing album.
BTW- I added a picture of our message in a bottle that was found in Italy and the picture was sent to us.
Eyal

Princess Nayeli Adriatic summer 2011

Otranto to Zakynthos

The three days of the storm in Otranto were a bit traumatic. There was maybe 40 kts of wind outside, the sea was high and choppy and we were moored alongside the cargo pier waiting for the storm to die. Two mooring lines were ripped by the cement quay, the whole boat was black, inside and out from the dirt of the truck road above us and everything had a think layer of salt from the spray that was going over the 10m breaker wall.

So, after 3 days of storm, we left Otranto on Saturday, August 13^th at 5AM, heading SE towards Corfu in Greece.

10 minutes after we left, a speed boat was heading towards us, it was just before dawn, and she slowed down as she was about 100m away. It was clear that they wanted something… Yael was thinking of Albanian pirates and I was thinking that I should have told the coast guard that we’re leaving so early. As they got closer, we could see the words “Guardia Finanzia” and could hear them speak Italian so we knew it was really the coast guard. A couple of minutes later, they were tied alongside to us, asked us to neutral the engine and they had full control over out 10 ton boat. One of them asked permission to go on board, and we “let” him. He even agreed to take his shoes off. The only problem was that he was wearing sun glasses and had some kind of a pirate like head cover. Yael showed him in, turned on the indoor lights and showed him Noga and Yasmin sleeping. That was good enough for him to tell his friends that we’re OK, and they left apologizing for the disturbance.

The rest of the day was wonderful. We had side-back winds of 15-18 kts and the boat was flying at 8-9 kts towards Corfu. Once we passed Erikousa, the small island NW of Corfu, the wind died and we motored the rest of our way to Gouvia marina.

In Gouvia we met Yael’s parents, Ruth and Shaul that were waiting for us.

Yael had a recommendation for a restaurant close to the marina. I called them, and asked how to get to the restautant. They lady said: “have you a dinghy?”. I said: “yes”. “Then”, she said, “take a look towards the East side of the marina. Do you see a fishing boat tied up to a small pier?”. “Yes”, I said. “So just take your dinghy and go next to our fishing boat”. That’s all I needed. I knew it was going to be a good restaurant, and it was.

From Corfu, we sailed down to Paxoi, and then went down towards Lefkas Bridge. We planned to cross the swinging bridge at 3PM. The bridge is supposed to open every round hour and we’ve crossed it maybe 10 times already. We got there at about 10 minutes to 3 and got in slowly hoping it will open on time. After circling for about 20 minutes in the small entrance with 4 other boats, Yael decided to call the bridge control on Ch. 12. Surprisingly they answered her, and said that they’ll open only at 4pm. They skipped the 3pm opening. You can imagine how many boats were there at 4, waiting to cross...

From the bridge we sailed down to a beautiful bay in Meganisi and then left for Ithaka on Tuesday. Dan Goldstaub and his family were there on a chartered boat and we planned to spend the night with them. We tacked our way towards Itaka till suddenly the wind picked up to 24kts on our head. To Yael’s request to go to the nearest port, we turned around and entered Sivota on the South side of Lefkada Island. We’ve been to Sivota several times before, but it’s always nice to go again to this lovely landlocked bay.

On Wednesday, the sea was flat, zero wind, so we motored for two hours to meet the Goldstaubs in a picturesque bay near the main town of Ithaka, Vathi.

The bay is beautiful, the beach is shaded by pine and olive trees, the water is amazingly clear and warm. It’s really a perfect bay. And what’s really amazing is that the girls, led by the experienced fisherwoman- Yasmin, fished about 6 fish, one of them is a 400gr sea bream!!!! The biggest we ever had in bay fishing. Shaul then BBQed them ashore and after a couple of hours we had a delicious fish dinner.

After a peaceful, star watching night, the Goldstaubs started their journey north while we got ready to sail down to Zakynthos, but then, when I went down to switch to the engine battery I realized we accidentally spent the night on the engine battery, and that battery was already empty. We had both our battery packs empty!!!! I tried to start the engine anyway – but nothing. The two service batteries were showing 10v while the engine battery was showing 11v. What do we do now? I started thinking of taking the dinghy to town to find some starter battery. Yael called Dan on the VHF but he was too far and did not answer his phone either.

We had to come up with a good solution. We had to be in Zakynthos that day because Ruth and Shaul had a flight to catch on Friday morning.

After some thinking, I decided to rewire the batteries and connect the two ‘dead’ service batteries in a row (so they give me some 20v) and use them to charge a little bit the engine battery. Shaul was holding the wires real tight while I went up to the switch. I switched the battery switch to “both” so get my circuit going, and tried to start the engine…

It started immediately!!!

Then I quickly switched back to the engine battery, to minimize the damage and off we went to Zakynthos. It was clear that now we needed new service batteries urgently.

On Thursday the 18^th, we entered the port of Zakynthos at about 3pm, after a nice sailing day, using the spinnaker a good part of the day.

This morning, at 5:45AM, Ruth and Shaul left to catch their flight to Tel Aviv. It was great having them for a week with us. They were vivid and helpful. Shaul was great crew and did everything from hoisting sails to tying the boat to rocks and trees. Ruth specialized in navigating the boat between all the “dangerous targets” we had around us. This for itself was a full time job. They both felt great at sea and got used to boating life very quickly. We hope to have them with us in many more cruises.

Today, we used the day to buy new batteries, clean the boat, get some laundry done and just rest before the last sailing week. We are sailing down to Kalamata soon.

As usual, this summner's album with additional pictures of the last week can be found at:

Princess Nayeli Adriatic summer 2011

Montenegro to Italy with the Levinsons

For some reason, every time the Levinsons join us, we find ourselves struggling with mother nature.

This time, they joined us for a week and we planned to sail together from Montenegro to Corfu.
We thought we had a lot of spare time, but eventually at this point, Tzvika and his family are still waiting for the ferry boat to be able to leave the port due to the bad weather.

So it all started when they joined us in Kotor bay in an unusually hot afternoon. After two weeks of lovely weather, there were now very hot days expected after which a gail in the Adriatic sea was expected.
We started by sailing the Kotor bay and spending the night in the nice bay of Bigova, just outside Kotor bay. We put all our bay gear in the water, including the kayak, the dinghy, inflatables, etc. It was a nice quiet night in the bay.
Looking forward, we realized we may have problem getting to Corfu on time, so we decided we leave Montenegro the next morning to Italy, beating a South wind, and then hopefully cross back to Corfu after the storm dies.
The weather had other plans.
So, next day, we docked at Budva, trying to make the departure arrangements. While doing the paperwork, the customs officer asked if I had a bottle of wine for him and for the police. I was amazed by the request and told him I don't drink wine... After I left, I saw an Italian skipper approaching the offices with two bottles of white wine...
Anyway, we moved from the noisy town, to anchor under the interesting island of SV. Stephan. The island who hosts celebrities, and government officials, looked great at the sunset.

On Tuesday morning, at 3:45AM, we left SV. Stephan heading to Otranto, Italy. In a couple of hours the wind picked up and steadied on 15Kts close hauled, what made us run in 20Kt winds, healing dramatically all the way across the Adriatic sea. As the day went by, the wind became more South and we had to just do the best we can to get into Bridisi (about 40 miles North of our desired destination).
Anyway, running all day, the 102 miles to Bridisi in strong healing and some nasty waves, was a challenge to everyone. Almost all the crew was feeling sea sick at some point, although the boat was running steady against the wind.
We had a lovely visit of a school of dolphins, as if they realized we can't go to the bow to watch their ride, they came over making spectacular jumps right in front of our eyes. It was a beautiful sight.
At 8pm we were docked in Brindisi.
On Tuesday, 11am, we left Brindisi, with empty water tanks (there was no water in Brindisi for some reason) towards Otranto.
We arrived at Otranto at 6pm, to find out that the dock was full and the only place we could stay is on the cargo pier, which is on the main breaker, close to the entrance to the harbor, with no water supply and a little bit exposed.
An hour later, an Italian HR42 asked to moor long side to us, and we agreed. They are very nice people from Venice, the owner is a originally from the Jewish community of Corfu but he grew up in Venice.
At midnight, the wind started blowing at 30-32 kts, but the sea was still OK and standing at the dock was manageable except the fact the all the black dirt of the cargo area blew right into our boat, getting everything inside and out dusted with a thick black dust.
The night between Wednesday and Thursday was even worse. We lost two lines during the night as the load of two boats was too heavy on them adding the fact that the lines shaffed against the cement quay. We replaced and doubled all the lines with a very thick and flexible line we have on board that we're using now for the first time.
Getting off the boat is really a  challenge as the wind pushes the boats off the quay and you have to pull on two boats to get yourself ashore.

Water. Luckily we have a water maker on board. We've living for the last 3 days on that only. We're running the water maker (together with the engine), for a few hours a day to give us water to wash our hands, wash dishes, and some showers. We mainly take showers in the marina.
It's amazing how we can empty 420 liters in 24 hours on one day but manage with very little water on another.

Since the Levinsons have a flight to catch from Corfu tomorrow night, they bought ferry tickets from Brindisi to Corfu, and reserved a hotel in Corfu.
They left us at 11:30 this morning, planning to catch the 3pm fast ferry to Corfu.
When they arrived at Brindisi, they found out that ferry is being delayed, waiting for the weather to calm down! I guess the sea out there is really high!
Hopefully they'll leave sometime during the night.

Anyway, we had interesting adventures with the Levinsons, as we did 5 years ago with them on a charter boat in Greece.
The Levinsons coped with challenges very well, and made a lot of progress in their sailing practice. Tsvika can now do two knots (bowline and hitch knot) and mastered jumping off the boat and tying her to the dock. Ilana is feeling great at sea, and was able to make sandwiches and cheer everyone while running against the sea. Hadar was great friends with Noga and Yasmin and learned to do the "Turkish head" knot (I have no idea how it's called in proper English). Shaked is ready for his cruising diploma. He managed to control the Raymarine instruments, steer the boat and do all the navigation work.
Noga was in charge of the laptop and taught Hadar and Shaked, together with Yasmin, everything about living on board. She was also great help with setting up the mainsail and taking care of the fenders before we dock. Yasmin was charming and had a lot in common with Hadar. She really mastered about 10 knots and she can do a bowline in 2 seconds! She's also a great helmsman, steering beautifully when going close hauled.
The both hosted our friends brilliantly. And of course Yael, my lovely wife, who made sure we have everything we need on board, took great care of the boat, waking in the middle of the night double docking lines and so on.

More soon...




All this Adriatic see journey pictures can be found at:

Princess Nayeli Adriatic summer 2011

Eyal

Kotor, Montenegro

After leaving Budva, we sailed to a small swimming bay just before the entrance to the bay of Kotor. The place is called Bigova. The main attraction was an old yacht that had roots there in the bay with two kittens living on board.

After a nice lunch break, we sailed to Kotor.

The bay of Kotor is probably the most impressive bay I've ever seen. The bay is deep with dark blue water and 1000m mountains surrounding it. We made our way around in the bay, with full sails up, till we made it to Kotor.
Rounding one of the corners, we crossed the largest sailing ship in the world - the Royal Clipper. I'll post our pictures soon. In the meantime you can see her
Here

Compared to Budva, Kotor is much nicer, and even with all the tourists around here, staying on the town quay is more quiet than the marina of Budva.

Tomorrow, we're planning to rent a car and go up the mountains for a couple days.

Budva, Montenegro

After a week into this cruise we were moored in Budva.
We did a morning leg from Otranto to Brindisi. We went through Brindisi mainly because we wanted to cross the Adriatic at the narrowest point North to Albania.
To make the crossing as easy as possible for Noga and Yasmin, we left Brindisi at 4am and passed the 100nm in about 17 hours, half of it sailing in light winds with the jenniker and half on engine.
Throughout the crossing we saw many times schools of fish jumping for their lives. Unfortunately, trying to get close to them, got us nothing on our hook. We haven't caught a single fish so far. On the other hand, three dolphins joined us for a nice ride.
We entered the port of Bar a little before 9pm.
Noga and Yasmin got a new crew certificate for doing over 100 miles in one leg!
Formalities were a little strange. The harbor master charged 230 euros for a sailing permit (viniette) of one month. Unfortunately you either pay for a week or a month or 6 months. We're planning to stay for 2 weeks so we had to take the month. Anyway, after I agreed to pay this outrageous sum of money, he told me that I have two options: I should either wait for the morning and then Go to e bank to pay the fee or just give him the money and he'll go to the bank the following day and make other payment for me. I did choose the 2nd option but I must say I don't know if he ever went to the bank... Anyway, he did give me the Viniette and a signed crew list so hopefully it's OK. When it was all done he asked me if I happen to have a bottle of whisky on board...

The following morning we motored in no wind the 15 miles to Budva. We entered the tricky entrance in heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Budva is on one hand a charming old town, very well preserved and maintained but it became the center for young tourists, mostly Serbs and Russians who come here to lie on the beach, consume lots of alcohol and hang out in noisy bars with lousy music.
Sleeping in the marina was a challenge. Even with all windows closed and with the AC on.
There is one disco that blows up the whole bay! I remember hearing it loudly when we anchored across the bay off Nikolas island, and were amazed by the high volume that was coming from shore.

On Sunday morning we decided to leave Budva and move to Kotor.

More soon...Eyal