It was a relaxed sunny Sunday on the finish of May 2012 once we arrived on our racing yacht, Cape Farewell, in Rogoznica Marina, simply north of Split in central Croatia. We had been berthed there for 4 years, exploring the attractive Croatian coast and sea Islands every summer time, nonetheless now it was time to maneuver on. The earlier November I had set-aside a berth inside the new Cesme Marina approximately Izmir and now we had assembled a powerful crew for 740 mile voyage there.
Our crew was my married person Andrea and me as skipper, with an out-of-date seafaring pal, Malcolm McKeag. Then we had recruited Andrea's sister Marilyn together with her companion Patrice, a French Consultant Haematologist, who have been as a consequence of fly in and be part of us that night from Paris. We went to mattress having readied the boat and eaten early nonetheless have been woke up by a name from Marilyn at Split aerodrome to inform us she could not discover Josco our common driver. Eventually they discovered him and arrived on board round midnight.
During the night time the wind elevated and the rain poured down on our cabin roof. We have been comfortable enough with our stern to the concrete seawal and bigger racing yachts on both aspect, nonetheless we had been instructed that we requisite to take Cape Farewell 5 miles north west to Kremik the next day to clear custom and police in order that we may depart from Croatia.
We bade fond good-byes to the women of Marina Frapa's reception whom we knew so effectively. Then we sailed out into the storm, with south-easterly winds of about 40 knots. Fortunately the wind was on our stern and the seas have been pretty small contained in the islands so the journey was not too tough. Kremik despatched a ship resolute information us in to the custom berth simply exterior marina reception. Kremik Marina is in a kind of Croatian fiord and the wind funnels in by way of the encompassing hills, lined with historical stone partitions delinfeeding gone menag grape, wine and olive rising areas. Three chaps jumped aboard, and a big man took over the helm and engine controls from me. He was an hot and berthed Cape Farewell very neatly in a clumsy spot with a giant, puffy cross-wind. A beautiful, competent group.
Less pretty have been the police and custom. The last mentioned did not flip up and the previous wouldn't full the method if we weren't crusing that day, regardless of our being stormbound. We unquestionably could not go for ten hours south-east into the tooth of a 40-knot gale. That night we staggered the few yards to the marina eating house and managed to have a severe dinner with bottles of Primosten wine to clean it down. Walking again to the boat in the dead of night, the wind had born and a lightweight rain was falling. On the saloon desk was laid out a well-nigh empty bottle of Balvenie single Scotch whiskey and a well-nigh full bottle of Hine brandy. A classical CD was present in a drawer and placed on the ship's stereo.
"This is MacRaminof's piano concerto number three in C." opined Malcolm.
Tuesday 22nd May dawned cloudy, gentle rain nonetheless mercifully calm. At 0800 sharp a jr., pleasant policemen arrived, full with gun in holster. He fiddled about with a rising heap of papers and the 5 passports, all of which he had checked the day earlier than. The Harbour Master arrived and inspected our coverage coverage and my {qualifications} as captain. He appeared effectively glad, wished us a nice voyage in marvelous English and departed. Then a smartly-uniformed custom man arrived in a slightly battered little automotive. He had an air-force blue uniform, a crew lower and tinted, gold-rimmed eyeglasses. Much stamping and sign language of papers and additive passport inspections after which the officer sealed them with our exit stamps. Finally each the officer and the custom man walked down the dock to Cape Farewell to examine the eliminated elements of their field that we requisite to export from Croatia. These consisted, as per the signed listing, of three condensers, a well-nigh new alternator belt and the field itself. They would not cease for espresso and pronounced us free to sail for Corfu, having formally cleared out from Croatia. Ten proceedings later we sailed. The sea was still lumpy nonetheless there was exclusively a small following wind about the identical speed because the ship as we steamed south-east. Gradually the wind born and the sky cleared and it turned flat calm, heat and sunny. We arrived at Korcula gas berth at three thirty and took 230 gallons of diesel in half an hour. With over 500 gallons inside the tanks we had tons of gas for the prolonged overnight bag to Corfu.
Entirely towards all rules we pulled into the little remoted bay of Prozura on the distant island of Mljet, the place there was a superb eating house with a free berth and electricity. Dinner on land; an large fish and a grilled crayfish for me, a number of brandies then to mattress.
Wednesday May 23rd dawned sunny and calm. We trouped on land for omelettes, washed down with squeezed orange juice and robust, black espresso. Marilyn wandered across the connected backyard and introduced that she had discovered some 'marijuana poppies' which slightly perplexed the remainder of us who thought opium got here from poppies. Marilyn assured us it was not so still.
We sailed south-east aboard the coast till we cleared the land and will set course for the turning level at Vliore, Albania. It was a relaxed, cool day with frequent patches of sunshine. After an hour's profitable working whereas Andrea made tea, espresso and hot cuppa-soup to nourish the crew, the source would not begin inside the night. It was chilly meals from then on, as we're an all-electric boat. Otherwise the climate remained gentle and visibility good. We cut up into watches for the night time and left Patrice and Marilyn on for the eight to 12, with Malcolm and Andrea for the center watch and me for the morning watch and the arrival.
I accustomed be awoken by the feeling that we have been now heading into what had been a power three, following wind. I obtained dressed and went as a great deal like the pilothouse to search out all was confusion. Marilyn and Patrice had tried to maneuver the plug-in auto-pilot from the fly bridge to the pilothouse "because we were acquiring cold up there!" They had each grow to be disorientated inside the course of with the end result that we have been now 180 levels off beam. I grabbed the wheel and steered by hand till we have been again on track again and the movement had eased. Not superior happy, I stayed abreast the fly bridge with them for an additive hour or so.
"What happens if it rains?" requested Marilyn plaintively.
"Then you get bloody wet!" I instructed her, "You'll keep a much better look-out from up here. I remember a captain lost when I was a young apprentice who said that you ne'er keep a proper watch at night through glass, so he sent me out on the bridge wing to face the sleet and biting wind. Then the steward came up with hot tea and buttered toast for the captain and the officer of the watch which they used-up in the warm spell I had to remain outside.
The weather stayed calm as we closed the Albanian coast, heading for the mile-wide gap between Corfu and Albania. The dawn disclosed small Albanian towns huddling under the huge and forbidding-looking mountains, full of square, concrete flat blocks. There were some bright painted ones, but the place didn't look attractive. We berthed at Corfu Marina at 0815 after a run of 225 miles. Then the hare and hounds began! Marilyn and I went to the marina office to invite out two nights beraffair. Then we found a friendly taxi driver, Kostas, to take us to in-migration. They wouldn't accept Marilyn's Australian passport as she was not an EU citizen. So we drove off to the ferry in-migration terminal. There Kostas body part aside a group of Spanish and Japanese tourists and marched straight through security to an office where a chap with four stripe on his epaulettes and his, heavily pregnant wife were situated. Marilyn got her passport sealed and we proceeded to custom who waved us away after a casual look at the ship's papers. Then back to the marina to have a ship's Greek Passage Log made up. There was a long queue. We got to the head of it, and showed the solitary young man our papers.
"You have to pay inside the marina work and get me a receipt first," he explained. Marilyn went off to do that.
"We may fill altogether the small print on the Passage Log whereas she's away," I recommended as the queue was lengthening.
"First the receipt," he replied, turning on the TV to look at the Greek news. Back came Marilyn with the receipt for 88 euro-cents and twenty proceedings later the official had filled in the Passage Log and entered every detail by hand in two, separate, grubby account books. We departed for a drink the bar next door. Past us came the man who had been next in the queue.
"Had to pay and get a receipt earlier than he'd problem the Passage Log," he explained as he trotted back, "he may need talked about that whereas I accustomed be ready so that you can end!"
That afternoon Angelo the engineer arrived to fix the source which turned resolute have a faulty solenoid valve. He ordered a new one up for delivery Saturday..
Friday 25th dawned fine and clear. The crew went on land for a tour with Kostas, spell Malcolm and I stayed on board. It was a hot, sultry day. Malcolm painted out the bare bits of the pilothouse and saloon spell I cleaned the old oil and butt butts out of the engineering bilges, left there by the Croatian engineers. In the evening we got the electric barbecue out and Patrice grilled five little fishes he had bought, wrapped in silver paper. The menfolk sat up a bit late and finished the Hine Brandy before going to bed.
Saturday May 26th dawned cloudy, calm and sultry although it became sunny later. We tried to get our Passage Log sealed but that involved producing the registration certificate, passports, skipper's qualifications and the insurance in Greek, all of which were inspected by the same people yesterday.
"I believed there was free passage inside the EU for residents and their boats," I queried the lady in charge.
"All the visiting English say that," she replied, "It's not us, it is the federal government guidelines we have now to obey."
Angelo got here aboard with the solenoid for the source and shortly had it going. The source labored on load so all was effectively so we emotional to the gas berth to high the tanks. Then we sailed on the 65 miles to Levkas on the little canal separating the Peloponnese from the remainder of Greece.
We arrived at 1 / 4 to eight inside the night and entered the northern finish of the canal. We waited exclusively 5 proceedings for the bateau bridge to open after which to Levkas Marina the place we spent the night time. We had a easy dinner on land inside the marvelous, low-cost, marina eating house and went to mattress, all dog-tired.
The sequent morning, we favourite a very good breakfast on the similar café. At breakfast we found that we had been at a lower place the impression that Greece was in the identical time zone as Croatia. Not so. We have been an hour behind native time. Malcolm took off the pilothouse clock and adjusted it, as did Andrea with all the opposite alfilaria on board. Meanspell I went to the reception to pay the berth charge. No stamps, no papers, only a bank card and the lady gave me the ship's registration certificates again and we sailed.
We sailed down the Levkas canal and across the little islands. We one-handed at a lower place the prolonged Riou bridge at 4 thirty pm after which on to an inaccessible marina at Trizona Island the place we deliberate to berth for the night time. There was a powerful north-westerly wind and we slid in to a really tight berth between two racing yachts on the inside of the outer mole. The ahead one was a big crusing racing yacht with an anxious skipper on its stern. The different was the house of Wendy and David, current live-aboards on their Al crusing boat 'Stromhella'. They helped us to fender off the tough concrete seawal as we berthed and we invited them to dinner inside the little village sq.. Wendy had beforehand been married to (and later single from) a Dutch Jesuit priest. It was a boozy, nice night with a Thai-Greek wait who was very stunning. Andrea concluded the dinner a bit over-served with wine and likeable everybody. We helped her again to the boat muttering.
At round 4 inside the morning there was the sound of an knowing English voice aft and the noise of a ship engine. I obtained up in my pyjamas and emotional fleetly to the darkened finish of the saloon to see what was taking place. David and Wendy have been making an attempt to motor, bow-first, off the dock, into the wind. They would have made it besides that our passerelle had been left projecting to make room for our stern line. As it was he simply managed to push his boat clear, with Wendy on the helm gunning the engine,. With a well affected apology coming throughout from the darkened harbour, Stromhella's navigation lights on a regular basis nonexistent into the space.
We left shortly after the massive racing yacht berthed forward for the western entrance to the Corinth Canal and arrived off the canal entrance at 1220 career them on VHF. We requisite to wait an hour steaming up and down. It was a pleasant, sunny run by way of the excessive Sir Joseph Banks of the Corinth Canal, three and a half miles prolonged. We stopped-up to fill out the inevitable sheaves of paperwork and pay the canal government on the japanese finish, then off to the Olympic Marina at Piraeus, the place we arrived after a relaxed and sunny 33 miles amongst quite few anchored ships ready for cargoes. The ladies went on land to reconnoiter and I to the marina work to take care of the inevitable blizzard of paperwork and invite out 2 nights aboard. The marina introduced us with a bottle of Greek brandy, one other of Ouzo and few racing boating magazines, dead a neat basket to welcome us. Meanspell the shore celebration reportable squalidness with graffiti, garbage blowing about and a number of small, crude shelters stuffed with what seemed to be Rumanian Gypsies. We determined to eat board and Marilyn soft-boiled up disorganised eggs, deep-fried chunks of ham and new potatoes with a love apple and feta cheese salad on the aspect.
Tuesday May 29th dawned gray and funky. After fixing the engineering bilge pump I accustomed be prepared and all of us went on land. We obtained the safety man to name two taxies and visited the Acropolis and the Parthenon. In spite of the state of the Greek business enterprise system there may be a number of restoration work happening. Then to dejeuner at a menag eating house with an unclear title. We had sardines, calamary, grilled prawns, salad and few stunning little white fish fillets in a combination of olive oil and lemon, all washed down with good, Greek wine and their home-made liqueur. Marilyn and Patrice, being of a cultural bent, went off to the museum; the remainder of us again to the boat.
A quiet afternoon on board, Malcolm varnishing and me writing up the log and having an hour's sleep. Early to mattress, though a barely disturbed night time with loud rap from automotive boom-boxes and far revving of motor bikes exterior the perimeter fence till 0300 inside the morning.
The sequent day dawned superiority and clear with gentle breezes from the west. The police, who have been as a consequence of seem at eight hadn't turned as a great deal like stamp our papers by ten to 9, so we scattered with their help and sailed for Batsi in Andros Island.
The wind stayed gentle, the star stayed out and we arrived in Batsi at three pm after an uneventful voyage. We requisite to lay out an anchor forward which was a bit startling and once we berthed on the sensible, new mole we found that there was tons of contemporary water nonetheless the electrical sockets weren't working as a consequence of a really unhealthy storm that they had a number of months in the past. On went the trustworthy source. An out-of-date chap in a fluorescent jacket gave the impression to be in cost and issued quite few orders. He muttered one affair about giving him cash, so I gave him twenty Euros and gained a pal for all multiplication. All went on land for buying (ladies), web (Patrice) and a drink (Malcolm and me).
The sequent two boats have been manned by professors of philosophy, theology and archaeology and their college students from the University of San Diego. They had commandeered the 5 rent vehicles inside the village to attend an archaeologic dig about thirty kilometres away. We had dinner on land at a eating house run by an American/Greek woman who had emotional again from New Jersey twenty-three years earlier than. Calamari adopted by particular lamb roast soft-boiled in Al foil. All was deceased inside the little bay with lights twinkling from the homes on the encompassing hills.
The sequent morning began slowly; hot and sunny with gentle winds. Marilyn and Andrea collected some further provisions, Patrice went off to the Wi-Fi café to proceed his work on advertising medical merchandise and Malcolm and I launched the RIB and gave it a run. Andrea and Marilyn went off in a pre-arranged taxi to attend Andros Town and at eleven am the gas tanker turned up and gave us a fast 300 litres in every tank. Malcolm and I went off for an extconcluded dejeuner of a shared Caesar salad adopted by a shared pizza and copious eyeglasses of native, crimson wine. We got here again to Cape Farewell in a mellow temper prepared for a day sleep to be confronted by a really hesitant Andrea coverage that Marilyn had, but again blocked the visitant head. Malcolm and I fastened it, showered and had a barely late afternoon sleep. That night Malcolm took the women out for an extconcluded tour of the bay and shoreline of Batsi after which we hoisted the RIB.
We left Batsi at seven the following day for the 100-mile run to Mandraki. It was flat clam and sunny with out a cloud inside the sky, and doubly we have been attconcluded by pods of dolphins. We have been approaching the harbour on the south aspect of Mandraki Island when some stained water with a raw fishing buoy inside the center appeared forward and the echo sounder indicated quickly shoaling water. I slowed down and turned ninety levels to port, and labored our approach round what was clearly a really shallow patch. When we have been safely spherical and on track again we found that the shoal was evidenced on the Imray chart, nonetheless exclusively as a really small mark on the plotter when on a really giant scale. Lesson accomplished - the to the last degree bit multiplication seek the advice of the paper chart additionally to the plotter.
The inaccessible marina at Mandraki was disappointing. We berthed and have been greeted by a jr. officer instructing us to convey all our papers to his work up the Street by the maritime school someday after six that night. We found that there was neither electricity nor water out there on the dock; as they are expression inside the RN, 'Fitted for nonetheless not with.' The officer saved himself by giving me a elevate on his scooter to his work which should have been an attention-grabbing sight for the bystanders.
The city was run-down, dusty and fly-blown with some graffiti and widow's weeds rising between the concrete slabs. The marina had been began nonetheless not completed. There was no cost for the night time's beraffair nonetheless we have been again to working the source for prolonged durations. We ate on land in an open-sided feeding house, encircled by skinny, hopeful cats. The owner was form and attentive though a serial, roll-your-own smoker. Various shabby middle-aged locals plus the host's married person and girl sat round sipping espresso and smoking. The meals was lamb roast cut up into splintery ribs plus calamary and salad.
The sequent day we sailed the twelve miles to Cesme Marina with out right clearing out of Greece. It was a public vacation and I had visions of being requested to attend for few days till a custom man got here again on obligation. We have been quickly in Turkish waters and hoisted our crimson Turkish courtesy ensign dynamic Greek one. We berthed aboard at ten fifteen in our reserved berth. Then the hare and hounds started. First to pay the firmness of the annual berth charge after which to the harbour grasp to get the transit log crammed out. Then to the doc to get the stamp consolatory the world that we have been freed from plague, then all of us requisite to troop as a great deal like the port police and custom to get entered formally into Turkey and get our visas and passports sealed.
That night the marina held a barbecue on the terrace to have fun its second birthday. Our crew all dressed up thencialised. The meals and wine have been marvelous and there was a continued procession of neatly dressed, as luck would have it chattering folks, jr. and out-of-date, by way of the very fashionable retailers and feeding places that fringed the marina. The pontoon lights shone violet, white and crimson and all of the store home windows have been lit up. The harbour was stuffed with racing yachts, large and small and it appeared extra like Nice or Antibes than an outpost of Asia. It made an attention-grabbing distinction with the clapped-out and destitute Greek port that we had left exclusively that morning and which was simply twelve miles to the north.
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