Farewell lunch in Oia for Daryl & Adrienne with Brian, Terry & Lois
(Lorraine on Camera duty)


AC Crew enjoying cocktail hour in Lefkada on the Foredeck


Lois on the way to Oia by ancient vertical transport


Lorraine & Brian on AC at the Entrance to the Corinth Canal


Ken and Terry at Casa Zazza


Akiko, Frank, Clair, Brian, Lorraine, Roger, Lois & Jackie in Gualdo, Le Marche, Italy

CORFU– 23 SEPTEMBER 2008

We apologise for not updating the blog earlier but it has been a busy 6 or 7 weeks! We are now in Corfu in the Ionian Islands!

Since the beginning of August we have travelled from Rhodes back across the Aegean to Athens, transited the Corinth Canal, travelled across the Gulf of Corinth and the Gulf of Patras through to the west coast of Greece and the Ionian Islands and north to Corfu – quite a distance in a short space of time!

We left Rhodes at the beginning of August heading for Santorini. We actually did make Turkey after all, but only for one night, where we took shelter at a place called Serce (North of Rhodes) – a fjord-like bay on the mainland. We caught up with an Australian young man and his girlfriend who we met in Rhodes and we went ashore with them for dinner – yes this isolated place had two restaurants to choose from! We even met up with two members of the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron there!

From here we sailed to the island of Yiali which is off the south coast of Kos. We stayed two days here waiting for the right weather but unfortunately the meltimi had kicked in quite strongly and we ended up pushing onto the Island of Astipalaia in Force 8 conditions. The meltimi lasted another 4 days before we headed for Santorini in very light conditions. This is fairly much the case in the Aegean at this time of the year either it is blowing hard or virtually no wind at all! On our 4 day journey from Rhodes to Santorini we managed to sail the majority of the time…. a bonus!

We arrived in Santorini in time to welcome our friend Brian McAra on board who had flown from NZ. There was really a double celebration – his welcome and that we were now half way across the Aegean on our journey to Athens.

We loved Santorini and thought it was the pick of all the islands in the Aegean we have been to. However it was quite challenging to find shelter as you cannot anchor in the crater because of the depth. Eventually we managed to find a very small cove to shelter in on the volcanic island called Kammeni opposite the west side of the main island and town. That had it’s challenges with many lines tied to the rocks but in the end it worked well for us.

During our stay there we had more visitors, nephew Daryl and his wife Adrienne flew out from London for 4 days. We were very grateful to them for carrying our watermaker parts that were sent from Trinidad. We had a fun lunch ashore with them in Fira which began and ended by dinghy (20 minute journey). We were all very all very responsible wearing life jackets which is a rarity in this part of the world! Our highlight in Santorini was the little village of Oia – about 8 km north west from the main town. This place is famous for it’s sunsets which are spectacular. Of course we are spoilt with many fabulous sunsets from AC! It is not so busy with tourists and houses those famous blue domes which are on all the postcards and books of Greece.

We had a fabulous farewell lunch with Daryl and Adrienne in Oia overlooking sea with spectacular views of Santorini and the pumice cliffs which began with a donkey ride up the cliff track from where we left AC tied to a very large buoy!

We left the next day and headed to Ios – directly north of Santorini. We anchored in a bay on the southern part of the island which is famous for nude bathing – however nothing in sight! It is also known as the party Island. Soon after our arrival we were joined by a flotilla of boats – about 25 in fact – and our very peaceful bay looked and sounded like a floating party boat by sunset. At this stage the wind had picked up to 30 knots and as you can imagine we were kept quite entertained during our cocktail hour with the coming and going of so many people between boats not to mention the dragging of anchors! Terry went to the rescue of some young people whose engine on the dinghy had failed and they were drifting out to sea. As a result we were invited to their group’s party on the beach at 11pm –we declined of course but heard the very loud music still playing at 4am!!

The next morning we headed to the west coast of Ios and anchored off a gorgeous beach called Milopotamou. We had a very enjoyable Asian style lunch ashore in a Taverna as you do!!!

From here to Sifnos and then to Serifos. We are now in striking distance of Athens but unfortunately once again the meltimi kicked in and we were in Serifos for 6 days – blowing 25-45 knots on anchor – awaiting for a change in wind direction. By the end of 6 days we were really over the wind. The up side was it was an attractive place and had many facilities including a medical centre which Terry had to use as he damaged his right hand – same one as his damaged little finger – while using the dive compressor - his hand made contact with the fan! I think a bit of reconstructive surgery of his hand when we come home may be in order!

We had a week back in Athens between the 25 August and the 1^st of September. Firstly we had some serious work on our failed generator which was successful at a reasonable cost and secondly Lorraine (otherwise known as Doris) arrived to join us and her husband, Brian on the 1^st of September from Hawkes Bay, NZ. It was a great opportunity to provision with meat etc from the Central Markets in Athens.

We left Athens on the day Doris arrived and over a couple of days made our way to the entry to the Corinth Canal. 300 Euros later and a rather short journey through the canal (3 miles) to the Gulf of Corinth – we stayed in the town of Corinth for the night!

The Gulf of Corinth joins the Gulf of Patras eventually but it is quite a long way to get to the west side of the Greek mainland and the Ionian Islands – we did that over 6 days. Stopped at a gorgeous little medieval walled harbour called Navpaktos on the north side of the Gulf for a couple of nights. We had lunch ashore and a wander around the village ending with sundowners overlooking the harbour just below the Venetian Castle

We have been 3 for over 6 weeks and 4 for over 3 weeks now and having a wonderful time. It is fabulous to have them both on board! We seem to have an excellent routine going - Doris is a wonderful culinary and general contributor – With her here I am not on cooking duty very often and admit that normally I am seldom happy to give up my station!!

Brian as 2^nd Mate and chief steward –on call anytime for drinks, particularly at lunchtime and cocktail hour and dinner. His duties also include tea in the mornings! It will be strange to have to pour our own drinks when he leaves! Like a few others before him he tries to improve his status! He has also been a stalwart assistant to me in the cleaning and polishing department. For Terry he has done a great job in fetching tools etc as engineer’s mate.

On our way north to Corfu we had a few stops of course, but Praga on the mainland coast was a highlight where we anchored in a small inlet near the town. Very picturesque and simply a gorgeous setting with perfectly clear water and only room for a couple of boats. A fabulous dinner ashore was called for where we had the comfort of keeping an eye on AC! From the Taverna.

We arrived in Corfu on the 13^th of September and left for Italy on the 14^th for 6 days. We took the overnight ferry to Ancona which was a really good experience and we were pleasantly surprised to find the ship was well equipped with restaurants and bars! We shared 4 berth inside cabin and we all managed extremely well!

Picked a hire car up in Ancona and drove to Gualdo in Le Marche (approx 100 kms) to stay with our friends Ken and Akiko Everett from Sydney who have a rebuilt farmhouse there (the beautiful Villa "Casa Zazza"). They have invited us many times but timing never seemed to be right before so it was such a treat to finally get to see and experience their home and even better, that Lorraine and Brian could be with us to experience it too!

Ken and Akiko showed us around their local villages and introduced us to many of their friends and in particular – Frank & Clair who also own a farmhouse close to theirs and Roger and Jackie visiting from England! We ate out a few times but also enjoyed the ambience of eating at their home as well! A wonderful time!

It was so good to be back in Italy again – the language is fun to play with, unlike the Greek language which we find much more difficult! We stocked up on some excellent Italian coffee beans which are so scarce here in Greece and expensive!

Interestingly we found it was quite a bit cooler to what we have been accustomed to of late – cool in the evening and around 18-20 degrees by day, but to be fair 2 days previously they were experiencing early 30’s! Since we have arrived back in Greece we have noticed a drop in temperature to around 23 degrees or so. Still very pleasant and mostly a welcome change from the constant 30’s we have had for 4 months! Let’s hope we don’t experience an early Autumn though!!

Doris and Brian are with us for another couple of weeks before they head off but thankfully they will be here to celebrate Terry’s birthday on the 30^th! Can’t imagine what it will be like without their company now! This is the first time on our journey we have had company for such a long period and it has been such fun and fabulous to be able to spend quality time with my special friend Doris – I do miss her so! Not to mention that we will now have some updated stories to share – even if people don’t want to hear them!

Our plans are at this stage to meander back down the coast of Greece then across to the Boot of Italy, Sicily and then back to Malta for December and part of January when we will make our way towards Gibraltar, Morocco and across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

As we have mentioned our preference was to sell AC in Europe but with one thing and another that is very unlikely to happen so we have decided that we will head back to NZ.

Promise, ha ha, not be so long next time with updating our blog.

Take care

Love

The Jolly Rogers