Hello fellow cruisers/ dear friends, family and all.
Here we are, berthed at Msida marina on the breakwater, with the 600 year old bastions of Valletta and Floriana in the background, 400 metres across from us in Marsamxett Harbour, Malta.
But first to our last part of the Greek cruise.
We left Paros with very gentle winds and a good forecast for the following week and cruised up along the Peloponnese coast towards the Corinth Canal, stopping at the historic town of Epidhavros on the way. We anchored at Kalamaki overnight and in the morning left early to go up the Corinth Canal with calm winds forecast. The canal is quite narrow, with steep sides and very dramatic, and we only had a small counter current which did not worry us at all. It was interesting to see how the sides of the canal are getting eroded and the efforts being made to maintain it.
It took us about an hour and a half to go through the canal, and then we were in the Gulf of Corinth. Up went the sails as the wind started to pick up. Before long we had 20 knots plus head winds and the seas were short and becoming very choppy and wet. We gave up on our original plan to go through to Galaxidi and decided to go to the bay at Veresses. It was protected from the swell but had some very strong gusts blowing into the bay until sunset, when all died down.
In the morning, we made an early start before the wind picked up again and motored round the corner into Galaxidi, one of the prettiest little harbours we had visited to date, b
ut also with an ominous clunking sound coming from the engine. Once in Galaxidi Bjorn, with the help of Mark, figured the drive plate was broken and needed replacing. After chasing all over Greece (by phone) for the part we ended up ordering the it from the UK (much cheaper and the proper part). Then came the hairy bit of pushing the shaft back whilst the boat is still in the water, replacing the plate and then trying to get the shaft back in again!!! Once again, my darling chief engineer (definitely in the captain's good books that time) did a tremendous job, with Mark and Peter, another Australian on the catamaran Purr, helping.
We stayed on in Galaxidi and went to visit Delphi which is by far the most stunning site we have been to in Greece. The museum is really first class! We also made some good friends in this town and spent some very pleasant evenings with Peter and Dorothy on Purr (also fro
m Freo Sailing Club and sailed to Med) and Gina & Lenny on Feijao (eastern staters), plus our American friends Harry & Jane on Cormorant. Another of Mark & Bridget's friends joined us here, bringing more boat spares from the UK.
After some 8-9 days, we motored out of Galaxidi to the small island of Trizionia with a very pretty bay, some 15 miles to the east along the Corinth. It was approaching the end of Mark & Bridget's stay with us, and we decided to do an overnight sail before they left. So we left at 5.00pm and headed out first under the bridge at Patras and then straight on towards the Ionian island of Ithaca, where Mark and Bridget and their friend Lucy were to disembark and take the ferry to Corfu.
We arrived at Vathy Harbour in Ithaca at 7.00 am, after slowing down for the last few hours of early morning. What a stunning place this was, seemingly a very safe harbour. We decided to rest up after the overnight sail, and then go ashore in the afternoon. The cruising guide did warn about fierce gusts, and they were not wrong! We certainly got wet going ashore, and only did so because the anchor seemed to be holding very well! It seems that the wind blows 25 - 30 knots in the harbour, and yet it can be only 5 knots outside, depending on wind direction. Luckily the wind eased off at dusk and we had a drier return trip to Mischief after our last meal together ashore.
What did not work out though was the ferry to Corfu where Mark, Bridget and Lucy were headed. The direct ferry service had been cancelled and it seemed they either had to t
ake a ferry back to Patras (a whole day) and then one out to Corfu or else island hop.... With favourable weather forecast, we upped anchor the next morning and motor sailed north to Nidri harbour in Levkas, where the 'kids' (they hate me calling them that, but 'young adults' seems too artificial, maybe I should just stick to M&B)... disembarked.
We stopped in Nidri for about a week, somewhat sad about the departure of M&B and tried to work up some enthusiasm for cruising the Ionian. In truth, after visiting some 25 islands, numerous Hora (main towns on Greek islands, sometimes also spelt Chora), churches, ruins and other sites we were somewhat exhausted from sightseeing and needed a rest. We were fortunate to bump into our friends on Cormorant once again and met up some other cruisers who gave us good tips for bays to visit in the area, where we could swim, relax and enjoy the beautiful bays. What we had not planned on was the August holidays and the invasion of yachts by Italians and northern Europeans and the crazy - and sometimes downright dangerous - manoeuvrings of some the yacht skippers and charterers.
We cruised around the island of Meganisi for a week, always making sure to get in early to find a good anchorage, and ended up having to tie up stern to in one of the bays. I guess it had to happen sooner or later, but to our horror we got a rat on board. We caught it the second night, but not after it had started to chew our new VHF coax which we had only just installed a year before! The rat must have tried to come aboard on the rope tied to shore which had a rat protection wheel.... from the droppings it seems that it must have fallen into the water, somehow swam to the front of the boat, climbed our anchor chain and made its way to the hatch where it chewed our flyscreen to get in!! Thank goodness for those gluey strips, for they trapped the very unwelcome guest before it did much more damage!!
Well... that somewhat turned me off the idyllic Ionian, but in truth, these pests exist everywhere!! We left Meganisi in disgust and tried to find another anchorage where we would not have to tie up to shore. Thanks to a tip from Cormorant, we discovered the lovely bay called Port Leoni and a few days later decided to take up another tip and visit Kioni, on Ithaca. We were told to get there early, and luckily we did as we found just about the last spot on the harbour - and right along side Georges & Andrea and daughter Lea on Te Ara whom we knew from our winter at Finike Marina. Well... a good reunion, sundowner time and a glass of wine in hand and suddenly the whole harbour came alive as boats started coming in to find berths...
Now get this... a small harbour at the head of a small bay which could accommodate perhaps 15-20 yachts. Then suddenly you have flotillas of charter yachts and other boats coming in (we counted about 70 one evening) looking to tie up. Deep water throughout, so boats would have to anchor close to shore and put a stern line out to tie up. The yelling, shouting, trying to get a place first, dangerous tactics, swearing etc certainly kept us entertained every evening, as we kept watch to ensure our anchors did not get snagged and we came unstuck!! 11,000 nautical miles from Fremantle to the Med, and this was definitely the scariest bit of boating we encountered! We saw - and helped untangle - many boats whose careless or clueless captains got anchors snagged, sometimes towing other boats behind them!!
With these antics, we gave up on trying other anchorages, as the word was that everywhere was just too crowded and crazy, so we explored Ithaca with Te Ara and then headed to Nidri to get ready for our crossing to Sicily and then to Malta for the winter. The plan was to get to the Ionian early next season and explore the beautiful isles in peace before heading up the Adriatic to Croatia and on to Venice.
We had a lovely sail for the first 36 hours and were heading straight to Malta, but some 50 miles from Syracuse we ran into an uncomfortable swell and decided to revert to our original plan and changed direction for Syracuse. We got there early morning to see once again our friends Cormorant at the anchorage. We spent close to a week there waiting for favourable winds to sail the last 80 miles to Malta, but in the meantime rediscovered the old town of Syracuse which has been transformed from a dirty, grotty city I remembered from some 40 years ago to this incredibly lovely scrubbed up and restored old town - really charming, warm and friendly with some marvellous restaurants and a good market! We fell in love and would have stayed on but for the need to get to Malta and secure a winter berth.
We had a pleasant crossing to Malta, sailing for the first part and then motoring as the wind died down overnight. I cannot describe the emotions of finally sailing into Marsamxett Harbour in Malta in our beloved MISCHIEF two and a half years after leaving Fremantle. We put down anchor and I had to go and coax a place in the marina, and a few days later managed to tie up at the guest berths.
So here we are, mum (88) and dad (94) still going strong as are all the rest of the family, MISCHIEF getting readied for the winter, and for more winter maintenance including possibly a new engine for the next legs of our voyage. We keep running into old sailing friends, Blue Marine, Moonshadow , Te Ara and others are all in Malta, some for the winter, some passing through... catching up with old sailing friends in Malta.... We even had visitors from WA (Bicton neighbours) including old acquaintances we had long lost touch with - all in all a very social start to our winter stay.
And before long, winter in Perth with our daughter and partner, and M&B, a family together again even if briefly after 4 years... We hope to catch up with as many as possible in Perth (we're there for 2-3 months).
All the very best
Christina & Bjorn
