Heat

After a short trip to Holland for a family visit, I am back on board. Great. As soon as the airplane opened it's doors, I was surrounded by a blanket of hot air. This was not very promissing, it was only 9 o'clock in the morning. Madame Curie lay in port perfectly, and the sailmaker had repared the genoa during my stay in Holland. The next day I wasn't feeling very well, so I decided to take it easy. Also the fact that there is a heatswave in Greece, makes it necessary to adjust my speed. A couple of days later, despite my precautions I became ill. My temperature was raised to 38,3, the outside temperature was 38, the result was that I was feeling very miserable. I was feeling very sorry for myself. There was no escaping the heat. Two days, I stayed in the cockpit, only moving to stay as cooled as possible. When I am not well abroad, I always feel very sorry for myself. My self pitty grows to a rediculous proportion. But this time, the self pitty was deserved! I could not escape the heat.  

I have fully recoverd, and am enjoying my sabbatical again. The heatwave has passed, this also helps a lot, for my comfort on board.I

Still time for culture

Despite my vacation spirit, I still enjoy visiting cultural sites. Especially, when they are very close by!

Fort on a small island in front of Gaios (Paxos).

Fort on a small island in front of Gaios (Paxos).

The churches here are very different from the ones I visited in Croatia. The orthodox interior is very rich in gold, blue color, and paintings. And to be fair, they are better maintained than the ones I visited in Croatia.

Church in Preveza.

Fort above Vonitsa.

Fort above Vonitsa.

The view is fabulous from most forts!!!

Madame Curie is berthed on the other side of the motor boat.

I don't really have to walk far to see these cultural sites. Madame Curie is almost visible behind the motor vessel.

Night life

It has become very clear, I have not fully changed to the Greek (night)lifestyle. During the day I had noticed that the cafe's on the waterfront were very empty, and all the tourists were missing. But, I have solved the mystery!
Last week I was berthed in down town Preveza, so I could observe the Greek night life. Around 21:30 people start to gather around the waterfront. Around 23:00 the first Senegalese sales men start to exhibit their original designer bags (they are really originals?, right). And around midnight, the Greek go for dinner. When I walked passed the restaurants around 00:30, most were still enjoying their starter. Around 01:30 the Senegalese start packing their bags, and somewhere after 03:00, not really sure of the exact time because I fell asleep, the waterfront cafe's  close their doors. I do understand why they are not very alert when I come to drink coffee around 10 in the morning! 

What do they do between 21:30 and midnight? Well, parade along the waterfront. Preferably wearing ridiculous high heels, and very stylefull clothing. No, not Plymouth style. Of course all the shops are still open so if you need something, you can just shop. The pictures below were taken around 23:00 in the shopping street in Lefkas.

Shopping crowd around 23:00.

Also the small children and grandparents are enjoying nightlife.

Have I completely adjusted? Hmm, not really. After parading past al the sailing yachts in port, I am pretty fed up with parading around (even without the ridiculous high heels). But it doesn't really matter, around nine o'clock my tummy indicates it's time to get some dinner.

Nature

Last week I sailed onto an inland sea. It is a fairly large inland sea in the mainland of Greece, and it is famous for the various species, mainly birds, that live there. To enter this inland sea I had to pass through a narrow channel, approximately 50 meters wide, in between shoals. I was running a bit late so dusk met up with me. Only two of the eight lit bouys was actually working, and the leadinglights, visible on the charts were tather invisible in real life. Leading lights, are an navigational aid. When the two lights are viewed directly underneath each other, the vessel is steering exactly the right course. There was a current running, zo it became quite a difficult task to stay inside the channel!

Various rivers end in the inland sea, so the water is brackish.

If nature is going to be as beautiful en colorful as the skies were upon entering the inland sea, it is going to be a great experience.

Land fringing the channel.

Because it was already dark when I passed the channel I decided to berth in de Marina. Nice and easy. It was also possible to berth alongside the town quay (free of charge) but I could hear the loud music and saw the ferris wheel turn. I was in need of a quiet night, so the Marina, on the other side of the water, it was. One of the marineros in the helped me berth Madame Curie, and actually came on board to assist me in tightning the lines. What a great service. After enjoying a dessert in the marina restaurant I returned to my boat. I was nog completely sattified with the way she was berthed, so I decided to change this at eleven o'clock at night. I was very surprised that I could not pull Madame Curie forward!! After months of no tide or currents, there was a strong current in the Marina. In the Mediterrenean the difference between high and low water is neglectable, and as a result there are almost no currents. The only thing I could achieve in this strong current was berth Madame Curie a bit at an angle, but well of the pier. The next morning the friendly marinero helped me straighten de boat out again.

Now let's change the subject to nature. I left the Marina very early in the morning. The marinero told me that there would not be a strong current at that momen. It was still almost calm, misty and very mysterieus.

Inland sea.

Inmediately I saw a large school of dolphins. They were performing al sorts of acrobatic tricks for me. This is the first time I have actualy seen the dolphins jump in the mediterrenean!!! There was only a small downside, they were only visible through my binoculars. No chance of taking pictures.

As you can see in the chart, I crossed the inland sea in various ways. On the nothern end there are swap an wetland areas. These are really beautiful.

I saw various small fish jump out of the water.



A fair rowing distance to Madame Curie.



My faithful dinghy.

Afterward I was treated to two special encounters. The first one was with a large number of jelly fish. Everywhere I looked in the very calm water I could see the jelly fish. Apparantly they thrive in brackish water. There were so many I decided not to go for a swim.



Very clear water.





But the best exhibition of nature was saved till the last moment. As I retrieved my anchor I saw a large bird swimming in the distance. I decided to engine over, just to see what kind of bird it was. I had my camera and binoculars ready. Slowly I approached the animal. A pelican!!! I definetly need a picture of this. Success!!



Take off!!!



Airborn.

What else did I see? Well 3x a turtle, but boy they are fast! Many fish, accompanied by fishermen in small fishing boats. And many many mosquitos. I have never been stuck that many times in my life. Eventhough I had put on repellant, slept under a bednet, I still had to take medication not to go crazy from the itch.

Typical greek fishing boat.

Despite the mosquitos and the smell (unlike salt water, brackish water does smell) I would certainly recommend this inland sea! 

Damaging Madame Curie.

This week I damaged Madame Curie for the first time. Madame Curie had a few scars from cruising in the Mediterrenean, but these were all caused by others, or just because she is being used. But this week I accidentally hit the quay with the bow, and there was absolutely nobody to blame. Arggggggggg. I was really upsad with myself.

I was berthing in Amflochia, and it was rather windy, but not more than windforce 5, so I felt I could berth. I arrived with adequate speed, and there were two French people on the quay to assist me. Just as everybody was handeling the lines, a wave caught the bow, and pushed Madame Curie on the quay. Ouch. Fortunately I have all sorts of paint on board, so I immediately patched her up. From a boat lenght away you can hardly notice.




Argggg bummer!!!



After the paint job.



Can't see a thing! Right?



Plan B

For quite some time I have been debating (with myself) if I should sail through the channel of Korinthie, or just remain on the western side. Well I have finally decided; I'm staying west. Why? Well after worrying about the Bora winds (mallicious wind from the north) all the time I was sailing in Croatia and Montenegro it has been so relaxed in the Ionian, were there are no such evil winds. Every morning there is almost no wind, around lunchtime it is averaging windforce 3-4, increasing to 5-6 at the end of the afternoon. At night there is no wind again. On the other side of the channel of Kortinthie there is the Meltemi during summer months. An other anoying local mediterrenean wind, averaging 7-8 beaufort. So I'm staying here!!! You can see the updated version of my plan under the tab "planned route".

Holiday feeling

Since my arrival in Greece I am 100% in the holiday spirit. It’s warm, sunny and there are lots of tourists. Just about around every corner there is a good anchorage, so actually there is not a lot of reason to enter a harbour. In Croatia the bottom was very rocky and deep, so I was never sure the anchor would hold. So I never felt I could leave Madame Curie safely behind. In Greece, the bottom is mainly sand or mud, and usually an anchor will hold well. And in addition many bays are very well protected, so sudden gusts of wind are very unlikely. So since I’ve been in Greece, I have anchored a lot.

Anchoring is free, so if you wake up in the morning with this view, you kan understand it is very tempting, to stay an other day. Just to hang around, snorkel and read a book. So, I just do.



No, the colors have not been photoshop-ed!

There is one thing I have not quite gotten used to as a Northern European. The sun. It is about 24-34 degrees here, but the sunrays are very fierce. It is essential to have adequate protection against the sun. Since about a week I have modified a windscreen into an awning. Year ago I read about this in a Dutch sailing magazine, and I must say it is really working great!

Am I bound to the boat now that I’m anchoring? No, certainly not. I have a rubber dinghy, just like many cruisers, and can just row to shore. The actually have small jetties just build for the dinghies. And for me it is always easy to recognize my dinghy when I get back, mine is the one without an outboard engine. I don’t mind, usually it is only a 5 minute row.

I am now spending a couple of days in Gaios, a very picturesque town on Paxos. The harbour master has not felt like collecting harbourfees for weeks now, so I am berthed for free. The fact that berthing and anchoring are free (or very cheap) really helps for the holiday spirit. Staying a day extra doesn’t cost me anything, so just hanging around doing nothing once in a while is very relaxing.

Gaios.