GREECE - On our way in 2016

Finally we were ready to set off – heading south first to Levkas, as usual, we motored the first leg of the journey as it was morning and there was no wind.  This time, approaching the Levkas bridge was a little less daunting as the bridge was working at its full potential and in fact the waterway had been widened (they were working on it last summer when we were there) to a straighter channel. This enabled boats to travel south and north simultaneously, supposedly lessening the waiting time for the vehicles wishing to cross the bridge.  When I looked back at the incredibly narrow passage that Tad squeezed Bisou through at the end of last season, I suppressed a shudder – I couldn’t believe that not only had we dared to try it, but succeeded!

A short stop in Levkas to source some parts and provision with a few items not available in Preveza, and we were on our way again to Nidri for the night.  We were surprised at the number of boats in Ormos Vlikhos this early in the season but there is always plenty of room and we had no trouble finding a place to anchor the boat.

That night we enjoyed a return to our favourite restaurant on the shores of Ormos Vlikhos, Elena’s Taverna where delicious food is always in abundant supply.  We were pleasantly surprised when we were welcomed by the waiters as returning guests.

The next morning we headed further south to Ithaca and anchored in the harbour of the capital, Vathi.  It was the first time we spent the night there but our third visit so we were familiar with the shops and the layout of the town.  Tad and I had a lovely evening walk along the waterfront of this quaint town, which has plenty of tourist shops but still manages to maintain an ‘authentic’ atmosphere.  Dark clouds loomed and thunder rolled in the nearby mountains but they did not amount to anything and we slept well.

Our next stop was on the other side of the ‘inland sea’ of the Eastern Ionian as we slowly made our way towards the Gulf of Patras.  We had chosen a spot that attracted us because of its relative isolation as well as its shelter potential should winds come up.  We motored the whole way as, once again, the morning breeze failed to materialize, but it was a lovely crossing and I put my line out the back of the boat in the hopes of snagging a fish to fill our freezer – no such luck!

Surprisingly, the ‘isolated’ anchorage apparently attracted others as well since there were half a dozen yachts in there when we arrived.  On the lee side of Nisis Petalas we anchored in fairly shallow water and so were able to distance ourselves from the ‘crowds’ and enjoy an incredibly peaceful evening. The wind kept up a steady blow from the west all evening and into the night, but it was not strong and we had a good hold.

From here we had a motor sail to our next destination, Mesolonghion on the north side of the Gulf of Patras.  This interesting harbour is part of a huge limnological ecosystem – low-lying salt marshes, which are home to birds, shellfish and other creatures.  The entrance to the harbour is via a long (about 2nm) channel that has been dredged to a depth of 6m and is fairly wide as well.  The entrance is dotted with fishing huts on stilts (now holiday homes) and long, low docks from which children jump into the water and adults board small fishing boats.  The harbour itself is almost circular with a marina, as well as a town quay.  We chose (as usual) to anchor off the marina in good holding – as we had arrived in good time, we spent the afternoon attaching new cleats to the aft hulls of Bisou.  This took some time but we were pleased when it was completed as it now gives us better holding when we have to moor stern-to at marinas or town quays.  The next day forecast rain and thunderstorms so we wanted to have that job done.  We did go ashore for a bite to eat for dinner, but unfortunately did not venture into town and just ate at a taverna on the harbour.

The next morning I went ashore to stock up on some fresh veggies and fruit (the one thing that needs to be topped up every few days) and check out the town.  I was pleasantly surprised – most people, especially the young adults, seem to ride bicycles everywhere.  The area is completely flat so it makes sense, but the streets all have bicycle lanes and the cobblestoned streets of the old town are closed to vehicular traffic and so the only access is on foot or bike.  Lots of restaurants, cafes and shops, very clean and the people friendly and all with a little English.  I didn’t linger as rain threatened and the town is about 1km from the harbour; I didn’t relish a soaking. 

Tad spent the afternoon working on a saltwater pump which will ultimately have an outlet at the aft of the boat as well as the anchor locker.  Many of the anchorages have a mud/silt bottom, which means a very dirty anchor and anchor chain when they are raised. Most of the time we just fling a bucket or two of water over the lot but it really needs a good rinsing at the time of raising so the mud doesn’t stick and dry hard.

A lovely sunset ended that day.

An early start cruising through the strait between Levkada and Meganisi

Vathi on Ithaca

The fishing shacks (pelades) at the entrance to Mesolonghion

Sunset over Mesolonghion marina

Living The Dream?

Following our three week break from Bisou, and once again loaded down with bags, we flew into Aktion (Preveza) airport on Friday 27^th May ready to continue the work on the boat.  We had been scheduled to launch on Monday 30^th May but realised, before leaving for the States, that we most probably would not be ready, and so had postponed the launch until Wednesday 1^st June.  In the end, we postponed again until Friday 3^rd June.

The jobs that remained to be completed were waxing and polishing the upper hulls, antifouling (2 coats) the hulls, antifouling (with a special spray on paint) the sail drives, re-rigging the boat (with the sheets, lines and halyards) and of course putting the sails back up.

The antifouling took pretty much the whole day – luckily again we had fine weather which was important to allow the paint to dry.  The whole upper deck of the boat had to be scrubbed clean prior to this as well, as we didn’t want to get the bottom wet once we had painted.  In the meantime Tad and I worked on waxing and polishing the upper hulls to a fine shine making Bisou look like a new boat.

Tad is very particular about every piece of equipment being cleaned and checked before putting it back on the boat, and so every stainless steel shackle and every piece of rope had to be checked for wear and cracks/splits before being used again.  As always more parts need to be searched out either in the chandlery or a hardware store or even online if necessary!

By the time the travel-lift came to collect us on Friday morning we were ready to be launched!  The travel-lift operators at Cleopatra Marina are extremely professional and reassuring and before we knew it, we were afloat and heading across the harbour to our anchorage.

Frustratingly, we were waiting for a parcel being sent from France and containing some important boat parts and pieces of equipment that Tad had ordered some time before, and so we were destined to stay in Preveza for another few days (no hardship there and we had plenty still to do on Bisou to keep us busy) before heading south.

So, for those of you who think that owning a boat and cruising for 6 months at a time is all sun and cocktails, think again…it’s a good deal of hard (and often dirty) work at the beginning and end of the season.  Not that we’re complaining, mind you – we love the feeling of a clean, well-put-together boat!

The travel lift takes us into the water

Tad doing some of the polishing with the machine (most of it was done by hand!)

All ready for antifouling

Never a Dull Moment

Welcome back to a new season of adventures with the sailing catamaran Bisou and her hardy crew of Tad and Robin Foley.

When we left you at the end of last season, Bisou was wrapped up in her cover and hunkered down in Cleopatra Marina’s boatyard, Preveza, Greece.  We had left our cruising early last year as Robin’s eldest son was being married back in Australia, but the weather had changed and we were seeing more thunderstorms and cooler temperatures so we were ready.

A surprisingly long summer back in Oz sped past with various visitors, building projects and a short trip to Bangkok for a 1^st wedding anniversary celebration!  Before we knew it, we were boarding our Singapore Airlines flight to Istanbul via Singapore and from Istanbul on to Athens.  We had scheduled to arrive in Preveza the day before Greek Orthodox Holy Friday so that we could avail ourselves of shops and the chandlery before everything closed down on Saturday afternoon for a long weekend.

The flights from Athens to Preveza (on Aegean Airlines and Olympic Airlines) had not yet begun their seasonal timetable (Fridays and Sundays) so we were forced to go by road.  We had booked (on a friend’s recommendation) a wonderful taxi driver to take us from the airport to the marina, little knowning that the journey would be a long one.  We were collected punctually at the airport on arrival in Athens but then spent an hour driving around Athens suburbs collecting other passengers until we were a full minibus!  By this time the traffic had started building for the Easter long weekend and what should have been a 6 hour drive ended up being 8 ½ hours!  At times (from Corinth to Patras) we crawled along at barely 10km/hr.  Poor Tad had cramps in his legs from not being able to stretch out – after 24 hours of flying to be subjected to this long a drive was truly torturous!

We did arrive eventually, in the dark, but had booked a room at the boatyard (Cleopatra Marina boatyard have ‘hotel-style’ rooms for rent at a reasonable rate; we had stayed here for a couple of nights before leaving the marina last year and found it very convenient. The beds are hard as a rock and the double bed barely fit the two of us, but they are clean and we were tired so we had a quick bite to eat at the marina restaurant and then went to bed.

The next day we began working on Bisou – this year was different to the two previous years as 1. She had been stored in a boatyard rather than the water and 2. We decided to make a few modifications that we had been unable to do while Bisou was in the water.  The first task at hand was to see how the inside had fared during the winter and we were pleased to find that the cover we had made in Tunisia certainly helped to keep Bisou both clean and dry.  One small hiccup was that at some point they had moved her from her initial ‘parking spot’ and in doing so, the door on the forward locker (where we had stored all the cockpit cushions) had slammed shut – this created condensation in the locker and consequently some mould and mildew on the cushions.   Disappointing, but nothing that a good scrub with a mould and mildew remover couldn’t deal with.  Just annoying, really, as we had plenty of other things that needed doing and could have done without an extra job!  Still, at least the weather was sunny and warm so the cushions dried quickly and came out looking like new!

My job was the inside of the boat; unpacking our clothes (both from the suitcases we had brought as well as those we had left on the boat but put away), making up the bed (a priority!) and cleaning to remove any traces of dust and dirt that might have squeezed in through cracks and crevices.  Tad, meanwhile was preparing various items on the outside for work.  We worked long hours every single day and treated ourselves to dinners at a local tavern each night before collapsing into bed exhausted.

Probably the messiest job was preparing the hull for antifouling: we had chosen to wet sand Bisou’s bottom which involved wetting a 3M scrubbing pad and gently exfoliating (sort of) her hull where the antifouling paint still remained.  It didn’t take much as the existing paint was still in relatively good shape in spite of not having been touched up for 2 years.  We had tried to keep the hull clean during the sailing seasons by regularly wiping any growth from the area while snorkeling/swimming, and it seems to have helped.  Staying in the water in Tunisia didn’t produce excessive growth, and when we hauled her in Tunisia at the end of the winter and pressure sprayed Bisou’s hull, it removed any remaining growth.

The propellers needed a fair bit of work as there were barnacles and even some oysters growing inside the sail drives!  These are areas that are filled with nooks and crannies and particularly difficult to keep clean while in the water, but also places where shellfish like to hide and grow.  I found that a combination of soaking the parts (we took the propellers apart) in vinegar and scrubbing with scratchy pads, we had them shining like new again.

Greek Orthodox Easter came and went, and we kept on working.  I had wanted to cross to Preveza town to buy a few provisions but the Monday was Easter Monday and then Tuesday was also a public holiday (in lieu of May 1 falling on Easter Sunday); so the Cleopatra Marina shuttle didn’t run until Wednesday, by which time we were preparing to leave again.  Already?  I hear you ask – where to this time?

Tad’s youngest son was graduating from university in Kansas City, Missouri (USA) mid-May and we had tried to work out the best way to organize our travels so as to maximize our luggage allowance to the boat and minimize our flying time.  It turns out that you can’t really do both – we are Gold Star Alliance frequent flyers with Singapore Airlines which entitles us to considerable extra baggage allowance, so of course it made sense for us to do our initial trip with them as our carrier.  To go around the world would have been easier (less flying) but also more costly with less checked baggage allowance.  So, we chose to go to Greece first, drop off our bags, do some work on Bisou, fly to the USA and Canada for three weeks and then return to Greece to continue working on Bisou and launch her for the 2016 season.

We flew from Aktion (Preveza) airport to Athens on Thursday 6^th May, overnighted at the Sofitel Athens Airport and then on to the USA on Friday.