Gladlee of Guernsey

May 2003

1^st May.  Departed Livadhi in Serifos at 0600 for a long passage to Poros on the NE corner of the Pelopponese. Fairly calm seas and very little wind. Arrived in Poros nearly 11 hours later. Though very picturesque we decided not to go alongside the town quay due to the constant wash from ferries and other traffic and headed further into the bay to find an anchorage. Found a nice little bay just west of the west entrance/exit and anchored overnight in 3.2 meters. Put the dingy in the water and cleaned the hull and had dinner out on deck for the first time this year.  (61 miles covered)

2^nd May.  Departed our anchorage in Ormos Poros at 0645 to head for the Corinth Canal. Again very calm seas and virtually no wind.  Arrived at the canal control quay at 1245. Julie went and paid the fees (€93) and we were into the canal within about 20 minutes. (Met up with “Miss Kiss” on the control quay).  Went from the canal into Corinth Harbour where we found some changes from our last visit. Pontoons placed in the harbour making limited space available for yachts. Tied up alongside next to the water tap and filled up (slowly). Went to the Port Police and eventually got our stamp and paid the mooring charges (about €4.5)  Good shopping as usual in the supermarket, butchers and fruit/veg shops. Ate on board.

3^rd May.  Departed Corinth at 0645 in calm conditions. Moored alongside in Trizonia at 1625 having motored all the way. Just short on 50 miles. Julie dived on S/Y "Kama", a later model Seahawk (Tom and Jilly) to check out their prop shaft for net/lines.

4^th May.  In Trizonia for the day. Took a walk to the beach on the west side of the island. No birdlife but we did come across a tortoise.

5^th May.  Still in Trizonia. Took another walk up past the rubbish dump and round the loop back into the village.

6^th May. Departed Trizonia at 0735 in light easterly winds. Heading for Messalongion.  Winds picked up during the day and apart from the first hour we then sailed under the Genoa for the rest of the day. Decided to miss out on Messalongian and continued round to Ormos Oxia where we anchored. Thought this was going to be uncomfortable so continued on a further seven miles to Nisos Petalas where we had virtually no wind and a pleasant nights anchorage.

7^th May.  Departed Petalas at 1055 heading for Sivota (Levkas). Tried to sail and managed 45 minutes before the wind died. Arrived at Sivota at 1650 and anchored in the bay. Not many yachts in at this time of year, unlike last time we were there. Ate out at ‘No Problem’ Taverna (Julie pork souvlaki and Ron chicken fillet).

8^th May.  Departed Sivota at 1050 and headed round the island for Nidri and Vlikho. Anchored in Vlikho bay towards the bottom end at 1305. (3^rd attempt before the anchor set). Used the Internet Café to catch up on things from afar.

9^th May.  Took the dinghy to Nidri and had a potter around.  Had a couple of beers. Got petrol for the outboard and Julie had her hair cut. Ate on board

10^th May.  Again took the dinghy to Nidri and watched football (Notts Forest against Sheffield United). Few beers and back on board.  Went to Dimitri Taverna in Vlikho for dinner (Ron pork chop and Julie Mousaka)

11^th May.  Still in Vlikho to celebrate Rons birthday. Sunday brunch done by Julie (bacon, eggs, beans, tomatoes and Bucks Fizz).  Out to Nidri in the afternoon to watch Chelsea v Liverpool in the last Premiership games of the season.

12^th May.  Moved up to Levkas town quay. Refuelled on the town quay (the fuel station in the marina is not yet operational). Walked through town, shopped and confirmed with Joe Charlton for work tomorrow. Ate on board. Chinese Pork.

13^th May.  In Levkas. Filled the water tank, did laundry, had the seawater pump taken off and all seals replaced (€58), did an oil change, replaced the bolt on the alternator bracket. Internet café in the afternoon. Ate on board. Pork steaks with apricot and honey.

14^th May.  Departed Levkas in time to get the 07.00 bridge (nearly mowed down by some French guys) and headed up to Paxoi. Flat calm conditions so motored all the way. Decided to pass by Gaios and headed to the anchorage on the north point, Lakka. Very good anchorage in crystal clear water. Anchored in about 4.0mtrs. Invited for drinks with Alastair and Joan on "Campari Chaser" (31ft Moody).

15^th May.  Departed lakka approx 07.30 and headed for Gouvia Marina. A little bit of swell from the NW indicating some wind up that way (as forecast)  Booked in for 3 days to sit out the forecasted winds before heading off.  Shopped in a wonderful supermarket, ate on board but out to watch football in a nearby bar (Arches) – Sheff Utd v Notts Forest in the second leg of the play off.  (our tab in the bar was named ‘Sheffield United’ as they didn’t know our names!)

16^th May.  Played at tourists and spent the day sightseeing in Corfu town. Pleasant town.  We walked round the seafront area to the old Byzantine fortress and had a good look inside.  Very hot and tiring.  Went to the harbour area and had lunch in the ‘Black Cat’ restaurant before checking-out the authorities.  Found out that the office in the marina would be open the following day so no problem there.

17^th May.  A few jobs onboard, washed down etc. Got a stamp in our Depka no problem in the end, destination Preveza!  FA Cup Final at the Arches Bar in the afternoon followed by drinks on board "Angelique" Lillian and Peter.

18^th May.  Left early and motored up the channel between Corfu and Albania.  No wind to start with but picked up as we approached Othoni Island.  Just avoided a shallow patch before entering the harbour and dropped anchor in the middle in about 3m.  A couple of other yachts came in but went alongside the quay.

19^th May.  Very windy so did nothing all day.

20^th May.  Left early on the 20^th as the wind had begun to drop and turn to the south, and we motored all the way to Otranto in Italy.  The allotted space on the quay was full of police boats so we managed to go bows to at the end and take a large mooring line.  A few other yachts came in and dropped anchors and we were eventually asked to do the same as the mooring line belonged to a fishing boat.  No problem but worried about getting the anchor up, helped in by pain of an old man wanting money for his help.  Walked in to town, a walled town which turned out quite pleasant.  Got some meat and checked e-mails (before internet connection was lost) and had our first rather expensive beer in the old town.  Useful to still be using the same currency.

21^st May.  Left at 0515 (the clocks now are one hour different) in a flat calm and tried to check out where the firing ranges were.  Found one of them when we saw smoke and plumes of water a couple of miles behind us!  Arrived Brindisi at 1320 and asked if we could moor at the yacht club but they said they were full (though the next boat was allowed in!) so we went alongside just by the fuel berth by another couple of yachts.  Later we were asked to move as some fishing boats were coming in and tied up alongside the other side near the monument next to "Teka III" (Denis and Mary).

22^nd – 24^th May.  Stayed alongside the wall in Brindisi next to "Teka III" and then also with "Sea Scape" (John and Joan) and "Liljana" (Salah and Liljana) the two other American power boats. During this time managed to get up to date with all the shopping, had a look round the town and found a cheap bar (€2 – 0.66cl beer).

25^th May.  Departed Brindisi at 0755 to head for Dubrovnik on an overnight passage. At first the weather/sea was quite rough especially just off Brindisi but we were confident that it would not get any worse so carried on. As expected during the course of the day the weather eased. Nothing significant on passage.

26^th May.  Arrived Dubrovnik (Gruz) at 0845 and went stern to the ‘marina’ quay next to the customs berths. Managed to check into Croatia with no problems. Cost of one year cruising permit was approx £130. All the officials we met were very friendly and helpful. Spent the day checking out the local facilities, bars etc and also the bus service to Sarajevo for our planned trip to see Sandra, Miro and the girls.

27^th May.  At 1030 we moved out of Gruz and went up the river to the ACI Marina. Stopped at the fuel berth first to top up then into the marina. Surprised to meet up with "Miss Vicky" who we had met three years ago in Rocella Ionica.  Ate out in the marina restaurant.

28^th May. Took the bus into Dubrovnik so that we could do our tourist bit. Had a really quite nice day and walked the walls of old Dubrovnik. Also managed to find an Internet Café so caught up with all our messages etc.  The old city is certainly wonderful and was well worth the trip.  

29^th May.  An early start from the marina to get to the bus station for 0745. Caught the coach to Sarajevo departing at 0800 (cost about £23 each return). This turned out to be a really nice trip through some wonderful countryside. The down side of the trip was seeing so much war damage still very evident especially in places like Mostar. Sarajevo itself still has considerable damage also with the old dividing line still much in evidence by the amount of damage either side. Met by Sandra and Miro at the bus station on arrival with big hugs all round. Drove off to ‘Republika Serbska’ on the east of the city to their house. Though unfinished they are working hard to get things done and Miro has a number of ideas about it. Met the girls, Jvanna and Jellena?? who turned out to be real sweeties. Stayed in Sarajevo until 1^st June and had a really great time. The old city is very much like Turkey with the influence coming from the Ottoman and Turkish control of the area for long periods of time. Had a nice afternoon out at ‘Mum’s’ house in the countryside followed by a very nice trout lunch.  

Travelled back to Dubrovnik on 1^st June (See next months log).