Gladlee of Guernsey

SEPTEMBER 2003

Monday 1^st September.  Made an early start and at long last managed to drag ourselves away from Vlikho. Engine on at 06.25 and headed north through the Levkas Canal and made the 09.00 bridge opening. Motored on up as far as Preveza and anchored in 3.5 mts just beyond the harbour.

Tuesday 2^nd September.   Stayed at anchor today. Went ashore to Preveza to do some shopping and met up with another CA boat – "Tenacity". Also Julie met some ‘old’ friends from Antalya days, Danish couple possibly from SY "Linnea 37".  Later on "Tenacity" (John and Renate) came out to anchor nearby us and invited us onboard for drinks at 18.00.  Managed to drag ourselves away from their company at about 23.00 after a good few drinks.

Wednesday 3^rd September.   Another early start for us this time at 06.30. Left the anchorage and headed up to Nisos Paxoi to go to Lakka to meet up with Dietmar and Sigrid on "Magic Carpet Ride". Though a little concerned about the sea there having been westerly winds for a few days initially the sea was fairly smooth. Later on though the wind got up to NW4-6 and the last couple of hours proved to be just a touch uncomfortable (on the nose of course). Got into Lakka at 13.50 and after a couple of drags anchored in 3 mtrs next to "Magic Carpet Ride".

4^th – 5^th September.   Spent these two days in Lakka enjoying some walks around the area and socialising with Dietmar and Sigrid plus some of Sigrids art group. Had a couple of really good meals here including one typically Greek but very good and one fairly typically English with an excellent Steak Pie and Chicken and Mushroom Pie. Must have been good as even Julie had dessert; Crepes with maple syrup for her and one of the best Apple Pies with caramel ice cream I have ever had.

Saturday 6^th September.   A really early start at 05.10 to head south for Levkas Island and back to Vlikho. No problems at all with the trip and arrived in time for the 13.00 bridge. Met up with "Weepunt" from Kemer while waiting for the bridge and had a chat with them.  Arrived back in Vlikho at 15.15 and it wasn’t long before we were ashore watching football and in fact the return RU game between England and France. Excellent game with England convincing winners at 45-14.

7^th – 10^th September.   Stayed in Vlikho for this time. Watched football, watered up. shopped etc. Met up with Pat and Jim "North Star" again.  Found out that Joe Charlton was not prepared to re-do the hatches so have to live with them for the time being. Decided to Sikaflex them ourselves and buy new ones in due course.

On our last afternoon here saw a boat going past us – backwards. Anchor dragging and no one on board. Jumped in the dinghy and went on board. Let out about 15mts more chain. Another guy came to help who knew the owner and boat but couldn’t get the engine going. Boat was called "Inner Vision" and Jan the owner brought us a nice bottle of wine later in the evening. Had a chat and it turned out she was on her own as her husband had died of Prostate cancer about one year previously. She is now looking for ‘crew’.

Thursday 11^th September.   After thunderstorms during the previous night decided to leave at 08.00 for Cephalonia. On reaching the bottom of Levkas Island a major change in plan and we decided to head for the Corinth Canal bearing in mind the forecasted bad weather over the next five days. Headed for Nisos Petalos and anchored overnight in our usual spot.

Friday 12^th September.   Left Petalos at 06.35 in the pre-dawn light and headed for the Gulf of Corinth. Decided to see just how far we could get depending on the weather. Despite a slow build up of winds during the day from the SW we managed to get to Trizonia at 17.15 and tied up alongside. Arrived just at the edge of a thundersquall with 30knt winds and rain but within minutes of tying up it had pretty much died down.

Saturday 13^th September.   A day of rest in Trizonia. Shopped a little and went for a walk. Saw our second tortoise on Trizonia.

Sunday 14^th September.   Another early start, this time at 06.55 heading for Corinth. Winds on the nose all the way though luckily not too strong. Arrived at Corinth Harbour at 17.10 and managed to tie up alongside in the usual place near the water tap. Flushed the tank through with fresh water to get rid of the bleachy tasting water (too much bleach trying to clean the tank out).

Monday 15^th September.   Out shopping early for fresh veg, fruit, meat etc and managed to get away by 10.10 and head for the canal entrance. Did not have to wait and entered the canal at 10.35 with one power boat and one other yacht. On paying and leaving the canal area headed for Poros where we arrived at 19.05 despite the stupidity of getting lost. Managed to miss our way and headed down the West side of the Methanos cape instead of going round it. Not too much of a delay (about half an hour) though a little bruised pride. Anchored in almost the same bay as last time in Poros in fairly settled conditions.

16^th – 17^th September.   At rest in Poros. Took a walk on the 16^th and found a tortoise but no bar. A rather grey day but not really any rain.  17^th turned out nice and sunny with just a few patchy clouds.

Thursday 18^th September.   Departed Poros at 0640 in reasonable conditions. At 09.30 put the sails out and engine off. Apart from a ten minute lull in the wind we actually sailed all the way to Serifos. Wind picked up to a NE 6 for the last couple of hours and had to put two reefs in the main. Tried to anchor in the bay as the wind was fairly strong but after five attempts gave this up and backed onto the quay. Unfortunately the only space was north facing on the quay so we had a noisy night with the slop. Anchor held pretty solid though. Met up with "Sea Scape", "Lilliana", "Escape Key" and "Jaywalker" who were all sheltering in Serifos from the wind. They had already been there for about five days.

19^th – 22^nd September.   Moved to the south side of the quay alongside "Jaywalker" and then had a few quieter nights.  During this time managed to get the fuel truck so topped up the tank and containers. Took the bus up to the Chora and then walked down. Very pleasant.  Watched some fun and games as charter boats tried to moor to the windward side of the quay. Some boats ended up alongside scratching the hulls, one guy fell in and later a boat went aground and a dinghy was helping them, when the person fell out and the dinghy continued in circles with nobody in – a few stitches needed in his arm but no other harm done.  Pleasant evening with the crowd on "Lillijana".  

Tuesday 23^rd September.   Departed Livahdi at 07.20 after freeing a chain from the anchor. Fairly easy conditions though a bit of residual swell at first. Arrived at Ormos Dhesptico on Andiparos at 12.40 and anchored in 5.0mtr in beautiful conditions. Julie went in the water to clean down the hull and also the log which had been sticking.

Wednesday 24^th September.   Left the bay at 07.10 in calm conditions. Managed to sail for about 45 minutes without the engine then motor sailed. By the time we came out of the lee of Naxos the sea and wind had picked up considerably. The last couple of hours to Amorgos was pretty rough and we were glad to arrive at our “favourite” wind hole. Anchored in the usual place in 6 mtrs just off the wall. Did a little shopping, had a couple of beers and ate out. Also managed to check the internet for e-mails and checked out Poseidon.

Thursday 25^th September.   One of our worst days of the summer. Left Amorgos at 06.30 to go to Astipalhia. Quite rough conditions outside Katapola but we felt it would ease when we got found the south side in the lee. The sea certainly did but we had wind of 30 knots gusting higher. With considerable open sea to go we decided to turn round and find a safe anchorage. Katapola was not an option due to the direction of the wind and swell.  So, after a very rough and windy 7 hours and 29 miles later we finished up in Mirsini on the island of Skhinousa about 10-15 miles in the totally wrong direction. At this point though we had virtually left the wind belt behind and started to pick up some slight westerly winds.  On arrival we had a couple of beers and licked our wounds and eventually realised what a nice anchorage we were in. Anchored in 4 mtrs at the head of the bay.  

26^th – 27^th September.   Still windy so stayed put.  Some boats came in and backed in to the quay but were asked to move because a water tanker was due in, which meant there were seven boats anchored off but no problem.  Some fun and games on the Saturday as the notice on the quay was still there so the arriving boats had to find elsewhere to go.  A couple backed in to the rather shallow quay to the north of the harbour.  A German charter boat tried many things including putting the two ladies in the dinghy to take a line ashore when one of them immediately fell in!  They then could not get back to the boat so we collected them with our dinghy and outboard.  After a couple of hours with no success at getting their anchor in – they left.  Went up to the Chora to stretch the legs and do a bit of shopping – very pleasant little village with lots of cats.

Sunday 28^th September.   Decided to try to get back to Amorgos so weighed anchor at 07.00.  Still quite windy but there was some shelter between the islands.  We put the main up with two reefs and motor sailed the whole way.  The last 8 or 9 miles to Katapola were a bit rough but no problems and we re-anchored in our usual spot by 11.00.  

Monday 29^th September.   Still windy so took the 10.00 bus to the chora.  Met "Tatanka" (Wally and Cathy) and had coffee.  Continued over the top but not as far as the monastery and then walked all the way back.

Tuesday 30^th September.   Left at 06.30 heading for Levitha but good conditions so went all the way to Kalimnos and anchored in Vlikadia Bay on the south side.  Slightly gusty night but safe enough.