1600 Mile Adventure And Our Cruising Season Is A Wrap!

The winds finally decided to let up a bit, so it was time for us to leave Port Grimaud (near Saint Tropez).  This was definitely a hard place to say goodbye to, and Dan and I both discussed how we could possibly keep the boat here for an extended bit of time in the future.  In the end, it was time to shake off the barnacles and get underway.  Our next stop was the Porquerolle Islands.  We had heard many great things about this area and were excited to explore the many hiking trails.  Unfortunately, the anchorages were still ridiculously crowded (despite it being mid-September).  We ended up anchoring for the night in a bay that had a lot of swell, so we left early without really exploring.  It will have to be on our list for next year.

We pushed on to our next stop, the Calanques National Park.  This was a series of incredible fjords cut into the steep cliffs.  Our goal, much to my dismay, was to grab a mooring ball in the main Calanque.  Why dismayed, you might be wondering?  It was a bit windy when we entered the narrow inlet and required you to tie a mooring ball to the front of your boat while taking a very long line from the back of your boat to tie to the cliff wall.  With only two of us on board, this creates a really interesting (and stressful) challenge.  In addition, the pictures showed the boats all tied up nice and tight to one another as if you were in a marina.  Yeah, my stress level was rapidly rising.  Our understanding was to call the port captain, and they would come out to assist you.  Okay, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

Calanque National Park
Entering the Calanque

As we made our way into the entrance, Dan made numerous calls on both radio and phone to which we received no response.  Ugh.  As we sat in the entrance, trying to figure out whether to head back out and anchor off the town, we got a call from the port captain.  He told us to tie up to a ball and free swing, and they would come in a half an hour.  Free swing?  Are you serious?  The other thing we noticed was that many of the mooring balls had already been removed for the season, and there were only a few left.  We came in and grabbed a ball that we felt was best suited for free swinging.  We still weren’t comfortable with this plan, so Dan launched the dinghy and grabbed a line to tie our stern to the cliffs.  This was tricky since the first line we used wasn’t long enough and while Dan was trying to tie our stern, I was having to motor to keep us stern to the cliff, while also letting out some of the front line to get our back line closer to the wall.  Fortunately, another boat had come in right before us and had just finished getting their stern tied, so they came over to help Dan get the line secured.  It took us close to an hour to get ourselves tied up in a way that we felt secure and comfortable.  Later that evening, our very helpful German neighbors invited us over for drinks.  We spent and enjoyable evening sharing stories and swapping tips on various places.

Port Miou
Zoe settled in our her mooring with a stern line to shore
Drone shot of the Calanque (similar to a fjord)
Hiking trail that went right by Zoe

This place was truly amazing!  The water was crystal clear, and the cliffs towered above you all around.  I could see spending a number of days here, but our season was rapidly coming to an end.  Along the cliffs and through the fjords were miles and miles of beautiful hiking, and we spent a few days exploring the trials.  On our second day, we had the opportunity to watch some military recruits doing training drills right behind our boat.  As they ran down the stone steps behind us, they jumped into the water in full fatigues (boots and all) and swam by.  From there, they did an in water obstacle course, climbed the cliff and then jumped from high above.  It was very impressive to witness.  We also did the 1/2 hour walk around the bay to the town of Cassis.  This was another very special town that we thoroughly enjoyed exploring.  We definitely covered a lot of miles during this stop.

French military water training
French military practicing cliff diving?
Charming Provencal town of Cassis
Celebrating Dan’s Birthday with a bottle of wine bought a few years earlier in Croatia
Hiking the National Park

Two days later, we were on our way again.  Next stop….Marseille.  We were a little worried since many cruisers had warned us that the big city of Marseille was not very nice and had issues with crime.  We managed to find a spot at a marina in the old port, well outside of the main city.  As we made our approach to the city of Marseille, we were once again greeted with spectacular views.  On the point, rose the large walls of a citadel looking out over the sea.  The marina was not too far past the breakwater and the citadel and fortress marked each side of the channel leading into the harbor.  We radioed the marina numerous times and got no response.  We were beginning to get frustrated with the lack of communication we were all of a sudden experiencing in this part of the world.  Dan continued to try reaching the marina by both radio and phone.  After a long period, someone came out and helped us side tie to the wall.  Apparently, they were all in a meeting, so they told us to stay put and come back in 20 minutes.

Entering Marseille
Vieux Port of Marseille
Zoe on the Welcome Dock waiting for an assigned berth

We ended up staying side tied to the wall but had to move the boat further up the wall as this would be our spot for the next two days.  The old port of Marseille was a beautiful old city which we wandered each day to explore.  We climbed the streets and a gazillion stone steps (not really a gazillion, but it felt like it) to the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde (translates to:  Our Lady of the Guard)that sat perched high on the hill overlooking all of Marseille.  It was incredible to see from faraway, but it was even more spectacular up close and personal.  This is the city’s best known symbol and sits at the highest natural point (489 ft/149 m).  Construction began in 1853 and took over 40 years to complete.  It consists of a crypt, in the Romanesque style, that is carved from the rock.  The upper church is of Neo-Byzantine style and decorated with mosaics.  At the top of the bell tower is a 37ft/11.2 m gold statue of the Madonna and Child which is made of copper and gilded with gold leaf.  There is a section of the basilica where you can see the damaged stonework from bullets during the liberation of France during WWII.

Wandering Marseille
Monument to lost mariners
Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde – “Our Lady of the Guard”
Beautiful!
World War Two damage to the cathedral
Placard commemorating the WWII Battle

Cathédrale Basilique Sainte-Marie-Majeur
Exploring the Cathedral

Marseille had numerous impressive cathedrals that we explored, as well as quaint, cobblestoned streets.  On our last night, we decided to enjoy a romantic dinner in the square.  We chose a highly reviewed place to try their Bouillabaise (a fish stew that originated in Marseille).  It was quite good.  After an enjoyable dinner, we wandered the streets for a bit before returning to Zoe.  When we got back to the boat, we were quite dismayed to see that the marina had docked a huge catamaran right behind us and a giant power boat to the front, right of our bow.  We were already in a very narrow channel and now sandwiched between several large boats.  Undocking the next day just got a whole lot more challenging.

When in Marseille you must try the local Bouillabaise!
Lots of “street art” in the city

I spent a somewhat sleepless night contemplating our exit and praying that the big cat behind us would leave in the morning before us.  As I am sure you can guess…..he did not.  In the end, we rigged our lines to help us spring off the dock, and Dan skillfully pulled us out of our tight parking space like a pro.  We were now underway across the bay to stage ourselves for our haul out (taking Zoe out of the water and storing her on land) the next day.  Our plan was to head up the river to fill our fuel tanks and then go tie to the wall at the shipyard.  

As we passed the wall, it quickly became clear that tying up there was not going to be an option.  The boats were already rafted to one another!  Ugh!  We continued on our way to the fuel dock only to discover that it was self-serve.  Well, this was going to be fun.  Why are all the challenges coming NOW?  We pulled up to the wall so that I could lasso the cleats and get Zoe tied up.  We soon realized that the gas hose would not reach our far tank.  Rather than drop lines and tie up again on the other side of the boat, we just pulled Zoe as far up the dock as depth would allow.  We squeaked by with barely enough hose to spare.  Then came our next frustration.  The pump would only let you pump 70 liters before stopping and requiring you to put the nozzle back in the pump and start again.  If you didn’t then get it back to the boat and running quick enough, your payment timed out.  On top of all that, the hose had a wicked retracting feature so each time I had to hand it back to Dan on the dock, it retracted with such a force it threatened to pull be overboard.  We played this little game about 5-6 times before we finally had both tanks full.

Self service fuel dock – it was a pain to use!

At this point, we decided to call the nearby marina to see if they could fit us for one night.  They could, and we happily tied up in the town of Saint Louis de Rhône.  We had a rental car booked for the next week, so this location worked the best for us going to pick up the car.  Yeah….another fiasco in the making.  The port captain arranged for a cab ride for us to the town of Port du Bouc, about 35-45 minutes away.  Well, $75 euro later, we arrived to find the rental place all closed up (despite their posted hours saying they were open).  We called the numbers posted and of course no one answered.  We pounded on the doors.  No signs of life.  Our cab driver (a friendly old man) looked very concerned about leaving these non-French speaking Americans in the middle of nowhere (and probably no chance of finding a cab back to the boat).  After about 30 minutes, another cab dropped off someone who said he had spoken to the girl, and she would be there in 15 minutes.  We told our cab driver that we would be okay, and he left (rather apprehensively).  By now, more and more people had shown up waiting to pick up or drop off cars, and our girl was still nowhere to be seen.  After about 40 minutes, she finally arrived.  Dan and I had been standing out in the hot sun for over an hour now before we were finally able to get our car.  Arggghhh!

Roasting in the sun waiting for the small town rental car office to open
Zoe in the marina at Port St Louis du Rhone
Last 2023 sunset onboard Zoe!

Haul out was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. the next day.  Wouldn’t you know, the winds were up and blowing 15-20 knots.  Of course they were!  We can’t ever seem to have a calm day for haul out!  We slowly made our way back down the river, and the marinero had us tie to the wall right in front of the launch ramp.  Well, this was going to be interesting.  We have always gone into a lifting bay, and a large travel lift rolls over and hoists Zoe out in slings.  Here, they drove a tractor and trailer down the ramp and lifted Zoe onto the trailer.  Out she came, rocking and swaying.  Dan and I were white knuckled wondering if she was going to rock right off the trailer.  She didn’t, and all was well.  So, we spent the next several days doing the labor intensive chores of getting Zoe safely prepared for our long absence over winter.  This was the first time that we were tasked with power washing her hulls.  Our previous storage yard always did that for us.  It took two solid days to get her clean, and it was a gross job.  Also probably not a good idea to put the perfectionist in charge of doing it.  I spent most of one day cleaning 1 hull of all the barnacles, hard wormlike things, and other stuff growing on our boat.  Did I mention it smelled like rotten seafood, and I was getting sand blasted by it as it came off?  YUCK!  Needless to say, it is very clear which areas Dan cleaned and which ones I cleaned…haha.

Waiting for liftoff – engines off and season is over!
Tractor getting ready to lift Zoe
Out she comes
Zoe on the move

It took several very long days to get Zoe all squared away, and we were off.  Our plan was to spend a week or more driving through Provence from the Marseille area to Paris where we would fly home.  Our first stop was a quick visit to the town of Arles.  We wandered the town checking out the colosseum and exploring the Van Gogh exhibit.  We then continued on our roadtrip to the town of Nîmes where we found a really lovely apartment. Before leaving the area, we wandered this amazing little town as well.  We explored the many levels of another incredible colosseum….up to incredibly dizzying heights and down to the bowels where the gladiators were staged. We explored the streets, cathedrals and boutiques of the town.  We hit the road once more for another multi-hour drive.  Once again, we found a great little apartment.  We were now in the Chablis region and decided to stop for dinner before checking in.  We found a cute little restaurant on the second floor of a stone building.  We enjoyed a regional tasting menu, and I enjoyed the local Chablis.   At this point, we made the decision that our best shot of getting home (we fly standby and have to try and find flights with our best chance of getting a seat) was the next day.  THE NEXT DAY!!! We were still several hours from Paris.  Ack….talk about stress!  It was disappointing to have cut our trip so short and not get to really explore the countryside, but I was also excited about the idea of getting back home.

Local dog decided to adopt us and scampered into an open car door…she refused to leave and had to be carried out and blocked from jumping in AGAIN!
Van Gogh artwork on display in the town of Arles
Nimes
One of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters from antiquity
Wandering the old town of Nimes
Maison Carrée in Nimes
A glass of Chablis in the town of Chablis!

To wrap things up, we made it home (there were a few stressful moments) after 14 hours of flying, 3 hours of layover, and being awake for over 24 hours.  We covered 1600 miles in our 3 1/2 months, 4 countries, and numerous islands.  Various events meant we moved at a very rapid pace, and we really hope to revisit some of our favorites at a slower pace next season.  Thank you to all who have joined us on our journey.  We will be back soon with some new land based travel adventures!

Headed For New Horizons

Our new refrigerator had finally arrived, and we pulled into Preveza Marina on Wednesday.  Within a half an hour, the guys were on board to pull out the old and put in the new.  We spent the next two nights enjoying the town of Preveza one last time before leaving Greece on Friday.  As we walked down the town quay, we spotted an American flagged boat.  It turned out to be our friend Mike whose hailing port is Eloy, Arizona.  It’s not often we encounter Americans on boats out here, and we’ve definitely never encountered someone from the same landlocked state as us.  As the 3 of us headed into town for dinner, we stumbled upon an international choral competition taking place that week, so we were treated to some beautiful music all around the town from different groups from various countries.

Out with the old…in with the new. Our power usage went way down too!
We chatted a bit with the Romanian choral delegation

When Friday morning came, we ran around taking care of formalities to exit the country of Greece.  It always amazes me how long the process takes, but by 10 a.m we were underway for Albania.  HA!  Well, that was the plan.  As we rounded the corner out of the channel, the wind and swells began to pick up.  Before we knew it, we were being blasted by 25 knot winds on the nose and hitting 4-5’ swells and waves.  Each time Zoe’s bow buried into a trough, we were doused with sea spray all the way in the back of the boat.  Dishes began crashing inside the cupboards, things on shelves came crashing to the floor, and drawers and cabinets flew violently opened and closed.  We braced ourselves against the onslaught.  After about 5 unrelenting hours, we made the decision to pull into a bay for the night and try again early the next morning.  You have 24 hours to leave Greece once you’ve checked out.  We would definitely be underway, but still in Greek waters, technically.  By 6 a.m., we were underway once more.  Once inside the Corfu channel, things settled down pretty nicely (plus the wind and seas typically don’t come up until the afternoon).  We hugged the mainland side of Greece since this would put us in Albanian waters the quickest.  As the wind and swells began to increase again, we decided to pull into a small bay in Albania to anchor for the night.  Unfortunately, the best places to anchor were all buoyed up with fish farms.  We tried one potential spot off of a beach and quickly decided it was not the right place for us.  It got deep very quickly, and closer to shore put us uncomfortably close to the rocky land surrounding the shoreline.  We gave up.  We pulled on our big boy pants and headed out into the teeth of the sea once again.  Between the strong wind on our nose, and the crazy sea state, the last bit of our journey was painfully slow even under two motors.  We pulled into the bay of Saranda, Albania and were a bit surprised by the number of boats already anchored (and the majority were catamarans!).  We chose a spot that wasn’t too deep and respectfully spaced from our neighbors.  Unfortunately it landed us right in front of all the big pirate boats that take all the tourists out on excursions.  This meant non-stop loud music and very close encounters as they came and went.

One of our all time favorite bays- Two Rock Bay in Greece. And blissful relief from the waves…
Underway before the sun is up makes for a pretty sunrise
VIDEO: Force 5-6 winds entering Sarande, Albania. We were glad to drop anchor soon…
Dropped anchor maybe a little close to the excursion boats! It was ok in the end.

Our original plan had been to stay one night and then be on our way to Italy.  The weather had a different plan.  We check forecasts using 4-5 different models every morning and every evening.  Each time, it was the same….winds gusting high (not a huge deal) but the swells were more of the same (quite large and short periods).  Since we would be doing an open water passage over 14+ hours, we had no interest in getting beaten up for that long.  So, we settled in to enjoy the town of Saranda.  Wanting to try some new places, we stumbled upon this cute little restaurant up a hill that had the most amazing roasted lamb and goat on a spit.  I think it was some of the best we have ever had.  At night, the seafront lit up with bright lights and loud music from every direction.  Sunday night brought a live performance that we enjoyed from the serenity of our boat.  We finally found our hole in the wind and seas to make our crossing.  We were up at 4:45 a.m and underway by 5:00 a.m.  Dan called me a whirling-dervish.  In those 15 minutes, coffee was made, hatches were closed, instruments on, everything stowed, and anchor up. Check!

The roasted goat and lamb at Restaurant Isufi was amazing. We’ve found the farther from the waterfront the better the food tends to be.
Sarande by night. Night clubs blast music and then several times a day the mosque broadcasts a Muslim prayer (Albania is predominantly Muslim). Quite the juxtaposition.
Dan heading into visit our agent Jelja who assists with the official paperwork needed to enter and exit Albania by boat.

It turned out, we exited at just the right time.  As we crossed the channel, we watched a huge cruise ship, carrying 3000 people, enter the small port of Saranda.  Yikes, glad we weren’t there for that inundation of people.  We quickly settled in for our long passage to Italy.  As predicted, there was very little wind and the seas were tolerable despite the high winds of the night before.  A few hours in, I took my shift at the wheel.  Up to this point, all had been quiet with very little boat traffic anywhere near us.  About two hours in, I noticed 3 different boats on our instruments making their way towards towards us.  I pulled them up and quickly realized they were cargo ships.  Two were coming at me from one direction and one was coming at me from the opposite direction.  I held my course and tracked them incessantly.  When you are watching them with your eyes, they appear to be coming right for you.  I carefully monitored their track on our screen which lets me know how long until we intercept and at what distance.  In the end, the closest one passed by at .3 miles (but when you see the enormity of their size near you, you swear you can reach out and touch them!)  Wouldn’t you know, that was the only ships or even boats that came anywhere near us.  Always my luck!  Sure enough, as I took my final watch, I got to play frogger with 1 more cargo ship.  Dan’s shifts….no boats of any kind!

Passage plan from Albania across to Italy
Robyn playing high stakes frogger with passing commercial vessels. The screen grab is one of our AIS displays which shows commercial ships over a certain size.
Meanwhile, Dan fishes….

We pulled into Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy just before sunset and got ourselves anchored despite the barrage of sightseeing party boats coming in and out.  Unfortunately, it was too late for us to do formalities (check in to the country), so we had to stay on board for the night.  We headed to the Coast Guard office promptly at 9:00 a.m. (not before wandering the streets for a bit trying to find them).  Struggling through the language barriers, we discovered that we had to check in with customs and immigration first which required them to call them up and send someone from an hour away to check us in.  So, we waited.  The two guys showed up 1 1/2 hours later.  Once again, it was a comedy show of struggling through our language barriers, and a long phone call with someone higher up (I’m pretty sure I heard the word consulate).  We complicated things a little bit this year because we want to spend 4 months in Italy, and we are only allowed 3.  Our way around this was for Dan to check in using his Croatian passport.  It gets a little dicier for me.  The official wanted to make sure that we understood that we needed a marriage certificate and that we must be together at all times….especially when we go to leave the country.  Luckily Dan had spent months and months researching this, so we were well aware of the rules.  Next stop, back to the Coast Guard for our paperwork there.  It was now 11:45, and they close at noon.  Yikes!  We thought walking would be quicker (instead of taking the dinghy)…nope!  We ended up practically running since the path back did a lot of meandering.  We arrived at 11:55.

Land ho! The tip of the heel of the boot Italy comes into view.
Sunset over the anchorage as we wait for the officials to open up shop the next day
Santa Maria di Leuca lighthouse. Ships have come to grief on this point since ancient times.

Dan headed in while I waited outside in the heat.  Another round of humorous miscommunication ensued.  CG:  Where is your next port of call?  Dan:  TaRANTo.  CG:  Otranto?  Dan:  No, TaRANTo.  CG:  Otranto?  This went on for several rounds before Dan whipped out his phone and showed him on the map.  CG:  OHHH!  Taranto!  (According to Dan, it was only a slight variation in pronunciation).  They all had a big laugh.  All in all, this was probably one of the nicest check-ins (done without assistance….we love you Jelja and Sophia) we have ever been through.  Everyone was very friendly and super helpful.  We were now free to roam Italy!  Woo hoo!

Success…we are now free to roam Italy!

Back on the boat, and we were underway by 12:30.  Our next stop was the town of Gallipoli (about 4-5 hours away).  You may be wondering why Dan didn’t tell the Coast Guard that was our next port of call.  If you are at anchor, which we planned to be, then your are not required to check-in.  If you tie up to the city quay or go into a marina, then you must check in with the Coast Guard.  We were settled in around 5:30 and prepared to head into the town of Gallipoli.  Rather than take the dinghy for 10 minutes into the marina closest to the city, we opted to go into the marina near us and do the 20 minute walk.  After trying to talk to several different people (all very eager to help us….but again, no English), we determined that it was okay to leave our dinghy tied up where we did and still be able to return to it later in the night after they locked up.  Off we headed to the beautiful walled city of Gallipoli.  Unfortunately, the walk there was extremely intense.  For the first half, there were no sidewalks, and two directions of cars driving at very high speeds on a very narrow road.  While the locals had no reservations walking side by side, Dan and I were single file and contemplating plastering ourselves to the wall like Spiderman!  

Gallipoli comes into view
Aragonese castle in Gallipoli

Once inside the city walls, we were met with incredible beauty.  The architecture, the cobbled streets, the colors were a sight to behold.  Since it was already after 7:00 p.m., we decided to go grab dinner before things got really crowded.  We found a highly reviewed restaurant tucked up an alley with local Salento specialties.  We sat staring at the menu.  I am sure you’ve already guessed…..no English.  With handy Google translate, we began to decipher the menu.  Since some of the words were about the style of cooking, they did not translate.  There were several horse meat dishes on the menu (um, that’s a big hell no!).  My eye caught on the either the lamb dish or the octopus dish.  Dan had the clever idea of putting the information into searching for recipes.  That worked perfectly in describing the dish.  That also meant that I learned that the lamb dish I was planning on having was actually lamb entrails (tripe).  Ummm, that would be a big no again.  Octopus it is!  It turned out to be a very enjoyable dinner of local specialties.  From there, we wandered the alleyways for awhile and popped into this adorable little Christmas shop (I like to buy ornaments from the places we travel).  By 9:30, the city was hopping and the streets were packed with people.  It became very overwhelming and less than enjoyable, so we made our way back to the boat.  This town is definitely on my list of places to return to and spend a lot more time (preferably not in the heart of summer tourism).

Trying Salento style cuisine in Gallipoli. We stayed away from the horse and lamb intestine…
Google translate to the rescue…Salento style cuisine features horse meat. That’s a big heck no!
Salento style slow cooked octopus in a red pignata sauce
Unexpected find…a Christmas store in July!
Wandering charming Gallipoli

The next morning it was time for us to continue our journey further into the Gulf of Taranto and the actual city of Taranto.  I think we are due for one more misadventure before closing out this chapter of our story.  Our plan was to leave at 7:00 a.m, but the sea decided it was not going to release us without a little bit more drama.  As I began pulling up the anchor, I noticed this very odd shadow coming up as well.  Uh-oh, that’s not good.  As it came to the surface, I saw that a fisherman had laid his trap lines across our anchor chain (also knocking our bridle off in the process…..grrrr).  It took Dan and I both to get it untangled from our bridle while little crabs, worms and other sea floor debris littered our deck.  Dan was ready to just cut the trap line, but with a little work, we were able to free it without costing the fisherman his trap.  NOW, we were ready to go.  This would be an 8 hour passage, but the wind was perfectly positioned for a really nice sail.  We have been here almost 3 weeks and have had the sails up twice for a small bit of time. The forecast did not let us down, and we are currently flying up the gulf at 6.5 knots in 15-20 knot winds from the stern.  I am going to close this here since it is already getting pretty long.  Stay tuned for our adventures in our next ports of call as we take you on a tour of this beautiful country.

Heavy fish trip snagged in our anchor chain! It took two of us working for a half hour to finally get free.
Passage plan – Gallipoli to Taranto

Welcome To 2023 Aboard Zoe

It still feels a little unreal that we are finally back in Greece.  We had a very busy and exciting off season home (well, more like 2 actual seasons)!  As you may remember, we closed on our new build last August.  We flew home long enough to attend my son’s wedding, close on the house, and move all our stuff into the new house before jetting back to the boat.  When we arrived back home at the end of our sailing season, there was much to do.  We spent a big chunk of our winter getting settled into the house, getting our backyard landscaped, meeting new neighbors, and enjoying reuniting with family and friends.  We also spent a great deal of time exploring the miles and miles of amazing trails that lie just outside our front door.  Thanks to a very mild winter and spring, we were gifted with the opportunity to hike well into June!  Needless to say, we LOVE where we live!  

Exploring the desert around our new home
Winter rains brought great wildflowers to the desert
Red tail hawk fledglings in the nest
Redtail hawk parent circling protectively. Her shrill cries were amazing
Climbing to the top of a local mountain.
Exploring by Jeep
Summit views!

We had several other exciting life events during our time home this year.  We were on baby watch for two new grandchildren.  We were blessed with our first granddaughter the end of May (and boy is she a cutie)!  We are still awaiting the arrival of our second grandson….unfortunately, he is not due to arrive until late July, and we are here.  It’s getting harder and harder to be away from our littles.  We did get to spend a lot of time bonding with our first grandson, Owen, and it’s been very hard to be away from him.  Nothing is more heartbreaking than that little face looking up at you with the words, “Why do you have to go back to the boat?  I want to go to the boat with you.”  Ouch…..cue tears.  Other exciting news….my son, Richard, is now engaged and will be getting married next spring.  And lastly, Dan’s son Jacob landed his first “real” job working for Intel in the state of Oregon (which necessitated Dan taking a week to drive a moving truck to help Jacob get moved settled into his new life).

Baby Shower – family is getting larger and larger!
Welcoming baby Scarlett to the world
Happy grandma
Cousins meet for the first time
Teaching how to cook
Moving day for Jacob – 1200 miles from Phoenix to Oregon

Needless to say, all of these exciting events meant a much later start for Zoe’s season (and possibly a future restructuring of what our sailing season will look like moving forward).  Most years, we spend the night in London before moving on to Greece the next day.  This year, we decided to fly all the way through.  When I say that, I mean several layovers and no overnight stay anywhere.  Unfortunately, between the layovers and a very delayed flight from Gatwick, UK to Preveza, Greece meant our trip took us over 30 hours with little to no sleep.  Yep, it was painful.  Lesson:  Overnighting in the UK had many benefits.

By the time we got settled into our rental apartment and took some time to relax, it was 2:00 a.m. before we got to bed.  Ughh….gonna be a rough day getting Zoe ready.  As expected, we were up quite early (4-5 hours of sleep) and aboard Zoe ready to work.  Oh boy, she was in a sorry state.  The 8 months had not been kind to her.  Between the layers of dirt/staining and the gazillion cobwebs (yes, complete with horrid spiders), we felt very overwhelmed.  We dug in and began to put her back together and get her cleaned up.  We had 2 days to get her ready before she was scheduled to go back in the water….the shortest time we had ever given ourselves to get her ready.  By the second day, we were both having a panic attack.  We figured that as long as we did all the below water line stuff on land, it would be no big deal to do all the above water line stuff while on the water in the marina.  Yeeeahhhh….scrubbing the stains and dirt on the hulls and deck took 2 days alone!  We ended up pushing our launch day by one more day in the hopes of getting more done.  The night before launch I started to feel uneasy about putting the mainsail up while we were in the water (we had already put the genoa up).  At 9:30 p.m, Dan and I started putting up the mainsail.  This is our biggest sail, clumsiest to work with, requires hardware/tools/goop for the screws(tef-gel), and insertion of battons.  To add to the fun, we were both being brutally attacked by mosquitoes! Oh, and let’s not forget that it is now dark out.  All I can say is that I am very grateful that we did this on land!  Between juggling all the pieces and incessantly smacking mosquitoes, I dropped a few pins and screws several times.  Had we been on the water, they would have been gone forever.  We finally got it done despite some serious sailor potty mouth (okay, that was me)…..but you gotta understand, I am wrestling with the sail and hardware while jumping and dancing around as I am being devoured by mosquitoes.

First day back to Zoe after her almost 8 month hibernation
Re-rigging sails stored for winter
The rigging queen hard at work
Zoe on the move. There’s over two thousand boats in the area yards

They say the word boat stands for “break out another thousand.”  I’m starting to believe that!  We sent our life raft in for inspection at the end of last season.  When we called to arrange to pick it up, we were informed it was not serviceable (pictures pretty much confirmed that it was a disaster).  New life raft, check.  Then, we discovered one of our refrigerators was not cooling.  This was our main food fridge.  Can you say food poisoning?  Yeah, no thanks.  We got someone out to look at it….nope, can’t be fixed…..new fridge on order from Athens.  Arrrghhh.  Boats can be a lot of fun….but they are also a royal pain in the ass!

Local refrigerator technicians on the scene
Tasty octopus at a nearby taverna

Let’s talk about something more lighthearted and amusing.  Before we get underway, we do a big provisioning in order to allow us to be off the grid and not need to go to shore unless we want to.  Large grocery store runs are common among boaters and typical for Americans but highly unusual for Europeans.  In any grocery store, you will see them with a small cart or basket with supplies for only the next day or two.  Dan and I roll through with a grocery cart filled to the brim, since we freeze or vacuum seal most of our stuff (and we may be nowhere near any sort of market for weeks).  I’m not sure the locals appreciate the amount of time we take at the deli counter and checkout.  We also make a special trip to our favorite roadside produce market.  This is the most amazing place I have ever found.  Again, we have only seen locals here picking up a few things.  This produce and their products are straight from the local farms and actually keep for weeks!  We stock up on tomatoes, onions, English cucumbers, every color of pepper, garlic, cabbage, and potatoes.  In addition, they have the most amazing locally produced olive oil and dips.  Once again, we leave with our trunk filled with all this fresh goodness for very little money (and it is beyond delicious)!

Garlic as far as the eye can see. No vampires allowed!
Loving the fresh produce from the local farms

My next bit of fun was a haircut.  I had not had one in a very long time, and I felt kind of ratty.  I found I highly reviewed place on Google, and they were able to get me in the next day.  When I got there, the guy who does everyone’s hair didn’t speak a lick of English (and sadly, I do not speak Greek).  He and I had a lot of laughs trying to communicate what I wanted done and how to style my hair.  In the end, it worked all worked out (and I’m sure it was a memorable experience for both of us)!

Since we have to be back in Preveza when the refrigerator arrives, we decided to stay relatively close and cruise the landlocked Gulf of Amvrakia.  Very few boats venture into this gulf making it a very peaceful place to hang out during the height of cruising season where it’s tough to find a good spot to anchor, and you are at risk of playing bumper boats with those who choose to anchor to close to you.  The gulf is surrounded by wetlands and marshes which make it an amazing breeding ground for many fish, shellfish and birds.  Thanks to the richness of this environment, you can also find dolphins and sea turtles here as well.  Unfortunately, the green, murky water makes it less than desirable for swimming.

First dingy trip to port for some exploration
Byzantine church of Panagia Koronissia dating back to the 7th century
Ambracian Gulf views

We have anchored in this gulf a number of times but always stayed fairly close to the entrance near the town of Vonitsa.  This time we decided to venture all the way in to the easternmost point.  So far, we have explored two different anchorages with very tiny villages on land.  In our second anchorage, Ormos Koprainis, we decided to try the one and only taverna on shore.  It had really good reviews on the local seafood.  It is run by a 94 year old woman who we later discovered is deaf.  She also doesn’t speak a word of English (and there was no menu) which made our attempt at ordering dinner almost comical.  She pulled Dan into the kitchen where he discovered the only seafood today was anchovies and sardines.  Hmmmm…..neither are a big favorite, but why not?  Well, not quite sure what went wrong, but we ended up with a few beers, a plate of french fries, and a salad.  I guess the rest of the dinner will be happening back on the boat.

Local pony roaming free in the small village
Always great way to wind the day down

We’ve been away for quite some time, so I wanted to catch you up and welcome you back to Zoe.  While I know this is not our most exciting post, the real adventures are coming…..I promise.  Once we have the new fridge installed (hopefully in the next few days), we will be making our way out of Greece to Albania and onward to Italy.  It is our plan to do a deep dive of Italy and Sicily this year and say farewell to Greece (at least for the foreseeable future).  Stick with us for some new and exciting adventures…..and of course, the inevitable misadventures!

Sixth year of chasing sunsets on Zoe!

Farewell 2022 Sailing Season

After a couple of lovely nights in one of our favorite marinas (Preveza Marina), we headed to the swing bridge in Lefkada to while away the rest of our season in the southern parts of the Ionian.  Our first stop was Ormos Varko where we met some new American friends that Dan had been talking to in online sailing groups for close to a year.  We joined Steve and Emily on their boat for happy hour and had a great time getting to know them.  We spent several days anchored in the bay.  It’s  usually one of our favorite swimming spots, but unfortunately the outside temperatures had finally started to cool off making swimming not an overly appealing idea.

A few sleepless nights at anchor coming up!

Our next stop was Vlicho Bay, a favorite hidey hole for storms.  However, you might remember that we got hammered in this bay last year by strong winds and ended up losing our dinghy to a puncture wound.  We opted to anchor here for a few days in order to explore the town of Nidri (another one of my favorites) and pick up a new guest.  Dan’s friend and colleague from his civilian Navy days happened to be in Italy, so he flew over to Preveza to join us for some time on Zoe.  We decided to rent a car and go pick him up at the airport so we could take him to some of our favorite spots (the olive oil museum, the Lefkada winery, and the town of Vassiliki).  Before heading back to the boat, we stopped at our favorite spot (Tom’s Sea Side Restaurant) for lamb kleftiko on the beach at the water’s edge.  Yum!

My friend Mark – a coworker from 20 years ago!
Enjoying some of our favorite Lefkada spots
Visiting a local winery
Beachside reunion dinner

The next day, the 3 of us were under way to the island of Kastos.  Mark enjoyed a swim in the beautiful bay that we had all to ourselves.  Afterwards, we headed around the point to town and hoofed it up the hill to the windmill bar for some cocktails and a sunset view over the sea (and Zoe, of course).  Since we wanted to show Mark as much as we could in the short time he was visiting, we headed out the next day to an anchorage we had never been to called Mytikas.  Once we had Zoe securely anchored, we headed into town for a walk and some exploration.  We wandered through the streets of this quaint little village before eventually stopping at a seaside taverna for an ice cold beer.

Underway to Kastos
Dropping anchor in a bay we had to ourselves
Visiting the Kastos Windmill bar
Dinghy ride back to Zoe
Some local Mytikas sites
The Mytikas beachfront

We had been enjoying a run of really nice days, so wouldn’t you know, it was time for some nasty weather to come through.  We decided to try the ne in Lefkada to ride out the weather.  At first, the owner of the pontoons tried to shoe us away.  Then, for some reason, he had a change of heart.  He and his helpers escorted us to a spot and told us to tie up side to.  Nobody was tied like this, so we felt a little awkward (especially as boats came in looking for space, and we were piggishly taking up 40 feet/12 meters of dock).  We wanted to hang a huge sign that said that we were told to tie this way!  The guy had wanted us this way because in the last big storm that came through, his charter boats and the dock all dragged because of the windage on the sides of the catamarans.  This way, our bow and stern were in the direction of the wind.

Zoe tied up 90 degrees opposite to everyone else

We showed Mark around Lefkada and that evening headed into town for Dan’s birthday dinner.  While talking with the owner of the restaurant, she told us that the weather system coming through was forecasted to be really bad and included tornado warnings.  Tornado warnings?!?  You have got to be kidding me!  I am glad we are not at anchor, but now I don’t want to be on a boat period!  Not even a half hour later, everyone’s phone went off with that severe weather alert…..talk about scary.  Well, it did get very windy, and there were thunderstorms…..but no tornadoes (whew)!  The next day, we discovered that Steve and Emily were docked on a different pontoon down the way from us, so we invited them for happy hour on our boat.  We had an awesome night of stories and laughter (and way too much wine…but hey, we are safely docked so that’s ok).  Unfortunately, Mark would be leaving us soon, so we decided to stay on the pontoon since this was the closest point to the airport while staying south of the swing bridge.

Dan’s birthday dinner

We left Lefkada the day after Mark disembarked, and made our way to the island of Ithaca.  Our time was rapidly winding down, so this was as far south as we would go this year.  Unfortunately, another round of strong wind was headed our way, and we would not be protected in this particular bay.  As a matter of fact, both the islands of Ithaca and Cephalonia were going to get blasted by this system.  So, guess where we went?  Yep, back to Vlicho.  The wind came as predicted….gusting to 30 knots, but Zoe’s anchor held like a champ.  Needless to say, it was a sleepless night between the howling wind and making sure Zoe stayed put.  In the end, we spent 6 days here growing barnacles….but we had lots of fun.  We spent hours walking, went to a Greek night at a taverna with dancing and plate throwing, and found a new favorite place for lamb kleftiko.

Vlicho anchorage on Lefkas
Traditional Greek dance performance
Robyn armed with a plate to celebrate Greek style
Plates went flying!

We were now a week away from hauling Zoe out of the water.  We wanted to be somewhat close, so we headed back through the swing bridge and into the inland sea.  We anchored outside of a seaside village called Vonitsa.  We walked the town and then headed up the hill to the remains of a castle.  It had great views and was fun to explore.  At one point, we came upon a turtle on it’s back frantically paddling his legs in an attempt to flip over….not happening.  Dan graciously gave the guy a helping hand and put him right side up.  

Visiting the town of Vonitsa
Exploring the Venetian castle ruins
Castle view of Zoe anchored in the bay

We spent two nights in Vonitsa and decided it was time to move on.  We headed back north to a series of little islands (more like rock formations jutting out of the water).  There was no one anchored here.  This was not surprising since the depth was only 1.5 – 2 meters….we draw 1.3 meters, a little unsettling to say the least.  We got ourselves settled in and were treated to sea turtles and dolphins cruising by.  That evening, we decided to do a BBQ on the beach.  What a great way to end the season.  The swell came in during the wee hours of the morning sending us bouncing all around.  This made both of us a little nervous because we were anchored so shallow (we were worried that our rudders might ground out if the swell got any bigger).  We pulled up anchor and headed for Preveza Marina.  We spent 3 days here beginning the process of shutting Zoe down.  A week of rain was in the forecast, so it was important to get the sails down so they could be stored dry.

Visiting a deserted island
Dinghy to the beach for some fun
Grilling up some food for a senset BBQ dinner

Haul out day had arrived, and with it, pouring rain!  Every single year we’ve hauled out, we’ve been plagued with pouring rain.  This year was no different.  Luckily, it came without wind.  Last year, the wind was so fierce the marineros had to assist with their high powered dinghy to drag us off the dock.  So, Zoe is now on land, and we are hard at work getting everything stripped, cleaned and put away until we return next season.  We have come to the decision that we are ready to leave Greece behind and explore new horizons.  Our plan next season is to do a deep exploration of Italy, Sicily and Malta.  They say boats and plans are written in sand….haha, but that is our goal for next season.  Stay tuned next season for some new sights and adventures (finally)!  As always, we will be back in the off season to share some new land adventures.  Thanks for following along with us!

Robyn checking out the day’s specials in the Taverna kitchen
It always seems to rain on the day we haul out Zoe!
Robyn making end of season repairs
Stowaway kitty!
Zoe in her winter slumber

That’s a wrap for 2022!

145 nights in the water

1089 miles covered

37 nights at anchor

30 nights in a marina

47 days in the US in the middle of our season

Longest passage 171 miles

5 overnight passages

Arrivederci Italy!

As planned, we departed Licata and headed for Marina Ragusa.  We don’t typically spend a lot of time in marinas, but we were very curious about this marina.  We have seen a lot of debate on our sailing forums discussing whether the marina in Licata or the marina in Ragusa is better for living on the boat during the winter months.  Sicily is the warmest spot in winter in Europe.  We wanted to do our due diligence and visit them both to decide for ourselves (who knows, we might want to spend a winter out here).  They were both very nice marinas, but Ragusa was our favorite.  The marina sits on the edge of a very touristy beach town which meant we had miles of a lungomare (seafront boardwalk) that we could walk.  This was lined with lots of restaurants and bars along with beach chairs and umbrellas.  Definitely a beautiful and vibrant seaside town.  We decided to rent a car and head to the actual town of Ragusa to check it out.

Zoe tied up in Marina Ragusa.
Sand sculptures on the beach at Marina Ragusa

The town of Ragusa sits high up on a hill and is famous for it’s Baroque style of architecture (it is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site).  Adorning the city is the Duomo di San Giorgio, a number of beautiful churches, and a large public park with a church, fountains and statues.  The city is flanked on either side by two deep valleys which offer amazing views.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

UNESCO town of Ragusa high in the hills
Strolling the beautiful park
War memorial in the park
Ragusa is surrounded by valleys. Very defendable location back in the day.
Shopping for unique Sicilian treats in town
View of the Baroque cathedral

After thoroughly exploring the town of Ragusa, we headed to our next stop, the town of Modica (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site).  Unlike our last stop, Modica rests at the bottom of a deep gorge.  Just like Ragusa, Modica is known for it’s Baroque architecture as well.  One of the most beautiful examples of this was the Cathedral of St. George.  Modica is known for a 400 year old tradition of chocolate making, and the streets are lined with chocolate shops and tasting rooms.  There is even a chocolate museum.  Of course, we had to check out the museum!  In the museum, it explains all about the chocolate making process, but the really interesting part is all the artwork and sculptures are made of…..you guessed it, chocolate!  Since Sicily was once part of the Spanish kingdom, they were one of the first places in all of Europe to receive treasures brought back from South America (namely, Cacao).  Their chocolate recipe, methods and flavorings are based on the Aztecs method of chocolate making.  We wandered into one store and were overwhelmed by the number of flavors of chocolate you could buy.  They had flavors of various alcohols and liqueurs, various kinds of herbs and spices, fruits, and more!  It is a very different kind of chocolate in that it is mainly made with cocoa and sugar and mixed in a cold-working process.  They add no fats.  It contains only the cocoa butter that is naturally found in the cocoa beans.  By using this cold process, the sugar crystals are kept whole which does give it a rather grainy kind of texture.  So, Dan and I had a little bit of fun picking out a variety of flavors (did I mention there were 100’s to choose from).

Ornate church in Modica
Believe it or not you can eat this statue of chocolate
Marilyn Monroe in cacao!
Chocolate factory, Italian style
So. Many. To. Choose. From!!!
Strolling Modica with a pistachio cannoli.
Another fabulous church in the center of Modica

We left Modica for our final stop in the town of Scicli.  This was a lesser known town than the two we previously visited and also sits in a gorge.  The town is overlooked by a towering rock where the Church of San Matteo sits.  This town is also made up of Baroque style architecture.  Unfortunately, we had reached mid afternoon and the temperatures were soaring.  Plus after walking miles and miles, we were hot and tired.  We wandered around a little bit, and then headed off to a little restaurant built into the stone hill where we enjoyed an authentic Sicilian appetizer and a glass of Prosecco.  All in all, it was a very fun day!  I am in love with this part of Sicily.

Unesco town of Scicli – third stop soon the Baroque town tour
Every corner you turn it’s just beautiful
Late lunch in a cave in a hill
Back to the boat with chocolate booty

This was the end of our exploration of the south side of Sicily.  There really wasn’t much else to see (by sea, anyway) on the southern side.  It was time to start making our way back around toward mainland Italy.  Our next destination was the town of Syracusa.  Since it was a very long passage, we broke up the journey with an overnight anchorage along the way.  We also felt a very strong need to scrub the hulls of Zoe.  After sitting in the Licata Marina for 2 months, Zoe had grown a disgusting beard of algae, plant life and barnacles…..ewwww!  Not to mention all this growth was slowing down our speed through the water.  Let me tell you, scrubbing that crap off was hard and gross.  The crystal clear water became clouded with debris, but Zoe looked a lot better.

Entering historic Siracusa harbor

The next day we pulled into the anchorage outside of Siracusa.  We had a crackin’ good sail almost the whole way down.  Unfortunately, it was blowing 25 knots in the anchorage when we pulled in.  This made anchoring extremely challenging.  It sets the anchor really fast, but trying to get the 5 meter bridle onto the chain and dropped before the anchor chain ripped our bowsprit off was not fun!  It required Dan to motor full throttle forward just to hold us in place.  With that done, we sat down and rode out the blow in very choppy water.  Not fun.  We made arrangements the next day to come into the marina.  It was suppose to be blowy again, and it’s a long dinghy ride to get to the town if you are out at anchor.  Given the waves and chop in the anchorage, there was no way we were going to dinghy to town.  We had friends from Canada meeting us here.  They had come sailing with us in Croatia last year, and they had picked up their new catamaran in April in France.  Our paths finally crossed here in Sicily.

The next morning, we pulled into the marina and were somewhat disappointed to see that they were going to park us on the outside of the pontoon.  At the time, there were 2 other boats here as well.  The marinero helped us secure the boat all the while assuring us that it was perfectly fine.  We ended up with 4 lines from the seabed to our bow (usually only two….that probably should have been alarm bell number 1).  We then had 2 stern lines and 2 mid ship spring lines.  If that sounds like a lot of lines, it is!  We must’ve looked a little uneasy because he kept assuring us that everything was good, and the wind would be gone by 7 p.m.  I’m sure you see where this is going.  The winds came up fast and furious as the waves crashed into and over the dock.  The anchorage would’ve been safer, but at this point we could not even get off of our boat to cast our lines and go.  We were stuck riding out the most wicked wind and seas while tied to a dock.  It was miserable, and we became the photo op for every boat safely tucked inside the marina.  Did I forget to mention the two boats that were on the dock had left a long time ago?  We were suppose to meet our friends for dinner at 8:30, but it was impossible to safely get off our boat because the wind did NOT die down at 7:00.  As a matter of fact, we were not able to safely get off our boat until 9:30!  So, we met up with our friends and enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the beautiful town of Syracusa.  I think the marina felt sorry for us, so the next day they moved us to a very nice spot INSIDE the marina.  Here we spent 2 glorious days safely tied up and free to come and go off of Zoe.

This is not what the marina promised us!
White caps while next to a dock. Not a great feeling. But we made it through!

Syracusa is definitely one of my favorite spots on the eastern side of Sicily (Taormina being also a favorite).  Not far from the town itself is an amazing archaeological park of both Greek and Roman ruins.  It was about a 25 minute walk to the park where we explored miles of incredible sites.  I will let the pictures do the talking for this bit.

The ancient Greek theater of Siracusa
Theater is on the left….ancient skyboxes on the right?
Romans built there own theater for gladiator style performances
Marble quarry next door to the theater
Wandering the beautiful grounds of the Archaeological park

Thanks to some new American friends we made in Albania, we learned about a local street market in town.  We LOVED this market.  Not only was there an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, but we found fresh fish mongers, cheese makers, sausage makers, a variety of local products, and huge stands of herbs, seasonings,  olives, and sun-dried tomato spreads.  We loaded up on lots of goodies and returned again 2 days later to load up some more!  As most cities in Italy, Syracusa has a beautiful Duomo in the center of the city.  We loved wandering the cobbled streets of this beautiful city.  We also enjoyed a couple of nice dinners in town with our Canadian friends as well as a really fun night aboard their boat with snacks and wine…..lots and lots of amazing French wine.

Happy hour onboard our friends boat anchored nearby.
When they do after dinner aperitifs in Siracusa they do it right!
Wandering Siracusa duomo by night
Church in Siracusa Duomo
Artist painting Sicilian pottery

After returning from the street market Monday morning, it was time to get underway.  The weather was starting to take a turn for worse around mainland Italy and across the Adriatic (our route back to Greece).  We said farewell to our friends and began our overnight journey from Sicily to Crotone.  We were very much looking forward to seeing our Italian friends again and spending some time in Crotone.  Along the journey, I spotted several young sea turtles (I say young because they were not very big) and some dolphins on the hunt.  That always makes these long passages more fun.  After 28 hours of beating into the wind and waves, we decided to drop anchor for the night and get some rest.  We were still about 3 hours from Crotone, and we would’ve had to try and anchor in the dark.

Buying unique Sicilian spices at the street market
Dolphin sighting! And what a jump!
Sunset near Mount Etna as we head towards the Italian mainland
Dropping anchor at Capo Rizzuto on the mainland

That night, we reviewed several forecasts and discovered that the weather had worsened and wasn’t forecasted to change for a week.  Since that is as far out as they forecast, it could’ve continued for longer.  We were forced to make the painful decision that the next day was our best window of opportunity to get across the sea and back into Greece.  This meant no visit to Crotone or Otranto which were high on our list of “must see again!”  One minor problem…..we were required to turn in our Constituto upon leaving the country (this is a document that tracks where we have been in Italy).  Closest port authority to turn in said document….Crotone….3 hours out of our way.  We agonized over the idea of just leaving and not turning it   In, but the fear of being banned from coming back to Italy or receiving a hefty fine weighed heavily on our mind.  So much for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, we got up at 5:00 a.m. to do the right thing.  We got to Crotone, anchored outside the harbor, and Dan went in to return our Constituto and pick up some Sardella and fresh fish.  We were back on our way at 10:00 a.m.  This leg of the journey would take us from Crotone, Italy to Preveza, Greece (a 30 hour passage)!  The seas were calm (yeah!) but that meant so were the winds (boo), so we had no sailing….all motoring….hello big diesel bill 🙁  Dan and I followed our typical pattern of 4.5 hours on and 4.5 hours off.  In my attempt to get better at not getting stuck with most of the night shifts, I managed to land myself the 11:00 to 3:30 a.m. shift.  Unfortunately, the moon rise was really late on this day, so my shift was in pitch black.  I hate pitch black!  I could not see the horizon….could not see where the sea ended and the sky began….ugh.  However, the stars were beautiful, and I did get to see a shooting star.  I also got to see the moon rise which was spectacular!  At 2/3 full and bright orange, I watched as it arose from the depths of the dark sea to cast a beautiful glow across the water to Zoe.  Ahhh, much happier now.  Well, sort of.  I’m not sure if it was lack of sleep or not enough water (or both), but I ended up with a wicked bout of vertigo which lasted for 2 days.  At one point, I thought one of the hulls must be taking on water because the boat was tipping to one side.  Turns out, it was not the boat….it was me.  Yikes.  I suffered through my watch and was very grateful when Dan relieved me.  Not to mention, the sweet man let me sleep a couple of hours past his shift in the hopes I would feel better.  I did not 🙁

Moonrise on Robyn’s watch
Sunrise is always the best part of an overnight watch!

At 5:30 p.m., we arrived in Preveza, Greece.  We are safely sitting at anchor and will head into the marina tomorrow to ride out some wicked weather due to start Saturday night and make for an all day, nasty Sunday.  It feels good to be home, but I do miss Italy a lot!

Safe passage from Italy to Greece. Time for Greek Ouzo!

The 2022 Sailing Season Has Arrived

It’s hard to believe that it has been over 7 months since we left Zoe behind in Greece.  Despite being away for so long, those months did not go by quietly or uneventfully (would you have expected anything less?! Haha).  Here is a quick recap of our off season.  After spending a month and a half back in Phoenix, we headed to Maui for the months of December and January.  Although it was extremely hard being away from family for the holidays, it was a good plan since we no longer had a house to return to in Phoenix (we sold it last April to build new).  In February, we celebrated the marriage of my beautiful daughter Shawn to Mark.  In March, we celebrated our grandson’s 2nd birthday on a wonderful, full family camping trip (family on both sides of the family were there).  In the late hours of the last night, our kids burst into our tent to share the news that my son Ryan had proposed to Samantha (parents of our grandson).  It truly was an exciting and eventful weekend!  In April, Dan and I decided to do a 5 week trip to Australia (which had just opened up to tourists after 2 years of Covid lockdown).  You can read about that amazing adventure in a previous blog post.  When May arrived, we celebrated Dan’s son Jacob’s graduation from Northern Arizona University (woo hoo….all kids are through college)!  We also had the pleasure of celebrating my beautiful niece Carolyn’s graduation, and her wedding to Nathan.  This was a spectacular Romanian wedding, and like nothing we have ever experienced.  It also gave us the opportunity to see friends and family that we haven’t seen in many years.  And a final shout out to my son Richard (hired as a Delta pilot) and nephew Jason (hired as an Envoy/American pilot).  Eventful, right???

Shawn and Mark tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in Phoenix. Yes that’s what February looks like here!
The new engaged happy couple!
Jacob graduated…last child through school!

On May 24th, we made it back to Zoe!  We were thrilled to be back but dreading the amount of work that lay ahead of us.  We weren’t scheduled to launch for a week, so we had plenty of time to get everything done but living on the hard is not a lot of fun (much more challenging than living in the water).  We have definitely become more proficient at getting the boat in order as it only took us a few days to get her put back together and livable.  One of our favorite tasks is a visit to this very large and colorful roadside farmer’s market.  Here we loaded up with tons of delicious, locally grown vegetables and homemade products.  We also made a trip to the hardware store for a few items including a fly swatter.  I asked the clerk, but he had no clue what I was talking about.  So, I put my fingers together, made a buzzing sound while fluttering my fingers and then took my other hand and went “WAP”!  He busted up laughing but now understood what I was looking for!  It’s always an adventure shopping in foreign places, and we always get a kick out trying to figure it all out and communicate effectively.

Launch day is finally here…

Unfortunately, despite having our boat for over 7 months, the yard did not do any of our service work until the day before and the day of launch.  Of course, everyone showed up at the same time and chaos ensued!  In the end, Zoe looked beautiful and went back into the water without a hitch.  We spent two nights side tied to the marina quay trying to get our insurance sorted out.  Apparently, Greece was now requiring a large liability policy in addition to our normal insurance, so Dan was sent scrambling trying to find coverage before we set sail (get caught without it and big fines are involved).  We did end up finding coverage out of the UK.  Unfortunately, they were closing for a 4 day weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee, so we were stuck for at least another week.

Zoe looking good in her element.

Our second night on the dock, we were startled awake at 4:00 a.m. by this loud thumping on the boat.  My immediate thought was that someone had climbed onto our boat.  Dan got up and looked around, but there was no one.  As we lay in bed, the sound got more intense.  Dan said, “it’s probably just a fish slapping the hull”.  In my head I said, “that’s gotta be a pretty big ass fish”!  The sound continued to get louder and more frenetic, so we both jumped up and went out on deck.  The sea was boiling with these 6 inch fish going absolutely crazy.  They were leaping out of the water and on to the dock where they were flopping around helplessly.  Dan jumped down off the boat and started flipping them back into the water.  It was the craziest thing we’ve ever seen.  We found out from the marinero the next morning that they were being hunted by some very large amberjack.  They basically herd them creating this disorganized chaos.  Apparently  some of the seagulls got in on the action, plucking fish off the dock.  What a crazy night!

Post launch celebration, taverna style
We moved to the anchorage next to the marina and had our first grill of the season

After a week on the hard, 2 nights on the marina wall, and one night on anchor in the bay next to the marina, we decided to just take our chances with the insurance.  Worst case, we had the emails showing that we would have the coverage just not the official paperwork until the Tuesday after the Queen’s Jubilee.  So, we set sail for one of our favorite bays to while away a few days.  We timed our arrival in Two Rock Bay for Friday knowing that charter boats (which usually swarm here) would need to be back to base, and the bay should be pretty wide open.  It was, and we landed a gorgeous spot near the cliffs in pristine sand.  We were quickly greeted by my little fish friends who love to hang out around the boat waiting for handouts.  We also had our first swim of the season.  It was a little chilly but well worth it.  

Back to the serene Two Rock Bay as we work our way north
We anchored in 2 meters (a little over 6 feet) of water – the bottom looks like you can touch it!
The two rocks that give the bay it’s name

After several days in the bay, it was time to get moving again (and no, still no insurance paperwork yet).  We headed to another of our favorite bays, Petriti on the island of Corfu.  This turned out to be a very good decision since it wasn’t more than a few days before the mother of all storms blew through (at least from our personal experiences).  By the time the forecasts showed the magnitude, and the news stations actually gave the storm a name, it was too late for us to duck into a marina.  Greece does not have a lot of marinas to begin with, and one of our two options is a charter base making it impossible to get a spot on Fridays since the charter boats are due back.  This meant riding it out on the water and trusting our anchor (and my anchoring skills….which have come a long way, by the way!).   Not to toot my own horn, but I have become eagle-eyed at picking out the sand spots and highly adept at landing the anchor and setting it in a small sand spot surrounded by weed and/or rock (weed and rock are not your friend when anchoring).  Okay, I guess I tooted.  Never mind I’ve probably pissed off the sea gods now!  I take it back, I take it back!

Anchoring out means a never ending search for a place to park the dinghy. Even if the dock is rusty, decrepit and bird poop stained!

We had already prepped the boat earlier in the evening by letting out a lot more anchor chain and stowing everything that could blow away or come crashing down.   It wasn’t long before the wind started kicking up, so from 2:30 a.m. to 5:00 a.m I stayed up in the salon keeping an eye on things.  We had already been through 33 knots of gusts the day before, and nothing was approaching that, so I headed down to bed.  At 9:00 a.m., I heard the wind kicking up yet again (another one of my superpowers 🤣)and told Dan that it was time to get up, the storm was here.  Within a half hour, the wind was howling, rain pouring, hail, and thunder and lightning simultaneously.  Every year, we get hit with a storm, and I foolishly think it’s the scariest storm I have ever been in on the boat.  Every year, I am proven wrong!  We managed to come through the storm completely unscathed (at least physically…..not so sure about mentally!).  The rest of the day was calm but rainy.  Just when we thought we were in for a nice, peaceful evening, the wind switched direction.  Before we knew it, the boat was bucking like a bronco from a large swell.  We watched the shoreline behind us soar up 4-5 feet and then disappear completely.  Luckily, we don’t get seasick, but it was violent enough to make us both incredibly dizzy.  Fortunately, it was over after a few hours.  Ahh, the joys of sailing.

Ominous warning!
The biblically named Storm Genesis. Forty knots of wind, hail, lightning and thunder!

Since our plan is to head over to Italy and then Sicily, we decided it was time to get moving north again (and no, we STILL don’t have our insurance sorted out!  Now, just to be clear, our umbrella policy in America covers the boat’s liability requirements but try explaining that to a Greek official).  The winds in the channel between Greece and Italy can get very interesting, so we have been carefully watching the forecasts to find our best window (this will require an overnight passage….my favorite….not).  We decided to spend a couple days anchored off the castle wall in Corfu town since this is where we will need to check out of the country and take care of formalities.  If you followed our blog last year, then you know that we are in the same spot as last year where we witnessed two deaths in the same day (one a drowning and one a suicide by jumping from the castle wall).  Needless to say, we still feel scarred from that experience and don’t find the same degree of joy in this spot anymore.  We also found this spot incredibly crowded this year (after we anchored, of course).  We had two boats that anchored way too close (one had to pull up chain to keep from hitting us when he swung around!)  Yeah, definitely time to go!  

Corfu Old Fortress
This anchorage is very atmospheric
Wandering the New Fortress in Corfu

We only spent 2 nights here which is unusual for us, but between playing bumper boats and the hordes of people in town (the cruise ships are back in full swing!), we were ready to go.  Our last night, we spent a fun evening with some new friends from the UK who happened to be on a boat like ours before checking out of Greece the following morning.  From there, we had a 3 hour sail (more like motor) to Sarande, Albania.  Stay tuned for some new adventures (finally!) from this beautiful country!

Heading north to Albania!

2021 Season Finale of Adventures with Zoe

They say better late than never, and I am definitely late with this one.  It’s hard to believe that another sailing season has come and gone, but here we are.  In a normal year, our sailing season will go 6-7 months.  Unfortunately, between Covid restrictions, a home purchase, and parental health issues, our season has been a brief 3 1/2 months.  So, here is how we wrapped things up.

When we left you last, we were hanging out near the city of Split in Croatia, and awaiting the arrival of my daughter and her fiancé.  We anchored our boat in a bay very close to the airport, and walked to the terminal to meet them.  It was exciting to watch their plane approach the airport, flying right over top of us.  We soon had them gathered up, loaded into the dinghy, and on our way back to the boat.  Since it was late in the evening, we stayed the night on anchor.

We picked up Shawn and Mark at the Split airport

The next morning, we headed across to the other side of the bay and anchored closer to the city of Split.  We headed into shore and straight into the old city.  Our main point of interest here was Diocletian’s Palace.  This was built for the Roman emperor, Diocletian, around the 4th century A.D. and makes up about half of the old city of Split.  On a side note, the palace was used in filming Game of Thrones, season 4.  See if you recognize any of the sites!

Split knows how to do candy shops
FaceTime call back home
Palace of Diocletian basement (used in Game of Thrones for dragon storage)

After spending a few hours in the old city, we headed back on board and set sail for the island of Šolta.  This is home to one of our all time favorite bays with an amazing restaurant set high on the hilltop.  We made sure we had a reservation and ordered the lamb peka (slow cooked lamb and vegetables under a metal dome, covered in coals).  The marinero greeted us when we arrived and got us tied up on the mooring lines.  Shawn and Mark took the kayak out to explore the beauty of the bay before heading into dinner.  We had an amazing 3 course dinner overlooking the bay and the 2 other boats there with us (gotta love getting into late season).

Kayak fun in Uvala Jorja, Island of Solta
Pre dinner shots of Rakija
Wonderful view to go with our slow cooked Lamb Peka dinner

We left early the next morning for Stari Grad on the island of Hvar.  We tied up to the town quay and rented a car for the next two days of exploration.  First stop, the town of Jelsa which is a fun little seaside village.  We wandered around here until it was time for our visit to one of Dan’s favorite wineries on the island of Hvar (this island is very well known for producing excellent wines).  The winery was in the midst of harvesting and production, so there was lots of activity.  They took us into the cellar which was kept very dark and only lit by candles.  We had a great time tasting their custom infused olive oils and a variety of wines.  From there we headed back to the boat and spent some time exploring the town of Stari Grad (old city) Hvar.  We found an interesting monastery which we explored and then hiked to the top of a hill with an outdoor area for church and great views of the island.  They are in the process of gathering donations to create a stations of the cross that lines the hike up to the top of the hill.  

Dubokovic Winery cellar
Our sommelier and Mark mixing their own dessert wine
Trvdalj Castle, Stari Grad Island of Hvar

The next day we explored the city of Hvar.  We drove up to the Venetian fortress that overlooked the old city.  Construction of the fortress began in 1282 and was completed in 1551.  This multi-level fortification has been really well restored and easily takes you back in time.  The entire population took shelter in the fortress in 1571 when the Turks attacked, plundered the town, and set it on fire. The fortress was composed of four circular bastions, a tower and walls with battlements, pieces of which are still present. There are cannons pointed out to the sea, and you can descend into the “prison” to check out the cells and their torture devices as well as visit the collection of amphorae collected from the surrounding sea.

Fortress high over Hvar town
Hvar town by night

Since it was Dan’s birthday, we had a reservation in the old town of Hvar at an amazing restaurant overlooking the waterfront.  We enjoyed a 7 course  tasting menu paired with wines, and it was out of this world.  It was definitely a great way to celebrate Dan’s birthday.

Great view and dinner to ring in Dan’s 54th birthday

Once again, we left bright and early to cover the most amount of miles.  We made a quick overnight stop on the island of Scedro to help break up the very long journey.  Here, we did some swimming and hanging out.  Later in the evening a local boat came cruising by offering up homemade wines and brandies as well as assorted other items to purchase.  After tasting a couple of the brandies, we settled on some fig brandy and ordered some fresh made bread and pastries to be delivered in the morning!  How fun was that?!

Boat delivery of local liquors on the Island of Scedro

We set off in the morning bound for the island of Korčula.  We anchored off the island of Badija just like last time and were shocked at how few boats were here compared to our summer time visit.  We headed into the island to walk around the grounds of the monastery and find the deer.  This time we brought a bag full of carrots.  It wasn’t long before my daughter had several deer following her around.  I think this might’ve been her favorite part of the trip…..well, that and all the stray kitties.  That evening we took the high speed water taxi to old town Korčula where we had dinner along the fortress wall overlooking the sea.

Free range deer of Badija island
Once they know you have carrots it can be hard to get away!
High speed water taxi to old town Korcula from the anchorage

From Korčula, we headed to the island of Mlijet and the town of Polace.  This time we tied to a restaurant’s dock that sat right under some Roman ruins.  Talk about some great backyard scenery.  We scurried off and jumped on some e-bikes for another exploration of the salt lake and monastery on the island in the middle.  This was our second time doing this excursion this year, and we highly recommend it.  We had such a good time yet again.

Ancient roman ruins in Polace, Island of Mljet
Rented E-bikes and explored the salt lakes on Mljet island
Found a cave along the way
And some bridges we had to haul the bikes over
Mark flagging down the island monastery shuttle taxi
At the foot of the Roman fortress wall
A wonderful dinner (mixed grilled meats) to cap off a great day.

At this point, we were reaching the end of Shawn and Mark’s trip, so we were headed to their final stop and the holy grail of their visit.  They are both huge Game of Thrones fans (as is Dan), so we were headed to Dubrovnik.  Here we pulled into a really awesome marina to spend the next couple of days.  The first day, we headed into the old city of Dubrovnik to walk around and explore the castle walls.  We then took a tram straight up the face of the mountain to a fortress on the top of the hill.  Here, you had amazing views of the entire city and the surrounding sea.  In the evening, we went back to the boat and walked to Sunset Beach which is the largest beach in Dubrovnik.  There is a beautiful boardwalk the runs along the coast, and you can find many restaurants, beach bars, and even a bar set into a cave.

Old town Dubrovnik
View of Dubrovnik from the tram to the moutaintop
Timelapse of the incredible views from the tram

Our second day was the highlight.  Dan had booked a private Game of Thrones tour.  We spent 3 hours wandering the grounds while our guide pointed out the various sites that were used in the show.  While he pointed out the sites, he held up a photo book with the actual scenes as they were portrayed in the show.  This allowed us to see where CGI was used to enhance the backdrop for the scene.  It was a great tour, and we really enjoyed our guide and his humor.

Game of Thrones tour

We had reached the end of Shawn and Mark’s visit and were approaching our window to make our way back to Greece before some really nasty weather was due to arrive.  We decided it would be fun to tick off one more country for them, while getting us a little further south.  Off we went to Montenegro!

The next morning, Dan and I pulled out of the Marina before the sun was even up.  We went across the channel to the customs dock and took care of the formalities of checking all of us and Zoe out of Croatia.  Before long, we were underway and headed south.  Dan and I were somewhat on edge since we checked out a little further north than Croatia wants you to, but we hate trying to check out in the town of Cavtat.  We had asked the officials of both locations and were told it was okay provided we stayed to the outside of the islands and did not meander through the islands on our departure.  We had heard numerous stories about people getting fined for doing what we just did (but we don’t know if they may have broken the rules and cruised around the islands and walls on their way out).

Early morning check out of Croatia at the Gruz Customs dock

The seas were up a bit, so the ride was bumpy.  We were a little worried about Shawn and Mark since they were fast asleep in their cabin which is one of the worst places to be when it comes to feeling the movement of the boat.  If you are prone to seasickness (they were not), this is NOT the place you want to be.  As we passed the last town on the Croatian coast, we saw a large police boat cruising down the coastline.  In the end, they left us alone, and we left Croatia without any issues.

We arrived at a marina in Montenegro by early afternoon and took care of formalities before picking up a rental car and driving the coast of Montenegro to the Bay of Kotor.  This area has been inhabited since the times of antiquity.  The bay is surrounded by towering mountains and surrounded by some of the most well preserved medieval towns.  

Portonovi Marina, Montenegro
Wandering old town Kotor
Last night in Europe for these two!

Before we knew it, Shawn and Mark’s visit had come to an end.  We hopped in the car and drove them from Montenegro back to Dubrovnik, Croatia to catch their flight home (it’s only a 40 minute drive).  Once we were back to the boat, we cast lines to fill up with duty free fuel and then make our way back to Greece.  This would involve our longest passage yet…..44 hours non-stop.  Our weather window was now, and it was only 2 days long before things got really dicey.  We NEEDED to go!  We were on our way at 3:00 p.m.  

Our 48 hour passage plan south to Greece

By the time darkness surrounded us, the seas had picked up and we were pounding into the swell.  Dan and I took 4 hour shifts, so while one is at the helm on watch, the other is sleeping….well, in theory.  I seem to struggle with being able to sleep when I am off shift.  This first night was even tougher as the seas slammed into the bridge deck making a great deal of noise.  As I came running up the steps from below deck, I slammed my bare foot into the stool which was then followed by 3 distinct cracks.  Three toes went in a direction that was different from the others.  Yep, pretty sure we’re looking at 3 broken toes.  Ahhhh boat life!  It is definitely not for the fragile.

Albania has concrete pillboxes by the hundreds lining the coast for defense
Albanian Coast guard towing a local fishing boat

We cruised down the coast of Montenegro and Albania without incident.  By the second night, we had entered Greek waters and were coming in to the northern part of Corfu.  Here the island is widest and creates a rather narrow channel between itself and mainland Greece.  Between the lights on land, the lights on boats, and the known hazards in the water, I felt very uneasy navigating this in the pitch black.  I called Dan up to take over this more visually challenging area.  I then took the 1 a.m to 5 a.m. shift down the coast of the island.  The first big ferry I spotted was over 600 feet long.  I adjusted course a little more to the starboard side (right side).  Soon came another big ferry…..eesh.  He was over 800 feet long.  I slid a little more to the right.  Distances are deceiving in the dark (even when your radar shows that you have plenty of room!).  Then came the behemoth…..a 1000 foot cruise ship in a blaze of lights.  Yes, I moved further right yet again!

Big cruise ship in the Corfu Channel

As the sun peeked over the horizon, the seas and wind began to build.  Once again, none of the weather forecasts had called for this.  By the time we got to Preveza boats were circling outside of the marinas.  Well, this was interesting.  We radioed the Preveza marina where we had planned to tie up for a few days while getting Zoe ready to be hauled out.  They were full!  Everyone was ducking for cover for the impending storm that would arrive later this evening.  We asked if we could come in for fuel.  There was an hour wait!  All those boats out circling in the bay were waiting for their turn to come in.  We headed across the bay to Cleopatra marina where Zoe is stored for the winter.  After a long, stressful wait, they radioed back that they could make room for us.  Whew!  We had a safe home until haul out.

The storm came in, as predicted.  We had one good day of weather which we used to get the sails down and stored and filled up the fuel tanks.  The last couple of days we worked in the pouring rain and howling wind.  Wouldn’t you know, the day we hauled out was the day the weather was at it’s worst.  According to the marineros, the current in the marina was the worst they had ever seen it.  Between that and the wind, getting off the dock and into the haul out bay was extremely stressful.  At one point, the marinero in the large rib, rammed us super hard (harder than necessary) which just about sent me overboard (I was at the front of the boat waiting to toss the line).  The current swiftly carried us to the entrance of the haul out bay and we were in.  Oh, and soaking wet from the pouring rain.  Not fun!

Summer is over!
Hauling Zoe out for storage on land
Zoe parked for winter on catamaran row

So, that marked the end our 2021 sailing season.  We had the opportunity to have one last dinner with our Swiss and Kiwi friends before saying good-bye until next season.  Other than the brutal 36 hour trip home, sleeping in the airport and having to wear a mask the entire time, we are now home safe and sound.  This will be our last blog post for a little while as we reconnect with family and friends.  However, when December rolls around, we will be on the move again, and you are welcome to join our travels!  As always, thanks for being a part of our adventures!

End of season dinner at Panos Taverna with some Kiwi and Swiss friends

Some stats for the season:

Total miles sailed: 1585 Nautical miles
Total nights onboard: 107
Nights at anchor: 49
Nights on mooring ball: 30
Nights in a marina: 25
Nights at sea: 3
Countries visited: 3 (Greece, Montenegro, Croatia)
Ports, marinas and anchorages visited: 51
Total guests: 8

Zoomable map of our wanderings this season:

Farewell Greece….For Now

After spending 5 days at the fortress wall and saying good-bye to our guests, we decided it was time for some new scenery.  As I went to pull up the anchor, I was puzzling over why the bridle was taking so long to come up.  That’s when I noticed the 2 lines of the bridle laying straight down along the sides of the hulls.  The shackle had broken free and was gone.  I quickly dropped more chain while Dan took the dinghy through the moat of the fortress to find a new shackle.  I stayed watch at the anchor.  Without the bridle, wind will put strain on the anchor chain, roller and windlass.  All of which can lead to very bad things if the wind gusts are strong enough.  Getting our bridle back in working order was a must.

Taking our dinghy through the Venetian fortress moat to the old part of the city was a treat

Once Dan returned, we headed back south to one of our favorite anchorages, Petriti.  It was just as we had hoped…..silent, except for the song of the cicadas.  We found a spot all to ourselves, away from all the mayhem near the town where 95% of the boats like to anchor.  It was bliss….until it wasn’t.  On our second night, the swell came in and we pitched violently all night long.  It was time to go.

All alone…just like we prefer it! The cruising guides show the anchorage where all of the boats in the picture are. We are a mile south in the same sand but it’s not in the book…

We headed back to Corfu town since this was where we would need to check out of Greece.  We tried to anchor near the fortress wall again….but we ended up moving.  Several boats came in and anchored fairly close, but we had anchored somewhat close to a small French boat.  I swam the anchor several times, and it was dug in nicely.  As the wind and swell came in, they ended up extremely close to us (I’m pretty sure their anchor was dragging).  It was time to go.  We picked up our anchor and headed over to the bigger bay, away from the fortress wall.  The next day we headed into town to check out of Greece formally (THAT is an experience in and of itself!).

Our new spot in the bay had the bonus of being next to another American flagged Lagoon 400 (same as our boat). We don’t run into many American boats here so it’s always great to connect.
Doing the customs, immigration and harbormaster shuffle. It’s a lot of walking between offices collecting stamps.
Success. After all of that, the last step is hand the “Transit Log” in to the authorities.

We had waited several days to time our departure to catch a south wind (not overly common here) in the hopes of sailing north and not beating into the swell.  Since Greece allows you 24 hours to leave the country, we headed to the northernmost island of Erikoussa to stage ourselves for a morning departure to Montenegro.  This would be our longest passage yet, 25 hours.

From there to there in one big overnight push

We got underway a little before 9 a.m. riding a south wind to head north.  About 4 hours into our journey, we were treated to a pod of dolphins playing in our bow spray.  Dan and I both ran to the front of the boat to enjoy their antics for the brief time they joined us.  We managed to eek out a little more than 5 hours of sailing on this long journey before the wind died and we were back to motoring.  As night fell, we settled into our shifts with me at the helm first.  I am still not a huge fan of night sailing mostly because I struggle to know what the big fishing boats are doing.  Some are brightly lit with white lights making it impossible to see if they are anchored or moving.  After a 3 hour watch, Dan and I traded off.  As expected, I struggled to sleep as the noise of the rudder squeaked behind my head (never mind all the bad thoughts running through my head of Dan falling overboard and me not knowing until hours later).

Dolphins playing in our bow wave. Love how they always seem to be smiling.
All three sails were flying for awhile while were sailing “Dead Downwind”

It wasn’t long before my final night shift came (wait, what?  How did I end up with two of the three night shifts…..grrrr).  At 8:15, I got coffee going and woke Dan up.  We were getting close to Bar, Montenegro and the customs dock to check in.  As we approached the bay, I was treated to a very large Marlin breaching the water, not once but twice.  It was quite a sight to see.  After completing the formalities of checking into the country, we headed into the Bar marina for the next few nights.

A curious thing on the charts for a portion of the coast off of Albania. Fomer mines! Keyword being “former” There were fishing boats here, there and everywhere so we assumed it was a relic from a bygone age.
Sunrise is always welcome sight to behold after being underway all night
A very welcome welcome sign in Montenegro

After a one night stop in a bay heading north, we made our way into the Bay of Kotor.  The scenery in this anchorage was magical with the castle walls looming, running high up into the cliffs.  A small church was perched 1/2 way up the hill.  It was an amazing place to be, but the water was a little rough with the constant traffic of speedboats, large power yachts and day trippers racing in and out of the harbor. 

Zoe at anchor off of the ancient city of Kotor. That is the now empty cruise ship dock in the background. When we last visited in 2019 it was jam packed.
Walled city of Kotor at the foot of the mountains
One of the entrances through the fortifications
Very atmospheric town to walk and wander in
Street entertainers on every corner
Kotor’s lit up fortifications from the anchorage. Lovely.

The following day we had a reservation at a very highly reviewed restaurant on the opposite side of the bay.  We were told that they had 4 mooring balls here which were free to use if you ate at the restaurant…..sounded good to me!  This bay was much, much quieter, which I loved.  Unfortunately, there appeared to only be one mooring ball not four.  Since we arrived somewhat early, we easily snatched it up.  There was a fresh water river not far away that empties into the bay bringing with it extremely cold water.  This made for interesting swimming.  You’d be swimming along and all of a sudden you’d be blasted with icy cold water that took your breath away.

View from the mooring ball of the fjords of Montenegro

We watched as boats came in circling around our area, likely looking for the elusive mooring balls.  At one point, a boat anchored quite close to us.  We explained to him given the depth of where he was in relation to us and the amount of chain he would need to put out was going to cause a problem because we were on a ball and would not swing at the same ratio as him.  He said her understood and anchored further away.  Later, as I was sitting on deck waiting to leave for dinner.  He drove his dinghy, out of their way, to cruise along side us.  The next thing I know, I hear the guy that’s with him telling him he should cut Zoe’s lines and he would help him.  He said this twice, quite clearly!  What the hell?!?  Well, that was just great…..now I was on edge the rest of the night.

The restaurant sent their tender down to pick us up for dinner, and we headed up this beautiful little river that was thickly lined with foliage.  It was magical.  Before long, we arrived at this beautiful restaurant situated on the river with lush, green surroundings.  We had a great time, and the seafood was outstanding.  After an enchanting evening we headed back to Zoe (I was thankful to see she was still tied up) and settled in for the night.  I did not have a restful night, as I fretted over every sound I heard, worried that those two clowns were serious.  I loved Montenegro last time we were here…..this time I felt a little soured 🙁

Lush landscaping of Catovica Mlini restaurant.
What a wonderful setting for dinner

Our final stop in Montenegro was to the Marina Porto Montenegro.  This is a world renowned marina loaded with some of the most expensive super yachts you’ve ever seen.  We were excited to check it out.  Imagine Rodeo Drive meets Monaco.  The shops and restaurants that lined the 1/2 mile long marina were all very high end and ritzy.  The people strolling the promenade were all dressed in their finest apparel (yeah, we kind of looked like a couple of vagabonds in comparison).  It was a very nice marina, and we really enjoyed our stay….until it was time to leave.  We had made an appointment to get duty free fuel (a huge savings and our tanks were nearing empty), but when we handed over our papers for checkout, we were told we did not have the receipt for the tourist tax.  No one told us anything about this tourist tax when we checked into the country….we had only paid the vignette tax.  The police were called and Dan had to go meet with them to sort it out.  The officer asked Dan how much he thought the fine should be…..seriously????  Dan said he really didn’t know because he was unaware of the tax or how much it was to begin with.  In the end, a 20 euro note to cover “coffee” for them allowed us to be on our way.  All right, that is now strike number 2 in my book, and I am beyond angry.  Yes, I know, there is corruption everywhere…..but this infuriates me.  I work very hard to follow all the rules and expectations of the countries we visit, and this did not sit well with me.

Our Lady of the Rocks church on a small island in the bay.
Spectacular setting for this church.
Zoe in the Porto Montenegro marina. It was heat wave for a few days so a few days of air conditioning was welcome (our boat needs shore power or the generator running for A/C)
So many super yachts in one place!
Ferraris and Bentleys casually parked in ritzy Porto Montengero. So much money here.
Black Pearl docked behind the marina pool. World’s largest private sailboat owned by a Russian Oligarch
Returning to Zoe at the fuel dock after buying “coffee” for the local police.

About two hours later, we were finally on our way to Croatia and another fun port of entry (NOT!)  If you followed our blog a couple of years ago, we were headed to the town of Cavtat and the ever challenging Q dock, which still gives me nightmares to this day.  Dan said we needed to slay the dragon.  I said dragons burn you and best to stay far away!  For some reason, Croatia has been pretty quiet this year with boat traffic.  As we approached the dock in a stiff crosswind (our least favorite direction of course), we asked the line handler if we could come in side to.  He said no, drop the anchor and back in.  Just as I rigged the lines to do that, he changed his mind and said come side to.  OH, THANK GOD!  Luckily for us, the mega yacht that was coming in had an agent who said they were fine if came in side to.  Of course now Dan says we still have not slayed the dragon.  I told him….baby steps.  Once we finished formalities, we headed across the bay to the town of Srebreno.  Friends had told us that the small wall there had lazy lines that you could tie up to with access to water and electricity.  Perfect!

The infamous “Q-dock” where customs is located in Cavtat. It’s a small space with a prevailing crosswind which makes for anchor chaos when there are many boats trying to check in or check out.
Third country in a week. The formalities are straightforward but a bit of shuffling from office to office getting stamps and paying fees.

We came into the bay, and the harbormaster gave us a line to tie to our bow.  Unfortunately, he only had one which does not work well for a catamaran.  We got our stern lines tied but were pitching all around, uncomfortably close to the wall.  The was a large, crewed, motor yacht next to us, and the deckhand asked to come aboard to help.  We gladly accepted.  It took Dan and him an hour to figure out how to make the one mooring line work on a boat with two hulls.  In the end, he jumped off the bow, rigged a loop in the mooring line, and we tied a bridle through it to each side of the hulls.  The next thing I knew, this young man climbed back on board our boat…..FROM THE BOW!!  There are no steps, no ladder, nothing.  He used sheer, brute strength and amazing acrobatics to climb from the water to our bow.  We spent two nights here since he had gone to so much trouble to help secure us.  We also really enjoyed walking the town.  We will definitely be back to this spot.  

Our improvised solution to having only one mooring line available (normally we need two). Since the winds were forecasted to be light, we were able to make a bridle point in the line and tie off both hulls. This kept us centered and secure on the dock.
Srebreno city wall. Much better than anchoring near bura prone Cavtat. Buras are katabatic winds notorious in this area for striking in the middle of the night out of nowhere.

The winds were forecasted to start coming up, so we decided to get underway.  The  captain of our neighbor was kind enough to help us untie from a very tight loop on shore.  We were on our way to our next anchorage despite knowing the winds were going to get a little blustery.  Just as we were coming up the channel, the VHF barked out a gale force warning for our area.  We decided trying out a new anchorage in gale force winds just didn’t sound like a lot of fun.  Instead, we headed into a brand new marina outside of Dubrovnik.  It was awesome!  We spent the next two days there (as did many others who came streaming in after us).  Which brings us to today.  We are once again quietly anchored in a beautiful bay (despite some very gusty winds which are suppose to die tonight) and our next set of guests will arrive tomorrow.  Stayed tuned for more adventures as we make our way further north in the Adriatic!

Eclipse, one of the world’s largest private yachts, at anchor near Dubrovnik
The famous walls of Dubrovnik as we motor past heading north.

Great Hikes in Greece

After our two long, nasty wind days hiding out in Vlikho Bay, we were treated to a glorious calm.  We later learned that our hurricane hidey hole was THE one place that was hit the worst by the winds.  After talking with one of the charter operators in the bay, he told us they had clocked 60 knot gusts.  We were happy to once again be on our way.

Sail Ionian charter base getting blasted with high winds

We had a wonderful sail to the island of Ithaca, anchoring in Ormos Pera Pigadi.   This is a tight little bay with a  number of boats, but we found a nice spot near a beach and stern tied to the shore (anchoring the front of the boat and tying 2 lines to big rocks on the shore from each back corner of the boat). 

We love flying our largest sail – our gennaker. She is a bit of a beast to furl up and put away though.
When we are in tight anchorages we take lines to shore to limit how room we need.
Zoe all snugged up with a private beach near by
Fourth of July BBQ, Greece Style

Ithaca is an island steeped in mythological tales of Odysseus from Homer.  After a little beach exploration, our friend Emil discovered a trail leading to Arethousa Krini, a fresh water spring high on the slope of a steep cliff.  Of course we had to explore it!  We headed into the beach to start the hike up the steep cliffs.  As has been our experience, there was a lot of bushwhacking involved (and let’s not skip the very narrow sections of trail along a sheer drop off to certain death….yes, that is the way my mind works….but it is true).  When I say the trail was basically a goat path, it’s no lie.  The truth was soon revealed as we stumbled upon several goats.  They quickly scampered up the sheer rock face of the cliff to avoid our presence.  To say they are impressive climbers in an understatement.  We made it up to the cliff face and found a small opening into the cliff that dropped deep into the rock.  There were two very old buckets outside the hole, but after lowering one in, we discovered the well was dry (at least for now).

In the footsteps of Homer’s epics
Robyn looking back at Zoe far below the trail.
Found it! Arethousa Springs
Checking if the legendary waters are there. They weren’t….but it is the dry season
This trail was steep and seldom used so slippery and loose. But amazing views!

According to Homer, Arethousa Krini was a source of fresh water at the time of Ulysses’ reign.  The story says that Korax, who lived on Ithaca, fell off the cliff to his death while hunting.  His mother, Arethousa, was said to have hung herself out of grief next to the spring.  The spring was then named after her, and the steep rock was named after her son, Korakos Petra, which means Crow’s Rock.  We marveled at the views and chatted with the goats (Emil speaks fluent goat, and they happily bleated back to him).  It was time to head back down to the boat and cool off with a swim.  As usual, we were hiking in the heat of the day.

These goats love their hillsides steep
Amazing turquoise clear waters of Greece

Soon we were on our way to the island of Zakinthos (one of our favorites).  Before we got underway, we noticed that 2 of the 3 pontoons on the dinghy were very low on air.  It was very apparent that we had a serious leak.  We spend the next hour pumping up the dinghy and spraying it down with soapy water in the hopes of finding and patching the leak.  We could not find a leak anywhere.  By the time we reached our first stop, Agios Nikolaos, our dinghy was once again flat.  Now this, was a big problem.  Since we are strictly in anchorages, this is the only means we have for venturing off the boat.  It was very evident that this was not just a leak.  We were tied up to a mooring ball by one of the local tavernas (you get the ball free if you eat at their restaurant) and the marinero was nice enough to give us a ride to and from the restaurant.  This was one of my least favorite spots given how tight we were to all the other boats tied up as well.  I will say that the taverna, La Storia, was fantastic!

Pulling up a mooring line from a local taverna on Zakinthos (in Agios Nikolaos)
Our dinghy suffered a serious seam breach. It’s like the family car – life is more difficult without one. The dinghy is quite old so we decided to replace it.

At this point, we have determined that it’s time to get a new dinghy.  Dan began researching, but our choices were a bit limited because of the summer season rush.  He was not able to acquire his “dream dinghy,” but he found one in stock that he felt really good about, and it would arrive in Cleopatra marina in the next few days.  Perfect!  We had to return to the marina anyway to pick up our newest guest.

We spent two blissful days anchored in the bay at Spartia on the island of Cephalonia.  Here we had beautiful sandstone cliffs, crystal waters and the occasional sea turtle.  Unfortunately, we were completely boat bound.

The dramatic cliff walls of southern Cephalonia

As we continued our way north, we were greeted on two different occasions by pods of dolphins jumping and spinning in the air.  We spent one night in Vassiliki bay before moving on to the island of Kastos.  On our way, we encountered two big schools of tuna jumping out of the water.  We quickly threw out a line and immediately hooked a big one….but we lost him….and our awesome squid lure 🙁

Tuna!!!
I had it on my hook for a minute than lost it!!!

We anchored in a tiny bay on Kastos with a windmill bar up on the hill.  That evening we took the kayak and SUP into a small rocky cove and climbed the hill to Milos bar for a great evening and amazing views.

View of Zoe from the windmill, behind the first boat in the bay
No dinghy meant we had to SUP and kayak to shore
This was actually kind of a fun way to roll up to shore!
Amazing views from the windmill bar
View from Kastos Island towards the mainland

It was time for our new dinghy to arrive, so we made our way back through the swing bridge and up to the marina.  Since we were there a day early for our next guest, we decided to do some more land explorations.  We loaded into the car and drove an hour up into the mountains to Acheron Springs.  This river winds through a narrow canyon and was believed to serve as the gates to Hades (the underworld). The myth says that you pay Charon to ferry the souls of the dead up the river to the entrance of the underworld.  At one point, I discovered a big, red cross painted on the rocks above one of the springs.  Someone might be a little spooked by the mythology surrounding the Gates of Hades.

The hike starts out along a picturesque path through a variety of vegetation as it follows a rapidly flowing river.  Soon you exit the trail, and now the fun really begins.  You spend most of your time trekking through the river, sometimes against very strong currents, surrounded by steep canyon walls.  The water is extremely cold, but eventually you get used to it (because you have become numb).  There are several areas where the water bubbles up from the springs deep inside the canyon, and other areas where you can hear the roaring of the water behind the canyon walls.  It creates a very eerie experience.  The trek is 11.5 km, but we have not made it that far as of yet.  As you get further up, there is some swimming involved in this very cold water.  It is one of the most stunning hikes we have done in Greece, and definitely one of our all time favorites.  One of these days, we will do the entire hike.

Dramatic canyon walls of Acheron Springs
Wading knee deep through the ice cold water
The “Gates of Hades” – mythological portal to the Underworld of Hades
Someone spray painted a cross near the entrance to Hades – maybe a bit spooked?
It gets a bit deeper as you go further in the canyon
This is one our favorite hikes in Greece!


After re-provisioning the boat, we picked up our newest guest, Tim.  When Dan’s job moved to Dallas, the three guys lived together for 5 years.  I joined them all for one year of adventures in Dallas.  The three musketeers were happy to be reunited, and we set sail the next day.  We took the guys to a few of our favorite hangouts.  In Two Rock Bay, Emil entertained us with more of his acrobatic antics off the boat, and Dan decided he needed to race his new dinghy against our new friends from “Sailbattical.”    He was beaten quite thoroughly, but I should mention that our friend has a 20hp motor and ours is a measly 8hp.  It’s safe to say that Dan now has motor envy 🙂  We also spent a great night in Lakka Bay riding out another big blow and then headed to Corfu town the following day.  We are spending two nights here since Tim leaves today, and Emil leaves tomorrow (plus we had to get them in for Covid tests before their flights).  We have reached our northern most island for adventure before we head to Montenegro in about a week.  Right now we are watching for a weather window that might provide us with a southern wind (not very common here) so that we can sail our way north.

Local produce from a roadside market
This was the second dock cart full as we prepared for a few more weeks
New dinghy finally arrived! Ok it was only a day late but so happy to see it!
Making her ours. T-T Zoe means “Tender to Zoe” and allows the dinghy to be registered as part of the boat and not need it’s own papers.
Cliffside taverna view of Zoe in Two Rock Bay, Greek mainland
The “Two Rocks” that gave the bay it’s name and sit at the entrance
Dinghy exploration of the bay
Stern tying in Lakka Bay, Paxos
We set an anchor ball when in very tight and shallow anchorages as boats tend to get very close to one another. It’s easy to foul anchors and ruin your day.
When stern tying it’s easier to just swim our anchor bridle down to the anchor chain.
It’s a tradition on Zoe to toast a beer after a tricky anchor set. We call them “Anchor Beers”
We ran into the crew of “Sabbatical” in Lakka Town.
Found a nice taverna in Lakka Town
Tim took a turn cooking his octopus in the wood fired oven
We moved from Lakka Bay on the island of Panos to Corfu Town on the Island of Corfu. Zoe is the catamaran with the purple underwater lights to the right of the Old Fortress
After all of this sailing we were feeling a little like Captain Morgan (from the Rum bottle)
Three roommates back together again for a Greek reunion
Another island, another taverna. South side of Ormos Garitsas amongst the locals and far from cruise ship crowds in the nearby old town.
We love the local Corfu pilsner
Zoe is off Dan’s left shoulder

Status update:

My finger is no longer black and blue, but I still have swelling, pain and limited mobility….but there is progress.  I never realized how much strength the middle finger provides for the use of you hand!

We are down to 1 SUP since mine blew up in the heat 🙁  I am very sad as this was my first and very favorite SUP.

We are down one old, crappy, ugly dinghy.  However, we are up one beautiful and more stable brand new dinghy!

One final sombering note:  As I was on deck this morning finishing up this blog entry, our boat neighbor appeared to be struggling to get his boat underway.  Because he anchored very close to the castle wall, he had deployed a stern anchor which seemed to be stuck.  It looked like someone was in the water watching as he maneuvered the boat.  Eventually he got free and moved on.  When he motored away, what I thought was his anchor spotter was still in the water.  By now, all four of us were on deck trying to figure out what exactly was floating in the water.  It looked like it could be a rock, but the coloring was all wrong, and none of us recalled seeing a rock in that area.  It wasn’t long before we determined that it was not a rock but a floating body.  Needless to say, we were all horrified and called the police.  It was over an hour, and two different authorities came by to verify the scene while the body washed around at the wall of the fortress.  Eventually the Coast Guard came and placed him in a body bag.  To make matters even worse, a few hours later, we witnessed a woman plunge to her death over the fortress wall.  At this time we don’t know whether she fell or jumped, but it was a gruesome scene that left us all traumatized.  Needless to say, it has been a very sombering day for us all.

A news article from the tragic day. We were the “nearby boat” they are referring too
The next tragedy was a woman falling from a high fortress wall to her death, not far from the first fatality and just a few hours later.

Stay safe out there!

It’s Not All Sunshine and Sundowners

It was 1:00 a.m. and Emil and I were sitting on anchor watch.  He was at the helm outside, and I was at the nav station inside.  Why were we on anchor watch, you might be wondering?  Boy, do I have a story for you!

We had come into Vlicho bay (a well known hurricane hole) because some of the forecasts were showing some rather blowy conditions Friday and Saturday.  Since we love the nearby towns on this island, we enjoy spending some time on land exploring.  Oops, I’m getting a little ahead of myself, so let me back up a bit.

We successfully launched on June 23rd, as planned.  We spent two days in the water at our marina finishing up some work on the boat before getting underway. 

2021 Sailing season launch!!

We decided to head north to “Two Rock Bay” to do a shakedown of the boat without being too far from the marina.  We fell in love with this bay last year due to the awesome snorkeling and cool caves to explore.  Since boat traffic still seemed a bit light this year, we were able to find an ideal spot with very few boats around.  We enjoyed a lot of swimming, floating and snorkeling while the area was under an extreme heat advisory.  A Swiss boat anchored behind us and before we knew it a young couple was headed to our boat in their dinghy.  It turned out that they had connected with a young German couple that we had met two years ago in Montenegro.  Since we all pretty much follow each other via Facebook and/or blogs, the couple we had met knew that the four of us were in the same bay and had told them to keep and eye out for us and come say hello.  It turns out our new friends were on a 6 month sabbatical to sail the Med.  We spent the next few days hanging out in the water and had a great evening at the bar at the top of the anchorage.  Sailing is a very social community and some of our greatest times are the many friends we make along the way from all over the world.  Hopefully, we will cross paths with them again soon in our adventures around the Med.

Our new friends from “Sailbattical”
They took this picture of Zoe from their boat in Two Rock Bay

After picking up our friend Emil from the airport, we joined some Kiwi friends we met last year for some beers, stories and laughs.  It was a great night and midnight came before we knew it.  The next morning, we headed south through the swing bridge to another favorite bay, Ormos Varko.  Our luck continued and the bay was wide open, so we set our anchor for a few days of fun.  The boys found some new adventures by creating a rope swing off the mast. The bay did not stay quiet for long as more and more boats streamed in. 

Our first guest of the 2021 season…Emil!
Let the fun begin!

After a few days, it was time to make our way to our hidey hole for the upcoming winds.  The morning was cloudy with a few sprinkles of rain and a pretty brisk breeze already happening.  Of course, this was nowhere in any forecasts.  As I raised the anchor up, the shackle that attaches that anchor to the chain firmly wedged itself in the anchor roller.  I tried to let it back down a bit to free it up, but it was firmly wedged.  I was getting ready to grab onto it to try and help it when I realized that I had a lot of extra anchor chain laying on the deck by the windlass.  I knew that once that 70 pound anchor let loose, all the chain was going to add to the downward momentum…..a very dangerous situation for any body part in it’s path.  Unfortunately, there was just enough play in the chain that when I freed the shackle the anchor slammed down on my middle finger.  The pain was excruciating!  It immediately began to swell and turn black 🙁  I had no idea if it was broken since it hit between the first and second knuckle.  I immediately began to ice it while continuing to help get us underway.

Anchoring a 36 thousand pound boat can be difficult sometimes
We have a first aid kit onboard that impressed the doctor

As I mentioned before, we were headed to a bay to wait out the high winds so this would be a good place to see a doctor.  I splinted my finger until we could get in to see someone.  Since we needed to make water, we spent an extra hour sailing to our destination, but eventually we got in and settled.  We all hopped in the dinghy and headed to Nidri town to visit the clinic.  I must’ve done a good job on my self splinting since the nurse asked me if I had been to the pharmacy to have it done before arriving.  Needless to say, they did not like the look of it and told me I would need to go to the main town of Lefkada to see a radiologist who would be waiting for me.  Now that’s service!  The downside was that this town was about 20 minutes away which meant a 40 euro cab ride (round trip) or a 40 euro rental car.  We opted for the rental car since we had planned to do some sightseeing anyway.  In the end, it turned out that there was no break (woo hoo).  In the meantime, I have to keep it splinted which is not working well for life on a boat 🙁

Tourist doctor in the resort town of Nydri
Sign says “Radiologist”
Doctor’s office….not a great stop!

The next day, we rented a car again to run around the island and revisit some of our favorite places.  We are starting to become regulars at some of these places as we  bring guests every time we are here.  Not to mention, it gave us the opportunity to stock up on our favorite olive products and large amounts of wine (hey, we are here for 4 more months…..no judgement!)

Hiking the wonderful gorge to Dimosari waterfall
Great waterfall views
Visiting our favorite olive museum
Tasting some of the local treats
Visiting a local winery to reload on stores for Zoe
Yamas! (Greek for cheers!)
Nydri town
Dinghy delivery of lots of wine and beer..ready for our summer guests!

We returned to the boat in the late afternoon in order to be on board for the afternoon winds.  Around 7:30 p.m. we decided conditions were good to head into the town of Nidri to one of my favorite beachside restaurants for some lamb kleftiko.  They gave us an amazing table at the water’s edge, and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner (and I got a night off cooking!)  After dinner, we strolled the heart of town where it was bustling with Friday night activity.  At about 9:30, we decided we were ready to head back to the boat.  As we pulled into the parking lot near where we left our dinghy, we were horrified to see it bashing on the stone dock.  The wind was shrieking, spraying off of the two foot whitecaps rolling across the bay.  This was bad….really, really bad.  We had only been a 10 minute drive away and it was night and day between the two waterfronts.  We scrambled to get into the dinghy while keeping it off the wall and potentially popping.  In the meantime, we were being doused with water.  It only went downhill from there.  The 1/2 mile ride back to the boat was terrifying as waves crashed over our little dinghy dousing us in smelly, bay water.  I was genuinely terrified that we might capsize in the waves or take on too much water.  Obviously, we made it back and got everything and everyone secured on Zoe.  We also fired up the engines and made preparations in the event our anchor broke free in these 30 knot gusts (20-25 knots sustained).

It was a restless night at anchor as the windstorm blew for hours on end

So, that brings us to where this story began. Dan and Emil had been up on deck monitoring the weather and the boats around us. Dan came below deck around midnight to get some sleep while Emil stayed up at the helm watching things. I came up and joined him in keeping an eye on things in case we needed to fire up the engines and get moving. At about 1:30 a.m. the gusts had tamped down to something a little less frightening, and sustained winds were a little bit calmer. We decided it was probably ok to head down and get some sleep. Needless to say, I did not sleep and was up again at 4:30 a.m when the gusts started up for another round. Unfortunately, it was dark and terrifying as all this was transpiring, so I have no pictures or video to share. However, the fun hit again the following day! Luckily (if you want to call it that), we were onboard, and it was during daylight hours. The winds were even nastier, leaving us with a pit in our stomach for about 9 hours. This time our gusts were over 35 knots and unrelenting. We were fortunate that things settled down to a less frightening blow by about 10:30 that night. Let’s just say it was a VERY long day and evening. I did manage to capture some video footage, but it does not do the ferocity of the wind any justice. Fingers crossed that fair weather lies ahead!

Spindrift…when the wind blows so hard (40 knots plus) the water goes airborne