Category: Greece

We are back to Zoe once again after a fun filled “off season.”  We did some incredible hikes with new friends, hit the Christmas markets in 3 European countries (reconnecting with some old friends), spent a week exploring the beauty of Japan, and spent time with friends in Vancouver, Canada on their beautiful boat.  If all that wasn’t enough, we also learned that we have 3 new grand-babies and a grand-niece all arriving between June and September.  While I can’t tell you how beyond excited we are, the writing on the wall has now become very clear.  Spending 3-6 months living in the Med. is no longer in the cards for us, and we have made the very heartbreaking decision to sell Zoe. With that in mind, we decided to come back to Zoe much earlier than we ever have to test out spring sailing.

We arrived in Rome on March 26th and got checked into our Airbnb  before heading to the yard where Zoe spent her winter.  It is always a very sad moment to see just how dirty she has gotten sitting on land for 6 months.  The amount of work ahead of us always feels a bit overwhelming.  We spent the next week getting Zoe cleaned up and put back together for living, sailing and selling.  When we got a break in the weather, we got her launched and tied up to the yard’s wall on the Tiber River.  At least now, we could move on board.  We quickly discovered that March and April are quite windy, rainy and COLD.  We made the most of being stranded in the Rome area by exploring the local town of Ostia, frequently walking the Lungomare along the water, and going to explore Ostia Antica.  Ostia Antica is an ancient Roman city and port of Rome on the Tiber River.  These ancient ruins are very well preserved and provide a fascinating glimpse into life in Ancient Rome.  Among the ruins, you can also see some very well preserved mosaics and frescoes.  We have seen many archeological sites in numerous countries, and Ostia Antica is definitely one of the best.  We also had the pleasure of meeting another American couple with a catamaran in the same yard and quickly became friends.

As I said, spring has been very cold and wet, so we have used our heater more during this time than we have in all the years of owning Zoe.  The good news is it worked amazing.  The bad news is we spent almost 3 weeks tied to the wall because we could not catch a break in the weather to head south.  We were starting to go stir crazy, so we decided to get off the boat and head inland for some adventure.  Our next adventure was the hilltop town of Tivoli.  After a 1 1/2 hour drive, we hoofed it up the hill and through the narrow alleyways to our cute little apartment in the heart of the town.  We spent the next 2 days wandering the narrow streets and following a trail system down to Hadrian’s Villa.  This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the ruins and archaeological remains of a villa built around 120 AD by emperor Hadrian.  The grounds cover more than a square kilometer which is larger than the city of Pompeii.  The site is considered the most imposing and complex Roman villa known and much of it is still unexcavated.  The following day we visited another UNESCO World Heritage Site called Villa d’Este.  This was a 16th century villa famous for its terraced hillside garden.  Each room inside the villa contained ornately painted walls and incredible sculpted ceilings.  The grounds were spectacular with rich and exotic plants, statues, and an endless number of fountains and water features.  You could definitely while away hours wandering the grounds.

We returned to Zoe after our relaxing adventure and reconnected with our American friends.  We were more than ready to get underway, but the nasty winds we had escaped from on our road trip meant the seas outside the river were running 6-8 feet (almost 3 meters).  It would take a couple more days for the seas to die down, and we would finally be on our way!

It was finally time to go.  We had spent almost a month trapped in the town of Ostia.  It took us over 30 minutes to free our lines from the dock due to the strain from the very strong winds.  Our lines had literally worn deep grooves into the wood poles they were tied too.  At one point, we were afraid we might just have to cut them and leave them behind.  Dan eventually got them worked free and off we went.  Our plan was about a 5 hour sail south to the town of Anzio, but the direction of the winds was not quite what was forecasted which meant the anchorage would not be a great stop for us.  We quickly made the decision to get to the island of Ponza.  We had anchored there before and knew the anchorage was a wide open area of sand and well protected.  However, this did mean our first sail would go from 5 hours to 11 hours and a nighttime arrival.  Eesh…..talk about baptism by fire.  Of course the wind and seas were higher than forecasted, but the seas were behind us and the wind was a good direction, so we had a great sail for the majority of our journey.  Things got a little hairy when darkness fell and we were passing between the two islands.  All of a sudden, we were playing frogger with fish traps in the dark…..Dan driving and me perched high on the helm telling him which way to steer (or put the engines in neutral) to avoid the traps that did not become visible until you were right on top of them.  Before long we rounded the end of Ponza, and the wind came howling down the hillside at 20+ knots.  Then came the fun of dropping the anchor in the pitch black of night and windy conditions.  Lucky for us, there were only 2 other boats in the entire anchorage.  Gotta love early season.

We spent 3 days on the island enjoying some clifftop hikes and wandering the cute little town.  We were watching another weather system coming in and decided to head back to the mainland and into a marina in a town called Gaeta.  We had read lots of great things about the area and were excited to explore the town.  We tried the local specialty known as Tiella.  It is basically a stuffed pizza (top and bottom crust), served lukewarm, and the fillings are not remotely related to the pizza we know.  The most popular one was the one filled with octopus (yes, we tried it).  We also tried some other odd ones like salted cod.  In the end, we both decided we did not care for Tiella.  Our first adventure in Gaeta had us walking to an amazing grotto cut in the cliffs.  From there, we went down into the stone cliffs to a small, old chapel.  In the smooth stone of the wall coming down the stairs was a deep handprint left by a pirate back in the day.  We came out of the chapel to an incredible viewpoint that surrounded the dome of the small chapel.  We continued on our trek through wooded areas that took us to ancient weapons bunkers, what looked like the remains of castle walls and alleyways, and up to the high point where a mausoleum stood.  Unfortunately, it was being restored so we were not able to go inside.  We continued our way down a country road which eventually spit us out back in town overlooking a castle and a beautiful cathedral.  We had such a great time (and it was such a beautiful hike), we decided to do it again the next day but in reverse direction.  We quickly discovered that our exploration the day before had been brilliant.  It was rainy and a Friday, so there were very few people around.  When we went the next day, the trails were packed, and there were huge lines to get into all the sights that we had to ourselves the day before….yikes.  On our last night in Gaeta, we left the marina and anchored in the bay under the castle and cathedral.  It was a spectacular view.

We sadly said goodbye to Gaeta and made our way to the island of Ischia.  We were looking forward to meeting up with our friends once again.  Unfortunately, there was no sailing this time.  It was 6 1/2 hours of motoring.  We struggled to find a good spot to anchor due to rocks, restricted areas, and sea grass.  Our first night, we unknowingly anchored on rock.  Since we were renting scooters the next day with our friends, we decided to take a look at our anchor with the dinghy to make sure it was well set before leaving.  That’s how we discovered our anchor lying on a rock….crap!  We took the dinghy around the anchorage looking for patches of sand and finally settling on a small patch that we found.  We pulled up the anchor, had a moment of worry when it refused to come up, but adjusted the position of the boat and up it came.  We headed to the spot we had chosen, dropped the anchor, made sure she was well dug in, and then checked it with the dinghy.  It was perfect.  We picked up our friends from their boat and headed to town to get some scooters.  Off we headed to explore the island of Ischia.  We stopped in several cute little towns as we circumnavigated the island.  We then explored Giardini la Mortella, a magnificent privately owned botanical garden on the island.  The garden was terraced along the side of the hill and has around 3000 different species of exotic plants and flowers.  Parts of the gardens were surrounded by ponds, greenhouses, streams and fountains.  In the end, we spent 7 hours cruising and exploring the island.

On our last day in Ischia, we climbed up the hill to explore the Aragon Castle.  We started in the torture and weapons room.  Once again, we were stunned by the horrific ways humans come up with to torture others.  We wandered into the various rooms and hallways taking in the sights.  We wandered into one room that housed what looked like a bunch of stone toilets all in a row.  They were high backed with a cross carved into the stone, stone armrests, and what looked like wax residue from candles.  Boy, were we way off!  Turns out it was a nuns’ cementary (I won’t mention the sign outside the door said “cimitario”).  It gets worse.  Those stone structures were not toilets.  They were called draining seats!  They would take the lifeless bodies of the nuns and put them on the seats.  Their flesh slowly decomposed and then the fluids would be gathered and placed in special vases.  Their dried up skeletons would then be heaped up in a special place.  This was done because they saw the body as useless other than housing the spirit.  To make matters worse, every day the nuns would congregate in prayer at this site.  They would spend several hours in prayer and meditation in this unhealthy environment and often fall victim to horrible and deadly diseases.  The castle grounds also housed numerous small churches and cathedrals, a prison, a convent, wine cellars, and a crypt.  The crypt contained beautiful artwork and frescoes (but it was kind of stinky).  I really enjoyed Ischia quite a bit.

After 4 days in Ischia, we headed to the island of Procida (a short 45 minute hop from Ischia).  It was a nice big anchorage with lots of sand, so we picked our spot and got settled in.  Procida was another cute little town, but we found it very difficult to find a place to park our dinghy which made going to town less than desirable.  We did sneak it into a spot among the fishing boats and explored the area on foot.  The next day was Labor Day for Europe which meant that morning, boat after boat came screaming into the anchorage.  Big power boats roared in and out making the whole anchorage a churning mess of swell.  By the afternoon, there were probably 100 boats anchored in the bay having a party.  The wind had also switched direction, so a continuous swell was coming into the bay as well.  Luckily most of the boats left in the evening leaving just 4 of us anchored in the bay for the night.  The wind and swell continued to grow, and we decided we had enough.  The next morning we lifted anchor and headed to the mainland where we anchored in a small bay outside of Naples.  We will be heading in to a marina in a couple of days to do a reset and deep clean of the boat to be ready to continue our journey south.  Stay tuned as we resume our adventure down the Amalfi Coast next week!

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!  

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).

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.

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!

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)!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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!

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

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???

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.

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.

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!

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.  

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!

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.

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!  

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!

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.

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.

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!).

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.

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).

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.

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. 

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.

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 🙁

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.

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!

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.  

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!

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.

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). 

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).

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.

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!

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.

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 🙁

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stay safe out there!

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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 🙁

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!)

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).

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!