The big leap to Crete

A nice early start. The weather fine and an expected northerly to blow us down. It was westerly when we cast off at 10:45 on the 26th July so a choice had to be made....

Looking at the chart, a northerly would mean sailing around the east (right) side of that island you see half way down so that it didn't disrupt the wind in our sails. But it was blowing westerly which meant sailing down the west (left) side of the island for the same reason??

At the risk of boring you, here is the extract from the log to give you an idea of why we call it the Motorterranean...





10:55 Main and headsail up in 6-10k northerly assisting the motors
11:05 Headsail and main down. Wind on the nose. Now southerly
12:30 Mainsail up in 10k northerly
13:10 Gennaker up in rising northerly
14:10 All sails down in 5k up the clacker
14:40 Gennaker up in 4-5k northerly
15:10 Gennaker down in nil wind
16:50 Anchored in Gramvousa Lagoon - Crete.

I guess we should be pleased to got there safely by whatever means, but this boat loves the wind and there is no better feeling than having all the canvass up, motors silent and 8 knots SOG on the log.

Gramvousa Lagoon at the very north eastern tip of Crete was a notorious pirate hangout back in the day. It is remote. It has direct access to anything travelling to and from the Orient and it is safe anchorage in any wind. They were flushed out and destroyed by an Anglo-French force in the late 1800's. Didn't think the French and the English got along back then? or now for that matter!

Ok history Buffs! Explain this on to me. This place is remote, it is not arable. At the top of this 900ft rock is a substantial fort that would have taken a long time to build..... With me so far?

How, with no land based transport. No ability to grow food. No way of raising livestock and no permanent fresh water supply did they house, feed and direct all these artisans to get this thing built??




We are anchored in the northern bay here, protected from all northerly winds, close to a wreck which was carrying cement when it foundered... The petrified bags remain it its hull.

There is an abundance of Aloe Vera, or to me it was Sisal used back in those days for making everything from fishing line to rope.

I learned this on a survival course back in Africa a long time ago and thought it would make a good school project for the kids.

First, carefully cut a 'leaf' of the plant at the base avoiding the thorns along either side with a lethal mother at the point.

Lay it on a smooth rock and bash the flesh away with another smooth rock.








Then tease out the individual strands and wash in sea water.
Done carefully thousands of strands can be harvested from a single leaf.



Role three at a time on the thigh to make fishing line.

Then role three of those together to make string and so on until you have rope or whatever you like

Here, William and Summer are holding the weight of half a liter of wine with a 9 strand string.... or three three strand strings

School over for the day and we still haven't figured out how they got that fort built?

Time for a swim in the most beautifully clear water once again.

I had woken to and change in the wind direction overnight and whilst we'd turned though 180 degrees, which I found very disorientating on a moonless night it eventually became clear that we hadn't really moved? The wind was very gentle, which kind of explained it.

A quick check of the anchor while we swam found that the chain had caught on a rock ledge at the boat end and this had literally prevented us from being blown 'gently' onto the rocks! A cheap lesson..

Sal and I took the dingy for a run across the lagoon to the southern end. This is the safe anchorage in a southerly. There were primitive facilities provided by the council here. The lagoon is a place to vacate by 10ish or be overrun by day tripper ferries bringing tourists by the hundreds....on something touted as... "A Pirate Adventure!"

At 11:00am we weighed anchor and motored in nil wind to Chiania.

Bye bye to the Peloponisos

The wind that kept is all on our toes through the night held the promise of an exciting sail south to Kythera. It was a booming North Westerly which meant we'd have it on the starboard quarter. Just like we like it, but it had completely died by the time we cast off and weighed anchor at 10:45am on the 26th July.

Kythera has for centuries been used by sea fairers as a stepping stone to Crete and the Orient. The harbour at Kythera is protected in all but a Southerly but surges are present in all wind directions. The swell, such that it is, seems to come in and rock the boats whatever the wind.






Piero, our Italian mate had caught two Tunas in two voyages, so questions as to the set up and lure just had to be asked. We were carrying some pretty good gear but had had no luck. So I upgraded our line to 80k braid, put more weight on the line to take the lure deeper, put a nice long steel trace in case of sharp teeth and a large soft plastic lure similar to the one Piero was using.

Two hours into the voyage, thankfully under motor, we heard that sound that is music to the ears of all fishermen.. The screech of the reel ratchet singing of something large and very tasty at the other end of the line....

Slapped her into neutral, ran down to the rod holder, this fish running so fast I feared it'd take all the line. Grabbed the rod from the holder, tightened the ratchet and settled as always into the paranoiac fear of losing this little beauty.

All on board now riveted to the tight line disappearing into the deep blue.

 It took and age before we had our first glimpse of our first fish. So exciting! Sally reeling off the various dishes she would prepare as soon as we identified the tuna.

We didn't get the weight but you get the picture! (that's the fish I'm talking about...)

The first dish, within minutes of dissection. Sushimi with Soy and Miso dip.




Well done Piero. I had come to this part of the world believing that everything worth anything had been fished out centuries ago. Nothing like this to restore ones faith.


So the first part of the voyage to Crete that we felt we may have needed extra crew to cope with the whims of Poseidon was as sedate as it gets. Note the seas state behind me in the shot above... it would have been ideal for wake boarding!

At 5:25pm we moored alongside the dock in Kapsali harbour, southern Kythera.

Alongside with power and water in the nicest of harbours, it doesn't get better than that.... or does it.

Fresh caught BBQ Tuna. Oh yeah!

For the first time we pulled out the electric BBQ.

I had been critical of this choice of appliance by the previous owner, I mean really, electric, not gas??
I take it all back Ken, once on town power, this was perfect. Light, easy to clean, very compact, non- stick, easy to clean and an even heat across the plate. Hey? Hey? how often do you get that?

Caramalised lemons, fresh salad...Yummmmmmm!

We really did intend to spend just the one night here, but it was just too nice. The beach in town was well serviced if you get my drift? The water exquisite, the kids in their element and a Mexican restaurant... Not usually that exciting, but you know.... a change. And a huge mistake! Warning....Greeks do not do Mexican!

So we had decided to stay a couple of days and on the recommendation of a Dutch couple in Monemvasia we hired a car. There were some 'spectacular' waterfalls a reasonable drive away, some caves and beaches and off we went.

Waterfall my arse! Stagnant pools with a trickle that could be heard but not seen. Lunch under a huge Oak full of unseen cicadas screeching so loudly that conversation was impossible, then onto the caves...

Interesting. Difficult to get to but worthwhile. Large. Larger than anything we've seen in a while. In fact, large enough to accommodate a small church. Stalactites and mights and some impressive pillars millenniums in the making.

This made up for a rather disappointing day hey kids?... The day was my idea I know. OK my fault, sorry.... Yep, beach would have been better.. OK shut up now!

And so, before the big leap to Corfu we enjoyed the last of our Tuna....The Bondi Trat's signature dish.

"Angel hair pasta with raw tuna, rocket, parmesan and chilli oil." (never tried this dish at the Trat?... do yourself a favour with a chilled Rose').

I took that description straight off their web site but Sal did have to improvise a little as she always does. The result was, it has to be said, an improvement.

Must must see Monemvasia

I had a request from Terry McGrath to try and find a way to show the routes traveled on a map. This is a screen shot out of Navionics, an amazing IPad App with full GPS and navigation capabilities rivaling the thousands of dollars worth of navigation equipment installed on the boat. Navionics costs $79.00 a year, is a great back up system, it shows the distance of each voyage and solves the problem for Terry and anyone else interested....


So, if you come to Greece, you put Monemvasia on your itinerary. Got that!

A lesson for all Greek towns with a fort or castle....ie; most Greek towns. Repopulate the fort, rebuild what was there the way it was originally built (include mod cons) and live in it. Lots of people will come and spend lots of money and your town will flourish.

Rounding the final cape of the Peloponnese, these waters can be treacherous, but for us, they were sedate. It was a race with four other yachts and we knew that berthing was restricted at Monemvasia so I added another 500rpm and away we went.

This proved to be a good move, there was only one place to put a Catamaran and if even one of those yachts had preceded us, we'd have had to anchor and the way the winds eventuated, that would have been very uncomfortable if not untenable.

Known as the Gibraltar of the eastern Med, this is the approach to Monemvasia. The old town within the fort wall in on the 'island' on the right, the new town and the marina is on the mainland to the left.

Doing it very little justice with an IPhone, you can make out the walls containing the old town.

We managed a great spot on the wharf, water supplied if you had a very long hose. Alistair and Vivian, who turned up later and had to anchor for the first night introduced us to previously befriended Italians Piero and Ketty who had parked four boats away and closer to the tap. Once we joined up everybody's hoses, there was water available to all boats on the wharf.

Not a bad way to get to meet everybody afloat.


Piero and Ketty had two girls roughly the same age as Summer and William, so with not a word of each other's language spoken, the kids were never-the-less sorted. Piero had also caught a couple of very nice Tuna but more on that later...







Azura, in the plaster cast above had broken her arm mucking around on her bed... great way to scotch a good holiday.

No swimming in 40 degree heat, and especially when you an actually swim with the huge Loggerhead Turtles right off the boat.

This is the entrance to the walled old town.

On entering it feels as if everything is as it was.. No cars, scooter or bikes permitted. Everything is carried in on barrows. Restaurant and shop resupply, building materials, luggage, everything...

If you've ever felt that dealing with councils whilst trying to get planning permission or building approvals was a mission, spare a thought for these guys. Authenticity is imperative and permission to do anything takes time but the results are impressive at any and every angle. The camera simply cannot impart what it is to be here.

The street cobbling is artistic, authentic and tasteful. All the building materials are local and, like any old suburb, there are still many places still to be renovated or restored. The restoration of the old town apparently only started in the late 1960's

Bars, restaurants, shops, grocery stores, churches, wine bars, roof top bars and the most exquisitely quaint hotels.

Behind the old town there is a zig zag pathway which climbs the gorge to the ramparts protecting the town from the top of the ridge.

Sal and I spent the evening in the old town having been relieved of the kids by Jack and Stina. At 1:00am we decided it was all too hard to get back to the boat so we inquired at a 'reception' we found open....Everything in Greece is open at 1:00am.

Yes, they had a room with balcony and seeing it was 1:00am, we could have it for 60Euro. We accepted and were escorted some way through the labyrinth to the most beautiful hotel room we had ever seen.
This is the view from the balcony in the morning with the town square below.

 .

And the roof tops....

Unfortunately, this room was booked, but we so enjoyed the stay that we booked another room for a following night. It was equally quaint and well appointed and was to include the kids. By the time the evening came around, the winds had got to the point where it would have been foolish not to be with the boat. The angle it was blowing meant that if only one yacht dragged its anchor there would have been a domino effect and a chaotic night for all.

The shops. This one being a wine shop, (strangely enough) selling local wines from the Peloponnese and all manner of irresistibly packaged goodies to tempt.

Something we didn't manage to photograph due to the fading light and the size of the spectacle was the evenings entertainment in the harbour...

Once again we fluked the biggest evening on the calendar.... We got a reenactment of the navel battle that finally rid the town of the Turks after over 100 years of brutal occupation.

Monemvasia was liberated by the Greeks on July 23rd 1821. We just happened to be there on July the 23rd and we had a grand stand view from the helm of our boat of the reenactment culminating in the torching of a 'Galleon' purpose built for the occasion.


.





One of Greece's most famous singers then entertained the huge crowd until 1:00am.

This is the swimming area of the old town. Easy access to the water at the far end and fresh water shower at this end. A wide variety of fish made the snorkeling more interesting than usual too.

This had been well worth the trip north before heading south for Crete So thanks to all those that encouraged us to go there, including my sister Carol-Ann. Great pick!

Frangos Bay - Elefonisos Island

Frangos Bay is at the southern end of Elefonisos island and is used, once again to break the journey around the eastern most  peninsular on the Peloponnese on the way to Monemvasia. 

This anchorage was recommended to us by those piss taking Kiwi's, Alistair and Vivian and it really is beautiful. Thanks guys. There are two bays separated by a slither of a sand bar reaching out to what would be an island called Ak Elena and Elena is large enough to afford protection from strong westerly winds.                                                                                                                   A little like Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays, the sand is pure white and the water is ridiculously clear. This is a shot of our anchor chain 6 meters down. You could clearly see the individual chain links.

The slither of sand separating the two bays, you can see the start of Ak Elena on the left. Surprisingly for the remoteness there were many day trippers who come from the town of Elefonisos on the northern end of the island. There are the ubiquitous thatched brollies and sun beds for hire and a taverna which closes late afternoon and is there only to serve the day trippers.

At first we thought... hmmm visual pollution! but it all soon melded in and added to a very relaxed ambiance.

The water being so inviting Jack, Summer and I took the opportunity to scrub, or more accurately, wipe the hulls. There was a small build up of an algae like covering that came away from the anti foul with nothing more than a sponge. The propellers were a slightly different story as they are brass and cannot be anti fouled so attracting pesky barnacles galore.

They required a heavy sand paper and some real elbow grease between surfacing for gulps of air through the snorkel.

The reward was almost one knot improvement in speed at 2000rpm...

Com 'Plitra' surprise!

Life seldom hands you what you expect. Plitra was a fine example.

Water right behind the boat which needed a good scrub down. The wharf is the town promenade and the Summer Amy was the rock star of the night. All the townsfolk were so very welcoming and friendly and although we had clearly taken a fisherman's parking spot on the wall, nobody seemed to mind.

It is a dusty little place, obviously not frequented by our ilk, but it was clean and tidy with reasonable provisions and it just happened to be getting ready for their biggest celebration of the year on the very night of our arrival. "No Jack, this is probably not in our honour...."

We still have no idea what they were celebrating but the town came alive and the way we were treated, it may as well have been.


The cars started to arrive quickly filling the soccer ground.... A rock strewn, dusty expanse, but it was the goal posts gave us the clue...

Chairs and tables were brought out, a stage erected and sound equipment tested "One Tsssooo One Tsssooo" a few too many times. The band encouragingly warmed up playing great rock (Greek music is a little like Greek food, it can get monotonous if there is nothing else...) but they moved on to Greek music that didn't stop until three in the morning. Amazing guitarist though, it has to be said.

The boat scrubbed and provisioned as we had planned to do in Yithion, we were now two days ahead of where we would have been had Yithion obliged.





I realise that you may be getting the impression that we were hurrying at this point? We were. Jack and Stina's holiday ends on the 30th July. There were still places we really wanted to get to on the Peloponnese before heading to Crete and we felt that we could do with the extra crew to make that often treacherous crossing.

So at 11:40 on Sunday the 20th we cast off, weighed anchor and made for the highly recommended anchorage in Frangos Bay on Elafonisos Island

Yithion

As we arrived at 4:15pm we could see the expansive mole which formed the seaward side of the quay. No masts behind the mole on the quay! Yes, plenty of room to park, the town looked good from here, power and water…..

We rounded the end of the mole and it became obvious as to why there were no masts to be seen. The entire length of the quay had been demolished for rebuilding and any available space on the town wall was now taken up by local fishing boats. 

It was now 4:45pm a huge storm brewing in the mountains behind Yithion and our confidence, swelled by the lack of yachts in the area and the sheer size of the harbour meant that we stupidly had no plan B!

Frantically referring to the ‘Book’ we found the uninviting but the only reachable safe-ish haven of Plitra two and a half hours away.

No choice but to set our course as the storm moved in….

At 6:45pm we motored into Plitra. There was a wall full of fishing boats but enough room for us to squeeze in if we could avoid snagging in the props any of the lines criss-crossing our proposed parking spot.

Comfortably in and made very welcome, we had outrun the storm and noted with some pleasure that if we had stayed in Yithion, we would have been inundated. 

Mani, Limeni Bay to Yithion via Porto Kayio

Yithion is a large town right up in the hilt between the two peninsulas. A place similar in size as Kalamatta with power water and important supplies, but described in the ‘Book’ as nicer than Kalamatta. 

Porto Kayio is a safe haven that breaks the 45 mile journey from Limeni to Yithion in half.

The sail to Porto Kayio involved rounding the bottom of the long peninsular, so two different directions in a 25 mile sail. SE to start in a 15knot SW wind on the starboard beam which heralded the Gennaker (big sail otherwise known as a ‘Screamer’ that extends from the bow to three quarters of the way to the stern). It is lightweight and beautiful when full and if sailing in the right direction will shade the entire boat.

Now the new name for the Mediterranean is the 'Motor'terranean because within 30 minutes the ‘screamer’ was back in the bag, motors on in nil wind….. again.

Difficult to capture on an IPhone but this is up the mast
between the Gennaker above and Main below

An hour later we rounded the point, headed east for a short while and then as we turned NE toward Porto Kayio the SW wind began to lift and out came the Gennaker once more. This was a fun ride as we rounded the point with two other yachts that we’d steadily reeled in under motor. Once we rounded all sails went up and the catamaran did its thang!

We expected the bay to be free of other yachts as we were now a long way from touristville and we’d seen so few boats in the past few days. On arrival in the bay we were surprised to see seven yachts at anchor with two more behind us. It is a large bay, so no matter, in fact it was good to see them. In this part of the world there are no flotillas or bare boat charters, just like minded ‘live aboard’ owners with time on their hands. The ‘book’ warns of a rocky bottom here making anchoring quite difficult and therefore entertaining for the already comfortably anchored audience.

Four times we dropped anchor, reversed, dragged, stopped, retrieved, moved, dropped anchor…. As a couple of Kiwi’s in a dingy came by to take the piss!

They’d had the same problem and have since become good friends in this and subsequent anchorages.

Just one night here, a good meal in a very friendly taverna (one of Sally’s pick for ‘Tripadvisor’) and a longish wait in the morning for the veggie truck to arrive from the hills overflowing with fresh, organic, inexpensive produce.

A photograph of Adda, the restaurateur for Tripadvisor who suddenly became very self conscious and asked Sally to wait while she went inside She popped out looking pretty much the same as when she went in?

At 1:00pm weighed anchor and headed for Yithion due north to the hilt.

Lemeni Bay

Late start out of Kalamatta, but come what may, we were leaving. It's become clear that we like the smaller more intimate places, small enough to get your head around in a couple or three days. Lemeni bay sounded like just such a place, 24 nautical miles away.

If you take a look at the Peleponesos on Google Earth, you'll note that toward the eastern end there are three long peninsulas which add miles to a journey if you are prepared to investigate each one. If you have time, as we do, you investigate and the benefit is that you get to do so without having to compete for mooring space with too many other sailing boats. For travel distance between ports we usually aim at around 15-25 nautical miles, say 25-40 kms. This results in a 4-6 hour sail so if we leave around 11:00 we can be in the next anchorage or port somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00pm. I gets dark at 8:30ish so there is usually time for a plan B if needs be.

12:15 we dropped the slime lines and left Kalamatta with a 25 Knot sail if front of us.

Deep and mysterious caves all along the route the and the rocky shores drop away sharply into the water allowing us to sail close in deep water keeping the kids interested all the way... not to mention the adults.





The entrance to the bay is quite dramatic. It is expansive and safe in anything but a westerly wind. The north eastern end of the bay has a small hamlet and a quay. The only taverna advertising free showers and water for yachties.....









....but across the bay on the southern side, literally resting in the bosom of the imposing mountain behind is Mani, this picture perfect Greek secret. The buildings are all built from local stone and give a clear picture of what all the forts and castles would have looked like in their prime.








Absolutely beautifully built, condos in the surrounding hills we surmised that here is where the well heeled Greeks take their break.

Nowhere to moor, so we anchored in the most sheltered part of the bay and dropped the dingy to get us to and from the town.
A swim was the order of the day, the water crystal clear and when anchoring we try to make a habit of diving onto the anchor just to make sure it is in to stay no matter the conditions.

As the day cooled we motored in, excited to take a close look at a place that would rival any place on the European coast. We were not disappointed.

Raised waterside restaurants with menu's you'd find in Athens... prices not far off either but what the hell!


This guy cleaning freshly caught fish literally at the steps of the restaurant below.









Just too many to choose from and we were only staying the night, all with fantastic views of the setting sun.

Sometimes you just have to pinch yourself.