In Greece you are very serious on Covid-19

In Greece you are very serious on Covid-19

Posted on Sep 8, 2020

37° 29′ 50.3988” N 23° 27′ 29.322” E

September 8, 2020

We sail back to Poros, as it turns out that our consumer batteries are still not quite ok. A battery is replaced by our regular mechanic / electrician / specialist. It helps.

We spend a few days enjoying the excellent beaches of Poros and studying the city life of Poros town. It is interesting to see how consistently the Greeks handle the corona situation. In each of the city’s 65 cafés, staff wear facemasks and hand alcohol on the tables. If you walk into a store, you will be asked to put on a facemask, and on the beach you will be warned not to move your sunbed closer to your spouse. “One meters distance. Basta. ” But actually we do understand it. Nearly 20 percent of Greeks work in the tourism industry. A total shutdown will really hurt.

In the harbor we meet a Canadian couple who have been in self-selected corona quarantine on their sailboat for half a year. Food, drink and medicine are brought to the boat. The couple themselves spend time to feed the city’s cats and chase away other sailors, who are trying to berth their boats too close to their self-proclaimed quarantine station. They will continue to Tunisia, Gran Canaria and then across the Atlantic in November. “We’re leaving tomorrow,” they tell us every day throughout the week. When we ourselves leave Poros, they are still there.

We make an arrangement with our friend in Vikos Marineshop, that he will look after Ronja, while we are at home in Denmark for the next 10 days.

Close to falling in

Close to falling in

Posted on Sep 4, 2020

37° 20′ 46.6044” N 23° 14′ 44.016” E

September 4, 2020

Happy that the hassle is over, we sail further south and call at Ermioni in the Peloponnese.

We are still not thrilled with the Greeks’  tradition of berthing “backwards” to the quay. Often the distance between the boat and the quay becomes too great, and when we went ashore in the evening, Kirsten’s jump only reaches half the distance (her dress was probably too tight :-). Fortunately, Per has a good grip on her arm and mitigates a fall into the water. Relieved and only slightly bruised, we continue up into the city.

Ermioni turns out to be a gem. We find a wonderful walk around a peninsula with beautiful views, cicadas and a massive scent of pine trees.

From Ermonia we take a water taxi to the island of Idrhá.

Idrhá is also a gem, but a very touristy and busy gem. We are glad, that we did not sail to the island ourselves, because the harbor is a huge chaos of water taxis, ferries, fisher boats and yachts, all of them trying to find space in the small overburdened harbor.

Idrhá is car-free, and the street scene is – in addition to tourists – characterized by donkeys dragging groceries home from the supermarket. Truly a beautiful and charming town.

Elderly lady with starting problems

Elderly lady with starting problems

Posted on Sep 1, 2020

37° 29′ 50.3988” N 23° 27′ 29.322” E

We sail south to the island of Poros and find a place alongside right in the center of town. Poros is a lively city, a mecca for sailors, beautifully situated in a narrow strait between Poros and the Peloponnese.

And now the hassle begins. It turns out that fourteen months without care leaves its marks on a boat. It takes time to get Ronja up to speed. She is after all an elderly lady, and she has problems with starting, problems with the toilet problems and problems with the battery.

Fortunately, Poros has two excellent marine stores. One sends us a plumber to repair the toilet. The other sends us a mechanic to check the motor and later an electrician (who turns out to be identical with the mechanic) to fix our battery system.

Sailing again – after 14 months pause

Sailing again – after 14 months pause

Posted on Aug 30, 2020

37° 46′ 5.779” N 23° 27′ 6.4908” E

Excited, we arrive Sunday night at Asprakis Boatyard on the north side of the island of Aegina, just south of Athens. Here, Ronja has been standing ashore for no less than 14 months. When the period has become so long, it was because Per had to undergo preventive cancer surgery – and then later, when we in March had our suitcases packed, COVID-19 closed all of Europe’s borders one by one.

Finally we are here. How has Ronja fared?

Apparently fine. The ship yard had washed her, changed the oil on the engine and mounted sails and bimini. Happy we go to bed in the awareness that tomorrow we will go sailing.

Fortunately, this IS the case, but first we have to call an electrician to repair the refrigerator, and later we have to have a mechanic kickstart the engine.

Finally at sea. Gregory Asprakis takes a fair price for storing the boat (120 € for summer months, 130 € for winter months), however his price is high, if you ask him to do repairs or extra services.

After  three years in the Mediterranean we make Ronja ready for Mediterranean sailing

After three years in the Mediterranean we make Ronja ready for Mediterranean sailing

Posted on Jul 12, 2018

38° 57′ 27.7884” N 20° 45′ 26.4132” E

July 12th

“If it’s a difficult harbour? It is the most difficult in the whole of the Mediterranean,”declares the port assistant who helps us into Cleopatra Marina. “We have measured currents of up to 11 knots,” he adds. It sounds crazy, but he has worked in several ports, so he lets us understand that he knows, what he is talking about.

It is the Cleopatra Marina’s location in the strait, that leads from the open sea and into the big bay, Amvrakikos Kolpos, which makes the port seem difficult to maneuver. Winds and currents become more concentrated as they pass the narrow strait with the city of Préveza on one side and the peninsula Aktion on the other side.

For us, it does not matter. We are here just to get Ronja lifted on land at the end of this year’s sailing. Here she will stay for nine months, until April 2019, on a large, dusty car park for pleasure boats. It seems to us that hundreds or even a thousand boats are parked here on each of their stands, while waiting for their owner to afford or having time to put them back into the water.

We have decided, that Ronja shall have extra service and have completed some enhancements while she is on land at Cleopatra Marina. She has been underway from Denmark for six years, she has sailed in the Mediterranean for three years, and now now what is needed make her a real Mediterranean sailing boat.

Ronja was built in Sweden, built to keep away hard and cold weather, to anchor at relatively shallow water, to create warmth inside rather than coolness and to sail in waters with lower content of salt than the Mediterranean. In the Mediterranean, it’s about keeping the heat away, being open to any cool breeze, and to anchor frequently and in relatively deep water.

We therefore meet Cleopatra Marina with a pretty long wish list, that we want the yard to give us a quotation for. The main points are:

We need a longer anchor chain. In the Mediterranean, our 40 meter chain is simply not enough. We must have it extended to at least 60 meter chain. At the same time, we need to strengthen our secondary anchor system, the stern anchor, which currently has only three meters of chain plus ten meters of rope. It is not even near, what is needed in the Mediterranean. We must have at least six meters of chain and 20 meters rope for the stern anchor.

In addition, we sometimes feel, that we are the only ones in the whole of the Mediterranean, who are still throwing anchor and, not least, pulling it up by hand. Everyone else leans comfortably to the forestay while they – with a remote control in the hand – lower and raise their anchor by electricity. Come on. I’ve just reached 66. Kirsten is 64. We want that such an electric windlass as well.

And then there is the cockpit tent and sprayhood. Also here is the current build to keep wind, rain and cold away, but in the Mediterranean we need openness, plenty of fresh air, open sides, shade – even while we’re sailing – and high ceilings. So we ask for the price of a brand new set up with a so-called bimimi as the focal point. And when we are in the process, we ask for the price of a solar panel on top of the bimimi, because in Denmark anchoring was one thing we did occasionally and only for one night, anchoring in the Mediterranean is something we do several times week and would love to do for more than one night. This requires energy to keep on the fridge, pumps and reading lights, and this can be provided by the sun.

Further we would like to have a shower on the bathing platform. In Denmark it was okay to the take a bath in the bathroom, when we had taken a swim. But in the Mediterranean, the water is really salty, and salt puts traces all over the boat, unless you rinse it off in fresh water immediately. We have noticed that all southern European boats are equipped with a freshwater outlet near their bathing platform, so as a natural routine, they rinse off before getting into the cockpit and cabin. You must possible have tried it, in order to see the importance of this issue.

We also ask for offers to improve our electrical system. We would like a 220 volt outlet at the chartboard, we would like to have 12 volts charging of mobile phones and VHF radios and we would like to install two small 12 volt fans in the main cabin to ensure coolness even when we do not have access to land electricity.

Beside all this, we ask for a service on Ronja’s inboard engine, in particular the starting motor that, 20 years old, has begun to be unstable, and also the outboard engine, that has apparently dirt in the carburetor.

 

We are mooring at a tavern

We are mooring at a tavern

Posted on Jun 28, 2018

38° 39′ 44.1504” N 20° 45′ 33.066” E

28th of June

Three times in just a few weeks we visit Port Spiglia, located in an enchanting bay on the north side of the island of Meganisi. We have got the place recommended by Bob and Ann, an English couple, whom we met in Prevéza on the mainland. They sail every spring and autumn, and when they tell us, they have sailed in the Ionian Sea for 16 years, the first many years in a rented boat, and the latest in their own boat, Coconut, we ask if they have some recommendations for a couple of Danes newly arrived in the Ionian Sea.

If they have!

Skippers wife with the sole ruler of harbour as well as restaurant at Port Spiglio, Babis himself

Ann sets out and writes a nothing less than a short story about all the good places – six handwritten pages with anchorages, ports, beaches, eateries, phone numbers. We are now the happy owners of a personal guide to the Western Greece.

We start with Porto Spiglia on the island of Meganissi. “Call Babis,” says Ann’s list of ionic top experiences. Babis is the owner of a tavern, which is so close to the bay, that the water almost licks our feet when we eat. He owns and manages the excellent tavern, but at the same time he acts as harbor master for 50-60 berths along the quay and floating bridges.

We call Babis and say hello from Bob and Ann – and we get a berth in what is unofficially called “the British sector”. Mooring is free and so is electricity and water. But we are expected to eat in the tavern. Fair deal. Super concept.

Life is simple, when you are in Babis’ universe. You exchange experiences with your neighbors, most of them British but also some Norwegians, Swedes and Dutchmen. You take a walk to the high-lying village of Spartakori overlooking the part of the Ionian Sea, go to the beach at the tavern or you walk to the somewhat larger beach in the bottom of the bay, and in the evening you eat at Babis’ tavern, often with some sailors you have met before.

If the bay becomes too tight, you rent a motorcycle or a car and explore the small island and its many beaches. Rarely on our entire boat trip have we come that far down in gear as in the universe of Babis.

That’s why we come back, when we a little later in June, have got our granddaughter, Nellie, six years old, onboard Ronja.

Beach, swimming, eating, reading in Harry Potter. It will not be much better.

And come back again, when Nellie’s father arrives in July to participate in the sailing.

We also call a few times in Vahti, the main city on the island of Meganisi. Here we call – again according to directions and phone numbers from Ann’s handwritten guide – Karnayio Tavern, and again we experience the special Greek phenomenon, that a tavern operates the quay and let you have a free berth, if eating at the tavern, which is no problem when the food is both good and cheap. That is what we sailors call a wind-wind situation.

Bonus info: There are many grasshoppers at Meganisi, and in Karnayio Tavern at Vahti they like to board your boat. We thought they were innocent, until we asked the tavern owner, whether they had mice, because we could see that someone had been in some of our food and had left excrements in the boat. No, she said. It is grasshoppers. They eat everything, food, clothes, mattresses. Do not ever have sympathy for them. They do a lot of damage. The next time Nellie and Per jump ashore, they scare a grasshopper beyond the railing and discover to their great astonishment that it is actually a good swimmer, but they also observes that after 15 swimming strokes it is – haps – eaten by a fish. Nellie is quite absorbed by the incident, but understands that this is part of the food chain of nature. Maybe we are going to have fish for dinner tonight?

In the deepest calm of the forest

In the deepest calm of the forest

Posted on Jun 8, 2018

39° 12′ 36.306” N 20° 29′ 31.5024” E

June 8, 2018

Do not tell anyone: Eight nautical miles south of Parga is a bay so beautiful and undisturbed, that we have hardly experienced anything more peaceful and enchantingly beautiful throughout our hole journey with Ronja. Two Rock Bay is the name of the bay.

When we arrive, there is only one boat in the whole bay, an Englishman, who shouts at us that if we want to stay overnight in the bay, we must be prepared for swells, that will make the night uneasy. It is not going to be a problem for us. We drop our anchor furthest into the bay with only 0.9 meters of water below the keel encircled by almost vertical wooded rock walls.

The whole compass around we see no buildings, no sunbeds, no noisy speedboats. Only rock walls, dense forests and small pieces of beach. As the day turns into evening, more and more yachts pop up to sleep in the bay and a young couple raises a small dome tent on the beach and turns a fire on. But even with this increased population, the bay maintains its majestic silence.

Greek salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Skipper realises, that he has left Italy and arrived in Greece

One day in a  water park

One day in a water park

Posted on Jun 5, 2018

39° 16′ 59.6532” N 20° 23′ 24.7812” E

5th of June

After an enchanting day with the sails up we anchor in the bay of Valtou near Parga town in mainland Greece, 15 miles west of Paxos. The wind decided, that it would become Parga.

Parga/Valtou is a 110 percent holiday destination. If you want to sunbathe on a sun lounger, swim in the azure green sea, practice water skiing, paragliding, surfing, paddling on a board or being speedboat-pulled in a plastic ring with staggering speed, Valtou is just the right place for you.

Holiday mood is great. We enjoy the stay in the bay. But after a walk to Parga city, we think that this is too much. What a difference there is between islands without an airport, and the mainland where travel agencies create an industrial air bridge of tourism because the distance to an airport is short. It gives a massive tivoli atmosphere, and you are constantly called upon by dozens of offensive tavern owners, who all want you into his or her tavern. Too much.

if we are ever again in this part of Greece with our grandchildren, we will remember Parga as an eldorado of play possibilities at beach level.

But we ourselves decide to leave Parga and seek new adventures.

 

Ronja’s crew surrender – and go backwards into the berth

Ronja’s crew surrender – and go backwards into the berth

Posted on Jun 3, 2018

39° 12′ 6.9444” N 20° 11′ 11.0868” E

June 3rd, 2018

Paxos is a fantastic island. It’s small, it’s kind, it’s lush, and it has only one and a half harbour, so it provokes us to anchor a lot in the most beautiful bays.  Here we do not count Longos as a real harbour, because it is said to be reserved for tripper-boats, Lákka count as the half port, and the whole port is Gaios. The port of the island’s capital village, Gaios, has the shape of a river that winds within an island, where you can choose whether you want to lie among fishing boats in the outskirts of the village or you want to go into the village center and mingle with the big yachts.

While everything is still calm. Minutes later the wind goes up, the kedge anchor drags … and we are hurrying out of the harbor

We start mingling with the big yachts, and we use our kedge anchor from the stern, as we have done several times in the Swedish archipelago. Out with the anchor behind the boat, then slowly forwards towards the quay with the frontend first, and then a pair of lines to the quay. That’s the way to do it! “Ho, ho,” we giggle. One more time we have shown the South Europeans, that they are wrong in their unbelievable love for always backing their boats into the berth with an anchor from the forehead and then a couple of lines from the boat’s back end to land.

One more time we have shown, that we put our hat and boat as we please. “The Scandinavian model”.

But Paxos shall be the place, where we lose our faith in the superiority of “the Scandinavian model”. In the afternoon the wind is raising, the shape of the harbor as a river with land on both sides creates a wind tunnel that pushes us from the side, we can see that the kedge anchor is losing its grip to the bottom, and suddenly we are heading towards a neighboring boat. We start the engine, pull up the anchor, accurately avoid the neighbor’s anchor chain and moves Ronja outside the harbor, where we throw the bower anchor (front) in a quiet and beautiful anchor bay.

The next morning we try again. We sail into the port of Gaios, find us a new berth, this time throws the bow anchor instead of the stern anchor and goes BACKWARDS into the berth. Like the Greeks. The southern European model.

We have learned the lesson: When in Greece do as the Greeks, and sail backwards into your berth

Now we have been sailing for two years in southern France and throughout Italy, and apart from twice, we have succeeded in insisting, that we belong to those who go to a berth with the front end first. Now, however, we have come to a country that does not use fixed mooring lines attached to the port bottom, and where you therefore have to use your own anchor, and here we must acknowledge that our stern anchor is smaller, have a shorter chain and therefore is not as strong as our bow anchor.

We have learned the lesson. When in Greece, do like Greeks: Sail backwards!!

 

Lakka at Paxos – the most beautiful ankering

Lakka at Paxos – the most beautiful ankering

Posted on May 31, 2018

39° 14′ 13.2468” N 20° 7′ 57.8856” E

May 31th 2018

The people in the city of Lakka make a living of the many tourists who come either in their own boat or in one of the many tripperboats. Along the quayside of the city is one tavern next to the other, ready to enjoy the tourists.

Many houses in the town needs a little painting

The water goes all the way up the street

 

 

 

Sunset at Lakka

Despite the fact that we were both burned by lion’s mane jellyfish we could not withstand the turquoise green bathing water