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GREECE – SPRING 2025

PREPARATIONS FOR  A SAILING RECCE OF CROATIA

For the reasons referred to below, we did not sail in the autumn of 2024 and therefore did not publish a Blog in respect thereof. We had returned to Island Drifter [ID] in Aktio boatyard in September that year with the intention of sailing for at least eight weeks.

However, we discovered soon after arrival that there was a serious fuel leak from our in-hull diesel storage tank, and it was obvious that there was no quick fix. We therefore decided to remain in the boatyard and concentrate on resolving the fuel-tank problem and addressing a series of maintenance and repair projects that had accumulated. These included the repainting of the deck with non-slip paint, completing the refurbishment of woodwork of both the floor and furniture, and a thorough renovation of the deck’s bright work, which had dulled with the passage of time. We eventually returned to the UK in November, once the Greek wet season had set in. 

Fortunately, the 200-litre fuel tanks located under the port pilot berth have accessible inspection hatches

Mike about to load on board our delivery of deck paint and related gear from the UK

 

ID’s topsides, with bright work well-taped up prior to painting

 

Helen after a visit to Preveza hospital. Her thumb had been pierced completely through by Mike with a (luckily thin!) screwdriver while repairing a solar panel plug

During the Winter of 2024-25, apart from a family Christmas in London, and New Year in Suffolk, we were based mainly in Harrogate where we refurbished and upgraded three of the lodgers’ bedrooms and converted one of our Victorian bathrooms into a more modern shower room. The Winter proved one of the coldest for twenty years and at one stage we were unable to get the car out to the main roads for over a week.

Snowed in – for seven days!

 

We demolished the Victorian fireplace in one of the bedrooms to make it more spacious 

We removed the ancient cast-iron tub to modernise one of the bathrooms with a shower cubicle

We flew back to Aktio/Preveza airport (2 miles from the boatyard) on EasyJet’s first flight of the year from Gatwick on Sunday 30 March, having stayed the weekend in London with Will and Lesley. Together with Lesley’s parents, we celebrated our mutual granddaughter Emmy’s tenth birthday, with 24 of her friends in a local church hall hired for the afternoon.

 

Emmy’s 10^th birthday – a glittery disco!

Inspired by the success of the projects on the boat and house we’d completed in the Autumn and Winter, we delayed our Spring launch to address other issues that had bugged us for some time. In particular: the boat’s old loo, gas system, and the wooden cockpit seating, in addition to the servicing and/or replacement of a number of working parts which were approaching the end of their useful life (a bit like the crew!).

 

Mike proudly displaying the boat’s loo pump, which we had to totally renovate, together with its associated hoses and seals, because serious air leakage was causing it to malfunction

It has become increasingly difficult to get our UK orange Calor propane gas bottles refilled in Europe, so we purchased a bright-green Greek bottle and modified the gas system to cope with the change.

 

New bright-green Greek gas bottle

This year, unusually, the Orthodox Greek and Europe’s Catholic Easter dates coincided. We therefore hired a car to look around and drove through the undersea tunnel to Preveza where we enjoyed traditional spit-roasted lamb at one of the many tavernas, in which large numbers of Greek families had congregated to celebrate Easter.

 

Easter lamb roasting on a spit on Preveza quayside

 

Mike with a heaped plateful of Easter lamb

Following launch, we spent a week on the quay in Santa Maura’s small harbour at the north end of the Levkas Canal. It has the distinct advantage of being a safe, attractive location with an adjacent ‘wild’ beach, and a nearby taverna. Also, the overnight berthing rates are low! Coincidentally, while we were safely tucked up alongside, a major storm was battering the Aegean, and in consequence the related strong northerly winds in the Ionian were not conducive to our original plans to head north sooner on our Spring Cruise to Croatia.

Helen enjoying a sundowner in the cockpit,  with Sta Maura fort and lighthouse in the background

Our departure north was also delayed by the need to clarify our position in respect of Greek, Italian, Croatian, Schengen and sundry EU regulations – not helped by the fact that different islands and port officials can interpret the rules differently. To get it wrong can be very expensive!  Fortunately, we have to date received good, well-informed advice from Nigel Cuthbert of the Cruising Association, and from Phil and Norma Heaton (the former a Vice Commodore of the Ocean Cruising Club), who have sailed extensively in these waters.

Our objective this Spring remains to sail north into the Adriatic, probably via Corfu, where we’ll sign out of Greece, thence, depending on the wind, to Italy, or directly to Croatia in order to make landfall at Dubrovnik. There we’re due to meet up for a 10-day family sailing holiday with Will, Lesley and Emmy, who have sailed with us each summer half-term for the past three years. It now looks as if the long-range forecasted weather window of favourable southerly winds will enable us to sail north next week. Our principal concern in respect of our forthcoming cruise is that Croatia has a notorious reputation of being astronomically expensive. If that proves to be the case, we’ll simply return to Greece sooner than planned!

 

The Adriatic Sea, Corfu (Greece), Italy, Dubrovnik (Croatia) and other Adriatic countries  are shown on the above chartlet [courtesy of Imray’s Adriatic Pilot book ã]