That's all for now

We've settled nicely into Licata. Lots of things going on, good chandlers and supermarkets. We had some excitement a few days ago when Rainbow Warrior came to visit for a few days.
I'll re-start the blog next year when we set off again - although where we will go is not yet decided. Until then, have a great winter!

To Licata for the winter

We had a long though uneventful passage to Sicily. The sea was calm, winds were just a little too light so we motor-sailed most of the way to keep our speed above 4.5 knots. We didn't see land for two days and the stars are wonderful that far out to sea. A Sirocco (the humid dusty south wind that blows from the Sahara) set in as we got close to Sicily so we couldn't see the island until we were a couple of miles off. Even Etna was invisible in the haze.

Siracusa Duomo

We stayed in Siracusa for a few days until Marion and Hugh joined us. The harbour is safe enough but the Sirocco blew up strongly each afternoon and set up a vicious chop across the bay. Rosa was fine but dinghy rides would have been seriously hairy.  We had to do everything before midday and then hunker down for the afternoon.
We had a particularly strong blow the day they arrived and I thought we might have a real problem getting ashore to pick them up. Fortunately by 2200 when their bus arrived from Catania, it had calmed down quite a bit and we all got aboard without incident.
We took a week to potter down to Licata - our booked wintering place visiting several harbors on the way.
Marzamemi was our first stop. The harbor is a fair size and it has no less than three "marinas" each of which is just a pontoon. We had called ahead to the most sheltered one - sharp to port as you go through the entrance and were glad we had. It's a nice friendly place with good shelter and only €25 for a night. The other 'marinas' are less well sheltered. There is considerable competition for visitors and we were first met by a rib from one of the others who tried to get us onto his pontoon. Then the rib from our booked 'marina' turned up and after some serious shouting in Italian, the first one backed off and we were helped in. There is non-potable water and electricity - both free. The town has no real facilities other than a good fish restaurant. Even the small mini-market is 3Km away but it's a pleasant little village and worth a stop.

Malta ferry in Pozzallo

We stopped for a night in Pozzallo - the small harbour mentioned in the pilot is no longer viable - it seems that they have finally given up on the silting and have started to fill it in. Pontoons in the main harbour have been expanded a bit and we found a space but there are not many. There was no help, no apparent office and we even thought it might be free - but this is Italy so no such luck! The man with his hand out turned up in the morning and took €35 off us. The very smart ferry to Malta uses this port which we hope will be useful information later.

House in Marina di Ragusa

Next day we pulled into Ragusa - to see our friends on  Arwen and to check out the marina. It is very well appointed but huge with long distances to the toilets, office and shops. The town (actually called "Marina di Ragusa") is pretty though and has plenty of supplies. As always seems to be the case when a marina is expensive, water and electricity are extra. W tried to get a bus to the old town of Ragusa about 10 miles inland but failed miserably.

Cathedral in the old town of Ragusa

We stayed  a couple of days then went straight to Licata - a lovely calm trip with the wind behind us. The harbour is absolutely huge - it takes over an hour to walk from the end of the East quay to the end of the west one! It contains a commercial port, fishing port, boatyards, fish farms and the marina - which occupies a large space. The space is not yet full of pontoons so there is loads of manoevering room. The staff are very friendly, the facilities are reasonable and the town seems to have everything you could want. The only bugbears are the very quick fouling (possibly driven by the fish farms) and cars are horribly expensive.
Sicily has some wonderful sights - although a lot less open country and good walking than Crete. Nevertheless, it looks like being a good winter here.

Icarus and one of the 5 temples at Agricento

The castle at Aci Castello near Catania

Mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale - Ulysses & The cyclops

A few weeks in Greece

We arrived in Corfu early in the morning and anchored of NAOK - the yacht club/Marina just south of the Castle in Corfu town. It felt like coming home being back in Greece!
We took the dinghy round to the (filthy) main harbour and then walked miles in sweltering heat to check in to Greece and the EU. The police who deal with incomers were busy processing a group of illegal immigrants so we cooled our heels for an hour until a nice young police-woman took pity on us, found the forms and started the process. The worst bit was trying to find passport control which turned out to be right at the far end of the huge harbour where the cruise ships dock.
We spent a few days in Lakka on Paxos where we met up with Skylark and then sailed down to Preveza and Vonitsa. We had intended to get our engine serviced in Levkas but we met Spyros in Vonitsa. He's an excellent engineer and a thoroughly nice chap who did a major service on our engine including sending the injectors off to Athens to be tested. He tried to fix the slight sea-water leak on the back of the engine which had been there for ages. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a failing weld on teh exhaust elbow. Lucky he looked as it could have failed catastrophically at any moment! He couldn't get a replacement and we had to get back to Corfu to be near the airport. He patched it up with epoxy putty for the three weeks until we could get back to Vonitsa.
We moored in Mandraki yacht club on the Northern side of Corfu Castle which we always enjoy. The location is spectacular, the price is reasonable, shelter is good enough and they are always friendly and helpful.
D went back to the UK for few days to see old friends from 4-Sight who had a re-union while L and Lucifer looked after the boat. Next day, John and Gill, D's brother & his wife, came out and we had a lovely couple of weeks revisiting some old haunts in the Ionian. We anchored off Preveza and hired  car to drive John & Gill to Igoumenitsa to catch Corfu ferry to catch their plane back.
And so back to Vonitsa where Spyros welded the exhaust elbow. He wasn't happy that it was a proper solution so he advised us to get a new one when we reached Italy - and refused to take a payment for all his trouble!
We had a good weather window couple of days later so we went to check out of Greece in Preveza expecting a simple process. Unfortunately we hit a major chunk of bureaucracy. The port police there are headed up by a real jobs-worth and they spotted that our insurance certificate didn't have the explicit wording that they required - even though the coverage was more than 5 times the ammount required! They insisted that we couldn't check out until we had new insurance certificates - this even though we were checking out because we were leaving Greece in 6 hours! He even threatened to send a gunboat after us if we just left. Fortunately, Pantaenius were there usual helpful selves and e-mailed a certificate to the police as soon as we phoned them. Skylark was not so lucky though and had a stressful few hours until they could contact their insurance.
At 03:00 we weighed anchor and set off on the 3 day passage to Syracuse in Sicily in company with Skylark. Farewell Greece.

Albania

Durres Harbour

And yet another contrast. We sailed 8 hours to Durres - the largest port in Albania. We called Captain Lambi Pappa - recommended to us as an agent and he met us on the huge concrete quay. What a great bloke! He found us an excellent spot underneath a loading crane at a place where the big-ship fenders were missing. That was perfect for us as the crane gave us shelter from the sun and our fenders and barge board were able to bear against the quay keeping us safe from the substantial wash created by frequent big-ship movements and the Pilot boat (which although small goes far too quickly).

Comunist Era architecture

Lambi Pappa had brought his charming daughter along to see what he does all day and we chatted for a long time. He handled all the paperwork and recommended some sights in the town and a good place to eat. The restaurant was excellent - beautifully cooked seafood and a nice bottle of New Zealand wine, excellent service and a nice view all for €11 per person including generous tip. While eating, we had watched a traffic policeman whistling and gesturing as he desperately tried to control a constant stream of cars on the road below and pedestrians crossing over. We went for a stroll after eating and ended at his crossing. Unlike most other people, we stopped and waited for him to signal us across and he actually thanked us for not ignoring him! The town is a mixture of dreadful communist era architecture and modern european café culture.

The Coliseum

The Roman coliseum was well worth a visit - it's very well preserved from antiquity still having the original stone seatings and "back stage" - giving a better idea of what it was really like than even Pula (which is heavily and not very sympathetically restored after stone looting in the middle ages).

The (closed) museum

Café on top of the Venitian Tower

We tried to see the Archaeological museum but after a long hot walk, found it closed for renovation in the height of the tourist season! Just wandering around the town was interesting for variety of "Socialist Heroic" statuary - now mostly unloved and graffiti ridden. A beer on top of the Venetian tower near the harbour entrance was an experience - and again not an expensive one.




Lucifer earned his keep as the quay was covered in spilled grain which supported a thriving rat colony. None of them came anywhere near him (and thus Rosa) though. Lambi Pappa came in the evening to check us out and asked us to pay him "What we thought he was worth". We agreed on €40 for his services with port fees for two days of about €30 on top, everyone was happy.

Bye Bye Albania

Our plan was to go into Orikum Marina but we were warned by some Germans in Durres that it was very expensive as not only were the Marina fees high but the harbour and agent fees in Vlores were also substantial. At the last minute we decided to change course and head overnight for Corfu. It was a lovely calm, warm, uneventful motor broken only by an Albanian customs rib that came over to ask us some questions - all very courteous and quick. No papers - just where had we come from, was I the owner and how many people on board.

Montenegro

Fortifications at the entrance to the gulf.

What a fascinating contrast to Croatia! Montenegro only has a very short coastline (it seems as if Croatia has taken everything it could get its hands on including all the islands). On the plus side, it seems more relaxed and authoritarian than Croatia and definitely less grasping. Only marinas demand payment and most of them are fairly reasonable. Anchoring is widely available and universally free. On the negative it has a run-down, slightly threadbare feel. Apparently the government has not changed since the Bosnian War and independence and is not really motivated to improve infrastructure or repair derelict cold-war era buildings.

The Adriatic coast seems to be completely given over to mass tourism. Much of the coast is beautiful sandy beaches but they are covered in a seal-colony of tourists sunning themselves on regimented rows of deck chairs and parasols and surrounded by hotels or camp sites or both. The only real exception was the wonderful Gulf of Kotor - a huge Fjord that runs 20Km back into massive mountains. We spent most of our week in Montenegro in the Gulf.

When you arrive by yacht, you have to check in and buy a Vignette which we did at Zelenika. Not a pleasant place for a yacht with high concrete walls, black-rubber fenders designed for big ships, very few bollards to tie up to and no shelter from the prevailing swell from the Adriatic. The process was quick, friendly and not very expensive - we bought a 1 week Vignette as the next up was 1 month and too long. As soon as we were legal, we set off for Kotor which is at the head of the gulf.

After leaving the gulf, we went straight to Bar (the southern port of exit as we had decided that none of the heavy tourist towns on the way were worth stopping at. Bar has a large an expensive marina and a concrete customs quay in the commercial harbour. As soon as we tried to tie up at the customs quay we were told to go to the marina. With a bit of polite arguing that we were checking out and didn't want to use the marina he let us tie up "for 5 minutes". It actually took 25 minutes to complete the paperwork but we got no further hassle.
One of the contrasts to Croatia was that rather than "Go Now!" we had 24 hours to leave the country so we motored a few miles South.

The initial plan was to try to get into the North arm of the Bojna River but it was very shallow, badly charted and there were thousands of people watching so we gave it a miss and went back up to the tiny town of Milena. It's at the northern end of a huge sandy beach heavily covered by tanning bodies and backed by camp sites and the odd hotel but the little bay under the headland was well sheltered, good holding and gave us a peaceful night before setting off for Albania in the morning.

Montenegro - Gulf of Kotor

Kotor and anchorage

We headed anchored in the bay of Kotor to the right of the Marina and derelict Hotel. The holding and shelter are excellent but it's important not to get close to the marina as the super-yachts it caters to lay huge anchor chains. It is also important not to get too far out into the bay as cruise ships use it for turning.

Kotor Town Wall

We loved the old town - it's unspoiled and well preserved inside a fully functional wall. Unlike most other similar ancient cites on the Dalmation coast, it's not smothered by a huge modern city and is very much alive.

Kotor Street

Kotor Square

Kotor from high on the walls

Above the main town is a vast fortification that climbs up into the sky - an hours hard climb to the top but well worth it for the views and the challenge. Unfortunately, most of the forts on the way and at the top were used by the military in communist times and are filled with rusting, crumbling concrete installations. If you start your climb before 0800, its free and also much cooler and less crowded.

Mausoleum of Petar 2nd on Lovgen

While we were in Kotor, we hired a car and drove up to Lovgen - one of the mountains surrounding Kotor. It's a wonderful old Austrian mountain road that switches back and forth for miles till you get very close to the peak where you leave the car and walk up through a long tunnel to the Mausoleum of Petar II Petrovic-Njegos - the second prince bishop of Montenegro. The mausoleum is very impressive - although it was built by the communist regime against the express wishes of the King.

Climbing to the tunnel

The Philosopher / Poet / King

On the way down, we picked up a lovely pair of Swedish Hitchhikers - and it was just as well as the gearbox packed up and I was only able to get into 3rd, 4th and 5th. No low gears or reverse! We had planned somemore sight-seeing but cut it a bit short in case the clutch burned out too or we had to stop on an uphill slope. Even so, L and our friends had to push a couple of times.

Old Mill water gardens

The Restaurant itself.

We spent a night in Morinj which is a tiny village at the head of one of the lakes. The village itself is not very special but the restaurant "Catovica Mlini" (which I think means "Old Mill". We were recommended to try it by a Serbian Professor we got talking to in Kotor. It's not cheap (it cost us €100 including tip and wine) for one of the best meals we have had anywhere. Superb surroundings (Even has its own helipad), great food and excellent service.

After Morinj, passed the very picturesque island monastery and church of St George and the small town of Perast and then anchored off the tiny uninhabited island of Krtole near Tivat. A peaceful little spot. From there we went across to the gas refill station who happily filled our Greek gas bottle and very old Camping gas one. Poor L got shouted a by a policeman while she minded Rosa while anchored rather close to the end of the airport flight path and had to pull up the anchor and move PDQ. Definitely not a good idea - anchoring by the Island and then using the Dinghy works fine though.

Our final stop in the Gulf was Herceg Novi. We used the very reasonable marina as we wanted to fill up with water and fuel. Its a charming little town set on the side of a mountain although slightly marred by the very loud beach bar at the end of the harbour. We were running out of time so we didn't have time to explore the impressive fortifications.

Last few days in Croatia

We did get away and we did go to Ston. On the way we called into the fuel quay at Miljet Sobra. A very efficient operation. Although slightly scary as two huge ferries maneuvered a few meters off our bow.

Mediaeval water fountain

Salt works

Ston is a long way up a blind and fairly shallow channel but well worth the visit. Moor side-to on the quay for 10kuna per meter. There are reasonable shops and a market in town and a medieval fountain you can fill your cans from. Apparently people come from miles around as the water is so good.

The traditional salt works (the reason for the town's existence and former wealth) are still very much operational. Unfortunately, due to the freakishly wet summer, it was on hold as the salt pans can't dry out.

Mali Ston and Boznia

The huge wealth in times past, attracted pirates and invaders so they built huge walls to protect the town and also the town of Mali Ston 3Km away across the isthmus. The two are joined by the longest wall in Europe. It runs high up over the hill rising 20m into the air and with frequent massive forts. An exhausting walk but well worth it. Even better, when you get to Mali Ston you will find cold beer and wonderful seafood all farmed in the gulf that separates it from Bosnia Herzegovina.

Ston from top of walls

Walls go up seemingly forever

Lopud Cave

Next night we anchored in the east bay on  Lopud. It's a nice little free anchorage with good holding on sand. Nothing much there but nice walks in the woods, swimming, snorkeling and a sea-cave to explore.

Dubrovnik

We decided to skip Dubrovnik and return another time when the tourist season is not in full swing. It's a impressive sight just to sail past though.

And so to Cavtat to check out of Croatia. We anchored in the north bay. Bloody awful holding but persistence, particularly well out from the shore will find mediocre holding. We had no problem but were told that katabatic winds at night are common and then boats dragging all over the shop is the norm. We shopped, chilled a bit and explored the pretty little town, Next morning we got round to the customs quay just before 0800 and door stepped the harbour master. They were on time, very efficient and friendly, stamped papers and sent us off to the police - who were OK but not so nice. They were late and unapologetic and insisted I stand outside while they chatted and laughed inside. Eventually, they called me in and in 5 minutes I was free to go - RIGHT NOW! They were not at all pleased that L was in town getting bread and other last minute supplies.

We got away by 0830 and escaped the man who takes your lines for a mandatory 40Kuna. Result,

Did we enjoy Croatia? Yes definitely and we will be back to see a lot more. We didn't find it very expensive but only because we were careful and had lots of advice from others. Being ripped off is a constant worry that does take the shine off it a little.