Khania CreteMay 13th Cephalonia,
We are in Fiskardho Greece at present and hope to be able to give a short account of our travels for the last month or so!!! Always too busy and not enough power to run the computer, not online, etc.
When ever the winds blow up from the south anywhere in this part of the world the sky is full of red dust blown up from the desserts to the south and east. When arriving into Crete we had only a couple of miles visibility and it wasn't until the next morning we woke up and saw the wonderful mountains behind us covered with snow. Made us feel as home. We arrived in the city of Khania on the north west part of the island. The harbour is small but the town rather big. The old part of town is where the port is and so is full of restaurants and tourist shops. We spent five days there and enjoyed driving the coastal roads which are narrow and very winding with no guard rails and drop offs over hundreds of feet deep. We stopped to see the old ruins of Knosses (more bones and stones) and had some good Cretean meals and wine. Marian even ended up in the kitchen of one making dolmades while I sat with the owner and drank some more wine!! 
Marian making dolmades
We had a good weather forecast so headed north west for the Peloponnese which is a particularly bad stretch of water as far as the wind goes. We made it as far as the small island of Kithera where we spent the night under the watchful eye of a huge Venetian castle above the bay. We left early as there was forecast of a gale moving in in the afternoon. We just made into a bay behind a big headland when the winds came in. They were in the force 9 to 10 range (that is 40-50 knots) but we had a good anchor and had no problems holding.
The next morning while I was checking the engine compartment I noticed the gear oil reservoir had turned a brownish colour which meant that somehow there was water getting into the oil. This is not good!! So we made a change in plans and went to Kalamaka (where the olives are from) to see if we could pull the boat out of the water and check the seals. They did not have equipment big enough to do this and the nearest place was in Lefkas 160 miles away. We talked to Amel and they assured us that it would be ok to run everything that far without doing any damage to the gearing. So there being no big rush we decided to just take our time. Kalamaka turned out to be a very nice place with a good marina with a nice restaurant overlooking the bay. We even found an Italian restaurant for dinner and it was a nice change from the Greek foods that we have become accustomed to.
From Kalamaka we sailed around the bottom the the Peloponnese to the village of Pylos. Very cute village. In Greece we find there are lots of new marinas build but not finished. These were all build by the EU when Greece became part of the union. Apparently the reason they are not run by anyone is that if a company does this they have to pay back the costs of building it. So these marinas are just there with no water or electricity but usable with no costs to us. Its is a fine deal for us as we a self contained in all regards. We stayed there for a couple of days and met some other yachties doing the same thing.
Next is was off to Katakoion or Katakolo as there are at least three spellings for every port or town we go to! This place did not appeal to us so we just spent the night and went the next morning over to the island of Zakinthos. This was on Saturday the the 26 of April and the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated Easter the next day. This is a big event here with lots of eating, fire works and church going. On Sunday Marian and I just walked around the town which was all shut down except for the churches. They are very ornate with lots of frescoes and icons of gold and silver. On the walk back to the boat we met a family who had lived in the states for a number of years and were now back working in Greece (Petros, Catherine, and son Nickolas). We had a nice talk and showed them Kilkea. A couple of hours later they showed up and asked if we would like to go for a drive up to Yiri which is a old town now with only a handful of people living there where Catherine's parents had a house and are now buried there. The reason for this is that the priest was blessing the houses which involved the Priest in full regalia with an entourage carrying an Icon going from house to house for the blessings with all the town folk and visitors following along. After they had an auction which in reality was just a way for the people to contribute to the church so the prices were out of this world. An example would be a loaf of bread going for 200 euros, over there hundred dollars. This is not is the cruising budget.!
At this gathering we met another Greek who had lived and still does part of the year in Montreal. He invited us to his house that evening for a coffee. This we did and met John and his wife Heather and other friends and family. It happened that they have friends who have a daughter that is friends with Natalie and they just happened to call when we were there. It is a very small world!!! This home John has built is impressive as it is around 18000 sq feet and all built of Marble. An amazing home. The next day we just relaxed and people watched around the town and had dinner out.
We had received an email advising us that we had time to be pulled out of the water in Lefkas so we powered up to the island of Meganisi where we met up with and had dinner with Ben and Nannie on Duel Dragons whom we know from Marmaris. We had a good evening with them and then went early the next morning up to Lefkas and were out of the water by noon. We spent the next five days out and Marian and I fixed the propeller seal by removing the old bearing and lip seals and installing the new ones we carry as spares on board. We had the local company do the bottom which consisted of a days sanding and two days of applying the anti-fouling paint. This needed to be done as it has been over a year and a half since we did it last. While out Marian and I washed and waxed the hull and when we went back in the water spent a few hours washing and cleaning the top sides.
So after this we just went a few miles south to Nidri and spent a couple of days at anchor relaxing. It is stressful to have the boat out of the water and have to sleep with no movement. And yes we stay on board when the boat is out of the water. Then we went back to the anchorage on Meganisi as it was quiet and somehow we had an Internet site that we could connect to. We stayed there for three days just wondering around and visiting the small village of Vathi for some visits to the tavernas. Then off to Sivota for a night and then a good sail down to Fiskardho which is a Venetian town that did not get destroyed by the 1953 earth quake that destroyed most all of the town on these Ionian Islands. This our third day here and it is picture postcard perfect. We do not have wi-fi but there is a wonderful cafe bar with a balcony that over looks the bay and serves good wine and cheese and fruit plate along with a wi-fi connection so we have been spending the evenings there watching the sun set.
Well that catches you up to now. Our plans have changed as we have decided not to go to Croatia and will just holiday around this part of Greece for the next few weeks. Then will go to Sicily via the boot of Italy before going to Malta. There we hope to leave Kilkea for six weeks or so and come home to Vancouver for the summer. After that well we are not too sure where we will go. We do know that we will leave the Med and head for the Canaries and onto the Caribbean this November or December.
Marian making dolmadesWe had a good weather forecast so headed north west for the Peloponnese which is a particularly bad stretch of water as far as the wind goes. We made it as far as the small island of Kithera where we spent the night under the watchful eye of a huge Venetian castle above the bay. We left early as there was forecast of a gale moving in in the afternoon. We just made into a bay behind a big headland when the winds came in. They were in the force 9 to 10 range (that is 40-50 knots) but we had a good anchor and had no problems holding.
The next morning while I was checking the engine compartment I noticed the gear oil reservoir had turned a brownish colour which meant that somehow there was water getting into the oil. This is not good!! So we made a change in plans and went to Kalamaka (where the olives are from) to see if we could pull the boat out of the water and check the seals. They did not have equipment big enough to do this and the nearest place was in Lefkas 160 miles away. We talked to Amel and they assured us that it would be ok to run everything that far without doing any damage to the gearing. So there being no big rush we decided to just take our time. Kalamaka turned out to be a very nice place with a good marina with a nice restaurant overlooking the bay. We even found an Italian restaurant for dinner and it was a nice change from the Greek foods that we have become accustomed to.
From Kalamaka we sailed around the bottom the the Peloponnese to the village of Pylos. Very cute village. In Greece we find there are lots of new marinas build but not finished. These were all build by the EU when Greece became part of the union. Apparently the reason they are not run by anyone is that if a company does this they have to pay back the costs of building it. So these marinas are just there with no water or electricity but usable with no costs to us. Its is a fine deal for us as we a self contained in all regards. We stayed there for a couple of days and met some other yachties doing the same thing.
Next is was off to Katakoion or Katakolo as there are at least three spellings for every port or town we go to! This place did not appeal to us so we just spent the night and went the next morning over to the island of Zakinthos. This was on Saturday the the 26 of April and the Greek Orthodox Church celebrated Easter the next day. This is a big event here with lots of eating, fire works and church going. On Sunday Marian and I just walked around the town which was all shut down except for the churches. They are very ornate with lots of frescoes and icons of gold and silver. On the walk back to the boat we met a family who had lived in the states for a number of years and were now back working in Greece (Petros, Catherine, and son Nickolas). We had a nice talk and showed them Kilkea. A couple of hours later they showed up and asked if we would like to go for a drive up to Yiri which is a old town now with only a handful of people living there where Catherine's parents had a house and are now buried there. The reason for this is that the priest was blessing the houses which involved the Priest in full regalia with an entourage carrying an Icon going from house to house for the blessings with all the town folk and visitors following along. After they had an auction which in reality was just a way for the people to contribute to the church so the prices were out of this world. An example would be a loaf of bread going for 200 euros, over there hundred dollars. This is not is the cruising budget.!
At this gathering we met another Greek who had lived and still does part of the year in Montreal. He invited us to his house that evening for a coffee. This we did and met John and his wife Heather and other friends and family. It happened that they have friends who have a daughter that is friends with Natalie and they just happened to call when we were there. It is a very small world!!! This home John has built is impressive as it is around 18000 sq feet and all built of Marble. An amazing home. The next day we just relaxed and people watched around the town and had dinner out.
We had received an email advising us that we had time to be pulled out of the water in Lefkas so we powered up to the island of Meganisi where we met up with and had dinner with Ben and Nannie on Duel Dragons whom we know from Marmaris. We had a good evening with them and then went early the next morning up to Lefkas and were out of the water by noon. We spent the next five days out and Marian and I fixed the propeller seal by removing the old bearing and lip seals and installing the new ones we carry as spares on board. We had the local company do the bottom which consisted of a days sanding and two days of applying the anti-fouling paint. This needed to be done as it has been over a year and a half since we did it last. While out Marian and I washed and waxed the hull and when we went back in the water spent a few hours washing and cleaning the top sides.
So after this we just went a few miles south to Nidri and spent a couple of days at anchor relaxing. It is stressful to have the boat out of the water and have to sleep with no movement. And yes we stay on board when the boat is out of the water. Then we went back to the anchorage on Meganisi as it was quiet and somehow we had an Internet site that we could connect to. We stayed there for three days just wondering around and visiting the small village of Vathi for some visits to the tavernas. Then off to Sivota for a night and then a good sail down to Fiskardho which is a Venetian town that did not get destroyed by the 1953 earth quake that destroyed most all of the town on these Ionian Islands. This our third day here and it is picture postcard perfect. We do not have wi-fi but there is a wonderful cafe bar with a balcony that over looks the bay and serves good wine and cheese and fruit plate along with a wi-fi connection so we have been spending the evenings there watching the sun set.
Well that catches you up to now. Our plans have changed as we have decided not to go to Croatia and will just holiday around this part of Greece for the next few weeks. Then will go to Sicily via the boot of Italy before going to Malta. There we hope to leave Kilkea for six weeks or so and come home to Vancouver for the summer. After that well we are not too sure where we will go. We do know that we will leave the Med and head for the Canaries and onto the Caribbean this November or December.
