Gummy sharks and other tales

Vessel Name: Amble
Vessel Make/Model: Beneteau Oceanis 43
Hailing Port: Sydney
Crew: Jane and Brett Campbell
About:
Brett is a keen racer. I'm not, so named our boat 'Amble' as a subtle reminder. Herbert, our Ragdoll cat, is also onboard and, at the age of 12, miraculously turned into a sea cat. [...]
Extra: 'Gummy sharks' is a ref to my fear of dying slowly. Good to be positive! In the early days of coastal sailing I was worried about drowning slowly if I fell overboard. The thought of a shark speeding things up cheered me up—but, bother, no teeth.
23 July 2014 | Zante Town, Zakynthos
20 July 2014 | Ay Nikoloas, Zakythos
17 July 2014
15 July 2014 | Argosotlli, Cephalonia
13 July 2014 | Poros, Cephalonia
18 June 2014
18 June 2014
03 June 2014
01 June 2014
29 May 2014
20 May 2014 | Corfu Town
18 May 2014 | Corfu
15 May 2014 | Sarande, Albania
Recent Blog Posts
23 July 2014 | Zante Town, Zakynthos

Calm to chaos (unusual?!)

Here we are in Zante Town It’s a surprisingly big place, which shouldn’t be a surprise as it’s the capital of Zakynthos. Then again, Argostoli is the capital of Cephalonia and, other than great yacht and knee services (and people), not much there. Altho lots of watermelons! Great fruit and veges. Anyway, [...]

20 July 2014 | Ay Nikoloas, Zakythos

Dimitris Theodosis

It is just so wonderful to meet met men such as Dimitris Theodosis. Nothing is too much trouble for him, and although young (I'm getting old!) he's endlessly patient helping, if need be, yachties moor their boats on the town quay; his domain it seems. We even watched him row out to yachts, climb aboard [...]

19 July 2014

Washing machines, Zakynthos

Being Saturday (now that took awhile) we've been on the island of Zakynthos for three whole days. Two of which here in St Nikoloas, a tiny village of about two tavernas and a tourist shop -- and quite a few boats, caiques, that take tourists to the Blue Caves.

17 July 2014

Navagio Bay, Zakynthos

Up at dawn to sail with the tide. Or not! Up at 7 to have a cup of tea, and then leave Argostoli about 7.30 for the five-or-so-hour motorsail to NW Zakynthos. The weather's looking great, which is handy, as the prevaiing winds are from the NW so rather not get caught on the west coast in bad weather. [...]

15 July 2014 | Argosotlli, Cephalonia

Relay part for anchor!

Well, my vocabulary might not be increasing but context is. 'Relay' being my new word of the day.

13 July 2014 | Poros, Cephalonia

Octopus!

Poros is a surprisingly pretty spot. The water is fantastic. How many different types of blue are there? And greens? Fun to kayak along the sandy shores, stopping (as I'm not as fit as I should be) to admire the colours.

Navagio Bay, Zakynthos

17 July 2014
Up at dawn to sail with the tide. Or not! Up at 7 to have a cup of tea, and then leave Argostoli about 7.30 for the five-or-so-hour motorsail to NW Zakynthos. The weather's looking great, which is handy, as the prevaiing winds are from the NW so rather not get caught on the west coast in bad weather. Already one wreck on the beach there, best not to make it more.

Our pilot book warned as that Wreck Bay (Navagio Bay) would be like the 'D-Day landing in Normandy' at this time of year. As we haven't seen too many people around, thought that might be a slight exaggeration but no. Beach packed with people from the tourist boats that reverse onto the beach to spew them all out. Many seeming to lose a thong along the way.

There is no road access to the bay, so by boat is the only way. Luckily for us, there was only one other yacht there, and the commercial boats all park on the beach, more or less, so there was plenty of water space. Just had to breathe in to get onto the beach, which we did via kayak —managing to barely miss lots of swimmers as the small breaking waves took us in.

What a place! Huge white limestone cliffs that take on blue hues from the reflection of the water, and the water is a rainbow of graduated blues, greens and sandy whites. Absolutely gorgeous. Our eyes felt as though they'd been defogged as the colours were incredibly vibrant. Everything was full colour.

As we arrived at lunchtime, we managed to fluke the break in the day as the morning tourists left on the various large cruise boats to zoom back to town. Seems not many come in the afternoon, even in good weather, in case of the prevailing winds. So just the smaller tourist boats coming and going. And us.

The wreck apparently is famous in Zakynthos, crashing into the area in the 1980s. Certainly ran aground in a stunning location.
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