Freya & Us

From Preveza we had a long and rolly motor through the swell to the island of Paxos where we anchored in Mongonisi bay for the night. The bay was deserted with no other boats and the one beach side taverna still closed for the winter. We loved it after the hustle and bustle of the last few weeks. Our passage to Paxos was uncomfortable because of the swell and quite boring as there wasn't enough wind to sail. It was made worse because Freya is still sulking after being left for so long. The autopilot stopped working so we had to manually helm all the way. We were given a replacement control unit for the autopilot 4 years ago by our friends Phil and Julie (who had upgraded their system) so after eliminating everything else we could think of, fitted that and all seemed well.

The forecast was for rain later in the day, so we left Mongonisi quite early, well for us at least, and started off motoring towards Plateria on the mainland. We were making good progress under engine with the repaired autopilot working well. Then the wind picked up and we raised the sails and managed a whole half hour sailing close hauled at 5.5 kts before the wind disappeared and we had to motor again. There were a few spots of rain on the journey, but nothing to worry us as we could leave the steering to the autopilot while we sat under the spray hood.

Our anchor windlass has been playing up - we think its motor needs new brushes - which makes med mooring using the anchor a bit more interesting. You need to give it a bit of a thump with a rubber mallet to get it started, very reminiscent of Basil Fawlty trying to get his car started. We will need to struggle on with it for a while at least until we get back to Nydri in mid May where we can get the right parts.

We spent our afternoon in Plateria sat in a bar overlooking the harbour entrance enjoying a beer and watching the forecast rain coming down, feeling a bit smug as we watched a few boats coming in with sodden crews. The next morning we left Greece and the EU, heading into Albania.

It was a lovely day for a motor, flat seas and brilliant sunshine without a breath of wind, not sailing but quite lovely really. As we crossed the border into Albania, down went the Greek courtesy flag and was replaced with the Albanian one, but this was joined by a yellow duster, otherwise known as the "Q" flag - in this case it really was a yellow duster as we don't have a Q flag! As we had left the EU and no longer have freedom of movement across borders, the "Q" flag must be flown until the immigration formalities have been completed. Its a requirement in Albania that we use an agent for this, which is just as well as they aren't really geared up for cruising yachts. We have to go through the same process as the big container ships or the ferries from Italy and Greece. In fact there are no yacht berths and we are moored on a side wall in the ferry port and have to walk through passport control and customs when we go into town, although so far each time we've done this the place is deserted and they wave us through.

Sarande is a nice modern seaside town spread around a big sandy bay. It has a laid back feel to it and everyone has been really friendly. Last night we ate out in a fish restaurant and steeled ourselves to struggle with the language. Faleminderit for "thank you" is the limit of our Albanian so far. But we needn't have worried, the restaurant was run by Greeks so we had two common languages, the waiter spoke his native Greek, Albanian and English. It's quite funny that the first Greek restaurant we ate in in Greece this year was run by an Albanian (Upside Down George) and our first Albanian restaurant was run by Greeks - and friends of Upside Down George!

Today we were planning to hire a car and head out to explore some of the sights around the area with out Kiwi neighbours but the weather isn't good, wind and heavy showers, so we are staying in town and delaying that until tomorrow.

The link to our map seems to be stopping people leaving comments on the blog, so I've removed it for now. I will be keeping it up to date so simply go to an earlier blog and click the link there to see it.