Hi Everyone,
Messalonghi marina was a place the cruisers either loved or hated. We were lucky – we loved it. It had everything that we needed for a winter berth, a safe, secure berth, electricity, water, good showers, free wifi that worked and a good town. It also had the advantage that the surrounding area was flat which made it great cycling country. Transport to and from Athens airport was easy, albeit 3 hours away.
We came back to Jane-G the beginning of January and worked hard to catch up on all our winter jobs bring her back up to scratch and looking pretty again. On the social side we were catching up with old friends on ‘Scotia’ and ‘Moon Rebel’ and making new friends. Tuesday night was music night in the small bar within the marina complex. This was mainly Clive and Tom off ‘Monsun’ entertaining a group of about 8 to guitar and songs. There was also a number of sing-along songs that we had the words put up onto the TV to follow. I’m not quite sure what the locals who came for a quiet drink made of us. We also managed to stream some of the Six Nations Rugby matches, which was great fun as we had Welsh, English, Scottish and even a French cruiser. Naturally I was very pleased with the outcome (we won the Grand Slam yet again!)
February 20th was Clive’s 60th birthday and so I whisked him off to Rome for 5 days. We had a wonderful time and even saw the Pope celebrating Mass on the big screen in St Peter’s Square and come out to address the crowds afterwards. It was actually quite a moving experience hearing the service over the speakers as we entered the square. We did all the touristy bits and more. It was a place Clive had promised to take me one day for the last 30 years and I ended up taking him!
Messalongi will have some bad memories for me as after losing my mother when we arrived, my sister Pauline died on 1st March from ovarian cancer. I already had a flight booked for the 6th March to spend a week with Dad. We were lucky to get Clive booked on the same flight and we both went home for the funeral.
April came and the weather was improving, it was time to go cruising again. We weren’t absolutely sure what our plans were for this year as my niece was getting married in August and we needed a safe place that was affordable to leave Jane-G, so we played it by ear. I wanted to see a little of the Ionian islands before we left Greece so made our way up to Lefkas. The best anchorage is at Vlikho as it is a large inlet with a narrow entrance and we had some high winds coming. It was an excellent anchorage, even in the strong winds the sea was almost flat. It also had a very good club house with good food and over the next 5 days 5 boats that were in Messalonghi came in so it was party time again.
Once the weather settled, again we said goodbye to our friends and slowly moved up to Corfu. On our 3rd day there we had a problem. Clive cut the top off his finger on the cockpit table. Don’t ask me how because I can’t work out how. I put it down to user error. Luckily the hospital was close and he had it sewed back on. The service we had from the hospital was excellent and most of his finger has survived except that it has a slight angle on one side. He was lucky it was the middle finger on his right hand and he could still play his guitar. While at the hospital I had a phone call from our friends Mark and Jacquie asking where we were. When I said in a hospital in Corfu it was not what they expected. But they did like the Corfu bit and booked flights for the following Saturday for 1 week. We had a great week, the weather was perfect and as we had to stay around for Clive’s finger to be checked, it helped us focus on something other than his finger. It was almost 3 weeks before the stitches were taken out ( and 3 months before he could do the washing up) and the consultant was happy with the way it had healed and we could leave Corfu.
It was a 2 day passage to Sicily and it was a horrible. The seas were confused without much wind so we ended up motor sailing most of the way and were glad to arrive at Siracusa on the east coast of Sicily on the 22nd of May. Siracusa is a lovely old town with narrow streets that are easy to get lost in. They also have a daily fresh produce market where the vendors had out free samples of cheese and cured meats. Friends had told us of a wine warehouse where you could taste the wine before you bought. We walked out with 20 litres at €1.30/L and it was/is good wine.
‘Orca Joss’ our Kiwi friends we had said our final farewell to in Turkey were still in Ragusa on the south coast of Sicily so we bit the bullet and paid €56/night to go into the marina to see them again. As we were leaving the anchorage at 0430 the engine stopped suddenly. Tried to restart and again it stopped. Clive took off the fuel filters to find they were clogged with a thick jelly like substance. We remembered the same problem last year and put it down to biofuel left in the tank over the cold winter and separating out. By 0530 with new filters we were on our way again. This proved to be just the start of our fuel problems for this year.
We spent 4 days in the marina and had a great time with ‘Orca Joss’ and once again said our final farewell. They planned to cross the Atlantic this year and we would not see them again (or so we thought). We were off to Malta and motored all the way. We really wanted to go to Malta but we knew it would be expensive in the marinas and there are few places to anchor. Once again we were lucky that our friends on ‘Quilcene’ Kit and Belinda were there and had ‘local’ knowledge of a 70 foot steel yacht on a mooring that you can tie along side for free. They were one side and we were the other and stayed for 11 days and it didn’t cost us a penny. Malta is fabulous and anyone who hasn’t been should go. The people are all so friendly, they all speak English and it is relatively cheap eat and drink out. They also have the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. They have 35 firework factories on the island so you can see they are into it in a big way. Every village has a saints feast day and on the Saturday before they have mechanical fireworks. It is also a competition between the villages as to who presents the best fireworks. The one we saw must be the best – I can’t see anyone getting better than that. There are BIG structures that the fireworks are attached to and when lit set up a mechanical movement with cogs and pulleys,that were moved by the fireworks only, that create the most amazing light display. All this is done with hundreds of people standing around. The ‘elf and safety morons in the UK would have a fit. We were very lucky to see them as we had planned to go to the village by bus with the last one back at 2230. Our friends Christina (who is from Malta) and Bjorn (who is from Sweden) off ‘Mischief’ were now living in Malta and said that they would meet us there and drive us home after. Just as well as the fireworks didn’t start until 2330 and we arrived home at 0200 in the morning. They told us much about Malta and also took us around the island one day pointing out all the interesting landmarks. Malta played a big part in WW11 and Valletta was almost flattened with the bombing. They are now rebuilding all the old fortifications and it a really interesting city to walk around.
Before leaving Malta Clive checked the fuel filters again to find they still had some jelly in them so replaced them and also bought several new ones as spares. Because Malta has such a British influence many of the supermarkets stock British foods stuffs and by time we left most of them were in my food lockers.