SV ICE BEAR

Vessel Name: ICE BEAR
Vessel Make/Model: Privilege 39
Hailing Port: Victoria Canada
Crew: Don and Cindy
About: From Vancouver Island British Columbia. Retired and enjoying relaxing Cruising.
Extra: we were hard core racers having sailed many many miles and loved the Long distance races with our previous three boats and friends boats but now we are pulling the throttles back. Even though ICE BEAR has a very nice turn of speed.
24 June 2017
19 June 2017
17 June 2017
12 June 2017
08 June 2017
05 June 2017
30 May 2017
30 May 2017
20 May 2017
16 May 2017
10 May 2017
03 May 2017
25 April 2017
13 April 2017
Recent Blog Posts
27 July 2019

Paxos / Corfu

The next morning we paid the new Greek cruising tax said goodbye to the guys on Mangata and the lovely town of Preveza. Our next stop was Paxos. The island of Paxos was only a short hop up the Greek coast. It was a great place to wait for good conditions to cross the Adriatic sea to Italy. The harbour [...]

12 July 2019 | Nydri marine

The Bank

With our return to Vliho bay the weather cooled back down and the rain returned we spent the next few days doing more boat jobs.Found the rattle in the steering system there was wear in the linear drive and to fix it we needed new parts sigh one more job for Tunisia. Replaced the fresh water pump, fixed [...]

30 June 2019

The Aussie

We motored to the stern of Mangata and knocked. From inside we heard a hello woohoo he was home well we kinda knew he was home the dinghy was tied to the stern. We climbed aboard and went below for a quick tour and drink. I always forget how much room is inside a Bavaria. There must be at least [...]

07 May 2019

The next ten days were spent in the boat yard. Unlike last year there was no red dirt but it was cold and wet.Fortunately we had a heater and electricity. When it rained we went to the stores for parts and food when it dried for a few minutes we painted the bottoms, serviced the engines, repaired [...]

25 April 2019 | Temple of Zeus, Olympia

Adventure 2019 begins

The 2019 travel season started on April 2nd with a ferry ride to Vancouver where wonderful friends put us up for the night before the flight to Greece. Thank you so much. The flight was just the way we like flights uneventful. Once we passed through customs and satisfied the man at the exit that the [...]

24 April 2019

Wrap up of 2018 sailing season

When we left our intrepid traveler Emmet he was in Poros waiting for a weather system to pass. While waiting food was consumed and roads were walked. One of the boats near us had its anchor lifted and ended up side tied to the quay which wasn’t a great place to be. The surge from the storm and other [...]

Paxos / Corfu

27 July 2019
Cindy Clement
The next morning we paid the new Greek cruising tax said goodbye to the guys on Mangata and the lovely town of Preveza. Our next stop was Paxos. The island of Paxos was only a short hop up the Greek coast. It was a great place to wait for good conditions to cross the Adriatic sea to Italy. The harbour town of Gaios is a favourite of ours. The town and quay sit one one side of a channel which is protected from most wind directions by St Nicholas island. This creates a snug little harbour that makes a perfect place to relax. We spent two days tied to the quay just steps from a lovely cafe that made a mean hot chocolate. Between the ferries and day tripper boats there was a lot of people watching to do. We found time in our busy schedule to check out several geo caches we even let ourselves get a little lost looking for the last one. It was a wonderful walk past lovely homes and olive orchards. Odd thing about the trees here many seemed to be branded first thing that came to mind is the farmers were worried that they would wander away as most of the stone walls were not high but the second thought was probably more correct that the olive producers belonged to a co-op and it was a way of ensuring everyone knew who's trees were being harvested. While wandering we also came across the early
Christian Basilica of Ayios Stefanos which is believed to date back to the 6th century AD
Being a small island it wasn't difficult to find a road heading back to Gaios. This road had a cliff down to the sea on one side and homes on the other the cliff side was covered in potentilla shrubs in several shades of pink and white the side with houses had huge rosemary hedges, however the olive tree ruled all. It wasn't difficult to find trees with stone walls and roads built around and through them it was like they couldn't be harmed. Later that evening a cuttle fish graced us with its presence it was so cute I think it knew we were watching cuz it kept swimming to a new spots and testing out different
camouflage patterns then it got bored and swam away. We finished of our stay in Paxos with a quick trip to a fishing shop and picked up a new pink lure and some bells
2 days just wasn't enough but weather windows wait for no one and one was forming. We needed to be in Corfu to check out of Greece. The trip to Corfu was a little bumpy and there were a couple small rain squalls but considering the cool weather up to this point nothing unexpected The people at Gouvia marina on Corfu were attentive and it wasn't long before we were dodging a few annoying rain drops in our search for the Indian restaurant we had enjoyed the last time we visited. The weather window looked like it was going to hold so the next morning we hopped in a cab and went to Corfu town
to check out of Greece. Once we found the office there was a short wait and several stamps and poof we had 24 hrs to get out of town. Which was perfect We headed into town to do some shopping and get some lunch. That's when it started to rain I mean rain the restaurants were full of people hiding so where the stores when there was a lull people would scamper down the road in an effort to go as far as possible before the next deluge. Even with a quick stop at a pastry shop for the next days snack we made it relatively unscathed to the bus stop where we missed the bus. We didn't stand a chance the ticket machine just wasn't willing to be rushed. About 10 minutes later we were seated on the next bus. We were feeling pretty good a little damp but whatever. The bus on the other hand wasn't equipped for all the humidity I'm not sure how the driver could see every window was dripping with moisture. As we rode towards the marina the rain slowed down. but as the fish guy in Star wars said 'its a trap' when we stepped off the bus the sky opened up We fought our way through the rain trying to avoid the car eating puddles that had formed. Our poor coats they had kept us dry up to this point but it was just to much. The cold wet water started seeping then gushing through. The dock was only a few meters away the Bear only a hundred or so after that. uugggg at this point running was just silly. Its times like this you feel a certain inner peace knowing you had made sealing everything that could leak water into your boat a priority That and a hot cup of tea. Later that evening we broke out the wet weather gear and braved the fickle weather to eat at the marina restaurant nearest to our dock. I think its the first time we chose a restaurant without looking at its menu.

The Bank

12 July 2019 | Nydri marine
Cindy Clement
With our return to Vliho bay the weather cooled back down and the rain returned we spent the next few days doing more boat jobs.Found the rattle in the steering system there was wear in the linear drive and to fix it we needed new parts sigh one more job for Tunisia. Replaced the fresh water pump, fixed the stern shower and found a fresh water leak we kinda thought we had but couldn’t confirm because of the location. The first dinghy up restaurant opened so we didn’t need to go far for dinner three cheers for Elena’s I love their saganaki shrimp. Then we found out that the Greek labour day was upon us and any chance of our package being processed and shipped in the next few days was unlikely the new eta was now 7 days away. On May 3rd we finally had all our ducks in a row to pay the VAT tax on the package to get it released by customs woohoo. At about 8 am one of us departed for lefkus to pay the tax bill. For 1.90 eu a mini bus parked in front of the Nidri ferry terminal provided the ride to the main town.
Once in Lefkus town the cell phones were topped up and then to an Alpha bank. I think this is where scientists got the idea for bird IQ tests. To get into the bank you need to press a button to open the outer door. After pushing the button several times the door unlocks. now your in between doors. and you need to repeat the process to make the inner door open. After much button pressing you learn that the first door needs to be closed for a set amount of time before the second door will open. Let’s complicate this by putting a person on the other side of the second door trying to get it to open. You need to work together to get the doors to open in the correct order. Oohh right you cant speak the same language Once in the bank there is a huge line up. 45 minutes later you get to a teller and show him the email explaining the customs duty. The teller filled out the correct form easily. But.... you can’t pay the bill with a debit card, credit card or get money from him. You need to go back outside to the bank machine and withdraw the cash. Fortunately you don’t need to wait in line again once you have the money just line up at the teller. So you fight your way through the doors to get to the bank machine where there is another line . Once the cash is withdrawn you fight your way back through the doors and returned to the teller 20 seconds later the payment is processed. Easy peasy and for good luck you take a picture of the receipt and email it to the courier holding the package. Success all paperwork is complete and the package has an official arrival date. While we waited Mangata returned seems the outboard was finally repaired. While the guys went to Cleopatra to pick up the engine I stayed behind to remove more of the evil red dirt from the deck. Turns out the engine wasn’t fixed but the Aussie did get a great deal on a 2k honda generator. The wind kicked up just in time for the guys to return in the dinghy and they arrived soaking wet. Finally on the 8th of May our package arrived. We picked it up and decided there was plenty of time to haul anchor and head for Preveza. Mangata and Ice Bear transited the canal in time for the 5 pm bridge opening and tied to the quay in Preveza for the night. Our departure was a little sad we had enjoyed Vliho bay and Nidri and if everything goes to plan we probably will never return.

The Aussie

30 June 2019
Cindy Clement
We motored to the stern of Mangata and knocked. From inside we heard a hello woohoo he was home well we kinda knew he was home the dinghy was tied to the stern. We climbed aboard and went below for a quick tour and drink. I always forget how much room is inside a Bavaria. There must be at least 6ft 8 of head room. It was getting late so as we headed off plans were made to meet the next day to share some movies and stuff. The weather just wasn’t warming up so we needed to break out the sleeping bag to keep warm at night. The next day we could see our Aussie neighbour doing the international sign for crap my dinghy engine won’t start after many many pulls on the cord he decided to row over. It wasn’t long before the engine was off the dinghy and on the outboard mount on the back of the bear. Seems last August during a rather unexpected storm in Vliho bay ( we reviewed our video of the storm it seems Mangata did a cameo ) his dinghy flipped over and the engine may or may not have got really wet. The guys removed the carb and wow was it fuzzy I had no idea so much salt and stuff could grow in a carb. After several hours of cleaning they put it back on the engine and tried to start it to no avail. Then they removed the carb and took it to Nidri Marine to see if they could finish cleaning and repair or replace some parts. One day we winched the Aussie up his mast to repair his anchor light and do an inspection of his rigging for a guy scared of heights he hid it really well Another day we went to the Church of Agia Kyriaki at the entrance to Tranquil bay. We found a geocache there and set our first travel bug into the wild. While exploring we met a fellow sailor who showed us the tomb of Wilhelm Dorpfeld. Seems he believed that Odysseus came from Nidri not Ithaca as well he developed the process used to date the archeological site of Troy and many others.
On the way back to the boats we picked up the carb the Nidri guy didn’t seem hopeful. The next day we walked to the Dimossan waterfalls They were very pretty and worth the almost 7km round trip..The little foil wrapped chocolates that were purchased in Nidri as a reward for a walk well done didn’t hurt either. Later in the evening the guys tore the still not running outboard apart the poor valves were almost as fuzzy as the carb. The next morning we ferried the Aussie and engine to nidri so he could catch a cab to Lefkus. We took the opportunity to reprovision and when a truck full of strawberries happened to drive near one of us we flagged it down and bought a flat. Hehehehe think of all the frozen berry pops when / if the weather ever turns hot. Not long after returning to the Bear we received an email from ups asking for a pile of forms to be filled out to prove who we were to be permitted to pay the VAT tax on the package we were waiting for. Hmm we went to ask the Nidri marine ladys about these forms and they directed us to an agent in town, She helped fill out all the forms and found a port police to stamp them and then she said she was going to Athens the next day and would deliver the forms. While one of us was working on the forms the Aussie and I purchased a cute box full of those yummy foil wrapped chocolates for the wonderful People at Nidri marine. A second person joined the crew of Mangata just in time for more rain uugg the boats were covered in red dirt again. Mangatas new crew and I stayed behind to watch our anchors while the other two rented a car to take the outboard to one of the marinas in Preveza. Their trip started with a bang as the Aussie backed into a concrete planter 3 cheers for insurance. While the guys were away much scrubbing made the Bear white again.. We felt like we had spent enough time in Vliho bay and the first warm day made us all restless so we pulled anchor and went to Antherinos a new bay at least for us on Meganisi. We stern tied and then sat and watched Mangata and her crew practice Med mooring for about an hour before joining them for dinner. The next day we walked to the town of Katomeri for lunch. On the way we paused to watch several young lambs. they were the lucky ones it was Easter and lamb to a greek at Easter is equal to a turkey at Thanksgiving for us. We found a taverna that made the best deep fried zucchini ever. later that evening we repeated the walk. we had been told that there was going to be Fireworks in Vathi so We stopped at the same taverna for dinner where we found out we didn’t need to go all the way to Vathi. Katomeri was going to set off its own fireworks plus theirs was going to be earlier. When we finished our meal we noticed groups of people walking past the restaurant. They were all holding a candle. The restaurant owner tried to explain what they were doing but the Greek english language thing happened however we did get that we should follow them. We all ended up at a small square in front of a church. It seemed a little weird to be hanging out in front of a church with more and more people arriving so we headed back to the Bear that’s when we noticed many balconies and porches had candles flickering away. Shortly after we arrived back at the boats we watched as they set off the fireworks. The next morning Mangata and her crew started their trip to the Aegean and we puttered back to Nidri to wait for our package

07 May 2019
Cindy Clement
The next ten days were spent in the boat yard. Unlike last year there was no red dirt but it was cold and wet.Fortunately we had a heater and electricity. When it rained we went to the stores for parts and food when it dried for a few minutes we painted the bottoms, serviced the engines, repaired the ugly cracks in the bow and scrubbed the winter stains from the hull. We met several people in the yard and One evening we visited with the you tubers from Creo sailing . We spent the 10th with a survey team going over Icebear for an insurance survey. The 11th and part of the 12th was spent replacing the hoses on the heads Omg it was nasty. The hoses were full of crud and the smell eeewwww. We put all the elbows and valves in a bucket full of vinegar and once they soaked and bubbled for a bit we chunked away at the deposits with a screwdriver. The things we do to make toilets work.
To reward ourselves for all the hard work in the yard we decided to travel to the Temple of Poseidon which is south east of Athens it was beautiful. Funny thing at the temple There was these two odd birds showing off by making a weird chicken like clucking sound. I’m guessing they were both trying to find mates. Googled them later and found out they were partridge. A few hours later we returned the rental car hopped on a bus and headed back to Preveza. The bus drove past Aktio airport which is where we wanted to get off but the driver decided he didn’t want / need to stop oh well it as a short cab ride back. At 10:30 on the 15th we were to launch but there was some sort of a delay something to do with a big ship, lots of wind and rain. 11 am the weather broke and the Cleopatra minions came by to apologize by 11:30 we were in the boat lift and heading towards to water with a second boat following on a trailer. We spent the rest of the day in the marina doing final checks and laundry. Finally it felt like the summer season was beginning. We easily made the 12 pm bridge opening in Lefkas and was parked all snug in Vliho bay and took the rest of the day off.. We were still waiting for the last package of parts to arrive it was only a few days later than expected and we still had some boat jobs and touristy things to do before we left for Tunisia.
Omg it was cold at night and rain was still in the forecast. About the third day at anchor we returned from town and noticed the boat that launched at about the same time as us was in the bay. Kewl we had met the owner in Cleopatra and thought it would be fun to see if he was home.

Adventure 2019 begins

25 April 2019 | Temple of Zeus, Olympia
Cindy Clement
The 2019 travel season started on April 2nd with a ferry ride to Vancouver where wonderful friends put us up for the night before the flight to Greece. Thank you so much. The flight was just the way we like flights uneventful. Once we passed through customs and satisfied the man at the exit that the big box on our cart was for us we topped up the phone cards, picked up the rental car and drove 5 minutes down the road to the Leroy Merlins ( Greek home depot ). Where we bought a bunch of stuff then hopped across the parking lot to Ikea for lunch. What intrepid travelers we are. Our next stop was Olympia. The Gps in the Ipad was programed the route was double checked we were off. The first half of the drive was basically a ring road around Athens to Corinth easy. The second part a little more complex but not a big deal until the Ipad does the stealth route recalculate. The road was winding but the scenery was beautiful. Everything was in bloom trees, weeds and gardens. The fun started around 4:00 when the sheep started heading towards home within a hours drive we stopped 4 times for flocks of sheep. One of those times the sheep dog charged us. Not sure what was going through his little brown head. Around 5:30 we pulled into the town of Olympia and to the front of the Pension Poseidon. The owner was waiting and gave us a huge smile and handshake. We didn’t realise how tired we were until the bed grabbed us. It was a short struggle. 8pm found us hungry and mostly awake Even though the beginning of April is really early for the tourist season the town had several restaurants and some shops open. We even talked to a shopkeeper that was on a postcard carrying the Olympic torch for the Montreal games. Ooohh it seems several school busses full of students were also visiting Olympia. The next morning we enjoyed a basic breakfast at the hotel with the other two people that had stayed the night. It was a short walk to the ruins. They looked like ruins but unlike most we had seen these were focused around athletics. Hera’s temple is where the flame for the modern Olympics is lit. The running track for what is now known as the 100m is still maintained. The temple of Zeus is in the center and off to the side you can still see the places where shops would have been. There was even the ruins of a big hotel and an area for wrestlers and sports of that type to train. The fact that most of the trees were in bloom and flowers were everywhere added to the beauty of the whole area not only that but the sound of the bees working those flowers was impossible to miss.Our ticket included two museums one about the site and the other about the history of the Olympics. After lunch we did a light shop, bought some t shirts and headed for the Bear. We passed greenhouse after greenhouse on the drive and they were all full of strawberries. Mmmmm. The bear looked great she was so clean she glowed. We stowed our stuff and then walked to the marina restaurant and had a very nice meal before calling it a night Tomorrow the work will begin.

Wrap up of 2018 sailing season

24 April 2019
Cindy Clement
When we left our intrepid traveler Emmet he was in Poros waiting for a weather system to pass. While waiting food was consumed and roads were walked. One of the boats near us had its anchor lifted and ended up side tied to the quay which wasn’t a great place to be. The surge from the storm and other boats moving around were starting to cause some damage to its side. The owners hired one of the local water taxis to help pull them off the dock. The first taxi was too small and couldn’t overcome the surge they left and returned with a bigger boat this taxi was successful however there was still damage caused to the starboard stern as it was used as a pivot point when they pulled the bow from the quay. On the 5th of Aug the weather broke and we made our escape. We pulled in to the small town of Korfos and anchored. The next day was the transit of the Corinth canal once again a perfect day for it approx 20 minutes after starting the transit we were through to the other side and continuing on to Trizonia. Along the way we picked up a new fender still in its like new cloth covering. Trizonia had changed a little since we had visited in May. The town had taken control of the marina the holes were filled on the dock and even better the derelict and sunken vessels had been removed save for the work boat near the shore. We went to town and ordered 3 croissants from the local store for the morning and then enjoyed walking around town before settling down for dinner. In the morning one of us went to collect the croissants only to discover that we had ordered three loaves of bread well not so much as we had ordered bread but only bread could be ordered. Around 9am we cast off continuing to head for the Ionian. We transited under the Rio bridge and through the canal to Mesolongion. The next day we traveled to Meganisi to enjoy some swimming time. The 9th found us back in Nidri which was a good spot to say goodby to our third crew member. For the next few days we bounced between Nidri and Meganisi alternating between light boat jobs and swimming. On the 21st we headed to Cleopatra marina. The next day we picked up a rental car and drove to just outside Athens for the night. The 23rd we drove to the airport to pick up two new visitors now we were 4. After a whirlwind trip from the airport to Delphi and back to the bear we were all ready for a nap.
The morning of the 24th we left the marina for Paxos there were lots of day trippers at Gios but we found room to stern tie near the ferry landing and spent a great day exploring the town. the next day we left for Corfu and anchored under the shadow of the citadel three of us left to explore the town and bring a gyros back to the boat to feed the one left behind. On the 26th we went to Gouvia marina grabbed a taxi and spent the rest of the day exploring Corfu. When we we left Corfu a light storm pushed us almost all the way to the bridge in lefkus. As we neared the lefkus canal it was starting to look like we would miss the 7pm bridge opening by seconds but a catamaran that had been waiting seemed to have issues pushing off the dock and delayed the bridge ever so slightly. We still don’t know if they really were having issues or they pretended in order to give us the precious seconds we needed either way thank you to that boat and crew. By 830 pm we were all snug at anchor in Vliho bay which gave us plenty of time to go to one of the dinghy up restaurants it was packed full of small charter dinghies. The fun started when the first dinghy left the dock and our third crew member noted that they had stuffed 5 people in a 3 man dinghy. Omg they are going to die there is no way they can get back to their boat without sinking the third crew member said loudly. As they putted away the optical illusion caused by the water made it look like they were sitting in the water which resulted in a loud omg they are now in the water and much laughter. What made this truly funny was almost everyone in the restaurant had the same dinghy so as they left one at a time the omg and laughter was repeated. The small dinghy pulling the other small dinghy that crashed multiple times in to the restaurants small fishing boat caused even more laughter.
The next day we went spent stern tied to Meganisi for a day of rest and swimming the 30th found us traveling to the island of Kefalonia and the town of Fiscardo. the 31st to Sami where we paid a taxi to take us to Argostoli to visit with turtles. The next two days we traveled to and explored Saint Elfinia and then Vathy on the island of Ithaca. The last full day on the water for our two guest crew was in Meganisi for a final day of swimming and a final anchoring in Vliho bay near Nidri. The 4th of Sept found us making the trip back to Cleopatra marina where we rented a car and drove to Athens to explore. Our guest crew boarded the airplane on the 6th and we drove back to Icebear where we spent until the 22 of Sept bouncing between Vliho bay and Meganisi . This sounds relaxing however about 8 days before lift out time we started to notice a major weather front coming through the med. The facebook sites started to lite up with people talking about where they were going to hide the weather models were going nuts. Would it hit before the 22nd yes then no oohh look it turned way aww crap it’s coming this way again the 22nd came and it was calm we were out of the water and the bear was put to bed for another year the 24th we left for Athens and on the 25 we boarded the airplane home the wind was starting to blow. We really didn’t have any idea what was to come. The end of Sept and the first few weeks of Oct was brutal Italy, Greece and Turkey bore the brunt. Boats sunk, docks broke,established break walls smashed and towns flooded. We were lucky enough to watch this all unfold from the comfort of our couch.
ICE BEAR's Photos - Main
16 Photos
Created 24 April 2019
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Created 25 April 2018