We had a lovely sail to Rhodes on 3rd August – a clean bottom and a new mainsail makes all the difference. We anchored in our now usual spot in the inner harbour - just with 1 other yacht. After checking all the weather sites and aware of all the gales in the Aegean with the meltami -the decision was to head to the Peloponnese via Crete! We headed south - a long, tough, tacking sail, with only the sea birds and odd turtle for company - to the small island of Khalki. We had a good sail in 20 to 25knot westerly, south -west past the island of Karpathos to the most southern island of the Dodecanese – Kasos – a lovely little locals only island outpost. We headed south-west to CRETE on 8th - what a terrible day - days like this turn me off sailing, and are not enjoyable at all!. We were heading and tacking in the wrong direction in rough seas - making a 30 mile day into a 77 mile day! We arrived in Crete to anchor behind the harbour wall off the town harbour at Sitia - exhausted. Our next day-hop was to Spinalonga Lagoon - past the Venetian fort and over the 3metre shallow entrance bar -the area was special & lovely. With a gale warning on our Navtex and Rtty we needed to head for cover to the port of Iraklion. When we arrived we tied to the outside harbour wall - and as forecast the winds picked up throughout the night - with spray coming over the harbour walls. We woke to cloudy skies and a distinct change in the weather as forecast. With the boat safe we had a tourist day at the ancient Minoan palace of Knossos. There were tourists everywhere - but the site was very interesting and enjoyable - thankfully due to the cloudy skies it was not too August hot! We successfully did our weekly food shopping at the outside town large supermarkets on the way back to the boat in the afternoon. The gale and swell into the harbour really kicked in during the night - and as a result our wooden fenderboard was broken, as well as our portside mid cleat. After making the boat safe again we headed off the boat for a walk around the town and to visit the archeological museum, which was fascinating. With the gale passed, but with still high seas we stayed tied to the wall for another day and enjoyed a long awaited lovely iced coffee in the town square – the people watching was great! We had access to a water tap - so made great use of if to give the boat a well needed hose down with fresh water - she needed a good wash off. By the 14th we headed west along the coast to Rethimno - which should have been a 30 mile trip - but became 60 due to our tacking. We had full main, cutter and small genoa out - but made little progress. Unfortunately whilst taking the genoa the leech edge became torn - mainly due to age and sun damage over the years. On the 16th we started our 180 mile crossing north to the Peloponnese. Our AIS was very helpful the shipping lanes – pointing not an unnamed UN ro-ro( no prize for guessing where he was heading – Libya maybe)
IRAKLEIO RADIO NAVWARN 155/11
NATO AND ITS PARTNERS ARE CONDUCTING ARMS EMBARGO OPERATIONS IN SUPPORT OF UN SECURITY RESOLUTIONS 1973 TO PREVENT THE FLOW OF ARMS,RELATED MATERIAL AND MERCENARIES INTO AND OUT OF LIBYA. SHIPS SAILING IN THE AREA ARE REQUESTED TO COOPERATE AND COMPLY WITH ALL INSTRUCTIONS.LEGITIMATE SHIPPING WILL SAIL UNIMPEDED.IF VIOLATIONS OF THE UNSCR 1973 ARE FOUND,VESSEL AND CREW WILL BE ESCORTED TO A SECURE PORT WHERE NATIONAL AUTHORITIES WILL TAKE CHARGE AT INTEND TO MAKE PORT VISITS IN LIBYA OR DEPART LIBYAN PORTS SHOULD CONTACT NATO MARITIME FORCES VIA VHF CHANNEL 16 TO ENSURE UNIMPEDED TRAVEL