Pimpin' the Ride
16 May 2010 | Corfu, Greece
Pimpin' the Ride
Corfu, Greece
Issues: tranny oil; reefer
After leaving Methoni a week ago, we finally made it to Corfu. We have not had wifi the whole way, so this is the first chance (for those of you interested) in relating the passage. We left a rolly anchorage in Methoni, and couldn't leave soon enough. The last couple of days got to be like a carnival ride!
We put in a 50 nm day and got up to Katakolon, which had a very nice, flat anchorage. The only thing remarkable about this spot was in the morning when we woke up to see a British bloke anchored right in the middle of the harbor entrance. Now to his credit, it was a big entrance to the harbor. But when not just one but TWO large cruise ships wanted to get into the harbor, it made some great entertainment from our vantage point at least. As it turned out there was no carnage, so it was really rather disappointing. I was hoping one of the tugs would at least pull up to within a few feet of the guy and blast a horn in his ear to get his attention!
I had to get up early at Katakolon to watch that faux-calamity before setting off on another 50 nm day up to Ithaca. Contrary to what most of you are thinking, Ithaca is NOT the prison where I have my mail sent to! Ithaca's claim to fame is being the home to Odysseus (think 'Homer'). We pulled into a cute little anchorage in Kioni, but it both quays were full up with charter boats. Yes, the charter season has started! In fact, our friends Jeremy and Amy Sexton ought to be in Kos right about now on their charter boat.
In any case, we decided to drop the hook off one of the quays in Kioni. We backed down on the anchor, set her good, turned off the engine, looked the other way for a moment, and off to the races we went - dragging our anchor along with us! How that happens - where you back down fiercely on an anchor and then a 15k puff drags you - baffles me. But at least it chose to drag during daylight! So after we reset it and it drug again, we gave up, pulled the anchor and went looking for a better spot.
We found that better spot just around the corner in Frikes where we were able to side-tie to an unprotected quay. But the night was relatively calm and we had a pleasant rest while also taking care of some necessities like laundry, showers, and food shopping.
From Frikes it was off to the island of Paxos, just south of Corfu. This was a very neat little spot. There is a small island in front of the town of Gaios. They built a long quay along the cut between the small island and the town. This quay extends for about a mile or so while it follows the cut and I guess this place gets really, really crowded in high season. As it was we had difficulty finding a spot on the quay, but successfully Med-tied with our own anchor - an accomplishment we all took great pride in since we have such little experience with the process.
From Paxos it was up to Corfu, a short 30 nm jaunt. When we got into the lee of Corfu from the confused sea we hoisted the kite and sailed up the island. About an hour into it we got into a race with about 6 other boats. OK, it wasn't an official race, but you can't tell me they weren't racing too!! One of the boats had a symmetrical kite while the others were on their jibs. But when the wind started to die we all fired up 'the iron genoa' and the race was called.
Steaming into Corfu was remarkable. I have always considered Corfu to be a yachting 'resort' town on the scale of Monaco or Mallorca, and it didn't fail to disappoint, The vista of the waterfront and old fortresses of the old town was something out of a postcard. We were snapping photos as quick as we could while dodging ferry boats, hydrofoils, tour boats, fishing vessels, and private yachts. To say Corfu gets busy would be understating it just a tad!
I decided for our anniversary to give Ruth 2 things a girl always wants: a trip to Albania and an overnight sail!! So we booked ourselves into Gouvia marina in Corfu as a 'send off' gift for her first overnight passage. The plan was to leave in the afternoon and log 125 nm or more on a nice 20-25k southerly. So I bellied up to the bar, and after picking myself off of the floor, paid the marina the 66 euro ($100) they were charging each night! But, hey - nuthin's too good for my girl, right...especially on the eve of her big trip to Albania! I mean, how exciting can that be?!!! (Do I know how to treat her right or what?!)
Once we got wifi and I was able to update my weather forecast we found out they had upgraded our little 20-25 k southerly to a 35-40 knotter. Yikes! So we will go to the anchorage just outside the marina instead and wait out the next few days for the series of puffs to work through before heading north. The plan now is to still do an overnighter and completely skip Albania. Ruth is sorely disappointed - as you might imagine!! But we will go to Budva, Montenegro which is 30 nm south of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik is supposed to be one incredibly beautiful town (as are the islands of Croatia) and we are excited about getting there. Be sure to check out the photo gallery afterwards for those pics if you haven't already checked it out.
Meanwhile we are contending with two issues on the boat. The first is that the transmission seems to have developed a small leak at the front seal. It is not a big issue...yet. But definitely something I need to address. I am hoping to find a mechanic in Corfu who can help us.
The other problem is we are seeing a mysterious water/oil combo in our bilge. The oil does not appear to be engine oil, so I am suspecting it may be oil from the refrigeration system. We will have to see as I investigate further.
And in continuing news...we pimped the ride!! I installed some LED lights under the cockpit table so now we have some light out in the cockpit. It won't be so useful now, while the days are long, but later in the summer it will come in real handy for hanging in the cockpit at night. Thanks, Jerry, for sending us the lights and consulting services!! Now, where should we put the dingo balls?