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We
have been debating whether we want to keep Sea Gem in the Mediterranean
for another year or take her home before the beginning of the next
hurricane season. We have done a lot of soul searching and as much
as we love exploring Europe we long to be back home without the
worry of having Sea Gem so far away. Our plans to cruise the coast
of Croatia is putting us on an extremely tight time table to accomplish
this.
After leaving
Lefkas Town on the morning of June 15 we motored north in the Lefkas
Canal and made the 0800 bridge opening to exit the canal. The sea
was fairly rough and the wind coming out of the north. We motored
to a beautiful anchorage at Mongonisssi on Paxos, swam in seventy-two
degree water and washed the marks off the boat that we had collected
in Lefkas. We were one of two boats anchored in front of a pretty
small resort. There were several smaller boats tied to the shore.
The following morning we again swam in chilly, calm, clear water.
We got underway after breakfast and headed for Corfu.
Corfu is one
of the primary tourist destinations in Greece and has a major airport
that has international flights as well as flights from Athens. We
attempted to anchor in the main town area but the holding was poor
and so was protection from any but the most benign wind. Here in
the Mediterranean you become attuned to the probability, not possibility,
of sudden wind shifts and strong erratic wind patterns.
We tried the
local harbor and found it full so we motored on to Govia Marina.
Govia Marina is a new, state of the art, very secure marina located
about nine kilometers from Corfu Town. The facilities are excellent
and the personnel helpful. We enjoyed the ambiance of the marina,
including having water to wash the boat. This is not potable water
but it really helps to be able to wash the salt and dirt off the
boat.
On June 17,
we went in to Corfu Town to check out with the: Port Police, Customs,
and Immigration. Little did we know there were two separate offices
of the port police. After finally finding a port police office we
went in; they wrote things in Greek, in great dusty ledgers and
sent us on to the immigration and customs offices. The young officer
told us to be sure to return to that office when we completed out
paper work. Next we went to immigration and customs to finish the
procedure.
You have to
understand that when you hand the papers over, most of the clerks
take them and look at them as though they had never, ever seen such
a document. There is much arguing, among themselves in Greek, sometimes
shouting, rarely laughter. The next official wants to know, "When
are you leaving?"
"We are
leaving in the morning, very early, about five o'clock." Says
Captain Charlie. "Well," he says, "come back then,
I will check you out."
Now why did
we say we were leaving in the morning? We are at that point foiled,
so we left.
Ten a.m. the
following morning we return to office number one, as instructed.
They have no idea why we are there. They send up upstairs to a woman
who makes some phone calls and informs us we are in the wrong port
police office, we need to go to the other port police, near the
customs office.
We found the
customs office where there was a dour man walking out the door --
looks as if he is going on a break. I stop him by smiling broadly,
extending my hand and saying cheerfully, "Good morning, we
have come to check out.." He mumbles something, (which in English
would probably translate, Oh s...), lays down his briefcase and
says we have to first go to the port police office down the sidewalk.
We go, a pleasant young official in white uniform examines document
carefully, writes down information, solemnly stamps document and
hands it back. Next office is passport control, they take our passports
and ask us to wait outside. We do. After a fair wait they return
passports and we return to the first dour gentleman who by this
time has escaped for a break and been replaced by an equally dour
man. He takes our transit log and says to take it to the port police
for their stamp. We tell him we have just been there and they did
stamp it. He says, "Not in the right place." We ask him
to come with us. Reluctantly he walks down the sidewalk, enters
the office where the young white uniformed man has been replaced
by another young white uniformed man who knows nothing about what
has happened. Much Greek conversation, stamp put in proper place.
We return to the other office; official takes transit log and tells
us we are checked out. If you don't lose your sense of humor you
survive these escapades.
We left the
marina at three o'clock motored about twelve miles where we anchored
in a small bay. The anchorage was nice but we were in a rather precarious
position if the wind should reverse so Charlie set a stern anchor
by swimming it out. The next morning at seven thirty a severe thunderstorm
started and we pulled up both anchors and motored out to get some
sea room. We motored in a small area, watching the radar until the
storm passed and visibility improved. We then set out again on our
planned course north to Croatia. We anchored in South Bay on Nisos
Erikoussa, the northernmost Greek island in the Ionian Sea. We timed
our departure for Dubrovnick, Croatia for midnight so that we would
arrive there in daylight hours.
Our destination,
Dubrovnick, was one hundred eighty miles with no opportunity to
stop. As we set out there was rain and some lightning but not too
bad. After we got underway I went back to bed with Charlie at the
helm. The sea state got rougher and rougher. I went topside about
0200 to find not only did we have very rough water but multiple
large ships and ferries to dodge. Our course was up the Albanian
coast which we wanted to skirt, as there have been some problems
there with reported pirates. We took comfort in the fact that the
water was too rough for any thinking pirate.
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Click
on the picture to enlarge.
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Looking from
the beautiful shore of Greece, across the Adriatic to Albania, it
appears nature has conspired with politics to make life miserable
in that troubled land. Where the northern shores of Corfu are tree
covered and green, the shores only a few miles removed are rocky
and bare. Resorts dot the shoreline of Greece; we saw nothing in
Albania. Lights twinkle in Greece; we saw few and dim lights in
Albania. Perhaps this cruise by assessment is grossly unfair but
we saw nothing that beckoned us to their shores. The photos of the
stormy skies over Albania illustrate the aura given off by that
land.
We were beating
into an increasingly uncomfortable sea. The weather report on our
Stratos predicted Beaufort Scale six to seven in the southern and
central Adriatic Sea. I radioed a south bound cruise ship and asked
if they would give us a weather report. They did, the same Athens
report we had plus one that predicted a rough to very rough sea
state. He said, "Your decision."
We know that
it is our decision and at that point decided to scratch the "Cruising
Croatia Plan" to plan "B," that meant going back
to Greece, paying our cruising fee again, checking in again, and
continuing to explore Greece. This relieves the timing and distance
problem that would have been involved in getting Sea Gem home from
the Northern Adriatic Sea before the next hurricane season. This
may not have been our first plan, but we do not tire of the beautiful
Greek Islands. We have friends joining us. Joel and Janet Hass will
fly into Athens at the end of the month. Who knows, we may just
hang around Corfu; tough duty but we volunteer. Until later, from
Sea Gem in Govia Marina in Corfu. . .
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