We’d received many, many recommendations to visit Kosterhavet National Park, just south of the Swedish border with Norway. We finally arrived on a sunny September Saturday in time for the annual Koster Swimrun. The event, held annually in September, is a roughly 19-mile (30 km) race around the Koster Islands 3 miles (5 km) of…
Tag Archives | Nordhavn
Fjallbacka
The picturesque town of Fjallbacka is a popular and crowded summer destination. It is famous as being the summer home for Swedish film star Ingrid Bergman and also the setting for Swedish crime writer Camilla Lackberg’s “Fjallbackamorden” series of murder-mysteries. Strung along the water below steep cliffs, Fjallbacka is also known for its natural beauty,…
Vaderoarna
Vaderoarna (the Weather Islands) were classified as a nature reserve in 2012 and have one of Sweden’s warmest, but windiest, climates. A lighthouse was first installed there 1867, and a pilots’ station in 1754. Today the beautiful islands are a popular tourist destination, particularly the current pilots’ lookout, built in the 1930s. We initially planned…
Nordens Ark
Nordens Ark, on the Swedish west coast, is a private, non-profit foundation focusing on conservation, rearing, and research of endangered animals. Their zoo houses roughly 80 animal species from around the world, ranging from insects, frogs and birds to reindeer, wolves and cats large and small. From Smogen, we travelled to the head of Abyfjorden…
Smogen Storm
Smogen is right on the edge of the Skagerrak and exposed to the North Sea. So when a big westerly storm rolls in, exciting seas can develop and the storm surge can raise the water level in the harbour several feet. We spent two more nights at Smogen, touring the area by tender and on…
Smogen, the Island of Light
Smogen, the “Island of Light”, ends its summer season with an art light festival that last year drew 30,000 attendees. While most coastal Swedish towns have rolled up the carpet for the year by mid-August, Smogen is going strong until the mid-September festival. All the restaurants are still open and the docks and streets are…
Gullmarsfjorden
The 19th-century seaside resort Lysekil sits at the mouth of Gullmarsfjorden, a 15-mile-long (25 km) fjord that in 1983 was designated as Sweden’s first marine conservation area. The aquarium at Lysekil features sea life from Gullmarsfjorden that bears a remarkable resemblance to those we’ve seen when diving in the Pacific Northwest, with the Wolf Eels…
Karingon
Karingon, a small and beautiful island along the Swedish West Coast, has one of the most active Sea Rescue Society station in Sweden. The Karingon Sea Rescue Society, founded in 1920, has 36 volunteers and performs 400-500 missions each year. Averaging more than one mission a day, the busiest days in the summer must be…
Pilane Sculpture Park
Pilane Sculpture Park, set in a farmer’s field in the middle of the Swedish island of Tjorn, was voted among the top ten in Europe by the British newspaper The Guardian. The clear star at Pilane is Anna by Jaume Plensa. The huge head of a woman is visible from sea—we could see it from…
ENVOY CRUISING SOUTH FROM CORFU
ENVOY CRUISING SOUTH FROM CORFU
Envoy is now at stunning Kastos Island on the way to Mesolonghi to meet my brother Charles.
Back to late August we’ve cleared in to Greece at Corfu after our return from Albania and heading south we spend time in Petriti and Syvota – both extensively mentioned in previous blogs.
Enjoying cakes at one of our favourite bakeries – in Syvota (Mourtos)
Cruising west from Petriti you need to stay well clear to the north of a large sand spit, covered with shallow water and well marked on charts but with no buoyage. There’s a line of boats including us and several charter yachts keeping well clear of the spit and then I see a 45 ft sailing catamaran under motor veer out of line off to the south. At first I think maybe he has local knowledge and with his cat’s shallow draught may be OK. He’s well out of hailing distance when I see things go horribly wrong and the cat grounds. Fortunately the sea is very calm and I see the cat trying to get clear, but instead of trying to get out the way it came in the cat veers in another direction where it’s shallower still. There’s nothing we can do to assist as he’s several hundred metres away from water deep enough for Envoy to venture safely. In any case I’d be reluctant to put a tow line on a vessel over here, not knowing the insurance implications.
We cruise on to Loggos on Paxxos Island. This is a stunning village we’ve been to with our friends Frank and Marie when we all decided it was one of our favorite places with a quaint bakery selling croissants, plus several nice tavernas and restaurants and quirky shops.
Envoy anchored in Loggos with superyacht in background
Loggos’s stunning waterfront
Our favorite house in Loggos overlooks the anchorage
Then we head to Lakka Bay on Paxxos, surprisingly finding three Kiwi boats there. We get together with Richard and Janet from motorboat Matariki plus Jeremy and Chrissy from yacht Fernweh for drinks aboard Envoy and dinner ashore. We find out that Richard is about 80 years old and still enjoying his boating, having a yacht in the Bay of Islands that he originally sailed out to NZ from England.
Interesting charter vessel moored close to us at Lakka
I planned to do a genset oil and filter change the next day. I had my new spare Shell oil stored on the top deck in 20 litre plastic drums and when I went to fetch it found that the tops of both drums had split – presumably with the heat and u/v. In retrospect I should have covered them for protection. We’d had a little rain a few days before and I wasn’t going to risk using oil possibly contaminated with water so consigned these drums to the oil dump station where I looked with disgust as 40 litres of possibly perfectly good oil was poured in – about 170 Euros worth!
From Paxxos we cruise about six hours to Preveza on the mainland – another great anchorage where we’ve spent many comfortable nights.
Having dinner out at Preveza
Before it got dark we notice this bird’s nest of wiring on a nearby power pole
Here I buy some new 15W40 oil and change the generator’s oil and filter, a job which if properly organised takes about an hour using Envoy’s built-in oil change pump. On completion when I try to start the generator – nothing! Well obviously I think the problem must be connected to the oil change, but I can’t see how – did I dislodge a wire?. The generator provides our only source of AC power for refrigeration so we need it. We head to nearby Lefkada marina where we can connect to shorepower while the generator problem is solved. Sailand’s electrician – Velisaris knows Envoy well and comes aboard at 1800 hours, soon diagnoses the problem as the starter motor, removes it and takes it away for repair. He’s back at 1000 the next day and says the starter motor needed a good clean out of accumulated carbon dust and new brushes. I check our Envoy manual and find this starter motor should be serviced every five years. Lo and behold – it’s 5 years since our last service. While Velissaris is aboard I also get him to test the output of the Lugger’s alternator and this tests fine.
Having dinner in Lefkada’s main square with yachtsmen friends Mike and Keith
We leave Lefkada and head south through the canal stopping at Ormos Varko for two nights. This is a remote, peaceful anchorage well sheltered from prevailing northerlies and without annoying speed boats roaring around. One night we’re on the fringes of an electrical storm, but apart from a few brief squalls up to 20 knots have no problem and see the main front pass away well to our east.
Then it’s further south to Ormos Dessimou. This is a bit busier with many campers ashore and some small boats coming in and out.
Tavernas on O. Dessimou’s tranquil shore
Next posting – unexploded WW2 hand grenade found in our anchorage
