Tag Archives | Nordhavn

TECHNICAL
At Rethymno our agent, A1 Yachting organises some servicemen to do a few jobs.
-One of our two 120V aircon units has a sea water cooling pump which is not working. An electrician confirms there is no power coming to the pump from the aircon unit but can’t fix it. His solution is to buy a new aircon unit! No success there and we decide to get it checked by someone we know in Corfu.
-Our washing machine’s water discharge pump, previously fixed by Chris and I fails again. Two servicemen come to inspect it and find it is simply a blocked impeller. A few days later it fails again and this time an AC wire has broken. This wire is too light for its function with the vibration of the machine. They fix it but a couple of weeks later the pump is no longer working. I have rigged up a hand vacuum pump to the machine pump’s water outlet so that we can still use the machine and will get the machine checked later by Miele servicemen in Corfu. Incidentally we are now recycling the machine’s water to clean the boat down, whereas this water normally discharges over the side.
-Our main toilet has had a problem all season. It will discharge into the holding tank (from where we can discharge waste overboard) but will not discharge directly over the side. Experienced servicemen already looked at this in Corfu finding nothing wrong with the toilet. This serviceman does much the same, finding nothing wrong and by a process of elimination the fault probably must be a partially blocked discharge hose to the seacock or a problem with the seacock itself. Since we can still use this toilet (and the forward toilet) this has not been a major problem and we’ll resolve it next time Envoy is on the hardstand.
Probably cruising’s only great frustration is when supposedly expert people come aboard to investigate a technical problem and can’t resolve it or provide a way forward to resolve it.

FOR FOODIES
In Rethymno we find a delightful restaurant called Veneto in a 700 year old building which has been a Dominican monastery, a Venetian mansion and a prominent Turk’s residence. This is open-air dining at its best on an ancient stone floor, surrounded by arches, shrubs and flowers in ceramic pots and a water feature built around an old well.

Ancient horse trough is now a feature at Veneto restaurant

The meals are sumptuous but reasonably priced and we share: -Marinated sardine fillets upon crispy bruschetta with freshly-ground pepper and secret herbs for 7.50 Euros (about NZ$12.50).
-Apakia smoked pork with whipped goat’s crème and sweet Vinsanto wine for 9 Euros (about NZ$15. -Stuffed vine leaves (Dolmades) and zuccini flowers with rice and yoghurt for 6.50 Euros (about NZ$11).

Our delicious platters served ready to enjoy

This is washed down with some local house white wine at 5 Euros (about NZ$8) for 500 ml, followed by a free dessert of fresh fruit and local schnapps.

Envoy is currently at Gouvia marina in Corfu.

In Crete the wind increases again with large breaking swells in the open sea so we use the almost perfect shelter of Soudha Bay to leave Envoy safely anchored and visit the town of Chania, just about 20 minutes away by road. On arriving we see large seas breaking across the north-facing harbour entrance with tourists dodging residues of waves and spray coming up over the footpath and boats in the harbour surging back and forth to their mooring lines – we’re glad not to be moored here.
Chania is a great town, probably the prettiest in Crete with very quaint narrow streets and the ever present reminders of the Venetian fortress which once protected the harbour. Much of the fortress walls remain, and many more recent buildings are built into them.

One of Chania’s many stunning open-air dining areas

Chania’s quay for visiting yachts quiet now but bustling by night

Tourists view Chania by romantic horse-drawn carriage

We also drive along the coast to the village of Kolimvari and again find large breaking seas about two metres high right where we had anchored Envoy during 2010. How the sea can change!

Rough seas pound the shore at Kolimvari

In 2010 Envoy was anchored right here for several days

It’s from here that Sharon and Doug leave us after three great weeks together and then we cruise back eastwards a little to Rethymno, mooring stern-to in the harbour to meet our daughter, Amy, joining us for two weeks. The mooring cost is a very reasonable 120 Euros (about NZ$200) for six days including water and power and close-by is a great ocean-facing sandy beach for our daily swims. Rethymno has an ancient harbour – filled with tour boats and local fishing boats, ringed with tavernas, and dominated by the 16th century Venetian Fortressa.

Rethymno’s Venetian harbour

Panorama of Rethymno

The Fortress viewed from seaward

While awaiting Amy’s arrival we meet Australians Kevin and Diane Horne from yacht Monastrell and share a couple of enjoyable nights. In fact nearly all the people we’ve met from other boats this year have been Aussies and no Kiwis so far. We always find Aussies to be very friendly and ready to enjoy some lively discussions about sport and social issues.

A large planing  motor vessel moored nearby uses 700 litres of diesel per hour!

We’re asleep aboard Envoy when we hear a Greek lady shouting “excuse me, excuse me”. We awake and go up on deck to hear that she’s from the boat opposite and has seen a mouse crawling up one of our mooring lines and on board Envoy. So we search around with a torch and a couple of times I see the mouse, which is in fact a large rat, but we can’t catch it or chase it off. Then we see several more rats running along the jetty. We put some rodent stoppers on our mooring lines, close all the windows hoping the rat can’t get inside the boat (there are horror stories of how much damage rats can do to boats) and lay some poison that the Greek lady gives us. In the morning the poison is untouched, but I find a couple of rat poo droppings on the foredeck. Our herb garden has also been attacked, not surprisingly since this is the only vegetation close by, so we put this ashore on the jetty until our departure so as not to attract the rats aboard. Next day we buy two rat traps and for the next few nights we bait them with cheese and leave them out overnight also leaving a few pieces of cheese around the boat. But we don’t catch any rats or see any further signs of them on board and the cheese is untouched, so hopefully that issue is resolved.

Di and Amy enjoy shopping in the atmospheric Old Town and getting lost in the usual maze of narrow cobbled lanes while I find a particularly atmospheric Irish music bar to enjoy a cold beer in.

A great bar in Rethymno