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…
Tag Archives | trawler
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
Marstrand
Construction of Carlsten Fortress began in 1658 to protect the town of Marstrand, an important ice-free Swedish shipping port. Denmark besieged and overpowered the fortress twice, in 1677 and 1719, but both times it was returned to Sweden following negotiations and treaties. The fort was also used as a prison and eventually was decommissioned in…
Fall’s in the Air
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” —Albert Camus
What an amazing few weeks we’ve had in upstate New York. Fall has rolled in, but summer isn’t gone. This is definitely the kind of weather we could enjoy for months. Lows in the upper 40s and highs in the mid 70s….and lots and lots of wonderful sunshine. The weather has been wonderful, but spending a lot of time with our family and friends the past two weeks has truly been the best part. Here are a few of the things we did while enjoying the weather and watching the colors change.
Cruise 2019 – Where We Went
Below is a map of the places we visited on our 2019 cruise. If you click on a mark it will name the location and give some numbers associated with the visit.Excluding our time in Port Townsend while having work done, our cruise was 118 days long. …
The Waterfall Coast
Leaving Tebenkof Bay, we work our way north up Chatham Strait along the east side of Baranof Island. This area is known as the “Waterfall Coast” due to the large number of waterfalls cascading down from the high mountain peaks. We have another beautiful day on the water enjoying the spectacular vistas of Baranof Island. […]
Donso
Donso, a small Swedish island about 13 miles west of Gothenburg, has a long history in the shipping industry, particularly the tanker business. Sten A. Olsson, the founder of the Stena business group, was born there and a dozen shipping companies currently are located at or owned by people living on Donso. The biennial Donso…
Season Wrap-Up
We left Port McNeill on Monday, 8/19, and scooted across Queen Charlotte Strait, heading to Turnbull Cove in the Broughtons. The weather forecasts were for strong winds along the inside waters and we thought Turnbull offered excellent protection. Either it did or the winds weren’t as strong as forecast because over the 2 nights at Turnbull we never saw anything over 10 knots.
We then stopped at the marine resort Pierre’s at Echo Bay for a night to attend one of their prime rib dinners. While there we reacquainted ourselves with Kathy & John Youngblood owners of Mystic Moon (Selene 53). They have spent the last 12+ years cruising down the coast, through the Panama Canal, around the Caribbean Sea, back through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia, through SE Asia, up the eastern coasts of Japan and Kamchatka Peninsula, through the Aleutian Islands, and back down the coasts of Alaska and British Columbia (I am exhausted just writing that route). Enjoy their travels at Mystic Moon Voyages.
We also met at Pierre’s, Peter and Sue the owners and builders of Kama Hele, a 54 foot Diesel Duck. They live in the San Francisco Bay area and cruised up to Alaska this year. We saw their boat in Petersburg but weren’t able to meet up before they went north and we went south. I’ve been following their building efforts at their blog BuildingKoloa and their cruising at KamaHeleCruising so it was a treat to meet them and tour their lovely vessel.
From there we positioned ourselves the night of 8/24 at Port Harvey so that we could get an early start along Johnstone Strait and take advantage of favorable currents and winds. This year, as we have the last several years, we used the route through the Octopus Islands to move from the northern waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland to the southern waters of the Strait of Georgia. After a night in Waiat Bay we continued down to Gorge Harbour and a lovely lunch at the Floathouse Restaurant.
An early start and surprisingly favorable currents allowed us to scoot the length of the Strait of Georgia past Nanaimo Harbour to a spartan anchorage a mile north of Dodd Narrows. The NW winds blew all night long but the bottom was sticky and we just weather-vaned at the end of our anchor chain and didn’t budge.
The next morning, 8/28, we joined the parade of boats through Dodd Narrows. Our winter dock mates, Barb & Eric Wood, were also southbound and allowed us to pull in ahead of their vessel BarbEric through the passage. We continued to Montague Harbour for the night while the Wood’s headed off to Thetis Island. A surprise to us at Montague was the strength of the wind. The harbor seems landlocked but the NW wind blowing down the Strait of Georgia seemed to pop right over Galiano Island blow right through the anchorage. Fortunately, it calmed down in the afternoon and we paddled the kayaks to the marina and had an early dinner at the restaurant.
The next day, we crossed back into USA waters and, after clearing in through the new CBP phone app, headed to Echo Bay on Sucia Island. We arrived early enough to paddle to shore a take a hike along one of the many trails on Sucia. Even though we were coming up on Labor Day weekend, the anchorage and island did not seem to be excessively crowded.
We headed into Cap Sante Marina in Anacortes to spend the first two days of the holiday weekend. Other than a few provisions, the main reason for stopping in Anacortes was to take on fuel. An additional attraction is the Lopez Island Creamery trailer at the marina’s entrance scooping out generous portions of ice cream.
On Sunday we headed over to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island. Our yacht club, Queen City, leases dock space at the marina for its members to use. The marina was buzzing with activity from holiday boaters at first and then with a flotilla of classic wooden boat attending the
Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival a few days later. While at Deer Harbor we continued our bad habit of having ice cream for our “lunch” as the marina store served Lopez Island Creamery ice cream.
After four days in Deer Habor, we traveled the short distance to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. We met up with our friends, Barb & Eric Wood on BarbEric who were anchored in Reid Harbor on the south side of Stuart Island, and hiked out to the light house at Turn Point.
After two relaxing nights, we headed to MacKaye Harbor at the south end of Lopez Island. David Cohn who owns a “cousin-ship” to ours, the classic Seahorse Marine Diesel Duck Shearwater. David and his wife Rachel own a vacation home a few hundred yards from the beach in MacKaye Harbor. We anchored, near Shearwater then paddled the kayaks to shore. Dave prepared a wonderful meal which we enjoyed while catching up on how our respective summers went. We got back to the boat just before the rain and lightening started.
Besides visiting with David & Rachel, MacKaye Harbor was the perfect jumping off point for crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend. Although we weren’t hauling out until Tuesday morning, 9/10, we wanted to arrive on Sunday so that we could take care boatyard paperwork and any in the water tests ahead of time.
After 9 days hauled out and another 2 days at the dock, we departed Port Townsend at first light on Saturday, 9/21 and arrived at the dock in Eagle Harbor at noon, closing out our 2019 cruise.
Dee Dee’s Turn
Red Head has spent a week back at Zimmerman Marine having engine maintenance and a few other small projects done. Mom and Dad have gotten a few more things off their to-do list.Boatyards are certainly not the best places for the crew. Mom has been taki…
Maritiman
Gothenburg’s Maritiman is the largest floating ship museum in the world, comprising 20 historical craft ranging from small tubgoats to the 144 ft (44m) Danish diesel electric submarine Nordkaparen and the 398ft (121m) HMS Smaland, a Swedish Halland-class destroyer. On our sixth and final day in the city, we completed a few boat chores in…
