So, another blog another country. It really does feel like we have been in the fast lane since July. When we have stopped it's been pretty much full on boatwork and we are looking forward to the next 3 weeks pootling through Greece towards Turkey. Might even get a swim!!
We left the last blog awaiting for the shops to open to be able to repair/isolate our hot water system from the engine. It's amazing how a sleep and 110eu/night marina fees focuses the mind and on Sunday morning we had a plan with no parts needed. Just a bit of scavenging. Nigel got to work rerouting Hoses in the depths of the boat. He later admitted that he thought even his eyeballs were sweating it was that hot!. With the repair done and a sleep overnight we managed to save a day from our previous best case plan and departed Malta on Monday morning in light winds. Determined not to use the motor we sailed at 2knts for 4hrs into a bizarre ship anchorage 9 miles off Malta in open sea and 60m depth. 33 ships at anchor and we sailed through the lot, a strange feeling as we were pretty close to these giants at times.
The wind died off completely at that point and we pretty much motored 75% of the 3 day passage. A couple of moments of excitement during the passage. Day 2 was a bit of a mare. Amanda woke Nigel up to tell him we were dragging something. Something turned out to be 3 clumps of nylon rope, very fortunately not attached to the propeller, just the keel and rudder. Removal from the rudder took moments with a boat hook, and after studying the situation with a mask and head over the side of the boat, we cut the rope and dragged one clump onboard. Sadly the other two got away from us and are still out there.
Shortly after that we noticed we had no water in one of our water tanks, turns out a water hose joint had burst and we had leaked it all into the bilge and out again via the bilge pump. We hadnt heard it running due to the engine noise and the pump kept up with the leak so no bilge water level alarm activated. With a bit of trepidation Nigel got into the depths of the boat again but this time the repair was much simpler and less physical. 2 hrs later we had a fully functioning water system again and with very fresh bilges!
The second exciting thing, it's quite slow on a boat on open ocean with no wind and nothing to see, was a visit from a small bird that flew around the boat many times chirping away. Eventually it settled on the boat for a while, then set off and did the same thing. Next morning he was gone, but came back at sunset each day for the next 2 days. If anyone can identify him from the picture please let us know
The wind picked up approaching Greece for a lovely reach through the night into Kalamata. We had heard that customs closed at 1pm and we didn't want to stay there overnight so despite a lack of sleep we headed off to face Greek check in processes. It took an absolute age, and a struggle to keep cool, by which time the harbour office had closed and we hadn't paid. We were destined to stay the night in a commercial port. It was only 3.30pm so we called for a fuel delivery which arrived 30mins later, very efficient. Kalamata isn't a renowned destination but we did find a strip of decent restaurants to eat at whilst watching the Greek coastguard give a demonstration of helicopter recovery of a person in the water.
An early night followed and by 9am we had paid the harbour dues, filled up with water and dived into the chandlery for the inevitable parts purchases. As we write we are headed towards an anchorage, finally we will get that swim! for a quick overnight stop and an early rise. We are headed to Serifos to meet friends from Whitstable Yacht Club on Sunday. We want to get there on Saturday to avoid Sundays headwinds. Still rushing!
