We headed off to Malta mid morning after yet another onboard inspection by 4 customs officers, they returned our sat phone which they had kept on our arrival. After around 20 mins on board they suddenly got off and said "start your engine captain, go now!" and all 4 stood and watched as we left. No time to do anything at all, we finished our preparations as we motored out to sea.
Initially we were close hauled in light winds but soon we were on a beam reach in 13knts of wind with full rig up. Kerensa was steaming along and kept it up through the night, we were praying the wind didn't get up higher forcing us to reef in the dark. (it did rise to 16knts but we didn't need to reef).
Daylight came and so eventually the second half of the trip, no wind and motoring. We had plenty of time to spare as we again had a night to fill so we arrived in daylight, so we motored a bit and switched it off for a while and just drifted in mid ocean for dinnertime. A very peaceful exercise. The wind returned a little for a night sail on appraoch to Malta and we arrived early am to get zero response from the marina. They had lost our booking but instead of communicating that they just ignored us. We eventually got a berth after doing circles in the middle of the marina for 30mins. Not what you need when tired after a passage. Overall this was a bit of a strange trip as we saw nothing. No ships, no wildlife, no nets, no pots. We did hear around 6 mayday relay calls from aircraft spotting migrants in overloaded inflatables with up to 50 people on board each south of Lampedusa.
Checking in was a matter of a taxi ride and a few minutes stamping paperwork and we headed into Valletta for a beer and food. Valletta is an attractive place with a great atmosphere. We had to stay in a marina to get access to parts for some of the jobs we needed to do, namely sew some chafe guard onto our main halyard which we are shortening at a rate currently.
Halyard chafing! This happened on the Spain to Tunisia trip (8 days) and lasted another 2 days to Malta.
Amanda added to her new skills by fitting this dynema sleeve to hopefully reduce the chafing. She spliced and whipped it in.
We also fitted new batteries as the old ones died on us approaching Monastir. On our last evening, so we thought, we had a great time at a beer festival held in the old moat around the city walls. What a great location and talented band (Family Tree). We really enjoyed ourselves even though it wasn't great prep for our passage to Greece.
Beer festival
Preparing to leave for Greece, Nigel went to check the engine oil and found the bilges full of coolant with the expansion tank overflowing with coolant running out.8. Considering the engine hadn't run for three days this was a bit of a mystery. Especially when the flow reduced when Amanda turned the galley tap on! Long story short, with that clue we eventually realised the calorifier (water heater, we can still get hot water via electrical power, just not from engine heating) had failed, very common issue and all was needed was to join a couple of pipes together, seal the holes they were attached to and Bob's your uncle. Problem was that it was now Saturday afternoon and everywhere is shut. So for a few plumbing fittings we are stuck here for the weekend and probably Monday night too. On the positive side, it's fortuitous this happened when we are in a marina with lots of chandlerys within a short walk and not at sea. Berthing here is not cheap and we are desperate to stay out on anchor for a while, it's hot and stuffy in the marinas.
So the current plan is to depart early Tuesday morning, 3rd Sept, for Kalamata in Greece. Once checked in there we hope to get to a place we can meet up with friends who are chartering in that area. Fingers crossed.
