Lickety Split

Preveza, Greece.  Just in time for the weather…

So, here we sit back in Preveza with cleaning rags in our hands doing long promised chores and waiting for haul out.  So where did that cruising year go?  It seems only yesterday that we met with our Dangar Island neighbours, June & Paul, as they cruised through this area on their way south for the season.

Oh, look!  That cute cruise ship is back in Preveza

We’d left Kotor early and made for Bar to check out and leave, well, strand really, JKip in time for his transfer home.  WJ3 turned her nose south and made a relatively uneventful overnighter to Saranda in Albania.  Here we rested for a couple of nights, got up close and personal with the famed Italian temperament at the dock and ate delightful seafood dinners so cheaply you just wonder how they do it!  Having left Montenegro after a tax-free fuel mix-up (with no resulting fuel for us), we arrived in Saranda on the smell of an oily rag.  Agim, our ever-friendly agent, arranged for a tanker for us and the Riva docked next door.  Somehow, totally unawares, the Riva owner managed to flood gallons of diesel into the bay.  Catastrophe averted by merely ignoring it!  And don’t forget to only scrub your own boat down….

After leaving Saranda we managed a little sailing until, in the lee of Corfu, the winds just died.  We hugged the Albanian coast until it became Greece and bobbed southward until some 11 hours later, arrived in Preveza - a current against us most of the way.

Although I promised not to post up any more haul out photos,
we had to include this one with Aktio's new travel-lift.  Smart, hey!

Heat wave conditions continue and we are now, aside from totally over it, under 2 vast awnings trying to protect WJ3's decks from overheating and cooking us at night in our little cabin.  The sunbrella awning (made for tropical Caribbean weather) also keeps the rain off.  Handy, given that since being back we’ve had evening storms with amazing regularity, some quite wild.  

These storms have had victims and one limped into the Aktio yard a few days ago – sadly a Hunter with ½ a rudder, a twisted prop and damaged keel.  The anchor had failed to hold and the boat was swept back onto a rocky shore.  A reminder for us never to take anything for granted!

The yellow trailer still gets to tuck WJ3 into bed though

In a few days’ time we’ll be winging our way over the Baltic Sea – for a little boatless touring with daily weather considerations being set to “umbrella or not” level.  Sounds like fun and we’ll keep you posted!

(Rather than wax lyrical about the current cleaning regime, we will try to tame the hodge-podge of photos from this year.  With any luck, some may even be posted up before we depart for this final leg of our trip!  For annual cruising statistics, you will have to wait a little longer...)