Having a Swell Time

Perhaps we can make a few more small adjustments to Dangar?

Sarande, Albania to Sicily

 

Having finally severed the dock lines at Preveza Marina (with most mechanical things working), we headed north for Sarande, Albania.  Not of course without the obligatory stop at Gouvia on Corfu to fill the fridge and stock the bilges with foods most exotic to the Greek palate - yes, that would be Taco spice mix, tinned coconut milk and Lebanese bread. Not to mention fresh salmon!  It’s not Morrisons (Gibraltar) but "it’s a pretty good"!

We arrived at the Sarande dock with an increasingly nasty swell kicking in from the west.  Although we’d planned a two day stopover in this nice town, GS’s feet never touched ground.  Poor WJ3 was driven against a large concrete dock, eventually losing a guard rail in the battle.  Our fenders did a sterling job though and only one was lost in the line of duty.  Other boats on the dock also rocked and churned, so not much touring time or indeed sleep was had by anyone.  With a large hydrofoil (looking remarkably like a giant cricket) lurching and rolling behind WJ3’s stern, GS popped a travel sick pill and went to bed leaving the Capt to explore yet another variation for his next best (classic cookbook) seller, “Two Minute Noodles For The Sophisticated Crew”.  As you do when the weather’s foul…. 

So, it's goodbye to Gouvia anchorage (on Corfu)

A long last look at that amazing fortress on Corfu

Needless to say, we cut short our stay at Sarande and had to head back to Gouvia to refuel for the big trip ahead.  Just for those sceptics, we had the best day’s sailing in the Med on record (well, on our watch anyway!) for this leg.  All this jigging about meant another slight modification to Plan Z.  Forget visiting the island of Erikoussa, we and our accompanying resident boatyard spiders were now locked into taking a direct line to Sicily, with NO stops.  So we sat it out in Jumping Fish Bay (Voltau) – our favourite “isolated” anchorage in Greece – and waited for a clear weather window.

With one last stop at Jumping Fish Bay

Sunset over Voltau Cove

It was a decent trip with relatively calm seas and mild winds, more or less on the nose all the way.  Two days and two nights of motoring!  And finally, a crossing in the dark of the turbulent, messy swell kicked up by the Messina Straits.  Well, here’s hoping the bow-thruster batteries are fully recharged by now. 

Sailing companions on the way over...



Sunset over Italy.  Only a few hours or so to go now...