Back to the Start: 2016

We sadly bid farewell to Jumping Fish Bay in Greece

The Windjammers have experienced our shortest season yet, cruising in an area with few places for us Aussies to “run & hide” given Schengen’s time limitations of 3 months max.  Still “weather” experiences kept us on our toes too and ensured a modified float plan.  This sadly entailed excluding Southern France (the Mistral consistently blowing with regularity & some ferocity this year) although we managed time in Corsica before taking a familiar route through the Balearics back to Lagos in Portugal.

Discovered style in Barcelona,
architect extraordinaire, Gaudi.

And hunky types in Naples
(Yes, it's Hercules)

Italy’s west coast made good its promise of few anchorages so our travels were essentially moving from marina to marina with longish stops to take in major historical sites.  Somehow, we still never seemed to have sufficient time for our “must do” list.  At least we managed to see (but not climb) some seriously interesting volcanoes and enjoy one or two bottles of local plonk (I'm not sure there's an Italian equivalent for this word).  The history was fascinating, the art incredible, people generally friendly and scenery, especially along the northern coast, quite unlike the “Med” we had grown used to.

The view over La Spezia was too good to miss

So, this blog and photo fest is due for a long Mediterranean lunch break with the possibility of a further delay before the start of next season as our vague plan is to cross back to Trinidad.  This requires avoiding hurricane season (June to Nov) and some big steps to get to a Canaries or Cape Verdes springboard.  So our timings will need to be adjusted and we just may have to experience a winter...brrrrrr!

And Italy kept us very busy;
too much to do, so little time!
Pisa. Is this really a quiet day? 

In summary, the 2016 season started in Preveza, Greece with a very short stop in Sarande, Albania.  Thus began our weather experiences and first change to the float plan… At least the weather gods were kind to us as we slid across to Sicily.  Nicely ensconced in Syracuse, we learned of Italy’s transport shortcomings but managed to make the crossing to Malta for a most enjoyable land break.  

Historically, the Messina Strait has been a sailor’s nightmare so we shouldn’t have been surprised to feel its wrath.  Swordfishing locals though, gave us a farewell salute as WJ3 battled steep waves generated by wind against current - Charybdis at play!.  At least we weren't rowing, like Odysseus, Jason (of the Argonauts) or Aeneas. (This is your history test....)  Then our anchor wanted to stay in Vulcano but after some wrestling and with a much improved weather outlook on offer, we convinced it to join us in crossing to Italy’s west coast to begin the slow crawl northwards. 

Colourful towns, festive moods

We took longish stops in Torre del Greco (Naples area), Rome, and La Spezia (Tuscany) before modifying the float plan again to include Corsica for a few days sailing down its eastern coast. Sardinia's tip provided shelter before striking out for the Balearics and back to Spain. 

With long strides along the Spanish coast we quickly made Gibraltar, where the weather gods again smiled giving us the right winds and tide to sail through notorious Gibraltar Straits.  Another interesting weather system from the far NW (UK) threatened the Atlantic coast but we made Lagos, Portugal before it took its toll.  Tucked up in the marina we hardly even noticed it! 

Our yearly figures confirm yet another distance marathon and come in as follows:

From: Preveza, Greece Lat/Long: 38:57.09N 20:46 .04E  Date/Time: 03/06/16: 1745

To: Lagos, Portugal Lat/Long: 37:06.45N 08:40.27W  Date/Time: 23/09/16: 1045
Time Taken: (this year): 383 hrs  Distance: (this year): 2248.5nm
Distance Total: (since 2008): 18,278.5nm  
Weather: Challenging weather this year, mostly Mistral generated, kept us on our toes
Fastest Speed: We had a mixed bag with some really great sailing weather and some really dreadful conditions too.  But it’s the Med!  And mostly motoring continues at a sedate 6 - 6.5kts.

We will post as plans for 2017 develop, so keep tuned to this space!

And a few stray volcanoes on our way.  A busy year indeed!

Rockin’ Round the Amalfi Coast

At anchor in Cape Palinuro

Amalfi Coast, Italy

Legend, myth and history continued to journey north with us.  Our first stop was the most idyllic setting of Cape Palinuro where only 4 of us could squeeze into a delightful little harbour for a peaceful night’s sleep.  Palinurus, helmsman of Aeneas’s ship, fell overboard here, exhausted from battle with Scyla and Charybdis.  A shrine in his memory is said to have been raised nearby.  In case you were wondering like me, Aeneas is a Trojan hero, who led exiled Trojans to settle near Rome.  He is considered the ancestor of Romulus and Remus.  Julius Caesar also traced his lineage back to Aeneas as did King Arthur of Britain.  Just who could make this stuff up?

Further up the coast and anchored in the midst of a flotilla of happy day trippers, we considered popping in to Agropoli, closest port to the famous Doric temples of Paestum.  Frightened off by public transport connections and our ever-slipping schedule, we decided against spending a day at these classic Greek temples and continued on for an afternoon glide-by of the modern-day hedonistic dream, the Amalfi coast, instead. 

One of the picturesque towns along the Amalfi coast

So, these are the rocks made famous by singing Sirens!! 
Odysseus had himself tied to the mast to hear those infamous Sirens sing!

This coastline is rather steep and for many, it’s a case of looking down.  For us, it was looking up and up.  Massive cliffs drop vertically into the sea, punctuated by the odd ravine laden with quaint villages and remnants of fortifications.  After Turkey and Greece, hillsides seem lush with greenery and sculptured umbrella pines.  The famous Amalfi coastal drive weaves its way around and through all this and you can appreciate why this setting has been a favourite holiday destination since ancient Roman times. 

We joined a watery “highway” at the base of the cliffs, seriously overloaded with craft of all sizes, and learned very quickly of an apparent trend to disregard, well, rules of most kind really!  Very nearly nervous wrecks, we decided to stay for a night even though quiet spots were a rare commodity.  We lasted only 30 minutes in our first anchoring choice; life was hectic being tossed by swell rebounding from cliff walls from what seemed like a zillion passing day tripper boats,.  The next anchoring location was over 140 feet deep.  As we only have 320 feet of chain (not a good ratio for peaceful night’s anchoring in this chop always preferring 5:1) a decision to take a mooring at Nerano was easily made.  But not before the hours it seemed to take to re-raise ALL that chain back into the anchor locker.  Just as well the winch forgave us for the workout it got in Vulcano Porto. 

Capri in the early morning heat haze

You could probably guess that we still did not sleep well despite the mooring.  The chop only vaguely settled at night.  Craft whizzed around us at full speed, and Mother Nature turned on a localised thunder storm whilst mini katabatics whizzed over the cliffs right above us.  

So we set off early for a quick round of Capri and a gawk at all the super yachts and their flotilla of “toys”.  This locale, a stage backdrop, is perfect for the jet set.  DH Lawrence, perhaps a little unkindly, described Capri as “a gossipy, villa-stricken, two-humped chunk of limestone, a microcosm that does heaven much credit, but mankind none at all".  Somehow we missed the Blue Grotto (not that we could have stopped) and after threading our way through even more super yachts too big for the marina, we noted a darkening sky.  Something needed to be done about our jammed main sail as it was unable to be furled back into the mast.  Mid channel seemed the perfect spot according to the Cap’n, so we made a brief, if not tense, stop to fix it.  Well then, it’s on to Torre del Greco with just a few more things to repair.

(In case you were wondering about the Ulysses/Odysseus difference, Odysseus is the legendary Greek King and hero of Homer's "The Odyssey".  Ulysses is the Roman version of his name.  Stephen Fry (2024) has written a wonderful and easy to read version of this famous story.  His 3 other related books (Mythos, Heroes, & Troy are equally as entertaining!)

At least we don't have his maintenance (or fuel) bills!