Apocalypse soon?
We are coming towards the end of this trip. I had wondered if we would have had enough of this peripatetic existence by this stage. But totally not so. I think it will be good to have a break but I will be very sad to leave the boat, and very keen to return in 2 months time to continue our trip.
We have discovered that we actually much prefer making passages in the open sea than the hopping from bay to town quay type of sailing. There is room for both but yesterday we had a fantastic sail in open water with a good breeze and there is little to beat that.
Yesterday morning we left Paleros, the small town near to the old Sunsail club that we had frequented. Again we had met a nice bunch of people around us doing similar things. The husband and wife team next to us were several years into their adventuring, having sailed two boats to the Med from the UK. Respect.
On picking up our anchor to leave the harbour, the windlass started groaning and complaining then stopped. We were entangled on something. I got in the dinghy to investigate.
The anchor was about 6 feet down and not coming up any further. I was just about to return for the mask and snorkel when an Italian chap of about our vintage, who had just moored up, appeared fully kitted with mask snorkel and flippers.
He dived down and came up shaking his head. "Corpo Morto" he declared. I don't do much Italian but I recognised this line from the film "Don't look Now" when a dead body is retrieved from a canal in Venice. It took a moment to click that he had a wicked sense of humour and I applaud his attempt to crack a joke in Italian to a couple of ignorant Brits.
Our anchor had in fact picked up a fixed mooring line on the sea bed. The line we had picked up was attached to a concrete block and was completely taught. Our Italian friend passed the rope under the mooring line for us, we dropped the anchor to release the mooring line and off we went. Many thanks to him.
We had a good sail on a reach in 20-25knots NW back up to the Lefkas Canal and hence from Lefkas to Preveza.
We have flown into Preveza airport loads of times in the past but never actually visited the town or researched anything about it. It has a phenomenal history, having been the ancient city of Actium. This was a major site in the Roman Empire.
After Julius Caesar's assassination (et tu Brute) Mark Anthony and Cleopatra were at war with Octavian for a decade or more. This conflict was finally resolved in a sea battle at Actium. It is said that Octavian used the afternoon breeze we were enjoying to attack Anthony's fleet from the NW. Cleopatra fled with her Egyptian ships and Anthony tried to follow her and was routed. I am sure there are some life lessons there.
Oh and apparently Paul wrote some epistles here, the ancient version of blogging.
Octavian built a new city, Nikopolis, to celebrate his victory, the ruins of which are close by and we hope to visit before we leave.
Preveza is a non touristy town despite its historical and archaeological interest. It is not quaint and picturesque in the way the island villages are, but it is an honest proper town.
We berthed on the town quay (7 Euros per night) which is very well kept and staffed by a very friendly harbour master.
We really enjoyed Saturday night in Preveza. It had a very nice feel with members of every generation mixing together, gangs of kids playing games, Mums and Dads, Grans and Grandpas, teenagers doing their thing, a local Choral competition giving it laldy in traditional Greek singing. Preveza is a hidden gem and I can thoroughly recommend it as place to visit and stay.
Preveza sits at the mouth of a large inland sea, Amvrakikos Kolpos. We have not yet sailed around this gulf which is some 15 mile long by 10 miles wide and is reputed to team with wildlife but we look forward to this next time.
Our reason for arriving in Preveza early is that there is a storm planned. We are booked into a hard standing berth in Cleopatra Marina and it looked like our lift out time might coincide with the bad weather. So we planned to get in early so there is flexibility in getting things sorted.
This morning I thought to leave our berth on the town quay early but M found a laundry, so Mrs Wishy Washy occurred.
Then just as we were about to lift the anchor, the Port Police screamed up in a big rib and told us to stay put. It then became clear why - a sea swim race was taking place along the harbour. Two hours later we were still waiting to leave. Every time it seemed to be over another straggler appeared in the distance and breast stroked past us over the next 20 minutes. However you have to take your hat off to these hardy souls.
Eventually we left - and guess what - we picked up the chap next door's anchor chain. Another episode of dinghying about with bits of rope was needed to resolve it.
We then set off down the Kolpos for a quick reconnaissance with the wind behind us. I then realised that the clouds were heaping up big time to the East and South and the wind had picked up significantly. We turned up wind to find that the breeze had got up to about 30 knots, which was great fun on a flat sea, but we now had some high wind berthing to accomplish in the Marina.
We radioed in to Cleopatra and two guys came out in a rib. They issued clear instructions outlining a cogent plan to get us alongside in a down wind berth on their outer breakwater, rather than trying to get us into a more difficult inside berth, because of the high wind.
They used the rib to help us hold position while we got ropes ashore and I have to say they were highly professional. Thanks to them.
So we are now sat here waiting for the predicted cataclysm.
We have discovered that we actually much prefer making passages in the open sea than the hopping from bay to town quay type of sailing. There is room for both but yesterday we had a fantastic sail in open water with a good breeze and there is little to beat that.
Yesterday morning we left Paleros, the small town near to the old Sunsail club that we had frequented. Again we had met a nice bunch of people around us doing similar things. The husband and wife team next to us were several years into their adventuring, having sailed two boats to the Med from the UK. Respect.
On picking up our anchor to leave the harbour, the windlass started groaning and complaining then stopped. We were entangled on something. I got in the dinghy to investigate.
The anchor was about 6 feet down and not coming up any further. I was just about to return for the mask and snorkel when an Italian chap of about our vintage, who had just moored up, appeared fully kitted with mask snorkel and flippers.
He dived down and came up shaking his head. "Corpo Morto" he declared. I don't do much Italian but I recognised this line from the film "Don't look Now" when a dead body is retrieved from a canal in Venice. It took a moment to click that he had a wicked sense of humour and I applaud his attempt to crack a joke in Italian to a couple of ignorant Brits.
Our anchor had in fact picked up a fixed mooring line on the sea bed. The line we had picked up was attached to a concrete block and was completely taught. Our Italian friend passed the rope under the mooring line for us, we dropped the anchor to release the mooring line and off we went. Many thanks to him.
 |
| Lefkas Canal |
We had a good sail on a reach in 20-25knots NW back up to the Lefkas Canal and hence from Lefkas to Preveza.We have flown into Preveza airport loads of times in the past but never actually visited the town or researched anything about it. It has a phenomenal history, having been the ancient city of Actium. This was a major site in the Roman Empire.
After Julius Caesar's assassination (et tu Brute) Mark Anthony and Cleopatra were at war with Octavian for a decade or more. This conflict was finally resolved in a sea battle at Actium. It is said that Octavian used the afternoon breeze we were enjoying to attack Anthony's fleet from the NW. Cleopatra fled with her Egyptian ships and Anthony tried to follow her and was routed. I am sure there are some life lessons there.
Oh and apparently Paul wrote some epistles here, the ancient version of blogging.
Octavian built a new city, Nikopolis, to celebrate his victory, the ruins of which are close by and we hope to visit before we leave.
Preveza is a non touristy town despite its historical and archaeological interest. It is not quaint and picturesque in the way the island villages are, but it is an honest proper town.
We berthed on the town quay (7 Euros per night) which is very well kept and staffed by a very friendly harbour master.
 |
| Choral Competition |
 |
| Preveza back street |
Preveza sits at the mouth of a large inland sea, Amvrakikos Kolpos. We have not yet sailed around this gulf which is some 15 mile long by 10 miles wide and is reputed to team with wildlife but we look forward to this next time.
 |
| Mackerel Sky? |
 |
| Flying bath robe |
Then just as we were about to lift the anchor, the Port Police screamed up in a big rib and told us to stay put. It then became clear why - a sea swim race was taking place along the harbour. Two hours later we were still waiting to leave. Every time it seemed to be over another straggler appeared in the distance and breast stroked past us over the next 20 minutes. However you have to take your hat off to these hardy souls.
Eventually we left - and guess what - we picked up the chap next door's anchor chain. Another episode of dinghying about with bits of rope was needed to resolve it.
We then set off down the Kolpos for a quick reconnaissance with the wind behind us. I then realised that the clouds were heaping up big time to the East and South and the wind had picked up significantly. We turned up wind to find that the breeze had got up to about 30 knots, which was great fun on a flat sea, but we now had some high wind berthing to accomplish in the Marina.
We radioed in to Cleopatra and two guys came out in a rib. They issued clear instructions outlining a cogent plan to get us alongside in a down wind berth on their outer breakwater, rather than trying to get us into a more difficult inside berth, because of the high wind.
They used the rib to help us hold position while we got ropes ashore and I have to say they were highly professional. Thanks to them.
So we are now sat here waiting for the predicted cataclysm.
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