Our third visit to Italy in ITIKI started in rather dramatic circumstances as you may know. We crossed overnight from Ionian Greece to the sole of Italy’s boot. From there we made our way up through the Messina Straits to the Aeolian islands before heading on to Sardinia and the Maddalenas, before crossing to the Balearics (Spain). We actually didn’t make landfall at Sicily, although we came pretty close to it.
 
This leg of our journey started after a sneaky last night in Greece, after officially checking out. It was an early morning departure 06h00 for a 186nm journey across to the toe end of Italy. Specifically, to Marina Rocella Ionica, which is a well-worn path for cruisers heading westward. We were expecting good pressure to start with so playing it safe (have we finally learned?!) we put one reef in the main and the genoa. Seas were very lumpy initially and we didn’t get a lot of breeze until we got away from the island but then we made good speeds and shared watches throughout the day. About 3pm Keith noticed that our first reef-line (the new Dynalite one) had chafed through the outer sheath at the (very smooth) cringle. It looks like the core will hold though. Once it comes time to shake it out we will need to be careful that it doesn’t peel the core like a banana, as happened with the gennaker halyard, which we had to cut. As evening approaches the breeze drops (as forecast) and we swap the genoa for the gennaker. We then need to go to full main and one engine. We keep that configuration through the night and into the next morning. We try a couple of times to switch motors off and sail again as we get a bit of breeze, but it doesn’t last and is taking us off course so motors go back on. We are keen to ensure we arrive in daylight.

​We start to see the lights of Italy in the early hours of morning, about 40nm out and this is when it seems like our passage is almost over. We have made better time than we expected and should be in mid-morning. Our arrival is a bit more dramatic than we expected though and at 10nm out we see the sorry sight of a Bavaria 50 very low in the water, looking like it is in trouble. The main is up and strapped on but no headsail. As we get closer we can see that despite it being in reasonable condition otherwise, it has been ransacked and windows stove in, blankets and clothing scattered over the deck. Water is pouring into the foredeck hatch. It’s all I can do to stop Keith from jumping aboard to close the hatch. The boat could be a crime scene and not something we want to get involved with. It’s likely stolen and scuttled and this open hatch is probably not the only problem. We call in a Securite over the radio and wait for the Guarda Costiera to arrive about 10 mins later. By the time they get there though the boat has completely disappeared below the surface and we are in 80m of water. They seem to know about the boat already. We find out later that they took some migrants off it and probably just left it there, which is a shame, and also a shipping hazard! There are a collection of these stolen boats in the marina itself and they probably didn’t want any more of them, hoping it would sink without a trace before anyone noticed. We settle in to our Marina berth and of course our first night in Italy is celebrated with pizza, pasta and chianti at a local restaurant.

​We really have no reason to stay in this area so we move on the next day. This was one of those days we went from Plan A to Plan B to Plan C and then back to Plan A again! This part of Italy is well known for its lack of safe and protected anchorages, but if conditions are calm you can get away with anchoring in some places. Initially we were going to anchor at a spot called Bova Marina (not a marina but that is just what they call coastal towns), on the south western end of the toe. We were still getting Southerlies at this stage and although we had a nice time sailing the anchorage was quite exposed. The forecast showed light northerly coming out of the Messina Straits (the channel between Italy and Sicily) so we decided to head across to Taormina on the Sicilian side and make our transit north from there. As we got to the very tip of the toe another change of plans. As the northerly in the strait was only 5kts (allegedly), we decided to head up to Regio di Calabria on the eastern side of the channel. There is an anchorage just north of the (€220 per night!) Marina at Regio di Calabrio called Galicio that looks ok. Well the forecast of 5kts from the north turned out to be BS. More like 20-22 and awful short chop. We persisted with it though, covering our recently cleaned boat with salt yet again. We had so much spray coming over the coach house that I had to close the saloon doors. We had fun dodging a huge fleet of windsurfers and kite surfers who were enjoying conditions more than us! The airhorn was ready to blast anyone who was not paying attention as although we were under motor, they are much quicker and more manoeuvrable than us. Then thankfully the breeze backed off. It’s amazing how 17kts feels like a relief after slamming into 22kts. Its 14kts by the time we anchored at Galicio and dropped to nothing from then on so we had a very calm night, albeit listening to 80s music from the beach club ashore – that would have been ok except for someone yelling in Italian over the top of it (possibly an aerobics class). There were also local fishermen coming and going all night in small dinghies around us. Apparently the pilot books say you can’t anchor in the Messina Straits, most people take this to mean anywhere between Italy and Sicily, but it’s really only means the short section at the north which is the narrowest point and includes the shipping channel. Anyway, as we don’t seem to have an Italian pilot book we didn’t know this until much later. By the end of the day we have done 64nm, not quite what we planned!

​We departed again at a leisurely 8:30am for a “short” 40nm hope across to the Aeolian Islands, off the NE corner of Sicily. This group consists of several volcanic islands, the most well-known one being Stromboli, which is still quite active and regularly puts on a light show at night.
 
We motored north up into the Straits hugging the starboard shore. The Straits are not as busy with shipping as we expected, that said we had a nervous moment as a car ferry decided to leave just as we were passing by and we had cruise and cargo ships both over take us. We radioed VTS for permission to cross the channel and in no time we were turning the corner and pointing towards Isola Volcano at the south end of the Aeolian Island group. The wind gods are feeling happier today after giving us a beating yesterday and we get the Parasailor up. The angles are a bit flukey but as we get further from the coast it becomes more consistent. Later we change to the gennaker to get a better angle to our destination. Even without the main we get along at great speeds and better angles. We approach Volcano from the western side checking out a couple of anchorages, but end up opting for the town harbour anchorage, Baia di Pontente. It's already very crowded but conditions are calm and we squeeze ourselves in.

​We go ashore early in the morning and walk up to the rim of the crater of the volcano of Isola Volcano (wondering how they decided on the name for this island???). Lots of acrid sulphur on one side but it’s quite spectacular and great views across to the island of Isola Lipari. Looking down into the crater it was a heart shape. We walked around the small town for a bit and then as we were heading back to ITIKI the police were doing the rounds of the anchorage telling everyone to move on. I guess they need to turn the crowds over. The weather is lovely and calm so we pick up an anchorage on Lipari’s west coast, all of 3nm away, one of the rare white sand “beaches” (Punta Di Levante) in this volcanic area, although still a bit on the deep side. Boats come and go all day, fishermen come by to sell their catch and we have a beautiful sunset.

​Overnight we had a couple of storms pass through. Winds were not strong but they brought some rain and we had to bring all of the cocktail deck cushions in. Early morning brought a stronger westerly with a big swell and backwash from the cliffs which saw waves going over the transom. This is called getting “pooped” and it’s not very nice. ITIKI is bucking up and down like a bronco on our anchor. It’s raining moderately so we quickly get the bimini clears up and beat a hasty retreat in big seas around to the east coast of Lipari, with me holding the crockery drawer closed until we turned the corner around the south of the island and got out of the swell. We anchored at Punta di Capistelo on the southern part of the bay around the town of Lipari, a bit too close to another mono. Not a great anchorage, very rolly, too deep, probably rocks and weed and we did not feel happy about leaving the boat to visit the town. We chat to the guy on the mono and he recommends an anchorage on the island of Salina which is protected from Westerlies so we decide to give it a go. As we head north past the white sand beach on the north east of Lipari we see a Saba 50, Double Shot. This is Andy and Mel and their kids who were on the dock with us at La Rochelle and came to our baptism. How funny to see them after so long! We have a quick chat but by now its blowing strongly from the north, so we head across to Salina. We have travelled all of 15nm today, including our detour by Lipari town.

'​The anchorage outside the ​Marina di Salina is not quite what we expected, still a bit deep and steep but that is par for the course around volcanic islands. Still it's protected enough, we have it to ourselves and it turns out to be a good choice. I go ashore for a wander and Keith stays on board to make sure ITIKI is settled in the anchorage. We were expecting storms overnight but nothing eventuates and we have a calm night.

We walk around Salina the next morning and decide to take the ferry over to Lipari Town for a couple of hours, rather than move to a crummy anchorage for the night. We have lunch in Lipari town and enjoy walking the streets of the old town, up to the castle. Museums are closed but wander into the church, have a gelato and head back on the ferry again. It is a pretty town with colourful houses and plenty of tourists. We decide against heading up north to Stromboli, the most active volcano in the group. It’s quite a way north and conditions are not so favourable. Anyway we also have heard that the volcano is not really doing much in the way of spectacular fireworks at the moment, so we are probably not missing out.
 
Our nicely protected anchorage has become very rolly overnight with a change of conditions so we were up and away just before 4am, 1 hour earlier than planned. We have a long passage of 253nm to the south east corner of Sardinia for the next part of our Italian adventures.

Well I think my last post about the first attempt to cross the Atlantic frightened a few people. Sorry about that. We had already made it to Barbados safely when I posted it. The actual crossing was nowhere near as bad, but as they say, it's all relative. Perhaps I was desensitised! 

It was a very rapid turn around to find our crew and ramp up our mental preparation again, probably better to get straight back on the horse though. But we made it!

In summary:
We sailed 2069 nm from Mindelo, Cape Verde to Bridgetown, Barbados. During the 11.5 day crossing, from 11th to 22nd of December 2021 inclusive, ITIKI averaged 7.55kts and saw windspeeds mainly between 18-24kts true, with occasional gusts of up to 30kts. Maximum boatspeed was 14.8kts surfing one of the many waves that followed us accross. Sail configurations varied from Genoa alone, Genoa and main (broad reach and goose-winged), Parasailor® (winged-spinnaker) and goose-wing of 2 headsails. 
 
With a crew of three for the crossing we maintained a watch system consisting of 3 hours on / 6 hours off per person, until the last 24hrs, when the autopilot failed and the vessel had to be hand steered. In the last 5 hours, from 6pm, Alana and Keith maintained a 30 minutes on / 30 minutes off watch, hand-steering alternatively. The sea conditions were rough and confused and it was challenging to hold a proper course in darkness.

Read on for a blow by blow description.

​Day 1 Saturday 11 Dec 2021
Well the morning has arrived. Woke with a bit of a headache after not drinking enough water yesterday and well a cosmo and wine and a late dinner. Anyway we can not stall this any longer... We checked out with the port police yesterday and put Alana on the crew list. We had our Covid test at 8:30am yesterday but can’t get the result until 6pm tonight so hopefully the plan to have it emailed to us (and Pam as a back up) works well! We called home and watched the crazy Russians leave in their “floating” tent. We pull up the anchor which is no mean feat having dug into mud in 40kts! Oh and the starboard engine MDI is officially dead. No amount of fiddling and spraying and harsh words can bring it back to life. Thank goodness for the bypass switch. Finally it’s up and we head over to the fuel dock and have to hang around for a bit waiting for another boat but finally get in and top up our tanks. We head out into the bay and put up the main and unfurl the genoa. The acceleration zone lives up to its name. We have up to 30kts behind us but its steady and manageable as is the swell. Once we passed the end of Sao Antao we got the confused seas that earlier departing sailors had reported but still good pressures in the mid 20s. Found a light patch with swirling winds which we were in for a while with TWD clocking to 320! and our speeds dropping right down to 1.5kts VMG. We have pushed north to climb just above course and are now on a beam reach with winds in the low 20s, but the beam on swell is not very nice. Alana is quite seasick and can’t stand watch so we leave her to sleep and get her sea legs. Keith and I share watches through the night and we have left over pie for dinner.

Day 2 Sunday 12 December
Morning comes and we are keeping the same sail configuration with 2 reefs in main and genoa initially reaching and then Goosewinging. Apparently the Dutch call this “milk maiden” after those white hats they wear. Alana is up and about and recovered her appetite. We changed to 1 reef in the main and full genoa goosewinged and breeze was holding in the high teens. We are sailing fairly conservatively. Keith has just removed this mornings’ catch of flying fish from the deck and the lazy bag. That’s going to get really smelly as there are scales all over the main! Shook out the reef in the afternoon and kept the Goosewing overnight, but it was challenging to fill the headsail when the breeze kicked around to TWD90s as it forced us up into the swell.
Distance from departure at midday: 178nm

Day 3 Monday 13 December
Had a great sleep after coming off watch at 3am. Had been up briefly when the auto pilot switched off by itself and Alana called out for Keith. About 7:30am Keith and I decided to take the main and genoa down and put the kite up as we have true wind in the low 20s. Well that wasn’t easy, tried initially to furl the genoa close hauled but had to pull away to do it. Then tried to drop the main on one engine (the starboard MDI has finally failed) but that was not possible either. Finally put both on and got it down. Launched the kite after much checking and double checking and found it was inside out! That is a first. It went up and opened out beautifully but we were both left staring and wondering why the wing was not flying out the front. It did get a bit wet, but…. Then I looked at the tapes and realised the green one was on the left! It had to come down which was difficult in itself, and be rotated sheets and braces re-tied, but launched again pretty well. Thought we were in for a wine glass for sure but 20kts quickly opened it up. It’s been up all day and we are making some great VMGs but the swell is pretty big and we are moving around a lot, making daily living activities quite difficult and very noisy. Still I managed to make bread. Oh and Keith found a flying fish in the drain gutter for the anchor locker. We had a pod of dolphins come by for a while and Alana clipped on and went to the front but they did not stay long. Alana hasn’t sailed with a kite before so this is a first.
Distance from departure at midday: 361nm

Day 4 Tuesday 14 December
We have kept the kite up all night. A couple of times for both Alana and me the boat has rounded up and lost the kite. Initially we thought it was the autopilot but probably just a round  up and the autopilot could not correct quickly enough. Keith has one episode during the day as well. Today’s catch was only 1 flying fish, lodged between the jack stay and port aft bathroom hatch. Keith launched “Flying fish crash investigation” which concluded, based on physical evidence (ie slime and scale trail) that the fish had landed on the port bow and flapped his way back along the deck until running out of steam in his final resting place, wedged on Alana’s bathroom hatch. Of course a sea burial was in order. We raised the spinnaker halyard about 5cm to avoid chafe. It’s still not all the way up (it came down a fair bit after the hoist as I took it off the winch not realising it was not cleated at the mast, so we have a fair bit of scope to keep doing this.) Keith made water and also rocked the soft shackle on the brace pulley. Otherwise not much to report as the routine of eat, sleep, watch and repeat continues. Excellent conditions continue through the day. The swell has settled into a nice rhythm, and my 3pm watch is almost hypnotic. A gentle follow sea and nothing else around. Makes me suspicious of what might be in store for us…
Distance from departure at midday: 561nm
09h06 day 3 to 09h05 day 4 a 201nm run, yeeha a new 24hr distance record for ITIKI

Day 5 Wednesday 15 December
Good progress overnight however still a few wind shifts to deal with. Through the night we have a little rain, not enough to wash the boat or clear away the grey clouds. Keith gets some unsettled winds as we parallel a rain squall. By morning the breeze is shifting through 50 degrees! TWD of 130! Seriously Hughey?! Bring back the trade winds please! I am now hand steering with the auto pilot buttons to keep the kite full. We seem to be sitting under our own personal dirty black cloud that is supplying this odd weather pattern.
It is sucking our breeze away. Not only has it dropped in strength it has changed direction , shifting through 50 degrees! Not your typical trades. We finally broke away from that pattern as Alana came on watch at 9am and we have gone back on course. We have sun through the clouds and getting 5-800W from the solar. We had soup and a glass of wine for lunch and then gave the boat a wash, retrieving another flying fish in the process.
The afternoon continued much the same with lighter breezes. Keith prepared a BBQ and just as it was time to serve the boat rounded up and he had to hand steer to settle the kite so dinner was not quite as smooth as planned. The boat settled but after a few more hiccups we decided to restart the instruments. It seems after a big wind shift we need to take a little more time to steady the kite before the autopilot can take over again.
Distance from departure at midday: 735nm

Day 6 16 December 2021
Lighter airs continue as do relatively small seas. About 0245 I heard an unusual twang and decided to shine the torch down the side of the boat to check on it. Noticed that the soft shackle that holds the turning block for the starboard brace had broken (we rocked it yesterday) and the princess seat was acting as the turning point. Fortunately not a huge amount of pressure in it. Keith was up quickly and able to replace it with a spare so no huge drama. We think these soft shackles are the ones that Mr Messo made when he was on board a few years ago. We have a warm but partly cloudy day and shifty breeze throughout the day. We are not breaking any speed records and falling below our course again. If we want to keep the kite up we need to stay high so Keith trims on and we once again challenge ITIKI and learn how she performs. Sailing a bit shy-er to the breeze also gives us a bit better speed too. Fortunately the swell is still manageable despite the occasional slap under the bum. We are well into the rhythm of the journey and getting close to halfway.
Distance from departure at midday: 900nm

Day 7 17 December 2021
As we were falling too far below course with the kite and were concerned about ending up in Trinidad and Tobago! We have changed to a 2 sail reach to climb up so we can re-hoist the kite and run away with the conditions we expect closer to Barbados. Getting the kite down was a challenge in these conditions and she fought back! We unfurled the genoa to 2nd reef to blanket the kite but this did not really help until it was down a fair way. Keith really struggled to control it and lost control of the down-haul. In hindsight a bigger ease of the sheet at the same time as the brace could have helped in the strongish wind. Also a full genoa would probably have helped as well. Coming head to wind to hoist the main was also fun with the swell and we dived down some pretty big waves, but we were able to hoist it quickly to 2nd reef point and at with this combination the rest of the day and through the night. Just as dinner was about to be served the auto-pilot had its now increasingly familiar glitch and would not steer our course. Had to hand steer for a while before she came back and cooperated again. This happened a couple of times through the night watches. Alana is very good hand steering, all of that time in dinghies has clearly paid off! I need more practice!
Distance from departure at midday: 1089nm

Day 8 18 December 2021
Saw a cargo ship this morning, first vessel of any kind. As we have the scale set very wide on the chart plotter so I first saw it on the horizon, rather than the plotter. It came within 1nm which is ironic as we have not even seen a single boat since day 1. This morning we had some pretty rough and confused seas at it was quite uncomfortable. Also strongish winds of 22-26. After our quest to gain height was successful we are sailing the rhumb line again. This morning we evaluated whether to relaunch the kite, using the 15 minute rule, plus GST… it’s no mean feat changing configuration in these conditions. We are 3 crew and hoisting the kite means dropping the Main head to wind etc. in 3m seas.  Wind has been consistently more than forecast so we decide to play it safe and keep the reefs in the main and goosewing the headsail to try and come onto course. We are still a little bit below it and of course as soon as you put in a conservative configuration the breeze backs off. It’s not really fast but it is still more comfortable with the not inconsiderable swell. It has been hard work playing the angles with the shifty breeze, which is where the kite would have been more flexible. Still a bit below course as well, so if the conditions remain consistent we may need to reconsider the kite. It was Nick’s surprise 80th birthday party today and we gave him a call during the proceedings, it was about 9pm local time. He was 3 sheets to the wind and reckons it was a complete surprise! Sounds like a great party and too bad we missed it.
Distance from departure at midday: 1269nm

Day 9 19 December 2021
We carried the goose wing through the night with a few challenges keeping it trimmed in shifty breeze and a 3 way cross sea. There were a few unintended gybes and we all had some moments of hand steering as the auto pilot can’t always keep up with the shifts and waves knocking the boat off course and then not wanting to re-engage. At times the waves lift us slowly and gently out of the water, turn us one way or the other and deposit us down into the trough. It seems like a slow gentle force but leaves you in no doubt who is in charge. We had some short, sharp and intense rain squalls through the night with moments in the 30kts. Fortunately short lived, but some work to do to recover onto course. Radar stayed on most of the night but they appear out of nowhere so quickly. At least the boat is nice and clean now! This morning we have re-launched the kite which will be much easier to manage in the shifty winds.

At 10:20 we have 628nm to go, if I am not mistaken this is the start of the Sydney to Hobart. Our aim is to beat Rani’s time. First 6 hour sked , in the short handed (3 crew) short legged (2 crew are only 5’2”) division we are equivalent to just off Kiama and doing well in the cruising multihull apartment division. Kite’s up and doing 9 kts, skipper just woken up to sit down to apple crepes whipped up by the other off watch crew. I guess just like any other ‘Hobart’ race crews…
 
Well we were getting along quite famously there for a while but the sustained strong winds combined with one too many shifty gusts and we have torn the Parasailor (kite) quite badly this evening. Thankfully she came down quickly and cleanly and is now safely stowed until we can get her repaired. For the evening and overnight we are reaching with the Genoa, still seeing gusts of 27 kts. Our VMGs are quite respectable with this configuration and it’s a comfortable ride, with standing up to 27kts gusts. We enter a period of mourning for the kite.
Distance from departure at midday: 1441nm

Day 10 20 December 2021
By mid-morning the breeze has settled into the high teens, low 20s and the strong gusts have stopped, or should I say “paused”. Our genoa-only configuration is a bit limiting and our speeds are falling. The sail is strapped out as far as possible to the side so it is almost like it is poled out. In the early afternoon we try a new combination of goosewing, with the gennaker out to port and genoa to starboard. This was a bit challenging to configure as we had to gybe the genoa, then discover some problems with the gennaker sheets which meant furling to sort those out and then hoisting it behind the genoa. This configuration gives us increased flexibility of wind angle and also increased our speed by 1-2kts. Conditions are now perfect for the Parasailor of course…
We keep this configuration for the rest of the day, still very confused seas and at times some larger waves coming through that throw us off course. We all have our fair share of hand steering moments, at least its good practice!
 
Virtual Syd2Hba Sked #2: Well we are 32 hrs into our “Sydney to Hobart” race and 6nm south of Gabo Is. Checked in and all good. Still with the goosewing of genoa and gennaker. VMGs steady at 8.2kts and the wind forecast is finally delivering on predictions, well at least for wind strength if not quite direction. Wild Oats would have probably finished the race by now as leader of the demi-catamaran division, and Ricko and the boys would be having a few at Customs House, having moved out of their 3 star (pipe cot) accommodation. Meanwhile on ITIKI dinner was spaghetti bolognaise, served with freshy grated parmesan and a glass of Spanish Verdejo. The off watch crew are now retiring to their queen sized cabins after a nice hot shower in their own ensuites…
Distance from departure at midday: 1613nm

​Day 11 21 December 2021
With 3 crew and 3 hour watches, 3 hrs on and 6hrs off, we are rotating our actual watch times on a daily basis. Yesterday the clocks changed back 1 hour, we think to Barbados time but not sure. Keith and Alana split the extra hour so I did dinner. I have just started the 6am watch.
We have carried our goosewing through the night. It was a beautiful clear night, so many stars and a full moon. Thankfully also a night without strong gusts or squalls. We have our autopilot on “Apparent wind hold” to keep the sails full despite the 15 degree wind shifts. The most challenging thing is the confused seas. A big wave can quickly push us off course and the autopilot needs some help to recover quickly. We have just ticked over to 299 nm to go and still making good speed.
Distance from departure at midday: 1793nm

Day 12 22 December 2021
Overnight the autopilot was switching off with increasing frequency and in the morning Keith hand steered for over 1.5hrs before a brief 20min reprieve when the autopilot made a comeback. This proved temporary though and it seems that with 120nm to go we are going to have to hand-steer the rest of the way. We re-evaluate the shifts to shorten them and ensure we share the load. My hand steering experience is limited and despite a rapid improvement I am not good enough to hold a course in the 23kts wind in the pitch black so Keith and Alana share the last few watches, exchanging after 30 mins. At least we can see a glow on the horizon of the lights of Barbados which helps, until the moon comes up. We keep good speeds up (8.5s), however it’s really hard work and the wind direction is in the 90s-100s so not helping us come down to the bottom of the island. With about 4nm to our waypoint we drop the sails and start motoring on two engines. Thank goodness we have detailed charts this time as the southern end of the island is fringed with reefs. We have to head around to Carlisle bay on the SW corner. Those last few miles seem to take forever. We anchor a fair way out and after a calming nightcap to unwind we collapse into bed. We will tackle the check in process tomorrow when we are fresh.
Distance from departure at midnight: 2069nm

​So how does it feel to be a trans-Atlantic sailor? Was it what we expected?
 
From the skipper: Initially a great sense of satisfaction ‘having made it’, as the adrenalin wears off exhaustion quickly fills the void as you collapse into a deep and restful sleep. I guess like most ‘firsts’ you first ocean crossing is very significant and memorable. Whilst having clocked up 10’s of thousands of nm along the coasts of NSW, Qld, Vic, Tassie and SA nothing quite compares with a crossing of one of the world’s major waterways. With coastal there is always a ‘run to’ not to far away if needed. Whilst one never stops learning when at sea, an ocean crossing opens up a whole new world of experiences.
 

First mate: Despite numerous overnight passages, including a 5 day passage from Gibralter to Canaries, our trip down from Tenerife to Cape Verde was the best preparation possible for the eventual Atlantic Crossing. We could really experience how ITIKI performed in adverse conditions – we looked after her and she kept us safe. We had a few problems but we stayed calm when things went wrong, made good decisions and were able to solve issues underway. My own confidence has grown enormously but I remain conscious of my limitations and will never be complacent about the sea and the weather. Keith and I are a good counter-balance to each other, we complement each other’s styles and work well as a team.
 

SIDE-TRACKED ON THE WAY TO BARBADOS…

​Although I have at least 5 half written blogs on the go, and a long list of excuses, I really feel the need to push this one to the top of the pile and share it. Our passage from Tenerife to Cape Verde was not an experience I would ever want to repeat but I/we learned a lot and it turned out to be a great preparation for our eventual Atlantic crossing, mentally more than anything but in practical terms too. Writing about this passage whilst it was fresh in my mind has certainly helped me to process and learn from the experience and to quickly take on board what I needed to prepare to move on and get my head into the right space. More on that later!

Day 1: Friday 26 Nov 2021
After confirming at 11pm last night that our insurance was all good to go (thanks James!) we woke early and with some nervous anticipation. The weather was better than yesterday, still cloudy but the wind was not howling and no sign of rain. It’s a cool 20C though so we have all the back clears down. We prepped to leave the marina berth, I called home and we headed across to the fuel dock to fill the tanks. Then we were off! Our first day was a baptism of fire with a bit of everything before lunch time. We motored initially and even put the fishing line out for a while. Had a huge pod of dolphins come to say farewell which was just fantastic. Then put the main up and gennaker coming into a rain squall. When the squall died so did the rain so the sails went away. The breeze seems to drop down when Keith and I are on which is frustrating. Lucky it did though because the 1st reef-line had come out of the sail and boom completely and after trying to feed a mouse-line through with the cable poker we gave up and used the 3rd reef-line to bring a new mouse line through the boom and take it and the 1st reef line back. Minutes later the breeze started building again and we needed to put the main up. Timing is everything!
 
The starboard engine MDI did not come on. This is now officially a recurring problem. Martin suggested some electrical spray onto the connectors and that, and a bit of jiggling, got it sorted. Coming to La Gomera we came into a weather front with 26kts (gusting 30kts) on the beam and a 2-3m short swell, which was really uncomfortable. ITIKI’s hull was taking a hammering and the noise was something else! Not to mention the cumin seeds taking a tumble out of the pantry and spilling all over the floor! 2nd reef went in for the first time since the Meltemi. We had to foot off which meant making the decision to go south of Hierro Island. The breeze and swell backed off considerably as we left La Gomera behind. From there we were dead downwind and goose-winged with the genoa and have shaken out the reefs. 2 reefs go back in for the for overnight watches though in case of squalls. Soni and Martin had the 6-midnight shift and were surfing at 12+kts. Soni valiantly cooked a delicious spag bol but sadly was the only one that couldn’t eat any. The swell is brutal, there are at least three patterns, and giving the boat and our nerves a beating!
Distance from departure at noon: 22nm

Day 2: Saturday 27 Nov 2021
10 mins after Keith came on watch the breeze had dropped from 14s to 6s and the frustration and flogging started. We tried chasing it for a while but we were heading too far south and finding nothing. At the start of my shift, at 3am, we re-looked at the forecast and decided we must have sailed into a wind hole, which was further north and lighter than we expected, so we gybed and slowly the pressure built until we had high teens/low 20s. We kept the apparents around 100-110 mark as we had a full genoa although 2 reefs in the main. It stayed consistent throughout my watch. Soni and Martin had some lighter breezes and shook out the reefs and changed to the gennaker. Today’s drama was when Martin noticed that small piece of the main sail track that you use to remove the cars, a section about 10cm long, had fallen off! He wasn’t sure if it hit the deck but I grabbed Keith and he found the missing piece in the lazy bag – phew! That could have been a major as dropping the main would mean losing the batten cars and bearings. Some time ago we found a mysterious grub screw inside the boat which we now know was from this part of the main track! Holy crap. Keith was able to refit the missing track and tighten everything back into place. Lucky it didn’t happen at night! Seas are still quite big (2-3m) and although the groundswell is longish (7-8 s) there is a fair bit of wind chop and cross swell on top of it so we continue to get smacked under the hull on a regular basis. Sometimes it sounds like an entire infantry battalion are running upside down under your bridge deck! It’s pretty unnerving. Weather has been fine, partly cloudy and temperatures in the low 20s. We changed our clocks to 1 hr earlier to fit with the timezone and each couple did an extra half hour on our shared watches to compensate. Winds were getting borderline for the gennaker so it has been furled around 3pm and 1 reef in the main for our night-time configuration. We are a little slower however it is much more comfortable.  I slept very little yesterday, what with the swell and the creaking and adrenalin.
Distance from departure at noon: 176nm

Day 3: Sunday 28 Nov 2021
Came off watch at midnight and slept really well albeit on and off until 6am when Keith went back on watch. It was another very bouncy night in terms of the swell but we covered a lot of miles. The breeze has lightened somewhat but the swell remains quite big and with a counter chop coming from another direction. We goose-winged the genoa to try to come further south as the wind was taking us north. Making good progress. The boys have done a check of the rudders, engine mounts, RIB, life-raft and the main track that came out yesterday as everything has been shaken around. Martin has done something to his knee and it looks like he could have an infection so we have started him on broad spectrum antibiotics from our medical kit.
Distance from departure at noon: 372nm

​Day 4: Monday 29 Nov 2021
We have come up on port tack and making our way south now, initially aiming to try and pick up some better winds or get into the trades. This also means Cap Verde remains a possible alternative port and we discuss this with Martin, whose knee is very red and hot. He consults his Dr overnight via sat. phone and the verdict is to head to Cape Verde. It should take us 3 days and we make the definitive turn to due South at 9:40am. Breeze is in the low to mid-20s with some gusts up to 30. The swell is on the beam and quite big and uncomfortable but not dangerous or slamming. We just have to ride this one out and hope Martin will be OK for the next couple of days until we can get him to a Dr. Unfortunately we don’t have the detailed charts for Cape Verde - so hopefully we will arrive in daylight. Keith went to retrieve the pennants on the mast, concerned that they might get caught in something and found the port Princess seat on the trampoline. That was screwed on pretty tightly in Leros so must have taken a big hit from a wave underneath to get it off. We had one rogue wave come over the top of the coach house and swamp the cocktail deck and helm station and gave us all a fright, particularly Soni who was on watch and got drenched.
Distance from departure at noon: 545nm

Day 5: Tuesday 30 Nov 2021
So this morning Keith was excited to find we had caught our first fish! Poor little beggar was lying on the cocktail deck in a state of rigor mortis. He was no bigger than the fish we were using as lures. He must have been tossed on board in the rogue wave that drenched Soni yesterday afternoon. Martin’s leg is looking worse if anything, not sure the antibiotics have been much use and his mobility is more limited. He will not be able to do watches tonight so the 3 of us split those. He has been advised to up the dose of antibiotics. We have been in touch with the marina and they are expecting us and will help with an ambulance if we need. We have a relatively calm afternoon so Keith decides to turn on the water-maker. This is one of the downsides of having the water maker in the foredeck hatch, he needs to clip on and go in there to do everything. We managed to fill the tanks but just as he goes back to turn everything off a wave hits us and swamps the locker and the fuse trips. I made a potato tortilla for dinner, Martin stayed in bed with his leg elevated overnight. The conditions remain pretty awful, but we have seen that ITIKI is performing well and we have kind of gotten used to the situation. A state of acceptance but certainly not enjoyment! It’s now a mission to just get there ASAP and get help for Martin.
Distance from departure at noon: 734nm

Day 6: Wednesday 1 Dec 2021
Keith had sustained gusts of low 30s for the second half of his watch and Soni for the first half of hers. Breeze had settled by the time I came on watch but the swell is at its worst. Still this awful cross swell and it just slams us unexpectedly. We are getting a fair bit of water over the port side and also lots of banging on the left side of the starboard hull and under the bridge deck. The belly button (aka cockpit drain) has turned into a geyser – Keith was standing on it when a wave came up underneath and he got a spray up the leg of his shorts! ITIKI continues to perform exceedingly well and now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, with just over 100nm to go at 9:30am. Martin made it out of bed mid-morning, feeling somewhat like the creature from the black lagoon – but also better for having rested his leg. Its not looking much better however, still very hot and swollen. He increases the antibiotic dose again.

Its now clear that at this pace we will be arriving at night, between midnight and 2am! It's a dark, moonless night. This is an unfamiliar and apparently wreck strewn harbour, some of the wrecks are not lit. We have no no internet to get Google Earth. Fortunately Martin had Open CPN and a GPS device on his computer. This was a godsend as he could at least provide Keith with bearings to get us past a large islet near the commercial port and into the marina area.  It was a challenge to find the marina and fuel dock in the dark as it doesn’t have its own entrance or mole with navigation lights, it just sits in the corner of the harbour. The security guards were waiting for us expectantly and answered immediately on VHF, waving us into the fuel dock with their headlamps. The marina has floating docks without piles (just anchored to the seabed) and they are bouncing around incredibly in the strong winds. We manage to tie up and get settled. There was an ambulance waiting for Martin which the marina had organised. One of the young guys even gave Soni some local currency to get a taxi back to the boat. Soni and Martin returned a couple of hours later, having been given instructions to return to the hospital in the morning. Needless to say stiff drinks were in order. It was a stressful unpleasant and at times downright frightening journey - we are all very sleep deprived and running on adrenalin but we made it safely and help is at hand and that is what is important. We made the right decision to divert here, and some valuable lessons have been learned from the experience.
Distance from departure: 1016nm

​So what lessons have been learned, re-learned or re-enforced.

1.Alternate destination planning
For each of our longer/overnight passages I have prepared a “Float Plan” (credits to SV Starry Horizons for their template). This plan details information about our boat and safety equipment, crew list, emergency contacts and planned voyage, including alternative destinations. It’s filed with our land based “safety coordinator” in Australia, who is our primary point of contact with AMSA should we set off our EPIRB. I had listed Cape Verde as an alternative destination, never giving any further thought to what a diversion there might look like. We are crossing the Atlantic, there really are no feasible alternatives and returning against the trade winds and swell would be pretty awful. We had talked about heading to Cap Verde for a week or so and departing for the Caribbean from there, as many cruisers, including one of the ARCs does. However as we had decided against it so we had not done any detailed research and had not purchased or downloaded the detailed charts for the area. Our chart plotter only had the base map for Africa zone, which is very basic. I did know there was a marina in Mindelo on the island of Sao Vincent, and some fellow cruisers had stayed there and used it as a base. We were able to contact them and get the email address for the marina, then make contact with the marina via Satellite (Iridium Mail) to arrange our arrival. Arrival in an unknown port can be challenging enough but when you are without charts, which show navigation lights & beacons, wrecks, rocks, currents and back eddies etc. well that really adds to your woes.  So lesson #1 is to better research alternative destinations. Downloading google maps or google earth for the area, even screenshots and verbal descriptions would have been really helpful. As would emergency or marina contacts. Fortunately the arrival went smoothly.
 
2.Meals for first night out
The first night out can be tough, depending on how close to land you are the winds can be stronger in acceleration zones and seas can be lumpier close to land. Add to that any first night nerves - cooking a complex meal from scratch can be challenging and lead to sea-sickness or injury. Important to have something relatively light and easy ready to go, preferably one pot meal that can be eaten from a bowl at the helm if necessary. In fact for our “Take #2” there are several ready made meals already in the freezer!
 
3.Managing sea-sickness – no heroics
Like I said the first night out can be challenging after being in a marina or anchorage for a few days. Rough conditions and/or first night nerves can challenge the strongest stomachs and on a dark night when the horizon is gone it is even more difficult. Hopefully not everyone is affected, Keith and I have well and truly gotten our sea legs over the last 6 months but there are no guarantees on that score. If a crew member is badly affected they will need time out of the watch system to get it under control. That may mean taking medication and/or taking some time out to sleep it off without the pressure of having to do a night watch. Day watches however are usually beneficial if they are up to it. It's not wise to try to soldier on and even cook meals. It doesn’t really do anyone any favours to prolong the adjustment time.
 
4.Thank goodness for Satellites
We had the IridiumGO installed when we commissioned ITIKI but have never actually connected it or subscribed to a service. I bought 5 SIM cards from PredictWind (a NZ company) when we were back in Australia and activated our first subscription in Gibraltar. I chose an unlimited data package so I would not have the extra stress of counting how many minutes I have used downloading weather files etc and am so pleased I paid the extra for this. Can you imagine trying to coordinate a rescue, calling emergency services etc and then running out of credit??! Importantly, having local marina contact details and emergency contacts for the arrival port and alternative destinations would be really useful to prepare in advance.
 
5.ITIKI is a great boat!
We have done over 10,200 nm in ITIKI since she was launched. While we obviously try to avoid going out in adverse conditions we do sometimes find things are not as forecast and we face some challenges. Strong winds, big seas etc. The trip down from the Canaries was by far the most challenging conditions mainly because they were sustained for so long. Having seen how the boat performed really did re-enforce for us how well built and solid she is. She sails well even in reefed down conditions. Whilst the waves and swell might knock her around she rarely rounded up, coping very well with constant adjustments by the hardworking autopilot. Our confidence in her has just continued to grow and we feel well attuned to her performance.

​How do we move on from this?
We were pleased to be able to get Martin safely to Mindelo and into the expert care of the Medico Centro and Dr Carlos. We had of course hoped that a few days on IV antibiotics would have seen him ready to resume the journey, but sadly it was not to be. The recovery would be a lot longer and we all agreed that the risk, not only to Martin but to all of us, was too great to continue. This was indeed a heavy blow, albeit not entirely unexpected. The reality of our situation starts to sink in. So here we are in Cape Verde, a small island archipelago off the coast of Africa. The last staging post for an Atlantic crossing. We have lost our very experienced and highly regarded crew and dear friends. We were sleep deprived, stressed, shell-shocked after the horrendous journey down from the Canaries and left very much wondering WTF do we do now?! Keith has injured his shoulder in the fall off the boat onto the dock, and will eventually need surgery. Personally, I was feeling a lot of self-doubt and anguish. The ARC had reported to several yachts abandoned, including one death. We were not the only boat who diverted to Cape Verde unexpectedly either, with one of our dock mates reporting having been contacted by a cargo ship and being advised to divert due to adverse weather conditions. Various other boats reporting damage, gear failure, crew sickness or just having a shit time. What on earth made me think I could do this?!
 
So we try to turn our minds to Plan B and for me it’s a steep climb out of a big hole to get to where I need to be mentally to restart our journey. Our options are fairly limited, but still there are always options. It’s a couple of weeks before Christmas, preparations for the Sydney to Hobart would be in full swing and everyone already has plans in place so getting sailing friends or indeed anyone experienced from Australia to join us for an impromptu Atlantic crossing would be highly unlikely, although we did explore this anyway. We also explored the idea of professional crew based in Europe, however at this time of year they are in high demand and obviously expensive. It would be a long wait for either option.
 
While we had been approached on the docks in Canary islands by numerous people with varying skills and experience, looking for crew/passenger positions to cross the Atlantic, we were now in Cape Verde and there were a lot less people looking. At that time I remember thinking to myself, who in their right mind would take a stranger off a dock, onto their boat and across the Atlantic, to another country…
 
Another complicating factor - as lovely, competent and caring as the Marina staff were, as well run as it is - the Marina itself was untenable in the conditions we experienced. We had gusts up to 30kts coming down into the harbour and the floating docks just bounced and swung more than anywhere I have ever seen. Steel springs, snubbers and mooring lines have been broken and cleats ripped out here. Keith had already injured his shoulder because of this. Also the stress on the boat of the constant snatching and jerking 24 hours a day made it hard to sleep or even relax. This is not a place you could leave a boat for any length of time. However this issue is one that is within our control and we decided to go and anchor out in the bay. Finally we can get a good night’s sleep, think clearly and hopefully get some plans together.
 
I check the various crew finder sites and FB groups and the marina notice board and send out a few messages. We make contact with Alana, a young Dutch girl who came down from the Canaries in the same shitty conditions we did. Her boat decided not to continue on the crossing at this time so she moved into a hostel and waited. We met up and talked and after some initial hesitancy we decided she would be a good fit for us. Keith and I talked a lot about our experience, how the boat had performed and how we had handled our journey so far. We realised (well mainly it was me who needed convincing) that we could actually do the crossing with just the two of us. It would be tough, it would be long, it would be tiring but we could do it. Many couples do long crossings two up, but an extra pair of hands would mean sharing chores, extra rest and extra sleep, which would be a bonus. The weather was settling and the window opening up. Several boats were planning a Saturday departure and this was looking good for us too. And so the three of us, Keith, Alana and Lynda, would set off for Barbados...

​Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element.
 
Lithium’s efficacy at both treating and preventing the recurrence of manic-depressive episodes (what we now call Bipolar disorder) was discovered serendipitously by an Australian Dr John Cade back in 1949. It would eventually transform the lives of patients, pharmaceutical researchers and practicing physicians worldwide. It is still a mainstay of Bipolar disorder treatment today.
 
The song Lithium was released as the third single from the album Nevermind by Nirvana in 1992. The title - which doesn't appear in the actual lyric – probably refers to the aforementioned drug.

Defining our needs
A really important step in this whole process was for us to define our needs. This meant analysing our cruising style and energy usage over the last 2 seasons as well as thinking about the cruising grounds we would be moving into, namely the Caribbean and Pacific. These are warmer climates where we would be using marinas even less and would not have access to the level of technical support available in Europe. Some people do a meticulous energy audit, calculating power usage right down to the very last detail such as the anchor light & courtesy lights. We focussed our analysis on the major appliances such as autopilot, water maker, washing machine, air con etc. How often do we run them, what are their energy ratings and how would we like to power them going forward. From that exercise we defined our key objectives.

1. Replacement: 900Ah of AGMs gave us around 450AH of useable capacity. We would need a bit more to run high load appliances. A much greater %age of the capacity of the Lithium batteries is useable so the number of total AH would be lower than with AGMs. It’s not a like for like situation. Some people say you should get as much capacity as you can afford, however I didn’t want to be a slave to keeping it charged.
2. Optimisation: Optimal use of clean solar energy to meet our needs. We already have 1080W of solar which is a pretty good amount and it had been easily meeting our needs in summer time Europe. Because we were not set up to use this energy to run all high load appliances (via the batteries and 2000W inverter) we have to rely on the Genset or shore power to do so. We could get more from our Solar on a daily basis if the demand was there.
3. Protection: Our batteries and engine alternators in particular need protection. The batteries are temperature sensitive and we will be cruising in warm climates. They also charge differently to AGMs so that requires different management systems.  Communications between engine alternators and Lithium batteries needs to be managed so the batteries don’t get over charged or fried and the alternators don’t get burned out trying to meet their needs. Our existing alternator regulators would not be up to the task and a new system would be needed.
4. Configuration: Some reconfiguration of circuitry would be needed to pull all of this together of course and lead everything back to the new batteries and it’s also a good opportunity to address some minor issues like adding a power outlet in the cockpit and the foredeck locker and changing the hot water heating to run off the batteries.
5. Monitoring and management: All of these systems are computer controlled “smart” systems but you really want to be able to see the big picture of what is going on and trouble shoot any issues. In addition to the blue tooth functionality on individual components it is great to be able to see the overall flow of energy in and out of the various components of the system. The latest monitoring equipment also allows remote access for your installer (Dave and his team) via a VRM portal which will be handy in far flung places if we run into problems (and have internet…).

 
I really could not have done this exercise before stepping onto ITIKI pre-launch. I didn’t have enough knowledge about our needs or how they could be addressed and would have made way more mistakes than we already did with our original set up. Having those 2 seasons under our belt was quite beneficial in gaining a better understanding of our requirements and how to manage energy on our boat.

So how did we address all of our needs? Well I am still no expert in this area and never likely to be but here goes:

1. 4 x 210AH Lithium Ion batteries to give us 840Ah, essentially all useable, although most people say not to run them to zero too often, so let’s say 80% useable. Our engine starter batteries remain as AGMs, now the starboard starter is no longer part of the service set and they are each only charged by their own engine.
2. No change to our solar set up other than adding an isolator which we didn’t have. Solar charges the Lithium batteries under the control of the MPPT. Now all the circuits are fed via the inverter (upgraded to 3000W), there is no longer a separate high load circuit which only gets charged by genset or shore power. So a greater demand on the batteries, which will be addressed by all our sources of power (Solar, Engines, Genset, Shore).
3. Protection.
   1. Temperature: AGMs were installed in the starboard engine bay which can get pretty hot when we are motoring and on a hot day. To protect our new batteries from heat they are installed under the starboard bunk (yes I am sleeping with them!) which conveniently backs onto the starboard engine bay where the inverter is located, so a shorter distance to minimise voltage drop. For a whole week during the install we had to deconstruct the bed every morning after getting up and put it back together at the end of the day.
   2. Overcharging: Like a kid in a candy shop, Lithium batteries will take in as much energy as they can get their hands on. The standard engine alternator regulators don’t know how to deal with this so we have 2 x 2 DC-DC chargers which control the current that is made available to the batteries from the engines so they don’t take too much. They also make sure the alternators don’t overheat themselves trying to meet the insatiable demands of the hungry batteries.
4. Configuration. Yes there was a lot of re-wiring! Dave and his team were crawling around the innards of ITIKI, poking new wires in and moving existing ones around. He installed additional fuses, isolators and relays to protect and automate things as needed. The biggest change was the redirection of the separate “high load” circuit to be powered by the batteries. On this circuit we had the washing machine, air con, hot water heater and water maker and previously these could only be run when the Genset or Shore Power was connected. Now they all will run through the inverter, although probably not all at once! Instead of having to manually throw a switch in the engine bay to activate this circuit, it is now automated to “know” where the power is coming from. This is a really boon when underway as the switching meant opening the engine bay, standing on the transom and sticking your head in to flick a switch…
5. Monitoring and management. The Victron Cerbo GX pulls everything together, “talking” to all of the varying components and feeding the data to GX touch screen. You can monitor your activity in living colour. This offers hours of entertainment for all the family and is way better than local TV!

 
Sounds simple, right? Well yes and no. I guess it depends on how deeply you want to delve into the technical details. Dave was particularly good at explaining to mere mortals like us how things worked as well as the pros and cons of varying options available. Did it all go smoothly and exactly to plan? No of course not, nothing ever does and it is important to expect this. It’s how your installation team handle and communicate this that really matters. Dave made it clear that he was planning an upgrade on a boat he had never physically seen and his advice may change once he did see it and start working on it.

​Our friends from Sydney, Team Argonauts (Rob and Kylie on their Saona) managed to escape from Sydney a few weeks before we did. They had left their boat in Hammamet, Tunisia at the end of season 2019, not knowing what was in store for them. They managed to get out of Tunisia amidst some political unrest and we have been following their adventures around Sicily as they head towards Ionian Greece, hoping we would be able to cross paths and spend some time cruising together.
 
We set out mid-morning from Methoni intending just to head to Pylos (a massive 10nm north) for the night and meet the Argonauts the following day. We have been to Pylos before and enjoyed it. It’s a wide and sheltered bay with a town and castle at in the south. We stopped by the town to provision and then anchored in the north of the bay for the night, picking out a spot for Argonauts nearby so they could join us tomorrow. Just north of us is a spectacular, fan shaped beach and a lagoon that we could reach across a sandspit. We contact with Argonauts, consult the maps and pilot and realise we are much further south of them than we thought, with not much to do our see in between. So we change plans and decide that we will push north for another day and meet them tomorrow, on the southern end of Zakynthos Island.

​In order to leave Pylos bay tomorrow morning we would have to go a couple of miles to the south to get around the headland before turning north, so it made sense to anchor in the south overnight. Somehow along the short way to the southern side of the bay we decided to put a bit more distance in the bank, turn the corner around the headland and make our way north to Proti Island a to give us more of a head-start in the morning. I was a bit dubious as it's one of these anchorages that “only has room for 2-3 boats” (there were none showing on AIS…) and we would be arriving at dusk! Oh and we might have to take lines ashore! Fortunately there are only two boats here when we arrive and they are tied back leaving plenty of room for us to swing anc​hor. It is Sunday evening and there is a church on the island with an Orthodox service going on, we can hear the haunting sound of their chanting. A small boat is shuttling people back and forth from the mainland until quite late and a then a blood moon rises. Magic!

​A 5:30am start to leave our island anchorage the next morning as it’s a 50nm schlep north. I am grateful we did not have to take lines ashore, so no early morning swim to release them! I know there are no sharks in the Med, but the thought of swimming at dawn or dusk sends shivers up and down my spine! Winds are light and so we are motoring all the way with a main up for a bit. The last hour it is on the nose, this is why we got up early! We finally spot Argonauts on the chart-plotter and they arrive at the anchorage (Mavratzis Beach) on the south east tip of Zakynthos an hour or so later. It’s great to see them and we have a lovely dinner and way too much wine on board ITIKI, swapping war stories about escaping Australian and, for them, getting out of Tunisia and almost getting booted out of Italy!

We wake to a beautiful sunrise, although it is rare to see an ugly one I guess. Argonauts join us for morning tea on ITIKI and then we head north to Xigia beach, on the east coast of Zakynthos. There are sulphur springs here but it’s not too smelly and the water is crystal clear and turquoise. We explore some caves on the SUPs before heading north to the small village of Agios Nicholas. It's fairly late when we arrive at the anchorage it's quite full. There is a tempting looking spot on the town quay but we are reliably informed that this spot is reserved for a ferry which is due in at 7:30pm. Luckily Costas comes to the rescue in his RIB, confident he will find the best place in the crowded harbour for us. True to his word he brings ITIKI in to a fore and aft mooring very close to the shore, we could practically step off onto the rocks! Argonauts rafts up next to us and we snuggle up cheek to cheek – well we never expected to be getting this close so early on in our cruising relationship! The price for our cosy mooring is a dinner for 4 at Costas’ sister’s restaurant. Everything has its price but it is a nice meal and not at all expensive.

It’s fantastic to experience this place so empty! Keith puts the drone up for a few photos before we start to see the first of the tour boats arriving just after 9. Time for us to move on and leave them to it. We head north, leave Zakynthos and cross to the southern end of the island of Cephalonia, anchoring off a Spartia beach. The colour of the water is just stunning and we settle in for the rest of the day and evening. It’s great to be in some lovely anchorages where we can relax and enjoy, even though we are still on a time clock we don’t have too far to go. The weather conditions are perfect and there is no Meltemi!

​The next morning is another early start but it is easy to get up early when the weather is so gorgeous. We have a long way to go today and we want to make a stop or two. We have a great sail up the west coast of Cephalonia, goose-winging the gennaker while Argonauts has their code 0 up. Their angles are a different to ours and they head in closer to the coast, getting smaller and smaller back there... Well, they are a bigger, heavier boat and to be fair they have the Hammamet green beard on their hulls and Rob is onto his 2nd board meeting of the day. Our lunch stop is a stunning beach called Fteri, but it’s as tricky to anchor as it is to pronounce so we leave Argonauts to it and head across the bay to another stunning beach called Myrto. We have our lunch there, have a swim and do a quick drone shoot before heading off to Asos, on the north western side the island. It’s a cute town but the harbour anchorage is way too small for us and the town quay is full of charter boats full so we find a spot outside the habour. Argonauts arrives and anchor nearby. There are high cliffs all around and it’s a great spot to explore more caves on the SUP.

We woke at 3am to the sound of thunder and some flashes of lightning. Got up to move the outdoor cushions inside and then went back to bed. There was a bit of rain but no strong wind. We have a late-ish start the next morning, cleaning the dirty rain off the boat before heading to the village for a wander around. There was quite some damage here during the ’53 earthquake and not all of it has been rebuilt. We walk up the hill to the Venetian fort for stunning views. ITIKI looks so small down in the bay below. We leave mid-morning to head around to the north eastern tip of the island for our last evening with Team Argonauts. Fiskardo is another charming and colourful touristy town. We have to do our first (and hopefully last) tie back of the season. We drop anchor 40m out and I swim the lines ashore like a pro – phew lucky I haven’t forgotten how to do it. We settle in pretty quickly and have time to help Team Argonauts when they arrive. They are relatively new to this but I am sure they will learn quickly. Once we get settled it seems to have gone beer o’clock so we have a very late lunch on ITIKI and then head into town for a quick look around. Dinner ashore tonight will be the last supper with team Argonauts – how time flies!

We farewell team Argonauts, helping them release their lines which is a bit challenging as another yacht has put their line around the same rock and overlapped with theirs. Kylie puts on quite a show for us, firstly falling off her SUP and into an oil slick, and then "nonchalantly" paddling like crazy to get back to the mothership as it pulls away. It was really lovely “2-boating” with them, just a shame we did way more motoring than sailing! We go for a wander around the point up to a Venetian light house, the ruins of a Christian church and then loop back into the main town. It’s a pretty and colourful place, jam packed with restaurants and tourist shops. Plenty of charter boats here too, lining the quays. We head off late morning, try to sail for a bit but we are making slow progress down the east coast of the island. As we turn the corner the wind shifts onto our nose and seems our planned anchorage is not well protected so we end up back at our very first anchorage on Cephalonia, Spartia Beach, completing a 90nm circumnavigation. One more night in Greece and then we cross to Italy.

We leave our lovely anchorage of Sparta Beach mid-morning and head towards Argostoli, one of the main towns of Cephalonia, and importantly a "Port of Entry". We need to refuel, provision and also formally check out of Greece. The town is up a long narrow bay which reaches in towards the centre of Cephalonia island. We tie up outside the Port Police office and are promptly told to move on as we have lobbed into a commercial boat’s berth. We manage to arrange fuel delivery by tanker but have to move to the cruise ship terminal to meet them. Not a great set up for a “small” fibreglass boat. It’s a high concrete dock with big black truck tyres for fenders and menacing steel ladders at regular intervals. The Captain manages to squeeze us on to the wall very well as usual and the tanker is there within 5 minutes of our arrival – great service! I walk back to the Port Police and check out, hand in our transit log (its Sunday, so the police kindly offer to hand it to Customs on Monday) and we are officially out of Greece – well apart from a sneaky final night anchorage on the south west tip… It is a calm night and the spot we chose at Kounapetra is quite spectacular. There is a small beach resort surrounded by cliffs and some old, traditional windmills. Farewell Greece, we have had an amazing time here. Seen so much, missed so much but loved it all – well except the Meltemi... We have a long trip ahead of us, our first overnight passage of the season to get to the toe of Italy. What adventures will be in store for us next??

​Our next destination is the port of Kapsali on the island of Kythira. Kythira is a small island off the bottom of the eastern most finger of the 3 fingered Peloponnesus peninsula of mainland Greece. We came around the peninsula when we entered the Med and had planned to go out of the Med via the Corinth canal, which is a significant shortcut. Sadly the canal is closed due to a landslide, so it's back around the peninsula we go in the opposite direction, trying to make some different stops than before. From Milos we had a great sail under gennaker and full main most of the way to our destination until the breeze dropped too low to keep us moving. Sailing always puts a smile on our faces. It is quite a busy anchorage but a powerboat leaves just at the right time and we find a space near some Kiwis in a 52' Grainger cat. We go and say hi before heading out to dinner. They had brought the boat from Brisbane through Thailand and the Suez to get to the Med. They were very curious to know how we had escaped Prison Australia! Apparently Oz has quite the reputation now. Anyway dinner ashore was a real treat as we haven't had goat for a while! We decide to tackle the fort and the Chora (town) up on the hill by foot tomorrow before we leave.

We managed to get him back on dry land before complete immersion and quickly whipped out the phone to dry it off (all good thankfully!) The bread didn’t come out too badly either and as far as the tissues go, time will tell... Oh and Keith was fine, a little rattled and some minor swelling on the ankle. Nothing a gin and tonic won’t fix later on.

​Anyway we head out of the port with good breeze, one reef in the main and 1 in jib. We cop some strong wind along the south of the island, with katabatic gusts coming down from the steep hills we climbed this morning. This settles into a steady 18-22kts and we make good progress. The swell on the beam is not great though and is pushing us around until we get further into open water. The breeze starts to drop into the low teens and after applying the 5 min rule (plus VAT) we shake out the first reef. Of course, immediately the breeze is back up to high teens - can you believe it!?

​We reach land in great time, having travelled from the southern tip of the eastern most finger of the Peloponnesus to the southern tip of the middle finger. Here I would like to give the “middle finger” to all boats that don’t have AIS. (This is the Automatic Information System that allows boats to see each other in real time on their electronic chartplotters). We had picked out a couple of remote anchorages to take a look at. According to our sources, these are quite small and would only take 2-3 boats. We could not see any boats here on the chart-plotter, but when we arrive there is no room at the inn! Bloody selfish boats in stealth mod have beaten us to the spots you picked out. We have wasted valuable time going in and out of a bay, assessing whether we can squeeze in and still have enough swing room, then it gets later and later as we try to find somewhere else to anchor. We swing by two of these anchorages (Cape Tenaro & Cape Matapan) with no luck and end up in Porto Kagio, which is a drab place that we stayed on our way into the Aegean. Its crowded and rolly but at least it is safe and everything settles overnight. We get away early the next day to head to Methoni.

Methoni is at the southern tip of the western most finger of the Peloponnesus. Again we have been here before but we are happy to return. It’s a lovely wide, protected anchorage and sandy beach but the main feature is a spectacular Castle of Methoni which sprawls over the cape, with a prominent Venetian tower on the southern tip, marking the entrance to the harbour. The Castle, like many ancient ruins and archaeological sites in Greece is normally closed to visitors on a Tuesday. When we were here before, you guessed it, it was a Tuesday! So it is a treat to be able to go and visit the Castle this time. Methoni is mentioned in historical records as far back as 8th Century BC. It was invaded by Venetians in 1125 who razed the existing castle to the ground, presumably rebuilding the stylish tower. They ruled until 1500s when the Ottomans moved in, and it provided refuge for the Muslim population during the Greek Revolution of 1821. We wander through the ruins and out to the Venetian tower, then take a walk along the sandy beach before heading off to Pylos for the night. We had intended to spend the night here and meet team Argonauts here the following day (Rob and Kylie from Sydney who are cruising in their Saona), but you will have to wait for the next instalment to see why that plan didn’t quite come to fruition.

With a couple of days grace in the weather before it started blowing again we decided to bite the bullet and head south to the island of Milos to escape the Meltemi for good. Having made the momentous decision to move south, the stress of dodging the Meltemi was lifted from our shoulders. We left our unprotected, but by now quite calm anchorage in the dark. Thank goodness for chart-plotters. The wind was very light, it really is all or nothing here, so we had a tiny bit of sailing but sadly we had to motor most of the 89nm to Milos. It was not enough to put us in a bad mood though as we felt happy to be escaping.

​Having arrived late in the afternoon we could not see or swim our anchor, but in the morning the silt had settled and the clearer water revealed we were floating above a huge abandoned ship's anchor and large chain. Wow that is a bit too close for comfort, it could have snagged our anchor and made our departure a lot trickier. A lucky break to miss it.  ​

After a morning walk ashore we head off to do a clockwise tour of the island. The coastline is spectacular, with many beaches and caves. Although in a couple of places this is marred by evidence of quarrying and mining. During the late 1800s Milos was exploited for minerals like Sulphur, Kaolin and Pumice. The colours of the cliffs vary significantly from bright reds and oranges through to stark whites. Mountains dominate the landscape on the western end. 

We stop at Kastanas beach on the east coast for lunch, a swim and a paddle. The water is beautiful and crystal clear and the rock formations are spectacular. I managed to surprise a couple of nudists as I padded through an archway to take a closer look at the tiny beach hiding behind it. They quickly scarpered.

Heading further around to the south west corner of the island and we stopped for the night at some incredible caves called Kliftiko. These are very popular with day tripper boats from Adamantus and the larger inlets are full of action with tourist boats coming and going, spewing out punters in their dozens before leaving and making way for the next boatload. We find a spot to the west of the coves with a couple of other boats, contemplate moving into one of the small, more enclosed coves and picking up a mooring once the tour boats had left, but decide against it. We feel it spoils the ambience of the place for others if we plonk ourselves in the middle of it and it will be nice to see it empty in the morning. We spend the rest of the afternoon exploring on SUPs and in the RIB, dodging snorkelers and swimmers.
 
Early the next morning we SUP around the caves again to visit the coves without hoards of tourists. Two brave little powerboats had spent the night inside the cove but everyone else had left. The light was beautiful as was the calm, but we wanted to leave before the madness started again.

We leave Lemnos at dawn and head towards Kira Panagia, a remote and uninhabited island (with no internet!!) The anchorage has a narrow entrance (80m) and opens up in to a Y-shaped bay. Apparently in a northerly it can be fun surfing into the bay and likewise hard getting out! We try the western side but that has too many big brown jelly blubbers so we head to the eastern end. The pilot book says "If you want peace and solitude, this is the place to come..." And lots of charter boats have certainly taken that advice, completely spoiling the peace and solitude! 
 
Tonight we experience what is known as the “pyjama dance”. A midnight thunderstorm storm (fortunately only 15kts of wind) and everyone is up on deck in their pyjamas checking their anchors, bringing in the washing and cushions. A big motor yacht with professional crew who decided plonk himself in the middle of everyone is also out re-adjusting everything. Fortunately they ended up further away from us, and kept an anchor watch so we could eventually get back to sleep.

We get away early again and make it out of the narrow entrance out of Kira Panagia. Up goes the main and genoa and we are initially making good speeds, however the wind eases and goes behind us. We goose-wing for a while and also use the gennaker but the breeze is eventually too light and as we get close to our destination the engines have to go on. It’s very choppy and the main is driving us mad. We get around the corner down the western side of Skopelos and get a bit more motor sailing in before dropping the main. Sadly there is no room in Loutraki Harbour to anchor or moor and it doesn’t look so nice anyway. We decide to head across to a small island between Skopelos and Skiathos to review plans - conditions are perfect to unfurl the gennaker, but then - Bang! Gennaker comes partway down. The halyard casing shredded and the sail is stuck halfway down. Impossible to furl it now. And this is the new Dynalite halyard we put in at Leros - Great!. It was very challenging to get it onto the boat and Keith got a whack in the head with the tension rope in the process. I held the boat just off head-to-wind to allow the sail to blow onto the boat, holding it against the boom, as bits of shredded halyard casing blew back towards me. We were unable to save the halyard so had to cut it and lose it completely. Bugger - that put a dampener on things. To add insult to injury there was no space in the small island anchorage so we continued on to the beach just south of Skiathos harbour, called Megali Ammos. We pack up, have lunch and rest up before taking the RIB ashore to walk around the town. Its a very pretty but touristy little town. We walk up to the church and clocktower at the top of the hill. The anchorage is a bit noisy during the day but it gets quiet and calm night and we have a great sleep.

Looks like the breeze is going to be blowing in the direction we want to go. Yee ha, I smell a kite run! No hurry of course, (its not a race...) as we dont have that far to go by our standards, so go and anchor off Komi Beach for breakfast. This is apparently one of the top 10 beaches in Europe/Greece/Skiathos (I forget which...) It has a lagoon behind it, crystal clear water and also lovely white sand, but there are deckchairs and umbrellas cheek to jowl. We take a walk along the beach and get away about 11am and get set up for the kite. Had a great run for about 4 hrs before the breeze dies. We enter the Evia canal and try to find an anchorage for the night but not much luck. We then finally make contact with the Chalki port authorities about the Old Euripus drawbridge opening times and sadly discover that if we don’t go through tonight it would be Monday night before we can! It's now 4pm on Friday, we dont have a great anchorage for the night (let alone 3 nights) and we are still about 30+nm away! So we hot foot it to Chalki on both Volvos and make it at 10:30pm, burning a fair bit of diesel. We head for the town quay, which is heaving with restaurants, loud music and people everywhere. There are some large bollards on the quay but the people milling around are more intent on their ice cream cones than taking a line! Keith brings the stern in expertly (as usual) so I casually lasso a bollard, (surprising even myself!) cleat off the line and step nonchalantly ashore, boat papers in hand, to go in search of the ticket office. Apparently I got a small round of applause from my audience, and yes the ticket office was definitely closed, not even a security guard to bribe! I got on the phone and managed to convince the Port Authority to let us through the bridge even though we haven’t paid. We promise to come by in the morning to give them some money before we leave. The bridge opens just after midnight, on the slack tide, retracting underneath the road revealing a narrow entrance. We watched nervously as the northbound boats emerged, and then one by one the southbound boats started being called through. Finally we hear ITIKI called and gunned it in case they changed their minds - its a relief to get through around 12:30am and anchor in the south bay, quite exhausted. Not quite the day we had planned!

We get up late-ish by our standards and head over to the town of Chalkis. Up on the hill on the mainland side (we are very close to Athens!) there is Karababa's Castle where we get a glimpse of some of the rich history of this town. The Ottomans had dominated at one stage, fortifying the castle against the Venetians, and many of the relics are on display in   the castle. We walk across the Old Euripus drawbridge that we passed through last night and manage to find someone at the (still closed) ticket office, who has limited English but an uncle living in Sydney, so we can pay our bill and be on our way. A quick grocery stop and then a visit by the fuel tanker to replenish what we burned last night, and we are off again. We motor under the new “high” bridge, past the derelict factory and further into the Evia canal. We hoist the main and unfurl the genoa but the breeze builds and we are soon reefing, then of course the breeze drops and the reef comes out, and of course it promptly builds again and reef goes back in. It continues to build and we reefed the genoa and then furled it putting a 2nd reef in the main. One motor goes on to help us punch through the chop. We have seen gusts of up to 32+kts and it builds as we get closer to land. There have been fires in Evia and we can see some smoke in the distance. Next thing there are water bombers passing overhead, picking up water in the bay nearby. In this kind of pressure that is no mean feat! We round the corner to our chosen anchorage but there is not too much relief from the Meltemi yet. Here is where the 'Elvis' skycrane helicopters are picking up water. There are at least 3 of them coming in quick succession, an amazing sight. We end up anchoring off a small beach club at Agiou Dimitriou. Holding is good but still subject to gusts. We end up spending a couple of nights here to catch our breath and enjoy drinks at the beach club, a RIB tour of the bay and watching the Elvises (or is it Elvii?) refill.

The wind looks like it has backed off a bit and is sort of ok-ish so we decide to take a small hop south to another “protected” anchorage to make tomorrow's planned journey to Andros a little shorter. We hoist the main with 1 reef and furl the headsail to 2nd reef. Needless to say the gusts were 10kts stronger than predicted and they don't seem to have any gaps between them, so they are not really gusts. We realise we haven’t been adding enough VAT to the forecasts! We saw up to 35 kts (just as we dropped the main of course) but at least it was a quick trip down and I didn't burn the bread I started making. Thanks to the extra batten cars (to stop the main from billowing on hoist/drop) and the 10mm Dynalite halyard, we can drop the main very quickly! The anchorage here (Elafolimano) is great holding but not the least bit protected from the strong winds. There was one other mono already anchored here, but the brave soul has already left by the time we get settled. Only hope he is going south and has a strong stomach! Yes he was French.

It is here, looking at the forecast yet again, that we finally have an epiphany. Yes we have a window to get to Andros, where we might have to wait for another window to get to Tinos and onto Delos, from where we can visit Mykonos ie racing from one protected anchorage to another, getting belted in between and not having time to see anything when we get there. Or we can concede defeat to the Meltemi and go south. The Meltemi has just about blown itself out by the time it reaches the southern Aegean. We are so over having it dictate where we go and what we see and do that we decide to avoid Andros, detour by Delos and miss Mykonos to go to straight to Milos. ​

Well normally we do our passage planning based on 6kts boat speed. If we are sailing and we fall well below that, especially if it means getting in somewhere after dark, the engines go on. Motoring long distances normally puts us in a bad mood, but after a little bit of sailing initially we more or less motored most of the 89nm in light airs. Knowing we did not have to fight the Meltemi anymore meant we didnt mind this quite so much! In fact you could not wipe the smiles from our faces. Yes we missed a few islands we will never come back to, but the relief is palpable. Arriving into Adamantus (don’t you love that they named the town after an ‘80s one hit wonder?!) was such a joy. We feel like a weight has lifted off our shoulders! Its marvellous what a difference Milos makes....

​Plans and realities
In the 20 months since we left ITIKI in October 2019 there have been so many plans that we have lost track. We lost a whole season that we had planned to split between Greece and Turkey (Plan A), avoiding the dreaded Meltemi season in July/August. Then there were the plans in case we got back late in season 2020 (B, C, D etc), which we didn’t. Finally, we settled on a plan for when we actually got back in July and launched in August 2021. Who would have thought we would once again find ourselves in Aegean Greece in the middle of Meltemi season - but rather be here than in Prison Australia. We are keen/determined to go some way north in defiance of the prevailing winds. It seems like the most interesting stuff is up there, and we can’t leave it unexplored. Lesvos and Limnos are both islands we really do want to visit as are Delos and Mykonos. We aim to be in Gibraltar mid-October so and there is a long way to go to get there. The Corinth Canal, which provides a short cut through to the Ionian sea, is closed due to a landslide so it’s around the Peloponnesus again for us – adding a few extra days. We hope to meet up with Team Argonauts (Rob and Kylie in their FP Saona) in the Ionian before we skip across to Sicily and into the Aeolian islands, trip up the east coast of Sardinia, The Maddalenas and then across the Balearics - Menorca and down the west Coast of Mallorca. With the demise of our AGM batteries our plans to upgrade the inverter in Gibraltar have now evolved into a “major” – the conversion to Lithium – so it looks like we will be there for a couple of weeks.

​Missing our Mojo
Looking back over our first couple of weeks in the water, it has taken us a while to get back into the rhythm of cruising. We didn’t expect that, but we probably should have after 20 months off. Planning where to go and what to do has been complicated by the need to dodge the northerlies, find appropriate anchorages, find a place to get our gas bottle filled, ongoing set up of the boat and sorting out the odd teething problem. All the time keeping an eye on our timetable to get out of Greece and continue good progress west - we ended up doing 18 islands and just under 1000nm before exiting! Initially we felt like we were always in a hurry to get somewhere else, with no time to appreciate where we were - and it was causing a great deal of stress. Once we made the decision to head south and get away from the Meltemi it was a weight lifted off our shoulders and we seemed to click back into our former routine. Sometimes what you think you want to do or think you should do because “you just can’t miss <insert name of someone’s favourite Greek island here>” just doesn’t really feel right. We finally realise that we are on a delivery run, with a bit of time to enjoy ourselves along the way – not a relaxed cruising season where we have all the time in the world. Anyway I am getting ahead of myself. Here are a few highlights from the northern Aegean.

​Highlights of the north
From Leros we moved to Lipsi and the Arki, aiming to head north to Chios for the gas bottle refill – having no idea how much gas we had left in the remaining bottle, this was a bit of a concern for us. It was only meant be blowing 12kts from the north so it should be ok, right? Wrong! Well the breeze was ok but we are banging into short chop so we make a detour to Marathokampos on the south coast of Samos. This was actually a bonus as it’s a really lovely, laid back little coastal town with a penchant for murals - we decide to stay a couple of days, hire a car and explore the island. We are staying on the “town quay” – a half finished marina with dodgy electricity but no charge. Samos is really mountainous in the middle (like most Aegean islands) with steep descents down to coastal towns.
 
Of course we took our empty gas bottle with us in case – we managed to turn up at a helpful servo about 1 minute before the local gas guy arrived. Not good news though as the gas factory is closed on weekends and it seems our French gas bottle is ever so slightly different from the fittings in Greece. This may not be easy.
 
Anyway we continued our tour visiting a lovely little mountain village called Manolates. It’s a car free village with steep and narrow winding streets. One of the things I love about Greece is the way that fruit (and some veg) just grows so incredibly in the tiniest of spaces, seemingly without any human effort. Meanwhile I struggle to grow some basil in a pot with extensive (maybe too much…) TLC. Grape vines hanging over a trellis, providing much needed shade, fruit laden, citrus, pomegranates and fig trees growing through a small hole in the concrete of a tiny terrace house front porch. One tiny house here had what looked like zucchini vines covering it almost completely! We drove on through Samos town and into the hills to Mitilinii, another traditional hillside village with winding narrow streets, but at 45oC heat defeated us and our walk was very short.

​Meet me in the middle
We visited the amazing Eupalinus Tunnel. Built in the mid-6th C BC, this double mouthed tunnel was an incredible feat of engineering and mathematics. Intended to carry water through a clay pipe from the springs on one side of the mountain down to the town on the other, it stretches 890metres. Construction took place from both ends of the tunnel with workers meeting in the middle and despite some twists, turns and the fall to facilitate water flow they were only 40cm out of alignment when they met up! Not bad considering the engineering tools available at the time. And the big bonus was a cool 25oC inside!

We take a short and accidental drive through the charming, narrow and touristy streets of Pythagorio town. This looks like a very popular village and the yachts lining the town quay are practically an extension of the harbour-side cafes.
 
Along the south coast there is a long stretch of “beach”– all stones of course – and we are straight into the water to cool off. Its a refreshing 22oC but you are dry, hot and sweaty again before you even get back to the car. It’s been a long day so we head back to ITIKI, again taking a scenic route through “Upper Marathokampos” (thanks Siri!). The next day conditions are perfect so we leave the harbour and head west, but first let’s go for a sail! We need to get in to deeper, cleaner water to do some desalinating and fill our water tanks. We also need to get the main sorted with the new halyard and first reef which are now Dyneema. Turned out to be a great shake down hitting 11.4kts of boatspeed – Yee ha!!!. Its great to be a sail boat again! Our anchorage, off a beach at Limnionas is only 3.2nm from our last port of call however we took the scenic route and arrive with our water tanks 3/4 full and a load of washing done as well. We settle in for the night and have a visit from the crew of Vivere, an Aussie catamaran who have been cruising for 3 years already. Of course the first question we get asked is “How did you get out?”

​With a forecast of 15-18kts from the north we decided to head west to Ikara – remember the story of the boy who made wings using wax and flew too close to the sun? Will this is allegedly where he landed. More likely the Meltemi blew him out of the sky! Anyway we had a tip off on filling our gas bottle here so we gave it a try – the tip turned out to be a bum steer but anyway we had a great reach with 1 reef in the main (must put that 2nd one in...) seeing gusts of up to 32kts coming past the top of Fourni island! We got the last spot in the "new" "marina", no management, no electricity or water and no charge – there are any number of these in Greece – we assume they are built (or started) with EU money but then it runs out and they are never finished, commissioned or managed. It’s very hot again today, we drag ourselves around the small village until our wings are well and truly melted. The only way to cool down is to take a paddle board out of the marina, tacking into the wind, to a small cave for a dip to cool down. There are some suspicious warm spots in the bay although there is no one else around – turns out there are some hot upwellings/springs around the island...
 
It was much debated over a game of Rummikub in the evening as to whether to believe the forecast of 9-11kts from the north. This is August in Greece after all and we have seen some “forecasting discrepancies”. In the end we agreed to wake early, head out and give ourselves 2 hours to evaluate and head back to Samos if it was shite. Turned out the forecast was spot on and we were able to "2 Volvo reach" the 42nm across to the southern end of Chios island. Along the way we make some more adjustments to the main and top off the water tanks. We are anchored off the popular Komi Beach, the anchor is dug in well and the water is lovely.

Below: Scenes from Chios

​Getting gassed
It’s a chilly 28oC for our departure to Chios Town today, but we are not complaining! Motoring north we notice a NATO warship on our charplotter. Apparently it's "Sleeping" although doing 14kts! No doubt patrolling the maritime border between Turkey and Greece as we are pretty close here. We continue a couple of miles north past the main port town of Chios and find “Chios Marina”- another incomplete project – and take a spot alongside on the eastern mole. There are a few other yachts here and a giant barge that looks like it has been there for a few years. That is the problem with these unmanaged marinas, they get filled up with marine “detritus” and eventually there is no space for freeloaders like us. We have made contact with the all-important “gas man” and wasting no time on completing this mission, Keith drops the RIB in the water and takes our empty cylinder around to Chios town and drops it off. We can pick it up tomorrow morning and then head off. We spend the afternoon on board doing some more work between dips to cool down – the marina water is surprisingly very clean. We walk into Chios town for a bit of exercise, catch up with the nightlife and get a bite to eat. It’s a bustling place with plenty of tourists coming and going. A huge BlueStar ferry comes charging into port at a great rate of knots and heading directly towards where we are sitting having a drink. Just as we start to fear for our lives (and remember that cruise ship in Venice) he flips his stern towards the northern end of the bay and holds this huge vessel in place on its motors (no anchor) as trucks, cars and people race on and off. An incredible sight and amazing seamanship.

Oinoussa:

Loving Lesvos and Lemnos
We have gas! Although there are no doubt Byzantine monasteries and amazing Mastic Museums here in Chios, we are going to forego these pleasures, pick up our gas bottle and head north while the weather allows it. It’s just a short hop north to the tiny island of Oinoussa. We are greeted by a mermaid at the entrance to the port and find a small bay to the east of the town to anchor. We have it to ourselves. We take the RIB for a tour around past the tiny town and smaller islands close to the entrance, and a closer look at the mermaid. It's lovely not to have the strong north winds blowing our brains out and some lower temperatures. After sunset we take the RIB out again to see if the mermaid is lit up, which she is. A beautiful sight and a lovely calm evening.

From Sigri and we have a great 2 sail reach most of the way across to Lemnos. Some very shy dolphins join us along the way. We checked out the bay of Moudros, which was used to prepare for the Gallipoli landings, and the town port at Moudros, but after a wander around this sad little place we decided to anchor off a small beach resort called Chill in the bay of Asprokavos. Fortunately the music was not too loud! 
 
Myrina, the main town of Lemnos, is a a charming town. A wide and sheltered bay with a small town quay (full) so we anchored in the bay. The town is dominated by a large rock formation and overlooked by Myrina Castle on one side, and a traditional blue and white church on the other side. We pick up our hire car and tour the island. The cave church was the highlight. The walk up to it was hot and dusty but the scenery is spectacular, with some amazing rock formations and caves. The church itself is quite tiny and the cave forms its roof. We head through a couple of traditional Greek villages, even though the streets are so narrow there are still cafes with tables and chairs lining them and the patrons’ don’t bother to pull their feet in. We enjoyed a coffee in one tiny town (Portianou) which was popular with Allied troops stationed here ahead of the Gallipoli campaign, then a lovely lunch by the water on Moudros Bay. We continue our drive through the spectacular countryside, sadly the archaeological sites on the island are closed on Tuesdays - timing is everything - but we drop in to the war cemetery at Moudros. It was to the hospital at Moudros that many of those who fought at Gallipoli, were evacuated, including Australian and NZ soldiers, and they are now at rest here. We finish the day with a walk up to the church on the hill overlooking the harbour and a quiet night aboard. Moving on again tomorrow.

​We have done this before so we know how it works right? Righto! We had a checklist for everything we did to pack up the boat so all we need to do is go through that again and do it in reverse! Righto!! We find the crumpled and faded print out of the list and get to work. On top of the “standard” preparations we had 20 months to think about improvements and adjustments we wanted to make, so we have yet another list to work to. We need to prioritise the stuff that can only be done out of the water and in particular make sure the workshop guys get their schedule in place. They are incredibly busy after so many boats missed last season and now its July, peak holiday season so everyone wants everything now! We are no exception. Add a few “emergencies” to that, delays due to the Meltemi and frustratingly a week passes before we even get a visit from the chief engineer. Finally we get a schedule and everyone seems to turn up on the same day at the same time – not complaining though.

​Time and the weather has removed most of the plastic coverings from the few blocks and deck fittings we left on the boat, so that is one less thing to undo. Even the gaffer tape over the ends of the jammers and gaps in the cross beam has gone. Fortunately the covers over the skin fittings on the hull had stayed in place as there was evidence of wasps nesting nearby and also under the solar panels. We struggle to remember where we stored certain items and even what things look like. We had to consult some old photos to see what colour the mainsheet was - and how it was rigged – we finally found it in a cockpit lazarette!

The boom was resting on a dead fender (the topping lift was moused) and there is a thick layer of mud underneath it. The run off and pooling of dirty water over such a long period, as well as the baked on bird crap, had left stains on the deck which only a deadly chemical could remove. And the rust on the stainless, and sadly pitting in some areas, was horrendous. We cleaned it so many times but still one month later there is still rust stains appearing around the base of the SS fittings days after cleaning it off. We lost track of the number of times we washed, scrubbed, gernied, rinsed etc at one point we gave up as the boatyard is so dusty and with the wind, and their water is so salty, the boat is just as dirty again the next day. But slowly it comes together.
 

​Our days develop a kind of rhythm, but with the heat and the jet lag we need to take it easier than we might like to. We wake each morning to the sound of goat bells. Our boat backs on to a fence and there is a stony field between us and the runway to “Leros International Airport”. The goats (and the odd donkey) wander past several times a day. We take to lobbing our food scraps over the fence for them and they certainly don’t last long! No idea what they eat the rest of the time as its slim pickings between the stones. We try to get a fair bit done in the morning and take a break in the middle of the day. We have a hire car so we can drive to a nearby bay for a swim, head to the shops or into the CBD of Lakki to visit Poppi’s café on the harbour front. We treat ourselves to a couple of Friday night dinners at local restaurants which are outdoor dining (beats falling asleep on the couch watching Vera). Masks are mandatory indoors of course and for hospitality staff, who seem adept at wearing theirs under their nose or over their chins.

​We seem to have to visit the hardware shop or chandlery every second day of course as we find more items we didn’t know we needed. They guy in the hardware store in Lakki gets to know us by sight and is very helpful, scooting around the store on his Segway to find things for us.
 
The Meltemi honks in most days, occasionally giving us a day or two’s break, but it’s getting inside our brains and really doing our heads in. It doesn’t bring any cooling relief from the heat and it’s just annoying! We can’t run the aircon either as it relies on sea-water cooling. The boatyard dogs also start to annoy us as well. They bark at everything and nothing and chase the car as you come and go. A couple of days we had donkeys come and wander through the boat yard and under ITIKI which was novel. They managed to find something edible in the barren wasteland of the boatyard, some kind of nettle thing I think, but fortunately they left the herb garden alone. Basically we are longing to be out on the water.

Up the mast (without a halyard)
One thing that is not permitted at the boatyard is to go up the mast on a halyard. I guess this policy is more aimed at mono-hulls who could easily topple over sideways off their frames with extra weight and movement up top. Not such a concern for a cat, however this blanket rule avoids any liability issues and arguments. We have quite a list of jobs which means lining up a cherry picker and sending the engineer up. Finally there is a Meltemi-less window on Monday and the fun begins. Firstly we had him put in a new tri-light to replace the existing anchor light. This gives us navigation lights at the top of the mast, as well as a new and much brighter anchor light. When we are sailing at night with the gennaker it covers either the port or starboard light depending on which tack we are on, as the navigation lights are mounted on the seagull striker. Next is a new masthead halyard. This gives us the option to more readily change between gennaker and kite without dropping the gennaker. It also gives us another halyard to go up the mast on, rather than the main or the topping lift. Then the fitting of a folding mast step at the top which will give Keith something step onto when he is up there in the bosuns chair. Much easier to see what is going on right at the top. Finally our main halyard, which was moused, is so twisted that we can’t pull it down. This also happened in Hammamet. We will be replacing this with 10mm Dynalite which is less subject to twisting and should run more smoothly. So we really need to retrieve the old one and use it to mouse in the new halyard. Finally the main track gets a hose out to try to remove 20 months’ worth of Grecian dust (or “earth leakage” as I heard one sailor call it!) George (the engineer) took lots of photos for us which was great!

​We watch each day as boats come in and go out. One boat (The Cape) did both in one day, having got into the water and discovered their sea cocks were seized up! Their yacht was unceremoniously plonked in front of ITIKI for a couple of days so we invited them over for a drink. Turns out they had also just bought a stunning house on Leros and were patiently waiting on a container from Holland containing all the furniture they would ever need and more!

​Finally got started on the antifouling with 2 coats plus an extra layer at the water line. Keith did the leg and the props  himself. Our port prop was replaced under warranty whilst we were away so it is pristine. We have the engineers fit additional fuel filters to each engine and the genset because although the fuel quality has been pretty good in the Med, we have concerns about the Caribbean and the Pacific.

​Next it was testing the batteries. Sad news here. Although they had remained fully charged by the solar, with no load or discharge over such a long period their condition had deteriorated. One of our 5 service batteries was completely dead so we pulled it out of the bank (down to 600Ah). Another 3 will need replacing and only one really just passed muster. So it looks like we will have to consider a Lithium upgrade sooner rather than later! The starboard starter and Genset battery are all good but the Port starter will also need replacing, most likely with the healthiest service battery. We are fairly confident the batteries will get us to Gibraltar, where we had some electrical work scheduled anyway (we planned to upgrade the inverter from 2000 to 3000W) so its time to consult the “experts”, start designing our full conversion and checking the bank balance!

We get the headsails back on deck, rigged and furled. The main and lazy bag comes back from the sailmaker and we re-batten it and get it ready to hoist. Keith finishes the varnishing and oiling of the teak and I even make a start on the interior curtains.
 
Our dingy, which was damaged in the process of having the chaps repaired, is taken away for more repairs. Sadly this is not the end of the story though as it now has a slow leak instead of a fast one.

​We lower our beloved stainless steel Ultra anchor, which has been collecting water and dirt, and remove a few rusty chain links. I try to give it a bit of a clean but what it really needs is to dig itself into some nice sand to return to its former, shiny glory.
 
We have been counting down the days to our scheduled launch date but quietly pushing for an earlier date. Unfortunately this means paying a full month of the Greek cruising tax for 4 days in the water, but we are so desperate to get out of the boatyard and we finally launch on the 29th of July. We are back!