Days 420 to 426: 7th to 13th August 2018 - Goodbye Greece, Hello Again Italy.

Tuesday 7th  August

It was lovely to hang around End Bay again. A little more busy than in May but it didn't bother us. A beautiful safe bay, with a beach and lovely swimming is always going to attract visitors but once tied up to the rocks with long lines we were happy to watch the world go by, taking a dip in the water multiple times a day to cool down.

Having topped up with water at Lefkas we did a mammoth session of washing and cleaning as well as catching up with school and spending time with they guys on AraKai. However, as always on this trip, we were reminded that friendships are transient as Louise and Lachin told us that it was time for them to move on. We had a lovely last evening together and then said our goodbyes.

Wednesday 8th August

We had heard from our friends on Wildest Dreams that they were in  Gouvia and heading towards us at some point today however as they only had no mobile data we didn't know when they would arrive. Having just said goodbye to one family, AJ and Esmé were endlessly asking me when they would get here, however we did still manage to do school, swim and paddleboard before they finally arrived early evening. We spotted them mooring outside the bay so headed over to say hello and tell them there was space next to us. A little later they were all moored up nearby and the kids could swim between the two boats. It was great to catch up and we looked forward to travelling together as they also are heading East very soon.

Thursday 9th August

Another beautiful day at anchor but early evening we heard thunder and had a small squall which caused Wildest Dreams' anchor to drag. Luckily they have a bow thruster which held them off Laurin and I liked Raphael's idea to just sit tight using the bow thruster until the squall passed through and then re-set the anchor. However this all went to pot when we smelled burning and eventually found that the bow thruster wiring was overheating, burning a rolled up chart close to it. Luckily the wind dropped quickly and the guys then changed the plan, rowing a kedge anchor out to supplement the original one.

 

Eventually all was good again and we watched a beautiful sunset before having a late dinner and bed.

Friday 10th August

School today was canned in favour of kids tidying their cabin and making it ship shape whilst Patrick and I did the same in the main cabin. We then motored round to Syvota Mourtos where we squeezed into the small harbour. I rushed off to buy groceries while Patrick filled up with water and fuel, as well as packing the dinghy and paddleboard away ready for our long passage to Italy. By the time I was in the Gyros shop picking up lunch, Patrick was on the phone to me telling me to hurry as the guy was desperate for us to leave so he could get another boat in our slot. He came to meet me via the mini market for frozen water bottles, took some of the bags from me and we rushed back to the boat, throwing everything on board before leaving quick smart. Out to the anchorage, gyros for lunch and then a last cool down swim before our passage to Italy.

We were heading to Rocella and had anticipated a little wind in the evening, light airs for Saturday and then a little more wind in the acceleration zones off the foot of Italy overnight before we were due to arrive on Sunday. In reality we had rather choppy seas for most of the journey, and with a little more wind than planned on Friday evening we were questioning whether to continue or not. However by midnight the wind had dropped and we (wrongly) assumed that the seas would flatten out in the next few hours.

Saturday 11th August

Passed in a bit of a blur. I had stayed up until 3am, making Patrick a cup of tea and a sandwich to wake him up as we hadn't eaten tea, having been still full of Gyros from lunch. I struggled to sleep and had only got about 3 hours by the time Patrick woke me to say he was struggling to stay awake. We spent the rest of the day tag teaming, grabbing food as and when we could until finally by about 6pm I felt as if I had caught up on sleep and heated up hot dogs for tea.

We'd pulled the main down as the wind was behind us and it was flogging, but half way through my evening watch the wind picked up and I felt that we could sail, however we were both sleep deprived and I didn't want to wake Patrick to help put up the main. It's a 2 person job on Laurin and regardless the sea state was still so confused I didn't feel the love for either us leaving the cockpit to hoist the main. I decided to pull the headsail out and see how fast we could go under mizzen and headsail and managed just over 2 knots. I decided to live with it for an hour or so to give the engine a rest and to let Patrick have a break from the engine noise, however after half an hour I was finding it increasingly difficult to hand steer in the pitch black moonless night so let Ray, the autopilot have a go, however this wasn't a long term prospect as it was depleting our batteries pretty quickly and we were still only doing 2 knots. Once back home, if we plan on doing longer passages like this again we will consider a different, less power hungry autopilot and more battery capacity to run it overnight. Anyway after an hour or so of Ray helming I decided it was time to turn the engine back on and increase our speed.

Sunday 12th August

I was getting tired much earlier so by about 12:30am I called Patrick to switch with me and fell into bed. (No cup of tea or sandwich tonight although I did manage to excavate the one remaining mars bar from the fridge). I fell asleep much quicker than last night but woke after an hour, drifting back off again before Patrick woke me at 2:30, struggling to keep his eyes open. By this time we had AIS targets on the plotter so I was pleased he had woken me to get fresh eyes. I waited eagerly for my phone to pick up an Italian signal but it was not to be on this watch. Monitoring the AIS targets kept me occupied anyway and after a couple of hours I could see that we were through the busiest of the traffic although I was now concerned we may see fishing boats with no AIS or even worse, lobster pots so I decided to wake Patrick as my eyes were beginning to droop. This time I got a little more sleep as the waves began to subside as we approached the Italian coast, with Patrick finally waking me for the last hour towards Rocella.

On entering the harbour we were pleased to see Wildest Dreams tied up and very soon we were also all tied up on the first finger pontoon for months and months. I felt like after breakfast I could sleep all day but unfortunately I couldn't manage to drop off in the heat. We lazed around all day, taking it easy, noticing there was a Jazz festival at the marina that night, and booking into the restaurant for pizza as I didn't feel like cooking. We spent a pleasant evening eating pizza with Wildest Dreams before heading to their boat to listen to the music, however we were all very tired so very quickly called it a night.

Monday 13th August

As a gentle start to school after severe sleep deprivation we started to make a memory book of our Adventure together. We started pages listing the countries we have visited and the people we have met that have made our journey so special. It was a lovely hour or so spent together as a family, finished off by a session on doodle maths. After an early lunch we wandered up to the wooded area near the marina office and shop where we lazed around all afternoon with the "Wildest Dreams", writing the blog, making friendship bracelets, chilling out on the hammock and learning new games. It was a really lovely way to rest up but also keep out of the stifling heat!

Now back on the boat listening to tonight's Jazz offerings warming up, and waiting for it to cool down before cooking dinner.