Envoy nearly at western end of Crete

It was so great at Ormos Milati that we stayed there for seven nights - I think this is the longest we’ve ever left the anchor down anywhere. We always wanted to arrive at some nice place, and stay there without feeling we had to rack up the miles and move on; well Ormos Milati was just one of those places. We anchored in eight metres and could see the anchor. It was very sheltered, although we mostly had a wind of 15-25 knots that kicked up a bit of chop, so we kept the flopper stoppers on. Actually the breeze is good, as it keeps us a bit cool in the 30-34d temp. We’ve had no rain at all since leaving Marmaris on 1 June, but the wind is always with us. Incredibly there were no other boats anchored there the whole time we were there, in fact that’s been the case pretty much everywhere, and surprising considering this is now mid-season. Imagine going to Kawau or Waiheke in Dec/Jan, and finding no boats there. Consequently we haven’t met any other cruisers at all. There was water on a jetty, where we filled up on average 60l/day, and tavernas ashore. We spent one night in Soudha bay itself. This is a deep and beautiful harbour, and a NATO base. There were about 13 warships berthed there. In WW2 many allied ships were sunk here by German aircraft. Here also where 446 Kiwis, who were killed during the battle of Crete, are buried – see photo. It was very sad reading the gravestones of the mostly 20-30 year olds, although we did see a Private J A Jamieson, aged 44. We found this significant, as one of late closest family friends – Trevor Jamieson fought very bravely in Crete, was captured and escaped several times. Annette – is J.A.J. any relation to you? It was nice to see the cemetery maintained to a very high standard by the Allied War Graves Commission.
In the last posting I mentioned we would be meeting Kostis. Well we did and he had very interesting stories about the war years, together with cruising information for heading further west. He also insisted on buying the drinks.
We anchored off a village called Kolimvari for a couple of nights. There it was only 4m deep, again very clear with a beautiful sandy bottom. At these villages we always go ashore to have a look around, buy some fresh bread and yoghurt, and sometimes have a drink in a taverna.
As I write this we en route to Kissamos for a couple of nights. The visibility has now improved, and we can see about 25NM.
We’re going to spend until next Monday cruising around this area, then go into Chania marina. Chania is supposedly the most beautiful town in Crete, and we’re going to have a good look around, and rent a car to see more of Crete’s interior. There we meet Doug and Mary Gooch on 9/8, who are staying with us for a couple of weeks until we drop them at Santorini, about 75NM to the NE. As we can only remain in Greek waters for 90 days, at that point we’ll be heading east towards the Turkish coast again.
Log
Days aboard Envoy this trip: 114
Engine hours and distance this trip: 106hrs, 520NM
Technical: We’ve now done about 40 hours on the repaired gearbox and all’s fine. Envoy’s prop shaft has a traditional stuffing box to prevent sea water entering the boat through the shaft. You are supposed to have a little water coming in – about 1 drop per 10 seconds – to keep the shaft lubricated. In the stuffing box are seals impregnated with Teflon to keep the water out. I’ve been finding the Teflon is exuding out of the seal down the shaft, and it’s difficult to get the pressure in the stuffing box adjusted correctly to regulate the drip. Panagiotis suggested replacing the Teflon with silicone impregnated seals, and I think I’ll do that in Chania.
Our smaller RIB has developed an air leak, and deflates within a day, so we’ll try to get that repaired in Chania too.