After our very early morning visit from Coastguard at anchor, we weren’t long back in bed before needing to get up to make an 0500 hours departure for a 12 hour cruise to Gallipoli (yes the Italians have one too), on the north-east side of the Gulfo di Taranto. We enjoy these early departures, drinking copious cups of tea while watching the sky gradually lighten and the sun rise, and when you’re cruising at under 6 knots it makes a big difference to cover 20 miles or so before breakfast.
By 1300 hours the wind had increased to over 20 knots and beam seas had built up to about two metres with breaking tops, the inevitable larger wave's power causing Envoy to shudder as her stabilisers fought to keep her on an even keel. Sharon became seasick, but there was nothing we could do except grind on for another three hours until we reached the shelter of Gallipoli. As generally happens with sea sickness Sharon was fine again within about half an hour as we joked that it wasn’t the greatest way to spend her 70th birthday!
Interestingly along this whole stretch of coast we only spotted a handful of boats in five days – mostly local fishermen.
Gallipoli is a stunning medieval fortified town, much like Syracuse, with a well-preserved Byzantine castle last used to drive off a British fleet in 1809. The old town and its castle are built on what was once an island, but now connected with a causeway. It’s much more interesting than nearby Santa Maria di Leuca although more expensive at 90 Euros (NZ$141 per night). Here we “cleared-out” of Italy in preparation for arriving back in Greece.
Gallipoli street scene
Overview of Gallipoli old town (a photo of a picture)
We had one more long cruise of about 13 hours ahead of us to reach Othoni Island off Corfu’s north-west coast, so made an 0600 departure. Soon our towed fishing lure scored several strikes and we landed a small tuna which later made excellent sushimi after cutting off its tail to bleed it.
Doug and Laurie landing small tuna. In New Zealand I'd be embarrassed with a picture like this, but this is the first fish kept in two years and hundreds of miles of trolling
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We also caught several other bright-coloured fish of edible size, but not knowing their species didn’t risk eating them.
By early afternoon the wind picked up to 15 knots on our starboard bow kicking up a 1.5 metre short chop. As if a still-healing broken kneecap wasn't enough poor Sharon became seasick again for a few hours until we reached the shelter of Othoni Island to be greeted by a pod of dolphins leaping about. The main bay on Othoni’s north side is very isolated but offers superb shelter from all southerly winds, and we anchored hoping for a restful night after our long day – but it was not to be.
About 1900 we noticed a display of lightning in the distance, and this seemed to gradually increase in intensity and move towards us. After dark the sheet lightning lit up the whole sky like daylight, while the bolts of forked lightning looked like giant flaming spears thrust into the sea, leaving us imagining the consequences of being hit by one of them. About an hour after we went to bed the wind turned north and a medium chop quickly set in, causing quite a bit of pitching. Diane and I knew from experience this was the storm front approaching and immediately got up to investigate. The wind had suddenly increased to nearly 20 knots and the chop was already nearly a metre. Then torrential rain hit is and the thunder and lightning increased in intensity as the front passed over. The real problem in these Med storms is that the wind can increase to over 50 knots very quickly, and there was no alternate anchorage nearby. But the wind stayed around 20 knots for just a few minutes and then just as suddenly dropped completely, and soon the sea was calm again. "Panic" over - the storm front had passed and all was well.
Next day we went ashore at nearby Erikoussa Island and the effects of the storm were quite visible with lost electrical power and damage caused by flash floods.
TECHNICAL – Nothing to report. I do enjoy typing these words!
ENVOY LOG – as at 14/9/14 we’d spent 159 days aboard and cruised 1,692 miles for 300 engine hours.
By 1300 hours the wind had increased to over 20 knots and beam seas had built up to about two metres with breaking tops, the inevitable larger wave's power causing Envoy to shudder as her stabilisers fought to keep her on an even keel. Sharon became seasick, but there was nothing we could do except grind on for another three hours until we reached the shelter of Gallipoli. As generally happens with sea sickness Sharon was fine again within about half an hour as we joked that it wasn’t the greatest way to spend her 70th birthday!
Interestingly along this whole stretch of coast we only spotted a handful of boats in five days – mostly local fishermen.
Gallipoli is a stunning medieval fortified town, much like Syracuse, with a well-preserved Byzantine castle last used to drive off a British fleet in 1809. The old town and its castle are built on what was once an island, but now connected with a causeway. It’s much more interesting than nearby Santa Maria di Leuca although more expensive at 90 Euros (NZ$141 per night). Here we “cleared-out” of Italy in preparation for arriving back in Greece.
Gallipoli street scene
Overview of Gallipoli old town (a photo of a picture)
We had one more long cruise of about 13 hours ahead of us to reach Othoni Island off Corfu’s north-west coast, so made an 0600 departure. Soon our towed fishing lure scored several strikes and we landed a small tuna which later made excellent sushimi after cutting off its tail to bleed it.
Doug and Laurie landing small tuna. In New Zealand I'd be embarrassed with a picture like this, but this is the first fish kept in two years and hundreds of miles of trolling
We also caught several other bright-coloured fish of edible size, but not knowing their species didn’t risk eating them.
By early afternoon the wind picked up to 15 knots on our starboard bow kicking up a 1.5 metre short chop. As if a still-healing broken kneecap wasn't enough poor Sharon became seasick again for a few hours until we reached the shelter of Othoni Island to be greeted by a pod of dolphins leaping about. The main bay on Othoni’s north side is very isolated but offers superb shelter from all southerly winds, and we anchored hoping for a restful night after our long day – but it was not to be.
About 1900 we noticed a display of lightning in the distance, and this seemed to gradually increase in intensity and move towards us. After dark the sheet lightning lit up the whole sky like daylight, while the bolts of forked lightning looked like giant flaming spears thrust into the sea, leaving us imagining the consequences of being hit by one of them. About an hour after we went to bed the wind turned north and a medium chop quickly set in, causing quite a bit of pitching. Diane and I knew from experience this was the storm front approaching and immediately got up to investigate. The wind had suddenly increased to nearly 20 knots and the chop was already nearly a metre. Then torrential rain hit is and the thunder and lightning increased in intensity as the front passed over. The real problem in these Med storms is that the wind can increase to over 50 knots very quickly, and there was no alternate anchorage nearby. But the wind stayed around 20 knots for just a few minutes and then just as suddenly dropped completely, and soon the sea was calm again. "Panic" over - the storm front had passed and all was well.
Next day we went ashore at nearby Erikoussa Island and the effects of the storm were quite visible with lost electrical power and damage caused by flash floods.
TECHNICAL – Nothing to report. I do enjoy typing these words!
ENVOY LOG – as at 14/9/14 we’d spent 159 days aboard and cruised 1,692 miles for 300 engine hours.
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