Envoy is currently anchored off the northern coast of Corfu Island.
In Crete it's just a short cruise from Spinalongas to the marina at Agios Nikolaos where we're berthing Envoy for a few days to do some inland touring with Sharon, Doug and our daughter, Amy (who has flown in from London for a long weekend).
Here is the furthermost point we'll be from our home base at Lefkas and we take on 1,500 litres of diesel from a tanker that pulls alongside costing 1.10 Euros (about NZ$1.83) per litre. This sounds like a lot of fuel but will enable Envoy to cruise more than 1,200 miles at our average consumption of 6-8 litres per hour.
Fuel tanker refuelling Envoy
We spend a day visiting some inland mountain villages and the Lasithi Plateau – an extremely fertile large green plain surprisingly located 900 metres high in the hills and where all manner of produce is grown. Water for cultivation used to be lifted from bores using windmills, in fact about 7,000 were constructed during the 17th century, some still used today.
The villages are exactly as you might picture them – narrow winding streets, where a car has to pull over to let an oncoming car through, ancient, rustic buildings, mostly in a poor state of repair and some derelict, peeling paint in white and blue, old men with waistcoats and moustaches sitting outside small tavernas looking up with interest as a car passes to ease their boredom, elderly hunched-over women dressed totally in black.
We stop at a taverna for a great lunch of roast wild pork with home-grown potatoes and vegetables followed by the inevitable free dessert of fresh fruit.
Next day we drive to Mochlos, a fishing village turned swimming beach surrounded by tavernas but retaining some natural charm, tranquility and character. Mochlos beach has several atmospheric tavernas
Laurie and Amy at Mochlos
Mochlos Beach
Agios Nikolaos itself is a great place to visit and we enjoy strolling through the many lanes, and sitting in waterfront tavernas watching the world go by.
Doug, Sharon, Amy and Laurie enjoy evening drinks in a taverna at Agios Nikolaos
Here we also visit the Port Police to provide a new Crew List, required when different visitors (crew) join the vessel. There used to be a requirement to report to the Port Police in every port or marina you visit (except when anchoring), though this need has been abolished.
There are very few areas to anchor on Crete’s north coast offering good shelter, because the “Meltemi” wind is consistently from the NW or N generating a one to two metre swell. The coast is roughly 140 miles from east to west, but there are only about six harbours or marinas and five good most weather anchorages along its entire length. There are many more very small, shallow sheltered bays suitable for use by small shallow draught boats , but not for visiting cruising boats.
A BBQ by candlelight in Envoy's cockpit
From Agios Nikolaos we cruise for about seven hours to the island of Nisos Dhia, correctly described as “bleak” in the Cruising Guide, though two south-facing bays offer reasonable shelter from the predominant northerly wind. We have a 20 knot headwind, choppy sea on the bow and easterly current reducing our speed to about 4.8 knots most of the way before sharing our anchorage with just two yachts and a fishing boat.
Anchorage at Nisos Dhia
In Crete it's just a short cruise from Spinalongas to the marina at Agios Nikolaos where we're berthing Envoy for a few days to do some inland touring with Sharon, Doug and our daughter, Amy (who has flown in from London for a long weekend).
Here is the furthermost point we'll be from our home base at Lefkas and we take on 1,500 litres of diesel from a tanker that pulls alongside costing 1.10 Euros (about NZ$1.83) per litre. This sounds like a lot of fuel but will enable Envoy to cruise more than 1,200 miles at our average consumption of 6-8 litres per hour.
Fuel tanker refuelling Envoy
We spend a day visiting some inland mountain villages and the Lasithi Plateau – an extremely fertile large green plain surprisingly located 900 metres high in the hills and where all manner of produce is grown. Water for cultivation used to be lifted from bores using windmills, in fact about 7,000 were constructed during the 17th century, some still used today.
The villages are exactly as you might picture them – narrow winding streets, where a car has to pull over to let an oncoming car through, ancient, rustic buildings, mostly in a poor state of repair and some derelict, peeling paint in white and blue, old men with waistcoats and moustaches sitting outside small tavernas looking up with interest as a car passes to ease their boredom, elderly hunched-over women dressed totally in black.
We stop at a taverna for a great lunch of roast wild pork with home-grown potatoes and vegetables followed by the inevitable free dessert of fresh fruit.
Next day we drive to Mochlos, a fishing village turned swimming beach surrounded by tavernas but retaining some natural charm, tranquility and character. Mochlos beach has several atmospheric tavernas
Laurie and Amy at Mochlos
Mochlos Beach
Agios Nikolaos itself is a great place to visit and we enjoy strolling through the many lanes, and sitting in waterfront tavernas watching the world go by.
Doug, Sharon, Amy and Laurie enjoy evening drinks in a taverna at Agios Nikolaos
Here we also visit the Port Police to provide a new Crew List, required when different visitors (crew) join the vessel. There used to be a requirement to report to the Port Police in every port or marina you visit (except when anchoring), though this need has been abolished.
There are very few areas to anchor on Crete’s north coast offering good shelter, because the “Meltemi” wind is consistently from the NW or N generating a one to two metre swell. The coast is roughly 140 miles from east to west, but there are only about six harbours or marinas and five good most weather anchorages along its entire length. There are many more very small, shallow sheltered bays suitable for use by small shallow draught boats , but not for visiting cruising boats.
A BBQ by candlelight in Envoy's cockpit
From Agios Nikolaos we cruise for about seven hours to the island of Nisos Dhia, correctly described as “bleak” in the Cruising Guide, though two south-facing bays offer reasonable shelter from the predominant northerly wind. We have a 20 knot headwind, choppy sea on the bow and easterly current reducing our speed to about 4.8 knots most of the way before sharing our anchorage with just two yachts and a fishing boat.
Anchorage at Nisos Dhia
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