Phantomas

Setting off in the morning felt a bit like heading into a potential battle. From our anchorage we could just make out Athens in the distance but before getting close enough to see we had to manoeuvre through the car park of cargo ships anchored off the coast as well as keep an eagle eye out for the numerous ferries heading to and from Pireaus Port. 

As Athens came into view the apartment buildings appeared like barnacles on a rock. All you could see was the city of solar panels, TV antennas and satellite dishes on the rooftop of each and every building. 

We were heading for the D Marin – Zea marina which is a circular marina right on the coast and surrounded by the city. It felt like a small piece of peace and quiet in the midst of the busyness surrounding us. Never mind that we felt like we had paid for a night in a 5-star hotel only to find ourselves sleeping in the staff quarters. In other words, it was a bit on the pricey side, but a necessary expense and it certainly made life easier for the jobs that we needed to complete before our visitors arrived. 

The washing machine has been playing games and we were trying to source a part for that as well as buy some essential equipment for the boat. One kayak and one Stand Up Paddle board. We set off to walk to the shop selling the kayak and SUP and soon discovered that some parts of Athens are built on hills, very steep hills! It was a good way to see the everyday routines of regular Greek people. 

We got the chance the next day to get to the Acropolis in the morning. That was another surprise to me to realise that the city is built around the Acropolis, so it wasn’t far to go. What shouldn’t have been a surprise was the huge number of tourists and the crowded walk climbing up to the top. It certainly was impressive to see the ruins and to read about the huge amount of restoration work already completed. 

Back at the marina we met up with Campbell & Annette on Phantomas and showed them around the boat where they would be staying for the new few weeks. For those that don’t know C & A they are from Esperance and are essentially good friends of my sister Sharon & Paddy her husband. The initial plan was for the four of them to be on the boat together, but a small unborn grandbaby put a stop to that. So, after five days on the boat together I can now say they are good friends of ours as well. 

My girlfriend Deb was the last to arrive that day and not to be outdone, had a story to her arrival at the marina. Deb had been holidaying in Italy with her Mum for a few weeks and had just spent a week lolling about on the Amalfi coast before catching a flight to Athens. As with all her previous flights in Europe, there was a delay in take-off, but the problem was on arrival. The simple task of catching the bus from the airport to the Port of Pireaus went pear shaped when not 15min into the trip the bus stopped, and the 40 odd passengers were told the bus had broken down. From the side of the road, they then watched the “broken-down bus” drive off and leave them with no explanation or plan for rescue. Being the competent woman that she is Deb hailed a taxi, shared it with two other travellers and eventually was rolling her bag along the jetty to the back of the boat. The remaining time of the afternoon was spent provisioning for the trip ahead before a crew dinner at one of the marina restaurants.

This is your Captain speaking. After spending a great afternoon and night tied alongside the town quay of Isidoros we started fairly early, that is for a couple of casual part time travellers, to head out to do the thirty odd nautical miles to the west entrance of the Corinth canal planning to anchor near there to go through the canal the next morning. We had a good sail for a lot of the way and had both sails up in 15 knot winds. 

As we got closer to the town of Loutaki which is near the canal entrance we started looking for a suitable anchorage, it was around 4 o’clock in the afternoon so we had a bit of time to find an anchorage to shelter from the building winds. 

We had the sails put away and were motoring past places with too deep anchor depths and not much protection from the winds. We finally resolved to anchoring on a lee shore, that is winds blowing us towards the beach at a place right next to the canal, but the water depth was good, about 6 meters deep and sand bottom. We put out a comfortable 60 meters of chain and prepared to spend a bouncy night with winds gusting to 20 knots and anchor alarm on. 

The beach we were looking at was unassuming and not too pretty with stony looking shoreline, grey sand and small cliff face behind it so didn’t have too many beach goers on it. 

Well…… upon closer inspection with the “only used for navigational aid” binoculars we discovered the beach had a different type of ”goers” on it. 

Blokes, naked blokes. Only a few but sitting in pairs or by themselves. I thought, OK, it’s a nudist beach and the girls will show up eventually………... So, binoculars in hand I waited, then I noticed a couple of these beach bums had something in hand too and it wasn’t a fishing rod. 

Then it got worse. Going ’down’ to the beach has a whole new meaning. Those blokes were waiting their turn to go up the canal. 

Righto……. Not being part of the new age woke brigade I’ll call it what it is, a poof’s beach. They go there to sit on the hard rocks, I said rocks with an “r” to get ahead and get a job that’s probably what they told their wives anyway. A restless sleep that night, a rocking boat and concerned that if the anchor slipped, we would be on the beach and at the mercy of a gay salvage team, I don’t want these blokes helping with my mast and tackle. 

The next morning, we woke tired and emotionally scarred to wait our turn to go ‘up’ the canal. The Corinth canal’ means something else to us now. Anyway, we lined up with only two other boats and got the radio call to let us through at about ten thirty that morning. Being only 25 meters wide at its narrowest point there is only one way at a time and only 6 meters deep the size boats going through is limited but surprisingly some quite large cargo ships do go through. It felt quite narrow for our Catamaran so had to concentrate on keeping it centred.  The trip is pretty awesome with the bridges overhead and steep chasm like sides, it’s only 3 miles long and takes 40 odd minutes to traverse. There are constant earthworks along the sides as they have landslides blocking the canal off at times. 

We had to pull up at the dock at the eastern end to go and pay for the transit. At 310 euros apparently it is the most expensive canal fee per distance in the world. But what the heck, we will probably only do it once for the experience, it was memorable for more reasons than one! 

Maybe the Khyber Pass next time!

After leaving Meganisi we decided in order to make it to Athens to meet up with our first visitors we needed to start heading towards the Gulf of Patras.  Leaving Meganisi along the western side of the island we travelled between Meganisi and Lefkas which was a very scenic route before we turned east along the southern coast to find tall cliffs with small caves and inlets.  We had our sights on a small island called Kastos where we found a protected anchorage for the night. 

The next morning, we spent most of the day motoring towards the entrance of the Gulf of Patras where we decided to stop at Missalonghi, set on surrounding lowlands, we entered a channel that passed by communities of fishermen who built their homes on stilts that sat just above the water.  A lot of these traditional homes have since been replaced by more modern homes that are used for holiday rentals. 

We anchored in a large bay for the night and Tony’s impressions of what we could see of the town from the boat were not that complementary to Missalonghi or the comparison town of Kwinana.  During the night we heard tires squealing and loud music and dogs barking.  The next morning, we walked into town and the impressions weren’t improving that quickly but when we came to the centre of the town it was surprising.  Missalonghi is also the final resting place for the Poet Lord Byron who was fighting in the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in the early 1800’s.  But enough history, there was also lots of turtles in the water where we were anchored but only Tony managed to spot one, but you could hear them splash but they disappeared before you could see them. 

We began heading up towards the Rio-Antirrio bridge which is the world’s longest multi-span cable – stayed bridge and is impressive!  Just after the bridge we pulled into Navpaktos and anchored with other boats in the bay.  The town is set on the hill amongst the ruins of a Venitian castle and looked very interesting.  We got the dinghy down and headed towards our neighbour’s cat as we had seen what we thought was an Aussie flag.  We met Andrew & Megan who were in fact Kiwis (who live in Australia) travelling with their four kids.  They had only been on their boat for 31/2 weeks, so we had a chat about our similar situations and wished them well as they were heading off that night towards the Corinth Canal. 

The walk around Navpaktos didn’t disappoint and although we didn’t climb up to the castle ruins the town still had its charms.  It looked like a place we could have spent more time in.  This sometimes becomes a problem when you have made plans while you are sailing.  We didn’t have the time to stay longer in Navpaktos because we were heading to our booking to transit the Corinth Canal, so we were leaving the next morning with some regrets. 

The regret didn’t last long after we arrived at the next anchorage further up the Gulf of Corinth in a very small community called Agios Isidoros.  Navily, an app we use to find safe anchorages, had mentioned there was a harbour wall that we could tie off to for 10 Euros which is super cheap.  It was a great small spot and using the free water on the harbour wall we gave the boat a good scrub from top to tail.  There was absolutely no wind that night, so the bay looked like a millpond and we slept like babies, which was a good thing because the next night………………..!

After leaving Petritis, Corfu we motored, yes there’s still no wind, towards the next island Paxos. Reading in the guide Navily, one of the first bays on the northern end of the island looked like the place to be. “Do not miss this bay”, was the basic comment in the reviews from Navily so we heeded their advice and headed towards Lakka Bay. 

Now we don’t consider ourselves slow learners, but perhaps in the subject of Greek anchorages we are. “Do not miss this bay” is really code for crowded and hard to find a spot! But where there is a will there’s a way and we cornered ourselves a bit of stunningly clear and turquoise coloured water on the outskirts of the bay to call our own for the day. 

The weather is getting warmer, and the sea temperatures are slowly getting warmer but it’s still not warm enough to loll about in the water for too long, but it was not an option to not swim in that gorgeous water. Later in the afternoon we jumped in the tender and went to find the town and we realised how big the bay was and that we really were on the outskirts. We ended up walking up and up the island roads and got a great view of the bay before heading back to the water’s edge and having a refreshing ale before getting on the boat to then watch 3 rather large power boats edge in and try and get their patch of turquoise water too. 

As we headed away the next morning, motoring again we had our sights set on Prevesa on the mainland. It was an uneventful motor and as we followed the channel into Prevesa we could see the storm clouds building over the hills and could see a thunderstorm brewing. Prevesa is set on the edge of a large inland waterway, and we had decided to make Vonista our stop for the night. There was an old Venetian castle or fort ruin that we climbed the hill and walked around the next morning after our bakery breakfast. We had stopped on some stairs to sit and have our breakfast which we ended up sharing with some stray cats. Stray cats are everywhere in Greece, and you can often hear them fighting at night. 

After we left Prevesa we started towards the island Lefkada or Lefkas. To get through between the eastern side of the island and the mainland there is a manmade channel that requires some care and thought. The channel has a traffic bridge crossing it and this bridge opens on the hour every hour to allow boat traffic from both sides of the channel. There are lots of instructions in the guidebooks about the process so following the instructions we anchored up on the northern side of the channel and waited for the hour to arrive. There were about 7 boats waiting on the northern side of the channel and everyone was jockeying for their position and as the hour approached the leaders took off. Now sounds straight forward but the timing is everything. Wind and wave play a huge role in what your boat is doing and a channel by description is generally narrow so it was slightly stressful, but the bridge bell sounded, the bridge opened, and the boats started heading through the channel and it was around 4 nautical miles before you reach the end and can branch out to open water. We anchored up for the night and the next night as well just south of Lefkas town. We tried out a taverna just opposite where we anchored and had a delicious meal and then the next day, we just chilled. 

After another stunning morning, just glass off conditions we moved further south to a huge inland bay near Nydri called Tranquil Bay. The water colour was the complete opposite of Lakka Bay. It was green and not a nice green but a winter dirty pool colour green so not hugely inviting. The actual bay was surrounded by quite big hills on one side and was really green and vegetated. It’s surprising how green the islands in the Ionian have been, we’ve been told that is not the case once you reach the eastern side of Greece. 

Tranquil Bay is home to quite a few charter companies so there was a constant stream on charter yachts coming back to their home docks. 

We needed to get fuel before we took off the next morning and at the fuel dock we were helped by an Irish guy. As you do, we got chatting and he then asked, “You’re not heading to Meganisi Island, are you?” Turns out Michael is a skipper on a 25m private boat and works for a UK family. He was just heading back to work and was planning on catching the ferry back to Meganisi. We were neither planning on going to Meganisi or planning on giving him a lift, but we had no solid plans so thought why not! Michael jumped aboard and for the 45 min trip to Meganisi he told us about working as a skipper on the boat, managing the crew, guests etc and all the while I’m thinking of all the “Below Deck” shows I’ve watched but Michael assured me that that isn’t what the boat he worked on was like! We ended up anchoring in a very picturesque bay and had a lovely day and evening in the still waters watching the comings and goings.

Leaving Otranto, we set sail for the northern most point of Greece which is the island of Corfu. It would be a 55nm sail that took us around 10hrs so instead of making it to Corfu town we stopped at one of the islands north of Corfu called Erikoussa and then the next day carried on motoring to the main port of Corfu. 

The weather is slowly getting warmer, so the legs are out as well a few other bits catching some of the sunshine and starting on the tan. We anchored near the port where all the ferry ships and cruise ships anchor. It wasn’t the most scenic of anchorages, but it did the job. Tony took off to start the Customs/Port Police check in dance while I stayed aboard. He wasn’t away long, as being a Saturday, the offices closed early. We then got a visit from the people in the yacht next door, they were sporting an Aussie flag as well as a Zimbabwean flag and after introducing ourselves discovered that they were from Mindarie in Perth. This was also their second-year sailing and their story of how they got into sailing was almost identical to ours down to having sailing lessons with the same guy in Busselton! I’ll say it again, it’s definitely a small world. 

The next morning, we set off to try and check into Greece and after some toing and froing we got sorted and with our bikes, we rode into the centre of the town. We found a small place to have some lunch before looking over some of the sights of the town. 

Later that afternoon, after we were back on the boat, Tony got an unexpected message from a really old friend, Gill. Tony had met Gill and the rest of the Davidson family when he and Gary had been travelling around Europe in 1987. At one point, both Gary and Tony lived with Dan and Maureen and some of their kids, in their home in Tunbridge Wells while they worked to save some money. Like Tony has done with his German friends, he kept in touch over the years so again, 17 years ago was the last time he had spent any time with Gill. Gill was getting in touch to say she and her wife Laura had landed in Corfu that day to visit Laura’s sister who lives on the island. So, before we knew it Laura and Gill were in a taxi heading for the boat. Then in the tender heading towards Phantomas. 

It was a fantastic reunion and meeting for the two old friends, and it was lovely for us to meet Laura who is delightful. We had a drink on the boat and a catch up on old times and even a phone call to poor, unsuspecting Mike Wrenn in Perth which ended up being in the early hours of the morning Perth time! Sorry, but not sorry Mike!! 

We got off the boat to go out for dinner where the conversations continued. We left that night with the possibility of catching up the next day and the slight chance of seeing Gill and Laura as we motored down the coast. The hotel they were staying at was just south of the airport and after concentrating on watching the continual flow of planes coming into land over the top of us, Tony spotted two swimmers waving at us. And it was Gill and Laura. They swam out to the boat for another catch up before we continued motoring down the coast. 

We were heading to Petritis for the nights stop and were soon surrounded by other yachts and catamarans in the bay. We had a BBQ on board before heading to shore for a walk around the small town.

We set off early from Brindisi, heading towards Otranto. Otranto was our last port in Italy last year as we kicked off for Montenegro. We had really enjoyed our three days there last year so after the warm welcome we didn't receive from Brindisi we were keen to head off. 

The sailing was reasonably good for most of the way despite watching out for the fishermen who were setting nets in the most inconvenient places, well for us they were! I got some washing done on the passage and Tony also got some jobs done while I sat at the helm most of the day keeping an eye out for those fishing nets. On our approach to Otranto a large speedboat was leaving the harbour and before we realized who they were the boat had made a turn towards us. It was a Guardia di Finanza vessel which is a part of the Italian government that is essentially responsible for dealing with financial crime and smuggling. 

They pulled up next to us and requested to see all our documents. They held out a fishing net from their boat for us to put our documents in the net for them to view. A few moments later they reappeared back on deck and handed our documents back to us and sent us on our way. We were wondering if FF had anything to do with this check? We do know that the threat of people smuggling and illegal immigrants is very real in Europe and most countries are pretty vigilant with their checks.

 We pulled in to the harbour at Otranto and anchored up in the clear water. We took the dinghy into the town for a walk around the old town and reacquainted ourselves with Otranto. It was still early in the season so the place wasn't as busy as the last time we were here. The next morning we went for a walk along the coast to stretch out our legs. We came across other travelers doing the same thing and came across some more Australians. Then later in the afternoon some people swimming by our boat called out and asked "Are you from Australia?" they were on a cycling trip around southern Italy. 

The weather has just started to warm up so Tony has been doing a bit of swimming while I'm not quite so keen yet. Maybe I'm saving myself for the warmer waters of Greece and for the extra kgs to magically drop off me. Think I'll have to give up on that notion and just jump in! 

 After a great last day in Montenegro spent at Kotor we headed towards Portonovi to complete the checking out process and set the heading for Brindisi, Italy. It would be around a 20 hour crossing depending on the winds and as we started around 10-11 in the morning we would be travelling in the dark at some point. 

The passage was fairly uneventful, we motor sailed with both the main and head sail up for some time. The wind was on the beam and a respectable 10 knots as sunset came around so before dark we decided to lower the main. 

We were visited by a small pod of dolphins as the sun went down and it never gets old watching dolphins. At times they turn on their sides and seem to be looking up at you as they swim along without any apparent effort at all. The wind continued on the beam and as the night wore on it was gusting up to 20 knots so we had reefed the head sail and were still travelling along really well. The waves had started to build so it was slightly uncomfortable and cold sitting outside on watch while the other one put their head down. It's a weird feeling sailing on in the dark, keeping your eyes on the screen an horizon on the lookout for lights. 

We got into Brindisi around 8am after a sensational sunrise. There is quite an impressive entrance to the harbour with old fort ruins and then a narrow entrance to the town harbour and town dock that we tied up to. We were impressed, despite the rain however, when Tony returned from checking in he was not happy. We had been refused entry into Italy!! Tony went on to explain that the first official he spoke to went straight to our insurance papers and to the section showing the regions we are covered to sail in. The official (lets call him FF for now) said to Tony "it doesn't show The Italian Sea" you have to show the Italian Sea otherwise you are refused entry. So being a Sunday and with no way to contact our Insurance people in Australia, Tony returned to the boat. 

Now, I know I'm no geography scholar but I know enough to be able to read a map and know there is no such thing as The Italian Sea. After contacting our Insurance the next morning Tony again set off to the see FF and show him the information from the insurance company showing that we are effectively covered from Gibraltar in the west to the Sea of Marmara, Turkey in the east. FF wasn't convinced but did concede to let us in "this time". The job of FF is not to decide if our Insurance complies with his opinions but to check we have insurance, that the boat is registered and that Tony has the qualifications to skipper a boat. So after nearly two hours Tony returned to the boat to say we had been checked into Italy and essentially into the Schengen zone. (so the official's name FF is, first name starts with F and the second word is Face!) Quite appropriate for his behaviour really. 

We got off the boat and had a walk around Brindisi and it was quite pretty. The town wall where we were tied up was the main promenade for tourists and locals alike and on the Sunday it was heaving. Later on Monday afternoon the tug boats starting spouting all this water from the rear and then a very large cruise ship was coming into the inner harbour. It was quite unnerving as it was headed directly towards us before it started to turn. But the tugs kept the water spouts going and then started sounding their horns, with the cruise ship returning with their horn. It all went on for quite some time and was pretty fun to watch. Apparently it was the first cruise ship for the season to dock in Brindisi, which explained all the hype. 

It wasn't long until the cruise passengers started walking along the promenade and then we hear the first question, is that an Australian flag? There were two couples walking past who were also from Australia so we had a great chat with them. A short time later, another call out from another Australian couple who, if you can believe it were from Warnbro! If that's not proof that the world is definitely a small place then I don't know what is. 

We left Brindisi on Tuesday morning to continue the journey down the Italian coast towards Otranto. Goodbye Brindisi and see you never again, FF! 

Did I tell you it was a bloody long way from Perth to Tivat, Montenegro! Especially when you are travelling on your own and you don't sleep, but all that was forgotten when I got t0 the boat yard and saw Tony and the boat and the water and the sunset and the warm night air and my bed zzzzzzzzzzzzz. 

Tony flew at the start of April to work on Phantomas. He had commissioned a new and improved solar arch and a barbecue table made from Stainless steel and they were fabbed at the Navar yard in Tivat. Tony then installed the new solar panels and associated gear and numerous other jobs but a major job was to polish the boat. He had bought an electric polisher here in Tivat before we left in October last year and was itching to get started. I think the excitement began to fade as the enormity of the job ahead became apparent. 

Before too long it was time for me to say my goodbyes at home and jump on the plane to join Tony and Phantomas. I think I've mentioned to a few of you..."Its a very long way from Perth to Montenegro." especially when you don't sleep much on planes. 

Tivat turned it on weather wise on my arrival that Friday night. It was a beautiful calm evening with a sunset to remember and the following day was around 24 degrees. I'm not sure where all the cold, wet weather Tony had been complaining about was. 

We caught up with Mark and Tanya Wicksteed for brunch the next day and then picked up the hire car ready for the road trip to Germany to pick up the new Jambo anchor from land locked Stuttgart. 

We got going around 6.30am to trek through Croatia and we got a real buzz driving past Cavtat and Dubrovnik where we had spent some great time with the kids and Barb and Daz last year. Great memories. 

We stopped in Vallich, Austria the first night and got some great views the next morning driving through the Alps and drove through so, so many tunnels. We found the anchor warehouse in Stuttgart, even with my dodgy navigating, pretty easily and stowing it in the car we set off to Oberstenfeld.  

Tony, Gary and three small, dark haired, attractive girls (Midi, Luchi and Conchi) had met Thomas and Sabine Garbe in Scicily way back in 1987 when they were all younger and scruffier versions (the boys that is!) of themselves. Tony has kept in touch with Sabine over the years and this would be our 3rd visit over the intervening years but 17 years since the last visit. 

Nothing much has changed with Sabine, she is still such a generous, gorgeous person who is so hospitable. Although I say nothing much has changed, Sabine has a new partner Alfred who we enjoyed meeting on the first night. The conversations were great and despite the language challenges, but Google translate seemed to fill in the gaps. 

We had a great few days in Germany and crossed a few important things off our "Needs" list to make this years sailing more pleasurable. Most importantly was a Weber Q BBQ, can you believe we survived last year without one. The bean bag saga was finally solved, I won't bore you with the details but thanks to Sabine we now have two "Sabine Bags" for the front of the boat and we also got some water filter membranes which are kind of essential to keep our tanks topped up by converting sea water to fresh. 

We also got the chance to catch up with Sabine's brother Jo and Connie and their daughter Lisa. Lisa had come to stay with us in Australia in 2018 for a month before she travelled to New Zealand. She had certainly grown up and we also met Julian, her boyfriend. Before long we had packed everything into the car and started the long, wet and rainy drive back towards Montenegro. 

Welcome to 2023 and the adventures of myself and Tony on Phantomas, our 2001 Privilage 465 catamaran. We bought Phantomas last year in Port Saint Louis du Rhone and in the first season we sailed/motored along the French Riviera before crossing to Corsica and then to the island of Elba as we made our way down the Italian coast. We then crossed to Stromboli and down to Sicily before heading through the Messina Straight and along the foot of Italy. We crossed over to Bar, Montenegro and Croatia and continued sailing with family and friends before leaving Phantomas in Tivat, Montenegro to winter without us. 

Now the adventure for 2023 begins........