Cuffysark Reincarnated 

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We said our final goodbye to Cuffysark sailing catamaran in mid March when we handed her over to her new owners in Greece. 

Our next trip was to go to America  and buy a boat so we could do the Great Loop.  So, if you’re wondering what the Great Loop is, it’s a circumnavigation of the eastern U.S., and part of Canada.  The route includes the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the New York State Canals, the Canadian Canals, the Great Lakes, the inland rivers, and the Gulf of Mexico.  Sections of it have fixed bridges that would mean taking the mast down on a sailing boat, so there’s was nothing for it we’ve gone over to the dark side and bought a motor boat!  Ian had extensively researched motor boats, mainly for something that was economical or as economical as a motor boat can be. Filling up with diesel is the only time I miss the sails.  We had an eye on a couple of boats but in the end decided on a Mainship 350 which has just one 300hp engine and a popular boat for the Great Loop.

We flew into Orlando, Florida on East Sunday 20th April. The boat survey was carried out two days later. We had rented a house and a car for three weeks and began preparing.  What the neighbours at the rental thought, we should have had shares in Amazon and Walmart. Luckily there was a big lounge for all the deliveries. It takes some getting used to how everyone drives everywhere, to the shops which all seem to be pretty big along big roads, and then drive home and shut themselves away in their air conditioned houses, it is very hot though! You can order stuff online and collect from the store and you don’t even have to get out of your car, you can have a kerb side pickup, that includes McDonalds too and then there’s the ATM drive thru! 

Between the survey and waiting for the report we drove up to Suwannee County in North Florida to go and see Ian’s cousin, Susan and her husband Mike. It was lovely to see them after many years. The landscape is very different in this part of Florida, now what we expected.  It was like driving out into parts of the English countryside, it was spectacular.  We had a trip around the local country park where there is a natural spring that is the same temperature all year around 72F.  Ian braved it and dipped his toe in the water, it felt freezing!  We were reliably informed that in the winter it feels warm. 

Cousins
Ian & Daisy

We had some jobs to do on the boat before we could launch, apart from cleaning which seems to be never ending, we had to antifoul.  Although, it’s not called that in the US, it’s bottom painting.  We were going to get someone to do the job for us, as after years of rubbing down and painting boats we thought we’d done our bit.  Yeah right, after being quoted $100 a foot we were definitely doing it ourselves!  It took us one and a half days to complete the job and saved a lot of dollars.

The boat was dropped back into the water on the afternoon of Monday 12th May and the following morning an engineer arrived to service the engine.  We were able to leave later that afternoon and headed for an anchorage just along the way where every type of bug was waiting for us. 

In the US you have to have “Permission to Proceed” from port to port so we had to visit Customs and Border Protection who were at Fort Myers airport, to get a very important piece of paper, a cruising licence.   This was a very smooth and quick process.  Clutching it tightly in our hand we were now able to start our journey east onto the Atlantic side of the Inter Coastal Waterway, ICW.  The quickest route was to cut across the middle going through Lake Okeechobee, (what a great name) which is full of different wildlife including alligators and into the ICW. 

On our way
Pelicans
Cows having a dip

There were a number of locks we needed to go through to get there. Bit nervous the first time but we managed it with out any mishap.  The locks are open between 7am and 5pm, with last lock in at 4.30pm, way too late for the second lock so we anchored in front of it and was there ready at 7am the next morning.  In addition to the locks there are some bridges that had to be lifted or swing open for us to go through.  Two of them were for trains and both times we managed to arrive just as the trains were due to come through so we had to wait.

7am lock
Second lock of the day
Waiting for the train
Through we go

Before we could get onto the Lake we had to go along the Okeechobee Waterway which is very narrow and not very deep.  As we went along you could see eyes popping on heads with long snouts, yep alligators and there were loads and loads of them.  From entering the Lake to the other side, which you can’t do in a straight line as it is pretty shallow, is just under 30miles wide.  The Lake is particularly low this year as there’s not been a lot of rain.  We’ve only had one lot of rain since we’ve been here, admittedly it was heavy, but still not enough. 

Roots of the trees
Alligators

As the Lake is shallow and the channels are narrow you have to keep a constant watch on where you’re going.  So after leaving Port Charlotte on the West coast of Florida, and 10 days we are in Melbourne, and that’s the east coast of Florida not Australia!

We were too late to start the Great Loop this year so we are planning on going up the East Coast, into Canada and back down again and begin the Great Loop in 2026.

May 2025

Zante and a visit to Olympia

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We didn’t visit Zante on our way through the Ionian back in 2019 so didn’t want to miss out this time.  My brother, Tony, and his wife Linda joined us here in Agia Nikolas in the northwest of the Island.  Zante is famous for turtles and Shipwreck Bay.  We decided to take a local boat trip to Shipwreck Bay as it would be quicker and fitted in with our itinerary better.  The driver must have gone to the same driving school as Ian!  He whizzed the boat in and out of small bays, so close to the cliff face, we could have touched it.  It is no longer possible to anchor in Shipwreck bay or go ashore but we got pretty close. 

The wreck was the “Panagiotis” which ran aground in stormy weather on the 5th October 1980.  It appears that the ship was smuggling contraband cigarettes from Turkey and was allegedly on its way to Italy. 

On the way back from the bay we were taken into a small cave.  We were told to keep our hands in as it was a little on the narrow side. 

We had a good weather window so we decided to make the trip across to the mainland to Katakolo where we could make a visit to Olympia.  It was the centre of worship of the Greek God Zeus, his wife the Goddess Hera  and the home of the first Olympic Games which began in 776BC.  Cruise ships come into this small port and luckily, we were there on a non cruise ship day so it wasn’t so crowded at Olympia.  There is a train but it doesn’t run on a Sunday so we hired a car. 

The Ancient Stadium had a seating capacity of 20,000 and most seats were made of mud.  The Stadium also used to host the Heraia Games, games for women and was held in honor of the Goddess Hera, Zeus’ wife. The racetrack of the stadium is over 200 meters long and nearly 30 to 34 meters wide.  It was 40 degrees and yet some people still decided to run up and down the track.  It was exhausting just watching.  Having seen many sights around the Med, Ian was now “ruined out”. 

Inside, out of the heat, we visited the Olympia Ancient Olympic Games Museum which details the history of the Olympic Games.

We were going to anchor in the quieter bay of Keri just along the coast from Laganas, which is similar to Magaluf, but first we needed to get some provisions so we anchored in Laganas first.  We felt ancient walking around here.  A real treat here though was the turtles.  The turtle spotting boats started arriving late afternoon, we were pretty much surrounded!  Ian jumped in the water and was within touching distant of a turtle and it swam alongside him for a few minutes.  Quite an experience.  Then off to Keri Bay for the night.  It was now time for Tony and Linda to fly home and for us to head to mainland Greece, Pylos our next stop where we spent ten days.  A lovely spot. 

The Ionian

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We now had a few days mooching along the coast before our third lot of visitors were arriving.  We headed towards Vonitsa and as we were going through the Preveza Strait we heard “Cuffysark” being called up on the VHF.  It was some fellow sailors, Kirstie and Neil, who we had met in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey two years earlier.  You never know when you’re going to bump into people.  They were heading to Preveza so change of course and we headed to the anchorage at Preveza.  This was quite a reunion here as there were several other boats anchored who we had met on our travels.  So, yes of course we had a few sundowners on Cuffysark.  We could only stay the one night before heading off to Vonitsa. 

Gary and Shelley met us here but we only stayed the one night as there was a jazz festival going on in Preveza.  The airport was so close by we actually saw their plane coming into land.  We gave them a wave but they didn’t wave back!

No where is that far away in this part of Greece.  We visited a couple of other anchorages and then made our way through the Lefkas Canal, making a stop at Lefkas  and then on to Syvota which is a tiny place with lots of restaurants.  We booked a table for dinner at Taverna Spiridoula which was literally on our doorstep!  

We finally ended up in Velcro Bay AKA Nidri.  It’s one of those places that you get stuck in and always end up staying longer than you planned to.  Nidri is full of bars and restaurants and good for provisioning and very sheltered.  So, we spent a couple of days chilling and listening to music before it was time for Gary and Shelley to go home.  Shelley getting in the spirit of things with her version of Boy George!

Nidri is another place where you inevitably meet up with people you’ve met previously.  We bumped into Simon and Claire who’d we’d not seen since our stay in Licata, Sicily five years ago.  We had a problem develop with our outboard on the dinghy, but not a worry when Simon can tow you ashore.

Finally, time to release ourselves from Velcro Bay and head to Sami.  The forecast told us this anchorage would be ok.  It was, until about 6.30pm when the wind changed to the opposite direction which made the anchorage completely untenable.  There was another anchorage about half an hour away which according to the forecast should have not been good either but we saw fellow sailors Kirstie and Neil were anchored there.  A few exchange of messages and they assured us it was like a mill pond there.  Ian was surprised at this so off we went and what a difference it was at Agia Effimia.  This was a real gem of a place, apart from being pretty, getting down to practicalities the laundrette and supermarket were opposite and we could get gas. 

Quick turnaround and we were headed off to Zante for our next visitors, Tony and Linda. 

June 2024

Season 8 and we’re on our way

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Monastir in Tunisia is a long way from anywhere.  So just what you need as the first trip of the season an overnighter! We had been waiting for a few weeks for a weather window.  It seemed to be constant winds or if there was a break it was strong winds once we got to Malta.  So no point in rushing off whilst you had the comfort of the marina.  Finally, the day dawned and it was dawn.  We had to report to Customs an hour before departure so they could go through all the paperwork.  They still have everything on paper in files and everything is in triplicate.  Once all the formalities are completed Customs stand on the quay side and wait to ensure you’re going.  The weather was quite gentle but we managed to get some sailing in. 

We arrived in Sliema Bay 32 hours later.  What a sight Marks and Spencer, Matalan and every type of food choice you can think of.  Heaven!. You really appreciate this after being in so many places that only offer the local cuisine and perhaps a pizza.  Plus,half the boats who wintered in Tunisia were also here.  Whilst we were here my very good friend Paula and her hubby Paul would be arriving as they were off on a cruise.  The weather wasn’t great, it poured with rain so we took sanctuary in a bar and had some lunch. What else did you expect!

We spent a week in Malta.  We frequented the local Lidl on a number of occasions.  I know we still get excited about Lidl.  We had an extra crew member, Julia, join us for our trip from Malta across to Argostoli, Kefalonia which was just over 300nm trip and involved two overnights.  Now why anyone would want to come and do that I don’t know but these proper sailors are a funny lot.  It meant I got longer in bed when I was off watch so that was a real bonus.  Our second trip of the season was again nice and early setting off at 5.00am.  We set off with some good sailing averaging 6.7knots over the first ten hours. 

Just over eleven hours in and snap went the main halyard.  There were a few choice words from Skipper Ian I can’t deny.  So we had to put a mouse (not a real one) up the mast and we used our spinnaker halyard (rope to non yachties) as a temporary measure.  There were stronger winds forecast for nearer to Kefalonia so we made the decision to divert 90 degrees and head to Crotone on the foot of Italy. As this would be less strain on the main halyard.  We arrived the following night at 23.30 having covered 270nm, we had sailed 24.5 hours and 18.5 hours with the engine and sails. 

The weather wasn’t great, windy and overcast but Julia and I decided to go and have a walk around and go to the castle while Ian sorted out the main halyard.  The Charles V castle was built in 840 and was modified in 1541 by Charles V.  The building was originally a fortress on an ancient Greek acropolis.

We visited the local cemetery here too which was quite something.  Some of the family tombs are like small churches. 

We had a few nights respite and after waiting for yet another weather window we left for Kassiopi on Corfu.  Julia had not had enough of this overnight sailing lark so off the three of us went at a more sensible time of 10.00am.  During our trip we picked up a small bird who flew into the cabin.  It settled on one of the blinds at one end.  It had a walk to the other end of the blind, turned and faced the wall, yes you know what’s coming next, did its business and then trotted back up to the other end again!

We arrived in Kassiopi in some better weather.  Julia had one day before heading home, so we headed down to Corfu Old Town to drop her off. 

May 21st is Unification of the Ionian Islands.  The treaty was signed in March 1864 by England, France and Russia that the Ionian Islands would be  passed to Greek rule on the 21st of May. There is a parade with people from schools, university students, emergency and armed forces and marching bands.  They also had a bit of an airshow.

After watching the parade we went back to the boat as some strong winds were forecast.  We could hear someone shouting.  It was a guy on his own on a racing catamaran who was drifting.  Ian to the rescue, jumped in the dinghy and went across.  He was trying to pull his anchor up by hand as he had no windlass.  The guy told Ian I’ll go on the helm and you pull up the windlass.  The guy was a lot younger than so Ian suggested as he was the old guy you pull up the anchor and I’ll steer the boat.  They eventually managed to re anchor and all was ok. 

May 2024

Tunisia

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Our first visitors of the year were Ian’s Mum, Irene, and her friend Jan, in Monastir.  So time for some sightseeing.  Our first trip out was to Sousse. We took the train which is a half hour journey for just 25p each way.  We visited the Dar Essid Museum which is located in the medina of Sousse. The house belonged to an aristocratic family and shows daily city life in the 18th and 19th centuries.  There is a Roman lamp with a graphic depiction of a couple ”in the act” in the master bedroom. This was to demonstrate the husband’s control and stamina, only ending when the lamp went out.

We hired a car for a few days and ventured a bit further afield.  The small town of El Jem, originally the Roman town of Thysdrus, has a Roman amphitheatre which held up to 35,000 people and was thought to have been built between AD 230 and 238. 

Apparently it is the third largest colosseum in the world. 

Ian was keen to see Carthage which was founded in the 9th century BC by the Phoenicians. Its situation meant it could influence and control ships passing between Sicily and the North African coast.  It was a thriving port and trading centre, it eventually developed into a major Mediterranean power and a rival to Rome.  Carthage is over a number of sites and there isn’t much of the structures left.  These are what we call “more piles of rock”.

We next made our way to the Bardo Museum in Tunis.  First, we thought we’d get a spot of lunch before visiting the museum.  Thinking as we were in the capital city, even though it was Ramadan, there would be somewhere to eat, WRONG, nothing.  We ended up having a snack in the museum café.  The Bardo museum is the biggest museum in Tunisia and has one of the largest collections of Roman mosaic in the world. 

Just a short ride from Monastir was the Palace of Habib Bourguiba.  Habib Bourguiba led Tunisia’s independence movement which they eventually gained in March 1956. He was the first Tunisian Prime Minister.  Bourguiba spent 20 years in various French prisons in his pursuit of independence for Tunisia.

A few more weeks to do some boat jobs and then we would be setting sail to Malta for the start of Season eight.

March 2024

Egypt 2023

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It’s October 2023 and Cuffysark is now in it’s winter home in Monastir, Tunisia and it being our Silver wedding anniversary soon we decided we’d like to do something to commemorate it.  Being in North Africa we decided to go a little further south to Egypt and be a proper tourist for a while.  So, as we don’t get enough of being on the water we opted for a Nile cruise. 

We started in Cairo and spent a couple of nights here on our own before the tour started.  We would end up back in Cairo and be going to the pyramids and to the Egyptian museum, but from experience there’s not always a lot of time when you’re on a tour to look around.  So we took ourselves off to the Egyptian Museum.  It houses over 170,000 artefacts and spans the pre-Dynastic Period till the Graeco-Roman Era (c. 5500 BC – AD 364).  There’s some really old things displayed there!

The Egyptians believed that there was an afterlife and so the tombs contained everything they thought they would need in the afterlife.  The coffins were like the Russian dolls.  The body would be embalmed, then depending on the status and wealth of the deceased, placed inside a coffin and this coffin was placed in another and then another.  This is the middle tomb for Queen Ahmose Merytamun which was approx. 1525-1504 BC. 

The coffins of Yuya and Thuya, the parents of Queen Tiye, the wife of king Amenhotep III and Great Grandparents of Tutankhamun are on display in the museum. The pair were buried in the Valley of the Kings, which was discovered in February of 1905 by the British Egyptologist James E. Quibell.

Thuya was between 50 and 60 years old. It is amazing how well preserved the body is considering she lived about 3,400 years ago.  The tomb is covered almost entirely in reddish gold on the outside and the inside is silvered.  The outside of the coffin has chapters of the Book of Dead in hieroglyphics. 

The internal organs, with the exception of the heart, are removed from the body and stored in jars.  These four jars are then placed in the Canopic box which was protected by the four sons of Horus,  Hapy (lungs), Imsety (liver), Duamutef (stomach), and Qebehsenuef (intestines).

The highlight of the museum is the Tutankhamun room which we decided to wait to visit when we returned with the tour.  Unfortunately, it is not permitted to take photos although not everyone visiting understood that and so the stewards were shouting on a regular basis “NO PHOTOS”. We stopped for a coffee at the café outside the museum and on realising we were Brits the waiter went rushing off to change the music and rather surprised when “Vindaloo” starting booming out of the speakers followed by “knees up Mother Brown”, quite a contrast. 

We then flew to Luxor and made our way to the river boat.  Our tour group was made up of nine people, Spanish, German, Belgian, Canadian and us Brits.  They were a great bunch.  The tour was the start of our visit to many temples

Karnak Temple was built between 2055 BC and around 100 AD. It was dedicated to the gods Amun, Mut, and Khonsu.

Luxor Temple was dedicated to the rejuvenation of kingship and was built in 1400 BCE during the Egyptian New Kingdom. 

Hatsheput Temple was a memorial temple to Queen Hatsheput who reigned for 18 years.  Hatshepsut acted as regent for her young stepson, Thutmose III, who became king as an infant.  However, after seven years she was crowned king and she and her stepson co-ruled but with Hatshepsut the dominant ruler.   She often depicted herself as male to show she was as good and powerful as a man.  There are a number of theories as to how she died, one, that she was killed by her stepson.  At the end of Thutmose III reign attempts were made to remove all traces of Queen Hatsheput’s reign.  Her name was removed from the official list of kings, her statues were destroyed and monuments defaced. 

Valley of the Kings

The authorities rotate the tombs that can be visited and generally you visit three on one visit.  Surprisingly the further underground you went the hotter it got which wasn’t what I expected.  We visited the tombs of Ramesus IV, Ramesus IX and Merenptah.  The walls and ceilings were decorated with pictures and hieroglyphics and the colours were so vivid which was amazing considering how old the tombs are. 

The Kings were originally buried in the pyramids with possessions they thought they would need in the afterlife however, they were often robbed.  So the Kings of the New Kingdom  (c. 1539–1075 BCE), decided to hide their tombs below ground in a valley in the hills behind Dayr al-Baḥrī.  To date 63 tombs have been discovered and most had been robbed in ancient time with the exception of Tutankhamun.

Valley of the Kings

We visited three more temples  Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae over the next couple of days, as well as the Aswan Old Dam and High Dam.  The High Dam was built in 1960 to protect Egypt from annual floods from the Nile. 

You do tend to get hassled by the locals trying to sell their wares, much more than where we’ve been before.  Ian managed to send them on their way as he started singing (and those of you who’ve heard him sing, know he can’t) Night to Cairo by Madness but only two lines.  Thinking he was mad, hmm ….

🎵🎵 🎵 It’s just gone noon, half past monsoon
On the banks of the river Nile 🎵🎵🎵

You have to give the locals their due as they were enterprising.  Sitting in our cabin we could hear shouts of “Hello”. Going to see what the noise was all about we discovered two guys in a small boat tying it to the side of the river boat, and yes this was while we were going along.  They had goods to sell which a few passengers did buy.  They passed them up on ropes and the money went back down in a bag. 

The cleaners in our cabin were quite imaginative.  I think they got Ian to a tee.

Our Nile cruise had come to an end so we flew back to Cairo and then took our final trip to the Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum.

It had been a whirl wind of a trip but definitely somewhere worth visiting.  An amazing place.

November 2023

Heading to Monastir, Tunisia

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We spent another couple of weeks loitering around Albania before deciding to head across to Sicily.  We checked out of Vlores and were planning on getting to Crotone on the heel of Italy, and anchoring for the night before heading to Syracuse on Sicily.  We made better time than we expected so arrived at Crotone at about 10.30 in the morning.  So rather than hanging around there we decided to keep going and after 290 nm and 45 hours we arrived in Syracuse.  After a sleep we took ourselves ashore for a well deserved beer, unfortunately the weather gods weren’t on our side and it poured with rain, but we weren’t deterred. 

With the cruising community you know you’ll often come across people you’ve met previously.  We bumped into Paul and Jackie who we met six years before when we wintered in Cartagena.  We had a great catch up over lunch and more liquid refreshments, well you get thirsty with all that talking.

We were getting low on Schengen days.  We are only allowed 90 days in 180 in the Schengen area, which is getting larger every year.  So we only stayed a few days and headed off to Malta.  We were able to pick up a mooring ball off Manoel Island in Sliema.  Sliema has lots of bars and restaurants with every type of cuisine you can think of which is a rare treat.  You don’t appreciate how much choice there is in the UK until you travel. 

Sliema was once a small fishing village.  By the second half of the 19th century Sliema was used as a summer residence for the more wealthier residents of Valletta.  There is a strong British influence on the architecture in the area as Malta was a British Colony from 1814 until 1964.

It was an overnight crossing to Cuffysark’s winter home in Monastir.  Ian’s mate Dave joined us for the trip across.  Why anyone wants to travel overnight I’ll never know but hey it means the watches are shorter which is good in my book.  We left Sliema and headed over to a lovely anchorage, Dwejra Bay, on Gozo, which cut a few miles off our journey across to Tunisia.  There were some big jelly fish here though. 

We set off at 5am just as the sun was coming up.  Four hours after we left Gozo we managed to get some fishing net caught around the prop.  So, nothing for it, Ian’s going in the water to untangle it.  He retrieved a whole bag.  When you arrive anywhere it’s always better to arrive in day light.  We were going great guns and so much to Ian’s reluctance but being sensible, I know not his normal stance, we had to drop the mainsail to slow us down.  We arrived at 8.30am after 28 hours and 165nm. 

Monastir is very different to anywhere we’d been before.  It was how I’d imagined Turkey to be before we arrived there back in 2019 and discovered it wasn’t like that at all.  There is a Ribat (fort) overlooking the harbour which was built in 796, making it the oldest ribat build by Arab conquerors and is well preserved but has been added to over the years.  It is also famous for being the venue where most of the Monty Python film “The Life of Brian” was filmed. 

We did climb to the top of the tower and the views were stunning.

Habib Bourguiba, was the first president of Tunisia.  He led the country to its independence in 1956.  His mausoleum is in Monastir, his birth place.  Bourguiba died on April 6, 2000 however, the mausoleum was built in 1963.  In addition to Bourguiba, his wife, parents, siblings and various other members of his family, in two other halls, are here. 

After that climb and walking around in the heat, yes you’ve guessed it, time for a refreshing beer at a bar on the marina which served extra large beers!

October 2023

Albania

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We left Montenegro and headed back to Albania.  We only passed through earlier in the season so wanted to do a bit more exploring.  We left the boat in Durres and took the bus to Tirana, which became the capital of Albania in 1920.  We headed to Skanderbeg Square which is named after Gjergj Kastrioti who was known as Skanderbeg (1405 – 1468)  He was a national hero who held off the Ottomans for more than twenty years. 

As I mentioned before Albania is full of bunkers  Between the 1960s and the 1980s the Hoxhaist government, led by Enver Hoxha, who was paranoid Albania would be invaded, built over 173,000 bunkers. One of these bunkers has been converted into a museum, called Bunk Art 2.  It was the bunker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs built between 1981 and 1986.    

The bunker consists of 24 rooms, an apartment for the Minister and a large hall for intercommunications.  The bunker’s entrance and exit were built only recently, because the entrance into the tunnel was only possible from within the Ministry. The anteroom was never used by any minister, even for training exercises. 

The Sigurimi, which was the state security, intelligence and secret police service of Albania, spied on people.  As well as radio interception they would use fixed microphones connected by a wire to recorders.  They spied on prisoners and foreigners, who stayed in hotels.  The main rooms of hotels had microphones connected by wires to a central recorder a few kilometers away.  Prison cells and police stations were also bugged in the same way. 

Citizens suspected of hostile activities towards the State had their homes bugged.  The Sigurimi would use a neighbour’s house, who then became a co-worker who would activate the recorder.  A microphone would be inserted in a hole in the wall and the authorities would set it up when the occupant was out.  They could also set up cameras to take photos, which they passed through the walls, to capture suspicious meetings.  It’s hard to imagine that this was going on in the 1980s, not so long ago.

On wandering around we come across the Resurrection Cathedral, an Albanian Orthodox Church which was quite a spectacular building, officially opened on June 24, 2012, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the revival of the Albanian Orthodox Church and the election of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania.   In 1967 Albania was declared an atheist state.  During this time churches and mosques were seized and either destroyed or turned into cinemas or dance halls.  Religion was only allowed again following the collapse of the communist regime in 1990. 

We next visited the Museum of Secret Surveillance also known as the “House of Leaves”.  This was a real eye opener on how much people were being monitored.  It was the Sigurimi’s interception HQ.  It was also used by the Gestapo during the German occupation in the second world war.  The museum displays the various equipment used to spy on people, graphic drawing of the different types of interrogation and torture that was used.  There are also transcripts of intercepted conversations and interrogations. 

It had been a long day and it gets thirsty so we went in search of somewhere to get a drink but not any old drink.  Colin was hankering after a “Long Island Iced Tea”.  We knew there was a cocktail bar around but had trouble finding it.  So nothing for it but good old Google. We eventually found this quirky bar off a side street. They had a very extensive menu but no Long Island Iced Tea.  We asked if they could make one and no problem of course they could and and much to Colin’s delight it was the best one he’d ever had.  The Porn Star Martini’s were pretty good too. 

September 2023

Montenegro

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I visited Montenegro in 2016 with my friend Suse on a cruise.  After going there, I said we definitely need to come back here one day on our own boat and so we did. 

We hired a car for the day so we sent Ian off on his scooter to collect the car from the airport.  Our first stop was Lake Skadar which is a freshwater lake which straddles the borders of Montenegro and Albania and is surrounded by mountains.  The water levels of the lake varies seasonally from 4.7 to 9.8 metres above sea level. The lake is approximately 44km (27 miles) long and is home to more than 260 species of birds.  Obviously, the only way to see the Lake is by boat.  We were quite fortunate for most of the trip we had a boat to ourselves.  All good things must come to an end and on the way back the guy had an engine problem so we had to swap to another boat which was full.

We next visited Cetinje which was the capital of Montenegro from1878 to 1918.  The city sits 670 metres (2,198 feet) above sea level on the Cetinje plateau.  We visted the Cetinje Monastery built in 1701 and the Court Church of Cipur built in 1890, on the site where the old monastery was built in the 15th century by Ivan Crnojević, the founder of Cetinje.

On the way back we decided to take the more scenic route along the Kotor Serpentine Road.  It is 5.15 miles long (8.3km), narrow and has 16 hairpin turns.  Yes eek and with Ian at the wheel!!  It is 881m above sea level and drops down to 458m at the end.  We stopped on the way down, as you do, at a bar hanging out on the edge of the cliff to take in the views with a beer.  They views were spectacular. 

Kotor has a cable car which only opened on 14th August 2023 and we arrived just a few days before.  So we had to take a ride, not that I particularly enjoy cable cars.  I’m ok when I get to where we’re going.  The Lower Station was a 45 minute walk from the anchorage.  We didn’t think it was quite that far but that’s always the way and it was hot!  The ride was 11 minutes to the top over 3,900 metres and 1,316 metres above sea level. The view was amazing.  We could see Cuffysark anchored in the bay.  Obviously there was a bar at the top, so nothing for it but to have a beer and take in the view.

The area of Montenegro we visited is surrounded by high mountains which causes Katabatic winds. We had some strong winds while we were here.  One night we had torrential rain and 45 knots of wind.  Thankfully our anchor held.

We moved the boat into Kotor Bay and anchored opposite Kotor town itself, out the way of the cruise ships than anchor here.  There is St John’s Fortress which you can climb up to, the views are supposed to be spectacular.  We decided against this as we’d seen the views from the top of the Cable car and I don’t think Ian’s knees could take the steep walk.

As in many parts of Europe there are lots of cats about.  Legend says that the cats were brought to Kotor by sailors who believed they brought good luck.  Others a more practical reason to control the rats.  Whatever the reason they are part of Kotor’s culture and tradition and there’s a festival every year in honour of Kotor’s cats. 

August 2023

More of Croatia

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The regular story of a sailor’s life is finding places to hide from the wind.  We left Olib and headed to Jasonova where we spent a couple of days.  The sunsets here where quite amazing. 

Just 30 mins from here was Nin. It was a lovely village with cobbled streets. There was a statue of Gregory Nin.  His foot is very shiny as rubbing it is said to bring good luck.  Gregory Nin was the Bishop of Nin in the early 900’s which at the time was a major cultural, political and religious centre.  The Bishop opposed the Latinization of the local population and so in 926 began holding services in Croatian rather than Latin as many could not understand Latin.  This went against the rulings of the church and the Pope.  This was a major turning point in history and was regarded as the foundation for the formation of the Croatian nationality.  The statue, which is 25 feet tall, was erected in 1929 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of his first service held in the Croatian language.

Our second visitors of the season. Dave and Deb, were arriving in a few days.  It’s always a feat to find where to pick people up without going into a marina.  We found a nice little spot in Sukosan where we stayed anchored for the night before the next day heading to the islands.  We’d read about a beach restaurant that was very popular at Babac which was a very small bay.  The menu was steak, chicken or fish which the guy cooked on the BBQ and served up with chips.

We had the best meal we’ve had in all of Croatia on Pasman Island. A restaurant called Konoba San Marko

On our way to dinner

After a great few days it was time for Dave and Deb to leave and for us to start heading towards Trogir where Jessica and Shelly were joining us. 

This area of Croatia is very busy.  One of the more popular spots, I say popular, that’s a bit of an understatement, is the “Blue Lagoon”.  Ian said we’d take the girls there.  We arrived and it was choc a block filled with mainly small motor boats.  The yachts were a bit further out.  Yep you guessed, not us, Ian spotted a spot right in the middle and that’s where we dropped anchor amongst the small boats. 

Trogir itself was lovely so we took a walk in for dinner.  Ian waiting patiently while the girls were taking photos.

It was all too soon and time for Jessica and Shelly to go home.  We spent a few days making our way down the coast.  One of our stops was was Okuklje on the island of Mljet which had various restaurants with jetties to moor on.  We had a rough trip to here with lots of rain and wind on the nose.  The water was washing all over the saloon windows so we were glad to arrive in this pretty secluded bay. 

Our next visitors, Graham and Lesley, were meeting us just outside Dubrovnik at Zaton.  We arrived a few days earlier.  Zaton was very nice but there was a tendency for Katabatic winds which are strong winds flowing down the side of steep mountains/hillside and occur at night.  You could set your watch by them.  Strong winds are bad enough during the day but at night it’s not great.

We spent a few days visiting some bays and then finished up with a day and night in Dubrovnik.  We moored up in the marine so we didn’t have to worry about the boat. 

Dubrovnik is known for it’s old city wall which takes a couple of hours to wander along.  To deter too many visitors they’ve hiked the price to walk around them up to €35 per person.  It nearly put Ian off, but after seeing them decided we couldn’t come to Dubrovnik and not walk the wall.  I had already been some years ago but off we trotted.  The views are pretty stunning. 

After dinner we decided to visit the Buza Bars.  Buza means “hole” in old Dubrovnik dialect and so you have to go through a hole in the wall, hence why they are called Buza bars.  They sit on the cliff side and we did literally in one of them.  One of them had a spot where you can jump from the rocks.  Ian demonstrated how it could be done but it was dark.

We enjoyed Croatia and the stories we’d heard about being difficult to find spots to anchor, even being charged to anchor, only mooring buoys available, didn’t materialise.  There are places that are full of buoys but there are plenty of other places and we always found somewhere.  We can understand why so many choose Croatia to go sailing.

Graham and Lesley left us to go home and we checked out of Croatia, stopping the Schengen clock and headed to Montenegro. 

August 2023