Sailing Trips Archives - Page 6 of 44

After the overland Morocco trip it was time to get back in the water. Another Crewseekers advert answered and found myself heading to Greece for a short trip. The owner was going to get his boat out of winter hibernation and back into the water. When i arrived there was only a few jobs left to do, finish the antifouling, paint the anchor chain, a bit of a clean, refill the gas bottles and we were done.

Boat being transported from the boat yard back to the water –

Back in and ready to go, these cranes are big !! –

Looking out from Cleopatras marina to mainland Preveza –

Whilst in Preveza i saw these ferries that they had been working on, they call them Flying Dolphins. As they gain speed they rise up out of the water and almost water ski across the top, quite a sight when they are travelling at 35 knots or more !!

They had been working on them to add more hydrofoil wings on them to get them higher out of the water. Whenever i saw them they reminded me of something out of Captain Scarlet or Thunderbirds !!

We had a few stops along the way in the week i was aboard. We stopped at Sivota, Paxos island, Plataria, and main town Corfu. The owner had just retired and had planned a 6 month trip around the Adriatic. He had a busy schedule ahead of hime with friends, relations and crew joining him at all different times.

A few photos from the trip , Freebird next to the quayside in Sivota – a small village in the municipality of Igoumenitsa.

We met a very energetic cafe owner here calked Andreas. He was almost ‘John Cleese’ like marching around with a tray in his hand. He must have liked the place as he had been there for 35 years !!

Working hard in Plataria, kept picking up the wrong can –

Moored up on the island of Paxos –

View from old town Corfu out to the mainland –

Busy crossing from Corfu to Igoumenitsa and other places –

Gouvia – one of the largest marinas on Corfu –

Looking back to old town Corfu from the bay –

We happend to be on Corfu over the Easter holiday celebrations. The Greeks celebrate Easter here more than anywhere else in Greece, it really is something special – https://atcorfu.com/pasxa-stin-kerkyra/ . Even the Greeks who live on the mainland come to see the celebrations. One of the rituals is to throw red china pots out of your window to the pavements below ! Thousands of pots are thrown into the street at 11 o’clock on the saturday.

The crowds in one of the most famous streets in the old town –

In the evening on the sunday thousand gather in the local square to listen to a speech and pray given by the local priest. Everybody lights a candle whilst standing and listening, quite a sight !!

At the stroke of midnight a terrific fireworks display happens, this go own for some time !

So this is the second i’ve accidentally been somewhere where some of the biggest Easter celebrations happen. The first was when travelling through Guatemala and i stopped at Antigua – http://www.simonthesailor.com/semena-santa-easter-festival-antigua/

A good end to a few days sailing around Greece and Corfu, especially as i knew nothing about these Easter celebrations !!

They brew their own beer here , never a bad thing !!

End of the line with Freebird – for now anyway.

A few Mythos were drunk along the way – the beer of Greece !!

Sunset in Greece –

Next stop back to Preveza to pick up a catamaran to assist a delivery to Montenegro via Albania !!

The boat had spent its summer in Norway and needed to return to Troon on the west coast of Scotland. I flew back to Stavanger to rejoin boat, this time with another crew member who had originally helped in bringing the boat over. The weather forecast was good so we didn’t hang around and set sail after a couple of days.

The wind averaged 15-20 knots and was on the beam all the way so was ideal for sailing. We saw a few oil rigs, wind farms and a few boats but it wasn’t as busy as I thought it might be. Two days and two nights later we were there.

Once we reached Inverness in the early hours of the morning it was time to enter the Caledonian canal. This would take us from north east to south west Scotland, a total of 60 miles including 29 locks, 4 aquaducts and 10 bridges. We called ahead and the lock was open waiting for us.

In the first lock of the Caledonian canal looking back –

Looking out from the lock –

Waiting in the lock whilst the skipper does the formalities – you have to pay a fee to use the canal.

Only a third of the canal is man made, the rest being formed by four different lochs, the most famous being Loch Ness of course.

Entering Loch Ness early morning –

Our stop for the first night at Fort Augustus at one end of Loch Ness –

Approaching another lock –

Approaching one of the many swing bridges along route –

The start of Neptunes staircase, a total of 8 locks which take at least 1 and a half to 2 hours to get down.

End of the Caledonian canal looking out to sea near Fort William –

Out to sea and through the strong currents between many of the islands on the west coast –

Approaching the sea lock at the start of the Crinan canal that goes between Crinan and Ardrishaig in Argyll and Bute –

Entering the lock with another boat –

Looking back out to sea from within the lock –

Exiting the first sea lock looking back –

Approaching the first lock –

Following another boat as one of the swing bridges opens, these are still turned by hand –

Squeezing into the narrow locks two-by-two –

Our stop for the night part way through the canal –

The last lock, big drop down and then out to sea !! Turn right and the bashing waves were waiting for us right on the nose –

Our pen ultimate stop was at Portavadie, a marina with some interesting history behind it. It was completely blasted out from the rock in the 1970’s, the government gave the go ahead as it chose the site to build new oil rigs. They also built quite a few houses nearby to house the workers who were going to work at the yard. Unfortunately the new oil rigs never happened and the site along with its many new houses lay empty for many years. That was until the Bulloch family bought the site and in 2010 the new marina was opened along with 5 star luxury apartments, saunas, restaurants and conference suites.

The last day saw us make the short hop from Portavadie to Troon in some great weather.

The boat was safely returned to the marina at Troon for the winter –

Travelling the world by sea……..(and a bit of land)

SimonTheSailor

Category Archives: Sailing Trips

First sail of the season – sailing Greece

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Back To Scotland And The Caledonian Canal

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Travelling the world by sea……..(and a bit of land)

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Travelling the world by sea……..(and a bit of land)