From Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy to Othoni, Greece

01092013 39:50.376N 19:24.68E Passage from Santa Maria Leuca on southern tip of the heel
to Othonoi, Ionian Islands Greece ( DTG: 50nm ) Weather: Fine and sunny with good visibility. Wind NW 5 Batteries: 100% Water tank: Full ( 900 Litres ) Fuel:: 390 Litres –
Range 100nm @1800rpm Crew: Frank and Jackie 06:30 39:47.631N 18:21.331E Depart Santa Maria
Leuca anchorage for Othonoi, Greece ( DTG: 50nm) after some
difficulty experienced lifting anchor; thought to have been
caught in rocks. Fine, clear morning with a fresh NW5 wind and
the promise of a sunny fair day ahead for the 50nm passage
ahead.
08:30 Wind
is now down to around 7 kts with a boat speed correspondingly
down to 4.2kts. I put the two gybe preventers on to stop the
whacking caused by the large waves from the NW hitting our beam;
put the donkey on at 1800rpm and motor sail. Our speed quickly
rises to 7.6kts. 09:30 39:48.255N 18:45.254E Sight warship some 8nm
to the south of us. We check the AIS and subsequently Google to
establish she is the Japanese Defence Vessel (JDS) Kashima, flagship of
the Japanese Defence Force’s training fleet. Her claim to fame
was "being kissed" by RMS Queen Elizabeth in New York harbour
putting a scrape mark down the side of the latter and denting
her own bow.. We called her up on 16 for a radar check which,
after obtaining our name, MMSI number and course on channel 06,
she finally gave as strong before passing some 1.5nm ahead of us
heading north. Did ask her where she was headed but question was
not answered. 10.30 39:49.06 Wind NW 6kts; DTG 20nm SOG:
7,2kts ETA: 13:30. Hear brief radio traffic burst between HMS Foremost
? and HMS Bulwark 11:30 The large fully laden UN RoRo ‘UN Karadeniz’ passes a
mile in front of us heading north to Trieste, according to the
AIS. Hear another ship calling HMS Bulwark on 16 requesting they
go Ch. 70 – a barred channel for civilian traffic. Noon position: 39:49.77N 19:11E Italian radio forecast gives thunderstorms and bad visibility for Sicily to here. Wind NW 8kts DTG: 6.5nm SOG 7.4kts ETA 13:23 hrs 13:20 39:49.47N
19:23.78E Arrive off Othonoi island’s main bay and harbour.
Decide, in view of Pilot’s poor review for anchoring in its bay
and both poor and limited berths on harbour quay coupled with
latest forecasted thunderstorms for area, to push on over to
Corfu’s east coast some 35nm further on from here which offers
better shelter and a marina assuming we can get in. On basis
that we are able to maintain this speed the earliest we can make
it will be around 19:00 hrs this evening. 14:00 39:50.376N 19:24.68E Othonoi fishing harbour.
Having spotted on passing that the old fishing harbour to the
east side of the town quay, which the pilot says is too shallow
and small to enter, had clearly been enlarged with a new
extension to the breakwater. There was also a clearly new buoyed
channel which had been laid to its entrance between the many
reefs and rocks situated in the various approaches to the
harbour and J read on Sea-Seek that 10 berths for yachts had
recently been provided in this small harbour with electrical and
water pillars. Seeing two yacht masts within we decide to ignore
the warnings of the pilot and approach with great caution to see
if it is possible to get Bootlegger
in and thus secure her for the night in readiness for the
expected thunder storm.
As we rounded the corner of this little harbour in
4.5 m of water and slowly entered it we sight two yachts tied up
against what is clearly a new concrete quayside. The quay is
able to accommodate three boats on each of its two sea walls. In
addition there has been provided an adjacent wooden pontoon
running the length of the sea wall able to accommodate several
more vessels. We went in astern with a litte difficulty, the
freshening wind blowing us off the quay. An elderly grey bearded
gentleman clad only in shorts appeared to help J secure our
lines. Turned out he is the owner of the larger of the two boats
astern of us. Eugenio, an architect from Otranto who has been
here since June, turns out to be very chatty and helpful,
advising of where everything is in this tiny little port of this
tiny little port that boasts the title ‘Most westerly part of
Greece’ ! Eugenio also tells us that the electric and water
pillars don’t operate yet but suggests we don’t complain as the
berths are free !! A promising start to our Greek adventure. Later we are visited by a Norwegian, Jon Eruc
Ulstad, former MD of the Osten Posten newspaper in Oslo, who
tells us he and his wife left Badalona in their Beneteau in
April and like us are headed east. They have three possible
places to winter and are investigating each. One is the marina
we had been headed for earlier in Corfu. Like us, the Ulstad’s thought from reading the
pilot that the fishing harbour was inaccessible for yachts and
had not attempted to enter, managing instead to get a berth
alongside the village quay. Against the advice of Eugenio we had dinner this
evening in the ‘New Yorker’ tavern which we noted was well
patronised - unlike the other eating places in the village which
were empty. We found the food good, very reasonable and the
staff friendly.
|