We sail to Crete.

July 6^th, 2013

The weather forecast was calling for quite strong winds during the next week and so we decided to set sail for Crete today despite the very slight wind blowing from the SW (right where we were heading). Knowing that we would be tacking against the wind we knew that this might be a frustrating sail. ..and it was.

The distance to the nearest port in Crete would be about 130 mile to the SE. We managed to reach approximately the same area, very slowly, after 190 miles, such are the joys of sailing in a direction that would be heading into wind. Our sailing log reads ‘tack to starboard’, ‘tack to port’, ‘motor sail’ on and on and on.
Along the way we considered the charts carefully to see if by using a more northerly route we might save time but it just seemed that a gain now would require a loss later on so we persevered.

As it happens though we decided to try for a landing in Crete a lot further west than originally planned  – at a place called Khania. There were only a couple of places in Crete that we could officially depart Greece from (you have to leave at a formal ‘place of entry’). Khania was 'a ‘port of entry’.
Also, this port would have enough berths of a suitable size and depth for our boat. It is virtually impossible to reserve a berth at a typical Greek harbor so we decided to chance our luck and radio in to the harbor when we were in radio distance. We tacked on..

One thing was becoming obvious. As we used the engine to motor sail there didn’t seem to be any problems with the propeller system. Phew!

We finally came within radio distance of Khania.
No reply.
No reply.
We have found that it is a little like roulette as whether or not Greek ports are manned or even if someone answers you on the radio. With few options and in the knowledge that there was a secure anchorage in the bay nearby we chose to take our chance and power on to the port.
When we arrived the port was jam packed. Not even room for a boat half our size. It’s a shame we had to waste all this time sailing here when someone on the radio could have just told us. Oh well.
We still had to check out of Greece by reporting to the police station in Khania and passing over our ‘Transit Log’ so we did need to anchor nearby and dingy in to the town.
We sailed back out and another few miles to a suitable anchorage. But it wasn’t suitable after all. So we sailed back again to the port at Khania. (Geeesh!  Don’t ask.)

Les circled the boat around whilst I jumped into the dingy, went to shore and to the police station to check-out.
hmm.. the police were not that interested in my beautiful ‘Transit Log’. In fact it was promptly dropped on a pile of other documents and I was waved away. I hope it gets to where it is meant to.

Having returned to the boat and not being happy with the security of the local anchorage we had to decide where to head for next.
Do we sail on for the 460 miles to Malta now?
Do we find another mooring or anchorage?

We had officially checked out of Greece and were meant to leave Greek waters asap.
There would be NO stopping point from Crete to Malta on a direct route.

We were tired after our sail from Rhodes.

The journey had already taken 2 ½ days for a simple 210 mile distance. One gets even more tired after your expectations of a rest and a secure stopping point are dashed abruptly.

In the end we felt we both needed a break for at least 24 hours and quickly – but where to go?