2016: We Continue to Float...

Albania:
Finally, and a whole month later, we were able to throw off mooring lines and move on from Greece.  We made for Sarande, with an increasingly nasty swell kicking in from the west.  Although we’d planned a two day stopover in this pleasant town, our feet rarely touched ground.  In the conditions, poor WJ3 was driven against a large concrete dock, eventually losing a guard rail in the battle.  Our fenders did a sterling job though and only one was lost in the line of duty:

Damaged Fender.  We left the boat briefly whilst dockside in Albania.  When we got back we found one of our fenders had been used on another boat.  Our local agent at the dock (a public one) at Sarande had another boat bouncing against the dock.  Like us, the crew was away for the day.  The agents “borrowed” one of our fenders, returning it at the end of the day.  However it was pretty squashed due to its heavy pounding against the concrete dock all day.   The agents reimbursed us the cost of replacing this fender which was good of them.  The old one’s still usable, to an extent.  Anyway, well managed by our capable and friendly agent, Agim Zholi and his super team.

We had company and pleasant weather for the crossing to Sicily

Sicily:

Now, we had only two months to cover Malta and Italy, plus get WJ3 hauled out and put to bed.  Something had to give and a stopover in Tunisia, perhaps not the safest of options anyway, was struck from our list.  Stops along Italy’s heel and toe were also given a big miss as we made the most of a few days of good weather to cross to Sicily.  Syracuse was delightful.  Initially we anchored until THE plan was modified, yet again, to include a dash for Malta on public transport and a few short excursions locally.  The Syracuse Marina had a vacancy for us, so we felt comfortable leaving WJ3 on her own for a week whilst we escaped to Malta.

We had an excellent vantage point from the marina in Syracuse to watch the world go by

Before I finish with Syracuse, let me comment on Chandlers.  On arrival, we began to understand that life here was somewhat laissez-faire for travel agents and chandlers alike.  There are only two chandlers in Syracuse.  The one closest to the marina did not have all that we wanted.  Another is a bit of a walk out of town.  After locating it, we entered as the door was open and asked staff, who were clearly working behind the counter, about the part we needed.  Language difficulties aside, we were informed that it was their lunchtime and to come back in 45 minutes.  We never did…

  

Boat life went without a hitch after that, except for a struggle in the Aeolian Islands to free our anchor.  It had managed to wrap itself around large rocks and grumpily refused to budge.  Just as we threatened to launch the hookah unit (diving without tanks), it freed up.  Not without wafts of an overheated anchor winch filling the bay.  Lucky on two accounts – not to have burnt out the motor or to have lost the anchor!

The weather remained somewhat challenging during the remainder of our time in Italy.  Add to the mix, heat and crowds on holiday in August.  All these “challenges” added further delays to our tight and ever-varying schedule.  Let’s just say, we arrived in Portugal with enough time to request a visa extension. 

The anchor winch might have been overheating;
at least Vesuvius was not...

Another lesson learned is how much easier it is to prep the boat in a marina rather than a boatyard.  So we moved into Lagos Marina for a couple of weeks of chores then hauled out in Sopromar Boatyard before flying home.  After all the dithering, excitement and stress, we've decided to say “Ciao, baby” to the Med (after a wonderful 6 years) and began to prepare for a dash back across the Atlantic in 2017.  

Heading out of Lagos Marina to Sopromar Boatyard for haulout & home