It’s been a while since I updated the blog but as we are now in March 2020 being in lockdown for the Corona Virus it seems a good time to update. I will finalise last year then go into this year. So the last entry seems like near the end of June 2019….Wow some 9 months ago. Isn’t it scary how fast life goes past. Well July and August was mainly spent in the Ionian Sea. A beautiful area but very busy with flotilla yachts which always have us worry. 2 fold – 1) finding uncrowded anchorages or quay sides 2) some may not have the experience or same care when its’ not their own home they are sailing in…. August sees another birthday for Jessie who turned 11. We spent that on the quay side at Preveza where we met another great family. A wonderful young New Zealand family with 4 boys aged between 5 and 13. They were heading for NZ. Jessie said she had the best birthday ever considering she got 2 fly swats and 4 packets of different flavour Oreo’s and money. But as she shared her day with the boys she was very happy. We managed to pay a restaurant to fill up a dish full of chips as a special surprise. The NZ family also gave Jessie her own private Hacka which was brilliant. We had planned to winter in Caz in Turkey but as always things change. We continued to have maintenance with the boat, finally got the new dinghy and it was really sad leaving our old one on a quay side for the residents to use. I was surprised that when I met up with friends in the UK one of them showed me a photo of our old dinghy being repaired…..just shows you how small a world it is…. The new dinghy is called “Star” being a Zodiac fastroller 285. It was a lot more expensive but not as good as the old Honwave. We are hoping it will last a lot longer but one good thing is that it weighs a lot less so less weight on the davits. So soon after getting the new dinghy, the 6 house batteries all died and needed replacing. Within 10 minutes of fitting the new batteries the bow-thruster died. The bow thruster is a luxury that you can get used to and becomes an important part of the boat especially when steering in reverse…. Well after having the gearbox part replaced and the motor overhauled, 5 days later the solenoid of the bow thruster went which has been replaced recently. We found beautiful bays whilst sailing in the Ionian and saw many turtles and dolphins. We seem to still have to keep an eye on the weather and wind and found ourselves not moving too far away from safe bays as strong wind forecasts had you returning swiftly. Sometimes the forecasts were accurate and happy we returned to a safe bays other times there was no need for the retreat which was annoying but this is the life we lead. We try not to take risks at all when there are strong winds forecast. So we were heading towards the Corinth canal when we made a family decision to return to Licata. I could then fly home quickly. Our home being un-rented since May, issues with a Neighbour, quotes to maintain our home and boat maintenance costs meant this was the best decision. Being away from the girls will be hard as it goes against the principle of our sailing adventure but needed to be done. From the Ionian back to Sicily is about a week of long days of sailing. Getting up at sunrise and sailing all day and dropping anchor late afternoon. We did manage to bump into the boys again which was brilliant. We did have our almost first “knock down”. That’s when a surprise wind hits the boat and takes her on her side. She is designed to do this to keep us safe and instantly turns into the wind so she can be upright again. The water was high up on the decks with many windows underwater. Livvy shouted whilst on the loo, “Dad the water just touched my bum and I can see fishes through the window”… It made me laugh and Jessie enjoyed it but Mum wasn’t very happy. The following evening, our penultimate day of the season whilst at anchor we manage to save an Italian boy, approx. 13, from being swept out to sea. He was exhausted and when we called him over he hadn’t realised how far he had drifted….so far so that we had to lift our anchor to take him back to his family as it was too far for the dinghy…. We were last boat before it was just wind and open see for the boy. I believe when people have helped us on our trip that by helping that boy is in some way returning the favour. On our final day sailing of 2019 we did manage to get stuck on a lobster pot marker at sea which meant stopping the boat, jumping in the water and diving down to the prop with a knife and cutting it free. No sight of land. We then sailed onto Licata, which mean manoeuvring the boat without a bow thruster and I had forgotten to secure the swimming ladder after the lobster pot incident so when reversing into our winter berth Caroline ended up in the water as she used the ladder to hold onto…… Luckliy we were met with many old friends who swiftly got her out of the water… It feels like returning home when you go back to a place you have wintered. The safety of the marina is a relief. Another sailing season over.
Thank you for keeping us safe Arctic Fern. We love you.
