Christmas letter 2009

During the winter we made a decision to sail our boat back to Sweden this summer.

This was our 4th year in the Med and now we were going back to the Baltic and back to work as well. We have had a wonderful time in the Med meeting so many friends and even a lot of good sailing although the winds are either too rough or too calm.

We left Preveza, in Greece, in the middle of April and arrived at the Baleares three weeks later. There we had a lovely time with old and some new friends before we sat sail for Gibraltar. It took us three days and nights to get there. It was three years since we left Gibraltar and the place was quite different today. But we do love this place and it was no problem to stay for 10 days here. We left the Med together with an easterly wind in Beau forts 7 – 8 and also used the power from a westerly going current.

In Portugal we looked at the weather carts for the trip outside the west coast of Portugal. The prevailing winds here are going south but before July you may catch a breeze from the south. And so we did and celebrated Midsummer in Camarinas in Spain three days after leaving Lagos in Portugal.The Midsummer in Sweden is known for eating raw fish and drinking snaps. And so we did in Spain, looking out over the Bay of Biscay.  When we crossed this terrifying bay the wind was gone so we had to cross it by motoring for three days and nights. We enjoyed a few weeks in France eating good cheeses and tasting delicious win. The French cooking could make everybody happy.

The Canal Islands was bathing in sunshine when we arrived. We picked up our bicycles and explored those lovely islands for some time.

Our next stop was wonderful Holland. We sailed “The Staande Mast Route” and spend 4 weeks sailing under 60 bridges and become experts passing several locks.  Passing   Amsterdam by night in convoy with another 10 sailing boats, all by the book. Unforgotten moments sailing in these canals, liked sailing in a brochure from a plant shop.

Through the Kiel Canal and we were back in the Baltic Sea again after 5 years and      15 000 nm. We have visit 19 countries and meat so many nice people. Many of those are our friends for lifetime.

 

 

Gibraltar to France

We left Gibraltar with a strong easterly wind on 6 Beaufort. In the Strait we got the wind exactly from the behind and the waves were about 3 meters. But with only the foresail up we did a good speed and had a comfortable trip out to the Atlantic. Outside Tarifa we changed course from westerly to northwesterly. We planned to sail to Culatra in Portugal.

We stayed a week in Algarve and meet some old friends in Lagos before we sat sail for the west coast of Portugal. This coast line is famous and known for its northerly winds, but we were lucky to catch a wind from southwest for two days. Together with another Swedish sailing boat we made this distance in 50 hours.

In the bay outside Bayona in Spain we dropped our anchor. It was a very special feeling to have done this distance because of the unfavorably winds which are preveling here. After a good meal and a cooled bear we went to sleep in the cockpit.

Bayona is a very nice town and we did a lot of walks in the old town. It was in the middle of June and we were now planning for the midsummer celebrations.

We day sailed up north on the Spanish coast and in a few days we arrived at Camarinas. We came here on our way down to the Mediterranean. It is a very safe bay to anchor in so we planned to go into the bay outside the town to seek protection from the winds. In this area we must beware of the winds and the tides and of course a good sandy sea bottom for our anchor.

We had a nice time here together with sailors from all over the world, but we celebrated the Midsummer Eve bye ourselves in the cockpit. We had Swedish “matjessill” and together with new potatoes from the market in the town it was a unforgotten moment in our life.

We planned the trip to cross the Bay of Biscay and one day we decided to go the day after. The winds should be weak and westerly. About 5 boats left the marina, and the bay were we anchored, and sailed towards France.

We had a pleasant trip over the bay and after about 65 hours we saw the French coastline in the horizon.

Now we had made the most difficult distances on our trip back home to Sweden. Hopefully the rest of the trip should be in favorable winds……….

The bay of Cadiz

We spent 10 days in Gibraltar waiting for the easterly winds to take us out to the Atlantic. The wind came after 7 days but very strong, so we waited another 3 days before we left. The winds in the strait outside Gibraltar always give strong winds. You must follow them and even the current. Our trip through the strait was pleasant with a wind from the behind 11-14 m/s and a current going westerly with 2 knots. Outside Tarifa we change course to NW and planed to Culatra on the Algarve coast. After 26 hours and 160 nm later, we dropped our anchor outside Culatra. We stayed in this beautiful place for a couple of days before we sailed to Lagos to meet some friends. In the marina we met a Swedish sailing boat also heading for Sweden. We planed together the trip on Portugal’s west coast. The problem on this coast line is the northerly winds are prevailing, but we were very lucky because two days later there would be winds from the south. We planed to take off early to days later and our schedule was to reach Baiona, in Spain, after 50 hours.

Gibraltar

We left Ibiza a early morning in the middle of May. It took us three days and nights to sail to Gibraltar. We saw the Rock in the far distanse in the early morning. The Rock of Gibraltar is 430 metres high and a narrow coastal lowland surrounding it. Gibraltar is located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and at the entrance of the Atlantic, if you are coming from the east.The climate is subtropical with mild winters and warm summers. There are two main prevailing winds, an easterly one known as the Levante coming from the Sahara in Africa which brings humid weather and warmer sea and the other as Poniente which is westerly and brings fresher air in and colder sea. Our expiriens are that the wind direction change every 7 – 9 days. Rain occurs mainly in winter, the summers are generally dry. Tourism is also a significant industry. Gibraltar is a popular stop for cruise ships and attracts day visitors from resorts in Spain. The Rock is a popular tourist attraction. It is also a popular shopping destination, and all goods and services are vat free, tax free. The population of Gibraltar are 28 000 and the main religion is Christianity. There is also a big Jewish community and you could see the tipical calotte on many people there. As a British territory, the official language of Gibraltar is English, and it is used by the Government and in schools. Most locals also speaking Spanish, due to Gibraltar’s proximity to Spain. They use the English pound but if you get a note with the text THE BANK OF GIBRALTAR, you can´t use this note outside Gibraltar. Look for the text THE BANK OF ENGLAND, and you could use it everywere in the Commonwealth.Gibraltar is tipical english but the climat is very warm and it is not raining every second day and you drive on the right side of the road!

The Balearics.

We had a good sailing from Sardinia over to Mallorca. We planned to stop at Menorca, but because of the bad weather we had on Sardinia, there was no time to stop on this island. We stopped at Port Sollier on Mallorca. It is like a lagoon to anchor in this place. We had an appointment here with some friends and it was a very nice reunion. We rented a car for some days and had a very nice week with beautiful weather here. Not to warm and not to cold. The water temperature was not to warm, so we have not been swimming yet. Mallorca is a wonderful island with a lot of things to see and explore. Nice beaches, small old villages with a lot of atmosphere and high mountains if you prefer that kind of scenery. And the Spanish people are very kind and helpfulThe food is special with Sangria and paella and all the different fish dishes you can eat at the restaurants.After a week we sailed to Ibiza, San Antonio. This town is a paradise for young people with all the pubs and a terrific night life.The Balearics are islands you love and if you have been there, you like to come back again.

ITALY

After two days and two nights we arrived to Roccela Ionica, quite close to the Messina Strait, in Italy. Our sailing from Greece had been very nice with good winds and sunny days. We hade been to this place before and knew were to go in the marina. We meet two boats here from Australia. And together with this people we hade a nice time here. You say you meet boats from different places, and of course you mean the people onboard the boats. But it is easier to say the name of the boat than the names of the peoples onboard. On day we took our bicycles and went for a long ride along the coastline. Just when we decided to turn back, we got a flat tire on one of the bikes. So we had to walk back to the boat. We left this marina very early one morning and sailed up to the Messina Strait. It was hardly any wind so we had to go by motor most of the day. The strait is very nice and we hade a wonderful day. Up in the north of the strait the current was going our way, up north, but the wind was coming from the north. This made the water almost crazy. It was like the water was boiling. And you could feel it in the boat which was shaking. We went to a marina in Milazzo, on Sicily, and stayed there for only one night and went on to Cefalu. Bad weather was coming so we decided to stay here for some days before we went on to Sardinia. Sicily is a wonderful island with a lot of sand beaches and small and old villages with romantic lanes. We do like the Italian cultures, the houses, the peoples, the food, the wine………After a week we sailed to Sardina were we on the south side hade to seek shelter outside Teulada from strong northerly winds from France. We stayed on our anchor here for about tree days before we left for Mallorca in Spain.

Leaving Greece

Leaving Greece!

We launched our boat in Aktio Marina in Preveza in the end of Mars and went over to the Swedish pontoon. We planed to stay there for a couple of weeks to set sails and do some shopping for our sailing to Italy. A few other boats, with people onboard, were also staying there. We had some unforgettable moments there. We had grill parties on the pontoon and we invited some friends to our boat at Eastern to celebrate. We made a nice “smorgasbord” in the galley with different sorts of fish, shellfish, octopus, some bread and eggs.

The weather was not that good. Some days were sunny but the nights were cold. After two weeks the weather was good for crossing the Ionian Sea, over to Italy.

Christmas letter 2008

 

We left Stockholm airport in the beginning of April. There were a lot of snow on the runaway but we made it and reached Athens airport without any problems. After 6 hours on the bus to Preveza we finely saw our boat again after our 5 months. We had a busy time preparing our boat, s/y Ayla, and we spend a lot of time with our Swedish sailing friends in the boatyard. In the beginning of May we lounged Ayla and sailed across the bay to Preveza and the Swedish pontoon. One week later we sailed together with some Swedish boats up north against Albania. Unfortunately we did not find any sailing marina and refused to stay in any industrial harbours together with BIG ships. For that reason we decided to sail on to Montenegro, were we stayed for three weeks. We rented a car together with the other Swedish crews. We drove around the country and really enjoyed the countryside. After a week in Bar marina we sailed up to the fiord of Kotor. We anchored in the fiord in several places and really enjoyed the spectacular view from the different anchor places. We were surrounded with high mountains, about 2 000 meters high.A few weeks later we checked out and sailed south and back to Greece again. We had a nice time exploring the surroundings of Corfu and Mother Nature gave us two earth-quakes before we celebrated midsummer on the island Meganisi, just east of Lefkas.The strength of the earthquakes was not very strong; it was like sailing the boat on a sandbank in 1 knot.

The Midsummer celebration was very nice. About 35 people enjoyed the Swedish tradition with herring, potatoes, beer and of course a “snaps”.

In July and August we sailed south to look for the sea turtles on the islands in the south of the Ionian Sea. In the middle of October we hauled our boat at Aktio Marina in Preveza and drove to Sweden through the countries on the Balkan Peninsula. We had during the summer bought a car, Volvo of course, from a Swedish couple in Greece. The purpose was driving through the countries we couldn’t visit by boat. Driving home to Sweden was a great adventure and we will write about it on our website.

We sailed 1800 nm this season and we bought about 200 litres of diesel. This is 0,1 l / nm. We usually start our engine when the speed is less that 1 knot.

Next season we are planning to sail a very long distance, 4 500 nm.

Curious about our sailing plan?????? Follow our website www.ayla.biz now in English and with weather forecast from all over the world.

Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year 

Radio Olympia Greece

WX
A. (ALL SHIPS) 3 THIS IS (OLYMPIA RADIO) 3 WEATHER AND SEA BULLETIN
FOR SHIPPING PLEASE LISTEN ON CHANNELS:
NORTHWEST AEGEAN		23 – 60
NORTHEAST AEGEAN		82 – 85
CENTRAL AEGEAN		01 – 25 – 85
SOUTHWEST AEGEAN		04 – 25 – 85
SOUTHEAST AEGEAN		23 – 63
KRITIKO		04 – 27 – 83 – 85
IONIAN SEA		02 – 27 – 83 – 85
V H F
TIME OF TRANSMITIONS FOR WX
GMT	06:00	WX
	10:00	WX
	16:00	WX
	22:00	WX
HF
TIME        AND        FREQUENCY
GMT	09:30	8424 KHZ
	21:30	8424 KHZ
MF  VOICE
06:33,  09:03 , 15:33 ,  21:33  GMT
SVL (LHMNOS RADIO )		2730 KHZ
SVH ( HRAKLEIO RADIO )		2799 KHZ
SVK  ( KORFU RADIO )		2830 KHZ
SVR ( RHODES RADIO )		2624 KHZ

Arriving at Montenegro

We arrived to Montenegro after a nice sailing day. We had some problems when we approached the lighthouse just outside Bar. It was around midnight and it was raining as well. We ( read = I ) picked the wrong lighthouse and navigated wrong. It was a lighthouse on a peninsula just north of Bar. But when we discovered the wrong course, we already past Bar so we had to turn back and go to the marina in Bar.

The marina in Bar is just north of the commercial harbor. Here are a lot of Russian people but you will hardly see any Russian flags. It is to complicated to register a pleasure boat in Russia so many Russian boats where flying the flag from Sierra Leone!

It is quite easy to do the paper works for entering the country. The people was very nice and helpful and told you what to do. We had to pay a sailing permit for one month, 225 euro, for our boat.

For staying in the marina we had to pay 40 euro per day, including water and electricity.

 

Montenegro!!!!!

Montenegro is a small country, around 14.000 km2 but it only has about 700.000 citizens. Roughly the size of  Skåne and there are a lot of big mountains and a lot of wonderful beaches along the seaside of the Adriatic Sea.

Montenegro is one of the most southern European states and it comes out on the south part of the Adriatic Sea on the Baltic peninsula. The sea, the lakes, the canyons or the mountains enable everyone to decide on the best way to enjoy a vacation.

The beautiful landscape together with the history mixed with the spirit of old times, have given Montenegro everything one needs for an unforgettable vacation.

Everyone should visit Montenegro sometime. This little country is part of the Balkans and part of the Mediterranean, near Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Italy and Albania. Despite its small size there are so many contrasts and so much natural beauty. Don’t forget to take your camera because in Montenegro every view is like a photo of you dreams.

 

A large number of sunny days in summer and a lot of high mountains with snow in winter determine the two most developed forms of tourism in Montenegro: the coastal one- in summer and the ski one – in winter.

The coast line is 300 km and the highest mountain is 2 522 m, Durmitor.

Montenegro is a republic, independent state since 2005

Albania part 2

 

 

We are now sailing in Albania and looking for a marina to stay. Half way up, app 50 nm from Corfu, we called the Albanian Coast Guard on canal 16 VHF. We called several times but now answer. We even tried to go in to what we thought was a marina but the entrants was too shallow for our boat. We anchored outside behind a big pier and had dinner in our cockpit.

After the meal we decided to sail all night to Durres in the north of Albania.

We arrived at the same time as the sun raised from the horizon and anchored in the big bay outside Durres harbor.

At about lunchtime we woke up and called the harbour master and asked for permission to enter the harbor. Inside the harbour we understood that here wasn´t any marina for sailing yachts .

The people in the harbor was very polite and showed us a place were we could stay with our boat. The place was between to BIG ships and the area in the harbor was´t very nice so we decided once again to go on up to Montenegro and don’t stay in Albania.

We were very sad about this because we really wanted to visit Albania.

 

 

Albania part 1

Albania, part 1

 

Albania is one of Europe’s poorest countries and is still suffering from the time of communist dictatorship. The country is politically unstable and corruption and organised crime are rife. But the economic developments are heading in the right direction.

A third of the population lives on less that two us dollars a day, and many people do not have

access to water, sanitation and schools. The informal economy is huge, and tax income to the government are therefore small.  The small-scale nature of farming and a lack of modern

equipment mean that the farms seldom give more than food to the farmer himself.

Political and economic reforms must, continue, especially as regards corruption and organised crime. Another condition of eu accession is free and fair elections. Respect for human rights is growing in Albania, and a strategy has been drawn up for the integration of Romanies,

and children’s rights have entered the agenda.

The North Ionion Sea

North Ionian Sea.

 

We started our sailing trip up to the North Ionian Sea on a sunny day in the beginning of Mai.

The weather forecast  had promised (?) winds from the south witch was very suitable for us. We were three Swedish boats and we were heading for two small islands south of Curfu, Paxos and Antipaxos. The sailing day was very nice and we arrived in the late afternoon to the little village, Gaios.

We spent two days there and did some repairing on our boats. Just small things, but it has do be done. Next stop was Corfu. We discovered the island under a week and stayed in many small fishing harbours. Corfu town is a nice place but very touristy.  Small alleys and thousands of small shops for the tourists. We went for a stroll in the late evening one day and the town was crowded with people. But the atmosphere was very nice although it looked like a subway station in the late afternoon.

On the north side of Corfu we dropped our anchor in the crystal clear water and took our first swim for the season. The water was about 20 degrees, and from our anchoring place we looked over to Albania. The distant was about 2 km.  

Our last stopover in Greece was on the islands north of Corfu. From here it is the strait way up north to Albania.  We planed to stay on those islands for a couple of days, but the weather was good to set sails for the trip the day after so of we went…………      

 

Now we are floating

Wow, at last we are in the water again. It was a wonderful feeling!!!! In the marina we have been 10 boats from Sweden and we have had a good tome together. We are barbequeing almost every evening. We celebrated the orthodox Easter in the end of April. Every people in town visit the church and after a ceremony there, they marched in  the city with hand made coffins with lots of flowers, just to remember the Resurrection. It was beatiful and so nice to see all the people. This was on Friday evening. On Sunday we went to a restaurant and we had sheep barbecue for lunch.

After a few days we saild to a little town, Vonitsa, in the inland sea. We hade to trim the sailing rig. We saw tvo turtles when we followed the wind in 7,6 knots. Now we are back in Preveza and waiting for good winds to sail up to Albania and Montenegro.

Greece here we come

We started our trip by taking the train, X2000, from Lund to Stockholm. It was a ordinarily Tuesday evening but the train was almost full of people. In Stockholm we took the fast train to the airport, Arlanda. We waited there until four a clock in the morning and then the checking in for the plane to Athens started.

In Athens we looked after and found the bus who would take us to Preveza. After six hours in the bus and some food shopping we were at our boat. Inside she was very clean but outside she was very dirty.

After a simple dinner we fell asleep in two minutes.

In the morning the sun was shining and it was very warm.

Until now the weather has been warm, cold, rainy, thunderstorms. consequently April weather.

We have started to do our boat ready to launch, cleaning, polishing, painting underneath, set sails and so on. And in the meantime we also have to meet all our sailing friends who are here too. Nine other Swedish boats are here so we are having a good time together. Some evenings we go to a restaurant for dinner, we are having barbecues and one day we went to a gypsy market. There were almost everything to buy, vegetables, fruit, flowers, cloths, sunglasses, shoes, fish and bags. And everything was very cheap. What do you say about a nice pair of jeans for 95SEK.

I must tell you about the wonderful view we have from our cockpit. High mountains with snow on the tops, blue water with some small fishing boats and about 50 cows who are grazing on a open space. Sometimes the five dogs, who are living in our shipyard, are out on the green space and chasing the cows. The dogs are very nice, especially one, we are calling him Loppan. He likes us to very much, when we meet each other he is following us were ever we go.

But one morning we had a ugly visitor in our cockpit, a big cockroach! Tord took the ugly animal and throw it a long way from the boat. It is the last thing we want to have inside.

We are planning to launch in a few days and after that we shall spend Eastern with all our sailing friends in a marina in Preveza.

Our sailingplans for 2008

We are planning to sail from Preveza in Greece up to Albania and Montenegro. From there we go south and back to Greece again after a short visit in Italy. We will write reports from the trip and tell all of you about these countries and our experiences.

Free harbours and good anchoring in Italy and Malta

Free harbours in Italy and on Malta!!!!!  Free harbours along the Italians coast,
and good anchoring places from the boarder of France and too Rome.
	Bordighera	N43.46	E07.40	Marina free
	Oneglia	43.53	08.02	Marina free
	Andora	43.57	08.09	Marina free
	Isolotto Gallinara	44.01	08.13	Marina free
	Finale Ligure	44.10	08.22	Marina free
	Camogli	44.21	09.09	Marina free
	Portofino	44.18	09.12	only anchoring
	Santa Margmerita	44.19	09.13	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Rapallo	44.20	09.14	only anchoring
	Chiavari	44.18	09.19	only anchoring
	Sestri Levante	44.18	09.19	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Baia del Silensio	44.16	09.23	only anchoring
	Riva Trigoso	44.15	09.25	only anchoring
	Levanto	44.10	09.36	only anchoring
	Monte Rosso Levate	44.08	09.39	only anchoring
	Lerici	44.04	09.54	Marina free
	Punta Ala Marina	42.48	10.44	only anchoring
	Cala di Forno	42.37	11.05	only anchoring
	Santo Stefano	42.26	11.07	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Cala di Galera	42.24	11.46	only anchoring
	Civitavecchia	42.06	11.46	Marina free
	Santa Marinella	42.02	11.52	only anchoring
Elba
	Marciana Marina	42.48	10.11	Marina free
This is the only free marina on the island but there are plenty of good anchoring places,
and there are very good holding.
Sardinia
	Carloforte	39.08	08.19	Marina free
	Cagliari	39.11	09.06	Marina free
	Olbia	40.55	09.34	Marina free
Outside the coast of Olbia there are plenty of good anchoring places, and very good holding.
We know there are several more free marinas on this island (west coast), but we are not sure which they are.
Free harbours along the Italians coast,
and good anchoring places from Rome and too the Strait of Messina.
	Anzio			Marina (free) and anchoring
	Sperlonga	41.15	13.26	only anchoring
	Porto Santa Maria	41.12	13.35	Marina free
	Gaeta	41.13	13.34	only anchoring
	Formia	41.15	13.36	Marina free
	Baia	40.49	14.04	only anchoring
	Isola di Nisida	40.47	14.10	only anchoring
	Amalfi	40.37	14.36	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Agropoli	40.21	14.59	Marina free
	San Marco Dic	40.16	14.56	Marina free
	Acciaroli	40.10	15.01	Marina free
	Palinuro	40.02	15.16	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Camerota	39.59	15.22	only anchoring
	Marina di Scario	40.03	15.29	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Policastro	40.04	15.31	Marina free
	Sapri	40.03	15.37	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Cetraro	39.31	15.55	Marina  free) and anchoring
	Bagnara	38.18	15.48	Marina free
Isola di Ischia
Isola di Procida
Here are several good anchoring places round those islands, but in some places bad holding.
Sicily
	Cefalu	38.02	14.02	only anchoring
	Mondello	38.11	13.19	only anchoring
	Terrasini	38.10	13.05	Marina (free) and anchoring
	San Vito Lo Capo	38.10	12.45	only anchoring
	Trapani	38.00	12.30	Marina free
	Marsala	37.46	12.26	Marina free
	Marzala del Vallo	37.38	12.35	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Porto Palo	36.40	15.07	only anchoring
	Siracusa	37.03	15.17	Marina (free) and anhoring
	Augusta	37.13	15.13	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Brucoli	37.17	15.11	only anchoring
	Catania	37.29	15.05	Marina free
	Riposto	37.44	15.12	Marina (free) and anchoring
	Naxos	37.49	15.16	only anchoring
	Taormina	37.50	15.18	only anchoring
Isola Lampedusa
		35.29	12.36	Marina (free)and anchoring
Isola Pantelleria
		36.50	11.56	Marina free
				bad holding!
The free spots in the harbours above could have been taken away, but most likely
there should  one. They change it from one year to another.
And of course, the good anchoring is depending on the wind direction.
If you can´t find the free spot, call the Guarda Costiera on VHF 16.
Malta
	Valletta, Sliema Creek	35.54	14.30	Mooringbuoy free

      

Sailing in Greece

Same notes from a unknown english sailingfriend  Ionian Anchorages on mainland Quiet & out of the way Greece – Mainland Ionian When people think of the Ionian, the picture conjured up tends to be of the islands: Corfu, Paxos, sandy coves, the resinous scent of pine trees and yachts anchored in every sparkling bay. But there is another side to the Ionian, a side not so many people know about, and one which we prefer. Generally, the mainland coast is flanked by barren mountains running down to low, scrubby hills. In places it is deeply indented, forming some of the most sheltered anchorages we have ever seen. The surroundings are austere rather than beautiful, although they have their own charm, especially in the spring, when flowers spring up out of the stony soil and the bright pink blossoms of the Judas trees add vivid patches of color. The peace and tranquility of this area, however, are beyond compare. These anchorages are not for you if you’re after fresh bread and meals in restaurants – the best you can hope for is a few eggs from the farmer or a fish if you are an expert with rod and line. And one doesn’t come here if one feels lonely being the only yacht in an anchorage, but if you want to get away from the crowds, watch the eagles and the egrets, these are the places to go. We know of four such anchorages, but there are a number of others slightly less sheltered along the coast and in the Gulf of Amvrakia. The sheltered ones, from the north to the south, are Pandelimon South Creek, Igouminitsa Creek, Pagania and Ormos Ftelias. Pandelimon South Creek (38°29′N, 21° 05.7′E) has total shelter, with room for two or three yachts and good holding once you are through the weed. There is no longer any need to get a permit from the Ionian Fisheries Company to anchor here, as used to be suggested in pilot books. Igouminitsa Creek (39° 31.3′N, 20° 11′E) is sometimes known as Ormas Valtou, and the easternmost creek has good shelter. There is plenty of room and excellent holding in 5m. There is also excellent shelter and plenty of room at Pagania (39° 39.5′N, 20°06′E). Ormos Ftelias (39° 41.4′N, 20° 00.4′E) is five miles south-east of the Albanian border and is the most interesting of the four anchorages. It’s not in the pilot, but the entrance is between a high, rugged island with a curious yellowy cliff face on the Albanian side and a low island joined to the shore by gravel spit on the Greek side. Keep well clear of the Albanian border by passing one third of the way from the Greek island, then turn right, keeping in the middle of the creek and anchor where convenient in depths down to 3m, or less round the second corner. The last three anchorages lie in an area officially off-limits without a permit, but in practice no-one appears to take the slightest notice of this and yachts anchor there all the time without permits.

Sailing in Turkey, Canakkale – Marmaris

This is some notes from our friends from Australia,  CANAKKALE - MARMARIS  Notes on Anchorages North of Marmaris from Bruce and Cheryle Matthew …Yacht Sea Dove     July 2004    We left Marmaris on our shake down cruise on Sea Dove & sailed into a force 8+ to   SERCE, a good spot the restaurant boys give you a mooring line & take your line ashore, they don’t insist you eat there, we checked the prices, it was expensive for Turkey but a great view if you eat here! We gave the linesmen 5 million on the 2nd day, just as a sign of thanks. They appeared pleased with this. We anchored the SW end as it was full NE.   The next day we went to Bozuk Buku was a great spot you can anchor if you want. Water nice and clear, but too cold for us to swim when we were there early May.   Richard on the Yacht Sanyassa said that Ciftlik was good but Gerbekse Cove was no good.   We did not go to the DATCA Peninsula this trip, we later cleared in here. Buy a transit log from the travel agent on the water front (easy to find), then go to police in the street behind, then police will direct you upstairs to the customs guy, who gave us our visa paper stamp, then back to the police to ink stamp the paper stamp. Then they will direct you togas we were on a mission to make northing.    We stayed at PALAMAT, it was great. If you walk down the esplanade, there are only about 3 streets in this laid back lovely spot. Mind you we were there at the beginning of the tourist season. Walk bout 1klm, to the 2nd street off on the left, (you’ll get wet if you go right), there is a terrific fruit shop on the right hand side only about 3 house blocks down. Many small stores with groceries. The harbourmaster (lad) will take your lines for you. charged 10 million a day, very safe with force 7-8. There is water available and electricity that looked as though you take your life in your own hands if you use it.   KNIDOS no one was able set their anchors including us & Gulets! Kept watch all night but no wind fortunatley! ruins are about 8 million each. Our engine spat the dummy here. When we went ashore by dinghy we saw anchors lying on their sides on top of the sand.   MERSINCIK, anchor dug in 2nd time, rowed a line to shore, nice and quiet here, the only gulet left around 4pm.   Aspat Koyu. Anchored off the hotel in the bay, anchored in western section, no cruising yachts, no problems, sandy bottom in about 3-4 meters.   Turgutreis Marina at Karatoprak- didn’t go here, just passed, could see Tansas next to marina. Ros and Nigel said this was inexpensive (but remember they are blessed with English pounds).   Gumusluk – don’t miss this quaint town. Provisions ashore. Not a huge bay, anchored in the NW end of Bay, between the 2 anchors in Heikell. Anchored in mud, good holding.   Nikolao Bay. Sheltered here in force 7+ . Anchor dragged at first, but on 2nd try held very well. We didn’t relax here due to winds and nerves and lee shores. But anchor held well. Had 2 visits from Jandarma with machine gun on stern. Couldn’t speak English but were quite professional & didn’t know what the hell to do with us, so waved and smiled. . 2 nights here   We are told there is a free marina on Samos at Pithagorion. Pithagorian marina. Nothing there, only pontoons.   Cam Limani – not a military zone anymore. Anchored E of Cam Limani Adassi. In small bay, took 3 times to set anchor. This was a bolt hole as the wind picked up.   Gookovar Limani – Fiord like Bay, we anchored in north creek. Engine played up here, 2nd time. ‘There are more fish farms than in our 7 year old Heikkel, but it was lovely and quiet past the farms. Visited by an official looking man in a brown uniform. The boatsman had no idea how to protect the sides of Sea Dove, they had no fenders and a big old heavy boat and no boating skills. Bruce ended up telling them to go away. (and they did!)   Cesme – stayed in the town marina – It is a marina now not a port as in our Heikell. Loved the town, but baulked at the $28 million charge for stuff all facilities, toilet a long walk and no showers. Water and power available. THe town was lovely. In hindsight wish we’d stayed at Agriler Limani, there is an unfinished marina there for free. Big market is on sundays in Cesme, but we caught a bus saturday to the big market at ALACATI -  Try to visit this lovely town if you can, you can also go to Alacati from Agriler Limani . Alacati is a lovely very old cobble stoned town. the market had fabulous antiques and vegies and all the other stuff you buy in Turkish markets. Has to be the best market we’ve been to.   EGRIT LIMANI -  Bloody engine played up again. Think we fixed it this time… Anchored in 1st cove, as the 2nd cove has silted up somewhat. Here we went ashore for walks and the locals invited us to join them for cay and then back for dinner, with music, and arak. phewww good holding in sand   BADAM LIMANI – We anchored in about 4 meters at anchorage no 2 in Helkell, which was fine, water not clear enough for us to swim, but holding good. We didn’t visit the hot springs as we were on a mission to go North.   AYVALIK -  Keep to south of both cardinal marks before entering channel. There are anchorages everywhere here. Our favorite marina, a Setur marina with the most helpful young Ishmael. Migros next to marina for convenience. Fresh fruit market Thursdays. Everything cheaper than Marmaris, post office other end of town. Banks and ATM near Atturtuk statue. Market is behind here, follow the ladies with plastic bags of fruit. There is a large vegie market and a smaller one nearby with vegies from local ladies, all on Thursdays. although it is not well known there is a small chandlery in town. the man is most helpful, even drove Bruce around to get some stainless work done. To find him, head towards town, His shop is in an arcade on the right side of the street (left is water). past the local supermarket,I think the first group of shops, the arcade has a Kodak shop just after it. The bright guy in this photo shop is very helpful. A good wool and yarn store in street parallel to waterfront. Cheap, delicious ice creams.   CAMLIK BAY-  Like a bay here. Dolmus is 1 million wave down any heading towards Ayvalik. Very busy market day. The big white and red public bus leaves from the store up the hill every half hour and costs 50 cents. Buy a ticket from the man in the ticket box (must be bored silly). Or the drivers understand us useless foreigners if you have correct money. We stayed here on and off for 2 weeks waiting for gas. Eventually they wouldn’t fill our 2nd aussie bottle, so we bought a Greek one in Greece later.   POROSELENE _  NO good in a NE. We anchored in SW anchorage, couldn’t get anchor to set in N anchorage. Stayed a few days in SW anchorage, good swimming on sandy beach, but rocky beach was alive with sea urchins. NOne on sandy beach, good swimming.   ALTINOLUK -  a bit out of the way, but the most helpful fisherman and locals. Plenty of depth in harbour, 4 meters. Tied to southern break wall initially, no problems, but fishermen wanted us over with them, just to be friendly. So tied up to northern wall and were a novelty for all local Turks on holiday. Good prices in town, everything available. Quietened down at 2300- 2400hrs. Stayed 4 days, no charge either.   SIVRICE – Tried to anchor off town, but just dragged and dragged on sea weed, further down the bay towards the middle it was rocky, so we quit!! went to Baba Burun   BABA BURUN – mmmm, very windy when we arrived. Looked a bit dodgy to the right behind break wall. There was one yacht there, and not much more room, so we dropped anchor in middle of harbour then when wind died tied off to southern break wall. This is an interesting spot. NO problems, a few fishermen use the harbour and a local policemen who was fishing from the wall had a chat. good shelter, but didn’t go ashore.   BOZCAADA -  We anchored in the bay south of the harbour. Anchor held well, pretty shallow, sand and weed, plenty of sandy patches, anchored in about 4 meters.   ANZAC COVE -  Didn’t stay overnight as we were on a lee shore. Anchored in 4 meters, good holding, nice and sandy, clear water to swim in. Didn’t see any spent shell cases on the bottom. We believe that if they are found they should be left in their watery grave. Swam ashore in North Cove (just nth of Anzac Cove) to visit my Grandfather’s brother Daniel’s grave at No.2 outpost. Dan was an field ambulance officer and was at Gallipoli for 1 week before he died aged 23.   KABATEPE LIMANI – NO one came to offer assistance or advise, appeared very commercial, and not sure where to tie, looked like side-to. Ferry surge could be a problem, so had time to make next bay, so left.   ANIT LIMANI – Anchor wouldn’t set on long thick sea grass in shallow water, so went out deeper and anchored well in sand about 10 meters. So stay out deep!! Turk War Memorial overlooks bay.   CANAKKALE – Stayed in marina, great spot. $30 per night for SD, but only $100 for the week. If you want power and water it is 10 million per day each!! So we just got water on the last day. It is friendly with tourists along the esplanade, but not too many around the marina. All is quiet by midnight. Stayed a week. Charges in some establishments were often higher for the tourist. So beware. Ask prices first, this happened quite a few times. Great Place to do “Anzac, Gallipoli Tour”. Migros is 2 or 3 main streets back from and parallel to waterfront. The Post Office (PTT), is the street before Migros. There is a very good small supermarket one street back and parallel to the waterfront. It is on a corner, and the owner is friendly and likes to practise his English. Try the chocolate and cherry icecream on the esplanade.   From Cannakale we doddled around the Sea of marmara. Nice, but nothing to write home about. If anyone wants any info on here, just email us.   On checking out of Canakkale, Bruce was given the run about as it was Saturday and they were hoping to fleece him for some graft. A French yacht came in and although we took them to Customs, they were tricked into paying 125 million for an agent plus 35 Euro for a transit log. Customs told them everything was closed, but they can get anything they need if they pay for it… strange that he was open and at the same time Bruce was in the Harbour Master’s office… so he was there… and the police are always open…mmm..someone’s greedy. The agent came to the French yacht and took about 1 hour to return with everything stamped, think he would have at least gone home for a coffee and made the job look as though it took longer. Harbour Master and Customs are both close to the Marina, to clear out go to Police station first and ask for Sea Police. This nice man will give you a map if you ask for it. Harbour master is one street back from and parallel to the promenade. Customs is past the ferry gates on the Promenade, 200 meters down.    We don’t mind ANYONE passing these notes oN. Regards Cheryle and Bruce

S/y Aylas sailingtrip 2007

 We left Sweden in the end of April and flew down to Fuimicino, Rome. It was a great moment to see our lovely boat again after 5 months. We had a wonderful time together with other sailors in the marina. You could smell the smoke from the BBQ almost every evening. After 3 weeks we left the marina and sailed along the Italian coastline to the south. We visit a lot of wonderful places, Ponza, Capri, Amalfi and so on. We stayed almost every night on our anchor, but in Capri we went in to the marina. One night there, was the same prize as for a month in Rome!! But it was worth it.

After Capri we sailed to Amalfi and then down to the Liparian islands. It is a few islands north of Sicily with active volcanoes. It was a great feeling to drop the hook beside an active volcano and see bubbles coming up from the seabed just beside our boat and to smell the sulphur from the crater of the volcano. After two weeks we crossed over to Sicily and enjoyed all of lovely anchoring bays on the north side of the island. From Sicily we sailed down to a little island, Pantelleria. From here we continued down to the African continent and stayed there for a month.

On our way back to Sicily we visited Lampedusa and then Malta. We spent a wonderful time on Sicily before we sailed eastwards to Greece.

In the end of august we entered the Greece archipelago together with a whale (!).

The Greece islands in the Ionian Sea are like the paradise (I think!). A lot of wonderful island and anchoring places for all of us.

Now is s/y Ayla on hard stand  just outside Preveza town, Greece. Our plans are to start the next sailing- season for 2008 in April.

Sy/Ayla sailing trip 2006

 We left Lagos I Portugal in the end of April 2006 and sailed to our favourite island, Culatra, outside Faro. It was very nice to back on this wonderful place again. After a week we crossed over to the Spanish Andalusia and visit some English friends there. Our sailing trip continued down to Gibraltar. It was our second visit this year to this place. We came here in February on a short trip to pick up a watermaker witch is now installed and working perfect. From here we sailed to Morocco. This was in the middle of May and we had a very bad weather. About 15 degrees so we had to put on the heater. In Sweden at the same time they had 25 degrees. Is something wrong with the global weather????

We had a very interesting time in this country. We took a local bus and went up to the mountains. This we recommend you to do if visiting this part of the world-

Back to Spain and all the way to the Balearics. We stayed here for six weeks.Mallorca is a wonderful island for sailing. We hade a terrible thunderstorm there and wind gusts over 60 knots/sec. We dragged of course but everyone did!We sailed from the Balearics and then to Sardinia. We loved that island and stayed there until September. Then we went for a short trip to Rome (to make a reservation for the winter) and then back again and sailed around Elba and Corsika for a month and then back to Rome again. We left our floating home in Fuimicino, just outside Rome, on hard stand in December and went back to Sweden. We just bought a new apartment in Lund (Sweden). It was new for us but the house is 50 years old. So we spend 5 months renovating the whole apartment. New kitchen (IKEA of course ) new wooden floor (Swedish oak) and so on……. We saved the bathroom to next winter. We were worried that we shouldn´t have anything to do next winter (!?!)