Athens here we come

When we had sailed out of Humlebæk Harbour, we had only had one goal. The Mediterranean, which we had sailed out into a little west of Marseilles, where the Rhône has its mouth.

The journey across Europe had taken almost a year and had been so much richer in experiences than we could reasonably have imagined. 

But still, none of us had finished cruising.

To the west was Spain. To the east, France and Italy.

We had decided to sail east. Because as an Englishman had said.

»It is so beautiful going east. I wouldn't bother going west«

It wasn't until we reached Sicily two years later that we started talking about maybe it was time to sail home.

On the Aeolian Islands, which lie half a dozen nautical miles north of Sicily, we had met a Danish couple.

»You may want to sail to Greece, now that you are so close,« they had said.

They were right. There were no more than 325 nautical miles to Greece and when would we have the opportunity to sail there again?

In late summer 2019, we reached Corfu. It is the largest of the Ionian Islands, the most westerly in Greece. We stayed in the Ionian for the next two years. Wintered for the first time in the same place twice, got to know a few of the islands and the waters well and started to know Preveza and Lefkas.

But Greece is much more than the Ionian Sea. On the other side of the Peloponnese is the Aegean Sea with Crete in the south, Turkey in the east, Athens in the west and of course a lot of islands.

That's where we wanted to go.

Eat, Travel and Be Happy

»We always take a charter flight. Then we are free of stopovers. It is nice. Especially in these corona times« a Danish couple in Preveza had said.

We looked into it.

Yes Spies surely had travels with direct flight to Preveza. But they were expensive. Really expensive. But suddenly one day the price plummeted. Strangely enough only on one of the journeys.

Departure from Copenhagen on Monday afternoon in mid-August.

...perfect.

We hurried to click on "Book the Trip"

A few days before departure we received an SMS with instructions.

»We recommend that you show up at the airport 3 hours before your departure,« said one of them.

Apparently it wasn't necessary. After all, Kastrup Airport had got a handle on the security checks during the summer. The wait was 10-15 minutes and probably less on a Monday afternoon. But maybe Spies knew something we didn't. So we followed the instructions. Got through security quickly and spent the next few hours waiting to get off.

The flight was on time. When we had reached the halfway, smiling flight attendants handed out goods in plastic bags sealed with yellow tape and marked tax-free, because the goods up here at an altitude of 10 kilometers could be sold without VAT.

After only three hours, the pilot put the wheels safely on the runway. It was rewarded with a round of applause in the half-full plane. In line with the ritual that probably dates back to the earliest days of air traffic.

Nice to step out into the warm evening twilight in Preveza after an easy and unproblematic journey. (Last time the journey took 18 hours)

Now there can't possibly be anything wrong

The next morning we drove out to Heron.

In the spring, we had a lot of maintenance done. So much so that our neighbor, who eagerly followed our stories, had thought that 'now there can't possibly be anything wrong with that boat'

Although we wanted to prove him right, we answered 'hopefully not'

First, a lot can (and will) break on a boat. Second, there was no reason to risk attracting the attention of Nemesis and third, we were actually missing one small thing.

We have several times had problems with lines getting wrapped around the propeller. Twice so thoroughly that we had to have a diver remove it. To avoid getting stuck on a line or being stopped by a fishing net or similar, we mounted a rope cutter on the drive shaft in the spring. We were unsure if the mounting was correct and had asked the yard to find a mechanic who could have a look at it.

We hadn't waited long before the mechanic showed up

»It looks fine « he said, »I can easily take a bit of it, but there's no reason to. »The tolerance of 5 mm is sufficient«

Wonderful.

Our neighbor had been so heartily right and we were just so ready for launching and the autumn journey.

…Athens here we come

»But«continued the mechanic as he puller the drive shaft »This doesn't look good«

What 'didn't look good' was that the bearing for the shaft in the bow tube was gone.

»You have to pull the shaft out to see if it sits further inside the bow tube, « explained the mechanic.

It was a major operation. Among other things, the rudder had to be dismantled and removed. It was not something we could handle ourselves. Fortunately, the skilled mechanic had time, but it was difficult to know when you could get spare parts.

…So uh

We should probably expect that it would be two weeks before Heron was ready for launch.

»Darn, darn and 1.000 times darn« as Donald Duck said in our childhood Donald Duck magazine when something went against him.

Well, it wasn't that much darn. We still had plenty of time and Preveza is a super nice city.

Final launch

It was September before the mechanic reported ready for launch. Early in the morning Heron was taken out of the steel rack and driven the long way to the slipway. Just as the hull hit the waterline, the mechanic and his assistant appeared. Totally unexpected. Both jumped aboard and disappeared into the cabin. A little later they came up. The mechanic with the thumbs up as a sign that everything was ok.

We prepared for departure, started the engine and sailed out of the slipway the short way over to Preveza Marina. Here we wanted to get ready for the autumn cruising.

Plus VAT

We didn't get far before the engine cut out with a deep sigh.

»What the f...«

The narrow strait between the Great Lagoon and the Ionian Sea is one of the few places in the Mediterranean where there are tides.

The tide was now outward. The prospect of drifting out into the narrow strait and further into the open sea without being able to maneuver was not appealing. Of course we could drop anchor. But we were in a bad spot and what if we couldn't start the engine?

We called pan pan to the port office in Cleopatra Marina, which was a few hundred meters away.

Soon after, a marinero came out in a dinghy.

»We have an engine failure. Can you tow us into the marina?«

»No problem. It will be €200« he shouted and before we could protest he added »plus VAT«

Horribly unreasonable, but what could we do but accept.

»Can't you tow us over to Preveza Marina instead?«

»I´m not allowed to do that. I'll call my colleague over there and have him tow you«

While we waited for the colleague, we hailed a passing English boat heading for the marina.

If they could tow us over to the marina?

No problem. We threw a line over to them, came in tow and called Preveza Marina on the VHF.

»Preveza Marina. Here's Heron, Heron. We are being towed into the marina and do not need towing assistance from you. Repeat. We do not need towing assistance from you, please confirm, over«

But it wasn't supposed to be that easy.

»It is not allowed to be towed in the marina. Our marinero is on its way« Stand by. was the reply.

When we were a few hundred meters from the marina, a dinghy with two marineros came out to us.

Original: »We´ll tow you in« one of them shouted and continued »It will be €300 plus VAT«

»What !!! Your colleague just said €200 plus VAT«

»I don´t anything about that «

The Englishman untied our line and threw it over to us. We thanked them for the help and now came in tow of the dinghy.

10 minutes later and 300€ plus VAT poorer we were towed to one of the best, if not the best berth in Preveza Marina.

When we had relaxed a bit in the scorching heat, we went into the nicely cooled harbor office.

The two employees, whom we knew from previous trips, smiled in recognition. One welcomed us back, even though he was busy serving a guest.

When it was our turn, we handed him the title deed and insurance policy. He briefly looked at the two documents and typed something on his keyboard. Then the printer started printing a bill. We stared at him intently. Prepared for a tough renegotiation of the unreasonable price for a tow, which we had even told them that we did not need.

But the pulse dropped noticeably when he handed us the bill. It said port fees for the two days we had booked and only that

Diagnosis

We went back to Heron. Next task. Start the engine.

We didn't have to spend time on the diagnosis. During the short but eventful trip over to Preveza, we had managed to catch the mechanic on the mobile phone. When we told him that the engine had gone out just after we had sailed from slipway, he started in the best Mikkel-Beha fashion by asking:

»Have you opened the handle to the diesel tank?«

"uhhhh"

Now the engine had to be bled. It went easily and yes, the engine failure was due to something as simple as a lack of diesel supply. (Which is probably a not uncommon cause of engine failure). The checklist that we had forgotten during the confusing launch was found. Now we followed it closely and after just two days we were ready.

… Athens here we come

What about the €300 plus VAT?

We didn't ask abut them. No one else did either

...we were quite satisfied with that.