Blog of Alexander Mamchenkov … mammoth cave …

Last week I a friend of mine Dmitry and I went to the sailing trip to Kastelorizo island (Greece). Though it was not that easy since we were only two and we had hard time night times, the trip was amazing. We had a lot of experience every day and each day was like three days long. Photos from the trip are here (though the order is a bit messed up due to incorrect time on one of the cameras and thus incorrect EXIF data of pictures which I use for sorting).

In summary, here is how the trip went:

• 23/07/07:
  • 10:00: in the St. Rafael marine doing the preparations of the yacht as well as getting clearance from the customs services
  • 10:30: left the marine with the yacht towards Paphos.
  • 11:00 – 11:30: long talks with a lot of people to arrange the delivery of my pink slip (visa) from Nicosia college to Limassol by the time we are back.
  • 17:00 – 19:00: on anchor in Pissuri bay. Fixing the cable from wind indicator, fixing genua (front sail) a bit, having dinner.
  • 19:00 – 20:00: going with sails.
  • 20:00 – 24:00: using engine due to very weak wind. Shifting between each other on duty to get some sleep (2 hours shifts).
• 24/07/07:
  • 5:00: somewhere after Paphos on the way to Latchi through Akamas. Very foggy (can\’t see anything beyond 10 meters). Still running on engine.
  • 9:00: we are in Latchi on anchor.
  • 9:30: went to Latchi marine to get some diesel and meet local marine police.
  • 11:00 – 14:00: no luck with diesel. Fixed all issues with police. Fixed some more of from sails, had lunch.
  • 14:30 – 22:00: on the way to Kastelorizo. Tried sailing under wind for some time, but still very weak wind. Using engine.
  • 22:00 – 24:00: some ship and coastal guards around in the darkness – not the best feeling. Anyway, they pass away. On shifts again.
• 25/07/07:
  • 0:00 – 10:00: low wind, going with sails when possible and with engine other times.
  • 10:00 – 17:00: rescuing those swimming toys like balloons and others from the see :) Got four of those.
  • 17:00 – 20:00: recovering the string from tuna fishing spinning which got around the bulb. Found out that we managed to catch Scat fish like this, but it gets away right 2 meters before we get it into the yacht. Having dinner.
  • 20:00 – 24:00: going towards Kastelorizo on engine, the see is like a mirror – no wind at all (I mean 0, zero).
• 26/07/07:
  • 0:00 – 5:00: going with shifts. Already near land. Very dangerous because of the whole bunch of ships and other stuff in the see in the darkness (reading radar all the times).
  • 5:00 – 5:30: very foggy again, we are almost at destination place, but waiting for clear weather to proceed between all those small islands and rocks.
  • 5:30 – 7:00: got to the small bay and get on anchor. Very nice place. Took some photos.
  • 7:00 – 10:00: got some water and other minor stuff from the coast.
  • 11:00 – 13:00: fill in the talk with diesel (complicated procedure in their environment).
  • 13:00 – 18:00: sleep
  • 18:00 – 20:00: had dinner in local restaurant. Quite nice and prices are low.
  • 20:00 – 24:00: beer in local bar.
• 27/07/07:
  • 0:00 – 1:00: still in the bar.
  • 1:00 – 8:00: sleep
  • 8:00 – 9:00: preparations for departure
  • 9:00 – 16:00: going towards Cyprus (Paphos directly, no Latchi this time) on engine – no wind
  • 16:00 – 17:00: wind came out of nowhere, enjoying sailing.
  • 17:00 – 24:00: on engine agian. Somewhere in the middle of the distance – open waters.
• 28/07/07:
  • 0:00 – 16:00: going on engine and using sails from time to time when possible. Caught tuna fish (around 10 kilo).
  • 16:00 – 21:00: wind came out. Going quite fast on sails.
  • 21:00 – 22:00: trying to get in contact with marine to free up our space there.
  • 22:00 – 24:00: quite strong wind and waves, still going on sails. Passing Paphos.
• 29/07/07:
  • 24:00 -6:30: going on engine due to big waves and strong wind. Dangerous.
  • 6:30 – 11:00: in Limassol bay. Trying to get one more tuna fish before going to marine. No luck this time.
  • 11:00 – 12:00: going to marine. Talking to marine police for instructions regarding parking.
  • 12:00 – 13:00: talking to customs in marine.
  • 13:00 – 13:40: relocating the yacht to hour place. Washing it.
  • 13:40 – 15:00: waiting for customs officer to come and do clearance. Getting my pink slip to the marine.
  • 15:00 – 16:00: finished with customs and other paper work. Going home.

Ok. That\’s it. I have skipped some parts and probably missed something. The trip was all fun and with variety of activities, different weather and so on and so forth. I really enjoyed it.