Roccella Jonica
November 2016
It was a long cruising season, this one, but we are back in our winter home, same as last year, here in Roccella Jonica, Calabria, Italy. We have only been back for two weeks, and, having left at the end of April, it was, indeed, a long season.
We had our adventures and saw the sights in Croatia, Montenegro and Greece, some of which we already wrote about. In Croatia, we visited areas in the northern part that we had not visited on our first trip. Krk and Rab are two beautiful islands with excellent anchorages, free of concessions, that are also largely free of the charter crowd. In my opinion, that makes them the finest cruising grounds in the Adriatic. After three months, our visas expired, so we sailed on to Montenegro.
We have been there twice before, but this time we spent over a month, rented a car and drove through the mountainous interior. It was magnificent. There are alpine valleys and lakes, canyons, forests, and quaint villages nestled throughout. That along with beautiful Kotor Bay makes Montenegro well worth a visit by land or sea.
Next up was a trip to Ionian Greece, my first time there. We left Montenegro with a forecast for some downwind sailing, but true to form we ended up motoring for 46 hours to Corfu. At least we had no headwind. Many Med cruisers only ever seem to go to that part of Greece and rave about it, so expectations are set pretty high. Certainly the scenery is beautiful, the people are all very friendly and there are anchorages to visit. Staying on town quays is inexpensive and anything in the way of provisions or parts are widely available. I guess that is why it is so popular with the cruising and charter crowd. We were there in September and it was pretty busy, but I heard the stories and would not want to be there in high season when it is jam-packed.
Mechanical problems seemed to be a theme that pestered us this season. In the spring we had to haul out in Crotone to replace a seized seacock in the head. Then whilst in Greece, our shaft seal began to leak which meant another haul out, again in Crotone. Towards the end of September, and pretty much since then, the weather became unsettled. It was tough to find a weather window to cross the notorious strait at the bottom of the Adriatic and then Taranto Bay, which forms the arch in the boot of Italy. We staged our departure from Greece on the north side of Othonoi Island and left in the middle of a lightning storm. The southerly winds had been high and I was expecting the worst for crossing the strait, but it all turned out well and we stopped in San Maria di Leuca, which is right on the heel of Italy. A few days there and we took some winds and reached across Taranto.
Finally arriving in Crotone at the beginning of October, we hauled out and began work. Besides changing the shaft seal, I also changed another seacock which was also likely to fail since it was the same brand is the other two that did fail and were replaced. We also repaired some osmosis blisters and applied a few coats of antifouling. After two weeks we were ready to launch and had a short window to make the trip across the Bay of Squalls and back to Roccella. Unfortunately, while still in the crane slings, water was leaking in through the newly replaced seacock, so it was back on the hard and into a cradle. Repairing the leak only took three days but now we were weather bound and it would be another 10 days before the winds would favour the trip again. Fortunately, we really enjoyed being in Crotone and Elio and his staff are marvellous.
Well it is all behind us now and we are happily back in Porto delle Grazie in Rocella Jonica and have joined the small live-aboard community here. The marina has made dramatic improvements to the facilities here, which include a new clubhouse and another block of toilets. As always, Francesco and his crew are very friendly, helpful and do their best to make us feel at home. This is definitely a jewel of a place, as is Calabria, in general.
Ciao,
Branko
