Decision made - sailing on to Brindisi

Brindisi coastline

We reached Otranto around midnight as expected.  What was not expected was the vast amount of ship traffic in the region.  There were huge cargo ships all around and it was a very dark night.  The more we thought about crossing the shipping lanes at night and going into an unknown port to drop anchor the more reasonable it seemed to just keep going.  It was another 40 nm to Brindisi so we thought we would likely be arriving after the sun was up.  If it looked like we would arrive too early we could just slow down a bit.  So the decision was made, we would sail on to Brindisi.

Marina di Brindisi

Once we decided to keep going we knew we had to get away from all those big ships.  We decided to sail closer to the coast (within 3 to 5 miles) which would put us out of the shipping lanes.  What a relief it was to finally get away from those ships!  At last we were able to get tad bit of sleep. Our decision to carry on ended up being a really good decision as the wind decided to turn north early.  The swell got rough as the wind picked up to 18 knots on the nose!  Consequently our speed dropped way off and we were barely making any headway.  At one point we were barely making 3 knots - a crawl.  No worries that we would get in too early now😒.  

 

Fishing off the sea wall - Brindisi

 

 

After a couple of hours the swell calmed down and our speed improved.  We were still making only 4.5 knots but better speed than earlier.  All night there was lightening all around but never a drop of rain.  We were hoping it would hold off until we were docked.  As it turned out we reached the Marina at 1000 Greek time and 0900 Italian time.  As we were docking it did finally start to rain but at least we weren't sailing all night in the rain😄.  We really wanted to sleep the day away but a nap was the best we could manage.  There are always a lot of formalities when you arrive in a new country that must be attended to no matter how tired you are.  We were so glad that we made the decision to carry on as the next day was rough.  High winds and rain.  Not only was it like that the next day but it remained rainy, cool and very, very windy for the next two weeks.  As a matter of fact after a week of that we said to heck with it.  After securing the boat well we rented an apartment for the weekend and just settled back to enjoy the stillness.  But now the sun is shining every day and its 70 degrees outside.  Pretty perfect!

Othnoi

Big dent from hitting the whale

One day before we departed from Corfu a boat came in and docked beside us. On board were a group of young people with the Captain being from Germany and his wife from Vermont!  They had been sailing since June from their starting point in the Baltic Sea. As we were talking we noticed a big dent in the side of their aluminum boat and inquired about it.  Somewhere off the coast of Sicily, near Licata, they had hit a sleeping whale.  Whales don't show up on radar and are hard to see at night!  Fortunately, their boat is aluminum so there was not serious damage to the hull.  It would have been a different story if the boat had been fiberglass.  We made a mental note to watch for whales in Sicily😄.

 

Pass between Greece and Albania - Greece on the left, Albania on the right

Greece does not make it easy for you to leave Greece the right way.  As a sailing vessel you are required to "check out" of Greece with the Coast Guard and turn in your "transit log".  All fine except the only place to "check out" was Corfu.  Our plan was to sail to Erikoussa or Othnoi (or both) and then it would be just a 45 nm sail over to Italy.  We were told you can go to the outer islands but then you have to come back to Corfu and check out.  Well, of course, we had no plans to sail back to Corfu as we were just stopping at those islands for a night to shorten our distance to Italy.  Our options were to stop at one of the outer islands even though we were already checked out or sail all the way from Corfu to Italy.  By law you must be out of Greece within 24 hours of checking out so if we stopped we would be outside of the law.  We checked with the agent who assisted us when we entered Greece and he told us to check out in Corfu and then go to Erikoussa.  He said if anyone questioned us that we were to say we needed to seek a safe harbor and have them call him.  Assurances were made that we would not be fined or worse.  We had tried for days to reach Erikoussa to reserve a spot but never reached the harbormaster.  Eventually, we decided to skip Erikoussa and just sail to Othnoi.  Yes, there is bureaucracy everywhere!

Othnoi, Greece

Once the storms had passed we set sail for Othnoi.  It was a nice day for sailing, breezy but the winds were not too strong.  We reached Othnoi an hour earlier than expected and even though we had contacted the harbormaster there was no-one around.  It was a veritable ghost town.  So we tied ourselves up to the quay and thought things through.  We noticed that Talaria was hobby horsing with just 10 knots of wind and the wind would pick up over night.  It is shallow all around the entrance and we started thinking of how difficult it might be to get out of there at night should the wind from the east pick up to the point where we were really uncomfortable.  We also knew that once we reached Italy we would not have much time to make it to Brindisi before the wind shifted north.  Quite possibly we would get stuck in Otranto for days as we had no desire to battle a head wind.  After some thought and discussion we decided to heat up thermos of water, eat something and then keep going to Italy.  

Sun setting on the way to Italy

 At 1630 we untied and set sail for Otranto, Italy.  We thought we would just sail overnight while the seas were calm.  Our working plan was to sail to Otranto and then decide if we wanted to approach the harbor at night and make it to Brindisi the next day or just sail on to Brindisi. 

Historic Corfu

Old Fortress

 Corfu's Old Fortress dates back to the 14th century, over the fortress's many years it endured siege after siege.  WWII is but the latest chapter of the fortress's long and storied history.  Corfu had been occupied by Italy after a diplomatic incident in 1923 led to Mussolini bombing Corfu and then occupying the island.  After Italy surrendered to the Allies, the Nazis gained possession of Corfu and the Old Fortress.  Under Nazi occupation Jews living in Corfu were rounded up and jailed in the fortress prison until being transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. 

Byzantine Collection

The Old Fortress buildings that remain include the clock tower and the prison.  In addition, the fortress now houses a small but magnificent Byzantine collection that includes frescoes saved from Byzantine churches.  Also housed within the Old Fortress are a library and the Ionian University music school.  The first couple of days that we were in Corfu and the weather was nice our time was spent visiting the Old Fortress and the Old Town of Corfu - a UNESCO world heritage site.

Panagia Mandrakina

 Off to the right when leaving the Old Fortress is the Panagia Mandrakina (Church of Virgin Mary Mandrakina).  The eye catching pink Greek Orthodox church overlooks the Mandraki port of the Old Fortress.  And past the church is the Palace of St. George and St. Michael (the Royal Palace).  

Palace of St. George and St. Michael

 The Palace was initially built to house the British High Commissioner and the Order of St. George and St. Michael.  Now the building is a Museum for Asian Art.  Michael and I continued strolling through the Old Town with no real purpose in mind.  Following a maze of narrow lanes we were a bit surprised to find that we were no longer anywhere near the Old Port.  As we tried to find our way back (no Google maps to assist) we ended up just walking around in circles.  So... when all else fails get a taxi.  When the taxi dropped us off at the Old Fortress we could not believe how far we had walked!  Our site seeing came to a bit of a halt with the weather but we still ventured out some when the rain let up.  Corfu is a beautiful town with a different vibe from the other Greek towns we have visited.  Perhaps because they see far more tourists.  Overall it was a great visit and a town that I could visit again and again.