After departing Corfu we sailed for Sarande last night and we were all very concerned about the weather. It was blowing about 16 knots in the port of Corfu, sometimes gusting to 20 knots. In the cruise business we all know, as a rule of thumb, 20 knots in Corfu means 40 knots in Sarande as the anchorage there is fully open to the elements. Then you have to rely on the wind being from the North or North East to have a chance to make the call. And it was blowing from the North West with high waves rolling in. Then there are two options, either you sail away or you hope that the wind will die down fast after sunset. Most winds in Greece are generated by the sun burning on the land during the day, the Etesian Winds, and they normally die down as soon as the sun goes away; but not always.
With these waves you can not tender safely. So we had to wait off shore for things to improve. Which happened after sunset.
Thus the captain decided to wait for it and to have a shorter call but still make the call. Our official arrival time was 19.00 hrs. but close to 20.00 hrs. the wind was nearly gone and the swell followed shortly after. By extending the stay ashore time to 22.30 hrs. we could still squeeze a short stop out of it. Luckily by staying on the engines you can float fairly close to the shore and with 3 tenders a good tender service could be maintained. We did not need the remainder of the tenders as they were on the swell side of the ship and having them lowered would have meant turning the ship around and make a lee. That would have reduced the port time even more. Not that many guests went ashore as the difficult decision had to be made about enjoying what the Koningsdam had to offer or what Sarande might have had to offer. So many stayed on board but for those who could not resist: we made the call safely.
Sarande is a new port and thus the charts are not that advanced yet as in other areas of the world. Thus we had to work from a sketch made by the local Navy. But the soundings were good and thus we could creep all the way into and drift close to the dock (dark black bit)
From there it is a nice ride along the Greek coast southbound to get to Katakolon in Greece. This town has changed from a sleepy little fisherman’s town to a large cruise ship port since they have put four docks in. Katakolon is the Gate way to Olympia which is 33 kilometers away from the port. Today we had a full port day, with three ships inside: The Koningsdam, the Aida Bella and the Costa Mediterranea. The anchorage can handle two more ships and they tender to the fourth dock which is shallower. However today we had three ships and it was more than enough.
Check out at the duty free store.
The focus of the crew was not so much on the port today as on the Duty Free Store just outside the ship. I never knew you could buy duty free water but you can. The ship was stacking up for the various crew bars on board but the crew itself bought up a storm as well. The duty free prices for perfume and Liquor were not that great as Greece is in the European Common Market and the ships are cruising to other Common Market Ports; and thus duty free was not on par with duty free if you fly Intercontinental. Still a good bargain could be had.
I was proud to see that Holland had exported a recent invention to Greece, the Beer Bike. It is a sort of rolling Dutch Pub. You sit at a bar and with 12 others and you peddle with your feet while drinking beer. The Publican steers the Beer Bike and you see the sights while at the same time enjoying a good glass of beer. I will provide a firsthand report next cruise when we visit Katakolon again.
We will stay here until 20.00 hrs. and then sail back to where we came from, passing through the Straits of Messina tomorrow afternoon around 18.00 hrs. Then the next day we are in Naples which is the final port of this 7 day cruise that terminates in Civitavecchia on the 15th of April.
The Koningsdam basking in the mediterranean sun. Being the biggest ship in town we had to dock at the breakwater but there was a shuttle bus to take you to town if needed.
Today we had perfect weather, sunny and not too warm as there was a cool breeze blowing and the weather for tomorrow should be about the same. Around 72oC /21o C. at least in the open sea. In Messina itself the temperatures might just touch the 80oF /26oF. At noon time.
Note and Credit: on 25 November 2014, while we sailed around Africa with the Rotterdam, I googled a little map from the internet to illustrate our courses away from the African coast due to Ebola. As I just pulled the map off google I had no idea from which website it came and I could not read the watermark. The creator of the map, Mr. Daniel Feher very happily lets me use his creation but requests a credit to be added to the blog. Which I gladly do with a belayed thank you for have the right to use this chartlet. http://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/2014/11/25/24-nov-2014-luanda-angola/
Mr. Feher makes a lot of maps and charts and for those interested, his work can be found here: http://www.freeworldmaps.net/africa/ …………………
Daniel Feher www.freeworldmaps.net
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