First Voyage of CoKeMa

 Yesterday we checked in to Croatia which marked the end of our first trip. From here we will spend the next weeks enjoying the coastline of Croatia moving slowly north to meet with some people in Hvar towards the end of the month.

After launching CoKeMa we did a few day trips around Marmaris getting ready to depart from Turkey. Our original plan was to move slowly through the Greek Island heading north and west through the Corinth canal towards Croatia but the tension between Turkey and Greece meant our first port of call after Turkey could not be Greece. We made the decision to go directly to Croatia about 800 miles without a landfall.

On the second night out we got blasted by the Meltemi with gusts greater than 35 knots and the next morning we decided to stop and anchor at a Greek island to make some repairs - an unofficial stop but at a remote island and we did not go on shore. With repairs to the lazy jack system completed we left early the next morning and headed west towards Santorini. I have created a map of the route which you can see here. Picture from the stop at Astipalea below.



The next night was at sea and the following night because of unfavorable winds we found a remote anchorage in a place called Kotronis. The next morning we headed north along the western coast of Greece and after another night at sea we were just north of Corfu. We made a spot decision to take a couple of days break and check into Saranda in Albania. It has been tough to pass by so many great places on route and even though Albania was not on our list of places to see we are very glad we stopped. We spent two great days there and visited the UNESCO site of Butrint and had some great meals out - view from one restaurant table below.



After checking out of Saranda we had an uneventful trip up the Adriatic coast of Albania and Montenegro to Croatia - time to relax.

For any sailors - screen shot passing Santorini. Boat has been performing well and we certainly put her through some stress in the Agean.





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