Sea trial of the rigging the next day showed no problems just a half turn needed on the side stays.

Bureaucrats

Well, we finally had the rigging in sails on and most things we knew about repaired. It was definitely time to leave. We wanted to leave the next day but the only item we hadn’t finalised was how to get the VAT back. So we left the boatyard to anchor out in Rinella Bay to sort out last few issues. We were exhausted as well and in no state to start out that night.

You may think we had left the VAT issue fairly late but this battle /discussion/ arguments had been going on for weeks!! Talk about getting the run around from government officials!!

Firstly we asked the boat yard but they said they could not offer us VAT exempt invoices. They suggested an agent who sorted it for super yachts and he said flat fee €3000 to look at it!! Then we asked the VAT office- they said only yachts run as a business could claim it back. We stayed that any foreigner leaving the EU could on departure. Their answer was not a yacht as it is not a person!! Next we tried the customs office at Msida marina – no one there but said call this number. We did so and were told he would be there soon. Nothing for half an hour so then called back and same person said sorry he is not coming in today.!! Come to our office at Grand Harbour. With yacht in Msida and fairly windy we decided to do it another day.

Next try went to Customs office at the ferry terminal in Valletta. Two chaps behind desk- I had been here before to have papers signed. Asked these chaps, they said no nothing to do with them and no one else in building could help us and to call these 3 numbers.

Depart and call the numbers got nowhere. Got interrogated as to why we should get VAT back as it was a tourist tax!! ….,,

Tried another number from the internet listing and got a really nice chap who said yes it was the right office and the other two on the desk should have done it and come in.

Hew goes over has a good chat all sorted can do it next day but you have to book yacht into marina so they can come and see all the rigging on the yacht!!

Too late that day as the Marina offices all shut. Get on the phone the next morning and start calling the marinas – all full. Finally one called back to say they coukd fit us in for 4 hours for €120!! Then Hew rang customs to tell them where we would be and … Oh no ….”we don’t go to you you come and tie up to our dock”😬😬

Cancel the marina then go and look at dock near ferry terminal finding somewhere to fit in. Finally found a spot right outside office and tied up.

Along comes a man who says “you shouldn’t be here it’s private” ???? Apparently he rents the building and that part of the pier to customs. Anyway when we told him we had been told to tie up here he laughed as if the shambles we had was normal.

Next a customs guy comes out and asks why we were there- “because one of your guys told us to!!!!”

Hew gets all the forms together and off he goes..

Two hours later he comes back with Captain Customs. Nice enough chap. Tells me he had a cousin from Australia at wedding on Saturday who raved about how good Aus was and how bad Malta was and ruined his day. Then to top it off the power in the building has been out for 3 days!!! He was still grumpy!!

Anyway after sitting on the boat and looking at all the invoices and forms he took them away to stamp them and post them to a crowd who now handles all the VAT refunds for the government. He said we may not get any back…he does not know.?

Gremlins

Left the pier and went back to Rinella Bay to tidy up the yacht to leave. The reason we weren’t going straight out was that the charts at the Nav Station were playing up again. We seemed to be losing the connection between the helm station and the nav station. Also the new toilet put in as part of the starboard aft cabin alteration was leaking!!! Hew was so happy- NOT!!

After pulling off the kitchen cupboard doors, and unplugging and plugging in all the connections again, and talking to the local expert we seemed to have settled it down enough to leave. Tied up the dingy and headed off.

Departure

Hoisted the main and the topping lift unclipped!! Luckily got it back before the pin was lost and set off. Genoa up and off on a 10kt breeze in the right direction- NE.

Through most of the first night some sailing and some motor sailing. New Iridium go working well but taking a while to get through all the intricacies. Yacht routing seems good but winds about 20 degrees off and more aft. Had to start the motors about 3 am as the wind died.

Day break and we put up the genniker and gull-winged it most of the day, a great day cruising along. Wind directly aft and amazing that the sails held so well. Catamarans are not supposed to be able to sail downwind like this!!

Gremlins continue

Then the gremlins appeared again. Starboard motor water pump leaking. Not fixable at sea. 24 volt fridge compressor pump loosing suction when boat speeds increased and the Port engine leaking oil!! Well we had a beautiful sail despite various issues.

Sailing and Weather

Change in forecast caused a slight alteration to track. Wind going west instead of east. About 5pm rolled up the gennaker, very dark clouds to the west of us looking like a squall. Rolled out the Genoa and were busy discussing reefing for the night. Fixed the reefing lines and topping lift which had come off again the previous day. Started the Radar and Doppler and west of us it was bright red! Radar works very well 10 min later lightening started , then the squall and pouring rain. First 15 min was a fun ride with full sail up 25kt wind and +13kt boat speed. Lightening all around us.

We got Genoa half reefed and rode down one side of the the front for the next 30 min. Finally it passed behind us and we watched the spectacular lightening display for the next hour as it lit up the evening sky as dusk fell. We were glad to be out of it.

Wind kept backing and eventually we gybed over onto a deep reach straight for the next way point.

Decided to recheck all the weathers we had but none mentioned thunderstorms for our area or westerlies, all were ESE to SSE. Got some good practice in on the iridium-go!!

Settled in for dinner and night shift thinking a good steady wind , but like the typical Med it died away and needed to start the motor again around 2300.

Fairly steady night motoring until about 3am when the wind and waves got up again. Now the wind was from SE and waves from South. We tacked just before I went to rest. Sea got up to about 1.5 m but short and cross seas with a very nasty short chop. Boat fell off a wave several times or got slapped from below. Very noisy. Very little we could do about it. Same conditions continue all the way until just north of Corfu with the wind rising steadily and peaking at 27 knots boat speed peaked at 14 with help from the waves.

Reefed down to 1 on main and 1 on Genoa, then again to 2 on both. Better ride and still averaging 9 knots with many brief spurts of 12kts.

Ooops

At the peak of the wind and crossed sea state I decided we needed a sandwich. Opened the large fridge door and all the cheeses and a half dozen egsgs lept out at me. Quickly shut the door and proceeded to clean smashed eggs off the floor. Obviously we have been cruising the Med too much – this fridge is not designed for a bad seaway!! Decided to not open that fridge again to get to the new bread and instead use old bread from the small fridge. Went to open that one very carefully and the entire door feel off in my hands!!! Couldn’t get it back in so yelled at Hew for some some help .Finally he heard me and came in to assist.

Got to the channel between Corfu and Albania and the wind finally calmed down. Unfortunately completely on the nose so started both engines and motor sailed the rest of the way. With Hew sleeping on the seat. You will note that we are wearing many more layers of clothing than a week ago – autumn has come!!

Arrival Albania

Arrived in Sarande at 1705, called the port and got answered by the agent who said the harbour master would be there in 30 minutes, and no marinas available due to impending storm!! Anchored in front of the beach with a couple of other yachts and the anchor seemed to have caught well.

Went ashore with passports and finalised the paperwork. Jelja from Sarande Summer tours is a great agent and lovely to see her after 2 years away. https://www.sarandasummertours.com/ Got an updated forecast which was not very worrying, in fact for Sarande only low to moderate winds but rain for the next three days. We decided that if the anchorage became untenable and we had to shift over to Corfu we would get a clearance out that night. did all the paper work then went out and had dinner. Albania was the same as previously – lovely people and simple and reasonable prices, we must come back some day and explore this country. Started raining before we got back to the yacht but still light winds.

Woke up in the morning to torrential rain and decided we should stay in bed. Next minute hit by a really strong gust and the yacht took off out to sea!!! Out into the pouring rain. Tried to re-anchor twice and then gave up – all we were doing was plowing up seagrass by the anchor load. Decided change of plan again and we should head for Corfu, two hours away.

Corfu Arrival

As we motored along the wind died and we could see the Albanian coast clearly and fairly calm. Wishing we hadn’t checked out and could stay in some of the little coves. Half way to Corfu we finally had reception with Greece again. We got a new forecast from Meteo blue and it did not look good, thunderstorms, squalls and rain for three days. Hew was trying to get hold of A1 yachting about whether we get a marina and whether they could clear us in. we had been We had been recommended them fby a friend as we had not used any in the past and had had no real issues but this time was a real test. I was steering and looking at a wind line ahead – pitch black to the south and further west of our position there was a lot of wind and waves – reassessment time. Hew got the report of no marinas available, no slots in the old harbour so we did a 180 and headed for a northern bay we had discussed as a bolt hole the night before. A good decision soon we were motoring at 8 knots and as the wind and waves caught up with us we were doing 12 kts.

Another 30 minutes and we were inside the bay anchoring in 20kts of wind. Lots of chain out and we had a really good hook in. We waited with engines going for some time to make sure we did not shift. Then settled down for the day. Shortly after we anchored the yacht in front of us dragged and you could see they had anchored on a patch of sea grass as we had in Sarande and their anchor was full. After two more goes they finally got a good spot and settled down.

The wind and rain came in patches and in between you could look around this beautiful bay in realatively calm conditions. we were really glad we had changed our mind when we did. Having internet and phone again communication was recommenced with the outside world. looks like we will be here for several days. Paperwork for Greece was finished, A1 yachting https://a1yachting.com/ were handling it all except the TEPAI which we had done on line on arrival in the bay. Now time to relax and catch up on the current blog which I wrote on a long night watch, perhaps even some of the unfinished ones. Looking at the forecast we will not see sun for at least three days.

Just before publication have had another squall of 30kts through and another yacht drag. Finally caught very close to us – then up anchored further away. I am very glad as he came in late and was too close. Looks like it may be a long night.

Monday and Tuesday were full of chandlery visits, supermarket visits, refueling ( in cash!!) and final work on the yacht for the trip to Albania. I missed the immigration office in the marina on Tuesday afternoon and so had to go to the main immigration office in Valletta harbour but they were equally helpful and the yacht departure form signed and stamped.  Decided I had to have a final drink with Alan at the RMYC as Hew was still wiring up the last of the switches for the instruments. Hew and Alan had given up on the engine instruments that would not register and decided to go with just the analogue ones (these were not all working either- grrr).

Realised late Tuesday night that we did not have enough cash to clear in on reaching Albania, as we thought we may have to pay on arrival, so early trip into the cash machine Wednesday morning then off on the voyage to Sarande in Albania(317nm – planned at 2 days and 10 hours). Good starting wind of 20-25kts for the first few hours of the trip. Malta Patrol vessel called us just out of the harbour asking for all the same details that we had passed to immigration the night before. They then proceeded to also ask the same questions of an English yacht – whose skipper I had meet in immigration the previous night. I guess we were just the first two out in the morning.  Later in the morning the winds dropped to the normal Mediterranean light winds and motor sailing. Alan had concerns over whether he would get seasick on his first long voyage away from land so spent the day at the helm. Finally succumbed to sleep at 2200.  I spent the day making sure the instruments were going correctly and Hew relaxing and reading. 3 hours out of Malta we passed a large bunkering area for tankers and cargo ships – didn’t count them but all anchored / stationery on Hurd reef.

Wednesday night was uneventful with passing cargo ships and tankers – especially SE of the Messina Straits. One private yacht (large launch) passed us at twice the speed and headed in the same direction. Night chat on the radio more normal than during the Sicily – Sardinia leg last year but still quite a bit of the superfluous chat/ songs and whistles. The new doppler radar proved its worth showing up those fishing vessels not on AIS (or not with their AIS on).

With the split screens running chart on one side and radar on the other – was very helpful. Though there were few out compared to the fishing rocks/reefs around Sicily.

Thursday dawned fine with light winds 8kts so still motor sailing. Very few boats around due to our position SE of the bottom of Italy. Although we expected more traffic in the Ionian sea between Italy and Corfu it was not nearly as busy at night as the seas between Sardinia and Sicily. Much quieter on the radio and those transmissions we did hear were mostly polite.

Thursday night was just another night at sea waiting for the sun to rise as we negotiated our way outside Greece maritime boundary and round into Albania and the channel into Sarande. Very easy entry into Sarande as we were acknowledge by the harbour master and he had someone waiting on the dock to meet us and was obviously expecting us. We were parked close in between hydofoils and ferries. We arrived at 0530 and all peaceful and quiet. He told us our agent Jelja would be down in 30 mins but it was closer to an hour. Alan crashed and Hew and I awaited the agent. Alan crashed and Hew and I awaited the agent. We had water and electricity for the yacht and toilets in the immigration/ferry terminal.

When Jelja arrived she took all the passports and showed us a map of the town with any places we wanted noted. Also organised for us to up lift fuel the next day. Said we could stay on the dock for as long as we wished. Hew and I then crashed for a long sleep.

After we all awoke and tied the yacht we wandered into town. Very nice town and friendly helpful people. Lovely waterfront with wide walkway and tall crown lifted trees.

Stopped for lunch and a drink at a beachside bar. Hew and Alan decided beer was not great.

We saw several interesting signs and makes you wonder e.g. Dulux- Daylux, another was a motorbike that I did not get a photo of called a Kavvasaki

The next morning we went shopping at the supermarket for a top up and the market for fresh fruit – but the market did tend to be more expensive than the shops. Beautiful cherries and honey. Hew took the produce back to the boat and I went hunting for new beach towels and managed to get 8 for 4000leke. When I got back to the yacht I found that

Hew had left the strawberries behind at the market so I returned to the market and they were waiting for me and gave me the strawberries and two nectarines. Very nice people – Hew didn’t think it was worth the trouble but I thought so to see what the people were really like. Then we left the port and anchored off the town so we could go swimming off the boat and relax.

In the afternoon we motored around to the fuel dock which was the old military port. Very narrow but very deep. The process was very slow as they have to be checked in by the agent – all the outlets of the of the truck are lockwired and they have to show them to you before filling up they also have to show you the gauges zeroed and in some cases the trucks are weighed. Also hindering the process was our fuel tanks were taking ages to balance so I got on the paddle board and went under the yacht and cleared the pipes – dug a hole through the corroded outlets.

After refueling we had a couple of hours daylight so decided to go and anchor up the coast but by the time we got to the bay we were targeting it was almost dark. The bay was very steep and deep so we went around the corner into a bay that holds the navy base but the wind came up to 20-25kts and after a couple of goes where the anchor would not hold we decided to go on and continue to Croatia.