Category: True East Sabre 48 Travels

TE Albania and Montenegro 2024

click on the map to get an interactive view

We spent about five days in Corfu getting the boat ready and provisioned for the summer season. Clearing customs out of Greece turned into a major operation, but our agent handled it well. Our first stop leaving Greece was the port of Orikum in Albania, the countries only port with a marina. It’s a small marina and out of town. The agent there was a little more difficult, but we got it done.

Our first guest were Jess and Sam Osborne who we first met in the Northwest. They joined us in Orikum and helped with staightening out a number of boat issues, thank you again. Moving on we stopped at the dreaded Durres….we knew this from having visited on our road trip. Albania is filled with hopes and promises…and promises. The coast is really not hospitable to boaters as there are no island or coves, mostly an exposed rocking cliff coast.

On to Montenegro where we cleared in a Bar, again a confusing process the first time around. The city has a wonderful promenade the length of the beach with bars and cafes, much more relaxed than most Med beaches. The Orthodox church is magnificent…look at the pictures.

Next stop was Port Montenegro with its large, modern and efficient marina. Jess and I were able to get a couple of boat issues addressed and still had plenty of the time to enjoy the city of Trivet and its sister city of Kotor. After Jess and Sam left us, we rented a car and took a road trip thru Montenegro and Kosavo, both parts of the former Yugoslavia.

First stop was the charming ancient city of Budva with its fortress and fine waterfront promonade. From there we headed up into the mountains and stopped at Podgorica and then crossing the boarder into Kosavo we spent the night in Pec…not a place we would recommend. On to the capital, Pristina where we were welcomed with open arms as Americas. The US was the first country to recognize the newly independent Kosavo and Bill Clinton is regarded as their savior. The city has one of most interesting library building we have ever seen, we got only a limited view of the interior. Interesting conversations about Kosavo’s vs Albanian’s…Kosavo’s would say we do it and the Albanian’ dream about it.

We decided to go further up in the mountains and stubbled across the Grand Hotel Belushi..a brand new reproduction of a turn of the last center Grand Hotel. Turns out some brothers made money and decided to do this because they could. First hotel we have seen with a ‘salt cave’, and one of the most remote hotels of its size. Our last stop was the Ostrog Monetary that was dug into the side of a mountain. Marcia made the several mile hike up, Dan used the old man routine and managed a pass to drive up. The drive was then back through the mountains with a stop at the delightful city of Kotor.

Click on the picture to see the full album

From Epidauros we headed for the Corinthian canal arriving about 10 am to process our paperwork and pay the fee. Within the hour we were underway for a passage thru this amazing cut traveling with a couple of other boats.

The Gulf of Corinth is not very interesting so we decided to take advantage of the calm seas and push the 120 miles out to Missolonghi so we would be positioned to make the run to the island of Zakinthos were we planned to meet Luke and Veronica. Missolonghi turned out to look more like the intercoastal than Greece with its long docks and fishing shacks.

With Luke and Veronica on board had a chance to catch up on their activities since we last saw them in Oslo. Next stop was Ithaca with some great swimming along the way. From there we headed to Lefkada where Luke and Veronica left us and headed to Paris. With about a week before we were scheduled to meet the Nobles in Lefkada, we decided to head back down to the Island of Kefalonia.

Our first stop was Agia Effimia with its crystal clear waters. We then moved the boat down to Sami then rented a car to tour the island. Lots of mountain roads, goats, terraced hillsides, beaches and quaint seaside villages. Moving up north again, we stopped in Syvota on the south end of Lefkada where once again we were in a majority sailboat harbor. Back to the marina at Lefkada where we joined up with Charles and Melorie Noble.

After an overnight at Preveza on the mainland, we head up to Paxos, about a forty mile run. Paxos turned out to be one of our favorite islands where we spend three days in three different harbors. The north side of the island is very steep rock cliffs with many caves at water level. Dan managed to back the boat all the way into one of the caves. Leaving Paxos we head for Corfu with a last swim stop along the way for the Nobles.

At Corfu we stayed in the marina at the Fortress. From the marina one is required to pass thru this enormous fortress to get to the charming town of Corfu. With our last guest departing and having arrived at True East’s winter home, we still had ten days before our departure from Greece. We moved the boat over to Gouvia Marina, then rented a car to tour the island of Corfu for a couple of days.

Returning to Gouvia, we met with our Greek friend Costis and Ilias who will oversee the works on the boat over the winter. Having gone over the list, we decided to give Ilias time to get some of his team together to ponder our requests. So it was off again, this time to visit the northern and western most Greek Islands. Both we small and primarily owned by Americans of Greek decent. A great many Greeks migrated to America after WWII . Back at the marina, we met again with Ilias and team and put the boat to bed for the winter.

We returned to Athens and headed over to Glyfada where True East has be on the hard for five weeks. Back on the water we were joined by our friends from Coconut Grove, Wes and Alexis.

After a forty mile run, we arrived at Poros that would be our base for the next week or so. We explored the island by land and by water and found it to be one of our favorite islands. Nearby is the island of Hyda where no motorized vehicles are allowed and the harbor is a zoo. Taking the ferry over turned out to be the right way to go. With Wes and Alexis we had a memorable cliffside lunch.

From Poros we went around to Porto Cheli that has a ferry connection to Athens. Wes and Alexis left us here, a few days later Carla and Jane joined us. From Port Help we headed to Ermioni with a stop at Spetses Island. It was then back to Poros where Carla and Jane departed back to Athens. From Poros, the four of us took a road trip around the Pelopennese with an overnight in Nafpilion with its fantastic fortress. From there we visited the ruins at Mycenae and then to the Corinthian Canal for a view of our future passage thru this wonder.

Back to Poros where Kristi and Gigi joined us for what turned out to be an adventure. Given the winds we were experiencing, Dan decided it would be better to go around the Pelopenneses rather than going back up north thru the canal. The plan was to head across the Argolic Gulf with a following sea and run 100 miles down to the south eastern tip at Neapolis. Well it was a following sea; however, it built to 6-8 footers that we were running at 25 knots…an unpleasant couple of hours. Rounding the tip, Dan anticipated we were be in the lee and out of the wind; instead the wind can roaring down the side of the mountain with 40-50 mile and hour gusts blowing out our sun shade.

We did find shelter in Egina and took the ferry over to the delightful island of Kythira and the special stop of Aviemonas. It turns out there were no airports on the Pelopennese; however, there was one on Kythira so Gigi and Kristi left us there. Having decided that going around the Pelopennese was a bad idea, Dan plotted a course back up north to Epidavros, 150 miles away. Off we went on a calm day making a fuel stop at Poros and arriving mid afternoon. This would be our jumping off point for passage thru the Corinthian Canal.

The process of clearing out of Turkey was easy, entering Greece was another matter. A cruising permit is required for foreign boats in Greece, Dan had registered on line and paid the 1,500 euros by bank transfer; however, he got locked out of the website when trying to get the completed document. He explained this to his ‘agent’ and provided copies of the application and the bank transfer. Greek customs refused the documents because there was no date on the copy of the bank transfer despite the fact that the application was dated and the numbers all matched. Finally it was resolved.

We rented a car on Lesvos and enjoyed an island tour for a couple of day. Lesvos is known for it’s olives and has a very nice Olive museum. We visited a family run olive oil processing plant, their specialty is an oil where they mix whole lemons into the olive paste. On returning to the boat, we discovered an engine problem. Amazingly, within hours we had a mechanic on board and at 6:30pm he removed a turbo and had it on a boat to Athens the next morning. Instead of hanging around, we took a ferry to Chios and again rented a car. We managed to track down Judge Jasons ancestral home and the house they are renovation. Chios is known as the ‘tears of Mastic’ as Mastic is the main crop on the island as we learned in the wonderful Mastic Museum. There are several wonderful cities on the island, one medical and another covered with amazing patterns. In the ten days we waited for the boat repair, we visited several more islands and came to rate them by the gear we used most on each island.

Back underway again, we headed south with a stops in Chios and Ikaria. Then on to Samos where we again toured the island before we were joined by the Jennifer and Mark Evans. Typical of this summer, they were originally scheduled to join us in Kos but we never got that far south in Greece; however, we did get to have dinner with the Boltons who were passing thru on the sailing ship Sea Cloud II. With the Evans, we returned to Ikaria and again drove over the mountain to our first port of call there.

Taking advantage of break in the Meltemi winds, we did a hundred mile run to Antiparos. Here we would greeted by Costis Hadjioannou, a Greek national who happen to own the only other Sabre yacht in Europe. He became our ‘Greek God’ who had boundless resources to aid us, including the only space of the dock in Antiparos. Next stop was Naxos, where we spent four days. The remote control for raising and lower the tender was not working, so we were forced to use of the boats next to us to get on and off the dock. We dropped off the Evans, who were visiting friends on the island, then we got the boat ready for our next guests. As there are no facilities for recreation boats on Santorini, the ferry was the best option for visiting this beautiful but crowded tourist island. On Santorini we met up with Cheryl, Mike and Ed Kisielnicki and spent the night.

We all took the ferry back to Naxos only to discover that the passarelle on the boat we were using to get on and off our boat was broken. A few hours later we had a welder show up to fix the break….it was that kind of summer. From Naxos we headed up to Kythnos, one of the lesser-known and least explored of the Cyclades isles. In many ways it reminded us of Chefchaouen, the blue city, in Morocco. From there is was into Athens, with a last swim along the way, where we left the boat from mid July to late August. We did this to avoid the extreme heat and crowds in ports as every charter boat in Europe is out cruising. We were also ready to be out of the winds in this part of the Aegean.

We booked a hotel in Athens near the Acropolis and did all of the normal site seeing things. The new Acropolis Museum is terrific and should be visited prior to going to the actual ruins.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip

True East finally arrived in Marmaris on May 31. We met with our agent to handle the required paperwork with Customs and Immigration, Dan was now missing his passport. Turkiye has strictest rules and the best set up for handling ‘black water’ on boats. You are issued a ‘Blue Card’ to record your pump out of ‘black water’. Every municipality, fuel dock and marina has a pump out station and the number of people on board, date, time, location and volume of pump out is centrally recorded. Based on these details they can estimate your production of black water and your discharges….it’s unlike anything we have seen in the world.

There was a long list of works for the boat in the Netherlands; unfortunately they performance of the mechanical team was dismal. While the boat was operational, lot’s of stuff either did not work or needed adjustments. Dan changed his role from Captain to chief engineer. By the time our Miami friends Tiffany and Steve join us in early June the boat is provisioned and ready to go.

Our first night is at anchor in Datca about 60 miles from Marmaris. The water is clear and warm enough to enjoy a swim. The gezpacho, lamb and Turkish wines were all wonderful.

The next day is was on to Bodrum, about another 60 miles. Bodrum is the center of Turkiye’s gold coast and yacht charter central. The marinas are huge and have some of the best facilities we have ever encountered. The castle at Bodrum is spectacular and in great condition.

A short run the next day took us up to Yalikavak Marina…wow. This is another marina owned by Setur and here we found the most amazing shopping center in the marina to go with the mega yachts.

Our next stop was Kusadasi, just a dozen miles from Ephesus. Dan and Marcia had visited on our road trip, but it was a new experience for Tiffany and Steve. Dan was notified his temporary passport had arrive in Marmaris, so he rented and drove down to pick it up so that we could move on to Greece. The Turkish government has done a wonderful job in the restorations and archeological works at Ephesus.

Continuing north against the prevailing north winds, we traveled about 70 miles up to Cesme, one of gems on the Turkish coast. The Castle there is amazing. After a day wandering the city and most great meals, we had to say goodby to Tiffany and Steve who we think enjoyed their first cruising experience.

We continued on up the coast to Ayvalik that would be our last stop in Turkiye before we headed the 10 miles over to the island of Lesvos. The architecture and street life in Ayvalik feels much more Greek. Until the 1920’s, it was part of Greece.

While we had to fight the winds on this leg of the journey, we certainly enjoyed every part of the Turkish experience and would recommend it to all.

Click on photo to see the album of this trip

This was the last cruise of the 2022 season and it was fitting that it took us back to where we started the Baltic adventure in the spring of 2019.

Our plan was to meet our friends Jesse and Samantha at the Kiel Canal; however, the weather forecast made a very strong suggestion this was not a good idea as we would get pinned in there for a week. Alternatively, we decided it would be best get across the open section along the German coast on the North Sea before the front came thru. With an early start, we stopped in Cuxhaven to fuel up then made a 112 mile dash from the mouth of the Elbe to the island of Borkum.

Once inside at Borkum we were pretty well protected all the way down to Amsterdam. Jess and Sam were in Ireland attending to boat they sailed from Alaska to Greenland thru the Inside Passage a number of years ago. For them it was a 4 hour drive to Dublin, a plane to Hamburg, then a 5 hour train ride to meet us in Groningen, Netherlands…hell of a day. We enjoyed a few days in this charming city climbing bell towers, visiting museum and enjoying the food and catching up on each others adventures. Marcia had accidentally fed the built-in vacuum on the boat a sock and clogged the system. Naturally, Jess took this on as a project and within a short time recovered the sock much to Marcia’s joy.

Leaving Groningen, we were in the canals of Holland which was a completely new experience for our Blue Water friends. They quickly learned the routine of locks and drawbridges. We made a stop in Sneek and encounter a fleet of turn of the century sailing rigs that have become popular racing boats. From there, it was on to the picturesque city of Lemmer with its narrow canals thru the city.

On to Amsterdam crossing what we used to call the Ziderzee, it’s actually the IJsselmeer. We docked at a new marina in the North End, an industrial area being converted to a new community. This is the city of canals, ferries and bicycles. We enjoyed several days of wandering around visiting museums, shop and just strolling the street sharing the experience.

After a week, Jess and Sam had to leave to get aboard s/v MickMak in Mexico and head off to round South America. Dan and Marcia got back on True East for the last cruising of the season as we headed back to Sneek where our boat will spend the winter.

In the spring, True East will be loaded on a freighter and shipped off to Fethiye, Turkey where we start another adventure on the Aegean Sea.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip

Leaving Gdansk we headed to the port city of Gdynia for lunch then on to Hel, the first of the Polish resort towns on the Baltic. The north coast is literally 100 miles of sandy beach with a few ports at the mouth of rivers. Our destination was Szczecin on the German boarder. While the city was heavily damaged in WWII, the Pomeranian Dukes’ Castle is in wonderful condition.

Our first stop in Germany was Lauterback were we encountered our first rain storm in quite a while and German Customs officers. After checking our papers, they inquired about our last fuel purchase and asked for the receipt. While Dan had entered the purchase in the ship’s log, he did not have the receipt. They asked to take fuel samples…in Europe commercial and recreational diesel have different prices and color…they suspected we bought commercial diesel in Poland for cash illegally, we did not. Stralsund, Rostock, and Wismar are all charming port and resort cities.

Lubeck still has much of the original city wall and a wonderful old gate house. The city also has a spectacular city hall. From Lubeck we took a train to Hamburg and revisited the Museum of Miniatures, one of our favorites. In Fehmarn we encountered an unusual docking situation whereby the boat was held about 3′ from the dock due to the pilings. Dan managed to get our passerelle off the roof and for the first time attach it to the side of the boat. Our new friends Lies and Sjaak helped us secure some lines to make for safe boarding.

We then headed over to Denmark with our first stop in Bagenkop where we had met Per and Sherri back in 2019. Svendborg became our base for four days as we explored the city with its sailing and costume museums. Odense was a short train ride away and hosts the wonderful and charming Hans Christian Anderson museum as well at the Kunst Museum of Art. All in all aterrific city to visit. Our last Danish stop was on the island of Aeroskobing as we tried to get our travels in sync with the weather.

From Aero we headed straight thru the Kiel Canal to Brusbuttel on the North Sea. The Kiel is a very major waterway connecting the North Sea to the Baltic. On the north end the recreational boat lock was being repaired so we had about 25 recreational boats in the lock with four monster freighters. After exiting the lock we encountered a steading stream of freighter, many cross canal ferries and one that hangs from a bridge. We exited the canal at Bunsbuttle on the mouth of the Elbe River.

Click on the photo to see the album of this trip

Lithuania Road Trip 2022

Lithuania is tucked between Latvia and the Russian province of Kaliningrad on the Baltic. Klaipeda is the only port city of any significance and became our base during our visit to Lithuania. Due to our size, we could not fit in the marina and were directed to a spot along the canalized river wall behind a naval destroyer. The following day we relocated to a quieter spot that also had power.

We were very fortunate to have a friend in Lithuania, Algimantas Bublys. Algimas was a neighbor of ours in Coconut Grove who summers in his native Lithuania. We kept in touch after he moved to Arizona and he offer to be our guide when we visited Lithuania.

After a couple of days of site seeing in Klaipeda, Algimas joined us for one night on the boat. We then set off for resort town of Palanga with its Amber Museum and great beaches. Then on to Kretinga, where we visited the local castle with it’s amazing greenhouse and had lunch in the restored village.

On route to Plunge where we stayed overnight, we stopped to visit Algimas’s friends restored mill house in Zemaitija National Park. Also in another part of the part was the Cold War museum with its extensive underground missile set up…spooky.

Plunge is a city of about 25,000 and hosts the beautiful Oginskio Rumai (Castle) and its grounds. In the winter, this town is a ski resort. On route the next day to Siaullai, we stopped at the Hill of Crosses. During the Russian occupation, locals would plant a cross on this hill, then more crosses would come, then the Russian bulldozers would come, then a new cross would come….resistance. In Siaullai we were able to visit one of the many arenas that Algimas designed over his architectural career, both in the US and the Baltics. This arena featured a very unusual glass that changed color depending on the angle of the sun.

We made one more stop in Kedainai on our route to Kaunas. The old town of Kedainai dates to the 17th century and is one of oldest in Lithuania. This town was in remarkably good condition with it’s beautiful cathedral.

Kaunas is one of those places few Americans will ever see as it is inland without a major airport, port or river cruise. Aside from being very charming it houses the larges Art Deco church in the world, an extremely ornate Basillica and spires that reflect it’s role as a Hanseatic City. Over the entire summer we tried to visit as many of the Hanseatic League (a trading block in the middle ages) as possible….we stopped at a least 25.

On route to Vilnius, we stopped at the ‎⁨Trakai Historical National Park⁩, home of the Island Fortress dating from the 14th century in Gothic style. Mostly restored, this was a half day visit to tour the half that remains today.

When we got to Vilnius, we could immediately sense this was Algimas’s home city. Fortresses, churches, museums, public sculptures, medical streets, fashion shopping districts and many restaurants. ‎⁨Gediminas Castle Tower being a favorite as one can tell from the pictures.

Leaving Algimas, we headed straight back to Klaipeda, naturally with a couple of stops along the way to see a castle, fort, church or have lunch. Arriving back in Klaipeda, we discovered all the roads into the city were closed off….another festival. After explaining our situation, we finally got back to the boat. We were now surrounded by an amusement park, concert set up, vendors tents lining both sides of the river and Fleet Week for the Baltic navies.

Dan ended up with three Polish sailors on the boat taking pictures with the flag and drinking a lot of beer. The following morning we were headed for Poland, having to skirt around the Russian province of Kaliningrad…by skirt I mean 25 miles off shore. Turns out our new sailor friends where on Polish warship 241 and returning to Poland also tomorrow…now we had an escort.⁩

Click on photo to see album

Latvia 2022

Latvia is one of the former Soviet Baltic countries that got its freedom in 1991. With a population of about two million, it is about the size of New Jersey. Like Estonia, it also borders Russia. It’s capital is the lovely city of Riga, a port city on the Baltic on the north side of the country.

We walked our typical 10 miles a day in Riga thru it’s parks, into its churches and museums with a stop now an again for a beer or a meal. The Design Museum was very special.

In Riga we rented a car for a couple of day road trip. First stop was Cesis to view the castle, turns out it was the weekend of the music festival. Europeans LOVE festivals. Then on to Jelgava along the Lielupe River. Great new waterfront with athletic facilities and an amazing sculpture garden. The tourist office was in the former tower of the church, the only remains of the church after the war.

Next stop was Bauska with its medieval castle that has recently been restored at great expense, again. We learned that many of these castles and entire cities were raided, sieged, burned, rebuilt, burned……over and over. This one was built in the 1500’s for the Teutonic Knights. Nearby was Rundale Palace built 1736-68. This is on par with Versailles with its gardens and art works. Two more stops on this road trip took us to Durbes Pils and Turadia Castle. Before returning to Riga, we stopped at the resort area of Jermala and enjoyed a walk on the beach.

Back on the boat, our next stop was Ventspils on the east coast. This had been an important Russian Baltic Naval port city, now undergoing a complete rejuvenation. The waterfront area was beautiful, but still an emerging area. On to Liepaja, another major port city undergoing a rebirth.

We were struck time and again with the energy we felt in the Baltic countries and their fear of falling under the Russian influence once again. We were also impressed with the big fleets of Latvian built electric buses in most every city we visited.

Click on the photo to see the album

Leaving Helsinki it was a quick 35 mile run over to Tallin, the capital of Estonia, where we docked at their in city marina. Estonia is one of our favorite countries and Tallin a favorite city. The medival wall still surrounds the old city with its wonderful architecture. We could walk for days.

We took the train over to Narva on the Russian boarder to see it we could poke the bear in the nose. Here are fortresses on either bank of the Narva River with a single bridge across the border. One would never guess there was a war going in the region.

Next day, another train to Tartu in the center of the country. Here was the Museum of Estonia, one the very best museums we have ever visited, wonderful vignettes of people over time. Back on the boat, we headed to Dirhami on the eastern side of the country. While there was not much there, we were very pleasantly surprised by the marina facility. Next day it was on to Haapsula adjacent to the Estonian Baltic islands. The Bishops Castle restoration was a highlight of the city.

The Estonian Islands are very recreational oriented with great hikes, bike trails and beaches. As the island marinas are small and crowed, we decided to rent a car and explore the area. We worked our way down to Virtsu where the ferry crosses to the islands….except in the winter where they drive across the ice about 20 miles. We stumbled into lunch at the Padeste Yacht Club, smallest in the world and enjoyed a wonderful conversation with the manager. Then on to Kuressaare Castle in Arensburg , what an incredible amount of earth moving.

While we had hoped to get over to Parnu, the weather would not cooperative, so it was a straight run down to Riga.

Click on the photo to go to the album.