| Well apart from all the rowdy partying and disco music Preveeza really did approve in the end. We were told that the residential areas around the centre complained about the noise, and so they erected a big wall or something, and the music is worse over the harbour at the marina hardstands, or at anchor around the corner, as it acts as an auditorium, I find it hard to believe it could be worse, but that’s the word. We found some really good shops for useful things, including a rat trap in case we, or the nectarine, are bitten twice. We made some very good contacts for getting solar panels fitted next year, it is proving to be a most important addition to Wrighteau as we move down to the higher temperatures, and apparently July and earlier August were worse, God forbid. On Monday at 11pm it was still 30 degrees. We have been enjoying some really good Greek food which surprises us, our experience of 8 years or so ago was not good with food, and the pilot book was not encouraging about it either. Moussaka is a favourite, and of course their Greek salad is also a favourite. Very few Greek folk seem to drink alcohol, and one bar we went to and had 3 beers, each time she came back with a large plate of little toastie sandwiches and bits, so it proved to be our lunch. There are so many bars about and filled to the gunnels with alcohol, but who to drink it, lucky for them we arrived. We left in the morning on a predictably sunny hot morning, we have now been 8 weeks on the boat, and have yet to see a drop of rain, the sea flat calm, and had only 10 miles to motor to reach the Lefkas Canal, leaving the mainland again, though Lefkas is joined by a lifting and turning bridge. They are sure to call themselves an island as they get special privileges being an island. It opens every hour on the hour, we arrived with 10 minutes to spare and all trooped past the open bridge, and down the canal. If you have “Google earth” downloaded on your computer you should check it out. It is surrounded by a mass of salt flats, apart from a narrow channel, quite interesting to travel through. At Lefkas we went to the marina to charge up, get the fridge cold etc, and a few other things, and went a walk into the village in the balmy evening. Apparently in July it was 48 degrees for a few days, sounds a bit frightening for our return next year. We had two nights at the marina before completing the canal trip out the other end. The navigational marks are fairly crude, but effective none the less, it is quite a narrow channel indeed. Out the other end we were entering the Inland Sea, a mass of water snugly surrounded by land and islands. We were quite excited about the big completely sheltered bay just a minute further on from Nidri, which was called Vlikho which looked superb in the pilot book, we anchored well and soon discovered that it must be a bit of a collection point at the end of the line for undesirables, the stench was unbearable in the heat of the day, and the water was most uninvitingly dirty. Must admit I didn’t see many swimming, but I just couldn’t stay out, and so far my health is still good. Mind you at 33 degrees, not sure how refreshing it really was actually. Next day we set out in search of somewhere fresh and clean, and we found Atheni on the island of Meganisi, and this was a big indent with lots of little bays more than suitable for a nice stop. We went right to the end and anchored in about 10 metres. A few boats started to come in, one of them a smaller yacht with Chris and Daniel who invited us for a wine after dinner. We went to the Taverna for a very nice meal, actually eating out is not hideously expensive, and their house red is very nice usually, so for 25 Euro we had a jolly good meal, and that included a litre to take away. We joined Chris who is Welsh, sailing his yacht with a kufunkt engine, the pistons did whatever they shouldn’t, resulting in a very slow trip down to Malta with only a small outboard fizzing along, motoring into the wind they are lucky to get along at 2 knots, I would imagine that would not be a strong wind even. So he has recruited Daniel, a lovely Aussie chap, to help him along, which is a real blessing for him. We woke next day to blue skies and sunny of course, and went for a walk to the village on the hill, very cute, and I was quite taken by the friendliness of absolutely everyone. Very few spoke English, which proved that it is not a barrier to a big friendly smile, and one of the 5 expressions I have now grasped, Hello. We found a most unlikely little bar which was most certainly a local meeting spot, and again all most jolly and welcoming.
We came back into Nidri to collect Sarah McDonald who had travelled down through Albania overnight, we decided to give the bay opposite Nidri, a reasonably sized dinghy ride away, and we were pleasantly satisfied that this was fresher and cleaner, and perfectly ideal. We have been told that Nidri is just too touristy, but we found it to be quite nice, and plenty of useful shops to get supplies, including the best Chandlery shop we have encountered yet. We signed Sarah on with the port police in the morning before heading south to Savota. We had met an English chap in Café de Paris who said get there early to watch the carnage of all the yachts coming in to try to berth, and it certainly did not disappoint. The first one to entertain was a big 45 foot yacht, they had a bit of their headsail out, unfortunately they couldn’t see that having that out was only dragging them around when the wind caught them broadside trying to back into the quay. After so many efforts they came up our end, a bit concerning, we were able to ask if they could get their headsail in, “Impossible” was their reply. We just said, tie is down or anything, just get it smaller. Later on I noticed someone managed to get on to help and they anchored out. There were various ones who tried to anchor in one particular patch, and just had no success, quite near us. We had been told before coming down here that anchoring in the weed is sometimes impossible and dragging is inevitable, a bit alarming we thought. So I thought this must be one of those spots, but in the morning snorkelling over it I found a bit of weed, but no more than we were in, so we have decided that our Brittany and about 7 to 1 ratio sometimes, that is metres of chain to metre of depth, seems to be comfortingly effective for us. Then there are always people anchoring over the top of others anchors, we saw a couple of anchors being pulled up by this method. And finally the cat which decided to anchor like this in front of us, but much persuading rather forcefully gave them the message, and they got so huffy they left the bay completely. Savota did not disappoint, and the food is still agreeing with us, Sarah and I had a Kleftiki which is a sort of a lamb casserole, with beautiful flavours. Joe’s swordfish he loved, and all too much for us, so it was able to feed us for lunch the next day also. We were hopeful of a Genniker sail over to Fiscardo, which is only an eleven mile stint, but of course on the nose. However we thought we must give Sarah some sailing to report back to Les, so we set off 30 degrees off course, but as we neared Ithaki the wind sneaked round and we sailed all the way into Fiscardo, albeit with the motor at the end to charge up the batteries. It is a tight little bay, we had hoped to get onto the quay, but that was full, we found a suitable spot to back in, Sarah armed with the anchoring device the windlass, and Joe ready to swim. It was copy book stuff, and we were soon going to settle down to a beer in great satisfaction, but the yachts started to pour in so attention was needed. A nice English couple in their charter boat came near, I swam over our anchor chain as they looked periously close to dragging their anchor over it while they sorted their stern lines out. In the end they rafted up to us while things were sorted out, and shortly all settled down for our lunch and refreshments. Again we went into the big smoke, and we are slightly disappointed that we have not met the people we did when we dined out in Croatia, but it is early days yet I guess, and also near the end of the season.
Well next day we met up with our neighbour on their smaller Jeanneau, Klaus and Birgette, the most delightful German couple, in fact after lunch he called in to drop off some pastries on his way back to his boat. Between he and me, swimming around with lines of boats coming in beside us, we had a healthy swimming day, in fact the nice couple I helped gave us a bottle of white wine which was most appreciated. We were having a second night as on the 5th of September we received our first rain since 4th July, albeit rather brisk and gone fairly quickly. We were well settled in, and after a nice walk around the lighthouse, we ventured back into the quay for dinner, joining Klaus and Birgette and some German twins, and a wife of one of them. We had a most jolly time, and on our way back to our dingy found the Aussies on the cat whom we saw in Brindisi. After a wine with them, bed was welcomed. Next day we found the forecast was not so good, in fact we have just noticed it cooling down, a rather drastic 20 degrees registered at one point, we hope it is just a temporary glitch. We started earlyish, and sailed most of the way back to Meganisi to the most beautiful bay of Abeliki where we anchored and tied a stern line ashore. This night we had homemade Moussaka, I have to say we have nearly had our fill of Moussaka, but in the morning it started with a strong thunderstorm and a torrential downpour, which washed the decks beautifully and cleared the air, the mountains and surroundings now look so crisp and clear. So the evening brought upon a nice walk up amongst the olive groves, and the herd of sheep with their bells clanging and onto the village of Vathi. The yachts moored here were getting a bit of a pounding with the prevailing wind and big swell, would never be a choice for us, but we did enjoy a wonderful Pizza in “the twins” it was just wonderful, and then a cool walk home. My word the temp was cool. We had a wonderful sleep, we found ourselves a most sheltered spot indeed. So now it was time to deliver Sarah back to Nidri to continue her travels, we anchored near the town, and dinghied in. Sarah has been battling a stomach upset, so she went to the doctor, and shortly after we delivered her to the bus, and after a spot of lunch made our way out to Spartakhori, which is a beautiful bay on Meganisi, but we have been put into a very tricky berth, and there is quite a swell. We are certainly safe, but getting out tomorrow might be a bit of fun. So that is all for now. We just have a couple of days before the Taits arrive, our sailing days are nearly over, boo hoo.
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