March 2012
After four and half months back home in the UK, visiting lots of family and friends, David and I arrived back on board Alhambra, for another season of sailing. Yes, I said sailing. Our plan is to spend the season just sailing around the islands of the Ionian Sea in Greece, just meandering from one island to the next, stopping for as long as we want to explore, not being fixed to any timescale or long sailing passages that takes days…well that’s the plan.
For those of you who are new to our blog, you may not be aware of the PPS – the Perrett Persecution Syndrome. It used to be the PPC – a Perrett Persecution Complex, but then we realised that the bad things do happen to us and we renamed it the Syndrome…
To get back to Greece, we decided to take in a European driving adventure on our way, which would also allow us to have a car based in Greece for the season, so with our usual attention to detail we planned our ‘road trip’.
We would start with a week’s skiing holiday in one of David’s favourite resorts; Soll in Austria – with lots of snow this year it was sure to be a great week. We left home at 2am, car fully loaded and headed for Dover, ferry across to Dunkirk and headed for Soll, and arrived at 8pm that night.
But – here it comes – the PPS. On the Friday afternoon, we received a phone call from our Greek travel agent informing us that the ferry from Venice, leaving on Monday evening, had been cancelled. In fact, the ferry company had cancelled all the ferries from Venice until June 15th. So much for two days in Venice sightseeing! She would call us in the morning with our options.
After an infuriating drive around Venice’s one way system trying to find the way into our hotel – we could see it clear as day, just couldn’t drive to it by car. We finally got to our room and checked e-mail – nothing! We checked the timetable of the alternative ferry company only to find that the ferry leaves at 12 noon the next day – good job we checked. It was now 7pm and we would only have tonight to see Venice – Venice by moonlight, how romantic. Well it would be if you could actually see any of it.
To be fair we did the ‘tourist’ bits and look forward to coming back at some point to really see Venice.
We had dinner, went back to the hotel and passed out, setting the alarm for 7am to make sure we got the ferry.
First thing Sunday morning we phoned the ferry company (still no e-mail from our travel agent) to see if we were booked in (best Italian accent now), “no madam, your name ees not on thee leest, but weee don’t get the leest unteel ten o’clock, you phone back then.
But eef your name eees on the leeest then you need to be eer for ten o’clock to check eeen.” We loaded the car, checked out of the hotel and drove to the ferry port, by the time we arrived, “our name eeees on the leeeest, eere are your teeckeets.” – Phew!
First thing Sunday morning we phoned the ferry company (still no e-mail from our travel agent) to see if we were booked in (best Italian accent now), “no madam, your name ees not on thee leest, but weee don’t get the leest unteel ten o’clock, you phone back then.
But eef your name eees on the leeest then you need to be eer for ten o’clock to check eeen.” We loaded the car, checked out of the hotel and drove to the ferry port, by the time we arrived, “our name eeees on the leeeest, eere are your teeckeets.” – Phew!
April 30th, my birthday, (thanks for all your best wishes)
Alhambra was launched back into the water. These events are always a bit scary, watching as your newly scrubbed and painted bottom is slung with slings and lifted high above the ground and lowered back into the water next to a concrete dock. But all went well.
I have spent the last two weeks making a new cover for our dinghy, Little Al, which has been made, patchwork style, from our original bimini canopy which we kept once we had a replacement made back in 2007 in Trinidad. And this is why we have three cabins, so we can keep everything – just in case we need it!
However, in this case it was worth it, we were quoted a huge amount to have a cover made. We’ve yet to test it in the water - that will happen in a couple of weeks. We will stay in the marina for a week or two more, taking our time to finish all the varnishing and woodwork jobs that David wants to finish and then Ionian here we come.
I had some fun on my birthday, we went to a traditional Greek restaurant, Greek music and dancing, which of course I joined in with. Good fun, good food, good times – photos to follow. Then today, having made a new friend over the weekend, Judy. She is a jewellery making teacher, and gave me a lesson in jewellery making. I’ve added some photos of what I made this morning.
Oh! and I fell off the boat and broke my collar bone...
So, as I say, the next few days holds more cleaning, scrubbing, varnishing, and teaking, but at least the weather has finally broken – 32 degrees today and no clouds and we have good internet.
Oh! and I fell off the boat and broke my collar bone...
So, as I say, the next few days holds more cleaning, scrubbing, varnishing, and teaking, but at least the weather has finally broken – 32 degrees today and no clouds and we have good internet.
May 2012- At anchor at last!
After weeks of being stuck in Messolonghi marina for a variety of reasons, mainly weather and boat jobs, we finally left on May 20th, along with four other boats (Fritha, Sea Dragon, Isabelle and Tashinga). We all headed for the same spot, Petalas, an isolated and very secluded bay on the mainland of Greece, just 25 miles from the marina.
However, as always we encountered problems just outside the marina, the mainsail would not come out of the mast, but after a lot of tugging and pulling out it came but, as to be expected any wind around was of course ‘on our nose’, or none at all, so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. In any case we wanted to give the engine a ‘run’ to check all was OK – we still haven’t sorted the vibration that David can feel when under power.
After weeks of being stuck in Messolonghi marina for a variety of reasons, mainly weather and boat jobs, we finally left on May 20th, along with four other boats (Fritha, Sea Dragon, Isabelle and Tashinga). We all headed for the same spot, Petalas, an isolated and very secluded bay on the mainland of Greece, just 25 miles from the marina.
However, as always we encountered problems just outside the marina, the mainsail would not come out of the mast, but after a lot of tugging and pulling out it came but, as to be expected any wind around was of course ‘on our nose’, or none at all, so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. In any case we wanted to give the engine a ‘run’ to check all was OK – we still haven’t sorted the vibration that David can feel when under power.
The route we were taking to the bay took us past many fish farms, through shallow waters and around rocks, so it was a good way to remind ourselves how it is we navigate – oh, I remember, we turn on the chart plotter, point to where we want to go and follow the arrow, of course making sure the arrow doesn’t go over the rocks or the shallows. On route we encountered our first pod of dolphins, about 6 we think, but they didn’t really want to play, they just popped up for air once or twice on their way to wherever they were heading.
As the afternoon passed by, the wind started to increase just as the entrance to the bay came into view. We navigated our way in, right to the head of the bay and dropped the hook (as they say in boat speak). By 3pm all five boats were at anchor and then we heard that one of them had a problem, Sea Dragon was taking on water and decided to head back to Messolonghi, serious problems mean serious solutions, his boat will need to be hauled out to see what is wrong.
We’d been invited over to Fritha for ‘early evening drinks’ and for them to give us all their knowledge on the Ionian, as they have been sailing the area for ten years. However, the wind was really picking up now and the thought of trying to put the outboard on the dinghy in such changing, gusting winds, and with only one arm, we decided to give it a miss and watch a movie instead. Next thing we get a call from Isobelle who are also ‘taking up the hook’ and moving somewhere else as there is no-where to get ashore in the bay to take their dog for a ‘walk’ and they want to get to another island in daylight. So our band of merry boats was down to three.
We’d been invited over to Fritha for ‘early evening drinks’ and for them to give us all their knowledge on the Ionian, as they have been sailing the area for ten years. However, the wind was really picking up now and the thought of trying to put the outboard on the dinghy in such changing, gusting winds, and with only one arm, we decided to give it a miss and watch a movie instead. Next thing we get a call from Isobelle who are also ‘taking up the hook’ and moving somewhere else as there is no-where to get ashore in the bay to take their dog for a ‘walk’ and they want to get to another island in daylight. So our band of merry boats was down to three.
An uninteresting night at anchor passed – the wind abated at 3am and the morning was so beautiful and calm I just had to take photos. We left the anchorage around 10am and headed up to Meganisi and into Port Atheni (Fritha and Tashinga headed straight to Nidri). We met another (or the same) pod of dolphins on the way and spotted a ‘something’ just off of Meganisi – not sure if it was a ray, a shark, a small whale or a porpoise, we just saw fins circling slowly, but it wouldn’t let us get close enough to really get a good look.
Port Atheni is a really beautiful spot, with a treacherous reef if you are not aware of it at the entrance, and only one other boat in the bay. We anchored, went out in the dinghy to investigate the reef. It will be a stunning reef to snorkel on when the sea warms up in a couple of weeks’ time. We went ashore for a sun-downer in a lovely little bar overlooking the bay and then back to the boat for dinner and an early night.
Port Atheni is a really beautiful spot, with a treacherous reef if you are not aware of it at the entrance, and only one other boat in the bay. We anchored, went out in the dinghy to investigate the reef. It will be a stunning reef to snorkel on when the sea warms up in a couple of weeks’ time. We went ashore for a sun-downer in a lovely little bar overlooking the bay and then back to the boat for dinner and an early night.
The next day we went five miles over to Lefkas and into Nidri. Nidri is the entrance to a very long bay which has many anchorages and quays for you to use – it is a main base for many charter companies and when their boats are out you can use their docks, which we did. A lovely spot with a hotel and a swimming pool and bar. We investigated the town – which is exactly what I was expecting, loads of Greek bars and restaurants, shops and spectacular scenery, we love it. We had dinner on Fritha and then in the morning were all moved off the dock because a flotilla of boats (who own the dock) were heading in. As I say you can use their docks as long as their boats aren’t in. So we all had to leave before 11:30 and go and anchor. Not a problem. Off came the outboard and we went for an exploration. Well we would have done had the outboard not started smoking. We limped back to the boat where David stripped down the outboard to no avail.
We are now back at the dock, they had a space for us, where he is changing all the fuel and trying to solve the problem of the outboard. Ho hum, boat life!
For the past couple of weeks we have been ‘up north’ to a couple of places on the mainland, and an island just off Corfu. We left Nidri, with our friends on Fritha and headed up the coast of Lefkas and went through the 1pm bridge, which is in fact an old car ferry which swings open to let the boats through.
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The bridge opens every hour and you have to go through a 2 mile canal first and then a narrow passage once through the bridge.
This all went well, and once through to the open sea we decided to sail to Preveza, about 8 miles north, but alas to no avail – we still had problems with our mainsail coming out of the mast (we think it’s fixed now). So we motored, again, into Preveza and spent a pleasant evening on the town quay. The next day we found out that Fritha had gone to a place called, ‘Two Rock Bay’.
Yes, you’ve guessed it; it has two rocks in it and nothing else.
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We had a very nice BBQ on their boat and the following day headed over to the island of Paxos and Lakka Bay, and there we stayed for a week.
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Lakka is a tiny village at the north end of Paxos, set in the olive and pine filled hillsides, with beautiful cream coloured buildings with terracotta roofs. It’s mainly restaurants, boutique shops and little hotels. The water is crystal clear and turquoise. It’s not very busy; it fills up a bit during the day with tourists on the bus from Gaios (the main town on Lakka 5 miles south) and with boats arriving all day.
It’s quite fun to watch the charter and flotilla boats arrive as they try to find a space on the town quay. On one day we became a floating roundabout as the flotilla boats circled us waiting for their ‘lead’ boat to help them all dock safely – it’s quite a spectacle watching as they squeeze just one more boat in. We spent a couple of days walking through the forests and looking out over the mainland and finding tiny coves and beaches, but eventually it was time to leave this quiet haven and head back to Nidri on Lefkas - Nidri appears to becoming our base.
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It’s sort of in the middle of everywhere we want to go and has everything we need, including a place to rent a motorcycle, which we did whilst waiting for a new anchor chain to arrive. The first chain that was delivered had a fault in it – which of course we only found once David had spent hours splicing the new one to the rode (line) which holds it to the anchor locker. A new one was sent from Athens and would take two days to get here, which gave us time to explore.
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The island of Lefkas (locally known as Lefkada) is only ten miles long and 1,150m (3,500ft in ‘old money’) high. However we must have travelled about 30 miles on the hairpin bends, switching back and forth to reach the top, the views from which were amazing. We could see right across to the mainland to the east and south, up to the Lefkas canal and beyond to Preveza on the mainland to the north.
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The landscape in the mountains was a surprise, it is all cultivated fields set within dry stone walls, which have obviously been there for centuries, some of the fields were strewn with reds, yellows and purples of wild flowers. The roads, again to our surprise, were in very good condition (EU money no doubt) and our decent back down was an exhilarating ride, along more hairpin bends with the wind in our faces (yes we did have crash helmets on, but they were open faced).
We stopped in a little taverna, overlooking Sivota Bay on the south of the island before heading back to Nidri, and a well earned dip in one of the hotel pools.
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The new chain arrived, David fitted it and we have been out and tested it, having spent a night on Meganisi. But on our way we still had problems with our mainsail. So when we arrived we spent two hours (David up the mast in 30 degrees) fixing the problem, we hope…
…and tomorrow my mother arrives for her first visit to Alhambra. We will spend today making sure everything is ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion’ for her arrival, when we hope to take her to all the little coves and beautiful places we have found, if not we will all sit by a pool for a week and do nothing but relax
We are now back at the dock, they had a space for us, where he is changing all the fuel and trying to solve the problem of the outboard. Ho hum, boat life!
Still May 2012
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The bridge opens every hour and you have to go through a 2 mile canal first and then a narrow passage once through the bridge.
This all went well, and once through to the open sea we decided to sail to Preveza, about 8 miles north, but alas to no avail – we still had problems with our mainsail coming out of the mast (we think it’s fixed now). So we motored, again, into Preveza and spent a pleasant evening on the town quay. The next day we found out that Fritha had gone to a place called, ‘Two Rock Bay’.
Yes, you’ve guessed it; it has two rocks in it and nothing else.
We had a very nice BBQ on their boat and the following day headed over to the island of Paxos and Lakka Bay, and there we stayed for a week.
Lakka is a tiny village at the north end of Paxos, set in the olive and pine filled hillsides, with beautiful cream coloured buildings with terracotta roofs. It’s mainly restaurants, boutique shops and little hotels. The water is crystal clear and turquoise. It’s not very busy; it fills up a bit during the day with tourists on the bus from Gaios (the main town on Lakka 5 miles south) and with boats arriving all day.
It’s quite fun to watch the charter and flotilla boats arrive as they try to find a space on the town quay. On one day we became a floating roundabout as the flotilla boats circled us waiting for their ‘lead’ boat to help them all dock safely – it’s quite a spectacle watching as they squeeze just one more boat in. We spent a couple of days walking through the forests and looking out over the mainland and finding tiny coves and beaches, but eventually it was time to leave this quiet haven and head back to Nidri on Lefkas - Nidri appears to becoming our base.
It’s sort of in the middle of everywhere we want to go and has everything we need, including a place to rent a motorcycle, which we did whilst waiting for a new anchor chain to arrive. The first chain that was delivered had a fault in it – which of course we only found once David had spent hours splicing the new one to the rode (line) which holds it to the anchor locker. A new one was sent from Athens and would take two days to get here, which gave us time to explore.
The island of Lefkas (locally known as Lefkada) is only ten miles long and 1,150m (3,500ft in ‘old money’) high. However we must have travelled about 30 miles on the hairpin bends, switching back and forth to reach the top, the views from which were amazing. We could see right across to the mainland to the east and south, up to the Lefkas canal and beyond to Preveza on the mainland to the north.
The landscape in the mountains was a surprise, it is all cultivated fields set within dry stone walls, which have obviously been there for centuries, some of the fields were strewn with reds, yellows and purples of wild flowers. The roads, again to our surprise, were in very good condition (EU money no doubt) and our decent back down was an exhilarating ride, along more hairpin bends with the wind in our faces (yes we did have crash helmets on, but they were open faced).
We stopped in a little taverna, overlooking Sivota Bay on the south of the island before heading back to Nidri, and a well earned dip in one of the hotel pools.
The new chain arrived, David fitted it and we have been out and tested it, having spent a night on Meganisi. But on our way we still had problems with our mainsail. So when we arrived we spent two hours (David up the mast in 30 degrees) fixing the problem, we hope…
…and tomorrow my mother arrives for her first visit to Alhambra. We will spend today making sure everything is ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion’ for her arrival, when we hope to take her to all the little coves and beautiful places we have found, if not we will all sit by a pool for a week and do nothing but relax
June 2012 - Mum's visit
Sunday 17th June am – up early, I couldn’t sleep knowing that it was mum’s first time flying on her own, but knowing that my brother was driving her to the airport made me less apprehensive. They had arrived with lots of time to spare and a very nice lady at the airport led her through to the front of the security queue so she could spend more time shopping in duty free – she had instructions to bring GIN, without this there is no entry onto the boat. After a couple more phone calls we watched the live Gatwick departures webpage and saw her flight depart, only 8 minutes late.
Monday 18th June – shopping – mum was in desperate need of a hat to give relief from the very hot sun (mid to high 90s all week, one day it reached 98, we were working in ‘old money’ temperatures while mum was on board). We found a fabulous white, Joan Collins look-i-likie hat, which you will have no doubt seen in the photos on flickr. After a light lunch we headed to another hotel pool where we sat in the Jacuzzi, swam, read, slept, had a beer…back to the boat, quick shower then pre-dinner drinks at The Treebar (named because they have made a circular bar around a tree…), after one too many Malibu and sprites it was back to the boat for dinner on board and off to bed.
Tuesday 19th June – sail to Sivota, southern end of Lefkas island – well the wind came up and the sails came out, the wind dropped and the sails went in, it picked up, the sails came out, the wind died and the water became so calm you could see your reflection so we gave up. We arrived in Sivota, parked the boat on the town quay and took a walk around the little town – David told us we could come back in the morning to look in the shops – so we found a lovely little bar on a first floor terrace and watched the 3pm anchor dance. This is when all the charter/flotilla boats arrive and don’t really know what they are doing – anchor chains everywhere, dragging each others up, getting caught round someone’s chain, not putting enough chain out, putting too much out, floating away…and we watched it all from the pleasure of our afternoon spot. Back to the boat for a snooze, a spot of dinner and ended the evening in a bar watching England in the play offs.
Wednesday 20th June – sail to Kioni, east side of Ithaca (home of Homer and Odysseus etc etc). This is one of our favour little spots (mainly because there is a bar that sells Carib beer – the only place we’ve found outside the Caribbean). However, the water here is also crystal clear, warm and the afternoon’s anchor dance can be enjoyed from the cockpit of your boat with a G&T – and we had a good few dances all around our boat – a catamaran with only one engine, a group of Dutch who took ages to get sorted and a boat of german’s who we had to go out in the dinghy to help take their lines ashore before they hit us. Mind you, before they all arrived we’d had problems too getting our anchor to set, but no-one was there to see us.
Friday 22nd June – sail – oh let’s not beat about the bush – motored to Nidri via Scorpios to take a good look at the Onnasis family hideaway. The Greek shipping tycoon bought this island back in the 40s and used it is as a hideaway.
Now that most of them have passed away it is maintained on a daily basis by a staff of (some say) 10-12 people, tending the gardens and stopping people coming ashore.
You can anchor off and swim around, but you can’t go ashore (no-one in Greece is allowed to own anything below the waterline anywhere in Greece…)
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It is a very pretty island, but I can’t see how it would have been a hideaway, not with all us nosey boaters looking on everyday. Anyway, the only one left is his granddaughter and she wants nothing to do with the island (apparently). We sailed passed and then headed back into our dock. Back round the pool and Jacuzzi before drinks at the Treebar and dinner on board.
Saturday 23rd June – shopping – mum had to spend the remains of her euros presents for family back home so we wandered aimlessly around looking at all the touristy shops (something I don’t get to do with David, so I enjoyed it as much as mum).
Now that most of them have passed away it is maintained on a daily basis by a staff of (some say) 10-12 people, tending the gardens and stopping people coming ashore.
It is a very pretty island, but I can’t see how it would have been a hideaway, not with all us nosey boaters looking on everyday. Anyway, the only one left is his granddaughter and she wants nothing to do with the island (apparently). We sailed passed and then headed back into our dock. Back round the pool and Jacuzzi before drinks at the Treebar and dinner on board.
Saturday 23rd June – shopping – mum had to spend the remains of her euros presents for family back home so we wandered aimlessly around looking at all the touristy shops (something I don’t get to do with David, so I enjoyed it as much as mum).
Sunday 24th June – home time – we had a lazy morning as we didn’t need to leave for the airport until 10:45. The airport was packed with holidaymakers all on their way home. It was a sad farewell , but I know mum enjoyed herself here and wants to come again – it is always good to know you’ve helped someone have a lovely time that they want to repeat (its got nothing to do with me being her daughter…..). She arrived home safely and was greeted by my brother and his family and then a four lane pile up on the M25 – welcome home mum!
We are now preparing to head south for a couple of weeks while the Italians arrive to overrun the islands and I will write again when we have visted Cephalonia (home of Captain Correlli’s Mandoline fame) and Zante, home of endangered turtles…
August 2012 – Great Northern Exposure Tour
...So why haven’t I written I hear you cry! Well there have been a couple of reasons, the main one being that throughout July we didn’t do anything – well nothing worthy of writing to you about, and that’s because for most of July the temperatures were just too hot to do anything. The average daily temperatures were about 36C going up to 40C (that’s 96.8F-104F in ‘old money’). So we decided to stay in and around Nidri, going out for day sails to little bays so we could go for a dip in the water (by this time it was now hot as a bath and didn’t give you any relief) or we just stayed in the bay or go on one of the little docks and use one of the many hotel pools that are open to the public. So as I say, nothing really to write home about.
However, August is a time when many, many Italians arrive in their mega power yachts and we were advised to go north as there are not normally as many up that way...so on the 1st August ‘The Great Northern Exposure Tour’ began.
With a long sail ahead of us we had an early start, well it’s 8 miles to the Lefkas canal bridge (which opens hourly) and then a further 8 miles to Preveza and then a further 8 miles to Vonitsa where we were heading, so we left Nidri at 12.30 having had a bite to eat for lunch!
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Vonitsa sits in the south west corner of the Gulf of Amvrakia, which is a landlocked gulf which you enter through a channel via Preveza, it is low lying and supposedly a good area for flat fish that you don’t get elsewhere. It is also famous for its fish farms and the wonderful smell they produce, so not an area you would want to take a dip if it gets too hot.
We had a pleasant motor to the canal, a wonderful sail (yes sail, ie without the engine on and both the white flappy sail thingies up), all the way up to Preveza, through the channel and into the Gulf, at which point the wind dropped and so we dropped our mainsail and just kept the headsail out. Good job too, just as quickly as the wind dropped it picked up again and we could see thunder and lightning in the distance. We decided that as we had not been to Vonitsa before and were unsure of the protection it afforded we would go back and stay on the town quay at Preveza. The wind rose as did the seas and a bouncy evening was had by everyone who wasn’t tucked in somewhere safe (we were, we’d found a spot right in the corner of the town quay). To our delight, later that evening a huge (and I mean enormous) turtle popped his head out of the water right next to the boat, he bobbed up and down a few times (I was unable to get a photograph), and then he was gone – a real treat for us.
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We left the following morning and went to Vonitsa and got a spot behind the sea wall – we stayed for two days. Vonitsa is a sleepy, quiet place with a wonderfully preserved castle, (guide book stuff now - red bricks indicate that a Byzantine castle stood on the site. In 1294 Vonitsa, together with Angelokastro (on the mainland), Eulochos and Naupaktos, formed part of the dowry of Thamar (daughter of the Despot of Epirus) when she married Philip, prince of Taranto. It was inherited by Duchess Fransisca in 1429 on the death of Carlo I Tocco.
With the death of Carlo II Tocco in 1448, his governor surrendered the castle to the Venetians. Afterwards the Turks took it in 1479, the Venetians under Morosini were back in 1684, the Turks in 1714, and the Venetians again, in 1717. By 1800 the French were in possession, but Ali Pasha drove them out and built three more forts E. of Vonitsa towards Levkas). We took a stroll to the top, taking in the wonderful views and wandered aimlessly around the castle.
From Vonitsa we headed north(ish) along the mainland to a little harbour called Ligia – our
but it’s worth a try.
Friends have told us to ignore the sailing guide and go anyway as it is a really nice place, which is exactly what it is. It is a brand new harbour (clearly EU money), it has free water and electricity for boats, there is enough space for a few of you to get in, even if you are over 40ft (like us).
We took a walk into the town up the hill – nothing really there – but had a lovely meal at a fish restaurant in the harbour. It is also the only place we have been to in Greece that has an open vista west, so we could watch the sunset – which we did.
We left the next day.
Next stop on our ‘GNET’ was Parga. We have been told by everyone how wonderful this town is. It is set up on a hill and you get a water taxi to take you from the bay where you anchor to Parga town. We didn’t, by the next day we’d had enough.
The boat rocked and rolled all day and then at night, when the wind died, we lay beam on to the swell. We will not be going back!
The following day we headed to Mourtos, a town on the mainland surrounded by the Sivota Islands (three of them). On route we had a pod of dolphins for about twenty minutes, which are just wonderful to see wherever you are. We anchored and took a line ashore (this is a new technique for us this year which we have now sort of perfected.
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The town of Mourtos is a quiet seaside place with a promenade of bars, restaurants and shops along the front from where you can watch the boats coming and going and it was from here that we threw a glass of beer of the netbook....another reason we have not written for a while....However David has worked his magic and it only requires a new keyboard – phew! Lucky I have a David. We stayed two nights.
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Next was Corfu Town.
I will not bore you with the altercation we had with a French flagged catamaran on the way, but needless to say that photos were taken of his dangerous behaviour and David now knows that he can swear in perfect French, even though it turned into a bit of Italian at the end of his barrage.
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We knew that you could anchor under the old castle, but had also been told that one of the marinas was not too expensive, so we opted for that – to our great expense when we found out it was €40 for the night (we are so used to paying €10 down in Nidri). Anyhow, it was so hot that we left it til 5pm before heading up to the Old Town.
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It now houses a collection of bronze and porcelain statues. It does however have a wonderful view of the sea. (photos of Corfu town on the website).
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From Corfu we went ten miles south to a lovely little village called Petitri – nothing much to say about the place other than it was pleasant and we stayed two days having met friends from Messolonghi.
We finished our ‘Grand Northern Exposure Tour’ with a visit to Lakka (of which I wrote earlier in the year) and then down to Mongonis which is a tiny bay at the end of Paxos. Again nothing much to say about the place other than the swimming was wonderful and there’s not a lot there – apart from staying up late to watch the meteor shower that night (of which we saw a dozen or so).
Our Great Northern Exposure Tour’ took us on a round trip of 175 miles over a period of just under two weeks – we have to have a rest now.
We are back in Nidri, fixing some jobs as usual, cleaning the boat and waiting for my mum to visit us again on 2nd September when we shall take her to some new and exciting places (that we will check out before she arrives). And hoping that the rain disappears...
October 2012
So here we are, the last two weeks of our time in Greece for 2012.
We are now back in Messolonghi, our winter marina and are busy with the final jobs we need to do to Alhambra in order to get her ready for winter...sails down, engines 'pre'd', running rigging down, dinghy and outboard stowed and everything cleaned from top to bottom...just some of the things we'll be busy with over the coming two weeks.
We 'haul out' next Monday and then our ferry from Patras to Venice is the following Sunday (21st Oct). The ferry trip to Venice takes 34 hours and then we will drive back across Europe and be back in the UK later that week.
Our season this year has been, what can only be described as leisurely, which was exactly our plan. After our previous sailing seasons, whereby we have completed nearly 2,500 miles each season, this year we have managed to do the grand total of 680 miles.
The locals tell us that this is very unusual, but was the same last year, so we are told. From May to October we have seen two, maybe three, days of rain.
The down side to all this, is that there has very rarely been any wind to sail on.
Up in the north - Corfu way- there has nearly always been a good breeze and the sailing was wonderful, but down in the South - Nidri way- there has been very little, but at least the sea is flat calm and my mum liked it that way.
She visited twice this year, and apparently is already looking to book her tickets for next year, it's a good job she is a good crew member.
She has now mastered boat toilets, so next year we'll get her doing some knots or hauling sails - that's if there's any wind. She also mastered the dinghy first time round, which was more than I did, it took me months to work out the best way in and out!
This was our first 'proper' visit to Greece and I can honestly say it has been a wonderful experience, there really isn't very much not to like.
OK we were in mainly touristy areas and islands, most of which do not let themselves get affected by what's happening in 'the real world of greece', but if you dig deep you will find out what the locals truly think - and I will let them keep that to themselves.
Wherever we went we were met by friendly, smiling, happy people (apart from 'Miserable George' who runs a shop in Nidri, and hasn't got his nickname because he welcomes you with a warm and happy personality). The backdrop scenery is spectacularly mountainous, with a foreground of warm, crystal clear blue water and lush green hillsides.
The colour of the flowers throughout the season gives the Caribbean a run for its money. The food, although a little 'samey' is good, tasty and normally homemade. The wines have surprised me, in that most of the time they are excellent, with one or two exceptions. The price of food and drink is acceptable, sometimes low, sometimes high, but then we are visiting islands where most of it has to be shipped to. So generally a really good impression of a country I would definetly recommend, and will be visiting again.
So, that's about it, time to clean something else on the boat before it gets too hot again.
Amazing detail and a good path to follow! Wish we were there to sail? with you!!
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