Midi s Meanderings Part Five 2013

Transcription

1 Midi s Meanderings Part Five September 2013 Kalimera everyone. And then there were six. Yes we still have Ross and Karen and we picked up Brian and Rayma Dalley in Corfu. But back to where we last left you. On the island of Cephalonia, we once again did the car hire thingy, after bravely venturing to the hairdresser for a haircut. I was pleased with my haircut (12 Euros) but Karen was not at all pleased with her fringe haircut (you get what you pay for as they say and Karen s was free). So it was up early in the morning and off to have a Full English Breakfast (5 Euros per person for the small breakfast which consisted of cake and coffee first, followed by bacon, eggs, sausage and beans, toast and orange juice). We needed a little sleep after that lot and wondered what the big breakfast could have had. This was from the wee port of Eufimia on the east coast. We decided we were okay anchored in the harbour so to the consternation of the French people in the boat next to us they watched as we laid out our 2 nd anchor. I think they were wondering what we knew that they didn t but it was just that I do like to have peace of mind if I m going to be away from the boat for some time! Off we tootled in the car (Hyundia I30) and the first stop was Melissani, to visit the underground lake. We went down into a cave and it opened out to the sky and we got into a small boat and were rowed around the lake by a youngish Greek man who told us a bit of history of the lake. The lake was first discovered some 5000 years ago and the roof had fallen in.. The temperature of the water was around 15 degrees and the lake dropped to depths of 50mtrs in places. The water which was brackish had 25% salt water in it and it was fed from an underground water system that ran from Agrostoli on the other side of the island, some 40kms away. It was interesting that when swimming in the sea in this area along the coast we frequently would swim in to cold patches which is the water from the lake feeding out into the sea.

2 Then it was off to the Drogarati Cave to see all the stalagmites/tites. Rather magnificent but I get a bit breathless after a while, thinking of all that solid stuff above my head. Reading that stalagtites grow at the rate of 1 cm every 100 years, it was quite mind boggling really. Then it was the Castle of St George, which managed to be closed on that day but we saw some nice walls. This was after we visited the wine co-op of Cephalonia where we got to do some wine tasting and watch the bottling plant in action. Good to have experienced this after the various

3 winery roads we have driven down in various parts of Greece without finding any winerys! Saw Mirtos Beach which looked very pretty from high up on the hill but we did not think we needed to drive all the way down and join all the other bodies on the shoreline. The colours of the sea were really amazing. After the exhaustion of a day in the car, our next anchorage was only a short hop away at Kalo. Bit of a worry when the house on the shoreline had the Greek flag flying as well as one with Che Guevara on it! We were waiting for the rebels to come out of the bush. It was a pretty little bay a bit further along the coast from Eufimia. This area of the coast is dotted with lovely little coves with bush in the background. Quite different from the Aegean where we hardly saw any trees apart from scrabbly bushes. Next morning it was off to Foki where there were quite a few boats anchored. We ended up anchoring next to an Italian yacht where there was a grandissimo Italian Mama sunbathing in her little black bikini bottom. Not too offensive lying down but when she stood up, all her bits were definitely pointing south. Then they got ready to leave and we saw her put her sailing gloves on and go to pull up the anchor I was a bit worried that her dangly bits (and we are not talking little dangly bits more like big hanging baskets!) were going to get caught in the anchor chain. Still, it provided us with a bit of entertainment for the morning. Photographs were taken but we will not publish them as she may be someone s sister/cousin/aunt and it could cause embarrassment. Mamma mia! We visited the harbour town of Fiskardo, a lovely little place but the harbour was packed and there were quite a few superyachts anchored off, by dinghy which was only about half a mile away. Ross

4 did the fish spa thing and had his feet nibbled on. A lovely little harbour, one of our favourites but always very popular. It was very entertaining watching the various large yachts and motor boats come in and push their way into spaces that looked way too small for them. The island of Cephalonia is my favourite island and if we win Lotto (chance would be a fine thing) I would like a summer house here. I have even picked out the house it s not for sale but that is a minor point. Next stop was the island of Kastos where we anchored off the main harbour with lots of other boats and met another Kiwi couple, Ted and Jenny Peacock, off their boat Elixir. We forced ourselves to go out to dinner there and unfortunately the wind changed direction whilst we were ashore. We swung around, as did all the other boats and another boat ended up on top of us. We came back from dinner just in time and no damage was done. Then it was off to the island of Meganisi just a lunch time stop and then off to the harbour of Nidhri, where I got to swap some books ashore always something I am glad of. Unfortunately Karen broke one of her teeth and no it wasn t on my horrible cooking, just on a cracker, which necessitated finding a dentist to do a temporary filling. While Ross and Karen were at the dentist, we stopped at the café below to have an orange juice and wouldn t you know it, New Zealand rugby was playing on the TV Waikato vs Otago. Bruce was in heaven. The next day it was off then to go through the Lefkas Canal and on to Preveza. Next morning it was a trudge around town to find somewhere playing the All Blacks/Wallabies game but couldn t find anywhere. Bruce had to content himself with getting the scores off his Smartphone while we had a coffee. This seemed to signal a change in the weather and after having had a great run of low humidity days the weather took a change to hot and humid. Not so nice when living on board a boat.

5 We looked enviously at those with air conditioners. Also in this area the water is not so appealing for swimming in so the dunks were short and very welcome. Next was the island of Andipaxos, anchoring off a little cove with yet more super yachts and their accompanying toys. This was a day of little wind so plenty of motoring until we were about 5nm off when a lovely breeze filled in. Then Paxoi, anchoring in the beautiful bay of Lakka. This is a wonderful bay with clear blue water and white sand underneath, and so popular. When we anchored there were about 40 other boats but by nightfall this had increased to 60! It is not often that I would be happy to anchor with only 15m of anchor chain out but here we had no choice as there is not a lot of swinging room. Also we were anchored in only about 3.5m deep water. On then to Corfu and a lovely down wind sail in southerlies of around 12knots. It made a lovely change to be sailing off the wind after anchoring off in the bay to the NE of the only marina on Corfu at Gouvia, we then had a night in the marina and went and collected Brian and Rayma from the airport by taxi. It was great to add to our crew and now Midi has a full complement. Photo here of our new crew, alert and ready for action. With everyone on board, off we headed, north of Corfu, to the island of Erikoussa. Very pretty. Had a little walk ashore where we spied a Medical Station I thought my two sisters might like to run. Went and had a little drink at a restaurant where the Italian barman tried to get us to go back later that evening for a little Southern Italian singing. Obviously he had not heard our Antipodean singing voices but needless to say, we did not take him up on his offer! Then it was off to the little island of Othoni. Another lovely spot. With a Fathers Day fry up for breakfast, a few chores and a rest in the afternoon, it was out for Fathers Day dinner at a restaurant. Meal a bit of a disappointment really but one I did not have to cook.

6 Then it was back to the island of Paxoi, showing Brian and Rayma the delights of the place and anchoring in the harbour of Gaios, tying ashore with a huge number of other boats. Brian and Bruce ended up on a charter boat with a group of thirtysomething sailors from London, briefly playing drinking games. They said they only went on board because a couple of the guys were Kiwi. Fortunately they didn t stay long and no damage was done. Back down the west coast of Corfu we went, with an overnight anchorage at Palaiokastrita (try to pronounce that). The ladies had to cool off in the tide frequently. We had to tie our stern to a rock under the water and float our round fender off the stern line. That s the fender to my left in the photo. We are now on our way back to Vlikho, where it is hoped we will watch the NZ/Argentina game and then it will be into Lefkas Marina for a night, where Ross and Karen will leave us to start their journey home. I will leave you with a couple of extra photos. Ross trying to feed the fish, bread by hand unsuccessfully and a photo of my fine, sun dried tomatoes (thank you to Nick and Robyn for showing me how to do this actually no not thank you at all they are proving so popular I have to do them all the time! Oh well c est la vie.

7 Hope everyone is well at home and you will be pleased to know that it is actually cooling down a tad and that some delicate souls have even had to put a shirt on in the evening. Andio from Lesley and Bruce.