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August in the Ionian
August has been a very
lazy month for us mostly due to the heat and humidity. In the afternoons you just don’t want to do
anything but lie around waiting for the sun to go down
and have the occasional swim to cool down.
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However
in between this we have managed to see a few more places and
meet a few more people.
After
Fiskardo we headed back down to
Sami to refuel, fill up with water
and victual. However
as we quite like Sami we stayed
for 5 days in the end. There was a lovely Italian couple,
Enrico and Paola on our port side
and a lovely British couple, Brian and Irene on our starboard
side. Both of whom were staying for a few days so we didn’t
feel a need to rush away. We had a couple of meals out, enjoyed
a swim or two and Smudge had some lovely early morning walks
on the beach. Every
afternoon a lovely breeze blew through Sami
making the August heat more bearable (maybe this is why we
stayed so long).
Unfortunately
in Sami we discovered some creepy crawlies on board – not so
many to call it an infestation but more than 1 – so we spent
a few hours stripping everything out of the cupboards, having
a deep clean and laying traps to
kill any we didn’t get. Luck was on our side it would seem
and we must have spotted them early enough and before they
had a chance for a full invasion as we only found 1 or 2 dead
beasties after our spring clean and trap laying and so far
all seems well.
Finally
we decided we had to go and headed north to the island of Lefkas. There is a
lovely bay on the south of the island called Sivota
that we hadn’t visited before so we headed there and found
room on a pontoon alongwith with electricity and water. The restaurant, Stavros
that owned the pontoon also had showers so we thought this
is great we’ll stay a few days.
Sivota is a beautiful
bay and a busy yacht haven so there was a lot of yacht watching
while we were there whilst holding a G&T relaxing in our
cockpit.
After
two nights in Sivota we headed north to a couple of anchorages we had been
to before. First Vliho bay which is a massive anchorage but very quiet and
then after a couple of nights there and a meal ashore in the
Vliho Yacht Club we headed 1 mile further north to Tranquil
Bay. This is also a big anchorage but beside the tourist resort
of Nidri. Here we were to bump into an old sailing buddy, Marc.
We have met Marc a few times since Spain. He has a little pug called Casper and
Smudge and Casper were glad to have doggy company. We bumped into him very unexpectedly on the main
street in Nidri and it was a lovely
surprise. So we hung
out with Marc and Casper for a few days in Tranquil Bay.
There was a lovely doggy walk on a quiet path and road that
we could do together that ended up at the Seaside Bar where
we could have a cold beer. Marc also needed his radar reflector fitted
to his mast
so as the smallest and lightest I offered to do that – in
return for a beer of course!
Smudge really appreciated Casper's company for these
few days.
After
4 nights we headed to Lefkada Town,
the capital of Lefkas and one of
our favourite towns. We
were going to sort out our wintering arrangements here and
speak to someone about a sprayhood for the journey back to Scotland with Madison. We spent a week here in the end. Karl had a day travelling to Athens on the bus to collect our car. We reserved our space in Lefkas marina for the
winter and Smudge got her haircut for the last time before
we come home. However it was a vet that did it and not a dog
groomer and it wasn’t the best so
once we got her back to the boat we had to do some trimming
ourselves so that she looked good.
Unfortunately this cost us €45 so it was an expensive
haircut.
We
met our second ever all female crew in Lefkada
too - mother and daughter,Lynn
and JD on board their yacht Viennesse
Waltz so we had a lovely evening over a few G&T’s
with them.
Finally
we headed north again through the Lefkas
canal and onward to the island of Paxos which is one of our favourite places. The canal is a bit tricky just now due to buoys
marking the channel moving and you have to be very careful
not to go aground which is happening on a daily basis to yachts
at the moment. Thankfully we made it through ok and didn’t
hit any hard lumpy stuff.
We
were planning a couple of nights in Gaios,
the main town on Paxos. Fiona Gillies
a Scottish artist runs a business here, Pythias
Gallery and we were looking forward to saying hi again.
We had coffee with Fiona
and she invited us to the opening of her new exhibition in
a local village so we were to stay on Paxos
for a few more days so that we could go.
We had a fabulous Italian meal in her husbands
restaurant, Caffe
Italiano
too.
We
were beside a French boat in Gaios
with a sailor called Louis on board so we had a lovely evening
with him. We provided the food and Louis provided the wine.
There was maybe a bit too much boat talk for my liking
but I’ve got used to that.
After
two nights in Paxos we headed to an anchorage a few miles away in Lakka that we love with the view to walking to the art
exhibition which was only 4km away from Lakka
in the village of Loggos. Whilst on anchor
in Lakka we met a Swedish boat,
Yacht
Ameline Eleonore , after Karl had helped with getting their lines ashore. Onboard were Glenn, Nina and their daughter Amei. So we went over
for drinks on the 1st evening and on the 2nd
we all walked into Loggos to go
to Fiona’s art exhibition. The exhibition was great but unfortunately I
couldn’t afford to buy anything. However it was a lovely evening out complete
with the obligatory wine and beer.
We weren’t up for walking back up hill in the dark
to Lakka so we got a taxi.
It
was time to leave Paxos and head for Corfu alongwith with Yacht Ameline
Eleonore. We all decided to go to
Petriti on the south of Corfu together. We
went on anchor and had a meal ashore. Since we were last here
the tavernas are offering showers and laundry
too so long as you eat there. We didn’t take advantage
this time as we were only there 1 night but on our way back
to Lefkada I think we will be.
The
next day we both headed for Corfu town. Amei was flying back home to Sweden and we were picking up Karl’s dad, Ken, from the airport
as he was coming for a weeks holiday.
We anchored for one night beneath the castle but the
wind was turning in the wrong direction and it would be too
bouncy to stay here so we headed for the Old Town harbour for a few nights. It’s not the best but it
is sheltered and makes life easier for Ken getting on and
off of Madison.
We have had a lovely couple of days so far
with Ken. We're in Petriti again for a couple of days and
we're teaching him to swim. Our friend Jimmy has just arrived on holiday
in Corfu so we're going to meet him on Sunday too.
The
next few weeks before we return home are busy with visitors
as our friend, Philip is coming for a week in the middle of
September and then my mum, Margaret is coming for a week and
is going to drive back to Scotland with us.
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