Sailing with Moondance : August 2017

Sailing with Wild Indigo has been mostly – another day, another bay, as we make our way down the Northern Ionian from Corfu to the Gulf of Corinth.

To start with our luggage had to be transferred from hotel to yacht. I went to Anthonys car hire and asked for a car for one hour today, and the rest of one days hire tomorrow. No problem, take the car sitting here, it is booked but have it back in one hour. So I did. The car hire guy chased me down the street and said no I could not have that car, he would get me another. So he did – from the opposition. I transferred our bags to the marina and the car hire guy, realising he had no paperwork for the hire came down to the marina and took the car back. Very nice of him. I went to get the car the next day to do our shopping, but all the cars had been hired out, so we took a taxi to the supermarket and back

Next day we left the marina and headed for the anchorage at Corfu town. Log speed and autopilot did not work. Common for log indicators to get stuck when in marinas for longish periods, but still part of the learning process. Got the log working without too much water getting in the yacht.

Had drinks with John and Denise from Mia Sarena to celebrate our first night at anchor.

Next day was spent in Corfu town. When it takes 45 minutes to buy 5 stamps, time goes slow and little gets accomplished.

Raewyns day of facing her fears was spent motoring to Lakka. Last year we had a night storm and did not go ashore. Lakka had bad memories. This year we enjoyed walking around Lakka, a very quaint seaside town, with beautiful clear water. We enjoyed our time there.

Next day it was off to Parga – another lovely seaside town I had enjoyed in the past. The bay near the town now had restaurants along its whole length and holidaymakers being towed on toys behind fast boats that used yachts as turning markers. Still a very pleasant bay though and a short walk over the hill to Parga itself (that is, unless you take the road which is longer and steeper – we made the mistake on our way back) Parga was a joy with its narrow clean streets bars and restaurants all in keeping with the older seaside villages. We enjoyed a fruit juice and croissant at the village bakery.

After Parga, we continued South to Emerald Bay on Anti Paxos, but it was crowded with little room to anchor. We tried a couple of spots but were not happy, so left late for the anchorage just outside Gaios (oh no – another quaint seaside town, but definitely a safe anchorage.)

Nephew Jimmi arrived in Athens potentially with the idea of joining us in Corfu. We had very poor internet, so it was back to Corfu to fix the situation. Jimmi decided Santorini was a better bet, so he headed off there. We sorted our internet, had used all our credit, so that was a good thing to get sorted. We also needed diesel, so went back to our favourite anchorage Komenno, just outside Gouvia marina.

Dinghy Disasters

We need to get a bit of gear ashore, so started off from Komenno with a loaded dinghy. “Trying to get in to the dinghy was the start of our disasters. I had trouble getting in because as soon as I put one foot into the dinghy it would scoot away from me and I had trouble trying to hang on. The floor is so soft as soon as I put weight on it I sunk down and lost my stability. Finally managed to get in. I had everything packed around me in the front so the front of the dinghy was quite low in the water. I had my blue dress on and ended up with a very wet bum. We found some steps at the marina where I was going to get off. Grabbed the steps, stood to try and climb out and my feet sunk into the bottom of the dinghy again. I managed to get one foot on the rung of the stainless steel steps. My feet were wet from the bottom of the dinghy and my foot slipped straight through. Lucky a couple of guys came to my aid. It was very frightening and it could have been a big disaster.”

Americans have a term for this – clusterf**k. When something goes wrong, it leads to a series of worsening incidents very quickly. I am reminded of this occasionally – mostly when I see it happen to others, but it is a serious reminder to stop failure early and reassess.

Leaving Corfu again, we ended up at Parga again (Plan C) but we had a nice anchorage out of the Northerly winds that were increasing. An electrical storm was predicted, but thankfully never arrived and we had a very comfortable night.

Leaving Parga we kept heading south and saw a few dolphins, turtles and fish jumping. Eventually we arrived at the canal entrance to Preveza and anchored for the night in a bay just past the town.

Then it was exploring in the Gulf of Amvrakia. Somewhere totally new. We found a lovely bay north of the town of Vonitsa and spent the day and night relaxing. There were only a few yachts around. A pleasant change from the many yachts in the Ionian, and the many more we were to see after leaving the gulf. School holidays have started – it is hot and there are many yachts in the popular anchorages. We were happy to be somewhere else.

We anchored off the beach at Vonitsa and went in to town. There was a cultural event happening at night and we enjoyed watching the individual villages competitive dances. The dancing was very traditional – going back centuries and each village had very different costumes, but there was similarity in the folk dancing.

For the next few days we kept meandering in the gulf until we reached the end, turned around at the town and headed back to Preveza, tied to the town quay. Big mistake. Preveza, like New York, never sleeps and we seem to have picked the noisiest nightclub to be outside. The noise continued way after we returned from the Taverna where we had dinner with John, Denise and a young Aussie couple. There was little sleep that night.

Having power and water was a luxury so Wild Indigo got a very good clean and the local laundry service did a good trade. Another big shopping day which seems to take a lot of our time when we are near a supermarket. Reading Greek is not that easy and Raewyn tries to read every label. I look at the pictures which is quicker, but can have surprising results. Like lemon vinegar instead of lemon juice extract.

On through the Levkas canal we reached Nidri which has very good marine stores including second hand gear. This provided an interesting excursion, but the walk through the town was better where we sampled delicious yogurt ice creams and stocked up on Prosecco. Temperatures are nearing 40 deg and it does not let up much at night.

Sivota was a very sheltered anchorage. Most yachts moor on the town quay or jetties but again we free anchored in the bay. There were a few flotillas in town but not a lot of noise from the tavernas which is unusual.

Our next anchorage was near Frikes, another delightful seaside town. We anchored in a delightful bay a bit north of the town and enjoyed swimming in the clear water. Again this was a flotilla lunch stop, so we anchored amongst them knowing they would move on early afternoon. I wanted to put out a bit more chain for the night, and picked the only charter yacht that stayed on and on in the anchorage. Eventually he moved and we had room to let out more chain.

From there it was on to O. Pera Pighadi. A lovely bay where we spent the night last year. It was pleasant to return, but obvious there are a lot more yachts and launches in the area this year.

Leaving Ithaca we crossed to the entrance to the Gulf of Patras and anchored in the roasdstead between an island and the mainland. Again, very clear water. It was rather windy which was nice. We were well anchored in shallow water and there were no waves.

From our anchorage we continued up the Gulf. Passing underneath the Rion –Andirron bridge which requires a bit of protocol. Calling bridge control 5 miles before the bridge and requesting permission to transit. You are assigned a lane (one pylon to port, three to starboard) For the North Channel transiting West to East. You then have to call one mile before the bridge and again request permission to transit. No big deal and we anchored at Navpaktos, just off the small harbour. It blew during the night and was rather uncomfortable until midnight when it calmed down. Only three yachts stayed the night and we were last to leave the next morning and headed for Patras back under the bridge to a marina.

We are still here 2 days later as you pay for one day, get one free.