We depart for Kos

We depart tomorrow to passage across the Aegean to Kos where we are wintering over. We are stopping to do some "racing" on the way just south of Aigina where we are tonight, then we hope to blast across the Aegean. We may therefore be out of touch for a week or so until we are in Kos.

Cap'n Buck and Pippy

Corinth

Photos:
The wall we are pinned against during the storm.
Bridge over Corinth Canal



24 October 2008 – Corinth

We have a 38.5 passage in front of us today and plan to spend the night in Corinth Yacht Harbour before going through the Corinth Canal tomorrow – Saturday.

We pick up some 20 knot gusts of wind coming off the hills on our port side so put a reef in the main as it goes up and roll out the headsail to the first of 3 markers Richard has put on it. It is comfortable sailing as we accelerate in the gusts on the calm water and we make good time past the headland and lay across to Corinth, but the wind soon falls away and the motor comes on – of course around 11.00 am. On we go with the sound of the motor purring us through the calm sea.

Around 3 pm and as the headland in front of Corinth comes into view, I am pottering around below when Richard calls out to me “Pippy, we have a gale coming towards us!” I laugh in disbelief until I see his face which has me up on deck in seconds, to see a sea of white churned up water off to port and it is coming our way! We decide to get the main down which has been strapped in while we motor and my heart is in my mouth as we quickly drop it and I drag the head down the mast and get it zipped away into its lazy bag. I feel like I am taking ages as I struggle with the zip and I dare not look at what is heading our way, but am waiting to feel the first signs of it on my bare legs.

By the time it hits us, we are pretty well organised with everything above and below decks packed down – probably 5 minutes later. We look at each other in surprise as the first gust is only 15 knots, soon to be 20 knots and gusting aft of the beam. It really looked more like 50 knots from a distance and would have been in NZ conditions. The sea state changes instantly to short sharp waves, fairly steep. We give it another 5 minutes to see if there is any more wind coming and then hoist main and genoa and have a wonderful sail past the headland and in to Corinth Harbour - a huge open bay, flanked on the northern side by a range of high mountains, which have a marked influence on the way the wind behaves.

We are not absolutely sure if there is going to be room for us in the tiny yacht harbour so it will be interesting if we have to find somewhere else in these fresh conditions, however, as we round the breakwater, we see with some mixed relief a space against a wall and a figure beckoning us over to take our lines. With fishing boats, buoys and mooring lines everywhere, there is nowhere else to go, but the wind blows us hard against our fenders on the rough concrete wall – the stranger fends the bow off as I run for extra fenders from the other side of the boat. It is not ideal and furthermore the depth sounder is reading 1.75 m. We have a waterline depth of 2 m; the instrument measuring depth is around half a meter below the water line, so we are really pushing it being here and Richard is somewhat concerned, but the wind has us pinned there for now. Also, it is a mud bottom and we may have stirred it up a bit as we came in, so may be getting an inaccurate reading. The pilot book says it should be at least 2m.

Our stranger turns out to be a rather eccentric Cornish fisherman who has lived in Greece for many years. He assures us we will have enough depth and he knows the harbour so we are somewhat reassured. He says “Much larger boats have moored here and been fine”. However, Matelot is literally bouncing off the fenders on the disturbed sea coming through the gap into the harbour. We pour ourselves a drink and sit in the sun keeping an eye on things until an hour or so later when the wind eases and Matelot settles down enough for us to take a quick walk across the quay into Corinth city, which is a delight – lots of really interesting shops and cafes and prosperous friendly people. We do a quick walk around and take some shopping back to the boat to find her sitting in complete calm. We do not notice any change in the water depth.

By now it is around 7 pm and we are hungry. Our Cornish friend (Cap’n Stuart) has given us directions to a great fish restaurant which is “not too expensive”, so off we go. We find him sitting there holding court in his old felt hat which comes down around his ears and frames a long scraggy beard and blue Cornish eyes. He entertains us with his seafaring stories while we are dished up with a wonderful meal of mezze, grilled sardines and Dorado with plenty of bread, lime juice and olive oil. During our meal, Stewart and Ann from Scotland (sailing a Bavaria 44), walk in and we are all introduced. We are having an excellent evening until we notice that the wind has suddenly returned with renewed ferocity.

We extract ourselves and get back to the boat, finding to our horror that we have to leap down off the quay as the water level has dropped considerably. A few seconds confirms our worst suspicions – we are touching the bottom occasionally as she bounces around in the screaming gale. There is usually very little tide in the Med, but we manage to work out later that the wind has possibly caused a tidal surge, which is a common occurrence.

The group in the restaurant are confronted with Richard moments later as he races back there to try and find out if we can expect it to go lower. Soon we are surrounded with willing helpers including Stewart and Ann and Cap’n Stuart and lots of suggestions as to what we can do. Cap’n Stuart announces to me that “We are going to move you.” I say (..gulp…!) “Where to??” He says: “Over there by that fishing boat”. I look away into the darkness and see a small patch of wall behind an old wooden North Sea fishing boat, looking barely big enough for half of Matelot. I look in the pilot book and there are rocks shown at one end of the gap where the sea is foaming in from outside the harbour. For the second time that day my heart is in my mouth. I certainly don’t want us to go there and anyway, we are very reluctant to untie Matelot in these conditions and desperately try to think of a better course of action.

In the meantime Stewart and Ann (who we have only just met!) go back to their own boat, getting very wet as the sea is coming over the sea wall, and bring us back a lead line and a coil of rope which has more shock absorption in it. They generously suggest we could tie up to and alongside their own boat, but with the wind howling, we would be hard pushed to get Matelot off the sea wall and turned around in the small space available.

The lead line soon brings our solution as Stewart tests the depth all around us and it appears we have deeper water right off our stern. We manually pull the boat backwards on her springs so we are just deep enough. Her aft quarter is protruding into the gap at the end of the sea wall, but we are not hitting the bottom any more. Cap’n Stuart has been away on his bike in the meantime and comes back and announces that the water will not go any lower according to the local experts!

Richard stays on boat watch and orders me to bed to get some rest. I am not sure I can sleep but do drop off. It must be around 1.30 am when I wake up and feel Richard climbing in beside me and note that the wind has stopped howling. When we wake up after 8.30 am, all is calm and beautiful again. In the light of day, sunshine and calm waters we are able to untie and carefully ease ourselves through trailing mooring lines on to the opposite sea wall where we tie up alongside with plenty of water under the hull and plenty of room. The wind which comes up again later in the day blows us off, rather than on to the wall – we are safe and comfortable. We look across at the mountain range towering over the bay and feel very small.

25 October 2008

We share a glass of wine with Stewart and Ann who invite us to supper on board their boat that evening. We have made some more friends and are very happy to share an evening with these lovely people who helped us so much despite having only just met us. We spend a warm and happy few hours with them before swapping contact details and heading back to Matelot.

This contact with other people helps to keep the malaise at bay which creeps up on me when I am in a world for too long with just us and people who speak another language. It is strange and I am almost ashamed to admit it but I do get a little crazy without contact with my own kind. Richard as usual is fine and very stable and well adjusted! How like a man!

26 October 2008 - Sunday

I walk across to the bakery early and get bread fresh out of the oven. By the time I am back in sight of the boat, Stewart and Ann are throwing off their lines and I climb up on the sea wall and wave to them as they head west. We contact Corinth Canal Control and get permission to passage through. The light NW breeze blows us gently off the wall and we get our bow around and over the random buoys and mooring lines without using the propeller.

In no time we are circling, waiting to be called through the canal and are told there is a 40 minute delay. Just time to have our last breakfast on this side and I pop open a delicious fresh pomegranate, watching the juicy pink pearls mingle with our Greek yoghurt and muesli. By the time we have eaten and just started coffee, we are called through and follow a freighter into the massive cut in the land. It is a freezing cold morning and for the first time we have our woollen sailing jackets on. Thirty minutes later and we are on the other side being relieved of E184 for the transit. Having been there we can appreciate the massive cost of the upkeep of this waterway. There are some places where the original walls are still in place but also evidence of many massive slips in the sandstone coloured walls.

We are greeted at the eastern end by a gusty breeze which bangs us up against the quay. With boats in front and behind it is a mission to get off the quay and we leave Corinth behind with a couple of new scratches in the gelcoat.

The Saronic Sea opens out in front of us and soon we are enjying a broad reach downhill towards Nissos Aigina and Angistri.

Itea and Delphi

21 October 2008





A good wind all day brings us early enough into the port of Itea to anchor off the beach for a swim and sunbathe before going in to tie up in the “marina”. This is yet another great facility – we go and see the Port Police while we are here to get our transit log stamped, so have to pay for the privilege. Three nights is E15.40.

We plan to spend the next day exploring Delphi which we can see in the distance in the mountains and feel quite a bit of anticipation of the treat in store. We have a chat to some French people on a yacht moored nearby and they have already seen Delphi but are going off on a 3 day excursion to Meteora, another ancient site which is (sort of) accessible from here. This is a group of monasteries perched atop high pinnacles of rock which soar upwards to great heights.

22 October 2008

We catch the 8.45 am bus to Athens which drops us in Delphi about 20 minutes later. It takes us a little while to figure out that we have to walk right through the village and out the other side to come to the ancient site which we spend the morning exploring.

This is the ideal time to visit as the air is crisp and clear, and the majesty and grandeur of this setting high up in the mountain pass envelopes us in a feeling of absolute awe. There are only about 20 buses of tourists today – apparently it gets very crowded in the high season and would be unbearably hot as well.

We had thought that after all the ancient sites we have seen this year on the Eastern Med Yacht Rally, we would not be able to absorb any more, but we find Delphi truly amazing and tragic too. We wander around trying to imagine this place full of people living their daily lives, our impressions consolidated after viewing the incredible quality of the exhibits in the Delphi Museum, all excavated from the site and displayed in a way that we are able to view them from all angles and very close up for example…

The Sphinx of the Naxians – 570 BC 12.5 metres high
Argive Twins Kleobis and Biton carved from Parian marble and dating back to 580 BC – 2.16 m high
Pentelic marble columns, height 13m, of three young girls dancing
….And much, much more….

23 October 2008

We have the bit between our teeth and Richard is off the boat early and trying to organise a rental car from here to get to Meteora, but it does not work out. The afternoon is spent provisioning in the excellent supermarket we find, passage planning for our next stage and lazing in the cockpit in the afternoon sun with a drink in hand, reading and relaxing.

Ionian Sea to Gulf of Patras and under the Rion Bridge

18 October 2008 – 6 pm

We are now tied to the town wall in Vathi (Ithaka) beside two other yachts – the numbers are less in this port - another very sheltered harbour tucked into the heart of this large island. We have spent the afternoon in yet another idyllic spot (Skhoinos), just one bay around from here, where we enjoy a swim and time to write and read.

The atmosphere today is slightly misty and ethereal looking but not yet cold. The locals tell us it will rain overnight and so it does. There are a few flashes of lightning and claps of thunder from the surrounding mountains, which make me nervous, but that is all. Richard puts on an extra spring just in case and we put up our bimini and spray dodger so we can be cosy and dry.

The shops here are all open so I buy fresh vegetables and meat and make us a big feed of Spaghetti Bolognese and salad.

19 October 2008

We awake to the sound of heavy rain around 6 am. It is a nice sound – the boat was getting really dirty and water is precious, so we will be getting a good wash down. There has been no wind during the night that we were aware of. We drift in and out of sleep until around 7.30 am. After purchasing bread we make our way out of the harbour, pulling up the main as we clear the heads past the gorgeous classical looking chapel on the headland and the ancient looking ruins. A light breeze kicks in and soon we are sailing as we turn to say farewell to Ithaka and Cephallonia and the Ionian Sea. We have done a whistle stop tour and promise ourselves we will be back to relax and cruise these lovely parts when the weather is more suitable. Maybe we will also read Homer over the winter.

As the day progresses the sun comes out and dries the sodden canvas. We are slipping along in very calm seas and a constant breeze with the Gulf of Patras in our sights as we pass Nisos Oxia to port. There are only a few yachts about but a number of fast ferries coming and going - we have to tack away to avoid one which is determined to run us down.

We are closer to the northern shore and the vista changes from high mountainous country to flat salt marshes away to port and the sea state becomes a little more short and choppy. We are reminded to exercise caution as we suddenly notice the depth go from 20 metres down to 6 metres – we have strayed too close to the coast as we lay into the entrance to the Missalonghi channel.

A fascinating experience ensues as we motor up this channel past houses on stilts into an almost finished but vandalised marina made up of a series of pontoons but devoid of any kind of management. The pontoon we tie up to has flash looking solar panels set up to run each light, all broken. We are accustomed to being surrounded by tall craggy mountains and cliffs, but tonight we are in a landscape of flatness stretching into the far distance against the backdrop of a mountain range of mainland Greece far away to the north of us.

20 October 2008

It takes us 30 minutes to motor back out of the channel on this gorgeous blue morning with reflections all around us.

As we sight the magnificent Rion Bridge in the distance we notice the sea state changing from flat calm to short and choppy and within another ten minutes, we are getting wind of 18 knots, gusting to 28. Up go the sails and we are off, screaming across the water towards the city of Patras. I do suggest that we reef as we go up but Richard has a gleem in his eye and there is no chance. “We will reef if we need to” he says!

Five miles distant from the Rion Bridge we need to call Bridge Control and ask for permission to passage under the bridge. They instruct us to keep 3 pylons to port and 1 to our right side, which is strange language I think. Why not 1 to starboard? We are to call in again 1 mile out. We are in white water now and Richard opts to get the sails down. We will motor underneath the bridge. We are both starving by now and grab what we can find for snacks. I am eating delicious baklava (Richard does not like it) and almost call us in as “Baklava… Baklava…. Baklava, instead of Matelot… The Rion Bridge is truly absolutely huge. We feel dwarfed by the massive white pylons which resemble sailing ships from a distance.

Beyond the Rion Bridge our destination is the small and very lovely Venetian port of Navpaktos, famous because it was used by the Turkish fleet to prepare themselves before the battle of …... We poke our nose in there to find that it is filled up with fishing boats and one large sailing ship. The locals appear to have strung up a wire across from the land to the entrance at top of mast height, to stop boats with masts from turning left and going in. A bit dangerous if you don’t see it in time! We anchor off the beach and swim and relax, much later on taking the dinghy ashore for a good aerobic walk up the hill to inspect the fort which overlooks the town and straights below. By the time we return to Matelot there are 6 more yachts anchored near to us. For once the wind stays constant and we enjoy a sheltered night in this anchorage.

We go to sleep with the lights of the fort above us reflecting off the water. Out comes the camera but it is difficult to get a good with the gentle rocking movement of the boat.

Lefkas to Cephallonia

Lefkas to Cephallonia

15 October 2008

We see Barnacle Bill and her crew again the morning we leave Lefkas, but never do catch up on Inga and see Coralie and Brian again. Perhaps next year we will hook up – that would be nice…..

Making our way south down the Lefkas Canal, we come across a rescue in action as a large motor launch is towed off the shallows on the side of the canal. We have to wait for this to succeed, so do our best to hover in the confined space. The tow driver warns us to stay well inside from the edge of the canal as he goes by. A little further south the canal opens out into the Ormos Dhrepanou, a large gulf of such astounding beauty and idyllic picture post card islands, it is breathtaking. The blue Ionian sky is reflected off the almost windless sea as we motor towards Nidri past sloping mountains covered in green forests of tall candle shaped trees and an assortment of other vegetation. Straight ahead is a cluster of islands around Nidri and the entrance to Ormos Vikho. These include Sparti, Kheloni and Madhouri, and further south the twin islands of the Onassis family, Skorpidhi and Skorpios.

The temptation is strong to take a closer look at the Onassis family islands which leads us to the SW side of Skorpios and a turquoise bay where we anchor and swim with the blue fish. This bay with its attractive beach house was apparently a favourite of the late Jacki Onassis. It has an atmosphere of peace and serenity, highlighted by the birdsong which we enjoy from our anchorage. We are not permitted to land above high water, where the lush green forest comes right down to the sea but it is such a treat just to be here.

It is tempting to stay the night, but is a little exposed and not an ideal anchorage, so we drag ourselves away and plan to go to the island of Meganisi. Before we are half way across the gap between the two islands, the wind comes up and by the time we make the entrance to our proposed anchorage on the north eastern side, it is blowing reasonably fresh from the north west. We manage to find a lovely natural harbour to tuck into, but a little confusion arises as our chart plotter shows us as being on the land, when in fact we are sure we are not! We eventually find out that there are some discrepancies with the charts in this part of Greece and all systems are working fine aboard Matelot. Good thing we were not trying to do this with zero vis. Despite the lateness of the season, there are still quite a large number of charter boats out and we are one of around 8 yachts anchored in this bay. The wind makes itself known as it creeps around the corner and it takes a while to drop off to sleep on this night.

The morning finds us taking a stroll across the ridge past olive trees loaded with fruit to the picturesque port of Vathi (as we travel onwards, we find that almost every island has a port called Vathi and it is to be one of many!) where we tuck into fresh baked cheese pies and stock up on bread for the day.

16 October 2008

Our destination for today is to do the passage between Lefkada (Lefkas Island) and Meganisi which is renowned for its scenery and beauty. The wind freshens as we pass Thilia Island and hooray we are sailing and having a wonderful tack southwards! Richard finds several boats to race against and passes them all, sailing higher and faster than these unsuspecting others.

Passing around the bottom end of Lefkada Island we come across the lovely protected harbour of Sivota where we tie up stern to outside a taverna on the southern wall. We have ducked in here to shelter from a southerly wind for the night, but realise to our surprise that it is only 2.00 pm! We are getting very lazy. Not to worry there is now time to do some housekeeping and relaxing and the boat is soon covered in washing hanging up to dry. Later on we sit in the Taverna (2 steps from the stern), listen to cool music, have a drink and watch the locals catching octopus off the wall in the darkness. Sleep comes easily this night.

17 October 2008

Today we really are going to Ithaka and Cephallonia. The calm sunny weather is till holding but we do sail the gap between the two islands on a lovely breeze taking us exactly south west where we want to go. It is truly magical today and soon we are attracted to the large bay on the northern end of Ithaka with its massive white coloured cliffs which tower over the golden sandy beaches below. Closer in, the sparkling turquoise water which changes to delicious milky blue as it joins with the shore, allows us to clearly see the anchor going to the bottom in 12 metres.

Richard swims ashore and I being a little hesitant, watch from the boat, but soon I join him on the beach, which is actually further than it looks, covered in perfect egg shaped white marble like stones and further up, golden sand. As we swim back to the boat we look up to the cliff towering over us and feel giddy with the impression that it could easily fall on us.

We can’t help lingering in this place so it is quite late when we make for the nearest harbour which is Fiskardho on Cephallonia. We are astonished - because it is very late in the season and there have not appeared to be many yachts around – to find that there is no room for us on the town wall…..

18 October 2008

We leave Fiskardho at 9 am after a good night’s sleep. The previous evening does not start out well. We initially sail further south to check out another harbour, but return to Fiskardho and anchor on the northern side. We are the only boat over here and it is not ideal if the wind comes in from the east, however it is NW at the moment, so we tie back to the shore and go to bed. That will serve us right for lingering in beautiful Ithaka. However, the wind comes up on to our port side from the SE fairly soon after this. We have experienced this scenario before and are out of bed instantly, untying ourselves and doing the only thing left ie anchoring in the middle of the small harbour. We leave before the car ferry arrives and anyone else wants to leave.

This morning we have a two hour magical sail on slightly cracked sheets, south through the Ithaka Channel between Cephallonia and Ithaka, in cloudy and cool conditions. Matelot sails so well it really is a joy. However, at 11.00 am on the dot the wind fades and we turn on the motor. Our destination today is Vathi, the protected natural harbour on the eastern side of Ithaka.

We get off the town wall

We delay sending for money from NZ as the week closes in a sea of volatility and drama in the financial world. However by Monday we really want to get out of here but need to pay the account now that the work is finished. We are not going to use the Master Card again since checking our account. We paid our first account of Euro 635.23 with Mastercard on 7 October and note that it cost us NZD1,518.62. We knew the Kiwi dollar was sliding but that equates to .418 as an exchange rate. We wonder how Mastercard can justify this and also the fact that this transaction was not processed until 9 October – 2 days later? We dream that one day all banks will be non profit organisations, strictly monitored and made to provide services for a fair price. I am sure I am not alone in this. It would be a good result from all the pain that the world is experiencing caused by greed.

Monday 13 October - is a strange day full of “stuff”. Our friends from Inga arrive on the town wall two boats from us and we have a joyful reunion. They have been up to Corfu to pick up a friend and are heading south to Nidri. We tentatively arrange to meet up with them that night in Nidri as Richard visits Contract Yacht Services to get our account for all the work on Matelot and I check our inventory of food on board ready to do a provisioning shop.

Our food provisioning is becoming a bit of a challenge as food especially fruit and veg are not as cheap in this part of Greece as we found them on the other side closer to Turkey. This morning we are having cooked quinces with our breakfast. This golden fruit reminds me of my childhood when we had trees laden with them, albeit a little marked with codlin moth. Not so this perfect specimen which is about 3 x the size of a normal quince, bright yellow, inexpensive and makes a huge pot of cooked fruit. I have taken to watching the local women to see what they buy and following on. The beans we are eating are great long thin things which have a definitely different flavour but are delicious. They keep well too, so we buy a large bag and chomp our way through them. Now to the wine. We have been buying refillable 1.5 litre plastic bottles filled from the barrel for E3 each. We stock up and label them each with a “not before” date and put ourselves on one glass a night diet. One week later and we are well into ‘week 3”. So much for that! We should mention here that the abovementioned items do not constitute our whole diet!!

Monday night finds me having a frustrated little weep as I prepare dinner on board Matelot still on the town wall. We cannot leave until we have paid and funds sent for are not in our Lloyds account yet. I was really hoping we could be further south in Nidri tonight as our friends on Inga and Barnacle Bill are both there and it would have been lovely to spend time with them. Also, we have made a decision not to fly home to NZ for Xmas. Our tickets are good until 13 April next year, so we will tighten up on our spending for the next 6 months and hope that the NZD and the world financial scene stabilises in that time.

Richard calls down from the cockpit “Hey Darling we must visit Delphi on the way through the Corinth Canal…!” I think "I am so lucky and I should stop snivelling". One day this will all be behind us and it will seem like an amazing dream. It is true that life on the water can be a little lonely at times and a long way from our precious family and friends, but we are moving along so fast and each time we stop for a little while we suddenly make new friends… wonderful people who we enjoy so much.

We finally leave on Wednesday morning 15 October. I take an early morning walk along the causeway out to the fort at the canal entrance and take some last minute photographs… here they are. Levkas truly is a beautiful place….

Electrical Systems Upgrade

For the techo's out there...

Cruising in Greece is different to what we have experienced so far where we tended to go on to a marina about once a week and plug into shore power, top up the water and get some provisions. We paid for the privilege, sometimes exhorbitantly. Since being in Greece we have not been on a marina except for the first 2 days while we cleared customs. We have either anchored out in a bay or tied up to a town wall. This does not come with plug in shore power at this time of the year, so our sole way of charging the batteries has been via running the engine. But for how long? We did not know as had no idea when we were fully charged. It was all a guessing game.

Further to our previous blog on the subject of battery issues on board Matelot, we make a decision to invest in two items of “kit” –

• A Stirling Battery to Alternator Charger
• A Stirling Power Management System with Amp Hour Counter

What do they do?

The Battery to Alternator Charger increases the charge to the battery so that instead of having to run the engine for 2 hours to fully charge, it now takes around 40 minutes. The batteries consequently stay topped up all the time and are much ‘healthier’ as a result. There is a lot of technical stuff around just how it does this which we won't go into right now.

The Power Management System tells us –

- What speed the batteries are charging at
- What level the batteries are charged to
- How many amp hours we are using at any given time
- How many amp hours we have remaining…
- We can find out how many amp hours any item on the boat uses, ie the fridge runs all the time and uses around 2.9 amp hours, while the anchor light uses up over 3 amps per hour.
- We can run the saloon lights at night in confidence that we have enough battery to do so - we can curl up and read a book!
- We know exactly when we have to charge again

The drama it took to get there…

We have been on the town wall in Levkas for a week now. We have achieved a massive amount of work on the boat and are delighted. The engine service is completed on Thursday afternoon (9 October) and the electrician arrives to start the installation of our new equipment. He does not speak any English so we cannot talk to him at all. We start to get a little nervous when 2 people are still on our boat at 2pm on Friday but at least one of them speaks a little English. By 3pm they announce the job is done! Richard takes a look and his face says it all. A couple of questions and the work starts again. By 5pm they are sure they have finished and demonstrate the read outs on channel 1 (house), channel 2 (starter)… etc. Off they go and we look forward to talking it over with English speaking Pip the next morning. He is coming to install a bridging switch between house and starter batteries which we have discovered in the process is non existent.

Saturday morning and Pip arrives. Richard has lots of questions, as the readout we are getting does not equate to what the manual says we should have from this equipment. It soon transpires that we have no wiring connected to the house battery, so maybe that was supposed to be a wireless link – very modern? Quite a few hours – in fact, most of Saturday later and we really truly are finished. The panel on the wall does give us the information we want and the batteries are charging properly. Thank you Pip!

The only thing we need to do now is pay the account and get out of here. The weather has been golden sunny and warm throughout the past week and our fingers are crossed that this will continue.

Yes we are... No we are not....

Photos:

Corfu from Matelot
Richard enjoying his pork chop
Pippy in Corfu



This is not a very exciting blog.

In line with what is happening in the financial world we have taken a decision this weekend to stay put in Europe over the winter and not make the planned trip to New Zealand. We are both disappointed, as we won't be catching up with friends and family who we do miss so very much and were looking forward to seeing. It is a purely financial decision. It is expensive to fly to Paris from Greece to hook up with our return ticket. In addition it is doubly expensive to buy a one way ticket back to Greece. It is hitting home now that we are both "retired" and of limited income!

We are still in Lefkas, having undertaken an electrical upgrade and hope to be leaving here tomorrow and travelling south through the Ionian Islands. Jacki Onassis' island is not far from here and we will keep it to port or starboard whichever suits!

The weather is gorgeous. Lovely clear sunny days and cool nights. Winter is definitely on its way but not here yet. We will stay out cruising for as long as we can. Our projected destination for wintering over is Kos Island but we are pretty relaxed and will get there when we can and maybe hang out on the town wall until we really have to go into the marina!

We have been moored alongside a yacht called Barnacle Bill today. A bright red 3 skin kauri New Zealand ex Admirals Cup boat built in 1973. It represented NZ in this race and was later shipped to the UK. We enjoyed meeting the people sailing her and hope to catch up with them further south tomorrow. She still looks great.

Rupert we had an email from our old friend Hasan today. Alanya Marina has its official opening in May 2009 and wants as many of us as possible to be there. Are you a starter?

Captain's Comment

As you can see I only drive Matelot - the decision where we go is entirely down to the first mate and she changes her mind like the wind! Half an hour ago I thought we had decided that we would stay put here in the Lefkas/Preveza area for the winter! It will be quite exciting to see where we actually end up?

The Captain

Lefkas or Lefkada... a left turn for us...

Lefkada, (famous as a stopping off place for yachts travelling north and south and also as an international windsurfing destination) - set on the canal between the large and fertile island and the mainland, is a very unusual place - particularly so because it was hit by an earthquake in the late 1950s and hastily repaired in corrugated iron. There are a lot of very old buildings with solid stone lower levels and upper levels in ci. The most outstanding feature for us though is the several bell towers which were probably destroyed which have been rebuilt in steel and are particularly interesting.

We came in through the canal around 2pm last Thursday, timing our arrival for the lifting of the road bridge which is raised every hour on the hour to let the waiting shipping through. We were in company with around 8 other yachts on this particular day.

We have been tied up to the wall in Lefkada town now since then and it is the longest we have stayed anywhere for a while. It has been sad to bypass some of the more interesting sites on the mainland as there is so much ancient history in this part of the world. However, we keep saying - we cannot see it all.

We do love it here. We have found quality help in the form of some engine and boat maintenance and repairs which we had put in the too hard box until now. Contract Yacht Services have come to our rescue with an awesome array of parts and professional assistance which has seen us make quantum leaps in our understanding of the engine and electrics on board Matelot. We have also repaired several other items, like new parts for the fridge, stove and a hatch handle repair rather than having to replace the whole hatch. We seem to be able to access single parts much easier here and do not have to purchase the whole 'kit', most of which we do not need. A particular example is the ignition switch on the boat which had a broken spring. In Slovenia we were told we would have to replace the whole panel at great expense. Here we replaced just the single switch for a much lesser amount both in time and in outlay. See the top photo with Englishman Pip helping Richard with some upgrades to the stern shower fittings. He has been absolutely amazing.

Now we are trying to come to grips with our charging system as our batteries seem to be suffering from 'undercharge' and 'overuse', especially as we have had no shore power since we left Corfu. There are several options, all of them expensive, but we will work our way through it. Our inclination at the moment is to try and finish the season and deal with it next year but that may be an 'ostrich' reaction. The options well over $1k Kiwi. We will do some more research on these before we make a decision.

In the meantime the weather in Levkas has been initially a major storm with torrential rain - nice to be tied up - to the past 2 days of idyllic clear blue skies and light breezes which would be ideal for us to be exploring the Ionion Islands.

The small town of Levkas is charming and interesting. Today I have taken a lesson on making Greek Coffee - it will be interesting! We missed a great photo opportunity today also as we had our recycled plastic bottles filled with local wine straight from the barrel. Very expensive at E3 per 1.5L!

We have had a chance also here to pause and socialise with people we met the day we visited Antipaxos. First of all Rob and Sarah on Serafina - thanks for a great evening on board your beautiful yacht! We have also had a neat time getting to know Brian and Coralie from Inga - see the photograph of them following us through the canal. It is one of the very neat things about being on the water that we are meeting so many wonderful people along the way. Friendships must be established over a very short time, but always with a promise to 'see each other again next season'!

Richard has promised me a special night out tonight so here we are at the internet cafe! But hey - its different - we have light and we can stay up a little later tonight!

Captain's Comment

I did promise her a night out on the town and where better to spend it? here we can sup on cappucino, gobbler up icecream sundays and the like and communicate with home and friends. Anyway it was her choice!

The captain