Grand Slam

Tuesday 28th July, Spartakhori (Meganisi)

My god it's hot. 35 C or more each day. Wall to wall blue sky and a nice cooling sea to fall into when it gets too much. We are now around 80 miles south of Corfu exploring a couple of islands before heading off to Ithaca to meet up with Piper and Arwen (the Lagos reunion) and it's hot. By the way, did I mention it was hot?

We got back to the boat a week ago and did a few bits on the boat. One surprise we had was a visit from one of our old racing buddies. I was sitting in the cockpit sipping a cold beer (as you do) when a guy walked up and said -"remember me?". It was Bob Queen who had crewed with us in 2006. He was running a pub at that time but then went off and did a sort of fast track yachtmaster (ending up with his picture in the yachting press with Princess Anne for winning the yachtmaster of the year award). He is now down in the Ionian with a boat available for charter and events. After a quick catch up we went out for a meal with him and Veronica. Small world!

Liz and Ju arrived on time on Thursday and we set off around 9 ish on Friday (sorry this is the first blog post since then but we have been enjoying ourselves too much!) and headed 30 miles south to Lakka at the north end of Paxos. Filled up with fuel and water in Gouvia marina before we left. Lakka had been strongly recommended as a good place to stop - and it was! A very sheltered anchorage which wasn't that busy. There was even space on the town quay when we arrived at 4pm but we chose the easier option of dropping the anchor and swinging rather than our first attempt at stern too mooring without a lazy line. Our plan was to stay on Paxos for another day but the forecast for Sunday was 30knt winds so we decided to head down to Levkas on Saturday to avoid the wind. The sail down was 40 miles or so which required the motor as the wind didnt pick up until we were there.

We just made it there for the bridge opening at 2pm so didnt have to spend too long waiting at the entrance to the bridge. As it was Saturday the town quay was full to bursting so we headed into the marina (to suss it out to see if it is a possible wintering option). I would say it is better than Gouvia but unlikely we will end up there. Levkas town was interesting to wander round and we had a reasonable meal for a reasonable price. Sunday we headed down to Nidri in 20knts of wind and we were able to sail all the way!!!!!!!!!!!! That's not happend for a while. We anchored in Tranquil bay opposite the Nielson pontoon and met up with Tom Bradshaw who used to race with us and did a couple of the long legs from Scotland to Lagos last year. Tom is now a flotilla leader with Nielsons. We took Tom out for a meal and got all the info on what he had been up to since we saw him last in the Spanish Rias 12 months ago.

Monday was a long sail to Ormos Kapali on the island of Meganisi - about 5 miles away! This is a nice secluded bay and by evening time we were the only boat in there. Another turned up before dark but despite the thousands of boats in the Ionian, it is possible to find some "remote" spots. We started by following the doom and gloom book advice and anchoring with a long line to shore (that was a first). It took a couple of tries as the first time we dropped the anchor too near the shore. There were quite a few boats anchored this way - but as we found out later they were only there for the afternoon. After they all left, we untied the shore line and went back to swinging. We are now getting very used to the wind patterns - not a lot in the morning and usually from the SE. By late afternoon it gets up to 15-20knts and blows from the NW and then by sunset it disappears altogether. Up to now then we have had some very relaxed nights at anchor apart from the heat.

One snag with Meganisi was the wasps. We should have listened to the doom and gloom book. We spent a really pleasant evening eating on board and then watching Liz catch the first fish of the trip. It was all of 2 inches long. We called it wee Jimmy and cut it in half for bait. We had consumed a good half bottle of Ouzo by that time. Wee Jimmy however proved to be the best wasp magnet ever - as this morning before we left, Liz was fishing with the two halves of wee Jimmy in dishes on the back of the boat attracting all the wasps keeping the rest of the boat free of them.

This morning we left for an even shorter sail (about 1.5 miles) back round to Spartakhori, a small harbour on the north side of Meganisi. We moored up on the Porto Spigila taverna pontoon with free water and lecky in return for eating in the taverna. I'll let you know what that's like! Once again lots of room. They have lazy lines so we still haven't anchored stern to! We walked up to the town (20mins up a very steep hill) and had some great views from the top and a Mythos each. It was hot.

The plan now is to head down to Ithaca tomorrow and then organise meeting up with June & Steve and Jacky & Rob later in the week. Hopefully I can find an internet connection before too long to post this one!

Monday 13th July - Corfu

I lied. We are in the UK for a couple of weeks. The boat however is still in Corfu and we are heading back there very soon. So much for the heatwave in the UK - it evaporated just as we got back. The T-shirts and shorts are now back in the case and the sweaters and jeans are out.

Gouvia marina is not a bad place to leave the boat for a month while we are away. Unlike most of the other marinas we have been in, there is almost zero swell from passing ferries - 'cause there aren't any! Even when the wind blows, the effect on the water is almost unnoticeable. We found someone local to keep an eye on the boat while away - for a fee - and employed a diver to clean the hull so we won't need to get it lifted to antifoul until the winter.

Before we returned to the UK, we had a few days to work our way through the list of jobs needed and sample some more bars and restaurants. All the meals we have had have been very good - and not too expensive. The lamb chops in the "Bistro" (out of the north gate and turn right) were the nicest tasted since we can't remember. The marina has an on-site supermarket complete with supermarket trolleys so no problem getting large quantities of water, beer and juice down to the boat.

Jobs on the boat included changing the engine oil which had done almost 200 hours since the last change - done just before we left Lagos. The log was showing 1600 miles so assuming around 5.5knts that means over half the journey from Lagos was done withe the engine on - it felt like a lot more! We've not had any further problems with the engine cooling (the problem we had in Palermo) so that seems to be solved. I also managed to buy a swivel joint for the boarding plank and so need to fit that when we get back. One other problem we have had is keeping the fridge compressor cool. It is buried in one of the spaces behind the seats in the main saloon with no air circulation so that needs a fan for ventilation. Maplin had a nice quiet one! I do need to think hard about what we will do for a stern anchor for going "bows to". Our current kedge anchor is a 16kg delta which may be overkill. Must do some research on that one then.

Liz and Ju are joining us in Corfu later next week and we will cast off and head south to do some relaxed cruising and try and meet up with Tom - that's Tom who did the first leg of the trip from Scotland to Portugal + the Biscay crossing. He's now doing a flotilla leader job in Nidri. Steve and June on Piper are not too far behind - in Vulcano at the moment, and Jacky and Rob on Arwen are with them heading this way soon. We are therefore planning to stay around the north ionian area for 3 to 4 weeks and take it easy.

I've taken a contract out with Vodaphone in the uk for mobile broadband so although it will be very expensive to use in Greece, we will be able to get some access to internet when we need it - and at least look at the mail and update the blog. We also bought a Greek sim card to give us cheaper calls for the next month or so.

More in a day or two.