CRUISING THE GREEK IONIAN ISLANDS WITH DOUG & MARY

All is well and we are on the northern side of Corfu Island. We’ve had great weather – sunny skies, few clouds and light variable winds, but now a front is approaching and we’re going to get some strong southerlies and showers, so we needed a good sheltered anchorage for a few days. This posting brings us up to 22 August.
Anchored at Ormos Dessimou we found a great secluded cave with its own little grotto and sandy beach, and all had a swim there in perfectly clean and sparkling clear water with little fishes darting around our feet, and no other people. We all felt like we were in paradise, and actually that’s a pretty good description.

At Ormos Dessimou we swam in this beautiful grotto - Di and Laurie

Mary and Doug hold on to our transport to the Grotto

We showed Doug and Mary the private island of Skorpios, belonging to the Onassis family, and then went to the traditional hill-top village of Spartakhori on Meganisi Island.

Looking down from Spartakhori

As we walked past a house along one of the residential streets there was a Greek family enjoying a noisy lunch with much music, dancing and ouzo. Mary got talking to them to discover that one of them was from Sydney, and they soon invited us to join them. Although we had nothing to contribute they plied us with ouzo, and dishes of fish, octopus, bread, figs and cucumber. After a couple of hours the ouzo was taking its toll and it was time to move on, but not before the family insisted on us taking a bottle of ouzo with us. This is another example of what I frequently say about things usually happening when we go ashore.

An impromptu lunch with Greek family at Spartakhori

On the south-western side of Meganisi Island is a large sea cave called Papa Nicolis’s cave. This is big enough for small boats to go right into, and supposedly the Greeks operated a midget submarine from here during WW2. We left Envoy to drift in the swell outside the cave and took our RHIB in to investigate. It’s a large and interesting cave, though not as cavernous as some sea caves we’ve seen at the Poor Knights in New Zealand.

Papa Nicolis’s cave entrance

Inside Papa Nicolis's cave

Doug get's into holiday spirit having dinner aboard Envoy

The next day we had brunch ashore in Vathi at Neptune’s Taverna where the owner serenaded us with his balilica. Nearby was a large statue of Neptune which seemed to get Diane and Mary quite excited.

Diane and Mary were highly amused by this statue of Neptune in Vathi

The mates enjoy a beer - Doug and Laurie on Envoy's foredeck

Doug and Mary on Envoy's slightly cluttered foredeck.

Doug and Laurie take a break on Ay Eufimia waterfront

Mary and Di enjoy a frappe (ice-cold coffee) at bakery in Ay Eufimia

Di and Mary dressed to thrill for Doug and Mary's farewell dinner. Shows Envoy's dining area and adjacent galley

All too soon it was time for Doug and Mary to leave us and we cruised back to Levkas Marina, where they took a five hour bus ride to Athens. We thought they were our last guests for the season, but that was not to be – see next posting.

TECHNICAL: I had a problem with our remote controller for the boom winch. Doug was able to fix this by transferring some wiring to a spare unused circuit on the remote control.
Last year we bought a new spare alternator and regulator for the main engine, but the wiring on these is slightly different to our existing units. Doug, being an electrician, was able to figure out for me how to connect these if needed.
Also had a problem with our navigation laptop whereby the cursor froze and wouldn’t move. I changed to our spare laptop and that was OK, although the MaxSea information isn’t as complete on that unit. I later changed back to the standard computer, and the cursor problem had fixed itself, but then the separate Toshiba screen switched itself off when connected to the laptop. I consulted the guru – Chris, otherwise known as MacGyver, and he was able to explain to me how to fix this with the computer’s F5 switch – now all OK.
In Levkas marina I got the boarding ladder re-welded for the second time – this time with a stainless steel insert inside the tube of the ladder. The issue here is that we lengthened the ladder to make it easier to climb out of the water, but in doing so created more leverage for the ladder to bend. Since the second repair it’s holding out OK, but during the winter we’ll get it reinforced a bit further, as it’s critical equipment aboard Envoy.
LOG. Up to 22 August had spent 145 days aboard, and cruised 1,374 miles for 261 engine hours.