Envoy is now cruising around the Lefkada area.
After leaving Greece’s northernmost Ionian islands of Othoni and Erikoussa we spend the next few days cruising down Corfu’s north-east coast enjoying stops at Ormos Stefanos, Kalami and Agri. Ormos means “bay”. There are some stunning tavernas in these bays and we enjoy an excellent lunch at Tusala’s Taverna in Agni as we overlook the beach and Envoy anchored just a short distance offshore.
Sharon and Doug enjoying lunch at Tusala’s Tavern
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Then it’s into Gouvia Marina to spend Sharon and Doug’s last few days with us.
Gouvia Marina is great with excellent technical facilities, shops and tavernas close by and costs 68 Euros (NZ$106) per night.
One evening here we have dinner at a traditional Corfiot restaurant called Tripa’s Taverna, with all food and wines supplied, live Greek music and a dancing floorshow for a very reasonable of 30 Euro (NZ$47) each. We arrive at dusk to be greeted by hordes of hungry mosquitoes but soon the sun goes down and thankfully they all disappear (we rarely encounter more than the odd mosquito here in the Med).
Sharon, Doug and Laurie feasting on traditional Corfiot food at Tripa’s
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Tavern Rustic Tripa’s Taverna complete with cobwebs
Our taxi for the ride back to the marina is a near-new Mercedes and our driver says his last passenger that night was the King of Belgium, whom he’d driven to a restaurant accompanied by two police escort cars and the King’s personal bodyguards. The driver also fills us in on local economics, explaining how hard it is for people to live on the average wage of about 550 Euros (NZ$900) per month when rent is around 400 Euros (NZ$656). Most people in Corfu are able to find jobs through the summer months, but it’s tough during winter. Many people on Greek islands own small areas of land and grow vegetables, fruit and olives, and keep a few goats and chickens to make life a bit easier.
Doug and I visit the main marketplace in Corfu where the prices seem very reasonable. Whole fish range from 3 Euros per kg (NZ$4.90) upwards with filleted salmon at 15 Euros/kg (NZ$24.60) and octopus at 12-14 Euros/kg (NZ$19.70-23.00). Most fruits are between 1-2 Euros/kg (NZ$1.64-3.28), potatoes 0.7 Euros/kg (NZ$1.15), tomatoes, peppers and grapes 1-1.50 Euros/kg (NZ$1.64-2.46), extra virgin olive oil 6 Euros/litre (NZ$9.80).
Our last adventure with Sharon and Doug is to hire a rental car to drive around northern Corfu including the ancient village of Perithia, we’d heard about while watching a Rick Stein documentary on TV. This village is perched up 700 metres in isolated mountains and spectacularly set among groves of olive and cypress trees. It dates from the 13th century and is still accessed only by a narrow paved track. Largely abandoned until recently, a few people now live here among the many ruined houses and churches and visitors have a choice of six rustic tavernas, the one where Rick Stein dined being the most popular.
Picture of Rick Stein at restaurant in Perithia
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View of part of Perithia village
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This photo shows one part of a building in ruins while the other has been restored and is in use
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This old building is for sale
.JPG)
But look inside
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At our final dinner with Sharon and Doug we monitor the New Zealand election results and celebrate not only a great time together, but a positive outcome for New Zealand with the re-election of John Key’s centre-right government.
After Sharon and Doug depart we stay on at Gouvia Marina for a few maintenance jobs – see below.
TECHNICAL Leon, an electrician well-known to us, diagnoses our autopilot motor problem as magnets inside the motor becoming detached from its casing. He removes the motor, confirms and fixes the problem and now all is working well. He also suggests that since we have two autopilots we interchange them every few hours, particularly in rough conditions, to make sure the motors don’t get too hot.
Leon also replaces a failed Racor gauge that connects to a water detection alarm in one of our two Racor filters for the Lugger engine.
The guest Vacuflush head has had a problem for several years – the vacuum pump switches on every 20 minutes or so to recharge, indicating a vacuum leak somewhere in the system. A couple of servicemen come aboard and first replace the four duckbill valves. The old ones hadn’t been changed in over eight years and apart from being a bit hard aren’t too bad. This makes no difference. Then the whole toilet bowl is removed and the three seals changed. Again there is no difference. Finally they replace the shaft and seals on the flushing lever and this does the trick. Now the head doesn’t recharge except after flushing, as it is supposed to do.
Some different servicemen investigate a water leak from our Splendide clothes washer, finding it's from the 120 volt water circulation pump. It's then a reasonably major operation to take out the machine so the pump can be removed for repair, and we’re still waiting to hear if they manage to repair it - watch this space.
ENVOY LOG As at 25/9/14, we’d spent 170 days aboard and cruised 1,725 miles for 306 engine hours.
After leaving Greece’s northernmost Ionian islands of Othoni and Erikoussa we spend the next few days cruising down Corfu’s north-east coast enjoying stops at Ormos Stefanos, Kalami and Agri. Ormos means “bay”. There are some stunning tavernas in these bays and we enjoy an excellent lunch at Tusala’s Taverna in Agni as we overlook the beach and Envoy anchored just a short distance offshore.
Sharon and Doug enjoying lunch at Tusala’s Tavern
Gouvia Marina is great with excellent technical facilities, shops and tavernas close by and costs 68 Euros (NZ$106) per night.
One evening here we have dinner at a traditional Corfiot restaurant called Tripa’s Taverna, with all food and wines supplied, live Greek music and a dancing floorshow for a very reasonable of 30 Euro (NZ$47) each. We arrive at dusk to be greeted by hordes of hungry mosquitoes but soon the sun goes down and thankfully they all disappear (we rarely encounter more than the odd mosquito here in the Med).
Sharon, Doug and Laurie feasting on traditional Corfiot food at Tripa’s
Tavern Rustic Tripa’s Taverna complete with cobwebs
Our taxi for the ride back to the marina is a near-new Mercedes and our driver says his last passenger that night was the King of Belgium, whom he’d driven to a restaurant accompanied by two police escort cars and the King’s personal bodyguards. The driver also fills us in on local economics, explaining how hard it is for people to live on the average wage of about 550 Euros (NZ$900) per month when rent is around 400 Euros (NZ$656). Most people in Corfu are able to find jobs through the summer months, but it’s tough during winter. Many people on Greek islands own small areas of land and grow vegetables, fruit and olives, and keep a few goats and chickens to make life a bit easier.
Doug and I visit the main marketplace in Corfu where the prices seem very reasonable. Whole fish range from 3 Euros per kg (NZ$4.90) upwards with filleted salmon at 15 Euros/kg (NZ$24.60) and octopus at 12-14 Euros/kg (NZ$19.70-23.00). Most fruits are between 1-2 Euros/kg (NZ$1.64-3.28), potatoes 0.7 Euros/kg (NZ$1.15), tomatoes, peppers and grapes 1-1.50 Euros/kg (NZ$1.64-2.46), extra virgin olive oil 6 Euros/litre (NZ$9.80).
Our last adventure with Sharon and Doug is to hire a rental car to drive around northern Corfu including the ancient village of Perithia, we’d heard about while watching a Rick Stein documentary on TV. This village is perched up 700 metres in isolated mountains and spectacularly set among groves of olive and cypress trees. It dates from the 13th century and is still accessed only by a narrow paved track. Largely abandoned until recently, a few people now live here among the many ruined houses and churches and visitors have a choice of six rustic tavernas, the one where Rick Stein dined being the most popular.
Picture of Rick Stein at restaurant in Perithia
View of part of Perithia village
This photo shows one part of a building in ruins while the other has been restored and is in use
This old building is for sale
But look inside
At our final dinner with Sharon and Doug we monitor the New Zealand election results and celebrate not only a great time together, but a positive outcome for New Zealand with the re-election of John Key’s centre-right government.
After Sharon and Doug depart we stay on at Gouvia Marina for a few maintenance jobs – see below.
TECHNICAL Leon, an electrician well-known to us, diagnoses our autopilot motor problem as magnets inside the motor becoming detached from its casing. He removes the motor, confirms and fixes the problem and now all is working well. He also suggests that since we have two autopilots we interchange them every few hours, particularly in rough conditions, to make sure the motors don’t get too hot.
Leon also replaces a failed Racor gauge that connects to a water detection alarm in one of our two Racor filters for the Lugger engine.
The guest Vacuflush head has had a problem for several years – the vacuum pump switches on every 20 minutes or so to recharge, indicating a vacuum leak somewhere in the system. A couple of servicemen come aboard and first replace the four duckbill valves. The old ones hadn’t been changed in over eight years and apart from being a bit hard aren’t too bad. This makes no difference. Then the whole toilet bowl is removed and the three seals changed. Again there is no difference. Finally they replace the shaft and seals on the flushing lever and this does the trick. Now the head doesn’t recharge except after flushing, as it is supposed to do.
Some different servicemen investigate a water leak from our Splendide clothes washer, finding it's from the 120 volt water circulation pump. It's then a reasonably major operation to take out the machine so the pump can be removed for repair, and we’re still waiting to hear if they manage to repair it - watch this space.
ENVOY LOG As at 25/9/14, we’d spent 170 days aboard and cruised 1,725 miles for 306 engine hours.
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