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Friday 20 September 2019 – Gouvia

The rain did not last all night.     I was nervous and got up a couple of times to see all was well with both weather and anchor.   We left the anchorage about 11am.   The anchor was certainly well set.   First the windlass strained to get it up.     For a moment I thought we had snagged it on something.     But no, when it came up it was completely full of thick sticky mud.    In the end I had to use a boat hook to clean it off. We went to the fuel pontoon to top the tank up for the winter.  To our surprise it took nearly 50 litres.  Then on to our berth.  So now we are here for the winter and must sort the boat out. Our first task is to find someone to care for the boat and do the usual maintenance.  The firm we have been using are the ones who messed up the installation of the water heater.  We thought that we would give them one last chance to make amends.  But when I spoke to them and told them that it had been turned around and now was working all they did was give me ex
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Thursday 19 September 2019 - Just outside Gouvia

The day has not turned out as planned.  There were no thunderstorms or rain over night and the sky was quite clear when the sun got up.  So Richard decided we should go to an anchorage called Ormos Stephanou which is highly recommended on the CA site.  It is at the northern end of Corfu.  We got there in good time, motoring (of course).  The weather was lovely and the bay and town looked very nice.  But it is a small harbour and although not really crowded, it was tricky finding a place.  We first put the anchor down close into the town.  The anchor seemed well set, but I was worried that we were too much in the harbour.   We decided to take up the anchor and go further out - big mistake.  We had three attempts as setting the anchor but dragged each time.  Most of the bottom seemed to be weed, which is no good for our Bruce anchor.  We tried a fourth time and thought we might be alright.  It was getting late, so we decided to have lunch first.  That was the beginning of our woes.  We
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Wednesday 18 September 2019 – Sagiada

Another lazy morning. We had considered staying for another night but we decided it was too dull and we would move on.  We had in mind this little port of Sagiada where we stayed last year and had an excellent meal and sojourn.  We set off in virtually no wind.  We hadn’t far to go.  A trip of about 9 miles only.  We motored all the way. One little hiccup in the journey.  As we were approaching the port Richard had the overwhelming need to go to the toilet. Therefore he left me helming.  I was on autopilot and going nicely.  I knew that the approach to the port was through shallows so I was really relying on the plotter and autopilot.  The buzzer sounded for arrival at a waypoint and I went to press the button to move to the next direction when nothing happened. After pressing the button three times the boat suddenly turned to go back in the opposite direction!  If it hadn’t been for the shallows I could just have turned around, but I really didn’t know the safe route. I had to
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Tuesday 17 September 2019 – Igoumenitsa Creek (otherwise known as Ormos Valtou)

Woke up latish and had a lazy morning.     The anchorage had emptied out a lot by the time we set off just before 11.     I thought the next stop was not too far, but I was wrong.     We had over 25 miles to go.     There was a bit of breeze, but mostly on the nose so another motoring day.       At about halfway there I noticed a lot of boats coming out of a what must have been a port.     Richard looked it up and found it was Mourtos, a cluster of 3 islands with anchorages between them and an approach over a 2 metre depth bar.     That meant we could go in.     That is what we did. Unfortunately although very pretty it was not really suitable for us to stay overnight.     Most of the areas were too deep, with depths of over 10 metres.     When we did find a shallower place we had trouble getting the anchor to dig in.     There appeared to be weed.    So we just stopped for lunch and then went on to Igoumenitsa Creek. There was a little breeze on the stern and the Genoa needed re-
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Monday 17 September 2019 – Two Rock Bay

We are back here.     We had our free night in Lefkas and were due to leave as soon as we could to get here at a decent time.     The trip would be about 25 miles.     The weather forecast made it clear we wouldn’t be able to sail.   The light winds forecast would be on the nose.     We needed to do some tasks before we left.     A little shopping, including trying to find a new wind scoop.     Ours has been blown to pieces and is of little or no effect anymore.      When we were here last week the chandlery said they would have them in the next day.   But when we got there today we found that they had never arrived. Back at the boat we had to fill up with water and get the boat ready to go.  Time was tight if we were going to make the 11am bridge lift. In the end we just made it. As forecast the wind was only a force 3 and on the nose most of the time. It was a long boring motor of 4 ½ hours.  We were very surprised when we got here.  The place was full of boats.  One was anc
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Sunday 15 September 2019 – Levkas

We slept late for no particular good reason.    It was cold when we went to bed and we put the duvet on.     It was my first night sleeping without a fan on.     When we got up it was only 17C in the cabin.     Downloaded the newspapers, paid the mooring fees and left shortly after 11.      Richard found that the wind would be on the nose all the way, so we didn’t bother to unwrap the main.     We motored for just under two hours.     We saw loads of boats coming out of the canal.     I have never seen it so busy.   We thought this would be a quiet time, but not so it seems. We stopped for lunch at an anchorage we were introduced to by the Dutchman Jaques when we came here and chartered the 44ft Cat with three other couples from IYFR.  It is under a castle just before the entrance to the canal. We had a swim and a bite of lunch before proceeding to the marina. First stop was the fuel pontoon.  We have been motoring so much we actually took on 110 litres of diesel (almost ¾ of
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Saturday 14 September 2019 – Vathi

Really not much to report today.     We have had a rest day.     The town of Vathi is sweet and the marina, though expensive is charming and small.   We sat in the bar in the morning using their WIFI.     Had lunch in town and then an ice cream.     We were going to go swimming (there is a little access to the sea just past the marina wall – not really what you would call a beach) but the wind got up to 15-19 knots here in the harbour, so the water would have been a bit rough.     The only excitement was when most of the marina staff brought a small sailboat into the berth next to us.     It had it’s mooring line snap and had to be moved.  There was no crew aboard so we presume it was a permanent resident. Dinner in town.  The town was quite busy because there was a wedding. 
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