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To Greece and Back

11th October Brinidisi

With another trip to the Centro Tim telephone shop, complete with passport, our account was reset and we were able to get onto the internet. So we picked up and dealt with e-mails and other net activity. We had a drink, and went to the supermarket for essentials. After lunch I went to the harbour master's office, who referred me on to another office in the port area next to the maritime railway station. The front door was locked, and so the approach was around the back, otherwise unmarked. They duly inspected the documentation and I filed an arrival report, coming back with a suitably stamped copy so that we were truly back in the EU.

12, 13th October Brindisi to Limin Gaios, Paxos 138 nm

We obtained some more stores using the trolley, and topped up one of our freshwater tanks from the standpipe on the quay, ate some lunch, and then set off. The wind was light northwesterly, so we were forced to motor for much of the time. We had barely cleared Brindisi when Mo went below to find that shut off tap on the toilet had burst asunder, and much of the fresh water that we had loaded that morning had been pumped out into the heads floor. It had done this before, when employed in the aft locker, and had only been re-used as I was unable to find a suitable alternative when fitting the new w.c. There was quite a bit of shipping activity that kept us on our toes most of the time. The final run in, past the offlying islands north of Corfu, and down the coast seemed to take a long time. We planned to go to Gaios as that was a port of entry, and we thought it best to clear such formaliites and get them out of the way as soon as possible. It was far enough, and we did not want to approach Lefkas at night.

How not to do 'Mediterranean' mooring
The plan was to go head to the quay, and drop the Fortress kedge over the stern, as we had the dinghy up on its davits. To this end we had tied the anchor to the pushpit with an easily slipped knot, and laid out 20 metres of anchorplait on the deck. As we approached the quay other boats were coming in and provided some distraction. We lined ourselves up, but the wind blew us out of position while I was attempting to release the anchor. In the process of correcting our drift, we picked up the anchor line in the propeller. The line was wound in until the anchor, shackle and thimble were trapped between the folded blades, at which point the engine stalled. We were helped to make fast forward, while we were happily blown off the side of the quay. With Mo's assistance from the dinghy, I managed eventually to get hold of the Fortress with a rope so that we could cut the line and free sufficient up to release the anchor. At this point I was cold and tired, and gave up once the boat was properly moored off the quay. I found the port police office and as they seem to be relaxed, agreed to return in the morning when I was assured they would be open. We went for a stroll around the harbour, then had supper. Having fallen asleep afterwards, I was chided for attempting to pick up a commentary of the rugby match on the SSB.

14th October Paxos to Levkas 37 nm

The first job of the day was to clear the rest of the prop wrap. This was quite easy. I then set off to the Port Police. The chap I had spoken to the previous evening was just locking up, but now it transpired that the person I had to see was not there. It was suggested that we clear at our next port of call, and that we had not officially called at Gaios at all! We were a bit late getting under way, having some distance to get to Nidri. Progress was very slow in a confused short choppy sea that took all the way off, and it was impossible to sail. The light wind from dead ahead did not help. Eventually the sea became more regular, and the wind veered towards the SSW making it easier going. We realised Nidri was not an option, and considered Prevesa that was just short of the Levkas canal.

A fisherman going out of the Levkas Canal in the evening
In the event we made better progress, and were in good time to enter the canal and had to wait for the canal bridge to open at what we then believed to be 1800 hours. The shifting sandbank at the entrance to the canal was much more extensive than we had imagined from the chart and pilot, reaching well over towards the Santa Maria fort opposite. The channel was however well marked with a starboard hand buoy off the spit, and several small port hand buoys off the fort and around the corner. There was a large lump of concrete in the water where we berthed to await the bridge, but we fortunately spotted it and were able to back off the berth going astern and so avoid it. We radioed Levkas marina, and were shown a berth there just as it grew quite dark.

15th October Levkas to Nidri 10 nm

We topped up with water to do the washing, hung it out in the fresh easterly breeze, connected up the electricity, paid the marina, and then set off to look around Levkas town, and to find the Port Police. We went into their office, and understood that someone had been called to deal with us: the girl explained they all had specific jobs to do. Having waited for what seemed like ages, with no one taking any notice of us whatsoever, I asked another girl whether we should come back. She explained we needed the transit log, and that was dealt with in another office down the corridor. However, she followed up to say that the person who dealt with that would not be there until 1500 hrs. We explained that we needed to get to Nidri, and she suggested we check in again, some other port of entry, perhaps, within a day or two. So returning to the boat, we took in the washing, and got ready to leave.

There was a gap between us and the boat to leward, that had no mast but the forestay furling gear was strapped along its length, projecting some way behind and seeming vulnerable. When we let go our bow and stern lines, we began to blow down onto it. I needed to get some sternway on to avoid tangling with the furling gear, so put the engine into gear, and found myself for the second time in the week with a propeller wrap, this time in the stern line that had not yet had time to sink, having dried out. Fuga was tethered by her stern gear in the channel between the two pontoons, and had to be fended off the furling gear which threatened to come through one of the saloon windows. We secured her by taking a line off to our erstwhile neighbour on the other side, and the marina staff eventually helped by getting another lazy line to us so that we could hold ourselves off. I could not see the propeller from the side of the boat because the water was so murky, and decided to call the diver. In the meantime, I took a look by diving under and during the course of three dives had taken most of the turns off. Mo pointed out I was stupid to continue as I was going to have to pay the professional in any case. He turned up very quickly, asked for 40 euros, and we were very soon on our way.

The fuel berth appeared to be closed, so having lost enough time, we set off down the canal to Nidri. We found Pandora, Coire, and British Tiger anchored in Tranquil Bay. It was proposed we go ashore at 1900 for a meal: Anders was somewhat concerned when we were not making due preparation for this, and we then discovered Greece is an hour ahead of Italy and Croatia! We all went ashore for a meal at a restaurant run by an amusing Albanian man, who did handstands on the table and caught lemons in a glass on his forehead. The food and wine was good too, but the next morning I was not so sure about Coire's Ouzo.

16th - 24th October Tranquil Bay

I was considerably worse for wear, and not even a hair of the dog did much to raise my spirits. We relaxed all day Tuesday, enjoying the magnificent views and sunshine. On Wednesday, we made an effort to get started, and went ashore for Mo to find a haircut, and to explore the town. I tried to get connected on one of the allegedly numerous wifi points, but without success. We came back to the boat, and Mo gave me my first haircut since before we went back to the UK in July, rinsed off in sea water. Svein and Kari came in on Unique, so we spent the early evening aboard with them catching up.

We found the wifi in the Cafe de Paris! We watched England lose to South Africa on Saturday evening, and afterwards incurred a terrible hangover. The weather turned foul, and we had gusty winds through the anchorage (hardly affecting us at all) and torrential rain, thunderstorms. Its still raining after four days! We hope we have a weather window to leave for Sardinia today.