We rang Ionian Boat Assistance, and they confirmed that they had our batteries in. We anchored Fuga just off their office, and took the dinghy ashore. With Peter's help, we managed to hump one battery at a time to the dinghy, when we took it alongside Fuga and hoisted it on board with the main halyard. Once we had two batteries on board and in the cockpit, we moved Fuga onto the Neilson pontoon. We commenced the process of undoing the battery clamps, which required the engine starter battery to be disconnected and removed first. After that, it was a case of disconnecting the batteries when we could no longer rely on our electric winches! Instead we used the handy billy from the spinnaker halyard through the roof portlight, and from the main halyard into the cockpit to remove the old batteries and hoist in the new. We didn't drop any, and I still have my toes intact, although I wish I could say the same for my back! By the time everything was back again, with just one lead too short because the poles on the new batteries (Now low maintenance flooded wet cell at half the cost instead of AGM's or Gel) are reversed, it was well into the evening. We spotted Svein from Unique coming ashore for water, and he joined us for a couple of drinks.
The first job on the agenda was to get rid of the old batteries, hoisted into the dinghy and taken ashore near IBA, who had promised to dispose of them for us. Mo's next priority was to get on top of the washing, with the advantage of water on tap from hoses on the pontoon. We decided to stay on for an extra night. I found an electrical engineering guy who sold me some cable and tags to re-make the connection between the charge relay and the battery, the old one being too short.
I got up at 0400 as I was not sleeping due to a combination of heat and flying creatures, and finding the wireless internet connection with the hotel was not working, started a 48 hour session on the phone. This enabled me to amuse myself with e-mails, web site updates and catch up with news generally. Later I made up and fitted the new cable required for the charge relay. We went ashore to investigate car hire, and booked one for collection Saturday evening. I struggled to walk with my back problem, so having bought some ibuprofen we sat down at the Cafe de Paris with some water, wine and beer to wash it down. We bought bread, and took it back to the boat for lunch, and then came off the pontoon, anchoring as close to Unique as we reasonably could. We had intended to invite Svein for supper, but he was already on another Norwegian boat, and had another offer.
We had quite a bit to do to get the boat ready for visiting. Mo was on a spring cleaning spree as usual, and had been washing everything in sight over the past days. The wind generator had to be dismantled so that it would fit in the stowage in the lazerette. We have been contemplating replacing it with a fixed generator for some time, as it is never up when it blows and is a nuisance lying on the bunk in the aft cabin. As it was very hot we spent a lot of time getting into the water to cool off, and did not re-stow the cockpit locker. I managed one or two small jobs, including re-fixing the fan in our cabin so that the loose cable would not rattle. In the evening we went to collect the car, and took it to the garage to fill up with petrol. When we tried to start it again, it would not start, and we realised it had been started and the engine was running when we picked it up. The battery was duff! The garage called the hire car firm, and the proprietor eventually arrived with another car for us, although meanwhile the garage owner and possibly his son and I had managed to push start it the first.
We re-stowed the contents of the cockpit locker, as we had had many of the warps out for various jobs, and had kept them out to dry off. We then set off for the airport, really only just in time. The road up to Levkas is quite bendy, and as it was Sunday many of the locals were out on the road, in the road, or around the beaches. We arrived at the airport after Dave's Monarch flight had landed, so I was able to stay with the car while Mo went to find him. We had not anticipated the queues caused by the 'ferry bridge', although these had not seriously delayed us. Back at the boat, we took Dave's luggage on board, which included my medication, new control cable for the SSB, but more importantly bacon. We then returned to Cafe de Paris for lunch ashore, then back for a swim. Later in the afternoon the wind came up, and a number of boats had difficulty dragging. We ate on board, and Svein dropped by on his way back to his boat for a drink.
One of the objectives of the car hire was to get some stores, so we left Dave in charge and drove up to Lidl, on the road a short distance south of Levkas town. We returned with a good load of supplies (although they do not do meat there) that should last us for a while. We had lunch on board, then set off with the car to see a little of the island. We went first to Vasiliki, in the south, and simply drove around it and out again, having thought it worth a visit with the boat if we can. We then set off to find Porto Katsiki, which our map described as 'the Mediterranean's most renowned beach and one of the best in the world'. The map reading was difficult, the signage not very good, and we kept getting lost. We eventually found our way to the beach which lies at the end of a long, narrow, twisting and often rather broken road along the coastline. The beach is quite dramatic, with water made turquoise by the churning of the chalk cliffs, but it is quite narrow, very crowded, steep-to with mostly small pebbles of chalky stone. Mo's toe did not protest at the walk down the steps to the beach.
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| Katsiki beach | A view along the beach |
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| The view towards the north | One of our stops along the route |
We returned via more hairpin bends, and winding narrow secondary roads across the mountains, through the occasional small village, with some dramatic views.
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| The village of Englouvi, on Levkas | The inland sea looking east: the islands of Madouri, Skopelos and Meganisi |
At Nidri we went to visit the waterfalls, although sadly in the summer there is very little water coming down and we suspect that most of it is drawn off higher up to supply the population with fresh water. People were going up in swimming costumes, in anticipation of swimming in the pools, although we did not see anyone actually in the water.
When we arrived back at the car hire firm, the owner went apoplectic. The front number plate was missing, and had apparently been unscrewed. Whoever had done it had carefully replaced the screws finger tight. He insisted on calling the police, and we had to wait to deliver an account of ourselves and our movements. He was afraid that his plate would be used on a stolen vehicle to commit a crime.
After getting back to the boat to change, we ate ashore at Upside-down-George's, although he did not seem to be in to doing hands stands on the table any more.
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| Nidri, and Tranquil Bay beyond | Vlicho Bay |
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| Nidri waterfalls |
I went ashore for supplies and for an internet session at Cafe de Paris. The cash machine at the bank was still out of action, so I queued for the cashier for half an hour, with locals ignoring me and jumping the queue when they could. Reaching the cashier, she refused to give me any money without a passport, and said that in any case there was a 20€ service charge! I visited George's chandlers, where he has a phenominal stock, and came out 45€ lighter. Fortunately the other ATM that had been empty last night was now giving out cash.
After lunch we sailed over to Nisos Meganisi under jib, keeping our covers up, and anchored in the western arm of Abileke bay with lines to the shore. A flotila of 13 boats came in and we dreaded the noise, but they were no trouble. Dave and I visited the tavernas around the corner for a drink while Mo prepared supper. One seemed to have been done up, and had a rather smart terrace for sitting or eating out, but the drinks were very reasonable. The taverna on the left, which we did not visit, was Svein's favourite.
We set off and made sail with the northerly breeze towards Vasiliki. Later the wind backed to the west, so that we had to beat up towards Vasiliki and into the bay. We anchored off the beach, the quay inside the northern breakwater being full. Vasiliki is popular for sailing, but particularly for windsurfing, and later in the afternoon we discovered why. Wind appeared to come down off the high ground to the west and built up to around force 5. Despite being close inshore, a vicious chop built up. We still had the dinghy in davits when a girl came drifting past on her windsurfer, probably exhausted in the very difficult conditions. We launched the dinghy, put on the engine, and Dave and I set off to retrieve her and her board, which we towed upwind through the chop, getting soaked with warm water as spray came over the bow. Having deposited the first young lady, we found another in the bay, both being from the Czech republic. We towed the second board in, and decided to leave the rest to the rescue boat which had its work cut out with the number of surfers on and in the water. Later in the evening the wind and water abated, so that we were able to get ashore to eat without getting soaked.
Mo and I went ashore for bread and some fresh fruit and vegetables. The wind was light and from the south west so we motored out of the bay, then bore away towards the east. We decided to go to Sivota, a dog-legged bay where the Sailing Holidays charter fleet is based. We anchored off the beach, and had lunch and a swim, before setting off again. We decided to pass Nidri and head further up into Ormos Episkopi, so that the journey to Prevezas the following day would not be so far. We settled for the beach off Nikiana, anchored just inside the breakwater. We enjoyed the last of the sun, and then went ashore to eat.
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| Briar Rose overtaking us, Shame! |
We aimed for the midday bridge at Levkas, so set off for the Levkas canal at 1030 which in the event proved to be a little early, so that we had to anchor for a while below the bridge. The bridge operator opened it wide, and a motor cruiser from the north side was the first off. Two streams of boats passed through in both directions at once. There were perhaps 8 boats going north, and 4 south, two more didn't quite make it in time. Outside we made sail and set off on a close reach. We were overtaken by a much smaller, older yacht, Briar Rose, and took some photos as he passed. We had a reef in, and were towing the dinghy, but I still felt mortified. We anchored for lunch just north of Prevezas, and then continued on to Vonitsa as planned, under jib alone. We anchored north west of the 'marina' breakwater, in the entrance to the lagoon. Later we took the dinghy ashore, and found that while there were plenty of bars, there seemed to be a limited choice of eateries. Dave and I had small mixed grills, and wondered what a large one might be like, Mo had something more sensible.
Sometime after midnight, the establishment hidden amongst the trees at the entrance to the lagoon opened up with much 'son et lumiere', and music continued to keep us awake until the early hours. The next morning we decided to take a look at the Venetian castle high above the town. We started walking along the road amongst the eucalyptus trees, and past some churches. This was not the way to the castle, but very pleasant. Eventually we found a path up. There had been a concert there the evening before, but no signage to learn anything of the history of the place, which was a pity. It was largely overgrown, but some of the grass was being cleared, and funds had been provided by the EU, though it was difficult to see where they might have been applied. We found the path down that goes to the harbour, just behind the first bar at the root of the eastern quay. We had enjoyed the walk but having bought some bread for lunch we were glad of a rest and refreshment at one of the bars.
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| The church of Panagia below the castle | From the castle, south west across the salt lagoon |
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| Vonitsa, looking east | A glimpse of the 'marina' through the trees |
After lunch, with a reasonable westerly breeze, we set off for Preveza. It was of course a headwind, so we had to tack up the Amvrakikos Kolpos to our usual anchorage just north of the town. When we went ashore that evening, the outboard refused to start, so that I had to row to the small harbour where we had to walk around and past the fair. The town was heaving, with a concert under way in the square. We missed the 'tourist streets' and eateries behind the quay because of the scrum, and settled on a family run place that seemed to have a nice atmosphere and plenty of locals towards the southern end. It proved to be a good choice. By dint of superior manhood, Dave managed to get the outboard to start, so that we did not have to row back.