On to Levkas and Corfu! Ahhhh, Corfu

On to Levkas….

We were originally planning on meeting Margaret in Levkas Marina on the peninsula of Lefkada. That changed to Corfu but we had the marina booked so decided to take the opportunity to get some repairs done.

We wanted to get an oil change (required every 250 hours) before we headed off to Albania and Croatia. Also, we had some surface issues and gelcoat repairs required.

Getting service is interesting. You have to find a reputable person/company fairly quickly and then make arrangements to get everything done before you leave…in Greece, where frankly schedules aren’t always adhered to closely.

We found a company to help us fairly quickly. The administrator agreed they could get an oil change done and if they had a cancelation they’d do it even sooner. They also thought they could help with Gelcoat repairs. Arrangements made we went off to do other things. The next day, a full day early, the service people came to address everything. I watched them closely so we could learn how to do this work ourselves. First, we enjoy doing these things and second, it costs a lot for service – usually 50-60 euros/hour and often it seems like a car dealer, the hours are more than I might think it should take. I ask lots of questions when the people come and learned about oil, locations of parts on the engine, tensions & techniques. All good.

All went well and we were ready to head out to Corfu and get Margaret and Ben. Leaving the Marina on a Friday, we managed to catch the boat beside us, catch the throttle under their life lines and rip up their pulpit (frame on front of boat) and bend a staunchion (sticks on the side of the boat that hold the lifelines). We also managed to pop the throttle off our outboard engine and it ended up at the bottom of the sea.

We quickly returned to dock, apologized profusely to our neighbor and made arrangements to have his boat repaired. We hoped to still leave that day but as the day wore on and the repairs seem to progress but very slowly, we realized we’d have to stay another night. We didn’t want to leave before his repairs were complete so we could ensure they were addressed and we could pay. 300 Euros later we had his boat fixed and settled in for the evening.

Early the next morning (530 am) we made ready to depart for a long sail to Corfu. First you go through a canal, then a swing bridge, and then head north. The sail overall was uneventful with some sail, some sail motor, and lots of motoring. By 4pm we were arriving in Mandraki in the city of Corfu which is a sailing club right underneath the old fort. A more dramatic location can not be found. You are below the ancient fort walls, on a jut of land with a small beach. Margaret and Ben managed to find us and we all went for a swim before heading into the city of Corfu to see what we could see.

It was great to have both Margaret and Ben on the boat. They make a great couple and are very supportive of each other. It has been difficult for the kids being far from home and we were glad that Ben was able to join.

I can’t say enough about Corfu. While it sees tonnes of tourists, it is among my favourite places. It seems to somehow absorb lots of tourists without feeling overwhelming. There are pretty sights, beaches that go forever, and a great variety of food. Somehow the old city of Corfu presents a warren of streets and side streets with restaurants, shops, homes, and churches. It feels genuine.

Big big wind was in the forecast so we left the relatively unsheltered Mandraki and went to Gouvia marina. Gouvia is out of town and a pain to get to so we rented a car for the duration on the island. Also because of the wind, we decided to tour the island by car rather than by boat. That plan worked very well. Gouvia had a pool which Theo enjoyed and we used to cool off in the heat.

While on Corfu we decided to visit a Palace where “for your eyes only” was filmed in a Casino scene and then watch the movie that evening. We learned that Corfu was huge for that movie and spotted many places from our island explorations. It is fun to see a place you’ve visited in a popular movie – somehow it makes that movie a bit more personal. We also went to a dune beach where we played in huge waves and enjoyed sand under our feet. Often the beaches are pebble so sand is welcome when we find it.

While the island was delightful, the service companies were not. Upon arriving at the marina we did our typical checking around and getting references for companies. We wanted to get our outboard functional again since we thought we’d be using the dingy regularly in Croatia. Also we were hoping to fix the air conditioning as the weather kept getting hotter and hotter (with a low of 30C) and Sheila was finding the heat unbearable.

We were quickly referred to THE air con guy and also the Yamaha dealership which serviced Tohatsu outboards as well. All started well…Yamaha guy came to see the engine and would email us a quote….air con guy would come Tuesday.

Tuesday followed up with Yamaha guy since he didn’t come back to us. Received affirmation he’d send an email with quote ASAP. Followed up with aircon guy who came Tuesday to check things out. Aircon guy said we’d have to replace seacocks (essentially a tap that allows water to flow through the hull to things that require water –there are many on a boat). This could potentially be done in water and they’d get a diver to look and see.

Wednesday I followed with Yamaha guy again who once again said he’d send an email. I called another company who referred me back to Yamaha guy. Usually a company would try to get things done but clearly no one wanted to work with Yamaha guy – they all referred me directly rather than take a service fee cut and get involved. I was frustrated and figured I’d have to start looking for the parts online. There was nothing from aircon guy either and I’d pretty much written off Corfu as a place to get service at all. We pitched it to drive to the waterpark with the kids, took a wrong turn, and voila we spotted a Tohatsu service place. I was dumbfounded – no one had mentioned this at all in the marina and it was practically next door. I stopped in, spoke with a technician who confirmed they’d fix it that afternoon. We immediately dropped everything, went and got the motor, and took it to the Tohatsu service. We picked it up about 3 hours later completely repaired and working even better than it had before the accident. Amazing. Then later Wednesday night, the aircon guy stopped by to fix the seacocks – they did the whole thing. Each place charged cash, did a reasonable price, and did quality work. Corfu went from the most frustrating place to get things done to a success story in the space of a day. I never did hear from Yamaha guy – useless as “tits on a bull” as they say.

So here we are with working air conditioning and an outboard engine. The next day, Thursday, we prepped the boat for the next leg of the journey, pumped up the dingy and tested the engine, and Theo made it his mission to learn how to run the dingy and outboard. By the end of the day he was quite good at it and will be ready to head out on his own soon.

Friday we simply had to go to port police, check out at customs, get some gas, put money on the phones for roaming in the non-EU countries we’d be in, and return the car. To give you an idea of the fun, you check out at the commercial port (you must drive or taxi). The port is huge and the port police are in one section and customs a completely different part of the harbor. At the port police they completed the paperwork and sent to customs. We then waited there until they had confirmation from customs that the fax, yes fax, had been received. Once confirmed they stamped our log and sent us to customs. Customs was a long hot walk across the tarmac of the port to a largely unsigned building surrounded by fencing and security – not designed for people with yachts but people coming from cruise ships. We found someone who shoed us away until we explained why we were there and he directed us to go around the building to another entrance and another door and wait for him there. We wandered into the busy building full of cruise ship tourists and tour hawkers trying to find customs. Sheila got directions from a customs officer who took us around the corner until we found the guy who shoed us originally. He had us sit and wait then escorted us to another office. At that office we were told to wait and were finally processed and the passports stamped. We were done. Getting out of that building again was a maze of misdirection as we couldn’t leave the way we came and had to enter with cruise ship tourists, lacking their pre-clearance card. Once we explained again why we were there they let us back in the country so we could return to our boat. 2 hours duration of being in offices and waiting for people, not including the drive there, parking, etc. We finished the other chores on the list, returned to the boat where they encouraged us to leave quickly since charters were coming in. We went to Albania later that day.

Kevin 

Ithica, Friskardo and Levkas

Ithica better explained, Friskardo, and then Levkas.

Ithica is among my favourite islands. It is casual, not INSANELY busy, and just has a vibe that feels right. The people are delightful…very genuine. There are many shops with interesting jewellery, clothes, arts but that said I don’t think we bought much. Often in the villages the places where the boats berth are right in front of tavernas and clubs and it can be quite loud. Ithica you are able to be a bit away from the more active restaurants.

We didn’t explore the island broadly. As always one could easily sail around an island for many days exploring islets, bays, and villages but our trip sometimes feels fast. We stayed in Ithica to give Theo some time to recover. It seems 24 hours was really all that was required. He was pretty fit the next day but we elected not to sail yet.

When we did decide to move on, we went to Fiscardo which is a relatively short sail (3 hours tops) from Ithica. Fiscardo is “on the path” of tourists as a must see village. It was not destroyed by war nor earthquakes and has some very quaint, original architecture. Having visited there 14 months ago, I was truly taken aback by how busy it was. The pilot had suggested getting there by noon, so we did, and found a spot. Many boats came after us and many inexperienced boaters were anchoring or attempting to anchor in what is pretty much a horseshoe bay. Boats are everywhere there is space and were layered 2 deep even with going stern berth. There were other boats rafted on the rocky, non quay side of the harbor. It was pretty festive, insanely busy on the water, and yes it is pretty. We met a great guy in the chandlery (sailing store) who was happy to sell us many odds and sods we required. He met the whole family eventually because we bought no only a few items for sailing but Theo bought a massive blow up shark as well. These little shops often have one or two things you may not have seen and can be very useful. The most useful that we hope to never use is a trip hook designed to help you raise a rode (recall this is the anchor chain) that has been put down over your own. This can be a frustrating drag when it happens. These tools are supposed to make recovery feasible because you can a least lift up the offending chain. I think of it as a 50 euro insurance policy. If you visit, I’ll show you. It is very exciting.

In Fiscardo we met Charlie and his family. They have been in the med for two weeks and we ended up talking for some time and helping each other at the quay. Our boat was too deep to bring all the way close to the quay. Theirs was not as deep but had a similar problem. We used our paraselle (the plank to go from the boat to the shore) on their boat which allowed us to bridge the gap and get to shore dry. We had to coordinate our departure and all was fine.

Some east coasters also came by to introduce themselves when they saw the Canadian Flag. Everyone takes comfort in fellow countrymen when abroad for some reason. Guess we all value our cultural identity.

My reflections on Fiscardo really brought home how much we’ve learned about sailing. We were able to deal with a very crowded harbor, many inexperienced captains nearby (I hopped on the boat 2 or 3 times with a boat hook ready to fend off colliding boats), and generally took it all in stride. As I’ve said before we are still inexperienced and that can be brought home really quickly (as it will in Levkas) but we are feeling much better about taking our boat around the sea.

TODAY'S LIFE ON THE BOAT

Itea to Patras and on to Ithyca

Well friends, as I write down my thoughts, I’m siting in the cockpit of the boat while berthed in Ithyca, the home of Odyseus. Let’s talk about “life on a boat.” Today we spent the morning in a courtyard café beside a power bar and sucking up internet. We charged the computer, phone, and bits of ipads. We updated apps, virus software, ipad software (attempted) and Sheila configured google accounts. We caught up on facebook, email, weather forecasts and marina bookings. And we ate food and drank coffee. Now it is around 1:30 pm and we’ve brought theo’s bed up for airing, washed (in a bucket) his sheets and some necessities. They are now hung up to dry. We had the generator on to charge the boat batteries – the fridge is killing us in this heat – and we’ve chatted with neighbours about life of sailing and anchorages nearby. It’s pretty universal to seek the story of someone who is living aboard as they are always a unique and interesting so we do casually meet a lot of people and some we keep in touch with.

What else is on my mind today? Perhaps we’ll get some water in the boat because the forward 240 litre tank is between ¼ and ½ full and it would be nice to have more. We are heading to marina where we’ll have to pay for it anyway so we could get away without it but we are using more (laundry in bucket and cool showers in the heat). I’m also putting out feelers for a mechanic in Lefkas for routine service and planning our route from Lefkas to Corfu. We are planning loosely about 2 weeks ahead as we go and getting a bit better at it. It seems for some places we need to book well in advance so we are starting to think about where we’ll be in Croatia already.

Life on a boat also has its stresses. Yesterday after a fun morning of jumping off the boat by swinging from a halyard (kind of like rope swings at the cottage at home) we set off and Theo became massively ill. He had a splitting headache, numbness in an arm, and an upset stomach – pretty much instantly. We had wasps nearby our spot (he is allergic) but he hadn’t been stung and we were stumped. We were at least 3.5 hours from anywhere (we had “anchored randomly” to use a Theo phrase which means we were anchored in a bay away from anything). We medded him up with what we had and watched….closely. Well he was sick to his stomach several times, fatigued, and generally miserable. Thankfully by the time we arrived in Ithica his head was feeling better. He was sick again so we kept a low profile, read and rested for some time. By evening he was starting to rebound and started to eat…and eat. We felt pretty vulnerable for a few hours being hours away from help. Today he is back to normal and eating lots.

Sheila was primary caregiver to Theo and that evening went out for a walk, food, and relax around Ithica while Theo and I made shadow puppets including one that was Darth Vader! So all that to say we thought airing his bed and cleaning his sheets would be good form.

So travels….We went to Itea frankly because we heard the marina was unfinished and therefore free (not entirely true but the reclusive person who works in the marina office for a few hours each day does not come to the boats to collect the fees – don’t know why). We didn’t pay. There is nothing in the marina of note beside secure berthing and a bus nearby to Delphi…so we took the bus. The site has a fabulous museum and located most of the way up the mountain, some commanding views with a temple of Appollo, a stadium, many treasuries (which held tributes from many nations), and a theatre among many other things. It was a tremendous site and well worth the bus ride up winding mountain roads. The cafes nearby where pearched on a cliff overlooking the valley. Wow.

From Itea we went to a small island, Trizonia (again free) where we were able to get laundry done for a reasonable fee and enjoy some tavernas overlooking a bay. It was a way point but well worth an overnight. There were liveaboards there who looked like they were there for many months. They had established a base of operations and the boats were of mixed vintage. I guess that is one of the places you can go to live very cheaply on a boat. To give a sense of it, there was a wreck inside the harbor/marina blocking access to many slips and that wreck had been there so long it was charted. There were permanently moored boats rusting and deteriorating away (some for sale if you want a big project). The dock had many holes where access had been made for power and water – there wasn’t any covering so you wouldn't want to walk on it the dark without a flashlight. Finally, the area dumpsters were near the docks and on the walk to the tavernas, the smell completely carried me back to my childhood and I felt like I was at the Orillia dump again with my Dad unloading construction scrap.

Patras was the next stop on the journey. We’d read about a cog train that went into the mountains and offered a scenic view and delightful destination. Patras is the third largest city in Greece and we loved it and really didn’t love it all at the same time. On net, it was worth the visit but there are many detractions.

On the plus side, it is a vibrant and active city with a nice downtown core. It has a cog railway which is pretty cool (OK it has nothing on Switzerland mountain trains but pretty cool for Greece). It has a giant cable span bridge which is the longest in the world. It has a cathedral to St Andrew which is stunning and also has the distinction of holding his skull as well as parts of his cross (he was crucified on an X, rather than t shaped cross). The marine shop nearby was a great source for mosquito nets, a lifejacket for an upcoming guest, and a few odds and sods.

On a big plus side, we had a “circus” boat next door which put on a big arial show. Fred, the master, had many young women who were doing silks from a hoisted spinnaker boom, two women at the top of the mast playing violin and accordion, and the colourfully painted boat had colourful sheets hanging down the sides. There were many challenges facing the show – a ballet show was practicing with loud sounds and vigour nearby so they delayed the start of the circus to avoid a conflict with the nearby attraction. They moved the boat into the harbor closer to the crowd and a local official came by to shut them down for not having a license. They then returned to their spot in the marina to perform the show. It was very late when it started so they ran lights from our boat and form theirs to light up the performers. We sat on the bow to watch the show and they used our boat as a bridge to the shore (they snuck theirs a bit into the harbor when the official left) so we were complicit in helping “the show go on”. Overall it was a lot of fun and special to help them in the background with odds and sods.

On the downside, there was a garbage strike so bins were full all over the city. As walking is our primary means of transport this is annoying because it forces you off sidewalks and into traffic to avoid piles of garbage everywhere. The marina was close to some septic related operations and had an unpleasant odour. We were going to stay another day but it worsened and convinced us to leave. We had an intruder on the boat which in the end was harmless but topped off a night of poor sleep since the bars go until around 5am and you can hear music pumping through the night when you would like to be sleeping.

So you get the idea. We left Patras to randomly anchor in a bay on the way to Ithica. The first place we intended to go had been taken over by fish farms so we moved on to a second location. It was theorectically sheltered but we were getting gusts over 20 knots regularly. Our anchor dragged once (it didn’t properly hold) so we reset and were fine after that. We used the anchor alarm and one of us dozed/slept on deck so we’d hear it if we moved. By morning it was peaceful and beautiful. We did lots of swims and managed to BBQ some chicken while the wind blew hard. Then on to Ithica.

So back here at Ithica I’m still in the cockpit of the boat. It is some time later. Theo has found yet another thing he must have (he is a hoarder) and is now having a real ham hamburger nearby. I’m thinking nap. Till next time….
Kevin