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
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