Wednesday 26th June...
Linda - A breezy start to the day. Fortunately we released ourselves from shore without ado, even though our new neighbour had secured his shore line on to the same rock as us and on top of our line.... STUPID.
Moving today was the first proper step north towards Preveza for lift out next Monday. Our Plan A was to spend the night on a municipal pontoon in Lefkada town, failing that Plan B would be to go through the swing bridge on the Lefkada canal and onwards to anchor in Preveza.
Whatever the end result would be, we needed to transit the canal up to Lefkada town. Quite exciting, but absolutely nothing as spectacular as the Corinth Canal. It's really just a narrow buoyed channel.
Boats coming from the north after exiting the canal
Thesee heading between the first red & green buoys
Green
Red
Very close to the edges at some points
Just before the municipal quays there's the very expensive Lefkada marina. No chance we would spend the night in here.
On arrival at the municipal quays we could see there was some spaces, so we got ourselves ready and berthed in one. There's no official person to help you, but luckily there were some yachties about and they helped with the lines etc.... In fact, two of the yachties were Will and Sarah from Vancouver. They are the family who own the Hydrovane company, and who we purchased our hydrovane from. What a coincidence.
Thesee in Lefkada town
Our track through part of the canal
So we settled in, it was so hot again today. Late afternoon we went for a walkabout the 'posh' marina and a little bit through the town.. At the marina there was a swimming pool and bar. It was so tempting but we didn't have swimwear so just stopped for a very cold beer and very cold coke. Just the job.
Then it was into town. We liked it a lot. It reminded us of many different places we've been but mainly Gaeta and Licata. It was extremely quiet, but tonight after eating out on the quayside the town was buzz buzz buzzing. I don't know where everybody came from. We've only just got back in at 10pm.
Thursday 27th June...
Linda - Up early, but no time to get to Lidl, we did some emergency shopping on the quayside. We had decided to get the 9am swing bridge opening in order to get to Preveza before the afternoon gusts kicked in once more.
We were first in the queue for the bridge opening. You have to kind of judge it so that you get there just about on time. But we were a little early, with another seven boats following behind us, so going slow to judge the opening. Luckily it was still calm and we had no problems.
Every hour on the hour the traffic is stopped and the bridge swings sideways to let the boats through in both directions. Today there were no boats heading south, just the eight of us heading north.
The boats lining up behind us in the queue
Just starting to open and about to swing.
Two minutes late I may add.
Starting to turn
Once it's open you have to kind of rush through before they shut it again. Luckily all eight boats came through without problems.
Looking back after we exited the canal bridge
Boats following us
It's only a few miles to Preveza. Here you have to follow a buoyed channel in as there are many shallows. They seem to like buoyed channels around here. We had a little drive by at the boatyard where we lift out next Monday, then popped across to the main marina to get diesel. Dean likes to have the tanks full when we leave the boat, to stop condensation. The fuel berth was quite awkward, kind of at three different angles, but all went ok with a bit of swearing. Not by me of course.
Next was just a short 5 mile trip into the Ambracian Gulf to a sheltered anchorage very close to Vonitsa. This is a 'new destination' for us!
Fisherman's nets in the Gulf
Nice coastline in here
After anchoring and settling down, Dean gets to work repairing a cupboard catch with specially designed stainless steel springs which have been laser cut by Midtherm Laser. Thanks Gavin!
And then, he set about repairing our Welsh flag because the cord was chafing. On putting it back up one of the lines slipped out of his hands and the flag went off on a fly-about the deck. It was very windy this afternoon. Fortunately, he managed to catch the line and all's well that ends well.
The rogue Welsh flag flying about
And someone's dinghy went AWOL. The owner had to swim after it and did eventually catch it up in the breeze. We couldn't assist because our own dinghy is still on deck.
Friday 28th June...
Linda - It's Birthday Eve for the Captain!! We like this bay (Panagia) a lot, but the main thing is that it feels safe from the windy afternoons which were predicted again today but never really materialised. Some photos this morning.....
Taverna on the beach
Looking towards Vonitsa
Not wanting to waste the day, and to start the Birthday Eve celebrations, we dinghy'd ashore to the taverna for a light lunch (and a light white wine too of course) 😉.
Dean's not sunburnt.... I forgot to turn the camera flash off
Quite tempting for a swim.
Thesee at anchor.
Cute
Birthday Eve Boy
Thesee & three mates, all with cutter rigs
After a little time spent back on the boat this afternoon, we decided not to waste the rest of the day, so we donned our swimming outfits and returned to the beach at 7pm for drinks and a swim. Yes even I went in the sea. First time for me this year. My oh my, the water was actually hot!
There's loud music playing all day at the beach bar, but it's easy listening and pretty much stuff we know (from the old days) so it was quite pleasant. Dean got chatting to the bar attendant. He was Australian. He tried to share his dinner with us, but we had to decline the bowl of mussels which he offered. Not big seafood eaters are we.
He also told us how to pronounce Preveza..... PREH -VEH-SA.
Not PREH-VAY-SA.
Who is this 21 year old??
Proof I did it
Told ya!
Saturday 29th June...
CAPTAIN'S BIRTHDAY - Whoo Hoo !!
It was calm when we arrived. We decided to dig the anchor in, in the opposite direction to the wind. Why?? Because in an hour or two the wind was due to change direction 180 degrees and it was going to blow a fair bit.... And it did.
So the afternoon was spent on Thesee, monitoring the situation and watching other boats arriving and leaving. Around 7pm things started calming down and we were confident with the anchor holding, so we donned our glad rags and HIT THE TOWN.
Ready to hit the town
In the mood for Luuurve
There's a wonderful family restaurant here in Preveza, a few streets back from all the hustle, bustle, and madness of Preveza on a Saturday night. It's called 'Alatopipero'. It means 'salt & pepper'. We found this place three years ago when we were here. It's really unique and they have a very tempting spit roast with pork, lamb, chicken, mutton (the owner called this 'big lamb' 😂). We were first in there.
The restaurant
The garden
The spit roast
The father is in charge of the spit roast, and he has a selection of goat bells hanging, which he happily clanks now and again during the evening. Mother is in the kitchen, and the two sons are the waiters. Last time we came here they had time to chat with us, but tonight was quite manic, they seemed rushed off their feet. Lucky we came early.
Goat bells hanging above the counter
CHEERS! Happy Birthday
We'll definitely remember how we celebrated Dean's Big Birthday.
Sunday 30th June...
Linda - Not a lot going on. We are lifting ashore tomorrow morning, so a last day on the water for us today. Time for a quicky 350 piece jigsaw this afternoon.
The next blog post will be called 'Ashore in Preveza'
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