Tuesday 24th March...
You may be wondering why my 'Mainland' blog posts only lasted for three days?
Well, Dean kindly reminded me last night, that we are now back on an island. And, he is of course correct. Lefkada is only attached to the mainland by the naughty road bridge that kept us waiting around yesterday. Obviously, we had intended to be on the mainland for a little longer than we were. But when you're a sailor, or sailoress (like me), you have to be flexible and remember that you are at the mercy of the Weather Gods..... and the Greek fishermen too sometimes.
So, here we are on Lefkada island. Or is it Lefkas? Greece tends to have about three names for each place. But at the moment, we've decided that Lefkada is the island, and Lefkas is the main town. No doubt we are incorrect, or not..... whatever.
We had an industrious morning here in Lefkas. There's a brilliant Laundry in the town, open 24 hours, and big machines with instructions in English. Bonus. So, once we had put all of our laundry in the machine, we zipped up to the supermarket (where in fact they sell English Mature Cheddar Cheese). Another even Bigger Bonus. Then across to the amazingly well stocked and clean butchers, where they sell all sorts of meat, including pigs heads and other unusual looking delicacies. We (I) settled for boring beef mince, and chicken drumsticks. A visit to the fruit shop followed, then in time to cross the road and collect the laundry which had just finished. Back to the boat, hang the washing out to dry. Voila!! And it was only 9.30am.
Late morning we took a stroll around to the fancy marina with fancy prices. They have a chandlery, which meant Dean could buy some boat bits. Plus, this is where the Yacht Broker is who is listing our boat for sale. It was closed, but we found Thesee's picture on an advert in the window 💙along with lots of other boats for sale.
In the marina.... a weather stone.
If the stone is wet, it means it's raining...... etc 😂
The first time we saw one of these was in the Isle of Wight.
The fancy marina... D Marin, Lefkas !
Our yacht broker... Williams & Smithells Ltd
Dean pointing to Thésée advert
Still in the marina
Back on the street there's a lot of flag bunting going up. We do some research and find out it's Greek Independence Day tomorrow. There could be a parade.
Looking across the quays
We thought it would be a good idea to stop for a coffee and croissant. After checking out two cafe's we decided upon the Patisserie. Oh my Word. The cakes were incredible. Everything you could possibly think of, and more. Too good to actually eat.... well maybe.
Here's me all alone on the other Lefkas bridge
Some of Dean's purchases from the Chandlery.
These are called Joker valves, they will fix the pump in our shower on board.
Wednesday 25th March....
Happy Greek Independence Day !!
It commemorates the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire in 1821. The day also coincides with the Orthodox feast of the Annunciation, and is marked by various celebrations, including military parades, school flag parades, and wreath laying ceremonies at memorials.
Somehow, we seem to have been quite lucky to drop on these sort of events by chance. This morning was very quiet, but by about 11.30am people started gathering along the main street. So we joined them. It wasn't until about 45 minutes later that the parade started. Mainly children of all ages, marching and carrying banners. Then the military marching band too. Plus two fire engines in the parade, and a police car too..... strange.
Dean wanted a dinosaur balloon
Lots of people crowding the route now
One of the banners
Older school children marching here
There's a lady in Greek costume somewhere in there
The Fire Engines
Now the marching band
Another lady in costume.
Seems to be a red and white theme.
Young children dressed up on the quay
It only seemed right that we help to celebrate, by joining in the lunchtime celebrations at one of the restaurants on the quayside. They have a traditional special dish which is eaten on Independence Day. It's called Bakaliaros Skordalia. That translates to Salted battered cod with a strong garlic dip made with potatoes or bread, olive oil and vinegar. Dean being Dean, decided to order it. Not for me though, so I ordered a trusty caesar salad. The sun was shining like a mid summer's day. We stood out like sore thumbs with our floppy sun hats and sunglasses, but the waiter was very nice and friendly.
Oh yes, white wine accompaniment too
Bakaliaros Skordalia
After our lovely lunch we strolled across to the back of town in search of the Archaeological Museum. It was a fabulous building, but of course not open, today, or maybe never, who knows. Sometimes these kind of places only get half built when the money runs out.
Then winding our way back, a lovely quaint Church, and an abandoned Reliant Robin car.
Hmmmm.
Fools and Horses comes to mind.
Thursday 26th March...
Early Birds we are. Up at 5.45am for an early departure from Lefkas. Why so early? It's those Weather Gods playing silly billies with us again. Two days of high winds ahead, and it was all due to kick off at 9.30am this morning. Hence, we decided to move down the coast to our 'go to' anchorage in Vliho Bay, Nydri. It's well known for being called 'Velcro Bay' because the anchor holding here is excellent, thick muddy clay. But it's a bit of a pain for Dean to clean the anchor off when we leave.
All was beautifully calm as we left our berth in Lefkas, and travelled down the Lefkada canal. A lovely sunrise across the mountains to the East.
Linda at the helm, as Dean puts all the fenders and lines away
Dean takes over once he's got everything else sorted
We pass the last channel buoy and then it's
off into open water
Looking south, the clouds becoming ominous
Like us, an early bird catamaran passes by
Weather God clouds 😟
By 8.30am we were approaching Nydri town. It was still lovely and calm, even with the threatening sky ahead.
The new quay, which no-one has ever been allowed
to moor on as yet ???
Just passing 'Tranquil Bay'
Now come the boatyards
So we arrived at Vliho Bay. It's almost like a lake with just a narrow entrance, then it opens out. There is a huge amount of space to anchor for many many boats, with good depths of about 5 metres pretty much all over, except at the top end where it's shallow. Within 5 minutes of arriving and anchoring, the rain started. We couldn't have timed it more perfectly. It's been a strange weather day, almost alternating between rain and wind all day so far.
Dean keeping busy fixing our intermittent chain counter sensor
for the anchor windlass
This is our track (photo taken earlier) on 'Vessel Finder'.
It shows we arrived (straight line), anchored and dropped back,
then we've been squiggling about a bit throughout the day.
Friday 27th March...
No photos today. I'm in a bad mood. As per the weather forecast, we got howling wind and torrential rain overnight at 1am until 3am. Then again about 5am, and today on and off throughout the morning and afternoon. We must have had about 15 squalls come through today. I don't think I've ever seen this much rain in Greece before.
Saturday 28th March...
Dare I announce an improvement in the weather?.... and my mood too. Overnight was calm with a bout of thunder and lightning at some point. I don't actually mind the thunder and lightning. I just don't like the windy spells, especially at night.
And this morning it was actually mainly sunny. Dean actually said he was hot! But, that was after he had dried off all the boat decks etc, then drained about six inches of water out of the dinghy!
Dean sets about drying the boat off
Now sorting the dinghy out
Spot the water line in his shadow
Water gushing out of the transom valve after he tips
the dinghy up a little
After lunch he set about some TLC on the boat alternator. It works, but sometimes doesn't charge the batteries. He said it's probably that the brushes need cleaning. It was quite a big job, to remove it from the engine, dismantle it, carry out the TLC, and then put it all back together and back into the engine. Fingers crossed, the TLC will have worked.
About to remove the alternator from the engine
Here it is..... quite a big object
Taking the top off it
Now for the TLC
He's so good at this kind of stuff. But to be extra careful, he takes photos as he goes, in case he needs to double check what goes where. It's all done now and back in the engine.
Later this afternoon it was still calm, with only one or two rainy downfalls. A chance to go ashore, check-in with the Port Police, buy some shopping, and grab a gyros pita & chips. On our way back to the dinghy the heavens opened full blast and we had to dash for cover and wait while it passed.
Here's Dean sheltering from the downpour
We got back to the dinghy just as it started raining again, but not too heavily. It was a rainy dinghy ride all the way back to the boat. But the good news, it's still calm on the water.
Sunday 29th March...
This morning, Dean said he was beginning to feel like Noah on his Ark, after it rained all night long. Poor Dean, because for me, I slept all night long.
It was a beautiful morning though, and only a slight amount of confusion, after we forgot it was time to put the clocks forward one hour. So now it's officially summertime, isn't it??? Pass that info on to the Greek Weather Gods for us, pretty please.
Like a glass lake once the rain had stopped this morning.
Just beautiful when it's like this.
.... and a short while later... here comes the rain again
Dean dried off the decks, dinghy, and window hatches yet again. The rain is quite clean which is a good thing. It has definitely washed away all that Sahara sand which we received about a week ago. We debated going ashore to the Vliho Yacht Club for Sunday lunch. Yes, they actually serve proper Sunday lunch there. But somehow, we ended up staying onboard, relaxing, reading, and puzzles books.
We still have the 'Anchor Watch' app running. It makes quite a fancy pattern as we move around with the wind directions. This photo is of the Anchor Watch screen on the ipad. As long as we don't drift outside the red circle we know that we aren't dragging anchor. If we drag outside the circle then the alarm sounds. It was calm today, so we don't really need to have it on at the moment. At the centre of the circle is our anchor, and Dean set the circle at 70 metres from the anchor. Plenty of room to twiddle about in. Thesee is the icon currently by the yellow track.
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