Chapter One: FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER
We’d enjoyed our time in Vasiliki where we’d had ample opportunity to use our windsurfing equipment. Now we stowed everything in its rightful place, secured Buddy on the foredeck, and at 8.40am pulled the anchor out of the mud.There was no wind as we motored out of Vasiliki Bay and turned North along the West coast of Lefkada. We soon came into some swell, and Cordelia was rolling from one side to the other.
Still, we managed a cup of coffee and a biscuit along the way. The coast on this side of the island was rugged with big cliffs falling into the sea. It also featured nice-looking beaches which were heavily frequented. How the sunbathers got there was often a mystery, but we did espy signs of a road cut into the numerous gorges. It was a hazy day with poor visibility, so we couldn’t figure out any details, still, we were impressed with the island’s scenery.
It was around 1.00pm when the wind made an appearance. It came from the West at about 10 knots, just enough for a motorsail on the genoa. We managed about an hour before we approached the entrance to the channel at Preveza. Peter took in the rod (no fish) and furled away the genoa, then followed the red and green buoys that marked the way. We made it past the marina and the town into Hospital Bay, and dropped the anchor in 14m into murky water. The holding in mud was good, we had a nice breeze, and we soon settled in with tea and other liquid refreshments, had dinner and went to bed.
Ingrid had slept for about an hour when our Belgian neighbours started to shout and their dog to bark. Then they shone a spotlight into our cockpit where Ingrid had her bed. She called up Peter who listened to their concerns that we’d come too close to them (15m distance, they said). The wind had died down, so everyone had moved closer to their anchor. They admitted they had 100m (!) of chain out, hence they’d been a long way away when we’d anchored in the wind. Their strange looking motorboat boat now pointed into the (nearly) opposite direction to anyone else’s, and they sounded rather unhappy with what had developed.
We first considered taking in 10m of the 53m of chain we’d let out, but as we didn’t fancy a nervous night either Peter informed them that we’d move. We’d seen one boat leave earlier in the evening and we now headed to his vacated spot in the dark. It was further out to the side and in about a meter deeper. We managed to avoid any other anchored boats on the way there, and after nearly running over a sleeping turtle and one failed attempt we finally got the anchor to set, and returned to bed.
A passing fishing boat woke Ingrid up at 6.30am, and she stayed on deck and waited for the sunrise before adjourning below for breakfast. Afterwards she put out the lines and fenders, and Peter motored us over to Preveza Marina. Ingrid called them up and we were admitted straight away for fuel and water. A friendly attendant helped us into a rather awkwardly positioned space on the quay, and we filled up with both. It took a while before our water tanks were full and we could return to the anchorage. Once there we set our hook in anticipation of the afternoon’s wind direction. In the meantime Ingrid cleaned the mud off around the anchor locker, then we launched Buddy.
We packed our boat papers, and Peter motored us to the little beach next to a fairground. We found the Coast Guard offices behind a café on the upper level, with a sign on the door saying that the opening hours were 09:00 to 13:00. It was 13:30, so we resolved to return the next day. For now, we carried on along the town quay, then turned right to a multi-storey supermarket. Our expectations were thwarted when we discovered that despite there being three storeys the footprint of each floor was tiny. Still, we found what we came for, plus a roasted chicken! We returned to our anchorage which was quiet and peaceful. We relaxed and even ventured into the turbid green water to swim with the turtles, though neither were aware of each other’s presence.
We were ashore at 9.00am and shortly afterwards at the Coast Guard. The officer took copies of our documents, stamped our crew list, and without further ado sent us on our way with a “have a nice day”. We then made a detour to the supermarket for more liquids and the bank for some cash before we returned to Cordelia.
We put Buddy and the outboard back on deck, then had an early lunch. The wind turned, and we upped anchor at around 1.30pm. A few minutes later we unfurled the genoa and stopped the engine, and had a great downwind sail in a Westerly Force 4. The wind increased the further we progressed into the Ambracian Gulf and we enjoyed a fantastic run. We not only overtook another sailboat, but also a turtle. It stuck its head out of the water, but quickly dived back down when Peter greeted it with a “hello”.
We crossed the Bay of Vónitsa when the wind reached a low Force 6 and the swell grew to about ½m. We carried on across the next bay, then put in 1½ reefs which calmed things down a bit as it was now blowing 30 knots. When we turned at Chalíki we took in the genoa and motored around the multiple fish farms to Poliomýlou Bay to our anchorage at Anaktorio. It was blowing a hooley, but we let out plenty of chain as we sat in about 6m of water.
Ingrid had to hold on to the bathing ladder when she had a dip, so she wouldn’t be swept away as Cordelia did her dance around the anchor. According to the forecast the wind was due to ease off around 8.00pm, but the same forecast had also predicted a wind speed of “only” 22 knots. However, when we went to bed there were only a few gusts left and the wind still kept easing off, so we were looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
We got up late and had a leisurely morning. In the afternoon we rigged our windsurfing gear and Ingrid went out on the iSonic and 6.8m2. On the first run the sail blew out where it had been mended before, so we rigged the 7.7m2 instead. There was not really enough wind, but she got a couple of planing stints in the gusts.
With the gear out of the cabin Peter was able to check and top up the leisure batteries with water. They were struggling and showed signs that they were on their way out, but we hoped they’d last till the end of our sailing season.
We kept ourselves busy the next morning with cleaning and laundry, then prepared Cordelia. When the wind came just after 2.30pm it quickly reached 25 knots. We checked the forecast (again), noticed the change, and decided to postpone our departure until the next day.
The wind brought hot and dry air and reduced the humidity from 75% to 45%. We were still hot and sweaty though, and cooled off in the 32°C (!) nutrient-rich green sea. Little did we know that there were other inhabitants that frolicked in the water. It was only on the next day when Ingrid saw a fried egg jellyfish, but, in any case, they were supposed to be harmless to humans.
Chapter Two: 2Ks – KÓPRAINA AND KOUKOUMITSA
We were up at 6.45am on a very hazy day and slowly prepared ourselves and Cordelia for departure. The anchor came up just after 9.00am and we motored out of a windless bay. We were at the fish farm when Peter spotted dolphins. They were the first for us this season and it was a joy to see them. They didn’t stay long, and as the wind had now built up to a South-Easterly Force 3-4 we were otherwise engaged as we stopped the engine and sailed on the genoa.
We didn’t break any speed records, but as we were in no hurry we enjoyed the gentle movement through the water. It lasted for a good hour, then the wind diminished, the engine came on, and the genoa was furled away. We made our way to Kópraina where we dropped the anchor outside the harbour in 4.5m. There was hardly a breeze and we were hot, so we hid in the shade under the bimini and went for a dip in the cloudy water.
It was after breakfast when we put the outboard on Buddy, then waited for the haze and clouds (some of them quite dark) to dissipate and for the sun to make an appearance. When the first rays poked through Peter motored us over to the harbour where we tied Buddy onto a pontoon. We walked past closed-up buildings to pick up a little paved path which led through marshland, and we heard the twitter of various birds along the way.
After about 20 minutes we reached the lighthouse at the end of the spit. It was locked, but steps led up to its roof terrace from where we had great views over the wetland. Peter even spotted flamingoes in the far distance. The weather hadn’t really improved, but now it also got hot and humid, so we returned to Cordelia to sit under the bimini. The visibility was still bad and we heard rumbling behind the hills, but luckily nothing came of it.
The next day dawned sunny, but it was still very hazy. Undeterred, we mounted Buddy and motored to the harbour once more. We made another trip to the lighthouse to listen to the sound of redshanks, terns, herons and other birds. Peter also took photos of the building and surroundings in the sunshine, though none of the birds as they were either too far away or took flight when they saw the camera.
On our way back we filled our two 10l bottles with free water from the pontoon. Back on Cordelia Peter transferred their contents into our tanks, we had coffee and a bun, and got Buddy on deck.
It was nearly 11.00am when Peter broke the anchor out of the mud and we left Kópraina in no wind. About an hour later we got a Westerly Force 3 which was from the direction we were headed into. We therefore crossed the Ambracian Gulf under engine averaging 6 knots, and around 1.00pm we dropped the hook off the island at Koukoumitsa near Vónitsa. It was another pretty and peaceful setting with a little bridge connecting the island to the mainland.
Peter did some research on what was worth seeing, and we decided to walk into town in the evening to look at the castle, do some shopping, and have a gyros. The castle comprised of a large area (approximately 8 hectares) and was surrounded by the usual defensive walls and balustrades. Inside we found the (closed) Byzantine Agia Sofia church, a cistern, barracks, and the residence of Ali Pasha from when he reigned over the region in the early 1800s.
It was all quite impressive, but we were getting hungry, so left after 45 minutes to get a gyros. We’d bought a cold lemonade on the way there, and now we consumed it all on a pavement of a side street. It filled a hole, and we walked back to Buddy with full bellies.
Ingrid did not sleep well with noise from the road, music from the shore and illuminations along the bridge as contributors. It was also hot and windless and she was sweating buckets. She was up early, and after breakfast we readied Buddy and motored over to a little inlet behind the bridge which served as a harbour for three fishing boats and doubled up as a dinghy dock. We crossed the bridge to the island and wandered around in its copse of pines.
Next we were off into town again. A sailing regatta for Greek under 16s in Optimists was scheduled for this week at our nearest beach, and had over 250 entrants. We saw the kids (and parents) set up their gear before we continued to the town’s unfinished marina. They were working on it though, and boats (not all of them in usable condition) were moored alongside. We took off to the supermarket and stocked up on essentials and liquids, then bought lunch and mini ice-creams at a bakery. Filling our water bottles at a fountain concluded our outing.
We made one last excursion to the shore and walked to the shop opposite the gyros place for still and sparkling water. We also found a bottle of rosé, then returned on the main road via a bakery. They had spinach pie and bougatsa which we added to the load in our rucksacks. We also filled our bottles with water from the fountain, then returned to Cordelia for a cup of coffee. Next, we put Buddy on deck, and at 11.20am weighed anchor.
Chapter Three: HISTORY AROUND AGIO NIKOLAOS
When we left Koukoumitsa we had hoped the wind would shift from North-North-East towards East, so we could have a nice sail in the Force 4. The wind did turn, but into the wrong direction, and inevitably ended up on the nose. We motored along whilst watching out for fish farms and other obstacles, and reached Agio Nikolaos just before 1.00pm. The wind there had just switched to the West and was beginning to build up to a Force 5-6. We both managed a dip in the slightly cooler water before the wind speed reached 30 knots, and felt all the better for it.
It was a little bit rolly during the night, but we both slept okay and in the morning we were ready to explore. It was in nearby Actium where Octavian (later Augustus) had defeated the combined forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31BC. A few years later he founded the town of Nikópolis (= City of Victory) around the site where he and his army had had their encampment. It soon became a major Roman political and economic centre in western Greece, and we were off to see what was left of it.
From the little harbour that serviced a mussel farm we found our way along a track and up a quiet street to the main road towards Preveza. We followed it until we came across the remnants of an amphitheatre. Work was being carried out on it, but we were free to walk around its grounds. The Roman bricks betrayed its heritage, and so did the arched gateways that led into it.
Right opposite was a stadium that hosted the Actian Games that were resurrected by Octavian. It featured a 200m long racecourse, but they didn’t just run there but also had musical competitions to honour the god Apollo Actius. We checked it out, then walked up on the road next to it in search of the memorial of the encampment.
The gate to the front entrance was chain locked, so we carried on up and around to the back entrance. The fence there had a hole cut into it which was convenient, as this was how we got in. We could see a big flat space where the temple-like Victory Monument would once have stood. There were also some large stone blocks with inscriptions celebrating the victory. Talk about rubbing it in!
We admired the views and left suitably impressed, then used MapOut to get back to Buddy and Cordelia. We’d done over 10,000 (Peter) steps in the heat, and Ingrid was knackered. Tea and other liquids provided some energy, and a little doze helped with the recovery. The visibility had improved, so we sat in the cockpit and looked around with the binoculars. We spotted the city of Arta 14NM away on the mainland, and the little village (around 170 inhabitants) on Koronisia Island 7.5NM away. For once, we could also see the mountains in the distance.
Peter entertained the notion of going windsurfing, but the wind was too gusty for the 7.7m2 and not enough for the 6.0m2. In addition, it was due to turn from West to North which would make it choppy, so he gave it a miss and went for a dip instead.
The wind did eventually turn towards North and subsequently brought 5NM of fetch with it. Cordelia was braving it front on, but was rocking up and down like a hobbyhorse. Ingrid tried to distract herself by reading articles on the phone, and finally switched it off at 1.15am. Peter resolved to abandoning his bed in favour of the salon settee until his extremities got so numb he could hardly feel them. The conditions improved slightly the further the night progressed, and we both caught some Zs in the early morning. We got up at 7.00am, had breakfast, cleared up, and raised anchor just before 9.00am.
Chapter Four: PREVEZA’S SIGHTS
The northerly wind was still blowing around 10 knots, just enough for us to set sails. We started off with speeds around 5 knots, but lost some of it in the gap between the mainland and an island. We trundled round the corner in barely 3 knots as we gybed towards Preveza. The last stint did not break any speed records either, but we managed to sail all the way into Hospital Bay. We checked for a good place to anchor, but then settled for a space near the spot we’d been in before. It was 11.30am when the hook dug into mud in about 10m depth.
While we waited for the afternoon’s westerly wind Peter put Cordelia to bed and Buddy in the water. Afterwards we relaxed with tea and crosswords, and watched as the anchorage filled up with boats that had been expelled from the town quay and marina (reserved for returning charter boats). We had toyed with the idea of going to the shop for a roasted chicken, but dismissed it as unnecessary. Instead, we had vegetable pasta for dinner and washed it down with a glass of rosé.
The next morning Peter took out the bikes from the cabin and pumped up the tires, and we loaded them into Buddy. We also found room for ourselves on him and motored to a beach next to the road. Peter assembled the bikes on the adjacent lay-by, and we set off.
He had devised a quiet route through the backstreets that took us to Lidl. It wasn’t long (about 20 minutes) and we had to stop from time to time to check on directions, but we still had a lovely ride with a few ups and downs. At the supermarket we replenished our provisions and also bought a couple of their large ice-creams which we consumed in the cooling shade of the shop. Our rucksacks were full on the way back, but we made it in one piece.
Once again, we got ourselves ready after breakfast and motored over to the little beach near the fairground. From there we walked along the promenade and carried on to the Sailor’s Monument. We strolled through the adjacent pine forest, had a sip of Robinson’s squash on a bench in a little park, looked at the castle of St. George from 1807 (closed), and continued past a popular beach and through a housing estate to the Pantokrátoras Castle.
The main entrance was boarded up, but we could enter the compound through a side gate around the left. The castle had been built during the Ottoman period by Ali Pasha, and in the mid 20th century had been used as a prison (till 1968). It consisted of thick walls and surprisingly large buildings, and we wandered around most of them and took many a picture.
On the way back we popped into a bakery for spinach pie, bougatsa and mini ice-creams, as well as into the Carrefour at the marina for water. The latter was well stocked, and we even got some Coleman’s English mustard.
We awoke before sunrise to a red sky, had a leisurely start, then loaded the bikes into Buddy. We did a slight variation to the previous day’s route and made it to the Sklavenitis discounter. It was of a decent size with a good variety of products, and we filled our rucksacks. Not too far away was an AB supermarket, and we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to get a roasted chicken. Ingrid had to wait for it as they were only just being laid out, but with the purchase completed we headed back.
We stowed all of our goods away and put the bikes into the cabin, had coffee and a bun, and set off again. We bought liquid refreshments at the Polis supermarket, then got a bougatsa and home-made ice-creams (by mistake, but delicious) from the bakery, popped into the Carrefour at the marina for still and sparkling water, and returned to Cordelia. After a short rest we put Buddy on the foredeck and cleaned the speed log which was full of tube worms. Ingrid also attended to the sprayhood windows, and as we were both sweating buckets with all this work we had a quick shower off the stern.
By this time the wind had turned to West, Force 4, so we upped anchor at 3.00pm. Soon afterwards we unfurled the genoa and stopped the engine. We were sailing nicely downwind and past some fish farms, and even overtook another yacht that was also sailing on the genoa. Once we’d passed it we turned towards Vónitsa. The gusts came down at the headland and Peter opted to put a reef in the genoa. It wouldn’t work!
We started the engine, headed more into wind, and Peter went to the bow to investigate. The reefing line had entangled itself in the furler and had gotten stuck. With a bit of effort Peter managed to clear it, we could reef and continue under reduced genoa alone. A good ½ hour later it all came down as we entered the anchorage at Koukoumitsa. It was just after 5.00pm when we dropped the hook in 4.8m (mud), and with 30m of chain out we felt very safe.
“Oh, #@@**#!” exclaimed Peter when he was about to turn on the fridge at 6.00am. He had been nursing the two (140Ah) ailing leisure batteries by switching it off overnight, but now with just the mooring light on the voltage on them had gone down to 10.2V. In other words, they were dead!
The closest chandleries were in Preveza, so after we’d sorted ourselves out, that’s where we went. We had to motor all the way in no wind, then found a spot to anchor in Hospital Bay, and launched Buddy. Peter had done his research, and we found a suitable replacement in the marina’s chandlery. We borrowed a sack barrow to wheel the heavy thing back to Buddy, and while Peter returned it Ingrid pumped up Buddy’s floor and keel. We managed to heave the battery on board, and after lunch we emptied the windsurfing cabin, so Peter could swap them over. He kept the second leisure battery disconnected, but still in its place, and soon everything could be put back into the cabin.
We cleared up, had a cup of tea, and at 3.30pm weighed anchor for a lovely downwind sail on the genoa back to where we’d come from. This time we reefed before we turned into the bay, and we were rewarded with a great run into our anchorage. The hook went down about a boat’s length from where it had come up in the morning, and all was well again. It sure is good to have an engineer on board!
Chapter Five: WIND, WAVES AND OTHER WOES
We were ashore at 9.30am, suited and booted for a walk to a Cave Church. At first we followed the main road out of town to our left. It was still in the shade, so the going was rather pleasant despite it being uphill. Then we reached a large house (we could see it from our anchorage) and an open field next to it. Peter wondered whether the animal ahead was a dog or a large cat, but soon found out when it started to bark. This alerted the rest of the pack, and in no time we were chased by another half a dozen hounds. One in particular was showing his disapproval by snarling and baring his teeth, hackles raised and barking aggressively. We carried on slowly, occasionally raising our arms and pointing to the house, telling them to go home (or words to that effect). The owner was nowhere to be seen, but once we approached a corner in the road they retreated on their own.
Not far after, we found the turn-off to a track that would take us up to the church. Unfortunately it also reversed the main road, just on a higher level. The dogs must have anticipated this, as they were now charging at us from below. Our first encounter with them must have woken up the farmer who now came racing up on his motorbike, shouting at them in Greek. They seemed to understand him better than they did us, as they backed off. We gave the farmer a friendly wave as we carried on unmolested.
We were now fully in the sun and the track had become steeper, so we paused for a drink near a building made out of cardboard, old pallets and corrugated iron (at least that’s what it looked like). Then we finally made it to the top and from there descended a steep slope till the track turned into a path. In another 50m or so we’d arrived.
White-washed steps led up to a little door that opened into the church. In fact, it was more like a bijou chapel, but nevertheless quite charming. It also provided good views over Vónitsa and the bay, and Peter took plenty of pictures before we headed back.
We dreaded another interaction with the dogs as we had to take the same route as on the way out, but the farmer must have told them to leave us be. Only one of them ignored him and followed us noisily, but finally gave up when none of his “friends” joined in. We made it back down intact and continued along the road to the supermarket for drinks and to the bakery for feta cheese pie.
The way to Buddy was via the beach, then we returned to Cordeia for lunch. Peter had left the pliers behind that would open the tap at the fountain when we went out for our hike, so after we’d eaten we motored back ashore to fill up our water bottles. Peter stocked up the tank, then we finally sat down to relax.
The next day we weighed anchor just before 9.00am and motored North past some scattered islands with far too shallow anchorages around them for our Cordelia. About an hour later we dropped the hook in 3.5m off Koronisia near the Bohème beach café. We pumped up Buddy who we’d dragged behind, and motored ashore.
A few people were on the beach, but apart from that it was a sleepy place. We walked past picturesque lagoons into the only settlement on this island which is connected to the mainland by a series of bridges. We made it to the harbour, then continued up to the Byzantine church.
We rounded it outside first and noticed the olive press in the attached roofless building, then went inside for a closer look. There was restoration work going on, so we couldn’t go everywhere we wanted to, but we still had a good view of the ceiling paintings, icons and candelabra.
We descended back to the harbour and stopped off for ice-creams at a person’s front room that doubled up as a mini-market. We’d intended to circumnavigate the island by walking round the wetland, but as it started off with a rickety and broken-down wooden bridge we gave it a miss and carried on along the road. Ingrid noticed a sign that pointed to a castle, so we followed it. We saw a (closed) round stone building but not much else, and decided to head back to Cordelia.
The anchor came up at 12.35pm and we unfurled the genoa soon afterwards. We started with a South-Westerly Force 3 that turned towards West and kept slowly increasing in strength as we sailed towards Anaktorio. We’d attempted to windsurf there before, and hoped to repeat the experience in better conditions. We managed to avoid the fish farms by going around them on the outside, then turned towards our anchorage. We had just entered the bay when a wave of awkward smell hit our nostrils. We hoped it was a one-off as we had nowhere else to go unless we punched into the Force 5-6 wind, so we carried on and dropped the hook just after 3.00pm in 4.5m.
However, rather than the wind dissipating the stench it spread it around and made it more potent. No way would we be doing any outdoor activity in this! It seemed to us that the farmer had been very generous with pig poo as he’d sprayed it on the surrounding area. Nonetheless, we decided to stick it out and see what the next morning would bring. In the meantime Ingrid had a swim in the murky water and cleaned off some pesky tube worms from Cordelia’s through-hulls, then we took our minds off that terrible stink by watching YouTube videos till it was time for bed.
Ingrid couldn’t get to sleep as her nostrils kept being irritated. She also became a bit nauseous, and in the end she got the phone and read to distract herself. It would have been a beautiful night with excellent views of the many stars had it not been for that horrible smell. It reeked! At about 3.00pm we got a little breeze from a slightly different direction that brought better air, and she finally found some sleep about an hour later.
She was awake at 6.30am, stayed in bed until 7.00am, then went below for breakfast. The farm odour was still hanging around, and neither of us felt well. We therefore agreed to abandon any plans we had for this place and try our luck elsewhere. At 9.00am we weighed anchor in an attempt to escape the “smell from hell”.
We started feeling better by the time we reached the fish farms, and especially when we spotted a couple of dolphins. Then, when we got to our new anchorage at Poúrgas Bay just before 10.00am we were in an improved frame of mind. We had a cup of coffee and biscuits which attracted a few wasps, then Peter had another go at mending Buddy. The latter kept losing air, mainly in the floor and keel, his surface was sticky, and he was in a bad shape overall. Ingrid provided moral support and used words of encouragement, urging Buddy to hold out till the end of our season, and promised him retirement once we’d arrived at our winter quarters.
The propeller had also developed an issue that needed seeing to. It had been juddering when we motored along, so Peter armed himself with mask, fins and a scrubber, jumped into the water and cleaned off the tube worms around it. He also discovered a stowaway, as one of the mussels from the farm had used Cordelia’s prop as a getaway vessel. Peter would have none of this, scraped it off and duly committed it to the briny.
We slept well that night, and weighed anchor at 8.10am. We saw a windline and hoisted both sails, but the wind wasn’t powerful enough to blow us along, so we ended up motorsailing. We had planned to return to Preveza, but changed our minds ½ hour after we’d set off. The anchorage there was deep, it was Sunday and probably still busy with people who wouldn’t necessary have moved back to the town quay and marina were they had been evicted from in favour of the charter boats, and the wind was predicted to blow up to 30 knots in the late afternoon. We didn’t fancy any of these prospects, so opted to turn into Koukoumitsa instead. We knew the holding there would be good and we’d be well protected, so dropped the anchor at 9.35am.
We were in the shelter of the pine trees, and every time we got a breeze from that direction we could smell their lovely scent. Then the wind built up while we were below watching the Moto GP and F1. Cordelia started to bounce up and down in the swell, and it got quite unpleasant. When Peter stuck his head out he realised we had put our anchor in a place that was open to eddies. Cordelia didn’t just bounce, she also turned round and round with the swell hitting her on all sides. It was far from ideal where she sat!
While the F1 cars followed each other in an orderly queue during the race in Madrid Ingrid prepared dinner. She was about to serve it when Peter declared he was very unhappy with our anchor spot. We could see that the masts on all the boats following our line were swinging from side to side but that it looked calmer further in, so we upped anchor and motored into the bay. We found a space in about 4.5m that seemed better, and dropped the hook. We immediately felt an improvement. We ate our dinner, and when we went back up on deck for our cup of tea we had a new neighbour. It was a yacht from near our original space who must have seen what we did and who had also wanted a more peaceful spot. We all settled in, and after a while it began to calm down. It also became cooler, so Ingrid adjourned to her cockpit bed to with two blankets.
We slept well, and were underway just after 8.00am. The wind had all gone as we motored away. We waved good-bye to Koukoumitsa which had been good to us, took another glance at the castle at Vónitsa, and passed the fish farms on our way to Preveza. Hospital Bay was busy when we arrived at around 9.30am, but we found a space in 15m to drop the hook. Soon after we launched a freshly repaired Buddy and motored ashore.
Two supermarkets and a bakery visit later we had a lovely walk through the outskirts and backstreets to return to Cordelia with our purchases. We offloaded, then went ashore again with our empty gas bottle. We exchanged it at the Carrefour in the marina for a full one, bought still and sparkling water, and made it back to Cordelia at around 12.30pm. After lunch we stowed away Buddy and the outboard just as Cordelia turned for the afternoon (westerly) wind. We didn’t expect a lot of it, but didn’t want to be caught out either. As it turned out we got 20 knots of wind, so we were glad we’d made the earlier effort.
We had a few drops of rain during the night, so Ingrid adjourned to the salon. She still was up before 7.00am, so we had breakfast and got ready to leave. At 8.05am we were motoring along the channel out of Preveza. We were headed for Nidri on the island of Lefkada where we hoped to pick up an important delivery.
