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"There's always a plan, but unexpected things happen and we just go with the flow. Though I do believe that fate and destiny often play their part"
sailing blog
I'm going to have a moan. One of the consequences of BREXIT that directly affects us is the 90 day rule. This (crazy) law says we can only spend 90 days in the EU out of a rolling 180 days. It's easy to get your knickers in a twist trying to work out when your time is up and when extra days start becoming available to you again, because of the rolling effect. Luckily, there's a great website that does all the calculating for you. Just input all your dates abroad and it shows you everything you need to know. The alternative is to spend 3 years doing a maths degree! That was a long winded way of saying our final trip of the year was planned with the 90 day rule in mind, due to our previous two stints on the boat. Arriving in Greece on 30th August and departing on 26th September took us up to 82 days. This gives us a bit of wiggle room in case we zip over to Malta in November to catch-up with our clan over there. It would be the first time in four years. We'll see. So, in just under a month, we did some little sails, plus a slightly longer trip to a delightful harbour called Kassiopi, up on the North East coast of Corfu. As we were preparing to leave Gouvia, I was stood on the pontoon minding my own business when a deep and very audible thud occurred. It only lasted a second or two, but the ground shuddered and the water rippled. I instinctively knew it was a small earthquake, which we found out later measured just 3.1. I can now imagine how something stronger would scare the pants off you. We booked three nights on the concrete jetty at Kassiopi as there are only seven places available and it's very popular. This is done through a web site called sammyacht.com - very quick and efficient. It took us two hours to motor there from Gouvia (typically no wind to speak of and no dolphins either) and there is just one set of dangerous rocks to avoid en-route, clearly marked with a large Easterly Cardinal Buoy. Apart from that, the autopilot did all the hard work and we sat back and admired the spectacular coastline forests, cliffs and posh private villas you could only ever dream of owning. Navigation these days is done on my iPhone, using a Navionics app. You simply touch where you're starting from, tap the destination and it instantly shows the route in the form of a red line on the backdrop of a fully detailed nautical chart. When you press start, your position is shown as an arrow and it moves along the line as you move. You know exactly where you are at all times, including speed, time to destination and even fuel consumption. Completely bonkers really.....to think I studied very hard for a year to get my Yachtmaster qualification, which involved many hours of detailed paper chart work. Kassiopi is the perfect spot - end of. It's a small town loaded with tavernas and bars overlooking the quaint harbour, all of them having a slightly upmarket feel. There's one pedestrianised street lined with boutiques and tourist shops, but again very bo ho and stylish. Here are some pics of our time in Kassiopi.
On the sail back from Kassiopi, we hugged the shoreline so we could get an even closer look at the many interesting things along the way. In particular, we passed the Rothschilds Estate - a sizeable plot with an old fortress and several very large villas. I suspect there's much more hidden behind the trees. This is where Charles and Camilla regularly come for private vacations. I doubt very much that the richest family in the world would charge them for board and lodgings. I think the technical term for this kind of holiday is "freeloading". We also wafted by the stunning Venetian Mansion at Kouloura Bay, built in the 16th Century for a Venetian Nobleman. It's now a fancy taverna owned by descendants of the original family. Motor boats, with their shallow drafts, can venture into the small harbour, but us yotties would run aground in the very shallow water. I mentioned earlier that we did a bit of pottering around to our usual haunts. Kalami is a favourite place for the odd one or two nighter. The water is gin clear and at night it's great to watch the comings and goings at the Durrel's old house - now The White House restaurant. That pic of Halcyon above is very poignant. Who would have imagined that just two months later she would be totally destroyed. Here's the story. Whilst we were in Kassiopi we saw reports and footage of a massive fire in Gouvia Marina. It started on a 60 foot motorboat on a pontoon thankfully some distance from our berth. It quickly spread to another three boats moored around it, one of which was Halcyon. By the time the fire boat arrived from Igoumenitsa on the mainland, it was too late. The boats were totally engulfed in flames and thick black smoke rose hundreds of feet into the sky. As the fire boat hoses poured water onto the flaming vessels, they filled up and sank. About a week later we watched Halcyon being lifted from the seabed and taken to the quay near to our pontoon. Disaster struck again. One of the strops snapped and she plunged back into the water and sank again. The next day the lift was more successful and she was deposited on the shore alongside a machine that smashed her to tiny pieces, ready to be transported away. What a sad end to a classic boat. On a happier note, this trip included a day or two at the marina pool, plus a day at a little apartment complex close by that always welcomes us with open arms. Again, a spot of lunch and a cold beer or two is the price we have to pay. I can live with that! And so, on 26th September, before departing, we cleaned and tidied Comino ready for the long winter afloat on our mooring berth at Gouvia. All the canvas and sails are off and a few days ago our trusty people from Giatras put the all-over cover on. We have another trusty maintenance guy who will visit Comino twice a month to run the engine, top up the batteries, flush the loo and run the taps. It's better to keep the boat in running order rather than shut it down completely for six months. The same applies to me really! One final issue to be addressed. We went to Lefkas Marina in July with the specific intention of seeing if we might want to move there next year. It's the gateway to the Southern Ionian, which is a whole new adventure playground for us. Many more islands, a myriad of exotic anchorages and dozens of new villages and towns to explore. Amazingly, we've been offered a berth at the first attempt and they've given us 30 days to accept or decline. Is change in the wind? Watch this space.
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A FEW PICS OF COMINO Click a photo to enlarge and use side arrows to scroll through. COMINO IS CURRENTLY HEREDID SOMEONE SAY SEAFOODOn our journey from Portugal to Greece we enjoyed amazing seafood almost everywhere we stopped. Finding the local fish market was always a priority because seafood was so plentiful and so reasonably priced. And, the displays were a feast for your eyes.
Locating a market sometimes meant pounding the pavements in searing heat, but if you kept your eyes peeled, you often came across a little clue. The pic below was a rather less than subtle advert for a fish market - it was eight feet tall.
Freshly cooked onboard, a plateful of giant prawns, baked in wine and garlic, washed down with a few glasses of local vino, was like heaven. Watching the sunset on the boat eating a meal like that was the epitome of "living the dream".
Now we're in Greece we've another favourite to savour. I'm talking about fried Calamari. It's usually good, but every now and then it's off-the-scale fantastic. At Natalie's Taverna on Kontokali Beach in Corfu, it was nothing short of epic.
We're based in Lefkas now and It's been a bit of a mission to find somewhere just as good. And we have. Rakias is a mere ten minute walk from the marina and this little fish market, with its very own taverna attached, is quite sensational.
Oh...and it's also worth mentioning that, on occasions, a bit of barbequed Octopus is on the menu at some of the tavernas we frequent. Can I resist....no. SUNSETS AND DRAMATIC SKIESNo filters, or any other monkey business, have been used to enhance these images.
OUR ADVENTURES FROM THE BEGINNING CATEGORIES
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