23/7 Day 26: Corfu (Gouvia Marina) – N. Ay. Nikolaos
Before we set off sailing again we spent 2 days touring around Corfu island in a trusty rented Fiat Panda. The trip consisted of visits to picturesque beaches topped off by a visit to the infamous British party town of Kavos (but just for an icecream).
We then set sail south with new crew members Clarka and myself (Mark). A rainy morning soon gave way to a beautiful afternoon which allowed for pleasant afternoon of sailing down to N. Ay. Nikaloas. Here we anchored in a beautiful bay allowing for an evening swim, shortly followed by a colourful sunset.
24/7 Day 27: N. Ay. Nikolaos – Agnali Skouliki
A slightly bumpy sail down to Parga left the less weathered sailors (ie myself) feeling slightly less than peachy. But this was soon rectified by a swim to dry land which proved to be the perfect vantage point to admire the vibrant houses sandwiched by two cliffs. After a delightful lunch we sailed a further 11nm to Agnali Skouliki. After anchoring here we headed round the corner to a lovely beach where we swam for a couple of hours.
25/7 Day 28: Agnali Skouliki – Gaios – Preveza
A calm morning left us no choice but to motor across to Gaios where Clarka encountered a rare species of seagull (which turned out to be a goose). After a delightful lunch we made our way down to Preveza, this time with full sails up. Shortly after leaving Gaios we were joined by some playful visitors in the form of dolphins! After racing us for about 5 minutes they got bored and left to play with another boat. After making our way through the canal to Preveza, we were led to a pizza house by an Italian on a mission!
26/7 Day 29: Preveza – Vasiliki
Gabby woke up with only 2 things on her mind, hammocks and playing cards. A sighting of a hammock on another sailing boat the previous evening had left us all with a craving for some swinging comfort, and the playing cards… well no boat is complete without them! Our shopping trip proved only partially successful after we only returned with the playing cards (not just any playing cards though… ‘Greek Lovers’ playing cards with some interesting drawings on them). After lunch we sailed for 40nm down Vasiliki. Some strong gusts when entering the bay warranted the donning of life jackets and some adrenaline fueled sailing.
27/7 Day 30: Vasiliki – Meganisi
We left Vasiliki in the afternoon towards Meganisi. This proved to be a comfortable sail just 18nm to the bay of O. Kapoli in pleasant weather conditions. This stretch of water proved to be a lot busier than we were used to, with many holiday-makers cruising round these beautiful sheltered waters. The evening also turned out to be very relaxing as we sat down to watch the aptly named film ‘The Boat That Rocked’)
28/7 Day 31: Meganisi – Lefkas
An 8am start allowed a morning anchorage in Nidri where Dom and Clarka ‘hijacked’ a lift to Lefkada to buy a new winch handle. However, little did they know we would be staying the night in Lefkada marina due to a dodgy repair job by the mechanics in Dubrovnik. Dom and Luigi worked hard all evening to repair the boat and Gabby and I brought back some take-away food which was welcomed by two sweaty, starving men!
29/7 Day 32: Lefkas – Pera Pigadhi (Ithaca)
After passing throughLefkas canal we continued South to the island of Ithaca. With the wind blowing and sun shining, we relaxed for a while and let George (the minature man inside the auto-pilot device) control the next few hours of our passage while we were busy sun ‘baiting’. 37 miles later we reached the stunning island of Ithaca where we stopped in a sheltered bay for lunch and a long-awaited swim. We then sailed down the eastern side of the island where we stopped for the night in a bay with crystal clear waters.
30/7 Day 33: Ithaca – Zakinthos
Following our morning swim, we headed out at 11:30am towards Zakinthos. A quiet, hazy morning soon subsided and by early afternoon we had the full sails in operation, averaging a comfortable speed of 6knts.