Haul-out day

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Mike

It’s the end of the season here in the Ionian, and Konstantinos needs to come out of the water so she’ll be safe over the winter months. We sail over to the boatyard at Aktio and tie up.
A huge tractor and a hydraulic trailer appear, and from here we’re no longer in charge. A gang of men manoeuvre the boat on to the trailer and very slowly she is lifted from the water.

A few minutes later she’s high and dry on the trailer and on her way to her winter berth.

Once she’s secure we climb a ladder to get on board and do the last of our laying-up chores. After a last check we lock her up and jump in a taxi back to Preveza.
Haul-out day is often very hard work according to other yachties that we’ve spoken to, but thanks to a lot of help from Paul and Hayley with the preparation it’s not too bad for us. We enjoy a beer in town to celebrate. When you buy beer in Preveza you get snacks of cheese and ham. The local cats know all about this.

Yes, we have no moussaka

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Mike

Routine day today. We move our stuff to our usual hotel and get settled in to a nice suite. Next we’re off to the marina to pay our bill and give the boat a final clean before she goes ashore tomorrow.
We need to find a ticket agent who can sort out our flights for Thursday, but they’re all closed during the afternoon so we have a walk down to the entrance to the bay. It has a sort of fading splendour.

Along the quayside lots of people are fishing. This guy caught one that was easily big enough for dinner.

We stop for a couple of beers and I finally find an agent to issue our Sky Express tickets.

Val wanted moussaka for dinner, but they don’t really do all that Greek stuff here – it’s just fish or meat. We choose one of the less fashionable restaurants and decide to go with the flow.
Before we get a chance to order anything 2 glasses of ouzo arrive, with olives, tomatoes and feta. This is followed by a plate of chips. Half an hour later we are greeted by prawns and fresh squid in vast quantities. A litre of local red helps it all go down.

The whole lot cost less than £25.

After the storm

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Mike

We had, as forecast, a big storm last night. High winds, thunder and heavy rain. This morning a very sad sight awaited us on the quay.

It’s the mast and rigging of a little yacht called Kastos which was moored here overnight. She has sunk at her mooring, presumably battered onto the quay by waves and wind.
The port authority staff arrive with a crane and begin to raise her. The damage is severe.

After pumping out the water she is lifted onto a trailer and taken to a boatyard.

Very sad.

The day brightened up later.

This is the view of the big boat yards across the bay. We’ll be taking Konstantinos over there in a couple of days to add to the forest of masts.

Paul and Hayley left this afternoon, have a good trip home chaps!

Rain

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Mike

For once the weather forecast was right, and we awoke this morning to wind and heavy rain. Konstantinos is safe in the marina, and her crew are tucked up in the very comfortable Hotel Dioni just behind the quay.

As usual there are big ships in Preveza – this one unloaded grain and left yesterday evening.

And this one arrived from San Lorenzo in Argentina this afternoon.

Not much to do today, so we do as the Greeks and have coffee. They do it well here – you usually get a cake or something similar with your drink.

Tonight’s mission: Find a bar that’s showing the Wales v Australia rugby match.

Preveza

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Mike

Lovely meal in Lefkada last night.

This morning we continue our journey north.

To get out into the open sea we need to transit the Swing bridge that connects the island to the mainland. The bridge opens once an hour. Boats jockey for position.

And we’re through!

We arrived in Preveza about 3 and had a nice bottle of white on the boat.

Lefkada

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Mike

We need to make some progress north, as storms are forecast for the weekend. We wave goodbye to Meganisi and steer 338 degrees towards the Levkas canal which will take us up to Lefkada. It’s a beautiful day.

Hayley pilots Konstantinos up the narrow, shallow channel. Despite following the navigation marks perfectly we briefly touch a sandbank but we’re soon on our way again.