With only two days before our departure from Greece, rather than stay in our seductive snug anchorage in Lakki, we felt we should explore more of the islands, or at least, more of Paxos.  Gaios was much vaunted and our potter through behind the island of Ay Nikolaos confirmed that it looked pretty but it was so popular there was no room to moor.

The pilot book remarks “Gaios is chaos in the summer. Yachts and their owners are running around in circles searching for berths, those already berthed are defending their patch against newcomers, water-taxis carve up the water going about their business, and landlubbers sit in cafes on the square and watch bemused.”

Equally, the anchorage outside had little space on offer so we pressed on to Mongonisi at the south of the island which looked promising. As it turned out, it was equally rammed so we retired to a small bay in the approaches, dropped the hook shallow and laid a kedge to keep us straight in the confines.

Deploying the dinghy and outboard, we motored into downtown Mongonisi  (no shop) for the usual and a meal as we would subsequently be at sea for at least two days, suffering my cooking on the 285 mile passage to Sicily.

So, it’s no blog for a couple of days – I can hear you sighing….

Dave no rites:-

A quiet day. Dinner in the evening was the high point of the day – a really nice bar with an excellent tuna for me and octopus for Nick.

Next stop Sicily.

This is a very tedious paragraph so, if you have no appetite for a rant against bureaucracy, skip to the next para.

So, having failed to register to pay the new Greek cruising tax (since May this year and called TEPAI) on line, we went to the Harbour Authority Police at 9am. Thankfully there was no queue at this time and we were told that there was a problem with the system and we would have to use an agent, indicating (50 Euros fee) the company next door. They tried to re-establish my unsuccessful registration but failed to do so. We needed a different Email address so we utilised my satellite address so I had to return to Hejira to acknowledge receipt. We proceeded to make (120 Euros) the payment (back on board) but they needed my IBAN number – does anyone know their IBAN number? My bank manager very kindly returned my call but by that time I had activated the banking app, found my IBAN number and things had encouragingly begun to proceed. Despite only planning a short Greek visit, we unfortunately spanned two months so that, should we stay beyond the end of July there would be a further 120 Euros to pay. This helped make up our mind that, with the weather pressures, it would be best to leave Greece on the 31^st. Emailing to the agent a copy of the confirmation of my on line international payment for the TEPAI tax, I was then able to take the agents compilation back to the queue for the marina office staff to issue the DEPKA (51 Euros) cruising certificate. This done, there only remained for the Port Authority Police to do loads more form filling for the sum of a further 15 Euros, checking us both in and out of Greek territorial waters so we could leave before the end of the month deadline. Needless to say, there was another queue. The whole process had taken us 4 hours which we will never get back.

Moving on – having done all the necessary paperwork, wouldn’t it be a shame not to sample some of what Greece has to offer, all be it in a very superficial way.

The next island south of Corfu is Paxos and the nearest anchorage on Paxos is a bay called Lakki. All of the information about Lakki warned of how crowded it became in the afternoon with it being a charter boat favourite destination. Our arrival at 6pm found the bay rammed with the certainly of sleepless nights for those anchored in the middle of the bay as they swing and bump into each other and the perimeter pretty well jammed with yachts with lines ashore to keep them in position.

Amongst the heavily populated perimeter there will inevitably be crossed anchor chains and the carnage that ensues when a yacht leaves setting off a literal ‘chain reaction’. Had we had a conventional fin keel yacht I would have headed off to find a more deserted if less picturesque location to anchor but we have a swing keel yacht with the ability to reduce the draft from 3 metres to just one metre and this enabled us to ghost into the shallow water off the beach, drop our hook away from any others and take a line ashore and secure it around some rocks.

Spectators on the surrounding yachts watched with dropped jaws as the manoeuvre proceeded as though we had carried it out dozens of times instead of it being our first.

The location is idyllic, not only can we just walk ashore, we are well away from the masses of yachts (at least 50), we are next to the swimming area with great views (!) and right outside a Taverna.

Dave right Writes:-

One can completely understand the problems the Greek economy has through the lens of the procedures that a visiting yacht has to endure on entering a Greek Marina. Even the Port Authority chap was both fed up and embarrassed about the procedures – I assume he takes some stick about it every day. Using the broker to complete the Tepai procedure for a 50 Euros fee was slow but we got there in the end. Whether Nick muttering darkly –  “We’re members of the EU – didn’t we bail the Greek economy out to the tune of billions of Euros?” – actually helped speed things up we will never know. I won’t recount any more of this tale as if you have got this far and read Nick’s account above you are probably losing the will to live!

Although it looks as though in Greece everything moves at a slow pace (it is hot and that does slow you down) Nick has decided that the time keeping in Greece is not to his liking and has unilaterally declared Greece to be on CET (its actually CET plus one hour).    His one man attempt to change the time in the whole Greek country is not going so well but we will be gone tomorrow and we can get back in sync with the rest of the Europe.

Mooring in Lakki was a triumph for the crew! Seamless interaction between crew and skipper saw us moored within 25 feet of the Taverna – see below taken from where I am writing this in the saloon.

Two days ago I was bitten by mosquitoes in the night and have well over 100 bites. Fortunately the itchiness is diminishing and the little buggers cannot get me offshore so the two day passage to Sicily starting tomorrow offers a sanctuary! Looking forward to it.

There is no accounting for the tastes of the ‘dark side’ of the boating fraternity and by that I mean the owners of ‘stink pots’ – motor boats. To be fair, I have learnt from a sailing friend of mine (Dave Cooke) who is THE most able sailing crew and was a Merchant Navy Captain that they used to refer to sailors as ‘Wafi’ which apparently stands for ‘Wind assisted f*****g idiots’. Given that, there is surely no excuse for owning either of these two horribly ugly boats spotted today!

As I get older, I do identify that my level of patience is diminishing, particularly with officialdom. Today having moored in Gouvia marina on the east coast of Corfu, there were 4 ladies behind reception desks in the marina office but only one of them was actually checking yachts in. Of the other three, two were looking at their phones and the other doing her nails despite a queue of frustrated yacht skippers. When I asked one of them if they were serving she replied “I have finish”, then, after another nail had been manicured, she suggested I take a seat. Reading up on the formalities for entering Greek waters, it seems that, rather like Croatia, they have decided that the sailing fraternity are easy pickings and can help with their balance of payments deficit. A sailing permit called a DEKPA is required, costs about 50 Euros and has to be purchased from the Police Station. On top of that you have to pay a new tax according to the size of the boat and how long you are staying. Because of the weather forecasts, we are likely to only stay 4 days before heading off to Sicily but the minimum period is a month and this costs another 120 Euros. You should be able to do this online but the system seems to be ‘down’ so it may require a bus journey into Corfu Town to make the payment consuming one of our 4 days. Failure to comply may induce being chased down, fined or even having the yacht impounded – all for a brief 4 day visit…….

There is, it seems, a peculiar trait that is shared by Dave and Bob who preceded him crewing Hejira with me. They both find it impossible to resist a seductively labelled, strangely shaped, loosely corked and obscure bottle of dodgy liqueur. When I baulk at the purchase, they insist it is not being paid for from the whip but is a special personal ‘gift’ – really? More often than not, they have no idea what is actually the basis of the drink and we inevitably end up sampling it very late and often with disgust so that it then festers, leaking into my drinks store taking up space until I subsequently confirm its unpalatable nature and chuck it away. There have been exceptions to this general rule and Bob’s fig brandy was definitely a winner.

I have been taken to task about the account in Dave’s blog contribution yesterday. He suggested I ‘terrorised’ a young lad in a small Optimist dinghy and was responsible for his falling in. Not only that, he suggested I enjoyed the experience. Let me say that the lad looked over his shoulder at our approach, lost concentration, gybed by mistake and was knocked over the side by the boom. Anyway, I missed him! But where would the blog be without a little playful exaggeration!

Dave Wright rites:-

Motoring on and on and ON we arrived in Gouvia in North East Corfu. Having found a berth the mooring was executed seamlessly and efficiently by the experienced crew. The trip to the Marina office proved frustrating and desperately inefficient and whilst some of this no doubt reflects that it was a Sunday one does not have to wonder too hard how the Greeks got into the mess they did / have still got.

We set off ashore and located a dirty beer (which was v. good) on the way to the Marina office. After that I left Nick to grapple with the ladies in the Marina office and set off to find somewhere where we could watch the German Grand Prix. Fortunately (for me) I was able to locate a bar showing the Grand Prix next door to the Marina office. At some point Nick showed up and we had a very good burger whilst watching the Grand Prix.

Nick’s defence (above) of the attack on the small child in the Optimist is quite frankly pathetic. Given he had about 50 metres to change course I am convinced it was premeditated and carefully executed – still on the bright side the child did sail on although no doubt traumatised with a lifelong fear of large boats flying  a defaced Red Ensign.

We were both thrilled to find some interesting digestifs at the local Supermarket  (Nick just won’t own up to how excited and pleased he was with our purchases – I think his exact words were “ Gosh I’m over the moon Dave – I cannot wait to get back to the boat and put the shot glasses through their paces!”)

Our passage to Corfu was just a slog under engine. We ran the main up and it may have helped in the very light winds but they dropped away so that just our making way under the engine resulted in the sail flogging uselessly.

Our decision as to our destination was a little more interesting (really? I hear you say) as the wind is due to pick up in the night from the South East so some of the obvious anchorages are probably vulnerable in the potential conditions. We considered some promising bays on the islands to the NW of Corfu but the holding or a questionably rocky bottom was less than compelling so we have focussed on a wide open shallow bay on the north coast of Corfu near the village of Rodha with a sandy bottom (wheyhey). There should not be the seasonal swell from the north as the wind has been from the south for some days and despite being open, it should be sheltered from the SE blow forecast for tonight. It would appear that there are Tavernas ashore….! No doubt I will report in due course – best laid plans and all that……..

So we anchored in 2.7m with the keel raised and I went for a swim. Happy to report that the prop anode is still well and in attendance.  It was novel to stand on the sandy bottom with my arms up and hands out of the water. The hull has a bit of a ‘fur’ so, next time we anchor, we will give her bottom a wipe.

Launching the dinghy and rowing ashore for libation, I can report that there are indeed very welcoming establishments which were so convivial that we eschewed the prospect of an on board chicken pasta for a BBQ pork and chips meal ashore. We couldn’t understand where all the people had come from but it was actually quite busy with tables reserved and people later being turned away. There were a lot of British holidaymakers and they seemed almost universally to have twatoos.

Dave Wright Wrights:-

Time passes so slowly as we continue our motoring vacation that I almost forgot about the “Incident of the child who Screamed in the Dingy”. We were coming into Otranto and looked for a berth, to be waved away rather imperiously, and were off to find somewhere to drop the anchor when we headed directly for a small child in a dingy (Optimist) who was DIRECTLY in our way. So obviously we just kept motoring forward until the child (with terror in his eyes ) attempted a manoeuvre to avoid us and promptly gybed and was knocked in the sea by the boom. “Job done” said the skipper chuckling (“heah, heah, heah”) and we moved away whilst a rib with important looking people in life jackets roared up to rescue the child.

Last night in Rodha we finished the Fig brandy – thank you Bob (“old Bob” ) for the fig brandy and replaced  it with the only thing Rodha supermarket had to offer – Limoncello – the skipper said he does not like it but I have a feeling he will be consuming it……….

Rodha is a small bay with very little by way of hotels and accommodation but the restaurants were clearly geared up for tourists and  it became quite busy by 9pm – time to be getting back to the boat – that Fig Brandy is not going to drink itself.

Entering Otranto harbour , we were told by universal sign language to ‘sling our hook’ so that is exactly what we did. The harbour wall was uninviting in any case and there was plenty of room to ‘sling our hook’ in the bay. Lifting our keel, we found a good spot and anchored in sand at a depth of 3.7m. As this was close to where we could land in the dinghy, we chose to inflate the dinghy and simply row ashore.

Otranto is a charming and busy town with seemingly only Italian visitors and none of the ‘tat’ normally associated with popular seaside locations.

We explored within the walls and had a very welcome ‘dirty beer’ and then couldn’t resist a happy hour gin and tonic on a terrace overlooking the harbour with a very adequate seafood plate included.

Having found a supermarket for meat and cheese, we rowed back to the yacht where Dave presented Hejira with a set of shot ‘vessels’ which were ideal for the fig (thanks Bob) brandy. Dave (or more likely his wife Caroline) must have read the blog entry showing Bob and I drinking shots from egg cups.

Lifting the dinghy back on board we rigged it inverted to act as a wind scoop for the fore cabin. This must have done the job well as we enjoyed a peaceful and cool night; I even had to pull the duvet cover over me!

Now that I am not returning home for a month and with the prospect of more nights at anchor, it is a good time to flush and run the watermaker. This was ‘pickled’ with preservative a year ago and it should be refreshed at least once a year. In warmer climates, once it is operational, it should be run every day to ensure that the membrane doesn’t deteriorate. I failed to do this in the Caribbean and had to replace the expensive and delicate membrane so some discipline will be required.

With light winds on the starboard bow, our 65 mile crossing from Italy to Corfu is again engine assisted to ensure we arrive at a sensible hour. The Italian courtesy flag has been replaced with the Greek flag for about a week while we cruise the Ionian Islands.

Dave Wright Writes:-

Otranto was indeed charming – it appeared that locals from the area descended on Otranto on a Friday night which meant it was busy but not with nasty foreign types (well apart from us I suppose).

I was pleased that Nick was pleased with the shot glasses and I am happy to report that they seem to work very well and came through their shake down testing with Fig Brandy with flying colours. Many thanks to Bob (“Old Bob”) for supplying the Fig Brandy which was delicious.