Homeward Bound

We had to clean and vacate our yacht by 8.30am so that meant for another early morning. I woke around 6am and lay in bed with my eyes closed contemplating getting up. I opened my eyes only to realise my left eye didn’t feel right, I could tell that it wasn’t fully open and I could tell it was swollen. On inspection I realised it was very swollen, I looked like I’d been punched but the only real explanation was that I’d been bitten. The last couple of nights we’d noticed a big increase in mosquitos and you can’t keep all the windows closed as it’s way too hot below deck.

Luckily I’d taken anti-histamines with me so I popped one of them, put my sunglasses on and set about packing and tidying up.

Tilly, our hostie, had hinted at dinner last night that the lead crew would be grateful for any donations so I made up a bag of leftovers – lemon, lime, beer, water and suncream and Colin added it to the other donations left on the quay beside their boat.

By 8am we were all packed up, bags on the quay, bedding bagged up, rubbish delivered to the bins and everything washed and put back where we’d found it. We left a note to say we’d broken 2 glasses and a there was a fendor missing from the boat when we had arrived.

All the other crews were busily packing up and by 8.30am everyone was off the boats and sitting in Olga’s ordering breakfast. We opted for Greek yogurt with fruit and a coffee. You could tell everyone was dissappointed to be going home and I missed the buzz from previous mornings when everyone was excited to be setting off on their sailing adventure.

The first coach picked up at 9am, they were the people going to Bristol airport and were spending the day at a hotel as their flight wasn’t until the evening. Everyone else was being picked up at 10am.

I went for a final walk around to pass some time but there wasn’t any shade and it was already getting really hot so I headed back to Olga’s. Right on time our coach arrived, we loaded our bags and off we set for an hour’s journey to the airport.

It was a really pretty drive, the road was lined with pink and white azaleas and we were high up overlooking the coast. We passed the road turnings for the places we had stayed on the mainland as we headed back to Preveza airport, it was hard to believe we had sailed all that way and looking down at the other sail boats on the water made me realise how small we were on the water.

Back at the airport we off loaded and headed to the check in desk, through security and into the departure lounge. Luckily the anti-histamines had worked some magic and my eye was much less swollen so I could take my sunglasses off. We said goodbye to the people heading off on the Birmingham flight and I sat and read my book until we were called to board the plane.

I engrossed myself in my book all the way home along with admiring the views on route and before I knew it we were landing. We managed to say good bye to more of our fellow sailors whilst collecting our luggage and off we went to get the car. We’d booked valet parking so didn’t have far to go thankfully.

The the reality of being back from holiday hit, before we even reached the motorway the traffic was at a crawl through roadworks, welcome home ……….. take me back to my yacht !!!

Last Day of Sailing

We woke up around 6am again, I can’t help but wake early, it’s really warm which doesn’t help you sleep but I’m also excited about setting off for our last day sailing. We put our swimmers on and headed off to the beach, just a couple of minutes walk away and had a refreshing swim. S. Mourtos is a secluded bay and the water much warmer here than at the more open harbours we have stayed in. The water is beautifully clear and you can see the fish swimming around you.

By the time we have our morning briefing we have dried off, tidied the boat and put everything away ready to set off for the day. It doesn’t take much rocking about for everything to start sliding around below deck so it’s really helpful to make sure all the cups and glasses are stowed away before setting off and it means we keep the place tidy.

We didn’t bother with breakfast during the briefing, just an iced coffee for me and an americano for Colin. We are given directions and instructed to be at Plateria, our final stop, by 5pm. We will be docking stern too and will be given details of our coach pick up details when we arrive.

There are a few options as to where we could go today, Corfu or follow the coast south or north. We decide to go back South and find ourselves another little bay to anchor in. No-one seemed to be in much of a rush this morning but we are keen to get going and are the second boat to leave the dock.

We motor out into open seas but there wasn’t much wind so just head south around the coast with the motor on. This stretch of coastline is stunning, really lush and green and lots of caves to be explored. It’s too deep for us to anchor off and head into any of the big caves so just watch the tourist boats as we pass by.

It was around mid-day when we decided to stop, we’d already checked out a few bays but wanted to find something much quieter than where we’d passed. We watched one of our flotilla anchor off a deserted beach south of our location but decided we didn’t want to head to the same spot and spoil their isolation. We stopped in a small bay which appeared to be occupied by a camper van site. There were a few people on the beach sunbathing and splashing around in the water so we anchored off well away from everyone.

Anchoring is a pretty easy manoeuvre, we have 30 meters of anchor chain and you have to drop 4 times your depth in chain. So that means the maximum depth we can stop in is 10 meters but we aim for a depth of closer to 5 meters so we can drop 20 meters of chain. The shallower the water the paler blue it is too and the more appealing to swim in. After dropping anchor we sit on deck watching to make sure we’re not drifting and that the anchor is holding. Whilst we sat their one of the other boats radioed to tell everyone they had come across some dolphins. Not jealous at all !!! I’ve been keeping an eye out for dolphins all week but haven’t been luckly enough to see any.

Once we were happy the boat wasn’t going to drift off we put the paddle board in the water and have a swim. We spend a good couple of hours, swimming, boarding around the coast line, reading and sunbathing on deck. Lunch wasn’t what we planned. The croissants we bought turned out to have chocolate in them ! We had planned cheese and ham croissants for lunch so Colin was inventive and sliced up a beef tomato and topped each slice with cheese and ham, served with peanuts and a glass of beer it was perfect.

After a short snooze and another swim we decided we need to set off to our final stop, Plateria, it was going to take a good couple of hours.

Anchor up, paddle board back on deck we start the engine and set off with the intention of getting the sails up for a couple of hours. Colin keeps and eye on the wind direction and we head out to sea. We put the sails up whilst we are still motoring and have a couple of attempts at getting enough wind to turn the engine off. After a couple of goes we decided we were going to have to give up on the sailing and keep motoring if we were to make it to port by 5pm.

It took us 2 hours to get to Plataria, a very flat resort and not as picturesque as previous places we’ve stayed. We needed to moor stern too so we enter the harbour and swing round, Colin drops the anchor when instructed by Yorkie and I reverse up to the dock. I’m yet to master reversing but manage it without hitting anything so happy about that. I learnt today that the best way to travel backwards is to turn around at the wheel and handle the boat the same as you would if you were going forwards, bit late to tell me that now. I’ll just have to remember for next time. We throw the ropes to Yorkie and Benjo on the dock and we are all moored up. This was a sad moment as we realised our sailing on this trip has come to an end.

An Evening in S.Mourtos

It was another beautiful evening and after a glass of wine sitting on deck we get ready to go out. Every evening has been really casual on this trip, wearing a t-shirt and shorts actually feels like getting dressed up after spending the day in your swimmers.

We head down to the taverna, part of a villa complex, for dinner and decide to have a cocktail or two before eating. I enjoyed a coupled of martini’s and Colin stuck with the Greek beer, Mythos.

The beach front terrace was lovely and looked to be filled with fellow sailors from our flotilla. We ordered a broccoli and cheese pie and baked feta wrapped in filo pastry with honey and sesame seeds, both were delicious and I’m definitely going to try and recreate the baked feta back home. Cheese appears to be predominate ingredient in Greece, although I did speak to a lady who was dairy intolerant and she said she’d managed to avoid it ok during her trip.

I opted for chicken with mushroom sauce and Colin went for fillet steak, medium rare. Unfortunately the steak wasn’t up to much and we ended up sharing my chicken which was really tasty. Both dinners came with chips and both commented we should have asked for salad and actually could have just had the starters with a Greek salad, it would have been more than adequate.

They bought us water melon for dessert whilst we enjoyed the sun setting behind the hills. The sky turned a beautiful pink giving an ideal photo opportunity of our yachts looking pretty in the bay. We finished dinner about 10pm, just after the sun had set.

All this sun and sailing makes you super tired so we headed back to the yacht for coffee on deck before going below to sleep.

Looking back at the restaurant from our yacht

Sivota Mourtos

Sivota looks like a really pretty place, we are moored a bay round from the main harbour and it’s either a 5 minute dingy ride (with motor) or 10 minute walk. I suggested we walk in to town to get food supplies for the morning.

We set off with just flip flops on our feet and after climbing a very steep road comment that this maybe wasn’t such a good idea, we were walking up and up and up.

I suggested to Colin we might want to turn back, it was scorching hot and both of us were regretting our choice of foot wear.

Nope, Colin said we’ve set off so we’re going. A steep road down followed the walk up and we eventually arrived at the main harbour ready for refreshment.

We bumped into some fellow sailors and they invited us to join them. They were playing bridge in a harbour front bar whilst enjoying a glass of wine.

After an hour or so of chatting we headed to the supermarket to get supplies.

We stocked up on croissants, ham, fruit, beer and wine and got a cab back to the bay with 2 of the people we had met up with. We took all the shopping back in the can whilst the others walked back. The taxi driver got upset with us as we told him the wrong place to take us back to and he had to do a big detour to get us back.

Back at the boat we unloaded the shopping and started getting ready for dinner

Night out in Parga

The flotilla punch party finished at 8pm and we jumped on a boat taxi to Parga town to hunt out some dinner.

The taxi boat seats about 30 people and whizzed through the bay and around the headland. We turn the corner and were met by a pretty town nestled in the hill side with hundreds of bars and restaurants all buzzing with tourists.

We paid our 5 euro return fare and hopped off the boat onto the quay.

Pleased we’d made the trip into town we started hunting for a restaurant for dinner. We have a bad habit of wandering around for ages looking at restaurants but decided we just needed to pick something and go for it. We found a table in a place “Restaurant Gemini” and swiftly ordered drinks.

Dinner was a mixed grill for me and mixed seafood for Colin. The food was delicious but way too much of it, in fact there was so much of it left we asked if they could box it up for us to take home. Perfect for lunch the next day.

Colin asked for the bill and also if we could take one of their candles, to light our cockpit in the evening. Not only did the waiter say yes he went and found us a new one, how very sweet of him.

I’m sure we could have wandered around all the back streets for hours, they were crammed full of gift shops, restaurants, clothings stores and many more but it was really busy and we didn’t have the energy or patience to negotiate our way around the many tourists. I spotted a bakery selling spinach and feta pie, we had it the previous year in Mykonos and it was lovely, and headed straight for it. We bought some to go with our lunch leftovers the next day.

The bakery was filled full of cakes, breads, pastries and also the freezer display units with the prettiest looking ice lollies. Colin opted for a slice of apple pie which they boxed up to take back to the boat to have with coffee later.

We picked up water, ice, yogurt and fruit from a supermarket for breakfast and grabbed a glass of wine and beer whilst waiting for the taxi to arrive to take us back to our boat.

They were selling balloons on the quay, covered in colourful lights. I’d commented earlier that we could do with some fairy lights for the boat canopy, I told Colin if they were 5 euro’s or less I was having one to light up our cockpit. They were exactly 5 euro so had to buy one.

The taxi arrived and we jumped on board. Back round the headland the way we came but this time in pitch black, I have no idea how the skipper knew where he was going but manoeuvred around the rocks with ease. Everyone on the taxi had boats moored in the bay so the taxi dropped everyone back at their own boat, manoeuvring round and locating the boats by torch light.

We had a lovely evening out but were pleased to be back on board our boat, leaving all the hustle and bustle behind us.

We had a quick cuppa before heading to bed, we decided to leave the apple pie for another day.

Shattered from what seemed like a very long day I fell into bed and was one of the few people who didn’t hear all the lead crew and younger people in the flotilla come back, trying to be quite but apparently making lots of noise, at 4am.