Igoumenitsa

Having now officially arrived in Greece we had to go through our favourite process and check into the country. Luckily, having come from another EU member state we as crew were already sorted, but sadly Odyssee still needed to be declared so we could get a new 18 month transit log (a rather annoying consequence of Brexit!) Having told the others we were just popping to the Port Authority in the marina it was with some surprise that we found ourselves essentially bundled into a waiting taxi and sent on our way to the main ferry port to visit customs. Of course, checking in is never completely straightforward and having eventually found customs (despite a complete lack of signs and several sets of directions to the wrong place), we settled into the queue and waited and waited and waited. Unfortunately, the lady in customs was responsible for all of the tourists coming in on the large boats from Albania as well as those in their own boats, so would at fairly regular intervals shut up the office and disappear for almost an hour. Luckily we got chatting to Michael (a solo sailor from Australia) who gave us some great tips for anchorages in the Ionian which helped pass the time. After 5 hours, we finally got our transit log in a process that only took a grand total of 10 minutes and could finally join the others for dinner in main Corfu Town!

After a final breakfast at the marina we bid farewell to Sally and Peter, who were continuing their travels by ferry and then train up through Italy and Switzerland, and set off to explore. We decided on a gentle start and went for a short hour and a half trip round to the bay on the south side of Corfu Town.

The following day we set off in earnest to a small uninhabited island, called Syvota, off the mainland of Greece, and were greeted by a little bit of paradise, with a white beach and crystal clear, turquoise water! As with all beautiful things it was popular, and within half an hour of anchoring a tourist boat, filled to bursting, pulled up and with military precision had anchored up and discharged the masses into the water before scooping them back up 50 minutes later. Once they had left we felt incredibly lucky and priveledged (and more than a little smug) that we got to enjoy this beautiful tranquil bay with just a few other boats and without George Michael blasting at full volume!

As well as being beautiful Syvota had plenty of activities to keep us entertained! Having spotted some promising looking cliff faces and a cave Sam and I took the dinghy to explore around the island and to do some climbing. The following day, we went for a morning swim and discovered the boat was surrounded by shoals of beautiful silver fish (who it turns out had quite a passionate love of rusk biscuits!) With the arrival of 3 fully loaded day tripper boats though we took our cue to leave and set off further south along the Greek coast to a town called Parga.

Parga is a very pretty village set on a hillside with a Venetian fort on an outcrop with stunning views of the bays on either side! We had a brilliant dinner of a local fish called Dentex, freshly caught by the father and son duo who owned the restaurant with a perfect view down to the bay where Odyssee was anchored.

The following day we sailed back across to Paxos (a small island just South of Corfu) and anchored in a bay on the south east coast called Mongonissi. Here we found a lovely taverna where we spent an relaxed afternoon and evening eating, drinking and playing cards (thankfully we all agreed not to follow full Marine rules for the game Chip had taught us, so no-one ended the night with anyone else's name tattooed across their backside)! Having moved anchorage everyday until this point we decided to stay put another night and walked along the coastal road to the nearby town of Gaios where we enjoyed an ice-cream whilst rather unfairly judging people's attempts to Med moor with an anchor (a notoriously tricky style of mooring that we've so far managed to avoid, and based on what we saw will continue to try to avoid)!

With only a few days left before Helen and Steve's flight back, it was time to head back up to the mainland of Corfu. We chose an anchorage in a bay called Notos and rowed ashore in the dinghy for dinner in a beautiful taverna, that looked straight out of a tropical island with banana trees and hammocks! Unfortunately, despite the idyllic location, this turned out to be the least relaxing meal of our trip so far. Having spotted some slightly ominous dark clouds over the mainland we checked several wind forecasts before heading to shore and were relieved to see they all predicted a calm, windless evening in Corfu. Wind forecasts are notoriously inaccurate however and no sooner had we ordered than the wind picked up and swell started sweeping into the bay. We watched with increasing anxiety as the wind built and several boats in the bay started to drag anchor, including two charter catamarans, one of which came dangerously close to taking out the jetty to the taverna before finally motoring away to re-anchor. The other was less lucky, and despite the best efforts of the taverna owners along this stretch of coastline who rang each other to locate the owners, we all watched helpless as the boat drifted into the rocks on the shoreline. Later, after the wind had passed, we watched a dinghy return in the dark from further up the coast and circle repeatedly around the bay hunting for their missing boat, eventually realising theirs was the beached one. Luckily they didn't appear to have catastrophically damaged their hull and were able to drive off and re-anchor, but it made Sam and I very glad we'd decided against buying a more modern, cheaper ex-charter boat of questionable history.

Sam and I have often wondered if we are a little over-zealous with our anchoring technique, resetting the anchor if we're not completely happy, backing down on it to make sure it's fully set and diving to visually inspect the anchor is holding (which we have yet to see anyone else do), but Oddysee held like a dream so I think we'll carry on.

Whilst all of this was happening we got chatting to two ladies on a neighbouring table, their boat had also started dragging and one of the ladies' husband had dinghied back to drive it away from sharing the catamaran's fate. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to properly secure his dinghy and this drifted off leaving him stranded on his boat without his phone, and the two women stranded on land with no way to contact him. Having rowed back to the boat to get the outboard motor reattached we returned to the jetty to collect the two ladies who we'd offered to taxi back. Fortunately the skipper of that boat had managed to radio his neighbour who went to rescue his dinghy and by the time we returned to the jetty he was back and our taxi service was no longer required.

After a rather rolly night we set off for a glorious final sail with Helen and Steve back up to Corfu Sailing Club. A beautifully located marina, nestled just below the old fortress in Corfu Town with a restaurant reputed to be one of the best in Corfu! The downside was that it was more shallow than any we had stayed in so far, meaning we had to moor "bows-to" or front first, something we hadn't done before and that our boat isn't exactly set up for. The one upside is that Steve got a suitably nautical farewell as he "walked the plank!" Having had a hip replacement several years ago and having less confidence in her balance, we decided that a similar exit for Helen may be asking for trouble, so pumped up the dinghy allowing her (and their luggage) a more dignified return to land!

After a brilliant and busy week, and grateful for a less traumatic experience this time round, we said goodbye to Helen and Steve, and then there were two!Read more