Guy, Faye, Rose and Martha arrived eventually, about 3 hours late after a gruelling journey with delays at Gatwick, in flight and again when trying to find a taxi at Preveza Airport at 1030pm. The delightful Greek taxi driver who, unusually, did not speak any English, did not know the location we had tried to describe where the boat was moored up. I am not sure the family appreciated a sightseeing tour of the town at that time of night! A drink and some food later the excited girls fell into sleep without any more to do, followed swiftly by the adults. The unpacking had to wait until the morrow but it was a joy to have everyone safely on board.
We headed off early from Preveza town quay for the Lefkas Canal. The half term holiday was about to begin and Crew James was ready for action!
The weather for their whole trip was hot and more hot so swimming opportunities and as much breeze as possible was the order of the day, which we achieved most of the time anchoring off lovely beaches and jumping overboard into the cool azure blue water. But there were some occasions when we struggled, breathless under a baking hot sun, and needed to flee the boat for a shady bar beside a paddling beach.
We visited Varga bay, Sivota, Golden Beach on Ithaca, then the North Quay at Vathi, Babis’ quay in Spartakahori on the top of Meganissi. Our penultimate day was longlining in Abelike Bay which proved to be ideal for swimming and dinghying. Rose and Martha embraced the swimming with Rose mastering the art of snorkeling and Martha inventing the art of snoodling!
We all had a lot of fun racing around the boat and playing all manner of watery games. We enjoyed some great meals in and out, especially at Stavros’ at Sivota, a family favourite and later in Dimitris at Vathi, where we met up with Farnham friends Roger and Vicky who were half way through their Greek holiday on Ithaca. It is quite surreal meeting friends out of the usual context, but we had a lovely evening and Vicky entertained Rose the entire time, much to Rose’s great delight.
It was in Sivota that we held our very own Jubilee celebration, decking the boat with bunting and toasting our Queen, alongside another couple of other British boats doing likewise.
On board, Rose and Martha enjoyed hours of treasure map making, writing stories, helping with the navigation, the ropes and the helming as well as sitting out on the deck for short periods with legs dangling. When it was all too much Faye and Guy produced a screen for them to watch a program to unwind or nap as required!
This small selection of pictures tells the story of much laughter, clear blue seas, various beaches and very happy times. We have many more to show you another time!
The time went in a flash and the last day came all too soon. It was time to pack up and say goodbye to our fun and lively crew. We finished up on the new charter boat pontoons in Lefkas town, which served us brilliantly, as we had facilities for shopping and laundry to sort the boat out when they had gone. Now it is quiet, we miss them all, but hold many memories and hope they had as good a time as we did and managed to recharge their batteries before returning to the rigours of work at home.
Today Thursday 9th June, the weather has turned. The pressure dropped over 5 points in less than 48 hours, the temperature has gone down several degrees and it is blowing a Force 6. A storm is promised tomorrow as we standby to welcome our friends Peter and Irene for a week. Let’s hope we don’t all get too wet and the normal pattern of weather re-establishes again soon!
Deja Vu 
You must be logged in to post a comment.