Around the Ionian

We've been spending a bit of time familiarising ourselves with our new home, and meeting up with old friends. First off the rank, we met up with Craig and Lesley from Shirley Valentine, an Australian crew we met over a year ago in Fethiye, Turkey. We met them in the marina at Lefkas, and travelled by bus up to Karya, a small village high in the hills.

The channel between Kefalonia and Ithaca

Craig and english friend

Lesley and the man who dodges barges.

The crew in the streets of Kayra

Karya, small hilltop village

Craig was familiar with the place, so he took us up a steep hill to a small 'folklore museum' that he had visited the previous year.

Up the hill to the museum

The museum is in a restored traditional family home

Flour grinding mill

Craig, our tapestry expert

Traditional stitch craft

Weaving loom and dulcimer

Tapestry bed spread

This is a bedroom in a traditional house

The baby got to swing above the parents head

Saying goodbye to Lesley and Craig, who are heading over to Sicily to their winter port, we departed for Preveza, up the coast. Opposite Preveza in a large 'inland sea' are the major boat yards of the Ionian, and we had an appointment with an electrician, who repaired our generator. The generator is only a year old, but it blew a capacitor. Luckily it was a cheap repair. Not so for the solar controller, also a year old. We had to fork out for a brand new one. Pretty hopeless trying to chase warranty repairs in Greece. After sorting the boat out, and meeting Leslie Wood who will be re-building our rudder this winter, we headed over to the town dock at Preveza, to await the arrival of some Australian friends of ours who had been teaching in Istanbul. Chris and Kim Shephard had finished their teaching stint in Turkey and are slowly heading back to Australia. So they joined us for several days sailing in the Ionian Islands.

Sunrise on the dock at Preveza.

Huge, and largely under utilised marina and port at Preveza

Post earthquake poured concrete architecture.

Old Venetian fort wall

A pair of welcoming amphora

Morning fish sale on the dock at Preveza

After Chris and Kim settled in, we headed back down the Lefkada channel to a delightful snugglepot anchorage next to Varthi on Meganisi. To do so, we had to negotiate a unique feature of the Lefkas channel. There is a tax advantage in Greece in remaining an island, so Lefkada has come up with a very Greek solution. While it would be easy to build a bridge to span the small channel to the mainland, the Lefkadians decided to span the channel with a boat, that just happens to fit from one side to the other. The cars drive over this 'bridge', perhaps unaware that they are actually on a boat. So technically, the island maintains its tax advantage. On the hour, they prove the 'bridge's' boat status, by dragging it to one side, so that boats can enter the channel. Its a bit exciting, there's not much room to manoeuvre and the current can be swift. Thanks to Kim for taking the photos in the channel, the skipper was a bit busy!

Chris and Kim in Kastos

A happy skipper

Megan on watch

A Venetian fort at the entrance to the Lefkas channel

Lighthouse built into the fort

The boat that thought it was a bridge

It's a tight squeeze with two-way traffic

North bound traffic in the channel

The marina at Lefkas, our new winter home

Two tugs pulling a barge up the narrow channel

Chris relaxing on deck

After a walk into Varthi from Ak Makri, and a peaceful night on the hook, we departed for the small port of Kastos on the eponymous island.

The town mole on Varthi, Meganisi

Peaceful Ionian view from Kastos

Kastos was so peaceful, we just settled down to two days of idleness, swimming and walking when the mood took us, reading a little and not much else. It was heaven.

The small port of Kastos, Pavlov in the background

Megan, Chris and Kim on the boardwalk

Placid beautiful sea

Just sea and sky

Tomorrow, we'll head to the mainland and some small uninhabited islands, just to look around and wander. It's a tough life, but some-one has to do it.

Local wildflower

Windmill on Kastos

Spiky vegetation

A happy Pavvie on the dock