How to catch an octopus!

Hello everyone!

Well our adventure continues, although we are starting to count the days before we fly home to Australia. We have had another crew change and our lovely friend Maggie (from the Gold Coast) is with us now and we are all flying back to Oz together on the 29th of October. Maggie came to us partly to help her to address her fear of being on the water and I must say that she has definately earned her 'crew' stripes! She has had to deal with some pretty rough weather on the boat and has done so without any complaining and has taken everything we have thrown at her in her stride! She has to qualify for 'crew member of the year' without a doubt!

We continue to learn life changing lessons during our journey. Amongst the useless stuff we have learned, like how to sail our boat, dealing with 75 knot winds, storms off the Albananian coast for 12 hours, etc etc, we have leaned a lot of really useful stuff that I now wonder how I ever lived without. Stuff like.... how to catch an octopus!

It goes something like this:

1. Acquire a big plastic crab
2. Attatch this to a wooden board along with 2 enormous fishing hooks (Note: these can be bought premade from any fishing supply shop worth it's salt!)
3. Attatch a length of strong fishing twine
4. Pick a nice quiet town quay where you can stare into the cockpit of some unsuspecting yachties who you can instruct on how to catch an octopus (preferably with fairly clear water so that you can see the unsuspecting octopus jump on the plastic crab)
5. Throw the plastic crab contraption alongside the yacht, just missing their mooring ropes and worrying the **** out of them every time you do this
6. When the unsuspecting octopus sniffs around your plastic crab snatch quickly thereby stabbing the octopus with the enormous fishing hooks
7. Pull quickly onto the quay and quickly stab the octopus between the eyes in such a way as to convince the yachties that you are certifiably mad
8. Continue by slamming the octopus 15 or 20 times against the concrete / rock pier VERY, VERY hard (this stage can also be carried out by beating the octopus VERY, VERY hard with a large stick
9. After you have completed stage 8, continue by rolling the limbs of the octopus on the concrete / rock pier for a long time
10. Take the octopus home and get your Greek mama to cook it for you, leaving the yachties shocked and distressed on their boat, with nightmare material imprinted on their minds for the next few weeks!
11. Come back and repeat next time a new boat comes to that spot on the town quay!

See I told you. A life changing skill if ever I saw one!

We are currently at Katacolon in the Pelopenese, the furthest south that we have been this year. We came down here as there is a train very close to the quay which takes you directly to Olympia. We were promised a 'marina' but after a 74 nautical miles trip to get here we had to anchor out when we arrived at 2am as we couldn't quite work out what the deal was when we did a 'reccy' round the 'marina' which looked nothing like the picture in the pilot guide. In the morning we came in and did a stern to moorning with our anchor on the town quay and were helped to moor by a lovely man named Stan who is American and was on his yacht. The weather that day was wet and windy and just as we arrived back on board from dinner there was a rather spectacular storm. One of the locals advised us to move around to where the ferries dock as there was more bad weather forecast. We did this the next morning with the assistance of Stan and some other friends, Tim and Katie (who are Australian) and soon we had all the boats side to in a more sheltered position. This proved to be fruitful as the following night and day brought some really nasty storms and rain (also hail!). We had a quiet day aboard and did a bit of hibernating which bored Craig to tears. Just a note for anyone planning to visit: the 'marina' berths were removed for repairs a few years ago and have not been replaced due to (surprise, surprise!) some Greek government red tape. The locals are not sure when it will be up and running again.

This morning Maggie and I boarded the train and went up to Olympia which was amazing. Craig stayed to baby sit Shirley Valentine and did some blue jobs like trying to fix our VHF radio (again!). Bloody thing never seems to work. After a day pottering around looking at the ancient ruins and standing in the spot where they light the olympic flame for every olympic games we did some souvenir shopping and returned on the train to Katacolon (3 euro return trip!) to find that the weather is not looking good for the next few days. We are now contemplating going back to Messolonghi a bit earlier and doing some road trips as we are getting a bit fed up with bad weather. Even the locals are complaining. We are getting the boat pulled out on the 27th of October so we have to be in Messolonghi around the 25th anyway.

Anyway, I have a new favourite place! If I ever do a real 'Shirley Valentine' I will be going to live on the island of Meganisi in the Ionion. It is just one of these places that get under your skin and I could quiet easily run away to there. We visited Port Atheni on Meganisi with Kathleen and Helen on board and this was where Craig and Keith scrubbed Shirley's bottom before the Ionian rally. We had vowed to return as we hadn't really had a look around and were not disappointed. We anchored first of all at Port Atheni and walked over to Katameri which is an extremely traditional Greek town with all the resident ladies in traditional clothing etc. It is such a peaceful place! We also walked round to Vathi via Ampelaki Bay.

From there we went to Kalamos (on Kalamos) where Craig and I did a big walk up to a church on the hill with spectacular views and where 'friendly George' comes to take your lines. Then to Port Leoni which is the site of another deserted village. We went ashore and had a walk around the old buildings, including an old oil press. I love these places! Then on to Sivota on Levkas where we were enticed to tie up outside a pontoon owned by Stavros who owns the adjacent taverna. We were a little concerned about the length of the lazy lines and our concern was realised when a storm blew up and we started to slam against the pontoon! Turns out the pontoon is designed for 6 metre boats only! We took off and were soon snuggly moored outside our old favourite, the 'no problem' taverna. We stayed there for a couple of days and then decided to return to Meganisi to try to catch up with some friends of ours (Mac and Barbara) who own a house there.

What transpired from there for us was a lovely, gradual enveloping into the extended family of expats and locals on Meganisi. It goes like this:

We met Mac and Barbara in Sivoto in August when we had Kim on board and had promised to visit at some time in the future. When we had walked to Vathi from Port Atheni we met Irene and Chris who have a share in the same boat as Mac and Barbara. They told us that Mac and Barbara were still on the island. When we returned to Vathi by boat we tied up in the marina and were met by a lovely young lad called Yannis who owns the marina. The same night we were sitting on a British boat (who we were chatting to as we had found a fender of theirs in August and were now returning it to it's rightful owners, as you do!) and we saw Mac and Barbara on the pier. After big hugs and kisses we were invited for drinks the following day.
Are you with me still?

After a lovely afternoon with Mac and Barbara, we were leaving as some other friends of theirs, Filia and John (from Brisbane!!!) arrived. They are building a house in Ampelaki Bay on Meganisi and asked us if we would mind taking some documents home to Brisbane for them to deliver to John's brother in law who is building a catamaran in South Africa which he is going to sail to the Ionian. We were also asked if we could talk to this brother in law about sailing over here. As we have friends, John and Jenny, who also live in Brissie and who are also building a catamaran we agreed to try to get these people together when we get home.

Have a breath! Yannis at the marina was surprised when we turned up back at the boat with Filia and John as he also knows them and we seemed to go up a notch arriving in Filia's company as her family are from the island and everyone thinks very highly of them. OK, sorry not finished yet! Mark Norfolk (who fixed Mac and Barbara's electronic gates for them) was also introduced to us..... and yes, he knows everyone too and ended up coming onto Shirley Valentine to help Craig fix some electrical problems. We had dinner with him one evening and Maggie and I fell in love with his gorgeous dog, Red. What a beautiful island!

Anyway, this is just an example of the ongoing friendship which we continue to find on our travels. The beauty and warmth of the places and the people that we have visited and met will always stay with me. This journey has been amazing!

Well, better go and see what the skipper is up to. He's not very happy about the weather forecast so we may have to have a group discussion this evening about our next move this evening. I am just upset as my suntan is melting fast!!!! Yes, I know I am shallow, but it is called a high call problem!!

Talk to you all soon!!!!

Love from all on Shirley Valentine (especially Maggie, crew member of the year!!!)

Meteora and The Celebration Dinner after the Ionian Rally!

Captain Crash and the Cauldron!

Hi everyone. As usual I have left it far too long to blog and thus have way too much news to impart, therefore rendering me confused as to where to start!
I think I will start with a little 'boat bollocks' which those of the maritime persuasion may find a little amusing (and maybe useful!). This incident in our lives has given Craig ammunition that women should definately not wear bras on boats.
To cut a long story short, we had been searching for our flux gate compass on the boat for 7 months. Our commissioning agent had been unable to find it and subsequent searchings by ourselves had had a similar outcome. A flux gate compass is made up of coils of wire that provides a reading in electronic form which can be digitised and used by the ships autopilot for course correction. We had noticed some wild variations between our flux gate output and our normal compass and were concerned that wherever it was positioned it may have some metal objects nearby causing the discrepancies. If only we could find it!
To be honest, I wasn't really sure what I was looking for so wasn't much help. Our friend Steve (who conveniently comes packaged with oodles of experience and is currently the skipper of Zanetia) got in on the act and we were still scratching our heads. We started to think that the occassional wild swingings of the autopilot were a raymarine fault which we would have to have corrected. Kathleen, however, came to the rescue when she located a small black box in one of the cupboards in the forward cabin! We had found the offending flux gate!
All metal objects in the cupboard were removed and things seem to have improved. When the girls left the boat, I duly returned all my underwear to their home, making sure of course to not place any metal items into the cupboard.
A few days later I was rummaging around in the cupboard trying to find something and the autopilot started to swing wildly again. Craig reported a 60 degree discrepancy between the compasses and starting to adopt that patronising voice. You know the one..... "What have you done now!!!" and words to that effect. It turns out that the wires in my bras had been responsible for the problems all along! Ah well, looks like saggy boobs coming on..... That's a new one for the manuals, isn't it? Along with checking that pots and pans, electronic equipment, cockpit speakers, beer cans etc etc have to be kept away from compasses, Shirley Valentine can now add bras!
Back to our trip. We had an enjoyable but busy time with Kathleen and Helen. The day we picked them up from the airport at Athens we headed to the Acropolis in Athens by bus from our hotel. Although it was very hot and sticky, the girls coped very well as we trecked around the ruins. We returned to Shirley Valentine in Messolonghi that night in our hire car amidst a few raised eyebrows from the girls about the driving in Greece. One memorable character was 'hat man' who was travelling along on his motorcycle at about 130 kms with a straw 'pork pie' style hat on. We could not believe that it would stay on! He did occassionally adjust it but it stayed put. The funniest part was when a policeman on a motor cycle overtook him and took no notice of the lack of helmet! (There is a 400 euro fine for not wearing a motor cycle helmet in Greece but no-one seems to police it! I think that they could solve all their economic problems just by policeing this one small part of humanities failings).
The following day we still had the hire car and decided to head to Delphi to consult the oracle. We had a lovely drive up the mountain and lunched in Delphi town before heading to the archeological site. We wandered around making it right to the stadium at the top and had a gander at the area where the oracle is reported to have been positioned.
After our meanderings we headed for the museum which houses a multitude of ancient relics found at the site. One such item was a massive bronze cauldron on a metal tripod (about 2700 years old!). This was situated on a platform in between two large glass cabinets, also full of ancient bronze relics. Craig was standing between Kathleen and Helen gazing in awe and was so overcome that he stumbled on the platform when he turned and fell, heading straight for the bronze cauldron. Remember that this article has survived for 2700 years! Craig hit the cauldron and it toppled, in turn heading for one of the glass cabinets. I could feel a Mr Bean moment coming on. I am now convinced that Craig has missed his calling as a world cup goal keeper as he somehow managed to catch the cauldron before it hit anything else! He pulled it roughly back into place and stumbled away with a VERY red face. I pretended that I wasn't with him and so did the girls. Poor Craig. Every tourist in the place was staring at him and one guy came over and whispered 'Just keep walking mate!' into his ear. I thought Kathleen was going to have an accident she was laughing so much. I am sure that if you visit Delphi the cauldron will now be safely ensconsed in a glass cabinet! We christened Craig 'Captain Crash' and this title lasted for a good few days.
After returning to Shirley Valentine we recommenced our travels and visited some old favourites and some new ports of call. One place of interest was Sami on Cephalonia which is very close to where parts of Captain Corelli's Mandolin was filmed. We visited some caves (Mellisani and Drogarati) which were very pretty, but not the most impressive caves we have visited with Drogarati in particular having been seriously altered to facilitate tourists. We lunched between Sami and Eufemia in a restaurant where the cast and crew of the movie used to hang out and saw many photos of Penelope Cruze etc looking very normal and relaxed in the beautiful surroundings. Our waiter (George) was incredibly helpful and filled us in on the history of the area. Most of Cephalonia was destroyed by the earthquake in 1953 with only Fiskardo remaining mostly intact, apparently due to the clay / rock bed that it is built on.
Another highlight in Sami was Kathleen and I's water devining skills. We had been told that there was water on the quay which was littered with man hole covers but nothing obvious jumped out to meet us. Craig took off to the port office and Kathleen and I, equipped with any type of implement that we thought might act as a jemmie set off along the quay, prising up cover after cover. After about 5 attempts we struck gold!! We proudly filled the tanks and sat back feeling very proud of ourselves! Craig actually heard the news by despatch at the port office and after we were finished all the boats at our end of the quay took advantage of our find. Just shows that girls can accomplish 'blue jobs' quite effectively.
Kathleen took to the boat like a duck to water and was soon taking the helm and pulling ropes etc etc on cue! Pity she's looking at buying a motor home! She would make a great crew member.
We also had a very memorable road trip to Meteora where there are about 16 monasteries built on the top of limestone pillars, 5 of which are still 'working' monasteries. The only downside for me was how touristy everything was and the monasteries seemed to lack the quietness and solitude that you would imaging finding in these sorts of places. The lodgings that we found were adorable (the Koka Roka owned by Maria and Albert) and were situated right at the base of one of the columns. We met a lovely young lad called James who is an archeology / anthropology student from New Zealand who seemed quite happy to spend time pushing old ladies up the hill. He was great company and full of useful information. We really enjoyed our time with him. The walk up to Agios Stephanos was amazing and we then visited two more monasteries by car. The area is amazing and well worth a visit to anyone who happens to be in this part of the world.
After our return to Shirley Valentine, we had the priveledge of once again spending some time with Keith and Sue from Broke Aweigh. Many hours were spent discussing tactics for the 'big race'. The boys even tried to convince the pink people that maybe we should all sit on one of the boats doing our nails while they put in a 'real' attempt at winning the race, but Kathleen and I would not be put off. Well, we had bought the T shirts, hadn't we!
The day of the race dawned and after the blue people scraped Shirley Valentine's hull (thanks for the help Keith!) at Port Atheni on Meganisi, we headed for the start line. Let's not do a long post mortem of the race, but the short version is that about 35 boats got out of the Meganisi channel before the wind died. The fleet was split in two, with the frustration for us being that we were well up the fleet going over the starting line and were almost at the front of the masses of boats that were becalmed. Poor Kathleen was determined not to retire, but when we had spent over an hour looking at the same rock (and going backwards at one point) we had to call it quits. We didn't think they would keep the line open till midnight! We did have the pride of knowing that we were one of the last boats to retire however (Broke Aweigh and our friends, Chris, Hermione and family had retired hours before us), but this then left us with the problem of where we were going to moor in Sivota post race.
We had had a visit from Steve and Sarah from Zanetia during the race who came to snigger at us in their dinghy. As we pottered into Sivota we were amazed at the amount of boats crammed into the tiny harbour and our hearts sank. We then saw Steve waving at us and were soon snuggly tucked up alongside them on the quay. Isn't it great to have friends in high places. The highlight of the race for everyone was a 10 year boy in a topper dinghy who was one of only 35 boats to finish the race. He was given a standing ovation as he entered the harbour after about 5 hours of sailing. Please note that those who got wind had been out in about 30 knots so this little kid was one brave lad. I think if the committee had closed the line before he crossed they would have been lynched. We had a great party that night and had dinner ashore at our favourite 'No Problem' taverna.
We caught up with Steve and Sarah again in Nidri and spent a very special couple of days getting free tuition on many aspects of boat management and maintenance. Have lots of whipping to do now! Congratulations on your wedding plans guys and thanks for your time and expertise and your company!!!
Anyway, Maggie is now with us and we are winding down again. Our trip to Athens to do our crew change was uneventful this time around and everything went to plan. We stayed in the Holiday Inn near the airport again and managed to gate crash Maggie's room which saved us some dollars.
Are sitting snuggly in Fiskardo at the moment where we have once again had torrential rain and some minor storms. The weather this morning is more settled and we have our usual high class problem of whether to stay another day or move on. Most of our friends are now on their way home. Broke Aweigh is back in Messolonghi preparing for winter and Zanetia is heading back to Croatia. We are planning to head to Messolonghi to prepare for over wintering around the 25th of October. We are pulling Shirley out of the water and have had fun learning how to 'pickle' our water maker etc. If anyone knows where we can buy 'fids' in the Ionian we would be glad of this information. May even be a coldie in for the informant!
Being beckoned ashore for coffee so should probably make a move. So looking forward to catching up with everyone at home in November! Will be in touch soon....

xx
All on Shirley Valentine

Crew changes and a change of season.

G'day, G'day, and how're you going? For the uninitiated this is the first line of a popular Australian song. I can't remember any more than this and have been driving everybody mad singing it over and over again, so if anyone can inform us of the next few lines we might feel slightly fulfilled! I think it is the presence of so many Australians on board that is doing my head in.

Anyway, down to business. We left you at the end of the last blog with Kim on board and heading to Messolonghi to leave Shirley while we travelled by car to Athens for our crew change. We had a lovely, if somewhat rushed visit with Kim and the poor soul kept begging to stay in her favourite spots for just one more night. In the end, we actually got our days mixed up and arrived in Messolonghi a day early. After lazing around for the day (as we had been told Messolonghi wasn't much chop!) we headed into town to get a meal. We had spent the day watching the bulldozers move earth around in the marina and kicking up dust which was settling very uncomfortably over poor Shirley Valentine. We found, to our delight, a lovely Greek town which is little affected by tourism. We had a lovely meal at the 'Egg of the Rooster' (honest!) restaurant which had been recommended by a few friends. It definitely lived up to expectations.

After dinner we headed off to Labrina's beauty salon where Kim had made an appointment for some waxing to be done and had booked me a manicure and pedicure (quite a treat after so long on board). We arrived to find a very modern well equipped salon and settled in for our treatments. The set up was the usual Greek family affair owned by the mother and run by the daughter and her other employee, Vee Vee. I came out of my manicure and pedicure with extremely bright pink fluro finger and toe nails and my feet had been thoroughly checked out for foot rot etc by the mother who turned out to be a doctor. I felt thoroughly cleansed. Craig turned up to pick us up and joined in the round of baklava and coffee which was going round. When Kim appeared she looked a little bemused. It turned out that she had been having her bikini wax done and whilst lying back eating baklava, her wax was being carried out by Labrina with the mother (who reassued Kim that everything was OK as she was a doctor!) paying very close attention to make sure that Labrina did a good job! Kim reckons it is the most thorough bikini wax that she has ever had and I am sure the memory will stay with her for ever.

The following day we had to leave for Athens, but first we headed round to the nearby mud pools to have a bit of further 'treatment'. You arrive at the area to see mainly elderly Greek locals in swimming costumes covered in black mud and wandering around waiting for it to dry. Basically the mud is sitting is piles on the rocks which you scoop up and plaster all over yourself. After letting it dry, you then float in the warm water to wash it all off. Very sexy! It is obviously supposed to make you feel better, but it just made me feel very smelly really. It took us a good few showers to get rid of the sulphurous smell but was very good fun.

We left for Athens in our hire car around lunch time with our directions from Google maps somewhere in our possession. Craig had booked a hotel from Wotif.com which was apparently 'reasonably priced'. To cut a long story short, we got hopelessly lost. We got so lost that the gentleman that we eventually asked for directions couldn't believe that we had actually managed to get to where we were! We managed to get to the Athens area eventually and then the task of finding the hotel Marina began. We were driving through what looked to be a ghetto area, with pimps, prostitutes, drugged up looking people and police in flak jackets on every second corner and I was starting to feel a little alarmed. Kim was insisting (after Craig's failed navigation attempts) that she was going to make her own way to the airport in the morning and I was really worried about her hopping in a taxi in the wee small hours by herself in this area. The straw that broke the camels back was when we finally found our hotel and noticed the large sign which announced that rooms could be booked by the hour! Call me precious if you like, but I refused there and then, point blank, to stay in the hotel which we had booked and we headed off towards the airport on the other side of town and were soon snuggly tucked up in the holiday inn on Attica Avenue. OK, it was expensive, but was a lovely way to finish off our week with Kim.

The following day we pottered around the coast near Athens in the hire car around Glyfada and up to Cape Sounion where we visited the temple of Poseidon.

We overnighted again in the holiday inn and got up at sparrows fart to pick up Helen and Kathleen. It was lovely to see them come through arrivals and it seemed so surreal to actually have them here. We took them back to our hotel room for a freshen up while Craig and I had our breakfast and then headed back south to our lovely, but sadly extremely dusty and dirty, Shirley Valentine.

Anyway, more about Helen and Kathleen's visit to come in the next episode. I have the usual feeling that I should actually include something about boats and sailing in a blog about sailing around the med. We have a few more lovely phrases in our vocabulary thanks to Mac and Barbara from Meganisi and Keith and Sue from Broke Aweigh. First of all we have 'Boat Bollocks'. This is used when the men are talking ad nauseum about amps, volts, sails, engines, anchors, hulls, keels etc etc etc etc. The women raise their eyes to heaven and loudly declare 'enough boat bollocks'. In retaliation, Craig has his own 'beauty bollocks' reply when we are talking about important things like moisturising etc etc.

We also have the phrase 'high class problems' which describes the stress caused by having to make really important decisions regarding which anchorage we will traipse to the following day, which taverna we will dine in that evening and whether we should have a swim before or after having a nanny nap.

Finally, we have 'blue jobs and pink jobs'. This one is fairly self explanatory and successfully delineates who should handle probems with the head etc without any arguement. The problem comes with shared tasks which we have since christened 'purple jobs'. I tend to confuse things as I quite like to have a hand in some of the 'blue jobs'. Craig is always being told how lucky he is to have a woman who is interested in handling the boat, however he seems to find this difficult to come to grips with!

Any boat bollocks session would obviously have to include the latest with our Shirley. We have a huge problem with her very dirty bottom at the moment, acquired we are fairly sure, due to the amount of time she has sat about in marinas waiting for us this summer. Our speed is very reduced and as we have signed up for the southern leg of the Ionion Rally on the 16th of September Craig is very concerned. Us girls have decided that scraping the hull is definitely a 'blue job' and are psyching Craig up to get the deed done before we race. So far, we have had a few excuses and I think we may be at the back of the fleet.

Apart from our filthy backside, other maintenance issues continue to be minimal. We had to have our outboard repaired as the gear lever had stuck and the stop button was stuffed (we were stopping the motor every time by turning off the fuel about 100m before we arrived at our destination and had got this down to a fine art!). We are coming to grips with food storage and the use of the fridge on board and I have stopped freezing my vegetables as much as I used to. We have also found out (thanks to Keith from Broke Aweigh) how our cockpit shower turns on and off. We continue to be frustrated by the variable winds in the Ionian and spend more time than we would care to under motor. Another 'high class problem' is that the zip on our dodger is broken. We are already thinking about minor adjustments that we want to do to the boat during winter time. Nothing major, but apart from a very thorough scrub down below, we may add some 'D' bolts for tethering to in bad weather and are thinking about purchasing a cruising chute. We are also undecided about a wind generator. All in all though we are still very happy with our decision to purchase our Bavaria 38.

It is pouring with rain tonight and this is the first time that we have seen serious wet stuff coming from above since we have been in Greece. We travelled over from Vliho on Levkas this morning and went through a few storm cells so it looks as if the season is definitely changing. We are sitting on the town quay at Fiskardo on Kephalonia and have found a few 'blue jobs' for Craig to do in the morning due to a few minor leaks discovered during the downpour. Nothing that will sink us but enough to be annoying. Guess the 'pinkies' may have to go shopping whilst the hard work is being done. We had a meal tonight at the restuarant situated about 3 steps off the back of the boat and I had the best Kleftico so far.

Well, enough for now. I still have a few stories to share which should bring a smile to your faces, but that will have to wait.

Talk to you all soon.

xxxx

All on board Shirley Valentine

Benidorm Photos!

The most expensive free trip ever!

OK. So we got some REALLY funny looks and responses when we said we were going to Benidorm, but it turned out to be a fantastic week. As I indicated in the last blog, Craig wanted to visit as we had watched and enjoyed every episode of the sit com. We ensured that we went 'all inclusive' when we booked our on line, last minute package deal with a company called Beach Sun holidays and set off in a hire car for Manchester, where we stayed over night and headed to the airport at 04.30 in the morning for our much anticipated flight. The only drama of this stage was that Craig left his sunnies in the hire car and I had to run up and get them, returning with only minutes to spare!
Arriving at Alicante airport we were herded onto busees for our "45 minute" trip to Benidorm. We arrived at our apartment block (we had discovered that this was actually a 10 to 15 minute walk up a dirt track to where we were to get our 'all inclusive' part of the package on the day before we left Scotland). THREE hours later, hot and bothered, we checked in and found a spacious, clean but fairly basic apartment. We had, however, very good views over Benidorm however.
In due course we pottered up to the Flamingo, Benidorm where we were to be fed and watered 6 times a day for FREE for the next week. We checked in and were provided with our lime green fluro wristbands to confirm that wee were bona fide users of the restaurant and bars. There was food of some description available all day, except for an hour or two here and there and we could eat and drink until midnight and start again at 8am (for FREE!).
We spent the next weeks wandering around Benidorm and lazing by the pool (wasn't game to put my head under the water though!). There was a cast of thousands around the pool with skin colours varying from chalk white to burnt pensioner. The first thing we realised (with great glee!) was that the sit com is actually a documentary. Let me just say the "Sticky Vicky" is real and I'll leave it at that. Her daughter is also learning her Art! We also saw the guy from the 20 foot high bike that he rides on with stilts with a tin foil suit on advertising local amusement parks etc, went to the Benidorm Palace, Benidorm island, Tabarca island off Alicante and a FREE bus trip to some markets north of Benidorm.
There were also fantastic markets around the corner from our apartment block where we bought a few tacky souvenirs (made in China of our course!), some Benidorm hats and some 'I love Benidorm' beach towels. Everything was very cheap. We had been told that the old town of Benidorm was nice but it actually turned out to be street after street of tourist type shops and was a bit of a disappointment. There was tattoos and English pubs everywhere (most of which were affliliated with some football team or other!). We also found the apartment block where Benidorm, the series was filmed. Don't worry, we returned to our 'all inclusive' resort to eat for FREE most of the time!
The highlight of the week was the FREE bus trip that we signed up for. We were worned that this would include a 45 minute 'presentation' but not to worry as it wasn't time share. We were first on the bus and spent the next half hour wandering through Benidorm pickin up other wood ducks like ourselves. The bus trip itself was pleasant (apart from the little old lady coughing her guts up regularly across from us!). The hostess was English and had live in 'Beni' for years and it seemed that she was trying her best to persuade others to do the same, telling everyone where the best housing estates (where the English live), English schools, markets etc were along the route. Very tempting (not!).
We arrived at the 'showroom' after about 2 hours on the bus which we spent winding through pleasant country side. We were ushered to our seats and offered champagne or orange juice (guess which I picked - I needed a drink!) which was all included in our FREE trip! We then had to endure one and a half HOURS of the presentation which was basically to try to suck us in to buy a reflex foam mattress and merino wool underlay and blankets which were (of course!) only available in Benidorm at this special price. I must say that the presentation was extremely well done by a very entertaining lady. We're not sure if there were plants in the audience as a few people 'already had the products' and were waxing lyrical about how wonderful they were. For their efforts, the company got around 5000 to 8000 pounds of sales from a busload of about 25 people. Even a lady who had deliberately left her credit cards at home was reassured that the company trusted her so much that she could gave the goods delivered to her home in the UK and THEN pay for them! Poor soul, she was a really reluctant buyer! I heard a comment getting back on the bus that it was actually the 'most expensive free trip ever!'. We were herded back onto the bus and headed for the coastal town of Moraria where it started to bucket with rain on our arrival and the markets quickly disappeared. We spent our time there sheltering in an English run cafe eating the most expensive, worst tasting baked potatoes I have ever been unlucky enough to be served up with. We had a pleasant bus journey back to our hotel arriving 4.30pm and headed off for some much needed FREE alcohol.
The Flamingo Benidorm had a plethora of free activities for us to partake in such as karaoke, bingo, free magic shows, a game called opent the box, water polo matches etc etc. It was so exciting! I even got my photo taken with a python around my neck. The Miss Flamingo contest had attrated a large audience of testosterone laiden males who no doubt expected a trail of beauties pirouetting around the stage, however it turned out to be 4 fairly average women playing party games such as seeing how many pairs of mens trouseers they could collect in a bag in fivve minutes. I had a table full of young, cute, Spanish guys in front of me who all willingly gave up their daks in the spirit of the occassion. Awe inspiring!
The other excitement towards the end of the week was that our travel company went belly up and we had to pay an extra 190 euros to finish our holiday. We weren't sure if our airport transfer company were going to honour our agreement, but they duly turned up to take us back to the airport for our sad departure from 'Beni' (I think the legal discussion that Craig had with them by telephone the day before may have helped). What a great experience Benidorm was, but not sure if we will be tempted to return. Feeling grateful that we had escaped the pick pockets we boarded our flight to Manchester, where we waited around for our 5.30pm flight back to Corfu and Shirley Valentinne. The easy jet flight (surprise, surprise) was delayed and we got back on board around 2am. What a long day!
We hung around Gouvia marina for a few days waiting for our friend Kim to arrive by Ferry from Italy and did the usual household chores in preparation. Some nice person had disconnected our shore power and our fridge was a blob of mould, so that had to be cleaned up too.
We have had a lovely week with Kim pottering around Paxos and Levkas and are heading over to the mainland today. We have had the priviledge of catching up with some old friends and have enjoyed the company of Maree and Sandy (and Tracy) from Freedom, Steve and Sarah from Zanetia and Keith and Sue from Broke Aweigh (who are very annoyed about being mentioned in a blog about Benidorm!). It's so nice to be back on board.
We are heading to Messalonghi for the 27th of August and driving to Athens on the 28th to drop Kim off and pick up our next seet of visitors, Kathleen and Helen. It is lovely to have friends on board!
Well, gotta go and do some sailing. Will keep you updated very soon! Take care everyone....
PS. I have received some feedback that the comments section of our blog doesn't always work. If you want to comment or contact us, feel free to e-mail us at lhardy61@hotmail.com.

Where does time go?

Well... to start off with today / tonight a little bit of 'officialdom'....... As you know we left Croatia about the end of May and were a little dismayed at how much of our budget our almost 3 months in the country had cost us. We had to purchase a 12 months cruising permit at a cost of 1330 kuna (over $250) even though we could only stay in the country for 90 days. A marina was costing around 50 to 70 euro a night and we were even charged for picking up a mooring in Hvar (around $40). To add insult to injury, we have heard from cruising friends since we left that they were now being asked to pay 600 kuna a month for a tourist tax (around $120) and charges are being levied for merely dropping anchor in a lot of the popular anchorages. It almost seems to us that they are trying to discourage 'live aboard' yachties like ourselves! Many of the charter companies are also leaving and heading south due to escalating costs and red tape. We were also told that the police were sniffing around the marina in Sukosan trying to find some people who had outstayed their 90 day welcome.

Greece is a totally different ball game thank goodness. The problem in Greece seems to be that it difficult to get a straight answer. It only cost us about 45 euros to get permission to stay in the country for 6 months (although we think that we have to pay another tax after 3 months). Marinas are only slightly cheaper, however if you stay for an extended length of time (we got one month in Gouvia marina in Corfu for the price of 11 or 12 single nights) the price drops dramatically. Annual fees are less too. We have not been approached anywhere we have anchored to be asked for money and a lot of restaurants around the islands have put in pontoons for yachties to tie up to for free provided they eat at that restaurant. Tying up to a town quay has cost us nothing to about 10 euros, often with both power and water available and only a stones throw from restaurants, shops etc.

But....... the problem is that we are still not quite sure what we are supposed to do regarding 'the paper work'. We have what they call a transit log. We are officially supposed to get this filled in at every port that we visit, however in reality the rule of thumb seems to be that we get it stamped about once a month. We have actually asked for it to be stamped a few times and have been told that we don't need to bother, than when we get to the next port they asked why it wasn't stamped! You get the picture? We have been approached a few times on town quays (in Sivota and Gaios) by port police or their representatives and have had to pay a port charge (19 euros and 13 euros respectively), however quickly worked out that if we happened to be 'absent' from the boat at the time when they came round we escaped this cost. I asked Craig to get some clarification of what we were supposed to do after all the yachts on the quay were asked to front up at the port police office in Sivota and he came back shaking his head with even greater confusion. We were actually told that we only have to pay 'if we get caught'.

Even funnier in Preveza was the lovely picture card which was handed to Craig asking us very nicely to attend the port police office to carry out the formalities. We left that day anyway so we didn't bother. In Gaios (on Paxos) as previously mentioned, we sussed out that the fee collector came round every night around 8 to 9pm. We just happened to not be on the boat at that time after that! Ah, the camaraderie of yachties is a great thing, isn't it..... It's not that we deliberately want to do the wrong thing, more that we are not really sure what the right thing is. Also of note are the amount of people who ride around on motor cycles with no helmets on and families of 3 (mum, dad and the wean) whizzing along on one motor cycle, also with no helmets in sight. When we commented on this to a local we were told that there actually is a fine of 400 euros for ommitting to wear a helmet, however no-one enforces it! Very confusing for us simple people.......

Anyway, enough about paperwork and back to our story. After leaving Freedom behind in Gaios we headed over to Preveza on the mainland. We had a fantastic sail, probably one of our best so far, only motoring in and out of harbours. We arrived in Preveza to find a surprisingly quiet town quay and tied up stern to. There was the usual plethora of cafe bars and tavernas and Preveza was a lot bigger and noisier than we had anticipated. We met a lovely English couple (now, now Scottish people.... they do exist!) called Chris and Hermione who invited us on board for drinks and we headed off into town with them for a meal. What a lovely evening.

The downside of Preveza was the noise level. We were a stones throw from an upmarket cafe bar which turned up the music to about a million decibels, a level which it stayed at until about 3am. Across from the another end of the boat was a very larged grain carrier which seemed to spend all hours of the day and night unloading it's cargo. Poor Shirley got very dirty and dusty during the two days that we spent there and we left the morning that we were requested to report to the port police.

We then motored from here into an inland lake area (the gulf of something or other, Craig says!) and headed to Vonitsa. The gulf is about bigger than Moreton Bay in area and we were planning to spend the day wandering around exploring, however when we got to Vonitsa it was so nice that dropped anchor in a little bay to the East of the town. There was an arched bridged leading to a small island with the usual little charming church on it and we only about one kilometre from the town which was lovely and 'Greek' with very few tourists. The village itself has a lovely picturesque castle hovering above it and there was also a notable absence of the dreaded charter fleets. Most of the 15 or so boats in the anchorage were British and we got chatting to a lovely couple called Pete and Sue from Flore II (hope I have spelled that correctly!) who have spent a lot of time in the area and gave us a lot of local knowledge. We also had the delightful company of Graeme (Scottish!), Yvonne and her Greek friend from Be-Be En and Rosemary and husband from Carina (sorry, we have forgotten some names... Greek wine starting to kill off too many brain cells!).

This was a magical few days. We pottered around the town and swam off the back of the boat. We visited the castle and surprise, surprise, socialised and drank too much wine. The sad thing about this transient life is that you meet so many wonderful people and it is ultimately impossible to stay in touch with everyone.

On night three the wind got up just as were returning from drinks on Carina. Within about 10 minutes there was a stiff 20 to 25 knot north westerly blowing, 180 degrees different to what it had been when we set our anchor. We sat up for a while keeping an eye on things and Carina pottered around resetting their anchor for a while. We had already dragged the day before when Shirley had done a few 360's on our faithfully, but not immune, Kobra anchor. This was the ongoing problem with this lovely bay. The constantly swinging winds mean that no matter how well your anchor has set, it may pull out if the boat turns in a totally different direction.

In the morning there was a fairly rapid exodus and most of the boats left for a safer haven. We headed South to the island of Levkas as we wanted to go into the marina to check out our continuing problems with power generation and to get our diesel engine serviced. We motored back through the channel at Preveza. It was in this area that Anthony and Cleopatra faced Augustus Caesar (and lost!).

The island of Levkas is interesting. It is only separated from the mainland by a very narrow channel which was reportedly dregged by the Romans and Venetians. The islanders do not want a proper bridge to be built as it would affect their tax status as an Island so the bridge is an old ferry which opens in various ways depending on the amount of traffic going through. It opens on the hour every hour during day light in summer time. As you are approaching the area from seawards you look as if you are heading straight for the beach and it is only as you think you about to run aground that the channel opens up to starboard. Thank goodness for chart plotters! :-) We had about 20 minutes to wait for the bridge to open and by opening time there was a quite a queue of boats lining up. The cars cross the 'bridge' by driving up the boarding platform of the old ferry and off the other side and there was quite a convoy building up waiting for the boats to get through. At opening time the boarding platform lifts first of all and then the whole ferry swings aside to let the floating people through. It is the closest I have come to feeling like a celebrity and many photos were taken of the lovely Shirley by onlookers as we glided serenly past. Told you we should start charging! Not sure if it was my good looks (or Shirley Valentine's) or just that we were the first boat off the blocks.

We travelled another few hundred metres to the marina and tied up stern to. Within about 20 minutes the Volvo Penta (I kept saying Pentax until Craig corrected me!) engineers were on board doing our service. They indicated that they would return on Monday to have a look at our power concerns and toddled off after completing the required oil changes etc. Gee, I hate all this routine maintenance stuff but I guess it does pay.

We stayed in Levkada marina for a few nights, meeting a lovely lady (Tori) and her friend Paul in a souvlaki shop in town on the second evening. Tori had spent a few years living on the island and is one of those people who I am very jealous of who can fluently speak a second language. She was amazing and we extricated a lot of local knowledge from her too. If you get a chance to read this guys I hope that the rest of your travels were fantastic!

We are getting fairly street wise about where we eat (apart from my disaster in Gaios) and usually walk at least a few blocks away from the tourist strip and the water front. We also look for restaurants with locals eating there. In this instance we had walked through the gorgeous, bustling town of Levkas and had seen a small, very ordinary souvlaki shop which looked like the greek equivalent of a fish and chip shop. Craig had to persuade me to eat there (I am such a snob with such expensive tastes so I am told), however we had a fantastic feed which was really good value for money and couldn't finish everything (also where we met Tori and Paul). We managed to finish the alcohol of course and if I hadn't eaten so much I would have had to eat my words as it was the best feed we had had in weeks. Thank goodness I listen to Craig occassionally!

Leaving Levkada marina we headed in a southerly direction along the coast of Levkas, passing on the way the island of Skorpios which was owned by the Onassis family (may still be I think). I think the important bloke is buried there. Boats can anchor off the island as nowhere in Greece below the high water mark can be privately owned, however you may be challenged by big burly security guards if you try to go ashore. We pottered up past Nidri, a touristy looking place with water slides, sun beds on the beach etc, to a quiet bay with heaps of room for anchoring. Although we have been warned for weeks now about the business of the place in the summer we have really not found anywhere we have chosen difficult to get into and we are starting to think that the economic downturn etc may be having a detrimental effect of the Greek tourist trade. The locals are complaining too which is very sad for an area so dependant on tourism with such a short season.

I can't remember the name of this bay and as we are away from our pilot guides etc I can't refresh my old brain so I will inform you once we return to our girl! It was, however, just to die for! We recognised our new friends' boat, Flore II, as we were anchoring and decided to annoy them later if we got the chance. As is the norm in this lifestyle we ended up on board having a few drinks that evening and once again were able to pick knowledgeable brains on the local sites as Pete and Sue are old hands at this area. We pottered back to Shirley Valentine much later than planned with the usual warm fuzzy feeling that is induced by good company, good food and too much Greek wine. Dinner plans had been made for the following evening and we snuggled up in the lovely secure anchorage for a good nights sleep.

The next day we went ashore in the dinghy to the local 'yacht club'. This establishment is run by an Irish fellow who caters for the various needs of yachties. There is a massive book swap area catering to all tastes, a great choice of menu in the cafe and evening a washing machine which can be used at a very reasonable price. Boats can be left here on a mooring and will be taken care of if you have to leave for extended periods of time. What a great facility. We had a cool drink, pottered around the book swap and chatted for a while before exploring the other side of the bay.

Around the other side we saw an advert for a swimming pool which could be used free of charge by customers of the bar facilities. We scooted back to Shirley for lunch, grabbed our towels and went back ashore to take the generous owners up on their offer. We spent a lovely afternoon chatting, drinking cocktails and swimming in the great pool and headed back on board to get ready for our dinner date. As we approached, Sue was swimming towards us and announced that Pete had been unwell all day. We promised that we would catch up when he had improved and were starting to make dinner plans when the mobile rang.

News came through thick and fast that my mum had been admitted to hospital and that the family thought if may be a good idea if I could come home to Scotland to see her. I was assured that it was nothing too serious, but you still worry when you can't see for yourself so we quickly decided to head back to Corfu as we knew Gouvia was a safe place to leave Shirley and that it would probably be easy to fly to Glasgow from here. As we upped anchor, Craig was contacting his son in Sweden to ask him to organise flights for us (thanks heaps for that Kris!).

Going back through the Levkas canal was even more fun in the dark! The channel from the south is very narrow and is only lit by what looked like solar lights on sticks which had been easy to eyeball during the day but were now dangerously elusive. I was up on the foredeck navigating and Craig had to give up on the chartplotter as it was showing that we were aground at times. We timed the bridge opening perfectly at 11pm and were trying to raise them on the VHF radio (as per our pilot book instructions) just as the car boarding platform started to rise to let us through. As we were the only boat, the whole ferry did not swing and we were left to squeeze through an opening with only about a metre on either side. Great fun!

After a 14 hour trip we arrived in Gouvia Marina, Corfu around 11am just missing that days flight. We had a day to spare until the next one and spent this time tidying up the boat, packing etc for our trip to Scotland.

After an uneventful flight, including a very boring 8 hour stop over in Gatwick, we arrived home in Glasgow very late in the evening and my poor long suffering Uncle Iain picked us up from the airport after an extra trip as he had been given the wrong information about the delayed flight arrival time.

Mum got out of hospital the following day and it was good to be able to pick her up and bring her home with us. She is now on the mend and is settling into a new treatment routine which she is coping with admirably. We even bought her an I-pod to help while away the boring treatment hours she has to endure and she is becoming very high tech. One of the positives of these trips is that I get time to spend with my lovely family and to catch up with friends. It is always so enjoyable to meet 'Auld Aquaintences' and it has been great to spend time with my aunties, uncles, cousins, musical friends, Jean and Bob Henry (and Irene, Katie and Andrew) etc etc.

Now the interesting part is this...... Remember the TV sit com 'Benidorm'? Craig loved the show and we have every episode every made on DVD. He has had a notion to visit on an 'all inclusive' basis every since....... So, we were planning to visit the grand kids in Sweden on our way home and had organised flights etc to suit, but Kris and Linda would rather get toilets pulled out of their house instead. With a week to kill and Shirley tucked up safely in Corfu we have planned a weeks all inclusive stay at a resort in Benidorm! Can't wait. Hope it's not an anticlimax!

Leaving Glasgow early Friday morning and driving to Manchester via Stranraer where we are catching up with an old, dear friend. Flying out of Manchester early Saturday and back the following Saturday in time to make our flight back to Corfu in the afternoon (hopefully!).

We also have a busy social schedule coming up over the next few months. Our 'sailing' friend Kim is arriving from Italy on the 18th of August and then we are driving up to Athens at the end of the month to pick up Kathleen and Helen from Australia. They are leaving for Germany on the 22nd of September and we are picking up Maggie from Australia as they leave. Making me exhausted just thinking about it, but can't wait to see everyone! From there it will be preparing Shirley Valentine for over wintering and heading for home..... Where does time go?

Anyway guys... Craig wants to sleep (strange person that he is) and we have another busy day tomorrow so I will love you and leave you.

Till next time..... xx Lesley

What a difference a day makes!

Well hello.... We have not fallen off the edge of the earth due to bad navigation, just had to travel to Scotland, but more about that later.

When we last left you we displaying increasing sloth like behaviour. On our last night in Sivota (Mourtos) we were rudely shaken out of this lethargy by increasing north westerly winds which were blowing directly onto the town quay upon which we had taken temporary residence. With the increasing winds came increasing waves (as tends to happen) and the boats along the quay were in danger of being blown onto the lovely inviting concrete structures.

Craig and I decided that we would do an anchor watch which was very hard due to all the happy, comfortable people who we could see sitting drinking in the Bamboo Cafe! Around 2 am the charter boat next to us started to drag it's anchor and was bashing against the quay. Soon the whole family (dad, mum and two kids) were rudely awoken from their slumber. It took a good hour of fending them off (both our boat and the stone jetties and quay), checking anchor lines, trying to calm the poor wife and mother (who had never sailed at night before and was panicking so much that she was screaming and wakening up anyone who had been lucky enough to sleep through the dramas) and trying to give them directions on where to go to get a safe anchorage. Craig nearly broke his leg jumping onto their surging stern to show them our pilot guide. Eventually we managed to get them off safely into the night and bid them well.

We decided to sit out the wee dark hours in Sivota and then head off at day break. We got a few hours sleep and after a quick trip to the supermarket and another neighbour dragging their anchor and bashing into the quay we made a hasty exit. We had been ready to head off all night just in case the proverbial hit the fan so we were soon on our way. It was actually quite sad to see Sivota disappearing into the gloom as we had become so fond of the place and we will definately return if we get half a chance.

We were planning to anchor around the corner between the island of Sivota and the mainland, however lots of other people had had the same idea and the anchorage was pretty crowded, so after checking on the German boat from the night before we headed off across to Paxos.

After a blistering beat across the bay (6 and a half to seven knots just under genoa) we inched our nose into Gaios on Paxos which didn't look very inviting at that particular time. We therefore continued on to Mongonissi, about ten minutes south of Gaios, and thankfully dropped our anchor in the reasonably sheltered bay. We had a bit of a sloppy night due to our position in the anchorage, but very preferable to staying in Sivota! We heard from some friends that the port police had actually chased everyone off the town quay at Sivota later on in the morning.

The following morning after the usual morning exodus of boats from anchorages, we decided to move slightly further into the bay for more shelter. This was to be our first major stuff up! To cut a long story short, Craig had rowed ashore that morning and spoken to a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy (you get the picture.....) and had decided that we were going to drop anchor near one of the tavernas and take stern lines ashore to the taverna jetty. There was of course a subtly understanding (unspoken of course!) that we would be coming to that same taverna for dinner that night (you get the picture......!).

Well, we dropped anchor and took a stern line ashore. Something didn't feel right and I had a bad feeling in my water...... Our stern line was rubbing up against a nice new motor boat tied to the same taverna jetty and I was getting concerned. There was a wreck in the water to our port side which looked dangerously close to the surface. Craig assured me that everything was fine and I went below to sulk and nurse that bad feeling. Soon after, I asked Craig to up on deck to check if we were OK as there was some change in the noises (you get very aware of 'noises' in this game) that I was hearing. Very soon I heard 'I need a hand up here'. Surprise, surprise.... we were dragging our anchor.

Craig rowed ashore quickly to release the stern line and then returned as we pulled up the anchor which was thickly covered in weed. Unfortunately, as we turned around to get out of trouble we (sorry, did I say we? Mmmmm..... think Craig was on the helm then!) got the mooring line of the lovely new motor boat caught around our keel. Craig, and about 300 people from the restaurant, were soon struggling to get us free. I was on the helm trying to stop us running aground / hitting the motor boat / hitting the wreck / hitting the jetty / making absolute fools of ourselves and soon we were freed with the only damage being to our egos. Unfortunately Craig was on the jetty and I was on Shirley so.... he had to swim! :-)

After returning virtually to where we had been before this debarcle we anchored again and took stern lines ashore, this time with no dramas. We swam ashore in the afternoon and ended up walking about 3 kms in our swimming costumes to explore Gaios. Not very good planning if I say so myself! Luckily it's fairly standard to see people walking around in swimming costumes in the Greek summer time.

We found Gaios to be a very pleasant little town and decided to return in Shirley Valentine in the next couple of days or so. We had dinner at the taverna in Mongonissi that evening where we met some very pleasant English men and women who were on Paxos for a 40th birthday party.

The following morning we decided to motor round to Gaios 'for a look'. Our impressions of the day before were amplified and when we saw a spot with our name on it on the northern end of the quay we decided to stay put. After a quick phone call to Freedom who thought they were meeting us in Mongonissim, we settled in. Gaios is nestled in behind two islands which make it very sheltered and calm. The harbour looks more like a narrow river and turned out to be a fairly happening place with the usual dozens of tripper boats coming and going taking tourists to swimming spots. There was a lovely feel to the town, which although 'touristy' has retained a real Greek feel.

Maree and Sandy on Freedom arrived early the next morning and we managed to squeeze them in next to us. They executed their first proper med mooring with great aplomb! Very polished! After a day of catching up, eating and drinking, the usual book swapping etc we went to a restaurant (of my choice) a little out of town to have dinner. Although it had very nice views and friendly waitresses, the food was pretty awful (don't trust me to choose the restaurant again guys!) and the mozzies were even worse. We couldn't understand why the restaurant was so quiet, however when we walked back through town we discovered that it was world cup final day! Nothing worse than watching a match with the commentary in a foreign language, especially when a goal is challenged and you can't work out why. We eventually managed to work out that Spain had won.

The next day I went for a haircut. I found a little hairdressing salon in the back streets of Gaios where I had to basically use sign language to indicate what I wanted done (I always wonder how I would ask for chicken breasts!!!). The 'Greek Mama' hairdresser, although lovely, did not seem like someone that I would like to mess with and I was pinned down while I was primped and preened, sprayed and gelled etc etc. There was no way my hair was going to move for about a month, but the cut actually wasn't too bad and a fraction of the price that I would pay back home for the same hours of attention.

That afternoon, we all hopped in Costas and motored around to a little beach on the other side of the island. We soon got talking to a group of Australians (can't get away from the buggers!) who were of Greek family descent and were holidaying on a charter boat with their cousin. I wish I was bilingual like that! I was so jealous of their ability to switch from one language to the other. Ah well....... We had a lovely swim and pottered back to our boats to get ready for dinner.

Our meal out that night was a lot more successful (Maree is much better at picking restaurants than me!).

The following morning, Craig and I decided to head south with Freedom staying put in Gaios for a few more days.

Anyway, more about that later.........

Fisherman at sunset. Platarius, mainland Greece.

Filaki restaurant in Sivota....

The sloths with Poseidon....

The sloths!!

Happy birthday Lizzie! Have a great day. Love ya heaps.

Well, let me paint you a picture......

Picture two extremely lazy human beings sitting on a boat doing as little as possible. At the stern of the boat these lazy human beings can step ashore on the town quay at Sivota (Mourtos). They can then visit the plethora of caffe bars, tavernas etc on offer to stuff their faces whenever they please. The sun shines incessantly (apart from during the night of course!) and the little harbour is a hive of (pleasant) activity. As these sloths have shore power they have limitless access to all the pleasures of their floating caravan and access to water means endless showers whenever required. All this for about $8 a day!

If a little energy can be summoned they can partake of the simple pleasure to be had in the surrounding area. The multiples beaches around the town and the nearby islands (small but very pretty) offer the temptation of a swim on a hot day, however jumping off the boat is really good fun too! The sea temperature for these poor slovenly souls is now around 27 degrees so even the whoosy male of the species has been known to partake in a dip. There is a cute little tripper boat that takes sloths around the islands for the princely sum of 5 euros (including unlimited alchohol which you are plied with continuously) which only leads to more temptation and slovenliness. The owner of the boat is very entertaining and Greek music blares for the sake of the slovenly tourists who are slowly getting pissed as they are carted through paradise.

In the evening as the sun sets (around 9 or 10 pm) the need for more food sets in and a quick stumble to a (very) nearby taverna is in order. Spoiled for choice this can take a while. The female of the sloth family really liked Filakas where seafood was consumed at a leisurely pace while seated at a table at the end of a jetty over the water!

The town quay now becomes a promenade with everyone appearing for an evening stroll. Poseidon appears to have his photo taken with the tourists as does Suzanna the goat with red ribbons in her hair and her owner in tow. An extremely talented street artists does portraits and very reasonable amounts of money exchanged hands to have a portrait done of each of the grand children. They are fantastic!

Social activity abounds and the slovenly ones can have company whenever they choose. One particularly memorable couple of days was with Anne and Andy from Manchester (not too bad for landlubbers!). The energy was found for a lovely day trip to Emerald Bay on Anti Paxos with these gorgeous people where a soothing dip in the emerald green waters (surprising though that may seem) was had by one and all (even the whoosy male of the species). Good luck with your flotilla sailing next year guys. You will be great!

Other occassional bursts of enery have seen Shirley Valentine having a much deserved bath and she is spotless again for the moment. The female sloth is also making attempts to complete a navigation course that she started about 600 years ago (typical sloth like behaviour I believe) and is also making an attempt to actually learn the language of Greece. She now has an impressive vocabulary of about 40 words and can ask for the important stuff like "two glasses of red wine please). Greek, however, is much easier to learn phonetically than to actually recognise the alphabet and very few words can actually be read unfortunately.

Today will probably see the sloth family move about 200 metres round the corner to anchor in the nice sheltered little bay there as they need a rest! Well, their livers do, that's for sure. From there, swimming can be partaken by simply jumping off the back of the boat into the crystal clear waters.

Shirley Valentine gets a lot of attention in Greece (due to her name I suppose, though I like to imagine that it's because of the sylph like figure of the female sloth). What do you mean a slovenly lifestyle doesn't produce a sylph like figure? People actually stop and take photos next to our boat. We are thinking of starting to charge for this priveledge just like Poseidon and Suzanna the goat.

The only cloud on the horizon is the imminent arrival of the Italian motor boats who apparently arrive in droves in July and August. The slovenly ones have had a few interesting 'episodes' already and poor Shirley has a few superficial scratches to date. They drive their boats just like their cars.

Ah well, off to be a sloth. Looking forward to catching up with Sandy and Maree from Freedom in a few days time. Also had a lovely chance meeting with Andrew and Kate (and friends Reneece and William/Bill) from Lady Olivia when they had a coffee stop right here in Sivota! What a treat. Was great to see you guys.

Take care everyone and stay well. And did I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful daughter!

xx

Craig and Lesley (Shirley Valentine)

Relaxing at last!! Fun in the sun.....

Ghai sas.....

Hope everyone is well. No excusee for not blogging sooner other than laziness. We have to actually walk about 500m to get internet access at the moment which is such hard work!

Here's my tips for the week:

Travel tip: Everything you ever heard about Italian drivers is true! Do not drive in Italy (especially the South West coast unless you are heavily insured and have a valium infusion in situ!

Boating tip: To remove stains from teak deckwork / tables etc (especially good for red wine stains!) you will need some lighter fluid (I used Zippo) and carpet stain remover (I used a spray can of Vanish). First pour the lighter fluid onto the stain, then spray on carpet stuff. You have to be patient. Leave to dry (may take a while) then agitate gently with soft scrubber and clean water. Rinse copiously with clean water. Works a treat! Thanks Sarah!

Our news: We are in Platarius on the mainland coast of Greece across from the southern tip of Corfu and are finally managing to relax. I have actually managed to get Craig to sit and do nothing for a while and we have been settled here for four nights now after spending tow nights in Gouvia marina after returning from Italy where we had a very full and interesting holiday for a week.

We stayed in a little rustic B & B in the village of Laureana Cilento near Agropoli on the South west coast. "Blu di Prussia" is owned by an Italian artist (Domenico Palombo, or Meno for short (hope we've spelled that correctly!) who lives in residence with his lovely daughter Marta and his wife Teresa. We know Teresa through a mutual friend in Brisbane and the invitation to visit them in the land of Pompei and the Amalfi coast was too good to resis.

Getting the ferry across to Bari in Italy was a story all by itself. We had to first ferry to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland from Corfu and then wait for the "Superfast II" to leave at midnight. We had booked 'Air seats' which are kind of like those you would get on an aircraft only even more uncomfortable. 'Deck seats' meant that you had to hang around in the bars and on the deck all night and being an old lady, I didn't fancy that! Turned out, after the lights went out that everyone on the deck came in to the air seats area anyway and I came back from a visit to the bar to find a chunky Asian gentleman spooning up to Craig! He hadn't even noticed.

We arrived in Bari, Italy around 08.30 local time and picked up our hire car. We realised pretty quickly that the road rules are a little different than what we are used to. We had accident in a tunnel when a van crossed on to our side of the road and we had to swerve to avoid it, just clipping the kerb and the wall of the tunnel. Every day we were there we saw at least one accident and most cars had dents in them somewhere. The southern Italians also don't seem to believe in toilet seats (bit of useful trivia for you there.... pack your own if you are planning to vist!). Blu di Prussia had lovely toilets however, so you are safe there!!

On the way to Laureana Cilento we visited a fantastic place called Matera which had been recommended to us by Teresa. We were driving through the very average looking new town wondering what the big fuss was about when we were suddenly treated to the marvellous spectacle of the old town. There has been habitation in this area since the neolithic era with houses and churches being hewn into solid rock. Many still survive and have been added to over the centuries. We spent a lovely few hours pottering around and apart from a particularly grumpy Italian tourist (who continually complained during a guided tour) we were in heaven!

We arrived in Laureana Cilento in the early evening and were treated to a lovely rustic Italian meal which seemed to go on for ever. With full bellies and a few glasses of house red under our belts we collapsed in a heap and slept soundly till midday the next day. It was nice to sleep in a bed that didn't move for a change! All the rooms in Blu di Prussia are furnished with antiques and Meno's paintings and it's a bit like living in an art gallery / museum. Have a look at their website for some photos.... http://www.bludiprussiacafe.it/. There is a lovely little piazza outside and the views from the village are out of this world.

We did the tourist thing over the next few days visiting Agropoli. Paestum, some local caves at Castelevita, Pompei and, of course, the Amalfi coast. Each is a blog in itself, but I don't have the space here so will try to post some photos soon.

One of the highlights of the trip was driving along the Amalfi coast. At one point we had to reverse and tuck in both rear view mirrors to let a bus past on a bend. I went into a chemist shop and asked if I could get some valium without a prescription, however the answer was no and I had to suffer! We reached Positano in need of a stiff drink and found a parking space eventually right at the top of the hill. As we were walking down towards the beach Craig asked a lady directions. This lovely breath of fresh air turned out to be Michelle from Carlton and we ended up spending the rest of the day with her. Michelle spends 3 months of the year in Positano and became our informal tour guide and turned out to know practically everyone in town. She is also a (self confessed) Goddess of Elimination and decided that I needed my negative energy purged (due to all the dramas we have been having which we were telling her about). I was given a napkin containing salt and told to face north at an opportune time and throw the salt over both shoulders. I did this later on in the afternoon while we were walking along a lovely beach path and so far I haven't broken more elbows. Thank you Michelle!.

In the evening we got the local bus up the colossal hill (thank you Michelle!). I have never seen so many bodies packed into a small space but the views were spectacular. We dined at the top of the hill and had the best anti pasto which didn't leave any room for pizza. The first Italian game of the world cup was on and the place was buzzing. What a great night!

On the way back to Laureana Cilento we got a bit lost and arrived back at the B & B at 04.30hrs.

Meno has his studio in Blu di Prussia and it was lovely to watch his current painting developing every day. What talent!

The area is alive with history and Pompei was amazing. Much bigger than we expected. We swam at some lovely beaches around Agropoli and ate far too much food. We treated ourselves to a pizza with french fries and frankfurt sausages on top just because we felt we should try it. Worst food we have had on our trip so far!

We had a lovely car trip back to Bari for the return home as there was hardly any traffic on the roads. We stayed in Bari overnight and in the morning after having massive hassles finding the car rental office, dumped the car at the airport. They weren't worried about the damage at all and merely said that it happens all the time! Surprise, surprise.....

The ferry back to Igoumenitsa was a day time trip and far more civilised. We watched the crew cram scores of semi trailers on the the garage decks with most ending up about one foot apart.

We missed the last ferry to Corfu as we were late leaving, however found a nice hotel near the port and overnighted in Igoumenitsa catching the ferry back to Gouvia and our lovely girl Shirley Valentine the next morning.

We laid low for a few days as we were exhausted and it has been nice to relax here in Platarius moored to the town quay for 3 euros a night. It is great entertainment watching the charter fleets preparing to leave. I don't think I've heard anyone say "all hands on deck" for centuries! Some of the crews get very excited....

Anyway, enough from us for the moment. We are hoping to catch up with some friends (Sandy and Maree on Freedom) who are on their way from Croatia, via Italy (not Albania!) in the next few days and will then decide where to go from here. Weather is now settling and we expect light winds for the next week or so. But as you know, things can change. I have more salt available if needed!! Will try not to leave it so long before being in touch again.

Take care.

xx

Craig & Lesley (Shirley Valentine)

Never a dull moment / It's all Greek to me!

Hi everyone....
Well, we have now been in Corfu in the Ionian islands of Greece for nearly 3 weeks now, the land of taramosalata, ouzo and not being able to put your dunny paper down the toilet (not quite sure what that is about yet!).
The sun started to shine (in true Shirley Valentine fashion) the moment we arrived in Greece and has not stopped since apart from the occassional thunder storm. Thermals and ski jackets seems sooooo long ago and I am actually thinking of packing them up until we need them again.
We are getting around in swimmers and shorts and t-shirts all the time now (unfortunately so are a lot of very obese men in the marina. DT's certainly don't look good on some people!).
We are still in Gouvia marina waiting for my arm to heal. We had Anna, Craig's youngest, with us for a week as she waits for her registration to come through for work in England. We managed to get out and about for a few nights while she was here as we had an extra pair of hands and spent some lovely evenings on the island of Paxos (Lakka and Mongonissi) and had a lovely lunch time swim at Emerald Bay on Anti Paxos. Also had a night on the mainland at Platarias. We got charged 3 euros!! What a rip off! :-)) So much cheaper than Croatia.
We continue to meet lovely, special people. In Mongonissi we met a lovely family from Wales who were on one of the flotilla boats and have now met quite a few other Aussie and Scottish crews! So good to see the lion rampant flying on boats and Craig and I take turns at which one of our 'unofficial' flags gets put up first on our port flag halyard while we are at anchor.
We also continue to have the usual equipment break downs that happen on boats. We had problems with the holding tank, which refused to empty (don't laugh Stephen!!). We had to pump it out and Craig actually got in the water to clear the pipe which was fairly solid with crunchy stuff. Seems to be OK at the moment, however we are gathering all the info that we can to stop it happening again. Not a pleasant job! Poor Anna just missed out on a trip on another boat so gave us a hand to fix it. She was a real trooper!
Our outboard motor for the dinghy was also damaged during the storms off Albania which we discovered when we went to use it last week and it wouldn't turn off. Once again a trip to our favourite maintenance man has solved our problem and a new part has been ordered.
As the title of this blog suggests, we continue to have fun and games. The marina has been abuzz with activity over the last few days as there is some sort of yacht regatta happening soon. There is testosterone everywhere (and some people that you don't mind seeing in DT's!). There have been TV cameras up and down the pontoons almost constantly filming all the super yachts.
The other excitement was a fire on a boat 3 berths down from us last night. Craig had gone up town and I was on the boat alone when I smelled burning. I looked out to see smoke pouring out of a hatch and a couple of guys running around the boat. I tried to help where I could and loaned them a fire extinguisher, hoses etc. The boat on the other side pulled away from the pontoon and I was beginning to think that I should do the same. Craig was nowhere to be seen and then appeared sauntering up the pontoon. Three fire engines arrived and soon the fire was under control. I spoke to the poor owner this morning who told me that there had been more damage done by the water that was poured in (they had been at dinner when the fire started!) than by the fire itself, however he did appreciate that people were only trying to save his boat. I felt so sorry for them!!
Anyway, I am being hassled by Craig as usual. We are taking this window of opportunity to pop over to the West coast of Italy where we know some people near Salerno and have to leave soon to get the ferry to Bari where we will then hire a car and drive to the B & B. Shirley will be safe and sound in the marina here and we might as well do something while I am out of action. I will be in touch soon and hopefully will be able to get some pictures up. We will be back on board on the 20th of June and will then be heading south.

Take care everyone. Talk soon.
xx Lesley

Storms gathering off Albania!

Greek hospitality, hospital style!

After surviving 3 days at sea in storms I tripped in the marina and hurt my elbow. It didn't seem too bad at first, however about midnight I was decidedly uncomfortable and Craig, fed up with my whingeing, decided that we should let someone have a look at it.
We phoned a taxi who turned out to be a lovely local guy called Vassilus who drove at ambulance type speeds to the local hospital and gave us instructions on where to go. What a gentleman!
We wandered into the (very basic, tired looking) hospital and looked for the reception desk where we expected to fill out the usual reems of paperwork. Instead we found an old guy in white scrubs who disappeared behind a door and called out to someone. Very soon afterwards, a young man (quite cute, but very serious and harassed looking) in green scrubs, with the usual remnants of plastering materials approached us. We assumed he was the doctor.
His examination was brief and in a few sentences of very good English extracted the history of my fall. I wasn't even drunk!! He squeezed my shoulder, my wrist and then my elbow just to make sure that I was telling the truth and then scribbled something on a piece of paper and told us to take a seat to wait for an x-ray.
Within minutes a very good looking young lady in a white lab coat approached and apologised for keeping us waiting. Craig cheered up significantly at this stage! I was whisked into the x-ray room and had some plain films taken of my elbow. We were then scuttled back across to the 'doctor' who announced after a brief look at the x-rays (no viewing box by the way) that there did not appear to be anything broken, however he would put my arm in a cast for pain relief purposes and I should attend the fracture clinic on Thursday morning at 9.30 am. The back slab was applied in a practised manner with a nurse who did not appear to speak any English assisting. There was the usual obligatory mess on the floor of course!
Please recall that we did not fill in any paperwork, had no medical history taken and no base line observations. My name was written on the x-rays as 'Lesly Haty'. I was asked if I was on any medication and when I announced that I had reflux he scribbled something on another bit of paper and asked if I had ever had Ponstan and I should take the piece of paper (which I assumed was a prescription) to a pharmacy in the morning. I was told that if my fingers turned blue or black I should return to the hospital to have the cast removed or remove it myself!
I was then asked if I am allergic to anything and was stabbed in the left buttock with something in a syringe and we left. There was no charge and the whole process had taken around 25 minutes. We called a cab and waited, during which time I noticed a large lump about the size of a cricket ball developing in the afore mentioned left butt cheek! Ah well..... it did take my mind off the pain in my elbow.
We went to the pharmacy the following morning armed with passports, travel insurance documents and my 'prescription'. I had a box of ponstan handed to me and was charged about $3! My name wasn't put on anything and the 'prescription' was handed back to me.
On Thursday morning we arrived at the allocated time to attend the fracture clinic. We followed the small stream of people on crutches and with various limbs in slings to stand outside a door with Greek writing on it. We assumed we were in the right place! My lovely cheerful doctor from Tuesday night appeared and confirmed this was the case and told us to wait. There were no chairs, no coffee machines etc etc and there did not appear to be any semblance of an orderly queue that we British so love. Just this closed door with Greek writing. As one person came out, another one entered.
My lovely cheerful doctor (who I assume was a resident or registrar) had told us on Tuesday night that he had been working from 9am in the morning and would finish at 3am the following day and would have a few hours rest before he had to do surgery. He still looked as if he hadn't slept and had merely donned a white coat over the green scrubs. He seemed to be picking who should be seen next and a small child was ushered in with a shout of 'Ella' as we continued to wait. I was ushered in next and a poor guy who had been standing there longer than all of us continued to wait (fairly) patiently.
Behind the mysterious door there were 3 older gentlemen sitting behind 3 separate desks in a fairly small space. No idea what happened to patient confidentiality! I was just happy that I wasn't there to see a gynaecologist..... I assumed that the 'three' were the orthopaedic surgeons. I was led over to one of them who addressed me in fluent Greek and I stood in front of him feeling like a naughty schoolgirl. My young cheerful doctor interpreted for me. The big boss took a quick look at my x-ray (once again no viewing box) and there was a quick dialogue between them in Greek. I was asked if I still had any pain and being a wee jessie I had to admit that I did. The decision was make to leave the cast on and that I should return again on Tuesday to have it removed. The whole thing took about 60 seconds!!
I got bored with the back slab yesterday and took it off. My arm is still pretty stiff and sore but I declined the offer to return to the fracture clinic again. Couldn't stand the excitement! I'll just live with things the way they are I think..........
All in all an interesting experience!
More soon...
xx
Lesley (Shirley Valentine)