We might need to come up with a new favourite place in the Ionian since Gaios is infested with rats! Pargas might be a good alternative. It's a large bay on the mainland coast and offers excellent shelter as long as the wind is not from the South or Southwest -- where it offers no shelter at all.This is rare as predominant winds in the Ionian are Northwest.
The beach at Pargas is crowded (I mean covered!) with 100's of lounge chairs -- they offer free showers, free change room, and free lifeguards, but the costs 7.50 Euros ... Interesting advertising.
To get to Pargas town you have two ways -- climb up and down a very steep hill -- think Esquimalt between 11th and 9th street in West Van, or hail a water taxi that goes around the fort and deposits you in the midst of downtown. We being the frugal types look at the 3 Euro fare as 3x3x2 or 18 euros -- that could buy ten 500ml Heinekens in a restaurant! We're taking the dinghy in, pulling it up on the sand, and walking to town thank-you-very-much.
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| Centre of the photo is Bonnie Blue up on the beach. |
We decided to go to dinner at Romantika, a restaurant we have visited before that affords an excellent view of the bay we anchor in. Marcel and Yelena also joined us for a drink -- it was their 7th anniversary and we were really pleased to be able to share it with them.
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| Our table and the view behind...Tara is on the right. |
After dinner we took a walk as we were on a mission to buy some special "bottle openers" for friends and family. We found them at a great price and size and look forward to handing them out to friends.
Our night in Pargas represented the penultimate night on board Tara for 2016. It is always sad leaving the boat although we had a lot of anxiety looking for evidence of rodents -- which we are pleased to say there wasn't any. Marina had a last swim at Pargas and we needed to head to Preveza. While Port Police are open 24x7, Customs is not open on weekends, so I wanted to get there early enough to the put the boat into "bond". I didn't do this the first two years we were at Cleopatra and it cost me $1,500 in fees ... Hard lessons are lessons that are remembered.
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| Arriving in Preveza at the town. |
Marina and I were on Tara, Ross was riding with Joost on Tomskii. We dropped a hook and I took off in the dinghy to do my paperwork. I finished just as Tomskii arrived and we both backed into the quay in Preveza and had one more night out on the town.
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| Tomskii arriving at Preveza |
Marina and Yalena ordered a bunch of appetizers that everyone shared -- except Joost who wanted a pork steak. We went back to the boat and bid our goodbyes to the Tomskii team who are off to Rocella Ionica on the Italian coast -- I guess they have a hankering for Pizza.
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There is an arcade in Preveza...packed at
midnight with kids...and Matt and Ross. |
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| How could they pass this up? |
Tomskii pulled out at 05:00 having just over 200 miles to cover. We got up a little late, did some marketing in Preveza and then pulled out to anchor and take the sails down. We arrived at Cleopatra about 11:30 for our 13:00 haul out. We folded the sails and organized ourselves for the 2 day boat preparation marathon that is decommissioning.
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| Tara ready at the lift berth. |
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Photo from Tara on the hard to Ross waving from the balcony of his
room at Cleopatra. |
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