The Next Couple of Days

We woke up around 8:30 and discovered the powerboat beside us had already bugged out ... and nobody woke up. How excellent is that? I woke up and headed up the dock .. after a quick visit to the awesome flushing toilet, I bought some ice and fizzy water and brought it back to the boat. I had noticed that they had camping gas at the store so I gathered up our old bottle and walked back up the dock. Marina hasn't figured it out yet but I am trying to stockpile steps. She gets a 15% premium (for her short yet shapely legs) if we walk the same distance so I need all the help and subterfuge I can. We managed to exit Gouvia without sucking anything into a propeller and headed back to Mandraki. It's supposed to blow pretty hard today so we want shelter from the NW wind. Spending time in the Ionian is a bit like sailing in English Bay ... you start to shit bricks when the wind gets above 15 knots. We have a well found vessel with an experienced crew ... so ... we've got to stretch ourselves a little bit over the next couple of weeks otherwise we might just as well be power boaters. After anchoring in Mandraki we headed into town to do some souvenir spending and to get some more steps on our FitBits. Jessie picked out a nice new linen shirt for me, now I can look like an authentic Greek. 

The walking streets of Corfu Town

We had lunch in town and we were thrilled to find the best burger place in Greece (so far)! They were amazing...very hard to find a decent hamburger here - souvlaki and gyros no problem, but burgers are usually frozen 1/4 inch patties with 4 inch buns. 

The burger joint...

The burger. 

After shopping we went back to the boat, made a dinner of BBQ sausages and salad, then to bed.

We bugged out of Corfu Mandraki in the morning as we decided to spend some time in less travelled areas. The Lakka, Antipaxos tour is special but very much oversubscribed. Also, the less that we’re willing to do some “out there” things with the boat the more that we become the Chicken Littles that often populate marinas … you know the type, the cruising sailors that don’t want to go very far, sail in much wind or take a challenge. We came across a few of these in Gouvia. Live-aboards with 6 inches of growth on the bottom, no sails in the rigging and more than a little eccentric.  

We put our big-boy pants on, weighed anchor and decided to find a place along the coast that looks good. We went past a few bays and settled on Kalami – turns out we were there almost exactly four years ago on August 1, 2013 on our way back from Croatia. We ended up powering all night racing against thunderstorms and it took about 10 hours longer than we had figured. After about 30 hours of powering we pulled into Kalami and went to The White House restaurant for breakfast. Four years later, life repeats itself… except for the 30 hours or so that we spent powering was more like 3 hours. 

Jess is dealing with both being parented by a ratio of two:one and also that her friend Hugh went home. She has a heat rash on her legs so she is hiding from the sun reading books and watching the occasional movie until it subsides.  

Marina and I left her below and went out for a SUP paddle and a swim, and then we beached the SUPs to walk through town – if you can call 100 meters with a half-dozen storefronts a town. We encountered many friendly people and went into a tourist store where the proprietor invited us to go for a drink at her bar above the Super Mario store for happy hour that evening. That sounded good to us … then we thought we might have dinner out at the White House restaurant … beats cooking on board. 

Taverna White House

That afternoon we each had a workout in the cockpit and got good and hot before diving in the water. There must be a spring or some kind of cold-water influx into Kalami since the water temperature was around 24 degrees … better than perfect conditions for Vancouver, a little bit chilly for here. We were anchored near Calypso of Cowes, a 70 foot traditional ketch with a British Family on it. 

Calypso

Marina made friends with the captain as our boats drifted to within 5-10 meters of each other when the wind dropped off. Our solution was to put the boat into reverse to stretch out our chain while letting out another 5 meters or so. Problem solved.

After another swim and cocktail hour appies and drinks, we pumped up Bonnie and headed into the White House dock. We told them we were going to take a walk and we went to the Kalami Bar above the Super Mario supermarket for Happy Hour. Turns out we were the only ones there … funny, bars that are so much fun when they’re full can seem quite pathetic when empty.  Then the owner that invited us to come arrived with her 8 month old puppy “Scooby”, a mixed breed dog of about 25 kilos with short brown hair and a handsome face. 

Scooby

Marina and Jess are missing Kida so went to see him immediately. He was very orally fixated biting and gnawing everything he could. If you ask me, his bite inhibition could be a bit better (ouch!) but it was pretty good for a dog that was on the street just a little while ago. 

After our happy hour drink we went to the White House and got a waterfront seat for dinner. 

Our view from dinner...Tara is the white sailboat at centre. 

The entertainment was watching a Pershing 54 powerboat (very sleek) with twin 1200HP Mann diesels move off the dock to anchor out. The moment he put the boat in gear it shot off like a rocket – I’d guess he idles at about 10 knots, so to maneuver he had to go in and out of neutral with these incredible bursts of power. Boy I’d like to see that baby run full-out. Apparently, they cruise at 35 with a top of 45 knots. Hmmm … get to Lakka in 45 minutes. Leave Lakka for Lefkas and be there in an hour … sounds good to me. I’d guess his fuel curve might be worse than that of Tara’s slow cruise though – 2 liters per hour vs. something like 500 liters an hour …slight operating expense differential!

We managed our way back to the boat safely and got everything sorted for an overnight stay.