FRIDGE OFF AGAIN AND GOOD SAILING CONDITIONS RETURN – Days 76 - 80

FRIDGE OFF AGAIN AND GOOD SAILING CONDITIONS RETURN – 9 – 13 July, Days 76 - 80

It was starting to feel like we were becoming a permanent feature in the beautiful Lakka Bay on Paxos as we went ashore on Monday to the pebble beach before the afternoon swell started to roll in there. We put everything possible on charge and connected with the world again. We don’t want to drain the ship batteries unnecessarily.

Coffee progressed to stuffed vine leaves and fried white bait with bread. We needed almost 4 hours to charge the new power bank which is a useful addition to our equipment.

We walked to the little town to buy bread and did not see such wild water with white horses as we had on the previous days so we decided to up anchor and sail with the wind down the coast, past the busy harbour of Gaios and into the tiny bay of Monganisi anchoring in flat water 1.5 m deep. As we left Lakka we noticed the fridge was off again so kept the motor running longer than otherwise as we sailed. We anchored as far in as possible passing anchored yachts and the large group of mostly Sunsail charter boats which had come in early and occupied the whole quayside, a flotilla I suppose.

I noticed that one of the leads to the movable solar panel had become disconnected and perhaps with only half solar power, perhaps for a few days, we had perhaps found the reason for our problems.

We walked back to Gaios in the failing light and enjoyed the bustle of the full harbour of this capital of the island. We arrived home after midnight to find the fridge on but as soon as we switched on cabin lights it went off again. We can use a rechargeable LED light to save ship batteries.

On Tuesday morning we ran the motor for half an hour and it was functioning again.

Wanting coffee we tried to light the gas stove but the bottle was empty so we changed to the next one.

Sunsail left and Neilson fleet replaced them at the quay. We relaxed before walking ashore and taking a beer at the café with perfect sunset location.

We waited until Wednesday morning and less swell to motor early to the famous turquoise water of Antipaxos and took our place just outside the swim zone. It felt like the goal for the family holiday had been reached. The pilot book shows the two anchorages on the East side to be suitable for day stops but of course a few yachts had been there overnight. Like Malta’s Blue Lagoon peace and tranquillity does not last long as one tourist boat after another came in but we enjoyed being there. It was a chance for Lidia to have her first experience of snorkelling. “Why didn’t I do this before” she said after getting over the initial fear of mask and snorkel and I swam to the shore with her holding hands. Full of new confidence she swam back to the boat.

We wanted to use the afternoon wind for good sailing and headed across towards the mainland and the beautiful Sivota Islands anchoring in flat water in End Bay (Fourth Bay).

The staff of the water sports centre came early to get the kayaks and dinghies ready for the clients and soon a tourist boat anchored by us. More boats followed but what a lovely place from 5 pm to 9 am. The feature of this beautiful spot is the sandbar over which people walk with water up to their knees.

We needed provisions and walked ashore to the little town of Mourtos finding a good supermarket.

Back at the boat we swam to cool off as temperatures were reaching 30 Celcius now and planned to use a favourable but light wind to make progress towards Corfu Town depending on the wind. Once at the west side of the islands the wind was fickle and a small swell from the gap between Paxos and Antipaxos had the sails slating so after 20 minutes the motor went on again to assist motor sailing and to run the fridge. The solar and motor have not topped up the depleted batteries so we have to run the motor sometimes to cool the fridge until we get to shore power to give the batteries a good charge again. We have not tried yet the little town harbours as it is not so easy to take our boat in after dropping anchor ahead.

A little wind came and we sailed very slowly to Petriti, a non-touristy fishing port but with shelter from prevailing NW winds. Many yachts were anchored there and we found a tap to fill some water bottles.

The family fly early from Corfu on Sunday morning and we have strong NW wind warnings for afternoons so at their choice we motored on Friday morning back to Corfu Town, anchoring under the fort again so they can enjoy the Town again.

Walking in the evening around this lovely town we were reminded of the many swallows flying around (or are they swifts?) and making beautiful song. 

Back at the boat we were bombarded with loud music ashore until 5 am on Saturday. All equipment was dead so the Saturday task is to go ashore to charge everything and buy fresh fruit and vegetables.