Our last three days at anchor on Exotica in Bathyobali, just seven nautical miles from Lefkas Marina, could not have been nicer. We were even had a short sail to our destination ending with a close reach right up to the anchorage. We could see the anchor in the sand through the crystal water, swam in the heat of the day but noticed the weather was turning autumnal, time to go home.

 This bay gets busy with tourist boats during the day but towards sunset  they all clear out and leave only a few yachts at anchor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final swim in Greek waters on the early morning of Saturday September 2nd was in still, warm, velvety water. It was a bit of a wrench taking up the anchor and motoring back to the marina…… motoring up the Lefkas channel for the last time.

 

 

So we thought we’d broken the back of packing up but it was then a frenzy of activity for the last two days. The washing machine worked overtime, thankfully, the weather was warm and sunny so so sheets, pillows and cushion covers dried happily on the foredeck. Cleaning the boat from top to bottom, throwing out unused items, food and drink and preparing the boat for sale.  The idea being to leave it in readiness for a prospective purchaser to sail away immediately.

We’d bought the biggest suitcase we could find and filled it with the treasures we couldn’t bear to leave behind. Sadly, our expandable hose was just too heavy and bulky to make the journey to Sydney. 

 

We were too busy and exhausted by the end of it on Sunday September 3rd to be too sentimental about leaving Exotica. We struggled with the three suitcases and all the near empty bottles of booze to the marina hotel. Fell into the pool and watched the sun set from our balcony while making sure we emptied the bottles.

 

 

 

A few final photographs and a ten year adventure has come to an end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope a future purchaser of Exotica will derive as much pleasure from this wonderful boat as we have.

THE END

 

The winds in this part of the Ionian are predominantly north westerly and since the islands are situated in a north – south direction it means that when travelling south you have a good following breeze but when returning north it is headwinds all the way.

For this reason, we stayed five days in the reasonably sheltered harbour at Methoni on the far south of the Peloponnese waiting for the strong northerlies to abate so that we could return to Lefkas for our next visitors. There is a very shallow reef off the old castle headland where some pretty big swell flowed into the bay causing us considerable rolling when we were side-on.

 

We found two mini-markets to stock up on supplies but not a can of tonic in either. The fresh fruit and vegetables were a far better quality than the street vendor, who we did support reluctantly, at a far inflated cost. Modon became our restaurant of choice, fabulous tuna.

 

 

 

Finally on Wednesday August 9^th we weighed anchor at 06.15 motoring in a light breeze but a very lumpy sea. What little wind there was turned SE then by 13.00 increased to a southerly enabling us the sail the remainder of the 70.9 NM to Lagana Bay on Zakynthos, an eleven-hour passage.

 

The excitement of the day was our first and only sighting of a pod of dolphins and being buzzed by a Greek air force jet which came with a terrific noise at what felt like just above the mast head.  I hope it gave him a thrill.

 

 

 

 

 

We motored 27nm in light winds from Lagana Bay but after three hours the afternoon sea breeze set in with a vengeance, so the last hour was a slog against wind and sea to St Nikolaos. Costas was there to place his mooring line on the bow in 20 knots, then took 38 metres of our anchor chain to give extra protection. We dined at his restaurant, as one must, the fish soup for Terry did not disappoint.

We wanted an early start the next morning but when we came to weigh the anchor it was absolutely stuck.  We finally managed to contact Costas who, after some time, organised a diver who worked for an hour of free diving to try to dislodge the tip from another anchor on the seabed. Another diver was called, also free diving in 6 metres, who finally worked out a way to separate the anchors and free us to proceed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a two-hour delay however and meant that we had an uncomfortable motor into a strong headwind and lumpy waves in the open sea between Zakynthos and Cephalonia.  Once into sheltered water it was an easy motor to Filiatro on Ithaca which has become one of our favourite places. Normally anchoring is a piece of cake in this bay but a pesky Maltese motorboat thought we were too close to him so we moved, motored around trying to find room, having nearly given up and move to another bay two Italian boats upped sticks leaving us plenty of room. We were, however, a little over the boundary for swimmers and was politely warned by a passing swimmer to move, as there is a hefty fine if anchored in restricted zones. We were a little over anchoring by the final attempt.

On August 12^th, after fifteen days ‘at sea’ we made it back to our berth in Lefkas Marina.  It had taken four days to do the 156 miles from the bottom of the Peloponnese.

Our next guests Carmen and Anthony arrived on August 17^th,  we set off the next day to Ithaca.  Once out of the channel going south, we picked up a steady breeze from the northwest building to 22 knots and suddenly were dashing along under headsail alone with speeds up to 10.9 knots.  It was a champagne sail for us but less so for our guests who were glad to see the anchor go down in Aeteo, a wide and quiet harbour close to the capital of Ithaca – Vathy.

Again, to Filiatro to introduce our crew to the surly maitre d’ at Kirki Taverna, lamb chops were off but the stuffed bream sufficed.

This year is busier than we have ever known in the Ionian and getting a restaurant booking in Vathy was impossible, so booked into Dimitri’s taverna in the north east of the bay. Dimitri has a concrete wharf which we tied up to last year but again the afternoon nor’wester came in early so dropping the anchor, reversing and throwing lines to reluctant other boat owners (Dimitri was nowhere to be seen) in 20 knot side winds was just too uncomfortable, so we anchored near the town with the intention of going ashore for supermarket supplies, however, the wind did not abate so we raided the fridge and cooked up an excellent roasted vegetables.

Next morning, we again had a fouled anchor where another boat had laid their chain across ours.  Fortunately, this was easy to untangle and did not delay our departure for a more gentle passage to Lefkas so that our guests could catch their plane home. Well, after being bumped from their booked British Airways flight, they were lucky there was another flight to Heathrow that night which they were allowed on by the skin of their teeth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a few days to kill before our next and final guest arrived and so we proceeded to our favourite, Goat Bay, (Navily App calls it Bathyobali, which I rather like) close to Lefkas hoping for some comfortable nights. 

 

 

However, awakened August 22^nd to a dense smoke haze from wildfires burning hundreds of kilometres to the north of Greece. The smoke was really unpleasant and persisted for a couple of days, even in Filiatro, which we retreated to. Our son and daughter-in-law were also threatened by wildfires in Sun Peaks at this time. They were only  six kilometres from those fires, a much more worrying scenario, thankfully they escaped this time.

On August 23^rd our last guest arrived.  Angela was one of the very first guests on Exotica ten years ago so it was fitting that she should be here at the end. The weather was warm and calm for the four days she was with us, unfortunately we did no sailing but stayed in our favourite bays and swam frequently. 

We were entertained when the Coastguard boarded a French boat which had anchored right in the middle of the swimming buoys in Filiatro , swam ashore to the bar so the authorities were far from pleased to find the boat unattended. Sirens blarred for some time before the guilty owner swam back and was accosted by very angry Officers. They demanded the boats papers, spent an hour on board and finally departed having left or collected a hefty fine. We were very glad we had moved last time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While reclining before dinner Julie was stung on the toe by a wasp.  She screamed and was badly shaken.  She thought Tea Tree oil would fix it but her foot became quite swollen and even some days later there was a nidus of infection and considerable discomfort. Antibiotics followed.  Incision and drainage with exploration of the wound has made some improvement.   Despite there being a few wasps around we have never been attacked before. We are now burning coffee grounds which some believe repel the little critters.

We had to make a late afternoon move when we saw a wedding party being set up at the Filiatro beach restaurant.  The last time this happened the loud music continued until 3 am.  So, we quickly weighed anchor and motored for an hour round the corner to a peaceful haven before the next rain storm came.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angela left us the next day, we then proceeded with the arduous task of going through every drawer and locker on the boat, deciding what we will leave on the board, what we will take with us and what to throw away. Every bilge has been emptied and cleaned, bedding washed and packed neatly into the cabins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By August 30^th we have got most of the job done and the packing started so have slipped away for three days at anchor in Bathyobali before finally saying goodbye to Exotica and heading home to Australia.

Passages North and South

July 23^rd. 2023

 

We left the busy port of Zakinthos Town with the intention of an overnight anchor in our favourite Ithacan bay, deep in the bay of Vathi but after motoring in no wind for 38NM we spotted a pretty  beach on the Ithacan east coast which proved to be a ‘new favourite’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filiatro is a beach for locals and tourists from Vathi, which is over a steep hill. A bar selling 10 Euro cocktails and Taverna Kirki, who place burning coffee grounds in tin foil containers on your table to discourage wasps. The food is good and plentiful, it was worth the row into the beach (as our outboard puttered to a stop) although the maitre’d lacks charm. We anchored in 7m of sand, the turquoise water a relief from the still intense heat. So beautiful we stayed two nights before the 26NM motor, again in no wind and intense heat to our marina berth in Lefkas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The outboard was serviced, a new water pump for the air conditioning before meeting with the local boat broker in the Marina. A Brit working for a British company, he has been their representative in Lefkas for fifteen years. They were impressed by our ten page inventory which had taken hours to compile.

How lucky to be able to access operas and concerts while on board.

July 27^th

A strong NW front blew for twelve hours clearing the intense heat of the last two weeks, leaving warm, sunny, settled weather. RSYS members Amanda and Alan joined us for a week.

On our passage south, back to Filiatro, we had unexpected W-NW 12-20 knots of wind which gave us a sleigh ride to Ithaca. We dined ashore but were wary of the wedding banquet set up on the beach, a beautiful bride and groom complete with two small children but that didn’t stop them partying to Greek music until 03.00.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terry wanted more fish soup from Port St Nikolaos in northern Zakinthos so a 31NM, five hour passage. The last two hours sailing with a double reef in 15-20 knots. In strong winds Carlos placed his mooring buoy on our bow then took 46m anchor chain into the bay.

The fish soup did not disappoint.

 

We motored the entire four hour passage to Keri in Lagana Bay on July 30^th. Anchored in 2.5m sandy bottom, swam, saw a turtle, dined on board and had a calm, peaceful night. The following morning a turtle, named Pedro apparently, swam right up to Exotica so we felt we’d achieved all that Lagana Bay had to offer, in a split second decision with our enthusiastic, adventurous crew decided to head towards the Peloponnese. The weather forecast being settled.

We needed to fill up with water and charge the batteries so decided the port of Katakolon would provide these. It’s 25 NM from the south of Zakinthos, some of which we could sail using the headsail on a run. As we approached there was an enormous cruise ship sailing out of the harbour and another about to leave. They stop here for passengers to visit Ancient Olympia, but the town quay for yachts is very ordinary, adjoins a dusty carpark, with new electricity and water posts which were not only expensive but would cut out after ten minutes. The recommended taverna was appalling, a lesson to learn, do not order seafood pasta in a Greek restaurant, leave it to the Italians.

August 1^st we couldn’t wait to get out of Katakolon but a boat who had tied up after us had dropped his anchor over ours. It took Terry, with the help of Amanda, who got into the water to place a line under their anchor, to free ours, a good half an hour while the perpetrator of this predicted inconvenience sat snuggly in his cockpit completely unaware.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had no idea where we’d stop on the west coast but a lovely breeze came in so we  sailed for some of the 56NM to the sou’western tip, the small town of Methoni, protected by a huge castle in ruins.

 

 

This town has been inhabited and mentioned in records from 8^th-7^th century BC, even then known for it’s wine-making. It was occupied by Philip 11 of Macedon 354BC. In 1125 Venetians invaded and destroyed the walls, to be rebuilt after the IVth Crusade in 1204. From 1206 to 1500 Methoni was under Venetian rule becoming the of the most crucial commercial centres of the eastern Mediterranean, along with Koroni, Crete and Cyprus.  In 1500 Sultan Bayezit conquers and slaughters the inhabitants replacing them with Ottomans. 1685-1715 there is a second Venetian rule.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We anchored in sand with 2m under the keel, swam, dined on board and watched the full moon rise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All good things must come to an end. Amanda and Alan had to get to Athens airport and we have to get 170NM north to Lefkas but strong winds were forecast in a few days so on August 3^rd we sailed from Methoni to Kalamata marina, 33NM, for shelter.  It’s a run down marina but has electricity and water, at a price. Our crew treated us to the best Greek food we have tasted at Notias on the front, thinking it would be the first of many meals over the next few days.

 

 

But not us, early on the 4^th, we farewelled our crew deciding to get back into Ionian islands before the blow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After motoring into the wind and sea for five hours we were back to Methoni, thinking the wind would enable us to sail up the coast we turned right after the reef to find the wind followed us and we would still be bashing into wind and sea. An executive decision and we turned around, the plan to sit out the winds in Methoni bay. It’s now the 6^th, first night was calm, yesterday we found a mini market to provision. Julie got into the dinghy and rubbed the hull with Jiff to remove the horrible streaks Sailand had not cleaned after they treated the teak decks. Amazing what elbow grease can achieve.

 

We treated ourselves with an excellent meal ashore of tuna and bream before the first rain we have seen since UK fell at 21.00, just enough to wash the decks.

 

 

The predicted winds began from the nor’west at midnight by 02.00 a swell coming around the point found us securing things we hadn’t stowed, so not much sleep.

 

 

 

We are getting quite used to the swell now, which comes side-on, we suspect it will only get worse until the wind eases, but it’s a beautiful bay, we have 50m of chain in 2m depth beneath the keel, we feel secure, no more rain forecast. Terry is varnishing the cockpit table and Julie is writing the blog. We are sorry we didn’t get to see the city of Kalamata or eat their olives but the thought of sitting in a hot marina for five or six days was too much, because guess what, the air conditioner isn’t working again!

Monday August 7th, the wind and sea have calmed a little but more forecast tomorrow, so we’ll sit tight and enjoy this stunning bay until Wednesday then make our way north.

 

July 22, 2023

After eight delightfully gruelling weeks of travelling for music, we returned to Exotica in Lefkas Marina on July 10^th.

We managed to negotiate flights on Thai, Swiss Air, Ryanair, BA and Easyjet without loosing any luggage (maybe thanks to our Apple luggage trackers) and only one change of flight time. We hired three different cars in UK, only the first, Hertz, was a shocker and seem to have counted our Schengen allowance successfully, with three days to spare.

Terry’s sister generously hosted us off and on for eights weeks, it was special to spend time with her and her family after the long Covid break. We stayed with friends in Wales, Surrey, Sussex, Bedfordshire, London and York.   Add to that a couple of Airbnb’s and two trips to Leipzig, we have slept in 20 different beds, not counting the airlines.

 

The music began in Leipzig for the Mahler Festival, all ten of his symphonies performed by the great orchestras of Europe. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took a train to the fascinating city of Strasbourg before eight of us toured the Champagne area of northern France for four days. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in and near Eperany with it’s spectacular Avenue de Champagne, where we had a fascinating, and tasty, Vintage tour of Moet and Chandon (yes, you pronounce the ‘t’ as the Moet’s came from Holland). All other Houses we toured were small family owned.  One was eighth generation who used many of the traditional methods. We all developed a huge respect for the highly controlled liquid gold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to England via a night in Paris, before the riots, but there was an atmosphere of unrest even in the Marais district.  

 

 

 

 

 

Five days back to UK for Longborough Opera’s Gotterdammerung conducted by Anthony Negus with Brad Daley from Queenland’s Gold Coast singing Siegfried as he did in Melbourne Opera’s Bendigo Ring Cycle in April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Leipzig for the Bach Festival plus an excellent production of Giulio Cesare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a feast of operas, L’elisir d’amore and The Dialogue of the Carmelites at Glyndebourne, Tristan and Isolde at Grange Park, Don Carlos at Covent Garden and Ariadne auf Naxos at Garsington.

 

 

Now, a dearth of culture while we have our Mediterranean swansong. Exotica had been looked after well in Lefkas Marina and so on the 15^th July we set sail, for what we thought would be a sea trial.  However the weather is so settled, albeit very hot, so we have stayed at sea, the coolest place. We have, however, had only one great sail, our first day, between Lefkas and Ithaca, an unexpected southerly turning to sou’west 12-19 knots gave us a sleigh ride with full sails to our favourite Ithacan anchorage, where we spent two nights.

 

We have always wanted to visit Zakinthos, the most southerly of the Ionian islands, so a 36nm passage motoring in mostly variable breezes took us to the north of the island, Port Nikolaos. There Costas meets you in the harbour, shows you to one of his moorings, ties you up then lays 35 metres of your anchor to secure you for the night, or two in our case. He generously shouted us a drink at his bar on the second night before we, again, dined at his family taverna, where Terry had the best fish soup ever. This is the condition for your free mooring.   The water was beautifully clear and clean, no music from bars, just a parade of small tourist boats taking bus loads of people to see the blue caves in the north.

A 29nm motor to the south-eastern tip of Zakinthos where we anchored in a very small area allowed to boats in the enormous, shallow, crystal clear Lagana Bay, a National Marine Park.  This is ‘a landmark in the history of environmental protection in Greece’. Mainly for the protection of Loggerhead Sea Turtles, of which there are many, who lay their eggs in the protected beaches. Doof, doof music from the beach bars and hotels nearly turned us away but the second night was quiet.  One was just aware of young people’s chat from the beach at 0600, presumably the revellers who stayed up all night to watch the sunrise before falling into bed avoiding the heat of the day.

 

 

The need for shore power has us in Zakynthos Town, a busy port with frequent ferries arriving from the Peloponnese.  It is only 28nm away and many come here to work. Again, bus loads of tourists take boat tours and there is even a cruise ship anchored offshore today.  Our air conditioner was successfully fixed so being in the harbour is bearable.

Brexit and the rules which ordain that Terry, too, may only stay in the Schengen area for ninety days has significantly limited our time on Exotica.  This year, because of our month in Berlin and Leipzig we have had only eight weeks aboard.

Nonetheless, the weather has been so perfect in Ionian Greece,  It has been the best year ever of our sailing odyssey.  Suffice to say, we no longer feel we have to do long distances to end up in a different place each winter.  We now have a permanent base in Lefkas which is the centre of a splendid cruising ground, with multiple islands and bays for anchoring and turquoise water for swimming.  It’s also important to stay in Greek waters to avoid the administrative complications UK registered boats now have after Brexit.  We have spent more nights at anchor than ever before and only paid for three nights in marinas.

Having returned from Corfu to avoid some inclement weather we decided to hire a car for a roadtrip to explore the Peloponnese.  It was too far to sail there but an easy drive by car, five days motoring over 850 km through this peninsula which forms the southernmost part of Greece, dividing the Ionian from the Aegean.  The Peloponnese abounds in sites of ancient city states, such as Sparta, Mycenae, Olympia and Argos, which made up the Greek civilization from about 1,500 BC to 400 BC.

We drove past the sprawling capitol, Patras, down the west coast to Ancient Olympia, where the ruins of many ancient buildings are extensive.  Of particular note is the Temple of Hera, where every four years they light the Olympic Torch.  This is done by the action of the sun concentrated by a parabolic mirror.  Julie met a shopkeeper who claimed that her brother was one of the athletes who lit the flame for four Olympic Games, including Sydney in 2000. Hotel Europa, once we wound our way high above the ancient sites through tiny backstreets of the town, was the most comfortable, friendliest family hotel one could find. Balconies overlooking a beautiful pool and taverna under olive trees with mountains in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Ancient Olympia we motored east across the width of the Peloponnese, through high mountains with storms brewing (thankfully we were on the edge of one ferocious storm which had us quite worried we may have done hail damage to our expensive rental!) to Nafplio, a small but attractive seaport which was for a very brief time, the first capital of Greece when it became an independent country from the Turks in the mid 1800’s.  Athens soon stepped in and took over.  Nafplio is now a busy tourist town with two impressive fortresses high above it.  However, the hotel we stayed in was large and soulless.

The highlight was our visit to the excavated site of the Mycenae, particularly as Julie is attending the opera Elektra in a couple of weeks. Once the most powerful of the city states and the starting point of much myth and legend.  The leader of the Greeks in the Trojan war came from Mycenae and the ruling House of Atreus was steeped in blood.  Some of the tombs to be found on the site are credited with legendary names of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus but there is no supporting evidence for this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to Exotica for our final ten days and immediately took off to our favourite bay, Ormos Varko, which we call Goat Bay.  This time we saw plenty of goats to justify the name.  The water is shallow and clear, the anchor holding excellent and the music from the beach bar only really tiresome on a Saturday evening.  Otherwise, it is heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only uncomfortable time in the whole seven weeks was the next night spent at anchor in a wide and shallow bay near Palairos on the mainland.  Just before dark a huge electrical storm arose from the mountains and all we could do was put out a further 30 metres of anchor chain and wait for it.  Fortunately, although it rained heavily the wind didn’t get above 30 knots and we were comfortable and safe.

 

Downside was it was impossible to get to the excellent taverna on the beach, so the cook had to rustle up a meal made up of left overs on board, Salami Risotto, not bad at all.

 

 

 

 

Our final night was spent in Ormos Vliho where we tied up to a jetty belonging to the taverna across the street and had an excellent meal on a deck with water lapping, before a quiet night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now back in Lefkas for three days of washing and cleaning and all the jobs necessary to put Exotica to bed for the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, Julie returns to Australia direct from Athens while Terry will be in England for ten days visiting friends and relatives.

This has been the most amazing summer in Greece. Never have we had such continuous fine weather. Day after day of warm sun with a little breeze in the afternoon and quiet, still nights. We’ve spent most at anchor in bays, some solitary and some, such as Lakka on the island of Paxos, full of at least 50 boats. Although sheltered it’s very shallow there, we anchor in 1.5m under the keel, and I dread to think what it must be like if there is a strong blow.

A night in Lefkas to put the new washing machine into action. Couldn’t get into our favourite tuna taverna so walked along to the end of the pier and found a taverna serving nearly as good tuna and sardines. Next to us was a stage enclosed within the museum walls where began a production. We were fascinated and slipped inside, although there was a full house, and discovered they were performing Aeschylus – Prometheus Bound in ancient Greek. It was very polished and professional. A bit like having the Royal Shakespeare Company performing off the pier at Southend.

As a change from our favourite Goat Bay we anchored in the next bay at the top of Pogoina Bay on the mainland, a long beach along this wide bay, lots of room and good holding in sand, although Julie hadn’t found her turquoise water. We spent two nights, eating at Spiro’s taverna as the food was so good. On Sunday there was heavy music from the shore, but Monday was very peaceful.

We then put into the little harbour of Palairos, a slightly rickety jetty but the fee was only 10 Euros plus 5 for electricity and water. As well as the innumerable Greek restaurants on the harbourfront we had been told there was an excellent Bangladshi one which was highly recommended, so instead of our regular moussaka and calamari we had chicken madras and beef dopiaza, although we asked for the madras to be hot, we should have asked for Vindaloo. Eating curry with the water lapping beside you was a treat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a roly night in beautiful Woods Bay on Kalamos, we returned to our base in Lefkas to collect our son

 

 

 

 

Edward and his wife Charmaine who were joining us for a week. Their first day out we had a grand sail south to the island of Ithaca and returned to Aeton Bay, deep in the heart of the island with the clearest water and a sandy bottom, it is perfect. We could hardly understand why we were almost the only boat anchored there.

 

 

During the night there was short squall, and we thought a towel might have gone overboard. There was a flat shape on the seabed and Edward dived down to retrieve it only to discover it was a sheet of black plastic. He shook it out, brought it on board and bagged it for disposal. We were all swimming when Julie let out a scream as an octopus crawled out of the bag and headed along the cockpit towards the saloon. Edward quickly grabbed the fishing net we have for retrieving things that fall overboard and scooped the creature up before transferring it again to the ocean. Perhaps it should have gone on the barbecue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A storm in Ithaca town cleared in time for us to dinghy ashore and enjoy what we could have caught!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We couldn’t miss sharing a night at anchor in Goat Bay with Ed and Char especially as in high summer there is a beach bar with varying volumes of “duff duff” music, which they assured us was from the 90’s. They swam ashore to savour the atmosphere. The brisk NW afternoon breeze dropped for a perfect full mooned night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then made our way north towards Corfu, stopping for two nights in the charming but exceedingly popular Lakka, on the north eastern tip of Paxos. It is hard to find a place to anchor which is not too close to other boats and when you find a spot you are then watching out that someone else doesn’t park too close to you. A bit of anchor rage at times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Lakka, we motored 31nm to the huge marina on the island of Corfu at Gouvia where after midnight Terry’s nephew Duncan, wife Nayeli and children Toren and Isla arrived. This is the first time we have had eight on board, luckily the early evening violent storm cleared and the children slept very happily in the cockpit.

Our gentle sail towards Porto Mandraki, a delightful marina at the foot of the fort at Corfu, was threatened by a fast developing black cloud in the north moving quickly towards us so sails down and a very quick entry to our safe harbour. Fortunately, there’s a stony beach which the children loved and reportedly the best taverna in town where we had a delightful family meal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s always a bit sad leaving Mandraki marina but motored to Ipsos bay, north of Corfu town for a swim and lunch on board and were delighted to see a pod of dolphins playing around the boat. The first we have seen this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent two more nights at anchor with the Mexican family before they left us in a small marina at Benitses south of Corfu so they could explore the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From there after a night at anchor in the far south of the island we motor sailed back to base in Lefkas as some rather windy weather is forecast for the next few days. Arriving for the 4pm bridge opening in 20 knots NW on a Friday was a nightmare. At least 30 boats negotiated the channel at snails pace, then caused a bottle neck at the entrance of the marina, waiting to fill up with fuel at the end of their charter. It was chaotic, so we slipped past and anchored at the south end of the channel in good holding and had a quiet night before returning to G25 to clean inside and out and do eight loads of washing!!

 

 

 

 

Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig and the Oper celebrated this fact by doing something which as far as anyone knows has never been done before. Namely to perform all the operas he wrote in their chronological order. This included the three early works which are hardly ever done.

This festival, not to be missed, continued to delight us. It was a feat of determination and organisational skills for Leipzig Oper to perform these immense productions as most nights they had to replace singers, musicians and even a conductor due to Covid. But always, the show went on.

 

 

Hayllar Tours saw to our every need and guided the unfortunate couple who contracted Covid. The inspiring talks by the Wagner Scholar, Heath Lees, gave us new insights into the music and side tours to Dresden and charming smaller towns such as Quedlingburg, Torgau and Halle were full of Reformation history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A highlight was arranging an after party at the conclusion of The Ring for Stefan Vinke (Siegfried) who brought along Lise Lindstrom (Brunnhilde) who in turn brought along Falk Struckmann (Klingsor in Parsifal). The Steigenberger doesn’t close the bar while they still have patrons so we were there until 2am with Stefan!

 

Our original plan to return to Berlin and then a flight to Preveza had to be abandoned as a result of the catastrophic state of European airlines where our Easyjet flight was cancelled then, yes, our Lufthansa Munich to Preveza was cancelled, so another day spent finding a Condor flight, which wasn’t cancelled. Thus, we hired a car and drove from Leipzig to Munich. Stopped off at Bayreuth to pay our respects at the Festspielhaus, the opera house which Wagner built for performances of his own works

In Munich we met our friend Juergen who took us out to dinner at Landshut on the banks of the River Isar before returning to the airport hotel for a 6am flight to Preveza.  We were horrified by the length of the queues for planes at 4.30 am at Munich airport.  Fortunately, because we had so much baggage, Julie upgraded the baggage allowance which gave us priority boarding, so we were able to bypass the queues, otherwise, there is no doubt we would have missed the plane.

On Saturday 16^th July, we returned to Exotica where we will remain until returning home. Sailand had left replacing the stern gland to the last minute, found they needed to lift the boat onto the crane to do this then returned Exotica back to her berth the day before we arrived, we then found fresh-ish water in the bilge which took two days of engineers trying to trace. We resolved that there was residual water from the stern gland leak which has eventually dried. We also replaced the old dinghy, which had too many leaks, with a brand new one, which also appears to have a leak. Is this the story of our lives!

Finally, we were able to set off to some of our favourite bays. The weather this year has been spectacular. In all our experience we have never had such settled conditions. Day after day of hot sunshine but very little wind so a good deal of motoring and only a few moments with the sails up.  However, the water is warm, 28C, and we fall into it when we get too hot.

On Sunday July 24^th Angela Bush arrived for six days.  We anchored in turquoise bays on the islands of Kastos and Ithaca.  Anchored stern to Dimitry’s Taverna in Vathi, main town in Ithaca we laid out all our chain and some warp which required considerable lateral thinking to get it back into the chain locker when we departed the following morning. Then we found that we had snared a bit of an underwater rope which caught on the anchor itself. Terry eventually cut this away with the breadknife.  All of this to the amusement of the flotilla on the jetty.

Angela left us on July 30th, so to Palairos Bay on the Greek mainland with Spiro’s delightful taverna on the beach. Unfortunately, being Sunday the beach bars were blasting out loud music which rather diminished the pleasure of the place, however we stayed an extra day as Monday was peaceful and serene and Spiro’s lamb chops at Taverna Paralia were to die for.

We have a few days to ourselves before our son Edward and wife Charmaine arrive from Canada to be followed by our Mexican relations whom we’ll meet in Corfu.

After 33 months enforced absence, we finally returned to Greece and Exotica on June 7^th 2022.

The journey from Sydney to Athens was remarkably pain free on Qatar Airlines, stopping only briefly at Doha. 

We then collected our car at Athens airport and drove five hours to Lefkas.  We briefly checked into the three star Ianos Hotel situated in the Lefkas Marina before, heart-in-mouth making our way to Pontoon G25 to inspect the boat which has languished, neglected by us, for all this time.

Imagine our joy and relief when we found Exotica to be in beautiful condition.  Neighbouring boat owners told us that they had ten workers beavering away all the day cleaning inside and out.  The boat was still stripped out with no sails, awnings or carpets but the decks were pristine, the inside dust free and the inox sparkling.  We sat on board and marvelled that all was well, then celebrated with the traditional mussels and a bottle of rosé.

Things then took a turn for the worse as we both had a very severe stomach upset – perhaps the mussels.  Were both laid low for the next three days which, fortunately in the hotel rather than on the boat.  During this time, we also discovered a leak from the stern gland – this is the rubber device through which the propeller shaft enters the water and which is supposed to stop water coming into the boat.  This hasn’t been replaced since 2013 so it will be before we set off for any serious trips.

The next few days were spent unpacking and stowing our possessions, then hoisting the sails into position and the intelligence test which is rigging the dodger and bimini.  Jobs which would take a professional twenty minutes but two hours for us to figure out.  It is amazing how much we have forgotten about how the boat works.

Finally, on Monday June 13th we set off for a sea trial. A beautiful day with absolutely no wind. We motored round the famous island of Scorpios paying our respects to the rock which we managed to hit in 2019. We hoisted the sails just to make sure they worked properly and quickly stowed them again before anchoring for lunch and a swim. All Julie’s skills of reversing into the marina berth in a side wind were amply remembered and demonstrated, no wonder she is Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron’s Yachtswoman of the Year!

During this time, we also met up with Jill and John Conroy, friends and fellow sailors from Sydney who have bought a fifty-two foot boat in Athens and are en route to Corsica.

After just over a week we have Exotica back to normal, only the stern gland to fix and so we motored back to Athens in the hire car.

We had a night at the Sofitel Airport Hotel before our early flight to Berlin where we had three days.  Two operas and a concert by the Berlin Philharmonie thanks to Sally and Antony Jeffrey plus meeting one of our crew from times past, Ralf Ladenthin who is now a resident in Berlin but planning a world tour.

From Berlin we had a terrifyingly fast driver to Leipzig for the Wagner Festival 2022.  Every opera Richard Wagner wrote – 13 in all – over a month.  The first three operas, written at age 20, 22 and 24 are considered to be his immature works are not included in the general canon of his work. Rarely performed, they had much merit and gave us great pleasure. Chronologically followed by The Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser, the latter a challengingly controversial production.

We return to Exotica in three weeks, provided Luftansa does not cancel our flight, as Easyjet did, to cruise the islands of the Southern Ionian.

 

We celebrated Julie’s birthday on September 8th in Corfu.

Monday September 9^th we set off on the return trip from Corfu south to our home port in Lefkas Marina assisted by Anna and Tim, our final crew for the year.  Shortly after leaving Corfu Town we were hit by a nasty little squall with driving rain and 20 knot wind.  Visibility was so poor that we had everyone on deck keeping a lookout, all were soaked to the skin.

It passed, the sun came out and we had a fine sail back to our favourite harbour, Lakka, on the north east coast of the island of Paxos.

This large, sheltered bay is very shallow, you anchor in 1-2 metres under the keel, in aquamarine water, which appears to get more opaque as the water gets warmer during the summer. A perfect spot to inflate Julie’s birthday present, a large pink flamingo which she has always coveted but Terry refused to countenance on board.  After falling off a few times she managed to mount it and lay happily for hours.

Two nights at anchor in Lakka is a must as it is such a pleasant place and quiet once the charters and flotillas have left in the morning.

Then on to Mongonissi, this is only a few miles further south on Paxos but took quite some time to get there as we were sailing into the teeth of a strong southerly under grey skies.  Thus, we would sail across towards the mainland of Greece and tack back towards the island making little progress to the south.  Exotica is not a greyhound to windward.

Mongonissi harbour is deep and not much room to anchor, embarrassingly, we spent a long time failing to find a comfortable anchorage and ended up coming stern to on the quay.  A large flotilla, tied up beside us but it meant the charming, busy restaurant put on Greek dancing which Julie and Tim joined in with enthusiasm.  No plates were smashed though.

We motor sailed for the 33nm passage back to Lefkas, timing our approach to the swing bridge at the head of the canal for four pm.  The bridge only opens on the hour and doesn’t wait for stragglers, so timing is important.

We motored down the Lefkas Canal to our favourite bay, Varko or Goat Bay, for our final night at anchor.  As ever the water is clear, temperature 26.8 degrees C at this time if the season with excellent holding so we celebrated with a swim in the warm water and washed down the last of the provisions with Greek wine.

On September 13^th. we had a short but pleasant sail back to our berth in Lefkas Marina and started the big clean up, much helped by Anna and Tim.

Three days we spent packing up the boat.  Sadly, our beloved washing machine died.  It appeared that a filter was blocked but when Terry, with some difficulty, extracted the filter he found it full of blades and rusty metal which indicated that a pump had disintegrated.  So, there was a lot of hand washing, sheets to the laundry and request to our engineers to source and replace it.

 

On September 16^th we left Exotica sitting in her winter berth and trust that our guardianage company will do a significantly better job than their colleagues last year at Preveza, a few miles away.

This is the end of our seventh season, and it has not gone quite the way we expected. Schengen visa restrictions for Julie meant we did much more mileage than we intended but the passages to Athens in May and to Albania and Montenegro in July were exciting and interesting. We have also had many more guest crew this year which has added great variety and pleasure to the various passages.

Our plan for 2020 is to sail the boat north to Montenegro, via Albania, and we have booked a berth in a brand new Marina there. We’ll use this as a base to explore Montenegro and the islands of southern Croatia. Terry is looking for a crew to help him sail there in late May so if you are interested please get in touch.

 

Statistics for the 2019 Season

Travelling Days  –  57

Distance  –  1508 nautical miles

Guests – 14

 

 

Our planned family reunion eventuated with James and Nicole flying from Cairns and Edward and Charmaine from Sun Peaks to spend four days at Bovey Castle in Devon and three nights in Covent Garden. So special to have us all together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Dartmoor to Covent Garden after a rare family gathering at Overways

 

We left Exotica in her berth in Lefkas Marina on July 24^th.  Julie, with her Australian passport, is only allowed ninety days in a one hundred and eighty period in the Schengen area, so we returned to England for the month of August.  We also hoped to avoid the particularly hot weather and the crowds of Italians, Germans and French who all take their holidays at the same time and swamp the Ionian Sea.

 

We made good use of our time visiting friends in the south of England who took us to the church we were married in nearly 40 years ago.  It is exactly the same as it was then, but since it is a Norman construction, what is 40 years?

 

 

 

We stayed in Richmond and went to a Prom and an opera at Holland Park.  We watched polo at the Ham Polo Club as guests of our friend James.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then to Marlborough College, Terry’s old school, where we spent a week at the Summer School there.  We both joined the singing class.  In the morning we sang ‘The Armed Man’ – a modern mass in traditional musical style and in the afternoon Music for Pleasure, to Terry’s horror, it was jazz, Elton John, the Lion King and Danny Boy!  He wanted to quit after the first session and do ‘Liberal Democracy Since the War’ but Julie suggested he use this opportunity to do something completely alien to him and swing with the rest of the group, and he did!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then to the Edinburgh Festival where we had concerts and more opera.  The weather in Scotland was dire, cold and wet so we really did escape the heat of the Mediterranean.

 

 

 

 

Back to Buckinghamshire and Terry’s sister Margaret who had all her family at home including those who live in Mexico, so it was a great reunion. Here we watched Terry’s niece’s husband play cricket at Blenheim Palace on a perfect sunny day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two glorious days at Glyndebourne where it was at its very best.  Splendid opera productions of The Magic Flute and Rinaldo, magnificent weather and great company made these truly memorable occasions.  Just about the most civilised place in the world.

 

 

 

Filling in time before the afternoon Glyndebourne performance, a visit to the seaside, British style.

 

 

 

 

 

We always look forward to time with our dear friends in Brede, East Sussex. We all travelled up to London for the theatre, bought Cob nuts, Kent version of hazelnuts, in the local farmers market and a day in Rye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A last summers evening with the Jones clan.

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday August 24^th. we met our friends Deborah, Bruce and James at Heathrow and took the flight to Preveza and re-joined Exotica in Lefkas.  We were pleased to see that the work on the boat that we had organised with a company at the Marina had been done satisfactorily in marked contradistinction to the over-winter boatyard whose workmanship was  universally dreadful.

 

We were thus able to set off the next day and motored to Goat Bay, one of our favourites, to anchor overnight.  The water is clear and warm and just perfect for a late night swim.

The next day we had a grand sail to the island of Kalamos and anchored again for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was perfect as we motored out of Spartachori north towards Lefkas and the canal to the north.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued north the same day and after 33nm we anchored in Mongonisis at the south east tip of Paxos. A small bay popular with flotillas who line the shallow village wall.

Antipaxos has a famous bay of emerald water, Agrapidia, visited daily by hordes of tourist boats with one hour slots to allow their 200 passengers to swim in the idyllic sea. There is enough room for sailing boats as well, but the day was overcast and not at it’s best so we anchored for lunch then motored to our favourite Paxos  anchorage at Lakka.

There are always many boats here but somehow everyone manages to fit in.  We took the dinghy across to the town which is charming in a touristy way.  The ladies discovered some very fine dress shops, serious retail therapy.

We dropped our guests off in the picturesque marina Mandraki under the walls of the castle at Corfu Town.  By no means the world’s best marina where the electricity was dodgy, the wi-fi unreliable and the fresh tap water, with which Terry filled the tanks, distinctly brown.  He had to empty the tanks completely, flush and refill at next marina to get clean water.  Worst of all our washing machine packed up….tragic. Nonetheless it was a pretty place and had a surprisingly excellent taverna.

Two days later Anna and Tim joined us in Corfu for the return journey to Lefkas and the end of our seventh season.  We are currently back in Lakka, which is even busier with yachts but still just as beautiful.