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.