Cruising progress 2018 (Click to enlarge)
31st May 2018
We flew out to Corfu on 18th April. This is a lovely time of year to visit as it's quite quiet and not too hot for sightseeing. It's easy to spend hours just wandering around the narrow streets of the old town.
We visited Casa Parlante, The Living History Museum, which recreates a 19th century mansion, depicting everyday life of the nobility and includes animated figures. We had our own personal guide who welcomed us with either kumquat or rose liqueur and sweets. She told the stories of the family who lived there and explained the purpose of each room. You are made to feel like a guest in the house and it's really well worth a visit.
From our hotel near the port, we walked around the coast road to the old fortress and up to the lighthouse which has a spectacular view of the town and across to the mainland.
All too soon our visit was over and we caught a ferry over to Igoumenitsa on the mainland, picked up our hire car and drove down to Cleopatra Marina near Preveza, where Mistroma has spent the winter. Apparently this has been one of the worst years on record for sand from the Sahara and certainly when we arrived at the boat everything was covered with a thick layer of fine red dust. Our first job was to get the hose out and try to get rid of it. Easier said than done. It all had to be washed as well as hosed. We also had to hose the car down each day so we could see through the windows!
While we had the car we spent a couple of days shopping for the heavy essentials, beer, wine, water etc and then started work on the normal maintenance and were working long hours to get everything finished by launch day on 1st May. All went according to plan and once launched we anchored off the marina, as we were waiting for two solar panels to be delivered from Germany. They arrived in Athens without a hitch and then everything ground to a halt. After a further week had elapsed, we finally managed to track them down in the Post Office in Preveza, across the bay.
We’ve been on the town quay since 8th May finishing off more work. The main job while here, other than Mike going up the mast to replace the wind instrument and then getting the sails up, was to reinforce the dinghy chaps (cover) with a vinyl strip to act as a fender skirt. This took four days to complete but we're quite happy with the result and hopefully the vinyl will give a lot more protection when the dinghy is left tied to harbour walls.
Over the winter we had tried to get a frame for the solar panels built but everyone seemed to be too busy. While out checking the local chandlers, we came across one which sold stainless steel tubing and all the necessary fittings for making up the frame so Mike decided to make it himself. However this is Greece and nothing is that straightforward. We managed to buy sufficient tubing for the frame but had to order additional bits and have spent the last ten days or so going backwards and forwards to the chandlers to collect them. Finally we now have everything, so here's hoping we can get it all put together.
We've managed to get some spare time and met up with various friends since we arrived, but it will be really nice to finally leave here and start sailing!
