We now had a few days mooching along the coast before our third lot of visitors were arriving.  We headed towards Vonitsa and as we were going through the Preveza Strait we heard “Cuffysark” being called up on the VHF.  It was some fellow sailors, Kirstie and Neil, who we had met in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey two years earlier.  You never know when you’re going to bump into people.  They were heading to Preveza so change of course and we headed to the anchorage at Preveza.  This was quite a reunion here as there were several other boats anchored who we had met on our travels.  So, yes of course we had a few sundowners on Cuffysark.  We could only stay the one night before heading off to Vonitsa. 

Gary and Shelley met us here but we only stayed the one night as there was a jazz festival going on in Preveza.  The airport was so close by we actually saw their plane coming into land.  We gave them a wave but they didn’t wave back!

No where is that far away in this part of Greece.  We visited a couple of other anchorages and then made our way through the Lefkas Canal, making a stop at Lefkas  and then on to Syvota which is a tiny place with lots of restaurants.  We booked a table for dinner at Taverna Spiridoula which was literally on our doorstep!  

We finally ended up in Velcro Bay AKA Nidri.  It’s one of those places that you get stuck in and always end up staying longer than you planned to.  Nidri is full of bars and restaurants and good for provisioning and very sheltered.  So, we spent a couple of days chilling and listening to music before it was time for Gary and Shelley to go home.  Shelley getting in the spirit of things with her version of Boy George!

Nidri is another place where you inevitably meet up with people you’ve met previously.  We bumped into Simon and Claire who’d we’d not seen since our stay in Licata, Sicily five years ago.  We had a problem develop with our outboard on the dinghy, but not a worry when Simon can tow you ashore.

Finally, time to release ourselves from Velcro Bay and head to Sami.  The forecast told us this anchorage would be ok.  It was, until about 6.30pm when the wind changed to the opposite direction which made the anchorage completely untenable.  There was another anchorage about half an hour away which according to the forecast should have not been good either but we saw fellow sailors Kirstie and Neil were anchored there.  A few exchange of messages and they assured us it was like a mill pond there.  Ian was surprised at this so off we went and what a difference it was at Agia Effimia.  This was a real gem of a place, apart from being pretty, getting down to practicalities the laundrette and supermarket were opposite and we could get gas. 

Quick turnaround and we were headed off to Zante for our next visitors, Tony and Linda. 

June 2024