Friends arrive in Corfu

It was great to meet up with the Lake's from Norfolk in Corfu, thank you for bringing our solar panel, our mail and a new ensign for Lerryn Lady!

Bernie seemed quite content with the bowsprit pillow!

In spite of her best efforts to avoid the camera - Paula discovered there is nowhere to hide on deck!

And Conor chilled out with his novel.

Corfu

Entering Corfu Town harbour the Venetian buildings on Portside.

Pine clad islets to Starboard...that's mainland Greece in background...

A church in the sea...built on it's own little islet

Lefkas Canal

Lefkas is only an island because of the canal that separates it from the mainland. The present canal was built by the Greek government, earlier canals were dug by the Corinthians in the 7th century and  the Romans. On our way north from Meganisi to the canal we sailed past the islands of Skorpios and Sparti which are owned by the Onassis family. The Lefkas canal is dredged to a minimum of 6 metres and no boat should even think about cutting outside the buoy markers! Once inside the canal we had a great view of the salt lagoons either side. The buoys disappear to be replaced by poles with cones and baskets. The boat channel is only 20 metres wide yet still a couple of petrol head Italian motor cruisers zoomed past everyone abiding by the 4 knot maximum speed limit; being total w***kers creating wash and stress for the wading birds as well. At the northern end is a floating swing bridge that opens on the hour to allow passage of boats heading north (us) and south.

 Salt lagoon portside of canal.

 Rubbish tip portside of canal.

 Approaching the floating swingbridge, traffic still crossing above and two yachts holding position waiting for the bridge to open.

Lights. Sirens. And it opens to allow us through.

Atheni Bay Megannisi

We left Kefalonia and ended up in this beautiful bay on the island of Meganissi:

Dawn in Atheni bay.

It gets quite shallow at the edges :O)

Fishing for supper.

Firing up the BBQ.

Lerryn Lady in Atheni Bay - could be Wiseman's Reach with that background except the sun is shining, blue skies and 38 degrees :O)  did I mention torquoise sea and sandy bottoms?

My man and me.

 Some one said : 'I bet you guys are disgustingly healthy living at sea ' Too right ;O)

Making Pastelli in Kefalonia

This is the sign outside a cute cafe in Messovounia where we stopped twice to eat.

Watched Pastelli being made in the kitchen - first weigh and select your sesame seeds...

Then a secret spell is cast (secret recipe) and the whole lot is put into a wooden tray to cool -  only half a tray these days as the customers are 'shrinking' * sigh*

They gave us a taste of their secret weapon - homemade cheese just for the family... it is delicious and takes a year to ferment...

Fresh Pastelli 'taster' for us and they wrapped some for us to take with us as a gift! Another amazing recipe for my collection :O)

The only Trident the World needs!

In my humble opinion!

Kefalonia airport is NOT for sale, but the wine is!

Sign on the main entrance to airport!

Kefalonian wine is really good. Quick stop at the Gentilum vineyard near the airport.

Ayios Efemia to Fiskardo, Kefalonia

This is the bay we are anchored in, line of trees masking the yachts though. Looking down on Ayios Efemia from the coastal road heading north to Fiskardo.

 

Ayios Efemia bay, different viewpoint.

Another sad reminder of  the earthquakes.

The church is ruined but standing walls still have these beautiful icons, this one at the shrine of St John between Karia and Plagia. Learn something new everyday - the Greek word 'eikon' means image.

 

Greg and Justin at the 'Meeting Place' cafe Messovounia. The owners have a canary they found in Argostoli hospital about seven years ago, pretty old for a Canary.

 

Protecting the grape crop

Venetian houses Fiskardo, the only town not touched by the earthquakes that flattened the rest of Kefalonia and also the base for Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Fiskardo is very very busy with visiting yachts - mostly Charters.

Boat Brain

 This is not some dodgy passport factory, just an example of boat brain.Living on a boat can seriously damage your passport. Greg put his shorts into a bucket of stain remover forgetting his passport was in one of the pockets. Fortunately no lasting damage just a few sun drying wrinkles to be ironed out

 We are thinking and speaking Greeklish these days :O)

We're melting

 

Justin  holding the 'candles' - they are folding in the heat  - maybe good for dousing?

Kefalonia -westside

 A road shrine - One of hundreds around the island, this one above Assos

 Typical Kefalonian coastline though most of it is dense pine forest to the waterline!

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 These sunbeds are opposite a cafe on the isthmus connecting the pali peninsular to the rest of kefalonia. Most folk stop to take a photo and drive on, we had lunch here. Pietre the owner wants to be Mayor one day, his dad does the cooking :O) We were invited to paddle out and use the sunbeds, the best place to be today in 38 degrees el scorchio. The reason they are there is because of a strange Greek law. Pietre owns the land and the water, but the King owns all waterfronts, so it's a statement to that fact - it's a pretty good way to attract attention to your cafe too! Greg and Justin had souvlaki - meat on sticks grilled on charcoals - they were very good.

 This is where we swam in Atheras bay. Diving for shells and coming face-to-face with baby striped bass.

Beehives. The bees make delicious thyme honey here - we have a BIG pot of it onboard.

Starring : 3 million cicadas, 2 tired men and a whirling Dervish on the Paliki peninsular Kefalonia

Not the best video in the World but it captures a moment in time :O)

Assos Kefalonia

We hired a car for a few days to explore the island. First night we drove to Assos, a tiny fishing village on the east coast of Kefalonia.

Little Suzuki jeep - lots of wheel shudder when you touch the brakes - reported it to the car hire and they said : 'That's normal they all do that!' :O)

Assos bay

Earthquake damage - all the towns with the exception of Fiskardo were flattened or wrecked in the 1953 earthquake. They had another one in 1983. Must be terrifying. A lot of the islanders left after that earthquake.

Fishing boat with Oleannder tree in foreground. Oleanders grow like weeds here.

The sunsetting above the village.

Poros to Ayios Efemia

 Ionian sea like a lake today.

 Greg finding the shady side of our Mezzinine.

An easygoing friend, Justin Chan, joined us for a week of sun and sea ions :O)