One of the benefits of Mediterranean mooring on shore is the ease of getting on and off the boat. This morning the girls walked off the back of the boat and across the street to get croissants from a bakery for breakfast. Ah, the life.
Matt, on the lookout for bins to dump our garbage and recycling, went for a morning stroll and discovered a beach around the corner from the marina. He, Bill and Riley went back with towels for a morning dip to start the day off refreshed.
Once we were fed, freshened up and the boat organized, we untied the lines, raised the anchor and cast off from Sami, Kefalonia seeking wind and more adventures. We had Hannah in tow, who slept over last night, and was happy to stay with us.
We spotted a tiny secluded beach on the eastern shore of Kefalonia and decided to pull in to explore and take a dip. Matt swam to shore, and Riley pointed out that he had found a swing tied to a tree and was swinging under the tree "living his best life". The funny thing is when he came back he said sitting on the swing he was swarmed by bees, horseflies and regular house flies. It's funny how even the most charmed opportunities can present challenges (oh, Ganesha!). The bay was peaceful and charming indeed. We all took a dip, Matt, Bill and the kids snorkeled (they saw sea urchins, star fish and other little beautiful fish). April has become quite comfortable diving far below the surface with Matt, in this case diving approximately 20 feet down to see what was on the bottom. After some fun and sunshine we carried on further north along the coast of Kefalonia.
Along the way, Matt spotted on the navigation system two ship wrecks next to a small island in the middle of the sea. We got closer to the island and the apparent location of the wreck. Matt and Bill were very intrigued and eager to find evidence of this mysterious piece of history at the bottom of the sea next to this island with an old stone cabin and the remains of a navigation tower or lighthouse from hundreds of years ago.
So intrigued and curious in fact that, next thing I knew we were anchoring, and they both jumped in the water with masks and swam looking for it (leaving me, Riley and the girls with the realization that we were in the middle of the sea with no captain on board!).
After our expedition turned up no pirate ships, we carried on and pulled into Fiskardo, a little village on the northern tip of Kefalonia known for nice restaurants and cute little shops.
This is where the tale was born about our first (and last) attempt to anchor in the bay using the "long line ashore" method, with the anchor down and a stern line tied to a rock or tree on shore, to keep the boat from swinging (into other boats) in the wind. From a curious can-do attitude, with the anchor down and Bill in the water with a line (that wasn't long enough), soon ensued fear, anxiety and oh X#*$, some stern looks from an old Brit in the monohaul next to us, and eventually we aborted our mission.
After this humbling and stressful experience, we went more outside the mouth of the bay and anchored the old fashioned way. Shortly afterwards (when we were all talking to each other again) we were laughing uncontrollably recounting each of our perspectives during the gongshow. Bill's was the best. Not only is he the best storyteller, he's the one who was in the water being dragged by a rope by a 42' catmaran on the run, with an old man in a Speedo on the next boat looking at him shaking his head. Looking back it's amazing how one experience can be so stressful yet so entertaining (afterwards of course). The real stinger was while I was trying to catch my breath from laughing, after coming down from such high anxiety, I got stung by a wasp in my armpit. Ack! Ganesha again.
After we collected our wits, me with some medicine and ice on my bee sting, we climbed into the dingy headed to shore to find lunch.
The waterside village was as cute as it promised to be. We looked at a couple of menus and quickly picked a chic dockside restaurant with an extensive appetizer menu and grilled kebabs for Bill.
After lunch and a bit of quick shopping, we made our way back to the boat and headed for Syvota on the southern tip of Lefkada, the island where our journey began (but on the northern tip in Lefkas). We found our best wind yet, up to 17kn gusting to 20kn, and we were sailing at 8kn. Not necessarily wind speeds to write home about, but the best we've seen in the calm Ionians this week (no complaints from me, the fair weather sailor!). The girls chilled on the trampoline, and actually snoozed for a little while.
Riley took an opportunity to lounge on the back of the boat with her book, and I joined her for a little while for some reading and Rosé.
We pulled into the harbour of Syvota to learn via VHF we would be doing a new docking technique for the first time, classic Mediterranean mooring with a "slime line" (instead of anchoring on the bow). Feeling a little skiddish still from earlier mooring using new techniques, we as Matt's crew said "no problem, we got this!". We were directed by the dockmaster to a "slip" on the end of the dock that we would back up to, however the dock only had about 6 feet available on the end, compared to our 24 foot wide boat. He stood waving us in, holding the slime line, preparing to pass it to us. We persevered based on the direction and confidence, especially since Grant was there encouraging us, but it was questionable by most standards I'd say. More high fives and we were settled in for the evening along with our fellow floatilla boats.
Grant, the ultimate host of a "family friendly" floatilla took the girls, Hannah, and Max (another child from the floatilla) on a dinghy ride in the harbour, a fan favourite.
Esty from one of our boats took the full gaggle of kids for ice cream while the parents relaxed. We had some dinner, drinks, and explored the cute little marina. We said goodnight, with mixed feelings of gratitude for another great day, but feeling the closing of this great adventure upon us. One more day tomorrow.
With love,
Laura, Matt, April, Fiona, Bill & Riley ⚓
PS-We are a day behind on the blog.
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