Kerry left off with us anchored in isolated splendour in Two Rocks Bay. After a peaceful night we set off west, towards Antipaxos, a small island just south east of Paxos, which is a slightly bigger island, just south of Corfu Island. Winds are generally light in the mornings in Greece and build up to a good breeze in the afternoon. We were not patient enough to wait for the breeze, so we upped anchor in the morning and set off under motor for the two and a half hour crossing. We managed a little bit of sailing as we neared Antipaxos but then the engine went on again for a closer explore of the inlets. It was a beautiful island, but the bays looked small and exposed, so we turned north and puttered slowly across to Paxos, aiming for the little harbour of Gaios.
We were a little nervous coming into Gaios, as we were trying a stern-to mooring using our anchor for the first time in over 30 years. At least we were familiar with Barberry, which should make things easier. We also put on our little headsets so that we could communicate in a civilised manner, rather than shouting from bow to stern, which generally does not end well. We prepared everything in advance, fenders out, dinghy off davits and moved to bow, two lines prepared at stern, swim ladder lowered, anchor untied. Luckily the quay was very quiet so we did not have to squeeze in between expensive yachts! Our fenders are really grubby at the moment, as they use black rubber on the canal docks, which seems to stain permanently. So I think expensive yachts generally want to stay out of our way.
The docking process all went relatively smoothly. I dropped the anchor at what felt like about 3 boat lengths out, Kerry slowly reversed in, then I tightened up on the anchor windlass as we closed on the quay (as a brake). A kind sailor from a neighbouring boat came over to take our lines. Although this was kind it also messed up our plan of action. I rushed to the stern to throw one line and Kerry found herself in an awkward position to throw him the other line. As she hurriedly heaved it over, her arm caught on the backstay (a stiff wire that holds up the mast). She made a slight complaint but when I looked at her arm I could already see a nasty graze, akin to cyclist ‘road-burn’. At least the boat was now tied up securely!
Gaios was still waking up for the tourist season. There were a few obvious ‘yachties’ around, but otherwise mainly locals, who seemed to endlessly be riding little motorbikes about 6 foot from our stern. In fact there was a danger of being run over as we stepped off our stern! Later I took a stroll along the coast and took photos of local fishing boats for potential winter watercolour painting projects.
There was one attractive-looking taverna open (one is all we that need and saves making a decision!) so we had a nice evening meal of pork/chicken skewers, washed down with local white wine (and bread of course- the bread here is SO good!). So many cats wanted to share our meal, but we resisted.
It was quite a noisy night, with traffic and music and banter coming from the dockside. To be honest most seemed to come from the boat next door, which contained three middle-aged British cruising buddies, who seemed to be enjoying a late night tipple! After a restless night we decided to move on somewhere quieter, so provisioned at the local supermarket (great apples and tomatoes, totally different to boring UK ones) and set off up the coast towards Lakka, at the north end of Paxos.
Lakka is the probably the best anchorage in the area and we had been there once before on a charter boat a couple of years ago. It was very different bringing our own boat there and felt like the last phase of our ‘getting to Greece’ expedition, which started in 2023. As we turned into the crystal clear, blue waters of the bay and started to take in our amazing surroundings the engine sputtered and stalled. Panic! Drifting into a busy anchorage with no engine is not something that you would ever want to try. I pressed the engine start button and the engine thought about going a couple of times and eventually fired up — phew. We promptly found a space in the bay and dropped the hook before the engine decided to go on strike again.
Kerry suggested a swim to lift our spirits after the engine stress, but I decided that my spirits could not be lifted at that moment in time and went below to text Michael, our local (NI) Beta engine guy. Michael originally installed our engine and knows infinitely more about it than me, so I was hoping that he would have the magic answer. Amazingly Michael texted back straight away, but his response was somewhat unexpected, “Fly me out and I’ll look for free”. My response was “It’s not quite come to that, yet!” as I toyed with whether he was being serious or not. So we haven’t flown him out yet, but he did provide useful advice, suspecting a dirty fuel issue (the fuel had been sitting in the tank for over 8 months) and suggested changing the fuel filter. I told Michael I would change it after I had gone for a swim. Probably not the best thing to tell him, but the swim was had and the filter changed and so far all seems fine again with the engine.
After yet another swim we rigged up the dinghy with the new electric outboard, which also did not behave itself and gave the E30 electrical connection error (again). So much for reliable electric motors! After taking the battery connectors off, spraying with WD40 (to wash out evil spirits), then reconnecting, it went — phew. Off to town to get some fresh water for tomorrow’s cockpit shower and find something for dinner.
We wandered around the harbour trying to locate a water tap. The ones we found were either padlocked or linked to a special card machine, for which we had no card. Kerry eventually spotted a couple of guys cleaning a speed boat with a hose (the same ones who had been annoying us with their wake earlier). We headed over and she asked them if they knew where to get water, while I looked longingly at the hose. Fortunately they took pity on us and handed us their hose, so we got 20 litres of water for free- great!
Next we looked for food. It was around 6pm and all the tavernas looked closed, some with shutters on — hmm. We asked at the shop and they pointed behind some buildings saying that we needed to go to ‘Paximadi’. Right enough it was there and opened at 6.30pm. We were carrying the new outboard battery, which was heavy, but we didn’t want it nicked off the dinghy. This meant we didn’t fancy any more walking, so found a bar and ordered freshly squeezed orange juice (lovely) to put in the time until the taverna opened. We arrived at the taverna at 6.30pm prompt, so it was just us and a lot of cats, one of which was on my chair, but fortunately then moved onto the floor. Kerry had pork shank, which was a ridiculously large lump of meat and I had carbonara. A delicious meal, again with yummy bread and local wine.
We got back to the boat as the light was fading and then got ‘anchor anxiety’ as to how close we were to the next boat (about half a boat length). We thought about upping anchor, but with wine in us, a dodgy engine and near darkness, we decide this could end badly and favoured reversing on the anchor to try and drag us away a little. This seemed to work, although it still meant that I didn’t sleep well and was up every few hours to check our location out of the windows.
The next day was Saturday and we decided on a day at anchor to catch up on chores, explore and perhaps have yet another swim. It was so peaceful at anchor. Our traditional lunch on board has become tortilla wraps with meat and cheese. Also some tomatoes and cucumber to make us feel more healthy!
I set off to shore by dinghy to do some exploring on foot around the coast of Lakka. I’d heard tell of an ancient path to some ruins that I was determined to find. The path was easy enough to find, but in some places a little treacherous, winding along the edge of the sea cliff. There were stunning views over the bay though, so I got some great shots of Barberry at anchor.
We rounded off the day with yet another trip to the same taverna. Kerry had pork chops (she likes pork) and I had meat balls. Really good, especially with Greek wine and lots of bread!
