20th September - Preveza

Soundtrack: The tune from Zorba the Greek – of course! – wafting across Ozia bay. A Sailing Holidays flotilla of 15 boats is tied up on the quay and the crew are making the most of an evening of live entertainment ashore.

High Point: Getting our liftout and space in the boatyard booked at Aktio Marine in Preveza for the winter. We’re lucky they can fit us in as they have very few spaces left. The boatyard is one of three yards here, and the other two are full. They are located opposite Preveza town, on the other side of the channel leading into the Amvrakia gulf. It is the site of the battle of Actium, when Octavian defeated Anthony and Cleopatra, a victory that changed the course of the Roman empire. The story goes that Octavian waited for the afternoon NW sea breeze to pick up before he attacked. If he roared up the channel at anything like the speed we did, we’re not surprised he routed Anthony and Cleopatra’s fleet. Makarma is going to be sitting right next door to a newly discovered Temple of Apollo dating from that era. The archeologists have been digging there all summer. When we went to look at the site yesterday, they were just wrapping it all up for the winter, so we got to see it just in time.

Low Point: Ozia bay on the south side of Paxos. It’s brilliantly sheltered from all directions and a very pretty place (with wifi too!) but the holding was the worst we’ve come across – powdery sand and weed that the anchor can’t get a grip into. An hour after we get there we’re still no nearer to being properly hooked. First we try to set the anchor to free swing as usual, then we try to reverse back on the anchor and secure our stern to the shore. Finally we pick a spot to anchor in the middle of the bay and just put out loads of chain. Never mind, we think, the wind dies away at night, so we should be OK. Needless to say, just after supper a thundery squall rolls in bringing strong winds and heavy rain. We’re not the only boat scrambling to re-anchor, and it’s not until 1am that everything settles down again so we can turn in.

We’ve come back to Paxos because we’re zig zagging our way south from Corfu to make the most of the wind direction. Mostly the wind’s been light and variable, so we’ve done a fair bit of motoring. On Corfu we stayed in Benitses, a new marina 8 miles south of Corfu town where berthing is free. The resort town is a convenient place to park the boat and explore the island but it’s an unappealing collection of tacky souvenir shops and noisy bars. And we were bothered by the traffic noise from a busy road nearby, and from the constant stream of planes overhead.

Corfu town is set in a magnificent sweeping bay with mountains behind, but we found the town itself was a bit of a let-down. A lot of tourist tat for sale and overpriced tavernas. Nevertheless we admired the view from the top of the Venetian ‘new’ fort, and the magnificent interior of the church of St Spyridhon, the island’s patron saint.

Leaving Corfu behind us, we overnight on the quay again in Sivota Mourtos before arriving in Ozia bay. After the thunderstorm we wait there another day for a fair wind to take us the 30 miles to Preveza. We have a wonderful downwind sail all the way, with the wind building to a F5 by mid afternoon. We gybe round the channel entrance marker buoy in a badly timed 30 knot gust, and storm up the narrow channel with a 2 knot current under us to reach calmer waters off Preveza town where we anchor for the night.

Preveza is an attractive town. The long town quay is lined with tavernas and there’s a warren of pedestrianised streets behind. It lies at the entrance to the Amvrakia gulf, a sheltered 150 square mile inland sea, which we plan to explore before the season is out.

The weather has already turned unsettled and much cooler. The reliable northwesterlies of the summer have been replaced by variable and squally conditions which make planning where to go and where to anchor a bit of a lottery. The old hands in the boatyard are shaking their heads and saying this never used to happen so early. All we know is even if we’re not planning to sail anywhere we have to keep a vigilant eye on the weather at all times. Only last night our supposedly sheltered anchorage turned into a lee shore when a 25 knot east wind got up for several hours, kicking up an uncomfortable chop. It wasn’t much better this morning, and there’s more on the way, so we've moved to a more sheltered spot. It means that the plan to go ashore today to Nikopolis - Octavian’s Victory City - is on hold until it calms down again.