10th May, Sivota Mourtos

Heading north from Preveza, we stopped at Parga on the mainland after a delightful close reach in light winds for 30 miles.

Here we are parked next door to a semi-submerged ferryboat. The quay is a dumping ground for old nets, an underwater wreck and assorted debris. The wrecks have been there for years apparently.







It’s a real shame the harbour is such a dumping ground as the town itself is a jewel. It sits in a beautiful double horseshoe bay which is guarded by a fine Venetian fort on the promontory above.











We took advantage of a rare cloudy day to go for a long walk in the hills above Lakka on Paxos where we spent a few days at anchor last week. Ancient olive trees grow on stone terraces which were built to stop the soil from erosion. They date from the Middle Ages when the Venetians planted the trees so that the Paxiotes could pay their taxes in olive oil.

We came across a secluded church with this ornate bronze bell hung in an olive tree.







The next day was warm enough for our first swim. Leighton collects stones from the beach. Lakka's water is a glorious turquoise.








Plataria on the mainland opposite Corfu felt very exposed when we arrived in a strong sea breeze one afternoon, as the seawall and quay are barely two feet high. Our kedge dragged in the night to put us alongside. We’ve abandoned our plans to leave the boat here and explore Albania by car as 1) the berth isn’t secure – contrary to the pilot and 2) there have been reports of rioting in Tirana.

Leighton takes a break from fixing a leak in the toilet pump with Harry Potter here in Sivota Mourtos.

We did our first stern-to on the quay here with the help of 15 knots of wind blowing us on. It worked scarily well although we ran out of chain – and we have 60 metres of the stuff – some ten feet from the quay. Never mind -we’ve been using the dinghy to ferry us across the gap ever since.