25th July, Nidri - Flying the flag

The family have come onboard for a holiday, so it seems a good idea to hoist the Devon flag.

One day a woman from a passing boat called across to us, “Great to see the flag – we’re from South Molton!” This made a nice change from the usual puzzled, “What’s that green flag then?”

We asked Fiona, Tommy and Rosie what was the best bit of their holiday on Makarma. Rosie said it was snorkelling without seeing black blobby bits – aka sea squirts. The waffles and ice-cream were a highlight too. For Fiona and Tommy it was the sailing – on the few times when we had a good wind. Here they are in Levkas:
All of us found it was hard to get a good night’s sleep when it was 30+ degrees down below, but otherwise it worked out fine and they got very good at putting up and taking down the awning/windscoop/passerelle/boarding ladder. Not to mention pulling on ropes and doing knots. We loved having them onboard.

The plan was to spend the first week sailing before Louise, Simon and the girls arrived in the second week to take up residence in their luxury villa in the hills above Nidri. That first week we spent the first night in Kapali bay on the north coast of Meganisi which got a bit rolly when the sea breeze kicked in towards the end of the afternoon. Next day we motored down the Meganisi channel to Sivota. From Sivota we’d planned to sail to Fiskardho on Kefalonia, but with a F4 on the nose, we opted instead for a fast beam reach to Kastos. Three flotillas were converging on the tiny harbour as we came in. What a circus! The holding there is very poor, so like everyone else it took us a while to get ourselves sorted with lines to the lamp-post on the shore and the flook well hooked. With so little room we were all rafted up alongside each other.


The next day we snorkelled in the clear water of Port Leone followed by an evening in Port Kalamos with a hearty meal at George’s taverna. Then a very slow sail took us back to Meganisi, this time to Port Athene. We made the most of the wind the next day to go for a sail up towards Palairos then back around Skorpios, finally ending the day in a rolly berth in Vathi harbour, because we wanted to see the underwater wartime plane wreck. It was underwhelming – Rosie said “it was brown”, and Leighton thought it wasn’t a WWII relic but a modern Cessna.

With Louise’s arrival we divided our time between days by the pool at the villa and day sails out to the beach to swim and snorkel. We made good use of the villa’s washing machine, showers and air-conditioning. On the days we went out, having nine people onboard was a bit of a stretch, but with light winds we didn’t have to disturb the sunbathers on deck too much.

If it was a disappointment to Louise who was keen to sail, it was a relief to Simon who goes green at the sight of waves.


Leaving dinner at Dimitri's overlooking Tranquil Bay

We were sorry to say goodbye to them all when they went, but we’re glad to be back to just the two of us again.

We’re left with the Devon flag (as well as a pile of goodies from home) as a reminder of their visit. Now all we have to do is remember where we put all the stuff we stowed away to make room for them. At least the forepeak doesn’t look like this any more!