Lazy days on a lazy line
On Saturday 5th, a space comes free for us on the IBA pontoon opposite. We up anchor and briefly reanchor so that john can check he’s understood the clutch mechanism correctly on the anchor windlass. All goes smoothly.
We motor across the way, stern lines ready and fenders out. MnM are onboard, but will leave us to it. As always, I reverse in as slowly as the conditions allow – there’s very little wind, so our approach is sedate, to say the least! Everyone is very patient. We come in quitely and smoothly, John passes the windward line ashore and then the leeward line. Freddie of IBA passes him the lazy line, which John takes forward to the cleat. (A lazy line is a permanently rigged mooring line, attached to the seabed, with a smaller leading line attached that’s tied on to the pontoon or quay. You pick it up at the quay end and take it to the other end of the boat, instead of using an anchor.) A slight hiccup as we have to move the dinghy out the way. Then we loosen the stern lines to move us away from the pontoon, pull in on and make fast the lazy line. Then we motor back towards the pontoon – this tightens the lazy line, without lots of pulling and heaving and straining of backs. Thank you IBA – a lovely technique that we’ll follow from now on. We tighten the stern lines and we’re snug and secure.
IBA are a British run one-stop-shop for repairs, upgrades and more. Everyone’s really friendly and we’re soon chatting our way up & down the pontoon as we go to the office, the chandler’s, tavernas etc. Yotties are almost always up for sharing info, contacts, yarns, technical advice, and alcohol!
Nidri is a buzzing yotties centre, well stocked with services, chandlers, laundry facilities, showers , tavernas and bars. For our (nearly) 12m it’s €18 per night including electricity and water. We’re booked in for Saturday, but in the end we keep extending and stay til Thursday 10th 😎🍷😎
Mama Mia – end of handover
On Saturday evening we go to Mama Mia’s with MnM for a meal to celebrate the end of a successful handover. The wine is excellent – bottles only, no carafes. At €12 a bottle, it’s more than we’re used to paying, but it’s a very good, balanced dry red.
The food is also excellent and we agree it’s a very good place to go for a bit of a treat (€35 per couple is more than our usual meals out.) It’s a very convivial evening and MnM take us somewhere else where they’re good friends with the guy who runs it, for a glass of wine. He brings out a selection of grilled meats and more wine on the house. Much banter and putting the world to rights 🍷🍷🍷
Greece and UK swop weather
On Sunday it rains. The UK is apparently basking in glorious bank holiday sunshine, temperatures expected to reach 28°C! We have 19°C with rumbles of thunder and downpours, but we wouldn’t swop! It’s quite pleasant after the unseasonably high temperatures we worked in on the Hard in Cleo.
The cockpit’s fairly wet when we get up, so we find and fit the sprayhood side panels and also the extension canvas between the sprayhood and the Bimini. With the cockpit now fully covered, we soon dry out and are snug and comfortable. We don jeans and light oilskin jackets when we venture out for an excellent pizza at Pomodoro (more Italian than British, made with fresh mozzarella, instead of the Greek equivalent on request.) A welcome lazy day.
Liferaft, Lists, Laundry and Loo repairs!
On Monday morning we say a final goodbye to MnM who are heading off. The handover of ownership, legally complete last August, is now complete in reality.
We need a new liferaft and are exchanging emails with Ionian Marine Safety (part of CYS Lefkas) about various models. The one we wanted is £930 in the UK, but about £1,450 here! Vagelis suggests alternatives and we finally agree on a Sea-Safe 4 person Pro-light, which meets ISO ISO9650-1 <24hr for £1,150 (incl Greek VAT which is 24% – we’ve learnt to check whether or not quotes include this, they usually don’t!)
We start writing To Do lists and chill out. Lunch is either a club sandwich with chips, a greek salad or a tomato & green pepper omelette (also with chips!), usually washed down with draught beer or ouzo – we’re giving ourselves a bit of a holiday and not cooking yet.
We have 2 loads of laundry (including 2 sets of bedding that came with the boat) and, given the unsettled weather, we opt for a wash and line-dry service at the laundry just behind the Athos Hotel on the main street. Someone on the pontoon suggests we are being considerate in not lowering the tone of the place by festooning the boat with wahing! In reality, we would’ve struggled to find enough space to hang it all, but this is an excuse I’m happy to adopt. There are self service machines elsewhere at €5-7 per load, this is €10 per load. We take it in on Monday afternoon and collect it, clean and neatly folded, on Tuesday after 3pm.
On Monday evening we hold the renaming ceremony – I’ll do a separate post about this.
Tuesday and Wednesday seem to fly by – trying to source a new fire extinguisher for the engine – it needs to be automatic, mounted upside down and the chandlery don’t seem to be able to get one. More emails and Vagelis of Ionian Marine Safety to the rescue again – he can get us one for €62, 2kg powder automatic – just what we need.
Another Oceanis 40CC arrives on the pontoon! We soon get chatting and are invited onboard Green Serene for a drink and to look around. We come away with a number of ideas for changes and additions (mostly small) that we may want to make. Looking at their saloon table (a much more reasonable size than ours) we realise that we have the extension in! As soon as we get back on board LouLouDitsi, I take it out. Ahhh, I can now get to the drinks locker without contortions in a small space 🙄
The aft heads needs attention – a fountain of (fresh!) water springs up from the base of the pump handle as you flush water in. John studies the manual and we go back and forth to the chandlers looking at service kits and different spare parts. In the end, Tony from Full Flight confirms John’s diagnosis that the Seal Mount assembly (Jabsco part 19044-2000 – I now know this by heart!) needs replacing and possibly the piston rod as well.
John starts the repair, curses the design, which he thinks makes it unnecessarily fiddly to do, and successfully fixes the problem. He’s itching to take the forward head apart to improve the pump on that, but agrees that at 2300 hours it’s time for bed! After meeting John, my father told me “you can’t go far wrong marrying an engineer” – a real seal of approval. He was right, but I had many other reasons!
We fill our water tanks and make plans to leave. I’ve finally got an appointment for us to meet the man who, I hope, will make our cockpit cushions! So tomorrow, we’re off to Lefkas.