Nidri – SY LouLouDitsi

South to Tranquil Bay

South through the Lefkas Canal On Friday 4 May we left Preveza and headed out of the Preveza channel, then south to the bridge at the N end of the Lefkas Canal. After the storm there was quite a swell – a good excuse to unfurl the mainsail to steady the roll of the boat. … Continue reading

Growing barnacles in Nidri

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. … Continue reading

Renaming Ceremony

On Monday 7 May, at Nidri, we held a traditional renaming ceremony for LouLouDitsi. Sailors are a superstitious bunch around boats, even if they show no sign of it ashore. Somehow, the gods seem very present on a boat when you’re so close to the elements and so affected by them. There are lots of … Continue reading

GPS Reverse Route

We got the chicken, though not the hand drill, which just raised eyebrows wherever we asked. John’s coming round to the idea of a rechargeable one …. So, we left our mooring and I told the GPS plotter to reverse the route again to take us back down to Nidri. “Will we ever manage to … Continue reading

A Toast to Sussex

Last night we heard that the Sailor’s Bar would be showing the Royal wedding. After a couple of days getting more laundry done and running diagnostics on the ship’s batteries (more to come, you’ve been warned!) we decide it’s time to connect to the outside world and we dinghy over to watch Harry and Meghan … Continue reading

Houston, we have a problem

I’ll start by saying we’re fine and LouLouDitsi is safely moored on the IBA pontoon in Nidri. But we had a bit of a scare . . . We’d enjoyed our few days at anchor and I was about to call Alex at Karnayio in little Vathi on Meganissi to see if we could book … Continue reading

Stern gland & the Hokey Cokey

The leak from the stern gland is now much reduced. Yiannis from IBA looked at it last Friday and greased it – there’s a suspicion that it wasn’t greased when it was fitted in the spring. He mopped all the water out from the groove under the stern tube and also from a well below … Continue reading

Stainless Steel Phil

You may remember that my desire for ice in ouzo and G&T led to expensive new batteries, electrical work in Lefkas and a recognition that we need more power, in the form of solar panels. If you missed all this, or want a reminder, it’s here Where and how do we fit extra panels? The … Continue reading

Making Plans for Winter

We need to make some plans for work and maintenance over the winter, so where else would we go but Nidri, which seems to have become our base. We’re also hoping to meet up with Phil again to talk more about the design of our new gantry. We leave Preveza at 1230 after filling up … Continue reading

Medicane Zorba

As we moor up on the IBA pontoon on Tuesday 25 September, the wind charts for Greece are showing colours (wind strengths) we’ve never seen before. A cyclone is building to the SW of Greece, forecast to move up to the Agean. The wind rushing down to it is forecast to be NE 5 gusting … Continue reading