OK, OK, I know it’s been ages since the last blog. Cast your mind back to Cephalonia, late September...

Sami

When the wind dropped a bit, we left Fiskhardo behind and headed south to Sami, famous as the area where much of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was filmed.

The harbour in Sami.

In Sami we tracked down the Melissani Cave where water emerges into a semi-subterranean lake 14 days after disappearing into the sinkholes near Argostoli. We did the touristy bit and spent an extortionate amount of money to get a wet bottom in a 10-minute row around the lake in somebody else’s boat.

The subterranean lake inside Melissani Cave.

In the middle of the day, sunlight entering the cave through a hole in the roof turns the water turquoise.

Twisted, ribbon-like stalactites hang at odd angles from the roof and walls of the cave.

The water from Argostoli finally escapes back to the sea in Sami via a waterwheel.

High winds and a high kid count

We were weather-bound in Sami for just over a week, but Beth and Bryn didn’t mind as they found other children to play with.

When it wasn’t raining, pontoon LEGO was a favourite with fellow boat kids Sid and Wilf (YINDEE PLUS).

Nintendo DS and the chocolate game (you know, that one where you have to throw a 6 then don a hat, scarf, gloves and eat chocolate with a knife a fork as quickly as possible...) were the favourites when Beth and Bryn were playing with Katie (EURO), who was also weather-bound in Sami for a couple of days while on a family charter holiday.

Soggy see-saw in Sami.

Playing the chocolate game with Katie.

Katie heading off once the high winds eased.

We were delighted to bump into Grant and Julie (ex-CYCLES) who we knew from our days in Aberystwyth Marina (it’s a small world...).

Back in Messolonghi

As soon as there was a decent break in the weather we headed off for Messolonghi. We didn’t have much luck in the wind department, but we did catch some fish! The first was a dorado that we didn’t manage to land, but we did get two decent-sized bonito (tuna family) and an amberjack (all using a silvery rapala lure, trawling at about 5.5 knots for you fishy-minded individuals). This was enough to feed the four of us, plus Karen and Richard (who were already installed in Messolonghi) – and have ‘tuna’ mayo butties the next day.

A bonito (top) and amberjack (bottom).

Settling in for the winter

We don't seem to have stopped since we stopped, if you get my drift! We've bought bikes and have been exploring – it's flat in and around the town and there are lots of cycle paths which means that it's relatively easy to cycle everywhere. Beth and Bryn can even cycle into town on their own for an ice-cream or emergency bread. There is a beach and a mud bath, a medium-sized Carrefour (on the edge of town), a little Carrefour in town, a Dia, a Lidl (a long way out of town), a couple of quite large Greek supermarkets, an ouzo distillery, lots of fruit/veg shops, fish shops, butchers, bakers, bike shops, etc., and a street market on Saturdays and Tuesdays.

Stilt houses or ‘pelades’ are common in the salt marshes around the town.

School for boat kids

Beth and Bryn have started ‘real’ school (separate classes, top end of key stage 2). This was meant to be for an hour each day to learn some Greek and to make some friends. However, something got lost in translation and they are now going full time! This is a bit of a mega-challenge for us, as they have to be there by just after 8 am, although they do finish by 1.15 pm. They take the CAPE school books in with them so that they can get on with stuff when they don't have a clue what's going on. They’ve made some friends and have started correcting our Greek, so at the moment anyway, the plan seems to be working!

A hectic social calendar

It looks like there will be 15 or so liveaboard boats here with for the winter, and there are already plenty of social events being arranged. The marina is still embryonic, and although we have loos and showers, plus water and electricity, there isn’t much else here yet. David and some of the other guys split the marina office in two to give us a clubhouse and we have some chairs and tables, a beer fridge for an honesty bar, music and a rapidly growing book swap.

The marina office with the base for the partition in place.

The Anglo-French working party putting in the clubhouse/office partition.

We have a BBQ each Sunday – last week the Fishermen’s Association provided us with 30 kg of (still flapping) fish from the local fish farm.

Ioannis (Mr Messolonghi Marina), Mr Fishing Association and 15 kg of the fish.

A jam session in the club house.

The Olympic flame

We saw the Olympic flame being carried through Messolonghi as part of its 2-week journey around Greece before flying to Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics – it had been lit the day before using a prism and sunlight on Mount Olympus.

A particularly bad photo of the Olympic flame being carried through Messolonghi.

‘Ohi’ Day

28 October was 'Ohi' ('No') Day here in Greece – the annual anniversary of Greece's rejection of Mussolini's demand to allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory to occupy strategic locations, and the beginning of Greece's participation in WWII. The event is marked with a national holiday and representatives of various organizations (schools, bands, hospitals, fire service, armed forces, etc.) marching through each town. We went along to cheer Bethany and Bryn’s new school friends as they marched past – they’d been practicing marching for days beforehand!

Watching the parade.

Athens in the rain

We went into Athens by coach (about 2.5 hours) to see the Acropolis and visit the Athens Boat Show. The trip was fun but was marred slightly by an horrendous thunderstorm which meant that the Acropolis was difficult to do and the museum had a queue 5 miles long (OK, maybe not quite that long). It was still impressive to see the Acropolis from a distance and to do some of the Roman stuff around the base – we are determined to go back and do it all properly at some point.

The Odeum of Herodes Atticus (aren’t you glad that you asked!).

The Parthenon looked very impressive from a distance, but it all but disappeared when the rain came down and we had to run for cover.

The Parthenon – before the rain.

5 minutes later – the Parthenon is still just visible through the downpour.

The boat show was interesting and we got some of the info we needed on various things (fuel tanks, malfunctioning LifeTags, sewing machines that aren’t scared of repairing sails) but there were no fantastic offers unless you wanted an engine or a motorboat. We splashed out on a new head torch.

Halloween

Halloween provided an excuse for decorating the new clubhouse with paper pumpkins, bats, rats and spiders. It was also an excuse for Bryn and Beth, and Terry and Fiona (staying on TERRI ONA) to get out the makeup, face paint and dressing up stuff.

The Glamorous Witch (what is really scary is how grown up she looks...).

The Pumpkin (Fiona) and Count Dracula (Terry) entering into the spirit of the event (aided and abetted by large quantities of Halloween treats).

The Vampire Bat meets Count Dracula, the Glamorous Witch and the Pumpkin.

The other girlies who couldn’t resist the opportunity to dress up.

“So Dave, what do you reckon to Paul James at tight head against New Zealand?“ (I am assured that this will mean something to Welsh rugby fans.)

Full-fat internet and other technological advances

In between all of the social events, school, biking and so on, I have quite a bit of work lined up for the winter and David is getting on with the boat jobs – tackling the fuel tanks for a start, and looking at the windows on CAPE's port side as I got dripped on in bed the other night when we had lots of rain.

Greece has been the worst place so far for internet, as there isn't a 3G phone signal in many places (i.e. most of the islands). This has meant that we've had to cart my laptop around to internet cafes and bars, and we have been forced to drink beer/wine while I log on. Unfortunately my laptop does not approve of all of this and has been getting less and less reliable (possibly linked to a nasty rattling noise inside the case), so we have had to replace it (Beth and Bryn have inherited it – it'll be fine if they are gentle with it). Sorting the laptops – buying a new one (with English software and hardware, but in pidgin Greek), loading its software, transferring stuff from the old one to the new one, and stripping stuff off the old one) – has taken my IT manager quite a bit of time, but we’re about sorted now. On the internet front, Messolonghi does have 3G, so we have full fat internet access (via a Vodaphone dongle) at last!

The arty bit at the end

As the Ionian isn’t well endowed with impressive lighthouses for me to photograph, you’ll have to make do with a trio of sunrise photos. I might even be tempted to get out my paints again at some point!

Sunrise number 1.

Sunrise number 2.

Sunrise number 3.