The forecast said that it would rain at the weekend so we left the tadpole island of

Meganisi and moved to Ormos Vlikho where we stayed at anchor until Monday morning.

We had planned to stay on the town quay at Nidri but there was no space for us so we

moved deeper into the bay.

It didn’t rain but was cloudy on Saturday. Monday was glorious with sunny, blue skies

and the temperature at 29degrees.

We moved from the anchorage closer to the outlet from the bay and tied up against the

town quay at Nidri, along with a number of tripper boats no longer working this late in

the season. Amongst them was one of those gullets which we had come across recently,

which takes along  bicycles for the passengers to use to explore the different islands

visited. It looked as if it too had done its last trip for the season. All the bicycles had been

unloaded and were being cleaned before they were loaded onto a trailer to be taken away

and stored for the winter.

We stayed for 2 nights at Nidri. A pleasant little town, totally dedicated to tourism. We

stocked up with fresh provisions and left our mooring mid morning, on another flat sea,

to make our way to Levkas town.

We traveled through the canal, cut through the salt marsh. The salt marsh and sand spits

at this end of the island differ tremendously from the steep-to, limestone mountain range,

forming the rest of the island. There were signs that demanded that no anchoring was

permitted and other signs which stated that the maximum speed was limited to 4knots.

The “no anchoring” sign obviously didn’t apply to the small fishing boats, in the same

way as the speed limit didn’t apply to any boat which preferred to ignore it. We passed a

couple of partially submerged, rusting hulks which had once been substantial sized ships.

We reached Levkas and tied up to the town quay. Levkas was the largest town that we

had encountered since we joined the boat earlier this year, well provided with super-

markets and shops selling fresh produce. This might be important for provisioning next

spring, when we return to the boat after the winter should Prevesa be unable to fulfil our

requirements.

We spent only one night at Levkas, leaving our mooring in good time, so that we might

arrive at the floating bridge, ready to pass out of the canal at 10am, when the bridge

swiveled open. We then made passage towards Cleopatra marina, Preveza and the gulf of

Amvrakikos.

It is strange to think that it is from here that Cleopatra fled in 31BC, taking her Egyptian

ships with her. Anthony followed, abandoning his fleet and his men, to be defeated by

Octavian .

We arrived at Cleopatra marina about 10 days early, as we wanted to meet the various

service providers prior to bringing Tucanon here for the winter. Although all the work

has to be arranged through the marina offices, we do need to ensure that each of the

providers knows precisely what is required of them. Having arranged for the works to be

undertaken after the boat has been lifted, we can then move on, not needing to return until

the day before the boat will come out of the water.

While we were at Cleopatra marina, we also had the freezer repaired. It hasn’t been

working properly recently. Very often, the temperature has not been sufficiently cold to

keep frozen, the food on the top shelf.  

Below:- Tripper boats after end of season, tied up beside canal,,,, Other side of canal,,,,scare-crows, one partially submerged in the water,,,, bridge