10th - 12th August
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Sat 15 Aug 2009 08:07
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38 19.8N 20 44.9E
Pigadhi Bay Ithaki
We left Vathy (Ithaki) on Monday morning and
motored to a delightful bay on the SE of Ithaki. There is a small island which
creates a shallow channel to the north of the bay and two beaches where the
water is shallow enough to anchor off. We selected our spot and dropped the
anchor in 10 metres - it was so clear we could see the anchor and chain as it
landed on the bottom! Plenty of swimming and relaxing followed while we watched
numerous boats continue to arrive. Some chose to anchor and back up towards the
rocks around the edge of the bay and then ran stern lines to these. Around 2200
a huge MV arrived and anchored to seaward of us - it must have been at least 50
mts. and was called 'Barbie' what a name! We were able to see the chef in his
full regalia of white chef hat etc cooking in the galley before serving the
guests who were sitting on the after deck and of course the whole boat was lit
up like Piccadilly Circus!
Early in the morning I was awoken by the bleating
of goats - I went up on deck to investigate and sure enough a small herd was
picking its way across the rocks around the headland. They stopped occasionally
to graze on the very scrubby bushes and then moved on, most were black but one,
the largest - and a real Billy Goat gruff was cream and brown. We both
had a morning swim and then set off to Sami on Cephalonia where we were meeting
up with Grand Slam again.We had problems with the anchor windlass again as it
would pull up the anchor at first - eventually it did work but it seems that
when there is any weight on it, i.e. when we anchored in deep water it doesn't
like it.Another job to be sorted out this winter! In addition we now have an
electrical problem as the transducer is malfunctioning. we realized this when
the water sensor started telling us the temperature was 39 degrees and then 10
minutes later it was reading -5 degrees! Then the true wind speed packed up and
then the log! Rob investigated while we travelling along but didn't manage to
sort it out so it looks like we will need to get a new one!
On our arrival in Sami Andy was standing on the
mole to direct us to a space on the inside of the wall - we were jolly lucky as
because we were on the 'T' we were able to moor up alongside. The down side of
this was the noise from a group of teenagers who were 'having fun' until 0230
sitting on the 'T' using their mobiles laughing and shouting until eventually
some-one came to escort them off the mole. We had drinks with Pam, Andy Ju and
Liz on Grand Slam before they went off to eat out and we ate on board. The
following morning I took the dirty washing to the launderette where I had great
fun trying to explain by sign language and the Greek phrase book that I wanted
the stuff washed but not dried and at 40 degrees to be collected at 1700. The
lady was not going to give me a receipt so I wrote out two copies of my name,
'Paid' and 'collection time' one for her and one for us just to be
safe! I then took a bus trip to Fiscardo for the rest of the day. It
was a really interesting journey as the road passes through Ay Eufimia and then
crosses the island to pass high above the lovely coast where Mythos (not sure of
the spelling) beach stretches in all it's turquoise glory and the isthmus
of Assos with its venetian castle and tiny anchorage can be viewed. I felt
Fiscardo was a bit too touristy for me - the quay was lined with cafes and
restaurants and every inch was full of boats. I did wander inland a bit and
found a museum and some of the old buildings which had survived the earth quake
of 1953 which were interesting.
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