Well we’ve finally managed to get back out to Greece, after being held up by Covid-19, the birth of Rory, James and Hayley’s wedding and a couple of Easyjet flight cancellations. To get in to the country we just had to show proof of double vaccination and complete an online Passenger Location Form, easy!
When we left Jacana 10 months ago, we had instructed Dimitris, and passed him a wadge of cash to build and install a solar panel gantry with davit arrangements to lift the tender out of the water. We spoke with him a couple of weeks ago and he asked if he could install it in Nidri as his workshop moved from Cleopatra’s back in May. Consequently we had little hope of it being ready. We were therefore VERY surprised to see it virtually completed and on Jacana when we arrived at 2000. And a great job, although missing a couple of stainless steel loops for a second stern safety wire, and a misunderstanding about whether he was providing the hardwood seats, but as he made clear, to us when he came round for the second wadge of cash, he doesn’t do wood! No worries though as he’ll find us a wood man!
So Sunday and Monday, we got Jacana ready for lift in at 0930 on Tuesday. First problem, the starter battery was only reading 10.2 volts. No problem, I’ll just charge it up for a few hours. Easier said than done! First problem was finding the portable charger, then I remembered I had last used it in Weymouth a few months earlier. I’ll buy another one then, however the on site chandlery had nothing resembling a portable charger, and even if they had, I would have struggled to plug it in, as Jacana has a combination of UK and Swiss power sockets (she started her life on Lake Constance) , and we don’t have a suitable adapter (put it on the list!). However when we bought Jacana, I noticed she had two mains chargers, connected to the 2 house batteries, although only one can be powered at a time (via a diamond shaped Swiss plug). So it was ‘just’ a matter of removing the charger and connecting to the engine battery (after disconnecting the alternator connection). An hour later, I could smell hydrogen sulphide, and the battery was in near melt down and still only reading 10.2v. So 105€ later we had a nice new starter battery.
Other jobs included changing and sterilising the fresh water, renewing a washer on the heads pump, washing down the decks, re riveting a window that fell off.
So 0930 on Tuesday morning we were gently lifted from the cradle and taken to the launch area and we were on our way for a few weeks.
Because we will be drifting around the Ionian for eight weeks or so, rather in previous years we were trying to get somewhere, I’ll only update this blog on a weekly basis.
