As mentioned earlier we booked a couple of nights on the IBA (Ionian Boat Assistance) pontoon so that Dimitris could come and finish the minor jobs on the gantry. True to his word, he turned up at 0830 on Thursday with his welding gear and welded the two missing loops for the lower stern guard wire, added another loop for the flag, and removed the second and redundant horseshoe buoy bracket. Interestingly, he turned up with ‘stainless steel Phil’ who came on board last September for over an hour measuring up for the gantry, but ultimately never produced a quote. They are now partners and have probably cornered the market in Nidri and Lefkas for stainless steel work. We were extremely pleased with the quality of the gantry, and have already had compliments so had no reservations about paying the final agreed amount. Soon after Dimitris and Phil left, a couple of wood working chaps arrived and measured up for the two wooden stern seats.
An advantage of the IBA pontoon is the free use of the nearby hotel pool, which in the 37° heat we were only too pleased to make use of, also very nearby supermarkets and a bakery and butcher’s shop allowed us to restock.
We’d planned to slip the pontoon at noon, and the final job before we left was to top up the water tanks. An hour later! they finally overflowed.
Once out of Nidri, the wind picked up and we enjoyed a sail for about an hour, before motoring the final miles to Kastos. We came here last year, and the delightful harbour, and its village are a genuine attraction for all. What a surprise, and despite it being Friday 13th, when we arrived at 1700 we found the last spot on the harbour wall. But with a cross wind, it did take a couple of attempts to moor up, having to start to drop the anchor in exactly the right spot, and reverse with the cross wind and arrive at the right spot on the wall. We subsequently discovered that we had laid our anchor across our neighbour’s chain, but was soon sorted when he dived down and lifted our anchor to the right place! (the whole harbour is only about 2m deep).
Having moored up in a beautiful spot, we decided to make the most of it and stay for a few days. With our solar panels, power is no problem, we’ve full tanks of water, our only constraint being the capacity of the holding tank and having enough beer on board!
