We survived the Greek Easter break as fortunately the on site taverna stayed open for the duration as did the little shop for all but one of the Easter days.
It therefore gave us the opportunity to start the many jobs on the list. So we (l!) replaced the very brittle plastic and stainless steel air vent in the fore cabin roof. The one I had brought out from the UK was identical so this turned out to be a 10 minute job only, unlike wiring up a new (as a spare) wired windlass remote control, where despite studying what I thought was the correct wiring diagram and the actual windlass wiring I still managed to blow 3 fuses resorting to trial and error. But no damage done and it does raise and lower the anchor with the correct buttons pressed.
One of the consequences of over wintering was a leak, probably from a cabin window onto the carpeted shelf behind the nav table. The carpet and a paper roll had soaked up the water, however leaving a very mouldy and blackened carpet square and roll. Ann’s first job therefore….!
Other jobs included replacing the prop anode, greasing the prop, fitting an external GPS antenna to the AIS box, although still many outstanding.
One of our other early tasks is to apply for and get Greek residency, to avoid the otherwise necessity of having to leave Greece after 90 days. We thought we had got it 2 years ago in Corfu when we got our ‘beige cards’ but unfortunately the Greeks have moved the goalposts slightly and we now need to apply for ‘biometric cards’. We initiated the process last year by making contact with the alien police department in Agrinio who have responsibility for this region and getting a list of requirements, and as of today we’ve been given an appointment to visit them on Tuesday 10th May. One requirement is to demonstrate a permanent Greek address on the day of the interview, which for us can be Cleopatra’s marina, so the upshot is we’re going nowhere for the next 2 weeks. So a bit of admin today, extending our dry berth contract until the 10th May and booking lift in for the following day.
Agrinio is not the easiest of places to get to from Cleopatra’s being nearly 60 miles inland, so when the day arrives it will be an early start in a hire car. At least all the local hire car offices are only a 20 min walk away at the airport.
This morning (26th) we also took the opportunity of taking the free courtesy bus round to Preveza to stock up on some fresh meat, fruit and vegetables and get Greek standard passport photos taken for the residency cards. Also a bit of sightseeing, expecting but failing to see a highly decorated church following the Easter celebrations. There were some bay leaves and other greenery bedecking the lecture. Return to the marina was by free and very very fast ferry.
Life on the hard (dry berth) is not all it may seem, up and down a fairly high ladder to get on and off, no fridge as it has an externally water cooled plate, and no on board toilet facilities, so a large water bottle comes in useful. On the plus side though, the fairly al fresco toilet and shower block is close by and we do have mains power.
The weather so far has been OK, shorts and tee shirt during the day although evenings are a bit chilly and the other evening we even turned on the boat cabin heater for a while, probably the first time since we left the English Channel back in 2019. (I need to find the mains powered fan heater, it’s on board somewhere!)
On with the jobs!
