We arrived in Messolonghi Marina early afternoon and immediately indulged in a relaxing cold beer in the marina taverna. Monday morning, up at 7 to catch the 0830 bus to Agrinio although just as well we got to the bus station early as we discovered it actually leaves at 0820, through the spectacular gorge (photos below), and into the police station by 0930. 10 mins later we walked out with our precious residency permits, allowing us to stay in Greece for as long as we want for the next 5 years. The inconvenience of 3 visits to a police station in a town in the middle of nowhere was definitely worth it. We believe we now have to ‘reside’ in Greece for a minimum of 6 months each year otherwise they won’t renew it, but we’ll worry about that nearer the time! We’d planned of leaving Messolonghi on Tuesday morning, but it was blowing a hooley, so we decided to stay another night. A German boat however took the risk and after a difficult departure from the pontoon, ended up aground just outside the marina. After about an hour, the port police, complete with a diver came and pushed them off the sandbank, and escorted them back to the harbour. Apparently they were given a €400 bill. We’d also missed a Finnish boat leave on Monday evening, and he did the same, although he apparently hadn’t paid his TEPAI cruising tax and was also given a hefty fine as well as a bill! Tuesday was also the chance to catch up with a few jobs, one of which was to sand the rust off our 2 empty gas cylinders and respray them to a standard that the chandlery would exchange them for refills. We left on Wednesday morning.
Oh and there were sparrows everywhere, our neighbours boat had a sparrow’s nest in its boom, and had wed stayed longer our boom would have accommodated a nest!
