A long stay in Preveza

moored in Spiros marina, Preveza

Paul & Marianne in their new car

frying my freshly caught fish

I am aware that this blog is turning more and more into a social diary, for which I apologise. However it is probably going to carry on in pretty much the same vein. As we approached Preveza town quay we were met by Denis and Sadie in their almost supersonic dinghy, blimey could it shift !! They pointed where they and Scath were then zoomed off to block anybody else sneaking in next to them, and keep it for us. There was a strong current across the quay and a brisk wind which made the stern to manouvre a bit tricky. A few blasts on the bowthruster was required but as we neared the quay I thought I detected a change in the tone of the thruster. Anyway, safely all tied up, I mentioned this. Susan thought it was because we were usung the thruster and the anchor winch at the same time which is a huge draw of power from the batteries. Everyone agreed, so I was satisfied that more knowledgable people thought it was fine. That night we had drinks on Scath and a goodbye supper on Graceful as Denis and Sadie were leaving the following day. Their boat was coming out the water at Cleopatra marina and they returned to England. It was a great night, a good curry and too much alcofroll. The following day a lady came along the quay and gave us a parking ticket - actually it was a polite invite to visit the Port Police to register with them. Dave and Sue, Susan and myself wandered along later that day and after searching for half an hour finally found the office tucked up a back street three floors up. We squeezed into an already crowded office with two very attrative greek damsels feverishly shuffling copies of peoples boat papers, insurances, passports back and forth. "When did you arrive", " yesterday". "When you leave", "Maybe tomorrow". "Maybe tomorrow ? ", "No, tomorrow". "OK, 13 euros". I was then directed into an inner office and told to sit at a desk. A very smartly dressed port policeman was busy writing up the previous occupant of my seat. He got up and left the office, returned, then repeated it again. A casually dressed presumably policeman engaged me in conversation. "Where you been", Where you going", "where you live in England". The smart cop comes back and addresses me " Captain, where you come from", "Gouvia" I reply, lying, but thinking this was the safest option. "OK, where you going?". "I'm not sure yet". "Oh, Levkas, Corfu, Vonitsa, where ? ". "Erm, I don't know, we'll be anchoring in bays". "Oh, what will I put". The casual cop is still constantly bombarding questions. "Quiet", smart cop shouts at casual cop, " I cannot concentrate". Susan, Sue and Dave outside can hear all this going on and thinking I'm being interrogated, but in fact it was all fair relaxed.  Smart cop has an idea " I know, I put the Ionian Sea ". "Yes, that seems good" agrees casual cop. I nod my agreement. He writes an entry in our DEKPA log. "Now go and see lady at counter to pay 0.88 cents" he directs. We shake hands, and say goodbye to casual cop. " Have a nice trip " he says. I then return to the reception area, much to Susans relief and wait a bit longer to pay my 0.88 euros. Dave takes my place with smart cop, casual cop. Half an hour later, the entertainment over and we all went into town for a coffee. We have come to the conclusion that it is all just a job creation scheme. Nothing is computerised, everything is paper copies and is beaurocracy gone mad. There must have been fifteen staff crammed into the offices, most of them standing talking and drinking coffee. Scath set off later that day to go down the south Ionian. We wandered along to see Paul and Marianne. Paul brought his portable generator along and hooked us up with it to charge our batteries right up. It took four hours. Meanwhile he told us about their problem with their mast. The mast is keel stepped, which means it goes through the deck and down to the keel of the boat where it is supported by a large piece of timber and secured in place. Well, the timber, which was oak, had rotted and broken, meaning the mast was now unstable. Oh dear, that is a problem. He was making enquiries to try and find a crane that could lift the mast, while he effected the repair below. He was waiting for a piece of teak to arrive from Levkas to do the job. Finding the crane was the problem. None of the boatyards seemed very keen on the job. The following night the wind got up and things on the town quay got pretty uncomfortable. We were up most of the night as there was a large steel yacht with nobody on board threatening to drag its anchor. The next day we wandered up to the unfinished marina in the harbour to see if we could find a couple of berths there that would offer more protection. I rang Spiros, who unofficially runs it. He agreed for us to go so we moved both Curly And Zilver up there immediately before anybody else nabbed to berths. This was luxury, moored alongside. However, the downside was that my suspicions about the bowthruster were confirmed. It had packed up. I can only asume that it was due to the 'wrap' we got in Cleopatra, but the bottom line was, its goosed. Paul promised to help me fix it. We hoped it was just the drive pin that had sheared, in which case we may be able to do the repair from inside. The next day it was chucking it down with rain, but we had decided to try and sort the thruster. Paul came along to the boat ( they are only next door ) and we stripped it down. Unfortunately its the one manual I do not have so we had both tried to source one on the net, with limited success. Things were not going well, so I looked on the YBW Forum and found the name of a guy in the UK that is supposed to be good with bowthrusters. It was Saturday lunchtime, but I rang the mobile number on the forum and Nick answered. He was very helpful and knowledgable. We had already checked a lot of what he said but he gave a few more pointers and said to ring back anytime. We had to check it out below the waterline so Paul donned his wetsuit and bottles and went in. I got just as wet above the water, as it was still tipping down. Then we noticed oil seeping into the water every time the prop was turned. I rang Nick again. Bad news, the gearbox is knackered. The girls returned from shopping, sopping. Paul came out the water and I was depressed. Bugger and blast, or Godverdomme ( Dutch for God dammit ). Oh well, we'll carry on without it and sort it when we take the boat out the water. Dinner on Zilver that night of carrot soup, cous cous and dutch style meatballs, and pear tart and hilarious company was a good tonic. Marianne has a recipe book in which she enters other peoples recipes. She already had Curly Sues indian Cauliflower in it. Next morning I delivered Andys 'Eggy yum yum bread' to them for breakfast. It met with approval and went in the book. Here in Greece a transport strike is starting to tell and diesel is becoming scarce. Cleopatra marina has run dry so we when a guy came down the pontoon asking if we needed any I decided to top up as I had been running the engine to keep the batteries charged. I also spoke to Spiros who hooked us into the leccy for a charge of 5euros a day. Up till then we were not paying anything. We are happy with this deal and Spiros seems a good guy. As mentioned earlier, Preveza is a really good town. Lots of shops, both touristy and real ones, so you can hunt around them for all sorts of things. There is also a proliferation of 'chinese shops' which stock almost everything. If you go in you always come out with something..........like super sticky rodent catching mats, fly-papers, bras ( not for me ) torches etc etc. There are also so many restaurants that I defy anybody to ever visit them all. We tended to go to anes away from the waterfront, ticked away up alleyways. One that Paul and Marianne introduced us to ( Waoa ) did not have menus. When you were ready to eat, after ordering drinks, you go into the kitchen and see what they have cooking that night and choose there. This may sound weird, but they did a cabbage in lemon sauce starter that was utterly gorgeous. Having said that we do not eat very often. Another option is the Giros bar. Fast, takeaway or sit in food. Pitta Giros which is meat off the spit, salad,chips and tzatziki wrapped inside a pitta bread. Its lovely and was only 2 euros. Another time we went shopping with Paul, Marianne and Mice and bought 4 big dorada fish which Paul barbecued that night. Beautiful. The strike is beginning to bit though and a lot of the bigger supermarkets shelves are almost empty due to no deliveries. We went into one and watched staff rearranging empty boxes on the shelves so it was neat.
One morning I decided to try and catch fish, first cast and got a tiddler, but that was that. Still, I fried it and had it for lunch much to Susans amusement.
Zilvers mast problem was causing P & M much concern. However Paul came and told us that his friends Hans and Anya were going to drive down from Holland in a car that they had bought on behalf of Paul and Marianne, and Hans would help to do the job without a crane. Hans used to own a boatyard in Holland and was a boatbuilder. Good to have friends like that. They arrived a few days later in a Volvo 440 and Paul and Hans set to with the mast job. They used ropes and winches to raise the mast gradually only a few inches then were able to get out the rotten timber. Then over the next two days replaced the timber, in stages with new teak. It was very impressive what they did, but I cannot describe it adequetly, but to lift a mast of that size whilst still afloat is impressive.
We have had a great and longer than planned stay in Preveza but time is pushing on and Rebecca, Chris and Oliver are flying out to Corfu to see us, so we are going to head up there and get into Gouvia in readiness for their arrival. Pictures to follow.......................