Gulf of Amvrakia

M.

We awoke to a fine settled day but alas no news of the famous solar panel.

some funny things you see in Preveza

We had good crack with the all-girl crew next door in a Beneteau. From North Wales, they were joint owners and had considerable experience around these parts. Put me to shame in their girlpower! We also said farewell to our Dutch neighbours on the other side who had rented out their house and sold their boat at home to buy a First 345 in Greece [ a little bigger than our boat, Walkabout, in Swansea] . They hadn't known much about the make when they bought her and were somewhat surprised [ and briefly terrified ] to find out how fast she sailed ! They were creaming past much larger boats and couldn't really understand why!. They were having a ball and laughingly told me that they had no clue where they were going next.They were just loving having an adventure. Sounds good to me.


Rather than rot another day on the quayside in frustrated anticipation, we decided to explore the Gulf of Amvrakia.We have nosed into it briefly a few times in our last visit here and looked forward to exploring its wildlife and history.

A channel leads into it from Preveza and it opens up into a lake 25 x 8 miles in diameter. Its known to have fantastic wildlife, including areas that are designated nature reserves with wetland birds, dolphins and turtles.
It was wonderful, with a gentle breeze that let us tack into the lake, past the fishfarms and hazardous shallows and reefs. A turtle peeped up to see us on the way.
The wind then stopped and we had to motor for a couple of hours through water like silk.
 
We had the lake to ourselves and it seemed a bit eerie chugging along without another boat in sight.
There are several recommended anchorages around the lake. None are completely without pilotage provisos. Since it was so calm we plumped for Menidhion on the NE coast,  recommended to be the best spot for birdwatching and dophins, but untenable in winds > 10 kts.The usual afternoon wind did not seem to have appeared by 4 O'clock. It seemed a safe bet..
We were about 2 miles from shore when the wind picked up, a nice sail at last in 20 kts... but it didn't stop there and by 4.30 we had a strong westerly of 32 kts ....Definitely not in the forecast.

wind doesn't help the hairdo

 
One of the things we have found in our sailing exploits, is that you have to be flexible. No point in arguing with the wind ... even I have come to accept this!
So plan B ... consider another site, Vonitsa on the south west coast where there is a small harbour.
We turned and headed back, but the wind was now on our nose and we had to punch into it all the way back across for 3 hours. The sun was getting low. It was a harbour we didn't know. The wind persisted at > 30 kts and the pilot book warned of dodgy areas of the harbour with underground obstructions .
Plan C .. go back to Preveza.

 

It wasn't without it's rewards. The golden light of early sunset was beautiful as we skidded across the lake and just to finish it off, a pod of bottlenose dolphins joined us. Lovely.

We arrived back in Preveza to find that our previous berth was still unoccupied and we slid in beside our rather bemused neighbours. They gave us a nice welcome back. They'd had no wind all afternoon!

Not quite the day we planned ..but hey ho it's all good experience.
Somehow, in all of this, our topping lift shackle has unlocked and the topping lift line disappeared down into the mast, leaving only the shackle dangling at the very top.
Oh joy. Tomorrow will be my first sojurn up the mast in the bosun's chair.
I'll send photos if I survive !