Ouzo Bay just one more time

After a great sleep we head off from Meganissi around 9am.  It's about three hours to Ithaca for our final night at Big Vathi.  It's an uneventful motor as there are no winds and the haze is back.

 We haven't seen much wildlife this trip apart for all the stray dogs and cats; we have only seen one turtle outside of Messalonghi and one lonely dolphin and some flying fish.

By the time we get to Ouzo Bay it's packer out with many yachts and a large cruiser called Galileo from the Aegean.  Apparently the winds were so bad over there they changed thire route for the Ioninans.

So Greg slows down and I just jump off the back of the yacht to cool down as there is nowhere for us to drop anchor.

We head into town and pull up against the quay and for our final arrival we manage to blow the gear box of the anchor, just out luck.  Now we can put the anchor down but can't pull it up.  Greg goes in search for Spiros who organises for Yannos to call by tomorrow morning to see if he can fix it.  That ruins our departure plans for tomorrow but we'll work around it.  Worse case scenario we will have to pull the anchor up by hand, we will be searching for some muscle ment tonight.  We also pull up next to a large catamaran with eight Aussies on board, some from Sydney and a few from Adelaide.  They are all friendly and chatty.  

So we get ready for dinner and head over to our favouite restaurant for some white bait, garlic shrimp and salad, very delicious.  We then have to go say goodbye to George at the bar on the other side of the quay,  he is very happy to see us and we have a few laughs with him.

We try to be quite when we get back on board and crash out.  I have the best sleep ever.   We don't wake till 9am and are very slow to get started.  Greg has to follow up on Yannos and I cook some bacon and eggs with beans.  It really hits the spot.

Around 11ish Yannis drops by and checks out the gearbox, it's dead so we will have to order a new one from the marina.  Yannis, his mate and Greg then hail up 40 metres of chain and Yannis does not even break into to a sweat.  We drop then back off on the quay and are now on our last leg to Messaloghi. We get away about 11.30 so running half a a day behind where we would have liked to be but we can make up time.

It's another stunning day, not a breath of wind and it's a five hour motor so we enjoy the last of the summers sun.  We are both feeling blue as we don't won't this holiday to and.  We also feel it could be the last trip on Moet22 in the Med as she is up for sale.  

There is a big front coming in the next few days so we have been lucky that we had the most perfect weather.  An hour out of Messalonghi the swell picks up and it's a little choppy.  We have been cleaning the yacht in readiness for wintering, the cockpit cushions have been washed, dried and stowed away already and Greg is doing his skipper stuff.

We pull into the marina around 5pm.  We take down the Bimini and gather the laundry and head to town.  We have a small repair to make to the Bimini a and are in search of the upholster Greg used a month ago but we can't find it.  

We ask some random guy in a work shop if he knows but he doesn't really speak English.  He tries to give us directions.  So head off and five minutes later he cycles by us giving us directions.  He shows us where they shop used to be, apart newly it moved last week.  So this guy phones the number on the shop front and organises for Dimitiri the upholster to come down to his old location to see us.  Wow what a great help this guy has been.  I take his photo for the blog.

Dimitri arrives but can't speak English so calls his wife who is Canadian / Greek and then rides her push bike over to talk to us.  It's such a funny thing, the Greeks are so hospitable and very friendly and happy to help us out.  We Are able to pick up the bimini tomorrow at midday same as the laundry, so we are happy.

Next stop is the town square to watch the world go by for the last time.