We really feel we’ve arrived in the Ionians. The weather has warmed up rapidly as has the sea and we’re grateful to be able to leap in for long cooling swims in crystal clear water. We’re making our way slowly around Ithaca, the smaller island east of Cephalonia, which has innumerable sheltered bays in which to drop anchor. It’s fortunate there are so many as the number of sailing boats has massively increased since we left the mainland and we find ourselves too close for comfort to other boats in some of the anchorages. In fact we while away a good deal of the day watching other boats and their anchoring antics!
In the last blog Jonathan mentioned that a mechanic had fitted a new non-return valve, hoping to remove the problem of hot water emerging from our cold taps that has been ongoing since we had a new water pump and water heater fitted in Leros. Sadly our optimism was dashed again and we were left struggling to reason how this could possibly be happening. It was almost as if the pipework had developed a fistula with the higher pressure of water from the hot tank pushing through to the cold water pipes. After pulling up all the flooring and tracing pipes all around the boat – hey presto! Jonathan found the fistula. A bodged job in the boatyard meant a stopcock had been fitted across our dual lumen deck shower hose, allowing hot and cold water to mix and pushing our hot water supply back through all the cold taps. We’ve cured the problem by removing the shower hose and thankfully a new one is on its way from England.
Aside from sorting the plumbing we’ve had lovely visits to Paros, Sarakiniki Bay, Vathi Bay and Kioni. Often the less touristy resorts have revealed the most lovely surprises. We discovered a family run restaurant on the hill above the small port of Poros that gave the most spectacular views across the bay and a delicious mezze of Greek delights. We’re currently in Kioni, an attractive village with restaurants all around the small harbour. Tomorrow we head back to Cephalonia to pick up our first visitor of the season as Suzie comes to join us at Agios Effimia.