Zakinthos

Port Zakinthos, the town known as Zante. Very spacious, well protected harbour with power and water..

If we wanted the mainsail to work as designed we needed to replace that missing batten lug. We had no idea how we were going to achieve this unless there just happened to be a chandlery in town carrying the most obscure of Lagoon 440 Parts.,,,,

We didn't fancy our chances.


On entering the port, there was just so much room to choose from until we noticed a large gentleman who we came to know as Dionisios Marinos waving us toward the spot he had picked out for us. He helped with the lines and once set, let us know how much it was going to cost us to stay. Based on length of our boat..."make that two boats, it's not a yacht, it's a catamaran... 20 Euro for the mooring, 5 Euro for power and 5 Euro for water per day. Anything you need, here is my card, just call, bye."

OK, so, that's reasonable, specially considering that for the first time we plugged in the air conditioning! Now we're talkin'. This has its own power connection into the boat an uses heaps of juice.. generally not permitted.

So, where do we start with this lug. I called Dionisios, our 'concierge',  "You wait at boat, somebody is comink now" And somebody came. I hopped on the back of this 'somebody's' scooter and we went for a long ride to his chandlery in the middle of nowhere. Lots of Greek got spoken, a steel rod of roughly the right diameter was produced, back on the scooter, another long ride to a ramshackle fitter and turner's 'hut'.

Phil Hayman, whom I traveled by bike through Africa a long time ago would relate to this... Lots more Greek was spoken. Intelligent gesturing by a seasoned pro, black metal dust up to his elbows, face etched with the ravages of working with tiny shards of flying metal without the use of protective anything and a perpetual rollie hanging from the side of his mouth.

Four fingers come up, the word 'aluminium' must be similar in Greek (that is a first) and I understood that I should go back to my boat, this young 'boy' would come to test the fit in 4 hours...

The lug in the center is the sample they used which is Lagoon issue. Those on either side are the result of this 'conversation' and the cost? 90 Euro in four hours.
They were unable to cut the Alan Key hole but  instead gave me the extensions so that I could use a spanner to turn them in.

They went in more easily than the Lagoon issue so I ended up using theirs instead and kept the Lagoon issue as a spare.

Local hotel with roof pool overlooking the harbour...

So, Dionisios... Is there an hotel in town with a swimming pool?
Where can the ladies get their nails, face and waxing done?
We need a camping Gaz refill...
We need to hire a car big enough for four adults and two children...
Which are the best beaches to go to..

Stock answer...  "You wait at boat, somebody is comink now". And sure enough, somebody always came!



I woke early the following morning and feeling a little bulky, decided to ride up to the 17 century Venetian Fort Zakinthos atop the hills behind the town. I took a much larger bite than I'd intended, but at least it justified a good breakfast.

Not knowing how to get there I just followed my nose... I ended up a long way along the coast road before it started to rise toward the direction I wanted to go.  False crest after false crest, the temperature rising with the sun, I noticed a sign to a taverna boasting the best view of the island. May as well give that a shot I thought...

I finally reached the 'Panorama Taverna', This was that view. The place was shut!



I continued on and eventually found Fort Zakinthos.

Impressive entrance, impressive age, impressive views....

I don't know about you but once I've considered these 'impressions' I am nearly always underwhelmed by the nondescript piles of rubble no longer remotely recognisable as the sign would have you believe...

Church of Soltras

This, for example is the Church of Soltras (late 12th - early 13th Century).... The sign should be updated to say "now used by many as a latrine"


The only buildings to survive the multiple earthquakes, the generations of goats and the busloads of equally underwhelmed tourists were the Gun Powder Store and the Prison...

Says something about our species don't you think?

The Prison

Gun Powder store

Rading this, you may have realised by now that we struggled a bit with Zakinthos as a place to feel at home. It was handy to get the lugs done, plug into power and water and wash the boat down. We hired a car given the size of the island and went in search of a decent beach.

First beach we came to was a result of poor navigation but an eye opener to say the least. Laganas Beach is a cross between Las Vagas, Surfers Paradise and Kuta Beach in Bali. If you are 18 and single, this place is for you... Lager louts, titty bars, burger joints and a nasty little rash to take home...

We turned, rechecked the navigation and arrived at Banana beach some time later. Much more our speed, but on Zakinthos,  beach speaking this was about it. None of the literature eluded to to the fact that this island has become the new Costa Del Sol for the Brits with British Beer on tap and spruikers outside every second pub with East London accents

We had resolved, doubtfully (if you remember) to go back to the Blue Caves on our way over to the Peloponnisos. The prevailing wind which strengthens at this time of year is from the NE which is the direction from Zakinthos to the caves. If we really wanted to see the caves it meant waiting for a window in that wind or spend a very uncomfortable two hours punching into it. What does one do when one has time to kill and the beaches suck...  go to the trusty fallback f course... a Hotel with pool.

We've been looking forward to this and now that we have guests on board on a student budget, we get to prepare meals and enjoy them on the boat. A change from the Greek fare and a really nice way to spend a few hours.