Gaios revisited en-route to Albania

Levkas was Levkas. Two problems arose days before arrival.. Both the water heater and the water maker ceased to function. A big problem if we are to be anchoring on remote Croatian islands. Oh, and the new trampolines had to be fitted and it was not going to be a simple task. 

A new element for the water heater saw a nice inexpensive solution to that, but the water maker would have to make a trip to Athens just for diagnosis... We were not about to be trapped in Levkas ever again so that will just have to wait.

Trying to check out of Greece on the 29th June turned into an absolute farce. Instead of it taking a few minutes, it took hours. We were ready to leave to catch the 9:00am bridge opening and calm seas, but because of the difference in description of Sally and Al on the Crew List as 'Crew' rather than 'Passenger' we finally cast off at 12:30 to catch the 1:00pm opening which meant we would now be bashing into a 20 knot head wind for 30 miles once again! 

The trip to Gaios on Paxos which would have taken four hours took an uncomfortable six, had us arriving at 6:30pm which in high season means you are very unlikely to find space on the quay. 

The place was packed with boats arriving from every direction. 

As we slowly motored through the Gaios channel we resigned ourselves to anchoring in the already crowded bay outside. At the very narrowest part of the channel where clearly no one had been game to try, we found space enough for a catamaran, but with the opposing shore less than 20 meters away, would our anchor bite for a Med Moor? 

We were not about to die not knowing.

Crew from the neighboring boats emerged from the taverna... Instead of telling us we were crazy, they invited us to try. 

Just enough room to spin the boat and nudge up against the opposing bank we dropped the anchor and gingerly reversed. After an impossibly short chain I asked Sal to stop dropping and see if the pick would bite.

To our utter amazement it did and we moored a few short feet from the aforementioned taverna. 

This is a shot from the taverna's toilet window that evening..

High fives all round. We love Gaios and really wanted to be on that wall. We found power and water, hopped over to the taverna for a celebratory spritzer and to buy our Welsh neighbors from Chepstow a beer for being so welcoming and helpful.






We hired a car and did all the spots we'd so enjoyed the last time we were here. William hooked up with his mates and I had my all time favourite Greek meal at Vassili's... Rabbit Steffado.

Here are some images of this beautiful place:



From the Sunset Bar





Lakka Bay. We were going to sail and anchor here again, but time is ticking and Albania awaits. So we drove.












The tranquil Gaios channel from a paddle board. Come for the ride around the island that creates the channel, courtesy Al Reid just click here:

Morning Paddle Board on Gaios










The charming back streets of Lakka Bay.

The 1st August came around and it really was time for our next and final stop before Albania. There was a very important package we had couriered from London hopefully awaiting us there.

So at 10:35 we cast off and sadly meandered out of the channel for a smooth 36 mile motor to Kalami Bay on Corfu Island.