Eight on board

On the 4th of July we sailed back from Antipaxos and anchored once again just south of the fort by Corfu town.  Here we picked up Ewa to make seven of us onboard.

The town anchorage was very busy so we shuffled off and ventured north into a stiff 25 knot breeze.  The beach we thought would provide shelter seemed to be channelling the wind so we opted for a little bay that looked tucked away -it's called Blue Lagoon on Google.  We set a couple of lines to shore but winching ourselves into position was a losing battle against the broadside wind.  We popped up the spray hood and had supper onboard while the wind slowly calmed down.  Eventually we were able to position Dragonfly closer in to  the beach, giving us a little bay of our own.

We discovered some friends from our first marina in Sicily were anchored not far away so in the morning we met up on the beach so the children could play and we could catch up.

Around midday we picked up our lines and anchor to move on a little further north to Kalami Bay, where the White House restaurant is located.  This is the house that the famous English literary family the Durrels lived in -n0t to be confused with the house from the tv series about them, we discovered that one too a few days later.

After a very good lunch, Julia's cousin Marysia arrived from Berlin bringing our number onboard up to eight!

We had been on anchor for quite a few days when our third and last water tank ran dry on the 6th while anchored by Vido Island for a quick midday dip. This was perfect timing as we had just arranged to spend the night back in Gouvia marina.  We were in need of water, fuel, waste disposal and a battery charge plus Maria, Spysek and Ewa were flying back to Warsaw the following day.  By luck the new relay ordered to fix our bow thruster had just arrived there too.

This simple chunk of metal cost far more than it should for what it is but without it we have no manoeuvrability in tight marinas.  It's a bow thruster relay and is identical to a forklift truck relay, they just triple the price for boat parts!
The electricians also installed a Victron Smart Shunt which is a clever little battery monitor.  It's very interesting to learn about our power consumption and has me wondering if we actually need solar at all.  We use the engine quite a lot and also run the generator for an hour or so on hot evenings to cool down with the air con.  With no long passages planned or extended stays on anchor we might manage fine without..

After one night in the marina we anchored once again beside Cofu Town and went for an explore with Marysia.

A couple of hours were lost getting Julia set up with a new phone after a wet child sat on it.

The town is charming with tight winding streets and beautiful open arcades.  The fish spa was a new experience for us and had Zefi and Dor giggling nonstop!