Julia arrives

The day finally came when Julia finished work in Amsterdam, hopped on the very first flight into Preveza and I had my first mate onboard.  She was supposed to be followed by a family friend who was to be our on hand professional for the first week but sadly he didn’t make it –we are on our own!

The first night on the boat was nice and calm.  We were tied up alongside the bars and restaurants of Preveza and the situation was very agreeable.  The next morning I noticed a lot of the boats were leaving the quay and heading off, concerned I checked the weather and realised gusts of 25kts were expected later that day.  I chatted to a couple of skippers and the consensus was the Bumblebee was in the worst position pinned to the quay and needed to find shelter.
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​For the first time it was just the two of us onboard and in charge.  We slipped our mooring lines, sprung off our stern and motored to the sheltered anchorage behind Preveza Marina.  When we arrived we were relieved to see about six other boats with the same idea so we dropped anchor and settled in amongst them.  A few hours later the wind picked up and we found ourselves in a mini storm with lightning, wind and waves.  We nervously watched our surroundings to ensure the anchor was not dragging as we sat out the storm.

​Later the sky cleared, the sun came out and we got down to the business of officially renaming the boat.  To safely change the name of a boat it is necessary to invoke the good will of Poseidon and request that the old name be erased from the ledger of the deep and the new name be scribed in it’s place.  This involves many libations overboard and three separate ceremonies to appease Poseidon and all four winds.  Luckily there is lots of help online to get us through this complicated procedure!  The ceremony got of to a concerning start when the degradable plaque made up with the old name that was thrust off the bow flew right back onboard and landed in the cockpit.  This was soon dismissed as a pod of dolphins emerged to port and broke the surface several times –surely a good omen.  To top it all of, as the ceremony ended a burst of fireworks went up on the nearest shore.  The deed was done and we could finally display Bumblebee’s name on her stern.