Days 391 and 392: 11th and 12th July 2018 - Saint Effumia Day, football and Fiskardo

Wednesday - Effumia

Today was a good school day, followed by a little time at the beach for the kids while Patrick and I alternated shopping for gas and for groceries. All topped up we headed back to the boat and were chilling out when I spotted an American kid boat anchoring behind us. I yelled over to them and they came over, bringing G&T's with ICE in a bucket. They spend 6 or 7 weeks on board each summer, moving their boat around the Med. Esmé was getting a little hyper climbing all over the boat, looking at the marching band we could see ashore... we did think it a little strange that the Greeks would get out the marching bands for the England world cup game!

Anyway, it was getting late, we hadn't eaten dinner, and Esmé and I were keen to go ashore. Unfortunately the boys didn't share our enthusiasm so I quickly cooked dinner, ate, and then took Esmé ashore to see what was going on and to watch the England game while AJ and Patrick tidied up the dinner things.

We wandered around and eventually figured out it was Saint Effumia Day and the Greeks were all out celebrating. We watched the procession, enjoying seeing all the locals out in force.

After trawling up and down the road looking for somewhere I deemed child friendly to watch the football I finally noticed that the Sunsail flotilla had commandeered a taverna and there were some spare seats. I politely asked if we could gate-crash and the hostie was happy to let us join! Esmé did pretty well but it was clear that after 90 minutes she was flagging and we still had the dinghy ride back to Laurin to negotiate so I made the decision to say goodbye to the Sunsail fleet before extra time started.

Esmé was soon tucked up in bed (although fighting sleep as usual) while I listened to the depressing extra time on the radio. All in all though it had been a lovely, if rather unusual, mother and daughter night out.


Thursday

Esmé helping to fill up with water.

I really wanted to go to Fiskardo. We'd popped our noses in on the way south but were late and it looked extremely busy, and too windy for me to consider trying to anchor and take long lines ashore against the wind, so we'd given it a miss and pressed on to Effumia. This time I was determined to get there early, to avoid the crowds and also to take advantage of the lighter winds earlier in the day. Patrick was less convinced but agreed to give it a try, perhaps encouraged by the tales of beautiful walks from Cat Ing and her family whom we had met in Gouvia.

First however, I wanted to get water from the pier at Effumia as the water we had filled up with on Zakynthos didn't taste very good. After rowing ashore for fresh bread in the morning I radioed George the harbourmaster to ask if we could go alongside to collect water.  He asked us to stand by for him to radio back which was somewhat frustrating as we could see a gap on the pier. He then let an Italian boat go in before us, although I am sure it was a misunderstanding. In the end we waited half an hour and then went in behind the Italia. It was 11am by the time we left and I was a little anxious that we might be a bit late to get into Fiskardo. We motored full speed ahead, Patrick helming while I did school with the kids. We eventually arrived at 1:30pm, relieved to find a nice spot where we could take long lines ashore to rings on the wall below "Nicolas Taverna". We had lunch, had a bit of excitement when a 53 foot charter boat laid their anchor over ours, and then went for a swim off the back of the boat. By this time there was a veritable spiders web of long lines behind us which was actually quite fun for the kids.

It seems that anchoring against this wall here is free, we wouldn't want to be on the town quay anyway as it would be too noisy at night so all in all we are really happy.

Next up was a walk ashore to check out the town. Such a beautiful place but prices to match which aren't really in our budget, however I think we will splash out on a Thai meal while we are here as this is one thing we really miss. On our way back we went up to Nicolas Tavern for a drink (really to get their wifi code so we could try using it from the boat). There was a lovely playground and the kids enjoyed burning off some energy while we sat in the shade and enjoyed a cold beer.

The views were stunning and we enjoyed a good hour or so watching the world go by... or more precisely watching the chaos that is a beautiful harbour filling up with boats at the end of a day.

Back down to the boat for tea, a rather protracted route across rocks before boarding the dinghy back to Laurin.

Once we had eaten the kids enjoyed some time playing on the swing (thanks Tiffany) while I took more photos of this beautiful place before wrestling them into bed. For the first time in a long time they are in bed and quiet early enough for Patrick and I to enjoy an evening in the cockpit, listening to pleasant music resonating across the harbour from the bars, and enjoying the calm.