Days 350 and 351: 30th and 31st May 2018 - Lakka, meltdowns, and again the paddleboard helps us to make friends.

Wednesday

Up at a reasonable time and Esmé announced she wanted to build a "pram" for her toys using wood she had found on the beach! Not wanting to curb her enthusiasm I encouraged her to draw and label her design before packing her off with Dad to check out what tools she'd need. On their return Patrick was feeling a little hot so I took her back to the beach with saw, hammer, nails and rabbit! She pottered around for about an hour sawing and banging (eventually with help from me) until we eventually decided to take her work so far and finish it at a later date. It was 11:15 and we were aiming to be off  by 12. 

We still had to return Wilf's hat so Esmé and I rowed to the beach and, failing to find Wilf and family, handed it to one of the beach staff. Back to the boat and we were ready for off. We didn't finalise our choice of destination as we really wanted to sail so motored out of our anchorage to check the wind direction before deciding for Lakka on Paxos. Finally we were sailing... by rights Patrick should have been smiling way more than this as he is really starting to get annoyed at all the motoring we seem to do!

 

We had a lovely sail, only marred slightly by the fact that neither child particularly wanted to be on deck, arriving at Lakka about 5:30. Unfortunately things then went downhill as we tried to moor with a long line ashore again and got somewhat complacent. I'm still not sure the best procedure for this when the wind is coming from the shore. We dropped the anchor in 2m of water and then I tried to hold our position while Patrick rowed ashore with a long line. We got blown about a lot and in my efforts to avoid the lovely wooden boat next to us I ran over the long line that Esmé was paying out. I heard the prop change noise and quickly put her into neutral but Esmé couldn't pull her end of the line free and as I shouted to Patrick he realised that the other end of his line was cut and not attached to Laurin. Well, at least the rope cutter worked! Patrick then moved a little quicker and we got the frayed end of the long line tied on to Laurin before AJ and Patrick dived in to investigate what was going on underneath the hull. Luckily it took only a couple of minutes to free the other end of the line. We started the engine again to check we had forward and reverse and were pretty happy until I ramped up the revs to dig the anchor in only to realise our rev counter was reading incorrectly. Tried the usual switch it off and back on again and we still had the same problem. Patrick scrambled to phone Beta before the end of the UK working day and got some protracted instructions as to how to fix it, despite them being mystified at why this should have happened. They also advised us to check the alternator, however by now we were just glad to be safely tied up and decided to leave all further work until the next day.

I was an emotional wreck and Patrick just wanted to eat and hit the sack. I didn't feel like cooking so, after Mum having a meltdown and going on strike, it was decided we would eat ashore! Off in the dinghy with AJ driving we headed for Mandi's which was the Trip Advisor top rated "cheap eats" place in Lakka. We had a lovely meal which lifted all our spirits, Esmé particularly pleased with the dog that adopted us during our meal. Esmé was very brave and tried the calamari even though it looked decidedly different from the processed stuff she enjoyed in Ragusa!

 

After dinner we went for a stroll into town, observing the metal plates on the front of the Neilson Boats which had definitely earned their keep before checking out the grocery shops and getting desert in the form of sweets for the kids and an ice cream to share for Patrick and I before we headed back to Laurin in the fading light.

Thursday

A lazy morning with Omlette for breakfast courtesy of AJ. Then a quick attempt at school before heading ashore, this time with Esmé driving the "Family Car". We used several shops to piece together enough groceries for the next 4 days before heading back to Laurin for lunch.

After lunch we all had some chill out time (some of us even had a nap) before pumping the paddleboard off and heading to the beach in search of kids. A bigger boat would allow us to keep the paddleboard pumped up which would be far more convenient than stowing it every time we change location. However we made our choice of adventuring in a small boat for many good reasons, I just need to remember that pumping the board up is a much nicer work out with a much better view than I would have back home. Nevertheless it still remains that once I have pumped up the board I need to give my arms chance to recover before I paddle the dam thing!

The kids and I then headed for the beach, leaving Patrick to have a little peace and quiet. Once there we spotted some English kids and AJ and E used the paddleboard as a way of making new friends whilst I relaxed on the beach. In the end Esmé didn't use the board much but chose to practice swimming now she has shunned the use of the buoyancy aid for this purpose. She's going to swim like a fish by the time we return to normal life!

 

The family were staying at a Villa overlooking our boat, and the kids were having such a great time we agreed to meet them on the beach tomorrow morning before our planned departure in the afternoon if the kids finish school quickly. 

Finally back to the boat for a lovely tea in the cockpit, a little time for the food to settle then the kids had one last swim before bed! There's a bit more wind and swell than there has been so we let out an extra 5m of chain, however this now means I can hear waves crashing on the rocks behind us which is somewhat disconcerting. Thank goodness for my "Anchor" app on my phone!

Days 348 and 349: 28th and 29th May 2018 - The club opens and we find friends for a couple of days

Monday

The usual drudgery of boatschool not helped by the fact that we had chosen to anchor near a Beach Club with English kids on holiday,  then over to the beach to see about hiring a catamaran later in the day. Much to our disappointment they were not allowed to hire us one. Other years this had been an option but it had not yet been agreed for this despite us being told previously that we would be able to. Seems we had hung around a couple of extra days for nothing and the kids were pretty upset.

Anyhow, we got our paddleboard out, rigged our rope swing and had some fun before lunch regardless. After our after lunch electronics time to stay out of the sun, we headed to the beach again and were spotted Jonie, one of the friends the kids had made the previous night. The kids had a great time playing on the paddleboard whilst the adults enjoyed a nice chat on the beach. Emma had grown up in East Wittering, Patrick West Wittering so they enjoyed chatting about their childhood homes.

We asked if they had been to the local town yet but they thought it sounded like a long way with kids. We were planning on going round there to fill up with water the next day so offered to meet them there in the afternoon and give them a lift back via the "scenic route".

Once they went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner we paddled, swam and rowed back to prepare a dinner from the our ever dwindling supplies. 

Tuesday

A busy day so up early to crack on with some hand washing before school. The morning's learning  went surprisingly well with AJ completing 2 days worth of tasks much to his pride and amazement. Patrick has now taken a more active role in the schooling which is helping no end. I still marvel at Esme's ability to model any maths problem with Smarties... they are her essential go to manipulative... funny that! The kids then enjoyed some early electronics whilst Patrick and I got Laurin ready to move. We finally left at about 12:30 and motored round to Sivota, showering on the way, using up the last of the water in the tanks.

Once moored in Sivota we had to wait around for the lady with the card for the water so I headed off to the nearest shop to pick up some supplies. It was crazy expensive (2.60 Euros for a packet of Oreos anybody?) so I came back to the boat and explained to Patrick I would walk further in to town to the bakery, picking up Gyros (either pork or chicken with chips, tzatziki, tomatoes and onions) on the way back. By this time our friends from the hotel had found Laurin and were happily on board drinking beers with Patrick.






We ate our Gyros... a big hit with the crew of Laurin, and headed out of the little harbour. AJ helmed out of the marina and then Jonie and Wilf had a go much to their delight.

We then tried to anchor at the little bay we had abandoned early in the morning some days earlier, however we dragged at the first try and decided against a second attempt, the kids being particularly interested in the naturists on the only other boat in the bay. We motored over to the another beach opposite that looked interesting with some caves to explore, hung around long enough for the tripper boat to vacate a great position and dropped our hook. The men took the kids exploring by dinghy whilst Emma and I enjoyed a little peace and quiet. Once the caves had been explored the dinghy expedition headed for the beach. After a while we could see that the girls and Wilf were very intently building a Tepee like structure. It was lovely to see them working together.

Meanwhile the menfolk relaxed at the edge of the water whilst AJ played around the dinghy!

All too soon we heard rolls of thunder, and noticed that time was getting on if we were to get our guests back to the hotel in time for dinner so once all on board Nick helped Patrick pull the anchor up, we were a little concerned that the boat in front was on top of our anchor and we may have to interrupt their beer drinking but happily we freed our anchor with a couple of yards to spare!

We anchored in a different little bay once back close to the hotel and AJ and I swam whilst Patrick and Esmé took our new friends back to their hotel. They had had a lovely time and left us with some very welcome wine and beer as a thanks. Unfortunately they also left us with a hat. Nick, Emma, if you want to retrieve it drop us a comment and we will hang around until lunch time so you can collect. (Might have to pick you up from the flotilla pontoon!)

After a light dinner Esmé wanted to explore ashore. We were all tired and didn't want to go so suggested this could be a good time for her first solo dinghy passage! It was a quiet night and I was prepared for a swim if need be. We had no need to worry, she did beautifully, remembering to pull the dinghy up as much as she could and put the anchor in the sand, though the original yoga baby does have some strange rowing techniques!

Day 347: 27th May 2018 - Everybody exhausted and the kids make some friends.

Everybody was exhausted this morning, kids rebelling at the thought of school on a weekend, and even more so about the fact that UK schools are on holiday and they think they should have a week off. Reminding them that we only do an hour or two sit down work a day, and that we often have days off when we are in new places or on passage had no impact on their mood whatsoever so we had a chat, declared a no school day, and instigated a new system where I would write down the week's work and if the kids finished it early they could have the rest of the week off. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!

A lazy morning ensued, Patrick and I getting some boat jobs done before AJ hard boiled some eggs for lunch which we ate in the cockpit. Patrick had put our cockpit tent up with the sides rolled up for a bit of shade, (we don't have a bimini as it would be extremely difficult to fit on our ketch). I'm not sure if it was successful or not. We were out of the sun but the tent blocked out a lot of air movement so it was still quite hot. We have a sun shade to put over the boom which we may try but then we would need to get creative with where we put the solar panel as we need this to provide our electricity when at anchor. After our usual 1/2 hour after lunch down time with electronics I decided to go for a paddle. Once I had forced myself to do a lap standing up AJ chose to hitch a ride with me (no standing up with him on board!). It struck me that I must be making some improvement as at the beginning of the trip I wouldn't let any kid within 10m of me when I was on the paddleboard as I was so unsteady, even kneeling as I was now.

We paddled over towards the ski boats and then came back via a rock that AJ was interested in and spotted some sea urchins, cue a lesson on how much they hurt if you stand on them and that they are part of the same family as the starfish we saw earlier in the week. There were kids on the beach so I offered to sit for a while so that AJ could use the paddleboard to play with them. He plucked up the courage to ask a Greek boy to play and they had lots of fun together. Esmé clearly saw this from Laurin and got Dad to come with her while she rowed the dinghy to the beach to join in. When the Greek boy had to go home we all went back to Laurin, either rowing, paddling or swimming!

So far Esmé has chosen to wear her buoyancy aid when swimming off the back of the boat. She could swim 25m in the pool when we left home last year and often swims in the shallows but until now hasn't been confident to swim where she is out of her depth in the sea. I was in the water already so asked if she would like to try as I am sure she would prefer to be swimming without her buoyancy aid by the time her cousins come to visit. She was a little nervous but by the time we finished she was happily swimming between our two shore lines, treading water and flipping to float on her back if she was getting tired. Good effort Esmé!

We had an afternoon snack and watched another kid boat anchor next to us. Esmé was really impressed that the girl was operating the anchor windless and dancing on the foredeck when she was waiting for new instructions from her dad. Once Esmé saw the girl row to the beach with her family she was keen to follow so off we went on the paddleboard, and again I sat on the beach while she used  the paddleboard as an invitation to play. The girl was quite shy so it took a little while of Esmé paddling and playing alone for her to pluck up courage to join in but eventually the girls were wobbling, laughing and giggling together.

Eventually back to the boat for a dinner of very "interesting" sausages, tabbouleh and veggies and then a final row to the beach as we heard young English voices, the first of the hotel's guests to make it to the beach. The kids played and swam until nearly 9 O'clock before heading back to the boat for  bed.

Day 346: Saturday 26th May 2018 - A long dinghy ride to Sivota, and I finally figure out how to get back on the paddleboard!

We decided on a no school day, parents getting up relatively early to motor out and dump the holding tank before returning to our nice little anchorage. We then had a late breakfast of scrambled eggs with 2 day old bread toasted in the frying pan to make it edible again. It was delicious! After a little rest AJ volunteered to try to retrieve a plastic clothes peg we had dropped overboard. It feels very wrong to use plastic on the boat which could easily fall into the sea and pollute our oceans, but the wooden alternatives don't seem to grip as well and would result in both peg and clothes being blown away. Anyway, despite my scepticism AJ managed to dive the 3 1/2m and retrieved the peg, I don't know who was more proud, me or him!

We then watched the tourist boat anchor in the small bay, and the day trippers lining up to get off the ramp at the back for a swim. I don't mind too much the music blaring out and the smell of BBQ, the music was quite chilled and the acoustics in the bay are lovely, Patrick isn't so keen. I'm not sure if I could handle more than one or two a day though!

Next on the list was to motor round to Sivota to dump our ever growing bag of rubbish. Patrick topped up the outboard fuel tank and AJ drove us the mile or so to Sivota. I was really impressed at how good he is getting. He's hoping to get to the point where we will let him take it out on his own and I think he will get there soon!

The kids and I enjoyed a lovely mooch round the small town whilst Patrick volunteered to find the bins! The kids enjoyed looking at the souvenir shops and then we walked to a bakery and picked up bread, feta filled pastries and other treats before buying fruit and ice cream on the way back to the dinghy.

On our return we had a light lunch and then chilled out for a while trying to avoid the midday sun. I retied the monkeys fist on the rope swing leaving a longer tail and adding more knots higher up to hopefully mean the kids could climb on from the water. This done I turned my attention to the paddleboard. I love paddling around kneeling up but am not confident standing up just yet. I also know that I can't get back on the dam thing if I fall off so am reluctant to practice standing up unless I'm close to the boat or a beach. After 10 minutes of googling "how to get back on paddleboard for fat people" and other variatsion I came across this. Fishing around in our spare rope cubby I rigged something similar and gave it a try. After a couple of goes we had success! I'm sure it looks about as pretty as the guy in the video, but at least it is possible, so I celebrated by paddling over to the rocks and back. Photographic evidence below:

In the evening we observed a couple having a little "fun" anchoring. They had a Cruising Association Pennant so I paddled across to see if I could help. They had just bought a share of the boat and had some issues with the windless. Eventually they figured it out and we invited them over for drinks. It was a pleasant evening and we enjoyed a lovely chat before they finally went back to their boat and we cooked burgers for tea. I was then shattered (too much sun or wine?) so hit the sack early leaving Patrick to put the kids to bed.

Days 344 and 345: 24th and 25th May 2018 - End Bay (Neilson Watersports)

Thursday 24th May

I was awoken at about 6am after finally hitting the sack at about 1:30am. I had stayed up to check our anchor was holding in our tiny anchorage. I like being " on watch" in the late evening as I often take the opportunity to catch up with friends if I have good mobile coverage. This time it was with James, the friend who introduced me to sailing and I guess is somewhat jealous that we get the chance to take off for two years. It was good to talk! The wind was due to move round to the east at about 1am  and then settle which would have been a perfect direction for us and I could then get some sleep. In the end though we got thunderstorms and winds from the west... exactly what we didn't want. It wasn't rough, and we were still well sheltered but there wasn't any room for us to drag so Patrick got up and kept an eye on things from then while I got my head down.

Once woken at 6 we decided to move round to a place called End Bay, it looked far better shelter from the northerly winds forecast. First though we had to retrieve the spiders web of lines we had taken ashore and Patrick was left untangling the snakes pit in the cockpit as I motored us round the islands. It didn't take us long, and we finally inched our way into End Bay to find a Neilson Watersports Center in a beautiful anchorage with shallow turquoise water.

We did a little school then went exploring to the beach. AJ and Esmé swam in the sea while I got chatting to one of the beach staff who told us that it was possible to hire dinghies but not until the first guests arrived on Sunday. Both kids were really keen to have another go on a catamaran which surprised me in Esme's case as she squealed last time we tried!

Once the tourist boats had gone we decided to put long lines ashore so we didn't swing overnight as the wind was due to change direction overnight. Esmé enjoyed helping Dad!

We messaged our friends on BOAG to let them know where we were and they came to visit in the afternoon..... we were only about 1km from their anchorage so they came by RIB, delivering bread. We enjoyed a nice catch up and agreed that they would come over in the evening for sundowners!



In the evening they arrived complete with inflatable swan much to our amusement and the kids had fun swimming with it until it escaped!


Jasper leaped into action and led a single handed rescue mission before the swan was finally deflated.

Sadly this was to be our last evening together as they had done a little planning and realised they needed to move faster. We, on the other hand, plan to move slowly until August when we will have to make good progress to get to Spain for winter so decided to stay in this anchorage until we could have a go on one of the catamarans!

So, sad goodbyes once again but perhaps we may catch up with those guys again before this adventure ends!

Friday 25th May 2018

Greek yoghurt with Greek honey for breakfast (yum,) then a trying morning of school before a dinghy trip to the beach to work up an appetite for lunch. Patrick meanwhile set about trying to scrub as much of the hull as possible.... any excuse for a swim. After lunch I pumped up my paddleboard. AJ was looking like he needed a rest, we sometimes forget he's only been out of hospital a few days, so Esmé and I took the paddleboard out, first to the beach where I sat and watched while she had her first go solo on it, and then I paddled and she swam over to the Yacht pontoon where I asked if we could fill up with water once their flotilla had left on Sunday.... they asked us what boat we were on and when I pointed Laurin out they said yes, they liked ketches! We lazed about a little, swam a little and then I made us an early tea as Patrick is a bit under the weather.


The kids and I then took the dinghy and paddleboard to the beach, and walked round to the "secret beach" taking care not to photo bomb the Neilson official shots being taken in the evening sun. The kids swam back to the other beach while I walked round and then took the paddle board to meet them. I was really impressed at AJ's perseverance... Esmé was telling him he could touch the bottom but he insisted on swimming the whole way!

Esmé practiced paddle boarding some more, eventually she realised she was standing the wrong way round!

AJ and I spotted the Neilson guys looking at something they had pulled out of the water so went over to take a look. It was a somewhat dead starfish but the kids were really interested... perhaps we can use the experience for school work soon.

AJ announced that he wanted to swim back to Laurin and off he went, leaving Esmé and to take the paddle board and dinghy. She opted for the dinghy and after a few false starts managed to row all the way back.

I then took a late evening swim to cool down before reading a bedtime story  to the kids.