SEPTEMBER DRAWS ON

Sarah & Paul

Sarah & Paul Mandy,s sister and brother in law joined us in early September for ten days.

We had excellent sailing  conditions and weather, visiting a different port or anchorage each evening after an enjoyable days sailing.

September is an excellent time to be here. The weather is more temperate after the severe heat of August. The evenings are cooler so that you can get a decent nights sleep. The winds are more predictable setting in in the afternoons, whilst in August they were often non existant.

Chapel at the entrance
to Big Vathi Ithica

We were able to visit most of the main places in the Southern Ionian during there stay and we had an excellent time.

Pictured right is a small chapel near to the entrance to the main harbor of Ithica known to most as Big Vathi.

We arrived here after a very breezy but great sail from Astakos, known to us as Lobster city. Astakos we are informed is the Greek for Lobster.

As we arrived the wind was blowing quite strongly and so we anchored in the middle of the harbor, and then went ashore the next morning when things had quietened down.

A small boat in
Argostoli !

Our guests left us and as in the past the boat seemed sadly quiet and empty after there departure.

We started to crawl our way North with a view to visiting Paxos and Corfu.  On the way we called in to Fiscardo where we purchased some professionally taken photographs and a video of Josephine under full sail.  Some of the shots and the movie are quite stunning.

We have them on disk and hope to be able to get them onto the blog some how in the future.






                                                                                          SOLAR PANELS

For some time now since the advent of the really high temperatures we have been struggling with our batteries as they ran the fridge and other domestic necessities.

We have spent some considerable time looking at other boats and talking to there owners about Solar Panels and so decided that we would make it a project to talk to the experts with a view to having them fitted next spring.

We arrived in Levkas on Tuesday 17th Sept to meet Dieter of Metronix to pick his brains. Four days later two 100 Watt panels were fitted to the boat and pumping amps into our batteries !

Dieter also made some other modifications involving diodes and regulators which now means that the engine alternator now charges more efficiently.  Since the work has been completed the batteries have remained fully charged.

     THE THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET A COLD BEER OR GLASS OF WINE !


Ray & Mandy
Paxos 39 14N X 20 07E

SEPTEMBER IMPROVES THE WEATHER

It seems that almost overnight as the month changed from August to September the weather conditions also changed.

The extreme temperatures and humidity abated and conditions became tolerable.

It seems quite strange because a large number of  boats also seem to have disappeared. Harbours and anchorages are less crowded and chaotic.

This is a very nice time of year to be here. Afternoon sea breezes give excellent sailing conditions. We can sail late into the afternoon or early evening and not have to worry about finding a mooring at the end of our day.

One problem we have found is that with the high temperatures the fridge is constantly struggling to maintain the temperatures. The net result is that the batteries are then struggling to maintain there charge.
   We are now investigating solar panels and have already learnt quite a lot.

As the season slowly draws to an end we have made arrangements to winter the boat. We have decided to have taken out of the water at Cleopatra Marina in Preveza.  No definite date has been agreed yet, but we

OXIA AT THE ENTRANCE
TO THE GULF OF CORINTH

would envisage being home by late October and return in March 2014.

Next week we plan to venture North through the Levkas canal towards Paxos, Corfu and the mainland.

Regards to everyone and we are looking forward to seeing you all soon.






RAY & MANDY
LITTLE VATHI
38 39.9N x 29 46.9E