Parga has a large anchorage so we felt sure there would be room after we had left Anti Paxos on the Thursday evening. What we hadn’t contended with was the fact that there would be an Italian rally anchored there! Luckily, we found a spot. It was quite pretty although the beach was packed full of sunbeds so no doubt the view from the beach was the better option!

Parga without the sunbeds!

As this was purely a safe stopover, we moved on relatively early for us down the coast. Whilst we were in Paxos, Liz had found a fishing shop and bought a recommended lure for small tuna. On our way down the coast, she actually caught one! Amazing, only the second (or is it third?) time she has been successful fishing in the Med. We decided to let it go as we had food on board we needed to eat but excited for the next time.

Liz’s first tuna

Our destination was Two Rock Bay, only ten miles south of Parga but a world away from it all. A small cove with amazing turquoise water, a small beach, a cave and even a bar. Not sure why it’s called Two Rock as we could see four! However, it was lovely and probably our favourite place so far this summer.

Two Rock Bay

We stayed there 24 hours, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding and then made our way to Preveza. Preveza town itself is only a few miles from the airport and feels quite authentic even though the town quay has been spruced up with bars and restaurants. There is a marina and a large anchorage so you can guess which one we opted for. As we dropped the anchor we heard someone shout ‘Nimrod’ and we saw our neighbours from Bari, a lovely French couple who had overwintered there and left at the end of May.

It was easy to dinghy ashore for the shops and also to catch a taxi to the ancient city of Nicopolis, which means city of victory. It was built by Octavia, Julius Caesar’s nephew after he defeated Mark Anthony at the Battle of Aktio in 31BC. It was well worth the 8€ entrance fee as that covered three sites and the museum.

Nicopolis

On the Sunday (July 15th), we went into the Gulf of Amvrakikos that Preveza sits on the edge of. It’s some 180 square miles and incredibly quiet as charterers don’t tend to go there. There are a lot of fish farms and, consequently, quite a few dolphins to be seen. We went to the main town of Vonitsa and anchored off. We really liked it as it was not pretentious, had great shops (supermarkets and hardware stores!) and some nice restaurants. We treated ourselves to a meal out at To Maistrale which had tables on the beach so we could watch Nimmie from ours!

Dinner on the beach at Vonista