Arrived Sunday evening to the beautiful town of Preveza. A quick G&T on the boat and off to dinner. The food at Ventura was delicious. Fabulous atmosphere with many restaurants and tables lining the pedestrian streets.

On the quay side at Prèveza

Monday, after a quick walk to town and gathering yummy bakery treats, we set off for Nidri … after our job descriptions and safety briefing (of course)! We motored across the sea and Jo timed the opening of the floating bridge perfectly. We were on our way to more wide open water. It was a bit cloudy but we thought the weather would hold… it didn’t! David took the helm while the jib was out (no mainsail today… hmmm) and we made our way across the bay. We finally settled ourselves in at anchor in the quiet bay of Vliko near Nidri. We managed to stay fairly dry through the various storms, thunder and lightning. We let out the anchor but weren’t convinced we were holding so we attempted to lift the anchor to reset it BUT THEN the windlass anchor foot switch failed us. Jo quickly shut off the circuit breaker and we had to do a relay of shouting “on/off” while Judy was down below turning the circuit on and off and Liz was manning the anchor. We finally felt comfortable with the anchor holding… so we waited out the various rain showers (we kept saying “I think it’s going to clear soon… just as the next rain shower rolled in). We enjoyed the amazing cloud colors and formations. We played games, showered up, and had Dimitri himself pick us up via “boat taxi” to go to dinner at Dimitri’s taverna just on the shore of our little bay. The storms kept rolling in as we ate a delicious meal on the water. Back to Nimmie safe and sound. Thanks Dimitri!

Storm clouds gathering as we eat at Dimitri’s

Early morning swim after the storms have gone

Tuesday started with Liz’s delish banana pancakes. We had sunny skies and set off on an adventure to Sivota. We wanted to arrive midday to get a spot on the pontoon so we could enjoy the little village and have a delicious dinner by the water at 12 Gods Taverna. We wandered around the shops and found a nice little beach to have a swim. Later that day the winds kicked up a bit while David and Judy were kayaking.

Sneaky afternoon beer in Sivota

We had a nice easy day, enjoyed free showers at the 12 Gods before suiting up in our new Nimrod crew gear and sipping on a few pink Gin &Tonics while hanging around on 4 hammocks. Absolutely lovely!! Yummy dinner at 12 Gods Taverna and back to Nimmie for a beautiful cool night.

Team Nimrod!

Wednesday morning we mooched around the shops a bit and had breakfast at a yummy bakery before untying Nimmie and setting sail at about noon to find some caves to explore. We raised the jib (but still no mainsail…hmmm) when we were out of the harbor and Judy took the helm for a bit until we found the Papanikolis Cave on Meganisi to explore. Judy and David explored the cave via kayak while Jo and Liz stayed on Nimmie.

David & Judy kayaking at the cave

We then sailed past Jackie Onassis’ island, Skorpios, but could not get close to anchor and swim. On we moved to Port Atheni on Meganisi where we anchored and put lines ashore to spend the night. Judy and David earned their keep by jumping off with the lines and swimming ashore to tie onto a tree or rock. By late afternoon we were settled in. We went for a swim and took the dinghy across the bay to a little beach and bar.

Drinks at the Jammin’ beach bar in Port Atheni

After a cocktail we set off to explore the coral reef just inside our bay. Another lovely evening on the boat. We cooked steaks and enjoyed yet another delicious meal by Liz.

Thursday morning we had Greek salad omelettes by Chef Liz. We took it slow and swam around the bay for a bit before releasing the shore lines and heading across toward the mainland and a pretty bay called Varko. We enjoyed stunning turquoise waters and fun beach bar.

Varko Beach

We had a yummy Greek salad lunch (thanks Liz), swam and snorkelled for a few hours before setting off to make the 6pm opening of the floating bridge. Again, Jo timed our arrival perfectly and we were on our way through to Preveza. We had 13 knot winds and storm clouds in the distance, so there was a suggestion to put up the main sail! David & Judy were very excited at the idea of actually laying eyes on the main sail… but still no luck. With the storm clouds around us, Jo and Liz decided it was best to motor as we would have to tack all the way. So the question remains…. do they actually have a mainsail? Throughout the week, David tried fishing at every opportunity but had as much luck/success as his sister! Maybe fishing isn’t in their genes.

We had an evening of cleaning up Nimrod and then walking into the town for a lovely last dinner. Nimmie will rest at the marina for a couple of weeks while Liz and Jo return to England with Judy and David for a Wall family holiday in the south of England next week to celebrate Ruth and John’s Diamond wedding anniversary!

Thank you to Liz and Jo for a fabulous week of great hospitality, fun laughs, delicious food & wine and of course the gorgeous turquoise waters. We will be back! A note to the next guest blogger: WANTED: picture evidence of Nimrod’s mainsail.