Paxos

We went ashore in the dinghy the following morning to Lakka village and realised that we could have got a lot closer to the town quay and would probably have been more sheltered from the swell – Oh well, you live and learn! The village is beautiful with many tiny streets with cafes and tavernas. We had a coffee and Justin managed to find a fishing shop to replace the lure he had lost to a plastic bag yesterday! (Still no fish!)

 

We left the bay at Lakka and motored the 5 miles or so down the east coast of Paxos to the small town of Gaios. We managed to get a mooring right in the centre of the town, next to the main square on the town quay. We were very quickly joined by the local geese which are clearly a bit of a local attraction, having their own little house on a small island opposite the quay. They share the island with some goats which also share the food the locals put out for the geese!

  

We were looking forward to a good night’s sleep following our rocky encounter in Lakka and all was going very well until about 3 am when the wind blew up and some of our neighbouring boats started to break out of their anchorages. A very large gin palace, a 70 foot Feretti, also decided to up anchor and reset it causing complete chaos as his chain was over many of ours. Any way we all survived but we decided to move to a more comfortable spot further along the quay in the morning. This we successfully did and then the weather broke and it rained all day! Never mind Justin managed to finish his second book of the trip and Helen her sixth!

Gaios is a beautiful town and really not a bad place to be stuck in bad weather. You seem to be able to get everything here are although there is no water or fuel on the quayside, they deliver in mini-tankers! Justin did a few more maintenance and cleaning jobs and Helen gave the boat a thorough clean inside.

We had a bit of excitement when the posh blue yacht next to us left its mooring and pulled up our anchor – I must have laid ours over theirs when we moored I think! Anyway as if that wasn’t enough, their windlass broke as they were trying to free us! They didn’t seem too worried when we saw them later though.. We also met up with Bill from the boat Kite again and he gave us some more tips about where to go next and we also swapped a few books with him. Sunday morning saw a break in the weather and we set off for Preveza on the mainland, where free moorings with water can be found.