13th October 2008
“Brenda is a bucket-and-chuck-it-kind-of-girl, while I am really a little bit of a princess” – so said our lovely friend Sue after a few days on board Deep Blue. Sue had sent me an urgent text the day before she arrived with Lee. It read “I need to bring my hairdryer -what plug does your boat have?” I started to txt back “None” before deleting it and changing it to “UK darling”. I didn’t want to scare her now that she and Lee were fully committed to joining us for a week on board in Corfu!
Sue arrived with three cocktail dresses, three skirts, three pairs of high heels and no shorts! She lived in a bikini, a pair of (falling to pieces, sparkling) flip-flops, and a wrap-round skirt she bought in Corfu Town. To her surprise she survived the week and even said “to hell with the hair, I’ll just go curly”!
Lee and Sue were brilliant shipmates. Lee was really keen to help on board while Sue provided the entertainment, regaling us with stories. Sue thought the marina outside Corfu Town was great and was visibly nervous when we announced that actually we were not staying but sailing 3nm to Corfu Old Town and then anchoring. We had a lovely gentle sail to the anchorage and Sue sunbathed on deck while the rest of us dived off the boat and swam in the warm sea. As it was going dark and we had enjoyed the sunset and pre-dinner drinks, Sue asked “but aren’t we going back to the marina?” We gently explained that this wasn’t our plan, that we often anchor for the night but we could move to the town quay and moor stern-to. “Oh can you please?”
Corfu Old Town is great. Everyone was really friendly, we ate two lovely meals out, had a late, late night out in Greek bars full of Greek youngsters listening to Greek pop-music, drank good coffee, explored the narrow streets and all agreed that Corfu Town was well worth the visit.
We sailed to beaches with shallow water (though every time had to pick up the ever present water bottle litter before feeling OK about being on them) and bays with warm clear waters. By the end of the week Sue was happy to walk round the decks (holding tight) to lie on the fore-deck while we were under way and (bless her) even said “this is the best holiday I have ever had – I would never have thought it. I’m booking up for next year”. Lee was a natural on board. Always on the look-out for things to do, generous to a fault he more than earned his keep. So after a week of glorious sunshine days, beaches, good food at “we cookin’, you lookin’” tavernas, far too much Retsina wine, surprisingly no hang-overs and lots of laughs we were really sorry to see them leave last night.
The three days before Sue and Lee arrived saw us in some pretty foul weather with monsoon like rain. The day before they came the engine was in bits and we were wondering if indeed they would be able to stay on board at all. After his success at getting the engine started after we ran out of diesel Andy decided to do a “quick” major service on the engine before Sue and Lee arrived. Worryingly he choose to do this whilst at anchor. The Japanese English Yanmar engine manual is useless and he had to rely on a general RYA book. All was going well, the job was finished and it was time to bleed the system prior to starting the engine. We couldn’t get the diesel to flow to the parts of the engine that diesel really has to go. It was as if a bleed valve was missing. After turning and turning the engine I suddenly saw Andy turn very pale and go very quiet. We had salt water sloshing out of parts of the engine where salt water definitely should not have been i.e. the air intake! Andy quietly told me that this was potentially VERY serious. We both knew that salt water will destroy an engine if it gets inside the cylinders and is left there. As he investigated it became clear that the situation was as bad as it could get. We both felt sick and Andy started to work out what we should do...
...Tried phoning the guy who last serviced the engine with Andy – no reply. Tried calling my father. No reply. Then I had a brain wave – Hydraulic Jack, our next-door neighbour in Falmouth. He answered. What a star. He listened to the problem, made no judgement. Jack has the exact, same engine as us on his boat and, being a mechanical engineer, knows it inside out. He told Andy about a bleed valve that he had not known about and also reassured him that salt water will only destroy the engine if left in for a week or two. He and Andy worked out a procedure to get the water out of the engine – all of which worked. After half a day of meticulous work, carefully collecting all the diesel water so as not to pollute the sea at our anchorage and bleeding the system successfully, it was time to try to start the engine. To both of our great relief the engine started and we could start preparations for Sue and Lee’s visit!
14th October 2008
Now we are on the way to Lefkas where Andy is hoping to get some days windsurfing in at Vasilki. It is day 10 of continuous sunshine and temperatures in the mid 20’s. Every day the shipping forecast predicts winds of some strength but they never materialise. Last night we stayed at the North end of Paxos, having had to motor the whole way. When we dived in for our evening swim the water was warm. We were in a gorgeous natural harbour with a pretty village where we went shopping for groceries this morning. The only down side was the early morning coffee we bought from a cafe full of locals with (it turned out) a very drunk Greek owner – it was undrinkable. Life in paradise is so hard!
No comments:
Post a Comment