As we stated in the last blog we followed a local boat out of the harbour of Roccella Ionica in order to avoid grounding again and pointed Argonauta for the third time towards Greece. Hopefully this was to be third time lucky! Once clear of the shallows we set the cruising chute and in the light winds moved along at 3.5 knots not very fast and we thought several times of taking it down and putting the engine on. But by 7pm the winds had picked up a small amount and we were now doing 5.5knots unfortunately about an hour later the sun set. We have a rule, when there are only the two of us on board, that we don’t fly the chute at night. It take's both of us to get it up or down, and if the other was sleeping would require wakening the off watch up to change sails. Also if the winds picked up we don’t want the hassle of trying to get it down in the dark.

So down with the cruising chute and up with the Genoa (this sail can be controlled and furled single handed from the cockpit) unfortunately this only gave us about 3 knots so after a hour or so and the winds weren’t increasing, we gave in, and put the engine on. We motored for most of the night Pete doing the 12 midnight to 4 am watch Jackie watching the sunrise on the 4am till 8am watch. At this watch change we managed to get the cruising chute back up and it stayed up till 9pm when the sunset again. This is the longest run we’ve had with this sail so far.

The second night was a little better for wind and we sailed all night. sometimes only at 4knots but sailing nonetheless! By 7am we were off Kefalonia. As we rounded Vardiani Island the winds died completely so we motored up a still inlet in flat calm. The coastline looked very much like that of a Scottish lock the the increasing temperature as the sun rose proved it wasn’t. Halfway up we turned to Starboard into the inlet on which Argostoli sits we passed the cruise liner terminal and the Ferry dock then we had a decision to make we had planned to moor up at the town quay. However this meant med mooring using the anchor and not lazy lines something we hadn’t done as yet. Then we noticed several boats anchored in the bay and quick troll round them showed that they were anchored in about 3 meters of water and there was plenty of room for us. So taking the cowards way out we anchored. Down came the Italian Tricolour and up went the Greek curtsy flag. We'd arrived all the way from muddy Essex to sunny Greece. It was 9am we toasted our arrival with breakfast before getting the dinghy out to go ashore and register our arrival with the Greek authorities.

We dinghyed ashore and made fast to the town quay and walked up to where the pilot book told us the customs office would be. First problem we couldn’t find the customs office or the port police office Secondly all those strange Greek characters meant that trying to read signs were almost impossible. Jackie went into the coastguard office to ask directions. It then transpired that the coastguard here carried out all the formalities as a one stop shop. Great.

However the first thing we needed was a DEPKA this is a transit log document that all boats over 10Mtrs Greek or any nationality must have and need to get stamped every time they go into port there are 50 sections after that you must get another one. Whilst the Coastguard could issue us with one we must first go to the tax office in town and pay for it getting a 'Blue Receipt' (she was very insistent it was a blue receipt not a pink one) then we could go back to the coastguard and they would then go through our documents and give us our DEPKA.
So armed with a very poor photocopy of a street plan we set off around the back streets of Argostoli to try and find the tax office. We had been told we needed office 13 on the first floor once we found it. Two wrong buildings later we finally found the tax office and went into office 13 having queued for a few mins we handed the official the paper we had been given by the coast guard stating we needed to pay 29 Euros for the Depka. He then directed us to office no 12 where we stood in line with about 10 other Greeks who were all there to pay their taxes. Each of whom seemed not too happy to be having to pay, and took the time and effort to explain to the poor cashiers why they shouldn’t pay that much. I’m sure they had heard it hundreds of times before but to us in a language we didn’t understand each conversation seemed to get quite heated. It took some time before we got to the front of the queue. Once again we handed over the document from the coastguard smiling to try & indicate we weren’t going to argue and shout about paying the bill. The cashier filled out a few entries in the computer once she had our passport and then printed out a form. This we were advised we had to take to office 13 to pay. Back in office 13! We handed over the printed form gave her 30 Euros and she stamped the form with at least three different rubber stamps signed it and gave it back to us. All without stopping her on-going conversation on the phone.

Blue receipt in hand we headed back to the coastguard office (stopping for a drink & bite, on the way, Are you allowed to do that? We weren’t sure! Technically we were not through passport or customs yet!) back at the coastguard office the officer on duty demanded

Passport
Ships papers
Boat Insurance
Vat receipt for the boat
Proof of home address
Certificate of competence
Details of last port, next port, & how long we were staying?
Telephone & e-mail addresses
Next of Kin
Details of both of our Fathers Names & D.O.B.
Call sign
Ships Radio Licence
Radio Operators Licence
List of all transmitting equipment we had on board
Engine (number & type)
MMSI number
Port of registry
Tanks & capacity for sewerage, sludge & Bilge water & when they last been emptied.

Fortunately as we keep all boat papers together we were able to supply all that was requested. Though at one point I was not sure what they were going to ask next, when she turned to me and said 'What size is your errr.......' !

After about a 55 mins of form filling & signing various documents, we were presented with our DEPKA! At last we could technically enter Greece! The fact we had been here already for 5 hours and had wandered the back streets and the fancy pedestrian shopping areas, drunk & eaten in the Cafés by then, was beside the point!

We spent the rest of the day (What there was left of it) taking it easy we spent sometime looking round the town after having a siesta on board in the heat of the afternoon,

Argostoli we found to be a very pleasant town with a long waterfront and plenty of shops for tourists to wander round. Though architecturally very limited as the town was destroyed completely by a earthquake in 1953 so was totally re-built after that and is a lot of flat concrete slabs.

We discovered a bakers on the waterfront. The next morning Pete got up and went ashore to buy some croissants for breakfast. The local fisherman tie up on the waterfront in the morning to sell fish directly off the boat to the locals. Swimming between the boats were Loggerhead turtles, some the size of Bus wheels. Obviously they come in following the fishermen, & looking for the scraps they throw overboard. When he got back & told Jackie she couldn’t wait to get ashore and see them. We discovered this was a daily occurrence and each day we were there, we saw at least three Loggerheads if not more. Some mornings as we had breakfast in the cockpit you could see one or two swimming passed heading for the dock and the fishermen.

Whilst there we also cycled to the old lighthouse through a wood, the air filled with the sound of crickets chirping. We also saw the old water wheel driven by sea water. The water is channelled in passed the wheel then down a sink hole apparently the water then travels about 9 miles under the island to emerge 14 days later on the other side of the island. No one knew where the water went till in the 1970's Austrian scientists placed red dye in the water and it eventually emerged two weeks later on the other side of the island.

After 4 days in Argostoli we moved across the bay to Lixouri having anchored off the harbour we went ashore and explored. Moving on again the next day we stopped by a small bay for a swim. we watched as two, four, no nine canoes appeared, as if by magic from a small cave in the rock cliff. We had to investigate. Climbing in the dinghy we left Argonauta and motored to the small bay the water was very shallow so much so we had to switch off the outboard and paddle. We went in where we had seen the canoes emerge, and found a large water filled cavern in the rocks with a small sand beach. Just as you’d expect pirates to use! As you can expect Pirate Pete was in his element!