Sunday 24
Anchored in the bay of Antikyra. Antikyra has merged with a couple of other municipalities and is now the centre of aluminium production in Greece, and the industrial area on the other side of the bay makes that very clear. We anchored away from the aluminium plant in front of the Western-most part of the town, which seems to be a non-descript small resort village for mainly Greek tourists, and looks to be past heydays. We visited the town and replenished some of our stores, including some BIG ice creams.

Monday 25 July
The wind picked up overnight and by lunchtime it is getting very choppy. So time to move and we motored out in 30 knots winds until the mouth of the bay when the wind dropped suddenly. We figured that this was very localised wind that was falling off the nearby mountains. On our way to Itea we stopped at Akra Macri-Nikolas, with what appears to be an abandoned monastery at the land's end between the two bays for a swim and snorkel. Great spot, beautiful clear water and great diversity of sea life. Chris was very excited to spot a moray eel as it was ducking for cover under rocks. As we got underway, the wind has shifted again so we change course and head for Galaxidhi to tie up stern to on the town quay. Our neighbours being another Aussie yacht with owner/skipper Bruce from Noosa and his crew, Jack from Perth (top-left). They helped us with our ropes and we shared a beer with them later on our back deck.
The very friendly port tax man came to take our money and we were soon convinced to pay and stay for 3 nights for the bargain price of €30 electricity and water included. A gaggle of geese came to inspect us from the shore later on that evening. They seemed to be very excited to see us, as geese often are.

Tuesday 26 July
Another great spot with swimming beach 200 metres away. Chris went exploring and found the supermarket and butcher and arranged for our laundry to be collected. Perfect place to relax for a couple of days. After a lovely lazy day we were enjoying a drink and a chat on the back deck at around 8.00 p.m., when Francis noticed that there were a few white caps forming and the sky was a bit overcast. Our neighbours Bruce and Jack were visiting the American yacht two boats away on our starboard side. Suddenly the Aussie yacht was being pushed at an angle on to the quay and into Clio. A bunch of observant locals appeared instantly and were holding her off the quay. We yelled to Bruce to come running. Then it was all happening. Wind howling, yachts bouncing about and everyone yelling. Bruce and Jack tried bringing in some anchor and running an extra line to the shore, but as the wind got stronger they were still being pushed into the quay. They then decided it was time to move and the local and self-appointed harbourmaster, who is also taxi driver and diesel provider and all round harbour monitor, was jumping on board with them and guiding them out across Clio's bow further down to a more sheltered anchorage on the quay.

This then left Clio as the most upwind yacht and fully exposed to the front which was by then producing gusts over 30 knots onto her port side. Luckily we had our anchor out on the other side of the port, about 50 m away, and well dug in, and so Clio was quite safe. At first the locals assured us this will only last an hour and after some time the wind did seem to be easing off, but just as we thought it was passing it picked up again and after an hour Francis was running a second line from our bow just to be sure. By 22:00 the wind had calmed enough for Chris to be able to cook dinner and we sat in the cockpit eating our very late meal. At last the stars were out and things had settled enough for us to be able to go below to get some sleep at 23:00.

Wednesday 27 July
We woke this morning and calm was restored. Francis set off to replenish our gas supply and Chris pulled out the trusty sewing machine to make one more fly screen for the second aft cabin, so now all of our sleeping cabins are mosquito proof. As soon as a spot became available we moved Clio further along the town quay to a more sheltered position to ensure we don't have a repeat performance of last night. As we were just about to get underway our laundry arrived, we asked if he could please wait until we have relocated as we had already pulled in the gangplank. After some confusion he took our laundry to the chandlery across the road and left it there.

When we retrieved our bag of laundry we discovered why it was more expensive than usual, we had 2.5 kilos worth of someone else's laundry in with ours. It would take some time to sort this out. We explained the problem about 10 times to the chandlery and other bystanders and then gave up. We had the laundry, so we reckoned that eventually the laundry man has to visit us to sort this out, including reimbursing us part of the money. And so he did, problem soved.

We enjoyed coffee and a lengthy discussion with our Aussie neighbours in the coffee shop 20 metres away and gained access to their free wifi password, (coffee shops that is), always a bonus to download lengthy updates for our electronic maps, map-plotter, computer, ipads etc..

We treated ourselves to dinner out tonight in a lovely taverna which was also popular with the town gaggle of geese trying to intimidate customers into feeding them. A very interesting process if you're sitting on the balcony, well outside their sphere of influence.

Great news today: Francis has received notice that his residence visa is now complete and ready for collection. Unfortunately no news for Chris.

Thursday 28 July
Francis spent most of this morning communicating with the Aliens Department trying to ascertain what has happened with Chris's visa application. After some time we were advised that they had two copies of Francis's medical insurance and no copy of Chris's policy. Thank goodness for technology, Francis immediately sent them a copy of the policy and we hoped that it would not be necessary to do another visit to the bureau in person to resolve it.

We said goodbye to fellow Aussies, Bruce and Jack today as they made their way to the Korinth Kanal and to Aegina where she'll be put on land. We look forward to meeting up with Nauti Intent and her crew again one day.
We decided to stay one more night and spend the rest of the day giving Clio a thorough wash and filling her water and diesel tanks.

Friday 29 July
After the mandatory visit to the port police and last minute stocking of provisions, we moved out of Galaxidhi and motored to the small island of Trizonia on the north side of Corinth gulf. You really need to be careful what you wish for: we wanted less wind when we were hammered by the Meltemi in the Cyclades, now there is absolutely no wind, and it is very hot, 35 degrees. Francis dreams of snow blizzards and penguins.

We anchored in the bay outside the harbour of Trizonia and were settling in for the evening when another squall came through with just enough wind to warrant taking down the wind scoop and a few drops of rain. But it soon passed and we at least had a cooler night swinging on anchor.

Good news again: Francis received an email from the Aliens bureau advising that Chris's visa was all sorted and was also now ready for collection.

Saturday 30 July
We now have to arrange to get back to Athens, so today we head for Patra where we will hire a car and drive to Athens on Monday afternoon. On the way there, we will also treat ourselves to a hotel for the night and sleep in air-conditioning (set to its lowest temperature and highest fan speed, simulating a snowless blizzard).

After a couple of hours of motoring, again no wind, we passed under the big Rion suspension bridge (top-middle) crossing the Patra gulf for which you need to report your details and intentions to 'Rion Traffic' on VHF channel 14 when you are 5 NM away from the bridge, and obtain final permission when 1 NM away from crossing under the bridge. This all makes it into a bit of an event and Chris video'ed and photographed the proceedings from the fore-deck.
After this exciting event, we moved into the Patra Marina. The marina is not a very popular spot, the pontoons are fairly badly maintained and wobbly, and a very unpleasant smell of raw sewerage wafts over us every now and then. But there is hardly any alternative close by. The only alternative would be the port of Messolonghi, a small port at the end of a long channel on the other side of the Gulf of Patras which does not receive many accolades from the yachting fraternity either.

So we tie Clio to the wobbly pontoon and go find somewhere cool to have some lunch. We walked along the esplanade until we found a fish restaurant with air-conditioning. At our request they turned it on just for us, and we sat directly under it and enjoyed chicken and beef burgers (as you do in a fish restaurant), a glass of wine each and cooled off.

On our arrival back from our lunch we had a nice chat with our English neighbours and their two sons. Next day they were having problems with their vhf (needed to cross the Rion Bridge) so asked Francis if he could have a look and try to resolve their problem. After making sure the basics work and downloading the manual, the problem gets solved and they are on their way to the Korinth Kanal.

On our return to Clio it was still too hot, so we sat in a cafe/bar at the end of the pontoon and made a coffee last for two hours in their cool and lovely air conditioning, it is still in the mid-thirties. As the sun was beginning to set after 8.00 p.m. we figured it would be safe to return to Clio, but no, after 15 minutes we scuttled back to the cafe and sat on a wine and ouzo for another couple of hours. The daily average temperature is 34 degrees, nights drop to 28, but the humidity is high. It is definitely much nicer in anchorages where we always get a sea breeze.

Sunday 31 July
We met some more fellow sailors today. A young French couple came in alongside in their small yacht. They were impressed with our 'Australian sized' yacht. They say all Australians they meet are on at least 46 foot boats. We also met the 'Around-the-world-passported' couple, living in France, Alia and Lance on their catamaran a couple of berths along. Lance is Canadian and Aliya hails from Perth. A very interesting couple who have lived in Libya and now live in France for six months and sail the med for six months. We joined them on board their lovely air-conditioned yacht for drinks and nibbles and they gave us lots of very helpful tips on anchorages and places to go (or not) in the Ionian. No AC envy, according to Chris, but Francis is asking around for quotes for a compact air-conditioning unit for Clio to be used when on shore power.

Monday 1 August
We had some problems with Rentalcar.com from which we ordered our rental car as they sent us the rental car supplier's address as 'Patra port'. Well, there are a couple of ports in Patra and they are about 5 km away from each other, not something you want to have to do on foot in 35 degrees. They promised to sort it out but never did. Eventually we got the supplier on the phone and arranged for him to drop off the car at the marina. As it turned out, the name of the rental company was also different and their office was somewhere in a back street, we would never have found it. Bad points for Rentalcar.com who never got back to us after their promises to help.
Our rental car arrived at the marina at 12.00 and we headed off for Athens. We stopped at a beach resort town called Loutraki just outside Corinth and checked into our air-conditioned apartment for the night. We had hoped to visit ancient Corinth, but again it was way too hot and the dryness and dust played havoc with Chris's allergy, so after a trip to a pharmacy with a photo of the required inhaler, we collected said inhaler, with no prescription required. Back in the hotel we ordered in pizza, set the airconditioner on 'Blizzard' and made the most of the cool room.

Tuesday 2 August
Up at the crack of dawn today to get to the aliens bureau by 7:30 and ensure a spot in the line (bottom-left) to get a number, they only give out 150 numbers per day. At 8.30 the gate was opened and yes we were number 39. Then sit on the bench and wait for your number to be called. By 10:00 we were inside the building and waiting our turn to go to a desk and hopefully finalise this process which began in Sydney in March this year and a couple of thousand dollars total costs. At last our number was up and we presented our papers only to be given another number and directed to another office. We were pleased when all the young civil servants remembered us and we had requests to accompany us back to Australia or to come back and see them and bring souvenirs. We also wanted to know how long we would be allowed to be out of Greece before it affected our visa, one of the young men said he would check with his supervisor. When he returned he happily told us we can stay away as long as we like, as long as we come back to Greece and spend money, "it is a deal".

We then went to the second office and were ushered straight into a large room to wait for the next available officer. And finally we have resident's permits for 'special reasons' securely stuck in our passports valid for two years, yahoooo (bottom-right)!!!!

We celebrated with breakfast and coffee in an excellent coffee shop, with many deliciously looking patisserie thingies in the centre of Athens. Then quickly off to the Media-mart to get cables and another hard drive to store the photos and videos we're amassing. We then went to see our friend Haris at Alimou Marina. It was great to see him again and we enjoyed a long and fun discussion. We were saddened though, to see most of the charter boats still tied to the dock in what should be their busiest time, and we hope things improve soon for our great friends.

On our return to Clio, Chris set out in search of a hairdresser, which turned out to be just across the road and enjoyed the indulgence of a heavenly scalp massage, hair wash and cut all for the small sum of $60 and worth every cent. On her return Francis was again visiting with Lance and Alia and Chris joined in for an afternoon drink.

An hour or so later they joined us on our breeze cooled back deck for celebratory drinks in honour of our newly acquired resident visas.

Wednesday 3 August
The next day its time to move on. The marina is not very cheap, over €20/night for very little comfort and we need to get to an anchorage to escape the city's heat. We plan to stop off at a little island called Oxia on our way to the Ionian island of Ithaki, almost 30 NM (55 km) to the West of Patra. When we arrived it turned out that the sheltered bay had many fish farm cages in it and the bottom was over 40m deep until very close to the rocks. We decided to go to an alternative anchorage about 10 NM (1.5 hrs) away for the night. The anchorage is a 'bullet-proof, all weather anchorage', according to Andy and Steph of the Norna Biron. So that's where we are now. Great anchorage, very quiet despite the 20 or so other boats, water not very clear. Off to Ithaki today.