Sleep tight!
26 October 2016 | Preveza
Chris and Francis

Its Monday 23rd of October at the Aktio boat yard in Preveza.
We had two very wet days with lots of rain which slowed the progress of the outside work. Between putting layers of epoxy primer on the keel during dry spells, there is also a lot of cleaning and packing underway. Ceilings, floors, bilges all need to be cleaned with fresh water and soap to get rid of any corroding salt. Equipment needs to be dismounted, packed and safely stored. The bed linen, towels, blankets, clothes etc. need to be wrapped up in double plastic bags and find a place. The pumping mechanism of the two toilets were taken apart and de-calcified with hydrochloric acid solution and all rubber rings, valves and seals were replaced. It is a bit of overkill to do that every year, but it definitely pays off if it prevents problems during the summer with people on board. The toilets themselves need to be cleaned and disinfected for the winter to prevent unwanted odours when we come back. The tasks add up to 54 tasks this year and we reserved two weeks to get it all done.
Fortunately we were able this year to afford to 'outsource' two big tasks: sanding and repainting the antifouling, and polishing and waxing the hull.
24th of October
Wout and Thea, the (now former) owners of WallyDoc2 we met in Nisyros last year, had come to Preveza to finalise the sale of their boat. We met up on Tuesday night with Wout and Thea for drinks and dinner. We enjoyed their very interesting and entertaining conversation with lots of laughs and it was a pity they had to leave early-ish to catch the ferry from Igoumenitsa to Italy on their way back to Holland. Maybe next time we will meet in Oz. We shuffled back to Clio in the dark and after a couple of wrong turns were able to climb the ladder. To our amazement we found this perfect little green tree frog (top-left photo) sitting on one of the treads. It turned out to be a European Tree Frog (Hyla arborea), the only tree-frog species in Europe (there are 64 species in Australia).
22 to 26 October
Once the skies cleared we were able resume our assault on The List and lowered the anchor and chain and give them a well needed new coat of zinc paint. Francis was able to apply the final coats of epoxy primer to the keel whilst being smothered in swarms of mosquitoes which came after the rain. He also removed the internal steps to sand them and give them a fresh coat or three of varnish.
As it turned out, all 'experts' agreed that it would be preferable to store a RIB dinghy in an inflated condition to prevent creases in the rubber to occur. So, Cloe was re-inflated, covered and tied down. All the hatches and winches also went under cover. We have lashed out this season on a tent which will cover Clio's deck end to end, once completed it will be put on before the end of November, OR THAT IS THE PROMISE AT LEAST. This will give her good protection from the winter weather and will also provide great shade cover in the summer next year for the main berth and central cabin.
On Tuesday night we met up for dinner with Siegfried and Gabrielle, the Austrian couple we had met in Preveza. They have just had their yacht lifted into the Ionian Marina next door to the Aktio boatyard. It was very enjoyable with lots of world-problem-solving-after-wine going on.
Wednesday morning Chris set off with a bag of leftover carrots to find the donkeys and happily distributed them amongst the local population (top-middle). They (the donkeys) were very interested in Chris, but scurried quickly away after they realised that there was no more carrots, possibly afraid of the so often associated stick. Then the inevitable moment of leaving Clio to the element for another 6 months (top-right and left-centre photos)
At 10 a.m. We boarded the marina bus and were delivered to the bus station in Preveza to catch our coach to Athens after a couple of hours drinking coffee (bottom-left photo) and waiting for the bus to arrive. It was a long six hours drive to Piraeus, but part of the time was taken up in meeting with Esther a Greek businesswoman who is heavily involved with the Opera in Vienna, who was lots of fun to talk to. On reaching Piraeus she insisted in guiding us to the taxi rank and directing the driver to our hotel, she declared herself our adopted Greek mother-in-law.
After a good night's sleep in our hotel, we boarded the ferry to Paros at 7:25 in the morning. After bus ride and another ferry crossing from Paros to Antiparos and a taxi ride up the hill, we finally arrived at our friends Gérard and Eva's lovely house on a hill overlooking the strait between Paros and AntiParos (middle-right). And now for five weeks of total quiet relaxation and feeding the cats (centre photo).
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