The delay in leaving Messolonghi meant that we would be one day late to pick up Jeanne and Elaina. They would need to get a hotel on Corfu for one night and we would need to find a midway spot for the night. In between Lefkas and Corfu are two small islands called Paxos and Anti Paxos. We decided to anchor in the most northern bay on Paxos called Ormos Lakka. It was fairly crowded when we arrived and twice reset our anchor to make sure we would have enough swing room from other boats. This turned out to be pure folly because twice as many boats came in behind us and anchored on all sides. Ashore is a very quaint village with about a dozen restaurants. The British Pub was serving two for one cocktails and Nick couldn't pass up that deal. After one or two Long Islands (you know me?) we developed a now common Greek medical condition that I've come to know as Inebri-itus. The only cure is a gyro or two and sleep. No problem there because now I had that new item which can't be talked about any more to protect me.

Around 6:00am we headed out to Corfu. The main marina is called Gouvia and located a few miles out of town. We arrived just in time for the noon wind to pick up. In the Med there are two common ways to dock a boat. One is to lay out your anchor and back up to the quay and the second is to use pre-laid lines instead of your anchor. These are called Lazy Lines and are common in marinas. With the wind now blowing at 15 knots on our beam (side), I could not get Palarran into the tight space the marina was directing me to. The maneuver attempts started to get a lot of attention on the dock until we had a nice crowd waiting to see me crash the boat or foul my propeller into the lazy lines. Abort-Abort-Abort - I called the dock worker and said we couldn't do it and were leaving, much to the disappointment of the watching gallery.

He did take pity on me and found a space on a wall where I could tie up alongside. Nick and I must practice docking more in order to get it perfected. It's just hard to practice when you're surrounded by boats and people. The girls showed up within 15 minutes of tying up and we were happy to see them. First because it signaled the start of our summer trip and a very close second because they had the inverter. Two hours later and it was installed functioning properly. Now, to figure out how to get the old one home?