The whole thing started on Sunday we left Port Atheni with a good wind and sailed across to Ormos Varko arriving about 13:00hrs just in time for lunch and a swim. As the afternoon wore on the winds increased and with steady 24 kts & Kiabatic gusts we felt the bay was a little exposed to stay overnight so set off back to Nidri & Tranquil bay. We were sure it would be 'as it name implies' more sheltered. We had a cracking sail hitting 8.5 knots across to Lefkas island and even managed to sail all the way into the bay and drop the anchor without starting the engine. We were well pleased with ourselves!

The next day saw us being lazy slobs. Pete had got into a book on his kindle and Jackie likewise was happy to spend the heat of the day under the Bimini reading. About 5pm we headed off into Nidri town by dinghy to buy supplies we also needed petrol for the outboard. Supplies were easy, we found a well stoked supermarket and bought what we needed including some grapes we are trying to eat healthy and use fruit as a snack or desert as opposed to naughty sugary concoctions. Next the fuel! We discovered that the nearest petrol station was about 1.5 to 2 Km out of town so started trekking, carting both the shopping & the empty fuel can. About halfway Jackie stopped and waited in the shade with the shopping whilst Pete trudged on and purchased the fuel. On returning Jackie had eaten about half the grapes whilst waiting. We returned to the boat ate on board that night.

The next morning we woke to the fridge not running 'we have a cut-out on the fridge if the battery voltage falls below a certain level it cuts the fridge off to stop the batteries being total drained. We had been at anchor for about a week without really running the engine. 'Each time we had moved we'd started the engine to haul up the anchor' but started sailing almost immediately so off went the engine. Normally the combination of Solar panels & wind generator can keep up with our electrical needs. The combination of very high temperatures 'regularly into 43 Deg C' meant the fridge was working overtime and the the bearings have 'gone' on the wind gen at the moment. (this means we are totally reliant on the solar panels and these on their own are obviously not quite enough!)

We looked at the pilot book and chart, and decided that the Odysseus marina at Little Vathi on Meganisi provided both power and water at berths so we would have to bite the bullet and pay for a night in a marina, to get the batteries topped up. We weighed the anchor and motored straight there arriving about 11:00am and gave them a call on the radio 'Can we have a berth please?', 'were very booked up', came the reply, 'call is back at 16:00 and we see if we can fit you in' not what we wanted to hear! We edged in towards the town quay, Jackie spotted that they seemed to have power there as well. We picked a vacant spot and backed in perfectly! Once ashore we discovered that the town quay was free, power was 5 Euro for the day, also water.

We plugged in and let the charger do its business. Also taking advantage of mains power we plugged in every rechargeable device we had, as well as switching on the immersion heater (Hot continuous showers LUXURY).

Jackie was not feeling too great, but later that day we went for a walk and stopped by a taverna for drinks. Suddenly she was convulsed with severe stomach cramps and in serious pain we abandoned our drinks and only just managed to make it back to Argonauta. Even fully medicated up she was in agony for the remainder of the day with a high temp 'not good in 40+ deg C and sweating profusely. Pete was seriously concerned she would de-hydrate, and kept forcing her to drink. Well at least the fridge was now workings so the drinks were cool! We stayed two nights here and Jackie slowly recovered.

We did not know what had caused the problem, but thought it was either the water in the tanks (so Pete, flushed them all through filling with fresh water) or the water we had a swim in off Nidri.

On the third day just before we left, Pete munched on a few grapes. Yes you guessed it ! By the time we reached our next destination he was feeling ill with stomach cramps, sweats & Nausea! Laid low at anchor, we missed the ascension day bank holiday concert in Port Kalamos, though could hear the music over the water. It finished with a fantastic firework display at midnight. Shame we couldn’t experience it close hand.

After 24 hrs. Pete's recovered, at least know the cause of the problem. The remaining grapes have been dumped!

We set sail back to Ithaca & Kefalonia heading for Fisikardo!