We extricated ourselves from Gaios the next morning without any problem, probably because we were the last to re-anchor after all the chaos of the previous day and our chain was over any others!

Parga Bay with the Venitian Castle above

The trip over to Parga on the mainland took a couple of hours and we were soon anchored in Ormos Valuta, the larger bay to the north of the area. We had a swim and relaxed there until it got a bit cooler and then took ‘Fid’ to the beach. It’s a good climb up to the ruins of the supposedly Venetian castle on the hill but we found a very nice bar with great views halfway up to rest for a beer to sustain us.

Mitch and Carolyn survey the Bay from the Venitian Castle

The view from the top was worth the climb and the fortifications were very extensive (and probably built over time by many different forces). We found it necessary to stop at the same bar on the way down!

The view across to the other side of Parga Bay

The anchor came up at 11.00 the next day and we set off to across the channel towards the island of Corfu and the village of Petriti. We had visited before but it was new to Mitch. The light wind allowed us to hoist the spinnaker for a couple of hours and we went along at around 4-5 knots in 10-12 knots of breeze. It wasn’t however possible to sail where we actually wanted to go so the route was somewhat random as we adjusted to the vaguaries of the wind. In the end it obliged and we made most of the trip under sail arriving around 15.30. Mitch and Carolyn went ashore in Petriti to pick up some bits of shopping whilst Chris minded the boat as there were charter yachts trying to anchor around us. That night we again visited the Panorama Taverna, it was a lot quieter that night with only 15 or so guests but we enjoyed the meal.

Crew awaiting food at Panorama Taverna

The wind on the Thursday morning was from the south so we took advantage of this to head north. We needed to drop Mitch off back in Corfu Town on the Friday so we motor-sailed in a Force 2 back up to Kalami. We knew this was a tricky place to anchor from our previous visit and our first attempt got the hook in but left us with only about 25m of chain out in 8m depth of water. Yachts try to put out a minimum of chain three times the depth of the water under the boat but it is better to have a greater multiple, particularly if there are stronger winds about as was forecast. It wasn’t possible to increase the length of chain as we were close to two other boats including a very brand new looking German flagged ‘Hanse 57’. The Skipper wasn’t comfortable so up came the anchor and we re-set further out where we could put out 5-6 times the depth and swing free of the other yachts. The predicted gusty conditions arrived in the early evening so we stayed on board and got out the BBQ with home-made burgers. We were still sitting on deck in the dusk when the Skipper who was surveying the bay jumped up saying ‘something’s not right’. The large Hanse had moved, and was still moving..... fast, dragging her anchor towards the rocks on the end of the bay. Fid was on her davits at the stern and not readily available so we started shouting to get their attention. Luckily the owners who were ashore must have realised the problem as a dinghy set out and the boat was caught a few meters short of a rocky encounter. Chris had been watching her earlier as she swung to work out how much chain she had out and had concluded ‘not much’....... they just got away with that one, but only just!

Main Photo: The Skippers meal at Panorama Taverna