Our new British friends Simon and Louise left the anchorage early this morning, heading for a day of windsurfing at Vassilki. After brief goodbye's and a very kind invitation for Tyler to visit them in Brighton, we had the anchorage all to ourselves. Quite a contrast to two nights ago when there were eight boats sharing the place. I went snorkeling in search of an octopus that others had seen, but came up empty. As Tyler the sleeper remained in his berth, Chris and I retrieved the shorelines, hauled anchor and began the quick hop over to Fiskhardo.

The harbor there is a beehive of activity with ferry boats coming and going and private boats like ours jockeying for position along the quay. We were there to top off our water tanks and, fortunately, a spot opened up in front of a taverna which had a water hose available for visiting yachts. We dropped anchor and backed in along the quay, nestled next to a Greek family in a powerboat and French family in a sailboat. Since we weren't staying long, I didn't want to bother setting up the passerelle and the Greek captain was kind enough to let me hop onto his boat so I could get to and from shore. But first ... I accepted his invitation to "come and sit", sharing a glass of ouzo with he and his family. And when he learned of our plans to transit the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth, out came the nautical charts with lots of helpful advice and recommendations on places to stay. I brought them a plate of sliced salmon as thanks for their hospitality and a short while later his wife delivered a delightful plate full of homemade breakfast pastries with marmalade that she made herself. By then it was lunchtime and I joined them for a delicious Greek salad. And we thought we were just stopping for water....

After topping off the water tanks and giving Interlude a much-needed freshwater rinse (is it ever going to rain here???), I helped Ty and Chris stow the provisions they had picked up in town and we were off again in search of a more peaceful spot to spend the evening. We're now at anchor in a small bay just a short distance from Fiscardo and we have the place to ourselves and a great view of Ithaca across the channel. The afternoon winds have just settled down and it looks like we'll have another quiet and uneventful evening. But who knows ... I've learned already to expect the unexpected out here. You never know what's going to happen from one moment to the next. Before going to bed each night we put out our life vests, our spotlight, glasses and other items that we might need if our anchor drags or we need to leave in a hurry. Fortunately, we've not had to do that just yet but Chris and I had a night-time experience last year in Montenegro which taught us to be cautious and prepared.

By the way ... a quick word of thanks to our friend Keely for telling us about iDrifter XL, a great iPad application which stays by my bedside and warns me if we're outside of our expected swing radius. I sleep much better at night with iDrifter monitoring things for us.