This stretch was down under engine for the whole way as although some strong winds blew up in the course of the journey it was not coming from the right direction. As the temperatures are soaring we had a couple of cooling off stops on the way down and even managed to recover an anchor buoy that was floating past. We moored on the “Scandinavian quay” in Preveza marina in the late afternoon after a long day. In the cool of the evening we walked into town to explore. It is not a tourist town although some charter companies seem to use it as their base. As a result there is not the usual throng of tourists although the town certainly comes to life in the evening when the locals are out taking their evening strolls.
One of the main reasons for coming to Preveza is that we have to change all our services batteries that are just over one year old – so much for sealed batteries. After investigating we have been advised on good authority to buy from a garage and that is what we did when the shops opened on Monday morning. They respect the Sunday closing here because of the lack of tourists. The new batteries have been purchased and installed so we are up and running again and can lie at anchor once more. After a wander around the town, a small stock up and a book swap in one of the local chandlers we were ready to go

After an early start as there was quite a distance to travel we left the quay in Plateria and made our way South to Parga. For once the wind was in our favour and we managed to achieve a sailing time of 4 and half hours. This meant that we reached Parga quite late in the afternoon and the initial bay we were intending to anchor in was pretty full of charter boats and the dreaded water sport fiends. Instead we anchored under the Venetian citadel with a line ashore. Parga in July is not the ideal spot. Early in the morning it is very pleasant to wander through the streets but at night it is throbbing with people who are meandering in and out of the shops in the small streets or are wandering along the quay and the ferries are busy until late in the night taking people to and from the bay. We were happy to leave there and make our way down to Preveza.

Once more on our own and with nothing more to do in Corfu we left the harbour as soon as the German boat had left so that we could make our way South again. We decided to visit Plateria again and then to make our way down the mainland to Parga and Preveza before the end of the week when again very strong winds are expected and we would prefer to be in a safe place. As we entered the bay we were met by an armada of 17 charter boats leaving the harbour so we were sure that we would find space on the quay for the night.

As none of us had yet visited Corfu town we decided that on the return trip to the island we would moor in the old harbour and that the girls would then return to their hotel by taxi in the evening.
We left Lakka late morning and again motored up to the town (head wind). We contacted “Laerke” who had been in the harbour for a few days and found out that we could raft to them. We arrived again in the late afternoon and rafted up. Once everything had settled down we wandered into the old town to check out the shops and to sightsee a little. The old town is full of shops selling leather good, furs and traditional goods made in Corfu. We even met a lady promoting local liquor dressed in a typical wedding costume – she must have been very hot as we were wilting under the heat in the small narrow streets. After dinner the girls came back to the boat to collect their luggage and took a taxi back to Dassio to finish their holiday. In the meantime a German boat had rafted up to us for the night.

As the trip to Lakka was not very long we set off after a leisurely breakfast and crossed the channel to Lakka Bay. It was mainly under engine but we did manage to get in a short period of sailing. There was a significant increase in the number of boats moored in the bay but we found a good anchorage and again enjoyed the water and the surroundings.