I broke the boat!

I’ve been getting up at 5 – 5:30 as usual. It is nice and quiet then as the next one up is Abigail at 6:30 or so. I have pretty much had the sunrise to myself. Today – not so much.

Josh told everyone that the way this cove opens, today would be the best time to see the sunrise. People started getting up at 6:00 or so and pretty much everyone was up by 6:30. The sunrise was pretty nice.

After sunrise, we had breakfast and then set off on our trip south to Eufemia back on Kefalonia. As we were coming into the cove Josh yelled for me to put the engines in neutral. The throttle control and gear shift are all in one unit. There is no actual gear shift as the transmission is automatic. We were going about 6 knots and I pulled the levers back – past neutral and into reverse for a couple seconds. The boat did not like that and Josh said he heard a noise. After that the wheel kind of freewheeled and the rudder indicators were not agreeing with each other. I broke the boat!! Josh was able to get us into our anchorage and send us off on our shore excursion.

We went on a land based excursion to a couple caves, a Monestary then to a wine tasting place. We had a driver and van with us for the day. We got back in time for lunch.

While we were gone, Josh managed to fix the steering system. It sounds like the hydraulic system needed to be reset. It was not a major problem. This was a learning moment for me for newer propulsion systems.

We went on three different excursions on land this morning. We went to a huge cave with a lake inside. We were rowed across the lake to the other side by an old Greek guy who sang and tried to be funny but his accent ment most of what he said was lost on us. It kind of felt like Phantom of the Opera with the Gondola in the cave. “In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came…”We then went to another cave system – no lake but cool walk through the cave system.

Next when went and visited a Monastery founded in 1560s. The trees they planted then are still there. The church was very ornate with paintings all over the ceiling. No photos allowed in there.

The last place on our excursions was a winery where we were able to sample 6 different wines each. This was the most well organized wine tasting I have done and solidified the fact that I can’t taste or smell a thing. I liked the dry whites less than the rose or red, but not that much more. The sweet desert wine tasted like cough syrup. We really liked all the crystal glassware.

After our excursions on land we headed back to the boat for lunch – Musakka Greek Shepard pie), and then motor back around Ithika to a great little town called Vathy. The houses are all perched on the slope above the road that curves along the harbour. We were relatively late getting to the harbour so there was nowhere to anchor. We did find a spot along the boardwalk to anchor for the night. Tonight was our dinner at a Restaraunt.

We had Sea Bass. Ice cream after dinner of course. In the night was a huge thunder and lightning show. I didn’t want to hang out on deck with it so I went back to bed. It was raining this am as I write this but looks like it will be another great sunny day,