From Port Leone we went south around the tip of Maganisi to some huge caves – Think the end of the Goonies. We got the dingy out and went inside to see. Unfortunately the treasure had been taken away already.
We then went west across to a Silvota on Lefkada for lunch and then back across the straight to the North end of Maganisi and the Port off Little Vathy on Meganisi. I’m not sure how two ports within a couple hour sail of each other ended up with the same name …
Here is the Colossal Cave on You Tube
The next day we tried to sail again across the ionic sea. In the middle we stopped at a shallow area to swim and fish and have lunch. The water in the Ionian Sea is so deep the depth sounders don’t register. At this little spot the sea bed rises to about 5 meters. Josh was hoping for fish again. Instead of catching it he bought it from a guy on the dock. He says he can look at the dead fish’s eyes and tell if it lived a healthy life. We had it for lunch.
At some point early in the week the zipper at the rear end of the sail bag ripped off. I volunteered to sew it and Josh tried to find a needle and sail mending whipping thread. He finally got some on the last day but I only had a couple hours to work on it. Starting at the attached end so it wouldn’t rip further, I hand tied each knot so it wouldn’t come apart further. I had to sew through two layers of thick canvas and two layers of plastic cloth with just a needle and I used the reel from the thread as a palm needle driver. I did this while standing on the seat at the aft end of the boom. I was facing the folded sail and my face got fried! My sail sewing augur would have made quick work of the job but I only got about 1/3 of the way before I had to stop while we were underway.
We arrived back at the TradeWinds base and started the sad job of packing up our stuff and preparing for our last night on board Gratitude. We went for dinner across the bay (5 min dinghy ride would have been a 2 hour drive).
The last night on board was squeaky again. I don’t think I mentioned that the joint between the bed and the boat made a loud squeak with any movement. I stuck a piece of paper in between and fixed after the first couple nights but someone (likely Abigail while cleaning the room) removed the paper.
The next morning we had our last breakfast band were off the boat by 9am. We said good by to the crew and we all went off on their own travels back to reality.
Coopers Travel Adventures 