This was another highlight which didn’t start out with much promise. We walked down the hill to the beach in Dassia and sat on the boat for three quarters of an hour while the crew went shopping for the supplies that were required for the trip and lunch. Other options were being considered as we sweltered and were gassed by the exhaust from the boat’s engine, but finally we were under away and the cool breezes, the wonderful waters and the great views of the villages with their mountain backdrops quickly put aside our frustrations.
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| Jane taking in the sights |
There had been other passengers coming aboard and we had the feeling that the Greek departure times work on numbers rather than the clock.
It wasn’t long before we anchored close to an aqua coloured patch of water and did a little cooling-off cave swimming. Hugging the coastline we then passed numerous coastal villages while the skipper pointed out various villas belonging to the rich and famous like the families of the Rothchilds and the Italian Fiat auto dynasty, Agnello – he has a fabulous villa on Paxos as well – greedy bugger!
We moseyed around a few more beaches before selecting a deserted one for a barbecue lunch. Some felt it was going to be difficult to fill in the two hours allocated for the stop, especially as there were no seats. After finding a suitable rock and utilising the boat’s bar the time started to slip by for them – the original scotch on the rocks if you like – or in this case, Mythos on the rocks! However, Margaret came up with a new name for the Mythos – a rissole! She is not a beer drinker and thought she was being offered a rissole and said yes, and was surprised when she got a beer instead! A swim or two and the odd dive from the vessel Asteras, and then it was a great grill of pork served with the usual hyper-fresh salad beside the portable wine bar brought ashore for the occasion.
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| Yaaamaaass! |
Cynthia got a thrill when she was addressed by our very well preserved captain, Tellis (who claimed he remembered Jane and Jan from the dim dark past – we wondered what we had done that was so memorable!!) as ‘my darling’ – her thrill for the day. However, during the course of that stop, she also discovered where the Zorba dance originated from – i.e. from trying to walk over the pebbly beach barefooted!
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| Lining up for the superb on beach BBQ |
It was then up the ladder for our last leg north and as we came to the northern tip of Corfu we were but one nautical mile from Albania where a couple of rather large towns were clearly visible. In the Communist days it was not uncommon for Albanians to make asylum-seeking trips across on tractor tyres. Close to that point we docked for an hour of afternoon drinks or ice-creams at Kassiopi.
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| Could not find clearer waters than this!! |
After cruising by a couple of huge liners heading out of the Corfu town port we anchored for one more dip overboard before tying up at our home Dassia jetty. Most visited the local supermarket to buy some light snacks for a balcony meal and after a rather hot walk up to the Panorama Hideaway we were all ready for an early night – preceded of course by a pool swim and a few refreshing and relaxing drinks. Four or five stayed until about 10-30 listening to some of Saki’s Greek experiences.
All in all the trip was declared yet another winner.
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