Gouvia Marina, Corfu - Friday 31 August 2018

We have made it. We are in Corfu and perhaps nearly ready to leave.  

The journey here was OK, but the plane was delayed on the ground for nearly half an hour because of air traffic control problems due to high volume traffic.  It wouldn’t have been so annoying if we weren’t already scheduled to arrive quite late.  But the pilot made up quite a bit of the time and we were only 15 minutes behind schedule when we landed.  Immigration and baggage reclaim went very well and we were out in record time and in a taxi to the marina.

On arrival at the boat we had a few hiccups.  Firstly I had problems opening the hatch.  I put the key in the hole only to have the key part of the lock fall out without opening the hatch.  It was pitch dark and we were lucky to retrieve the bit.  For a moment I thought we wouldn’t get in the boat at all, but I managed to put the innards back and open the lock!  So we did get in.  But then we found we had no electricity!  We turned the switches on and went to the control panel to switch on the lights but nothing happened.  Then we found that everything controlled by the panel was not working - instruments, VHF, lights, freshwater pump, etc.  So we had to improvise with a torch and the one little LED lantern we had.  We attached the shore power and that was working so we did have points to charge our devices and work R’s CPAC machine.  

The immediate problem however was the heat.  It was still 28C and probably warmer in the cabin.  I usually get over this by turning on a fan, but that wasn’t working. I thought I would never be able to sleep but I was so tired that I did finally fall asleep.

In the morning we got in touch with the maintenance people who turned up right away.  The electricity was no problem.  They had put in a safely switch and forgot to turn it on!  So that took only minutes to fix.  They were also able to replace the hatch lock with an identical brand new one, so that is not a problem.  The freshwater pump is still acting up, turning itself on for no reason.  We were all certain that this is caused by a leak somewhere. This is where we came in. We tested the water in the bilges. It was brackish.  So there is a fresh water leak, but not too big a leak.  This seems to mean that it is unlikely to be the water tank.  On investigation they found that the water heater is leaking. We had problems with that on our way here and it was refurbished in Kalamata three or four years ago. But now it needs replacing. There is no urgency and that can be done in the winter.

So mechanically we seem ready to go.  Now that I had light I was able to unpack and make breakfast.  But after that the heat really got to me. So we decided to be lazy. We spent the afternoon at the pool instead of shopping and sorting the boat out.  We left the food shopping until late in the afternoon (well, early evening really).  We haven’t rented a car so we took taxis to and from the supermarket. The supermarket phoned the taxi for us, but I guess that is the sort of service you get if you spend 230 euros (we think a personal best)!

We ate out because it is still too hot below.  Richard says the thermometer says 31C.  We hope to get away sometime tomorrow but we won’t go far.  Just somewhere I can spend most of the day in the sea to keep cool! 

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