Saturday we were up and eager to see a little of the town of Preveza and have a quick catch up with Doug and Sandy, our Canadian cruising mates who had taken a slip there. They had all sorts of local information and had us aboard for nibbles and drinks before we headed back out to the anchorage. Todd and Jim were hoping to do the clearing in, but discovered the office would be closed until Monday. (Sandy and Doug had warned us that things took a lot longer to complete in Greece than anticipated). That night we had dinner with Polaris to celebrate an uneventful crossing and we all slept like the dead.
Our boat documentation that Todd renewed in March hadn’t arrived yet, and 2 weeks before we left Sicily, we had been informed that our boat insurance was dropping all US flagged vessels under a certain value. Unfortunately our contact at the insurance broker’s office had left and we were sort of forgotten. Both of these document’s were needed to clear into Greece, so it was a bit of a worry, and we were glad that the offices were closed for a few days to buy us some time
Sunday we noticed that there was a southerly storm due on Monday, and as the anchorage we were in had no protection, we decided to head up into the Gulf of Amvrakia, to find some shelter. It was a lovely calm motor sail past many established fish farms. The whole bay that we could see was ringed by mountains with lot’s of tree’s down to the water. It felt a bit surreal like you were on a lake in Switzerland, or sailing in NZ or British Columbia, and was a complete surprise.
The anchorage at Vonitsa was great, and the little town on the quay was a pretty relaxed place. There was a large castle or fort on the hill behind it, and a little island with a bridge connecting it to the mainland, that we had anchored behind. We spent the 2 nights there with intermittent rain and lightning squalls. It was dirty rain again though, something we were getting fairly sick of.
After dodging the storm, we headed back to Preveza to clear in. Fortunately, our boat document had arrived and we had a new insurance policy offer..whew!! As a Non-EU boat we needed to see the Port Police, then Customs, and then go back to the Port Police with various documents stamped. This took about 2 hours longer than it did for the EU boats. There was a new “cruising tax” to pay too, and this would be due every month we were in Greece. We spent a few more days getting supplies and cleaning up the boat before deciding to head through the Levka Canal and onward to an anchorage on the island of Meganisi, at Abelike Bay.
Before we left, Sandy and Doug took us to a local restaurant they had found. The owner was a very interesting fellow who told us a bit about the economic woes in Greece. His plan was to head to Laos and start an agricultural business of some kind instead of worrying about retiring in Greece. He had stopped paying taxes except for the VAT, as he said he only ended up with 50,000 euro after earning 500,000 euro. He wasn’t planning on the government pension, and had gotten private health insurance. Likely he wasn’t the only one doing this. In addition to Greek and English, he was fluent in several other languages and had a smattering of many more. It was a fun night and the Ouzo and local brandy were on the house..
Some very familiar names of places that we also visited back in the late 80s! We are so pleased for you. Keep enjoying! Hope the weather improves as it will eventually.