There was a canal between the mainland of Greece and the island of Levka, that made getting down to the lower Ionian islands a breeze. We took on fuel at the Cleopatra Marina which was situated directly opposite the town of Preveza, and headed off at a brisk pace to make the 10 am bridge opening. Our friends on Polaris were in front of us as we retraced our course through the channel and over to the top of Levkas. There wasn’t really a “waiting room” to hang out in, and we heard the bridge operator expected a speedy transit so we were in position by 8 minutes to 10. To the left was an old fort and to starboard a narrow sand spit. There were 2 boats in front of us and 3 behind, and we could see the mast of at least one coming the other way. The bridge was actually a barge that lifted ramps at both ends and turned 90 degree’s to open the entrance to the canal.
It took about an hour to motor down to the other end, passing the town and marina at Levkas (which was absolutely chocka with charter boats!), then an estuary with a few pelicans and local fishing boats. Once we got to the bay we had a glorious sail, tacking into 13 knots of breeze but maintaining 7’s and 8 knots in the flat water, just a really fun day!
When we arrived at the Abelike on Meganisi, we discovered there were several boats from Marina Di Ragusa already there. It was also going to be necessary to anchor and tie to shore with long lines, a new experience for us. Simon and Damien came over in their dinghies and took our lines to shore which which was much appreciated, and we thanked them profusely when we went to shore for the impromptu BBQ. (For us it was a bit disconcerting to purposefully back up to shore, something we normally vigorously avoided when anchoring, but we would have to get used to it here!)