Fri 10 May – DEPKA and Corfu

After a few hours sleep we woke up feeling very groggy and wondered whether we shouldn’t just put off Mission DEPKA until tomorrow.  Oh, the dreaded DEPKA.  Greece is one of the only European countries which mandates yachts officially clear in and pay a “cruising tax”. We’ve heard horror stories of boats being impounded if found not to be in possession of the requisite paperwork so we thought better of not bothering. The process as you can imagine is far from straightforward, so much so that it’s not uncommon for people to get the paperwork sorted via an agent. Sod that we thought, how hard can it be? Over breakfast, listening to Greek radio (just to get us in the mood) we Googled the process in Corfu and were relieved to find a step by step guide of what we needed to do. Those of you Brits over a certain age (me included) will remember Challenge Anneka. Right Dad? 🙂 Well, it’s just like that. It’s basically a treasure hunt which has you following certain steps in a certain order and running from one part of town to the other in order to pick up your next instruction. It went something like this. 

• Step 1: Find the tax authorities. No address. You need to find the big building opposite the theatre.
• Step 2: Enter the 5 story building, where there’s not an English sign in sight. Go up the stairs to the first floor, go through the first door on the right and at the first of five counters present your passport and all the boat related paperwork you own. 
• Step 3: Get sent to the next counter with a piece of pink paper (printed from a dot matrix printer), get it stamped and pay 50 EUR.
• Step 4: With said paper, make your way to the other side of town to the Commercial Port Authorities.
• Step 5: Go to the first floor, first door ono the left. Ignore the opening hours, knock on the door and hope for the best.
• Step 6: Find a very stern looking woman through a haze of cigarette smoke and say, “DEPKA?”. Don’t be put off by her massive sigh and eye-roll. Again, present every piece of boat paperwork you have, together with the pink paperwork from Step 2. Continue to smile at the scary lady, answer all her questions then go get the new bit of paper stamped by three other people in the same building. Pay 15 EUR.
• Step 7: Head to the nearest bar clutching your DEPKA for a much needed drink.

All thanks to that one internet post the process for us was really quite straightforward.  As we were having our victory drink the heavens opened and we sat and watched everyone run for cover out of the pouring rain. As soon as it stopped we went for a walk around the town, which we had completely to ourselves as everyone else was still hiding.

The next day, Tuesday was really windy. We stayed on the boat all day which was lucky really as by 4pm our anchor alarm was going off indicating we were dragging. When we arrived yesterday the sun had just risen and the light wind was coming from 180 degrees in the opposite direction. We think we landed in a patch of weed (not great holding) and as our anchor turned it must have wiggled lose. We re-set it which did the trick.

On Wednesday, just after lunch we motored north past Corfu old town and anchored in a bay about 5 miles up. It was beautifully calm so we took the dinghy ashore and went in search of lunch, feeling rather wobbly on our legs which hadn’t been on terra firma for some time. Just around the corner we found a lovely restaurant and had lunch overlooking the bay. 

After a very peaceful nights sleep the wind started to pick up and by mid morning we were sailing across the bay doing 6 knots over a flat sea heading up to the north of the island. The forecast promised strong southerly winds over night so we wanted to find a hiding place, and a new village to explore. We anchored just off Kassiopi and at first we were the only boat there but it wasn’t long until we were jointed by six others, all with the same idea. We went ashore for dinner and found a very traditional taverna where all the local men were having their dinner. Always a good sign when that happen’s, isn’t it? We were not disappointed after our 4 course meal and headed back to the boat, leaving the rest of the town to be explored tomorrow.

After banana pancakes for breakfast we went ashore and had a walk around the northern peninsular. Being early May it’s before tourist season so Tom and I were accompanied by only a few other people as we walked the coastal path and sat a while to take in the views. We continued on into the village and had lunch overlooking the tiny fishing marina. Whilst it obviously caters for tourists, Kassiopi still has a quaint local feel to it, added to by the various mangy cats milling around and the Greek school-age kids playing hide and seek. Back on Bini we braved a swim. Well, I say swim, for me it was a 30 second dip and a scramble back onto the boat!