Mon 21 May and Tue 22 May – Vlicho Bay, Lefkas

Somehow we managed to lose our windex over the winter. For you non-sailors out there, a windex is a fancy name for a little weather vane that sits on top of the mast and allows you to see quickly where the wind is coming from in relation to the boat.

It’s not the only way to tell wind angles, we also have a more sophisticated wind instrument that tells us not only wind angles, but also wind speed. We found however a quick look up the mast to see where the wind is coming from was super useful, so it was time for me to go up the mast and retrieve what was left of our broken wind wane. Now our mast is 16 meters high, and going up there while the boat is at anchor  is always a bit nerve wrecking. I think this time it was probably more arm- and shoulder-wracking for Camilla, as she had to use the main winch to hoist me all the way up. So if Camilla is ending this season looking like a NFL quarterback – this is why. I managed to retrieve the remainder of our windex from the top of the mast, and we set out to walk into Nidri town.

Several people have mentioned that there is the biggest and best sorted chandler they have ever seen in this town, and to say that I was excited like a five year old on Christmas Day would be an understatement. Arriving in Nidri town we found a chandler called “George’s chandlery” or something along those lines. Now you have to imagine – you enter a somewhat small-ish store with floors, walls and ceiling all covered in boat stuff. No matter where you look, there is not a square centimeter in this store that is not used to hold some boat related thingie. I went from childish excitement to information overload in about 10 seconds. The register is manned by George, who is about 100 years old and has become one with his store. You ask him for anything, he can tell you within a second whether he has it and where it might be found. We bought a few things and left our broken windex as a template for a new one that George would have made for us by the next day. Now don’t get me wrong – while George is certainly a character and super helpful, I wouldn’t use the words “big” and “well sorted” to describe his lair.

We walked back into Vlikho bay, this time along the water front. The path goes along a water front lined with very touristy looking restaurants, charter companies, day trippers … you get the idea. There is also a marina with a few boats that have definitely seen better days, and a few masts sticking out of the water here and there. And there it was – the biggest chandler that we have ever seen, and extremely well sorted. Turns out there was more than one chandler in town. Oh well, we picked up more bits and bops and made our way back to Bini, where we got ready for a night out with our cruising friends. We first went for a few drinks on Polaris, who’s blog you can read here.

From there we took our dinghies to a place called “Elena” right cross the bay. This taverna is absolutely epic, as you can park the dinghie right next to the porch where they are serving food. We spent a fantastic night eating and drinking and admiring the local cat population.

The next day we walked back into town to pick up our windex from George. Unfortunately we met George as he set off for his 3 hour lunch break, so we had to hang around town for a few hours. Oh well, it could be worse. We found a nice taverna right by the water and watched the world go by. After dragging George out of a cafe next to his shop we got our new and shiny windex and headed back to Bini, to get ready for another night out. This time our friends on Polaris had invited us over for dinner, where we were joined by another lovely cruising couple. We spent another fantastic evening stuffing ourselves silly and making it through a moderate amount of booze, sharing stories and watching the sun disappear behind the hills, leaving nothing but a pink sky behind.