Trawler Blogs

While Envoy is in Lefkas Marina, Greece, we are home in New Zealand

APOLOGY – it’s been too long since our last post – sorry about that and we’ll now be more regular once again. Please look back on the last three posts which have now been “brought to life” with the addition of some great images.

Still having our rental car, by the way costing about 20 Euros (NZ$35) a day, we visited some of Lefkas’s west coast that we hadn’t explored aboard Envoy, in particular two stunning beaches.
Kalamitsi is accessed using an extremely narrow, steep winding road making us thankful it was now off-season with little traffic. The beach is secluded and gorgeous consisting of a series of small coves with crystal clear water set between large rocks affording each cove complete privacy from the others.

Great isolated beach at Kalamitsi

Agios Nikitas is also very special – without the spectacular approach but has a stunning beach overlooked by several great tavernas. Just the place to swim before enjoying a cold beer as we watch the sunset.
This is an ideal time to visit Greece as the weather is warm without being sweltering, the sea is still warm and most of the tourists have gone.

Looking down on Agios Nikitas on Lefkas Island

The picturesque taverna-lined lane to Agios Nikitas beach

Agios Nikitas beach in late afternoon

My father and stepmother have friends of about our age living in Lefkas and while there we met with Gene (his wife Vicki was away). Gene and Vicki built a Herreshoff sailing yacht on which they lived and cruised the Australian coast for many years. Nowadays they’re “over owning boats” but occasionally enjoy boating with friends. Gene says they love having retired in Lefkas, mostly because of the acceptance and friendliness of the local people, the respect that people have for each other and the young have for the older, the less materialistic lifestyle, the great summers and mild winters and the low cost of housing and living. Of course this would probably not be feasible if they still needed to work. Lefkas is an ideal Greek island to live on as it’s connected to the mainland by a bridge over the Lefkas Canal. As we have mentioned previously there’s no refugee issue in this area of Greece and little sign of any economic problem. Recently they bought a donkey named Henry and have great fun walking him and attempting to train him. Donkeys are still widely used throughout the Greek countryside for transport over rough terrains.

TECHNICAL We’ve found the contractor we use in Lefkas, Sailand, to be very good technically and nice people to deal with. Just a few days before leaving Lefkas I mentioned to Sailand’s owner, Andreas, that we’d like to pay him some money (as we hadn’t asked us to pay him anything for the last 11 months). He replied casually, “don’t worry about small things like that”.
In our absence during this year Sailand did some maintenance for us:

Lugger main engine:
– Alternator rebuilt and sent to Athens for balancing
– Gearbox oil replaced and suction filter cleaned
– Primary Racor filters dismantled, cleaned and new drain seal kits fitted

Wing Engine (Yanmar):
– New engine mounts fitted
– Alternator reconditioned
– Leaking raw water pump reconditioned
– Heat exchanger reconditioned, including rebuilding and machining some corroded parts
– Coolant circulation pump replaced
– Injectors checked by specialist shop and replaced
– High pressure fuel pump reconditioned by specialist shop
– Gearbox oil replaced

Generator:
– Starter motor removed and checked (last checked more than 10 years ago but needed nothing more than greasing)
– Partially carbon-clogged cast iron exhaust elbow replaced with stainless steel unit
– Heat exchanger reconditioned
– Coolant circulation pump reconditioned
– Some coolant hoses replaced
– Injectors checked by specialist shop and replaced

Main head holding tank: – Breather pipe connection to tank replaced and new hose fitted due to blockage 

Still to be done is to remove and check the Maxwell windlass electric motor.

No Foodies section in this posting.