Having spent nine days in Gouvia Marina we now qualified for the monthly rate of 598 Euros (NZ$934) equating to a very reasonable 20 Euros (NZ$31) per night. This is great as we’ll need to return when our washing machine pump (hopefully) has been serviced, and the marina will be at no extra charge.
Corfu’s Gouvia marina is well sheltered, although northerly storms can cause damage
Meanwhile we’ve been long enough in the marina so spend a few more days at nearby Ormos Kalami. This is a stunning bay, open only to the east through south, surrounded by olive tree covered hills and with several atmospheric tavernas on the beach. The only problem is some very large wakes from cruise liners passing through the narrow Corfu Channel, but our flopper-stoppers reduce their effect.
Exiting Gouvia we spot this wonderful traditional vessel
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Map showing Corfu Channel, Corfu’s great bays on left, Albania 1 mile on right
Ormos Kalami viewed from the hills above. Albania behind
Envoy in Ormos Kalami with the Durell’s White House in the background
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The holiday season is now over so there are few boats around and the anchorages have plenty of room. But the area is popular with British land-based tourists who prefer to holiday in the cooler months, and many come back here year after year.
Nearby Ormos Agni and Ormos Stafanos are also great sheltered bays and all of these bays have tracks joining them, so we enjoy some great walks taking in the coast on one side and olive groves on the other.
Ormos Stefanos is a great sheltered bay as the wind is mostly from the north
Gnarly old olive tree in a grove – the net below the tree will be spread out to harvest the olives
Many older houses here have really interesting colours as one coat of paint peels to reveal another
Nearby Kouloura’s boat harbour is too small for Envoy
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Just south of Ormos Kalami is the huge Rothschild family’s Corfu estate beautifully situated on a headland
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We love the typical quaint local fishing boats like this one – their design not much changed in hundreds of years
After a week of idyllic weather the forecast shows southerly winds gusting to 50 knots with heavy rain so we head back to the security (of the now free) Gouvia marina, before heading out again. We don’t get anything like 50 knots but do have three days of heavy rain, thunderstorms and 20-30 knot winds and were glad to be safely in the marina.
TECHNICAL
We use some of our time at anchor to re-varnish the teak foredeck cap rails. We’re not too pedantic about this and don’t strip the teak back to bare wood, but give it a light wet sand and apply seven coats of Epiphanes varnish, which doesn’t need sanding between coats. This lasts one to two seasons, and if it eventually gets too bad we’ll strip the varnish off and let it go back to natural teak which still looks great and is a lot less hassle.
Back in the marina we get a sail maker to patch up some worn or damaged covers; every year some of our many covers need some maintenance.
Still no sign of our washing machine parts – Diane is not happy, and it’s expensive using laundries ashore – 12 Euros (NZ$19.30) per washing machine load.
In Gouvia our electrician, Leon is able to replace our failed hand-held infra red thermometer. This is useful to record the normal operating temperatures of engine room equipment such as oil filters, alternators, vee-belts, hydraulic and electric pumps, gearbox, propeller shaft housing etc so that I know what is the normal operating temperature range. Then during engine room checks I’m able to determine if anything appears to be running too hot – often an early warning sign of future problems.
Our Maxwell windlass works extremely well except that the anchor never has free-fallen correctly. It’s useful to be able to free-fall the anchor to get it on the bottom quickly, especially in deep water. This also saves wear on the windlass motor. It’s over a year since I’d last dismantled and greased the above deck components of the windlass, so I do this being far more liberal with grease on the clutch cones and faces than previously. In addition I remove the pulpit anchor roller from its stainless steel shaft and grease that too. Now the anchor free-falls very easily, while after tightening the clutch it raises without any problems too. So the trick is – more grease required.
ENVOY LOG – As at 3/10/14, we’d spent 178 days aboard and cruised 1,746 miles for 311 engine hours.
