The world moves on and so we did, and on Friday, 28th August we left our beautiful marina in Corfu and headed towards Syvota, a small village on the mainland. After a beach morning for Elena and myself, while Jelle was catching up on work, we moved forward to another beautiful bay, called 2 Rocks. We stayed 2 nights in this lovely bay, surrounded by trees and blue crystal waters and a cute beach bar up the hill where you could admire the Caribbean-like view. Elena had a blast meeting and playing all day on the beach with kids her age and it was also refreshing for us to interact with other adults!

The bay was splendid, but we were not the only ones who thought so, and on the night of August 30th we had so many boats so close to us and such strong gusts that we were afraid one boat would just drag and hit us! Luckily, this never happened and the next day all these charter boats left the anchorage and we felt relaxed again. Still, we did leave the next day as well, and our destination was no other than Preveza. Preveza is a small-medium size city with a cute promenade and friendly people. We spent the first three nights in the anchorage which was one of the best so far and also super close to the city and another 2 nights in the town quay. We spent our time strolling around, enjoying fresh ice-creams, and tasting the local cuisine while also doing very important and interesting chores, like laundry and cleaning up the boat.

Dividing our time between anchoring in beautiful, wild bays and mooring in cities is one the greatest things in our trip. The freedom and relaxation you feel being (almost) alone in a luscious cove, with nothing to see but various trees, hills, and turquoise waters just inviting you to dive in, cannot be described. On the other hand, after a few days of anchoring you either miss the stability of mooring or at least the basic facilities, like filling up the boat with water, doing laundry, and buying groceries. Of course, being close to a city comes with other perks too, like eating (and drinking) out!

After 5 days in Preveza and with our batteries full (figuratively and literally), we set sail to the next island; Meganisi. Lefkada is right across Preveza and the obvious choice, but we wanted something less touristic and wilder than that. Still, we had to cross Lefkada’s floating bridge to get to the other side, a very interesting route; Boats of all sizes and shapes were crossing from both sides, all maintaining similar speed in the channel since the sides of the channel were swallow salt lakes on the one side and a massive marina on the other side.

We had to motor of course, but thankfully we were able to sail before and after the bridge albeit with very low speed. Not that it mattered, as the sun was shining and the surroundings were breathtaking. On the afternoon of September 5th, we threw our anchor on Fanari beach or else, the paradise on earth. During the few days in this anchorage we felt blessed, partly because of our prolonged stay in a city, partly because it felt like we were starring in Blue Lagoon; long sandy beach, rough, rocky cliffs, blue, almost transparent seawater. As a cherry on top, a multicolor beach bar played reggae music and offered food and drinks all day, an offer we took advantage of quite often. What else could you possibly ask for? But something extraordinary did happen, for the first time on this trip Elena not only wore her arm floaties but swam ALL ALONE and it was just the first time of many to come. It was such a magnificent experience to see her kicking her legs in the water and moving her arms and actually swimming, happier than ever.

Combining the tranquility of an anchorage with the perks of a city would be ideal. But how could that work? Find out in our next post, “Libra’s Odyssey”!