Ormos Polis to Ay Eufimia

Monday 8th September

Another glorious day in paradise as we woke up and raised our sleepy heads out of the companionway to watch Polis Bay waking up. Actually the only things that seemed to have woken up early were the goats, and we could only tell this by the hollow,tinny sound of the bells slung around their necks which echoed around the bay as they skipped down the hillside to feed. Oh, a digger had also woken up and that was an altogether less natural sound which we could have done without! We took video, had a refreshing morning dip, then breakfast. We could have stayed in this beautiful bay a lot longer but we don't have 'longer' - we have more places to see and only a few more days in which to see them. We chugged out of the bay into zero wind - a phenomenon that we were getting more than used to during Ionian mornings - and carried on around and into the Strait of Ithaca heading south west (ish) towards Ay Eufimia. There was less than 1kn of wind in places and it was a bit disappointing not to be able to raise the sails. However, we were the only ones on this stretch of millpond-esque water and that's rare in this area so we took our time and hugged the coast of Ithaca, taking in the landscape and playing a chillout cd.
As Ay Eufimia is on Kefallonia, we crossed over the strait and were rewarded with a lovely little bay which we promised ourselves we would visit tomorrow. Ay Eufimia's breakwater was only visible once we got right into the bay - we motored in and Marco picked our spot. There were plenty to choose from and we chose to go near a catamaran which we could see was already hooked up to shore power....another rare thing here it seems. It was all so easy for a change; line up, drop anchor, reverse and we're in! First time! No problems! WOW! A Greek man on the quay helped us to tie up and we found out later that it was his job - it was just as well he was there as the quay was too high to jump onto and the passarelle ended up at a very awkward angle. Once the engine was off, we quickly found water and filled up Winspit - so we have enough now for the rest of the week. Then it was time for the obligatory Mythos. Panic! Only one left in the fridge so we shared it and toddled over to a restaurant, imaginitively named 'Spiros' which looked nice and as it turned out, WAS nice! Cheese pies, tuna, stuffed tomatoes and a couple of large Mythos later we were happy. While we were eating, we were temporarily ad

opted by a couple of cats, one of which was cross-eyed so we called him Clarence after the lion with the same problem.

We made our way back to Winspit, where we had a lovely, lazy afternoon sunbathing and swimming around near the boat. For most of the time we had the place to ourselves as our catamaran neighbours were out. Later on, we strolled along the promenade watching the boats come in and out and lots that were mooring near Winspit. We headed back eventually and Marco helped a Swedish guy moor up, then some Austrians just nipped in-between the two yachts - a shame really as the Swedes were a young, quiet couple and the Austrians were about 10 to a boat and shouting loudly to each other! We got ready for dinner with plenty of music for company, mainly to drown out the noise from the catamaran's generator. We sat in the cockpit having our G&T/nibbles-for-two party, while watching promenaders researching the best dinner venues. By the time we ventured out, many of the restaurants were packed. Against our normal "go nowhere twice" policy, we went back to Spiros. A great meal as it turned out and the bonus was a large glass of brandy each which the restaurant gave us at the end of the night. Maybe it was because we had already been there for lunch - we never saw anyone else get one. As we left, I put forward the question of 'nightcap' which didn't seem to go down too well (skippers do get rather more tired than crew I get the impression). However, we compromised and bought a bottle of Baileys from a supermarket, then I popped back to Spiros where they gave me two plastic cups full of ice cubes. We sat, watching Ay Eufimia's evening draw to a close, sipping Baileys in the cockpit then, at some later stage, we both woke up, still in the cockpit and rather colder than before..........