Igoumenitsa -> Vlikho

The wake up call which was supposed to be at 05:00, comes at 06:00. Greece is one hour ahead of the rest of Europe. Is somebody still on Italian time or what? I'm confused. Our ticket says arrival at 06:00. We told Linda to book the taxi for 06:00. Let's hope the driver is patient... It's still dark out as we prepare to disembark. No clues as to what lies ahead.

The ferry arrives in Igoumenitsa at 07:00. Our taxi is waiting to take us down the coast to Vliho. It's an hour and a half drive. The sun is just coming up as we leave.


The scenery is beautiful, and much more mountainous than I imagined, but it's a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Is this guy an ex- Formula 1 driver by any chance? At the same time I can't help but admire his smooth style. Fast, but safe and comfortable. 

Along the way we spot lemon and orange trees, covered in fruit! We pass by the Preveza airport, where many charter flights arrive direct from the UK. The charters don't start up until May, so we know it will not be over-crowded with tourists and yachties. The down-side is that not everything will be open yet. Laura sleeps through most of it, but wakes up in time to get sick just before we arrive in Vlikho.

The taxi driver drops us off on the quay in front of a row of Sail Ionian yachts. Katie arrives to welcome us. She tells us to take our time and get settled in, and head over to the office when we are ready. We load our bags onto the boat and unpack a few things. Laura checks out the little crabs crawling along the edge of the quay. Then we head across the street to the office where we meet Linda and Dan. 

Linda helps us with the necessary paperwork and yacht Mojito, a Bavaria 30, is ours! Well, for a week anyway. We are doing what they call "assisted sailing", so we will have an instructor (Dan) with us during the day for an undetermined number of days. When he feels we are ready to head off on our own, he doesn't come back. Much as we like Dan, we are hoping there will come a time when he won't come back.

With the paperwork done, we take the opportunity to stock up on groceries in the local supermarket. Eileen is amazed by the selection of products. They have everything an Irish person could ever need, but that you'd have trouble finding in Paris. Even Johnson's baby shampoo. 

And it's true what they said in the guidebook, that the Greeks love kids. The lady in the shop says Laura is beautiful and gives her a free bar of chocolate!