The Ionian April 2012

The Ionian April 2012 Volume 3. Issue 2 www.theionian.com COMPLIMENTARY/∆ΩΡΕΑΝ Please recycle: give to a friend or neighbour when finished.

Easter feature: Donkey’s years Page 8

Parga Paradise Page 7

The art of keeping mum Page 5

My name was mud Page 12

Three dogs on a boat Page 11 April 2012 www.theionian.com The Ionian 1

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The Ionian Contact us: Email: admin@theionian.com Website: www.theionian.com Founding Publisher: Publisher/ Editor: Deputy Editor Business Advisor: Business Advisor: Greek Editors: Layout: Printing: Advertising:

Spring is here!

Happy Easter! Καλό Πάσχα!

Justin Smith Barbara Molin Martin Stote Yannis Dimopoulos Ryan Smith V. Gigi and V. Lekkas Barbara Molin Graphic Arts Colleen Asprodaki Kim (Wonnacott) Davies Barbara Molin

Welcome back to The Ionian – our magazine is two years old!

After an unusually cold winter in Greece, I am happy to tell you as I write this on the day of the Spring Equinox that the sun has been out all week and the temperatures have climbed into the twenties. Spring is finally here, and soon the new holiday season will begin in the Ionian islands.

The Greek Orthodox Easter falls in April and the celebration is the most sacred observance in its religious calendar, when the giving of candles as gifts and lighting them is an important part of the festivities. And so we chose a photo of lit candles by Lies van ‘t Net for our cover.

Our own Easter story, Donkey’s years, by our deputy editor Martin Stote, celebrates the Subscriptions: role of the donkey in traditional Greek village life and the literature of several nations, but also You can download The Ionian free as a PDF docuthe work of Lefkas Animal Welfare Society and the Corfu Donkey Rescue, which has saved ment from our website: www.theionian.com. hundreds of donkeys that have been mistreated or abandoned.

The Ionian is published monthly. Published on the last We welcome back Barbara de Machula, whose story, The Art of keeping mum tells how a day before each month, approximately. Publication is trip back home to Holland to collect the ashes and belongings of her late mother ends in a realfor informational purposes only. Although The life adventure with a journey through rugged and confusing mountain passes, a checkpoint Ionian has made every effort to ensure the accuracy drama and a car chase. of the information contained in this publication, the Kim (Wonnacott) Davies describes a more leisurely, domestic journey in Parga Paradise, publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors or in which she tells how she moved to Greece from the UK with a husband, a child and a dog, omissions it may contain. The opinions expressed by the contributors are not necessarily held by the and set up a new home in the sun. publisher.

Finally, with the yachting season soon here, we offer you two sailing stories - Three dogs in a boat by Janet Mason, who describes how she and her husband have their chihuahuas living Cover Photo: Lit candles and urn. Photo by Lies on board with the minimum of mishaps, and My name was mud by Robin Lamb, about an van ’t Net taken during a baptism in Agios embarrassing grounding in shoal water in the Gulf of Amvrakikos and their subsequent rescue Dimitris church in Ellomeno near the village of by a local fisherman.

Charadiatika, which is near Vliho Bay on LeEnjoy reading... fkada Island. To purchase any of our photos, email us at: editor@theionian.com ~~~_/) Barbara Molin Photo contest: Send in your best photos of the Ionian. Twelve winning images will feature in The Ionian 2013 Calendar. Subject: Ionian people, nature and landscape. Digital images only, horizontal format. Please check photographers’ guidelines and contest rules at: www.theionian.com.

The best photos will feature on our website and the winning entries will be published in the calendar. Deadline for entries: September 30, 2012.

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We were driving on mountain passes that shouldn’t have been on our route. We didn’t sleep for days and we got very, very tired. There we would be, at night, with a full moon, snowy mountains all around us, with a clear starry sky, but some eerie landscapes, in a van full to bursting point, with mom's ashes in a pot between us. It was like a scene from a film!

When we finally reached a border at eastern Albania, the customs officer said we couldn't pass there, as it was not a transit point for goods. We had to retrace our confused route until we reached, at 6 a.m. one morning, the right border control, called Han i Hotit.

Then the fun really started. The custom officers treated us like smugglers. They ignored the list that the nice Croatians had made for us. We were told to wait until 8 a.m. for an official who was an antiques expert to check the van. I think mum’s paintings and furniture were partly to blame.

We parked at a quiet spot and enjoyed a much-needed nap.

Peter seemed strangely thoughtful. He went back at 8.15 a.m as arranged, came back, and said it was still not clear when the inspector would come. He looked very fed up. Then he said, "Close your door!" And he closed his. And we actually drove straight across the Albanian border.

And that was the cue for the chase scene from our real-life film. ust before Christmas my dear mum Wieb died, very peacefully and Uniformed officers waved and shouted at us. But we weren’t stopping for anyone by then. We just gunned it along the unpaved gravel border roads serenely, at the age of 88. We knew it was her time, and the shock wasn't with spinning wheels creating clouds of dust. too great. So we left our rain-swept farm near Palairos and flew back to Then a fast Mercedes sped after us, overtook us, and forced us to stop.

Holland, where we are from, and where my mum, who was an artist like Men in uniforms jumped out, shouting at us to open our doors. Pete me, had continued to live. opened his door but jammed his shoulder and arm behind the frame so We bought a very reasonably-priced boxer van for the return trip. We they couldn't get him out. I kept my door shut. They ordered us to drive fitted new winter tyres, and packed my mum's belongings, as well as back to the border office, which we did. some of our own. Hers included some of her paintings and furniture. By Then I got angry. Luckily one of the officers spoke English. I showed the time we had finished filling the van there wasn’t room for an extra them the document the Croatians had made, and said that we were only toothbrush. We also had mum’s ashes with us in a little urn. carrying my mum’s remains and her belongings home. Pete said we were Our plan was to catch the ferry from Venice, in Italy, to Greece, but on fed up with being given the run around. Then their highest-ranking the way we decided on a whim to drive all the way back to Greece, and officer waved us through. I think my mum, who was quite a free spirit, skip the boat. We thought it would be a bit of an adventure. We drove for would have smiled to herself and probably would have enjoyed the what seemed forever, and arrived in the middle of the night in what used adventure. to be called Yugoslavia. Now it’s a number of states for which I don't We had a beautiful trip, seeing Albania, and enjoying the local really know the names. hospitality and the wonderful wildlife and scenery. That night we slept in At every border we had to show our papers and they wanted to know the van, and the next day we reached home, exhausted but happy. what we were carrying and asked about our foreign registration plates. At The rain had washed away the road to our farm. There was mud the last border before Albania they were really nice and documented all everywhere. But it was still lovely to be home safely, with a nice hot the stuff in the van, and explained that we would need this list for the stove, good food, and a view of the sea. customs before entering Albania.

And of course, we had mum with us.

But then we got horribly lost. The maps on the sat nav were outdated, Barbara de Machula is a writer, an artist and an art teacher. so we bought a paper map of Croatia and Albania. We mistook a huge www.paintingholidaygreece.com lake for the sea, and drove north instead of south. We drove in a circle.

The art of keeping mum Barbara de Machula

J

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riding his bike along the seafront, playing with his friends by the anchor. Children have such a relaxing life here in Parga. They may not have the bowling alleys, cinemas and shopping malls, but they have lovely beaches and the safety to explore without worry. I have always found the Greek people to be some of the friendliest people in the world and I admire their family values and their true sense of pure zest for life. So if my son has to miss out on certain things in life to grow up in these surroundings, then so be it.

Enjoying the local flora, fauna and living by the sea in such a healthy environment are luxuries which we sometimes start to take for granted. Whenever I do leave Parga, I enjoy the break. But as soon as I return, and head off the E55 and along the coastal road, overwhelmed afresh by the amazing scenery, I understand why we live here and why by hook or by crook, we will remain.

Which brings me back to beautiful Parga and the day trips to Corfu and the islands of Paxos Our house—before and Anti Paxos. It is less than an hour by boat to Paxos, so you can travel across in the Charlie. We hankered after a better lifestyle. morning, have lunch, swim in the Blue Lagoon Charlie had already visited his new school in at Anti Paxos and be back by late afternoon. In Parga, so he was familiar with his teacher and the height of the summer there is also a weekly am writing this sitting in our beautiful his 13 classmates. It was April 23, 2006 and trip to Corfu direct from Parga or there is a house in Parga, a picturesque town on the Ionian after only one week, he was settling quite nicely regular ferry that crosses over to the island from into his new school. His teacher Anna was great the port of Igoumenitsa. coast between the cities of Preveza and We eventually bought some land in the village Igoumenitsa. From our hilltop eyrie I can see the and made him feel very welcome. It had worked out better than I had thought. He had already of Ayia, a stone’s throw from Parga. On the land placid blue sweep of the sea, the island of was an old stone house which we renovated.

Lefkas and the snow-capped mountains behind made friends and things were going well.

All he needed to do was to have private The barrel tiles which I paint are the original Preveza. lessons over the summer holidays and hopefully roof tiles. As for building a property in Greece, I have settled here with my husband Russell, speak enough Greek to get him into the second people said we were mad. And I have to admit son Charlie, chocolate Labrador Monte, and a that we’ve been at it for more than two years, blind, stray cat called Feisty, 28 years after first grade in September. Over the three month visiting on a one-day boat excursion when I was summer holiday he reviewed his class work and and it’s still not finished, but that’s another story. a 22 year-old holiday rep working on the island moved up successfully.

His first summer in Parga was one of the best Would I do it again? It’s a good question. It’s of Corfu. It was 1982, seven years before summers he has ever had: swimming daily, not the Old School House and never will be. But Shirley Valentine found there again, we couldn’t see the Greek islands Mykonos and her rock. out of that living room window.

I am in the middle of As for Charlie, he is now twelve years old, writing my first book called fluent in Greek, in his last year at elementary Oftenly Gringlish which school and will be moving on to middle/high highlights the ups and downs school in September. After spending the of moving from the UK, majority of his childhood here he is more Greek building a house, and what now than English, gets confused a bit with his sacrifices we have made to languages and often speaks what we call stay in this beautiful region Gringlish. Hence the book. of Greece.

Charlie My hobby is painting, www.pargatileart.weebly.com which I have enjoyed since I was a child. www.pargaart.weebly.com I paint bespoke Greek barrel tiles as well as abstracts and I have sold some of my work but it will never make me a millionaire.

Our view We moved to Parga in 2006 when my son Charlie was six. We came with our Labrador, and all our worldly goods in a 40 foot container, leaving behind our extended family and the house of our dreams, a beautiful Old School House in Bedfordshire, the one we bought and said we would never leave.

I had been working as the overseas product director for a holiday company and Russell was an interior trim engineer in the car industry. We always seemed to be too busy, with never enough time for ourselves and April 2012 www.theionian.com The Ionian 7 Our house — after

Parga Paradise

Kim (Wonnacott) Davis

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launched by Englishwoman Judy Quinn in 2004 when she initially took in one donkey called Hope. They currently have 55 donkeys on their one and a half acre site near the village of Doukades, off the road from Corfu town to Paleocastritsa, with a large barn and stabling complex, and other shelters.

The first donkeys are thought to have arrived on Corfu from Malta in the mid 1880s to be used as pack animals during the building of St James Palace. Since then they have been imported from mainland Greece, Cyprus, Albania and Eastern Europe. Corfiot donkeys are generally small, and have often had hard lives. But their rapidly declining use has now made them virtually valueless, and many started to be abandoned, or sold to dealers who exported them to Italy for slaughter. Donkey meat is used in parts of Italy for salami and stews.

Judy said, “The main remit of the charity over the years has been to halt the transports by taking the donkeys to the shelter and caring for them here. We believe that after a lifetime of hard labour they deserve a happy retirement and a dignified and painless end to Axia and Cloud, Corfu Rescue their lives.”

But donkeys are still being imported for use in owner home as the evening shadows lengthen. the tourism industry. Public awareness has led They also make regular guest appearances on to an improvement in conditions for some, but tourist postcards. not all. Judith found one which had been one of Many are well looked after. For the past few a group of ten brought as a tourist attraction, years donkeys, mules and horses on Lefkas abandoned and left to die. She rescued Krini, have had their teeth and hooves treated by the Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF), a longestablished animal welfare society based in England. Members of the Lefkas Animal Welfare Society, (LAWS) accompany dentists and farriers to treat animals.

Some donkeys are still kept just as pets. In the Aktio Marine boatyard, near Preveza, where the syndicate yacht in which my wife and I have a share is kept, there are two donkeys which Yannis Dimopoulos, one of the two brothers who own the yard, rescued from a nearby farm which no longer had room for them.

Yannis said, “They are six and eight years old, one male and one female. They keep the grass trimmed in the olive grove, and provide a morning wake-up call as well as entertainment Dental check-up (LAWS) for the boat owners, who often feed them, and even take them for walks on the beach.” Some who is still with them today.

She said, “I never cease to be amazed at the boat owners hope that one day there might be condition the donkeys arrive in. Broken backs, donkey transport to the nearby Panos taverna. broken legs, spinal injuries, dislocated hips, But the tourist postcard image of the donkey, severe tendon and ligament injuries and foot conditions that there is just no excuse for. What often in colourful bridles or bedecked with happens out there? How do they get like this? It flowers, can be misleading. Many donkeys is not just one or two that have ‘accidents’, it is have become redundant from their jobs in the olive and agricultural industries simply because hundreds. One thing I know for sure, the work of the Corfu Donkey Rescue will need to go on of increased mechanization. And with the

Donkey’s years

Martin Stote

W

hen Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the

back of a donkey on the Sunday before his crucifixion, along a track strewn with palm leaves by his followers, he made a journey which would not only become one of the most famous in the Christian story, but one which was also heavy with symbolism. An integral feature of that symbolism was the donkey, associated then with meekness and peace. And the cross-shaped marking found on the coat on donkeys’ backs and shoulders has for some people inevitably attained a deep significance.

Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey.

PD-art, Wikipedia

Donkeys have played an important role in man’s battle to cultivate crops and transport their harvests for many thousands of years, and nowhere more so than in many parts of rural Greece where donkeys can still be seen working in the fields or carrying an elderly

current economic crisis in Greece, many owners can no longer afford to keep them.

Some experts estimate that the number of donkeys throughout Greece nosedived from around 500,000 in the 1950s to less than 20,000 by the mid nineties.

The sad plight which has overcome some of these animals is highlighted nowhere more dramatically than at the Corfu Donkey Rescue, where more than 450 donkeys have found sanctuary since it was

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Aktio donkey gets a treat

surreal trip to rediscover the age of chivalry, yelled and bullied him back out on to the path became in later centuries the centre of a literary he’d have half an EU grain quota hanging out conundrum. In chapter 25 Dapple is reported of his mouth.” stolen. Some 15 or so chapters later he And here is Shinto, in a mood of classic reappears in the storyline without any donkey stubbornness, deciding on one explanation. Critics have produced a number of particular afternoon that he doesn’t want to theories for this, the most appealing being that walk any further. “On cue he dug his hoofs in, de Cervantes, literary genius though he was, and when I pulled harder strained his head back momentarily but literally lost the plot. and bared those jaundiced tombstones: a More recently, London writer Tim Moore told hideous white-of-the-eyes display that I would in his 2005 comedic travel chronicle, Spanish later dub his El Loco look. In that one moment Steps, how he followed the ancient 500 mile I understood, in stark and vivid detail, why pilgrim route or camino on foot from St. Jean donkeys have acquired their unfortunate Pied-de-Port in France, right across northern reputation, an impenetrable, illogical inertia Spain to Santiago de Compostela, accompanied that for 2,000 years and more has been by a veritable show-stealer of a donkey called propelling decent men to the edge of reason, Shinto. and then off it.”

Shinto is in turns biddable, bolshie, Shinto provokes many emotions in his human affectionate, demure, nippy, fearful, placid and companion, but by the time they reach their brave. He also has an almost neurotic fear of destination Tim Moore has to admit that the crossing small slatted bridges, and there are over-riding one is love. (If you fancy a really quite a few of them along the way, each one good holiday read, try his latest book You Are creating its own exploration of donkey Awful (But I Like You) in which he visits all psychology, and some memorable battles of the less attractive corners of the UK). wills between this modern, sceptical, But perhaps my favourite fictional donkey of wonderfully witty pilgrim, and his ancient, all time, probably because he was the first one I intensely eccentric beast of burden. encountered, and at a very impressionable age, Shinto Here is his description of Shinto’s irritating is Eyeore, (for charades fans, sounds like “heebut totally understandable habit of pausing for haw”; catchphrase: “Thanks for noticin’ ”), the for many, many more years to come.” Among wayside snacks. “That afternoon Shinto began thistle-eating, ruminative, manic depressive their many needs is more land on which to to experiment with on the hoof grazing, another anti-hero in A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh graze their animals. manifestation of my failure to establish childrens’ stories. He lives in an unappealing Judy added, “Even nine years later I am not dominance over him. I didn’t have the authority corner of the Hundred Acre Wood which is sure you can generalise on their characteristics. to stop it, but then I didn’t have the heart either: characterised as gloomy, boggy, and sad, in a They are all so different. None are the same. here he was loose in a walk-thru all-you-can-eat ramshackle house of sticks prone to collapse.

Donkeys learn very quickly and are so willing salad bar, halfway up a hillside lushly carpeted And despite all the efforts by the other to please, for themselves and for you. If you with rain-freshened mint, oregano and thyme – characters to chivvy him along, Eyeore remains ‘listen’ to your donkey you will hear what he or a lot of it even looked good to me. But the corn permanently convinced that Life is always she is trying to tell you. They are smart, secretly plotting (to use an appropriate know what they want, and also know what donkey metaphor, and if you’ll forgive the you want. If you bully a horse you have a phrase) to give him a sneaky and painful fight on your hands. If you bully a donkey kick up the ass. It is a sentiment with you get submissive behaviour. This is why, which many adult readers can identify too.

I think, the donkey is so much abused. We Passages and photograph of Shinto from have also experienced three young donkeys Spanish Steps: Travels with my Donkey by over the years and they have been nothing Tim Moore, published by Vintage Books. but a delight with their confidence, Reprinted by permission of The Random cheekiness, and playfulness.”

House Group Limited.

Small wonder, then, given their Corfu Donkey Rescue became an official charismatic characters, that donkeys should Greek registered charity in 2006 and is have trotted onto the pages of numerous funded entirely by public donations. works of literature as hero, anti-hero or Landseer’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Friends of Corfu Donkey Rescue (FCDR) comic foil. They appear in the works of PD-art, Wikipedia was registered in 2010 with the Charity Homer, and often in Aesop’s Fables, where Commission in the UK and helps to raise usually they were depicted as stupid dupes, funds for it. www.corfu-donkeys.com one mule short of a train.

Bottom, one of the troupe of Athens-based was the worst. I quickly learned the importance Leaflets for the care of donkeys available from players in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s of bracing myself whenever the camino passed GAWF and LAWS. Donations to LAWS always appreciated.

Dream, proves that even a donkey – the breed alongside a cultivated field of green-eared also wasn’t looked upon with much shoots; sadly, though, admiration by the Elizabethan public - can I was soon too damp provoke unquestioning adoration when, having and knackered to had his head transformed into that of an ass, actually do so. The Titania, the Queen of the Fairies, falls rope tautened and hopelessly in love with him. (Admittedly, she before I could react had been drugged by her husband.)

Shinto was towing me In the novel Don Quixote by seventeenth helplessly through the century Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, wet crops, like an undonkeys got quite a good press. But the donkey seated jockey with his Dapple ridden by Quixote’s down-to-earth watch strap around a squire come-manservant Sancho Panza, who stirrup. By the time rides behind his master as they set out on their I’d got to my feet and April 2012 www.theionian.com The Ionian 9

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our dogs are clean and prefer to go ashore.

Bitches tend to be more fastidious about it than dogs. Dogs will have the occasional pee against a fender on the foredeck – a bit of an Old Harry eccentricity, perhaps. But it can be washed away easily. We keep old newspapers and sheets of plastic if we have very young or very old dogs on board.

We usually walk our dogs twice a day, before breakfast and some time after 5 p.m. depending on the time of year. It does mean when we are cruising to a new destination, we have to keep a lookout for a suitable spot to get ashore with the dogs unless we go on a quay, which is infrequent in summer. We are also careful where we let our dogs run free, especially in a new place, as there are still instances of poisoning although they have not been as frequent in recent years. We carry the relevant antidotes with us and these are available from the vets here and the animal welfare organizations.

Our dogs have Pet Passports which Dogs adapt to boats means that they can travel with us to very well. We carry ention the phrase “sea dog” to most the UK by car. They have two regular lifejackets for them, annual vaccinations to maintain the people and they probably have an automatic although all dogs can swim instinctively, so we validity of their passports. The vets here know picture of a rather disreputable character, bristly keep them just for emergency use. We have all the procedures necessary for obtaining a Pet of chin, irregular of gait, and with a casual netting around the boat, again as a safety Passport and you can also check up on it on the approach to personal hygiene. Old Harry, the precaution. Dogs are quite sensible and if internet. infamous star of Des Sleightholme’s comic conditions at sea deteriorate, tend to stay in the Overall, our dogs lead a very happy and maritime musings comes to mind. cockpit or we put them down below. Dogs are healthy life with us on the boat. They provide But it isn’t always so. We have three sea dogs generally good sailors and we have had only us with companionship, love, lots of fun, and a on our boat, real ones, our chihuahuas Tess, one or two episodes of sea sickness in 15 years. reason to go ashore every day, twice a day, Roddy and Jake. And a finer trio of wellDog food supplies are now readily available whatever the weather, which gives us muchgroomed, house-trained – or should that be in Greek supermarkets and there are vets in needed exercise. Tess is nine years old, and boat-trained – and accommodating characters Lefkas and Preveza. In summer we keep the Roddy and Jake are both three years old. If you would be hard to find. dogs cool by giving them showers or taking see us around, say “Hello.” Another of the In fact, if you have spent any time in Nidri or them swimming. In winter they have benefits of having dogs is that they provide a Tranquil Bay on Lefkada Island during the past “raincoats” to keep out the heavy Ionian rain! good way of meeting people.

16 years, you may have met us, and them. My We brush them when they are moulting and If you are interested in having a dog as a pet, husband David and I live aboard our yacht spray them against ticks and fleas from early Lefaks Animal Welfare Society (LAWS) are Nanablu, an 11.5m. ketch and have had spring to mid summer when necessary. always looking for homes for puppies and fully between two and five dogs living with us since Now for the delicate bit. Most people who grown dogs of various shapes and sizes. we first arrived in the Ionian in 1995. In fact, are interested in our dogs ask how they cope Obviously, a small or medium sized dog is Bruno and Ross sailed with us from the UK on with the calls of nature. We find that although more suitable for a life on a boat. LAWS can be our previous yacht, Lady Be Ann, a 28ft. we have to allow for and cater for “accidents” reached on 697 869 5200.

(8.5m) Searover. with puppies and elderly dogs, most of the time

Three dogs in a boat Janet Mason

M

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e had spent the night at anchor at the head of Ormos

My name was mud

Koprainia in the Amvrakikos Gulf east of Preveza. Poseidon weather service showed winds building to five and six Beaufort during the afternoon and evening. We pulled anchor at 07:00 and trogged south in a light breeze along the coastline to our first waypoint off the outlet of the river Arakhthos. Herons fished on the shoreline. It was a peaceful morning. Our course should have kept us in more than 10 metres of water. I saw something ahead that might be a turtle and I shouted to Helen who was below, to came up with the binoculars.

“Turtle my foot, it’s land,” she said. I checked the echo sounder.

“1.7 m! Rowlocks!” I put the boat into reverse, but we stopped with the echo sounder showing 1.2. The boat’s draft is 1.8 metres. We were parked in our own slot in the mud like a cycle in a rack. I tried in vain to reverse. The mainsail was up. The breeze was just forward of the beam but not strong enough to cant the boat over so I shouted to Helen to pay out and drop the sail. She forgot to tighten the topping lift, so the boom came crashing down.

There was a bit of commotion. Helen hung on to the main halyard and I hauled the boom back up with the topping lift. Then she let go of the halyard and the sail came down with a lot of flapping about. The battens got caught up with the lazy jack stays. It was all very unseamanlike, but was rapidly put to rights with the mainsail stuffed into the stackpack bag.

We tried to kedge ourselves out. I took the kedge out in the dinghy with one end of the warp secured to Sundowner and dropped it at the maximum length of the kedge warp.

Unfortunately, the dinghy was a tad deflated, but I limped back to Sundowner. I started the engine again and reversed. But the boat was going nowhere. The water was so shallow that we could see the track through the mud made by the keel. Best call for help.

I used the mobile to phone Ionian Boat Assistance and We were parked in our own slot got through to Kelvin, gave him our location and told in the mud like a cycle in a rack. him our dilemma. He said he could get someone out to us, but then the line went dead.

I decided to take another look at things. I clambered out of my shorts, windlass, the ship’s motor (in reverse), Helen passed me my mask and in I went. The water was not very clear, winch in the kedge and he would pull us but it was clear enough to see shoaling to left and right and in front of with his launch all at the same time. us. The rudder was clear. The keel was only a few inches in. The track It worked. Between us we edged the we had carved in the mud was only two or three metres long. If we could boat slowly backwards. Tom rang us get back along it we would be alright. back as he had promised and Helen told I came back onto the boat as Tom from IBA rang to confirm our him we were now afloat and thanked him for his help. He repeated his position. At that moment an elderly Greek fisherman in a small boat warning, and suggested that if the old man asked, to give him around headed towards us, and caught me quite literally with my trousers down 100 euros. It would have taken Tom three hours travelling, and his time and covered in mud. Helen waved a pair of shorts at me while I spoke to getting us out of the mud.

Tom. I tried to put the shorts on with one hand while holding the phone The fisherman came aboard and tried to help me get the kedge up. with the other.

Eventually we let it go, the warp tied to a float. We were then able to Eventually I gave Tom to Helen while I put the shorts on and piped manoeuvre the boat and anchor in 3.7 m. of water. The fisherman got the old man aboard. into his boat, motored off, pulled up the kedge and brought it over to us.

Meanwhile Tom warned Helen that the old boy could extricate I asked what we owed him. He shook his head and said what sounded salvage money from us. like tipota (nothing). I got Helen to get 50 euros and offered it to him.

The old man told me to let down the main anchor and he would take Ochi, ochi. He fished around in the bottom of his boat and presented us it out and plant it behind us like the kedge. We would then operate the with a plastic bag of fish. He gave us a big smile and waved good bye.

So, far from paying serious salvage money, we got a free fish supper in addition to his help. One of the old school without a doubt.

Robin Lamb

Robin Lamb is writing a book about Sundowner’s trials and tribulations. The first few chapters are at: http://www.authonomy.com/books/34065/sundowner/ .

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