We arrived back in Kalamata marina on 3rd September, after a long and convoluted journey via Gatwick and a very brief overnight stay. All was well on Vaila but she was covered in the expected brown dust. It was extremely hot especially since the boat had been moved to quay A which is right under the breakwater and gets no breeze from the south. We found a few things and made some lists and didn’t do much else. Dinner at the snack bar in the marina and a welcome sleep followed.

After an 11 hour sleep we felt refreshed and ready for cleaning and sorting. The bikes came out for a shopping trip to the AB supermarket and we met up with Horst and Ute from Apologia II whom we’d met briefly earlier in the year.
By the 6th we felt ready to leave the marina so headed for Kardamilli on the east side of the Kolpos. We’d heard it was a nice anchorage and we thought we’d stop overnight and then head round the cape to Porto Kayio. We motored down and noticed that the oil pressure was only reading 1 bar but the skipper wasn’t too concerned and we were not far from the anchorage so continued. We anchored off the beach in mixed sand and rocks and managed to find some good sand on the second attempt. A lot of swimming in amongst lots of fish and enjoying the breeze of not being in the marina. There was a swell but thankfully it died down before evening.

 

Andy looked in the engine compartment first thing next morning and there was a significant oil leak, so no Porto Kaiyo this time but 10 miles back to Kalamata . Andy worked on the engine for the next 2 days in the heat and managed to fix it with new oil of better viscosity.

After that we had a surreal afternoon drinking and singing along to the Dubliners with the Austrians Horst and Ute! It turned out that Horst even had Talisker malt on board.
Andy escaped a bad hangover luckily and we managed a cycle up to the Castle which gave a nice view over the town. We even passed a shop selling fire Hydrants!

We got away for 1 more night to Koroni where we had another rocky night.

Then a good day’s sail back to the marina where we are now waiting on our friends Joe and Trina to arrive.