Lefkada town on Lefkada Island Sept 8 and 9

After leaving Lefkas we travelled north to Lefkada for our final destination. Dave managed to get about an hour of motor sailing in before we had to pull in the sails and make our way through a very narrow channel to the dock.

The channel was very hard to find except for markers which have been our nemesis since we started. We don't know if it is only Greek or the whole European continent that had their directions exactly backward to what we know in North America. At home, if you are entering a channel you keep the red buoy on your right and the green on your left (and in your head you say, right red returning). Here is is opposite, in right green returning and you'd better be right. We saw the remains of a couple of ships who had gotten into very shallow waters.

So we entered the shallow channel, feeling like we were the only people going in – sailboat after sailboat was heading out – and they all seemed to have British flags on them. Many are only here for very short vacations and will sail a bit and do the tourist thing and then head back home.

We arrived at the docks and were asked to moor alongside (rather than stern tie). It was convenient for us too. We got the fresh water hose attached and set to giving Cariad a final wash. She polished up nicely and we can proudly return it to Howard and Polly.

We walked down a couple of long streets in Lefkada and saw an awesome sunset. Had a bite to eat at a pier side cafe.

Early Tuesday a.m. Howard met us at the boat and we went over details with him on various items that were changed – fixed or not fixed. Over the two months at sea Dave and Jim had done quite a few modifications. They are two very handy men and there wasn't much that wasn't better by the end of the trip than when we first started with it. (I didn't mean that to sound like it wasn't good when we started – it's just that boats need constant maintenance, and they were the guys to do it!)

We like Lefkada and have decided to stay two nights in a local hotel. We will explore the town today and just relax a bit before we head toward Athens (a 5 hour bus ride).