Paxos- Tuesday thru Thursday, July 26-28
George, a regular at the BB lives on a boat and his girlfriend Fiona and her son Charlie are here visiting from Guernsey. It’s one of the channel islands located in between Britain & France. George lives in Corfu for the summer and back in Guernsey in the winter. George owns a great old catamaran sailboat. So those three, A&D and Charlie #1, and J3 all sailed on the catamaran for a two night stay on the island of Paxos. It’s the smallest of the main 7 Ionian islands, and one of the most beautiful as well.
The catamaran doesn’t exactly fly, so we had a great 6-hour cruise to Paxos, filled with the regular work- reading books, eating sandwiches, and having some cold beverages (while working on the tan of course!). About 10 minutes from landing at Paxos, we crossed paths w/ another boat we were looking for- a beautiful classic sailboat maintained by their friends Pete & Sari. Pete & Sari are an outspoken & sometimes crazy couple who really know how to live life to its fullest. They “maintain” the boat for a rich couple that use it 2 weeks out of the year, which is when Pete & Sari do the real staff work- cooking, cleaning, and taking the owners wherever they want to go. The rest of the year, Pete & Sari have to live on the boat. BUMMER. So they were just back from a long 600 mile sail from north of Sardinia in Italy. BUMMER. They turned around and we met up in the cove in the town of Lakka, where many other amazing boats were docked. Jason & Charlie #2 jumped off the catamaran and hung out with P&S while the others did the usual parking the catamaran, finding lodging for A&D&C#1 &J3, etc. We had dinner at a local taverna & then some drinks with G&F before heading off to bed to rest up for what would turn out to be one of the best days EVER!
The next day was spent on P&S’s boat. We were joined by another couple on a quick sail from to Paxos- Will & Zoe, good friends of D&A from Corfu. The water in the cove is crystal clear and there is a sandy bottom. This place looks like it’s straight out of a movie. We jumped off the boat a million times. Jason tried a flip and only did a ¾ flop with a half twist- TWICE. Ouch. JJ did her typical gymnast backflip off the highest point at the front of the boat. The dingy on the boat is pretty large & fast, so we waterskied and rode the “donut” many times as well. It was all topped off with an amazing meal prepared by Sari- seafood salad, tatziki, hummus, tuna salad, Greek salad, cold cuts, olives, grilled zuccini, grilled shrimp,and some smoked salmon straight from Finland, Sari’s homeland. It was a delicious, unbelievable feast. The boat had plenty of shaded area, especially a large flat cushioned area that Charlie #1 played on safely for hours on end, and then took a nice nap on it as well. WOW, what an amazing way to spend a day! Thanks so much to Pete & Sari for the great time!
That night we went back to Harbor Lights, a taverna/bar right on the dock, where P&S had the restaurant barbecue some tuna which they caught on their way here from Italy. It too was amazing, almost like eating a pork chop. There were several other friends of the group that happened to be in Paxos as well, so they joined the feast too. All totaled, P&S fed around 15 people, including some new friends Will & Zoe. The catamaran was docked literally 20 feet from Harbor Lights (a real 20 feet, not a “Greek” 20 feet!), so Charlie #2 went to bed while babysitting Charlie #1, which gave D&A some time to hang out without disturbing C#1’s nap time. After a few nightcaps, we were off to bed. WHAT AN AMAZING DAY!
The girls, the C’s, and Jason had planned to take the seaplane home just for fun, but it was fully booked. Of course our friend Patrick told us he could score us some tickets, but it didn’t happen. Patrick is the typical guy on these islands- he found our lodging, then we saw him cooking at the restaurant we ate at. The next day we saw him taking some tourists out on a boat. Then he’s trying to find us seaplane tickets! He definitely wears many hats. Of course, some of the hats fit better than others! So we had to take the catamaran back with George and Davey. It was not as fun as the trip there (it never is!). Very hot, no breeze, and the long day before didn’t help. Life is tough sometimes.
Thanks to George for taking us on an unforgettable vacation in the vacation!
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