Happy Holidays Corfu Magazine
Articles and Features (published quarterly) about Corfu and its many attractions
Vol. 2, No. 4; June 15, 2007
© Happy Holidays Corfu
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Sailing Into The Future
by Antoinette Goes
Our spring family sailing holiday was fantastic, one that changed our outlook on life.
As usual, my mother was saving for a saloon set; but when the time came to buy it she decided that a
family holiday was more important, and a lot more fun. So we booked a Bavaria 49 ‘Minoas’ with 5 cabins
and 3 wc/showers, and sailed with nine people on board: Mother Diny; my sister Lideke and Vincent; their
sons Martin, Nicolas and Robin; my friend Hiem; my husband Jan (the skipper); and me, Antoinette (the hostess).
As a family, we do not see one another very often. Diny and Hiem live in The Netherlands; Lideke and family in France, except for Martin who lives in England; and Jan and I live in Corfu, Greece.
Before leaving Gouvia Marina, Corfu we held a ‘briefing’, which was absolutely necessary because the 'French Connection' had never sailed before. At the briefing ‘life on board a yacht’ was explained. Nine people, 3 bathrooms, keep it clean (take out the garbage at once), go shopping. When you go swimming, have your towel ready in the cockpit, use one hand for the boat, one hand for yourself. And most important of all, if you feel uncomfortable or have a problem with the way life on board is going, say it at once; don't allow your frustration to build up to the point that it eventually comes out in a fight with another passenger. All these things are probably well known to all sailors, but not necessarily to my family. We were all eager to start and see how the two weeks would unfold.
In our family each person usually wants to do something different, and
even worse, each person wants to do two or three things at the same
time. Living in the small space of a yacht takes away such choices, so
we each had to put aside personal preferences in favor of the wishes of
the group. Nevertheless, sailing aboard a yacht also gives each person a
feeling of enormous personal freedom, and suddenly it wasn’t a crime to
go to sleep during the day, spend hours doing sudoku, or finally read
that book that had been witing in the 'must read' queue for three years.
Living on a yacht is a great way to learn to respect each other’s
way of life, and it is a good time to talk about all those things that
normally you are too busy to discuss.
In the first few days sleeping was the biggest activity. We stopped
in bays and had a swim, followed by lunch and then maybe
some reading, sudoku, sun bathing, fishing, metamorphose
massage and sleeping again. During these days, as the ‘hostess
with the mostess’ should, I took care of our meals. However,
Martin is a cook, and Nicolas and Robin also like to prepare food.
So, the three brothers decided that it was time for them to take
over the cooking of the meals. They needed something more to
do than sail, bay, swim, snorkel, fish, eat, moor up, eat, and
sleep. From that moment on they took care of all the meals
on board.
Jan and I know the Ionian like the back of our hands, so we charted a
course that was a mixture of quiet places and those a bit more lively.
We planned swimming, snorkelling and fishing stops. We had
breakfast, lunch and most dinners on board.
Here is the route and the taverna’s where we ate dinner.
Sat 28-04/Sun 29-04 Arrival of the crew
Sun 29-04 Gouvia Marina, Corfu to Plataria, mainlaind
Dinner at Olga’s for an incredible mezze and assorted fresh fish for
main course.
Mon 30-04 Plataria – Gaios, Paxos
Tue 01-05 Gaios – via Lefkas Channel - to Spartachori, Meganissi
Dinner at taverna Spilia (the brothers Steve and Jerry), the taverna in
the far left corner with a large quay for all size yachts. As said before
, my most favourite people and food in the Ionian.
Wed 02-05 Spartachori – Vathi, Ithaca (Here you can buy beautiful
hand embroidered white linen bed sets)
Thu 03-05 Vathi – via Atokos, Cliff Bay – to Astakos, mainland
Dinner at Yiannis taverna, again fresh fish.
Fri 04-05 Astakos – Kalamos, Kalamos
Sat 05-05 Kalamos - Fiscardo, Keffalonia
We had cocktail’s at Theodora’s, on the balcony overlooking the
happenings in Fiscardo drinking my favourite Pina Colada.
Sun 06-05 Fiscardo – Spartachori, Meganissi
Dinner at Taverna Spilia. If I can make the choice, I like to go here twice
during a 2-week trip.
Mon 07-05 Spartachori – via Skorpio Island - to Lefkas town
Tue 08-05 Lefkas town – via Emerald Bay, Anti-Paxos – to Lakka, Paxos
Wed 09-05 Lakka – via Monastery Bay to Mourtos, mainland
Dinner at La Parasole, the best and biggest Pizza’s ever
Thu 10-05 Mourtos – via Ormos Valtou - to Sayiada
Dinner at Alekos for the excellent fresh shrimps and fish
Fri 11-05 Sayiada – via Pagania – to Gouvia Marina, Corfu
Dinner at Takis in Kontokali, where they serve several specialities
like fresh smoked trout.
After all is said and done, we have had one of the best family holidays
ever. We have memories to cherish and conversations to ponder, not
to mention those wonderful metamorphose massages and the haute
cuisine. The best thing that can happen on any holiday is getting
beyond the stress of our daily lives. We have had an unforgettable
two weeks, and because of our time together each will take his
experience with him into the future and deal with life (and people)
a little differently than before. What's more, my mother has already
started saving for her next saloon set!
Antoinette Goes
Journal
