We bid Farewell to Sunday

Our camper van journey to Preveza in Greece from The Netherlands continued on through Serbia and then into North Macedonia. 

We were on our way to pack up the remaining possessions aboard our catamaran Sunday which was in the process of being sold. 

Serbia was very wet and dismal so we didn’t see much except for clouds and precipitation but North Macedonia was really quite beautiful. 

 It was a great feeling to see the Voras mountains (that run along the border of North Macedonia and Greece) come into view. 

We crossed into Greece and wild camped in the lonely grounds of a long disused truck stop in a country lane. 

The following day we drove through the mountains and noticed a lot of road signs with warnings for bears!  I had no idea that there were bears in Greece but apparently there are at least 800 of these creatures roaming the wilderness areas of Greece. 

The drive was quite spectacular but in between the amazing views we went through literally scores of tunnels which are cut through the mountains. 

We stopped for the night next to the delightful taverna we had last visited with our daughter Hannah and son-in-law Pieter just a few weeks previously. Last time we visited we had sailed in and been the only boat in the pretty anchorage. 

The owner Lucky Bardis and his wife Vasiliki remembered us and made us very welcome. We had a wonderful meal (the freshest fish, cooked to perfection by Vasiliki). 

During dinner we got talking with an interesting group of ladies (all in the medical profession) from Prague who were on a girl’s only holiday. 

The next day we finally reached Preveza Boatyard and found Sunday in good order although curiously three motor scooters and a small tractor were parked underneath her. 

We gathered one of the staff had thought we had left for the season and decided that Sunday made a useful garage but as there was some fibreglassing work to be done we had to ask the office to organise their removal!

We spent the next few days in a flurry of packing up clothes, going through paperwork and sorting out items to keep, throw out, or give away (fortunately there is a table in the recreation room at Aktio Marina where we could leave items we didn’t want and thought our buyers, Jarrod and Kat,  wouldn’t want either).

We also thoroughly cleaned inside and out – once again – in preparation for Jarrod and Kat’s arrival. 

The weather suddenly changed from extremely hot, still and settled to stormy with high winds. It didn’t rain but the storm clouds gathered and we could see it was raining nearby while we just had thunder and lightening!

Just before Kat and Jarrod arrived we decided we needed to have some time off and away from the boatyard and so drove to one of our favourite spots in this part of the world – the small coastal village of Vonitsa. 

We had anchored in Vonitsa several times and first discovered it in the camper van when we on the way to Greece to buy Sunday in 2019. 

We found a lovely place to park right on the water’s edge, looking out to where we had put our anchor down so many times. 

While we there, we noticed a lot of activity on the small island just a stone’s throw away from where we were parked.

Although it is called an island it actually has a bridge connecting it to the mainland but we had never seen cars drive over it – until the day in question that is. 

We could see people gathering outside the tiny little chapel on the island and decided to walk over the bridge to take the opportunity to see inside this tiny place of worship. 

There’s been so many times we’ve walked past it and wished we could have seen inside and here was our chance!

Initially I thought that there was a wedding taking place but once we were there and saw a baby in white being passed around we realised that it was a baptism. 

It was fascinating to see the unusual sight of the Greek Orthodox priest washing the shiny copper coloured baptismal font after the service by the seashore. 

After a lovely couple of days in Vonitsa we drove back to Aktio Marina to await Jarrod and Kat’s (our prospective buyers) arrival from Australia. 

As they only had less than two weeks to complete the first phase of Sunday’s fibreglass repairs, Jarrod had been very actively working with the contractors to ensure they would start the day after he and Kat arrived. 

He had assured us that he’d managed to pin them down to arriving very early in the morning but from past experience we were dubious that they would arrive at all – let alone before 8 am. 

Lo and behold at 7.30am the next morning about half a dozen guys turned up and immediately set to work. We were amazed and impressed by Jarrod’s accomplishment!

Over the next few days the workers drilled, cut and inspected various areas that had been declared suspect during the purchase survey. We were astonished that they arrived early each morning and achieved a lot in just a few days. 

While all this was going on our yacht broker Yiannis Drimousis arrived in Preveza and while he was there we were able to clarify the process for the final stages of the sale. 

Fortunately all the repairs required were possible and doable for the estimated cost that had been allowed for, so there was no impediment for the sale going ahead. 

With this good news we were able to say our goodbyes to S/V Sunday and head back in our camper van to The Netherlands. 

Leaving Sunday was of course, quite sad but Jonathan and I have a lot of different adventures ahead and are really very happy that such a lovely couple would be doing some of the things we had planned to do before Covid got in the way. 

Kat and Jarrod are the perfect owners for Sunday which has made the transition so much easier for us as we know that she will be well cared for and will be experiencing many wonderful adventures into the future. 

Thanks to all of you who have been following our sailing adventures on “Salty Tales from Bali Hai” since 2014. The last ten years have been amazing and extremely fulfilling.

We have very much enjoyed having your company on our travels and hope you will continue to join us on our mostly land based experiences in the future. I will be continuing to use this site to write my blogs even though the tales won’t be quite so “Salty”!