Cleaning is not a job that I like doing, that's why I'd been putting off cleaning the dinghy. Then one of our subscribers reached out to us via email and asked if he could send us an all natural, eco friendly cleaning product to make A B Sea shine before she goes back in the water.
Intrigued I gave our mailing address to Heinz and a week or so later the package arrived from Canada. It contained two tubs of the Brillean cleaning product, a 500ml bottle of Brillean hand cleaner and a couple of sponges and micro fibre cloths. I'll tell you how the dinghy cleaning works out in next week's blog.
Expectation v reality
Laundry services are super expensive in a lot of the places we visit so we try and do as much of our own laundry as possible while we're anchored in crystal clear water. Wringing out small items is easy but Aannsha asks for my assistance for any big items such as jeans, towels and the like.
Wanting to make life easier and save time Aannsha began researching hand crank clothes wringers on the Interwebs. She put in quite a few hours checking build quality, reading reviews and making sure the price was affordable.
Finally announcing the winner as the 'Calliger Hand Crank Clothes Wringer' she began the ordering process through Amazon only to get to the payment part and be met by a message saying they don't ship that item to Greece. Bugger.
With some nagging doubts about build quality she ordered the second choice wringer on her list which could be delivered to Greece. She was like a kid at Christmas when the package arrived and set up cameras on the balcony to film the opening and set up.
Using the word disappointment doesn't go far enough and I'm sure she was close to tears that the wringer that she'd bought did not live up to her expectations. Aannsha goes into great detail as to what particularly was wrong in her blog this week, so you can check that out here or watch the accompanying video here.
An interesting day out
Aannsha announced that we were going to the beach on the other side of Evia island, she'd been doing more research on the Interwebs and thought it would be great to visit the ferry terminal at Mantoudi on the east coast.
We anticipated there might be a taverna or bar there and we could chill out with a cold drink and watch the world go by. The drive didn't take too long but when the nice lady who lives inside our satnav announced that we'd arrived at our destination, there was a raised eyebrow and some disappointment from us both.
The beach was strewn with debris left over from the earlier winter storms that had battered this side of the island. An aging giant yellow excavator indicated that the cleanup had begun, no doubt in preparation for summer visitors.
The ferry terminal was closed too as the ferry to the island of Skiathos operates on a reduced schedule in the winter months. The only positive was that the Aegean sea was as flat as a millpond and if you know anything about the Aegean, dead calm water is a rare thing indeed.
Heading off in another direction hoping to find somewhere open where we could have a drink we came across a big red toolbox laying on its side in the middle of the road. Figuring it had fallen off the back of a truck and spotting a building at the end of the road we decided to drop it off there figuring that locals know locals and it would find its way back to its owner.
Nikos takes us to a waterfall
As I mentioned in last week's blog, our friend Nikos drove up from Porto Rafti with some homemade goodies and some DIY power tools. To make the most of his visit he suggested that we go in search of a waterfall that he'd visited many years ago.
We love getting out into nature and especially going to places we've never been before and the Drymona waterfall area did not disappoint. It is a magical place and probably gets very busy in the summer, but once again we were the only tourists in town and we had it all to ourselves.
There are several waterfalls along the course of the river which was running quite strongly due to the melting snow higher up the hills. Aannsha and I could have spent hours there just enjoying the peaceful solitude and listening to the sounds of nature but we'd promised Nikos that we'd buy him lunch and he still had a long drive to get home.
Back in the car we meandered in a general downhill direction until we came to a small village where we spotted smoke coming out of the chimney of what looked like a taverna. There was a guy repairing the plaster work on the outside of the building and Nikos asked if they were open for lunch and beer. A positive reply had us sat at an outside table enjoying the afternoon sunshine with cold beers, and some typical Greek food including tasty lamb chops, which has become a firm favourite of ours.
In next week's blog we get stuck into some boat jobs including Aannsha going up the mast to fix the steaming light and cleaning the dinghy.
To watch the video that accompanies this blog click here.