Ithaca, Cephalonia & Zante

I can’t believe it is just two weeks since our last blog, we
seemed to have moved about quite a bit. From Sivota we retraced our steps and
headed back for a night in Menganisi and then up to Lefkas town where we
anchored just of the town key then headed into town to pick up several litres
of our favourite wine (very important not to run out) before heading back down
to Nidri.

The following morning we headed of south again to Ithaca, the first
part of the journey was quite tranquil with very little wind but we did manage
to sail most of the way down between the island of Menganisi and Lefkas. However
as we came out of the shelter of the channel between the two islands the wind
picked up along with the swell. We decided to cut our journey short and head
for Sivota, and it seemed everyone else had the same idea, as several other
boats were also heading in that direction as well. As we approached though we
noticed the boats ahead of us all did a complete u-turn and headed back out of
the bay. We soon found out why as we entered the bay, the wind was howling down
between the mountains causing a huge swell in the bay making it untenable to
stay there, so we to did a u-turn and headed back out. We decided to head for
Kalamos another small island as the wind was right behind us which meant we
should get a good sail, we hauled the head sail and set of reaching 7 knots,
then all of a sudden the wind just stopped. As Kalaomos was the same distance
as Ithaca and we had to motor either way we decided to go back to plan A and
head for Ithaca. It was not long however before the wind picked up again, talk
about the lull before the storm, and so we quickly reefed in both main sail and
head sail as there was no turning back now.

As we approached Ay Nikolaos on the North East coast of Ithaca
the winds had reached 30 knots, I was so glad to get into the bay and find some
shelter, it wasn’t over yet though, there were several other boats in the bay
and there was no swinging room and so we had to moor with the anchor down and
two lines to shore. As soon as the anchor was down I was in the water swimming
with the shore line to attach it to one of the rocks, the problem was there was
very little foot hold as it was quite deep right up to the rocks, plus the
water was much colder here. I finally managed to secure the line, swim back for
the second and secure that, then it was time for a well-earned G&T, after a
shower of course.

I can’t say I was particularly enamoured with the bay, it
looked cold and oppressive and was very windy and so the following day we set
of for Kioni, which is an attractive if not small town with a few cafes and
tavernas. It is however popular with flotillas and charter boats as well as
live aboards, making it quite a noisy place

We spent one night here before heading further down the
coast to Vathi, which is quite a large bay where you can moor alongside the
town quay or at anchor, we chose to anchor hoping to get a quieter night. This
was not to be though as the winds picked up again and howled all night, it felt
as if the boat was being swung about like a hammer thrower swings his hammer.
By morning the winds had died down to a more acceptable level and we took the
dingy ashore to have a look around. On first impressions it looked like a big
town but once ashore we found that this was not the case, but it was still
quite quaint. Back on board the winds again picked up but thankfully not to the
level they had been the day before, by evening more and more boats were coming
into the bay for shelter and as people tried to anchor tempers were getting
fraid, and you could hear sailors shouting at one another to move away as a
boat was to close or crossing their anchor, it certainly kept Kevin
entertained.

The next leg of our journey was over to Fiskardo on
Cephalonia, another very popular place for Flotillas and charter boats, and so
we left early in the morning with the aim of getting there around 11:00 in the
hope of finding a mooring. This was based on it being a Sunday so hopefully
Flotillas and Charter boats would be back in their base and most people leave a
mooring between 10:00 and 11:00, and this assumption had worked for us before,
not in this case though, however we did manage to find a spot, again it was
drop anchor and swim ashore with the stern lines.

I have to say I was not sure what I expected in regards to
Fiskardo, although I had been to Cephalonia a couple of times on holiday I had
never been to Fiskardo, I had heard how beautiful it was, and I was a little
concerned that my expectations would not be met, I could not have been more
wrong, I fell in love with the place, not I hasten to add because it had some
great cloths shops as Kevin suggests. It had a real buzz about the place
without losing any of its charm.

Whilst here we went on a couple of walks, the first one was
10K so we got up early in the morning and set off, the walk took us up and over
the top of the Island before circling round to head back towards Fiskardo, the
walk was mainly through the forest and so you couldn’t see a great deal other
than the trees but we did came across a couple of lovely bays though.

The second walk which we took the following day was 5K long,
this was called the Cyprus tree walk and so we expected it to be amongst the
trees again, this was not the case, it started in the trees but was soon
without shelter, but it was a much more interesting walk and took us past Foki
beach which looked lovely.

Sadly we had to leave Fiskardo, I could have stayed a lot
longer, we started off by doing a detour around the north coast of the island
to Myrtos beach supposedly the best beach on the island, and being famous for
one of the scenes in Catain Correlli’s Mandolin. The waters were clear blue,
and the beach was full of people topping up their tan, so after lunch Kevin
decided to take a swim ashore.

From Myrtos beach we travelled back around the north coast
to a small bay just south of Fiskardo called Dhaskahio, we had several attempts
at anchoring before we managed to get a secure holding, with both anchor and shore
line. There was only one other boat in the bay besides ourselves and the
occupants invited us over for happy hour, they were two Israeli couples on a
five week holiday, we ended up staying for dinner as well. We had a very
enjoyable evening but in the morning neither Kevin nor I could remember their
names as they were so obscure.

From Dhaskahio it was a sail across the bay to Porto Polis
on the east coast of Ithaca, again a really beautiful bay which had several
boats already moored up. We anchored with a shore line and sat down to relax
but the anchor dragged in the weed and so we had to re-set it, this time we put
60m of chain out just to make sure, especially as the bay was quite deep in the
middle, which shelved quickly toward the edges. It was so nice we decided to
stay here for two nights, make some water and get the washing done.

On the second night, the winds picked up again and the
anchors of the two other boats in the bay beside us,( the others having all
gone) started to drag, they tried many times into the night to get a secure
hold to no avail. We were concerned that as they dragged they may inadvertently
catch our anchor and drag it with them and so we kept watch until the early
hours of the morning, about 02:00 one of the boats gave in and moved of out of
the bay, the other continued to persevere, in the end we went to bed. In the
morning the other boat had gone.

Our intention was to move south and anchor in Katlios a bay
on the south east coast of Cephalonia, we had a great sail down the channel
between Ithaca and Cephalonia, but as we rounded the headland the winds whipped
up and we were now head to wind. As we entered the small harbour of Katlios we
quickly realised we could not stay here, for one it was too shallow and for
another there was nowhere to moor, and so we had to do an about turn and head
back into the rather rough sea state. Again we looked at our options, did we go
back to where we had just come from, which meant we would be head to wind going
back up the channel, or did we go to Argostoli again it would mean we would be
head to wind or did we head across to Zante where we would at least have the wind
in our favour meaning we could sail across. We chose Zante, we set of on a
reefed headsail only, then we noticed the dingy which we had been towing had
flipped over and so we had to hoist it onto the boat and secure it before we
could get going again. The winds continued to rise along with the swell, with
the wave’s broad side on, which meant that Kevin had to frequently turn the
boat into them to prevent them breaking on the side of the boat. One wave
however got the better of us, it broke on the starboard side near to the stern
causing the boat to heel right over so that the guard rails were in the water I
thought we were going to totally roll the boat, but as luck had it we remained
upright.

I was so glad to get into Ay Nikolaos and moor up along-side
the harbour wall, unfortunately though there was quite a lot of swell in the
bay and all the boats were bouncing about and banging against the harbour wall,
by morning our fender covers were ruined despite having a plank between them
and the wall, but that said it was better than being out at sea.

Before we had managed to finish securing our lines though an
old Greek gentleman came along on his little tractor selling his wares, I
bought some lovely tasting olive oil but passed on the wine, it tasted like
vinegar.

That evening we treated ourselves to a meal out, I really was
not in the mood for cooking. The town is quite small with a couple of taverna’s
and shops, apparently one family owns a tavern, one of the two supermarkets (if
you can call them that) and some of the tourist boats.

In the morning we were woken suddenly with a big bang on the
bow of the boat, we rushed out of bed to find one of the local Greeks had
crashed his tourist boat into ours, there was no apology, he basically made out
it was our own fault as we had secured one of our lines across the steps of the
harbour wall. I have to say this is the first time we have come across anything
like this the whole time we have been in Greece. Luckily he had hit the bow
sprit so had not caused any damage to our boat.

We decided to move on and head south to the town of
Zakinthos, we had a great sail all the way to our destination, the contrast
from the day before couldn’t have been more different.

The harbour of Zakinthos is quite busy with several ferries
coming in and out during the day and night, after mooring up we took a stroll
into town, unfortunately all the shops were closed, so we found a nice bar and
had a couple of beers before heading back to the boat.

We spent the evening on board watching the locals and
holiday makers strolling along the harbour and several of them sat and watched
us eat our dinner, at times I felt a bit like a monkey in the zoo.

As we had access to water here which cost us 5 euro a day we
gave the boat a good wash down to try and get rid of all the salt that had
accumulated from the breaking waves during, our crossing over to Zante,
including all the outside cushions.

During the afternoon whilst chilling out we acquired a new
neighbour one of the biggest yet.

Usually the ferries dock on the other side of the harbour
and cause quite a bit of swell, this one however manoeuvred very gently into
position causing no swell at all, most unexpected. Kevin was rewarded with yet
more entertainment when several would be passengers trying to board were turned
away, arguments broke out and one poor girl started crying, however after about
45 minutes everyone bar one was aloud on board and the ferry set off for Sami.

That evening we went into town and what a contrast from the
day before, all the shops were open the bars and restaurants were heaving and
in the square there were hundreds of kids driving around in  little motorised cars all over the place, it
was real hustle and bustle.

From Zakinthos we have moved further south to Lagana Bay
where we are presently at anchor, it is here that the loggerhead Turtles have
their breeding grounds and so a large part of the bay has restrictions in
relation to anchoring or moving at speeds greater than 6 knots but I don’t
think anybody has told the locals this.

From here we will head back to Cephalonia where we plan to
meet up with Kevin’s brother and his family for a few days whilst they are out
here on holiday, before heading off to who knows where as we haven’t planned
that far ahead yet.

Total miles travelled this season 1117

Total cumulative miles 3455

Lefkas

Two weeks on from leaving Corfu and Paxos we have not sailed
that far south, we spent three nights in Ormas Vathi Preveza before sailing
across the bay to Vonista. We anchored just outside the outer mole, the holding
here was good and we had a great view of the Venetian Fort built on the
hillside, which we planned to visit the following day.

The town itself looked very peaceful and so we decided to
stay here for two or three nights, that however was until 12 midnight when the
local disco started and carried on all night until 0600, neither of us got much
sleep. We decided one night of Greek disco music was sufficient, and therefore
planned to move on after we had visited the Venetian Fort, but alas that was
not to be, when we got there we were told it was closed for cleaning to remove
fire hazard debris and snakes, so it was back down the hill, for a well-earned
coffee, before going back to Miss Lilly.

Back on board we set off for Ormos Koprainia a bay in the
north east of the inland sea, when we arrived we were the only sail boat there,
ashore there were a couple of houses and that was all. The pilot book indicated
that this was a magical spot where we could do a bit of bird watching and be
visited by dolphins, which was not the case. We were however visited by one of
the local lads who had decided to swim out to our boat, but found it was a bit
far and looked to be in difficulty, and so Kevin invited him on board to have a
drink and get his breath back, he spoke no English and as we speak no Greek,
conversation was limited. Soon there was another Greek lad swimming out to the
boat, he however was a better swimmer and once round the boat was off back to
shore, our visitor decided to join his friend, thanked us for the drink and
waved good bye before doing a near belly flop into the water.

That evening we were once again treated to one of Mother
Nature’s spectacular sunsets, they never cease to amaze us.

Our night here was very peaceful and so we were able to
catch up on the lost sleep from the previous night. In the morning the stronger
swimmer of the two Greek lads was once again swimming towards the boat, after
doing two laps we thought we ought to swim to shore and back ourselves.
Unfortunately the water was very murky and as we neared the shore we were
virtually swimming in weed, with shoals of fish around us and so we decided to
head back to the boat.

It was then back to Preveza in order to get some provisions
and catch up on a few chores, when we arrived there were several boats still
there that had been there the first time we arrived, it is a good anchorage,
though not so good if you need to make water.

On Tuesday 22^nd July we set off at 0700 to Lefkas
intending to get there in time for the floating bridge to open at 0900 in order
for us to make our way down the Lefkas canal. The forecast had predicted strong
southerly winds around 1000 and so the intention was to be down the canal
before they started. As is our luck they started not long after we left the
channel from Preveza, and so we motored all the way arriving at the canal
entrance 15 minutes before the bridge opened. As the bridge opened and we made
our way through there was only one other boat besides us going south, however
going north it was like a mass exodus, the winds howled all the way down
reaching 23 knots at times, it was great to get out at the other end.

Our original plan once through the canal was to anchor of
Ligia which is situated at the south entrance to the canal, but as the wind was
a strong southerly we would not have any protection there, we also needed to
make water and as the water here looked murky we decided to keep going.

After consulting the pilot book for a good place to anchor
where we could get both protection and make water we headed off to the Island
of Meganisi and Ormos Abelike, here I had entered paradise, although there were
several other boats already there the water was crystal clear and very calm.

The following day we headed on foot to Vathi, a small town which
is the nominal capitol of the island, here you can berth stern to alongside the
town quay for free, apparently according to the locals it’s better to visit in
September when it is not so busy so who knows we may do just that.

Whilst around Lefkas we decide to get our life raft serviced
by Ionian Marine Safety Services as they are approved by Sego, which is the
make of our life raft. So on Thursday 24^th July we set off for
Lefkas marina, where we had arranged for the life raft to be picked up, on arrival
the marina staff were there to meet us and help us moor up, then within half an
hour the chap from Marine Safety Services turned up, it was all going rather
well for a change. Kevin asked if it was possible for him to see the life raft
opened, this was ok’d and off he went. On return he indicated how impressed he
was with the setup, the work shop was clean and well organised and each life
raft being serviced had its own work station. Once our life raft was opened
Kevin was able to have a look inside and take some pictures.

Whilst in Lefkas we had an evening out, the town was very
busy with both Greeks and holiday makers, there was a real buzz about the
place. However I wasn’t so impressed with the marina facilities, the showers
cost 50 cents to use and then I only got a trickle of water, and I had been so
looking forward to a power shower. I certainly won’t moan about showering of
the back of the boat again. Also to do the laundry here is expensive at 10
Euros a load and that’s just for a wash, its 20 Euros if you want it washed and
dried. I was later told there is somewhere cheaper in the town, I suppose I had
been spoilt in Ragusa where a load is 3Euro 50.

The following day the life raft was returned so we left
Lefkas and headed back down the canal to Nidri, the pilot book indicates that
whilst the canal is dredged to a minimum depth of 6m but outside of the canal
markers the depths are variable and care should be taken to not go outside the
markers. The reason for this became very obvious as we passed by a sail boat
who had done just that and gone aground requiring assistance in getting of the
sand. The southern entrance of the canal is buoyed but the further north you go
the canal is marked with poles with red or green triangles on top which may or
may not be present.

At Nidri we had arranged to meet up with our friends Sally
and John who we had met whilst wintering in Cartagena in Spain at the end of
our first years sailing. They had sailed round the Ionian last year and
wintered in Lefkas. They liked the area so much they have no plans to move on
for some time and intend to stay in Lefkas this winter as well.

It was great to catch up with them again and hear about
their experiences of sailing around the Ionian over a few beers, in the evening
we went ashore for a wander around the town some more beverages and a meal,
which was one of the cheapest and best meals we have had in long time.

We had intended staying only one night in Nidri but when we
went ashore we came across some Quad bikes for hire which I fancied having a go
on, and so we hired one for the following day. We picked the bike up at 0900
and were told we had to have it back by 2200 that day.

Our first destination was the Nidri Waterfalls a couple of
miles outside of the town, however when we got there, there was not a lot of
water falling, I suppose it was too much to expect.

Don’t know who the two random guys are who decided to get in
on the picture.

From the waterfalls we called in at Vasiliki, before heading
up into the hills for Petros, there was not a lot there so we carried onto
Sivros where the caves of Karouxa were situated, again there was not a lot to
look at and so we moved on to the highest point of the Island where you have a
360 degree view of the island.

It was then off to the highest village on the island where
we planned to have lunch, again we were disappointed the only lunch we could
get was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, as we were both hungry by now we
settled for that. The next village on route was Karia, this was a lovely little
place with several taverna’s, we should have stopped here for lunch, but as we
had just eaten we carried on. We then toured down the West side of the coast
and called in at Gialos Beach, which was beautiful but not a good place to
anchor as its exposed and there was quite a lot of swell. Whilst here we
stopped off for an ice cream and of course mine had to be chocolate.

From here we started to head back to Nidri, calling in at
Sivota on route, another little town which we decided we would call in at on
our way to Cephalonia. It was 1900 by the time we arrived back in Nidri by now
I was ready to hand the bike back before my legs set in a permeant straddled
position.

The following day it was back to Maganisi, this time to Port
Atheni, again a lovely bay with plenty of space to anchor with a shore line, we
have now made new rat deterrents, and we just hope these work. We stayed two
nights here, just chilling out and swimming. On the morning we were due to
leave it rained and so Kevin decided to make use of the free water and clean
the decks, before we headed off to Sivota where we plan to spend a couple of
nights.

Its quite busy here in Sivota in with Flotillas and charter
boats, Kevin is keeping a careful watch to ensure people don’t anchor to close
to us or anchor over our chain, whilst down below writing the blog I have
already heard a few choice words and it’s early yet.

Whilst we have been in the Ionian we have noticed that
around every ten days we get unsettled weather accompanied by the occasional
thunder storm, presently it is very windy and Miss Lilly is swinging in all
directions on the anchor, so sitting down below whilst writing the blog the
view is constantly changing.

We certainly seem to be doing a lot more sailing than
motoring which is a change from last year, however as usual although the
predominate winds are North Westerly’s we seem to always be sailing into wind
as we head south, obviously we are not picking the best time to sail.

After here we will continue to head south over to Ithaca and
Cephalonia, can’t believe we already half way through the season.

Mileage 934

Cumulative Mileage 3471.78

Present Location: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/SIVOTA+%CE%A3%CE%8E%CE%92%CE%9F%CE%A4%CE%91//@38.6265251,20.6893658,14z/data=!4m8!4m7!1m5!1m1!1s0x135db7bc1ca466b3:0x49f0c070b1e86a83!2m2!1d20.6814698!2d38.6236468!1m0?hl=en