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