Northern Ionian

Dolphins came to play This summer we returned to Greece via the Ionian Islands, then through the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth and circumnavigated the Peleponese (Peloponnisos) before heading back to Barcelona via Sicily, Sardinia, Menorca, and Mallorca (see chart), but before leaving Brindisi we stayed an extra two days for the boat show at the marina, preparations for which started at the beginning of April.

Greece is a huge country, with over 1,400 islands and more than 7,000 miles of coastline which is very indented by bays and gulfs making it ideal for anchoring. Although the number of marinas is increasing there are still many free local town and village quays where you can tie-up stern-to usually for free or a very modest sum. The people are varied from region to region but all are proud to be Greek but most have little regard for their environment. In general they are very friendly and hospitable but no longer is Greece cheap, we found fresh produce more expensive than Spain and the quality very variable. Many small hamlets are served by mobile grocers in anything from old pick-ups to modern trucks all proclaiming their wares via Tannoy. Wines are also very regional so every time we moved from one region to another we had sample different ones – what a chore!

At anchor at Mongonissi We’ve set a number of personal records this season, 71 passages, 2330 nautical miles travelled, longest passage of 318.6nm from the Peleponese to Syracuse, longest duration passage of 46 hours and 27 minutes, 399 hours under way, and extended our range East to the Saronic island of Aigina and South to Cape Matapan at the southern tip of the Peleponese.

On the 2nd May we took our leave from Brindisi and did an overnight passage to the Island of Paxos (one of the Ionian Islands) just south of Corfu where we dropped anchor in Lakka bay (see chart). The 119 mile journey took almost 27 hours and was uneventful apart from several dolphins playing in the bow-wave at sunrise. Lakka is a pretty little town surrounded by deciduous trees on the hillsides and has reasonable provisions and a water tap by the travel office. I took the opportunity to dive and clean the prop while at anchor even though the water was still a bit chilly. Two flotillas arrived but were not a problem.

Two days and a good rest later we took our leave of Lakka and headed to the south end of Paxos passing through the very picturesque but narrow port of Gaios en route to Mongonissi which is a very pretty bay with a Taverna set in lovely gardens. Yet another flotilla arrived! It seems that 10 or 11 Sailing Holiday’s flotillas each with between 10 and 12 boats all left Corfu at the same time heading for their summer bases.

We stayed two days before leaving early in the morning and moving southward, this time to Vonitsa on the mainland in the gulf of Amvrakikos. We chose Vonitsa because we liked it when we were here last year and knew we could get good provisions. We tied up stern-to on the town quay in gusting cross-winds but thankfully with help from yachties ashore.

Tan relaxing at a taverna, Mongonissi It is now the 10th May and again we had an early start, this time to get through the Lefkas Canal and down to the Island of Meganisi. We had planned to get the 12:00 opening of the Levkas bridge but made very good time and had to slow down even for the 11:00 opening, then charged through and refueled at Lefkas Marina and were tied up stern-to at Port Athena by 13:50. We were greeted as long lost friends by Spiros and Jimmy from Taverna Niagas and were informed that the Taverna would be open because there was a flotilla arriving. The main reason for going back to Meganisi was to eat at their Taverna so that’s what we did. Because we had water and electricity we got a take-out of Moussaka next night, delicious.

Most of our travels so far has been by motor or motor sailing but en route to Vathi on Ithica we had a few hours good sailing. Gusty cross-winds made anchoring stern-to difficult and it got quite choppy later, so much so that Tan had to go lie down. The wind didn't die down until much later. We were also visited by the port authorities and had to get our DEPKA stamped. We were charged €15 for that because we had left Greece and re-entered, fortunately they didn’t make a fuss about us not having declared leaving Greece last year, so we are now all legal again. The following morning we had our anchor pulled up twice by departing boats but re-anchored ok then went to Carrefour and had a load of shopping delivered to the boat. I also had a haircut much to Tan’s relief.

Rion Andirrionion suspension bridge From Vathi we followed the route we used last year and crossed to mainland Greece to anchor in the large almost land-locked bay behind Nisos Petalas where we spent two nights at anchor. This is where we turned round last year and started heading north but this time we continued south into new territory, the Peleponese by entering the Gulf of Patras.

Gulfs of Patras and Corinth

The Peleponese island looks a little like a four fingered hand with the fingers pointing south, the north of the island is separated from the mainland by Gulfs of Patras and Corinth . Our first port of call in the Gulf of Patras was Messolonghi. The harbour is situated in a small basin (1.5 miles diameter) at the end of a 3 mile dredged channel with salt marshes and houses built on stilts many of which have been renovated as elaborate summer homes. To the east is the commercial port and small fishing harbour and to the west is yet another unfinished marina without facilities – but free. Clearly visible are the snow-capped mountains on the Peloponnisos, mount Parnassos rises 2454m (8051 ft). The marina is a dirty, scruffy, building site about 2 km from the town which is surprisingly large with a plethora of café’s, restaurants, and fast food joints in the narrow criss-crossed pedestrian streets. Surprisingly we were handed a leaflet proclaiming that the marina was under new management and would be open this summer, perhaps they meant this century!

Galaxidi We stayed for two nights then continued through the Gulf of Patraikos and just after midday we passed under the Rion Andirrion suspension bridge into the Gulf of Corinth. The bridge is the longest (to date) cable-stayed bridge in the world at 2.252m and maximum air height of 45m. We followed the correct procedure of calling the bridge control by VHF and were directed which span to pass under. At 13:30 we arrived at he tiny medieval harbour of Navpaktos and were delighted to find there was space but when we anchored stern-to the anchor dragged. Tan decided the harbour would be too noisy at night so rather than re-anchor we ploughed through increasing SE seas to Trizonia where we spent four nights in yet another unfinished marina which has been populated by locals and live-aboards. Trizonia is a small island about a quarter of a mile offshore with a pretty local harbour facing the mainland and the marina on the opposite side, there is one local shop and a ferry to the mainland where there is a small village with limited provisions.

Corinth 22nd May we went to Eratini via Kellithea bay which didn’t impress Tan at all! We went stern-to on the end of the concrete jetty. Good shopping here (Proton). Next day we continued eastwards and anchored in Ormos Anemokambi, a small bay with a hotel and holiday village at the head and a large barge on a mooring buoy in the middle. That evening a thunderstorm passed to the north of us but we had 30 minutes of strong gusts.

Our next stop was Galaxidi, a very pleasant clean town with a new town quay. There are many town quays in Greece often with little or no facilities but the majority are free, others may charge a small fee. This one charged us ten euro for three nights and there was electricity available at 5 euro per day, what luxury. There was a large Canadian registered schooner on the end of the quay which was being fitted out as a touring theatre company and we were treated to gymnastic rehearsals. The town has an excellent bakery & veg, shops plus a farmers market every Thursday and we were very impressed by the nautical museum Keith and Heather (Arcadia) arrived on Wednesday and invited us for drinks on their boat.

Reluctantly we left Galaxidi and three and a half hours later anchored in Ormos Isidhorou, a bay almost totally surrounded by huge numbered concrete block but of course no current activity! The bay shelves steeply to the beach so we anchored close in but at least there were goats for Tan to watch and girls on the beach for me to watch! Next stop was the town quay at Andirikon where we tied-up alongside under the lighthouse and stayed two nights. The town has good provisions, two butchers, 2 veg shops and a good bakery and we had a good lunch at a taverna.

Corinth Canal 1st June, we arrived at Nisoi Alkonidhes after trying to find an anchorage in the large bay of Kolpos Domvrainis where according to the Pilot there are several but they were all much deeper 20m + instead of the 5 to 10m stated in the book. Nisoi Alkonidhes are a cluster of three small low-lying islands with an anchorage between two of them. The largest island has a deserted monastery which looks more like a prefabricated building complete with abandoned rusty tractor and pick-up truck, lots of gulls and lots of litter. I was appalled to see two young Greeks in a small boat throw a plastic bag overboard while fishing. They have no pride in their environment and it shows, a characteristic which we found much repeated throughout Greece. One night here was one too many.

We are now at the eastern end of the gulf of Corinth where we will go through the Corinth Canal but there are strong easterly winds so we took refuge at Corinth marina, yet another unmanaged marina crowded by local boats but we managed to squeeze in with the help of two yachties ashore. The marina is next to a medium size commercial port where there is a constant stream of ferries. Corinth itself is a bustling modern city with a wide variety of shops including a very good supermarket. Now that we are at the eastern end of the gulf the wind has perversely done a 180 degree change and is blowing strongly from the west so we waited 3 days for the wind to die down before going through the canal.

Gulf of Saronikos

Tan keeping us on the straight and narrow On the 5th June at 09:10 we entered the Corinth Canal after contacting canal control by VHF. The canal must be one of the most expensive in the world at 186 euro for just over 3 miles. It is 25m wide and the limestone sides rise to 76m above sea-level at the highest point. By 09:50 we were at the eastern end of the canal and into the Aegean sea in the Gulf of Saronikos. This gulf is bounded by the Attic coast and Athens to the east and the Peleponese (Peloponnisos) to the west, imagine this as the easternmost finger of the island – actually more like a thumb. We turned to starboard and set a course almost due south and anchored in the bay at Korfos. A pleasant little town with a good chandlers, mini-market and tavernas wrapped snugly around the shoreline. Saw a loggerhead turtle in the bay.

Poros Town Two days later we journeyed 2 hours further south and anchored in the bay at Palaia Epidhavros adjacent to the harbour. There were several very expensive power boats ranging from 40ft to 140ft also at anchor most complete with the usual “boys toys” (jet-ski, etc,) but on Monday they all left en masse. As we were soon to learn, the east and south coasts of the Peleponese are the weekend playground of the wealthy from the Attic coast. Palaia Epidhavros is a small tranquil town with very friendly people and a delightful dichotomy of agriculture and tourism. There was a very expensive pick-up loaded to the brim with garlic and someone loading another pick-up with hundreds of oranges and when we remarked he gave us an orange each and wished us a pleasant stay. In contrast there were farmers driving tractors and even a motorised rotavator with seat down the main street – delightful so we stayed three days.

Poros Another 2 hours further south arrived at the small hamlet of Vathi and moored stern-to in the tiny harbour where we got water and electricity. It’s a pretty place but only has a few taverna’s, no provisions but Tan had a swim in the clear water of the harbour and we sampled the hospitality one of the taverna’s in the evening, good but not outstanding.

We left next morning and anchored in the bay of Mourioti on the south coast of the Island of Aegina (Egina). A very pleasant bay with a few nice villa’s and gardens but during the afternoon the wind swung round from north to south and created an uncomfortable swell so at 18:00 we weighed anchor and arrived at Ormos Vidhi on the Peleponese two hours later. This large almost landlocked bay (Limin Poros) lies between the island of Poros and the Peleponese. It is well sheltered and quiet , the nearest village shop (very limited provisions) being 2 km away by dinghy and walk through olive and fruit orchards. The forecast was N-NE 5 to 6 so we stayed for 4 nights during which time we watched two seaplanes successfully tackle a bush fire.

15th June we motored down Limin Poros and anchored off Galatas where we hoped to get good provisions but the supermarket was terrible so we took the 10 minute ferry ride across to the island of Poros where we found good provisions and also met up with Kieth, Heather and Mike from Arcadia. In the afternoon we returned to Ormos Vidhi and re-anchored, this time with a nice view of Poros in the distance.

The next day we motored through the narrow winding channel between the island of Poros and mainland Peleponese, took a short detour in Ormos Poros to look at the monastery then safely through the narrow passage between the islands of Spathi and Skilli through which high speed ferries hurtle at speeds of up to 30 knots and into the Gulf of Hydra