Our first Greek sunset as we came around the point at N. Erikousa.
The next day we didn't go ashore we just headed for the anchorage at Corfu town about 24 miles. It started off calm but the sails went up as soon as there was even a slight breath of wind and we had a good run down to Corfu. As we were approaching our destination I suggested we may like to take the sails down in preparation for anchoring but Ali was determined to sail into the anchorage past Enjah. That was until I got a text from Marie to say none of them were on the boat and so with the lack of an audience I got to get the sails down and there were no dodgy manoeuvres around the anchorage!
The anchorage at Corfu town just coming into view.
We anchored just next to Enjah and it wasn't long before Marie, Brian and Marie's brother Marvin and his girlfriend Denise turned up. The girls were delighted and they had Marie in swimming with them fairly quickly.
Marie, Alisha, Kaylee and Ali swimming.
After dinner on board we ventured over to Enjah which was much easier than expected, as the calm of the night set in both boats had turned and our sterns were only a few metres apart, we got a bit of a shock when we came on deck and Brian said Hello! We threw a rope over and pulled the two boats close enough to just step over and thus beginning another night of far too much drink onboard Enjah! Needless to say Ali was the first to succumb and he stepped back to our boat and then slipped the ropes when the girls and I decided to stay on a little later. He must have got a second wind and gotten a bit silly because the next thing we heard was a big splash and here he was swimming back over again..... Kaylee gave Brian some more dancing lessons before we thought we better get a dripping wet Ali home again.
The next day was probably the hottest we had encountered yet and i was glad I was glad I had gone home as the rest of them had partied on until 6am and were feeling ever so slightly ropey!
We met up for a walk to the top of the fort that looks over the harbour, a great idea when it is 40+ degrees and you are already dehydrated.....
Enjah and islay Mist anchored together in Ormos Garitsas, Corfu.
As you can see in the girls faces it was hot hot hot! Dunno who that strange fellow is behind them.
Kaylee, me, Alisha, Brian, Marvin, Marie and Denise at the top of the tower - just glad to have made it without collapsing!
The view of Corfu town looking NW from the fort.
Once we got down we all went for a well deserved cool drink of one sort or another.....
There were lots of yachts anchored in the very busy bay like this one (just a little bigger than Islay Mist and Enjah.)
At night we went for a meal up in the old town we weren't sure where to go so we went to a place in a square where the girls could run around. Kaylee has been trying her hand at photography again and here is one of her masterpieces:
The next day it was time for Marvin and Denise to go home and Enjah to leave for their lay up berth in Prevesa. It seemed kinda lonesome in the big anchorage after everyone had gone but we then got a message from Solstice to say that they were heading South for Corfu too so we decided to wait for them to turn up. This gave us a day or so to explore the town.
Enjah leaving the bay.
One thing we were acutely aware of after being in Croatia (and coming from Shetland!) was the obvious lack of government funds for the likes of urban gardening and refuse collection. The place really was a bit stinky and there were sights you would never see elsewhere like this over grown fountain which sits exactly where the cruise liners dock.
We found one of those little tourist trains which was very cheap and we decided to go on it, and discovering the reason for the cheapness being that there was nothing much to see on the route!
We did see one sight we didn't manage to get a picture of, a car that had been parked on the road for so long it had vines and greenery growing all over it and inside it! There isn't enough money for such frivolous things as an amenity trust around here!
We went to the archaeological museum and were very glad we did too, sometimes these places are a huge disappointment but not this one.
This is the main exhibit, the facade from the temple of Artemis at the South of the town which has a huge carving of Medusa, supposed to be the best in existence.
It was pretty big!
The girls were even mesmerised for a while especially when I read out to them the plaque on the wall that explained the scene on the pediment. The carving is of Medusa whom Perseus defeated by cutting off her head and form her neck sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus the winged horse. This was the bit the girls were intrigued by, "So you mean that Pegasus as in 'Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus's mother was actually a woman who had snakes for hair?!"
There were also many other exhibits.
Lots of heads without bodies,
The girls were very well behaved but as always their concentration began to wane until they could stand still no more and they went of to hunt for tigers in the jungle.
As we had been in Greek waters for about 5 days we thought it was about time we signed into the country! We headed up around to Gouvia Marina just 5 miles North of Corfu town. It was a bit of a disaster really as the wind got up to a healthy 30ish knots on the nose the whole way there, the marinero helping us tie up managed to pull the lazy line across and under the boat so it got stuck on our keel or our propeller and finally the main reason we wanted to be there was to get some water and we were now stuck for 24 hours on a berth without a potable water tap. However the day ended very well as we met an English/South African Family with two girls the same age and level of craziness as our two and we went out for dinner with them. Alisha and Kaylee were high as kites these being the first two girls they had to play with since the beginning of July. We also had a lot of fun with the parents and gained lots of info as they have had a boat out in this area for years. They also told us an awful story of their last sailing experience.....
They were on transit between Montenegro and Greece when the wind fell away entirely and they decided to put the engine on, then realised when it wouldn't work that they must have got dirty fuel in Montenegro. They spent four days (yes four days!) drifting aimlessly and very slowly towards Greece, calling up on the VHF every boat that went past them (Germans, Italians and French) and not one of them offered to help them or even answered them at all! Thankfully they drifted in the desired direction and managed to get themselves close enough to Gouvia marina to be towed in but to think you can be in such a busy water way and for no one to even respond to your cries for help is more than a bit worrying.
A funky party boat we spotted on the way into Gouvia!
The divers came and cleared the line from under our boat the next morning and we moved berth to get some water on board. Thankfully we did this before the wind got up again as all hell broke loose for a while. The wind rose to about 25 knots maybe 30 in a matter of minutes and it became apparent that a lot of the mooring lines in the marina must have been rotten! Boats were banging back against the pontoons and this poor guy below had to use his bow thrusters to keep him from swinging around into the pontoon for about half an hour whilst the divers were re-mooring the big boats that had broken free!
Solstice had come in in the morning to sign in (on their first day in Greek waters, they always do things far more properly than us.) We had a meal with them at night before we headed off the next day.
Our next port of call was Nisos Paxoi or as we now call it Rat Island....
Now we spent about three nights back in Barcelona getting cruising notes from our Dutch friends Ton and Ingrid who had cruised Greece and Turkey for years. They told us not to go to Paxoi because of the rats and we weren't going to but then it just seemed nice and close when we got to the South of Corfu so we thought we would go have a looksy! Well we did and as predicted we got a rat onboard!
We met the family above (Bob and Lou and the kids) and decided to have a barbecue on the beach. Unfortunately we drank way too much wine (mental note to self do not take a full box of red to a BBQ ever again!) had a good laugh and when we dinghied back to our boat we managed to leave the bag of rubbish on deck. Not a very good idea at the island of the swimming rats. The next morning we were having our breakfast when Kaylee found a little brown lump on the deck and said, "What's this?" Horrified we realised straight away exactly what it was and started looking around for more evidence, unfortunately finding a chicken leg had been dragged out of the bag and stripped clean. From that minute on it was panic stations, surprisingly Ali was much more disturbed than me and was jumping around all over the place. Needless to say the rest of the day was spent emptying, cleaning and restocking nearly every cupboard on the boat and then we went into town to buy rat protectors for our ropes. We couldn't get any so we improvised with plant pot bases.
Steve and Malisa arrived in the bay in the afternoon so we had a cuppa and some yummy freshly baked cake on board their boat and swapped rat stories, they had one onboard at the same island! Malisa once again took the girls into the boat to do some craft work which they loved and they still have their little paper boats with butterfly crew!
Solstice also pulled into the bay in the afternoon so everyone came to Islay Mist for a drink or two in the evening, regularly punctuated by Alistair switching on the searchlight and shining it at the cliffs to see all the rats scurrying out of the light - yikes!
Other non rat related notes on Paxoi.... This was the first time we had to anchor with a line back to the shore - without Daniel! It was fairly windy when we got there so muggins here got the job of jumping in with the rope, what a struggle! The rope got heavier and heavier as I neared the shore and it was all I could do just to get to the rocks, then in my panic I didn't stop to look for a good place to get up on and just heaved my self over the sharp rocks lacerating my knees arms and chest. Luckily there seemed to be no man eating sharks around as there was a fair bit of blood in the water! After a bit of a kerfuffle and a few worried looks from the two boats we were trying to go between we got tucked in - phew!
Although we had the rat issue we quite liked Paxoi, the first morning we woke up to the sound of bells tinkling and looked out to see these guys on the rocks behind the boat and we thought, 'wow we really are in Greece!'
One of our goaty alarm clocks.
The town is quite nice too, although the quay is completely packed with Italian boats and after our Italian expereinces we thought it best to stay anchored outside in the relative calm.
The morning after everyone was n our boat the wind got up a bit and made the anchorage very uncomfortable, so much so that we had to chomp our Sunday morning pancakes down and leave which was thankfully the plan anyway. But we were glad to find no more evidence of rats, and we hoped it had just been a passing guest - and I can report that we have had no more rat poo onboard since and are officially rat free!
We were heading down to Levkas a good thirty miles and unfortunately we had to motor into a choppy sea for the first four hours or so. Otherwise an uneventful trip except for this little big visitor......
He accompanied us for about an hour and instead of just sitting in one place he liked to buzz around here and there and set the girls completely high, he was the biggest bug they had seen so far and there was ALOT of shreiking!
We somehow managed to time our entry into the Levkas Canal perfectly and just motored on through as the bridge opened. Ali and I were a little relieved as we had been warned that if we tied up alongside the Northern end of the canal to wait we would end up with a boat full of gypsy kids and would be lucky if nothing went missing. Alisha and Kaylee on the other hand were very dissappointed as they had just watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame and were ready to give all their wordly possessions away to the gypsy kids, I suppose it would have been a good way of clearing out their cabin!
The bridge raised as we went through.
It is a great piece of engineering, the two ends lift up then the whole thing rotates by 90 degrees to let boats pass through for 5 minutes on the hour every hour. Although I don't suppose the drivers in the huge tailback at each side think it is so great!
We docked at Levkas town managing to get the last spot on the pier. Levkas town was somewhere we had been before by car but we didn't realy like it that much this time. The docking was a bit crazy with people shouting and swearing at each other, just after we tied up an Italian boat wanted to come in to a space that was not at all big enough, the English and Dutch boat on either side of the gap were screaming at them to go away for about 15 minutes - as I said it's crazy. The Dutch couple were very nice though and we ended up sharing a bottle of Ouzo with them after the kids went to bed....
In the morning the dock lady comes around to collect berthing fees at around 9.30. we were amazed to see German and Swedish boats hurriedly untying before she made it along to them in order to avoid the huge fee of 10 Euros! After Croatia it seemed like a complete bargain, seriously though the Greek economy is on it's knees and to try and get out of paying a very reasonable amount is in my mind criminal. I am glad to say that the dock lady took all of their names and gave them to the port police who I am sure must have some kind of network and they will catch them eventually.
We fuelled up before leaving the smelly harbour and were amazed that the fuel guy let us have water for free that would never happen in Croatia!
The southern end of the channel was marked by little sticks and we were glad not to be attempting it at night. We became aware of a very stinky smell and then came up on the town dump which they were actually burning so the whole boat got covered in big bits of ash that had taken flight in the afternoon breeze, lovely!
The town dump peeking from between the trees not a great tourist attraction but one we couldn't avoid!
Our next destination was the anchorage at Vilihko bay just to the South of Niddri. On the way we passed Tranquil Bay a very sheltered anchorage (as the name would suggest.) We were delighted and ever so slightly amused to see SS Unique anchored there. SS Unique is a Norwegian boat belonging to Kari and Svein whom we met in Portugal last year. Svein had said that they would be back in his favourite spot of Tranquil bay and sure enough there they were! We said Hello to Svein but headed on to Vilihko as 'tranquil' bay was a bit too crowded for our liking.
The anchorage at Vilihko is great, a huge muddy bottomed bay with depths of 3 to 7 metres, perfect! It was very busy also but there was loads of space so we 'dropped the hook' and all got into the sea for a quick dip before heading ashore to explore.
The 'pier' which we tied the dinghy was the lowest pier we had ever been at only rising about 10 cm above the water. We thought it must have been poorly built and subsided.
The whole quayside and area around it was very run down as you can see by the state of this play park......
This area is a huge favourite with British yachties there's even a 'Yacht Club.' We were standing at the doorway wondering whether to go in when we heard people calling hello to us. Here were Cathy and Paul a couple we had met a couple of times in Southern Italy. It was a bit of a surprise to say the least as we had gotten used to never meeting people unexpectedly like you do at home. They were sitting with another lady who told us that another couple we had met in Sicily had just left the bay. If that wasn't enough then when Ali went to the toilet he was very surprised to meet Gordon the skipper of the big yacht Concerto that had berthed next to us in Marseilles and we had seen in Corsica too (and he has Shetland connections too!) It was like a little reunion, it is nice to sometimes meet people again rather than new people all of the time.
The girls were delighted with the yacht club they had a kiddie menu with bangers beans and mash on it....... Ali and I found it quite amusing, all the English favourites were on it from steak and kidney pudding, sheperds pie to good old chicken curry. It would have been easy to forget we were in greece. The best bit was the extensive collection of books that you could look through and swap. A lady took Alisha for a look at the big book selection they had and I groaned when she returned with the first Harry Potter book as I knew who would have to read it! Alisha loved it and now I have read the first three books to her.
Ali had arranged with Gordon to come back along our boat later on and the pair of them proceeded to get fairly inebriated. It was an interesting night as Gordon told us all about life as the skipper of a large charter yacht. It certainly isn't as glamorous as it sounds.
Ali went out the next morning to photograph some of the many wrecks half submerged around the edge of the bay. We have never seen anywhere like it. It seems that people have just left boats all over the place to sink at the moorings which is a real shame as the place would have been much prettier without them. Here are a very small selection of them......
From there we went up to Tranquil Bay and went out for a Gyros with Solstice who had just made it into the inner Ionian. Gyros is the cheapest 'meal in one' you can get, kebab meat, salad chips and tzatziki all wrapped up in a pitta for about 2 to 3 Euros, a filling bargain!
The next day we left for Nisos Meganisi on the advice of Kari on SS Unique, she calls it her heaven on earth and it sure was nice. The water is clear and blue and warm enough to be in for ages, there is a little beach with lots of little beautifully coloured stones which the girls and I spent ages sorting through.
SS Unique
It wasn't long until Solstice anchored in the bay and Shirlee floated over on her new beer can holding li-lo! The girls of course loved it and were soon on it with Shirlee - not drinking beer, just floating around!
Our schedule for getting to Athens intime for the girls and my flight home was starting to get a little tight so the next day we reluctantly headed South for Kephalonia as we couldn't be in this area and not go there!
Solstice motoring past Levkas island.
And then past a fairly big boat!
We anchored in a bay just to the Soth of Fiskardho which was a little deep for us so we tied a couple of lines ashore too (with rat protectors this time!) In the evening we went in John and Shirlee's dinghy to town as it is way bigger, better and faster than ours.
A picture taken before John speeded up so much all I sould do was hold on, I am definitely not a speed freak. The girls on the other hand love it when he goes fast!
Fiskardho was very busy, loads of boats docked along the quay and the restaurants were all busy. We asked about prices for docking the next night as it would be our last night with Solstice before they headed west and we sprinted East. the prices were fine but we realised we were quite happily anchored in the much more peaceful bay around the corner.
The next day we went for a look in the cave at the head of the bay. The girls and I attempted to swim into it first but they got a bit scared so we rowed the dinghy in instead but they got scared again and started screaming to get out.
In the cave.
All too soon it was our last night with John and Shirlee and we had a barbeque on the shore for starters. The girls got dressed up in their bumble bee and ladybird outfits as it was a special occasion. We headed back to Islay Mist for a final nightcap or two.....
The girls had one last fast dinghy run with John and shirlee before we left in the morning!
We left Kephalonia intending to do the trip to Corinth in two goes but as we were motoring along we realised we had miscalculated when Marvin was coming to meet us and so we decided we would have to do it all in one go. It was flat calm the whole day and pretty hot so we were all a bit grumpy.
Lunch on the table because it was calm.
There was very little traffic just one or two yachts and a couple of big boats but nothing came close enough to even make us alter course.
We got an hour or so sailing in the late afternoon as we headed for the big bridge between Rion and Andirrion at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth.
It is a mile long and even though there was no other traffic we had to call up to be told where to go under it and then call up again just as we got there to confirm our position a little unnecessary we thought. Especially as you still have to move fast to get out of the way of the car and truck ferries that zoom back and forth from side to side (goodness only knows why when there is a bridge??)
Ferry.
After our calm day we had a fairly exciting night as the wind got up and up and I got Ali up to help reef the sails. Thankfully it was a following wind so we were rolling around but not crashing around, it was impressive how big the seas got in an area with so short a fetch but nothing surprises us about the Med anymore! We ended up taking down everything except the jib as we were going too fast and didn't want to end up in Corinth before daylight and as it is at the end of the Gulf/Voe you can't just go on past.
By the morning it had all calmed down and we came into Corinth at around 8am. There was no room in the little marina so we went into the commercial harbour and tied to a very very rough pier.
A big boat tied to the outer pier in corinth, you can't really see but it is another example of a pier that has sunk a bit goodness knows what they build them out of out here!
Although we had a rough night we were oh so glad we had come over night as the wind really got up that day and we had to help a few boats dock as they needed all the extra muscle power they could get to come alongside.
Marvin arived at night and we had a chinese takeaway and a peerie glass of wine or two to welcome him! Marvin is the resident Shetlander in Barcelona who helped us party all winter long (look up earlier blog posts.) He was coming out for ten days of 'girl free sailing' with Ali whilst me and da lasses were home for a visit.
The next day we went through the famous Corinth Canal, the most expensive tolled waterway per mile in the world, but still worth it (once anyway!) Here are some pics.....
Before they open the bridge lots of boats mill around as close as they can get to the entrance vying to be first through. We stayed back out of the fray as a few minutes never makes any difference one way or the other and you have to let the commercial shipping through first anyway.
Like this guy!
Once the big boats had gone through we didn't know what to do and all the other yachts seemed in a dither so we just went past most of them in the end anyway but made sure we were far enough behind the big boats that we wouldn't get pushed around by the turbulence from their propellers.
The race!
Looking back West at the two sides of the sinking bridge.
Marvin soaking up some Grecian sun on deck.
The tanker up ahead looks like it would get jammed at some points.
The banks are very soft stone and always eroding so much so that the Canal is closed every Tuesday for repair and dredging.
There are a few road and rail bridges accross the canal.
You pay at the East end of the canal and yep it was a scrum to get to the quay first there too! Bleedin' yachties - why jostle for places when after you leave you will only be doing around 5 miles and hour anyway....... It didn't make paying 195 Euros for 3km any less painfull!
I knew it was going to get a little breezy in the afternoon for my last sail before I went home and the weather sure didn't dissapoint! We were sprinting along at 9 knots sometimes through the big commercial anchorage to the SE of Athens with full sail up. Ali and Marvin were nearly peeing them selves with glee up on deck whilst I was grimly hanging on to the navigation table below. To say I wasn't happy would be a bit of an understatement! But hey ho we made it into Zea marina just before dark and were guided to our berth.
The girls and I had only one full day before flying home to Shetland which was spent packing by me and oh getting plastered by Ali and Marvin. Pair of monkeys they just couldn't wait one more day to break into the duty free Marvin had taken out and this was the result.......
Marvin pretending to be a dog chasing the girls around the pier whilst Ali was already flaked out! Amazingly enough Ali was able to accompany me and the girls across Athens to the airport at 5am so we did actually part on good terms, I did return after ten days and they both survived ten days of beer and gyros!
Well the next post will be written by him himself all about the ten days of boys holiday.
Great blog, as always! We're determined to meet up with you again someday, somewhere. Until then, we'll follow your blog. Miss you!
ReplyDeleteCheers shirley hey if we don't sail across the pond we will fly!
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