We departed Lefkas heading south down the Lefkas canal looking forward to exploring the Southern Ionian Islands. We sailed here before, many moons ago and before we bought our own boat, when we came on a flotilla holiday to see if we would be compatible as a sailing team! Fortunately we were not put off and we have many happy memories of that trip when we had absolutely no idea how to even anchor. Given that it is now peak season, and there seem to be many more charter boats around, we decided to try some of the lesser known spots. Our first stop was one of the beautiful inlets on the northeastern part of Meganisi where we had our first experience of taking a line to the rocks ashore. Happily it worked well and we took advantage of the lovely calm water to practice a bit more paddle boarding and snorkelling.
We then headed over to Kalamos which has a number of beautiful anchorages. We stopped at Port Leone, the site of a village abandoned in the 1950s after an earthquake cut off its water supply. The buildings still stand but the only residents are goats. We meandered back towards Ithaca, sheltering from strong winds in Vathi, which seems almost like an inland lake, before dropping anchor at several bays along the coast. We would love to have spent more time in Cephalonia and Zakynthos but the weather showed prolonged periods of very strong Meltemi winds over in the Aegean and we needed to give ourselves ample time to get to Athens in early August.
We headed back to the mainland and anchored in a stunning inland sea at Limani Petala prior to entering the Gulf of Patras. From here we planned to make a few stops en route to the Corinth Canal. Our first stop was at Messolonghi and the contrast with the Ionians was stunning. A long narrow dredged channel leads towards the port and along both banks are shacks and ramshackle landing quays sitting in very shallow water and reminiscent of the waterways of Vietnam or New Orleans. The birdlife is spectacular with herons and storks diving for fish all around. Sadly the nightlife was not so good, with pounding music until 4.30 am.
Feeling a little sleep deprived we made our way to the narrow strait linked by the Rio bridge. We were instructed by the bridge controller to take the northern arch and, despite descriptions of the arches being at a minimum height of 25 metres, it’s always nerve racking passing underneath when the perspective convinces you that your mast will make contact. Safely through we stopped at the lovely little port and island of Trazonia and the very pretty town of Galaxidi. Galaxidi, sleepy by day, made me wish we were in another galaxy as the music on the quayside pounded our brains until 6am only to be replaced by the jangling of church bells at 7am! From Galaxidi we sailed to the southern coast of the Gulf of Corinth, anchored off the deserted Alkionidhes island and finally stayed at a quiet harbour in Vrakati ready for an exciting day passing along the Corinth Canal.
The Corinth Canal is only 3.4 miles long, traversing the isthmus just south and west of Athens. Work began to dig a canal in Roman times but it was not completed until the 1893. Since then it has offered a much shorter route between Ionian and Aegean seas rather than sailing all the way around the Peloponnese Peninsula. However, it was closed at the start of 2021 due to landslides of the unstable limestone walls. Happily it reopened in July and we enjoyed a spectacular short trip.
We’ve now spent a lovely week tucked away in the Saronic Sea south of Athens and west of the main Aegean where the Meltemi is raging. The winds are the strongest in more than 40 years and just don’t stop. We anchored in the very sheltered bay of Korfos and then a little further south in Epidavros. We tied up against the harbour wall in Epidavros and made a few cultural forays ashore. We visited the very impressive Ancient Theatre of Epidavros, a 14,000 seat arena dating to 400BC, and part of a settlement built by the Cult of Asklepios. Asklepios was the son of Apollo and the Greek God of Medicine, banished to the underworld when he started to resurrect the dead. We followed this with an evening trip to the nearby Little Theatre of Epidavros, a mere 2000 seats where we saw a modern take on an Ancient Greek play – visual art meets classical Greek tragedy meets slapstick comedy!
From there we moved to a lovely bay south of Epidavros with relatively shallow crystal clear water. This is the site of the ancient sunken city, lost after an earthquake. Luckily it was found by Jonathan armed with his trusty video camera.
After this we have just a few days before arriving at Sea Marina in Athens. We’ll leave the boat there for a few weeks as we need to return to France to ask permission of our Co-propriety to start work on our Chalet. Fingers crossed that they approve. It will also give me a chance to visit my mum and catch up with friends in England