Ionian Sea between islands and mainland
Our kids had left, the washing machine had cooled down again and our busy water maker was given another breather. Then Karin’s ex-sister-in-law Hanne and nephew Anton came on board. We were able to cover a little more distance with them, as they wanted to leave us again after a week on the mainland.
Right at the first anchorage, we met our American sailing friend Lorenz again after a long time, with time for a meal together and a stimulating exchange of different opinions. After two days and a farewell until sometime, somewhere, everyone went their separate ways.
boatslife with Ladies, reunion with Lorenz
Around Kefalonia, from west to south, we enjoyed the clear water and empty anchorages. Despite the high season. As in the Bahamas, we could see anchors and chains lying on the fine sandy bottom at all times during the first two stops. However, at a depth of 6-7 metres instead of 2 metres.
Our second stop was in the very south of Kefalonia, in Skala. A nice stretch of coast, open to the south, with a view of the island of Zakynthos, the Peloponnese and the mainland. Skala is one ot the few spots where some of Kefalonia’s little tourism is concentrated. There are no large hotel complexes and only scattered buildings. A long pebble beach leads into the clear water, which turns into fine sand after a few metres. This is the perfect place for sand haters – who do indeed exist. There is a supermarket and really nice restaurants on the shore. For the first time, we enjoyed a lounge style place with more than just Greek cuisine. Sushi for the first time since….ages. The culinary variety did us good.
“Maria, ihm schmeckt´s nicht”
In the red-hot sunrise, as if it were the last ever, we left the lonely Kefelonia for Ithaca, half a day away. It was getting crowded again with the mix of charterers and Italians described in the last article. The many Italian vessel reminded me of the stereotypes from the funny german book/film by Jan Weiler ‘Maria, ihm schmeckt´s nicht’. Honestly I have no idea if this booked is translated in english. If vessel anchored in a cosy space, and quite noisy they were Italian. Sometimes the boats were even tied up with a line. Mamma mia. But other yachties also had few distance problems. For the first time, we had something on the fishing line: and a whole vessel that wanted to see what we had on the breakfast table. The Italian sailing season is drawing to a close and the number of Italian flags is already declining significantly.
Impressions fom Ithaca
The pig island
Two days in the bay of Ithaca in the main town of Vathy with its 1,600 people should have been enough ‘urban life’. Our next destination was the island of Atokos, on the eastern route to the mainland. As in Staniel Cay in the Bahamas, pigs live on the beach here. The attraction. At 11.00 a.m. we turned into “One House Bay”, the home of the pigs, and left it again at 11.02 a.m.. 25-30 boats tried to moor up on the rocks of the small and deep bay. 4 of them had AIS, so I estimated at least 80 % charterers. On the horizon, more hordes were approaching to invade the island. We saw the piglets hopping around on the beach and countless dinghies on their way to them. One look should be enough for us.
Kastos
Our escape route took us north-east to the island of Kastos. The island looks like a long sausage 8 to 3 nm off the mainland. 50-80 people live here and there is no tourism except for the visiting boats. After a few unsuccessful visits to bays, we happily found a nice anchorage in Wasp Bay, a little to the west of the village of Kastos. On fine sand there was anchorage for 3 boats and 5-8 more on the rock with a stern line. Here we again found clear water with shoals of baby and small fish. A dinghy mile away, Anton and I visited the village of Kastos and there were about 100 charter boats on every free piece of rock. It was a Wednesday. It was almost empty on Thursday evening, because the charter boats have to be back at the base in Lefkada on Fridays. Anti-cyclical sailing is just great.
To our delight, we bumped into our British/German sailing friends Natascha and Dudley with their Rubia. The two of them are ‘real’ seafarers. Dudley is the captain of an expedition vessel and travels a lot in the Antarctic and Norway. Natascha is on the same vessel at the same pace and manages shipboard affairs. When the two of them have a break, they sail with their Rubia. We enjoyed dinner together and many stories in a picturesque taverna overlooking the bay before we parted ways again, as usual.
Astakos – mainland
Our guests’ journey ended on the mainland, in the bay of the small town of Astakos. Hanne and Anton started their land journey across the Peloponnese. The bay of Astakos would be great if someone hadn’t forgotten to install a sewage treatment plant. It stinks miserably, like the marina in Guadeloupe (Point-a-Pitre).
The anchorage at Astakos is muddy, so the anchor holds perfectly even in the unannounced but actual 25 kn wind. We would have been better off sanitising the anchor later. The water is so murky that we didn’t want to make fresh water and certainly didn’t go swimming. Too bad, because the village has many restaurants and a few shops. However, there are also a few motorcyclists with ADHD who rattle around the beach road late at night without silencers. Presumably to drown out the music in the bars until 3.30 in the morning.
We completed our work list as quickly as we could and then waited for our next friends. Hours before they were due to arrive, they had to cancel and travel home due to an emergency. Very unfortunate, but it meant we suddenly had a few unexpected days off.
departure after thunderstorm, peacefull after the storm
Ormos Oxia – mainland
After one night, we left Askatos. For contrast, we travelled 15 nm to a nature reserve on the mainland: Ormos Oxia. On the way there, we crossed an archipelago of numerous small islands with lots of fish farms. I’ll take the liberty of using a few photos from Navionics to show it better. The bay itself was huge, with mooring buoys and plenty of anchorage. Everything was very secluded.
Archipelago northery of Ormos Oxia. Source: Navily
The nearest village is 20 kilometres away, there’s not much to see ashore, so the only option is a secluded beach bar. I don’t even dare to say it: it was lonely. There were hardly any other boats around and that’s the high season. In a bay with space for easily 50 boats. It was probably too remote, in the middle of nature. So we had plenty of time to swim and work. At least we saw a few almost black dolphins, finally a seal and we got to know Giannis, the owner of the beach bar.
In the end, it was a bit boring. An unpleasant southerly wind kept us going for another day and made the Rivercafe dance. Did I say ‘a bit boring’? Nature quickly came up with something to change my mind: a violent night of thunderstorms with plenty of lightning and very little sleep. We left the mainland early in the morning in the rain without a good night’s sleep to rendezvous with our sailing friends Ruth and Michael in Vathy on Ithaca. When we arrived there, the waves were crashing over the town walls and the bay was churning at around 30 knots. I won’t be talking about ‘boring’ again, perhaps more contemplative / Holger Binz
P.S. Thank you for all the questions and good wishes about Ka’s rib injury. She is doing well again and the rib seems to be holding. Thank you very much.