A visit from the family

Summer holidays, wasn’t that the best word in school days? And then grandparents with a boat – isn’t that a super combo? When I imagine having had a grandad with a ship, I gasp. Well, my grandfather was a public post servant and collected stamps.

During the last summer holidays, we had just arrived in the Mediterranean and our grandchildren visited us in Mallorca on our way to the eastern Mediterranean. This year we were delighted that Hannah, Henri, together with mum Jil and grandad Manni, accepted our invitation to the Ionian Sea. There have never been six of us on the Rivercafe before. However, we often see chartered boats of our size with 8-10 people on board. Then we should be able to do it with six people.

300-400 planes land in Mallorca every day, which makes travelling to the island easier and cheaper than to any other destination. 50-60 planes make it to Corfu, the tourist hotspot in the Ionian Sea, every day. Just 20 find Kefalonia in summer, including private jets. And they all fly right over our boat when we are moored in the marina.

Where to go in the Ionian Sea?

Corfu would be the easiest pickup solution, with two days sailing for us from Kefalonia. The sailing area is beautiful, the cuisine is – in our opinion – the best in the Ionian Sea and the journey is easy. But Corfu in August is Dante’s Inferno. In addition to the normal sailors, there are hundreds of charter boats and, as the icing on the cake, all the sailors from Italy.

There seems to be a law that obliges all Italians with boats to sail into the Ionian Sea to Greece, preferably to Corfu, exactly on 1 August. This means anchoring with fenders out, but that doesn’t bother cheerful Italians. In fact, a fortnight ago we met the first Luxembourg vessel of our trip, the “Summerwind” with the likeable Gianluigi. The Italian roots of the name are hard to miss and he prepared us for the summer behaviour of the fellow Italians.

“Stress-free” was convincing and we were able to lure the kids to Kefalonia. Although it is the largest Ionian island, only a few tourists find their way here. Nothing is overcrowded, but it has the most expensive rental car prices I have ever paid.

As predicted by Gianluigi, the Italians then took over around Kefalonia. But with their particular and special charm. You only see helmswomen with elegant hats (of course no caps) on Italian vessels. They simply bring dolce vita to Greece. Nevertheless, there is plenty of anchorage in the crystal-clear water, especially in the south and west of the island.

Family visit

Megaflop Odysseus

The kids flew in and for a relaxed familiarisation, we didn’t leave the marina on the first day – after all, we had two weeks. However I felt responsible for the kids’ cultural education and what could be more exciting than Greek mythology? So I thought a visit to Odysseus Park on the east side near Sami was a good idea. If I’d had a book of Greek myths balanced on my nose, it would have been more exciting. The park was no longer state of the art in the 90s and so my clumsy attempt at education was met with rather confused and bored looks with the unspoken message “seriously?”.

Odysseus Park

Our only option was to to escape forwards and that was to sail Rivercafe out of the marina. After a short trip, we dropped anchor on the rocks of Spartia, a bay with the finest and clearest water. The water sports season was open and every few minutes someone was jumping into the water in different ways or climbing on water-toys.

At the beginning, Hannah kept the few fish at a distance of at least 5 metres. Towards the end of the trip, she wanted to catch fish by hand and a blue one became her new friend. The kids visibly enjoyed the clear, 28-degree celsius water.

Henri took command of our dinghy and from then on a 12-year-old proudly chauffeured us ashore. When he wasn’t piling up mountains of rocks under the water. Hannah discovered her passion for pottery and modelling at a beach with plenty of clay, and the sun did the firing.

Over the next few days, we travelled to various beaches, which were either moderately busy or completely empty, even in the high season. The kids took possession of one of the most beautiful beaches and declared it their private beach. And it happened to be a turtle beach with a turtle nest.

     

Summer in Greece 

Turtle time

These days is the “nesting” time of the turtles for which Kefalonia is famous. The females dig holes in the fine sand at night and lay an average of 100 eggs. The hole is dug again and the sun incubates the eggs in 7-10 weeks. Then – at the end of August – its hatching time. After hatching, adorable baby turtles dig themselves out of the sand at night and clumsily plod into the sea. It’s an easy job for the parents, without any educational mission, as the little ones fend for themselves. However, only one in 1,000 baby turtles reaches adulthood, which explains the necessarily high number of eggs.

At the end of August, volunteers will help to keep the predators away and improve the hatchlings’ chances of survival. The seagulls and falcons have certainly already made a note of the hatching days.

Farewell in Argostoli

Finally we visited the capital Argostoli and anchored in the bay, a dead-end. The water is not inviting for swimming, but you can see a turtle every few minutes. The capital is small but nice and good for a few errands. Unfortunately, the swell and wind got a bit heavier and the shore leave became quite wet. On the other hand, Henri was able to indulge in his newly discovered favourite dish: fried anchovies. We were joined by sailing friends for a farewell: the “Kalyra” before heading to Tunisia and the “Sawaasdekat” on her journey across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Happy sailing to all of you. We´ll meet again sometime, somewehere.

Jil and “Masterchef” Pookie

We spent the last few days anchored on beaches and that was it for the kids’ summer holiday. After the left, we processed mountains of laundry, slept and rested and then got ready for the next family visit in a few days.

We are now anchored again at our new private beach. We met the mother turtle during our morning swim. Perhaps she is still looking for godparents for her babies. We’ll have to discuss that. /Holger Binz