Photo: Delphi
After leaving the Corinth Canal, we again motored 38 nm into the Gulf of Corinth to Itea, the wind gods have not been kind to us so far as we have managed little sailing. On the way we had a small pod of dolphins play in our bow wake, we haven’t had that for a long time. In Itea we side tied to the inside pier of an unfinished marina, along with 4 or 5 other foreign flagged vessels and after sharing cruising notes with several, including Tina and Frank from Germany, went to one of the cafes along the waterfront for dinner.
Sunday 10th May, we caught the 10:45 bus for €1.90 each, from the bus station across the road and took the 25 min ride to the historic ruins of Delphi, The Sanctuary of Apollo. Getting off the bus in Delphi, we walked about 300ms to the historic archaeological site and spent several hours wandering around the ruins, we thought the stadium was well worth the walk up the hill. Delphi gets very busy in the height of summer and we were glad to be there early in the season. For €9 each we gained entry to the archaeological site and the museum which has some great examples of carvings and statues. A walk around the village of Delphi, where a 215km running race (Yes 215kms) had just finished, and then lunch, it was time to catch the bus back to Itea. When we arrived back at the marina, another kiwi yacht had just arrived so it was evening drinks on the Dol with Leanne and John “Sabbatacus”, a good evening.
The following day we motored again, 22 nm to anchor in Trizonia. One of the things we had discussed the previous night was how much Europeans like to tie up in marinas and town walls and not use their anchors. Again in Trizonia we were the only one on anchor as others went into the small marina. At this time of year in Greece it is known as pollen season, we regularly sail through large patches on the water and the Dol is almost permanently yellow, oh for some rain and the end of pollen season.
You should be careful what you wish for, we had an afternoon of rain which washed the boat, good, but the next day as we headed off for Mesolongion, we had 5 – 40 knots of breeze in every direction. We were sort of expecting the wind as this is the narrowest part of Corinth Bay heading into Gulf of Patras and has high mountains/hills on either side, the wind therefore funnels down. As we headed under the Rion Andirrion Bridge, the longest cable stayed bridge in the world at 2252m (or it was in 2004 when it was completed) we were surfing at 10 knots, dodging the car ferry. By mid-afternoon we made it through the 2 mile dredged, saltmarsh channel into Mesolongion and tied alongside the town wall with the help of some friendly English charter boat sailors. The lagoon style anchorage was very sheltered and had 3 very large turtles in residence.
Mesolongion was a non-tourist town with a great supermarket for provisioning and several butchers. Most of the streets were pedestrian only but you were constantly on the lookout for people riding bicycles, which seemed to be the main mode of transport for the young especially, but any age group. We obviously stood out as not being locals, several of the school children walked alongside us wanting to practice their English language skills. After 2 nights in Mesolongion, we headed out of the channel and again motored with no wind, out of the Gulf of Patras across to our first Ionian Island, anchoring in Vathi, Ithaca. Our first impression is of the Ionian Islands being greener with more vegetation than the Aegean islands, but it is early days.
It was nice to stay in one place for a few days, we caught up with a few chores, watched very poor attempts at anchoring or stern lining to the town wall, (the witching hour as it has come to be called is quite entertaining), enjoyed walking around the town, and the local Greeks again were very friendly. Brian reckoned the Coastguard, who we get to complete our Transit Log in the main centres, were the friendliest he has come across. We also met Peter again from Coff’s Harbour, Australia, we have been crossing paths with Peter since Itea, but he is now on his way to Italy as we make our way north towards Corfu. Sunday 17th May we left Ithaca and sedately sailed to Ormos Abelike, Meganissi, and a more “NZ like” cruising area.
We stayed around the Meganissi/Lefkus area for a couple of weeks, enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the many wonderful anchorages. Except for one evening when the breeze unexpectedly came from completely the unpredicted angle, increasing in strength, putting us on a lee shore. Without local knowledge of anchorages, where to go in the conditions, we made the decision to go into the town wall marina of Vathy at 19:30. Two guys assisted us into the berth, unfortunately the lead line somehow got caught around the propeller, delaying our departure the following day until a diver could clear it. Port Vlihko, Lefkus, our next destination, is a land locked bay with a bottleneck opening, which once inside has lots of room to anchor. A couple of charter boat operators work out of the bay and yachts winter over on anchor and we saw many with no-one aboard, the holding is good. Port Vlihko Yacht Club is friendly, run by English, there are a lot of ex pats here, good food (we enjoyed a traditional English roast dinner whilst watching premier league football) and information on yacht services. We finally worked out what was wrong with the smart charger for the main batteries which works again after we had our alternator repaired by an auto electrician in Nidri.
Before going through the bottleneck entrance to Port Vlihko is Tranquil Bay which is nearer the busy town of Nidri, a popular tourist area with lots of cafes, day cruise ferries, supermarkets, a good butcher shop, car and bike hire. The walk from the anchorage in Port Vlihko to Nidri is an easy 30 minutes or you can get the bus. On the walk to Nidri is a boat yard, right next door to a graveyard, nothing like wintering over in the dead centre of town!
Time to think about moving further north towards Corfu where Lyn and Dick “Wind Pony” will catch up with us to travel further north to Croatia.