Passage through the Corinth canal
13 July 2017
12th July 2017 Sailing through the Corinth Canal.
Mike had told me it would be an early start the following day, with a 6 to 8 hour sail before we reach the Corinth Canal and then a rumoured maximum of 3 hours wait, there was no way we could afford to leave late. Knowing how I like my bed Mike said he would get up and set off leaving me to dream in the luxury of our double bed and all to myself. Getting up and off is not a quiet affair, engines started and size 9’s thudding centimetres above your head make sleeping even for the most proficient an impossibility. As I stuck my head up on deck daylight was barely breaking, it was 04:00, and all was quiet around us, we let the lines go and as quietly as possible made our exit from the harbour trying not to disturb others who were fast asleep. Despite it being early it was already warm and Mike was soon dropping his swimming trunks to get some air flow.
There was very little wind and a side swell made the journey a little uncomfortable, fortunately when we changed our direction at the headland the swell was more from the stern and made it a little better. As the auto pilot did its stuff we sat observing the activity around us, mmm, we are the only silly buggers up it would appear.
As I stared into the distance I saw something large jump out the water several times in a linear fashion. “Dolphins”, “where, are you sure ?” We both watched as they made their way along our starboard but at a distance. “It could be Tuna, if it is they won’t come to us” With that several Dolphins were making a B Line for the boat, I was instructed not to go on deck due to the swell but like every wife who promised to obey I did as I liked and clambered to the bow with my camera strapped to me. They put on another amazing display jumping out the water in pairs, swimming with the bow, flipping over so you could see their tummies and jumping out ahead of the boat. Well that was exciting. As we continued our journey this happened another twice but with different pods, how lucky are we.
The Corinth Canal does not operate to opening times and it is just pot luck how long you have to wait till it is your turn. The canal works on a one way system and road bridges have to be lowered into the water to allow passage of the 4.5K waterway carved through the rock. As we were getting near we could see some large boats hovering at the entrance, far behind us we could see the spray of a fast motor boat, Solaris, obviously in a rush to make the next passage through. Having no regard for us or the yacht on his other side he flew between us doing 29 knots, with no consideration for us or the discomfort his passage would be for us. Think “tosser” is the word.
We could see by the movement of the boats ahead we were not going to make this passage and just hoped and prayed it would be a quicker turn around than three hours. The protocol for the canal is quite strict and if you do not adhere to this you can end up with a substantial fine, overtaking in the canal is reported to attract a €700 fine on top of your passage charge. Mike radioed up and we were instructed to wait one mile off the entrance on the north side, the swell had picked up and we were merrily bouncing about in it in the company of Lulu V a large motor boat with its tender to its rear, the tender was longer in length than our boat. The control tower was communicating with boats at both the East and West entrances, with this and some confusion between names it was all quite amusing to listen to. We could hear one of the boats making its way through being instructed to go faster, you are expected to maintain 5 knots. After about an hour of hovering around it was our turn, Lulu V was instructed to make her way with the tender to her stern, followed by us and then a yacht called Seven. Out of the blue a yacht appeared and without any notification to the tower and pushed in front of Lulu V who was now shouting “There is a yacht in front of me” repeatedly and in panic, messages were shouted to the pilot boat to stop the yacht, the controllers ordered the yacht to stop but it carried on oblivious, hope he has his credit card with him !!
The idea of cutting a canal across the narrow waist connecting the Peloponnese to Attica was muted by the ancient Greeks and many who came after. The present canal was started by the French and completed by the Greeks in 1893. It is reputed to be the highest canal fee per mile in the world. The canal is 3.2 miles long and 25 meters wide. The water that leads you through is turquoise, and despite it being a choppy day in the entrance calm prevailed in the passage. Visitors stood on the bridges which towered up above our masts taking photographs, some apparently bungee jump. An hour to passage the canal and a charge of €177.
Once on the other side we needed to check the weather and decide where best to anchor, despite our desire for some sleep we agreed we needed to do another 4 hours sailing due the wind strength and lack of protection. We were both flagging and with the gentle bob of the boat I know my eyes were closing. Then all of a sudden the sound of the engine changed, dropping revs before increasing back up slightly. A vibration could be felt, all we could think was we had picked something up on our propeller. It was now 18:00 when we arrived at Korfos and dropped the anchor. Mike jumped in the water and retrieved an industrial type plastic bag from the propeller. As he swam to the back of the boat I saw a large brown shape moving around “Jellyfish” I shrieked, Mike moved quickly to get on board “oh no it’s a Turtle” panic over.