Through the Corinth Canal at last!
23 July 2016 | Galaxidhi
Chris and Francis

Thursday 14th July
Today we left navy bay on Poros and motored our way to Agistra and found a nice anchorage in the channel between Dhourasa and Agistra where we tied Clio with land lines astern. Such a lovely spot clear water and Francis was soon off exploring the underwater world. He returned to Clio with a beautiful red starfish to show Chris who never seems to be able to find such treasures.
Friday 15th July
We spent the day in this lovely spot swimming and lazing about. By afternoon the Meltemi wind was cranking up again so we moved Clio to what we thought would be a more sheltered part of the bay. The water had got a little choppier and Chris jumped in again to secure our lines to the shore. First attempt did not work as our anchor was not holding so try again. With Chris floating about in the water waiting, Francis took Clio back out, re-anchored and then headed back to hand Chris the landline for a second attempt. The rocky shoreline is completely covered in sea urchins lurking under the water and Chris managed to tread on one and it was stuck in her water shoe. Luckily it did not manage to penetrate into her foot. It was not until sometime later, however that she realised that once again she had brushed up against one and collected some spines in the front of her lower leg. Again luckily in an area that does not need to have pressure applied, so they will gradually work their way to the surface and be discarded.
We ended our day enjoying watching the young children from the yacht next door being towed slowly behind dad in their put-put dinghy and water-skiing on their inflatable in the form of a very broad water ski, just like the big guys and girls zooming around on their real ones from the large motor yacht anchored nearby.
Saturday 16th July
When we awoke this morning Clio was being buffeted by choppy waves and skipper decided it is not the place to be as the wind would only increase over the morning. While Chris with blurry eyes readied Clio for departure, skipper jumped in to release the landlines. Normally Chris's job, but given the waves were breaking on the rocks and her phobia of climbing rocks, she was spared today.
We motored into the wind and waves to the Peloponnese' coast and the small village of Korfos where we were able to anchor in a relatively sheltered bay. We went ashore to explore and found the supermarket and enjoyed a drink at the Korfos taverna where we also got the key to their wifi, resulting in more downloads.
When we got back to Clio, Francis set off on two rescue missions. The first one, when we spotted a child and a man in an inflatable canoe/airbed attempting to paddle against strong wind coming from the land and drifting further out despite their efforts. The adult behind was pushing and kicking but appeared to be going nowhere. When the Cloe-cavalry arrived and offered to tow them ashore, they said no thanks, eventually they did make it to shore. Next was a very small boat with a couple of guys paddling and going backwards more than forwards, again when the Cloe rescue team offered them a tow, no they did not need help. We figure this must be how the locals get their daily exercise?
Then time to settle in for the night. Not much sleep had though as the Meltemi blew and blew.
Sunday 17th July
More of the same hiding out inside as the wind howls outside. The first objective of a good anchorage is often to prevent being submitted to waves, either waves building up between where you are and the nearest land from which the wind blows, or swell building up elsewhere and rolling into the bay. Escaping the wind is often a secondary objective and much harder to do.
High mountains, as we so often encounter in Greece around the bays we use for shelter, often make wind worse as the air gets added speed by 'falling down' the mountain under influence of gravity (katabatic winds). This is sometime made worse if wind is funnelled between two mountains. As long as those winds don't have enough space to create waves (fetch) by anchoring close to (upwind) land, Clio only has to deal with the wind. Taking down the bimini and the sprayhood will reduce Clio's wind resistance and letting out lots of anchor chain keeps her in place. Having some leeway (space downwind clear of land and other obstacles) gives you some time to react in case the anchor scrapes or other calamities. She may swing over a 45 degree range under influence of the wind, but being inside you often hardly notice or get used to it when it goes on for days. . You DO need to keep close watch of her position so you would notice something going wrong with time to respond to it. In them oolden days, you kept watch with a couple of bearings (preferably lights) to check her position, an almost full day's job, 24 hrs/day. These days a GPS-based anchor watch and an independent position on a map delivers a fairly safe method with much less work. Oh yes, sticking your head out of the hatch every now and then is also advisable, as well as developing some sense of when the boat's motion changes: if its movements becomes smoother, your drifting with the wind and something is very wrong! So far storm-anchoring 101.
Monday 18th July
At last the wind settles by mid-afternoon and we can swim and sit outside again without being blown away. Later in the afternoon a yacht anchored very close to Clio and when Chris stuck her head out to question them the young guys on board advised that their motor had died and they had come in under sail. They now had no way of manoeuvring their boat, so we took up our anchor and moved away, prevention being better than cures. They were very apologetic and obviously quite stressed from their ordeal. But, luckily no harm was done.
After we re-anchored closer to the stores, we went ashore to get more supplies from the local supermarket (more like corner store).
Tuesday 19th July
After hanging about half the day we moved onto the quay so that we can fill up with water and give Clio a good fresh-water wash. She is crusty with a thick layer of salt that has been accumulating over the last two weeks or so. The mooring is free alongside a taverna which offers free showers and wifi. We paid a little for the water which was of very high quality, probably because we are now dealing with mainland water supplies instead of the island scarce water resources.
One of the Danish boys came by to offer us a bottle of ouzo to thank us for our understanding yesterday. As it would take months to drink a bottle of ouzo ourselves, we asked them all to come and join us after the mechanic had finished repairing their motor. They dropped in around six in the afternoon and two bottles of ouzo later (Chris went out to get another one after the first one quickly empties into the Danish glasses) we had learned about each of their careers and some of their love lives. They showed some interest in marine creatures so Francis showed them his 'Marine Biology 101' presentation (top-right) and they all thought they would enjoy snorkelling even more now that they have some idea of what to look for and where. They were full of questions and it was a treat to talk to people that are that interested in the subject.
We then all enjoyed dinner at the taverna (part of the deal for a free mooring) including a plate of stuffed aubergines and stuffed tomatoes compliments of the house. Great meal and great company.
Wednesday 20th July
The next day it was time to leave the bay of Korfos that kept us safe over the last couple of days. We have heard from our English friends Andy and Steph, who we met in the Dodecanese last year, that they are heading to Epidavros today so we have decided to make our way there to say hello before we head off to the Corinth Canal.
No wind to speak of today so we motored for 1.5 hours into the bay of Palaias Epidavros. We soon spotted Norna Biron, their yacht, and anchored Clio nearby. Andy and Steph came over to say hello. They were heading into town so as we were needing some cash, Chris went ashore with them to drain the ATM. On their return we were settling down for a good long catch up when Francis decided that Clio's anchor, being on a slope, might not hold well in a wind change. So we moved closer to the shore and Andy expertly assisted in running lines to shore in his dinghy, it felt a bit like being on a big yacht with many hands helping to anchor Cleo. Chris was very happy for someone else to be doing the rock climbing for a change.
Settled at last with 50 m chain on a sloping bottom (very secure), Andy and Steph stayed for lunch and a good old natter about our experiences since last year. Then time for a nap before we joined them on Norna Biron for a delicious dinner, drinks and lots more talking. Thanks guys we always enjoy your company.
Thursday 21 July
After a very lazy morning, Andy and Steph came to visit and Steph had Francis have a look at her problematic Wifi modem and cosmote SIM card. He was able to load credit onto the SIM card for her but the modem refused to work. It was then time for them to go to meet their family who were arriving for a holiday in Epidavros and we went ashore to explore the pretty village. Chris went for a walk to inspect the small amphitheatre very close by, while Francis stayed indoors with a cold drink, remembering the lyrics 'Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out into the midday sun'. It was set up as a fully functioning outdoor theatre with lighting and sound systems. Nice to see it being used for what it was built for some sixteen hundred years ago. Although it was not a very long walk it was very hot and so an ice cream was required on her return.
Time to go back to Clio and have a swim. Francis took Chris to show her the colonies of very interesting (in his opinion) sea squirts (Ecteinascidia turbinate, bottom left)) he had discovered earlier and Chris was excited to spot quite a number of fire worms in several clusters doing the things that fireworms do so well, judging by their abundance.
Back on Clio we were soon invaded by the British as Andy and Steph swam over with their visitors to say hello.
Friday 22 July
Today is the day we leave the Aegean Sea, so we swung by Norna Biron to say our farewells (top-left) to Andy, Steph and pusses until we meet again, and motored towards the Corinth Canal. On the way we were treated to the sight of a very large pod of dolphin in front of and trailing a fishing boat.
2 hours later we arrived at the canal gate where we had to tie up alongside the quay and we were rebuked a bit for not preparing our arrival via VHF channel 11, but pleaded ignorance again. Francis went to the office to pay the passage fee, a mere €242 for a 4 NM (6.3 km) passage. But still better than the 350 NM way around the Peloponnesus.
A young man was on the quay with his diesel truck and asked if we would like to fill up. As it was only €1.15 per litre we took the opportunity to fill up, the last time on an island it cost us €1.35/L. After filling up we had to move away from the canal jetty and wait for the traffic coming from the other end. It became clear why we were not allowed stay at the jetty as boats coming from the other end have to pay on this end and have to tie up to do so. We waited outside until we received instructions via our VHF from the Canal Authority controller and we jumped in line and headed into the 21m wide (and 8 m deep) canal. It was quite an experience to passage through this iconic canal, built between 1881 and 1893 (bottom right two photos). As we went through Chris had a sense of being in the Australian bush due to the sound of cicadas and the smell of (imported as it turns out) gum trees.
Once through the canal we made our way through the Corinthian gulf with absolutely no wind to the tiny and pretty fishing harbour of Ag. Ioannou (Saint John). The little bay was about 3 Clio-lengths wide, and we were wondering where to lay our anchor. Luckily a man signalled from shore for us to tie up to a mooring line in the middle. The hamlet consists of a Taverna, one house and a caravan. And the little port with a mini-slipway to launch small boats. It is a very popular spot for locals from somewhere nearby to drive here for a swim and many fishing boats come and go from the slipway in the corner. Francis rowed us the whole100 metres to shore to have dinner in the taverna where the owner does not speak English but the menu is all in pictures so no problem there. While eating we enjoyed watching the children play and swim, and Francis made some furry friends of the feline family when he shared his pork souvlaki with them, completely against all sensible behaviour. He claims sunstroke-insanity.
Saturday 23 July
One of the reasons to go to the Ionian was to escape the Meltemi winds in the Aegean from July to August. Well, we got that, we had absolutely no winds the last couple of days, be careful what you wish for...A long motor today along the coastline to the town of Andikira. We are noticing a big difference in the landscape now (being the mainland) and lots more trees, agriculture, and an amazing amount of aquaculture, the coast is peppered with fish farms. As it is mainland there is obviously more water as there are more trees and everything is greener. Also hot, hot, hot, I want my air-conditioner (but have to make do with swimming in 27⁰ water and our trusted wind-scoop).