Nafpaktos - an enchanting port in the Mediterranean!

Messolonghi should be called Mosquitolonghi instead because within minutes of leaving a swarm of mosquitoes settled onboard Flirtie. Fortunately they didn't bite and all died a few hours later which we suspect was due to the cool weather.

Our next passage took us another 25 miles eastwards to Nafpaktos which required us to go under the Rion bridge that links the Peloponnese with mainland Greece.


the Rion bridge ahead of us

It was necessary to contact 'Rion Traffic' when five nautical miles off the bridge for clearance instructions and again when one mile off for permission to pass through. It can get busy due to commercial traffic that transit from the mainland to the Peloponnese and also to and from the Corinth canal.


we're going through...

The Rion Bridge is a marvellous feat of engineering and considered to be an engineering masterpiece. It's designed and built to withstand seismic activity, adverse winds, frozen temperatures, the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth due to tectonic movement, tsunami's and physical impact should a tanker run into it! It's also one of the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge, approx. 1.8 miles/2800m in length with three navigable channels each one, 560m wide and split between four pillars giving an air height of 25-45m.

Despite having in excess of 25m clearance as the bridge passed overhead the mast still looked to be deceptively close. Our attention was then drawn to Flirtie as she had gained an additional 2 knots (our speed now an impressive 7.7 knots) and started to slew around in the current. The autopilot had to work hard to compensate for the additional movements in order to keep us on course and avoid the passing ferry. A few minutes later the slewing disappeared with Flirtie still making 7 knots. Needless to say we arrived at Nafpaktos in record time. From the sea, our first impression was that it could arguably be the most beautiful port in the Mediterranean with a Venician castle looming above the town built on a slope of pine trees. You could see that two of the defensive walls went down to the sea to enclose a harbour.

Naturally the Venician castle called out for a visit however it was a Tuesday and the castle was shut so instead we meandered around the cobbled streets to find the supermarket and purchased a few bottles of Vodka for medicinal purposes. Not for us though, but for the watermaker as Jim had suggested that our membranes may have dried out given we had purchased them over two years previously but had only replaced them a few weeks ago. Apparently Ethanol (or vodka) can sometimes revive membranes if left to soak overnight.


feeding the watermaker with Vodka. Fingers crossed that it will work.

Unfortunately it didn't, so we're now looking into sourcing new membranes. Thankfully we came across a water tap in the tiny and very picturesque horse-shoe harbour to top up all of our flexible containers.







behind the castle walls lies a beautiful, tiny harbour and a place steeped in history.

The castle of Nafpaktos is reported to be one of the most beautiful castles in Greece but we'll have to be content with seeing it from the outside walls instead as strong easterly winds made the anchorage uncomfortable so we were forced to move on.

Total distance this season: 400.47 nautical miles