Astakos
15 September 2016
Back to see my lady at the hairdressers for a trim. She remembers me from last year, which is nice. I do feel bad after she spends 10 mins blow drying it and making it look great, that I will be diving in the water as soon as we get back to the boat.
We head off with a NW wind to round Ithaka and decide where to go. Strangely there is a big wind shadow south of Ithaka, more than you would expect for the lee of an island, then once we motor past that, its back to a NW wind and getting up to 20 knots now. The mainland coast beckons as we can reach across there quite nicely instead of tacking all day. Astakos is a fishing and agricultural village, not touristy at all. The bay is well sheltered and we are the only boat anchoring (heaps of room in 3- 10m depths and great holding), though there are half a dozen yachts at the quay (stay away from the ferry berth).
The water is green and cloudy, so the swimming is not great. But a nice town with the usual provisions, a petrol station at the top of the bay, a quiet quayside road to walk along. The swimming past town looks much clearer.
Not many places to choose from for dinner, but we have the best gavros (fried anchovies) yet, very nice grilled octopus. The horta (local greens) is a bit disappointing. Vino is pretty good, by the kg on the menu!