We had a great sail for the 20 odd miles from Sivota to Vathi. With 12-18 knots from behind the beam we made 6-8 knots progress in sunshine and with views of green islands and hills surrounding us. It was one of those few days when, approaching a turn point that you know will bring the wind towards the nose, the wind gods were there each time to adjust the flow to suit us, the winds turned as we did. A magical bit of sailing and the skipper was very happy.
Splice under full sail
Greek names can already be difficult to follow but they help by having the same name for places only a few miles apart! This Vathi is on the island of Ithaca and is a large bay with good sized town at its head. With stronger winds blowing down the bay we anchored off to the starboard side by a small ‘chapel island’ in about 6m of depth. With the size of the bay it’s not the most protected place but the all round hills keep the effect of the wind on the water to the minimum and we sat out 20 odd knots that night with no issues.
Vathi Bay showing the narrow entrance channel to the bay itself
We explored the town the next morning, finding plenty of craft type shops and even buying a couple of snack dishes for our collection of ‘pottery memorabilia’ that remind us of visits when used at home. There was also a good supermarket but otherwise the town was quite commercialised and we decided to eat at a taverna on the other side of the bay away from the hussle. The taverna is one of a couple of establishments to port as you enter the bay. One caters for flotillas as it has a quayside whilst ‘Itaki Mare’ has its patio right by the water, you can sit eating with your dinghy bobbing at your feet. The reception was friendly and the food was excellent. They provided a creamy cheese appetizer with the drinks, starter was oyster mushrooms and we both had goat baked in a clay pot. It’s not a normally available meat but slowly cooked it is very tender and the sauce was very tasty. They also gave us a small desert within a very reasonable charge. ‘Itaki Mare’ and its host Christina gets a very positive Splice recommendation.
Main Photo: Vathi Bay with the 'Chapel Island showing, we anchored just to the right of that.