It's important to get the weather right for a transit of the canal. The prevailing winds can build up big seas as they charge down from the west and as the canal is at the end of the gulf the waters around the entrance can be rough. Then consider that if you are unlucky and a slow ship is coming the other way through the canal you may need to wait outside for over three hours!

We cast off at 08.00 knowing it would take just over the hour to reach the entrance. We sat in the cockpit eating breakfast as we went along. The seas had dropped considerably overnight as the winds died down so it was reasonably comfortable. You have to radio in to 'Corinth Canal Control' when 5 miles off and again when half a mile away. We were told to wait for further instructions and held Splice stern-to the moderate waves whilst we watched a motor yacht transit the other way on AIS. She was accompanied by two yachts and as they cleared the channel we were give permission to proceed.


There is a road bridge at each end which is dropped into the water for you to pass and we found ourselves motoring down the canal in the sunshine all by ourselves, the whole of the Corinth Canal just for Splice! There must have been about a knot of tide with us as we proceeded at 8 knots (1800 revs on both engines normally gives us 7 knots in flat water) and enjoyed the trip through. Chris had to concentrate though as the whole canal is 6.3 kms long, 8 mtrs deep, the cliffs flanking it reach a maximum height of 63 mtrs and 25m wide and we take nearly 7m of that!



When you exit the other end you have to tie up and pay at the Control Offices. It cost E208 for our passage but having seen the extent of the excavations and the engineering effort that went into the build we didn't mind too much. It's a stunning piece of work and and we cannot imagine the effort that must have gone in to shifting all that rock, let alone finding somewhere to put it all!

The winds to the south of the canal again exceeded the forecast as we covered the 20 miles down to Korfus under just the genoa with up to 20 knots from the stern giving us 4-6 knots speed on the passage.


Korfus is a very sheltered bay with a small town/village to port as you enter. You can anchor off or tie back to one of the taverna quays. We chose the later and, whilst the food at Pappa Georges was fine, we regretted the choice as the whole quay was invested with tiny black flies. Not much bigger that a UK fruit fly, but these things got into the boat by the hundreds. There were 20-30 of them on each window, loads in all the cabins, on the woodwork and if you opened the bin you almost had to duck as they all flew out! Eating on the quay meant picking them out of your wine and food on a regular basis.

Pappa Georges Taverna at Korfus

The next morning we put the generator on and tried to hoover them up, we succeeded in removing most of them but we were swatting them in two and threes for the next few days. We then left quickly with the doors and hatches closed!

Main Picture:Road and rail bridges over the Corinth Canal