Sailing - South Ionian Islands

I didn't keep a diary, but it was such a varied and exciting trip that I thought I would jot down a bit about each day before I forget:

Saturday

Arrived at Fiskardo on the Northern tip of Kefalonia.  Were introduced to Ermioni, our Beneteau 393 and settled on board.  Very hot, sticky night with loud music until very late - not a great start!

Sunday

Had our first briefing with the crew of Dessa, the Lead Boat: Ian (skipper), Stef (hostie) and Jake (engineer).   A five minute run down of what all the ropes do and then we were off!  Hadn't realised quite how blowy it was - we put all the sails out and a few minutes later were leaning over rather a lot and hitting 7 knots (which we realised later, when comparing notes with our fellow sailors, is quite fast!).

We sailed straight to our next stop, Ayia Euphemia, on the East coast of Kefalonia, getting in quite early so that we could watch Andy Murray be beaten by Federer and then have a swim in the little beach there.

That night we had a group meal so that we could all get to know each other.  A really nice bunch of people and we hit it off with pretty much all of them.  Some very cute little birds decided that they liked the model ship over the bar (see photos!)

Monday

Started the day with a swim in the sea - gorgeous!  Set out late morning heading for Kioni on the East Coast of Ithaka.  We put out our sail straight away but the wind was very light and we barely managed 4 knots.  After a couple of hours we gave up and put the engine on.  We stopped off on the Southern tip of Ithaka in a little anchorage where we anchored up for the first time and went for a swim off the boat and had some lunch.

The wind hadn't picked up after lunch so we just motored up the East coast to Kioni.  It turned out that Kioni was our favourite spot.  Such a pretty spot, with lovely clear water and a few little tavernas with tables right next to the water.  They had their fair share of cats too, much to Joe's delight (he took the cat pics!)


Tuesday


This morning we were heading up between Meganisi and Lefkas to Nidri, on the East coast of Lefkas.  Again the wind was light so we motored for a while.  When we reached teh channel between the two islands the wind picked up nicely and we sailed through the channel - against a head wind, so plenty of tacking and dodging quite a few other yachts coming the other way.


We went directly to Nidri rather than stopping en route, because Stef had mentioned that there was a hotel there with a pool that we were able to use - just too tempting.  It proved to be as good as promised and we were quickly joined by all our new friends - it turns out that our boat was not only the biggest, but the fastest too!  Luke and Joe really hit it off with Edward and James, two brothers who were sailing with their mum (Sandra), dad (Mike) and 85 year old gran (Janet(!  They also made friends with Chrissy and Georgie, sisters who were with with their mum and dad, Jane and Stewart - a scottish family who we became very friendly with, even through we could hardly understand their thick accents!


We headed into Nidri for dinner about a 15 minutes walk away.  It was rather commercialised and built up.  Nice enough, but we were glad not to be moored closer.

Wednesday

After a morning dip and frappe, we managed to tear ourselves away from the pool and head out to sea again.  There was quite a fresh breeze, so we headed north under sail for a bit to get up wind, before heading south-east down the side of a small island off the coast of Lefkas.  The idea being that we would have one long tack all the way past Skorpios.  However, as we reached the end of the small island, the wind suddenly turned 180 degrees before pretty much dying altogether.  So we pootled on a bit further before putting the engine on and motoring over to an anchorage on Skorpios for swimming and lunch.  Skorpios is the private island owned by the Onasis family, so we weren't allowed to go to the gorgeous beach there, just to look at it longily!  Still the swimming was good.

We did a bit more sailing in the afternoon but the wind didn't really pick up again, so we decided to motor for a bit and find another swimming stop.  This time we found a little bay on the northern coast of Meganisi, just a mile or so along from our mooring for that evening.  Lovely spot - great snorkeling.  We saw a starfish, sea cucumbers, masses of fish and shrimps.  We practised some fancy diving off the boat as well, which was great fun.

Spartachorio was another very pretty spot with just one taverna built on a little platform jutting out into the bay.  We had a punch party that evening, arranged by the lead crew, which was another opportunity to socialise with those that we hadn't really spent much time with so far (there were 11 boats in total in the flotilla).  We ended up having an impromptu dinner party with several families mainly thanks to the children deciding they were all going to eat together.

Thursday

This was just about our best sailing day.  We headed back through the channel between Meganisi and Ithaka and in the bay between Ithaka and Kefalonia we found quite a bit of wind.  So we had a brief stop off near Poros on Ithaka at a gorgeous spot - next to overhanging cliffs with little sea caves and torquoise water.  After a bit of snorkelling I looked up to see that our boat wasn't where expected - it had dragged its anchor quite a way into the bay and Elaine was on board trying to attract my attention and looking a bit worried!  Fortunately there was plenty of room and I managed to swim after the boat and get on board before it became critical!  We laid out plenty of chain after that and kept a very close eye on our position whilst we had lunch.

After lunch the wind was still up, so we had a play doing several tacks square on to the wind and getting plenty of speed - tipping 7.2 knots - before heading into Sivota for our evening stop.

We found a lovely roof top bar which served caramel milkshakes for the boys (they have been pining for them, ever since discovering them in Skiathos two years ago), a Pina Colada for Elaine (quite strong, she reckoned!) and an ice cold Mythos for me.

Friday

We had just over 11 nautical miles to cover on our last day, so we took our skipper's advice and motored straight over to Kefalonia before putting up our sails.  Again we had good winds and had a really good sail.  We stopped off for a dive off the boat for a bit, before having our final sail and then heading into Fiskardo for lunch (gyros), as we had to get in pretty early to moor up that day.

In the afternoon we walked to the nearby beach, which was very pretty (although stony) and had some great snorkelling.  It was hard to drag ourselves away.  That evening we had a final group meal with the lead crew giving out various awards to all the boats.  Lots of fun.

We had been dreading another sleepless night with loud music, but it turned out that last Saturday had been an exception - a private party.  It was actually very peaceful, much like the other nights.

It was a very early start the following say (5.15 am alarm!) before heading off home again.

The Last Scouts

This is the last time we will see Joe in a Scouts uniform, as last night was his final meeting.  He is now joining Explorers, and is having a taster session tonight, although he formally starts in September.