The Ionian Islands fully to us!
The blue sky, the Sun and summer temperatures (in the middle of the day) We invite you to take our time down South. We therefore take the late arrival of cold and winter wind blows to discover the Ionian Islands. Summer is the playground for hundreds of sailboats and every little Bay or port is saturated with boaters... but at this time we are hopelessly the only boat to navigate this maze of Islands. It must be said that the nights are very fresh with the Sunrise of the day less than 10 ° C in the boat. Fortunately we have a forced air heater to keep us warm during the long nights.
Sunday 13 December: LEFKAS
We decide to continue our road to the island of Lefkas. It is the largest Marina in the region and hopefully find other travelers of the seas.
A good wind pushes us to the North of the island. The island is separated from the Mainland by a channel dug in the salt marshes. A floating bridge crosses the canal and opens every hour to let ships through. It's almost 1 pm and we should not wait long. We are moving slowly to the engine at the entrance to the channel, but a dredging barge maneuver and blocking. We wait in the front port where we do not always see the swing bridge, We are concerned to miss its opening. 13h00 – a siren sounds, the barge pushes himself a bit and we get to sneak between she and reefs. The bridge is still across the channel and only the access ramp is raised... but the passage seems much closer to our 7 meters wide! We urge the authorities to the VHF so that they open the bridge entirely. Finally the bridge pivots to let us pass.
We see Peter (boat "Shiraz") who is already on the public Wharf ready to take our moorings. The improvised with shrimp bought from the trawler coming to dock in front of us even aperitif evening and dinner.
Good resolutions are the order of the day... a good "gyros" with a few fries will make the happiness of Philippe... but after which guilt of eating as much ... must be eliminated...
Lefkas is a city that seems centered on boating: large marina filled with boats rentals, solid Earth with hundreds of boats wintering, several ship chandlers, workshops and other services for the maintenance of the boats... Peter tells us that Wednesday night there's a cocktail party organized by boaters to celebrate Christmas. The opportunity to meet people like us and share their experiences of the Greece.
In the evening, wrapped in two polar and our quarter jackets, We go to the marina to locate the place of these celebrations. We coulissons the glass door into a smoky... furnace you you doubt that this reception we please! A decorated tree, three or four men at the bar undertook the waitresses in tight t-shirt, two groups of a few people absorbed in their conversations... and almost all smoke! He Yes, in Greece the laws seem not too respected. Despite the lack of world in the troquet, No one notices our arrival - it must be said that with our quarter Yellow Jackets fluo only Sherlock Holmes might have to suspect that we have a boat. Only Peter comes to meet us happy for the company. He explains that all these "browsers" mostly British spend the winter at the port. After a few cocktails and still no contact with the regulars of the evenings at the bar, our clothes are well steeped in smoke and decide to go back in the cool of the night. This isn't a place for us and it's time to open the boating guide to locate our next stop.
The next day we do two trips to ride to Lidl to fill the placardset we are ready to go.
Thursday 17 December: Lefkas, Bay of Vlikho
The wind is unstable and after an eventful night at the dock of Lefkas we decide to put us away ten miles more South in the almost closed Bay of Vlikho.
Around the Bay is a series of water projects with hundreds of sailboats dry tight against the other. But no sailboat lived on the water!
The cemetery is the most "alive" place of the village. We meet a person!
The next day there's more wind, but it's cold when we lift the anchor. Fortunately the Sun won't be long to warm up.
Friday 18 December: Nisos Meganisi
On the charts and Google Earth the side of Meganisi is cut dramatically. This multitude of bays makes us want to lay anchor - especially since it is only a few miles. Despite the low wind we get out the sails. That's an average of two nodes that we pass between the islands of Skorpios and Skorpidhi, which belong to the family Onassis - nice Park, but inaccessible to common mortals!
A little motor for us help to pass the caps and here we are faced with a difficult choice: choose which of these berries? But as they seem to all as beautiful as the other, There is no risk of being wrong.
We choose one surrounded by too high reliefs as we anticipate a nice ballad. And we are not disappointed!
Saturday 19 December: Ithaca
We cannot spend in the area without stopping in the homeland of Odysseus. We head directly to the main town of Vathi hoping to find activity. But we are not surprised that once again Tao is the only boat in the Bay.
We take our time to pick the place that suits us on the main platform in the center of the village. We go out even the gateway to facilitate access to the ground - Nathalie focuses, breathe deep, and starts above the vacuum.
Nice well maintained village where we have pleasure to wander and stop to admire the landscape - as do the premises we meet or passing on the wharf puzzled by this sailboat that is clearly not in his place here in this season.
Monday 21 December: Kefalonia
The sun goes down when we come to Kato Katelios, small village to the South of Nisos Kefalonia (Kefalonia). We carefully enter the tiny port because the water is so clear that we feel that there is not enough water for Tao. A half-built dock waiting for us - just to avoid impaling on iron bars coming out of places of coarse concrete.
The next day we do a quick tour in the small resort town. The beach is lined with restaurants and taverns and we imagine the shaded terraces where makers wiped out by heat will flop before a Uzo, a Greek Salad and grilled Prawns. But for the moment we cross that dozens of cats.
Tuesday 22 December: Zakinthos (Zante)
Stop in the main port of the last island Ionian before addressing the Peloponnese. A so-called "shipping agent" scam us 20 euros to get to the dock. Bustling shopping street, especially at night with all the restaurants and bars open and decorated this Christmas season.
The next day our 'agent' returns to collect her pocket money... We advise that we leave this night and refuse to pay - he did not insist! But we spend a quiet night to dock and we let Zakinthos behind Christmas day rises.
Direction the coast of the Peloponnese...
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