Corfu, Greece
October 7, 2003

Travelog #4 Summer 2003

Sunday morning and we have moved to Kioni on Ithaca. This is our first time here and it is a beautiful small harbor. It is but 300 feet wide and perhaps twice as long. The village of Kioni is set about a half mile back into a steep-sided inlet, fiord-like. There is a small breakwater on the right, back in the fjord, and a town quay on the right. It is not crowded and we are amongst about 6 boats tied to the quay. Before the day is over there are 28 charter and flotilla boats tied to the quay, 6 anchored off of the quay and about 4 who saw the situation and moved on to another place altogether. There is a German boat next to us, a Sirius 38 DS, which is a new name in boats for us. I asked the lady aboard where it was built and she said in northern Germany. I then asked who built it and she said, “My husband owns the factory”. It is a very well designed boat with a lot of differences as to how other sailboats are made. They are justly proud of this sailboat and everyone on the dock stops to look. The bow anchor enters the boat below the stem and none of the rode or anchor is ever on deck, the stern anchor likewise enters the boat in a concealed way and with the aid of a windlass.

We sailed from Kioni to a lunch stop at Atoko, where I was able to get into the water and somewhat give the bottom a scrubdown. The stop was brief and we continued to Kastos on the island of Kastos. We are the second one into the small bay, following a well-flagged flotilla leader. When we asked how many boats would eventually end up in this small bay, he said about 18 flotilla; several chartered and a few private boats. There are two parties on the quay; one of them is a Dutch flotilla and the other from the UK. We hardly notice the party and have a great night in a very snug harbor. In the morning we are in no hurry, there is but a short distance to go and all day to do it. We walked up the hill to the ridge that forms the saddle of the mountainous island. There is a windmill like the ones in the Aegean, specifically Mykonos, which is in relatively good shape. The mill is built to operate with a constant wind direction. The direction of the axle cannot be changed. The shaft or axle is about 24 feet long, the diameter of the mill plus about 4 feet, and is of a single log about 16 inches in diameter. The mill vanes are 8 bare poles of 12 feet each set 45 degrees apart, each fitted with sails. One would unfurl the sails and the mill would turn. The axle would be fitted to a cog in the center of the structure and this would transform the energy from horizontal to vertical and drive a mill in the lower floor. The mills are perhaps 24 feet tall and 20 or so feet in diameter.

Our next stop is a bay, Pt. Leones, on the island of Kalamos. We have good protection and share the anchorage with several other boats before the day is over. The water is very clear and 80 plus degrees so it is time for a swim and a bit of boat cleaning There is a small church in the bay that is visited weekly by a group from Kalamos, just to clean it. This deserted village has not had anyone living in it for many years. This morning was the morning for cleaning and bell ringing. We are fortunate to be here for the ringing.

We are on our way to the mainland village of Mitikas. This is our first contact with the mainland since May of 2001. It is at the west end of a very large bay just north of the northern end of the island of Kalamos. The harbor is in the early stages of development. The walls of the quay are not finished and the newer small area for local boats is barely fortified up to water level. My camera has taken leave so I will not be able to share the pictures with you all. This bay is one that is the best we have seen insofar as potential goes. The bay is protected on 230 degrees by mainland and there is the island of Kalamnos sitting about 2 miles off shore protecting the rest of the exposure. The wind is constant due to the shape of the point of land and the sea will be calm due to the fact that it is but 6 miles to the island of Lefkas. There is only 6 miles for a fetch and that cannot generate great waves. The village is the hub for an agricultural area. There is no Internet café so we will move on.

We sailed but a short six miles west to the island of Meganissi. This island is on the west side of Lefkas Island and south of Scorpios Island, the Jackie O island. We are anchored in the capital of the island, Vathi. This is another of the places where the flotilla boats stop on their trips through the Ionian. Each town that accommodates the flotillas gets extremely crowded by about 4 in the afternoon. The flotillas, normally from 10 to 20 boats with 4 to 6 persons on board, bring a lot of business to the tavernas and mini-markets. They make mooring difficult for private boats, such as ours. We find that anchoring out, about 100 yards off in the bay, solves the crowding and noise problems. However, this time after we are anchored, we look to shore and find that we are directly in front of the “Boom Boom Bar and Music Café”. Fortunately for us, it is post season and they have a quiet night. This is a neat village with another village about 2 miles up the valley on a hill. We stayed here for a couple of days before moving on to another village on Meganissi. Spartachori is smaller than Vathi but has a great setting. For the most part one might think they were in the Pacific Northwest with respect to the vegetation and water that is here. It is truly beautiful. Imagine the Pacific Northwest foliage and beauty, then put it in the mild sunny Ionian Sea. A couple of days in Spartachori getting water and electricity and we are off for the island of Lefkas.

The island of Lefkas had a large earthquake on August 14. We are in Vlikho which is a village and south bay on Lefkas Island. The bay is perhaps 2 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. The entry is but 300 yards wide so you are fully protected. The depth is only 20 feet with a mud bottom so there’s no problem with anchoring. It seems like I am always stating that this or that bay is great, but it is so and if you read my comments of the past two or three years, I have regularly touted the beauty and pleasures of sailing the Ionian. This is another of those great bays. Kathy and I have been to Tranquil Bay, the bay before Vlikho, but this is our first time here. It would be easy to get a residence here. This is like an Alpine lake. There are tavernas around the shore with an occasional minimarket. There is a flea market on Wednesdays and a baker. There are many ex-pats from the UK who have relocated to this area, some full-time on their boat and some that have purchased cottages.

When the earthquake hit it did a lot of damage to buildings all over the island. Here it is noticeable that it also did damage to the marina/boat storage facility. They support the boats on the hard with posts, as they do in Turkey. The earthquake caused these boats to fall domino style and some 90 boats were badly damaged. The boat yard looks to be a mess, but all boats are now upright and in stages of repair.

We stayed in Vlikho for 5 nights and would have stayed longer if time permitted. Today we are going to pass through the Lefkas Canal again. Lefkas town is a bit on the not so nice side of things. The town was above the epicenter of the quake and has severe structural damage to some of the larger 3 to 4 story buildings. There is one with a multi-arched entryway that is now supported by large 16-in diameter logs. The arch has 3 logs in it. They are form fitted to fit the arch and are supporting a three-story structure while it is being rebuilt. Streets and walks in the new marina dropped as much as 15 inches. No one was hurt.

The next stop is another visit to Prevesa and its great inland sea. We are again in the midst of flotillas and end up tying to the town quay in front of a taverna/restaurant which is open until 3 am. We have been here before and find the town closed because it is Saturday afternoon. There is a boatload of charterers from Slovakia just two boats down. They need electricity and I have a connector and cord that will work so we meet and chat a bit. It seems that the boat is owned by a man from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It is regularly chartered by people from Slovakia and they come to Prevesa by van. The route is through Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and finally into Greece at the northern most border. This is a 32-hour trip in a Toyota minivan with provisions, clothing, bedding and so on for eight people plus the eight people. Their holiday is nine days long and that includes the travel time. We are invited for schnapps but choose to drink water instead, believing that they need the schnapps more than we.

We left Prevesa before they got up and went to Emerald Bay on the island of Anti Paxos. This is just a lunch stop as we are now going another 5 miles to Gaios Paxos, which we really believe to be the safest port around. It is also a great village. We stayed but one night and are off for the mainland side and new territory. We are in Plateria, which is just south of Igoumenitsa, the major ferry port of northwest Greece. It is very windy and we have a great reach for 15 miles to get to our destination. It is very windy and there is a bit of difficulty in backing in a crosswind to the quay. This is also a one-night stay as we hear that there is a low pressure moving our way with an associated cold front. We do not want to be here if it turns bad.

On October 7 we go to a small bay north of Igoumenitsa, Ormos Voltou, for a brunch stop and then move to Corfu. This has been our destination ever since we left Turkey and we are now on a mooring in Gouvia Marina. We have a lot of maintenance work to do and get ready to depart to the USA in a short time.

This ends the Travelogs for Summer 2003