LEFKAS TOWN, GREECE – Crew for this leg are Mari, a Swedish friend from back home in San Francisco, and Rob and Christine, a French-American couple living in Luxembourg. All friends since 2006, all repeat crew members from inaugural summer of sailing Geja’s in 2008. Together we’ll conquer the Ionian Greek islands of Lefkas, Ithaca, Kefallonia, and others, certain ancient paths of the Greek voyager, Ulysses.
(Saturday, July 24) With the help of modern technology, Mari and I were able to overcome the poorly designed Greek transit system and track each other down here in Preveza. We hit the town for dinner before making some attempt to party at the adjacent seaside nightclubs at the far end of the town.
Strangely, every table was a potential “VIP” table, with full bottles of spirits just sitting out, ready to be poured. The crowd, older and mostly male, was less than inspiring. We were both operating on little sleep, so we called it an early night at around 1am. Geja’s berth on the town quay placed us within 75 meters of two very loud bars, one on each side. The competing beats were as annoying as they were sleep depriving.
(Sunday, July 25) If the heat doesn’t wake you up first, the garbage trucks, mopeds, church bells, and delivery vans will. Sleep is not easy to come by here on Preveza’s multi-purpose town quay. It will be nice to get back to sea again and sleep in some quiet anchorage where it’s possible to plop oneself into the water first thing on a hot morning. As I learned last Sunday, there are few shops open on Sundays in Greece. The Geja cupboards were bare, but it was time to get moving (Rob and Christine aren’t due until late Monday).
Fortunately, Mari charmed the proprietor of a restaurant into giving us a loaf of fresh bread, so off we went. We motored out of the marked channel back into the Ionian Sea, and were met by moderate winds and surprisingly large waves, seas like one encounters when heading west into the Pacific under the Golden Gate Bridge. After bucking our way out, we turn Geja’s starboard side to the swell, unfurled the Genoa, and progressed under sail with mild discomfort towards the channel at Lefkas, where the bridge swings open just once an hour for five minutes. We had to kill some time before joining the brigade of vessels through the channel.
We bypassed the town of Lefkas and its large marina, carefully following more channel markers into the protected “inland sea” of western Greece. There were strong winds from astern, gusting irregularly from the lee of Lefkas. We sailed at a good clip, soon reaching Jackie O’Nassis’ private island, Skorpios. With the strong winds and annoyingly high depths, we didn’t succeed in getting the anchor down for a proper swim/lunch stop. Followed the wind further south towards Meganisi Island and the town of Spartochori, though with 30 knots of wind blowing straight into the harbor, I aborted. Instead we motored back upwind towards the town of Nidri on Lefkas Island where there would be a lee shore.
While scouting around for a berth, and nasty gust of wind picked up a huge cloud of dirt, coating Geja’s freshly cleaned decks. I was so pissed. The wind just kept howling. Finally settled on a place to anchor, where the depths were reasonable and the paddle to shore was minimal. Hung out on board until dusk when the winds finally abated. Paddled to town – a tacky place – and found ourselves playing mini-golf at midnight. Finished the night at the Danish-owned Road House, drinking ouzo while the proprietor entertained us with his endless one-liners.
(Monday, July 26) With Rob and Christine due in the afternoon, and no better place for them to find us, Geja stayed put for the day in Nidri. With little else to do, and to again overcome Greece’s maligned public transportation, Mari and I rented a car for the day to fetch Rob and Christine from the mainland. We took the scenic route, driving over mountainous Lefkas towards the island’s west coast. Up at 1100 meters, it was rather cool, a pleasant break from the summer heat. Driving down the steep west side of the Lefkas, the view of the coast
was amazing, the sea a Caribbean-esque turquoise. The recent high winds had generated some nasty surf, making swimming impossible, despite Mari’s persistence. Meanwhile, Rob and Christine were making progress towards us by bus, and we soon intercepted them in some random mainland town (how did we ever manage without text messaging?) an hour or so north of Lefkas. The rental car, which came with just a quarter tank of gas, was starting to breath fumes on the way back to Nidri. The rental agent somehow neglected to inform us that a fuel strike had just begun. Gas station after gas station was closed, and we were becoming desperate. Finally we found a station willing to spare a few liters, spoiling the striking Europeans’ efforts to spoil our day.
We loaded the dinghy with Rob, Christine, their luggage,
Mari, and some newly bought groceries. I drove off in the car to a second-hand boat shop, hoping to buy a new outboard motor for the dinghy. Found a substantial community of British sailors, using the storm-proof Vliho Bay as a cruising base. Rob, exhausted from the travels, arrived to find Geja being “relocated” for us by the crew of a boat to which Geja was swinging too close. Rob had to spring into action, resetting the anchor in a more suitable spot. Starved, we finally made it to town for a quick dinner and a farewell round of ouzo at the Road House.
(Tuesday, July 27) Underway again. Sailed leisurely down the channel between Lefkas and Meganissi, visiting the so-called Bat Cave. While Christine and I circled nearby aboard Geja, Rob and Mari paddled in by dinghy, which required doing the limbo at the cave entrance. They returned underwhelmed. Continued around the corner into the attractive Rouda Bay for a lunch & swim stop, anchoring just off of its popular beach. Popular with families, anyway. Hoisted anchor for the last 12 miles to Fiskardo, a popular stop on the northern tip of Keffalonia. Once out in the open between Lefkas and Keffalonia, we encountered a solid breeze and choppy seas. Instead of pounding upwind, we veered off, aiming instead for Kiono on the island of Ithaca. With great speed and comfort, we arrived at Kiono to find few, if any, places to moor.
The small bay itself was quite deep. Most sailboats anchored very near shore, fastening a myriad of stern lines to anything available. Of these boats, a majority were charter yachts, with company staff in dinghies helping to sort out the lines. With a steady breeze, deep anchoring depths, and a need for funky stern line handling, we left little Kiono. Vathi, a few miles to the south, looked to be a spacious, well-protected bay. With the wind still blowing strong, we
pulled in to find the various quays completely full, and eventually found suitable anchoring depths a bit distant from the center along Vathi’s eastern shore. We dined ashore in Vathi, a pleasant but nondescript place. Most notable was a very welcome drop in temperature – long sleeves were worn at night for the first time in weeks.
(Wednesday, July 28) Hoping to reach the enormously popular town of Fiskardo in time to find a berth, we hoisted anchor at 8:30am. Despite the self-imposed time pressure, we opted for the longer route around the southern tip of Ithaca. Started off with just enough wind for some easy downwind sailing
, noticing some nice anchorages along Ithaca’s east coast. Next time. Coming around Ithaca into the channel between it and Kefallonia, it became obvious that the final 10 miles to Fiskardo would be a dead upwind beat into 20 knots. With Rob’s racing enthusiasm, we sheeted the sails in tight and began the long northward slog. Thankfully old Geja does not heel excessively while close-hauled, while still maintaining an admirable upwind heading. She is by far a much more comfortable ride than any modern production boat that I’ve been on. Several other boats were also heading the same direction, and we kept up with all of them, despite their longer waterlines (and inherently faster top speeds). We really left them in the dust when Rob suggested that we hug the port side of the channel, where the wind flowed in a somewhat different direction, allowing us to sail a straighter course towards Fiskardo.
Within a mile of Fiskardo, we doused sail and motored into the port, having sailing nearly all of the 29 mil
es covered for the day. The place was heaving with boats, and it seemed that an elusive spot on the quay just wasn’t going happen. A 3pm arrival in the high season apparently doesn’t guarantee a thing. Oddly, one open spot did appear, right in the heart of things. My first reaction was that there must be something wrong, some reason that nobody else was in it already. I anyway maneuvered Geja into position right away, with Rob on the foredeck ready to drop the anchor. I looked around, waiting for somebody to come up with a reason to send us away. A man with a VHF radio then stood at the spot, asking if I was intending to take it. I nodded confidently. He walked off, apparently frustrated. I backed Geja in while Rob paid out the chain, and soon we were secure in the heart of one of the Ionian’s most popular ports. It turns out that this was just pure luck. The Danish family on the boat next to Geja said that a powerboat had just left minutes earlier.
Fiskardo is understandably a popular place, cute, colorful, and
bustling with yachties. Thanks to the early start in the morning, there were many hours of daylight left with which to enjoy the town and its small beach. Our usual evening cockpit showers were especially amusing, as the quay just behind Geja was packed with outdoor diners, just a few meters away. Once ashore, we found jam-packed restaurants with long queues. Finally we ordered up a bunch of delicious pitas from a take-out joint, and simply ate them aboard Geja. We even went back for a second round. Mari and I went out in search of a party spot, only to end up at an upstairs hotspot just
above Geja, where there was just enough of a party element to keep us amused. Long sleeves and pants were appreciated for the second straight evening.
(Thursday, July 29) We’d last filled Geja’s water tanks on Sunday in Preveza. A floating pontoon in port provides fresh water to any boat that manages to squeeze in to a temporarily open spot. Watching for departing boats, we moved over to the pontoon and eventually figured out the electronic water payment system. While filling, a funky motor vessel full of non-English speaking folks decided to moor their four-meter wide boat into the two-meter wide spot
between Geja and our neighbor. We asked them to hold off for five minutes, at which point we’d be gone and they’d be able to moor with ease. They squeezed in anyway, putting great stress on Geja’s dock lines, lifelines, and fenders. Assholes. With full tanks and freshly rinsed decks, we left, able to cut the motor immediately and set sail on an eastward course. It has been seriously windy this whole week, yielding fun sailing and comfortable temperatures. Hauling ass downwind, we eyed a possible lunch anchorage on Atakos Island. The bay, surrounded on three sides by steep limestone cliffs, was gorgeous. We tucked Geja into a breathtaking cove on the western side of the
cove, dropping anchor and taking a line ashore as another dozen boats had done. While still blowing over 20 knots just around the corner, the cove was calm with an occasional puff. It was among the most dramatic anchorages I’d ever visited. After most of the boats dispersed, two goats made a seemingly impossible appearance, having scaled down a near-vertical cliff.
Leaving paradise, we sailed onwards, still with plenty of breeze astern, towards Kastos Island. Dropped anchor near a non-descript looking village and just kicked it aboard for the night, having sailed every sailable mile of the 25-mile day.
(Friday, July 30) Woke up to dead calm conditions. Motored northward along the east coast of Kastos, continuing around the corner to the 750-meter high island of Kalamos and its port of the same name. At midday it was quiet in the harbor, until an unlucky swordfish wandered in.
The locals, with long spears in hand, chased the fish around from their small, powered fishing boats. It was soon caught, beheaded, and taken to the kitchen of one of the restaurants. We tied alongside the quay and enjoyed a pleasant stroll through the hillside village, picking up a few provisions along the way. Rob was particularly fond of the place – it would have been a nice overnight stop.
Still dead calm, we continued the tour around Kalamos, taking a swim break in the beautifully clear waters of the island’s easternmost shore. The white sand bottoms of these near-shore waters produce the most amazing blue color, seldom
seen up in Croatia. After a thoroughly enjoyable swim stop, we looped around Kalamos and began to retreat westward towards Meganisi Island. Out in more open waters we were finally able to shut the motor down. Pulled into the little harbor at popular Vathi, certain that we’d have to resort to some creative mooring techniques due to high-season crowding. To our surprise, the main quay was nearly empty – just a few cruisers. The hordes of charter boats typically return to base for their Saturday turnover, leaving places like Vathi deserted, a welcome phenomenon
that I am familiar with in Croatia. We took a spot on the quay furthest from the garbage dumpsters – Greece has a reputation for rats. Dinner took place on shore, though there was no partying to be done, even at a bar with the promising name of “Boom Boom Room.”
(Saturday, July 31) Mari’s final day. We had plenty of time to make the 16-mile journey to Lefkas from where she would catch a night bus to Athens. En route to Lefkas we spent some time in Varko Bay on the Greek mainland, enjoying yet
more ridiculously blue water, this beach backed by an odd grassy field. Back up the narrow, marked channel to Lefkas, I couldn’t help to think of the Petaluma River back home, where similar rolling hills and grassy vegetation are seen. We hoped to avoid the hefty fees of Lefkas’ fancy marina, but there were no free spots on the town quay. We sucked up the 50-euro charge, which included nice showers – a bonus for Mari who was beginning a 36-hour journey back to San Francisco with an “overnight”
bus ride from here to Athens. Short one crewmember, Rob, Christine, and I went into Lefkas town for dinner, where I remained to experience some surprisingly good Saturday night party life on my own.
This one-week jaunt through the Ionian Inland Sea was excellent; a second week would have been welcome. The mountainous islands provide great scenery, and there was plenty of wind (though I imagine that this was an unusually windy week). It is understandably a popular place to sail, and there is no lack of charter flotillas that tend to clog up the popular ports. It was great to have Mari along, a good friend from back home. Rob and Christine, former sailboat owners themselves, always bring amusing company and good boating skills. I’m happy that they are sticking around for Leg Six.