Summer 2001 - In The Greek Ionian Islands

20th December 2001

Well here I am back in England for Christmas after a superb summer in the Greek Ionian islands. This will be my first Christmas with my children and grandchildren since I left and I am really looking forward to it.

The Ionian islands are quite spectacular with good anchorages only 5 or 10 miles apart so you can stop in an anchorage for lunch and a swim on the way to the next one. The town quays are free although I did get caught in Fiskardo for 3,000 Grd (£6) for 3 days stay. Not expensive. Water is drinkable and mostly free. Your supposed to buy a log book which costs £80 for me but nobody asked me so I would probably have got away without one as a lot of people do if I had not been honest in Kalamata and voluntarily bought one, not wanting to find the boat impounded.

The weather was very good with strong catabatic winds in the afternoons which were not really a problem and in fact cooled things off nicely. The forecast storms for the Ionian never seemed to materialise probably because we were protected between the main islands and the mainland coast. Most of the anchorages gave good protection from the prevailing northerly winds. If you travelled between about 10:00 and 2:00 it was calm and you got into your next stop before all the charter boats. There were a lot of these but they were not really a problem. There are many places that they do not go to.

The inland sea behind Preveza was very nice with a nature reserve all along the northern edge where you could see pelicans. A lot of dolphins are in here and you could guarantee to see them swimming in front of the boat. In one nice bay, which we called goat bay as a goat herd drove his goats around the bay one way in the morning and back in the evening with there bells clanging away, a German couple anchored and spent the whole summer there.

Pulling into a bay in Meganisi a rubber dingy pulled up alongside and took a line ashore for me and then promptly sold me the idea of buying a watercolour of the boat that he would sit down and paint that afternoon. It turned out OK.

You need good anchor gear as in all the ports one has to drop anchor and go stern to. Even the large ferries do this. This has its problems as it is fairly common to pick up other anchors. My record to date is two in one go. Without some kindly person to help it can be very difficult. The bottom in the ports is mainly a thick sticky mud and I had to fit a powerful pump as a deck wash to wash it off. A ferry in Zante managed to go stern to without dropping his anchors and started to let off the cars and passengers. He suddenly realised the problem, pulled up the door and as he moved out hammered his propeller on another ferries anchor chain. We then had to move quickly as he was drifting down on us. Somebody onboard got into serious trouble I expect.

I have made so many new friends and met so many old friends that I met in the last two winters and in the Balearics that is difficult to go into an anchorage or port and not know someone. The trip down the Peloponnisos coast was in the company of an American boat I had met and Bright Star who I knew in Aguadulce.

Here at Kalamata there are about 35 live-aboard’s with about a third English and the rest German, Dutch, Swiss and French. Apart from the French everyone speaks English and everyone gets on very well especially in happy hour in the local taverna. I did start to learn Greek but so many Greeks, especially the younger ones, speak English that I am not trying very hard. Only the polite phrases etc. The weather is decidedly off. It is cold, wet and windy. So far we have managed three BBQ’s only. Just as I was leaving to come home we had snow which blocked the mountain road and I only just got to the airport on time by going the long way round, a 9 hour journey. Some of the marinas in north have ice on them. The bad weather seems pretty general and is unprecedented.

The only problems I have had was when the stbd gearbox stopped working and the generator sea water pump broke. These I fixed at Nidri on Lefkas as there is a hotel there who you can use as on accommodation address. With spares arriving from England in 4 or 5 days each time there was not much of a problem. As a result of the generator failure I now have two solar panels which easily keep the batteries charged while at anchor.

Knowing that Greece is supposed to have a lot of rain I have been working hard to ensure the boat is waterproof. A good job I have it seems. All is now dry. The one remaining job is to finish replacing the linseed oil putty type sealer used, when the decks were re-laid, to seal the quadrant between the deck and the superstructure. This is now going hard and leaking.

The winter jobs are to install a 75 gallon black water tank, a small washing machine and fit new portholes.

Next years cruising is the east coast of Greece and Turkey hopefully.

Tony

MY ‘Lady Coppelia’

20^th December 2001