Cruising progress 2017 (Click to enlarge)
Last reported position using Vessel Finder or Marinetraffic (check both sites to find most uptodate position).
29th September 2017
We left Ithaca and headed over to Kefalonia where we visited a few towns and bays. Argostoli is the capital of the island and is at the head of a long bay surrounded by mountains and forests. It is interesting to read about the 1953 earthquake here and see pictures of the devastation. There's a long and busy town quay which is home to the main tourist attraction, the caretta-caretta (loggerhead) turtles. The best time to see them is in the mornings when the fishing boats come in and toss their unwanted catch into the sea. We saw four swimming around the boats but sometimes there was a lot of weed floating around so it was difficult to get a good view of them.
We anchored off the town quay for a few days and then motored across the bay into the unfinished marina when strong winds were forecast. The marina provided excellent shelter without any facilities, power or water, but at least it was free! We were very glad to be here as the wind speed exceeded 40kts. However, we heard of lots of problems with boats being damaged in the marina at Preveza, where the wind reached 63kts. In all, we spent about ten days in Argostoli and did a lot of walking as the marina is some distance from the town and reached by the Drapano Bridge, a very long pedestrian bridge built in the 19th century. One afternoon we decided to visit the botanic gardens and local museum which are situated some way out of town and when we eventually found them (Greek directions leave a lot to be desired) discovered their opening hours were 09:00 - 14:00 with last entry at 13:30 and closed on Sundays. I don't think they expect many visitors as the carpark provided is only big enough for about six cars! We were due to leave the next day so didn't have the opportunity to return. Maybe next year.
From there we sailed back along the south coast and up to Lefkas island where we tried several bays to find a suitable anchorage. The chart indicated that the depth should be between 5 and 10 metres, but we were still in 60 metres, so clearly it would be impossible to anchor, which was a shame as they were really attractive bays. We finally anchored in the bay at Vlycho which is at the head of a very long, shallow and well protected bay with a bottleneck entrance. It is also home to the Cotylorhiza tuberculata ("fried egg" jellyfish). We counted at least 200 of them on one trip across the bay in the dinghy and every so often one we'd hit one with the outboard propeller. They didn't seem to bother about this too much, as a huge number had slices out of the "egg". At times it felt as though you could have used them as stepping stones to go ashore. Not the place to go swimming and the Greek government has actually declared war on them because of damage to tourism.
As we were returning to Mistroma after leaving the laundry at the yacht club, we saw s/v Capisce sailed by Tony and Jane. We last saw them in the Spanish Rias and then northern Portugal in 2012, before they headed off to the Canaries. They crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean and only recently returned. Another great reunion followed before they headed back up to Preveza to lay up the boat for the winter, but we should see them again when we return there next month. It's been great meeting up with all these old friends this year. The sailing world is indeed a small one.
We only have a week or so left before we head back up to Preveza to start our long winter maintenance schedule, before being lifted out of the water, so have been returning to a few of the places we've already visited and are currently in Vathy on Ithaca.
