Back to Crete

I've realised how far I have got behind with this blog. I'm afraid I've followed my usual pattern of enthusiasm early in the season with lots of posts and photographs gradually tailing off as it winds to a close with fewer and sparser posts.
So just a few highlights of the journey from the Saronic gulf down to Western Crete...
We started with a short hop to the anchorage at the South East of the Gulf under Nissos Spathi. It's a good sandy anchorage with good shelter from most directions. It cuts a couple of hours off the long hop to Milos.
We planned to anchor behind Nissos Kleftiko on the south west corner of Milos. It is spectacular but unfortunately an Easterly swell made it untenable so we motored 2 more hours to Ormos Sakoulas. This was well sheltered from the Easterly and westerly swell and we had a good nigh, planning to set off for Crete at the crack of dawn. I got up at 05:00 to make coffee but no sign of Lucifer.  I heard a noise and went out - still no sign other than a slight yowling noise. I finally found him clinging to the rudder, soaked through and frozen. I got him on board and L gave him a warm shower with no complaint. Then she took him to bed to warm him with her body heat. It took half an hour before he stopped shivering. That's down to only 6 lives left.
The journey down to Palaiosoudha on Crete was long but uneventful. We got to the anchorage as darkness fell but had no trouble anchoring or sleeping.
Just because we could, we went all down to Soudha. The advertised VHF 72 call got no answer for an hour. Eventually, I called on 16 and the NATO harbour master answered and switched us to 12. He was very efficient and gave us permission. An interesting journey through the NATA base passing submarines and other warships. The harbour visitors mooring were completely yaken by a huge coastguard launch so we anchored peacefully enough.
The rest of the journey via Rethymno, Bali and  Nisos Dhia to Spinalonga was a repetion of teh journey out.
We finally got to see Spinalonga island - by dinghy. It's fascinating and was enhanced further by an art installation entiled "the last leper - you" featuring lots of creatively arranged mirrors.
And to back to Aghios Nikolaos - felt like coming home. See you next year.

Three Gulfs - Patras, Corinth & Saronic

--> We motored in dead calm from Petalas to Oxia but then picked up nice tail wind and sailed serenly to Missolonghi where we anchored with no problems.  Turned out we were right beside a single-handing Kiwi who noticed L's new silver fern flag. Spent a plesant couple of hour chinwagging. Next morning, after L did shopping in town by dinghy, we set off up gulf to Navpaktos. Despite the promising forecast there wasn't a breath of wind so we ended up motoring  the whole way. As we approached there was a very strange noise which I thought was the engine - panic! It wasn't until I turned it off that we realised it was someone testing a very powerful sound system on shore saying "eeeeh" then "aaaaah" repeatedly. They kept it up for nearly two hours! There were also an increasing number of Jellyfish in the water. We anchored outside the tiny harbour and then had a disturbed night with significant swell and a deafening concert (presumably with the sound system) which went on till 0430!

After staggering out of bed and drinking strong coffee, we were awake enough to set the sails in a gentle wind and set off for Trizonia. A young dutch couple in a very small charter boat had also been in the anchorage and set off 10 minutes before us. As always when two yachts are going the same way, we both tried to beat the other. It was an uneven struggle though as we are 35feet while they were only 27 so we slowly closed on them. When we rounded the point though, we dropped the main & jib and let the spinnaker loose - you should have seen us go! We got to Trizonia an hour before they did and anchored (at the third try).

Next morning, we both happened to set of at the same time and got talking as we sailed side by side. Agreed to meet up in

Lovely sail to Trizonia – racing small charter boat that set off just before we did. Showed clean pair of rudders wen Spinnaker went up.

Met in Trizonia when we both set off at same time and turned out we were both heading for Galaxidhi. We got together later - a lovely young Dutch couple. We hunkered down for a day - enjoying the beach cafe  where L swam & I painted the scene - while wind whistled. It turned N overnight and blew nasty chop into the harbour. The mole & huge power boat took most of wind but the chop threw us around all night.

We waited till wind died at 1.00 before setting off to Anti Kyra. Unfortunately, we left it too late and beat up gulf for 4 hours and then realised there was no way of making it in daylight so we motor sailed. Pity.

It was a nice anchorage – sheltered & good holding. There is a small harbour (not in pilot) that looks useful and isn't full.

Sailed slowly to Saliza under a huge quarry – to find it was too deep to anchor and nowhere to go. We decided to motor as quickly as poss to Kolpos Domvrensis. The pilot recommends the gulf by Iron ore quay. It looked a bit commercial (although empty) so we motored slowly north in case there was a dog-leg hidden at the end. Then we got shouted at through megaphone and told to go away – the whole bay is now a quay. It as an our to sundown and there were only poor choices – the best of several tiny steep bays was tiny bay, very deep and line ashore. There were biting flies but (unlike another bay) no wasps. We also saw no Jellyfish

Next day checked out south East corner – again deep & difficult though just viable for 1 or two yachts. The whole gulf was very disappointing and very windy. We decided sod-it lets go to Alkionidhes islands. 3 hour lumpy sail until we could relax under monastery. Much better. Enjoyed a lazy afternoon. The only disturbance was a fishing boat that came over and tried t bum a couple of cigarettes (we don't smoke).
Early morning we set off to the canal. As we rounded the point with 6 miles to go, I spotted a cargo ship behind us heading the same way. The canal opens for commercial traffic so, as it was moving slowly, it should be our ticket through. We hammered it for an hour, getting slowly overtaken. Never-mind, they'll need a tug so we'll catch them up then. They were unbelievably efficient - 5 minutes delay and off they went still 15 minutes ahead of us. I called the canal and they said follow the ship. Yes!!!    5 minutes later, they countermanded and said we would have to wait two hours. At this point there was 35 knots of wind which would make for a nasty wait. They agreed to let us come inside the breakwater.
We did our trick of grounding the keel in the shallows to the consternation of the harbour master who thought we had run aground.
Once through, we paid up and headed for Korfos where we celebrated with a mooring and a meal in one of the waterside tavernas.

We spent a couple of days in Aegina harbour and then went around it just because we could. Strong northerlies gave us a cracking sail across the top of the island and then down to Aghia Marina under the fantastic temple. The bay is large and sand with loads of space but pretty exposed. A nasty swell got up in the afternoon and threw us around all night. Kay and Peter's flopper-stopper helped a lot but we still had a roly night. We did the short hop down to Perdika n a couple of hours and aan anchored. It was nce at first but te swell went round later and we again had a poor nights sleep. In the morning, we went out and had half got the mainsail up when there was a thump and the cat landed on the deck, bounced and luckily didn't go overboard. He was hiding in the sail and clung onto the sail as it wet up - losing his grip at about 20 feet! He was sorry for himself for a couple of days but then recovered other than having lost another of his 9 lives.
We decided to go down to Poros and spent a week between the quay, Russian bay and a couple of the bays toward Vidi.
Rob and Judit spent a week with us pottering gently to Hydra and back. When they left, L had a day doing washing and shopping and then we set off for Crete in company with John and his little white dog "Daz" on Tumbleweed.

South to the Gulf

We finally set off from Tranquil Bay (so called) opposite Nidri and sailed gently on Spinnaker most of the way to Kalamos. We took it down as we approached in anticipation of much stronger winds near the mountains - and weren't disappointed. We finally closed Kalamos town in a SE5 with a substantial swell. The harbour sheltered us from the swell but the wind was still strong and would be beam on. A flotilla was arriving so inexperienced boats were milling around the entrance waiting to be called in by the leader. We bided our time till there was a gap and, went in for an approach. I always test the bow thruster as we are so dependent on it for manoeuvring in tight spots - and lucky I did. All power on the boat immediately went off. The engine kept running of course but instruments, thruster, windlass and even starter motor were dead! Luckily we were still outside the harbour and L went round in circles while I went below to fix it. It was the same problem we had had in Navarino Bay 4 months ago. Our Sterling shunt had gone open circuit. A good whack with a hammer cured it (at least temporarily) and in we went determined not to use the thruster just in case.
It wasn't easy as the quay was almost full except for one Italian who had moored diagonally across two spaces and one spot right on the outer edge of the mole opposite a stub mole making it difficult to place an anchor. They guy next door was very helpful as was Georgeos from the Taverna - we tied onto our neighbour while Georgo placed the anchor from his dinghy. All well although the anchor wasn't really holding well and we leaned on the boat next door all night. In the morning, I took the offending shunt out and gave it a really serious whacking to close the brass slot onto the shunt metal. I really must replace it this winter!
Kalamos town is very steep but a pleasant walk. A bakery, supermarket, butcher rewards the trip. Tavernas by the quay around the quay are also pleasant and reasonable (especially aforesaid, very enterprising Georgeo's). After a leisurely beer in lovely surroundings, we strollad back to Rosa and spotted a very unusual little sailing fishing boat. It would have been fascinating to see it set sail, but sadly there was no sign of activity while we were there.

We stayed one night. then pushed on to Kastros. What a lovely island! It has three good anchorages, several less good and a lovely harbour. We spent a night in the uninhabited NorthEast bay with good shelter and good holding on sandy patches. Lovely calm quiet night with a black sky full of stars above us and brilliant phosphorescence below. Next day we explored the other coves on the east coast. Many are reasonable spots but the far South East is really good shelter. Unfortunately it seems to be where all the large Italian power yachts go - there were at least 10 of them all line ashore with a few lonely sailing yachts dwarfed in between them. Not our scene. So we motored back to the one and only town.

We got a superb anchoring spot in beautifully clear turquoise water on good hard sand. So nice, we stayed for two days, dinghying into the town. It has a few reasonable tavernas including a spectacular bar in an old but still functional windmill on the point. There is also a small shop but that's it. No rubbish (by order),no water, etc. The town only has 35 winter inhabitants all over 50. Everything comes by boat. The olive presses have closed down so the olives rot on the trees - many of them spectacularly old. Apart from some fishing and a little horticulture for home consumption, there is only tourism and not a lot of that. Nevertheless, there seems to be a housing and construction boom with tastefully renovated and built properties - most I suspect holiday homes for rich mainlanders.

We celebrated L's birthday at Chef Johns - a brisk climb up the hill. Superb views, truly excellent service and my Beef Stifado was excellent. Unfortunately L's lamb was over salted which spoiled it a bit.

We were glad we stayed as John and Pam from Cosi dropped by for a chat in the morning. They had been in the harbour the night before but unfortunately we hadn't noticed them.
We took the afternoon wind over to Astakos (Lobster in Greek) on the mainland and stopped in an isolated bay just before it called Port Mitikas. Its large, reasonable depth and good holding. There's nobody living there - just a couple of campers on the beach at the head of the bay. The coast road runs around but its very high and you don't really notice it. Next morning we went into Astakos to do some shopping and pick up water. Pretty reasonable anchoring off the harbour - but great care needed to keep clear of the ferry berth - which is used at least twice a day with one visit in the dead of night. It's not at all obvious - just a slightly raised section of empty quay with some tyres tied below it. We went into the town by dinghy and started with the port police as I needed the DEKPA stamped. They were pleasant enough but the most officious we have ever seen in Greece. Demanded all the usual paperwork plus my certificates of competence and passports. Most unusual. Luckily they accepted the RYA certificates as I think my ICC is out of date!
The town is entirely Greek - little or no English spoken. It's small but has all the necessities - hardware/chandlers, butcher (excellent) fruit&vedge and a supermarket that concentrates on groceries and hardware rather than competing with all the other shops. The water man is very efficient and we filled up in no time after returning to Rosa then backing up to the quay.
We had intended to stick around for a couple of days but the wind changed unexpectedly and we had a good opportunity to get on South without burning lots of diesel.
And so to Nissos Petalas. We've been here before and its great. 100% shelter, loads of good holding and no habitation for miles. We'll stay here till Thursday and then take the promised wind to Missolonghi and then Navpaktos.

Idling in the Ionian

Wild Thyme

Once the family left, we spent a few days in Vliho, saying goodbye to Kay and Peter on Wild Thyme who are giving up sailing and generally re-configuring and re-stocking the boat for two instead of 6. After a great week, it all seemed a bit flat.
Our Plastimo boom tent (made of very light aluminised rip-stop nylon) is on its last legs this year. The fabric has succumbed to UV in only 4 years of occasional use. We hoped to get another year or two out of it but Lucifer, sensing its weakness, has shredded it. So we took the opportunity of an easily accessible sailmaker in Vliho to order a new one. We also arranged for a few parcels to come to the yacht club. So we've been hanging around the Nidri/Vliho area for a couple of weeks while these processes grind through.
We were told about 51 degree bay and spent two days there in clear blue water and rural surroundings. We had never been there before and regretted that we didn't know about it when the family were here. They would have loved it. As our second night approached, a nasty little un-forecast Southerly wind kicked up and we were soon seeing half meter waves. It showed no sign of letting up so as night fell we  decided to abandon and upped sticks to run for Vliho and a comfortable night. The passage was crowded with several other yachts doing the same thing.
After a couple of days, we were getting stir crazy and, reading the Pilot, we realised there are a lot of anchorages on North East Ithaka that we haven't visited so we went off for a few days exploration. Here is a map showing where we went. Ithaka  Map 

N. Arkoudhi - SE bay

Our first night was on Nissos Arkoudhi under the small reef/island on the South East corner. Shelter and holding were surprisingly good although a southerly or easterly would have been unpleasant. After 1900 we had the place entirely to ourselves in lovely surroundings and crystal clear water.
The North East coast of Ithaka is heavily indented. We went into all of the bays. Unfortunately, many are either too deep or too choked with weed to be of much use but we found two excellent and some adequate locations.

O. Nikolaos on Ithaka - from Rosa

First stop was O. Nikolaos under a small island with a chapel on it. Gorgeous scenery with twisted and contorted rocks and lovely clear water. A bit crowded in the day time but thins out at night. We took a line ashore and didn't regret it particularly when we had very heavy wash from large ferries and cruise ships passing close by out to sea.

Windmills on Kioni point

Unfortunately there was no Vodafone or wifi coverage and, as we were expecting heavy winds on Wednesday we needed a new forecast. So next day it was off to Kioni. Fortunately, we nosed in to Frikes and took the opportunity of a decent Vodafone connection to download a new one. After checking out several more bays (most exposed to North which is not good) we tied up against the south-side rocks at Kioni and enjoyed watching this pretty, busy little town fleece the day trippers.Water was available (from a tanker on the road above at only €3 per 50Liters! That would have cost us €30! It is also available from the town quay at "only" €3  for 100L! We gave it a miss. Surprisingly there was no Vodafone coverage so after two days, we decided to head for Vathi to weather the storm.

Vathi harbour

As Vathi is the capital of Ithaka, so we were confident of a good Vodafone internet connection - sadly there was none at all! In the end we went to a cafe and used their wifi to find that the promised winds next day were now not going to happen!

We took the opportunity to go back to the nicest bay we had checked out on the way down - Ormos Lamenia. It's a small double headed bay just south of O.Nikolaos with room for no more than 6 boats. We were in luck and the North beach was free. We put lines ashore and an extra one off the bow to take the strain off the anchor and stayed for two wonderful days. Again no internet connection of course.
We finally got back to Vliho on Friday afternoon after a lovely gentle spinnaker run. Being desperate for water by now we went straight onto the Sailing Holidays quay and donated €5 for a fill - good value.
And then came Saturday - bloody Saturday. We took Rosa the 3 miles up to Nidri, anchored and dinghied in to shop. Half way through, when the dingy was already full of the products of the first shop - the heavens opened with a thunderstorm (first rain all summer). Dinghy and shopping soaked, Hatches left open on Rosa, My kindle in the cockpit and Computer on the saloon seat - below an open hatch, and L nowhere to be seen as she was visiting more shops while I checked that the Orange Juice in the taverna was really fresh.
Eventually we got together - still being pelted with rain - and dinghied over to Rosa. Very fortunately, other than some wet seats and beds, no damage had been done. The dingy had 1/2 inch of water in the bottom so I hauled it around a bit to empty it. Unnoticed, I managed to shear off the deck shower which, unnoticed, emptied all of our fresh water into the sea. Could have been worse - it might have been into the bilges. So we had to go and beg for more water from Sailing Holidays - who were wonderful and let us fill up again even though it was changeover day and they needed the taps themselves to service their flotilla yachts.
To crown it all, L went to collect her washing from Vliho Yacht Club to find that it is trapped in a broken machine and can't be liberated until the man comes on Monday.
We hope to finally pick up the boom tent and liberate L's washing tomorrow and then set off slowly South and East to the Saronic Gulf to pick up our older son and his young lady in September.

Family visit

Well, it's been far too long since I wrote anything. So here's my penance...
We picked up our son and his family from the airport in Corfu. We tried Mandraki yacht club as a pick-up point and it was a great success. A spectacular and well sheltered location right under the castle. A reasonable price and a very friendly reception from Chrissi and the other harbour masters. They even have a tame taxi driver who picked me up at 0330, took me to the airport, picked up the family and returned to Mandraki all for €20.
We had been concerned that Niki and Madison might be seasick on the long passage down to Preveza and tried to find public transport alternatives. Sadly nothing joins up - ferries don't meet buses, buses don't run when you need them, etc. so we gave up.

Kieran & Niki

We started the voyage with a gentle couple of hours down to Petriti all in calm weather and all sheltered from the Adriatic swell by Corfu. Had a great day swimming, dozing and exploring. Next morning we had a gentle trip to Lakka for old time's sake (two years before we visited Paxos with them).

Morgan

Next night, we tucked everyone into bed with seasick tablets. At 0200, Morgan (granddaughter) and I tackled the long open-sea leg from Lakka to Preveza while everyone else slept. By  0730 when we were approaching Preveza and everyone started waking up.

Madison

Although Madison (other granddaughter) was a bit sick it was only for an hour and we anchored behind the marina in Preveza and had another nice relaxed day.










Next day was the Levkas canal and then down to Vliho intending to eat dinner at the yacht club. Unfortunately, the wind blew up strongly and we didn't trust the dinghy so dinner was cobbled together on board. Then it was down to Port Athene on Meganisi. This was one of the highlights.  The night was moonless and - the kids stayed up late. We had brilliant stars above and all swam in fairy dust below as the phosphorescence sparkled around us. Real Magic! If you haven't swum on a dark night in clear Med waters, give it a try. You won't forget it in a hurry.

Desert Island

We decided to spend the last few days in the gulf of Amvritsa where we expected to see turtles, dolphins and a "desert island". Sadly the wildlife seemed to have gone on holiday and we only saw a small pod in the distance and a single large turtle by Preveza town quay when they were getting ready to leave! The desert island was a hit though.

Moran and Madison at the fair.

The final treat for the children was the funfair at Preveza. Alton Towers it wasn't but they were surprisingly nice (for fairground people) and it didn't feel as if they were only out to grab our money.

Getting back to Corfu airport was another logistic nightmare as nobody wanted to go all the way North and then back on Rosa. In the end we hired a car in Preveza and drove them up to meet the ferry at Igoumenitsa - by far the most convenient and least expensive option. Having wheels also allowed us to stock up at Lidle and to fill cans with Diesel at an excellent price
Altogether a very successful visit allowing us all to spend quality time together. Very important when you spend most your life as a sea gypsy.

Zakinthos to Corfu

Well, we left you with a lovely couple of days in Aghios Nikolos at the North end of Zakinthos...
And then night fell. The forecast was predicting strong North Easterlies out at sea but only light ones at Ag Nik. So we, along with 10 other yachts hoped for the best and settled down to sleep. Around midnight, the swell suddenly arrived and rapidly turned into a very dangerous surge. We had prepared for a quick exit just in case and so we put the plan into action. Sadly, in the darkness, I failed to notice that the wheel was still lashed to port to prevent the rudder banging around and we hit the bow of the boat on our port side, demolishing his and our navigation lights. We shouted phone numbers and then after a few passes in the pitch dark in the shelter of the small island to sort out ropes, fenders, dinghy, etc we set off into the open sea.

Dawn at last!

At first there was little wind and just a swell but after a couple of hours we were battling into heavy seas and gale force winds on our way to Kefalonia. After a couple of failed plans, we headed for the lea provided by the South East corner of Kefalonia and mooched about outside the bay there until dawn broke. And lucky we did. The whole place is strewn with uncharted rocks and reefs. In good daylight, they were easily seen and we found a good anchorage but at night we would have come to serious grief.
We put the hook down and crashed for a few hours than did the few miles to Poros in the afternoon. It was now the Saturday before the Greek Election. We walked into town needing cash (to pay for the nav lights) only to find the solitary ATM empty.
The Dutch boat we had agreed to give €140 for the light couldn't easily catch us up so instead of going to Eufemia on Kefalonia as planned, we diverted to Vathi on Ithaca as his sister was there on a flotilla. Luckily the ATMs in Vathi were working so we got out the cash, handed some of it over and headed up to Kioni on Ithaca for lunch with Mike and Gilly and then on to Abeliki on Meganisi.
We arrived at about 6.00 to find it already crowded. We tried 3 times to anchor but only succeeded on the fourth. We had a good night in the pleasant surroundings we remember although it was tarnished a bit by the large number of wasps.

Vlicho bay on Levkas

Motored over to Vlicho next day and anchored in the wonderful enclosed bay. We met Miles & Karen - who's yacht Stella Maris was badly damaged in the storm last year - and drank good Cretan Raki into the small hours. Vlicho Yacht club hosted a quiz night on Thursday so we ate there and then rested (and worked) on the Friday.
Next day we motored up to Levkas and moored on the Town Quay. Its a familiar, busy place with loas of chandleries and other services. We got most things we needed including a clever engineer from Contract Yacht Services who managed to remove a bolt from my alternator that I had been trying to get undone for two years!
We are now heavily into planning for Kieran, Nicky & the girlies to visit us next month. We had hoped that there would be some sensible and economic way of getting between Levkas and Igoumenitsa( the main ferry port for Corfu) but no such luck. There are only 3 buses a week and those are at silly time. Taxis cost a fortune and minibuses only run if they have flotilla customers and even then charge over €100! They can't tell you until a day or so beforehand if they will have any spaces. What a way to run a country!
So off to Preveza. Buses are more hopeful but still infrequent and long. In the end we decided to hire a car and take them up to Igoumenitsa ourselves. Cheaper and a lot less hassle.
Nicky is a bit worried about seasickness when we pick them up in Corfu and then run down to Preveza so we investigated lots of alternatives for her to go by ferry and bus. This included the possibilty of going from Corfu to Parga (shielded by the swell) then taking a bus to Preveza. Unfortunately, Parga is not at all comfortable. Lots of swell and even more waves from water sports, fishermen and tripper boats. Looks like its going to be travel sickness pills and an overnighter.
And so to Lakka on Paxos - one of our favourite places in the whole world. We stayed there for a few days just enjoying it. Getting onto the quay for a cope of hours from 10.00 was a really good idea. The fuel man was there with his mini tanker filling up some of the tripper boats. The travel info place sells water at €7.00 per 1/2 hour with the hose which is a bit steep if like us you have small tanks and could only take 200L. They were prepared to pro-rate it though so we were happy with €2.50 for 10 minutes.
On Wednesday we made the short hop to Petriti sailing most of the way to my surprise. The last hour was a gentle but very pleasurable beat to windward. Petriti turned out to be a thoroughly nice little village. It has a bakery, a good minimarket and some nice little tavernas where they charge proper Greek prices. The harbour is crowded and although there were 11 yachts on the mole, there wasn't a lot of movement so I suspect some of them are based there. No matter, the anchorage just outside the harbour is good (excellent holding on mud and weed) and reasonably sheltered (bit of swell if the wind has a bit of East in it). We stayed for 2 days thn ran up to Corfu town and anchored off the mouth of NAOK just under the castle. We took the dinghy through the inshore passage to IOK yacht club and booked in for Friday-Sunday to await the Family.

North to the Ionian

We spent a few days relaxing Kalamata - Marion and Hugh left on the early bus to Athens on Sunday and then we shopped in the amazing AB supermarket. They deliver free within a couple of hours if you spend more than €60 which isn't hard to do! They have lots of things that are very hard to come by in Greece such as Lea and Perrins, Branston Pickle, suchi ginger, wasabi and papadoms!
We had a final dinner and a sad farewell to David and Jilly. We've been sailing in company with Meanderer for two months but they have to stay in Kalamata and lay up the boat while we have to make our way to the Ionian for the summer.
At 9.00 on Tuesday, we sailed off to Kioni. We had to motor most of the way but picked up enough wind to sail the last few miles, intending to anchor then see the town. We put the anchor down 3 times on the eastern side of the harbour but on each occasion, the ground had no strength and we just pulled through it. We call this stuff "toothpaste". We tried on the Western side and seemed to get a good bite. After lunch, I snorkeled over the anchor to find that it had dragged 20M in a light wind! So we reluctantly decided to move on. Our initial plan was Porto Longo but the wind insisted on Finikounda so we bowed to the inevitable and spent a nice peaceful night there.
Next day we braved a stiff wind and a nasty swell to slide over the few miles to Porto Longo.
on the almost uninhabited island of Sapientza. The original plan had been to go for the North East anchorage but the wind wouldn't let us. We saw the other anchorage next day and were very glad we hadn't stopped there. Porto Longo was superb shelter with a large area of excellent holding. The other one was much more exposed and we would have had a sleepless night.
Next day we had a fast though lumpy sail up to Navarino Bay, anchored in the North West corner and had a lovely warm drowsy afternoon and night.

Navarino Bay

Next day we had decided to try to get through the, very shallow, Northern passage and save ourselves 10 miles (a couple of hours) off the journey. So we did our usual checks including testing the bow-thruster when suddenly all electrical power disappeared. No thruster, no instruments, no anchor windlass  not even the engine starter motor. Panic! It took me 10 minutes to track it down to the Sterling battery monitor shunt that measures the total current going into or out of the batteries. It had failed open circuit. I pushed it with a finger and it sparked and seemed to work but one touch on the bow thruster and it was open circuit again. More panic! I dismantled it all and decided there was a dry and possible corroded joint. Hopefully some contact spray and a few good whacks with a hammer have sorted it out!
So off we went to the shallow passage. I had already sounded it out when we were here during the rally so I knew that most of was 1.2M of water over sand. No problem for us. The tricky bits were a few rocks scattered around on the sand and a rocky ledge right at the seaward side of the passage. The first were easily seen and avoided but the ledge was more of a problem as its depth varies from 0.6M (too shallow for us) and 1.5M (no problem at all). Luckily some locals had made a buoy out of a few plastic bottles tied together, a bit of string and something heavy on the bottom and had placed it by one of the larger deep bits. So off we went and made easy if slow progress over the sand. It was too shallow for our ultrasonic depth sounder so Lindsay did it the old fashioned way and dangled a weight on a bit of knotted string over the bow and called out the depth. We spotted the buoy and headed for it. It was only when we passed it that I realised it had moved and was no longer on the ledge! We approached very gingerly and with great trepidation went over a patch of 1M depth and just tipped the keel on the ground. and then, with one bound, we were free! A 6 hour sail and motor got us to Kiparissi.
On the way down there had been loads of space but this time most of the space was taken up by a huge trawler and a couple of smaller fishing boats. Luckily, we spotted Mike and Gilly on Eos of Mersey who kindly let us come alongside.

Marathonissi -  island in Lagana bay

We stayed there for two days, shopping and socialising and then set off for Katakolon and after an uneventful night at anchor, sailed for Limni Keriou on Zakinthos. This tiny port is part of the Marine park protecting the turtle nesting grounds of Lagana bay. However it's in Area C which permits navigation below 6knots and permits anchoring. We were needlessly worried that regulations might have changed etc. In the event, there appears to be little or no enforcement even in areas A and B whioch prohibit navigation. Power boats large, small and day-hired were zipping about everywhere and several sails were skirting the (prohibited) coast. Still, since it is all about protecting rare turtles, we stuck by the rules and wished others would do the same.

Keriou from the taverna above

Limni Keriou turned out to be a little gem. Small, friendly, green and rugged with crystal clear water and excellent holding. We stayed there for two days, swimming, walking and doing a bit of work.

Zante Port

Next stop was Zante - the main port for Zakinthos. It's a huge commercial and ferry port with not a lot to recommend it. We were met by "Robbing Bob" who we had been warned about (thanks Anne). He is unofficial but makes like a harbour master. Takes lines, gives water and electricity, takes down boat details and then take papers and returns them stamped by the Port Police. He then charges upwards of €25 - all without explaining that its all off his own bat. The only real charges are the normal port-police taxes of €8-12 depending on size. We said we would do our own papers and didn't need water or electricity and he slouched off in a huff. The port police turned out to be miles away at the opposite corner of the harbour beside the big church so maybe the service is not that bad value. I just don't like being charged for stuff as if it is an official fee when actually I am paying for an optional service.

The blue cave near Aghios Nikolos - Zakinthos

Aghios Nikolos harbour

We only stayed a night in Zante and then headed up to Aghios Nikolos on the north east tip of the island. It's a lovely spot with an incredibly helpful local family (Dimitros). They offer free water, electricity and even showers and don't even require you to eat in their restaurant. I have to say though that I would feel guilty not doing so at least once. They also run the garage right above the dock and are delighted to either fill cans or run their tanker down to the boat. We bought 66L of diesel. They also run boat trips up the coast to the blue grotto (similar to,  although a lot smaller than, the one in Capri). We took the trip and were very glad we had. Trying to do it in our own boat would have been very difficult, someone would have had to stay on the boat and it was only €7 each.