Adventures of Thésée: Corinth Canal Day !!

Friday 31st May..... Corinth Canal Day !!

Today's the day! Thesee & Crew's very exciting day transiting the Corinth Canal. It's something we've been looking forward to for a long long time, because back in 2022 when we were travelling East, the Corinth Canal was closed due to landslides, and we had to go all the way around the bottom of the Pelopponese which took about two weeks.

We had left last night's anchorage at Korfos by 7am. It took about two and half hours to reach the canal entrance. We had been instructed to call up on VHF 11 when we were half a mile away, and were then told to approach the Corinth dock to stop and make payment. 300 Euros. A lot of money, but this is a once in a lifetime event so had to be done. There was also a fuel truck so we filled up at a reasonable price. The fuel man actually came on the boat and re-fuelled for us (full service he said). It was so funny, he put a plastic tube in the tank and the other end in his ear to hear for bubbles as he was re-fuelling so he knew when it was full.

Before we knew it we had been given the go ahead to transit the canal. You have to follow a tug boat through. Today the canal was ALL OURS. Thesee (and our tug boat) were the only ones going through. Our own private escort. Corinth Control told us to keep up with the tug boat, go quickly, which was a bit of a shame because you really want to take your time. Nevertheless, it was fantastic, a day we'll never forget. We have to say that all the dealings we had with the Corinth Control right from booking to transiting were excellent.

Here's ALL the photos....

Half a mile away from the entrance

First proper glimpse as we approach

The fuel man with his listening tube

Waiting on the dock for the go-ahead

Here we go, catch that tug boat in the distance

Looking back from the bow

Dean's phone (on the right) taking a video

More bridges

Reinforced cliffs

Nearing the end

Almost at the exit, finally caught the tug boat

Bye bye canal

The minute we passed the exit gates we could hear the clunk of them closing and the barrier comes up. There was a large ship waiting to go in and also four sail boats, and they had all been waiting for us! Haha.

Ship waiting

The town of Corinth

Our track coming out the other end

So within less than an hour of approach we were all done, straight through. Just like that. Perfect.

From there we motored for about four hours to Ormos Isidoros, Antikyra on the north shore of the gulf. No wind at all. Tonight we are side on to the quay. It's a nice little place to look at, nothing much here, very peaceful.