Friday 7th June...
Linda - We are Ionion! The first time I ever made that statement was in 2021 when we came around the bottom corner of Sicily and I posted a photo of me and the lovely Saffy dog smiling.
This morning we awoke to find the hungry kitty waiting for us on the pontoon. He actually knows which boat we are on.... spooky. As soon as he saw us he actually jumped on the boat again! We had to shoo him and his mate off because like I said last night.... We don't want any stowaways.
Where's my breakfast?
When you are five miles away from the bridge you have to call 'Rion Traffic' control to ask permission to go under the bridge. They ask for your air draft (height), and where you are going to. Today they were busy with boats and in front of us a large ship went through also. The controllers are very helpful and pleasant.
At one mile before the bridge they confirm which gap to use. For us they always say 'Keep one pilon to your starboard side, and three pilons to your port side. This is the third time we've been under this bridge so we kind of know what to expect, and where to go.
Dean calling up 'Rion Traffic' control on the VHF radio
At one mile before the bridge they confirm which gap to use. For us they always say 'Keep one pilon to your starboard side, and three pilons to your port side. This is the third time we've been under this bridge so we kind of know what to expect, and where to go.
We were sailing with the genoa but as we approached, the wind became directly from behind and we couldn't get the right angle to make our 'gap'. So as not to make fools of ourselves, my responsible Captain rolled the sail away, and switched on the engine to get us under in the correct manner. You have to be careful as there are ferries crossing from one side to the other also.
On approach...sailing
Sail away, motor on
Keeping one pilon to the starboard side
A ferry crossing ahead as we near the bridge
Getting close now
Here we go
Always nerve-wracking
Made it
...and we're through
Well done Captain
It gets real blowy as you come out the other side because the wind gets squashed through the gap and accelerates. A bit like the Straits of Gibraltar. We rolled the genoa back out and for the next three hours we enjoyed a 7 knot downwind sail with up to 25 knots of wind. We headed for the southerly cardinal before turning starboard in towards Messolongi, then it was bye bye wind.... dropping to 1 knot of wind as we neared.
There are an awful lot of shallows around the Messolonghi entrance and you have to find the red and green buoy and go between them, then follow the narrow channel. We realised that we haven't seen a cardinal or red/green buoys for AGES.
The southerly cardinal (Keep south)
Red buoy
Green buoy
Following the channel into Messolonghi
It's so unique here
We arrived and anchored just before 1pm. After a while we went ashore for our favourite job... visit the Port Police to stamp our Transit Log. When we got there they were all just leaving, but helpfully stopped and did our stamping for us. Today was SOOOO hot, almost unbearable. We didn't have far to walk but had to stop for a drink on the way back. The weather is due to get even hotter next week. I think we'll have to find ourselves a nice little blue water bay for swimming (and cooling off).
Saturday 8th June...
Linda - On a mission this morning to get to Lidl as early as possible before the heat took over the day again. We had set the alarm for 7am. Dean got up and stuck his head out of the companion way to find a deluge (hundreds) of mosquitos (both dead and alive) underneath the sprayhood. Thank goodness we had some mozzie spray left. One nice thing though was that we heard birds singing, and found four of them sitting on our guardrails. Not a good photo below unless you have a magnifying glass handy.
We were ashore at 8am and walked 30 minutes to Lidl. What excitement. We haven't seen a Lidl probably since we were last here two years ago. We took note of a taxi number to call for a lift back knowing that we would have too much (beer) to carry.
It's a lovely walk along the lagoon, past the Lord Byron statue and museum. He's pretty famous around these parts for his efforts fighting with the Greeks against the Turks.
Lord Byron museum
His statue outside
The lagoon
Beautiful flowers along the way
Arriving at Lidl 😀
We got some real goodies that we've not seen anywhere else, plus they have an in-store bakery too. At the checkout Dean asked the operator if she could recommend a taxi number for us. Without further ado she got on her mobile phone and called us a taxi!. We finished our packing, walked outside, and within two minutes it had arrived.
Back at Thesee with four bags of shopping
It was still only 10.30am by this stage. We unpacked and went back ashore to the Chandleries and into the main town square for a nice cold drink. We both commented how much nicer we thought it was since last time. Maybe it's the time of year.
Walking into town
Me with the fountains in town square
The afternoon was chill-out time on board. At one point six children came past in training dinghies. Hot again today, so glad we are at anchor with some breeze.
Sunday 9th June...
Linda - Two days in Messolonghi anchorage is enough for us. It's a good safe secure anchorage but the downside is the water is very green and very murky. Even Dean doesn't get in it, but a lot of people do for some strange reason. Plus there's big turtles swimming about..... Nice to look at but not swim with, in my books anyway. Also, we are inundated with mozzies under the sprayhood again. And.... Dean had another sleepless night with loud music going on in the bars until 3am. Time to exit and find a new anchorage.
So off we set at around 9am. For the first two hours it's just a matter of getting past the vast lagoons in this area. Mozzie land in other words, and as we were travelling we got mozzie attacked once again. They were all over the cockpit and canvas. They're quite big and dopey so squatting them is fairly easy but makes a mess when you squidge one. In the end Dean got the squatter out and started bashing the canvas so they would fly off.
Squidging and squatting
By 1pm we had arrived at a new anchorage 'Petalos'. It's on the mainland, and with no wind to get us across to Kefalonia or Ithaka it was our best option. There's nothing here on the land except rocks, bushes, and goats but it's pleasant enough and there are about eight boats here tonight.
We had a bit of a shock this afternoon at 5pm. It was just like someone switched the wind on... bang 20 knots from nowhere. It's the afternoon breeze but we weren't expecting it to be so strong. Dean commented that other boats may drag anchor. Starting to pay attention to what was going on we realised that it was US that was dragging.
Life jackets back on, we had to lift the anchor with some difficulty, and then try to re-anchor. We moved closer to the island we were sheltering behind, dropped the anchor, but again it didn't hold and so up it came again, and off we went to try a third spot. This time we were successful and we put 50 metres of chain out to make sure. It's a little deeper here. We considered that Thesee doesn't like to be anchored in too shallow water. As far as we can recall, every time that we have dragged anchor we have been in shallow water.
The wind went on for three hours. I hope this isn't going to be a regular occurrence here in the Ionion.
Linda - Welcome to KASTOS 😍. A breath of fresh air and blue water.
We're 13 miles north and in a proper anchorage on a proper island. Mind you, it's busy. We arrived just after 11am so that we could be sure of getting a good spot just outside the tiny port.
Dragonera islands en-route...very green
New empty anchorage at Kastos
The tiny port and village
Bars at the windmill
Strange rock formations around the anchorage
We're very happy tonight. But first, this morning as we raised the anchor the 'no sensor' alarm came on. This meant that the 'gypsy' in the windlass was not reading the amount of chain coming up. It's not a big issue but needed to be sorted.
After we arrived at Kastos, Dean anchoring manually from the bow of the boat, he set to work fixing the problem. It took a little time, but he found a broken wire causing the problem. Mr Fixit of course had a spare electronic sensor which he bought a while ago when we had a similar issue. The sensor has a magnet in it, which counts the revolutions of the windlass as the chain goes down, therefore telling us how much chain is out. Clever. He fitted the new spare because the old one had already been 'fixed' once before.
The broken wire in the sensor
Fixing the sensor at the windlass
Close up of the windlass
Moving on, the water is fabulous and blue. Dean had no qualms in getting in to check the anchor had set properly (twice), good excuse.
A lot of boats arrived and anchored around 4pm. We are all fairly close together with 15 boats in this anchorage. Our nextdoor neighbour is flying a Welsh ensign, also a boat on the quay has one too. The neighbour's boat is called Wyvern. That's the actual description of the Welsh dragon on the Welsh flag.
After dinner we dinghy'd ashore for a little walk and a sundowner in the cocktail bar at the windmill. Nice. Think we will stay here tomorrow. Here's some photos of the anchorage and views...
Boats tied back to the shore in the tiny harbour
Blue Thesee
Views of the anchorage
Thesee pride of place
That's more like it
..... and relax xxx
Tuesday 11th June...
Linda - Early morning walkies before the sun gets too hot. Only a short walkies though from the village to two bays along the coast. Thesee is in the first bay.
Old jeep in the village
Coffee at the Taverna in the harbour
Along the village back streets
Now at the harbour again
Bay 1, this isn't Thesee but look at that water
Gorgeous views of Bay 1
I think that's Thesee....dot on the far left
Empty descaler containers??
Bay number 2
Boats tucked in, tied to shore
Another gorgeous bay it is
Back to Thesee bay
Back before lunchtime, Dean carried on with jobs he had thought up....
1. Twiddled with outboard engine to make it respond quicker
2. Checked gas cylinders because we could smell gas. The one we bought in Poros was leaking
3. Fiddled with lights in bathrooms because one was flickering, then polished them shiny
4. Stripped down the Duogen and greased the bearings to try and make it quieter
I could add number 5 which was going into a meltdown because he couldn't find his little plastic bag with grease and little brushes. I'm sure he put it somewhere safe???? 😣
It was a little blustery this afternoon, but nothing to worry about. Not as many boats here as yesterday, but still a lot, and a quay full once more. Dean took me out to dinner in a nice little taverna we spotted yesterday. Before we went out, he had a shave on the back of the boat, and another swim. 3 times around the boat in fact.
On our way out we took ourselves on a little tour of the bay so that I could get some up-close photos of the amazing rock formations here.
Our lovely Taverna Bellos this evening
Wednesday 12th June...
Linda - Not a good day today. Headed north about 13 miles to the island called Meganissi. There's a number of craggy inlets on the north side where we attempted to get some protection for the next few days unsettled weather. Unfortunately, the inlets turned out to be quite narrow, and although we tried several different anchoring positions we weren't happy with the depths & changing wind directions. Eventually we decided to leave Meganissi, heading across to the nearby island Lefkada. There we anchored in a bay we know at Nidri, there's lots of space and it's pretty much the same depth all over.
Posh Meganissi hotel
Thursday 13th June...
Linda - Not very comfortable last night, it's extremely hot at the moment. Trying to keep covered in bed with very thin sheets so that any stray mozzies can't get us, but almost unbearable to put any kind of material over us. Dean was also up on watch at times with some gusts that came through now and again.
Umming and ahhing this morning whether to go ashore, we did finally make a decision about 11.30am and offloaded the dinghy. We had quite a few days of rubbish to get rid of so I think that swung it.
Nydri is a very popular resort, both with yachties and land lubbers so we thought we may bump into someone we knew. And in fact it didn't take us long to. Walking down the main street on the way to Transit Log stamping, we bumped into Lorraine and Ian (SV Cuffy Sark). Friends from back in Finike two winters ago.
After the Port Police visit we headed straight to 'Arnies' for a 'proper' English Breakfast and a 'proper' bacon bap. The Real Deal.... thank you Arnies.
It's been very overcast today, cloudy and a bit stormy, and also sahara sand I believe. The gusty winds weren't anything to worry about thankfully, but unfortunately tomorrow might be a different story. Let's see....
Oh, and Dean spoke to the store in Athens where we sent the Bow Thruster thingy back to over a week ago. They say they've tested it and it works fine. So it's obviously not compatible with our boat for some reason. We're expecting a refund.
Friday 14th June...
Linda - Today was very windy, a lot of boats dragged but Thesee held firm. Well done Thesee!
A couple of photos from our 'Anchor Watch' app showing our track during the winds.
The photo shows our anchor in the middle (small white circle with anchor in) 😏. Above the anchor is North and this is where we made tracks yesterday. Today, about 10am the winds kicked in and sent us across the top of the anchor and then below (south) of the anchor. Then as the anchor chain stretched out to our set length of 40 metres we swayed about all day making a nice colourful pattern sideways.
This first picture shows Thesee (white circle with a boat in) 😏 as we were swaying about side to side.
As soon as the wind stopped about 6pm it was a beautiful evening.
This second picture is after the wind stopped and we have bounced back towards the anchor about half way.
As soon as the wind stopped about 6pm it was a beautiful evening.
Saturday 15th June...
Linda - Ooh we have photos. Tonight we are anchored and tied to shore in a lovely bay called Atherinos, on Meganissi. You don't know how long I've been waiting to get to Meganissi......over 5 years in fact. Ever since our first winter in Almerimar when a fellow sailoress told me that it was her favourite place.
These first photos are as we left Nidri this morning, where it's very busy just off the town in Tranquil Bay. The boats are anchored ALL OVER THE FAIRWAY, so you have to weave in and out to get through.
Looking back to Vliho Bay where we've been anchored
Weaving our way through the boats
Could hardly get past this one
Next photos are in our tied to shore anchorage in Atherinos, Meganissi.
Look at that blue water!!
We also went ashore for a late afternoon beer & cider at a bar upon the hillside with great views of the bay.
The small quay at the top of the bay
To the 'All-day' bar
Views from the bar
Short walk along the frontage
Arriving back at Thesee
Sunday 16th June...
Linda - We like our little spot here tied to shore in Meganissi. But we must visit the main town, not surprisingly called Vathy (like so many other places). This meant being up and ready at 8am to go ashore for the 30 minute walk before the sun rises too high in the sky. We left the dinghy on a nearby beach and set off. Within a few minutes of walking we found the road completely blocked with piles of rubble and a tractor. This obviously used to be some sort of track long ago. Not to be put off we climbed over the rubble piles and managed to find a small rambling path which took us on our way as intended.
Road blocked here
Dean finds the intended route through the bushes
The walk was quite nice in places, taking us past a couple of serene bays at this time in the morning. And also passing some beautiful residences with wild colourful gardens.
When we arrived at the port we had a good walk about, stopped for coffee, ice cream, and chocolate croissant, then to the store where we actually found iceberg lettuce, chocolate sauce, and the most delightful freshly baked crusty bread.
Passing Abelaki Bay en-route
Reaching Port Vathy, very quaint
Fisherman's quay
Dean took a fancy to this St Malo Clipper boat registered in Falmouth.
Oh no, I think he wants one!!
Perfect flowers on the way back
With butterflies too
We were back at 10.30am. Dean blew up the SUP (Stand Up Paddleboard). I was beginning to think that it wouldn't come out this holiday. He's still good at it. Straight on and standing up before even getting outside of our shore lines. He went off to investigate the reef which is about 200 metres away, taking some bread to feed the fish.
When he came back he noticed that there were four places leaking air on the board seams, so he marked the points so that he could hopefully fix them. But by this afternoon the SUP was as flat and bendy as a lilo. I think it's a gonner, but no doubt Mr C will try his best to save it.
Tonight we ate out at one of the restaurants. It was OK but nothing special.
By the way.... I have to mention about last night. A charter catamaran tried to tie to shore next to us. He had no idea what he was doing, and had already tried to get into another spot. It was a joke. Six people on board and it took three to go ashore to tie the lines. They couldn't get the right positioning and at one point they were dragging their anchor right in front of us and above our chain. Dean shouted out to them to reverse, which eventually they did. They messed around for over an hour and it was almost 9pm and getting dark. In the end they gave up and sped away. Trouble was they headed straight at the reef (which I mentioned was 200 metres away). Next thing we know there's a thud and they hit the reef! Honestly, I've never seen anything like it.
Linda - This blog post seems to be getting quite long. We are on Day 3 in the same Meganissi anchorage so I ought to keep it going. Tomorrow we'll move so I'll start a new post.
Deciding to stay here today because there's really no reason to move on, we walked into the 'other' village on the island called Katomeri. This is where most of the residents live, unlike yesterday in Vathy it was holidaymakers.
There was a lovely taverna with murals painted on the walls. We just had to stop for a drink.
No idea what it says on this wall in the village
Very nice holiday apartments
Again we were back by 10.30am. Dean had jobs to do.
At the moment we have three things leaking...
1. The paddleboard
2. The dinghy
3. The aft heads
Most important was to fix the heads. It's been leaking for a few days but the quick fixes haven't worked, so it was time to change the seal. Of course we have a spare seal.... goes without saying.
The heads motor dismantled
The heads minus the motor
Close up of the leaking seal
Whilst Dean was downstairs with his head in the loos I was yacht spotting. This massive sailing yacht came in but didn't stay. It had five spreaders. Name Kokomo.
Just caught this foiler in the photo too
This is the adapter for the toilet blue...
split at the blue line
The leaking seal now removed
Late afternoon about 6ish we dinghy'd over to the other side of the bay....only a couple of minutes away. There were two bars and a beach with sunbeds. We landed the dinghy away from the swimming area and walked to the bar for cocktails.... Whoop Whoop!
Dinghy ashore on wheels
Walking to the beach bar
Sun not far off setting
Sunbeds at the bar
Cocktails... a bit of a treat
Dean..... Mai Tai
Me..... Strawberry Daquiri
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