Our passage from Italy to Greece was uneventful. The most exciting moments were swapping the Italian flag for the Greek one, and motoring through schools of tuna feeding. There were hundreds of them – leaping out of the water around us and streaking past like underwater lightning as they chased small pink squid – unfortunately none of them were tempted by our tasteless chewy plastic squid lure.

“Make sure you get it the right way up, Daddy!”

Sunrise over Greece.

Levkas and Meganisi

We entered Greece officially in Levkas (the town, on the island of Levkas), spending our first night stern-to against the town quay (this was the first time that we had had to drop our anchor and go stern-to against a wall). The next day we went south to Nidri to meet up with Johan and Christine (ALTIKA) who are working as hosts on a charter boat. We first met them almost exactly a year ago when we were on technical hitches 542 and 543 in Rota.

From Nidri we hopped across to Abelike on the island of Meganisi to meet up with Karen and Richard (PYXIS), where we practiced our technique of anchoring and taking stern lines ashore to tie on to rocks and trees. It was great to just to stop and do nothing but swim, snorkel, siesta and read for a couple of days.

A change of plan

Having just arrived here in Greece, we really don’t want to move on again straight away, which is what we would have to do if we wanted to join the start of the Vasco de Gama Rally in Turkey in October. So, the plan now is to stay around Greece and Turkey for a couple of seasons, and then think about heading for India in a couple of years’ time. This will also give us a chance to get a few more things sorted on CAPE – the fuel tanks for starters!

Messolonghi

Karen and Richard had heard through the yottie grapevine about an embryonic marina at Messolonghi on the Greek mainland and were keen to check it out as a potential place to leave PYXIS over the winter. We tagged along, checking out the tiny harbour on the island of Kastos and the anchorage at Petalas on the way.

Messolonghi is a real (i.e. non-tourist) university town in the Gulf of Patras, west of the Corinth canal. It is surrounded by salt marshes, and backed by mountains.

Looking across the harbour from the marina at Messolonghi.

We ended up booking ourselves in for the winter too, so there will be more to come about Messolonghi and its surroundings once we’ve had a proper poke around in October. The marina is still under construction and has only skeleton services at the moment – it was officially opened with a blessing ceremony (complete with Greek Orthodox priest with incense and holy water) and a bit of a party while we were there.

CAPE all dressed up for the blessing ceremony.

Rosie and Otwin (ENYA) turned up in Messolonghi too, so we were able to catch up with them over a BBQ or two.

Rosie and Otwin having a laugh.

David and Richard up to their old tricks involving hot coals and lumps of meat.

Ricocheting around the Ionian

From Messolonghi, we headed back north into the Ionian – back to Levkas to pick up Johan and Christine who were joining us on CAPE for their week off. We found some lovely quiet anchorages on Cephalonia, near Fiskardho (fondly referred to as ‘4-Boat Bay’ and ‘Big Cave Bay’) and Assos.

The old and new lighthouses at Fiskardho.

The view from ‘4-Boat Bay’ across to the island of Ithaca.

4-Boat Bay beach.

We explored the caves and tunnels in Big Cave Bay and even had a Pirate BBQ inside the cave (with gory pirate fodder and grog of course).

Big Cave Bay.

The mouth of the cave.

The pebble beach inside the cave.

Luckily we had our Famous Five torches with us and were able to explore the warren of tunnels and caves.

Christine fishing out some ‘dead men’s fingers’ to go on the Pirate BBQ.

Subtle lighting for cave-bound pirates.

Beth and Bryn found some high rocks to jump off and scare their mother stupid.

Beth at the launch pad – and on her way down.

Anchored off the beach and cliffs near Assos.

Eventually we headed back to Nidri – and for once had more than enough wind to sail. David and I had a slight disagreement about how much sail we needed out, but I have now got over being dangled across the cockpit while clinging on to the gantry and we are speaking to each other again.

Banned from the Ammonia Hotel pontoon!

Now we don’t normally slag off the less friendly and unprofessional folk that we come across (well not in print anyway), but we did run into a particularly obnoxious set of people on one of the pontoons in Nidri (the names have been changed to protect the identities of the not-so-innocent). Many of the charter boat pontoons (and their facilities) are available for use by private yachts when the charter boats aren’t using them – usually during the week. We had stayed at the Ammonia Hotel pontoon previously and headed back there to deliver Johan and Christine back to work, and to meet up with Karen and Richard again. The unpleasantness started when Peeve’s (the ‘docking master’) boat (COCONUTTER) leant heavily on PYXIS during a 35-knot gust because it wasn’t tied up properly, and he accused Karen and Richard of interfering with his lazy line and objected when Karen and Richard tried to keep his boat off their gel coat. Then Peeve’s wife’s (Satchel) refused (using colourful language) to rearrange some dodgy wiring to let PYXIS have electricity, followed by Noc (the hotel/pontoon owner) informing us that he didn’t want to hear our side of the story because he’d heard everything he wanted to from Peeve and Satchel, and that he would like us to leave. Remember – the customer docking master is always right. I have to say that this it the first time we have ever been banned from a pontoon! For the diplomatic version of what happened, see the PYXIE blog (http://blog.mailasail.com/pyxis/881). Having escaped to anchor in Vliho, we had a lovely evening sampling the famous Vliho Yacht Club’s Gourmet Burgers and marvelling at their impressive book swap.

Motor sailing in the Med

The last couple of weeks we have pottered (mainly under motor) backwards and forwards between anchorages and quays in Vliho and Sivota (on the island of Levkas) and Abelike and Spartakhori (on the island of Meganisi), with Karen and Richard and Robin and Angie (CIRRUSLY BLUE). School has moved smoothly from the Romans to the Greeks. The children teamed up with some Dutch children (Thyl and Sierk) on REBEL RIVAL in an attempt to wear out Robin, his RHIB and his towed inflatable toy, and for Nintendo DS marathons, LEGO and a DVD fest (Spiderman 1, 2, and 3). In between, we’ve been coming back to the ‘Dutch pontoon’ in Nidri for me to have access to uninterrupted electric, and wi-fi for work (decent internet access is often a bit hard to come by here in Greece). The pontoon is attached to the friendly Iris Hotel and we can use the swimming pool and wi-fi for 10 Euros per night (including electric and water) – with no abuse from the staff.

Spartakhori by day.

Spartakhori at dusk.

Taverna Spilia in Spartakhori.

Robin and Angie leading us astray – forcing us to drink too much, and listen to a scary amount of Phil Collins.

Bryn, Beth and Sierk in the middle of an after-dinner Nintendo session.

Beth, Thyl and Sierk with Robin’s inflatable toy.

A LEGO session on CAPE.

Bryn by the Iris Hotel pool.

So far we are very impressed with the Ionian. People are really friendly (well most of them anyway), the islands are a lot greener than we expected (although there is a hint of autumn colour just starting to show now) and there are lots of great anchorages and quays to choose from just a few hours apart. It is certainly more relaxed than Italy where you can be fined for sailing or anchoring within 200 metres of the shore. Here in Greece, if you can get your hook in or a rope on, you can stay. We don’t, however, move around at night as the electronic charts leave a lot to be desired in the accuracy department – many is the time that we have (according to the chart) anchored 50 metres inland.

Birthday season

On my birthday we got up early (while it was cool) and walked the 8 km round trip to a waterfall near Nidri with Karen and Richard. The gorge and the waterfall were impressive – but would be even better after a good downpour.

The gorge was cool and leafy and the water ice cold and home to a number of huge tadpoles and almost-frogs.

The waterfall.

I was thoroughly spoiled with a new sarong, a top from Beth and Bryn, Greek delight, money and the promise of a new sewing machine. Beth and Karen got together to make me a lemon drizzle birthday cake and we headed to Vliho Yacht Club with Karen and Richard, Robin and Angie for supper.

Me and my birthday balloon necklace and cake (no I am not naked…).

On Bryn’s birthday we spent the day in and by the swimming pool, and Johan and Christine joined us for supper (at Vliho Yacht Club for a change). Bryn had surf shorts, a t-shirt and money, and a ‘Little Devil’ key ring from Beth. He made his own birthday cake (he wanted to!) – an impressive double-decker Victoria sponge with strawberry jam and cream.

Bryn’s birthday cake – with lashings of jam and cream.

Getting competitive

On Thursday we will take part in the Southern Ionian Regatta 2009 –starting from Tiglia to Sivota via Arkoudhi. I suppose as I am the navigator, I’d better have a look at a chart before then and find out exactly where Tiglia and Arkoudhi are. David has been tidying the decks, tying down loose objects and muttering things like “I wonder if we could borrow a spinnaker from someone”…