Thursday, 7th
July, 2011.
We were up early and were on our way by 6.15 a.m. and after
52.13 nautical miles we arrived at Othoni island, Greece at 12.45 p.m.
Just as we were going to motor out of the harbour where it
was lovely and still and calm I said to Jim what was the weather forecast for
the crossing. “ North 3 to 4 probably 5, if it is too difficult making the
angle we will come back. Tomorrow it
will be a 3 and we will have to motor”.
Out round the harbour wall and past the headland, it was a good 5 with
the usual Mediterranean short sea. The
sun shone, Ariel crashed through the waves averaging 8 to 9 throughout. By 9.15 a.m. I had had 10 messages welcoming
me to Greece and by 9.45 a.m. Jim could see the island and the mountainous
coast line of Albania with 26 miles to go.
We had reefed Ariel twice and had a small genoa sheet out and she romped
though the water.
We arrived in this lovely little bay and anchored. The sea was like glass but one hour later the
wind started and we were hoping by sunset it would disappear again when the sun
dropped. We could not leave Ariel as it
was rough. Just around midnight it
suddenly went very quiet and the wind had disappeared as quickly as it had
arrived.
When we left Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy we commented on the
flat roofs of most of the houses. We
have come into the lovely bay of Othoni and all the houses have red pitched tiled
roofs, modern houses and garages! As the
island is so quiet and small we were surprised to see cars and a couple of
lorries on the island. No one lives on
the west coast as it is 500 metres of sheer cliff face.
According to our Imray guide you are required to stay clear
of the harbour due to ferries running which we did but could not understand why
had gone in anyway. Going ashore after
our morning swim the next morning we
found a new harbour had been built for visitors a few hundred yards along the
shore. Only one boat was there and as at
today’s date the facilities of electricity and water have not been completed. The Othoni
community numbers about 90 all year round but during the summer of 6 to
8 weeks peek time cafe owners come from the mainland and open up for the
tourist trade. New pavements, walls,
flowerbeds and walk ways have all been added this year to help increase
tourism. Although it looks a biggish
island 75% of the island is uninhabited due to mountains, trees and cliffs and
therefore, most of the community live in the harbour area. All the houses are painted and it is a very
pretty small village. We expect in 10
years time you won’t be able to recognise the place.
We stopped at one of the restaurants and strike up a
conversation with the owner who was expecting a ship with 200 people to invade
the island for supper. Local caught fish
was high on the menu for the evening. We
treated ourselves to lunch of grilled chicken and Greek salad as the beer was
good and the view wonderful.
