Sunday 9^th May – Andíkiron – Korfos (via Corinth Canal)

37:45.915N 23:07.518E

The wind went west again, providing a weather window for us to get through to the Saronic Gulf before the winds increased again.  Just before 7am, we slipped our lines and were off to the Corinth Canal with Grand Slam.

We motored out into glassy waters and enjoyed a beautiful couple of hours motoring down to the headland.  Once out in the gulf, quite a swell appeared on the beam, but little wind, and we rolled our way across.  Having rounded Ák Melangávi, the swell eased and came astern and we had a pleasant run down to the canal.

We arrived off the western entrance at Posidhonía at 12pm and were told by the canal authority that we would have to wait for an hour.  We hovered around the entrance, motoring up and down and had a spot of lunch.  Whilst we waited the wind was starting to build, as it reached F5 we hoped that they would get a move on and call us through.  

Around 1pm a large vessel came out of the canal towards us being pulled by its tug boat (all large boats have to have a tug and pilot).  Hoping our turn was next, I optimistically called the canal authority again, asking for further instructions.  Another 15 minutes was the new instruction, but Andy had seen a large ship approaching from the west on his AIS and due to arrive shortly.  So, we weren’t surprised when the canal authority then called back to say that we would be travelling through in convoy with the arriving ship and that, once it had picked up its pilot and tug boat, we should tuck in behind it. 

Shortly after, off we went and I must say we all thoroughly enjoyed it – we took our time, keeping a good distance back from the turbulence being created by the propellers of the large ship, and enjoyed the view.

The Corinth Canal (Dhiórix Korínthou) is one of the world’s most expensive canals per mile so we made the most of our trip.  The canal is 3.2 miles in length and only 25m wide; with the high sides (79m above sea level at the highest points) it feels a lot narrower, even in a small yacht.  At either end there is a hydraulic bridge across the canal which is lowered down into the water to allow passage.  Further along, there are more bridges but these pass high overhead.

Surprisingly, the wind eased as we went in rather than funnelling through and so we had a smooth transit.  We think we are now on quite a few photos as there were many tourists watching at either end and from the high bridges.  Once at the other side at Isthmia we tied up on the quay by the Canal offices and went to complete the necessary paperwork and pay our canal fees. 

The wind was very fresh and as soon as we left the pontoon we put out the genoa and had about an hour’s enjoyable sailing running downwind before the wind died again.  There is a large refinery just by the eastern canal entrance and so with the wind following us, we were also able to enjoy the smell of the refinery fumes for the first part of the trip.

We arrived here in Korfos, a nearly landlocked bay, around 6pm.  A couple of the tavernas here have small quays with tailed lines for their customers, and we were welcomed in by one of the tavernas who helped us tie up and then supplied a long gang plank for us to use to get ashore.  It had been a long day and, after dinner at the taverna, we went straight to bed.

On passage:  Gulf of Corinth

On passage:  Saronic Gulf

© Pyxis 2010