Spellbinder's Web Diary - Tue 8 Sept to Fri 18 Sept Sivota, Levkas, Ionian islands

Tue 8 Sept to Fri 18 Sept Sivota, Levkas, Ionian islands - Ormos Sarandi, Gulf of Corinth

Spellbinder

Fri 18 Sep 2009 15:00

On Tue 8 Sept, Spellbinder sailed south from Sivota in a gentle breeze to round the southern point of the island of Meganisi. The destination was the anchorage in Ormis Elia on the northeast corner of the island. A freshening wind from the southwest in the afternoon provided a good, albeit brief sail up the east coast of this small island. Apart from a little fishing boat we had the bay to ourselves. A walk was taken up to a small village where donkeys were still in evidence and elderly women dressed in traditional black. From Meganisi we sailed to the beautiful natural harbour of Vathi on the island of Ithaca by way of a lunchtime stop and swim at what is known as 1 house bay on the island of Otokos. Anchored in the harbour, Vathi was to become our base for a few days as unsettled weather with thunderstorms threatened the area. We day-sailed to the island of Arkoudhion and a little known anchorage on its east side, and also to an anchorage off the islet of Pera Pigadhi on the east coast of Ithaca. Lunchtime swims were used usefully to scrape off some weed from the waterline, and Hugh in particular cleared some in way of the log impeller that subsequently took on a new lease of life. On Sunday 13 Sept we hired a car to explore Ithaca and say farewell to Hugh who took a ferry to Cephalonia and flew home. Thursday 15 Sept saw Spellbinder sailing, or rather motoring on a flat sea in glorious weather to cover the 54 miles to Patras in the Peloponnisos. We passed the anchorages on Nisis Oxia full of fish farms and a loss to the cruising yachtsman. The final ten mile beat was fun as the afternoon wind freshened from the northeast. By various garbled messages we had secured an alongside visitors' berth in Patras yacht harbour and came to like the relaxed informality of the place. However, we had not done our homework properly and unbeknown to us a cruising permit was necessary for the Greek islands, all this being managed by the coastguard at Patras that is a port of entry to Greece. We had a day to spare in the port before the next crew change so took the opportunity to visit the site of ancient Olympia just 75 miles away by road. And what a treat this was having been spruced up for the Athens olympics with marked trails, explanatory displays boards and excellent museums containing artefacts and describing the history and conduct of the games. Here there was once the statue of Zeus made of ivory and gold, twelve meters high and one of the seven wonders of the world. All finally wrecked in the earthquakes of the 6th century AD, circular discs of stone forming the massive columns of the temple of Zeus lay as they had fallen like a pack of cards. On Thursday 17 Sept we said farewell to Honor Fell and Charles Britton who travelled to Athens on the express bus that delivered George Rock-Evans and Eamon Moloney. It was with a crew of three that Spellinder nosed out of Patras at 0730 on Friday 18 Sept to pass under the splendid Rion bridge, completed in 2004, and headed east. A commanding F4 wind from the WNW encouraged us to make a fast passage through the gulf of Corinth under main and boomed out genoa to reach Ormos Sarandi in time to enjoy a dinner of coq-au-vin prepared by the resident chef, Eamon.