The anchorage in the harbour / bay of Schiso was calm and without wind until the gentle swell kicked in overnight and rolled the superyachts and tiny boats alike.

The ‘full-on’ frenetic holiday resort is wall to wall hotels, shops and restaurants sitting below the majestic Taormina roads and flanked by Mount Etna.

 

The church bell here gets so excited that it doesn’t just chime it plays tunes---every 15 mins !!

Every inch of the beach is full of loungers and parasols and at 10 am every day enormous speakers on the beach blast out pop music and when you think that must be it----the aerobics and aqua aerobics kick off with huge groups of people in synchronised dance directed by an energetic Afro-Caribbean guy.

 

The noise level of the music would be too loud even from our own deck speakers—totally mad atmosphere, great fun to watch, but only for one day!!

 

At lunch time , 6th July, 12.50 hrs we lifted anchor to head for Greece and by 13.30 we were sailing East in 8 to 11 knots of breeze. The cruising shute sail went up and we were bombing along for about 4 hours before the wind died and we started motoring. The  southerly swell and disturbed water seemed to be caused from the Messina Straits but as the hours passed we realised we were in for a very rolly night motoring in a horrible cross sea.  Normally sailing off course to stabilise the boat is preferable to the very uncomfortable roll but our course would have been way off.

Thankfully, by 09.36 hrs on 7th July the north wind switch went on, the southerly swell dissipated  and we were sailing again at 8-9 knots in 16/21 knots of true wind. The sea and wind built to 24 knots and we put a second reef in the main. Five hours later, the stronger winds lightened, we shook out all the reefs and with full sail continued on a much more comfortable course.

By 18.34 the sea state was calmer and our evening meal was easier to cook. After the first night Tony and I settled into the watch system and our 3-4 hours on/off watch system works well for a two to three night sail.

 

At 08.42 on 8th July we got our first proper view of Kefalonia as we had only had vague glimpses before in the mist---- so Land Ho !! Greece.

At 10.19 the Greek courtesy flag went up again and Zakinthos appeared from the mist. We motored south down the east side of Zakinthos, heading for the town and at 15.15 hrs we dropped our anchor and tied stern to the harbour quay  302 n miles----arrival is sweet for a ‘second time’, where the dream to sail our own boat to Greece was born.

 

Zakinthos town is a more sophisticated version of the town we first visited on holiday in 1995.  We really like the feel of the place and decided to stay a few days to sort out all of the domestic stuff and to enjoy a few days in the lovely location.

When we moored we had large gaps either side of us. At the end of the first day a very large tourist ‘Pirate’ ship came in --- very close to us. To our starboard side, many boats of different nationalities came and went, but to port the Pirate tourist ship went out daily often returning in strong cross winds---- just to keep us on our toes.

 

We stayed in Zakinthos and really enjoyed it, we left on 13th July to head for Kefalonia to meet our friend Edmund, whom we met on his boat in Mazarron, Spain.

 

Photos of

Schiso

Sailing to Greece

Zakinthos.

Pirate ship

 

Love to all

 

Tina and Tony x x