Hi all,

Living in the Ionian for two summers now has given us some insight into life on the islands

In May, the Athenians and other Greek nationals return to their birth islands, to their family businesses to re-open….….. shops, tavernas, hire shops, supermarkets etc……  and so the islands spring into life.

The Islands are intensely green at this time and the wild flowers blossom on the road sides…..…. Greece has a fair amount of rainfall in winter months.

In June the first flurry of tourists arrive, but the melting pot of locals and tourists balance together. The warm and sometimes hot sun is still soothed at night by a fresh breeze.

By July, the heat switch goes on, the spring flowers die, the Gerassimus vineyards of Kefalonia blossom forming grapes and the sun toasts the hillsides and the wonderful scent of herbs fills the air.

I never, ever get bored of this scent……..thyme, sage, rosemary….. incredible….. sometimes with a twist of pine from the majestically tall, straight cypress trees. If I live to be 97, I will remember these scents on the hot winds of Kefalonia.

With the heat of July comes full on tourism.  Families, children, couples are all having a lovely time on the beaches, the waterfronts and of course sailing!!!

The hot climate means the doors and windows of the houses and restaurants stay permanently open. The Greeks don’t know how lucky they are to live this ‘inside/outside life’ without sense of any closed spaces or thresholds.

By the end of July and beginning of August, tourism on the islands grow and on the water.  The Italians cleverly trail their large fast ribs to the islands via ferries. They find nice rooms or small waterfront hotels, launch their ribs for the month’s holiday and zoom between the protected islands, day sailing with their bronzed bodies, returning at the end of the day to their accommodation……stress free.

All nations arrive in force on the water……. owners, charterers, flotilla.  Nearly all the retired ‘owner’ Brits who are here from May till Oct, leave their yachts on moorings or are lifted ashore and go home for the ‘crazy’ August season.

The heat seems to intensify the frenzy that yachties seem to have to secure a place for the night on the waterfront quays. Sensible yachties arrive by 2 pm, sadly shortening the sailing day.

By 5pm, the daily wind kicks in and the cross wind on most quays adds to the look of panic on the face of some ‘holiday’ skippers.

By 7-8pm, the late arrivals who have spent the day sailing or at anchor, blissfully unaware of the now fully rammed quays…… arrive. They look at the crammed docks desperate to find a space, they drop their anchors across everyone, reversing towards spaces half their beam width, to the shouts of ‘no space’ in various languages…. from horrified moored yachts….. only to get to their beams ( widest point of the yacht ) and get wedged. Then they reverse and push other boats apart until the finally wedge in. Frustrated skippers around them, slip lines if they can…. ending up at an angle to their own anchors to make space and stop damage.

Once all the boats are finally wedged tight the evening is calm, crews enjoy drinks on deck and the evening light is beautiful.

To synchronise with main season the ferry arrivals and departures increase. The Greeks are so—ooo proficient at this. They arrive explode their contents onto the dock…. People, cars, goods etc. etc., sometimes just touching their boarding plates onto the dock and not even tying up. On occasions this must break every safety rule in the book as we have seen coaches and cars being rotated on their axles in the half on half off the plate position whilst the ferry rotates as it powers the huge ship onto the dock. All very swift and quickly away. Very efficient and obviously…..thankfully no accidents.

When they do put anchors out the ferries do the most amazing hand brake turns onto the dock, skilfully skimming the harbour wall and the reversing onto the quay…. day and NIGHT !!

We love the atmosphere when the ferries come and go….. there is a sense of timelessness about the comings and goings between these islands…. the only change is the size of the ferries and motorised cars. Yesterday, Tony saw that the last car on the ferry wouldn’t start and was pushed ashore by the ferry staff……. all with good humour.

Ashore in early August the scent of toasted herbs is at its most pungent. The sunshine and the clear quality of the light is just fab , complimented by the warm sea temperature.

Each day can be planned without the slightest thought of rain.

At the end of August a switch is turned off.  The Italians and the Greeks on the water go home in force after their wonderful national one month holidays. All the other nationalities come and go, with the late on shore tourist industry and the 1 or 2 week holidays.

As soon as September starts there is a ‘Sea of Change’. The calm retired Brits who went home for August return on mass to their lovely little 30 year old boats…. having seen it all, done it all for years.

Other nationalities start to return, mainly northern Europeans… returning to their own boats and some chartering, with owners and charterers alike, calmly sailing, trickling into the waterfronts and  mooring their yachts carefully and slowly onto the now more spacious quays.

In September, the sea temperature is still wonderfully warm, the sunny days have fresher evenings and overnight…. only a fine sheet is now needed.

The Greek people debate their short intense summer………did they or didn’t they make enough money to sustain the winter months ???  Banks are few and far to be found on the smaller islands and the Greeks themselves make jokes about just what their mattresses are stuffed with ???   Angela Merkel in Germany….. knows.  

The fishermen are the only constant in this story. The old men come and go all season oblivious to the sea of change. Early morning and at dusk the putt putt of their little inboard engines ticks away like little heartbeats in the open brightly painted boats. The old men weathered like their boats….. totally ignoring the frenzy of the summer tourism.

The ferry traffic reduces and only small groups of people arrive and depart from Patras on the mainland and the Italian ferries almost stop running.

The Greek shop, taverna etc. owners start to talk about when they will close this year……and like migrating birds the late season tourists and yachties start to go home.

From our experience last year only the ‘die hards’ were still on the water. The Athenians and the other Greek nationals start to wind up their business and the cycle of summer life in the islands comes to an end.

For now, sept has been lovely with 32c in the shade registering on deck thermometer around the 6^th.

We hired a motorbike again for 2 days and the wonderful scent of toasted herbs has now gone replaced by a stunning pungent scent of pine and the jasmine and borganvilla flowers now in bloom.

On the 13^th sept  we had our first thunderstorm………quite dramatic over the mountains around us. ( see pics). Today, 14^th, we have had a major thunderstorm, well forecast, but with squalls, one touching 44 knots….not too pleasant even when safely tied to a dock….. but blown on so plenty of fenders and a watchful eye.

For the moment we are enjoying September life and the ‘Sea of Change’.

Love to all

T and T x x x x