37.52.782N 20.43.633E

After a few days of 20 knot winds through the afternoon, evening and night we were ready to move on.

We set off towards Zakinthos. As we motored down Ithaca then over to Cephalonia there was very little wind, just what the forecast promised. As we set off from Cephalonia the wind started to pick up. We unfurled the genoa and enjoyed a bit of motor sailing. The wind picked up some more and Wanda was properly sailing at 6 knots with the genoa partially out and the mizzen sail up. The wind carried on building, so we furled more and more of the genoa. Eventually we furled it all and motored as the wind was almost on our nose.

We had planned to anchor somewhere near Agio Nicolaos on the North East in Zakinthos. We entered the harbor with 20 knots of wind. Our only option in the harbor was to drop our anchor and reverse back to the quay. With 20 knots of side wind that was not going to work for us. We went out of the south entrance looking for a place to anchor. Unfortunately it was quite deep and rocky. We did try to anchor, but Rocky (our anchor) had nothing to hold onto so we just dragged.

After a tense few minutes we realized our only option was to head down the coast to see what else we could find. Note to selves: always have a back-up plan or two in case first option is not possible. We became careless in our sailing planning due to the familiarity of the areas we had sailed.

With the added problem of a sailing dinghy race fast approaching us (sail has right of way over motor) we tried our best to keep out of the way and set off down the coast.

A little further down the coast we saw a possible bay, with a motor boat and a catamaran anchored. Our charts were pretty useless as they had no depths marked. We entered slowly and found a spot to anchor. Rocky sort of held this time. At least we had time to think about what to do. While we were anchoring the anchor locker lid fell shut, onto Anne’s foot. Luckily she was wearing shoes (she always does when we anchor). A few ice packs and a G&T later she just has a slight bruise on her big toe.

The top clip was the one that caused Anne to bruise her toe. The bottom one is the one we replaced it with to avoid any further bruised toes.

The safety clip has come off over time.

Stephen swan out to see how Rocky was set. He said all was OK. So we decided to stay the night.

Ak Katastari – lovely little bay and very peaceful once the beach has cleared in the evening.