Greece - Ionian Islands
We picked up the kids in Otranto and headed across the Adriatic Sea to Albania before turning southwards to Greece. NOETA is a non-EU vessel which means that she can only stay in the EU for up to 18 months at a time, so we needed to do a quick reset and spent a night in Sarande.
After completing the necessary official paperwork, we wandered past small street stalls, we were the only customers in a large, tin roofed market and bought a selection of fruit, nuts, olives, oil, peppers, paprika, honey and home spun wool… several more hours were spent exploring the back streets, cracked or dirt roads, unfinished concrete apartments, mosques, dilapidated buildings… We had arranged to fill up with diesel the next morning from a truck in the next bay and, as it sometimes happens, it did not go exactly as planned - the filling nozzle was too big and it took many tries to find a suitable fitting, so much spilled diesel and the rest of our dishwashing liquid later – it was only 75 cents a litre, we were off to Corfu.
Corfu was our first stop as we needed to check into Greece and buy our cruising permit (€360 for three months) so while the kids went in search of new experiences the Captain and I spent four, hot, frustrating hours getting legal, trudging up and down from Port Authority to Customs and back to Port Authority, provisioning at an all-woman butchery and finding everything on our list at the best little chandlery ever!. Finally we were ready to head south and spent the next ten days cruising Anti Paxos, Paxos, Lefkada, Kefalonia and Zakynthos.
The Ionian Islands are lovely, very green, terracotta roofed and coloured houses and a wide variety of anchorages – from sandy bays to dramatic cliffs it was high summer so we got the chance to practice our med mooring. Med mooring is when you are anchored but also tie an extra line or more from the stern back to a handy rock, thus reducing the swing circle and allowing many boats to hang out in the same bay – so it’s Captain at the helm and first mate swimming to shore to find that rock, avoid the spikey black sea urchins and tie on!
We were all keen to start eating Greek food and were not disappointed, ever – we ate onshore infrequently, but well – two memorable meals were at Bouloukos Taverna (Paxos) and Nobelos Bio Restaurant (Zakynthos) - seaside tables under shading trees, musky pine air and cicada orchestras - we tended to share a mezze of taste sensations – creamy stuffed peppers, crispy fried courgette slices, saganaki cheese, taramosalata, grilled calamari and octopus, baked filo wrapped feta, dolmades, salads and the ever present tzatziki served with freshly baked bread mmmm.
We had a lot of fun with our kids, the weather was hot, the water was warm, the drinks were flowing and a favourite game of “water in the face” was a great way to keep cool in the afternoon up on the top deck, and despite beautiful moonlit nights, drinking, dancing and swimming under dramatic limestone cliffs and caves 😊 the girls kept up their sunrise yoga, very impressive.
Lefkada is the only Greek island that is attached to the mainland - by a causeway with a floating bridge that opens on the hour - our skillful Captain did a great job of keeping NOETA in the queue for 15 minutes and avoiding any mishaps in a 25 knot crosswind, unlike the superyacht behind us who lost their steering and ended up broadside.
Down past old and new legends - Ithaca, home of Ulysses and Skorpios, home of Aristotle Onassis. Kefalonia was lovely, green hills, sandy beaches, snorkelling as good as the Amalfi reserve and where Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was filmed. Unlike other places we have been, the architecture on Kefalonia is all quite recent due to the devastating 1953 Ionian earthquake measuring 6.8 and killing up to 800 people.
Our last Ionian island was Zakynthos and because we had two airport drop-offs 3 days apart, we circumnavigated it. The north and west coasts are exposed but beautiful, steep limestone cliffs and hidden bays – Shipwreck Beach (Navagio Beach) was a must – in 1980 a freightliner MV Panagiotis ran aground and there it lies, a rusting skeleton on a white limestone pebble beach at the base of towering cliffs beside the turquoise sea – stunning colour composition. It would have been lovely to anchor and spend the night there but a rough swell (we swamped our tender getting ashore) and strong forecast NW winds forced us to keep going past dark to south facing Lagana (Turtle) Bay, arriving 2235, not ideal. I was excited to be in Turtle Bay – it is the most important nesting area for the loggerhead sea turtle in the Med and very protected – we didn’t spy any turtles, only lots of tourist boats and boat wakes - very annoying. Water 28 degrees, air temp 34.
Having farewelled Emily at some ungodly hour several days before it was the turn of Libby and Liam to make an early morning start - note to prospective crew – when leaving the boat please do so at a reasonable hour, leaving the three of us to sail on eastwards to the mainland….