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SPRING CRUISE OF THE IONIAN 2022

PART 2 

IONIAN RECCE: 2 June to 2 July 2022

After our 5-day visit to the UK for the funeral of Mary Hughes (Helen’s stepmother), we arrived back at 2300 hrs (three hours late) in Cleopatra Marina on the west (Ionian) coast of Greece, where we’d left Island Drifter. (Reading the news about UK train and air travel, it could have been a lot worse!) Thankfully we’d left ID in good order, ready to continue cruising. We therefore simply had a drink and went to bed.

GULF OF AMVRAKIKOS

Gulf of Amvrakikos showing our anti-clockwise route as covered in this Blog            

Cleopatra Marina is close to Aktio international airport and is at the mouth of the Gulf of Amvrakikos, a large 20 x 12 mile gulf within an even larger coastal plain. Rivers run into the Gulf from the high mountains of the Greek mainland.

Cleopatra Marina with Preveza town in the background

We’d already decided that our next move would be into the Gulf, since it has several well-protected ports, harbours, and anchorages. When we were there, there were few other cruising yachts, even fewer short-term charter yachts, and no flotillas.

The Gulf is a breeding ground for estuary fish (sole, flat fish, and eels) and, indeed, prawns. It also attracts dolphins and pelicans that feed on the Gulf’s rich fish stocks and its wetlands are home to a wide range of wildfowl and waterbirds.

Prawning boats used to fish the shallow waters at the north of the Gulf

On the negative side, fish farms line parts of the coast and limit anchoring in an increasing number of bays. Unfortunately, they pollute their immediate surroundings.

One of the many fish farms in the Gulf of Amvrakikos

From Cleopatra Marina we motorsailed into the Gulf and initially pulled into Vonitsa, on its southern coast. The official ‘visitors’ quay has been completely taken over by down-and-out liveaboards and abandoned boats. We therefore anchor-moored stern-to on a solid concrete breakwater together with nine other cruising yachts.

Thereafter, we spent some time sorting out our administration and gaining information on the Gulf itself and other locations in the Ionian from Arthur and Adina Joseph (S/YMerlin) and Alan Crocker (S/Y Dimani). We also resolved a few boat issues that had, as ever, accumulated. It was 35° to 40+°C throughout.

Our blue cockpit cover proved a Godsend. The boat’s four 12-volt fans,13 opening portholes, two deck hatches and a sprayhood which can be unzipped to let the breeze through all also came into their own in the heatwave 

Vonitsa is a pleasant town that is not inundated by tourists even in mid-summer, although it does have a notoriously loud disco close by which was already operating at weekends! A Venetian castle overlooks the town and has a commanding view over the Gulf.

From left to right: some of the town’s tavernas lining the promenade; the Venetian castle above; the inner breakwater quay on which we were moored; very effective open-ended rocky outer breakwater

Our stay in Vonitsa coincided with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend. To the interest and mild amusement of some international cruisers, we hoisted those signal flags we could find, played the National Anthem on our phones, and possibly drank slightly too much wine.

ID on the breakwater quay in Vonitsa festooned with flags 

in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

We’d planned to depart from Vonitsa after five days, but a formal Greek severe weather warning (issued by way of a high-pitched siren through our phones) of imminent thunderstorms and torrential rain persuaded us to stay for another 36 hours until it passed. A complete contrast to the heatwave!   

Once the gale passed, we left Vonitsa and cruised east along the south coast of the Gulf where there’s a range of good, sheltered anchorages and two towns. We particularly liked Rougas Bay. It has good holding, is sheltered from the prevailing wind and has a pleasantly shaded beach with its own small beach bar/taverna.

Rougas Bay beach and taverna

Amfilokhia in the south-east corner of the Gulf is a bustling town which serves the surrounding agricultural community. It has a small commercial harbour and an uncommissioned marina where our friends Arthur and Adina Joseph (S/Y Merlin) have kept their boat FREE of charge for several years. (They do, however, pay a local diver to keep watch over it in their absence.)

Thereafter we joined Brian and Angela Oliver (SY Namutoni), whom we had previously met in Sami in Kefalonia on our arrival in the northern Ionian, in Kopraina, a recently refurbished fishing harbour. From there it is 20 miles inland to Arta, where there is an old Turkish bridge dating from the time of Alexander the Great. Legend has it that the overseer’s wife was buried within the bridge’s structure. It appears that the practice at that time was to make a human sacrifice to ensure the solidity of a bridge! (Not a good choice of husband!)

Arta bridge containing the body of the overseer’s wife!

We enjoyed an excellent spontaneous snack lunch with Angela and Brian at Kopraina port’s small taverna. Each round of drinks was accompanied by a generous complimentary plate of locally caught deep-fried ‘little fishes’. Delicious!

Kopraina harbour and taverna seen from outer breakwater 

After saying our goodbyes, we motored west to the uninhabited Vouvalos group of islets on the north side of the Gulf opposite Vonitsa (where we’d stayed the previous week). On the way, we passed through a significant amount of flotsam that had been washed down the River Arta following the recent heavy rain. (Barrages in the river periodically release water to drive hydro-electric turbines and the flow flushes debris out into the Gulf.)

ID leaving Kopraina and approaching the mouth of the River Arta   

The anchorage behind the islet of Vouvalos has good shelter from the prevailing wind and is a good star-gazing location due to the lack of light pollution. It is indeed a wonderful place, totally away from the hubbub of the ‘resorts’ and ports beyond the Gulf. The fact that it is a ‘little on the shallow’ side (we had 0.2m under the keel at one stage), tends to discourage most boats and crews from risking a visit.

Vouvalos’ excellent, albeit shallow, anchorage

Thereafter we headed towards the small harbour of Koronisia. As we approached, a solo Kazakhstani sailor saw us investigating the sill at the entrance and came out in his dinghy to advise us that it had been recently dredged to 2 metres and that there was a good berth free just inside the harbour entrance.

ID alongside just inside Koronisia harbour entrance  

We went to Koronisia specifically to eat their famous locally caught prawns, which fortunately were still in season. They were fantastic! In the movie ‘Live and Let Die’ James Bond orders ‘Preveza prawns’. Good enough for him…

Amvrakikos prawns for lunch in Koronisia

MAINLAND COAST FROM LEVKAS TO ASTAKOS

We’d already concluded that the next stage of our cruise would be along the Greek mainland coast and its adjacent islands, from the south end of the Levkas Canal down to Astakos.

Chart of the Inland Sea’s mainland coast from 

Levkas Canal to entrance to Astakos      

En route across the Gulf of Amvrakikos towards Preveza our autohelm suddenly ‘lost the plot’ and took us in an anti-clockwise circle. No clue why. We had a similar problem when cruising in Norway ten years ago. We were advised then that it was probably due to magnetic interference from the earth’s core. On this occasion we simply adopted the same remedy as we did in Norway, of hand steering in one direction until the autohelm’s fluxgate compass re-set itself. 

We made  our way out of the Gulf, past the boatyards at Aktio and Preveza, through the dredged channel into the Ionian and thence south to the north end of the Levkas Canal, where the floating bridge operates. We arrived, on the hour, just as the bridge was opening, and proceeded directly into the Canal. We motored down the Levkas Canal into Dhrepanou Bay, which, like the Canal itself, separates Levkas from the mainland.

Floating/lifting bridge FB Maura at the north end of the Levkas Canal  

We then hugged the mainland coast. There are several bays and ports on the mainland at the north end of the Inland Sea.  We pulled into the western side of Varko Bay – and, more specifically, the north-west corner of the inner bay, variously known as either Marathias Bay or ‘One Tree Bay’. There we anchored in 5 metres of translucent blue water over sand. We could clearly see our anchor and chain from the boat itself. The water was 26°C, so even Mike had a swim.

Mike about to check the anchor

From June to October, a large ‘pop-up’ taverna operates further along the beach, accompanied by the usual rows of sun loungers and umbrellas. It was particularly busy due to it being Greek Whit Monday and a public holiday.

‘Pop-Up’ Taverna in Varko Bay

We were anchored off a white small-pebbled beach, backed by low wooded hills, which was empty other than when a cruising crew went ashore by dinghy, or a few local motorboats came in and anchored.

The beach at Marathias Bay, aka ‘One Tree Bay’

We were particularly taken by the north-east corner of Varko bay where there was an abandoned holiday bungalow complex with its own white sandy beach. Although the site was almost overgrown, it was still very attractive since the trees and bushes that had originally been planted were all in flower. Interestingly, the bungalows themselves did not look in any way dilapidated.

Porto Palmos Holiday Bungalows, now deserted and overgrown – Varko Bay

We continued our passage to Palairos town harbour on the northeast coast of the Inland Sea. There we were hailed at the entrance by CA members Bob and Eileen on Starshine, who had seen our CA burgee. They advised us that the floating pontoon in the harbour is ‘owned’ by Odysseus Yacht Charters who appear happy to allow visitors to moor on it for free using their pontoon’s laid lines, except on Fridays and Saturdays, which are the change-over days for their clients.

Palairos harbour viewed from the eroding cliff above

While traditionally the village supported (and continues to support) the surrounding farming population, the presence of a major yacht charter company and visiting cruisers has aided the village’s development into a small, pleasant, low-key holiday location.

The mainland coastline south from Varko Bay to Astakos is backed by towering mountains (5000+ feet) which drop sheer into the sea. They are barren rocks with deep gorges and gullies cut into them which become torrents in the winter rains.

Sun setting on the mountains that run down half 

of the mainland coast south to Astakos  

A mile south of Palairos is Vounaki Marina, once a Sunsail yachting centre. It is now a Neilson Holidays watersports centre which has an associated hotel complex adjacent to the marina for their clients. It looks organised and offers a full range of watersports.  They confirmed that they will take visiting cruisers for limited periods of time when they have space to do so.

Vounaki Marina

We subsequently proceeded in a flat calm sea to Mitika. Like Palairos, Mitika is an agricultural village (albeit larger than the former). It is also a small ferry port for the nearby islands in the Inland Sea. The town has an attractive waterfront on one side of a peninsula, while the harbour, main anchorage and a beach are on the other, more-protected side.

Mitika’s attractive town frontage

The southern harbour’s outer breakwater walls have subsided following an earthquake and are now marked by withies. It is still used by small local boats. The northern basin has only four spaces for visiting yachts – which were already occupied. The rest of the harbour has little room to manoeuvre and was in any case totally taken up by local boats.

Mitika harbour

We therefore gave it a miss and anchored in Mitika Bay off the beach which runs around the whole of the bay. By chance we found that we had anchored off the entrance to Ionian Camping, a tent and caravan site. Subsequently, when Mike swam ashore to have a look around, he concluded that the camp site, contrary to an admittedly old TripAdvisor review, looked excellent.

View from ID of Mitika Bay’s beach 

and the  local campsite gateway backed by mountains

Fortunately, Mike returned from his swim just as the thunder clouds that had rapidly gathered in the surrounding mountains reached us, bringing an abrupt 180° wind shift with gusts of Force 6–7, booming thunder and torrential rain. Helen got soaked when we had to let out more anchor chain to ensure we would cope with these conditions.

Since we were both already wet, we enjoyed a shower in the heavy rain.  (Fortunately, visibility was poor!) An hour later the front had passed through, and we dined on a home-cooked ‘pan’ moussaka in the cockpit.

Rainstorm about to hit ID

Having considered our options, we concluded that it was worth visiting the Kalamos group of islands and, on the mainland, Astakos. We could not, however, see anything of interest (for us as cruisers), either on the mainland south of Astakos or on the uninhabited islands off that coast.

Although we visited the Kalamos group of islands after Mitika and before going through them to Astakos, we have, for the purpose of this Blog, (other than the charts), written about them as if we travelled directly to Astakos from Mitika, since both of those towns are on the mainland. (We have covered the Kalamos group of three islands in a separate section below.)

MAINLAND COAST FROM ASTAKOS TO GULF OF PATRAS

Chart – Astakos to Gulf of Patras

Astakos was well worth visiting. It is located at the meeting point of the northern mountains and the low water marshlands to the south. It is a small agricultural town, albeit with a sizeable fishing fleet and a small car ferry port, located on a flat alluvial plain at the head of a long well-protected bay. It has for centuries been locked into this remote part of Greece by the surrounding mountains and marshland and has only recently acquired a decent road thanks to an EU grant. The town has, however, always been a popular stop for yachties.

Astakos visitors’ quay seen from halfway across this very large harbour; last of the northern mountains behind, before marshland to the south

Astakos town quay from ID

We left Astakos at first light and pushed on south for the 60-mile passage to Ay Nikolaos on the northeast corner of Zakinthos. To the south of Astakos the land flattens out around the huge delta of the River Akheloos, the longest river (134 miles) in Greece. The marshlands and lagoons flourish in the delta. It has always been the domain of hardy farmers and fishermen. In brief, it is an isolated area that supports only a few small communities. Unfortunately, we saw little of it on our passage from Astakos to Zakinthos since it was shielded from view by the many small uninhabited islands off the mainland coast.

ISLANDS OFF THE EAST (MAINLAND) COAST OF INLAND SEA

Kalamos, Kastos and Atoko          

As explained above, we had in fact sailed through the Kalamos group of islands (Kalamos, Kastos and Atoko) covered below before going to Astakos.

KALAMOS

The island of Kalamos is very high (2438 ft) and steep sided. From a distance it looks like a colossal stranded whale. Sheer slopes drop into the sea. The island is covered with pines at the north end and maquis at the south.

On our way to Port Kalamos we looked in at Episkopi, a small harbour and hamlet on the north end of the island. It has only four spaces for visiting yachts, all of which were taken. There is, however, a small anchorage outside the harbour.

Episkopi harbour

The hamlet and harbour looked pleasant and there is a walk to a ruined fortified monastery which has a good view over the Strait to the mainland.

Ruins of fortified monastery near Episkopi, 

surrounded by pine trees with a beach below

The port and village of Kalamos are both larger than they look at first sight, in the latter case extending well up and over the surrounding hill. It is popular with charter boats and flotillas. The self-appointed harbour master, George, owner of the best-sited and largest taverna in the harbour, crams in every boat he can – not, we suspect, for purely philanthropic reasons!

We treated ourselves to lunch at George’s Taverna. These days, because of the size of portions, we order one starter and one main and share them!

By the evening the harbour had a raft of boats in the centre of its fairway. Each had an anchor at the bow and a long line to the quay from its stern, thereby trapping in any boat on the quay until they left. The harbour master has been known to cram in 135 boats in peak season.

Harbour partly crammed full of yachts

Rafts quickly disperse each morning with the occasional tangle of anchor chains. Once the current raft had left, we departed south along the coast of Kalamos to Port Leone on the SE corner. The village was abandoned after the 1953 earthquake destroyed its water supply. The village’s incongruously large church is maintained in immaculate condition and serviced weekly by inhabitants of Port Kalamos. Nevertheless, the ruined houses, abandoned olive press and cisterns, and the solitude create a melancholy impression.

Port Leone church

Port Leone Bay is very well protected from almost all directions of wind. While the water is deep, it is still possible to anchor off the beaches, although a long line ashore is necessary.

KASTOS

Kastos is almost as long as, but narrower than, its sister island of Kalamos. The small harbour of Port Kastos was already full of yachts which appeared to have been there for some time. We therefore anchored outside the harbour off the nearby beach. With strong winds forecast we repositioned ourselves further off the cliffs before nightfall and ensured that the anchor was well dug in. We also thought it prudent to keep an anchor watch until the wind dropped in the early hours.

Port Kastos

ATOKO

Atoko, the third island in the Kalamos group, is in fact an enormous uninhabited lump of rock that sits almost in the centre of the Inland Sea. Since it would have meant a detour, we bypassed it coming south but pulled in there later when on our way back north again. It proved well worth visiting the two anchorages on the island, although neither is suited to an overnight stay other than, possibly, ‘One House’ Bay in very settled conditions.

‘One House’ Bay, Atoko  

Particularly spectacular were the sheer cliffs and caves around Cliff Bay and the variation in water colour and depth in both bays. The crews of those boats anchored there for lunch were clearly enjoying swimming and exploring the caves.

Cliff Bay, Atoko   

ISLANDS BYPASSED ON PASSAGE NORTH IN APRIL

ZAKINTHOS

Zakinthos   

With only seven days left on the water before we were due to lift out into Aktio Marina’s boatyard opposite Preveza, we concentrated on making time to visit the three larger islands that we had bypassed on our way north in April, namely Zakinthos, Ithaca and Meganisi.

On arrival in Ay Nikolaos we moored with a laid line under the helpful direction of Dimitri, another self-appointed harbour master, who also runs a taverna, gas station, boat trips, car hire, taxi, and a minimarket. (That evening, as was expected of us, we ate in his place – Porto Taverna.)

View out of Porto Taverna

Our main reason for going to Ay Nikolaos was that we wanted to visit   Wreck Bay which prominently features in the Greek Tourist Board’s information publicity. We also wanted to check out the long inlet at Vromi harbour (the only harbour on the west coast of Zakinthos).

We lost interest a long time ago in seeing the southern half of the island, particularly Lagana Bay, because of its and its visitors’ reputation for the worst kind of tourism, and the fact that there is only one small anchorage. The rest of the enormous southern bay is a protected area for Loggerhead turtles.

The next day we visited both Wreck Bay and Vromi harbour. To put it bluntly, the reality of the severely rusted wreck does not live up to the stunning photographs in Greek publicity material. Vromi harbour was equally disappointing, since it has been totally colonised by trip boats each with three or four mooring lines, making it almost impossible for visiting yachts to anchor safely.

Zakinthos’ iconic shipwreck – looking a bit worse for wear these days

ITHACA

Vathi Harbour, Ithaca [photo by Stavros & Kostas Marmatakis, Chania]

From Zakinthos we turned north towards Ithaca. There we pulled into Filatrou Bay where we anchored off the beach with a long line to the shore. We were helped by a fit young professional Greek skipper on the only other yacht anchored (at that time).  He  insisted on taking our line to tie it around maquis (which is incredibly strongly rooted). He explained that he would sleep more easily if he knew his neighbour was firmly tethered! Subsequently the bay filled up with many more yachts.

Photo from top of mast of fellow yachts all with lines ashore

Next morning we were up early. Helen swam ashore to remove our shore line from the maquis bush and was hauled back to the boat on the end of it at speed!

Our shore line which Helen swam ashore to retrieve

We then weighed anchor and left to recce Vathi, the island’s capital. It was much larger and significantly more attractive than we’d envisaged, and we were tempted to stay there.

Colourful houses at the entrance to Vathi Harbour, Ithaca 

Since time did not allow for more than just a recce, we continued our passage north. However, after six miles’ motoring the engine coughed, spluttered and died on us. We had run out of diesel! Sheer incompetence, we accept. Even after transferring fuel from our second tank, we could not restart the engine – for reasons we could not explain at the time.

We therefore lowered the dinghy and its outboard into the water, lashed it to the side of Island Drifter and used it as a ‘power pack’ with which, together with the sails (albeit in very light winds), we managed to return to Vathi in three hours (at 2 knots per hour).

Helen managing the dinghy and outboard engine, to help get us back to Vathi    

By the time we got back into Vathi harbour, we had decided that we would have to go alongside a quay somewhere, so we picked a spot and went for it! Fortunately, the Israeli skipper and crew of a large chartered catamaran recognised that we would have a problem manoeuvering onto the quay and rushed out to help us come alongside. The harbour mistress, however, was not happy and tried to insist that we left! It was ‘explained’ to her that we couldn’t – and we didn’t! 

Our Israeli ‘support team’ who helped us stop and then moor

We made contact by phone with Iannis, a local diesel engineer, who appeared within half an hour. He took just 15 minutes to get the engine started. He explained that the pump on the fuel pre-filter was stuck and that he had managed to get it working properly. He advised that we should replace it as soon as we reasonably could, although he was ‘fairly confident’ that it would be all right for the time being.

In the morning, the engine started first time – to our relief! What we had not realised until the morning was that the reason no one else was moored where we were on the quay was the considerable amount of rocky ballast on the seabed. This could have damaged anybody’s skeg and/or rudder (including ours) had they reversed on to  that area of the quay (as is normal berthing practice). We had managed to avoid damage by sheer luck in coming alongside, where our skeg and rudder were just clear of the obstructions.

ID alongside on Vathi quay, Ithaca     

Next day, we couldn’t stop our Israeli ‘support team’ from giving us a hand leaving on our route back north. They even presented us with the remainder of the bottle of their whisky we’d shared with them the evening before!

MEGANISI

Overview of Vathi, Meganisi

From Vathi in Ithaca we went via Atoko (see above) and then on to Vathi harbour in Meganisi. (Vathi is, incidentally, a commonly used name for a port since it means ‘deep’ in Greek.)

Looking around at mooring options (anchoring in the harbour is prohibited), we dismissed any idea of staying either on a taverna quay (where the obligatory meal costs at least as much as a marina mooring fee) or in the quayside marina itself. Instead, we Med-moored on one of the two town quays which are free of charge. We had to pull a long way off the wall because of ballast on the seabed.

ID on east town quay of Vathi, seen from across the harbour   

To get ashore we therefore simply launched the dinghy and paddled to nearby steps.

Small floating pontoon and rocky steps which we used to get on and off ID    

RETURN TO PREVEZA

Overview of route covered in this Blog

From Meganisi we had a look at Skorpios (Onassis/Kennedy’s island, now owned by a Russian heiress) before heading north back to Preveza where we fuelled up at Preveza Marine, before berthing for 24 hours in Cleopatra Marina. There we did those jobs that can only be done afloat – in particular, washing down the sails and partly servicing the engine.

We left Cleopatra at midday and anchored off Aktio marina to await our turn for ID to be lifted out of the water into the boatyard.

ID being lifted out by hydraulic sledge – first time for both ID and us!

First impressions, which have remained, are that with 700 boats in the yard, it is significantly larger than what we’ve been used to in Moor & Dock in Leros, facilities are better, staff appear very helpful, but it is a very scruffy boatyard. What it’s like in terms of technical support available we have still to find out and won’t know until we return in September.

Dawn breaking over part of the enormous Aktio boatyard (the two adjacent boatyards are of an approximate size – a vast number of boats!)

While here, it has been extremely hot (between 35° and 40+° C by day and dropping to 30°C at night). We therefore get up at first light, work through until noon, have lunch followed by a long siesta, put in a few more hours’ work in the relative ‘cool’ of the evening, before a late supper. We are making reasonable progress in the circumstances, given that it takes time to find one’s way around a new boatyard and ascertaining who does what!

We have flights booked from Preveza to Gatwick on Thursday 7 July. Fingers crossed that EasyJet, Gatwick Airport or the railways are not on strike that day. At present we plan to return to Greece in mid-September – Covid19, Unions, health, etc. permitting!