EASTER N THE GULF OF CORINTH

From the Rion Bridge you can easily navigate the Gulf of Corinth to Corinth and the Canal in one or two days.

However if you do you are missing out on a excellent and stunning cruising area. We decided to take our time and took a week to explore the area.

We had excellent westerly winds behind us all the way down, and we cruised at 7/8 knots with just the genoa.

Both sides of the Gulf were bordered with snow capped mountains and we were sailing in shorts and T-shirts.



After the Isle Trizonia our first port of call was Galaxia

THE QUAY ANDRIKON

A charming and very picturesque harbor and town.

A perfect stop over however the quay side was very noisy at night and so we decided to move on further east.

We discovered Andrikiron and what a great find it was. The town is nestled in the NW corner of a very large bay and is totally surrounded by high mountains on all sides.

JOSEPHINE SQUEEZED ONTO THE SMALL
QUAY BETWEEN TWO LARGE TUGS

Easter is a major event here in Greece.

Easter Sunday started at mid night with a large firework display illuminating the entire town.

When we rose the next morning at 7 O clock the mile long quay side was ablaze with dozens of large Bar b ques. Logs were burnt to make charcoal, and then whole lambs were slowly roasted by the men of the town for the day long celebration.                              



                       

THE WESTERN ENTRANCE TO THE
CORINTH  CANAL

Afterr the celebrations we moved on further east to the ancient city of Corinth and then the next day through the Canal and into the Agean sea, our original destination

In ancient times sailors traversed the narrow isthmus by being dragged on a paved road to avoid the long and often perrilous journey around the southern cape of the Peloponnese peninsular.

Various Greeks and Romans derived schemes for building the cut when not fighting each other. Nero commenced the work but was unable to complete it.
     

Eventually the canal was completed by a French company in 1893 to provide a short cut to and from the Agean, Athens and Istanbul.

Today most ships are to large to transverse the canal,  and it is only used by small coasters and pleasure vessels. From west to east the canal at approx 3.2 mile long and only 25 Meter wide, is said to be the most expensive waterways on the planet.

Upon arrival at the entrance we had to wait for two hours before we could transit through.

We were able to take breakfast and were entertained by a friendly Greek fisherman who caught and then beat to death a fairly large Octopus.

When eventually called through we were the lead boat of a flotilla of 5 yachts.

POROS APPROACHING
FROM THE WEST

We encountered a current against us of about 1.5 Knots, and a headwind of 15 to 20. The passage took about 35 mins and cost 244 Euro.

Two years almost to the day since we left Gosport
we entered the Aegean out original destination.

Emerging from the canal we were imediatly confronted by numerous islands.

We made our way to Nisos Poros where we are now, and planning to leave for the Cyclades tomorrow.


RAY & MANDY
POROS
37 31N 23 25E

GREECE 2014

JOSEPHINE GOES BACK IN.

 Our journey back to Greece began on the 26th March, when Peter Billingham kindly took us to Manchester Airport for our flight to Athens.

Everything went like clockwork. We walked out of the airport and straight on to the X96 bus which for five euro each took us literally to the door of our hotel, the Poseidon opposite Alimos marina.

ONE OF ONLY TWO BOATS
IN LITTLE VATHY

 The next day we made our way by taxi to the bus station for our trip to Levkas.

The bus journey is some six hours long and so we had kindles and books at the ready to pass the time. They were not necessary as the journey was fascinating. We traveled from Athens over the Corinthian canal onto the Peloponnese (south) side of the magnificent Gulf of Corinth. we crossed over the gulf to the mainland side over the Andirrion-Rion Bridge and then on to Levkas.

The scenery was magnificent and we felt as if we had seen a lot of "real Greece"

THE BRIDGE

The boat was launched on April 1st and we had a lovely two weeks sailing around a near deserted Ionian, visiting our favorite haunts and preparing our selves and the boat for our journey east to the Aegean

We left Cephalonia on Tuesday 15th April and had a very pleasant 63NM trip to the Isle Trizonia in the Gulf of Corinth.

We passed underneath the amazing bridge that we had crossed over two weeks before. The structure is regarded as the largest of its type in the world.

We are now cruising the Gulf on route to Corinth and the canal. The next blog will follow soon and will give details of this wonderful cruising area, and an AMAZING EASTER SUNDAY in Andikiron.

RAY & MANDY
ANDIKIRON
38 21.6N x 22 39.4E

JOSEPHINE IN ACTION!

 JOSEPHINE UNDER FULL SAIL OFF ITHICA SEPTEMBER 4th 2013

 15/20 knots of NW wind

Special thanks to Kevin T. Jones, Sailing Pics Fiscardo, Kefalonia Greece., (Tel: 0030-6945464550) for producing this special video.

LAID UP FOR WINTER

NOVEMBER 2013

All good things must come to an end, and so we have with some sadness laid the boat up ashore for the winter.

We have had a wonderful summer of cruising and visited some amazing places. On the way we have had many adventures and  met many nice people who have been cruising the same as ourselves.




 It now seems a long time ago since we left home in March and flew out to Minorca. Within thirty Min's of arrival we ere in T shirts and shorts and never wore longs again until we flew back at the end of October!

We spent some weeks in Minorca getting the boat ready and left in mid April and sailed to Sardinia. This was perfect timing. The weather was mainly good and Sardinia was uncrowded. We spent a few weeks exploring this wonderful cruising area.

Any body who has not visited Sardinia and its near neighbour Corsica should put them on there list of places to visit.

 From Sardinia we moved on to the volcanic islands to the North of Sicily and then down through the straights of Messina to Sicily its self  

We left the island of Vulcano and had an exhilarating down wind sail, surfing down waves towards and through the straights, and then down the East Coast of Sicily. Mount Etna was clearly visible and active.                                                                                                                                                                                          

           

With out a doubt one of the highlights of our year was our visit to Siracusa in Sicily. This beautiful ancient city is amazing. We were so taken with it we stayed for a week and would without hesitation visit again.

From Siracusa we then had our last long passage and after three days we arrived in Argastoli Kefalonia Greece.

We were so taken with the Greek Ionian and its islands that we decided to stay for the rest of the season. We cruised the entire area  from Corfu in the north to the Gulf of Corinth. We enjoyed many harbours and anchorages.

Talk of economic problems and civil unrest in Greece should not deter people from visiting this wonderful country.  Everywhere we went we were always made welcome by these naturally friendly and helpful people. The scenery  is mountainous and stunning.

The boat is now laid up ashore in Cleopatra marina, in Preveza.

Our final week before being lifted out was spent in the area. We ventured into the adjacent inland sea, and had some very interesting and exhilarating sailing.

The organisation and efficiency at Cleopatra is quite impressive. The boat was promptly lifted at exactly the pre arranged time and placed in a secure cradle where she will sit out the winter. She will not be alone as there also a few thousand other boats stored here.

We hope to return in March 2014 to continue our adventure. Our plan is to sail through the Gulf Of Corinth through the Corinthian canal and into the Aegean.

This is our last post of this year. Thank you all for keeping in touch and visiting the blog. It has been very important to us to keep in touch.  We will re commence our postings again next year.

RAY & MANDY

SEPTEMBER DRAWS ON

Sarah & Paul

Sarah & Paul Mandy,s sister and brother in law joined us in early September for ten days.

We had excellent sailing  conditions and weather, visiting a different port or anchorage each evening after an enjoyable days sailing.

September is an excellent time to be here. The weather is more temperate after the severe heat of August. The evenings are cooler so that you can get a decent nights sleep. The winds are more predictable setting in in the afternoons, whilst in August they were often non existant.

Chapel at the entrance
to Big Vathi Ithica

We were able to visit most of the main places in the Southern Ionian during there stay and we had an excellent time.

Pictured right is a small chapel near to the entrance to the main harbor of Ithica known to most as Big Vathi.

We arrived here after a very breezy but great sail from Astakos, known to us as Lobster city. Astakos we are informed is the Greek for Lobster.

As we arrived the wind was blowing quite strongly and so we anchored in the middle of the harbor, and then went ashore the next morning when things had quietened down.

A small boat in
Argostoli !

Our guests left us and as in the past the boat seemed sadly quiet and empty after there departure.

We started to crawl our way North with a view to visiting Paxos and Corfu.  On the way we called in to Fiscardo where we purchased some professionally taken photographs and a video of Josephine under full sail.  Some of the shots and the movie are quite stunning.

We have them on disk and hope to be able to get them onto the blog some how in the future.






                                                                                          SOLAR PANELS

For some time now since the advent of the really high temperatures we have been struggling with our batteries as they ran the fridge and other domestic necessities.

We have spent some considerable time looking at other boats and talking to there owners about Solar Panels and so decided that we would make it a project to talk to the experts with a view to having them fitted next spring.

We arrived in Levkas on Tuesday 17th Sept to meet Dieter of Metronix to pick his brains. Four days later two 100 Watt panels were fitted to the boat and pumping amps into our batteries !

Dieter also made some other modifications involving diodes and regulators which now means that the engine alternator now charges more efficiently.  Since the work has been completed the batteries have remained fully charged.

     THE THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET A COLD BEER OR GLASS OF WINE !


Ray & Mandy
Paxos 39 14N X 20 07E

SEPTEMBER IMPROVES THE WEATHER

It seems that almost overnight as the month changed from August to September the weather conditions also changed.

The extreme temperatures and humidity abated and conditions became tolerable.

It seems quite strange because a large number of  boats also seem to have disappeared. Harbours and anchorages are less crowded and chaotic.

This is a very nice time of year to be here. Afternoon sea breezes give excellent sailing conditions. We can sail late into the afternoon or early evening and not have to worry about finding a mooring at the end of our day.

One problem we have found is that with the high temperatures the fridge is constantly struggling to maintain the temperatures. The net result is that the batteries are then struggling to maintain there charge.
   We are now investigating solar panels and have already learnt quite a lot.

As the season slowly draws to an end we have made arrangements to winter the boat. We have decided to have taken out of the water at Cleopatra Marina in Preveza.  No definite date has been agreed yet, but we

OXIA AT THE ENTRANCE
TO THE GULF OF CORINTH

would envisage being home by late October and return in March 2014.

Next week we plan to venture North through the Levkas canal towards Paxos, Corfu and the mainland.

Regards to everyone and we are looking forward to seeing you all soon.






RAY & MANDY
LITTLE VATHI
38 39.9N x 29 46.9E

IT AINT HALF HOT

THE ITHICA CHANEL

 We had been warned but paid little heed. The heat is unbelievable.

Heat combined with high humidity are making conditions very uncomfortable.  All we can and do is find an anchorage where we can swim to cool down and stay in the shade as much as possible.

We have a thermometer reading 35deg C below decks, and the locals inform us that it is 40 + outside.

GOAT TREE BAY

We have cruised the N Ionian extensively, and have ventured down into the Gulf of Corinth. With this heat we are now not sailing far just trying to chill out !

Next year we will seriously consider coming home for a few weeks in July and August if we can find somewhere where we can leave the boat with confidence.


                                                                          MUSSOLINI GETS HIS WISH

Mussolini sometimes known as El Douche in the early days of the second world war decided to invade Greece and in particular the Ionian Islands. Any readers who have read the wonder full novel CAPTAIN CORELlIS MANDOLIN will know what happened and the disastrous results that followed.

Today the Islands are again invaded in mass by thousands of Italians. They arrive in all sorts of boats which only have two gears. Fast forward and fast reverse. They talk quickly, loudly and wave there arms about to emphasise what ever it is they are shouting.  When we see them coming we quickly re arrange fenders and hope that they do not come alongside us.

Of course it is wrong to generalise but we have seen some amazing spectacles.  Mussolini would have been proud to see the mayhem and havoc that his countries descendants are now causing.

We are reliably informed by our Greek friends that they all suddenly disappear in September.

RAY & MANDY

HIDING FROM THE HEAT!!!

The wild life Has come to have a look at us!

We welcome Mark and Erika
on board Josephine

Mooring in Goat tree Bay
putting a chain around a tree

Well another few weeks since we last added to the blog little excuse except it is very HOT and we are looking for places to hide!
    Left a great picture taken by Erika whilst on board Josephine whilst anchored for lunch A large turtle came to have a swim around!!






We welcome Mark and Erika on Josephine at Ay Eufimia a favorite habour of ours photo taken by George .

   In our quest to find some where cool as the sea breeze has been switched off and the town quays and ports are very hot we go looking for anchorage with cool water to swim in and as some are small we need to tie to a tree!




 As Ray said this involves some one swimming with a rope or a chain to put around a tree or rock!
  Guess who swim's yes as in the photo it is Mandy here aided by Mark.
   We slowly approach the bay and pick a likely spot with a suitable tree/rock and move away then reverse towards area with Mandy letting the anchor out Ray helming the boat when the anchor has dug in and we are close to the shore Mandy runs to the stern of Josephine picks up end of rope or chain and fender that has already been prepared before we started this menover once around the tree/rock Ray then pulls the rope tight Mandy swims back to boat and collects another line from the other side of the boat and repeats the exercise and we then tighten the anchor and we are safe!

         Today we are going north to Preveza to explore where we may winter Josephine

                             good -bye for now Mandy and Ray

NEW CREWMATES

AUDREY & PETER TAKE TO
THE WATER

NEW SHIPMATES BASIL & GERRY
(IN PLANT POTS !0

 Audrey and Peter, our friends from Ingestre Golf Club joined us June 23rd for ten days.

We had a great time cruising the southern Ionian.

Peter & Audrey soon got into the way of life living on board, and quickly became active and useful crew members. 






However they were not the only newcomers to Josephine.

Basil & Gerry the flowerpot men have joined us and now get all the attention.

When anchored or moored they have pride of place above the companion way. When at sea they live in the sink in the heads (toilet) !

We always admired plants on boats, and were told that Mosquitoes don't like them.  Peter will tell you that they do not work !

PETER AT THE HELM

SPARTAKHORI

Audrey soon adopted Gerry and dried him out after we had tried to drown him with kindness.   

We had many great evenings, mainly eating on board with a few runs ashore to try out the local tavernas.

A "Come Dine With Me"  competition between the boys and girls resulted in excellent cuisine. The girls won by a very narrow margin after they produced an excellent and innovative Egg and Chips. No mean feat on a boat !

The boat now seems strangely quiet since they left.  Now its just Mandy, Basil  Gerry and I

We plan to spend a few days chilling in what we now call Goatree Bay, and then move on to explore the Gulf of Patrass and Corinth.

Our next post will explain why Ormos Kapali is now known as Goatree Bay and the technique of how to anchor in deep water and tie up to a tree.  One of us goes swimming !!


RAY & MANDY
Eufimia  38.18N X 20.36E

ANOTHER WEEK ABOARD JOSEPHINE

Well another week in Paradise ,
        We are very lucky to be on Holiday for ever and this a beautiful place to be we have stunning seas to sail around when the wind blows and lovely bays to anchor in and lazy around to keep cool dive in from the boat. I learn't a new way of anchoring that is to tie to a rock or tree which involves launching the dingy or jumping in and swimming for it and when there is only 2 of you jumping in and swimming is far easier.

         We are back in Agia Efimia ( one way to spell it ) where George our new best Greek friend is the harbor   master and welcomes us and we are waiting to pick our friends who are arriving later today no wind today and it is very hot mustn't grumble.

 The Quay at Agia Efimia.
                                                                         

Our friends are here for 10 days so may not write for awhile .

Bye for now Mandy and Ray 

CRUISING & HAVING FUN

ANNE AT THE WHEEL

ANNE & JIM TAKE IN THE
VIEW

Jim and Anne Cowan, Mandys brother and sister in  laws, joined us on Saturday 8th June .

We had a great week together and visited several   ports.









Anne and Jim had never sailed before but soon got into the routine of boat life.

We had glorious weather and were able to anchor and swim everyday. After lunch the breeze filled in to give some lively sailing.

ABLE SEAMAN JIM COWAN

                                                                                         
This area is an ideal cruising ground and we seem to have learnt the routine. lazy mornings, motor to a isolated anchorage, swim, lunch and wait for the afternoon breeze.

You can almost set your clock by the start of the wind at around 3pm. Zero to 20 knots plus in the space of 15 Min's.

DON'T DRINK & DRIVE !
note the glasses on the table

We have now been here for over a month and have rarely visited the same place twice.

We are continually discovering new places. We often say what could be nicer than this, and then the next place is !

VATHI MEGANISI LOOKING TOWARDS
THE ONASIS OWNED ISLAND  SKORPIOS

One of our favourite places is the small harbour of Vathi on Meganisi.

It is a small village but offers all we need in the way of supplies and Tavernas etc.

The photograph opposite shows the view we have from our mooring on the quay, with Skorpios and Levkas in the background.

ONE DAY NEARER TO THE NEXT
TIME

Ann and Jim left us on Saturday 15th and the boat seemed strangely quiet after we said out farewells. We greatly enjoyed having them.


Next week we look forward to Peter and Audrey Billingham joining us.

RAY & MANDY

Sami 38 15 N x 20 38 E

WHO SAID THERE IS NO WIND IN THE IONIAN ?

Sun downers in Assos 

I had told Mandy that the Ionian Greek Islands were very beautiful but there was never any wind.


Since we arrived some two weeks ago we have had two major gales.

Fortunately these were both well forcasted and we have learnt how to prepare for them.

After the first gale in Argostoli we left with a very pleasant SW wind and started a clockwise circumnavigation of Cephalonia.

At Anchor in Assos

Our first stop was at a delightful small village on the E coast called Assos.  This small harbour is not often visited by "yachties" as it is open to the normal NW prevailing wind.  Our gentle SWester gave perfect conditions and we had the harbour to ourselves.


The next day we continued round to Fiskardho, a crowded , touristy but attractive harbour.

We then the next day arrived in Eufimia and moored stern to the harbour wall.  The harbour staff here are very helpful, and they told us that it was going to blow hard from six o clock in the evening and would continue to gale conditions all night.

The weather sites that we looked at gave no indication of the wind to come. However we had learnt from the experience of the previous blow and listened to the locals.

The rumour of weather to come had obviously travelled fast as boats continued to poor into the harbour, which was soon almost full to capacity with maybe eighty to a hundred boats moored up.

The locals were correct and we had a real old blow. Josephine well tied up, fender ed and pulled off the wall was fine.

By two in the morning I think every skipper and crew were up and struggling.  One boat decided to pull off and then others mistakenly tried to follow.  The result was carnage, yachts with ropes around propellers, drifting into other boats, dragging anchors over neighbours, and some pounding the harbour wall.

Credit to the harbour staff who had got out of their beds and come down to assist and give what help they could. I suspect that they had anticipated the problem !

The next morning all had calmed down.  There was quite a lot of damage. Our next door neighbour on a large motor yacht had his beautiful teak bathing platform smashed.

We were fine but had little sleep.  As I said there is no wind in the Ionian.

RAY & MANDY
Levkas  38 49N x 20 42E

SICILY & SIRACUSA

When we planned and dreamt about our trip from Menorca to Greece I was not to keen on visiting  the home of the Mafia, Sicily

However Mandy persuaded me to visit and I am really pleased that she did.

The Island is stunningly beautiful when viewed from the sea.  Mountains with hilltop towns and villages cascade into the Aeolian sea.

However the jewel in the crown for us was the amazing must visit city of Siracusa, situated on the SE corner of the island

This old city was trading with the rest of the Mediterranean sea and beyond several hundred years before Christ and rivalled and even surpassed Athens in its power and status. It is said that at its peak 700 yrs BC it had a population of 2.5 million people.

The old city is a labyrinth of narrow winding streets and alleyways, magnificent squares,  churches and of course a cathedral   

   The open market was an experience in its self.  Stalls selling beautiful fresh veg and salad, and incredible fish stalls.

Locally caught Swordfish and Tuna  was everywhere, the traders shouting there produce .

We bought fresh Tuna and ate it with a mixture of sun dried tomato's and Mediterranean vegetables in olive oil. 

Sicily was a great experience and is well worth visiting.  The people were very friendly and help full and everywhere seemed to have a relaxed and happy atmosphere.

We left Siracusa on Sunday19th May and had a 270 NM windy trip across to Cephalonia and we are presently moored in Argostoli.

On our second day here a gale was forecast and duly arrived in the afternoon and created havoc with the boats moored in the harbour.  As the photograph shows we were moored stern to with 50 meters of chain pulling us well of the wall and four springs. this however was not enough and we had to beat a hasty and exciting retreat to get off and anchor in the middle of the harbour.

Our journey from Gosport to Greece is now over and we are looking forward to the next phase of our journey exploring Greece and its numerous islands.

RAY & MANDY

                   WE NOW HAVE A GREEK TELEPHONE NO. 

                                         0030 6943775460

ISLAND HOPPING

Well we have had a great couple of months since we returned to Josephine in Mahon. A few long passages some good and some not so good! Ray says there is no wind in the Med.! Well let me tell you we have had lots and not all good our last long passage for Siracusa to Argostoli which is the capital of Captain Corelli Mandolin island  which took 44 hrs and when we arrived in the dark looking for lights to guide us in over tired and felt like I had been in a washing machine on a cool salty wash for most of it it was great to see land but then it took another 6 hours to tie up! But it was worth it this is beautiful and I don't want to sail at night again .

     The wild life we have seen over the last few weeks has been great dolphins regularly come and race with us , we have seen a couple of Whales and lots of Turtles floating around and waving we had a passenger the other night on a crossing a Swallow that flew on and off the boat several times before settling in the saloon above the sink for the night and left us at dawn!


    We are going to enjoy the Ionian this summer with friends and will keep you informed of our travels.

      Mandy and Ray

SICILY EAST COAST

MOUNT ETNA

TURAMINA

 We left the Aeolian Islands on Monday 13th May and had a breezy sail down towards the Straits of  Messina.

This narrow stretch of water separates Sicily from mainland Italy.  We had 25 to 30 Knots of wind and we sailed down on Genoa alone averaging 7 to 8 knots.

As we gibed and entered the straits the wind was coning over the top of the Sicilian mountains and really blew up !!


We then had a beautiful strong wind sail in flat water down the East coast. We saw Dolphins and a Sword Fish was jumping in front of us.

The Italian waters pilot says that it difficult to see Mount Etna, but we had perfectly clear views of it for two days.

The photograph above with Etna in the background doesn't make it look very high. But this was taken some 40 miles away from it !

ENTRANCE TO SIRACUSA

We anchored overnight below the cliffs of Turamina, a picture post card town perched on the side of a mountain, and with Etna towering above it.

We are now in Sircussa a beautiful old city situated in the south east of the island.. The harbour and town are gorgeous. We intend to stay here for a few days and then set off for the Greek Islands. Hopefully this 260 NM trip will be our last long leg.



RAY & MANDY