Aegean to Ionian, October 2024

We left Loutra on September 26 which left us about 4 weeks to get back to the Ionian sea on the West side of Greece and more specifically Preveza where we will be wintering. The weather was becoming a little unstable and we had to hide from the odd storm on the way. In fact, we even almost encountered our first rain in 4 months during this trip, but it just didn’t develop beyond a few rain drops early one morning. It’s now 5 months and we still haven't had rain.

From Loutra, we sailed to The Temple of Poseidon south of Athens, then to Vari which is a little further North towards Athens. From Vari we sailed across to a remote anchorage on the East side of Aegina Island, and from there down to Poros to avoid an angry Meltemi wind for a few days. Once the wind subsided we headed North West to the Corinth Canal. Our passage through the canal was delayed by about 5 hours as we had not paid in advance and were thus put to the back of the queue. Nevertheless, we did make it through and to our anchorage in Corinth just as last light was fading. A days sail North West from Corinth is beautiful Galaxidi where we waited a few days for an Easterly wind to take us to our first NEW destination since the Cyclade Islands. Trizonia Island. 

Trizonia Island

We had avoided Trizonia in the past as online reviews talk about the harbour being in poor condition, full of abandoned yachts, and there not being much to see or do on the island. Thankfully this turned out to be grossly inaccurate. The marina was indeed a little rough, with no power or water available, however the town was lovely. Next year when we come back through the Gulf of Corinth, we’ll be sure to drop by this lovely spot again.

From Trizonia we continued our journey west under the Rio Bridge (always terrifying) and into the less than desirable, but very safe anchorage of Missolonghi. From here we continued West and then North, exiting the Gulf of Corinth and entering into the Ionian Sea, right in the middle of the beautifully green Ionian islands. We wanted to spend a couple of weeks amongst the Islands here that we had not explored before. We had sailed right past here last year as we were now deep into charter yacht territory. The problem with charter territory, is that now 80% of the captains and crew around you have little idea what they are doing, and have even less care for the consequences of their actions. Bumps and scratches are something the charter company sort out with the insurance company. Anchoring or mooring here feels a bit like parking a Lamborghini in a paddock full of livestock.

Kastos Island

While Kastos is well in range of the Ionian charter yacht bases, it has the feel of a place that is less visited by the enormous charter fleets in this area. Yes, I have seen photos of the harbour jammed packed with yachts, but I get the feeling that this was more the exception rather than the rule. I guess it also helps that we were very much at the end of the cruising season. Nevertheless, Kastos felt sleepy and had a very relaxed charm about it. There is a lovely little taverna that overlooks the Ionian sea, that serves up typical Greek cuisine of typically questionable quality. The view was great though, so we bravely went back the following day for more of their “food”.

Kalamos Island

Just North of Kastos is Kalamos Island. Kalamos has a much higher population to Kastos, has a much steeper terrain and is better geared up for Charter yacht traffic. One of the restaurant owners (George) has a reputation here for being very “helpful” to visiting yachts. He guides them to where they should drop their anchor before they reverse up to the town quay (this is called Med Mooring), where he catches and ties off their dock lines to the town quay and promptly recommends patronage to his restaurant. The quay can safely hold no more than about 30 boats, however there are reports online of George squeezing 70+ boats in this harbour. George insisted that he knew exactly where he had placed everyone's anchor and chain. However it became very clear that there was many a chain laid over the top of, and criss crossing other boats chains. This becomes a problem in the morning when one boat leaves, lifting up his anchor to discover he has also lifted up other boats chains and anchors along with their own. We call this Anchor Spaghetti and was the source of much amusement and entertainment during our morning coffee’s.   

Meganisi Island

After 2 days of Anchor Spaghetti hilarities in Kalamos, we decided to move on to Meganisi. More specifically, Vathy harbour on Meganisi. Our main goal was to find water and electricity to wash the boat and do a few loads in our washing machine. The winter sun was no longer providing enough solar power to make water, heat the hot water system and do all of our cooking. NJ was filthy too and desperately needed a wash. After tying up to the Vathy quay, we quickly discovered that neither power or water was available there any more. To make things worse, the harbour seawater was disgusting, smelly and was making NJ even dirtier than when we arrived. Nevertheless, Vathy was a great spot to visit the rest of Meganisi from, the supermarkets there were ok and there was a rather good Gyros shop nearby that kept my tummy full. 

After a few days in Vathy, as well as a lovely remote anchorage on Meganisi, we decided to visit Nydri on the island of Lefkada. We had been to Nydri several times before as there is an exceptional chandlery store (boat part shop or boat porn shop as we call it) and there is a well stocked supermarket. We stayed just the one night there before heading to Sivota, further South on Lefkada Island, to sit out a strong Easterly wind for a few days…  

Sivota on Lefkada Island

Sivota is a quite small but well protected bay that has, in recent years, been proliferated by small marina pontoons that are owned by (you guessed it) charter companies. Apart from the one public pontoon that we were moored to, and one restaurant owned pontoon, the rest of the harbour was one giant charter base. Think of it like the car rental block at a major international airport. Except no one has more than about two weeks driving experience, the cars are all 12 metres long, and the road is covered in ice. You get the idea. Otherwise Sivota was lovely. We washed the boat and our clothes, had long showers, explored the town, had some great Moussaka, and were thoroughly entertained by the coming and goings of amateur yachties. Furthermore, we were kept safe from the strong winds outside.

Vonista

After 3 days in Sivota, the winds had calmed down. It was time for us to sail North to our winter home, Preveza. Preveza sits at the opening to an enormous inland sea called the Ambracian Gulf. NJ was to be hauled out just near Preveza town in 2 weeks time, so we headed into the gulf to spend a few days in Vonista and start preparing NJ for winter storage. Vonista was nice, but it could be seen in one day. So we spent most of our time preparing NJ for winter and did little excursions ashore to break up our time. Vonista is another one of these places that had been occupied by virtually every empire throughout the course of history. It’s overlooked by a striking byzantine castle that at this time of year, is very green and lush. It was a rather nice place to hang out while packing up the boat.

Preveza and Cleopatra Shipyard

We made it back to Preveza in time to witness Greece’s national celebration of saying NO (or OCHI) to Hitler and Mussolini. A celebration of defiance and bravery. A day that the Greek people are immensely proud of. A few days later we lifted NJ out of the water, did some final preparations for winter storage and said goodbye for the next 6 months.

Well, that was it for the 2024 sailing season. We had sailed from Montenegro, North through Croatia to Venice. Sailed back South to Greece via Croatia and Italy. Sailed around the bottom of the Greek Peloponiese to the Aegean Sea, through the Argolic Gulf and the Cyclade Islands. Then back through the Corinth Canal, into the Ionian Sea again, and into Preveza for winter. And this year, most of it was sailing. In total we have used one full tank of fuel. Our highlight for the year was probably taking our dinghy (Ken) through the canals of Venice. Such a surreal experience and one that only happened because we sailed our own boat into the Venetian city.

Next year we plan to sail East through Greece again, further out into the Aegian Sea and over to Turkey. Until then, Fair winds and following seas….