71 - It's all Greek to us (and we love it)! - Part 1

So, we arrived in Corfu, checked into Greece, reunited with Dan and Alison aboard Equus (we'd left them in southern Italy and they'd most recently been in Albania) and prepared for our first guest since Sabine and Laurent met us in France.  Charlie Walker, a friend of ours from Cocoa Beach and whose house we took over a couple of years ago in Annecy, France, flew into Corfu to sail with us a few days.  Life was pretty perfect as we loved Corfu, being with our boat buddies and having Charlie aboard.  

Next we decided to go see Tripotos Arch and the Blue Caves of Paxos both of which are famous tourist sights.  When we arrived, there were numerous tour boats around and no place nearby to anchor so we stopped for photo ops and continued on to the next island of Antipaxos.  Alison and I swam ashore and found a fabulous cave that she decided would be the perfect spot for happy hour.  Packing up the inflatable cooler and beverages for everyone, we all swam back and did enjoy the perfect spot for a happy hour.

We spent a couple of days exploring the charming town of Corfu before setting sail to Paxos.  We found a great albeit somewhat crowded anchorage just outside the little town of Lakka. Soon after we'd gotten our anchor set and were preparing to settle in for the night, a storm front arrived bringing with it strong winds and rain.  It didn't take long for the quiet little harbor we were in to quickly turn to chaos.  While thankfully no one was hurt, it appeared that a couple of boats collided.  Luckily, we were far enough away to avoid the worst of it but Alison made a great video that she posted on her Facebook page.

The next day we had a great sail down to Lefkada where we’d planned to spend the night at anchor and head towards the town and Skorpios Island to see the former home of Aristotle Onassis.  The island is still privately owned so we knew we’d only be able to sail by but it still sounded fun.  Well, the wind had other ideas.  So, we decided to skip that island and several hours of motoring in favor of  a great sail in the other direction to the island of Ithaca.  The island plays up its fame as the home to Homer’s mythical hero so we docked in the harbor in the city of Frikes and headed straight to the Odyssey café.  While the boys stayed behind to sample more Greek beers, Alison and I took a short hike to view the former observation tower for the port city.  While mostly run down, it did provide great views of the harbor and our boats.

The next morning, we took off and continued sailing south.  Charlie had originally planned to sail with us for 3 or 4 days but we were all having so much fun that we made him extend his trip for 6 days.  However, time was running out so we set sail for Kefalonia Island and the town of Sami.  Charlie booked his flight out of Kefalonia and Sami set us up for a great spot to continue our trip east and south towards mainland Greece.

Since, we'd arrived a day early (we just wanted to make sure we got there in time), we decided to walk and visit the Melissani Caves.  The caves and underground lakes are spectacular.  The roof of the caves collapsed centuries ago so part of the lake is exposed and part remains underground.  Both parts are fascinating with the gorgeous turquoise water and several dolphin shaped stalactites (you have to use your imagination) which are rumored to be the companions for the sea Nymph Melissanthi after whom the caves are named.  Either way, it was a great excursion and totally worth visiting.

Alas, sadly, our first week in Greece was over and it was time for Charlie to fly back to France and then back to Florida.  He hoped in a cab to the airport and we took off sailing east towards the Corinthian Canal to continue our exploration of Greece. 

We met back up with Dan and Alison (they decided not to sail to Kefalonia) and sailed to Porto Skorfa which was our first official stop on mainland Greece.  We’d read reviews on the anchorage suggesting that the “beach bar” was a must visit.  After a couple of beers, we all decided to swim ashore for an early dinner.  While we always seem to have fun with Dan and Alison, this excursion will undoubtedly go down as one of our absolute favorites.  The restaurant was far more than a beach bar with its amazing food, wine selection and fabulous staff.  Despite the fact that we were literally dripping wet, they treated us like returning honored guests.  I cannot say enough about the place or the entire experience but if you’re ever in the area, you have to stop (even if you can’t swim ashore)!

The next morning, we continued heading east towards the canal and excitedly sailed under the Rion Antirion Bridge (our first time in a long time sailing under a bridge) and stopped for the night in the town of Nafpaktos.  This adorable mainland town was actually built in the shape of an amphitheater and even today has a fairytale vibe complete with a Venetian castle overlooking the town. Dan stayed behind to complete some boat repairs but the rest of us hiked up to the top to explore the castle.  While we needed the exercise, it was disheartening to make 2-mile walk up to the castle only to find that it was closed on Tuesdays!!!  Still the views were stunning so we were glad we went.

Our last stop before heading into the canal was the town of Kiato.  While not the most charming town we'd seen, it was a great stop and a town harbor with free dockage for the night.  We rafted up with Equus (boats side by side).  By now I'm sure everyone reading this knows how amazing Alison (Wonder Woman as she's known in some parts) is so it's no surprise that again, she got our her monster sewing machine to do another small sail repair for us.  As we were rafted up, we just drug the sail across to her boat.  She really is the best!

At last, the moment we'd been planning for a couple of weeks arrived.  We headed out and secured our position in line to transit the Corinth Canal.  We were all excited to be able to go through the canal which was had been closed for the last few years due to a rock slide.  Besides just being able to say you traversed one of the oldest (and most expensive per nautical mile) canals in the world, the canal saved us about 200 miles on our journey towards central and eastern parts of Greece.  While there are no locks to traverse, there are 2 submersible bridges that we found fascinating and of course the 3 large bridges that cross overhead which look enormous. We managed to schedule our passage such that we were right behind Equus so we took copious amounts of pictures of each other’s boat.  Both Alison and I even got some of the guy who bungee jumped after the boat behind us went through!! 

After the canal, Dan and Alison decided to head towards Athens for some additional boat repairs (see it’s not just our boat).  We had a few days before our next boat guest was due to arrive so we took off to see the famous Cyclades Islands.

But I’ll fill you on that next time!

Until next post!