Our sailing holiday in Greece’s
Ionian Sea, 1977
Date
Activity
Miles
Day 1
London (Gatwick) to Corfu
Met John and Caro at Victoria station, took the train to Gatwick, flew to Corfu and then coach to a very undeveloped Gouvia. The Greeksail rep showed us around our Sabre 27′ yacht. After stowing everything away, we rowed across Gouvia bay to a taverna in the north-west corner for beers and eventually, dinner. It was interesting rowing back in almost total darkness trying to find our boat, but we managed it.
Day 2
Gouvia to Gaios on Paxos island
Had breakfast on the boat, and John and I went for a wander. We noticed a steel oil can floating in a bay. There was a path overlooking the bay which was littered with stones, and we both tacitly agreed that this was a challenge we couldn’t resist. We started throwing stones at the can, and after about five minutes of pummelling, the can sank to the bottom. A short while later, we noticed other cans floating in the bay, with some with boats nearby, and realised that we’d sunk some poor fisherman’s anchor buoy…
We left Gouvia and sailed south along Corfu’s east coast to Gaios on the island of Paxos, arriving late afternoon, and in time for beers on the boat.
Dinner at a harbourside taverna.
36
Day 3
Paxos to Anti-Paxos and return.
Woke up to a brass band playing on the Gaios harbour wall at 8:00am, about 20 feet from our boat! Motored down to ‘our’ idyllic beach on Anti-Paxos… the one we discovered on a free day when we were flotilla sailing the previous year. John and I explored and clambered, taking some pics looking down on the bay. I tried swimming in the shallow waters, and the girls went topless. Then back to Gaios for dinner.
14
Day 4
Gaios to Nydri (Levkas)
Sailed to Lefkas, but ran aground at the top of the Lefkas Canal when we clipped a sandbank and were stuck. A huge, dilapidated powerboat with twin Mercury’s hauled us off. I’d remembered a little of marine salvage law, and refused their offer of a line, instead giving them ours. I’m still not sure it was necessary, but it would have been embarrassing to tell Greeksail, “we’re sorry but we needed a tow, and someone claimed salvage rights on your boat”.
Shortly afterwards, we were motoring towards chain ferry that crossed the canal; we were pottering along whilst consulting the pilotage on what the flags meant, when suddenly the chain shot out of the water like a bow-string… “Sorry Greeksail, your boat is in two halves at the bottom of the Lefkas Canal”. Anyway, we made it to Nydri with no further mishaps.
We sailed over to the Geni Peninsula, and walked to the top for the views of Vliho Bay to the west and Skorpios to the east. Back in Nydri, we had a nice meal in a quiet taverna, then walked north out of town amongst the ‘forests’ of bamboo, until it was too dark to see.
46
Day 5
Nydri to Frikes (Ithaca)
Left Nydri, had a picnic lunch in an inlet on Lefkada, not far from Sivota. Had a mini-mutiny, where the girls decided that we were doing too much sailing. A short keel-hauling session was necessary to put the mutiny down.
Sailed to Frikes on Ithaca. A pleasant little village. Had a nice meal in a quiet taverna.
19
Day 6
Frikes to Agia Efimia on Kephalonia.
Left Frikes heading north. Had some spirited sailing as we rounded the top of Ithaca. Heavy weather helm, so we were probably over-canvassed, but great fun. Stopped for the night at Agia Efimia which according to our charts was known as Pylaros. Tried a couple of spots in the harbour, before we found one that was deep enough for the keel.
23
Day 7
Agia Efimia to Port Vathi (back on Ithaca)
Back towards Ithaca, round the southern tip and up the east side. Anchored for lunch and Caro, John and I went for a walk, Lin stayed on the boat reading.
Back on board, we sailed round to Port Vathi.
22
Day 8
Port Vathi
Decided to spend another night in Vathi, We took a taxi ride north over the isthmus, then on a scary mountain road with unprotected hairpin bends, high up to to the monastery Moni Katheron. Great views of Port Vathi through the clouds. Afterwards, a leisurely day around the town.
0
Day 9
Port Vathi back to Lefkas Town
At Port Vathi, we took on board a tank full of water from the public tap outside the toilets. Sadly it was contaminated and caused tea and coffee to taste strange, and milk to curdle, so no coffee en-route, but there was copious amounts of water for showers!
We sailed back past Meganisi and Skorpios, and motored up Lefkas Canal to Lefkas Town.
We moored bow-to on the harbour wall. There was lots of heavy Cumulus around and a wind blew up in the middle of the night. About 3 am, I spotted that the boat had shifted and realised that the kedge anchor was dragging, so John and I had to row out in the pitch dark to drop the CQR anchor, and then redid the kedge anchor.
33
Day 10
Levkas to Gaios
Sailed back to Gaios. Had time to wander around Gaios town, and have some beers.
We then walked into the hills outside the village, and I seem to recall that John and Caro disappeared into an olive grove for some privacy!
38
Day 11
Gaios to Corfu Town
Sailed from Gaios to Corfu Town. Saw a load of flying fish (School? Swarm? Gaggle?) just off the east coast of Corfu. Oh, I’ve just looked it up… the collective noun for flying fish is a ‘glide’… nice!
There was no room for us on the town quay, so we had to moor on the pontoon. It was no fun at all going ashore as it was like rowing across an open sewer! We did some tourist type shopping, on Corfu town’s main street… I bought a leather shoulder bag. I’m sure there was other stuff too… Turkish Delight, Worry beads, matchbox holder? We hung around until evening, and had a decent meal in town, and a nice bottle of Domestika.
35
Day 12
Corfu back to London (Gatwick)
Spent the night at Corfu Town, wandered around exploring the town and the old Venetian fortress, until it was time for our late afternoon flight home.
