Friends, Foul Weather, and Finale of the Sailing Season

When you joined us last, we were once again happily anchored in Vlikho bay on the island of Lefkada.  At this point, our final set of guests (Dan’s college fraternity brother and his wife) were due to arrive in 3 days, so this seemed as good of a place as any to pick them up.  As luck would have it, another storm was forecasted (yes, this one was actually forecasted) to arrive the same day as our guests.  We came to the conclusion that it just might be better all around to head into the marina.  The boat would be secure, and they could walk on board with all their things rather than having to be shuttled in on the dinghy in rain.  Besides, we didn’t want their first night on board to be another one of our hair-raising experiences (that could come later)!  The day they were due to arrive, we pulled into Lefkada marina and cleaned up the boat.  Remember, we had been at anchor for almost 3 weeks now, so Zoe was in need of a good cleaning.  For the next two days, we explored the area with Jeff and April, our new guests.  Since they had driven down from Athens, we were able to explore further afield in their car. 

A college reunion here in the Med
Guests onboard Zoe, getting ready to get underway

We drove to the River Styx (also known as the Acheron River).  This was the river I mentioned in a previous post that was said to have ferried the souls of the dead to the underworld.  Unfortunately, the boats were not running on this day, so we were unable to go to the underworld 🤣 We did enjoy walking along the river though.  From there, we went to Necromanteion.  This was an ancient Greek temple devoted to Hades.  People would come here to speak to the dead.  We tried to speak to the dead, but our reception was poor.  Our next stop was the amphitheater of Nikopolis.  It was founded in 29 BC to commemorate the Roman Emperor Octavian’s victory over Marc Antony and Cleopatra at a battle nearby.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get close due to the danger of falling stone.  As we made our way back, we stumbled upon a local olive oil producer who kindly opened up his mill and sold us some of his oil….Yum!

The Acheron River, known as the River Styx in ancient times was considered to be the gateway to the underworld
River Styx!
Roiling waters at the entrance
Gates to the Underworld
There was a large temple called a “Necromantieon” that the ancients believed you could speak with the dead from
It can be spooky at times
Ancient ritual hall for speaking to the dead. It’s as creepy as it looks
Ancient pottery, believed to hold ritual items
A friendly local olive oil producer shares some samples from his fresh pressed batch, straight from the vat
We enjoyed the impromptu visit
Out in front of the Olive oil mill
Ancient city of Nikopolis with it’s earthquake ravaged ruins
Ancient ampitheatre of Nikopolis
Nikopolis ruins

After 2 days of land exploration, we were all eager to get underway.  It was time to get out on the water.  We decided to take our friends to the island of Kastos.  This time we found a narrow, little bay with no one in it.  We anchored in the center to give us the greatest amount of swing room which also meant it would be really uncomfortable for anyone else to come in and anchor.  The sun was out and the water was crystal clear and inviting.  The boys went exploring by kayak and played on the SUPs….yep, I say boys for a reason.  The two of them laughed and played all day long.  You know you have a good friend when you can pick up where you left off despite not seeing each other for many years.  Above the anchorage was a cute little windmill that housed a cafe, so as sunset approached, we all headed up there for a drink.  It was a great time.  We all decided this was well worth a two night stay.  

Beautiful waters off of Kastos Island
It’s late in the season but the water is still very warm
Kayaking to the little town
Wandering Kastos town
Old windmill converted into a cafe
Our friends enjoying the greek islands
That’s Zoe all alone in the bay
Everywhere you go there are NY Yankee fans
The four of us posing for a drone shot

As much as we loved this bay, it was time to move on again.  We headed back to Vlikho bay (jellyfish bay) since our friends had not yet been there.  With solid holding, we would be comfortable getting off the boat to do some more land explorations.  Our friends would be leaving us soon, so this was also a good place to be to avoid the expense of the marina.  Our first stop was the waterfalls of Dimosari.  After picking our way up the hill, we were treated to beautiful, lush vegetation and some small pools of water.  The waterfall itself had definitely seen better days.  It was falling down the rock face in a trickle.  From there, we drove to the little town of Vasiliki….another cute little seaside village. This town is known as the windsurfing capital of Europe in August with over 100 windsurfers taking to the water.  By now, the sun was beginning to go down, so we made our way back to the boat.  Sadly, the next day would be the last day of Jeff and April’s visit with us, so we decided on a winery tour followed by a visit to the town of Nydri which is a quaint little seaside resort, and one of our favorite places to explore.  The next day we headed to the small, hillside winery that we had driven by on numerous occasions.  The four of us were treated to a private tour of the wine making facilities as we learned the process their grapes go through to become that delicious nectar of the gods that we all so love.  You gotta love touring sights during off season.  Everywhere we’ve been, we’ve pretty much had the sights all to ourselves.  Anyway, after learning about the wine making process, we returned to the tasting room where we were treated to a variety of their wines.  Needless to say, we all walked out with some of our favorites.  From there, we decided to grab some lunch by the sea in Nydri.  While waiting for the wine tour, I had been thumbing through a tourist guide and found a very highly reviewed restaurant.  Sounded like a winner!  As promised, it did not disappoint.  It was definitely one of my favorite meals in Greece so far.  Our friends dropped us back at our dinghy, and we all reluctantly said good-bye.  All alone….once again.

The town of Nidri on Lefkas Island
Robyn prepares to drop anchor
Jeff paddleboarding surrounded by huge jellyfish
Testing the claim that the big, nasty jellyfish don’t sting. They don’t! Still not swimming…
Zoe at anchor in Vlikho bay
On the way to the waterfalls
Not a whole lot of waterfall flow in the dry season
It was a pretty hike anyways…

Our time on the boat was rapidly slipping away….and with it, the weather was becoming less settled.  It seemed as though we would have a few more days of calm weather, so we decided to head south again…..this time to the island of Ithaca.  The 22 mile voyage brought us into the bay of Limin Vathi where we found a nice spot to anchor behind this tiny little church on it’s own little island.  This islet was once a quarantine station long ago and then turned into a prison during English rule.  It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1953 and never rebuilt.  The “church” which was built in 1668 is the only thing remaining.  The main part of the bay was full of boats at anchor, but our little spot on the outskirts consisted of only one other boat.  Since we were confident that Zoe was secure at anchor, we rented a car to explore the island.  There are a number of sites associated with Homer’s Odyssey that we wanted to check out.  Once again, we found ourselves on very narrow, winding roads as we made our way into the mountains.  We found some of the ruins to be a little bit questionable….meaning it looked to us that perhaps something more modern (in the last 100 or so years) had been built over top of the site and it was THAT which was actually in ruin.  We aren’t archaeologists by any means, so who knows…..On our way back, we stopped in the village of Kioni for lunch.  This was another potential anchoring spot, but after witnessing the utter chaos of the many boats trying to tie up while dodging one another, I decided this spot would never be on my list of anchorages.

Zoe in Vathi Harbor, Ithaca
Exploring the ruins of “School of Homer”
Ithaca is a pretty island to explore by car
These structures were built to mark the local cemetery
View of Vathi Harbor from high in the mountains
Zoe at anchor, right where we left her
Leaving Vathi Harbor

We enjoyed two days on the island of Ithaca and decided it was time to move closer north.  We had been carefully watching a very large storm system that was forecasted to come in, and we had already secured our spot in the marina.  Our only worry now was whether or not it held true to it’s predicted date and did not arrive early.  We contemplated heading back to…..you guessed it….Vlikho bay.  As we drew near the channel entrance, we decided to head across to the mainland and check out the bay of Ormos Varko.  It was close enough that if it didn’t look good, we would still have time to head back to our trusted hidey hole.  When we arrived, there were only 2 other boats at anchor, so we picked a nice spot and dropped the hook.  This turned out to be a phenomenal decision.  We were surrounded by rock outcroppings, sand beaches, and sparkling aqua water.  This might very well be our last few days of swimming this season….and swim we did.  We swam 450 feet to shore and back and just enjoyed basking in the water one last time.  We continued to keep an eye on the approaching storm and agonized over when it would be the best time to duck into the marina.  In the end, we opted to play it safe and left the following afternoon.  We arrived and got tied up a few hours before the winds started to kick up.  In the end, we probably could’ve gotten away with one more night out at anchor, but when the storm took off the next day, we were grateful that we didn’t have to tie up in that craziness.

Robyn is swimming for the last time this season…she is the dot in the distance

As I wrap up this tale, we have been in the marina (along with many other cruisers) for the last 3 nights.  We have had pouring rain, thunder and lightning.  We have also seen 40 knot winds IN the marina and bounced around in the 2 foot waves that came with that wind.  There are still storm clouds all around, the temperature has dropped dramatically, and we are still blowing consistently at 15-20 knots.  Unfortunately, rain is forecasted up until our last few days on the water, so at this point we will probably remain marina bound until it’s time to pull Zoe out of the water.  For now, we will begin the process of packing up and shutting down for the season.  Our plan is to do some more inland exploration, so we will likely have one more post from this part of the world before heading home.  We hope you will join us as we close out one more sailing season.

Islands of Ionian

You may recall from our last post, we were happily ensconced in Vlikho bay on the island of Lefkada (also known affectionately as Jellyfish bay and Velcro bay).  It becomes quickly evident why it is also known as Velcro bay…..once in, it’s pretty easy to just stay parked….and we were no exception.  Your anchor digs in deep to this thick, sludgy mud, it’s usually well protected from all winds, it’s surrounded by high mountains, and it’s easy access to almost anything you could want. 

The taverna scene in Vlikho bay is great. You dinghy right to your table….
The resort town of Nydri is close by, with all kinds of restaurants and shops
Wonderful views leaving Nydri
Huge jellyfish surrounded the boat…

After the third day, we had to remind ourselves that we did not buy a boat just to sit in once place, so we reluctantly pulled up anchor and headed out into the beauty of the islands.  Our next stop was going to be the island of Kastos, anchorage to be determined upon my review 🤣 Yes, I hold THAT kind of power!  Our journey south would be about 3 1/2 hours with the wind at our back.  As luck would have it, we did manage to sail for some of the cruise there.  Despite it being mid-September, there were still a ridiculous number of boats in this part of the Ionian.  So much for it being low season!  As we cruised up the east side of the island (the perfect protection for the direction of the wind), we spotted a couple of empty anchorages and stored them in the back of our mind in case the one we had in mind was full.  When we arrived at the spot known as Wasp bay (none of these cute little names are official of course….they are the names that sailors before us have given title to), there were only 2 other boats anchored in this lovely bay.  We quickly chose a great spot that was respectfully distant from our two neighbors, and dropped the anchor.  The bay was surrounded by spectacular rock walls and crystal clear water.  This will definitely do!

Our Kostos anchorage was pretty with really interesting snorkeling amongst a lot of rock formations
The waters on this island are super clear!
Wasp bay, without the wasps.

Not long after we were settled, another boat came in and dropped anchor right in front of us.  This was a little unsettling as he was quite close and did not appear to do much more than drop his anchor overboard.  We seriously hoped he wasn’t staying the night since he would be a risk to us if the winds picked up even slightly.  Fortunately, he only stayed for a few hours and went on his way.  Dan had been out snorkeling to check our anchor and had said that their anchor was literally just laying on the sea floor, not dug in at all.  Not long after, a large catamaran came in and anchored behind us.  They caught our eye as they were flying a large California flag.  This was the first Americans we had encountered all season on the water.  They ended up inviting us to their boat for dinner and drinks.  As we motored over in our dinghy, we were greeted by the captain and his friend both decked out in Rasta wigs and Bob Marley playing on the stereo.  Needless to say, we busted up laughing….this was definitely going to be a fun night!  The 10 of us enjoyed a great dinner, lots of wine, some games, and of course laughter and storytelling.  We found ourselves disappointed that we had not crossed paths earlier in their voyage.  Despite meeting for the first time, it was like being with friends we had known for years.  The following day, they continued their journey, and we opted to spend one more evening in this beautiful bay (never mind the fact that we were nursing a wee bit of a hangover).

A catamaran filled with California people ready to party…they anchored next to us and we had a fun night onboard

After 2 nights, it was time to explore our next port of call…the island of Cephalonia, bay of Eufimia.  This passage was 24 miles to the west.  Initially, we had thought we might med moor to the town quay, but I quickly nixed that idea.  Since this would be our fist time to med moor our boat alone (and I had already been warned about the harbormaster who barks orders at you for how he wants it done), I didn’t feel like putting on my big girl panties and dealing with being yelled at. 🤣 We found a spot in that small bay that we liked and dropped the anchor.  Unfortunately the sand bottom was hard packed sand, so it took us 3 tries to get the anchor dug in and holding.  Later in the day, a small catamaran (looked almost homemade) with 4 young Germans dropped anchor somewhat close to us.  Given the amount of room in the bay, I was not super happy that they chose so close by.  Before long, one of the young men had rowed over to our boat to ask if we were okay with where he had anchored.  I told him that as long as he felt he was dug in and secure, I was fine.  He very kindly offered to move, but I told him it was fine and thanked him for asking (you know this random sidebar about our neighbor holds a key piece to this part of our story).  As the evening drew to a close, ominous clouds had begun to build.  None of the weather models had called for any sort of weather, but we have learned from experience that these type of cloud formations usually bring bad times if you are on a boat.

Our family car, our dinghy, at the dock in Ag Euffimia. It’s how we go to shore when we are at anchor

As we laid in bed, I could not shake the uneasiness I was feeling (this is often the case for me in unknown anchorages).  Around 2:00 a.m., I could see lightning flashing in the sky through the hatch over our head.  Not long after, it started to rain.  Dan and I scrambled to close up all the open hatches before heading up on deck to see what was happening.  By 2:30 a.m. all hell had broken loose.  The rain was coming down sideways, thunder and lightning boomed all around us, and then came the wind….the worst wind we have ever seen at anchor.  Within minutes, Dan and I were soaking wet as I ran below deck to grab our foul weather jackets (a little late at that point….we were already drenched from head to toe).  Dan fired up the engines in case we broke free.  When the wind hit 40 and 50 knots Dan powered forward on the anchor to relieve some of the strain.  This went on for about a half hour.  A couple of boats dragged and chose to head out to sea until the worst had passed.  Just then, we saw our German neighbors’ boat go flying by us…..and NO ONE was on deck!  They were headed straight for the jagged rocks of the shore.  I grabbed our air horn and big spot light and started blasting it at them.  It felt like it took forever for someone to finally come up on deck.  Thankfully, they were able to get control of their boat before they hit shore.  Several boats circled around in the chaos until things began to settle, and they could re-anchor.  Within 45 minutes, the storm had come and gone.  As I stood on deck shivering in my soaking wet pajamas, my crazy husband proclaims, “I’ve never felt so alive!”  Sometimes he baffles me beyond belief.  It was a terrifying experience with a lot of running around and yelling information to each other over the howling wind, but our anchor held like a champ.  We had survived our toughest storm yet.  I’ve come a long way in reading the clouds and understanding when things are likely to go sideways.  I also have full faith in my gut now….when it tells me to go sleep up in the salon or on deck….I do.

Drenched after the storm…but our anchor held and all was ok
Our “anchor kit” we keep readily available for nights like this. A spotlight and air horn at the ready

After our soggy, sleepless night (we were on a definite adrenaline high for the next few hours), we decided it was time to move on.  We had asked about the possibility of tying to the quay (yes, I was willing to brave it at this point), but the harbor master said there would be no room as a flotilla was coming in.  Well, that cinched it….time to find a quiet, safe place to anchor.  Where was our anchorage of choice?  Back to Vlikho bay, of course.  We knew we’d hold well and could get a good nights sleep despite being at anchor.  The one thing I have not yet learned is to get a deep, restful sleep at anchor, and we have been at anchor now for 17 straight days.  Thanks to last night’s storm, the seas were rough and confused (going in all directions).  It was cloudy and rainy with 3-5 foot seas.  As we came into the channel to the bay, we crossed paths with our California friends.  They were on their way to turn in their charter boat, so we passed close by waving and shouting our goodbyes to one another.  Once again, we were happily secure in our peaceful bay.  Time for some much needed rest.  

Vlicho bay is notorious for it’s jellyfish