Winding Down The Last Week

I think it was Abe Simpson (Homer’s dad) who said “Vacations are like toilet paper rolls … the closer you get to the end the faster they go” and that’s what it felt like for us the last couple of weeks of August.

The next morning in Sivota, we got up early and went to town to do some more marketing and to check things out. We walked the quay and decided that we wanted to come back but this time we wanted to come in for dinner and experience the town a little bit. We also needed to decide where we wanted to go for the day. Marina our trusty navigator chose the small city of Kioni.

Kioni was too crowded to find a spot.



Kioni is a small hamlet on Ithaki – where we met the Canadians and their friend Kosta from Greece. Sailing out of Sivota we went upwind (again?) to Kioni on Ithaki. There is space for 10 or so yachts at Kioni and it was full. We thought about anchoring on a beach nearby, but the water was 25 meters deep 1 boatlength from shore … yilkes. Plan B was Vathi on Ithaki … Plan B it is.

Ellen at Ormos Skhinos

As we were powering by a bay outside Vathi called Ormos Skhinos we saw a beautiful anchorage and decided to give it a try. Most yachts were anchored with a line to shore but we just threw our anchor out and drifted around it.

The rope swing...

About a half hour after we anchored a 40 meter sailboat called Ellen 5 arrived with a number of Americans on board – and put two anchors out front and two big ropes to shore. While they sipped mint juleps in air-conditioned comfort, we setup our rope-swing and swam around the boat.

As usual we were the last boat out of the bay the next day – and there was no wind, so we sailed about 5 miles to Atokos and anchored in one-house bay, a place we had visited on our last trip through.

The cliffs surrounding Atakos

There is a very small church on the island and we swam in with some clothing in dry bags, put on a bit of cover in respect, and lit four candles – on for Grandpa Don, one for Grandpa Tex, one for all the friends and family we have lost, and one for our pets (Jessie’s idea).

The wee church just off the beach.

Jess and Matt lighting a candle...

...and another...

Although small stones...a beautiful beach.

We hung out on the beach for a while and then put our clothes back in the dry bag, and headed back to Tara. We enjoyed swimming around the boat for a while, and then went on board, picked up anchor, and carried on to the town of Port Kastos.

Tucked in at Port Kastos

Port Kastos is on the island of Kastos and we went into the harbour and it was FULL. Undeterred, we threw our anchor out and then backed in between two boats – a 42 foot Beneteau, and a 50 foot catamaran. Ross then rowed the dinghy to shore (very slowly it seemed at the time) and then we tied ourselves to the shore.

Our neighbour to the left...a few feet away.

We had about 50 meters of chain out that we shortened to 40 when we cranked the chain tight, but we weren’t going anywhere. This is a good thing because Tara had what looked like 10 cm of water under her keel.

We had a nice chat with the British couple beside us and decided to go to a restaurant for dinner.


Part of the town as we searched for a dinner spot!



The food wasn't so great... but local wine always is.

We went to town, walked about a mile up a hill then decided that restaurant didn’t look all that nice. We then walked down to the coast and found a restaurant that looked great …. But, unfortunately, looks can be deceiving, and we had a thoroughly average meal … one of the few we’ve had in Europe this summer.

Ross bringing in the stern lines.

Picking up anchor was a bit of a process since we had two 50 meter stern lines attached to the shore == so Ross rowed out, untied them and then we pulled them in … with him attached so he got a free-ride back to the boat. The toughest thing about taking a line to shore is coiling the 50 meter lines. They end up weighing about 20 kilos and are too big to hold onto so it takes two of us to get them put away.

On our way again!

Our next stop was Paleros, a small town on the mainland of Greece that has a nice little quay, but the water outside the entrance looked very brown, so we decided to anchor out instead.
With less than a week to go on the trip we don’t need to put Tara on the sand … and after our close-call at Lefkas earlier in the week Captain Cautious put his foot down.

Getting away from shallow water toward Paleros.

The kids were happy to stay on the boat and read / watch movies / surf the Internet. Marina and I went to shore and found a delightful little place. We bought some groceries – rum for under 20 Euros, Ice, Coke … I was in heaven. Oh, and we bought some food too. We went out to the boat to find the kids hadn’t moved much.

Our sea rescue!

We watched a small sailing boat try to get around and noticed the sailor didn't seem to be making much progress. Marina was getting concerned and said she thought a rescue would be in order. In motioning to the sailor as he made his way by Tara, he gently waved us off. A half our later, Marina insisted we head out in Bonnie Blue and assist in getting him to shore, which in the end, we're pretty sure he appreciated it, but pride may have been a factor in his expression of it.

Sunset at anchor outside Paleros Harbour.

Early morning...

We did some swimming and had a BBQ dinner, then early to bed. The next morning we all went to shore and hung out in the Yacht Club Bar where we played in the sand, swam around, had a beer and a pizza and soaked up the sun.

 



Beach fun!

We had made plans to meet up with our friends Marcel and Yelena and chose the city of Vathi on the island of Messalongia (yes there is another Vathi on Ithaki only 10 miles away too). There is a restaurant in Vathi that has a dock with laid moorings tailed to the dock – and the cost is … free if you eat in the restaurant. Sounds like a good idea all around.

Being a bit further out than the town quay the water was very clear and we were swimming right off the boat and into the beach and back again. For 5 Euros we got electricity too, and did I mention free WiFi … and they served Mojitos. Can things get any better?

TK pulled in around 18:00 just as a 50 meter powerboat anchored itself out in the bay – wow. We had cocktails, went for dinner, closed the place down. When we were leaving Marcel noticed that there was still a half-liter of wine left on the table. He grabbed two glasses and filled them up saying “If I left wine on the table they’d take away my Dutch passport” getting quite a chuckle from the crowd.

Dinner with Marcel and Yelena.

In the morning we got up, used lots of free WiFi, and then had to tough decision as to where to go next. We decided Sivota .

At anchor in Sivota, with a yacht who
came in later and anchored too close for
our liking...and sure enough, with no breeze later
we passed with less than a meter between us.

Somewhere between the rum, wine and beer the night before, we had hatched an idea that we would have a race where the boys would race on TK and the girls would be on Tara. Unfortunately there wasn’t a breath of wind so we powered up to Sivota and dropped a hook. This time we ate on shore and enjoyed an excellent meal.

Atta girl Jess! Keeping the sail full!

The next morning we switched boats and the race was to get underway. The girls and Ross on Tara left first and proceeded to sail around as if there wasn’t another boat they should race. After a few phone calls they kind of setup right and we crossed in front and the race was on.

W

Oh...is that Matt and Marcel back there?

e crept downwind at about 3 knots with Tara inching forward. When the wind was up TK could keep pace dead downwind, but when the wind lightened or the course changed to more of a reach, the bigger sail area on Tara kicked in and … well I was conflicted … losing sailboat races is not my favourite thing … but it was nice to see that my boat sure looked fast.

The winning crew....!

Our last night with TK we went into Lefkas and found a side of the town that we had no idea existed. Every year the city of Lefkas invites performers from around the world for an annual Folklore Festival.



The garbage dump smoldering away on
the way upLevkas Channel again.

We watched dancing and singing from a number of different countries and regions in Greece. We stayed up until midnight watching and then walked the very lively boardwalk.

If we had simply anchored in the bay we would have never found how nice a little city as Lefkas. Like Sivota, we think we should spend more at Lefkas some day in the future.

Levkas at anchor as the sun goes down.