A long day trip but worth it

Dawn in the Navarinos Sea

We lifted anchor at Pilos at 06:02, barely two minutes behind schedule and motored down the bay to exit the Navarinos Sea. About an hour later we were at the top entrance (if we had a catamaran we could have cut through the shallow passage but we’d be wedged into the sand had we taken Tara across that sand bar.

We ended up powering the entire way, with motorsailing a faint possibility for a few hours along the way. The wind finally backed enough to the west so that we could point the nose into Kolpos Lagana (Turtle Bay) on Zakinthos on starboard tack so we did get a little bit of sailing. The only good news on a long delivery day is that when you leave at 06:00 you arrive at 16:00 after 10 hours of powering, so there is still some time left in the day.

We did have a very nice treat about an hour to go into Zakinthos when we spotted a pod of dolphins and they played around the boat for a few minutes. Chloe was really excited as most people don’t get to see dolphins in the wild and in such crystal-clear water too. It was very cool when she saw one turn on its side to take a look at her and then power away. They’re so fast, with a couple of pumps of their tail they’re quickly hundreds of meters away.