Kefalonia – an unplanned 4 day stop

Well, Kefalonia is a cool kind of island and we are getting a little more prudent with respect to weather on these off-season crossings. In spite of the weather accuracy, we are beginning to err on the side of caution, perhaps it was the 6 hours of hand steering we had to do on our way out of Turkey that did it to us.

Anyway, Kefalonia is a cool harbour. We made a tactical error when we arrived and tied up to the mole side-to instead of our normal med-mooring with our anchor and stern-to. When we arrived the wind was going parallel to the mole and we thought it would be fine. About a half hour after our arrival the wind shifted and pushed us right up against the wall – we needed all 8 fenders on the port side to keep from getting worked onto the cement breakwater.

That night we realized that our keel might be slightly into the mud as our depth sounder read 2.1 meters at one point so we moved forward in the morning to slightly deeper water (2.7M instead of 2.3M) The wind had abated and we thought we’d be OK. Well not more than a half hour later did a 20 knot breeze come up and pin us to the dock again. We resolved to move to Med Moor as soon as the wind decreased. On Tuesday we did that, fueled up the tanks and got ready to head out Wednesday first thing.  It's funny how your perspective changes. When we got to Europe I was quite concerned about med mooring and would have preferred to tie side-to a dock as we do in Canada. Today, I would choose stern-to mooring over side-to every time. It's easier to get in and out, the motion is easier and it provides for 5-10x the number of boats in the same space. Altogether it's a much more efficient way to store boats at a dock -- and I hope we start doing it in Canada soon.


At dinner on Tuesday night Marina made the command decision to wait another day. We did this to avoid a 20—30 knot period of wind from Midnight Wednesday to 4am Thursday. Twenty to thirty knots is not too bad on Tara coming from the right direction, but at night we thought we’d wait another day, the wind will now be 15 knots and we’ll all be more comfortable.

So, what is there to do on Kefalonia – pretty much everything. Once we pulled the boat off the dock and med moored so we were way more comfy. I had a bunch of work to do but still managed to rent a scooter and zoom around the island with Jessie on the back. We had a bit of a start when some wanker came around a blind corner in a 4 wheel drift about 150 feet from us. Thankfully he regained control of his car and didn’t kill us but it is a reminder that when you’re on two wheels you don’t always control your own destiny.

Jessie and Marina did a bunch of shopping. Unfortunately for me there aren’t really any marine stores on Kefalonia, but there are lots of clothing and shoe stores, so Jess was in heaven. We tried to dress Ross up a bit, get him out of his basketball-shorts, Tshirt, and adidas zip up soccer pullover but to no avail.

As we head to Italy it’s time for me to start dressing better too. My Old Navy shorts are getting a bit ratty and while I have a stable of 10 Tshirts, I’m not sure the 50 year old skateboarder look is all that good for me.

The dining in Cepahlonia (greek spelling) is very good … as good as Simi. On the mole everyone fishes. They have these 20 foot long fishing rods they use with small bobbers and maggots as bait. One of the pretty successful fishermen near us was pulling in 6-10 per day. I think they sell them to local restaurants. They looked OK but I didn’t try them … the harbour wasn’t that clean – I figure if I wouldn’t swim in it I shouldn’t eat anything that swims in it.