Off to the Islands of Kefalonia and Ithaca

1st September, we left Zante at 9.30ish, heading north to the southern tip of Kefalonia, anticipating the forecasted winds to help us on our way to arrive within the hour, but sadly we had to wait 4 hours, motoring along. Still we enjoyed the last 2 hours under our Genoa only in a comfortable SE3!

After the music and people in Zante, we were looking for some peace and quiet and so headed into an anchorage called Ormos Antisamos on the SE coast of Kefalonia, where we dropped our pick, being 1 of 4 other boats.

We had a peaceful night onboard, probably helped by the vino and woke to a millpond, perfect for taking the dinghy for a test run to see that she was really working properly. We also noticed that our Canadian neighbours had arrived either late last night or early this morning and anchored off our stern, which meant we could take some photos of her on the water, perfect! She really is a very pretty boat!

The calm waters also now meant the jet Skis were out in force, so we decided to pick up our anchor and sail a little further north to the town of Efimos, to anchor in its harbour. We had read somewhere that it was a pretty coastal village worth a visit, but perhaps the writer hadn’t been to some of the places we have!

We did drop our pick, but from looking at the town from a distance and clocking the new works to the harbour wall, (which sounded an awful lot like Jesus smashing rocks with his yellow peril back home), we left for somewhere different!

Efimi, Kefalonia, (from a distance)

Shortly after, the north winds picked up and we soon remembered that the Katabatics played their part in the Ionian as well! Fully reefed we tacked our way up the Channel between Kefalonia and Ithaca, until we dived into a tiny anchorage that no-one else had discovered, yet!

Ormos Kamini, East Kefalonia

The following morning we set sail again, we had thought about popping into the beautiful town of Fiskado, but could see from a distance just how busy it was, so we probably wouldn’t have got in, besides we actually had perfect winds to sail around the top of Ithaca and drop down its east coast to its main town, Vathy, which we couldn’t remember ever having been to!

3 hours later we dropped our pick in its natural harbour, which is said to be protected from all winds, only to discover that this really isn’t the case… we had north westerlies blowing straight in, and whilst we were safe, as the bottom is mud, like glue, we still didn’t fancy leaving the boat unattended and getting soaked whilst going ashore. Instead we spent the afternoon and evening sailing around our anchor with about 20 other boats! We should have smelt a rat as when we arrived our Canadian friends were just departing!

Vathy, Ithaca, from Seaclusion’s Viewpoint!

At some point during the night, the winds died down and we woke to calmer conditions, so jumped in the dinghy to go exploring, and it was only after wandering around and finding the large main square did we start to recollect that we had been here before… sign of old age perhaps 🤔

Life in Vathy itself!

By 11, we were back on board and heading off again to the tiny place of Kioni, still on Ithaca. Now we know we hadn’t been there before, as our old track on our instruments showed us going in and straight out, I guess there was no room at the inn at that time, so we wanted to get in early, even if that meant motoring the whole 7 miles…..😂. Still we had some great scenery to look at, as we did!

Kioni

This picturesque place, set in verdant hills, is built amphitheatrically on the slopes of a mountain, with little tiled roofed houses overlooking the port where small fishing boats are quietly mooring, perhaps not in the summer, where it is rather overpopulated with yachts, not only in the port, but anchored off with long lines ashore on any nook and cranny they could find!

The village was built at the end of the 16th century but sadly very few houses survived the earthquakes of 1953. Those that did are very interesting, with renaissance architectural characteristics, once you look beyond the many cafes and tavernas that line this lovely port.

Thankfully we arrived early enough to grab a space on the quay, and were soon surrounded by others, most of which were English… we really hadn’t heard much English during our travels this year so it was great to hear and chat, listening to their yachting tales, instead of our own!

Two exceptions were:-

1. Our immediate neighbour who was flying a Norwegian flag, who David managed to upset when, thinking he was being smart, he asked if it was Icelandic, after all not many know what an Icelandic flag looks like! 🤣🤣🤣
2. A small German yacht which we watched come into moor. David had commented on how unusual it was to see 2 lady and very butch sailors… which set me off in giggles as the person on the helm had a very healthy beard, Oh where were David’s glasses this time!!!! I did let him off though as this “bearded chap” was wearing a pair of floral “get a tan through” budgie smugglers 🙈!

All settled, we took off for a wander, to see the town and watch some of the mooring shenanigans along the opposite shore.

We also had a bit of a giggle at someone else’s expense, but knowing exactly how they felt, having been in this situation ourselves on more occasions that we care to remember, I will let the pics do the talking!

Dinner out was my choice, having clocked the board on our walk about…

Disaster, not sure how they could go wrong, but they did, thankfully David had gone for the lamb chops so at least his tummy was full when we got back to the boat. The vino wasn’t too bad though! 😉. Twice this trip I have chosen the restaurant, and twice I have made a very bad choice indeed, so I have now totally resigned from that responsibility!

After a surprisingly quiet night, given how lovely the place was, maybe the ear plugs helped a little, we decided we shouldn’t be selfish and hog our spot on the quay for 2 nights, so we let go of our lines, picked up our anchor, and went wherever the wind wanted to take us!

5th September 2022