At sunrise on 16 September 2015 we headed into Argostoli, the port of entry on Cephalonia. There was administrative stuff to organise to legalise entry into Greek waters, and then enjoy some Greek sunshine, sightseeing and swimming off the beaches. On the day we planned to leave the toilet blocked so we spent most of the morning finding and clearing the blockage! Anyway, an extra day in Argostoli was good….except for the VERY LOUD music from the harbour bars!
We motored all the way up to Fiskardho…..a lovely harbour where we moored up in front of the Captain’s Cabin restaurant next to Tom and Caroline on their AMEL 55. But sadly, this is where Moira and then Sally left after our two week mini-adventure….but not before a huge thunderstorm one evening.
Greece is already very different…..mooring fees are incredibly cheap, stern-to mooring with the anchor is a new challenge, flotillas and charter boats everywhere you look and the pleasant Greek lifestyle.
Eufimia was my first stop on my own, and very eventful it was too! In strong winds through the harbour, the harbourmaster didn’t like my mooring and proceeded to step on the boat and do it again!….I had been warned about Giorgios so it wasn’t a complete surprise. Then it rained all day, flooding the harbour road and causing a power cut over the whole island. Then an English couple picked up my anchor as they were leaving and ungraciously dropped it over my neighbours (Jan and Steve) anchor and left! So I reset the anchor. I stayed an extra day to watch the England-Wales Rugby World Cup match. I hit a lazy patch in Zakynthos and stayed for over a week….I had loads of laundry to do, met up with Tom and Caroline again and then waited for the right winds to take me over to Katakolon. The sail across to the Peloponnese mainland was good and quickly followed by Danish friends, Bjarne and Miriam. From here we took a train to Olympia for some fabulous Greek history. Only two days here before I sailed further south to Kipirissia, which has little reason to attract tourists except that it is a nice Greek town. But here we had very strong winds and heavy rain, and it was not pleasant in the harbour. I was the only visiting yacht when I first arrived, but was soon joined by a Dutch couple. Next was a lively, but great sail down to Pilos in the Bay of Navarino….famous for the battle in 1827. I stayed for two weeks….because it’s a nice place, there were celebrations of the battle on 20 October, cycling to Methoni and Finakounda and waiting for some decent sailing weather. But with four other boats in the marina, and Rugby World Cup semi-finals to watch it was a great time to relax. Then some light winds arrived and I left for my last stop of 2015…..Kalamata. I left Pilos at first light and had to motor until I was able to pick up some Easterly winds to take me into Kalamata marina on 26 October 2015. Kalamata is my 96th stop since leaving Hull at the end of June 2014.
I flew back to the UK for a month in November to visit friends and family in London, Leeds, Nottingham and Hull. All was good except for being bitten on the hand by a friends dog, and getting stopped by Gatwick security and having two jars of Marmite confiscated! Spent Christmas with the boys in Athens and on the boat in Kalamata. In 2016 I will be sailing up the Aegean islands and then to Athens and on to Corfu in the Ionian.
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