Season 2 - Ionian Islands, Peloponnese and Argolic Gulf

Time is a strange concept but even stranger when you’re living on the sea. As I write this we haven’t even been cruising a full month yet and somehow it feels likes years. Our arrival to Cleopatra Marina on May 9th saw Waiata ‘on the hard’ in a completely new position to where we’d left her last year. The marina crew needed to make room for some super yachts in the days before we got there, so we got ‘upgraded’ to a prime position at the very front of the yard. We spent four days there and then it was our turn to splash on the 14th. We remained in the marina in a wet berth for a few days before finally setting sail on the 16th of May.

During our time as guests of Cleopatra Marina in Preveza, we’d sometimes either take our dinghy or the water taxi to Preveza to provision, shop, walk and/or dine. One day we were having a late lunch there and who should we run into but Kiwi mates Anna and Hamish, also cruising here on their beautiful Fountain Pajot, Aratui. It was an amazing coincidence as although we knew they were cruising somewhere in Greece, we didn’t know where. It was fortuitous to discover that both of us were heading in the same direction - south around the Peloponnesse - so we ended up sailing in tandem at certain points and having some outstanding adventures together.

The raised bridge at Lefkada is the gateway to the southern Ionian islands and this is where we began. Once through here the usual route is to tour the islands (Levkas, Kefalonia Zakinthos etc, etc) and then use the Corinth Canal to take you through to the Saronic Gulf and close to Athens, but this passage has been closed for some time due to major land slips. It is apparently due to open in July of this year but we would end up taking the long way around and in so many ways it was a blessing.

We started sailing and immediately were rewarded with a pleasant 10 knot sea breeze that saw us sailing like a train down Levkas Island towards Skorpios Island, formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and now owned by a Russian heiress. We spotted the late Jacqui Onassis’s beach cottage which looked to be lovingly restored in recent times, that is, compared to the pictures in our Greek Waters Pilot. From there we cruised on and enjoyed great overnight anchors on Levkas Island at Vlikho, Porto Atheni, (successful stern to!) and Vasiliki. The latter was where our first wee drama occurred with initially anchoring out in the bay, getting blown away toward a breakwater wall, and subsequently electing to tie up on the town quay. In this process we dinged our port stern much to Gavin’s anguish. I think this was my fault in not moving the roving fender fast enough but to be fair, I was still a bit green ‘way back then’.

From Lefkas we sailed south to the island of Ithaca in quite a strong 20 knot gusting 25 breeze. Of course we were honking along and the boat sailed ‘like a witch’ (as Gav describes her) but as it was late evening, I was just hoping for a calm, safe anchor. We found this in the wee town of Vathi on Ithaca and ended up staying there for a couple of nights until the wind forecast eased. While there, the locals were celebrating a holiday commemorating the unification of the Ionian Islands, combined with a saint day. We witnessed a solemn service at a tomb site dedicated to lost Ithaca citizens during WW2, a marching band, speeches from town dignitaries and Greek dancing.

From Ithaca we decided to sail over to the small island of Kalamos where new Scottish friends Sally and Fergus on sailing yacht Fior were. They recommended we tie up at Kalamos on Kalamos (where they were), which is exactly what we did. Neither Gavin nor I are ever very comfortable tying up at docks (anchoring out in the middle, backing up to the quay, 75 metres of chain out) although I expect the longer we sail here the better we’ll get at it; it’s very common. In this wee town a gregarious and ‘quintessentially Greek’ man called George waves you in and supports the process, easing any fears you may have. He also owns the big taverna in town so the loyalty you feel for his kindness gets rewarded when you dine there. We had an excellent meal there with Sally and Fergus and can heartily recommend it as a place to visit. Upon our arrival and successful tie up, Gavin and I immediately walked over to the local beach, about a 15 minute walk away, where the water was crystal clear for a swim. During that time, one, (or some), of the hundreds of stray cats that live on Kalamos boldly walked up our gangway, onto the boat and helped themselves to some apple pastry. What a mess we found when we came back!

The next day we sailed back to Lefkas and had a fun rendezvous with Anna and Hamish in a beautiful place called Filiatro Bay. Waiata and Aratui were anchored side by side in the most pristine bay with a brilliant white sand beach that begged a drone shot. The water was crystal clear and the only draw back were the few jellyfish floating about. We dined with Hamish and Anna onboard Aratui that night which was very delicious and special.

We were due in the Argolic Gulf in early June to collect family and being late in May, we realised time was fast running out. We chose to make a dash for Zakinthos, the southernmost of the Ionian Islands. There were a few key spots we wanted to visit, including, but not limited to, the Blue Grotto and Shipwreck Bay. These two iconic tourist destinations are incredible and if I hadn’t witnessed them for myself I wouldn’t have believed that such colour and beauty existed in the world. It was mind blowing to motor past the blue caves and then, later that day, by some stroke of good fortune, we ended up as one of three boats anchored overnight in Shipwreck Bay.

Nestled deep on a white sand beach in a narrow cove with the most striking sea colour, lies the rusted remains of an old ship, MV Panayiotis. The story goes it belonged to smugglers of alcohol and cigarettes, (some say it trafficked humans too) and it beached here in the 1980’s. It is like of work of art now, the rusted ‘sculpture’ next to the white sand, high cliffs and blue water. Never in a million years did I think we’d score an anchor for the night here because the place is full of tourist boats who dominate during the day. But as we arrived late afternoon, their busy period was pretty much over and so we were well placed to find a home for the night. Another fun coincidence was that one of the other two boats anchored here belonged to a young Kiwi family from Kohimarama in Auckland, two adults and their two babies, 3 years old and 15 months. Unreal!

Our next stop was a bay called Kotokolon on the Peloponnese Peninsula - it’s here where boaties can access the ancient ruin of Olympia via taxi or bus. Our taxi driver took us to Olympia, waited for us to tour the site for about 90 minutes, then took us to a Vodafone shop and a grocery store on the return, all for 80 euro which felt quite reasonable. I don’t think pictures can really do justice to this site where the very first Olympic Games were held in 776 BC - but suffice to say, it’s impressive and vast. It was interesting to watch a dig in progress and archeologists doing their thing in certain sections. I found the wine cellar (of course) and Gav felt right at home at the Temple for Zeus.

The next few days found us cruising south making good distances in semi-tandem with Hamish and Anna. They too had people to collect on the other side, in their case on Milos, and we were heading up to Porto Heli in the Argolic Gulf. We had big days sailing and/or motoring and some nice anchorages and meals together when we’d arrive at our destinations.

It was leaving Porto Kayio where we had our first major drama on Waiata. The day before we’d sailed from Karoni with our beautiful orange Gennaker up, doing 8’s and 9’s in a flat sea, and having one of the most incredible sails of our trip. When we entered Porto Kayio (our anchor spot for the night) we’d furled it in during some big wind and in hindsight, we didn’t quite nail it. It wasn’t happily rolled in, sort of tight in spots and round both ways. This error would prove to be our undoing the next day.

As we left Porto Kayio the following day it was blowing about 15/18 knots and Gav thought it a good idea to just use the Gennaker to get us across to Elafonisos. That seemed like a good idea to me too, except, when we tried to unfurl the sail, it wasn’t happy or ‘cooperating’ due to how we’d furled it in the day before. We needed to pull it down which is a job for two. It was now blowing about 20 knots and we were fairly well out to sea. It was noisy, the sail was flapping and we had to shout to hear one another. My role was to ease the halyard and Gav was pulling the Gennaker down. It was heavy and I wasn’t easing it fast enough. He yelled ‘take it off the winch!’ which I took literally, like, all the way off the winch (which I now know is a big no-no!) and suddenly the sail was halfway in the water and wrapped around the port prop. Gav then yelled, ‘OMG, we’re f**ked.’ Suddenly I was really scared as it’s never a good sign when Gavin swears, because he’s usually Mr Calm, a veritable ‘MacGyver’ in all situations and challenges. We stopped the motors and put the boat into the wind. Gav put on his wetsuit and initially used a mask and snorkel to assess the damage. It became apparent he’d need to dive on it, so we quickly fitted him up with the small tank/regulator etc we have on board and down he went - yes, MacGyver! Getting it off the prop turned out to be fairly easy. Hauling it out of the water took both of us using every ounce of strength we had, but we did it. The sail can be repaired but I was quite sure I’d be ‘walking the plank’ later, however, I got a pardon in the end. I think we were both just stoked to have retrieved it and the lessons learned well implanted. The torn Gennaker is currently in Piraeus getting assessed and repaired, a costly, irritating mistake, yet full of learning.

We had a night at anchor at Elafonisis with Hamish and Anna and in the morning went walking on the famous Simos Beach. Our walk was very early and thus there was not a soul around but we did see quite a bit of plastic rubbish and party aftermath (tubs of empty beers) of the day before which Gavin and Hamish cleaned up like the good global citizens they are.

The next day we went around what is considered the Cape Horn of Greece, that is, the bottom of the Peloponnese. We were making our way to Monemvasia and while we did get some sailing in this day, it was so little it’s not worth elaborating on. In fact, it was so calm (and hot) at points, that we stopped the boat mid-ocean to have a swim.

Waiata and Aratui anchored side by side near the ‘big rock’ that is where the ancient castle town of Monemvasia exists. It’s had Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rule during its history and it is quite simply a magical place to visit. A ‘must do’ experience is to walk up to the Byzantine church up the top, Agia Sofia where the views are spectacular. During our late evening climb we were given an added bonus of seeing some Greek newlyweds having their wedding photos done professionally with drones and a full team. Walking down is a bit slippery on the ancient polished rocks but we were rewarded for our efforts once we made it, scoring pretty much the best table overlooking the sea at one of the great restaurants in the old town.

After a night anchored a Porto Gerakas and another on Spetses, we made it to Porto Heli. We spent one night out in the harbour and then entered Marina Porto Heli in order to wash and provision the boat for our guests. My brother Bob, his wife Dina and their two adult children Marie and Jack were coming on board for 5 days. Porto Heli is actually a great place to retrieve visitors as the ferry stops there and it’s quite close to Athens.

We had a wonderful time with the Balfour’s and each morning the lads would head out in the Octender dinghy and have a go at foiling, the pre-learning requirement to wing foiling. It’s a process that involves falling off over and over and over again until you finally get it. It was super gratifying seeing young Jack foiling by time they left and Gavin also making huge progress, in fact, foiling for a long spell before bailing.

We had a beautiful overnight anchor at Spetses, a solus position in a private cove we later learned is off limits in summer. Oops! We also had a couple nights on Ermione and it was here we decided to ferry across to Hydra. This is because it’s very hard to find a position to tie up on, indeed anchor, in the crazy busy port there. One bonus on Hydra, (also spelt Idra), there are no cars, just donkeys! It’s the island where Leonard Cohen lived and made some of his best music. Today it’s an enclave for all sorts including young (and old!) travellers, muso’s, art lovers and celebrities of all walks. While on Hydra having lunch at the famous Pirate Bar my brother spotted David Gilmore of Pink Floyd and his wife Polly dining two tables over. I wanted so much to greet and thank him for everything, to fall at his feet in gratitude - for each and every album and song. I didn’t have the courage in the end but did manage to give a wee bow and send a vibration of thanks as I went passed him on the way to the loo.

We farewelled the Balfour’s a few days ago and now Gavin and I are sailing towards Navplion where there are some exceptional ruins from the Mycenae period, Venetian fortresses and more.

There are two things I’d like to add before signing off from this episode. We love this boat! We’re pleased to have had no issues with dragging anchor (as we did last season!) since Gavin and the lads at Cleopatra changed the bridal from a Y-shape to a V-shape. That and the lack of so much weed on the ground (as was found in Croatia) has really made a huge difference to our (safe and secure) anchors. We still may buy a new anchor in Turkey but the jury is out on that for the moment.

This boat is a sailing boat. To be honest, much of our first month has been sailing to weather (not by choice) and unlike other catamarans, this boat can perform most excellently in those circumstances, largely due to the design (weight), self tacking headsail and dagger boards. So many times we just shake our heads and say - WHOA! - isn’t she great and such a delight to sail! So a big shout out to the wonderful team at ITA Catamarans and their superb contractors who have done such an excellent job creating Waiata and the other ITA Cats. We really like belonging to this family! That’s all for now, all best from Gavin and I.

First day of Waiata being splashed at Cleopatra Marina, Season 2 begins