SERENITY NOW

  25th July 2020  Having left the easy life tied to the quay at the ever smiling Dimitri's on Zante, we headed North. After a day of tacking we made our way to a quick overnight stop in the small town of Sami on Kefalonia. It’s a nice spot, and well attended, but the highlights for us were dodging the marineros and finding a post office to  pay our cruising tax for another month. We left there... with the marineros waving a €15 euro receipt from the quayside and saying you must pay. With a winning smile, I replied “I’ll pay when we get back” - which, in all honesty, may happen one day. We followed the East coast of Kefalonia North and found a one boat sized bay, delightfully called ‘Piglet Bear Bay’  We tied back, not our usual or preferred method, but after some adjusting here and there were well set in this picturesque little paradise. The wind and swell however turned out to be on the beam, so after a slightly uncomfortable first night, we upped anchor an...

  15 July 2020 (Laganas, Zante) They say ‘you should never go back’ and our current mooring writes that in big bold letters and underlines it three times! We’re at anchor just along the beach from our honeymoon destination of Laganas on the island of Zakinthos. Arrived here yesterday after a long tiring sail down the West coast of the island. Last night was a disturbed affair, with an army of mosquitoes whining their high pitched song in our ears. This chorus went on as a frequent and at times fairly vicious swell had us rolling to and fro to the sound of glasses rattling in the cupboards. That was last night, this morning, calm waters once again prevailed, loggerhead turtles frequently popping their heads up around us (the bay is known for them) and Chez laying in the boom strung hammock.  After lunch, and for me after my siesta, we headed across to a small jetty closer to the main town to tie up - We were gently waved away from the jetty with an explanation of ‘its privat...

  9th July 2020 (Zante) We are moored up in the realm of the generous Dimitiri in the little quay at Agios Nikolaos in Zakinthos. Having been welcomed by our smiling charming host 2 days ago, we were told that we can ‘stay as long as you like’, ‘water and electric are free’, ‘come to my restaurant if you wish’. It’s a cruisers paradise!  This morning we got early new neighbours - Nick and Jemma, a nice young couple from UK/Spain respectively. After we got chatting, they said Dimitri had offered one of his boats for us to use to visit the local blue caves... sure enough, not half and hour after meeting them, the four of us were heading off in Dimitri’s runaround across turquoise waters. The caves - a magnet for small tripper boats, were relatively quiet, and finding a suitable spot, we tied to a morning buoy and snorkelled around for a while. It was lovely, but nothing spectacular compared to sites I’ve swam before both here in Greece and back home in Australia. I was peer p...

  6th July 2020 ( Nafpaktos )  Arrived here yesterday and anchored just outside the walled fortress harbour. It’s (yet another) gorgeous looking place, with a majestic castle overlooking the tiers of houses below. Bizarrely, Nafpaktos does not appear to be on the main tourist trail, which I’m amazed by. We’d had a quick look around yesterday when we arrived, nice scale to the place, and it being a Sunday there were locals out in force thronging the stone harbourside cafes. This morning we are heading up to the castle on foot. After tying up the tender we wiggle our way upwards, catching occasional peeks at the boat from ever higher vantage points. As the houses thin out, we try and keep to the shade of the pine trees that dot our path. We made it to the entrance of the castle - both now glowing like beetroots from the exertion and the hot sun. There is a small ticket booth, where a friendly and helpful man relieves us of €3 each. He comes out of his hut to show us a map and p...

  4th July 2020 (Galaxhidi to Trizonia) We’ve spent the last few days on the quay in the charming little town of Galaxhidi. We’re starting to see more tourists arriving. The cafes, while far from full, are now probably serving enough customers to at least justify being open. The town up from the quay is on a steepish hill that rises up through a maze of cobbles streets to a large Byzantine church, which we panted our way up to once or twice. Whist there, we adopted a cute little cat for the duration of our stay  - she was a very slimmed down version of Chunky (our Crete marina cat) colour wise, but with a more angular face. Anyway, very affectionate, and good company. I really liked Galaxidhi, it’s got a village feel to it, and it’s not overly touristy - shops & restaurant wise. Leaving there with fond memories. Left there this morning after picking up bread from the town square. Heading West, we’d originally planned to lunch and swim at an anchorage by a town calle...

  1st July 2020 (Corinth Canal) Woke on the wrong side of bed, aching and grumpy. A cheery Chez is already up and prepping the boat for an early start. It’s around 5:30, we’re anchored away from the town of Corfus on the other side of the large bay.  We up anchor and head out just before 6, starting the day on glass clear water. As we round the head of the bay we pass a number of small two man fishing boats hanging around the outskirts of a fish farm - some good fish there you’d have to think. As a red sun popped up behind a low island in the East, we saw another group attracted by the fish farm: dolphins! (As predicted by Chez not 10 minutes before: ‘Today’s a dolphin day’) As ever, always a delight to see them - and this went someway to clear the cloud that I’d woken up with. Now writing this as we motor towards the looming Eastern entrance of the Corinth Canal - our passage to the Ionian. Capt Chez is showing appropriate signs of concern as we head closer.  That’s ...