Gulfs & Ionian to Corfu

We a spent a good night in Kiato. There was room in the Fishing harbour so we went alongside and even got free water. We had intended to stop and catch our breath but the forecast looked good to get to Galaxidhi or even possibly Trizonia so we set off at first light - missing the delights of the early morning fish market and the fantastic church. But the gulf was beautiful in the dawn light. Calm, peaceful and with lots of little fishing boats hauling in their catches.

We had a really nice sail to Galaxidhi - glorious dawn and a gentle breeze to waft us along. In fact it was so nice that we decided to go right on and head for Trizonia. Mistake! We got about 5 miles past when, within 5 minutes, the wind had turned 180 degrees and was now a force 6 on the nose - and still 15 miles to go. Very unpleasant! So we turned tail and ran to the little bay called"Apomeri" just as you turn North to go to Galaxidhi. There are fish farm in the entrance and a large fish-farm-factory on the side but there is masses of room to get by and once you are inside and round yet another corner there is 100% shelter in lovely surroundings. An excellent anchorage. Even the fish farm is clean, modern and appears amazingly well managed.

The wind the following day was forecast as behind us so we flew the spinnaker and had a great run up to the bridge. The wind got a bit strong so we dropped it and took the bridge with the white flappy things. It was a bit lumpy but otherwise great all the way to Messolonghi. We "raced" a German boat that came out of Trizonia as we passed and beat him hands down. Got our towels down in the marina well befre he arrived. Messolonghi hasn't changed much. Still a bit tatty but appears reasonably priced at first. That's until you realise how much the little blue cards are costing - everything is charged and not at a cheap rate. Still it was only one night and they do have nice showers - which we were desperately in need of.

An so onwards. Back down the canal and out to sea. We passed a fisherman standing up and punting in what looked like a kyak - Lucky it was calm and even so I don't see how he managed to keep his balance! It was nearly windless until 1500 so we motored gently round Oxia, past Petalidhi and on towards Meganisi. By now we had a strong beam wind and seas to go with it so we were screaming along at 6.5 Knots. It got dark as we reached Vliho and dived in for the night and to ride out the predicted nastiness the next day.


And nasty it was - one thunder cell that came over gave us white-out conditions and 50 knot winds. Luckily it only lasted 10 minutes as, 10 minutes later, there was a knock on the hull and Rory, the guardianage man, told us we had dragged our anchor and were now too close to the boat behind (one of his charges). We hastily up-anchored and moved out into a less crowded area. Unfortunately that put us out of reasonable range for an evening meal at the yacht club so we ate on board. Ho hum.
Thursday morning dawned bright and calm so we slid up to Nidhry for L to do some shopping. The place is still half dead in April (and all the better for it in my opinion). As you can see from teh picture thogh, they're getting ready for the tourists.
While she was away, the wind got up but it still looked OK so we headed for Levkas. Canal was very smooth and quick so we were free and only 2.00. Where should we go - Preveza, Paxos, Corfu? we decided to go for Lakka. In the eevent we chickened out when it got dark and dove into Mongonisi - a perfect little anchorae on the south end of Paxos. Pity to miss Lakka but we had  a quiet calm night in there.
In the morning it rained but then cleared. We wanted to try to get to Corfu for Easter but hadn't expected to make it because of weather. But now we were within spitting distance. So we took our lives in our hands (well actually just our comfort) and set off. Before going we poured our customary libation to Poseidon. He looked after us as several nasty looking thunderstorms skimmed us on the way but none gave us the full works. We even spotted a few tornadoes forming but none touched down. We made Mandraki in Corfu at 2.00 and dropped anchor in our usual spot outside NAOK. A good anchorage but vulnerable to southerly winds - which are forecast for tonight. I took the dinghy through the castle moat and round to the Yacht club on teh North side. They had a berth which we have taken for 3 nights. We'll sit here, recover our breath and hopefully enjoy the Easter celebrations. then if the weather is good, check out of Greece on Sunday and head for Otranto in Italy via Erikousa or Othoni (the last tiny islands in Greece).