Telltales 83  UPDATED: TUESDAY, 24th Oct.
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Greece, from Cephalonia to Symi.......Home

Saturday, Oct 21st.
6 in the morning and the boat next door is banging against our hull. The neighbors have not noticed, nor do they wake up to my yelling. I simply let go of the mooring lines and we float to the middle of the harbor. The wind has changed 180 degrees and is finally west, but under the rain clouds it gusts up to 25 knots. Their anchor was not holding. Marit goes back to bed and I make coffee.
At ten in the morning, the rain is still pooring down, but I tie up to the quay again, the wind has died and the sky is now simply one big grey mass. We spend the whole day in the rain, not a warm weklcome to Greece.



This moose was spotted in a restaurant in Fiskardo, anyone recognizes him/her??

Sunday, Oct 22nd
At 8 O'Clock the diesel man appears with his dieseltruck to fill up Sylphe again. At 8.30 we are having coffee with a dutch neighbour and at 9 we say goodbeye to Fiskardo. The sun is out, there is no wind. We motor through the canal between Itahaca and Cephalonia in a southern direction. At the South tip of Ithaca we point east again, towards the Corinth Gulf and our destination of today: Patras. Only 58 miles today, compared to the longer hauls of the last weeks, a small distance, still it will take the whole day.
Anne and Christian, from S/Y La Cardinale, will join us in Patras for the rest of the Corinth Gulf and especially the Corinth Channel. They have their boat for the winter on the south of the Peleponesos, as they have bought a piece of land there. There is no house yet, but that will come. The land has olive trees though and they should harvest that in mid November, so they have some time to spare. The last time we saw each other was in Symi, as they were the first visitors to the house last year. Anne and Christian took La Cardinale to Israel, Cyprus and Egypt this early spring season, so it will be interesting to catch up with their experiences. The rest of the summer they spent in Greece and had their fair share of Meltemi, like soo many others who had chosen Greece this summer. It was not a good year in Greece for sailing.



We are slowly being surrounded by land as we enter the Gulf. No more open water for the next couple of days, as we will always see land around us. Quite a change compared to the big open water that we crossed in the last two weeks. We arrive in Patras harbor at 7 in the evening, with Anne and Christian waiting on the pontoon and taking our lines. We wander off into the third largest greek town and this is noticable, it is rather busy, but thankfully only greeks.

Monday, Oct 23rd
We are woken up by the Port Police. Not a good start of the day, for those who know me, However, after some coffee, Christian and I deal with both the marina office and the port police, who turn out to be very friendly and our paperwork (re-entry into greek waters) is swiftly dealt with. And that even with Anne and Christian NOT having passports with them. The female port police falls for my charm......aaaahhh, it still works.





We have two days to do the rest of the Corinth Gulf, as the channel is closed on tuesdays, so we are not in a hurry.  But first we have to pass the Patras bridge, one of the biggest susp[ension bridges in the world. Todays trip only involves 35 miles to Galaxidi, a charming little port, where we have some memories from our last visit (6 years ago, though, when we tried to steal a complete marble table, but got caught, remember Andre/Philippe/Rob???)
Although no wind was forecasted, we have a great 15 knots of following wind, which allows Christian to take the helm and sail Sylphe under genua. I think he is happy.




Tuesday, Oct 24th
After a very warm welcome in Galaxidi, by Dino and a great meal (grilled mussels!!!!), accompanied by 6 friendly dogs, it is time to leave again and go onward.



At 9 we let go of this little sleepy place and sail onward in the direction of the Corinth Channel. 40 miles to get to Corinth town, where we will spend the night as the Channel is actually closed on tuesday. No problem, we will go through tomorrow morning and will make it to Aegina easily.
There is no wind and no shipping. The sun is out and we take our T-shirts off. This is just great. Lunch is served on the fore-deck, what a luxury. As said before our misery landfall in Fiskardo and the hard struggle to make it into port is long gone forgotten. In that respect we behave like the average voter, who simply chooses the same stupid government, for which he voted last time. We have a short memory as well.
Enjoy your day.



We stop at 4 in the afternoon at the entrance of the Corinth Channel, thinking it is closed. We anchor off and Marit, Anne and Christian actually go for a last swim on this side of the Med. Suddenly there are boats coming out of the Channel... I thought it was closed on tuesdays for repair. BUT NOT, we inquire per VHF and are given passage. We have to follow a rather big cargo vessel, which does not have much room to spare on either side (see picture). But all goes well. And we have yet another impressive passage through one of mans greatest achievement. The channel was started by Nero, but not finished untill 1893, with the help of the French.




Tonight we have diner at Pedro's........YIPPIE


STILL TO COME
To Symi, through the Cyclades........... and than being home!!!!!!!

AHOY
Roland and Marit
www.sail-in-style.com