We headed to Ermoupoli where we were meeting Colin and Maggie (Serafina), David and Sarah (Wandering Star)  and a surprise visitor would be Bogden and Petra who we met on the Black Sea Rally. It was a big birthday for Colin and we were all meeting up to help him celebrate.  We moored up, in the tightest spot Ian could find in a small harbour just outside of the main town.  How we got into it, I don’t know, and more importantly how were we going to get out of it …..  but clearly we did!

The Church of the Assumption sits up high over the town top of Vrodado Hill.  It was early September and still very hot, there are a lot of steps up but we were determined to go up and have a look, well us girls were, Me, Sarah and Maggie.   It was a 35 minute walk into town, there are shuttle buses at the local supermarket but typically we just missed one.  So, nothing for it but to either sit and wait for a good while or walk, so we walked. 

We met the guys later at a bar, unsurprisingly!  After some refreshments we did get the guys to come with us to another church, The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Holy Orthodox Church, but this was across from the town hall so not such a hike and it was later in the day.  The stain glass windows had a great effect on the church when the sun was shining on them.  We had to stop for some refreshments where the fishing boats were on the way back.

We had a lovely evening celebrating Colin’s birthday with cocktails and dinner.  We spent about ten days in Ermoupoli, having a great time meeting up with this lot.  Sarah even put us through our paces with some circuit training, well all of us except for Ian!  It was then time to get moving.  So we parted ways hoping our paths will cross again in the future.  This is often the case with the sailing community, you may not see someone for a few years and then up they pop. 

We headed back to Livadi on Serifos where we bumped into John and Ange, who we’d spent the winter with in Tunisia.  We had a lovely evening with them and Ange’s sister who was visiting before heading back across to the mainland to the anchorage at Poros.  We stayed in this area for another couple of months flitting between the anchorage and the town quay, we were becoming like one of the locals.  We did go up the coast to Epidavros and Agistri, but unfortunately I had to reset my phone and I stupidly hadn’t downloaded all my photos so not got any from this part of the trip. 

Jessica and Dan were visiting so they met us at, where else, but Poros.  They arrived on the ferry and we took them to a lovely anchorage where we tied back to the rocks.  I say we, Dan got his first job, of getting in the water and tying back to the rocks.  He did such a good job, that when he got back to the boat, we told him, great, now you can tie the other side.  We visited a few other places before it was time for them to get the ferry back to Piraeus to head home.

We spent another month mooching about around Poros before we headed to the boat yard, just a few miles away to put Cuffysark to bed for the winter.  She was being stored on the hard this year.

We arrived back mid March 2025 to hand her over to her new owners.  We’d had her since 2012 and we’d been to a lot of places, met loads of people, made new friends and had a great time but it was now time to move onto new things.  It was a strange feeling walking away, but for me, I was ready.  I think Ian will miss her at times but nothing stays the same and you have to go out there and look for new opportunities. 

Autumn 2024

The last time we came along this coast we were in a bit of a hurry so didn’t get a chance to take in the area.  We arrived in Pylos which is set is a very sheltered bay.  We ended up staying here for nearly two weeks as we were waiting for our next lot of visitors, Graham and Lesley.  We picked them up in Pylos and Colin and Maggie on Serafina arrived too and some friends we met on the Black Sea Rally, Bogden and Petra.  A few pre-dinner drinks on Cuffysark and off we went for dinner.  The sunset was fabulous from the restaurant.

We anchored at the other end of the bay and on the other side of the mound ashore was a horseshoe bay, which was a bit difficult to take a boat into but we could walk there.  It was a 40 mins walk along a path and then we had to walk over the sand dunes which wasn’t easy particularly as the sand was so hot.

It was Euro 2024 so we set up our TV that basically only comes out for sporting events to watch the various games.  Sadly it wasn’t to be England’s year, again.

Our next stop was Methoni, there is an imposing castle, built by the Venetians in the 13^th century, which sits at the entrance to the cape. There is a stone bridge with 14 arches connecting the castle to the shore.  A stone paved stretch over a small bridge takes you to the fortified islet of Bourtizi, built in 1500, which was used as a prison and a place of execution the under the Ottoman occupation. 

Our final stop with the Graham and Lesley was Kalamata where we booked into the marina.  We were a little way out of town which had lots of shops, bars and restaurants.  To get there you have to walk through the Railways Park which has exhibits of old motorcycles and railway wagons. 

From Kalamata we hoped along the coast calling in at a number of different spots along the way.  We met our next visitors, Dave and Deb, in Porto Heli, which is a really well protected bay.  We’ve sat some strong winds out here on recent visits.  We’d gone up to Koilada along from Porto Heli the week before and they were advertising a festival with live music.  We called in and were told no problem get them on the night.  Well, yes you’ve guessed it, wasn’t as simple as that and no tickets available.  Anyway making the best of things we found a restaurant, we could hear the music ok as it was so loud. 

The island of Spetses is very nearby but it’s not great for anchorages so off we went on a busman’s holiday and took one of the tripper boats across.  We had to take a taxi to get to the port first.  Spetses is a very small island but very popular.  It is chic and trendy, full of quaint shops and boutiques and lots of restaurants.  We had a leisurely walk around, obviously to build up a thirst and hunger and then had a leisurely lunch before taking the trip boat back.  Wasn’t so easy to get a taxi back the other end but Ian jumped in front of a car driving off and jumped in and we were off back to the boat.  It was a very long walk otherwise.

We then decided to leave the mainland and head to one of the islands, Serifos.  Serifos is a small island but was quite a popular stop for charter boats.  It would be quiet first thing and then the boat would start arriving and before you knew it the anchorage was really busy.  We stayed here for a week as there were strong winds.  We managed to pick up one of the two mooring buoys available.  The town had various bars and restaurants with the Chora sitting on the hillside.  It was quite a long walk up there and it was hot so we took the bus up and walked down. There were quite a number of churches on the route, amazing for such a small place.  The pathway was marked and we had to look out for where it started again across the other side of the road. 

There are windmills here too and I didn’t appreciate that people were living in them until I opened the door on one.  There was some great wall art too. 

It was soon time to get moving as we had to be in Ermoupoli where a few of us were meeting up to celebrate someone’s big birthday. 

July & August 2024

We didn’t visit Zante on our way through the Ionian back in 2019 so didn’t want to miss out this time.  My brother, Tony, and his wife Linda joined us here in Agia Nikolas in the northwest of the Island.  Zante is famous for turtles and Shipwreck Bay.  We decided to take a local boat trip to Shipwreck Bay as it would be quicker and fitted in with our itinerary better.  The driver must have gone to the same driving school as Ian!  He whizzed the boat in and out of small bays, so close to the cliff face, we could have touched it.  It is no longer possible to anchor in Shipwreck bay or go ashore but we got pretty close. 

The wreck was the “Panagiotis” which ran aground in stormy weather on the 5^th October 1980.  It appears that the ship was smuggling contraband cigarettes from Turkey and was allegedly on its way to Italy. 

On the way back from the bay we were taken into a small cave.  We were told to keep our hands in as it was a little on the narrow side. 

We had a good weather window so we decided to make the trip across to the mainland to Katakolo where we could make a visit to Olympia.  It was the centre of worship of the Greek God Zeus, his wife the Goddess Hera  and the home of the first Olympic Games which began in 776BC.  Cruise ships come into this small port and luckily, we were there on a non cruise ship day so it wasn’t so crowded at Olympia.  There is a train but it doesn’t run on a Sunday so we hired a car. 

The Ancient Stadium had a seating capacity of 20,000 and most seats were made of mud.  The Stadium also used to host the Heraia Games, games for women and was held in honor of the Goddess Hera, Zeus’ wife. The racetrack of the stadium is over 200 meters long and nearly 30 to 34 meters wide.  It was 40 degrees and yet some people still decided to run up and down the track.  It was exhausting just watching.  Having seen many sights around the Med, Ian was now “ruined out”. 

Inside, out of the heat, we visited the Olympia Ancient Olympic Games Museum which details the history of the Olympic Games.

We were going to anchor in the quieter bay of Keri just along the coast from Laganas, which is similar to Magaluf, but first we needed to get some provisions so we anchored in Laganas first.  We felt ancient walking around here.  A real treat here though was the turtles.  The turtle spotting boats started arriving late afternoon, we were pretty much surrounded!  Ian jumped in the water and was within touching distant of a turtle and it swam alongside him for a few minutes.  Quite an experience.  Then off to Keri Bay for the night.  It was now time for Tony and Linda to fly home and for us to head to mainland Greece, Pylos our next stop where we spent ten days.  A lovely spot. 

We now had a few days mooching along the coast before our third lot of visitors were arriving.  We headed towards Vonitsa and as we were going through the Preveza Strait we heard “Cuffysark” being called up on the VHF.  It was some fellow sailors, Kirstie and Neil, who we had met in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey two years earlier.  You never know when you’re going to bump into people.  They were heading to Preveza so change of course and we headed to the anchorage at Preveza.  This was quite a reunion here as there were several other boats anchored who we had met on our travels.  So, yes of course we had a few sundowners on Cuffysark.  We could only stay the one night before heading off to Vonitsa. 

Gary and Shelley met us here but we only stayed the one night as there was a jazz festival going on in Preveza.  The airport was so close by we actually saw their plane coming into land.  We gave them a wave but they didn’t wave back!

No where is that far away in this part of Greece.  We visited a couple of other anchorages and then made our way through the Lefkas Canal, making a stop at Lefkas  and then on to Syvota which is a tiny place with lots of restaurants.  We booked a table for dinner at Taverna Spiridoula which was literally on our doorstep!  

We finally ended up in Velcro Bay AKA Nidri.  It’s one of those places that you get stuck in and always end up staying longer than you planned to.  Nidri is full of bars and restaurants and good for provisioning and very sheltered.  So, we spent a couple of days chilling and listening to music before it was time for Gary and Shelley to go home.  Shelley getting in the spirit of things with her version of Boy George!

Nidri is another place where you inevitably meet up with people you’ve met previously.  We bumped into Simon and Claire who’d we’d not seen since our stay in Licata, Sicily five years ago.  We had a problem develop with our outboard on the dinghy, but not a worry when Simon can tow you ashore.

Finally, time to release ourselves from Velcro Bay and head to Sami.  The forecast told us this anchorage would be ok.  It was, until about 6.30pm when the wind changed to the opposite direction which made the anchorage completely untenable.  There was another anchorage about half an hour away which according to the forecast should have not been good either but we saw fellow sailors Kirstie and Neil were anchored there.  A few exchange of messages and they assured us it was like a mill pond there.  Ian was surprised at this so off we went and what a difference it was at Agia Effimia.  This was a real gem of a place, apart from being pretty, getting down to practicalities the laundrette and supermarket were opposite and we could get gas. 

Quick turnaround and we were headed off to Zante for our next visitors, Tony and Linda. 

June 2024