Grand Slam

Monday 21st September - Sivota

You are probably wondering why the dates of the title don't match the date posted. But then again maybe your not. I'll tell you anyway. We've been stuck somewhere in the Ionian in a storm with no access to phone or internet so hence no posts. I will not spoil the story with where we actually are now and instead drip feed you with the exploits of the last two weeks eating at least 3 spit roasted pigs, surviving head splitting impacts and consuming the usual small amounts of Mythos and the odd Ouzo.

 ...so back to the story. Last time I wrote, we were on a small "catwalk" for the Karnayio taverna in Little Vathi. It turned out to be not a bad place. The food was very pleasant, the water good enough to swim in (ie clear enough) and they had lecky for 5 Euro a night. The plus side was there were no rats - as we had been told it was overrun with them. I really doubt this as they had a large number of cats around the taverna so I cant see many rats surviving.

We left Karnayio on Sunday morning to head down to Sivota with about 10-15knts of wind coming from the south. For the first time in god knows how long, we sailed all the way (apart from the getting in an out bit). We actually beat all the way including short tacking down the Meganisi channel. We won all the races we had. The first was against China Blue who managed to hold on (just) until the short tacking started and then they gave up and motored on the pretext that they had to furl the headsail to tack. The second race was a little longer because the two sunsail boats were half a mile ahead. It was no contest really and in half an hour we were well past them. They did have 3 big disadvantages. Firstly they were Bavarias so couldn't point too well. Secondly I was helming (obvious really). Thirdly, they were only 32 foot!

We got into Sivota just before 1pm so it was reasonably empty - apart from the masses of Sailing Holidays boats on their weekend turnaround. We eyed up a slot on the key in front of Yannis taverna (almost the last one on the south west side of the bay. Now usually, someone from the taverna comes out and takes your lines and says "welcome to my taverna, here are the showers, my supermarket etc etc" which is code for you must come and eat here. This time however - zip. No one. No one the slightest bit interested that Grand Slam (two up) needed someone to take our ropes. We went round and round half a dozen times and still no one came - despite Yannis himself sitting at the front of the Taverna. Oh Really I thought.

Spying two passers by, we motored in stern first and threw them the ropes. No problem. Ten minutes later Tony and Margaret came in with China Blue and we tied up for a few nights. Yannis supermarket was expensive and given the lack of help we decided not to eat there. More of this in the next post.

Highlight of the day was Tony who decided to clean out his rear locker as some oil had leaked. Now being a big boat, it has big lockers with big lids and big hinges. Tony managed to clonk himself on one of them and needed a few running repairs.

It is amazing how a small cut on the head could produce so much blood!! Cue a nice bandage and a lot of sympathy.

That night we ate in the taverna with the funny guy (with a bit of a stoop) with the great patter. It is just past the one that claims to be the only one with no roof terrace. Now I realise this won't mean a lot to most of you back home, but if anyone is actually following in our footsteps, it may mean something. It was a good meal and it was a nice setting overlooking the now very crowded bay. There were at least another 6 or 7 tavernas to try but that will have to be left for another day. Tony's head was feeling a little better so we finished the night off with a couple of Ouzo's - the first of many.

Saturday 19th September - Karnayio (near little Vathi)

After a really nice two weeks we have now managed to get away from
Spartahori! I can't believe it has been two weeks. Boats have come and gone
but we managed to stay put. It was a great place. The food in Babis
restaurant was always great and the company fantastic. It is the same boats
that come back time and time again for a couple of nights each week so you
quickly get to know a lot of people.

The head cold that was preventing me diving turned out to be solved by
taking an antihistamine tablet (Duh!!!!) so I was able to go diving again
with Tony. All in all I managed to do 4 dives down to 24 metres (which isn't
bad for a beginner). I picked up so much useful information from Tony - so
much more than what I got on the PADI course. The last two dives were to a
wreck site, with lots of greek urns (I forget the technical term!) at least
2,000 years old. Of course, all the good ones have gone but there are lots
of bits left. Pam was very keen for me to bring her back some octopus - well
at least one. Hearing the stories about how they squirm up your arm - I will
leave that until I have a bit more experience. There are plenty around if
you look for them.

There was quite a lot of talk about rats on the quay with some getting on
boats at night. We therefore nipped over to Nidri to buy a rat trap but none
seem to have got on board yet. I hope it stays that way. We bumped into Tom
Bradshaw again in Nidri and spoke for a few minutes before he rushed off to
do the Ionian rally. 200 boats took part. Only 5 finished. It wasn't
windy!!! In fact after the start gun there was virtually none.

Tony and Margaret finally caught us up on China Blue. If you remember (and
have been paying attention), we left Lagos in April to sail to Turkey in
company with China Blue but lost them on the first passage and haven't seen
them since Gibraltar. It was great to catch up on all the news and find out
where they had been for the last 4 months. That's the last of the Lagos
boats into Greece then.

This morning then, Saturday, we left Spartahori to sail a full 5 miles to
the bay next door and the Karnayio Taverna on the right as you go into
Little Vathi on Meganissi. The plan was to sail down to Sivota and then down
to Ithaca but the Ionian rally finished in Sivota on Thursday so we are
giving them another day to disperse before we go there. We don't know a lot
about this place but there is a nice little Taverna with a "catwalk" for
boats to moor up to. It's got lazy lines and water and power at a cost. We
were also told it has some rats! We will find out tonight.

The vodaphone dongle thingy that I bought has not been working too well for
the last few weeks in Spartahori with pretty bad reception - hence the lack
of posts. It doesnt seem too much better here but I guess it will be better
in Ithica and then back to full speed when we get back to Messolonghi -
likely now to be at the end of the month.

Friday 11th September, Spartahori - still

Phew!! That was a hard walk! Pam decided we need to try and keep fit so we
walked up to the town of Spartahori from the harbour. It was only 40 mins
walk but it was around 500m of a climb and it is over 30 degrees. The upside
is we are now sitting in a bar, drinking a cold one with one of the best
views in the Ionian looking across to Paleros on the mainland and Levkas to
the North - and eating one of the best Pizzas I have had this year. It's
only lunchtime so I guess I shouldn't drink too many Mythos.

As you probably have guessed, we are still in Spartahori - that's one week
we've been here. I am still keen to do a few more dives but probably need a
couple more days for my head cold to fully clear so I can go down again. The
weather has certainly been cooler this week following the weather system
that came through at the start of the week with the temperatures at night
now dropping below 24C for the first time since we arrived in Greece. The
weather is now more like a really hot south of England summer temperature.
There is another "big" weather system due late Monday so I guess we are now
seeing some unsettled conditions - and probably the first rain for a long
time.

We've not been doing a lot. Lots of chilling out. Babis restaurant has been
more like a holiday camp with the same people eating each evening -as lots
of boats seem to be stopping for days on end. It's so easy (and cheap) to
get the ferry over to Nidri to stock up on most things.

Next week is the south Ionian rally so there will be lots of boats (200+)
around. It sounds like a "west coast week" but with nice weather. The trick
will be to work out where they will all be and avoid their stops. You never
know, I may persuade Pam to do the Regatta on the last day and enter the
"liveaboard" class.

The plan now is to stop until Wednesday to meet up with China Blue and then
head back down to Ithaca and Kefalonia and then back to Messolonghi by the
end of the month. Hopefully I can get a few dives in before Wednesday.

Monday 7th September, Spartahori

We seem to have grown roots! We are not moving!! Pam's gone on
strike!! Pam worked out that we have stopped at 45 different places
this year on the trip over from Portugal which is 3 more than last
year so is refusing to budge. Spartahori is a nice place. We have
ended up in the north west corner of the bay which actually is the
"town quay" - just where the ferry comes in - rather than on the
Taverna's private pontoons. However Babis who runs the Taverna treats
the town quay as his place for his friends (after all he has laid all
the lazy lines and looks after the place). He must have took pity on
us the day we came in (or remembered we had been in a few weeks
earlier). Anyway - what a wonderfull place. Babis's "screening" of
guests means no charter boats and mainly a succession of British
couples with the odd German couple. Tucked up in this corner is very
sheltered with none of the bouncing that the boats get on the floating
pontoons.

We have been here since sometime last week. I have lost total track of
time. We are eating in the Taverna each night - well you have to don't
you? .....and generally chilling out. The food is great. The bill is
usually arrived at very arbitarily and usually ends up at 30 Euros
including all the bottles of frozen water, milk, or lecky tokens we
have acquired.

The best bit though is the diving. Tony (a Welsh guy with a boat on
the quay ....and a big Harley Davidson lookalike bike - a Kawasaki
actually ... and he looks like your typical 60 years old hells angel
...what a character!) ...where was I? Oh yes, ...come on keep up .....
is partly employed by the Taverna to look after the moorings and has
his own little dive room with compressor and spare kit. He took me for
a dive on Saturday around the moorings and it was brilliant. We did
around 35 minutes going down to 23 metres!!!! at one stage. He did
such a good job of looking after me and showing me what to do - it
felt far better than when I did the Padi course. Tony provided the
bottle as he wanted to use bigger bottles than I had but he also
filled my part empty bottle. The cost for all of this ........free!!
That dive most places would have cost 50 Euros but Tony provides it as
part of the Taverna service. The visability in the water was superb.
Only snag was that I was starting to get another summer cold after
being clear of them for a couple of months and it meant I couldnt
equalize my ears easily. The cold has now got worse so I need to shake
that off before I go down again. Ideally I could be diving every
day!!! There is an old (ie 2000 years old) wreck in 25m of water that
Tony will take me down to after another dive in the harbour.

Everyone is very socialable and we have entertained (and been
entertained by) Barry and Jean from Orinoco, a boat that we had seen
earlier last week in Kalamos. They have filled us in on a lot of local
detail having spent the last 20 years sailing round here.

The weather took a turn for the better yesterday with a lot of cloud,
a drop in temperature of 5 degrees and a bit of wind. Yes, that is a
lot better. There was a storm forecast but it never appeared -
although there was a thunderstorm on the mainland that gave a great
display of lighting last night. The wind has been stronger from the
north east today (15-20knts) but we are safely tucked up behind the
ferry jetty.

We went across on the Ferry to Nidri again today to do a bit of
shopping and had a full English breakfast for only 6 Euros. The
supermarkets are a bit naff in Nidri so it's a good job we stocked up
well before we left Messolonghi.

So the forward plan is to stop for a while longer and if I can shake
this cold will go diving at least a couple of times more. Tony and
Margaret on China Blue will be heading down this way and we are likely
to meet up with them around Tuesday next week. We may just stay put
here until then! Alternatively, we may go over to Sivota (which I have
been told is worth seeing) and then come back here for a dive next
week. It is an awfully hard life here!!

September 4th - Spartahori

We finally managed to prise ourselves away from Kalamos on Thursday morning.
We had spent 4 good nights there chilling out and getting to know the place.
George's restaurant had been well worthwhile and we had met some good
friends in Mike and Sue. The anchor came up without too much grief although
it took a while as it kept jamming in the bow roller - a simple fix which
has now moved up the "to do" list. It might actually have made it to the top
- ie needs to be done in the next 4-5 days.

The plan was to head for Meganisi and spend one or two nights on a quay
(somewhere) to pick up water and then head for Sivota for the weekend ahead
of some forecasted high winds. Our target was Babi's place in Spartahori
although we were unsure if we wanted to bounce around on his floating
pontoon. We ended up on the quay by the ferry berth which is far more well
protected - and the place Babi puts you when he likes you! Yes!!! There were
only long term liveaboard type boats here - no two week holiday makers. All
the charter boats were all on the floating "bobbing" pontoon. The quay had
both water and power so it was nice to hook up to lecky - the first time in
5 weeks and fill up the water tanks.

We ate in the Taverna last night and the food was very good. Much better
than the last time we were here with Liz and Ju. The boats on the floating
pontoon bounced for a good few hours but we were rock solid where we where.
By morning, Pam had decided we should stay here for 4 or 5 days!! We had
another lazy start and panicing in case we ran out cash, we caught the ferry
over to Nidri and the numerous cash machines over there. It was 2 Euro each
for the single trip which included a stop on the way in "little" Vathi. Not
bad for a near one hour trip.

We looked around Nidri, bought Pam lots of beach type clothes, had a cold
beer and a full English breakfast (me that is - not Pam). I think I said in
the last posting that it was a hard life? We caught the 2pm ferry back after
stocking up on some more Mythos and some bottles of sparkling water that Pam
has now taken a fancy to. Our bank account is now lighter although overall
we are finding it very cheap to live in Greece with no mooring fees and
evening meals only costing 25 Euro for the two of us.

Back on the boat we started talking to Tony, a Welsh guy on the little boat
on the end. Turns out he is a diver and looks after all of the lazy lines
for Babi. He seemed only to keen to take me out tomorrow to dive on the
lines and is coming by tonight to pick up my almost empty tank to fill up. I
will let you know how it goes.

The forecast for the high winds on Monday/Tuesday seems to have reduced a
bit so we have decided to stop hear until at least Tuesday and delay going
to Sivota. That means we will miss Mike and Sue on Kingfisher (if you are
reading this Mike, we will try and catch up with you in the next couple of
weeks - send me an email of where you will be).

We got an email from Trevor and Carolyn on Balchis with a joke about Gordon
Brown and Tragedies. Priceless. Keep them coming Trevor.

Not a lot going on other than what's above. The internet connection here is
very slow on the dongle with us just about getting GPRS speed but at least
we can keep in touch. .....oh and I forgot to tell you, the sun is still
shinning.

Tuesday 1st September - Kalamatos

...er actually Kalamos but more calamatos after the entertainment yesterday.
Let me give you a bit of background first. The harbour is a reasonable size
with boats anchored stern to on both sides. George, the guy who parks
everyone - in order to get them to come and eat in his restaurant (not bad
by the way), gets everyone to drop their anchors on the opposite side of the
harbour ie 60-80m of chain. Anyway, yesterday it was blowing a force 5 on
the beam when it was time for most boats to leave causing mayhem. 3 boats
managed to drag their anchors down the center of the harbour (why they didnt
go forward I don't know) and snagged another chain requiring George to come
out in his RIB and spend half an hour untangling them. Great entertainment!!
We've only got 25m of chain out so our anchor is out the way and holding
fine.

So Kalamos can't be all bad as this is our 3rd day here. Nice little village
with a couple of Tavernas with showers, washing machine, frozen water
bottles etc. We've eaten a couple of times in George's taverna and he has
big bottles of Mythos - sadly lacking in Messolonghi.

Yesterday evening we entertained Mike and Sue from Kingfisher ( I had met
Mike in Gouvia while we were up there), Jim and Brenda from Lucky who were
parked next to us and Gerry and Sandra from Kimberly Rose who gatecrashed
the party! A nice crowd of people.

Today has been a hard day in the sun. It's still 32 degrees by the way. Let
me give you a run down on our activities. Got up around 9.30am. Had a lazy
coffee. Had a lazy juice. By 11am we decided we were hungry so put all the
dirty clothes in a bag to take up to Georges for a full English Breakfast -
and to put them in the machine. Back on the boat by 12.30pm and were
accosted by Mike and Sue to sample the octopus that Mike had proudly caught
the day before (beaten to a pulp and scrapped on the rocks, de-beaked and
deep fried for 2 minutes. Pam reckons it was the best octopus she has ever
tasted. Mike's off to try and catch another one. At 2pm we wandered off to
the nearby beach (well about 20 minutes walk away) and lay on the beach for
a couple of hours - cooling ourselves in the crystal clear water every now
and again. Walked back and stopped in George's for a cold two. I told you
it's a hard life. Someone has to do it! Hope the sun is shinning through
your office windows back home.

We will stop here maybe until Thursday and then over to Meganisi to sample
some of the Tavernas over there. I must check the weather forecast.