Ionian Sea. 18th-25th May 2009

[ishtar]

Louise and I just got back from the Ionian. A week's sailing aboard the 42ft Benetteau 'Cafe Seerose'. The owner is a member of CBYC and we had arranged to crew for him for a week.

Pictures to follow, but some basics I picked up about cruising in the Ionian in early summer:

There is no tide as such, perhaps a foot at most, but there is a half knot current running roughly South from Corfu to Levkas. The winds seem to follow a pattern. Almost nothing in the mornings and then increasing winds after lunch (up to 25 knots on one day), generally from the North or North West. This dies off in the early evening, perfect for anchoring.

We quickly got into a pattern, motoring for an hour or two after breakfast, find somewhere picturesque for lunch and swimming (water temp 22-26 degrees!) then wait for the wind and sail as long as we could to our evening anchorage and visit a Taverna for food.

Itinerary: Corfu - Paxos - Levkas - Kalamos - Ithaca - Parga - Corfu. 220 nmiles. 7 days:

[ishtar]

This is Cafe Seerose. 42ft. 50HP Volvo. Sloop rigged with Spinnaker. 3 double cabins and saloon. 2 heads. Swim platform. Tonneau cover.

[ishtar]

Typical morning scene. No wind.

[ishtar]

Louise, posing off the island of Scorpios before lunch. Scorpios is owned by the Onassis family. You cannot land, but you are allowed to swim there, at anchor. How the other half live, on a boat owned by someone else, off an island owned by someone else:

[ishtar]

Something for the ladies:

[ishtar]

A beautiful anchoarge called Lakka at the North end of Paxos. We had a beach barbeque with four Germans, a Norwegian and a dog. Our boat is in the foreground and the ketch belonged to two of the Germans. Stunning place.

[ishtar]

Possibly the nicest place we visited, on the East side of the island of Kalamos. Fantastic place for lunch and swimming:



Another view of that beach:

[ishtar]

Early morning at Kioni, on Ithaca, where Odyseus was from. Just in case you think it was all fun, the boat in the picture was alongside us the previous night, Austrian, but left because one of our mooring ropes was touching his stern. He threatened to cut it, there were a few words and he left at 11pm, muttering in German:

[ishtar]

The town of Parga, on the mainland, which we vistited on the way back to Corfu. Beautiful setting, but the tourist strip was a bit too much for me.



There is a small offshore island with a chapel that we visited before leaving:

[ishtar]

And just to prove that there is some great sailing to be had, a vid:

[allan]

It all looks idealic, apart from the monster coming out of the sea! Back to the realities of the Bristol channel now then?
Glad you had a good time.
Allan

[ishtar]

Amazing isn't it? I'm on the salads for a few weeks after that shot.....

We heard about Chausey in Levkas - our skipper is on the other forum amd a keen Internet fan.

Yes, BC for us now. Should be around tomorrow night, maybe for a sail. Still trying to juggle time for the flatholm trip, and want to get Ishtar to Milford for a couple of weeks at least.

Don't know how I ever found time to work........