It’s a Small World

What a crew we have! Dishes are washed before they hardly have time to dry on, lines are tidied, sometimes in mid use, and when I go outside to do my final cockpit check for the night, lines tidy, cushions in if it will rain, trash collected, dock lines still secured, odd clothing bits gathered, sunglasses put away, correct lights on or off, depending where we’re berthed, it’s always done already. I jolted with surprise when I saw a trash bag disappearing to an on shore dumpster without any encouragement. Maybe it’s an extra great crew, or maybe it’s the fact that it’s too cold to swim at night so we think about domestic stuff instead. Regardless, it’s left Heath and I with lots of time to route plan, weather check and look for appropriate anchorages. We spend a fair bit of time pouring over the Greek Waters Guide reading about various ports. I forgot to pack the correct charger for my phone and have been startled by how handicapped I feel without it. Quite annoyed in fact. I did eventually find a charger in a little shop about halfway through the trip so that was a relief. I could once again track the weather every hour or so and check our position sneakily from below decks.

Long day planned for Tuesday as we really needed to get to Kefalonia Island for night to avoid the worst of the winds and waves. Finding good anchorage’s in the Ionians has proved to be a bit of a challenge. The bottom is not as good for holding, lots of steep drop off and rock instead of sand, and the winds and swells are just plain against us this go around. Is it luck of the draw or just Ionian sailing? Regardless, we sailed off in high spirits and pointed our bow to Paxos and Anti Paxos, two little islands just south of Corfu.

These islands are known for their sea caves, specifically the Blue Caves, and we spent an hour or two exploring them. Heath or I always had to stay on the boat as there was no good anchoring while the rest loaded into the dinghy and roared around in the caves. That’s a pretty amazing feeling, going deeper and deeper into a dark cave, the water gently swelling, the tiny outboard engine put-putting, roaring or cavitating, depending on whether you are about to hit a wall or try to turn really sharp or just happily tootling along. We balanced on the not quite aired up enough rubber sides and rubber necked. The ceilings sometimes were high above, sometimes threatening to behead us. A Mediterranean Monk Seal joined us in one for a while.

Lunchtime found us anchored in a little cove on Anti Paxos where we all decided that we must grab the swimming option while the sun shone and things at least looked warm. I quickly put a large kettle of water on to heat as I knew I for one would need hot drink when I got back on board. It may have looked warm, but it most certainly didn’t feel warm in the water! We paddled and gasped and eventually got a bit used to it, and I snagged the chance to wash my hair while the washing was good. In case you didn’t know, washing hair in salt water makes it nice and soft. A quick freshwater rinse and you feel squeaky clean. We had just got the last of the swimming togs hung up and the anchor weighed when the clouds crowded in and a chill wind blew off a squall that sprang up and passed just north of us. Perfect timing!

So now it was a straight run across the open water to Kefalonia and hopefully a restful night. The storm is slowly advancing and though the wind here is pretty calm, waves have been building out towards Italy. Thankfully we were running with them, so the ride wasn’t mayhem. Darkness fell and on we went, Ravi at the helm, being a most vigilant observer of all ships and lights and waves. It was rather restful for the rest of us, curled up under our blankets in the cockpit, letting the kid do all the dirty work. I cooked supper and we ate it outside, serenaded by the engine. Sailing winds are few and far between, worse luck.

The little harbor of Assos was a welcome sight. We were all ready for a less motion and a bed. There didn’t appear to be much life in the little town, although it was pretty late, but we did see an old man puttering in on his boat. We tried to pick up several mooring lines, but none of them seemed attached to the sea bed, so we finally gave up and dropped anchor. We are a little gun shy about anchoring around mooring lines, as they can so easily snag an anchor and cause mayhem, but it seemed the least of our evils that night. The Pura Vida settled almost immediately, and we all happily went to sleep. Of course at anchor one ends up sleeping with one ear open all night, and if you can find joy while doing that, it’s all good. The rocking boat is soothing, and hardly anything bumped in the night. Only once did I make Heath recheck our position cause I was jolted awake when the noise changed from the gentle slap-slap-slap of the water to more of a gentle slap-slop-slap.

Morning showed us just how beautiful the harbor really was, and we proceeded to pile into the dinghy for a shore excursion. But not before Nate and I had aired the thing up a little more. Possibly kept our bums a little dryer, but not necessarily as we did some odd maneuvering while beaching that caused a small soaking or two.

Heath went running around town, checking to see if any store were open as our provisions were beginning to look a little slim. Nothing. It’s Greek Independence Day, so we didn’t expect to find anything. The rest of us hiked up to a castle and gazed over the bay. We could hear the big ocean swells making a booming sound in some cave, and it reminded me that the weather was indeed getting worse. It was still sunny, but the wind was on its way. We could not linger too long. Kicking a stone happily before us, we took the paved, switchbacked track down to the harbor and bounced into the dinghy. It’s back to work and real waves. Heath put on a scopolamine patch and took a Sturgeon. We stowed every loose item that could possibly bounce and made a lunch plan that didn’t involve cooking under less than ideal circumstances. We are as prepared as we can be. Cast off!