Thursday 17 May – Mitika to Port Kalamos
I liked Mitika it had a nice unspoilt feel to it, apparently they started to develop the harbor in 2005 and laid blocks to just below water level when they were told they did not having planning permission so worked stopped the following year and has not restarted. I was talking to one of the Taverna owners he said it was one person who did not like the new harbor and that was why if was stopped pending an appeal. If they finish the harbor it would attract more bigger yachts who cannot get in a present and would be good for the locals but would change things.
It poured with rain during the night, the first time it has rained on the boat tent but we stayed nice and dry inside. The forecast was for a dry start to the day with cloud later, no mention of rain!
We set off at 09:30 as some chance of wind later in the afternoon and motored out of the harbor. As we got out into the channel between the mainland and the island of Kalamos we could see the wind starting to pick up with the odd white crest from the pleasant force 2 that we left in to a good 3. I thought we would leave hoisting the main until round the tip of the island when we should be in the lee of it from the NW wind. Silly me as we rounded the island so did the wind swinging to the north and increasing to 4. We pushed on and so did the wind swinging from North to East and then South and increasing all the time. It even started raining and spray was being kicked up into the boat so we were glad we had put our wet weather jackets on. The wind continued to pick up and we ended up sitting down inside the boat to reduce windage as some of the gusts were really fierce and pushing the bow round.
A somewhat very wet and thankful hour and half after setting out we motored into Port Kalamos tied up and went in search of a hot shower, to get warm as much as clean. Interesting showers as they were just about big enough to turn around in but at least they were hot.
Afterwards I chatted to the a few other people on the quay, one boat who had been moored up deciding not to go out said he recorded 22 knots across the harbour and another chap who came in the same time as us said he had a gust of 28 knots as he was about half a mile off the harbor. I thought it felt windy! It is a little hard to tell at times though as the swell was only 2-3 feet and the wind feels more constant than at home. The fact some of the gusts just seemed to flatten the waves out completely was a bit of give away though.
It still amazes me how the forecast can say winds of 2-3 and then it suddenly blows a 4-5 within 30 minutes of building only to drop off again almost as quickly.
Sitting in the harbor we watched the squalls hit from the boat tent and the flags on the boats opposite swing through 180 degrees only to fall limp once it had passed. I think we will spend the rest of the day here and retire to the Taverna run by George for dinner and drinks later. George said he thought our’s was the best boat in the bay and tried to get us to moor up outside his Taverna but unfortunately we had not seen him waving in time and tied up at the other end.
I went and watched an old fisherman unloading his catch, he had sailed out in diesel powered boat about 22 foot long just as we got in and came back about five and half hours later. He had 6 fish, two cuttlefish (squid) and a big octopus and threw 6 more fish back dead including 2 skate about dinner plate size saying no good. Not much of return for his time and also about 50% was thrown back, no wonder there do not seem to be that many big fish about.
As w e sat down for dinner at George’s in the evening we were hit with a tremendous thunderstorm, it absolutely lashed it down for about three quarters of an hour with thunder and lightning and a temporary power blackout. Getting back to the tent we were pleased to find it dry as bone not only from the torrential rain but also really strong gusty winds.
Friday 18th May
We were woken by the arrival of the ferry from Mitika, it just seems to steam into the harbor at full throttle and only slow up after it has passed all the charter and tourist boats just before it reaches all the local fishing boats. It’s like riding surf into a brick wall tied up about 4 foot below the quay like we are.
Greek weather forecasts remain a mystery to me, this morning the winds were predicted from the NW at 3-4 building 5 later and some warnings of locally 7. It was blowing a good 4 by just after 10 and stayed that way until late afternoon but at least the sun has returned, boiling hot and blue skies.
I cadged a briefing of the Sailing Holidays lead boat and their forecast was not much better to be honest, it seems what you really need is a really local forecast for each town, bay and harbor and even that would have a 50% error. We decided to stop another day on the basis of a Force 7 warning for the South Ionian which is were we currently are and went for a walk along the coast. About 2 miles south of Port Kalamos we had the whole bay to ourselves and sat and read, sunbathed and paddled.
Back at the harbor we had a cool glass of Mythos the local beer then back to the boat.
A couple of lads from Southend had come round to look at the boat and admire the boat tent, they are bare boat chartering from Sunsail but wished they could join us too. Nice to hear.
Port Kalamos is a beautiful little village perched on the hillside above the harbor with steep winding narrow streets. The walk up to the bakery is a real steep climb first thing in the morning but the hot feta pasties taste really good as it does help put an edge on the breakfast appetite.
It is nice to see a more traditional village not spoilt by tourism although I did count 30 visiting boats tied up by 17:00 tonight with two tour flotillas. There is no internet access as far as we can find so far so not quite sure when this will get posted.
Tomorrow we will be up early as I want to be off by just after 08:00 as the forecast seems to be for lighter winds and it will be around 15 miles from here to Ithica, hopefully 3-4 hours sailing if wind right. If not we can always divert to a harbor on Kostos to the south east of us.
Poor old George the restaurant owner fell over last night on some steps and badly jarred his back, he was black and blue and really stiff today so we gave him a pack of Ibuprofen he was thankful for. He is so active as the boats come in taking lines and introducing himself but it is worth it as his place is packed. I counted 32 boats in the harbor which looked full but George says he can get 70 boats in at peak season. He seemed to have taken a bit of shine to us as he really liked our boat and what we were doing.
Saturday 19th May
Only one more day until I become a pensioner!
Today was the big day our longest sail around 17 miles across open water. I was really apprehensive about the crossing and waiting for the right weather and today fitted the bill so we were up at 06:00 and had the boat packed and ready to go by 07:00 leaving just after seven. We motored out for about 5 miles until the wind picked up then had a really nice sail across to the island of Ithaca. The wind was nothing at first but slowly built to a nice top end Force 4 gusting 5 just as we got into port so we kept full sail up all the way. After all the worry about the distance I really enjoyed the sail and as we got into port another yacht that had seen as battling into Kalamos in the force 7 winds said how impressed he had been that day and asked if we had had a good crossing.
Once moored up we headed for the nearest supermarket and bar. The lady in the supermarket has offered to see if the baker has any bread and will get it dropped off this afternoon. Then the chap in the Taverna gave us a plate of sardines and big beans to celebrate our crossing. They seem relieved here that the weather has changed, not the only ones! They reckon it will return to 30 degrees by Monday.
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