Wednesday 23rd May - Big Vathi, Ithaca

Wednesday 23 May- Big Vathi, Ithaca

We had a really nice campsite under the olive trees with just the goats who visited late evening and first thing in the morning sharing with us. Apart from lots of crickets, the usual column of ants and some massive wasps if they were wearing striped jerseys then they would fit a welsh prop forward and not look tight!

It’s funny being under the olive trees as they are still in flower so the tent gets covered in pollen, also as the petals fall they sound like rain splattering against the tent especially in the wind we have had lately. I am sure we have had a few lizards running about as well as first thing in the morning.

Viv saw her first live snake walking back from the village today about 3 feet long and green. The walk along the cliff path is lovely and alive with crickets and locusts chirping. Who ever goes first though gets covered in cobwebs as the orb spiders spin their webs across the path every night.

The forecast yesterday was for the winds to increase to Force 5-6 and rain today, we were going to sit it out but when I walked into the village this morning the forecast was for winds of 3-5 with rain later possibly tonight and at the time it was quite calm so we decided to pack up and move round to Kioni.

We said our goodbyes to Kiki who runs the supermarket who  was not only very helpful but also a mine of information, her weather forecasts were always much better than the various fleets or the official ones. I am coming to the opinion though that it starts with some wind then more, sometimes it gets cloudy, if it does get cloudy it might rain but if it doesn’t then it might get windier and unless it comes from the north west then it can come from anywhere and it changes in every bay!

We packed up in record time and motored out at 11:30 and hoisted sail half an hour later and beat down the coast to Kioni. The wind was still a pleasant 2-3 and the weather holding so we decided to push on to Big Vathi the main town on the island. The thinking being if it does rain all day tomorrow there will be more to do there than in Kioni which is the same size as Frikes.

We had a pleasant sail into the Molos Gulf where the wind behaved in typical Greek fashion swinging all over the place and then gusting from virtually nothing to a good 4 with both of us having to hike out. Discretion being the better part of valour we put in a reef then decided to drop the main as it was so gusty and unpredictable and motor the last bit in.

We moored up and went in search of a beer then a cheap hotel in town as you can have too much of good thing at times and the thought of possible rain has caused us to wimp out and seek a bit of comfort. The fact my inflatable bed only inflates for about 2 hours and the spare has come out in sympathy reinforced the decision for comfort. Now I am a pensioner I have to think of these things!

It felt like a real treat getting into a hot shower and washing the salt and grime off from the last few days, my hair feels about ten times lighter and I am really looking forward to a proper bed tonight. We will probably stop here a couple of days before finding somewhere else to camp up depending on the weather.