Greece Adventures in the Ionian Sea
Starting in Corfu, we spend two months exploring the Ionian Islands. Fantastic bays, delicious food and lots of visitors keep us on our toes until we finally head for the Corinth Canal.
Hello Greece!
How beautiful you are! Personally, I'm one of those people who answered the question "How many islands does Greece have?" with "About 4? Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Mykonos?". And that was not so long ago 😂 Haha, well, I was taught a much, much, much better lesson 😉 Roughly speaking, the islands are divided into the Ionian Islands, Saronic Islands, Northern and Southern Sporades, Aegean Islands and Cyclades. In total, there are more than 3000 islands, which are more or less close to each other. In the sailing world, that means short day trips and lots of sheltered bays. Yay, this is going to be fun! 😎 After our crossing from Montenegro, we arrive in Corfu, where our Greek adventure begins! First, we take a closer look at the Ionian Islands.
We soon realise that we feel at home here. The food tastes good, the weather is great and the anchorages are beautiful. And there are so many of them! 😍 Another cool thing is the city harbours in Greece. You can moor here for little money and be right in the centre of the action. Diesel and water are delivered directly to the boat by tanker. We could get used to that... 😉
Sea urchins, chicken gyros and Shipwreck Bay
The weeks fly by. We sail from Corfu to Paxos and Antipaxos, then on to Lefkada. We have a few cool kite days here, our friend Berger steps on a sea urchin and we end up in hospital with food poisoning.
Never eat chicken in Greece in summer.
That's what the emergency paramedic said. Well, we've learnt something again, but unfortunately we've completely lost our appetite for gyros. And that at the beginning of our trip to Greece 😅
Over the next few weeks, we sail back and forth between Lefkada, Meganisi, Ithaca, Kefalonia and Zakynthos. These islands offer so many great and sheltered bays. There is almost always wind for sailing and we find great anchorages. Another highlight is the tourist magnet Shipwreck Bay, which we naturally don't want to withhold from our many visitors.
After about a month in the Ionian Islands, we head for the Greek mainland from Zakynthos with sailor Hochi on board. After an unexpected kite session and spectacular culinary delights in Porto Skrofa, we set off on a four-hour trip to Patras with 30 knots of wind and waves on the nose 🥴 It wasn't very pleasant, so we took a break from sailing for a few days. We explore the area by car and drive over the 2.8 km long Rio Andirio Bridge, which connects the mainland with the Peloponnese peninsula. I buy the most beautiful hat in the world (not everyone likes it 😉) and soon we are sailing under this very bridge. It is the gateway between the Gulf of Patras on the western side and the Gulf of Corinth on the eastern side. We experience the Gulf of Corinth as being deserted in autumn. There is space everywhere in the harbours and the temperatures are more conducive to exploring the land routes than the underwater world🛵 One highlight along the way is the ancient city of Delphi, where we immerse ourselves in Greek mythology for the first time. With a suitable wind window, we then set off on our last stage in these waters for the time being and reach the Corinth Canal. This forms a spectacular connection between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf. A passage of a different kind. ♥
Thus ends the first part of our adventure in Greece. I wonder what treasures the Saronic Gulf harbours?
Only the Oracle of Delphi knows that...