Northerm Ionian 2011

Northern Ionian 2011

Having sailed in the southern end of the Northern Ionian on a previous flotilla holiday we wanted to sail the northern waters taking in Corfu. Once again we decided to sail with Neilson as we had had good experiences of sailing with them before and we had managed to pick up a reduced price weeks flotilla holiday on the internet.

The Northern Flotilla would sail from the small village if Sivota which is a busy little tourist resort in the north west corner of Greece. Neilson also has a beach hotel in Sivota which offers a number of water sports holidays.

Flying in to Preveza from Manchester we travelled by transfer bus to Sivota arriving there early on the Sunday evening. After being shown to our yacht we met up with Jo and Stewart a couple from Manchester for a drink. We had we had sailed with Jo and Stewart the previous year on Neilson’s Northern / Southern Ionian flotilla.  They it turned out were sailing south so we probably would not see them again during the holiday.

Monday Day 1  Sivota to Platarias

Weather – Sunny light southerly wind

 

After our morning briefing and boat familiarisation session we set out from Sivota, our destination the nearby village of Platarias which was only a few miles away by road. As we wanted to make the most of our day we headed south out of Sivota past the islands of Nikollaos and Mouptoc, before turning west wards away from the coast. Later we turned back east towards Platarias where we moored stern to against the village’s sea wall.

Kathleen decided that a run was in order as she had been in a car, a plane and a bus on Sunday and on a boat all day today, so she set out to run back towards Sivota while I volunteered to guard the boat and dispose of some of the cool beer in the fridge!

Miles sailed  - 15.5

Tuesday Day 2 – Platarties to Corfu Town

Weather – Sunny light southerly wind

Waking to clear blue skies and a light wind we set of for a walk around Platarias before breakfast – this did not take long as Platarias is a small place.

Our crossing towards Corfu was non eventful as it consisted of a 20 mile tack and then a couple of small tacks within the bay under the massive walls around Corfu. Arriving early in the afternoon we moored within a small harbour which had been built as part of the town’s fortifications.

Having been to Corfu once before when Eilidh and Scott were younger we were keen to do a bit of sightseeing as our previous visit had been brief and limited.

The town (city) serves as a capital for the region of the Ionian Islands. The town itself is a major tourist attraction, and has played an important role in the region since the 8th century. The city has become known as a Kastropolis (Castle City) because of its two castles.  In 2007, the old town of the city was made a UNESCO World Heritage site

The old fortifications of the town, are so extensive that they required a force of from 10,000 to 20,000 troops to man them. They were defeated by the English in the 19th century.

Experts have noted that "about 70% of the pre-20th century buildings date from the British period" and that "whole blocks were destroyed" in the Old Town by the German World War II blitzes; these were "replaced by new constructions in the 1960s and 1970s". The urban fabric was classified as being predominantly of the Neoclassical period "without special architectural features for which it could be distinguished"

The town of Corfu stands on the broad end of a peninsula. The old city / citadel itself is cut off from the town by an artificial moat formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom that serves also as a small harbour. Space within the fortifications around the old town  was precious, so the old town consists of  labyrinth of narrow streets paved with cobblestones, sometimes tortuous but mostly pleasant, colourful and very clean. Kathleen and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon and evening wandering around these streets before eating dinner at a small restaurant set in a little square.

  

Miles sailed  - 22

Wednesday Day 3 – Corfu Town to Lakka

Weather – Sunny  no wind

Getting up early we set off back into Corfu Town for a bit more sightseeing and to get breakfast. Returning to the yacht about 10am we were the last to leave. Outside of the harbour we turned south on a sea that was as smooth as glass. Today would be a motoring day! Our destination was the beautiful little seaside village of Lakka on the island of Paxi. We had visited Lakka previously on an earlier holiday and we looked forward to going there again.

Unfortunately with no wind we had a straight motor of approx 30 miles to go. This was going to be a  long day so we planned to stop enroute for lunch.

Before you reach the southern tip of Corfu travelling down the east coast there is a curved promontory of land with extensive and deserted beaches to the north of it. This would be our lunch stop. As we edged into the shallow waters of the bay we were struck by the beautiful isolation of the place. Dropping our anchor in 6m of water we enjoyed a long swim before lunch. After lunch we continued our motoring to Lakka, but first we had to retrace our steps to get out of the bay as the shallow waters extended well beyond the coastline and we did not want to run aground.

Miles sailed  - 30.4

Thursday Day 4 – Lakka to Galios

Weather – Sunny very light southerly wind

Today’s sail would be a short one as our destination that evening was Galios, another beautiful little town on Paxi and one which we had also visited before. The harbour at Lakka is very well sheltered by steep hills surrounding it and it is therefore impossible to gauge what the wind is doing outside. With no wind forecasted we decided to spend the morning in Lakka and go for a walk. We would set sail just after lunch when hopefully there would be some wind.

Above Lakka on the northern tip of Paxi there is a lighthouse, which we decided would be our destination for our walk. The route to the lighthouse was to say the least convoluted and we wound our way up the hillside past numerous small farms and some nice houses. The view from the top was pretty impressive as we could see Corfu, the mainland and a number of the smaller islands that lie within the area. The sea was again like a mirror with not a breath of wind – it looked as though we would be again motoring!

After lunch on board we set off in the early afternoon to head to Galios – again we were the last boat to leave. It appears to be a common factor in flotilla holidays that people do not like to stray far from their yachts. Often we talk to other crews to find that they have not even seen the village where we are staying – do sailors not walk?

Outside the harbour Kathleen was determined that we were going to sail. Despite contesting that there was no wind we raised our sails and sat opposite the harbour mouth for an hour or so perhaps moving 100m in total (not necessarily in the direction we wanted to head!). sails back down we motored down to Galios, where we moored stern to in the middle of the harbour front.

Miles sailed  - 5

Friday Day 5 – Galios

Weather – Sunny light southerly wind

The original plan for the day had been to head to the village of Parga which was about 11 miles away on the mainland. The lead crew however thought that as there was no wind we should stay in Galios. This appeared to suit everyone as the sun was shining and Gaalios is a beautiful little village.

We decided that a bit of sailing was in order so we headed out of the harbour and turned southwards towards the nearby island of Antipaxos where we knew there were small bays where we could anchor and swim.

After lunch and a swim we headed around the island making the most of a light wind that  steadily grew until it was blowing around 8 knots.

Arriving back in Galios after the best days sailing of the week we were just in time to take part in the traditional egg drop competition where all the boats are given an egg which they have to protect in a way that the egg is still visible before the lead crew dropped it from the top of their mast.

We won!!!

Miles sailed  - 18

Saturday day 6 – Galios to Sivota

Weather – Cloudy – Southerly F2 / F3 (4 – 10 knots) heavy rain later

Our last day on the flotilla saw a break in the weather as a weather front was visibly moving up the Ionian bringing rain and wind with it. We woke to an emptying harbour as a number of the flotilla yachts had headed off early so that they could motor back to Sivota before the wind arrived!!! Why did they come on a sailing holiday??

As usual we were the last to leave with only the lead yacht behind us. Our course to Sivota was nearly due north so we had a strengthening tail wind for the whole sail allowing us to run all the way back. The approaching weather front contained heavy rain which we could see falling behind and around us, but we had our own little patch of sunshine which stayed with us until we were just short of Sivota

One weather phenomenon which we witnessed and which we had not seen before was a waterspout and a small whirlwind. These were some distance off – I have no idea what power they had or what they would do to a yacht).

Arriving in Sivota in the rain was just part of yachting. It was still warm but with the wind increasing a lot of yachts were heading for shelter. We anchored stern to in the new harbour extension which is pretty sheltered, however even with a number of extra lines out we still had a “bouncy” night as the weather hit.

Miles sailed  - 14.3

Sunday Day 7 – Home

As with every flotilla holiday we had to be off the boat early in the morning to allow it to be cleaned and provisioned for the next weeks sailing. After dumping our kit in  Neilson van we had a wander around Sivota before making our way to Neilson’s hotel where we had booked a room for the day. This allowed us to swim eat and shower before we left for the airport later that evening

Total Miles sailed  105