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
