At some point you have to untie the ropes again, otherwise you get the Poros syndrome (see blog from May 24th). So we left the lonely marina of Argostoli on June 8th. And with what destination? Poros - not the Poros in the Saronic Gulf, after which we named the syndrome, but the small Poros on the east side of Kefalonia. There we were directed by Spiros, the energetic, fit, nice and humorous harbormaster directly to the new floating jetty, which is not yet marked in the harbor guides and in Navionics ("I want to see your beautiful money." means: pay harbor dues). Although the big ferry from Kyllini docks here several times a day, it is a nice, quiet place with an eternally long pebble beach.
But like Odysseus we wanted to go on, to Ithaca. We didn't have to wander around for ten years like him, who wanted to get back there from Troy. Just a little more than 20 nautical miles and we were there. We wanted to go to the bay of Vathy, the main town of the island. Surprise: rather light winds outside and on entering the bay winds gusting up to 40 knots. No good anchorage free, the pier full. So we fled, again some nautical miles back to the south into the beautiful and well protected anchorage Filiatro. There we could anchor well, enjoy the peace and the great scenery and swim extensively in the clear turquoise water.
But we could also see here that the high season has just begun. Had we seen so far only a few charter boats, they came now in ever greater numbers. In the harbor of Vathy, which we then approached two days later in calm weather, we felt finally catapulted into the high season. Like a string of pearls, the boats arrive here, many of them catamarans. The long piers are already full from the early afternoon. Anchoring is busy in the bay. After the rush hour for the free berths on the pier, we can admire catamarans with at least ten half-naked young men with suboptimal figure and bad taste in music. Well, they have a week's vacation, there must be something going on. We are retired and have time. But from the aesthetic point of view, we find some things to be an imposition. So: We arrived in the high season in the Ionian Islands. We have to get used to it.
Nevertheless: It is beautiful here. And there are always nice encounters with other sailors. And we will continue to find beautiful anchorages again and again.
Despite all this beauty that we are allowed to enjoy here every day, we are aware that obviously the Greek coast guard is probably one of the worst and most inhumane in the EU as far as refugees are concerned. We are horrified by the death of so many people in the boat accident south of the Peloponnese.
