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It was nice in Palairos. Well looked after by harbour master Christos, bathing beach right next to the harbour, yacht club with bar and view of the sunset behind the island of Levkas and the high mountains directly above the village with alpenglow every evening. One day we walked up there a bit and could see the whole scenery from above. However, it was difficult to make progress on the unmarked paths and goat tracks. A few times we got stuck in the "wilderness".

We also had a look at the port of Vounaki, one nautical mile away. It has a completely different flair than the town harbour of Palairos: an all-inclusive holiday resort with all the trimmings, from bicycle rental to sailing dinghies, swimming pools and charter boats from the Neilson agency. Nothing for us.

Pictures of Palairos

It was a „car jump“ to our next destination a little to the south, Mitiká (also on the mainland). But for this „cat jump“ we were on the move for several hours, once again beautiful light wind sailing. For anchoring, we did not choose the bay where the sunken city of Alyzia is located. We dropped our anchor in the bay right next to the harbour of the small fishing village. "A dirty, smelly fishing harbour you shouldn't go to," someone wrote on Navily. We are interested in the normal Greek ports without charter piers and flotilla visitors. So the next day we went to the harbour and watched the hustle and bustle: Small ferry boats sail to the neighbouring islands. The fishermen go out at dawn, live fish are delivered from the fish farms in large plastic containers and loaded onto trucks. And the place, which is built almost to the water's edge, also has beautiful corners.

Pictures from Mitiká

One more night at anchor outside the harbour for stargazing under the new moon, then the next day we're off to the nearby island of Kalamos. On the way north, we already spent a night here in the anchorage Port Leone. This time we moor in Port Kalamos. We have previously registered with the unofficial harbour master George. George, a soul of a man, one of the friendliest and fittest harbour masters we have met so far. Anyone who wants to observe how positive reinforcement works should pay him a visit ("Drop your anchor here, two metres more chain, please. Excellent 👍. I'm George. Welcome!). Even in heavy rain he goes out and helps people moor. We were exceptionally allowed to moor alongside and were thus able to bring a new 11 kg gas bottle on board without dislocating our backs. George knows our boat and the previous owners Peter and Trix. He likes the boat and the harbour cats obviously like it too. They like to sleep on or under our dinghy. George's taverna serves super tasty food. Of course we go there for dinner, especially since lying in the harbour doesn't cost anything. And we stay here for a few days, hike around the island and are now weathering a thunderstorm.

Pictures from Kalamos Island

More pictures of Kalamos

The exit from the port of Lygia worked well, we passed smoothly through the rocks. Along the mainland coast we headed south for 15 miles until we entered the narrow buoyed fairway to Preveza, once again without wind, motoring along endless sandy beaches, past Mytikas with its impossibly tiny fishing harbour. Past Preveza with its three huge marinas, where about 2000 boats are moored, in the water and on land, the centre of the charter bases in the Ionian Sea. 

In Preveza we headed east into the Ambracian Gulf, a shallow water area with a great abundance of fish, also a migration area for countless birds on their way south - or north. Along the re-buoyed fairway between fish farms into the bay of Vonitsa, a beautiful little town that we had already explored by car. Two bays before Vonitsa we dropped anchor - idyllic with woods all the way to the shore, a single boat except for us, everything completely quiet - post-season. The little wind also fell asleep, so we were able to spend a cosy evening and a quiet night.

The next day we went back to Preveza, where we lay well on the second anchor attempt, at the city pier directly in front of the National Bank. Here Claudia had to disembark, as her plane for home was going from Preveza-Aktio airport, just a few kilometres away. It was a nice time with her! And we had to buy a new tender. We nearly got drowned, when we used the old one last time.

Pictures of Preveza

We liked Preveza so much, with its winding alleys and friendly, relaxed atmosphere, that we stayed for 5 days. We hiked to the Pantokrator Fortress of Ali Pasha, one of the lost places, a bit scary, but impressive with its thick walls and partly dilapidated walls and archways. 

Pictures of Pantokrator-Castle

And then: Nicopolis. A gigantic city, the largest in the ancient world with 300,000 inhabitants. Founded by Octavian, later Augustus, on the occasion of the victory in the naval battle over Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC, which took place in Aktio. A huge city wall, excavations still in work everywhere, quite wonderful mosaics, a stylishly restored odeon in the shape of an amphitheatre and a large theatre (though not accessible). The small farming village of Nikopolis is situated above. We found a taverna, actually a green meadow with a few chairs and noisy men having coffee and tsiporou. With hands and feet we managed to order a Greek salad, beer and lemonade and later a taxi back to Preveza.

Pictures of Nicopolis

We liked Preveza very much, we will come back next year, and not only because of the excellent sykoti (liver) in the Mythos taverna directly at the pier. 

Then we set course south. We leave Preveza and sail through the buoyed fairway, setting course for the entrance to the fairway between Lefkas and the mainland. Here we meet the sailing yacht "Orca" on the way. We already know the Austrian couple on board from Messolonghi. Just in time for the opening of the bridge we are in front of the entrance, hoist the sails and go through the bridge. A short detour into the public harbour of Lefakada shows us: more new floating pontoons for charter boats, everything very narrow and crowded. Actually, we wanted to make a stop here. But we prefer to sail south through the channel and anchor in front of the small fishing port of Ligià directly after leaving the waterway. It is quiet here and we can enjoy the beautiful evening atmosphere.

In the meantime, we are back on the Greek mainland in the small harbour of Palairos, which is cosy in the off-season. We want to stay here for a while.

For a week now, we are three on our boat again. Claudia came on board in Corfu Town as planned. Studying the weather map and the forecasts, we found out that a low with many thunderstorm cells was on its way to us. As it turned out in the following three days, we were only on the edge. There was more going on in the Ionian Islands further south, but we also had to deal with three days of unsettled weather and rain.

We spent two more days in Sivota on the mainland. We had already liked it there the first time. On the way there we had nice light wind sailing. The next morning our boat got a powerful freshwater shower with lots of thunder and lightning. Once again, cleaning on deck was spared. And it was also a leak test at the same time. Well, there are one or two places on many boats where moisture or some water gets through during heavy rain. This is also the case with our boat. Since we know the spots, we take precautions.

After the heavy rain, however, we had the opportunity to see a bit more of the area around Sivota. There are very nice places and anchorages, also on the small islands off the coast.

Pictures from Sivota

Going to an island again, to weather the rest of the depression in a sheltered bay? Paxos offered itself. In the bay of Lakka, in the very north-east of the island, we spent two somewhat restless days and nights at anchor. Many boats came into the bay and the distances from boat to boat were small. Three times we moved to another spot during this time.

Pictures from Lakka

But then we could spend two calm, sunny days and nights in the south of Paxos in the bay of Mongonisi. From our place we could already see the next island, Antipaxos. For one night, a flotilla of 14 boats moored at the pier. We didn't mind, because we were anchored at a distance.

Pictures of the anchorage and the southern tip of Paxos

A shore excursion to the nearby main town (Gaios) was on the programme. Gaios is also called "The Saint Tropez of the Ionian Islands". That's in some way true.

Pictures of Gaios

But our trip also showed us that our dinghy has started to leak. Our inventory tells us that we need a new one.

In the meantime, we sailed back across to the mainland, to Ligiá. We had a lot of respect for the entrance to this small fishing harbour. There are rocks scattered all over the place. Some stick out of the water, but most are underwater. So: keep your nerve and sail through with the right course and lookout. We made it! It's cosy here. Many fishing boats, a few sailors, no village, but a very good fish restaurant, they say. We can confirm that, because we tried it out last night.

Pictures of Ligiá

In Mandraki Marina, our friend Lisa comes on board to be with us for a week. Between the island of Corfu and the mainland there are many destinations (harbours and anchorages) that we can reach in small stages. But unfortunately very little under sail this week. We were looking for the wind and almost every day we had to find out again: No wind. Nowhere. Even the afternoon breeze, which we have experienced frequently, is absent. Seven knots of wind, below which Aglaya doesn't even get going. And seven knots of wind with a cruising speed of two knots, that was the highest of feelings this week.

So we sailed around a bit, to Kassiopi in the north-east of Corfu with a view of the Albanian town of Saranda. Then south again to anchor off Corfu Town. And then across to the mainland to Sivota. We liked the small harbour with its stoic harbour master. We had a bathing day there. Walter didn't last long in the water, though. Sometimes the fish nibble at you a bit. But they bit him hard on the legs and tore out real scraps of skin. Small piranhas? Not really. But we haven't experienced anything like that yet. Nevertheless, it was nice in Sivota. Although there were still quite a few (German) tourists there, it was cosy. And we discovered a great fish shop where we bought three freshly caught dorades for dinner. On the way back to Corfu to the anchorage in the large bay of Lefkimmi, dolphins visited us again at the boat and accompanied us for quite a while. 

In the meantime we are back in the beautiful Mandraki Marina. Lisa has left the boat. Now Claudia, who sailed with us in the Aegean last year, is coming. We are looking forward to it.

Pictures from Kassiopi

Pictures of anchoring in front of Corfu Town

Pictures from Sivota

Mandraki Marina

Then we finally managed to cast off in Messolonghi. With the help of Marinero Dimitri it was quite relaxed. As the wind was still coming from the east and might have pushed us onto the pier, he pulled us out of the box backwards with the dinghy. It couldn't have been more comfortable.

As we only had five days to get to Corfu, we couldn't always wait for the right wind and had to start our Nanni frequently. 

The first stop on the way north was the small island of Kalamos. In the beautiful green anchorage of Port Leone/Kefali, we could admire the magnificent starry sky at night. The Milky Way was especially good to see. In this bay there are only the ruins of a village, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake and therefore abandoned, and a well-preserved church.

Next stage: past the island of Meganisi, with its many beautiful bays, along the east coast of Lefkas through the channel between the island and the mainland to the small port of Mytikas just north of Preveza. This time we couldn't take our time on this stretch, but on the way back to our winter camp on Lefkas we want to take a look at many things here. At the end of the Lefkas channel, we arrived just in time at the bridge, which is raised and swung to the side every hour on the hour.

The small harbour of Mytikas, which we had chosen as a place to spend the night, turned out to be a disappointment. We had read some positive reports on Navily. We cannot recommend it. Unmarked rocks under water in the entrance, many mooring buoys of the fishing boats and otherwise very shallow. That was too much risk for us. So we anchored next to the harbour in front of a sandy beach. A nice place, but with some swell. But we could watch the sunset with a clear view of the sea.

And we continued the next morning. Actually, we wanted to sail to the island of Paxos. But the wind on the way convinced us that it would be better to sail along the mainland to Parga. That was a good decision. We had already been to Parga a good four years ago, but we didn't have Aglaya then. Her former owners Trix and Peter picked us up from the ferry at Igoumenitsa. On the way to Messolonghi to visit their boat, we stopped in Parga. We had already liked the place at that time. And that's where we met Peter and Trix, and later Aglaya in Messolonghi. This time we anchored with many other boats in the bay next to the harbour.

Early the next morning we pulled up the anchor and set off for the island of Corfu. We still had one day before we wanted to be in Corfu Town. So we headed for the small fishing port of Petriti. A very nice discovery. We were able to moor at the pier, but there are also many possibilities to anchor there. We will certainly stop by here again.

On 14 September, there was only a short distance to go. 11 nautical miles to Corfu Town. As planned, we moored there in the beautiful Mandraki Marina. We had been here once before in 2007 with a charter boat with our friends Pia and Max and their daughter Lea. Located directly below the castle, very close to the old town, we are now waiting for Lisa, our visitor. The castle is home to the Corfu Music Academy. The whole day we hear virtuoso piano sounds from there. A very special ambience.

The weather situation that has led to the disasters in Greece has also led to the formation of a storm low. It hardly moves from the spot and we are trapped, unable to leave our place.

We haven't had any rain since today, but the wind has increased even more and is blowing incessantly in the harbour, today with 6-7 bft. We don't even need to think about getting out of the box. We would only have one attempt and it would certainly end in a collision at the pier. So the motto is still: wait, wait, wait. 🙁

The wind blows day and night.

In the meantime, we are ready to cast off. The repairs are done. Our bicycles are stowed in the foreship again. Food and water are stored. Since we also repaired the electrics of our anchor winch with expert help and had to order parts for it, everything took a while.

Last Monday we wanted to set off in the direction of Corfu, but the storm "Daniel" threw a spanner in the works. The wind was already too strong to go out of the berth without a damage. Now we have rain and wind with over 30 knots. However, it doesn't hit us as hard as it does the people in the region around Volos and Larissa. We are glad that we haven't set off yet, have secured our boat well and just have to be patient. In Messolonghi this is easy to bear.