Author: Gisela Wuerfel

No, we're not suffering from the winter in Germany. We are looking forward to the upcoming sailing time on board. We've been on the water with Aglaya again for a few days now, but haven't set sail from Lefkas yet. Aglaya needs to be serviced and looked after first, as befits a lady in her prime. New antifouling on the underwater hull, propeller polished, leaking hatch repaired, dirt from the winter scrubbed off the deck, metal and GRP care. It's all done. Today we hoisted and rigged all four sails. If Aglaya had feet, she'd already be pawing at them. But the engine still needs to be serviced and a few small repairs still need to be done. 

For now it's Easter, this time at home and in Greece at the same time. An opportunity for an Easter walk and a delicious lamb dish (stifado) prepared by the chef de la galley himself.

And where should we go this season? Firstly southwards, out of the Ionian Sea into the Gulf of Patras. There we will then turn off to Messolonghi for a few days. We want to meet friends there again and see what's going on in the marina. Then we'll continue eastwards through the Gulf of Corinth and the canal and from there to the north-east. At the end of June we want to be in Thessaloniki. We are excited and looking forward to setting sail!

Last year we were sailing in the Ionian Sea all the time. The many pictures we took on our way remind us and they make us look forward to the next sailing season.

Here you can see a few of our pictures in three videos:
Video 1 (20 min.)
Video 2 (13 min.)
Video 3 (13 min.)

Our boat is ashore at Vliho Boatyard on Lefkas. We are on our way home. We'll be back on the water in April. A beautiful, very varied season lies behind us.

These days we are winterizing our boat and then on November 7th we will winterize ourselves at home in Heidelberg. 

On October 31, the tractor in Vliho pulled us ashore to the boatyard. Great work by the boatyard- team. The boat is stable, but it's still rocking for us. Our sense of balance can't get used to the fact that we're standing on land. The boat is on the water and that's where it rocks. That is the message to our senses. We already know that.

We prepare Aglaya for the winter break - a long to-do list, from packing the sails, cleaning everything below deck and on deck, small repairs, drying the fridge, packing supplies and textiles well, filling the diesel tanks and emptying the water tanks to tying up the winter tarpaulin.

Fortunately, we have warm, dry weather this year, so we can do everything in peace and quiet and enjoy the sun and the beautiful evening atmosphere from time to time. During the day it is still just over 20 degrees, at night it cools down to 13 degrees. In the morning, the boat is soaking wet from the dew. As we drink our coffee, the sun is already drying everything on deck. 

We don't really want to get off the boat. But when Aglaya isn't rocking on the water, we start to look forward to the winter break at home with family, friends, homemade music and everything that life on land has to offer.

The charter fleets and flotillas are no longer underway and are crowding harbors and anchorages. The parasols and sun loungers on the beaches are packed up. More and more tavernas are closing. Those that are still open only serve a few dishes from the usually extensive menu. And there is no more draught beer. It's the end of October: the end of the season.

On the one hand, those who are working in gastronomy and tourism will be glad that the stressful time is over for this year. The young people who have helped out in their family businesses during this time usually have a second or even third job in winter. Or they can finally get back to their studies. This is what the son of a tavern owner, who also has a floating dock for boats and runs a small supermarket, told us. One thing is clear: business has to be booming during the season so that the money earned lasts the whole year. 

We still have a few days left. In the harbor of the small, beautiful island of Kalamos, we are moored right next to the fishermen and enjoy the peace and quiet, wandering around the island and gradually preparing to bring our boat ashore at the end of the month. Then it's the end of the season for us too.

A stern wind pushes us leisurely into the bay. It's early afternoon and the sun is shining. The bay looks like a small fjord, it tapers towards the back. There is a beach, a bar, a restaurant and a small campsite. The mountains that border the bay are green and forested, the eastern side has vertical white cliffs with caves on the waterline and tiny beaches that can only be reached by boat.

As we approach, we see: The bay is full of sailboats anchored and swimming people between them, a lot going on here. Like everyone else, we need space to swing around when anchoring freely so that we don't obstruct other boats (or they obstruct us) when the wind shifts and the boat realigns itself.

We wait. And indeed - around 3.00 pm the afternoon wind comes up, the toys (stand up paddle, swim noodles, inflatable water animals...) are packed up, and one by one the otherboats leave the bay, they probably go to their reserved harbor spots, but we want to stay. So we choose the best spot in the middle and after the second attempt the anchor is in seven meters of water. The wind drops towards evening and turns 180 degrees overnight, which is mostly the case here. We have to take that into account with the anchorage and the length of chain we let out. We have 100 m, 30 is enough here. After a while of watching to make sure we don't move, the anchor claw is attached to the chain (it is attached to the chain and then to the hull with lines so that the entire weight of the boat is not on the electric windlass), then the engine is switched off - heavenly calm.

The boat is well moored, the sun has set and we go for another swim. The water is fresh, but certainly still 20 degrees at the end of October.

The wind has died down completely by now, the beach is no longer busy, we float on very long soft waves 7 m above the seabed, wonderful.

The night is calm, the morning is beautiful, the sun is shining, we go swimming again. Lots of fish under and around us.

Our next destination is only a few miles away, so we can take our time, have breakfast and then weigh anchor and set off. It was nice - and it's always nice.

On the way south, after our last port of Sivota, opposite Corfu, we sailed along the coast of Epirus. It is beautiful, green, partly densely wooded, with many karst caves and grottos that are visited by excursion boats.

But Epirus has a lot more to offer, and we also explored it several times by car. In the north, Epirus is bordered by Albania (but in former times used to extend far into it), in the south by the Ambracian Gulf, an expanse of water about the size of Lake Constance, but only 6-10m deep, and correspondingly exotic and rare animal and plant species can be found there.

Epirus is incredibly rich in mythology and history. It was settled and ruled from Mycenae in the first millennium BC. Homer describes it in the Odyssey, and it provided several ships in the Trojan War. The Acheron River flows here, the dead souls were brought to Hades by the ferryman Charon, for Dante it was the passage to hell.

Olypiada, the mother of Alexander the Great, came from a family from Epirus, which is derived from Achilles. And Ambrakos was the capital of the kingdom of King Pyrrus (that's right, the one with the Pyrrus victory), his kingdom was conquered by the Romans in 200 BC and fell into ruin.

The naval battle at Aktio, near Preveza, took place in 31 BC, in which Cleopatra and Mark Antony were crushed by the Romans. In gratitude, Octavian (Augustus) built the city of Nicopolis here, which at times had 300,000 inhabitants, one of the largest in antiquity.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Byzantines ruled here until the Middle Ages, then came a long phase in which the Venetians and Ottomans alternated. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Epirus belonged to the Ottoman Empire, the governor was Ali Pasha, a bloodthirsty butcher. His tyranny was one of the reasons for the beginning of the Greek struggle for freedom, which ended with independence in 1821/27 - although the city of Preveza at the exit of the Ambracian Gulf remained in Ottoman hands until 1912.

After this wonderful landscape, we headed around the outside of the island of Lefkas with plenty of wind and waves. Unfortunately, the floating bridge that shortened the route is permanently closed.