Author: Gisela Wuerfel

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.

Gisela's nephew Felix visited us on board for five days on October 8th. He flew to Corfu and we picked him up in the beautiful Mandraki Marina, which is located directly below the fortress.

Felix rowed a lot as a teenager, including regattas. So we weren't surprised that he immediately had a feeling for the boat, and for the water anyway. What was amazing, however, was that he sailed well and safely right from the start, had a feeling for the right course to the wind and reacted sensitively to the boat, wind and waves. At the beginning, when we were still in the marina, the somewhat unpleasant swell was a problem for him, but that soon disappeared.

He was also a real relief for us, because sometimes sailing with two people, especially the sail recovery, can be a bit affording. And you can have a good chat with Felix, he is very interested and we had lots of topics.

What was really nice was that we had really good sailing winds in these days and so we were able to try out all the different sails - and of course sometimes, but rarely, the engine.

First we went to Sivota on the mainland, where Felix learned how to handle the lazy lines, which is always a bit confusing in the beginning because it feels like you have to pull the line in the wrong direction.  As our “reward”, Felix invited us to a meal in a very good Greek taverna. Next stop was Gaios, “The St. Tropez of the Ionian Islands”, on the beautiful island of Paxos, on a south-easterly course. Mooring was a little difficult as there was no mooring available at the floating dock. Our friendly boat neighbor, an Argentinian, helped us and we were able to moor our stern to his boat.

Then we were already heading back north, heading for Petriti, a tiny, pretty fishing village on the south-east coast of Corfu. The harbor is very small and very shallow, we had a strong crosswind and our long keel combined with the effect of the propeller just didn't want to go to the pier. It finally worked and we went to eat in one of the good fish tavernas.

The next morning, we took our neighbor's anchor with us, when we raised ours, but that worked out quite well. We headed north-northeast towards Paganía Bay, a secluded green hidden bay with a house and lots of goats and cows, something quite exotic. Felix achieved his speed record in a good wind from the east-northeast: six knots! The wind then picked up sharply and even in the anchorage, which was sheltered on all sides, it was up to 30 knots. It all calmed down in the evening, the anchor was well in place and we slept on completely smooth water.

Unfortunately, we had to motor back to Mandraki/Corfu - no wind, but plenty of sunshine.

After a farewell beer and wine, the plane left at nine in the evening, our visitor was gone and we were alone again. It was a wonderful and varied week with Felix, very nice!

We have now set off from the south of the island of Lefkas heading north.  Because the bridge at Lefkada is out of order, this meant that we had to sail west around the outside of the island of Lefkas towards Preveza, a relatively long stretch with no bays or harbors. Initially, a strong northerly wind was forecast on our way north - from the front. We first weathered it off on the east side of Lefkas in the now well-known and beautiful Dhésimou Bay, at anchor, even with a few nice swims.

But the wind was so strong that we stayed there for three days, partly because there was no space available on any of the many piers in Sivota in the south of Lefkas - everybody was waiting for the wind to turn for sailing north.

Finally we found “The Cove”, a jetty in Sivota, which was not only very reasonably priced (no need to go out to eat anywhere), but also wonderfully well-maintained and with the best service, Dimitris was always present, very nice. We stayed three nights, enjoyed the good draught beer at Stavros and took long walks around the bay with breathtaking views of Ithaca, Kefallonia, Oxia, Meganisi, Atokos, Arkoudi and many other islands.  

Then we had to set off after all - 10 miles west around Cape Doukatou, then 25 miles north along the spectacular west coast of Lefkas with its white vertical cliffs. We had already sailed here from north to south in early summer and spent a night at anchor. No wind, but lots of swell. Rollercoaster with engine ... long, annoying rocking until Preveza. Once there, it was cloudy and rainy again and we anchored in the large bay behind the town, with the Ambracian Gulf in front of us. Until we got too close to our Irish neighbor - the anchor slipped. So we looked for a new anchorage in drizzling rain and strong winds and after two attempts, the anchor was in place - for a day and a night full of thunderstorms, rain and strong winds. At least - ouzo, wine and a good meal from the pantry were still available.

The next day, we left the bay of Preveza for Paxos. Gray weather, wind from the front, heavy swell, heavy fiddling, that's what they call this roller coaster course. Not nice! In Gaios on Paxos - the St. Tropez of the Ionian Sea! - we moored at the well-known floating dock with the horrible mooring lines, but next to two incredibly funny Brits, next to whom we had already moored in Preveza - a bit Monty Python, nice. In the evening we enjoyed a delicious meal in a good fish restaurant, excellent - it was a must.

The next day, on the way to Corfu, 13 miles to the beautiful Sivota on the mainland, which we have known for a long time, again in incredibly heavy swell, again too little wind, again violin course, again flying back and forth below deck ... then finally calm and sun in the harbor, Petros welcomed us, all is good.

Today we went straight to Kerkyra Town. Now we moor in the beautiful Mandraki Marina below the old fortress and are looking forward to the visit of Gisela‘s nephew Felix. He comes tomorrow.