Since I haven’t been able to post anything over the last couple of weeks, here a brief recap of places we have visited so far and the highlights!
After going through the Canal of Corinth our first stop out of the Aegean was in Galaxidi, a beautiful little coastal town surrounded by ridiculously blue water. It’s not far from the famous Delphi Oracle so we took the chance for a hands-on-history lesson for the boys and it was really impressive!
In for a seeeerious history lesson in Delphi!
Beautiful Galaxidi, Gulf of Corinth
In Galaxidi we could moor directly at the public pier, we could even take water and electricity for free! But the weather forecast urged us to continue. I had to be in Corfu for my flight to Munich for a job and bad weather was predicted for our trip up through the Ionian sea.
But we couldn’t just pass by Navpaktos, the view from sea was too spectacular. So we anchored right in front of the medieval port gate and Jari and I slept outside on deck beneath a gazillion stars. The next morning we explored the walled little town and climbed up the fortress and we were really glad that we had made that stop.
Navpaktos medieval port
So off we were for our 24 hour sail to Corfu! Originally we had planned a couple of days to explore Keffalonia, Ithaka and Lefkas by boat but thunderstorms were on their way and it was advisable to make the passage as soon as possible. I was extremely sad because I love these Ionian islands. Once again I had to learn that sailing also means obeying to nature and that the weather just doesn’t do what I want it to, hmpf.
Sailing against the wind (criss-crossing) into the Gulf of Patras
The weather hit us anyway. We were in the middle of a thunderstorm. I won’t sugarcoat it – we were all pretty anxious. Being a swimming lightening rod didn’t help. Torrential rain and leaky hatches didn’t help much either. Man we were glad when we finally made it to Corfu. The bad weather continued but at least we had safe anchorage. And later in Corfu town a safe (but smelly) berth inside of the public port! So a couple of days later Jari and I (he really wanted to come along to see his friends again) left Ric and Yannick behind and flew to Munich. After 10 days and 2 missed birthdays we came back bearing presents!
Thunderstorms on our way to Corfu
Behause of our leaky hatches we had a lot of stuff to dry!
In our top 3 of all berths so far: Mandraki sailing club just below the fortress of Corfu, wow!!
To enter the yacht club we needed to go through the fortress, very cool and the boys loved it. Best playground ever. If they weren’t too old for playgrounds, that is.
What’s a cat in a basket? A Bas-Cat! Wow, I’m hilarious.
A happy birthday boy! Finally a proper sailing jacket for the next storm.
Börsday Börger in Corfu
Check out Part II for more highlights, stay tuned!