The Last Leg, Kalamata to Kefalonia, completing our circuit around the Peloponnese

Although there had been times when we had felt captive in Kalamata, when the time came to leave we realized we had grown to be quite fond of the place, especially the duck that lived beside the quay we had made our home. The sheer fun of watching him and his mate chase the cats away was worth tolerating the noise they made.

We left early morning on Saturday 22^nd June bidding a wistful farewell to the stunning mountain backdrop that had framed Déjà Vu’s home for the past year.  One thing we had learned was that the south western Peloponnese is a windy place and our familiar trip round to Methoni and Pilos was once again a testament to that knowledge. We chose not to beat 15 miles into the strong headwind that greeted us and we ploughed through the rough sea on the engine. We took the weather window of light southerlies that emerged on Monday to make the long trip north to Katakolon, close to the northern tip of the western Peleponnese. This time we had too little wind and were denied even the cruising chute to make sufficient progress in a very uncomfortable and rolly beam sea.

Katakolon was a welcome refuge from the sea and we tied up on the north visitor’s quay under three towering cruise ships docked to enable passengers the opportunity of visiting the ancient site of Olympia. Fortunately the huge, noisy vessels had gone by 6pm and we walked ashore to explore, in peace, the pretty village bursting with cafes and souvenir shops.

It was easy to catch the early morning train just next to the quay and after a very pleasant 40 minutes of chugging through the agricultural hinterland, whistling at all the road crossings, we arrived in the busy tourist town of Olympia.

Cafes, taxis, coaches, people everywhere and we navigated the short distance past orderly gardens to the archaeological site that was the birth place of the very famous Olympic games. We were surprised by the huge size and magnificence of it all and we tried hard to imagine the famous ancient Panhellenic games having been hosted here for over one thousand years. Many Greek heroes we have heard of proved their worth on track and field here in this wooded valley with the twin rivers of Alfios and Kladhios running through it. We enjoyed visiting two museums containing wonderful archaeological treasures and statues. We saw pots, ornate and decorative handles, helmets which were part of the armour and much more dating back to centuries BC, it was an archaeologist’s heaven!

From Katakolon we sailed, at last, across to the south western tip of Zakynthos where on the western edge of a nature reserve for turtles, there was a delightful anchorage at Keri which we enjoyed for a night.

We had been warned off visiting the main town on the East coast due to crowds and noise, so we gave it a miss and sailed north to the mainland coast above the Gulf of Corinth, finally crossing our transit one year previously and so completing our trip around the Peloponnese. No fizz on board, but a beer was welcome to celebrate with. We did manage the cruising chute on this trip!

We discovered a big, largely deserted anchorage, Limin Petalis, on the mainland coast south of Astakos, and ended up spending three happy days on anchor to swim and wait for weather.

Our planned trip to Astakos was aborted as the strengthening winds were blowing right into the quay and instead we turned around and had a brisk reach across to Vathi on Ithaca.

Here we were suddenly reminded about how crowded the Ionian is. Boats poured into the quay, filled the anchorage and no longer were we alone!  The temperatures had been climbing steadily since Katakolon and by the time we reached Vathi being in a breeze was essential to remain below boiling.  Fortunately Vathi has a reputation as a windy place and it did not disappoint.

Close now to our destination, we tried a couple more anchorages for swim stops in the searing heat, spent a great night on the quay at Sami on Kefalonia before heading up to Ag. Efimia to await the arrival of our (great) nephews Thomas and Ben, who will arrive on Friday, forecast to be the hottest day so far.

We are planning the next week to take us up to Lefkas and hopefully visit some good places en route in spite of the competitive mooring up we will be forced to join in with!