Two years ago there was a massive storm over Greece which was called a Medicane, as it resembles the Caribbean hurricane in nature.  This storm swept through the Ionian leaving a trail of carnage before heading off to wreak havoc elsewhere.  At least two people died in this storm as their boats sank and hundreds of boats were damaged.  Winds were up to hurricane strength.   The storm that was brewing off Libya was showing the same characteristics and so a move to shelter was urgent to protect Deja Vu and ourselves.  At the time the storm, which was now featuring in the forecasts with the name Ianos,  was due to hit Wednesday night and Thursday .  We booked a berth in Levkas Marina for these nights but we were told the marina was full on Friday so we would have to leave. 

The forecasts in the meantime had changed to show the storm coming later and with greater intensity.  One forecast showed it heading straight for us with winds up to 75kt and the others showed it moving further south. 

We frantically sought a safe berth for Friday night, calling all the marinas and even the yard to ask if they could lift us out of the water.  At the 11^th hour the new marina in Preveza called us back to say that had one berth left.  We booked it for three nights and headed out straight away.  A run north with storm skies behind us, it was an adrenaline fuelled sail!

Safely berthed we waited for the storm to come.  Thursday night saw the start of the high wind and torrential rain.  Fortunately as Preveza is 10 miles north of Levkas this additional distance was critical in such a severe weather event and we were just outside of the severely windy area.  The centre of the storm passed over Kefalonia and Ithaca where winds speeds in excess of 50kt were forecast.  The screenshot of the forecast map shows the size and force of the storm.  It is expected to leave the Ionian on Saturday, heading south and gathering strength again as it crosses the warm waters of the southern Ionian.  We are so grateful for our safe berth and worry for the future as with the warming planet such weather events will become more frequent.

We are now reading reports of severe damage to property and a large number of yachts, some sunk, on Zakinthos. No reports from other areas yet.

The Ionian inland sea is famous for benign sailing; usually calm in the morning with a fun sea breeze in the afternoon, before a calm evening. There are however plenty of local effects to keep one on ones toes.

I am beginning to think that we are finding it quite difficult at times to just ‘hang around’ or ‘ chill out’. This trip we have no passage making to do, which has, hitherto always provided focus and purpose. We are simple loafing around the North Ionian Sea, and pleasant, no, wonderful, though that is, we are a little fidgety from time to time. We were ready to leave Sivota and, in a windless sea, we motored across to Kalamos, dropping anchor in the abandoned bay of Port Leone. I say, abandoned; it used to be an inhabited port for the island, but is now left for passing yachts to spend some still time. We swam and lunched, then sailed north to Port Kalamos. Here the inimitable unofficial harbourmaster, George, guided us into our berth and reminded us of his welcoming restaurant in the corner of the harbour! There is a steep mountainside falling down to the harbour, so after the afternoon breeze come hefty katabatic winds that blow until 11 or 12pm.

We spent two nights here because we could!

Mo chose the next destination to be Liminis Petalis, a large empty inland anchorage behind a tall rocky range on the mainland coast south of Astracos, providing shelter from the prevailing winds. It is close to an industry of seemingly uninhabited fish farms, but otherwise it is quiet and remote.

Nigel confessed later to be somewhat bemused by this choice as his recollection of our previous visit was of an unrelenting strong afternoon breeze that abated only as the sun disappeared. Mo’s memory served her with different images, but overridingly, the holding ground was excellent so we would weather any strong wind safely.

Nigel did tease as the constant 20 knot wind prevented late afternoon swims and outside showers and the complaints became quite vocal. However rewards did eventually come in spades and the endurance was paid back ten-fold. As the sun slipped away, the wind died completely; the sea rested and the night sky revealed herself. It was a sight to behold with no light pollution to mar the intensity of the vision. We just looked up at the stars and everything else in the sky for a long time, lazily, from the back deck of the boat, overawed by its vastness and beauty. Nigel finished off the evening with a night swim around the boat splashing up swathes of phosphorescence.

It is September 8th today, a poignant day of anniversaries and memories for Mo and we decided to stay in this windy bay another day, hoping for another magical night.

We will rejoin the masses tomorrow when we plan to sail 25 miles or so across to Kefalonia.

The sail proved to be frustrating as we had to beat in light winds with the angles constantly curving us away from our chosen destination of Sami. We eventually threw in the towel and motored the last 8miles arriving just before the strong afternoon breeze. Sami is slightly charming with a few quayside restaurants and some useful shops in the road behind, but we were keen to leave the following morning to escape the confines of the harbour and the heat.

We anchored off the adjacent beach for remedial swimming before heading just a few miles along the bay to the small town of Eufemia where we will get power, water and a chandlery. Nigel is anxious about our starter battery and so am I! We procured a set of jump leads for that ‘just in case’ time. Next stop Big Vathi on Ithaca with a couple of glorious days anchored in local bays off the east coast of Ithaca. Clear blue sea, sandy bays, rocky sides and snorkelling opportunities.

A first for us was to call in on Kioni, still on Ithaca. A pretty village, the quay is usually full from 11am, but as luck would have it we entered at noon and there was a space just next to our fellow Sunbeam owner friends, Joe and Elke. We were soon moored up and we enjoyed a pleasant day exploring.

The mood took us north again to Meganissi and a night in Little Vathi followed by a night at anchor in Abelike Bay. We chose a sheltered spot, dropped the anchor and then Mo swam ashore with lines to hold the stern into the shore. It was a magical stop.

Thanks to a fellow Cruising Association member, we became alerted to the possibility of a sudden weather event that was not, at that time, being shown in the local forecasts. Time to move north we decided.

Jib on, water filled, shopping stowed, decks clean, we were finally ready for the off. We left Cleopatra Marina soon after 10am on Saturday 29th August. We aimed to catch the 12 noon bridge opening at the north end of the Lefkas canal, so with plenty of time to spare to cover the six miles south, we played around with the sails, more to reacclimatise ourselves with ‘the ropes’ than anything else.

Our canal transit went well until we reached the southern end of the canal when a barrage of police launches declared the canal closed. We had no option but to turn around and retrace out steps. We learned third hand that there was a burst water main under the channel and various vessels were being deployed to fix it.

We contemplated and rejected the idea of a stop in Lefkas Marina and then rapidly assessed the logistics of sailing the full length of Lefkas on the west side. Whereas this had some considerable appeal, because we had not done it before, we decided against setting out on a 25 or 30 mile trip that late in the day. Instead we had a racy fast sail, with the boat, and us, enjoying quite a gallop back to Preveza. We dropped anchor in a 25 knot breeze in Hospital Bay, cooked on board and settled down for an early night with the promise of an early start to do the long sail around Lefkas the next day.

Mo established that the local police knew what was going on with the canal and an early call to them about 8am Sunday morning revealed that the canal was indeed open.

We left Preveza again, transited the canal and sailed to the lovely Varka beach on the south mainland coast in the inland sea. That first swim was magic!

We spent our first couple of days anchored here, enjoying perfect calm mornings. The afternoons threw in the brisk afternoon breeze and unfortunately a chaotic combination of sea breeze and katabatic winds off the steep mountain sides that towered above us, gave for bouncy nights.  Always a good plan to invest in a good anchor. Our Mr. Manson, as we call him, looked after us well. Others were not so fortunate and a couple of boats in the same anchorage had to have a few attempts at getting a firm hold. We did however manage a BBQ on the back of the boat during a respite in the wind. We were lucky!

We moved on to Nidri, staying overnight on the IBA pontoon, to do a couple of minor repairs and to reclaim Mo’s residency permit, that was, at last, ready to collect. It was a pleasant stop. We enjoyed the reciprocal relationship the IBA had with an adjacent hotel to use their pool and bar, and we were recommended to eat out at Ola Kala restaurant. Here the friendly Albanian George delivered a first class Greek meal in what we felt to be safe and hygienic surroundings.

Repairs done, fresh bread bought, we sailed across the north coast of Meganissi to Port Atheni. This is a sheltered inlet and usually quite quiet. We had to be creative with our choice of anchorage but we did well and fitted in safely with the other several boats just before the excitement of the afternoon sea breeze. The high temperatures we are getting, well over 30degrees, seem to intensify the sea breeze, so it is always exciting and a good test for the anchor hold. Mr. Manson did well again.

The forecast ahead for the next two days was not so good with particularly strong NW winds promised, so we called ahead to Sivota and booked ourselves a berth on Stavros’ pontoon. We had a delightful goose wing sail down the east coast of Meganissi then headed west to sail only 6 miles to Sivota on Lefkas. The wind soon died, although we were expecting a F4/5.

Looking south through the binoculars we could see the wall of sea with white horses behind heading our way. We did not have long to wait! At the same time we got involved rather peripherally with a distress call some 7 miles to the south. A yacht had had engine failure and a close to German yacht offered to assist by heading to the nearby stricken yacht. We questioned all the anomalies of why the yacht was not sailing, but were soon out of range to catch the dialogue. It did become clear however that the German yacht developed difficulties of its own and could not attend. The next event was a DSC Mayday. We relayed this to Olympia radio who alerted the Hellenic coastguard and there our involvement ceased. We were, by this time, in the teeth of the F5, so we motored into Sivota for some welcome shelter. It is never fun mooring up in 30 knots, but Nigel did a superb job and with the careful assistance of the Stavros crew, we tied up safely. Here we are!

It is one of our favourite villages on Lefkas and as I write this is our secondday here and the wind is still howling. Tomorrow is Saturday 5th September and promises a return to calmer winds, so we may set off then to go further south.

There is no doubt that we are in a bubble on our boat, self contained for most of the time. Our excursions out are cautious, shopping is minimal and we avoid bars with more than a couple of people in. We are outside anyway all of the time. The locals are very friendly and welcoming behind their masks and we do want to try and support their economy and enjoy some good Greek cuisine, which we are doing. This week we have been aware of a lot of charter boats, more than we expected, perhaps all the sailors feel that this is a good way to have a holiday in these times.

We left UK on Sunday 23^rd August with an almost equal amount of determination, anticipation and trepidation. The Corona virus pandemic had had us all locked down from March through June, and only slowly venturing out and mixing cautiously in July and August.

Masked up, sanitizer to the ready, we had an easy, half full flight from Gatwick to Preveza with Easy Jet. We had most of the back of the plane to ourselves and the flight was uneventful apart from one awkward young male passenger who decided to sit directly behind Mo, even though there was huge choice of places to go. He declared it was fine; for him maybe, so we moved a suitable distance from him!

Checking into Greece went smoothly with only random testing being done. We were out in no time at all to get our rental car and drive the half mile to the boat in Cleopatra’s boat yard.

It was only 2130 local time, but the night was beginning to shroud Deja Vu in a shadowy gloom. We got on board to discover all was well; thank goodness we had no surprises!  We unpacked, set off to the bar for a welcome and necessary beer, made the bed and slept surprisingly soundly.

Then the work began. It was hard being so very hot. With azure blue skies above, temperatures hovering in the mid thirties and with strong afternoon winds, we took our time to peel off the cover that had encapsulated Deja Vu since last September, washing off the Saharan sand as we went. A big cleanup operation ensued along with the many small jobs that needed doing to get the boat ready for launching. Mo had to kit up in a fetching onesie with goggles and, due to the heat, start work at 7am to put antifoul on the keel which had had anti-rust treatment done. The moment was not recorded on camera thank goodness! For the amount of sailing we were going to do, we decided not to do the rest of the boat, what a good decision!

The Marina and the boat yard was functioning normally, albeit at reduced capacity; it had clearly been a tough summer so far as fewer boats had been launched. The two restaurants were open and very welcoming. More tables had been provisioned outside and the staff wore masks when serving customers. The quality of the food was as good as ever. On the Wednesday we drove to Lefkas and Nidri, both places busy with traffic and a fair number of tourists, although the locals reported vastly reduced numbers. We stayed in our car most of the time, getting out only when visiting our agent and the local police to get a replacement Residency permit that Mo had been granted last year.  There is no understanding their bureaucracy and we needed to exercise extreme patience!

We launched on Thursday 27^th August and it was a great relief to be afloat.

We are staying in Cleopatra’s Marina for a couple of nights as we had shopping to get and more jobs to do. This included Nigel going up the mast from where he managed a couple of great photos!

The Greeks are very careful and serious about the Virus threat; masks are worn, sanitizer is widely available and they are mindful of social distancing. Most of the tourists around are German and mid European, although we are aware of a significant number of Brits, who, like us, have just arrived and are venturing out to grab some sailing in September.

We set off tomorrow for the Ionian Sea and, we hope, some quiet anchorages so we can swim to keep cool! The word on the block is that the Ionian is quite crowded with many of the usual restaurant stopovers closed. We shall see.

Our enthusiastic entry in February met with a harsh reality check in March as the world became engulfed in Covid 19 concern and much of it went into lockdown. The UK was no exception, so flights were cancelled, the garden was dug, the boat was neglected. As things have moderated, but not resolved, we are taking what we see as an opportunity to go and visit Deja Vu to check up on her, do the necessary maintenance and, with luck, launch and sail for 2/3 weeks. We are hopeful of some blue skies, sailing and safety, as we had in the photo below from 2019! We fly out this Sunday 23rd August.

We travel to Preveza in May to work on getting Deja Vu ready for her 2020 launch. We will remove and wash the enormous cover, antifoul below the waterline, clean everything, polish the hull and topsides and then visit the local supermarkets to stock up with all essential stores. Looking forward to making it into the water where we and Deja Vu will be most at home!