Cephalonia

On 17 July we moved from the small port of Ay Nikólaos on Zákinthos across to the island of Cephalonia. We wanted to visit Póros on the east side of Cephalonia but our pilot book warns us that the harbour is silting up in places and may not be usable for a yacht with our 2 metre draft. We therefore decided to ‘sail’ across there in the morning, though it would mean 3-hour motor in the morning calm, so that if there wasn’t enough depth of water for us we could move further on in the afternoon.

With a glassy sea we made good progress and the girls made full use of the level deck to work on their suntans. Cephalonia is much more mountainous than we had expected and generated some impressive cumulus clouds, with the 1632 metre peak of Mount Énos remaining hidden in cloud throughout our visit.

Having found enough depth of water in Poros to moor (bows-on to the old ferry ramp we were in 5m), we had made time for a lazy afternoon on beach which made for very happy guests. Poros port, which sports a few tavernas, food shops and tourist shops, is busy with a regular ferry service to the mainland. The main town, with its beach, is a short walk into the next bay north from the port.

Nicky and I walked around the restaurants and shops in Poros port and spotted these octopuses drying outside a restaurant. Then we also spent the rest of our afternoon on the beach, meeting up with the girls again for dinner on board followed by a film night. We cooked up a huge bowl of popcorn and spent the evening watching ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’; the logical choice as the story is set on Cephalonia.

Poros has a curved quay so, when moored, all the yachts point towards the middle of the harbour. We had arrived early the previous day and had watched the spaces fill up around us. The last 3 yachts to arrive had put out a lot of chain across many of the anchor chains already laid. Therefore, at the first sounds of anchor windlasses clanking in the morning, Nicky and I got up to watch the fun. It is an inevitable part of mooring in the Med that anchor chains will get tangled so we wanted to be on hand ready in case our anchor was inadvertently lifted by a departing yacht. Happily, we were unaffected so we just quietly sat and drank our cups of tea. However, several yachts’ chains were in a right old tangle and in the end 2 yachts, in addition to the one that had wanted to depart, had to move to sort out the mess.

Home-made bruschetta lunch (aka eating up the day old dry bread)   

The final considered verdict from the girls was that the sea off Poros’ town beach was not as clear as they had become accustomed to. We therefore moved BV around the headland and into the bay just to the south of the port for a mid-morning swim. It was a lovely spot with beautifully clear water and a small islet to add interest to the snorkelling. Unsurprisingly, there were also far more fish to see than there had been off the town’s beach.

Having spent the morning calm swimming, we set off for Ay Eufimia, 15nm to the north. We had begun to think that the ‘regular as clockwork’ afternoon breeze was not going to get going when, suddenly, it arrived. In under 15mins we went from being in a flat calm on glassy seas to having a 15kt headwind. We rapidly hoisted the sails and enjoyed a fabulous 2-hour beat for the last few miles of the trip.

Like many of the towns on Cephalonia, Ay Eufimia was badly damaged by the 1953 earthquake. At the time it was the main port on the east of the island but the damage was such that the ferry services transferred to Sami and never returned to Ay Eufimia. From yachtie point of view that’s good news because the harbour at Ay Eufimia has a large quay and which can easily accommodate over 50 yachts and, with no ferry turning space required, there is also plenty of space to anchor off within the harbour should you wish. With Charlotte and Sophie on board we decided to moor to the quay so that it was easy for them (and us) to go ashore to explore as and when they wanted. Unfortunately, the afternoon breeze was being strongly funnelled between the hills at the head of the port, which meant that we would be mooring in a stiff crosswind. Happily, our mooring manoeuvre went smoothly [Ed: just as well too with the eyes of 40 or so other yachts upon us!]. In a strong crosswind going bows-to is definitely best for BV and the excellent harbour staff kindly took our lines to assist with the final straightening up.

The afternoon breeze, did not die down until surprisingly late in the evening so, once we had put BV to bed, we had ringside seats with the other 40-odd yachts to watch the later arrivals doing battle with wind and anchor chain (and occasional tripper boat).

The tripper boat won this spat but then he did have a much louder horn to honk! 

Sadly, our time on Cephalonia is running out as we needed to get back to Zakinthos for Sophie to catch her flight home. But we do have our eye on visiting a lovely looking anchorage on the south of Ithaca on our way back tomorrow to make sure that we can keep up the swimming stats!