Ithaca - Frikes

We left Fiskárdho on the morning of 23 July at 10 am, a little earlier than we had intended, but a gentle wind started to build from the south and all of the yachts in the anchorage started to swing. The yachts were really anchored too close together and so it was likely they’d touch if we let them swing around completely. With warm sunshine on our backs it wasn’t really a hardship to move on, although the skies were unusually cloudy.

Our overnight passage 21/22 July had got us into new territory. We wanted to go into a variety of small ports on the northeast coast of Ithaca and so for the next few days we would definitely be in holiday mode. Very short passages between ports, swimming and relaxing would be the themes, as well as enjoying some time ashore.

In keeping with that plan, our move from Fiskárdho to the little port of Frikes was just 8.5 nautical miles and that would be the longest passage until the weekend. This is serious charter boat territory and we have seen more sailing yachts out at sea than anywhere else so far this year.

Frikes, Ithaca

Frikes is a very pretty, small village at the bottom of a wooded ravine. There are a couple of ruined windmills overlooking the village and it is a popular tourist spot.

The pretty ports like this fill up very quickly and so one advantage of moving on early was that we definitely got space to moor. Unusually for the Mediterranean, signs on the quayside at Frikes request that yachts moor alongside, rather than fore-aft. We were on the inside next to the quay, and so would be the last to depart the following morning, but we did get a space in the area least affected by surge from passing ferries/shipping. At one stage we saw 2 yachts on the other side of the port rocking madly, and out of synch, with their masts and rigging only just missing each other.

About 2 hours after arriving, we gained an interesting neighbour. Charlotte had asked about our pilot book and I had been explaining how the author, Rod Heikell, had left England in 1975 and had sailed a small 20ft yacht to the Mediterranean. He had started writing pilot books for Greece then and has subsequently become something of a Mediterranean pilot book guru. I had just opened up the page which shows all the yachts he has owned when Seven Tenths, his 5^th yacht, came into Frikes and moored next to us. The new owners are a lovely family who have cruised around the Ionian over the past 4 years. We got some great tips on places to visit from them.

By the time everyone, including 4 different flotillas, had got into Frikes for the night, it was fairly crammed. Looking out from our cockpit it felt as though you could almost walk from one side of the port to the other across the decks. It was windy too, with the wind blowing directly down the valley, across the harbour and pushing us onto the quay. By this stage we had 4 other yachts rafted up outside us and we were slightly worried about taking the full weight them all so we deployed some extra large fenders because our normal fat ones were being squashed nearly flat.

Thunderstorm in Frikes

The wind continued to build. After dark, lightening flashed across the sky and we were eventually hit by the downpour from a thunderstorm. It somewhat spoiled our plans for a pleasant after-dinner stroll ashore.

Frikes

But by morning Frikes was back to its normal picture postcard scene; perfect for enjoying a relaxing morning in the café catching up on e-mails and watching the yachts untangle themselves as they gradually departed. We were in no rush with only a short journey planned. We just needed to get out of the way before the next fleet arrived!