Ithaca – Vathi

We left Kióni in the middle of the afternoon on Friday 25 July, heading for Vathi, the capital of Ithaca. With little more than a handkerchief of genoa unrolled we made 6-7 knots as Charlotte sailed us around a couple of headlands and into Kolops Aetou (the Odyssey’s Dexia Bay) and then into the deep inlet which has Vathi at its head. It was a brisk and exhilarating sail but just 6.8 miles because Charlotte said that she shouldn't have to work too hard when she is on holiday!

Once we were inside the inlet we found that the wind and surrounding high ground were creating some relatively strong downdraughts, so we took some time choosing our anchorage.

Having investigated the anchorage at the head of the inlet (conveniently close to the town) we decided that the area adjacent to, and inshore of, a small island (pictured above) would be more sheltered. Given the gusting wind, we anchored carefully, making sure that we were clear of the anchor chains of the 2 Italian yachts that were already in place. Almost as soon as we were settled the lady on the closer of the 2 yachts, who was clearly unimpressed with our positioning, shouted at us, wanting to know much chain we had out. We had laid out 25 metres of cable, which seemed about right in 6.5m of water with the anchor well dug into mud, despite the wind. We were nicely spaced on both the other yachts and yet we were being shouted at and being told to move, all rather confusing and irritating. The Italian lady eventually said they had 60 metres of chain out – no wonder she was concerned that their yacht might collide with us if the wind should change direction! Even given that they were anchored in slightly deeper water it was an excessive amount of chain and, allowing for swinging, effectively took out the whole of the snug shallow part of the anchorage. I made the mistake of asking why they had so much chain out thinking there might be a problem with strong downdraughts. That tipped the woman into an even more frenzied shouting session; so we gave up and decided to move. It took about 5 minutes to remove the anchor snubber and recover the anchor and throughout we were still being shouted at despite having told her that we were moving. It was amazing behaviour and not something we have come across before from fellow yachties. In retrospect, it was quite amusing to compare the yacht spacing in this anchorage with how closely they had been anchored up at Fiskárdho (albeit in less wind).

We moved out of the shallow part of the anchorage and dropped again in about 22m (with 70m of chain out; some of that chain hasn’t seen the light of day since we put it into the anchor locker!). We were well clear of the Italian yacht but, being further out in the bay, BV danced around her anchor as she was more exposed to the gusts from the hills around us.

Getting to our dinner ashore required a short dinghy ride downwind but it was well worth it. Whilst Charlotte went off in search of gifts for friends and family, Nicky and I enjoyed an appetiser of the best calamari we have ever tasted. It was fantastically fresh and covered with a delicious light batter – not at all like the standard ‘onion ring calamari’ that you so often get. When Charlotte returned we all ordered traditional Greek dishes for our main courses which were almost as good as the calamari: slow cooked lamb; oven cooked chicken with tomatoes and oregano; and moussaka. The intense flavours of the herbs were fantastic. The town itself seemed very sleepy with little to mark it out as the capital of Ithaca. That said, we enjoyed walking around although I realised that I had forgotten to bring a camera so there are no pictures.

It was a slightly wet trip back upwind to BV because, unusually, the wind had not eased after sunset. It stayed quite strong throughout our stay and so it was not a quiet night for sleep. When we woke in the morning the ‘shouty woman’ boat had left and we wondered, perhaps a little uncharitably, whether they had been driven out by the wind and concerns about their anchor holding.