Having made our way through the Lefkas Canal we headed for an anchorage and enjoyed the rest of the morning paddle boarding and also, sadly, collecting plastic from the beach! The temperature was 30 degrees C! We then received a call from Anthea to let us know they had arrived in Little Vathy. We ‘uped’ anchor and headed across the bay to meet them.
We spent 2 nights in Little Vathi, one of the main villages on the northeast coast of Meganisi. Vathi has a charming harbour, town quay and a new marina. Bars & tavernas surround the quay. There are a vast number of olive groves on Meganisi and locals are also involved in farming and fishing.
The Harbour at Vathi
During our time here we cycled across to Spartochori, a beautiful hilltop village with the most amazing views. The village, surrounded by pine forests and stone built cottages and traditional tavernas, lies around a natural port which has a couple of small tavernas where we stopped on route for lunch and refreshment.
Spartochori
Having enjoyed our last ‘meet up’ with Anthea & Paul, on the 13th October we were finally on our way to meet up with Alistair’s childhood friend Tim. Kioni had now recovered from the Medicane and was accepting visiting yachts again. Kioni is one of my favourite places in the Ionian. It is on the southeast of the island of Ithaca north of ‘big’ Vathy where we had spent the Medicane. The village was built by the inhabitants of the mountainous village of Anogi at the end of the 16th century. Very few houses survived the earthquakes of 1953 but those that did are very interesting with renaissance architecture. Tim and his wife Sue have purchased a property and now run a holiday letting business. There own apartment, situated at the top of the property, has the most fantastic views over the harbour of Kioni. I must also point out that here are some beautiful craft and jewellery shops worth browsing around…..take your wallet!
Apartment View
Our time in the Ionian for this year was coming to a close so we only spent one night in Kioni. We moved on to Vilho Bay opposite Nidri Quay – Lefkada. Whilst in Preveza we had decided that our Passarelle had served it’s purpose. We had had found it abandoned in a boatyard in Almerima, Southern Spain and offered the staff in the yard a small fee to take it away! It had been too large for Money Penny from the start and as we needed a passarelle more and more in Greece it was heavy to move around and large to store. We decided to purchase a smaller,folding, one whilst in Nidri and advertise ours on a local website. It sold within hours of posting.
We had intended to stay in Vilho Bay for one night but having had solid blue skies for the last week or so, heavy thunder storms were forecast, so we stayed an extra night in the shelter of the Bay. The rain arrived and we caught up on some TV. On leaving Vilho on the 16th October there was a raft of foul water and rubbish heading out to sea. It was an amazing sight to see the difference as the fresh water mixed with the sea water, but sad to see how much rubbish (including plastic) was entering the eco system!
We returned through the Lefkas Canal and had a fabulous sail across to Prevaza. Our plan was to head for the Town Quay and start to strip Money Penny of her sails in readiness of our ‘lift-out’. Unfortunately the wind was too high for us to safely moor on the Quay so we anchored off Cleopatra until the wind decreased later that afternoon.
3 days of cleaning and packing ensued and on the 19th October we headed across in time for our booked lift out. The weather was still amazing and we did wonder why we were heading home. Family was calling! This was the first year that no family or friends had been able to join us and we missed them!
Cleopatra Yard is minutes from Atiko/Preveza Airport, on the 21st October we covered Money Penny for the winter, watched our final sunset and headed off for our evening flight back to the UK.
When we left the UK in July following the Covid lockdown, we were unsure what the season would bring. Greece had certainly met our expectations with gorgeous villages, friendly people and perfect weather ……FOR MOST OF THE TIME> Covid had not played a huge part in our experience. We had had to wear a mask in shops, and when in close proximity to others, but this was something we soon got used to and is now an everyday ruling in the UK too. We had ‘survived’ the Medicane and would hopefully never make the same mistake again, spent time with old and new friends, visited historical sites, beautiful bays and enjoyed sailing on our floating home around this spectacular area. We would return next year all being well!
NB: We have decided to set up a Facebook page in a hope that we will ‘blog’ more often. Moneypenny sailing https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=moneypenny%20sailing