Eren
Well-Known Member
It is winter time and all of us are living with memories from last summer and dreams about the coming one. Personally it has been a quite nice year for me with 83 nights slept at the boat. One of the major trips that I made this year was our trip to Ioinian Islands, of which I wish to share with you some stories, photos and drone footage. Last year, when I was transfering my boat from Turkey to Montenegro, I had a couple of quick nights at the Ionian islands. The beauty of the islands had taken my attention and I had put it in our future cruising plans. Last winter I spent lots of hours for reading, planning and of course dreaming about the trip. Our forumite Hardmy’s trip report was one of the inspiration points and a major reference. The planned trip would take about one month and we would cover roughly about 750 nautical miles. The main attractions to visit would be the Ionian islands of Corfu, Paxos, Anti paxos, Cefalonia, Ithaca, Zakynthos, Atokos, Kalamos and Meganisi. Here is a route map of the trip:
So the time came and me and my son flew to Montenegro to get the boat ready for the trip. After a careful preparation, engine&generator servicing, fixing of minor faults at the boat, bottom and propeller cleaning and finally after the usual teak maintenance, the boat was ready for the trip. By the way I should report you about what a wonderful marina Porto Montenegro is. It is state of the art, in very good connection with the rest of the city, always clean, always lively. There are much more to say, but better to do it at another opportunity. Here are a couple of pics from there:
I will not be able to say that in Montenegro there are the best technical service possibilities. You really have to be an experienced boater and be always on top of the technicians in order to watch them not to do mistakes. Anyhow, after 4 days of preparation, my son left and a friend of mine arrived for the difficult passage from Tivat to Corfu. The passage is around 200 nm. Going south is usually OK, but the narrowest point between Albania and Italy (Canale d’Otranto) is always choppy and sometimes even frightening. You may see a few seconds from our last year’s passage to North:
Luckily this year it was not so bad, but still never did let us relax at the helm. At the day of departure from Montenegro, we were only able to leave by 3 pm, as 2 pm was the only gap we found at the fuel station to get tax-free fuel (at the rate of EUR 0,53 per liter). Montenegro is all about tax free fuel and it is usually difficult to find free time at the fuel dock in-between the huge superyachts that arrive from Italy, Croatia, Greece, for the purpose of filling up the tank. So we were late on start of the cruise but we were lucky with the seas. We ran at an average speed of 24-26 knots, with waves usually coming from starboard aft, seas of 3-4 Beaufort. My boat has 2 x 575 HP Cats and I consume around 7 liters per mile at such speeds. After 9 pm we were cruising at complete darkness. It was strange not seeing anything in front. I only concentrated on the radar and plotter screen and finished up the last 50 miles like this.
That night we stayed at the small island of Ereikousa, just 15 miles to the north of Corfu. We relaxed with the Corfu beer that the Italian owner of the small and modest restaurant had recommended. The Italian influence was easily felt at this side of Greece. The architecture, cuisine are heavily effected by their west side neighbours. On the Aegean side, the feeling is completely different, more Greek with ouzo, white houses with blue windows etc. I can say that Aegean islands are more “Greek” but, the Ionian ones are more beautiful as of nature. All in all, it is worth to visit them both.
The hard part of the trip was over and we had a nice sleep after that. Next day we arrived to Corfu early in the morning, made our official entry to Greece. As the rest of the family would arrive to Greece by air, we decided Zakynthos to be the ideal place to meet. That was the southernmost point of the trip. I would pick them up from there and we would move slowly to North, visiting all the Ionian Islands. My friend left at Corfu and I moved the boat down to Zakynthos alone, with pootling speed, which was another 120 nm. Sea was dead flat and each day was more pleasant than the other. Finally wife, children and our stewardess arrived at Zakynthos with the ferry coming from mainland Greece. We made the shopping and everybody was ready and excited for the trip. Next day we first wanted to see the island from the land side. So we rented a car and started with visiting the famous “Shipwreck Bay”. The story is that, this smuggler vessel being followed by the coast guard, tries to hide to this bay at very heavy seas. However huge waves have pushed them to the beach and they were stuck at this bay where all around was surrounded by steep and high cliffs. Naturally they all were soon caught. The wreck still stays there at the beach and the bay has now become world-famous, not only for the shipwreck, but also for the incredible color of the seas. Next day we again visited the bay, but this time with the boat. So we were lucky to watch the view both from sea and land. You can see some drone footage and photos below:
What I can say about Zakynthos (also known as Zante) is that, these kind of shades of turquise/blue is really very rare to see. Shipwreck bay is a must see and there are many other places to see. In Zakynthos you really feel that you are in the Med and in paradise, but..... the local tourist carrier boats are killing all the ambience. They cruise like crazy, do not obey any collision avoidance rules, cruise very fast, create lots of swell make a lot of noise. So, if possible, avoid high season. If not, then avoid visiting these places daytime between 10 am to 5 pm. I think that Zakynthos can be a wonderful place to visit off-season. Here are a couple of more photos that may give you an idea of the colors you may see:
That is all for now. I will try to continue for narrating the rest of the trip. I hope that you like it!
So the time came and me and my son flew to Montenegro to get the boat ready for the trip. After a careful preparation, engine&generator servicing, fixing of minor faults at the boat, bottom and propeller cleaning and finally after the usual teak maintenance, the boat was ready for the trip. By the way I should report you about what a wonderful marina Porto Montenegro is. It is state of the art, in very good connection with the rest of the city, always clean, always lively. There are much more to say, but better to do it at another opportunity. Here are a couple of pics from there:
I will not be able to say that in Montenegro there are the best technical service possibilities. You really have to be an experienced boater and be always on top of the technicians in order to watch them not to do mistakes. Anyhow, after 4 days of preparation, my son left and a friend of mine arrived for the difficult passage from Tivat to Corfu. The passage is around 200 nm. Going south is usually OK, but the narrowest point between Albania and Italy (Canale d’Otranto) is always choppy and sometimes even frightening. You may see a few seconds from our last year’s passage to North:
Luckily this year it was not so bad, but still never did let us relax at the helm. At the day of departure from Montenegro, we were only able to leave by 3 pm, as 2 pm was the only gap we found at the fuel station to get tax-free fuel (at the rate of EUR 0,53 per liter). Montenegro is all about tax free fuel and it is usually difficult to find free time at the fuel dock in-between the huge superyachts that arrive from Italy, Croatia, Greece, for the purpose of filling up the tank. So we were late on start of the cruise but we were lucky with the seas. We ran at an average speed of 24-26 knots, with waves usually coming from starboard aft, seas of 3-4 Beaufort. My boat has 2 x 575 HP Cats and I consume around 7 liters per mile at such speeds. After 9 pm we were cruising at complete darkness. It was strange not seeing anything in front. I only concentrated on the radar and plotter screen and finished up the last 50 miles like this.
That night we stayed at the small island of Ereikousa, just 15 miles to the north of Corfu. We relaxed with the Corfu beer that the Italian owner of the small and modest restaurant had recommended. The Italian influence was easily felt at this side of Greece. The architecture, cuisine are heavily effected by their west side neighbours. On the Aegean side, the feeling is completely different, more Greek with ouzo, white houses with blue windows etc. I can say that Aegean islands are more “Greek” but, the Ionian ones are more beautiful as of nature. All in all, it is worth to visit them both.
The hard part of the trip was over and we had a nice sleep after that. Next day we arrived to Corfu early in the morning, made our official entry to Greece. As the rest of the family would arrive to Greece by air, we decided Zakynthos to be the ideal place to meet. That was the southernmost point of the trip. I would pick them up from there and we would move slowly to North, visiting all the Ionian Islands. My friend left at Corfu and I moved the boat down to Zakynthos alone, with pootling speed, which was another 120 nm. Sea was dead flat and each day was more pleasant than the other. Finally wife, children and our stewardess arrived at Zakynthos with the ferry coming from mainland Greece. We made the shopping and everybody was ready and excited for the trip. Next day we first wanted to see the island from the land side. So we rented a car and started with visiting the famous “Shipwreck Bay”. The story is that, this smuggler vessel being followed by the coast guard, tries to hide to this bay at very heavy seas. However huge waves have pushed them to the beach and they were stuck at this bay where all around was surrounded by steep and high cliffs. Naturally they all were soon caught. The wreck still stays there at the beach and the bay has now become world-famous, not only for the shipwreck, but also for the incredible color of the seas. Next day we again visited the bay, but this time with the boat. So we were lucky to watch the view both from sea and land. You can see some drone footage and photos below:
What I can say about Zakynthos (also known as Zante) is that, these kind of shades of turquise/blue is really very rare to see. Shipwreck bay is a must see and there are many other places to see. In Zakynthos you really feel that you are in the Med and in paradise, but..... the local tourist carrier boats are killing all the ambience. They cruise like crazy, do not obey any collision avoidance rules, cruise very fast, create lots of swell make a lot of noise. So, if possible, avoid high season. If not, then avoid visiting these places daytime between 10 am to 5 pm. I think that Zakynthos can be a wonderful place to visit off-season. Here are a couple of more photos that may give you an idea of the colors you may see:
That is all for now. I will try to continue for narrating the rest of the trip. I hope that you like it!
