Cruise report Kefalonia to Kalamata Aug/Sept 2022

[Hooligan]

So I thought I would give it a go and apologies if pictures don’t come out or it is just too boring. I have always enjoyed reading the threads of cruise reports by others and my trip to the Southern Peleponnese was largely inspired by Hardyme and his really interesting reports. By way of background we are based in Lefkas Marina which I can highly recommend so a similar starting point to Hardyme but i will miss out the spots down to the bottom of Kefalonia where this thread starts from. The Ionian is truly a great boating experience. It can largely be defined by three cruising areas: Corfu, Paxos and A Paxos, Lefkada to bottom of Ithaca, and bottom of Kefalonia to Kithera. The beauty about the latter is that it is not frequented by the fleets that you need to wrestle with further up and it has a real feeling of remoteness which in turn makes one feel that you are having a real adventure!! Which is what this money absorbing game is all about I think . So we start in Argostoli



This is on the town quay and seems to attract lots of photographers like me. Here is the boat - my previous one was called Hooligan hence the name but superstition means I am reluctant to change this one especially after what happened last time - for another day.



Argostoli is a lovely town IMHO and very different to the glitzy feel of Fiskardo to the North where the cool people go . The town quay is as you see not overly crowded, probably because there are the odd scary write ups re lack of holding and shallowness. It is well protected from the N and NW but would be hell from most other blows. In any case I dropped 80m of chain in 3m of water and felt quite comfortable that I was going no where. Had quite an exciting first day - spent 3 days on the quay - as the sailboat next to me only seemed to have dropped 5m of chain and when the wind came up swung onto me, but we managed to get the fenders out and with the help of his and my tender pushed him back and he took his anchor to more sensible depths! TBF to him he had lost his engine and had managed to berth rear in which must have been one hell of a feat on sails. The amazing thing re Argostoli harbour is the turtles you see all around. In fact when I lowered the swim platform to get the Williams back on one virtually swam through my legs!



Next stage of the journey was a short chug up to the top of the inlet about 6 or so NM which has great reviews on Navily. We spent a night there under the white cliffs which is a lovely sheltered anchorage. While the water looks less inviting as it is green this is just the weed on mud. For anyone who goes there is a great Taverna called Three Umbrellas. Easy to find, just take the tender towards the three loungers and sun umbrellas that are sitting in the water. What is slightly different is that the water shallows out about 200m from the shore which means that you need to anchor the tender in most cases and wade ashore. Pedro the taverna owner is quite a character.



Next stop was Sparta which is the South side of Kefalonia facing Zante. This is a spectacular anchorage that is rarely too crowded. The water is great and there are restaurants all around which are really local and friendly. This is the third time we have been here and gone to the same Taverna and the guy recognised us which is always nice. He even refused to accept our tip as he thought it was too much which tells you that this really is a local friendly non tourist commercial family restaurant.



Here is another photo of the bay



I will stop for now and see if this actually downloads properly! Happy to also stop if too dull

 

[tico]

Great! Cant wait for the next installment

 

[MrB]

+1

 

[Hooligan]

Kefalonia to Southern end of Xante: at an average of over 1.92 per liter for diesel I should add that pootling, to paraphrase @Hurricane, was the order of the day for this whole trip and I was constantly working out how little fuel I could use at 1100 revs. 1100 revs or just below is where I hit 10 to 11 knots depending on waves, wind etc and more importantly just before the turbos kick in (I think). If i do it properly I can usually get it so that I consume between 25 and 30 liters on each engine thus 50 to 60 an hour of travel. This does involve a little time ensuring the props are clean but that is an hour well spent to say the least!! One of the really good things re the Ionian in general versus say our experience in the Balearics is that the sea is generally pretty calm and so even though we do have stabilizers we rarely use them. It also helps that in the Summer the prevailing winds are NW which means they are behind you on the way down and in your face on the way up. The enclosed nature of the sea also means that the waves seldom get that big - although those caught in the 2020 Medicane will tell you that like every place you boat, when it gets ugly it gets ugly. We though were blessed with good weather and no major dramas wind wise although we did have some spectacular thunderstorms along the way.

Xante in my view is not an island I would travel miles to go boating. The East side is largely inaccessible due to prevailing winds and the West side doe not have the great bays you get elsewhere. That said we did not do shipwreck bay or the blue caves - we passed these but it was blowing a bit and I did not want to anchor in such an exposed place. We opted to cruise straight down to the South end of the Island which is where the launch is for what our goal was. The south end of Xante is absolutely lovely. The area is protected as it is where the loggerhead turtles lay their eggs, but there are good anchorages and Keri is a nice town. Here is our anchorage under the cliffs, slightly away from town.



If you look really carefully you will notice some prime real estate - a close up below!



You can probably pick it up for a bargain!! This is a rather bad picture of the cruise down the West coast. The driver went missing but just for a while!!



Overall this was the least favourite of the places we cruised by but there was one real surprise on the way back that I will post on later.

 

[Hooligan]

Ps east and Wests mixed up, apologies.

 

[Hooligan]

Xante to Kalamata: first goal was to get to Pylos which is about 60NM or 6 hours. The passage was quite smooth until I suddenly realised that I had not got the Garmin SIM for the area I was headed towards. Not great planning it has to be said to say the least. Quite amusing to suddenly find oneself in the “dark zone”. Fortunately I have Navionics on my iPad which I always use as a backup and I find often better than my inbuilt system so was able to laugh it off but pretty basic rookie error!



Pylos is an absolute must for anyone who travels around here and I think you will find that this is a common theme. It is very historical - essentially where the fight for independence was won - going back to the Trojan War, the Iliad and the Odyssey. In fact it is widely rumoured that Paris had his first s—g with Helen here, or better put consummated his relationship! The town itself is void of the heaving mass of European tourists and I understand that the area is popular with the wealthier inhabitants of Athens, many of whom have houses in this region, along with olive plantations. I was also struck by how few boats there were here although this is a theme of our trip the further South we went. Navarino Bay is a spectacular inland sea really guarded at its entrance by two fortresses. This is the view of the bay from Pylos itself which is on the South side as you enter the bay



We anchored at the far end of the bay as you look out. It is excellent anchorage in circa 10m just off the long Beach which unusually for the Ionians as a whole is sand. It is well protected and even when the wind picks up the sea remains calm being enclosed. This is the entrance to Navarino



It is really difficult to fully describe how beautiful this place is so I will drop a few photos and you can decide yourselves.



The gap you can see is not navigatable and you can wade across the gap pretty much in stunning water.





The above photo pretty much shows you the extent of the bay, with Pylos at the far end. For those who like beach bars there is an excellent one just down the beach, great frozen Margaritas, that mercifully closes at 8 ish meaning you get the kids back in relatively one piece! You can anchor just outside Pylos or even against the dock, but why do that when one can have your own beach!!

There is a lovely bay called Romano just the other side of the beach - below, where I really wanted to anchor for the night. But it is quite susceptible to the swell and only for really calm days. This shot is taken from the drone, as are many of the others, more about which later as per @Hurricane



What makes this place amazing is the variety of things to do. The fort in Pylos is beautifully renovated and well worth a visit. This is the Church which you can see is full of the influence of the various rulers of this strategic part of Greece. There is also a beautiful fort over Romano which is a good trek up, rewarded by amazing views. More on this later



It was time to leave Pylos and head further South and we chose an anchorage off the small island just opposite Methoni. There is anchoring available in Methoni and a small port but again, why meet fellow humans when you do not need to . Again another stunning anchorage with only one boat to share with. The anchor did drag when setting so it took a couple of goes but we had a comfortable night with a small storm in the early evening that delivered a beautiful rainbow.



Here is a picture at dusk. Note how calm the water is. It was actually blowing quite hard just out of the bay but we were hardly troubled at all.



Speaking of anchors, subject of manny a debate, I have a 55kg Rocna attached to 12mm stainless steel chain. IMHO this is a fantastic anchor and it always amazes me that people try to save money here as it seems to me that having faith in the hook is about as good as it gets. For those more cautious I did find this in the Museum but you would need a few good men to move it (I think you would probably never have to worry again that being said!)



From here we travelled down to Koroni to pick up my daughter. Koroni is about a 45 minute taxi from Kalamata airport and a good pick up point of you do not fancy a trip to the end of the gulf. We dropped anchor just outside the small port and provisioned and had some light refreshments, several light refreshments. Interestingly the town pretty much went into siesta at 1pm which was a first for us but a really good place to get fresh fish. There is also a magnificent fort but despite good intentions the weight of refreshments and a desire to find a quiet bay for the night scuttled all good intentions. Next time. This is our crowded anchorage from the restaurant



From Koroni we retraced our steps about 45 minutes or so to the tip of the gulf of Kalamata on the north side. Wind was forecast and we felt this bay would be well protected. If you look on Navily it is called Koufosaratsia. I think pictures are worth a 1000 words so will leave it at that.







Time to head down to Kalamata to drop some and collect others. Between Lefkas and Kalamata there are no real options re marinas, perhaps Meganisi, only small ports or harbours, or the big port in Xante which I am told is not the greatest place and certainly is not a marina. This means that you are pretty much on the hook all of the time and this of course, especially if you are female (daughters) heavy, reliant on the trusty watermaker. I had installed a 200 l/h brand new watermaker over the winter to solve this issue but sadly we were plagued by low pressure warnings and however much I managed to clean the filters - not dirty in the first place - this issue persisted. This meant that I could usually get max 1 hour a day of water which just about worked but we were perilously close to empty as we headed down to Kalamata. I appreciate that this is a first world problem but for some reason no one aboard seemed to comprehend the meaning of no water on the boat. Luckily resorting to the water rocker switch helped conserve and we did manage ok. One of the big differences between say Greece (where we are) and the Bals is the lack of marinas. This means that if you do need water you need to plan very carefully and it does alter your cruising strategy. In fact if you read the various blogs you will notice that the hunt for water features prominently. In any case not too much of a hardship and I am trying to resolve the issue now. Changed the low pressure sensor under warranty, put new filters in under warranty, and finally managed to speak to Parker in the US who have been very helpful, unlike the Greek dealer through whom I purchased this. Complaints aside I will say that this is the only service issue I have had in Greece and the ability to source engineers when you want, not when they want, has been a revelation to me.

Kalamata is a small marina but really convenient. The airport has direct flights to the UK, although not every day, and anyone wanting to cruise down here should consider using this as a base, even one where you can drop in and out of. It has had some pretty bad reviews re issues with transit permits - see the Liveaboard forum - but we had no issues at all. We did come across this though just outside the marina. Upon further investigation it is called Blue, is the 5th largest super yacht in the world, and is owned by the Abu Dhabi Royal family. Does anyone know whether those are funnels or anti aircraft silos??



TBH I think I prefer my boat although I wouldn’t mind the trade in value!

 

[paradave]

Having sailed around those areas a few times, I’m mentally back there reading this. Sounds tremendous, well done!!

 

[Seastoke]

Great thread would have been better in dark nights.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Up town Kalamata is nice beyond the train museum/park, we did a winter there, the big AB supermarket will deliver to your berth.

 

[Hooligan]

Kalamata to end of drone: the journey back was largely uneventful. We hit the worst weather wind wise we had all holiday albeit briefly with 30 plus knots of wind as we came around the point of the gulf of Kalamata. As usual full on from the NW so we tucked into a great anchorage called Kolyvri on Navily. Very sheltered and we hardly noticed the wind. I find Navily to be by far the best source of information on anchorages and details thereof including how well protected you are, underwater dangers and sea bed. The weather forecasting is not always spot on but then again they rarely are when it comes to fine detail. This is where we anchored and you would never know it was howling just around the corner. Again plenty of space and this was almost as crowded as we found.



Actually this was where we had the biggest drama of the holiday. Having a relaxing breakfast when the scream of one of the bilge alarms went off. Never a great sound at the best of times but quickly identified as the aft bilge. Down to the crew cabin when I realised that the reconfiguration from the previous owner involved bolting down access to the bilge. Out with the tool box etc and managed to determine that we were not taking on water. Quick feel around and the problem identified. In the reconfiguration whoever did it dumped the lock into the bilge and it had worked its way under the float!!! We shall be reconfiguring the reconfiguration this winter!



Next stop back to Pylos where I will leave you with a few photos because this truly is somewhere you could stay a while. These are mostly taken from the ruined fort on the North end of the bay. You will note the great 360 degree views. It is about a 45 minute hike to the top and at times a precarious walk amongst the ruins, but well worth the visit. The windier weather meant more boats this time but in the greater scheme of things still plenty of space and apart from the naked Germans next door - I felt it somewhat inappropriate to train the drone on them! - you would not feel that there were that many boats around.











After a two day stay we headed back up and found a great anchorage on the South East corner of Zante. While I have already mentioned that Zante was not our favourite place, I have to say that we did find the best Taverna we have been in - and we have done our fair share. Called Nikos it is absolutely worth a visit. It can be found in Porto Roma Beach and what made it special was that they cooked over wood/charcoal and the overall ambience which was local, family and tourists who clearly keep coming back. Here is the picture of the bay from our table.



So that’s it really. The last picture is fittingly the last shot from the drone. Whether the sun or too much Rose the operator, me, managed to park it in the sea instead of the swimming platform and clearly drones do not like water. RIP Mavic Mini 2!!



Incidentally this was in Meganisi on the way back to base.

What made this trip special and what regrets. I think the sheer combination of the incredible sea, remote anchorages, the diversity of things on and offshore and the people. We were fortunate in that our only mechanical issues were a dodgy watermaker and the bilge pump. Great credit to Kostas and his team who look after the boat and are always on hand to assist over the phone when needed. My biggest regret was that we ran out of time to really explore in greater detail. We did not get to the Caves at Diros on the south side of the Gulf of Kalamata, nor did we get into the Iaconian Gulf which is supposed to be spectacular, nor Kitheros. Of course all this leaves one hungry for more, and we shall be heading directly south next year to complete the job!

Thanks and I hope that you enjoyed the thread.

 

[Hooligan]

Up town Kalamata is nice beyond the train museum/park, we did a winter there, the big AB supermarket will deliver to your berth.

Yes we restocked from the AB and also went out past the bougis hotels and found a really nice restaurant above the water. The place had a really good feel about it.

 

[Clancy Moped]

Yes we restocked from the AB and also went out past the bougis hotels and found a really nice restaurant above the water. The place had a really good feel about it.

It's a Uni town so quite vibrant .

 

[MrB]

Great cruise report. Totally enjoyed reading that and great pics too.

 

[Portofino]

Thx ,Great pics .
learnt a lot .

 

[Chris H]

?. Good read, I thought navily was just to book berths, I’ll look into it a bit more ?‍

 

[Hooligan]

?. Good read, I thought navily was just to book berths, I’ll look into it a bit more ?‍

I never use it to book berths as not its strength. What it is excellent at is showing you anchorages and then the blogs people leave are really useful. It is worth paying the £10 pa to upgrade from the free version as well.

 

[Parabolica]

Great read. Thanks for making the effort. As a newbie to the whole boating thing, it’s these threads i crave to see how adventurous folk get with their boats. I’m hoping some of the members will post tales of Majorca based trips soon now too.

 

[benjenbav]

I never use it to book berths as not its strength. What it is excellent at is showing you anchorages and then the blogs people leave are really useful. It is worth paying the £10 pa to upgrade from the free version as well.

Fab report and pix. Shame about the drone

 

[julians]

I’m hoping some of the members will post tales of Majorca based trips soon now too.

I think a lot (but I guess not all- jrudge springs to mind as someone who goes further) of the people who have boats in Majorca tend to just go dayboating , ie leave the marina, rarely go further than 30 miles, find a nice bay, drop the hook, swim ,eat lunch, go back in the early evening. That certainly describes my boating in Majorca any way - see the med boaters thread for a fair bit of Majorca stuff.

It's usually the ones who have berths in mainland Spain (hurricane ,petem et al) who go on longer cruises to the islands.

 

[jrudge]

I used to go long distances but now mostly head out of cala dor / cabrera / es trenc and do one lap of the island for three weeks in august.

there gets a point where one anchorage is similar to the last and £4000 in fuel to goto Ibiza and back seems less attractive !

I would like to move to Croatia/ Greece but we know so many people where we are not sure.

What we need is boat swaps !