Visiting the Peloponnese

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Jeva

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It's fallen to me to organise a small 'cruise in company' for ourselves and half a dozen other boats to the Peloponnese peninsular this summer. I've checked various sites and pilots but wondered if members have any particular 'must see places' for anchorages and harbours that we should include bearing in mind that we need places to park or anchor at least 6 boats at a time.
 
Jeva said:
It's fallen to me to organise a small 'cruise in company' for ourselves and half a dozen other boats to the Peloponnese peninsular this summer. I've checked various sites and pilots but wondered if members have any particular 'must see places' for anchorages and harbours that we should include bearing in mind that we need places to park or anchor at least 6 boats at a time.
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Hi, you don't say how long the cruise is for, but I would include Nafplion, the castle is excellent, Spetses, Hydra, Poros, Porto Heli, Ermioni, and lots of other places to see and most of them you can anchor, if you want to hire a car from these places then you can visit the ancient amphitheater at Epidavros, live plays or musical events from April onwards Friday and Saturday nights.
 
The other thing to consider is which way round you're going, as if you're there in the summer the Meltimi will have an effect. Or indeed if you're going all the way round or just doing some of the peninsulas. If you follow the link to the blog and have a look at the Peloponnese category you can see where went. One thing to bear in mind is that once round Cape Maleas (going clockwise) or Methoni (going anticlockwise) there are not many places to victual up, so you need to be prepared either to eat ashore at beach bars/cafés or eat out of tins.
If you also read the blogs under the category Ionian, you'll find descriptions of where we went in the gulfs of Patras and Corinth, if you plan on going through the canal.
Have a good trip, you'll be well away from the madding crowd once you set off.
 
Jeva said:
It's fallen to me to organise a small 'cruise in company' for ourselves and half a dozen other boats to the Peloponnese peninsular this summer. I've checked various sites and pilots but wondered if members have any particular 'must see places' for anchorages and harbours that we should include bearing in mind that we need places to park or anchor at least 6 boats at a time.
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Are you starting from the Ionian? Or the Saronic? And how long do you plan the group to stay together?

I've planned two such rallies for the Cruising Association starting from the Ionian, each lasting ten days, working from Katokolon/Olympia and ending in Kalamata. Last one was 2012. Up to 12 boats is feasible for that trip. Onward transit for most was a summer in the Saronic/Argolic/return to Ionian, with a few doing the Cyclades.

Initial briefings for the route were my web site pages (start here). This stuff is up to date as of end September 2013, when I last traveled the coast. Additional briefs were provided for the Cruising Association about likely winds, walks, winery visits, town plans for facilities, village events etc.
 
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I've twice enjoyed circumnavigating the Peloponnese anti clockwise from Levkas. Both trips are written up on my sailblog for the years 96 and 2000.
 
Sailing around the peninsulars there are large bays with tavernas, so plenty of room to anchor. Watch out for the towers built near houses they were used for neighbours to fight. The issue with the Peloppenese is three depression tracks meet there so you get lots of gales even in the summer. Sunsail opened a base there and closed it after six months because of the gales. However it is a beautiful place and worth a visit, we spent we spent two weeks there and had one gale which we used to sail north upwind.
 
We've 'lapped' the Pelopennese twice and based on that, the weather's something of a lottery: First time was clockwise and resulted in us setting off very early in the mornings to sail/motorsail up the west coast before the breezes set in, we promised ourselves that next time we'd go the other way to enjoy/benefit from them. On our second trip, we motored south along the west coast, with never a breath of wind, before subsequently taking a battering when we tried sailing west through the gulfs. Regarding places to visit, two that we particularly enjoyed yet aren't often visited by passing yachts were Yithion (NW from Ak Maleas) and Yerika just above Monemvassia; Oh and if the weather's flat, call in at Finikounda, where the locals are very friendly.
 
Thanks for all of your replies. To clarify a bit. All of us are starting from Turkey or east Aegean, so we plan to island hop (an area we do know) to somewhere south of Athens, before continuing south and west until heading back north to visit the Ionian.
None of us are time pressured so we reckon on a slow cruise of about a month to 6 weeks.
I'll check the blogs suggested - thanks.
 
OK, you'll be into prevailing winds, but they only prevail strongly half the time! And until Methoni, the sea is pretty flat. Afternoon sea breezes usually blow into the gulfs

Must Sees:
Monemvassia
Elafonisos (village, as well as southern bay)
Diros caves and Mistras; car hire from either Gythion or Kalamata
Koroni, walk to old castle and monastery. Lunch stop off turtle beach just SW.
Finikounda, say hello to JimB & Caro (if at home, but usually in UK for peak weeks!)
Methoni, another castle
Navarino Bay - 3 nights at least for local exploring, walks, beaches and Pylos. 3 castles. Ruined.
Katokolon, winery museum and tour 3km north of harbour. Rail trip to Olympus (if a cruising boat is in). Over-priced taxis or better value car hire. Winery usually fixes cheap pick-up
 
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Fokianos (south of Plaka Leonidiou) is a nice place to drop anchor- But you have to fight the wasps all day especially at dusk- and i'm talking thousands.Otherwise the SWMBO refers to it as paradise.
 
PLEIAS said:
Fokianos (south of Plaka Leonidiou) is a nice place to drop anchor- But you have to fight the wasps all day especially at dusk- and i'm talking thousands.Otherwise the SWMBO refers to it as paradise.
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!!!!!!! That post really made me laugh.
I guess they invaded the place after my visit. It was on 17 May 2006, from 10:30am to 12:30pm according to my log book! Wow, time really passes quickly.
 
The last couple of years it'become a real pest.Imagine trying to set the anchor and having to fight the wasps.AND there's no cell phone coverage apart from the left side on the beach.Otherwise a secluded place and as a friend of mine calls it ****ianos.
 
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