Órmos Ampelákia

Despite still being my favourite island Atokos does have some slight downsides. Having tucked ourselves into a smaller bay with shore lines, rather than trying to find a space in the much more overcrowded pig bay, we felt confident that if the wind behaved as forecast we would be beautifully protected by the cliff behind us. As always though, the wind forecast didn't translate into reality and the consistent westerly wind never materialised, leading to a gusty night with wind directly to our side. Not ideal at the best of times when tied to the shore, but especially worrying with a shallow rock less than 20 feet in the direction we were being blown in! Needless to say it wasn't the most restful night we've had but as always Odyssee held perfectly and all our worrying was for nothing. The following morning our Swedish neighbours set off early and not a moment too soon it turns out. Ten minutes later we heard a huge splash as a chunk of the cliff just above where they'd been untying their shorelines spontaneously dropped into the sea, and within the space of Sam's morning coffee three more sizeable chunks fell! It was a good conversation starter though with the three Australian lads in the boat on the far side of the bay as it turned out we'd both initially assumed the splash was someone from the other boat tombstoning off the cliff. Luckily the rock where we were tied was a hardier kind but I was still relieved to get the lines detached and to be back on the boat in one piece!

From Atokos we travelled further south to the bay of Vathy on Ithaka, a very pretty little town with a nice local feel, especially in the evening when we came across a local brass band concert in the town square. As Ithaka is supposedly the island that Odysseus came from it felt a little bit like a homecoming for our Odyssee so I decided we ought to do something cultural and visit the Acropolis of Ithaka whilst we were there. Despite our best intentions to go in the cooler morning, we faffed (as per usual) so long that by the time we'd lugged the bikes ashore and donned our most impractical sweat-inducing rucksack it was midday and we ended up climbing a very sizeable hill in over 30 degree heat to what even I will acknowledge was the most disappointing monument in the whole of Greece. At least we felt we could justify our ice-cream when we got back to the town but I reckon I'm going to struggle even more than usual to convince Sam to visit "old stuff" now!

After two days in Vathy we travelled across to Kephalonia to the town of Fiskardo on its north east coast, where we discovered some lovely hiking trails around the two lighthouses and the surrounding woodlands. After dinner on the first night we decided to explore further round the coastline in the dinghy and discovered an amazing cave! It didn't look like anything particularly impressive on our approach but once we pulled up in the entrance and got our head torches out we discovered it had large caverns and a network of pathways that led way back into the land.

We planned to have another leisurely morning in Fiskardo before heading to the west coast of Kephalonia for a few days but we woke up to find the weather had other ideas. Overnight the wind forecast had changed from a normal calm, windless morning to gusts up to 27 knots and rain all day around Kephalonia, so we swiftly set off and headed back to the east of the inland sea where the conditions were much nicer. This actually worked out well as Ellie and Andy, another couple in their 30s who we'd met in Preveza Marina, were still in that area so we were able to meet up with them in a nice enclosed bay for dinner and drinks. The next morning, they headed off early but Sam and I had a leisurely start and made the brilliant discovery that one of our shorelines could be used as a slack line. Unfortunately, neither Sam or I have much talent for it and there were more spectacular belly flops (me) and dives (Sam) off the line than walking but it was good fun to try!

From Kalamos we made our way back up to Meganissi and found a little bay all to ourselves in a small cove. The only negative that appeared in the reviews on Navily was that some people had spotted rats on the shore at night. This is a problem if you have lines to shore as the rats can make it on-board your boat. With Sam vetoing my first suggestion that we could get a ship's cat to do our "ratting" we had to come up with another solution. We headed into town to find something that could be made into a DIY rat guard on our line and found the answer was the lid to a giant tub of popcorn! Our journey back was a little more energetic than we anticipated as we'd dinghied up to a jetty which it turns out was part of a private resort, fine on the way out but which involved my best "ninja-warrior" skills to get back in over the locked gate! Once back on the boat though we discovered a great cinema set up on the stern and enjoyed a film night and made a start on our massive popcorn pot!Read more