Friday 13 September 2019 – Vathi (on Meganisi)

Today did not turn out at all as planned.  The idea was to have a quiet morning and then to have a gentle sail out a bit to dump the holding tank.  After that we would find a local anchorage where we could spend the day swimming and stay overnight.   It has been very warm and a swimming afternoon was something we both were looking forward to.

First hint of change was when the man who organises the moorings came and asked us fairly early when we were leaving.  Then he said we would need to book into a marina for the night because the weather forecast was for winds of force 5-7.  That was not what our forecast said and we suspected he just wanted to get rid of us.  We then left the mooring just after 11 and there was some breeze so we put up the sails. As we had no real destination in mind we were in no hurry so sailing at 2-3 knots was OK. Richard had planned a route bearing in mind the weather forecast so the wind would be on the beam throughout, but that didn’t work out and we had the wind all over the place.  By the end Richard was taking in and putting out sails every few minutes! 

The area has lots of bays where boats anchor and we just chose one at random.  However, when we got there we found it quite crowded and everyone was anchored with a long line ashore.  We have given up on that form of anchoring after a number or false starts and minor disasters. The next bay did seem to have people at swinging anchorages and so we went there.  That did not work out.  After 4 attempts when we could not get the anchor to set (the bottom seemed to have been weed from what came up on the anchor) we gave up.  I have lost count how many bays we looked at. Must have been at least 4.  At this point we decided to give up and come to the marina in Vathi where we have stayed before.  Luckily before we headed there I telephoned them to make sure there a berth available. They said there was but we couldn’t come until after 4pm.  As it was only just after 1 it meant we had to find somewhere to anchor for a couple of hours at least.

I also wanted to stop for lunch because I bought a large expensive avocado and it really needed eating up. Then we went along again looking at bays until we found one that looked a possibility.  Half the boats in there were swinging and it was not very crowded and was quite attractive. The only problem was that it was rather deep- about 10 metres.  But we found a spot we thought would work and after one false start we finally got the anchor down with thirty five metres of chain and we seemed to be holding.  Thus organised we had our lunch and swim and it was a thoroughly pleasant afternoon.  I am however glad we weren’t tempted to stay the night because I have no idea how well set the anchor was especially as when we took it up it came up completely clean.  

We left the anchorage just before 4pm and got to the marina about 4:15. We are nicely placed in a comfortable berth with water and electricity.  The fridge is still working so we manage cold drinks and had a cocktail at the marina bar.  Dinner on board.  We will stay 2 nights because we have a reservation to stay in Lefkas on Sunday night.

By the way we never saw winds of force 5-7 although it was quite windy in the marina in the afternoon.