Sat 11 May to Mon 13 May – Syvota

Saturday

After a rolly night at anchor we were up and out by 09:00, together with our neighbour whose tired wave indicated he too got little sleep. We knew there wouldn’t be much wind but motoring the 25 or so miles to Syvota was preferable to staying in our uncomfortable anchorage. 

The route took us between Corfu and mainland Albania and Greece to Syvota, a small village on mainland Greece hidden behind two uninhabited islands. We were expecting 20/25 knot SE winds so we found a bay where we should be protected. As we were anchoring we saw two guys standing on an empty pontoon whistling and waving in our direction. Expecting them to be telling us to anchor elsewhere we ignored them and continued paying out our chain. Tom reluctantly went to the bow to see what they wanted and to our surprise they were offering us to come alongside the pontoon, for free! Why not we thought, it looked safe enough so we headed over and said our thank-yous. This is one thing that we feel is distinctively different in Greece than what we’ve experienced seen so far in the rest of the Med. People here seem very friendly, welcoming and genuinely interested in everybody having a good time. Maybe this is because it is still before the main season, and the tons and tons of tourists haven’t rolled in, or maybe it’s just that the Greeks are more welcoming. We don’t know, but it sure feels good!

We took a stroll into town, which was up and down a couple of really steep hills, wandered around the small harbour then got accosted by George, who convinced us into his taverna for a drink. The town itself felt rather sleepy, a few taverna’s around a natural harbour, a couple of shops here and there and that was it. You can imagine how this is going to be pumping in the summer, as the rows and rows of empty sun chairs neatly lined up along the beach suggested. Later that night we had dinner at the beach bar overlooking our bay. Even though it was quite expensive, we thought we had to leave some money in their hands as they let us use their pontoon. Seems like their strategy is working! After rolling around the anchorage last night, the night on the pontoon turned out to be blissfully quiet.

Sunday

The clouds came and stayed all day, just as the forecast predicted. A good day for a walk we thought so we set off towards the town again and up into the hills. We weren’t entirely sure where we were going but it was just nice to be walking again. After 45mins we came to dead-end after dead-end (which explained the total lack of traffic!) so we made our way back into town for some lunch. Soon enough it started to poor down and we had to make a dash for it managing to just about avoiding getting soaked. 

Early evening and we’d been joined by a few other boats on the pontoon, and we all sat in the beach bar watching the rain absolutely pour down. It didn’t stop all night, and at midnight the wind joined in swaying us all so much that we were starting to ponder how we’d free ourselves should the pontoon break free, sending us as one big raft careering into the neighbouring island! Even though we were protected from the worst of the storm in our little bay, the gusts kept rolling around the hills, whistling in the rig and heeling Bini over quite a bit. It almost felt like we were sailing at times! 

Monday

Although the wind died down, it’d left behind a very lumpy sea so we put off our short hop across to Paxos until tomorrow. Plus, it was supposed to rain….again. 

Time for another walk. This time we went east along to Thalassa beach for lunch. The route took us along some winding country lanes which were so green we could easily have been in Kent, UK. At the restaurant, aside from two old Danish ladies and a few cats we had the place to ourselves and got a prime spot overlooking the beach. The waves were piling up on the beach and we were glad we weren’t out there.

Just as we got back to the town the rain started again, so we had no option other than to join the other soggy looking sailors for a drink. Oh well, could be worse!