Chapter One: HEADING FOR THE MAINLAND

We’d spent the night at Sandbank Bar on Kythnos, our last Aegean island. It had been a quiet night, but with not much to see on the island and intermittent Internet we decided to leave without the rest day we’d originally planned.

At 6.00am the anchor came up. Outside the bay we hoisted the main and followed it up with the superjib. It didn’t look too windy (North wind, Force 4-5) to start with, but this soon changed. Within the hour it was blowing a North-North-Westerly Force 6, and we put a reef in the mainsail. In the next hour Cordelia reached an average speed of 7.1 knots, a new record that was broken an hour later with 7.3 knots.

The wind had turned and we sailed 50º to it. We certainly enjoyed an exhilarating ride all the way to the island of St. George where we needed the help of the engine to get us out of its wind shadow. Luckily this was a small (uninhabited) island with barely enough room for its wind generators, and despite the wind turning North-North-West again we ended up sailing once more. We had, however, exchanged the superjib with the genoa and shaken out the reef in the main, and with this configuration sailed all the way to Hydra.

Inside the gulf there were plenty of vessels jostling for position as they crossed from the mainland to the island, backwards and forwards. We managed to avoid the charter boats, motor yachts and ferries, but it took us a good two hours before we reached Ormos Kapari, our goal for the day. The water there was murky and we couldn’t see what was on the bottom, but the anchor set well when we dropped it at 3.00pm. It had taken us 9 hours for the 55.6NM journey, not bad at all for the old girl!

The next day was supposed to be a recovery day, but we ended up looking after Cordelia instead. Ingrid had a look at the bilges for the first time this season, and they were full of water. She ran the bilge pump twice and still sponged up another gallon. While she was busy below Peter hoisted the superjib to dry it, and when Ingrid was done with her work we took it down and folded it into its sail bag. The spume of the waves (and sometimes the waves themselves) had coated Cordelia in salt water which needed to be wiped off. It had also reached the sprayhood windows which Ingrid cleaned with a restorer before they could get too cloudy. Buddy needed work, too, before he could be used again. We filled him with air and mounted the outboard, and on the next morning we motored ashore to explore our new surroundings.

Chapter Two: LANDFALL AROUND ERMIÓNI

We picked up the main road to Ermióni which followed the shore and afforded great views over the bay.

It took us about an hour into town which was clean and picturesque, and headed for the harbour. The moorings looked rather shallow in places, though we were reassured of a depth of 3m near the entrance. We carried on beyond the harbour and found there was a market on. Peter sniffed out a honey stall and after having sampled a couple of varieties we settled for 1kg of oak and chestnut. We continued along another road behind the market that took us up to a chapel (closed) and a derelict windmill taverna (also closed) further on. Peter took some great pictures of the town and harbour before we returned to the market.

The fruit and vegetables looked delicious, so Ingrid bought tomatoes, cucumber, strawberries and cherries. In the meantime Peter took care of the liquid local produce and found 1.5l of red wine for €3.50. We came away with a bottle each from two different stalls.

Next we wandered to the AB supermarket for cream (for the strawberries) and a few other essentials, and as they didn’t sell any roast chicken we had to get pizza instead. We ended our loop of Ermióni by trudging up a 50m near vertical road, then down the other side (less steep) until we picked up the way we’d come from. We schlepped our purchases back to Buddy and returned to Cordelia. A swim cooled us off, and later we enjoyed our strawberries with whipped (by Peter) cream.

We were ashore again on the following morning at 8.00am and walked along the same road towards Ermióni, past the reeds, olive groves and pomegranate orchards. However, we turned left when the road forked well outside the town, along more reeds till we picked up the main road to Athens. Alongside we saw prickly pear cacti and a dead snake (a venomous viper?) which we assumed had died from heat exhaustion, yet still we carried on.

We found our turn-off near a garage where the road changed into a dirt track. It was sweltering with not a breath of wind and we were already dripping with sweat after an hour’s walk on the flat. And now we faced the ascent! Dogs barked at us as we passed half a dozen houses, but we soon left them behind as we marched uphill. Further up there were trees and bushes, still any shade on the track was far and wide between. After about 20 minutes we stopped for a drink under a tree, then continued up. Big spiders had built their webs from one side of the track to the other, and Peter armed himself with a stick to fend off their silky traps.

We safely reached the top of our goal for the day, an unnamed hill (135m) which featured a mast and the obligatory chapel (closed). The views from there were fantastic and we admired them while we refreshed in the shade. For the way back we had the option of a round tour. As this would have taken us nearly two hours we agreed on returning the way we’d come from which was ½ hour shorter. We bought a bottle of water at the garage and were sustained until we returned to Cordelia where we rehydrated properly.

It clouded over while we ate our dinner and we heard thunder, and just as we had our cup of tea in the cockpit it started to rain. The rain soon stopped, but the wind built up to 35 knots, so Peter sat in the cockpit to monitor the conditions. Ingrid stayed below and watched YouTube on her own for about an hour until the weather improved and Peter had enough of the mossies that had nibbled him on deck.

The wind came back in the night and still blew in the morning. When it abated Ingrid cut Peter’s hair. A shower was needed by both of us afterwards to rid us of his wool. By lunchtime the wind had disappeared, so we decided against rigging the windsurfing kit. Then the wind returned, this time from the (open to us) East, Force 5-6, and with it came some uncomfortable swell. Peter who thought we had left these conditions behind us in the Cyclades was shaking his head and tutting in disbelief, and we had to calm our nerves with a snifter of raki.

Chapter Three: A BRUSH WITH CIVILISATION

We upped anchor after a so-so night with Greek music from the beach (a wedding?), and at 9.05am motored towards the gap between Dokos and the mainland. There were quite a few shallows and half-submerged islands along the way, but Peter navigated us safely out of harm’s way. It was sunny and calm, with only a few ripples on the water and not enough wind to hoist the sails. The only swell we got was from the wake of the ferries and superyachts on their way to Spetses. This looked a pretty place from where we were, and we left it at that as we had no desire to introduce Cordelia to the owners.

We carried on through the strait and at 11.25am dropped our anchor in the murky waters of Portochéli. We spent the afternoon on board looking for familiar places from our flotilla holiday in 2014 through the binoculars. The place seemed to have grown and changed accordingly, but we spotted what we believed to have been the pontoon we’d moored on all those years ago.

The “music” started around midnight and continued until the early hours. This, together with some stubborn mossies (despite the repellant) made for a poor night on deck, and Ingrid was wide awake at 5.30am. She got up an hour later to find Peter reading in bed.

We had breakfast, then prepared Cordelia’s documents and launched Buddy. We found the dinghy dock where we locked him up, then wandered along the seafront. We were able to confirm the site of our old pontoon before we headed to the port authorities.

We presented them with our papers and asked for a stamp or electronic check-in and out, only to be told by the “lady” that as we didn’t have a stamp from Leros she wouldn’t stamp our crew list.

Peter showed her the WhatsApp from our agent saying that this had been done electronically in Leros, but she insisted this had nothing to do with her and was not her problem, it was all our fault, and if we wanted a stamp we should go back to Leros. Ingrid was about to gather our papers and walk out on her when one of her colleagues intervened. He explained they did not have the electronic system as it had caused too many problems, and got the “lady” to call Leros to confirm we’d checked out there correctly. He also informed us she had worked in Leros herself, so knew the people there. Well, with the treatment we received from her we were sure she must have fitted in perfectly!

Leros called her back and we heard “Marathi” which was the name of the island our agent had given we were headed to next from Leros and had no port police. The “lady” then had another discussion with her helpful colleague (probably relaying the message from Leros), asked for our crew list, stamped it and noted “from Leros, to Kalamata” on it, photocopied it together with our Transit Log, and handed us both. When Peter enquired about the one stamp only, she told him in no uncertain terms that one was enough for in and out, and that we can leave now. We understood this gesture as meaning what it implied, i.e. “you’ve caused me enough work, now p*** off!”, so we thanked her politely and got out of the place.

Rather relieved we went to the AB supermarket where they had roast chicken and fresh bread amongst other essentials. We loaded our rucksacks and returned to Cordelia for lunch. In the afternoon we stacked Buddy with the empty gas bottle together with the diesel and petrol cans and motored to the Shell station. We managed to fill them all, so returned very happy.

Being now fully equipped with all the essentials, including the correct paperwork, we were looking forward to moving on and enjoying our time in the Argolic Gulf.

Chapter Four: KOILÁDA

After the escapades in Portochéli we were both up early on a very damp morning. We prepared Cordelia and ourselves, and at 8.10am the anchor came out of the mud.

As there was no wind we motored all the way to our new anchorage at Koiláda as we followed the wooded coast. Once again, we were astonished by the plethora of green colours, having become accustomed to the barren brown islands in the Aegean. Peter used the uneventful journey to catch up on the Internet while Ingrid stayed on deck on watch. It was 10.15am when we arrived in the shallow bay where our anchor dug into 3.5m in mud.

We had coffee after we’d cleared up and launched Buddy, then packed our washing and motored across the bay to the laundrette / petrol station / chandlery. The machine cost €5.00 and took 36 minutes, and we used the time to walk past a shipyard to the harbour and back. We spotted a turtle, remembered the bakery and restaurant, found the Kritikos supermarket and a place to moor Buddy. The washing came out clean, and Ingrid hung it out on the foredeck when we returned to Cordelia.

We had lunch and afterwards Peter attended to Buddy’s floor. It had burst on the seam and completely deflated when we’d stepped in for our return journey, so was in desperate need of gluing together. The washing was dry before our afternoon tea, and Ingrid took it in before it could come to any harm in the breeze.

We pumped some air into Buddy and motored over to a pontoon on the opposite side of Koiláda. From there we clambered up the short distance to the Franchthi Cave. Its occupation dates back to the Stone Age when it was 7km away from the sea. Luckily for us the sea level rose and our walk up there didn’t take us longer than 10 minutes. It was quite an impressive site with high ceilings and great views. The only occupants we encountered though, were alpine swift that took flight when we entered.

After a good look and walkabout we returned to Cordelia and headed for the village and its harbour. We picked up a track along the shore that took us to a (closed) chapel right at the bay’s entrance. On our return to the village we visited the (probably best so far) bakery and got some delicious buns and mini ice-creams, then continued to the Kritikos for liquid refreshments. Back on Cordelia we devoured a few of our purchased goods, and after a cooling swim we relaxed in the cockpit.

We also made use of our folding bikes. From the quay we turned left and picked up the main road past the shipyard and the laundrette. A little further on we took the right branch when the road forked to continue to the Sklavenitis supermarket. We found the shop of Lila, the honey lady from the market in Ermióni, which of course was closed as she was at a market somewhere else. The Sklavenitis was open and looked a decent size, it even had a bicycle rack. Despite all its advantages we pedalled on further to the Lidl, where we got ice-creams and drinks while the bikes were locked to a railing in the carpark.

Between the two supermarkets we had come across roadworks with a one-way traffic scheme (mainly coming towards us), so we didn’t fancy going back that way. Peter found an alternative route that would take us up another 30m in altitude, but promised to be less busy, neither of which seemed to be true. We were near the outskirts of Kranídi, pushing the bikes up twice the predicted height on a steep and busy main road, when Peter realised we’d missed our turn-off. A bit of free-wheeling got us back on track, and after another involuntary detour into the countryside we finally followed a deserted road through olive groves that brought us back to the sea shore. From there it didn’t take us long before we were reunited with Cordelia.

We repeated part of this outing a couple of days later, this time on foot. First, though, Peter sought out a few locations to take photographs for a “then and now” comparison.

The walk along the road took us less than 45 minutes, and Peter was surprised when he saw the Sklavenitis appearing right in front of him. We filled our rucksacks, refreshed with a drink, and headed back. We noticed that the gate to Lila’s, the honey lady’s, house was open, and we just caught her as she was leaving the premisses. We got thyme honey and ½l of olive oil produced from her own trees, then continued on our way. Lila offered us a lift which we declined as we needed to stretch our legs, and we had a nice walk back instead.

We spent another day in Koiláda and strolled through the village. Then we continued past the shipyard and later turned left to follow the contours of the shore. We made it to a chapel and proceeded to the furthest point away from Cordelia.

After a brief stop for a drink and for taking pictures we carried on inland past farm houses and olive groves. It got hot and we appreciated the breeze that was building up. We joined the main road for a little while, then took the left turn-off to the golf course. This featured a lake and plenty of green grass, but we saw no signs of a club house or anyone playing. We’re not golfers anyway, so returned to Koiláda via the back streets.

Koiláda had been good to us. Not only was it a charming village, it had also provided us with the opportunity to catch up with our laundry and stock up with diesel and provisions. As an extra bonus, we’d also sighted plenty of the local (camera-shy) turtles.

Some “then and now” Photos from 2014 and 2026