Kioni – Day 3

We are disappointed that we have been here two days and not actually made it 20 feet off the boat. Yesterday was to be exploration day and today was to be on to Fiskardo. But we have done a bit of pre-plotting and have 6 days left to us before we need to get the boat to Lefkada. We have decided to stay in Kioni one more day since we both seem to be more or less on the road to recovery…although still not 100%. Kioni is by far the prettiest little place we have been and we really want to get out and explore it a bit.

We will go to Fiskardo tomorrow morning then, and possibly stay there two days as it also looks lovely. It and Kioni are two of the few places that were not completely destroyed by the earthquakes and they think that both towns sit on a different type of bedrock.

From Fiskardo we will head to Vasiliki on Lefkas for a day, then Syvota, then to Little Vathy on Meganisi before heading into the Lefkas canal and the end of our trip.

But for today…we are vegetarians…..in Kioni.

We hung on the boat until the flotilla and most other boats left. In the end only two or three boats stayed today as well. When our neighbours from Holland were preparing to leave they asked if they could have their photo taken on the bow, they then told us that the last time they were here they had two boats and Nikolas lost most races…they liked the boat very much, but calledit the “turtle” When they left we decided to wait until the majority of the rest of the boats left and pull up anchor and reset. After the winds and swells and having a second boat on our anchor for a bit last night, it just didn’t look to be holding well anymore. And it was a good thing we did because it was not set at all anymore. So we pulled out, slid over about 50 feet, re-anchored and made sure it bit well, and retied ourselves off…and apologized profusely to the couple sitting at the bench that we landed immediately in front of…effectively cutting off their view.

A boat called Northern Fantasy arrived in our old spot and fussed for a long time over their lines. We helped them dock and the woman said thank you, then looked over to our boat and said “And look what flag you are flying! Do I sound at all like you?” She was from Toronto (Originally a Nova Scotian though) although their boat is registered in Ireland so that is the flag they were flying. Regardless…It’s nice to finally encounter another Canadian on the water.

We sat and read for a bit on the back of the boat and a woman came over from the restaurant, she said she had to say hello…again…we met her in Poros when she came to chat about Canada. Nice lady!

We went for a swim before there were too many boats in the harbour and eventually the quay began to fill. While swimming, I was able to see exactly where our anchor lay, and that it was nicely dug in. A tour ferry arrived and dumped a boatload of people on the dock. Then another pulled in….except it didn’t go where the ferries usually go….rather, it docked right next us…on the yacht quay! A bit unnerving! Not much point in going up to fend…since it would just crush us like a bug if anything went wrong. Luckily, nothing did. A third ferry arrived and did go where it was supposed to. Kioni is very tiny, and three boatloads filled every taverna in town. Happy restauranteurs!

We went for a walk to the ruins of the windmills at the entrance to the harbour. A fellow had given me directions the other day on where to pick up the path. As the path reached a small pebble beach, we lost it. Turns out we had to scramble up a series of rocks and, what a surprise…. we were on yet another goat trail! He hadn’t given directions past the path entrance, and eventually the goat trail forked. Now what? Luckily, some enterprising souls had created piles of rocks that seemed to lead along, and they did in fact eventually lead us to the windmills. And just to lend credence to the fact that we were actually on a goat trail…was the presence of two goats!

The view was lovely, and the winds were very strong….probably why they built windmills here many, many, many years ago! The winds were gusting hard and we could see the ferry that was next to us heading out. We watched to see if it was towing a boat with a Canadian flag by its anchor, but apparently not. He had not picked up our line. Time to head back though.

When we arrived back we saw that another Sailing Holidays boat had arrived…meant more would show up soon. A Swedish boat arrived next and it looked like they crossed our line. Next up was another Sailing Holidays boat, which we also thought crossed our line….but definitely crossed the two others. We let them know that we were planning on leaving relatively early tomorrow and it might be prudent to be awake in case four anchors came up instead of one. Two kids from another Sailing Holidays boat went for a swim and looked at the anchor lines. Apparently we were actually the only ones NOT fouled! So, tomorrow morning “should” be OK for leaving.

Heavy gusts again tonight, so we tied off a breastline to keep us from twisting again, and it seems to be working well. Noisy out there though! But we are confident that we have a good set all around tonight….and Kirk has stuffed the dinghy in between our neighbours, who have tied strangely, and are twisting badly. So with the dinghy in there, things should not go bump in the night.

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