The Ionian September 2011

The Ionian September 2011 Volume 2. Issue 6 www.theionian.com COMPLIMENTARY/∆ΩΡΕΑΝ Please recycle: give to a friend or neighbour when finished.

Loggerhead turtles of Zakynthos Page 8

The art of living with nature Page 7

Greek goddess of food Page 6

Last meal in paradise Page 10

Trailer sailors Page 11

Cicada stowaway Page 5

The secret world of a superyacht Page 4 September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 1

2 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

The Ionian Address:

Lefkadiou Chern 24, Lefkada 31100, Greece Email: barbara.molin@theionian.com Website: www.theionian.com Fax: The Ionian c/o (0030) 26820 61306 Telephone: (0030) 69486 46764

Editorial

Rich and Famous

Most of us would love to be rich and famous, and if not both than just rich, thank you. Given that this is not likely to happen in the next few days, we offer you this month a smattering of stories to help you experience this feeling Founding Publisher: Justin Smith vicariously.

Publisher/ Editor: Barbara Molin First in line, by our deputy editor, Martin Stote, is The Deputy Editor Martin Stote secret story of a superyacht - yes, the rich and famous Business Advisor: Yannis Dimopoulos do come to the Ionian. Considering the famous Greek Business Advisor: Ryan Smith economy, we hope they’ll leave some of their money beAccountant: Pavlos Dagla: 26450 23008 hind. Martin also introduces us to a famous and perhaps rich, leading authorGreek Editors: Venetia Gigi and Vasilis Lekkas ity on Greek cookery, Vefa Alexiadou and her best selling book Vefa’s Layout: Barbara Molin Kitchen, in Greek goddess of food.

Printing: Plamen Rusanov Next in line, we meet a well known and wealthy in another way, honey man Advertising: Barbara Molin (as opposed to a sugar-daddy) from Palairos, George Psagaris in Barbara de Distribution: Barbara Molin Machula’s The art of living in nature.

Subscriptions: Barbara Molin You don’t have to be human to be famous — but if you are a turtle, being You can download The Ionian as a PDF document nearly extinct helps — read about it in Loggerhead turtles of Zakynthos

by Venetia Gigi and Vasilis Lekka. from our website: www.theionian.com.

To continue with our theme, we have a review of a popular restaurant in To subscribe, please call: 0030 69486 46764 Last meal in paradise and Cicada stowaway by Colin Vosper. ΑΦΜ: 148426549. ΛΕΥΚΑ∆ΙΟΥ ΧΕΡΝ 24, ΛΕΥΚΑ∆Α, Finally if you can’t be rich or famous, you can still be part of the yachting 31100. ISSN 1792-4650. The Ionian is published elite in the Ionian - follow the example of Glenys and Bob Hayward who have monthly. Published on the last day before each lots of fun on a budget. See how in Trailer sailors. month, approx. Publication is for informational Or send us your story — sorry, we can’t make you rich, but we can make purposes only. Although The Ionian has made you (somewhat) famous. every effort to ensure the accuracy of the Enjoy reading... information contained in this publication, the ~~~_/) Barbara Molin publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions it may contain. The opinions expressed PHOTO CONTEST: Send in your best photos of the Ionian. Twelve winning images by the contributors are not necessarily held by the publisher. will feature in The Ionian 2012 Calendar. Subject: Ionian people, nature and

Cover Photo: Loggerhead turtle, photo courtesy ARCHELON. To purchase any of the photographs in The Ionian, please contact editor@theionian.com

landscape. Digital images only, horizontal format. One per email. Please check photographers’ guidelines and contest rules at: www.theionian.com. The best photos will feature on our website and the winning entries will be published in the calendar.

Deadline for entries: September 30, 2011; Email: editor@theionian.com.

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 3

News Octopus lay at anchor nearby. Octopus, one of the largest superyachts in the world, looks like a small liner. She has two submarines, two helicopters, and a swimming pool on an aft deck.

In August of 2008, a minor political squall followed after British politician Peter Mandelson, then the European Union’s trade commissioner, accepted hospitality from Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska on board the latter’s superyacht, the £80 million, 238 foot Queen K, which was moored off Corfu. Prime Minister Gordon Brown later stressed that there had been no impropriety.

Back in Preveza, as an invitation to join the lucky guests for a cocktail in the plunge pool or the bar on Parsifal III seemed unlikely, we had to satisfy our curiosity with a quick peek at an online brochure.

Parsifal III, named after an Arthurian knight, can be chartered in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean through Camper & Nicholsons International (www.camperandnicholsons.com). One of the numerous top yachts from the drawing board of Italian designers Perini Navi, she was built in 2005, and the following year won the International Superyacht Design Award. She can reveza buzzed with rumour when one of the world’s sleep 12 guests in half a dozen staterooms with 9 crew to do their classiest charter sailing superyachts moored stern-to on bidding. the waterfront one day in August. Parsifal III, 177 feet of “Her stylish sleek lines and a jetfloating luxury, is hired by the rich, and sometimes by the black hull,” says the brochure “exudes famous. But the crew, unsurprisingly, were not letting on excellence in style, whilst she also as to who was on board. maintains first rate levels of comfort, Small groups of sightseers gathered on the south end of practicality and performance.” the town quay to marvel at the yacht’s imposing presence, Guests pay from €195,000 (special state-of-the-art design and sleek lines. The crew, smart in winter rate) for a week’s hire and there is privacy aplenty below decks, their crisp white shirts, were affable but guarded. Every now and then where her sumptuous interior gleams with stainless steel, highlighted by several women and a small boy were glimpsed on the deck. dark ebony and light sycamore woodwork, and fine, soft leather Word spread that the guests were from Denmark. One onlooker said upholstery. they had heard that the yacht’s next stops were Parga and Paxi. Nobody She cruises at 10 knots across the world’s oceans, her carbon fibre rig really knew. But the Ionian’s enchanting sailing grounds have always giving her power under sail. And there is a vast selection of marine toys attracted the fabulously wealthy. to keep the choosiest guest amused: a 23 foot tender, a 900cc jetski, a 4 The most famous was Aristotle Onassis, who on October 20, 1968 married Jacqueline Kennedy on his private island of Skorpios, off Nidri. person hobicat, scuba gear, a towable banana, and water skis.

One of the photographs in the brochure shows four guests in evening The reception was held on his 325 foot motor yacht, Christina O, which had a mooring just off Skorpios. In those days, Christina O had nine guest dress dining al fresco on the vast hydraulic wooden swimming platform at the stern of the yacht. It has been lowered to water level and the shoeless cabins, each named after a Greek island. After Onassis’s death she diners sit with the water lapping around their bare feet. changed hands, underwent a £29 million refurbishment, and is now also How cool is that? available for charter, accommodating 36 guests in 19 staterooms.

Earlier in August, Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, was spotted on Martin Stote reporting, photos Barbara Molin. the waterfront at Fiskardho on Cephalonia. His 414 foot superyacht,

The secret world of a superyacht

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Events

Pomegranate Festival 2011 Your presence at this year’s festival of Pomegranate, Saturday 10 September, 2011 starting at 9:00p.m. will honor us. The festival is hosted by the Cultural Center of Aktio-Vonitsas at the estate of Mr. Christos Stavrakas. The festival will offer traditional Greek music, dancing, food and drink. Follow the road between Lefkas and Vonitsa, and just north of Agios Nikolaos, follow the music to find us.

Cicada stowaway Colin Vosper

From dawn until dusk our

ears are bombarded with the delightful rattle of the cicadas; all very much a part of the Greek scene as is the wall-towall sunshine and clear blue skies! We have all, I am sure, tried to spot cicadas up in the olive trees, but usually they are well camouflaged and most difficult to find.

However, aboard our Moody 34, in late July we were motoring out from the quay at the delightful Port Spiglia on Meganisi Island, when the rattle of the cicada did not totally disappear. As you can see from the photo of the furled genoa, the noise was coming from a location ahead of us, from a single cicada which had apparently decided to join the crew of our appropriately named yacht, Kalokeri (which means summer in Greek).

Our extra crew member stayed with us until we were off the north end of Kalamos Island, but while it was with us I took some interesting photos of our friendly cicada, and was amazed at its head, which looked like a Maori ceremonial mask, and even more so when the cicada moved onto the sail and I could photograph its delicate and lace-like wings.

Spot cicadas if you are lucky, but to photograph one was a special moment for me.

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 5

Food

Greek goddess of food Martin Stote

“T

here is no doubt that the Ionian

Islands have contributed some of Greece’s most delicious and original dishes” says the country’s most celebrated cookery writer Vefa Alexiadou in her scholarly tome Vefa’s Kitchen, now widely accepted as the bible of the nation’s culinary arts.

Vefa Alexiadou will need no introduction in Greece. But visitors to the country may not have heard of her. Lauded by top international chefs like Jamie Oliver, she is the leading authority on Greek cookery. She is a best-selling writer and TV star, with thirteen cookbooks to her credit in her home country, which have sold more than five million copies.

Vefa’s Kitchen, which its author says modestly “contains just a hint of the timeless fragrance, flavour, and beauty of Greece” was published in English in the UK two years ago

by Phaidon Press. It has the look of a book

Chicken Souvlaki – photograph from Vefa’s Kitchen

which will set a benchmark for future generations. It is the product of a lifetime’s work, an encyclopaedia born of an authentic and traditional culinary upbringing, wide-ranging research, and a scientific mind.

In her acknowledgements, Vefa, who divides her time between Athens and the Halkidiki Peninsulka, and is in her early seventies, says her love of cooking was kindled early on by the sights, smells and tastes in her mother’s kitchen - cinnamon, vanilla and herbs.

“I had the great good fortune to grow up in a home where food preparation was of primary importance, where tantalizing aromas from the kitchen enhanced all our activities,” she writes.

Her mother Angeliki Ioannidou’s cooking created “unforgettable tastes and aromas of food that transported me to heaven.”

When she was 18, Vefa embarked on a chemistry course at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki. She became a chemist, and it was not until she was in her forties that cookery took over as a career. Thousands of women submitted their favourite recipes – some of them handwritten family heirlooms - to her morning TV show.

“Those traditional recipes revealed the stories and customs of generations,” says Vefa. Many of them were still in their original formats, calling for a “handful” of this and a “cupful” of that. Every one – there are more than 600 recipes in Vefa’s Kitchen – had to be expressed in exact metric and imperial weights and measures, tested, re-tested, translated into English, and checked many times over. Vefa’s scientific training proved invaluable.

The result, with its distinctive blue and white cover design, is an authoritative and beautifully illustrated book, which explains how the best Greek cooking relies on fresh regional produce, simply cooked to emphasise natural flavour, often to celebrate a religious festival, and usually to be eaten socially. “Greek cooking offers healthy, tasty dishes designed to be

6 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

savoured slowly with good wine in pleasant company,” Vefa writes in her Introduction.

There are many striking, colour photographs, of different regions of Greece, of fresh produce, and of finished dishes. There are 21 chapters covering every type of dish. If you want to find the food you enjoyed in a taverna on holiday, they are all here - hummus, taramasalata, moussaka, kleftiko. But so are far more adventurous dishes - fish stew from Corfu, wild boar in red wine from Thrace, or figs with ricotta or yoghurt.

In her breakdown of the different regions of Greece, Vefa Alexiadou tells how the influence of the Venetians left its legacy on much of the Ionian’s cuisine. Many of Corfu’s most famous dishes have Italian-inspired names, like bourdeto (fish cooked in a tomato sauce with onion, garlic and spicy pepper). Zakynthos shows its Venetian influence in dishes like Saltsa, a stew of beef, tomatoes and cheese.

Here, with the kind permission of Phaidon Press, is Vefa’s recipe for chicken souvlaki. I have chosen this recipe with sailing families in mind. You could leave the meat to marinate while you are sailing, and then when you are tied up for the night it takes just 15 minutes to cook them.

Vefa’s Kitchen is available, priced £29.95, from www.phaidon.com Photo of book cover by Sue Smith. Photos of Vefa Alexadiou and chicken souvlaki courtesy Phaidon Press.

Martin Stote and his wife Sue sail the Ionian in their syndicate yacht Kanula. He is a retired Daily Express journalist. They bought a copy of Vefa's Kitchen several years ago and it is one of their favourite cookbooks.

Chicken Souvlaki—Souvlaki Kotopoulo 1¾ (800 g) skinless, boneless chicken breast portions, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes pinch of dried oregano, plus extra for sprinkling 2 – 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 onions, quartered (optional) 2 green bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) squares (optional) 1 – 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice salt and pepper Pita bread for souvlaki and Tzatziki to serve.

Put the chicken into a large bowl, add the oregano and oil, season with pepper and toss well. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally, for 6 hours or overnight.

Preheat the broiler (grill) or light the barbecue.

Drain and thread the meat onto skewers, alternating with the onions and bell peppers, if using. Drain the oil into a screw-top jar, add the lemon juice, fasten the lid, and shake vigorously until thoroughly combined. Brush the souvlaki with the mixture. Grill the skewers over charcoal or cook under the broiler, turning twice and brushing frequently with the oil-lemon marinade, for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Do not overcook, as chicken is lean and tends to dry out. Season with salt, sprinkle with oregano, and serve immediately with Pita bread and Tzatziki.

Serves 4. Preparation time 6 ¼ hours (including marinating) Cooking time 10 – 15 minutes.

T

Ionian Life he good life in Greece has many facets.

Most tourists come to enjoy the wild blue yonder, and the sunshine, the good food and the friendly people, the timeless tavernas with refreshing drinks, and the relaxed, remote places where you can leave the keys in your car without worries.

Some tourists leave the coasts and explore the remnants of ancient civilisations inland, and unintentionally stumble upon the beauty of the Greek countryside. Nature in Greece is overwhelming, demanding and pure.

I am still amazed that on our farm, near a monastery, we get water from the monastery well, so clear and healthy, while the winter snow provides a steady stream in summer, filtered by the mountain stones. The Ionian countryside and the Akarnanian mountains especially have a green, bushy vegetation that smells of herbs even in the hottest part of the summer.

Even so, when hiking in the mountains it is necessary to take water and a guide. You will not find guided walks advertised in the tourist agencies, but visiting the local taverna and asking around will soon put you in touch with very special people who know the mountains inside out.

Here in our village, we have a very special man with a heart of gold who may change your vision of life for good. George Psagaris has a rare wisdom and kindness, and his friendship is a gift. He can tell by the sound of his beehives what is going on in nature, if bad times are coming, or if the living will be easy. His honey tastes incredible, and the effects on the body are awesome. His honey gave my 87 year old mother her strength back and I have to make sure she always has a pot available. Not only his honey, but also his wine, and the other herbs he collects or grows are of great quality.

He knows where nature has made natural places to rest on the mountainsides, like oddshaped olive trees that have branches like a comfortable bed, caves with a cool breeze and mountain meadows with rare flowers.

There are people living in the mountains who are rarely seen down in the village. They may come down once or twice a year but they spend their lives far away from people, making their own cheese from goat milk and eating what the mountain provides, wild mushrooms, xorta

The art of living with nature Barbara de Machula

(wild greens), and wild piglets.

Also on the mountains there are forgotten archaeological places and there is magic in the air. The view from the front of our house is the beautiful sea, and from the back, the mountain that turns pink when the sun sets behind the curves of Lefkada, in the equally or maybe even more impressive and wild explosion of colours which a sunset can create.

In the middle of all this nature we built our wooden house, and bulldozers levelled the ground around so that we could make a garden.

For me, the garden is a novelty, and I set out plants and fruit trees, and watched the miracle of fruits appearing on the branches, the plum tree from France becoming heavy with fruit, the tomato plants laden with tomatoes, courgettes, pumpkins (suddenly strange yellow footballs appeared) and many others.

One morning I woke up and something strange had happened. Many plants had disappeared, the fruit trees were unrecognizable and the ground was trampled. This happened night after night until there was nothing left of my lovely garden except the mimosa tree. The nightly visitors did not like the taste of mimosa leaves.

I asked my friend with the beehives what had happened, and he showed me the footprints.

Cows, he said, they ate your garden! There are

semi-wild cows roaming the mountain, and the only thing you can do is to erect a fence. In Holland cows are fenced in, here the people fence themselves in against the cows. In Greece, nature has the upper hand!

Sometimes nature hinders, sometimes nature enchants. I was taking a walk on an early summer morning at the Potamaki beach next to our village. The sun had been up for half an hour and all the colours were hazy and soft.

The sea was calm, and suddenly there was a big splash and two playful dolphins jumped into the air. It was a magical moment of nature, one of so many which I have experienced here.

Barbara de Machula is a writer and a painting teacher living in Palairos. www.paintingholidaygreece.com

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 7

Ecology

Loggerhead turtles of Zakynthos

Venetia Gigi and Vasilis Lekkas She adds, “Turtles are charismatic creatures, and they are very popular with the public. I think it’s because of their wild, peaceful, silent and very late summer and autumn, thousands of baby loggerhead slow-moving nature, their large size, their ancient heritage, their life mystery and their long marine migrations.” turtles scramble from their sandy nests on the Ionian island of The ancestors of the loggerhead turtle swam in the sea when Zakynthos, scrabble awkwardly down the beach guided by the reflection Tyrannosaurus rex walked the earth 70 million years ago. They are of the moon and the stars on the water, and flop into the caress of the clumsy and graceful, living fossils which have survived against all the cruel sea, where a few will survive for around fifty years, but where odds, and whose behaviour is only now being deciphered by scientists. hundreds more will perish.

But they are now an endangered species, which has heightened their That first clumsy little pilgrimage to the sea is a remarkably moving fascination. “They are an ancient enigma as they outlived the dinosaurs,” spectacle. In the shallows, buffeted by stones as big as themselves, the says Smaro. “The fact that they are facing extinction attracts people baby turtles, looking like tiny black floating asterisks, head uncertainly towards them as they are in need of protection.” Every year, hundreds of for deeper water, and the ocean currents which will carry them to their young volunteers from many nations flock to Zakynthos and other Greek extraordinary destinies. beaches to help protect them.

“They are tiny and very cute, and arouse great sympathy in the public, Loggerheads are beset by adversity. Researchers believe that as few as as they grow up in a solitary, helpless way full of dangers,” said Smaro one in one thousand of the hatchlings will achieve their full lifespan.

Touliatou, Zakynthos Project Co-ordinator for ARCHELON, the Sea Bad weather disrupts hatching; nests are dug up by dogs and foxes; Turtle Protection Society of Greece, founded in 1983. seabirds pick off many of the baby turtles before they reach the shallows. Those that manage to reach the tidal currents in which they are carried into the wider oceans are devoured by larger fish; sharks and even seals remain a constant danger; many are damaged by fishing boats or caught in nets; and in the past 50 years tourists and pollution have posed a major threat.

Turtles are Darwinian mavericks. They remain relatively ponderous even in the sea – they cruise on average at just under one knot - even though they spend all of their adult lives in it. Unlike terrapins and tortoises, they cannot withdraw their heads into the protection of their shells; they are also too clumsy to catch fast-moving prey, and rely on the more sedate creatures at the bottom of the food chain to survive shellfish, jellyfish, sea urchins, some crabs, sponges, and sea grasses.

But they have other extraordinary attributes which have contributed to their survival. Their well-developed sense of smell helps them find food.

Their ability to store oxygen means they can drift asleep under water for six hours.

Loggerhead turtles from Zakynthos have been found swimming 1,500 kilometres away off the coasts of Italy, Tunisia, and Libya, apparently in

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8 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

planned migrations. (Pacific loggerheads complete migrations of up to 12,000 kilometres.) It might be 25 years before they return as adults to the beaches of their birth to mate.

How they return to these beaches remains the subject of continuing research. Recent studies in which loggerheads raised in captivity have been monitored by satellite via a transmitter on their shells, suggest that they have an innate “magnetic map sense” derived from their sensitivity to both the angle and intensity of the geomagnetic field, which enables them to negotiate adverse currents, and navigate back to the beach where they were hatched. The males seldom return to land.

But the females heave their bodies up the beach and hollow out a nest, sweeping away the top sand with their flippers, their rear flippers digging the hole. They lay four clutches of eggs every two or three years, on average about a clutch every fortnight, with an average of just over 100 eggs per clutch.

While laying the eggs the turtles’ eyes excrete a liquid which cleanses them of salt, and keeps them free of sand. They look as if they are crying. The eggs take seven to ten weeks to incubate. Hatchlings take from two to four days to reach the surface.

She and her volunteers face many difficulties, aggravated by the recession in Greece and elsewhere, which has curtailed funding, donations, and the ability of some volunteers to spend time abroad. A reduced number of Marine Park wardens led to more disruption by tourists.

“Recently the Ministry of Environment funded the NMPZ and all these daily issues are to be resolved,” Smaro said.

ARCHELON volunteers mount slideshows in hotels and on tourist boats, and man an information kiosk in the main square in Zakynthos.

They monitor nest sites and safeguard hatchlings. They tag turtles in the Gulf of Amvrakia. Marine Park wardens remind tourists on the beaches about the restrictions. There is even a turtle sponsorship scheme.

Smaro Touliatou “Generally speaking, most of the tourists are very The turtles nest on six main beaches in the interested in our work,” says Smaro. “The main Bay of Laganas, with Sekania accounting for problem is that they are not getting enough more than half of the total, making the bay the information about the legislation during their most important nesting area for loggerheads in the whole of the Mediterranean. It is a focal point for the work of ARCHELON, and the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, established in 1999.

Greece passed laws to help the conservationists in 1984 and 1990, which limit or ban many aspects of tourist development and activity. In 1994, night flights were also banned into and out of Zakynthos airport because the flight path passes over the beach of East Laganas. In three areas of the bay, fishing, tourist and pleasure boats have been either banned, or restricted to six knots. “But there are many issues that still need to be dealt with,” says Smaro.

September 2011 This summer’s ARCHELON volunteers

Female turtle scooping out a nest stay or before their arrival.”

And nature is capricious. In 2009 the lowest number of nests -824 -was reported in Zakynthos since ARCHELON first started records in 1984, which it calls “very concerning.” And a report into last year’s work showed that, unusually, and perhaps because of fish shortages, the majority of dead turtles found on Zakynthos had been killed by some of its tiny colony of monk seals. They are also a critically endangered species, which created a “moral dilemma,” said the report.

“Monk seals are fighting for survival as well as the turtles,” said Smaro. “This wonderful animal, often present in ancient Greek literature such as Homer’s Odyssey or Aristotle’s writings, is now pushed to the limit of survival.

Research is trying to understand what led to this, as it is quite uncommon. The moral dilemma is that both animals are endangered, trying to adapt to a world that humans rule, and there is no species you should favour.”

Additional research by Martin Stote.

Photos courtesy ARCHELON. Photo of volunteers: Kostas Papafitsoros stps@archelon.gr www.archelon.gr.

Venetia Gigi and Vasilis Lekkas marine biologists, offer Eco Cruising from Preveza. www.ecocruising.gr eco.cruising@yahoo.gr

www.theionian.com The Ionian 9

Review

Last meal in paradise Colin Vosper

None of us likes leaving the Ionian. But you can enjoy one last brief session of

Dimitra and Alketa

Greek hospitality and sunshine if you are flying home from Aktio/Preveza by visiting the Taverna Paradise just across the parking lot from the airport.

Jimmy Once you have checked in your luggage, you are free to leave the airport complex to enjoy your last hour or two in Greece, and forget the imminent prospect Alekos of indifferent English weather.

What better way of spending those precious moments than by relaxing in the garden or on the terrace of Taverna Paradise, which serves the most delicious food, and above all, a wide range of very cold beers.

Seated around the tables with food and a drink, there is no better time to recount to friends and family the highlights of your Greek holiday. If you're like me, you've got all sorts of holiday tales about the exotic beaches you've been to, your impression of the Greek food, and the crossed anchors in harbours like Fiskardo or Kioni.

There are also the last few chapters of your holiday reading to complete, and what better way of spending the last hour or so than with your book, a pizza and an ice cold beer or two.

The welcome at Taverna Paradise is second to none. Your host, Jimmy Tsoukis is always under pressure serving masses of customers, but he is sure to give you a very warm and personal greeting and his pizzas are to die for.

Don’t miss this oasis of delight. Yammas! Here’s to the next visit to Taverna Paradise.

Taverna Paradise, Aktio tel: 0030 26820 27000 Colin Vosper is retired from Further Education and sails with his wife Sally as "First Mate" and the children (now grown-up) who still like to join them aboard their most delightful Moody 34, .... Kalokeri.

They have sailed in the Ionian for the past ten seasons.

10 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

On The Water coast of Devon and Cornwall in the U.K. It seems to us that everyone in Greece wants larger and larger boats. If you are only out here for two months or so of the year, do two people really need a boat of over 40 feet? Admittedly, comparing our little boat to the bigger yachts is a bit like comparing a hike tent to a luxury caravan, but we manage very well.

We can sail even in the Ionian’s light winds and we can always find somewhere to anchor even in very busy spots like Sivota and Fiskardo. We can anchor in shallow sheltered spots where the big yachts can’t venture, and if we pull up our centreplate, we don’t even have to use the dinghy. We can simply wade ashore.

We can handle winds of up to force six, although admittedly it’s not much fun and we can’t fight big seas. But how many big boat sailors go out in those conditions? And the end of our holiday isn’t always the end of our sailing. We take Bravo Zulu home and sail in Brixham, Devon, as long as it’s not raining!

What are the practicalities? We take the ferry from Dover to Dunkerque, which if booked in advance is amazingly cheap. Then it’s motorway all the way to Venice, Italy. The motorway in France is free until Lille, fuel is very cheap in Luxembourg, and the German motorways are still free.

There is a small fee to pay entering Austria but after that the roads are free and the tolls in Italy are quite reasonable.

We stay in motorway service stations, sleeping in the boat. We have met some very nice lorry drivers that way, as we generally park in the lorry area.

Everyone has been very easy-going about us, unlike in the U.K. where you get fined for parking in the area reserved for trucks.

The ferry port at Venice is very easy to access and there is a huge (if expensive) car park nearby where you can stay overnight if necessary. It’s then just a short drive from Igoumentisa on the Greek mainland to Aktio.

Aktio Marine boat yard is excellent. They find space for our trailer and allow us to launch from their slip. If you didn’t want to sail from Aktio to Lefkas, there is a slip at Palairos with parking for a trailer.

We bring out very little in the way of clothes (how much do you need in Greece in the summer?) We eat out a lot, but we can cook on an Origo stove that uses methylated spirits. We don’t have a fridge to go wrong, just a very effective cool bag that lives below the waterline. There is no sea toilet to block up - Porta Potties are wonderful. We have a hand-held GPS, a VHF radio that runs off AA batteries, a wind speed indicator, a barometer, a small set of charts, a pilot book - and lots of fun.

Trailer Sailors Glenys and Bob Hayward

I

n his book, A Sea Blue Boat, published 40 years ago, Ian Brook

wrote how he towed Aeolus, an 18-foot open Drascombe Lugger from London to the Aegean, there to sail her on a clear blue sea off which the sun struck “dazzling flashes of light.”

We are always surprised at the small number of people nowadays who tow small sailing boats to Greece, because in our experience it is a way of sailing which has many advantages.

We tow our 19-foot, gaff rigged Cape Cutter from the U.K. in about four days, but you can complete the journey in less time. We don’t always come to Greece, although it is our favourite sailing area. We have trailed to Croatia, France, Italy and even the whole of the south west

Photos courtesy of Becky Holdstock, Day Sail Adventures, Nidri. www.daysailgreece.net

ANTIFOULING PAINT AND

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 11

Business Services

12 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

Also yachts for sale, sharp prices !!

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 13

Vliho, Lefkada Island

TSAKALIS KOSTAS PALEROS

14 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011

tel: 26450 95052

6981 229224 6979 609808

Classy Ads Email: admin@theionian.com NAUTICAT 33 FOR SALE: 1995 Ketch, Rerigged 2011, £130,000 +30 6948491008 or mumlovestravel@hotmail.co.uk

OFFSHORE CATAMARAN FOR SALE: Owner designed and built. Plywood, epoxy and glass. 14 m. long, 7.5 m. beam. 36 h.p. Yanmar diesel outboard. 6 solar panels, main battonsystem Frederiksen, genoa, jib, staysail, stormsail.

Two refrigerators. Ready to cruise. Launched in 1996. Austrian flag. 2.6 m. hard bottom RIB dinghy with new Yamaha 4 h.p. outboard.

55,000 Euros. Located in Ionion Marine, Aktio, Greece. email: karl.skorepa@gmail.com or telephone 0043 699 171 083 22

FOR SALE: Peters 36 - a quarter share in a fine classic style yacht in long standing Ionian syndicate. Based in Levkas Marina summer 2011. £7,000 ono for 4-6 weeks sailing each year. Also: Mariner 4 hp outboard, 2 stroke, serviced 2010; CQR anchor 22kg; Anchor chain 10mm size x 48 m. tel: 00447831260321 philip.rutledge@blueyonder.co.uk FOR SALE: Perkins 4-108; 1981; Warner & Borg Velvet Drive RH 1.91:1 ratio; 5000 hrs.

Shaft and propeller Michigan Dynajet 16X9, set of spare injectors. Euro 1500. mwirth@vtx.ch

Experienced CELLO player looking for others to play with. Willing to travel. I live in Palaeros and have a Steinway upright at home.

0030 69718 75968 or machula@xs4all.nl MISSED THE BOAT? To place an advert please call: 0030 69486 46764 or Email: advertising@theionian.com by the 10th of each month.

More information on our website:

The editor of The Ionian seeks house sitting position this winter.

Please contact: 694 864 6764.

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FOR SALE: Seldom used aluminium and APARTMENT FOR SALE: 60 sq. m. 30 years teak “passerelle”/gangplank at half retail old. Centre of Vonitsa. 970 Euros per sq. m. price—450 Euros. For more information, Please call 0030 69371 15056 for information. please email: rodmccallum@hotmail.com

Send in your answer to: editor@theionian.com Correct answer will be published next month.

You Have The Last Word We welcome your letters and emails. Please write, not exceeding 250 words to: editor@theionian.com. (Letters may be edited.)

Dear Editor, Re: Off the beaten track in the Ionian (August 2011 issue) I can't be the only one to be irritated/annoyed/ downright upset about the above article.

We all have our favourite quiet places around here and they largely remain quiet because we only tell our best friends, NOT publish their whereabouts to hundreds! Are you so desperate for articles?

Why not have some serious articles on for example the current Greek problems, why the taxi drivers and others are striking? Even a book review or two?

Perhaps C. King is moving on after two years here so she can spill the beans on other quiet spots.

Regards, Angela Oliver (S.Y. Namutoni) Deputy Editor Martin Stote replies while waiting for Cathy King to respond: Dear Angela, I am sorry that this article caused you so much offence. It offered, as you rightly say, a sample of a few of Cathy King's favourite quiet spots. You obviously have your own, and I sincerely hope that you continue to enjoy them.

All of the anchorages mentioned by Cathy are in Rod Heikell's pilot, and I don't know of any yacht sailing in the Ionian that hasn't a copy on board. So she wasn't really disclosing any great secrets, merely expressing her preferences.

The Ionian magazine was only launched last year. We say on our website, "Our mission is to promote tourism and yachting in the Ionian while serving as a platform for environment and culture appreciation and protection."

I am not sure that we are qualified to comment on the current financial situation in Greece. As for book reviews, we have one in this issue.

other day, while anchored in Ormos Variko.

Luckily I was not using the windlass just hauling it in by hand to take the snubber off.

The windlass would have mashed the little critter. I picked him off and put him (or Cathy King’s response: perhaps her - I didn't ask) back in the water and Sorry for the delay, we're in England it swam off apparently unharmed by its little preparing for a family gathering with my adventure. parents’ Diamond wedding anniversary, so it's So it's good to haul the anchor in by hand. It's a bit manic at the moment. exercise so it's good for you and you might Quite happy to go with Martin's reply. He's save a seahorse! right to say I haven't disclosed any secrets at all Robin and Helen Lamb (S.Y. Sundowner) as they're all well known anchorages. The article gave my personal experience of looking for peace and quiet in high season — which I felt was worth sharing with other yachties.

It is part of the cruising way of life that we share what we know with other cruising folk because we like to help each other. It could be how to fix something, where to find the spares someone is looking for, what the weather is going to be like, good places to visit, etc. etc.

It was in this spirit of sharing that I offered some suggestions of quiet anchorages to spend the night - no secrets divulged, just advice I would offer any cruiser who was wondering Dear Editor, how to get away from it all.

I wondered if you might be intrigued by a Publisher/Managing Editor’s response: photo of a very rare bird. I wonder how many I for one, prefer the hustle and bustle of places others have spotted this rare bird .... the White Condor of the Ionian! like Fiskardo — not everyone wants to get It is of course the cutting for the new road to away from it all. Perhaps next summer we will Athens around the headland on the mainland have an article on where the best parties are! across from Lefkada Island.

Thank you for your letter, Angela — The Colin Vosper (S.Y. Kalokieri) Ionian welcomes reader’s input, whether it is through letters to the editor or articles on your Dear Colin: favourite topic concerning the Ionian.

The "White Condor of the Ionian" - you almost had me convinced! Naughty! Thank you Dear Editor; I picked up a seahorse on my anchor chain the for the photo.

September 2011 www.theionian.com The Ionian 15

16 The Ionian www.theionian.com September 2011