27 Jun - 30 Jun 2004 Vathi

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Ithaka Island
Vathi
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, inside the protected harbour, one of the world's largest natural harbours.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Hiring a red 80 cc Honda scooter for € 12.- per day, huffing and puffing over the mountainous island of Ithaka and visiting the famous sites which are allegedly connected to Homer’s Odyssey, such as (i) the Cave of the Nymphs, (ii) Odysseus' palace and (iii) ancient Phorkys where the Phaeacians had disembarked and had laid the sleeping Odysseus on the sand.

Meeting Greek emigrants/expats from countries as diverse as the USA, Australia and South Africa during their summer holiday back home on Ithaka and talking with them about their archfiend Wilhelm Dörpfeld, a 19th-century CE German archaeologist who stated that Odysseus' palace was allegedly located on neighbouring Levkas Island and not on Ithaka.

Haunting the local kafeneio (coffee house), where elderly men gather every morning without fail, where they sip on short blacks, click and twirl their worry beads and chat and argue over games of cards, sampling the gooey rovani, a warm Ithacan traditional rice and honey sweet, and snacking on riganado (slices of bread dipped into water and then topped with oregano, olive oil, tomato and white local cheese).

25 Jun - 27 Jun 2004 Kioni

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Ithaka Island
Kioni
SY "Kamu II" at anchor (on a very short chain), inside the harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Konni: Exploring the quaint fishing village of Kioni with its unique abandoned wind mills and white red-roofed houses, which enjoys a truly unforgettable hillside setting on the breathtakingly beautiful Kioni bay on Ithaka’s N coast, about 15 nm away from the tiny island capital of Vathy.

23 Jun - 25 Jun 2004 Port Kastos

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Kastos Island
Port Kastos
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, outside the tiny fishing harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Giving standing ovation to our British yottie friends Jill, Gary and Ed from SY "Second Nature" who accidentally put their anchor right onto our anchor chain at a depth of about 8 m and who later freed skilfully and successfully their trapped anchor from our heavy, half-inch anchor chain - business before pleasure, and many thanks for throwing such a sumptuous dinner party, but before, what a schlepp!

Preferring the local white wine, to be on the safe side instead of drinking the local water, during the feast of St. John at Port Kastos, a charming village that has only recently come back to life after the villagers had been evacuated in 1976 CE because of a water-borne serious typhoid outbreak.

Relishing a great dinner party at the taverna “Windmill” with unforgettable arekia live music, performed in four parts by a voluptuous Greek songstress with a great voice, and supported by a graceful syrtos-like handkerchief folk dance of two elderly Greek gentlemen.

22 Jun - 23 Jun 2004 Port Leone

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Kalamos Island
Kefali ala Port Leone
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, on thick weed.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Anchoring off the ruined, abandoned houses of Kefali village that was completely deserted after the mighty 1953 CE earthquake which destroyed the village’s water supply and where the lonely Greek-Orthodox church is the only building that has been rebuilt since the quake.

21 Jun - 22 Jun 2004 Atokos

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Atokos Island
One-house Bay
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Climbing the macchia-covered hills above this scenic anchorage and marvelling at the view from the high cliffs down onto huge eroded rocks, the fine sandy beach, our ship SY “Kamu II” with her South-African flag fluttering in the breeze … and onto c. 20 other (charter) sailing yachts at anchor; this is obviously a magnet for sailors but still a very pleasant spot for anchoring.

20 Jun - 21 Jun 2004 Assos

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Cephalonia Island
Assos
SY "Kamu II" at anchor (on a very short chain), inside the natural harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Passing Cape Levkas where the proto-lesbian and perhaps bisexual lyric poet Sappho allegedly jumped from the Leucadian cliffs (White Cliff, rising some 70 m from the sea) to her death in around 570 BCE after her lover Phaon, a ferryman from Mitylene on Lesbos, had refused her love.

Visiting the dominating 1595 CE Venetian fortress on the steep peninsula, located W of the beautiful coastal village of Assos and overlooking the bay from “aloft”.

Pigging out on delicious seafood at the finest taverna in the Ionians, so far: restaurant "Anait" at the harbour front which is made up of whitewashed and pastel Greek houses under a blue sky.

Chillaxing in our cockpit and reading about Cephalonia during the time of WWII in Louis de Bernieres’ popular novel "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" which is believed to be based on events that occurred in the picturesque village of Farsa, just outside of Argostoli.

16 Jun - 20 Jun 2004 Vlikho

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Levkas Island
Ormos Vlikho
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach, on sand.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Enjoying the amenities of the well-managed full-service Vlikho Yacht Club: well-stocked bar, cheap pub grub, fast internet, hot shower, clean laundry, big-screen rugby/cricket and up-to-date book exchange - all the necessary features to constitute haven for livaboard cruisers.

16 Jun - 16 Jun 2004 Skorpios

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Skorpios Island
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach, on sand.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Anchoring off right opposite Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' modest "beach-hut" at Skorpios Island and lunching/partying together with our yottie friends Sheila and Patrick (SY “Shecat”) and Bernie, Ed, Margaret and Dick (SY "Balimena") in the spacious catamaran cockpit of SY "Shecat".

15 Jun - 16 Jun 2004 Atheni

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Meganisi Island
Ormos Atheni
SY "Kamu II" at bow anchor, stern to the shore, with three land lines tied to trees and rocks.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
N 38° 40.10' E 020° 47.91'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

13 Jun - 15 Jun 2004 Abelike

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Meganisi Island
Ormos Abelike
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, on sand.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Exploring unspoilt Meganisi, a tranquil island very close to Levkas, with olive-grove terracing in a lovely, verdant landscape, fishing villages with picturesque houses and an abundance of bougainvilleas and with deep, secluded bays of crystal-clear aquamarine water, fringed by pebbled beaches.

12 Jun - 13 Jun 2004 Kapali

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Meganisi Island
Ormos Kapali
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, on shingle.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
N 38° 40.35' E 020° 47.20'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

12 Jun - 12 Jun 2004 Skorpios

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Skorpios Island
Harbour Bay
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Setting foot on the CCTV-guarded beach of Skorpios Island, the late Greek shipping billionaire Aristotle Onassis’ private island (valued at over US$ 200 million) where he married Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968 CE, and always staying below the high water mark, thus obeying the Greek law which states that though one can purchase a whole island but one cannot own any part of it below the high water mark - not even if you are the owner of a large fleet of big oil tankers.

10 Jun - 12 Jun 2004 Varko

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Levkas Island
Ormos Varko
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Giving “priority to ships from the southern direction” (according to the canal rules) for our yottie friends Sheila and Pat on their beamy catamaran SY "Shecat" whom we came across exactly at the narrowest point of the tricky S Levkas canal.

09 Jun - 10 Jun 2004 Levkas

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Levkas Island
Levkas Town
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and with one bow anchor in stinking mud.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Passing through the 20-m wide floating bridge (opposite the 14th-century CE Venetian fortress of Santa Maura) which opens only for a few minutes on every full hour (running on GMT: “Greek Maybe Time”) and right in time turned around on itself thus allowing SY “Kamu II” to uneventfully motor into the N Levkas canal with Gyra (which is one of Levkas’ natural beauties, a narrow strip of white sand, c. 7 km long, which embraces the lagoon on the N side of the island where fish are bred in traditional wicker baskets) on our starboard.

Studying the peculiar earthquake-resistant architecture of Levkas town - which exhibited a remarkably reduced vulnerability to earthquake actions as just seen in the most recent magnitude 6.4 earthquake on 14 August 2003 CE, less than one year ago  - where the buildings have wooden structural frames with brick-fill, the lower floors panelled in wood and the upper floors lined with painted sheet metal or corrugated iron and where the belfries of the churches are mostly made of metal girders.

06 Jun - 09 Jun 2004 Preveza

Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Preveza
Town Marina
SY "Kamu II" alongside.
€ 5.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Falling into the moneygrubbing harbourmaster’s trap and supporting the ailing Greek economy by paying the first (and last) instalment of € 446.- for the infamous Greek transit log that we were forced to buy for our SY “Kamu II” (which flies a South African flag and which is registered in Cape Town, outside of the European fortress).

Refuelling with 90 litres of diesel fuel for € 0.75 per litre.