Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Antipaxos Island
Ormos Voutimi
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
26 May - 28 May 2004 Gaios
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Paxos Island
Gaios
Nisis Ay Nikolaos
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, on sand, opposite the 15th-century CE medieval fort.Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map
Fieldtesting our new polyethylene hard tender and visiting the tiny island Nisis Panagia and its scenic, fully walled-in Greek-Orthodox monastery.
Clambering up the 15th-century CE Venetian fortress of Agios Nikolaos and spotting a couple of colourful rock partridges (Alectoris graeca) in the undergrowth.
Feasting on barbequed octopus at the taverna “Apaghio”, tasting the allegedly famous and rare (but somewhat sickly) red wine of Antipaxos, a little island which lies S of Paxos, and later, on the beach, soothing our palates with a bottle of full-bodied Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from our ship’s medicine chest.
2004 Map
Fieldtesting our new polyethylene hard tender and visiting the tiny island Nisis Panagia and its scenic, fully walled-in Greek-Orthodox monastery.
Clambering up the 15th-century CE Venetian fortress of Agios Nikolaos and spotting a couple of colourful rock partridges (Alectoris graeca) in the undergrowth.
Feasting on barbequed octopus at the taverna “Apaghio”, tasting the allegedly famous and rare (but somewhat sickly) red wine of Antipaxos, a little island which lies S of Paxos, and later, on the beach, soothing our palates with a bottle of full-bodied Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from our ship’s medicine chest.
24 May - 26 May 2004 Valtou
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Parga
Ormos Valtou
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach, W of the 1570 CE Venetian citadel.Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map
Exploring Parga, once a small Venetian seaport on a dangerous, precipitous coast, which is reminiscent of Amalfi/Italy, with a citadel embellished with the Lion of St. Mark set on top of a conical hill, above a labyrinth of narrow streets.
Matt: Tracing the origins of the River Styx (ancient Potamos Akheron) and visiting the Necromanteion of Ephyra, the entrance to Hades, where the ancient Greeks practised necromancy with the oracle of the dead.
2004 Map
Exploring Parga, once a small Venetian seaport on a dangerous, precipitous coast, which is reminiscent of Amalfi/Italy, with a citadel embellished with the Lion of St. Mark set on top of a conical hill, above a labyrinth of narrow streets.
Matt: Tracing the origins of the River Styx (ancient Potamos Akheron) and visiting the Necromanteion of Ephyra, the entrance to Hades, where the ancient Greeks practised necromancy with the oracle of the dead.
22 May - 24 May 2004 Lakka
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Paxos Island
Lakka
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
Anchoring in the first blue-water anchorage of this year's sailing season: crystal-clear aquamarine water and white sand, slopes covered with silver green olive groves with the occasional cypress sticking up, all this under the azure blue Greek sky.
Sipping lekker Greek Moscofilero white wine amongst the friendly locals at the picturesque Lakka water front which is located on a natural, almost circular harbour created by two headlands sheltering the bay from the open sea.
Hiking through the captivating landscape of dense, centuries-old olive groves, snaking dry-stone walls and abandoned stone olive presses on Paxos to the old lighthouse at Lakka and further on to the church of Candlemas at Ipapanti without meeting anyone from the immensely wealthy Agnelli family (of Fiat fame) who lives on this lovely island.
2004 Map
Anchoring in the first blue-water anchorage of this year's sailing season: crystal-clear aquamarine water and white sand, slopes covered with silver green olive groves with the occasional cypress sticking up, all this under the azure blue Greek sky.
Sipping lekker Greek Moscofilero white wine amongst the friendly locals at the picturesque Lakka water front which is located on a natural, almost circular harbour created by two headlands sheltering the bay from the open sea.
Hiking through the captivating landscape of dense, centuries-old olive groves, snaking dry-stone walls and abandoned stone olive presses on Paxos to the old lighthouse at Lakka and further on to the church of Candlemas at Ipapanti without meeting anyone from the immensely wealthy Agnelli family (of Fiat fame) who lives on this lovely island.
18 May - 22 May 2004 Garitsas
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Corfu Island
Ormos Garitsas
Ak Sidhero
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, below the old citadels which the Turks never succeeded in taking from the Venetians.Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map
Waving goodbye to the beautifulisland of Corfu aka Kerkyra, perennially connected to the history of Greece
Passing the area of the Naval Battle of Sibota (433 BCE) where the Kerkyrians fought the Corinthian triremes during the Peloponnesian War and in which a total of c. 290 warships participated (c. 150 Corinthian triremes, c. 30 Athenian triremes and c. 110 triremes from Corfu; their crew amounted to c. 58,000 men), according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time, and a nuts-and-bolts test ground for the development and refinement of the trireme, the supreme naval ship for the next several hundred of years.
2004 Map
Waving goodbye to the beautiful
Passing the area of the Naval Battle of Sibota (433 BCE) where the Kerkyrians fought the Corinthian triremes during the Peloponnesian War and in which a total of c. 290 warships participated (c. 150 Corinthian triremes, c. 30 Athenian triremes and c. 110 triremes from Corfu; their crew amounted to c. 58,000 men), according to Thucydides, the largest naval battle between Greek city states until that time, and a nuts-and-bolts test ground for the development and refinement of the trireme, the supreme naval ship for the next several hundred of years.
15 May - 18 May 2004 Kalami
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Corfu Island
North Corfu Channel
Ormos Kalami
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
Inviting our hiking buddies Julie and Darren to SY “Kamu II’s” uneventful shake-down cruise for the year 2004 and motoring together over the mirror-like water betweenCorfu Island
Having a nostalgic dinner, together with Julie and Darren, at the White House where Lawrence Durrell, the famous novelist and travel writer whose name is synonymous withCorfu , lived in order to escape both the English weather and the stultifying English culture - what Durrell has called "the English death".
2004 Map
Inviting our hiking buddies Julie and Darren to SY “Kamu II’s” uneventful shake-down cruise for the year 2004 and motoring together over the mirror-like water between
Having a nostalgic dinner, together with Julie and Darren, at the White House where Lawrence Durrell, the famous novelist and travel writer whose name is synonymous with
01 Jan - 15 May 2004 Gouvia Marina
Mediterranean Sea
Ionian Sea
Hellenic Republic of Greece
Corfu Island
Gouvia Marina +302661090309
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and with two permanent bow moorings.
€ 245.- per month for low season (January - March).
€ 447.- per month for high season (April and May).
Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:
Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:
Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map
Celebrating Epiphany, a Christian feast day which commemorates the alleged revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus (and which marks the end of the traditional seasonal ban on sailing during the winter, as the tumultuous Mediterranean winter seas are cleansed of the mischief-prone kalikántzaroi, the goblins that try to torment God-fearing Christians through the festive season), and watching a Greek Orthodox priest who released (after the crucession [the procession with the cross]) a brass (“Golden”) cross off the marina jetty, at an estimated depth of about 5 m, as the Great Blessing of the Waters, for one of the volunteering swimmers to retrieve it from the cold marina water and to receive in exchange a more personalized blessing.
Meeting (ii) a group of kalikántzaroi-fearing wintering yotties from all over the planet and having a good time together with Uli and Joerg (SY "Misfits") from Germany/Austria, the Brits Jenny and Pat (SY "Muscavado III"), Barbara and David (SY "Ocean Fantasy") from England, Sheila and Pat (SY "Shecat") from the UK/Canada, Linda and Kev (SY "Orion") from the UK, Veronique and Bruno (SY "Arznael") from France, Theres and Toni (SY "Nelea") from Switzerland, Leanne and Ray (SY "Ozsea") from Down Under, the Germans Andrea and Andi (SY "Pendragon"), Anita, Thomas, Karla and Dane (SY "Cestrian") from South Africa and Jill and Will (SY "It's a Doddle") from the UK, and (ii) quite a few wonderful local/expat landlubbers such as Bev and Yanni, Sonja and Heinz, Julie and Darren, June and more; many thanks to all of you for your great company during this winter!
Konni: Joining a multinational group of weekend hikers, always led by the mercurial mutt Ira (and her mistress Hilary), exploring the Corfu Trail and other secret countryside hiking paths (e.g. between Glyfada and Ermones), admiring the old villages (e.g. Spartylas and Stavros) and the view from the tall cliffs onto theIonian Sea (e.g. between Peroulades and Sidari).
Supporting our friend Peter’s chandlery Boatman’s World +302661080104, spending a heluvalot of money and always getting excellent value for it in exchange; many thanks to Peter, Franz and to all the others of his competent crew.
Refilling one of our 9-kg LPG cylinders for € 19.- (including the dockside delivery by car) from Boatman’s World +302661080104 .
Laundering for € 7.50 per 6-kg load at the local laundry in Kontokali, situated right behind the marina.
Enjoying tremendously the visit of our daughter Ulrike (having a serious case of yellow fever) and her latest acquisition, her very likable Chinese-Canadian boyfriend Chris, who together joined us for a trip, via Ioannina (so-named after St. John the Baptist), the home of the infamous Albanian ruler Ali Pasha and the site of the picturesque island of Nissaki, (i) to the snow covered traditional mountain village of Metsovo (divided into two parts by the enormous chasm of the Metsovitiko river: the prosilio [facing the sun] and the anilio [away from the sun]) and (ii) to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the unique Greek orthodox Meteora monasteries, an amazing place with the monasteries balanced atop columns, pilasters, stalagmites, giant mushrooms, needles, pinnacles, islands, spikes, cylinders, drums, stacks, obelisks and tusks of sheer rock.
Gaping at the St. Spyridon procession in Corfu Town on Palm Sunday and listening to the story that he allegedley converted a pagan philosopher to Christianity by using a potsherd to illustrate how one single entity (a piece of pottery) could be composed of three unique entities (fire, water and clay); a metaphor for the almost unbelievable Christian doctrine of the Trinity.
Celebrating Easter in Corfu, a unique cultural experience and a huge festival, in which various components came together harmoniously, such as the Greek-Orthodox Christian faith, hefty pagan traditions, the powerful presence of Saint Spyridon, the Roman Catholic community, the Venetian influence, genuine Corfiot humour, the music of the philharmonic brass bands and the spring atmosphere which altogether climaxed on Holy Saturday at 11:00 a.m. when the First Resurrection and the "Pot Throwing" custom took place, and the local people threw pots out of their windows, smashing them onto the streets below.
Reading Nicolas Gage’s moving book “Eleni” about the Greek Civil War (1944 - 1949 CE, one of the first Cold-War conflicts), in Epiros (that part of Greece that somehow seems remote from it, located between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea which had been Albanian under the Turkish empire, and is still in many ways more Albanian than Greek).
Touring the lush and hilly countryside of the W part of Corfu Island with a hired Hyundai Atos for € 30.- per day thus visiting (i) Paleokastritsa, one of the most beautiful villages in Corfu with an exceptional scenery of wooded headlands with lemon and cypress trees and olive groves, (ii) the monastery Moni Theotokou, perched on the rocky promontory, and (iii) the ruins of the 13th-century CE Byzantine fortress of Angelokastro that withstood the Turkish onslaught in 1571 CE.
Touring the S part of Corfu Island with a hired Hyundai Atos for € 30.- per day and enjoying a breathtaking sunset at Kaiser's Throne near the village of Pelekas, the favourite lookout of both Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria, aka Sissi, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (who used to spend his summers at the Achilleion Palace on Corfu).
Matt: Listening to the Oracle of Zeus, the oldest of the pagan Greek oracles, at the sacred oak grove in Dodoni/Epiros and studying the (brain-washing) techniques of the three priestesses who kept the shrine and who interpreted the oracle’s oracles: (i) systematic sensory deprivation and isolation, (ii) artful use of deliberately vague and unspecific language patterns and (iii) undercover gathering of detailed intelligence about the client.
Matt: Buying a one-day package tour to Albania thus (i) visiting the harbour town of Sarande, (ii) the ruins of Butrint, an ancient Greek city, archaeological site and “UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger" because of looting, lack of protection and mismanagement (the latter still in line with Nikita Khrushchev who visited these ruins in 1959 CE and suggested that Enver Hoxha should turn the area into a submarine base), and (iii) sticking his nose into only half a dozen of Albania's over 600,000 (!) concrete pillbox bunkers.
2004 Map
Celebrating Epiphany, a Christian feast day which commemorates the alleged revelation of God in human form in the person of Jesus (and which marks the end of the traditional seasonal ban on sailing during the winter, as the tumultuous Mediterranean winter seas are cleansed of the mischief-prone kalikántzaroi, the goblins that try to torment God-fearing Christians through the festive season), and watching a Greek Orthodox priest who released (after the crucession [the procession with the cross]) a brass (“Golden”) cross off the marina jetty, at an estimated depth of about 5 m, as the Great Blessing of the Waters, for one of the volunteering swimmers to retrieve it from the cold marina water and to receive in exchange a more personalized blessing.
Meeting (ii) a group of kalikántzaroi-fearing wintering yotties from all over the planet and having a good time together with Uli and Joerg (SY "Misfits") from Germany/Austria, the Brits Jenny and Pat (SY "Muscavado III"), Barbara and David (SY "Ocean Fantasy") from England, Sheila and Pat (SY "Shecat") from the UK/Canada, Linda and Kev (SY "Orion") from the UK, Veronique and Bruno (SY "Arznael") from France, Theres and Toni (SY "Nelea") from Switzerland, Leanne and Ray (SY "Ozsea") from Down Under, the Germans Andrea and Andi (SY "Pendragon"), Anita, Thomas, Karla and Dane (SY "Cestrian") from South Africa and Jill and Will (SY "It's a Doddle") from the UK, and (ii) quite a few wonderful local/expat landlubbers such as Bev and Yanni, Sonja and Heinz, Julie and Darren, June and more; many thanks to all of you for your great company during this winter!
Konni: Joining a multinational group of weekend hikers, always led by the mercurial mutt Ira (and her mistress Hilary), exploring the Corfu Trail and other secret countryside hiking paths (e.g. between Glyfada and Ermones), admiring the old villages (e.g. Spartylas and Stavros) and the view from the tall cliffs onto the
Supporting our friend Peter’s chandlery Boatman’s World +302661080104, spending a heluvalot of money and always getting excellent value for it in exchange; many thanks to Peter, Franz and to all the others of his competent crew.
Refilling one of our 9-kg LPG cylinders for € 19.- (including the dockside delivery by car) from Boatman’s World +302661080104 .
Laundering for € 7.50 per 6-kg load at the local laundry in Kontokali, situated right behind the marina.
Enjoying tremendously the visit of our daughter Ulrike (having a serious case of yellow fever) and her latest acquisition, her very likable Chinese-Canadian boyfriend Chris, who together joined us for a trip, via Ioannina (so-named after St. John the Baptist), the home of the infamous Albanian ruler Ali Pasha and the site of the picturesque island of Nissaki, (i) to the snow covered traditional mountain village of Metsovo (divided into two parts by the enormous chasm of the Metsovitiko river: the prosilio [facing the sun] and the anilio [away from the sun]) and (ii) to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the unique Greek orthodox Meteora monasteries, an amazing place with the monasteries balanced atop columns, pilasters, stalagmites, giant mushrooms, needles, pinnacles, islands, spikes, cylinders, drums, stacks, obelisks and tusks of sheer rock.
Gaping at the St. Spyridon procession in Corfu Town on Palm Sunday and listening to the story that he allegedley converted a pagan philosopher to Christianity by using a potsherd to illustrate how one single entity (a piece of pottery) could be composed of three unique entities (fire, water and clay); a metaphor for the almost unbelievable Christian doctrine of the Trinity.
Celebrating Easter in Corfu, a unique cultural experience and a huge festival, in which various components came together harmoniously, such as the Greek-Orthodox Christian faith, hefty pagan traditions, the powerful presence of Saint Spyridon, the Roman Catholic community, the Venetian influence, genuine Corfiot humour, the music of the philharmonic brass bands and the spring atmosphere which altogether climaxed on Holy Saturday at 11:00 a.m. when the First Resurrection and the "Pot Throwing" custom took place, and the local people threw pots out of their windows, smashing them onto the streets below.
Reading Nicolas Gage’s moving book “Eleni” about the Greek Civil War (1944 - 1949 CE, one of the first Cold-War conflicts), in Epiros (that part of Greece that somehow seems remote from it, located between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea which had been Albanian under the Turkish empire, and is still in many ways more Albanian than Greek).
Touring the lush and hilly countryside of the W part of Corfu Island with a hired Hyundai Atos for € 30.- per day thus visiting (i) Paleokastritsa, one of the most beautiful villages in Corfu with an exceptional scenery of wooded headlands with lemon and cypress trees and olive groves, (ii) the monastery Moni Theotokou, perched on the rocky promontory, and (iii) the ruins of the 13th-century CE Byzantine fortress of Angelokastro that withstood the Turkish onslaught in 1571 CE.
Touring the S part of Corfu Island with a hired Hyundai Atos for € 30.- per day and enjoying a breathtaking sunset at Kaiser's Throne near the village of Pelekas, the favourite lookout of both Kaiserin Elisabeth of Austria, aka Sissi, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany (who used to spend his summers at the Achilleion Palace on Corfu).
Matt: Listening to the Oracle of Zeus, the oldest of the pagan Greek oracles, at the sacred oak grove in Dodoni/Epiros and studying the (brain-washing) techniques of the three priestesses who kept the shrine and who interpreted the oracle’s oracles: (i) systematic sensory deprivation and isolation, (ii) artful use of deliberately vague and unspecific language patterns and (iii) undercover gathering of detailed intelligence about the client.
Matt: Buying a one-day package tour to Albania thus (i) visiting the harbour town of Sarande, (ii) the ruins of Butrint, an ancient Greek city, archaeological site and “UNESCO World Heritage Site in Danger" because of looting, lack of protection and mismanagement (the latter still in line with Nikita Khrushchev who visited these ruins in 1959 CE and suggested that Enver Hoxha should turn the area into a submarine base), and (iii) sticking his nose into only half a dozen of Albania's over 600,000 (!) concrete pillbox bunkers.
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