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.
