Cruising The Med - Sandy and Rob's Excellent Adventure: Cruise from Cephalonia to Ithaca

Having had a really amazing time in Agia Efimia on the island of Cephalonia, we left at around 4 o'clock after all our laundry was finished.

Speaking of laundry.... The wind actually got up while we were having lunch. I saw a bed sheet barley hanging on to the jib sheets where we had hung it to dry and sprinted to save it.

About 30 min later, Rob returned to the boat for his running shoes so he could walk to the bank.

When he arrived, a boat entering the harbour hollered at him. We had lost laundry over the side as the wind had done a 180 and was pretty strong!

Rob had to jump overboard and save the slip cover for the pillows. Nice job dear....

Seems somewhat harrowing but with crystal clear water at over 80 degrees it is hard to get too excited.

Rob dried off and we were on our way.

We crossed the passage between Cephalonia and Ithaca and anchored just around the southern tip of Ithaca in a bay that was lovely and secluded with only a few other boats and lots of room between us.

We decided to put a line ashore so it was my turn to go swimming.

This place is full of really craggy interesting rock that has eroded into really beautiful patterns along the shore. The water was so clear I was able to photograph the bottom 20 feet down from the back of the boat. Even without direct sunlight, the water here sparkled.

We had a restful calm evening and then it happened. RAIN!!! ( perhaps some strange Friday the 13th joke?) This is the second time we have seen rain since June 14th in the med. The first being 15 min of rain in Montenegro in July one afternoon. It rained for about 30 minutes which of course did nothing to dampen our spirits!! Actually good to rinse the salt of the boat!

We started out at around 10am with no wind, the usual around here. We toured past the southern part of Cephalonia and then across the ionian sea to Zankithos.

As we turned at the end of the island of Cephalonia on our way to Zankithos we met with 15 knots of glorious wind and small waves!!

We were sailing!!! We sailing with out the motor almost all afternoon and arrived at the main port of Zankithos (Also known as Zante) at around 3:30pm. We travelled around 40 nautical miles today.

We anchored outside the busy harbour and have taken the dinghy in for some beer and internet where I now write from.

We hope to explore more of the island tomorrow and the next day!!

View of the South East Coast of Cephalonia in the Late Afternoon - The highest Mountain here is over 5,000 ft!

The jagged rock at our anchorage on Ithaca

View to the bottom more than 20, feet down in crystal clear, transparent water

Evidence I swam for the team to attach yet another line - Avoiding Sea Urchins and some Sharp Rocks!

As I swam over to the rocks to release the stern line, I saw a bright red starfish like this one in the water just to the right of the rock we tied to. Very pretty!