Cruising The Med - Sandy and Rob's Excellent Adventure: Sivota on Lefkas

On Thursday, Sept 19 we sailed from Kastos back past the south end of kalamos over to the Bay of Sivota.

On our way there, we also sailed past the south end of Menganisi which has a few caves. The most notable one is rumoured to have housed a mini submarine during the Second World War.

Sivota had good reviews from many of the charter companies so we thought we would check it out.

I also discovered they have a fun regatta the 3rd Thursday of every September so that sealed the deal.

When we arrived, the harbour was not too busy and very pretty so we decided to stay.

There is lots of room at the quay but as usual we like to drop anchor so we did in the bay just a few hundered metres off the quay and regatta headquarters.

We enjoyed laying in the back of the boat watching the world go by and the usual entertainment of watching those with little experience try to moor med style, dropping anchor in the bay while in reverse resting stern-to on the quay.

There were also the usual day trippers, including a pirate ship which apparently had arrived on the race course and started a bun fight with some of the competitors.

When the racing was over, the comittee boat headed in with a style and entrance I have never witnessed at the dozens of regattas I have attended over the years. Blaring "Pomp and Circumstance" from a sizable stereo system and blasting their race cannon it was clear to all they were arriving back in the harbour!

In the late afternoon we headed to shore with the dinghy and a great lunch/dinner at the race headquarters restaurant.

After dinner, we headed to the south end of Sivota to a really great bar/cafe which is situated in an old Olive Press which is more than 100 years old.

They had great coffee, beer, and hot chocolate soufle which we really enjoyed! We met a number of sailors at the cafe who had raced Hobie 16 and 18's in the regatta and they had been at it for 4 days and had a blast!

They came from all over the world for this particular week and stayed with "Wildwind" which is a company specializing in sailing holidays.

Most of the boats flew regatta flags so in the spirit of the regatta we hoisted our Rolex Cup flag from the BVI's this past winter. Good fun!

There was a good band which played into the wee hours but we enjoyed the tunes from 'The Lodge'.

Another great day in the Ionion Islands!

Cave that may have Housed a Mini Sub during WWII