Fiscardo -> One House Bay

Tuesday morning in Fiscardo. The head is backing up, slowly but surely filling with brown-coloured liquid. We go down and pump every few minutes as we prepare to leave. The holding tank flushes out OK as we leave Fiscardo. It must have been full, but I thought it was supposed to over-flow over the side? Luckily it didn't back up during the night, that could have been very unpleasant!

Heading for Atokos, we spot a huge ferry in the distance. Is he going straight on past the islands? No, he's turning in. He is entering the Kefalonia Strait, coming our way. He must be heading for Patras, a major ferry port on the mainland.

When I sailed in the Solent, we learned to simply stay out of the shipping channels. By sailing in shallow water, there was no way the big ships could get near you. Here it is different, because there is deep water everywhere, even close in to the shore. There are no buoyed deep-water channels.

Our depth gauge is constantly flashing, which means that the depth is out of it's range (> 180 metres). The chart shows depths of 500, even 800 metres in places. Nearly one kilometre of water. We'll have to keep a close eye on him and try to hug the shoreline, hoping that he will keep to the middle of the channel. We do, and he passes a good distance off. Still, the speed of these monsters, and the wake they leave is quite daunting!

Anchor in One House Bay. First two attempts don't hold. The water in the bay is about five to ten metres deep and you can see the bottom no problem. There are patches of weed so we try to aim our anchor at a sandy patch. Third time holds.

Three other yachts follow us in and anchor. The first one, also from Sail Ionian, leaves again soon after. Then a small wooden boat enters the bay. It goes right up to the beach and lets off a few men and some supplies. They must be the fishermen mentioned in the pilot books, who sometimes use the house above the beach. The wooden boat leaves, and the other two yachts send dinghies ashore. They walk around a bit on the beach and return to their mother ships. Soon they leave too.

Now the place is deserted. Utterly peaceful and quiet. The forecast is for light winds (F2-3) from the north-west. The pilot books says that the bay is sheltered in anything other than southerly winds. We decide to spend the night here. Dinner on board. Nitsa's boiled egg starter followed by pasta. Tomorrow we'll take the dinghy ashore and go swimming from the beach.

Go Fish.

After sunset the wind starts rising. With the effect of the steep hills above us, the wind is shifting, and a bit of swell is starting to come in. As the wind direction changes, we sometimes find ourselves being blown towards the beach. Not good. Anchor watch. Boat turning all over the place. I wanna rock and roll all night! Not.

Log entry for Tuesday 27/04/2010

Fuel: Full

Batteries: 1 (engine) = 12.6; 2 (domestic) = 12

Water: 1/2

Engine check: OK (visual) - a few drops of coolant below engine

Bilge: 1/4 cup

Baro: 999 @ 08:40

Baro: 999 @ 15:20

From: Fiscardo, Kefalonia; Log 9004.5 @ 10:40

Towards: One House Bay, Atokos; Log 9023.5 @ 14:45