2008 Circumnavigation of the Peloponnese

The car was still working and so we decided to cover her up and leave her in Kalamata for a second year with the intention of driving her home in the autumn to make us mobile in the UK. With the car staying put we intended to return to the same marina for the winter and it made sense to circumnavigate the Peloponnese in an anti-clock wise direction, transiting the Corinth Canal on route. We had two notorious Cape’s to navigate first and as it turned out both Cape Matapan and Cape Malea were calm and we motored around both with the Monk’s waving from Malea, a good luck omen to sailors in the past.

We enjoyed the Saronic Gulf, south of Athens very much. It’s a well known cruising area for the Athenians with them flooding out there on a Friday evening in their hundreds. Once we discovered this and knew to find a place and stay for the weekend, it was fine. If we stayed out of the marinas it was also a cheap place to cruise and thus gave us the chance to enjoy the local Taverna’s.
We did get storm bound once, unfortunately when friends were out and not in a great location, but with two men on board, F7-8 downwind was a piece of cake!! Transiting the Corinth Canal was a fantastic experience and we should have taken the bimini down, advice we have given to others since. The size or depths of the sides of the canal, built over 100 yrs ago are awesome, with the foot prints visible where workmen climbed the sides. Worth every Euro to go through.

We found Trizonia again once back in the Gulf of Corinth, fully stocked we stayed 10 days or so. Many of the boats, the same ones as the year before and still no charge.
Back into the Ionian over old territory but meeting with friends and showing them anchorages that we liked before heading south to Kalamata. The weather this year seemed to deteriorate much earlier than previous years and we found ourselves back in our winter spot at the end of September but pleased when all the storms hit in early October.
We had the boat lifted again this year prior to working the winter in the UK. The throwaway car had lasted 2 years in the heat and so following “advice” we insured the car before driving it for an MOT test. The test centre just happened to be 1000 miles away but only half a mile once off the ferry and so we thought we should be ok re the car tax. The car even passed the MOT with only a new tyre needed.