After our leisurely couple of months cruising in Italy we had finally worked our way up the East coast of ‘the boot’ . After a few days in Saint Maria di Leuca resting up and stocking up on prosciutto and Italian wine, we woke early one morning, followed the fishing fleet out of Harbour and began our passage to Corfu, Greece.
The wind began filling in nicely and with flat seas and a small breeze we were approaching Greece at the very sedate pace of 4 knots, music playing, school and snacks out in the cockpit, watching ships pass on the AIS.
Our landfall was at a pretty bay on the small island of Othonoi. Here we found ourselves arriving into the middle of the Greece of our dreams! Blue water lapped peacefully on a small white pebble beach. As the day trippers left and with only a gentle swell we settled down for the night in paradise.
The next day we made for Gouvia Marina on Corfu to officially check in to Greece. One of the biggest Marina’s in the Mediterranean we enjoyed a couple of days by the pool with snacks and cool beer!
While we enjoyed the change of scenery, it was a large charter centre with tourist restaurants and tourist prices. A shock from the quiet Italian towns we had become accustomed too.
After the long distances we had been covering in Italy, Ionian Greece was relaxed sailing though. Pleasant day sails, cheap town quays and small Tavernas for dinner.
It is also true that this part of the world is now well frequented by charter boats, but being late in the season we weren’t particularly troubled by this.
One well protected gorgeous bay that is certainly well used by charterers is Lakka Bay. We happily wasted a week on anchor here, swimming, eating and exploring only occasionally disturbed by the shouts of a new charterer trying to get their anchor down!
From Licata we began to slowly make our way north along the Sicilian coast anchoring off small towns and eating simple pasta dishes alfresco in the cockpit at sunset.
From Taormina we crossed over to the heel of the boot. Roccello Ionica turned out to be a great surprise, both an affordable marina with great pizza sold by the length and nearby was another great little town.
Slow Travelling 