37 45.9N 23 07.6E

KORFOS  Monday 6^th May

It was another beautiful day with temperatures soaring to 29C. Our passage to Korpos was again almost windless and after our swim, while drifting in the outer reaches of the bay, we proceeded to the quays where there are some mooring lines provided by two tavernas. We chose George’s and were soon all fast next to a German flagged Amel . We were a bit concerned about the depth under the rudder and had to drop a lead-line just to check there was going to be sufficient water, but all was well and we decided to go ashore for a drink, a plate of fried calamari and some olives so we could check out the menu for the evening. There were a number of Greek folks eating at lunch time including a large party of 20 including 4 children. This turned out to be a ‘name-day’ celebration for the grandfather – St George’s day here in Greece. We were invited to sample some of the mountains of food being provided for this group who were all from Athens but had a holiday home in the town and a fishing boat. One delicious dish was a kind of rare mussel which has to be hammered out of the rocks – the shells were more pointed and thinner than the type we have and the flesh was almost white but they were really delicious! Next we were brought a plate of fried fish and before we left George (the grandfather) came with a boxed ice-cream cake which was magnificently decorated. In the meantime the owner of the Taverna – George gave us drinks on the house! We took the cake back to the boat and ate some for afternoon tea but had loads left. We had invited the two Georges to come for drinks but neither did so instead we asked the children to come on board with one of the dad’s. They had a lovely time exploring – the little one – probably about 3 crawled along the side decks and the rest followed peering into the cabins through the portholes etc.

Later we finished off the cake with Philip and Alfonso our Dutch friends from Agios Nikolaos who had arrived and anchored their boat in the bay and came ashore in their dinghy with Otto their Scottie dog.

We all had showers and a siesta before going back off the boat around 2000 for supper at the tavern.This place was a real gem and well worth a visit. There were a few shops and a good selection of places to eat although of course we had to eat at our mooring place tavern. The bay was very sheltered and there were even some mooring buoys unoccupied at this time of year so some of the visiting yachts had tied up to these. We had free water and electricity and even a plank to get ashore was provided so we didn’t need to rig our passarell. Probably one of the best places we have been to this year so far. Having called the Corinth Canal to check they were open  on a Tuesday, as we planned to transit the next day we were informed that the first passage would be after 1300 so we didn’t need to rush in the morning. Fresh bread and some fruit were purchased and we left at 1000. Again it was a motor for all of the 15 miles to Isthmia at the eastern end of the canal where the administration office is situated. We saw more dolphins but little shipping, and were followed by Limane Mou with Phillip and Alphonso on board. Having paid our 189 Euros we had to wait for about an hour before getting the all clear to transit the canal. We were the only two boats and took some great pictures – look on the blog page for these. Once through the canal we went straight to the small harbour at Corinth where we managed to get alongside on the quay although it was shallow and we were concerned about the fact there was some rise and fall of tide here - some 2 feet – the first we have seen since leaving Gibraltar!