The Blue Caves

At 9:30 on Tuesday the 8th July, we cast off, weighed anchor and motored out of Zante Harbour. We started earlier than usual in a effort to reach the caves before the prevailing NW winds got up, by the time we got there the winds had already hit 25 knots and although the caves are on the lee side of the island the wind still manages to rotor over the hills and cliffs behind the caves and squall down onto the boat making the movement unpredictable.

So we sat for a while seeing exactly what would happen to the boat if we anchored.

Another conundrum was the water depth. Minimum depth close to the cliffs was 50 feet, dropping rapidly as we moved away.

We sat some more....

Then as luck would have it, the wind died right down.

OK, so if it can die like that, can it come alive like that? "your call Captain, would be a pity not to see the caves...." Thanks guys...

We sat some more and finally we dropped the anchor in 80 feet of water and with it a lot of chain. (Jack has the chain distribution job now so Sal didn't mind)

Finally we lowered the dingy and went for a look see.

The Blueness is caused by a purple seaweed that clings to the rocks. When the sun shines on it you get the amazing blue.

The dingy got us deep into the caves. Although in some of the caves we did have to wait our turn. This is a popular spot, inundated with hire boats and bigger tour boats. Not as bad as the Blue Grotto on the Isle of Capri, but getting there.

The larger tour boat operators clearly have an agenda in that each of them come powering into the bay from Nikolaos at full tilt. They come very close to any anchored vessel like ours and inflict maximum wake damage causing havoc on board.

This is unacceptable behavior anywhere in the world and they would know that, so we figured it must be because they just don't like anybody who doesn't use their services.

Raw eggs at the ready, we looked forward to the next wake maker... he never eventuated.

 Happy chappy, deep inside one of the caves...

Back on the boat we had lunch, brought the dingy up and at 4:30 we weighed anchor.... and weighed anchor... and weighed anchor. The windlass really struggled with the weight of chain from such a depth. I was concerned we weren't going to get out of there as the power tripped on the windlass motor multiple times.

Finally we got away in a 'perfect for sailing' 20 knot NW on our way to Katakolon on the Peloponnisos. We waved a fond farewell to the Northern Ionion Sea and it really felt like we were moving on.