CRUISING
HUGELY POPULAR FOR CHARTERS, CAN THE GREEK ISLES STILL ALSO OFFER IDYLLIC CRUISING FOR LIVEABOARDS? PHIL JOHNSON RODE THE MELTEMI TO FIND OUT
The nighttime call of owls reverberated through the forest – a forest of 1,000 aluminium masts, like stands of pine trees stretching in all directions as far as you could see. Just looking at the vast rows of neatly organised boats induced a kind of vertigo as we arrived back at Cleopatra Marina on the west mainland coast of Greece.
Mega-boatyards like this one are becoming ever more common in Greece as its cruising grounds continue to swell in popularity each year. The sheer size of this dry-dock, combined with the factory-like efficiency of its staff launching vessels throughout the day – one every 20 minutes on average – was nipping at our backsides as we raced to tick off our spring, pre-launch checklist. Non essential projects were quickly shuffled down the list while we focused on the most critical tasks, primarily replacing our old, underpowered 1980s anchor windlass. For the last five years, my wife, Roxy, and I have been cruising aboard Sonder, our 1986 Cheoy Lee Pedrick 47, a cutter-rigged sloop. In 2020 we departed the Caribbean to cross the North Atlantic and eventually make our way into the Mediterranean. Since then, we’ve explored some of the Med’s most remote gems, and also some of its charter hotspots – but perhaps none can match the popularity of the islands of Greece. The absolute flood of yachts departing on any given Saturday from ports like Lefkada and Piraeus had us a bit worried about our 2023 summer cruising season.
Could we still find ourselves quiet, remote anchorages, or be the lone yacht in an idyllic seaside harbour? Could we expect welcoming locals who don’t resent sailors’ overwhelming presence? Could we have an authentic travel experience? These questions lingered heavily in our minds as we launched Sonder in early May to begin our sailing season from Preveza on the Ionian Sea.
Late spring clouds pushed gentle easterly winds offshore as we sailed on a light starboard tack. Some 25 miles up the mainland coast we stopped overnight at an isolated bay just south-east of Parga, where the subtle movement of Sonder at anchor felt satisfying after the unnatural stillness of a long winter on the hard.
The next afternoon we arrived in Parga, a picture-perfect town directly opposite the very popular cruising destination of Paxos. Nestled on a saddle between a ruined Venetian hill fortress and steep foothills, Parga is vaguely reminiscent of the Amalfi coast. The harbour, open to the occasional swell, lacks a large quay which discourages most charter boats from visiting, but by taking care not to foul your anchor on the commercial ferries’ anchor chains, two or three yachts can comfortably f
