Enjoying Ionian Seas in Late September

Crews at Sirtaki Restaurant

Saturday, September 19th at noon old and new crew members had lunch at Sirtaki Beachfront Restaurant in Paleros. My second crew (Biggy, Christiane, Dorly, Eva, Evelyn) replenished our provisions at the nice Express Supermarket, who again delivered everything to our boat  "Junior Mary 1", a brand new Bali 4.2 catamaran from MG Yachts in Paleros. We had an authentic Greek dinner at Sto Spitiko Mas Restaurant and spent a quiet night on board in Paleros Harbor. 

 

 

 

 

Grilling Ionian Fish

 

 

Sunday morning we set sail south to look again at the wild pigs in Atakos One House Bay  and sailed east to the Echinades Archipelago, where we anchored alone east of Agia Sophia in 10m and grilled some Dorades. After a quiet night and some swimming we bought some more fish from two nice fishermen and then motored with no wind southwest to Pera Pigadi Islet at the southeastern coast of Ithaka, where we set anchor in the southern Pigadi Bay  in 12m. Again we enjoyed our new fish on the grill.

 

 

 

 

 

Apero by Christiane

Early Tuesday 22nd morning we were woken up by thunder, lightning and heavy rain. After a healthy breakfast we set sail north again and spent the night on route anchoring in 4m sand at Thilia Island in the channel between Lefkas and Meganisi. Wednesday morning we continued back to Paleros Habor because one crew member had to leave us for urgent family matters back home. 

 

From Paleros we sailed south again with light westerly winds and finally anchored alone again in beautiful Kefali Cove  in 8m on a spot of sand.

Junior Mary 1

 

 

Thursday 24th we decided motorsailing 30sm southwest to the famous Ageredes Caves in Kolpos Mirtou in nortwestern Keffalonia to enjoy the turquoise waters in a famous Caribbean setting. Anchoring in 4m on sand we did a lot of swimming, stand up paddling, and savored a nice fish soup ambitiously prepared by Christiane. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUP Paddling at Ageredes Caves

 

Sailing Track 2nd Crew

Next morning after a final swim we motor sailed with nearly no wind back to Paleros Habor. We celebrated our relaxing cruise at Sto Spitiko Mas Restaurant.

 

We sailed 160sm in 31h during 6 days.  

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.

Exploring Ionian Isles

 

1st Crew Dinner at Sto Spitiko Mas 

Before starting our Ionian September cruise we spent three peaceful days in the laid-back atmosphere of Paleros with Evi, Ilse, and Martina from my first women crew in brand new Azzurro Apartments. After our daily breakfast at To Sokaki Cafe and Deli and a refreshing swim at the small village beach we explored the surroundings and visited the Holy Monastery of Saint Demetrios. We savored authentic Greek meals at Sto Spitiko Mas Home Cooking  and The New Mill Tavern. When our last crew members Eva and Jutta arrived we bunkered a lot of provisions at the nice Express Supermarket, who delivered everything to our boat on Saturday 12th.

 

Pigs Bay Atokos Island

We boarded our boat "Junior Mary 1", a brand new Bali 4.2 catamaran from MG Yachts  and happily spent our first night in Paleros Harbor. Early Sunday morning we set sail south to visit the wild pigs in Atakos One House Bay  and sailed west to the eastern coast of Ithaka, where we anchored alone in a small bay south of Agias Ilias  in 10m on sand. Next day we continued south, visited Poros harbor, rounded the shallows of Agios Ioannis Point at the SE tip of Kefallonia, and anchored in Spartia Bay north of Takos Rock in 4m. 

Sailing Junior Mary 1

 

Early Tuesday, 15th after some thunderstorms we sailed west along the southern coast of Kefallonia with light rain and strong easterly winds, rounded Geogompos Point, and then north to Ortholithia Point where we finally anchored in quiet Petani Bay in 10m sand. Next morning after a good swim we continued further north, passed Atheras Point and Kakata Point. We continued to the Assos peninsula with the Venetian fortress, looked at the small harbor and tacked against NE winds to Vliotis Point, the most northern tip of Kefallonia. As we found no place near Stavros in Polis Beach we finally anchored in Doulina Cove in 20m depth protected by Daskaleio Islet in the channel between Ithaka and Kefallonia.

 

Kefali Cove, Kalamos

 

Next day with nice southerly winds we sailed north and then east along the southern coats of Lefkas and Meganisi, continued to the southern coast of Kalamos island, where we found no place in Gerolimionas Cove, but anchored alone further south in beautiful Kefali Cove  in 8m on a spot of sand. After a quiet night and a lot of swimming and stand up paddling we sailed north at noon and spent the next night in Ormos Paleiro at Ai Giannis Beach  anchoring in 7m sand. Saturday 19th we moored to Paleros Harbor to welcome my next crew and to celebrate our safe cruise with a nice lunch at Sirtaki Beachfront Restaurant.

 

 

 

Track 1st Crew

 

 

We sailed 170sm in 37h during 7 days.  

 

You may download our track in gpx-format  

or view it directly on GoogleMaps. 

Cold Summer Cruise to Spitzbergen

Track recorded by OpenCPN

To escape the heatwave in central Europe my wife Ilse and I flew to Bergen, Norway and boarded Hurtigruten MS Midnatsol for an expedition cruise to Svalbard / Spitzbergen on Tuesday 14th, July 2026. The ship is 132m long with a draught of 5m to allow for narrow and shallow passages through most Norwegian fjords and sounds. It was renovated the month before and very comfortable with only half of the cabins occupied. 

 

For our first stop we docked in Åndalsnes, took a stroll around the village, and enjoyed the Isfjorden. We continued to Træna, where we boarded a small fishing vessel to explore the shallow archipelago and visited the small islands Sanna, Husøya und Selvær.

 

 

 

Fishing Village Å

 

Next day we visited Reine on the most western tip of the Lofoten and took a bus to the historic fishing village Å, the wooden Flakstad church,

 

  

Ramberg Beach

 

and finally the snow white beach of Ramberg.

 

 

 

 

Tromsø from Fjellheisen

Early next morning after mooring in the harbor of Tromsø we took a bus to the Fjellheisen cable car to experience the view from the Storsteinen mountain, and then visited famous Arctic Cathedral. 

 

 

 

North Cape

 

After crossing Tromsø Bridge on foot we visited the Polar Museet and finally boarded our ship. After bunkering provisions and diesel we reached the port of Honningsvåg to visit the famous North Cape next morning.

 

View from MS Midnatsol

 Sunday 19th evening we continued our journey northbound across the Barents Sea with south westerly wind up to 36kn, passed the west coast of Bjornøya - 'Bear Island' and finally docked in the small harbor of Longyearbyen in the Svalbard archipelago on Tuesday morning. 

 

 

 

Kongsfjord Glacier

We visited Svalbard Church, Museum, and Camp Barentz with a lot of sled dogs and looked at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

 

 

 

Coalmine Train at Ny-Ålesund

 Next morning we reached our most northern point in Kongsfjord, admired the sad remainders of the melting glaciers and moored at the small pier of Ny-Ålesund, which was a mining village for Russia and Great Britain based on the Spitsbergen/Svalbard treaty of 1920 and hosts today over a hundred researchers, representing 20 glaciology and climate institutes from more than 10 countries including China, Russia and Austria. 

 

 

After 2 days crossing the Barents Sea southbound and watching some seabirds and wales we delivered some freight at Tromsø. In the afternoon we moored at Torsken on Senja island and took a bus to visit Hamn, Bergsfjord, Steinfjord and famous Ersfjord Beach.
 

 

Trollfjord

Early on Saturday 25th we reached Stokmarknes for a short visit of Hurtigruten Museum  and then navigated into to narrow Trollfjorden spotting some white-tailed eagles and then continued to Svolvær, where we boarded MS Symra, a small wooden fishing boat from 1917, for a fishing trip where I was happy to catch a mackerel.

 

Bessaker Cutter Boat

Next day we reached the small fishing village of Bessaker, again boarded a small traditional cutter boat built in 1961 and with winds up to 33kn explored some fishing grounds in the Skjervøy archipelago.

 

 

 

Hellesylt Falls

At our last stop in Ålesund in heavy rain we visited Ålesund Kirke and some Art Nouveau buildings and then took a bus tour through the Sunnmøre Alps visiting Fitjafatnet, Strandafjellet Skisenter, Geiranger Fjord Viewpoint, Hellesylt Falls, Stavbergsetra and finally Sæbø, where we boarded our ship by tender and continued north along the Hjørundfjord with some snow.

 

 

St. Mary's Church

After 14 impressive days on board we finished our cruise back in Bergen, where we spent two comfortable nights at Home Hotel Havnekontoret, climbed down Mount Floyen, and visited St. Mary's Church,  Bryggen, and Bergenhus Fortress. For a authentic dinner at Marg&Bein restaurant we met my niece Ina, who is currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of Earth Science of Bergen  University and investigates the North Atlantic surface and overturning circulation of the Gulf Stream.

 

Map after Willem Barents, 1596

 

 

 

 

We logged 3270sm in 14 days. 

You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.  

Ionian June Leisure Cruise

My second crew arrived at the Athenian pontoon in Nydri, Lefkas on Saturday 20th June 2026: Gabriela, Heidi, Ilse, Herbert, joined by Andreas and Michael from the first cruise. While the crew went shopping for our provisions I prepared the Lagoon 43 catamaran for our next cruise. We went to The Pinewood Restaurant for dinner and enjoyed nice mezze, fish, shrimps, and good wine and spent the first night on board moored at the Athenian pontoon.

 

 

 

After an early Greek breakfast at myBakery we motored with no wind round famous Scorpios island and proceeded south to Atokos island to have a look at the swimming pigs. We continued west to NE of Ithaka, looked at Ormos Kioni and finally anchored south of Ak Agios Illias  on 7m sand. Michael and Andreas prepared 2 wonderful Branzinos on a bed of vegetables in the rather weak oven and we enjoyed the quiet bay. Early next morning some wasps drove us away and we motored with no wind east to the remote Drakoneres Islands while having a nice breakfast. We rounded Nisida Sofia, Provati, and Karlonisi, passed a lot of fish farms and anchored lonely in peaceful Ormos Dioni near the NW entrance to the strait of Patras, where we saw some cows bathing in the warm sea.

 

 

 Tuesday 23rd with no wind we motored west to the southern tip of Ithaka and anchored for a swim in the middle of crowded Antri Bay  in 15m and continued to the harbor of Agia Euphimia, where we moored at the last NW space in 2m with bow anchor. We replenished our provisions at the AB Food Market and enjoyed a fabulous Greek dinner at Amalia Restaurant. Next morning we had English Breakfast at Fior Di Amore and motored north through Diavlos Ithakis, rounded Ak. Daphnoudi, motorsailed SW to famous Fteri Beach and anchored a bit further north in front of high sand stone cliffs at Ageredes Caves in 4m sand. We spent the afternoon swimming in warm water and slept through a quiet night.

Next morning we motored south through Ormos Kyriakis, passed the Venetian Fortress of Assos and visited the small Assos Bay, then set sail and crossed northwest over to the south coast of Lefkas to the crowded bays of Ormos Syvota and Micros Gialos. With no wind we motored east along south coast of Meganisi, passed some nice anchor spots near the eastern tip, turned north and found a nice anchor place in 7m in the middle of Ormos Rementinoú. In the morning of our last day we explored the NE bays of Meganisi: Atherinos, Ambelakia, and Balou. Early noon some northerly wind rose to about 13kn and we could try some tacks and jibes and experienced the good sailing performance of this new Lagoon 43 catamaran. For a last swim we continued southwest and anchored east of Nisida Thilia in 4m sand. In the afternoon we motored back to Nydri and moored safely at Athenian pontoon. Again we celebrated our cruise at Taverna Roza.

We logged 182sm in 6 days. You may download our track in gpx-format or view it directly on GoogleMaps.