Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Goodbye to the Aegean

After Peter and Amy left Songster we stayed in Poros for a few days to catch up on laundry and get a few supplies from Spyros’s excellent chandlery. Finally getting over our anchor lassitude we headed for the next island into the Saronic Gulf, Aigina, which has the Temple of Aphaia, reportedly an example of a perfect classical temple and we thought worth a visit.

We did a quick motor (no wind) to the main port and managed to set the anchor in one of the small patches of sand amongst the weed on the southern side of the mole. The port is a busy little place with ferries, large and small, coming every half hour or so. The waterfront is lined with tavernas and café and has a lively pleasant feel, if a bit touristy. We checked out where we could hire a scooter to go across the island to the Temple and planned to make an early start the next morning.

Approaching the anchorage at the port of Aigina

Sadly we woke up to a horrible swell rolling through the anchorage making it quite untenable. So we thought it best to skip the Temple and said an early goodbye to Aigina and moved on to our next destination of Korfos. Korfos is a village west of Aigina on the Peloponnese peninsula. We motor sailed the short distance and found a delightful, sleepy Greek holiday village. We had an Ouzo Mezze on shore and then back to Songster for an early start in the morning.

Bob feeding the left over bread to the ducks and cats

Peaceful Korfos

We were up before dawn for our big day. This was the day we were going to transit the Corinth Canal. After three years sailing in the Aegean Sea we were about to take the big step and head west to other seas.

Underway before dawn

The Corinth Canal cuts through the Isthmus of Corinth and joins the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea with the Gulf of Corinth and the Ionian Sea. This saves a 700 km journey around the Peloponnese peninsula. The first proposals for the canal were made by the Ancient Greeks in the 7^th Century BC. However they opted instead to build a stone road over the isthmus on which boats were towed. Remnants of this can still be seen on the western end of the Canal. Emperor Nero did start digging the canal in 67 CE, using 6000 Jewish prisoners of war. They managed to dig through about 700 meters into the isthmus before the project was abandoned.

Finally the Canal was completed in 1893, not without a fair amount of controversy, bankruptcies and construction difficulties. The limestone rock in the area makes the Canal unstable and every Tuesday the Canal is closed for maintenance work to shore up its walls. The Canal was dug to sea level so there are no locks and the transit is a straight run of 6.4 km. The Canal is only 22 metres wide and 7 meters deep so today can only be used by small cargo vessels and pleasure craft. Still 11,000 boats transit the Canal every year.

We left the quiet bay of Korfos and the little wind that there was in the Gulf, was on the nose so we motored to the Canal entrance. A mile out we radioed to the Canal control tower of our arrival. There was plenty of room for us to dock alongside. Patting the sleepy dogs that hung around the docks, we went to the office to do the paperwork and pay our fee. By the time we returned to Songster we were being radioed clearance to enter the canal. It was all very exciting and impressively beautiful.

Control tower at the eastern end of the Corinth Canal

Entering the Canal

The crumbling retaining walls

The rock walls rising 90 m above sea levl

Area where the walls have collapsed

A tourist boat was behind us. Looks like Songster will be in lots of holiday snaps

Approaching the submersible bridge and the Gulf of Corinth

It only took about 30 minutes to transit the Canal. With a 2 knot current against us we were pushing to maintain 6 knots. A westerly swell greeted us as we entered the Gulf of Corinth and we proceeded to bash through the waves for the next few hours.

Bashing through the waves

Finally we changed to a more northerly course into Saranti Bay and the waves eased. We even managed to turn off the motor and do a bit of sailing. We anchored at the head of the bay in lovely calm water.