THE UNSPOILED ISLAND OF NISOS KITHERA

The island of Kithera lies off the south-eastern coast of Peloponnisos, and is one of the most unspoiled of all Greek islands.We spent the first night at Dhiakofti, which is not particularly interesting ashore, but the anchorage is delightful – a large bay about 5 metres deep with crystal clear, calm water, and we were the only boat there.

Greek holidaymakers enjoy the sandy beach and crystal clear water of Dhiakofti

Envoy anchored in Dhiakofti, and a stern view of Envoy as the sun sets

Brian watches the sunset as our RIB returns to Envoy from cocktails ashore

Just outside Dhiakofti is the wreck of the cargo ship Nordland, and as author Rod Heikell says it looks like her skipper attempted to perch her atop the islet

Kithera’s main port, at the southern tip of the island, is Kapsali, and a beautiful bay to anchor in. It’s a bit rolly as exposed to the south, but our flopper-stoppers did their thing in reducing the effect of the swell. Again it was very quiet with only one other boat anchored here.

Envoy anchored in Kapasali with Venetian fortress in background

Great shot taken from the fortress showing Envoy in the main Kapsali harbour, with the fishing boat harbour in the background


Laurie and Brian investigate five rusting cannons in Kapsali’s Venetian fortress

Here we rented a car to explore the interior of Kithera – the usual hilltop Chora and castle and some very pretty mountain villages.

No this wasn’t our rental car, and not the latest in convertibles either, but an interesting local mode of
transport

This beautiful bougainvillea-clad grotto in Milopotamus is fed from a mountain stream, and we had lunch at an adjacent old converted winery

Tranquil waterfall reached by short walk from the village of Milopotamus

One of Kithera’s attractions is the now abandoned medieval Venetian village of Kato, with it’s mysterious crumbling ruins

The winged lion was the symbol of Venice, and this photo also shows the solid structure of their stone archways, still standing after hundreds of years

Brian drove our rental along the very narrow roads of Kithera. Twice the side of the car brushed firmly against shrubs on the side of the road, making quite a noise inside the car of scraping metal. Later Brian checked the car and there were a few scratches in the paint, but we managed to make them look better with a rag, some water, and a little toothpaste to use as cutting polish.
Next day Diane and I decided to have a little joke at Brian’s expense. I rang our regular Greek phone, using a spare phone and Diane answered it with the conversation going something like this:
Diane: Hello Paniotis (the rental car man) how are you …… oh really ……. OK well sorry about that, I’ll get Laurie for you
Laurie: Hello Paniotis …….. scratches, no we didn’t see any scratches ……. what …. you’re saying the passenger side doors are badly scratched and will need repainting…… no I’m sure we didn’t do that …. but look I’ll put you onto Brian as he was driving the car
Brian (look of horror on his face): hello Paniotis …… hello Paniotis
Then we let Brian in on the joke.
TECHNICAL - Nothing much to report. We’ve heard that our new house batteries have arrived in Corfu for us to install when we arrive there next week. Our smaller RIB has developed an air leak, needing to be inflated every couple of days, and will need to be repaired in Corfu too.
LOG - Up to 9 July had spent 101 days aboard, and cruised 773 miles for 143 engine hours.