Our Blue Lagoon

We were all up early when we pulled anchor at 7:30am to make our way through the Corinthian Canal. We timed the trip perfectly with a few minutes for Lucca to get off the boat and swim in the nearby beach and tire himself out for a nap while we transited. We were all able to enjoy the trip through the historic canal (which links the Ionian and Aegean Seas) with Mike at the helm and Heather, Shan and I sitting up at the bow. It is mind blowing to think that in the 7th century BC, before the canal was built, they dragged small ships across the isthmus by pulling them on rollers. It was a pretty awesome experience and I have to say it was worth the 215 euro.






After a few more hours of motoring (again no wind and ultimately no working main sail) we finally arrived to Kolpos Domvrainis on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth. Since we have been on this boat, we use Rod Heikell’s pilot books which have always been really accurate. Well, not today. It was a long day with pulling anchor at 7:30am, then the stop to transit the canal, with more motoring to arrive at around 5pm with a swim and drinks on our mind. The coast was described as being full of protected anchorages and it looked really ideal. As we were reading the pilot book stating depths of 5-10 meters (16-33 or so feet), our depth sounder was reading depths of 100+ feet which rose steeply to shallow beaches. We found one beach that looked idyllic except for another small motor boat anchored in the middle. So we moved on and attempted another beautiful cove to try and drop chain in 80 feet of water to only end up with very little scope by the time our stern was in shallow water which we were not easy about. We then circled back to the idyllic beach with the locals motioning us in but yet another failed attempt. All while people were getting cranky and me not wanting to have too many failed attempts because pulling up 150+ feet of chain was actually uncomfortable (proven later by bruising on my flank and arm from getting banged up by the hatch while pulling in chain). So after more cruising around, only to discover that all of the depths were 100+ feet, we saw the little motor boat departing from ‘our’ bay. With no other options, and now more room to maneuver, we decided to try again and this time it worked. We got a pretty good hold with enough chain out to make us comfortable. Mike then took a few lines to shore to help hold us into place. It is one of those times where all of that trouble and stress paid off. We ended up in a magical place, our own little blue lagoon. We were surrounded by high cliff walls with our own private beach which was perfect for Lucca. The water was crystal clear blue with a very refreshing layer of cold water on top, maybe from a fresh spring. I immediately jumped in the water and we all swam, threw rocks and played until the sky started to grow dark. We then proceeded to ‘bliss out’ as we sat in the open cockpit enjoying cool drinks and making dinner by candlelight. I think the one person who couldn’t completely let him self go was Mike. The long days of working, the race to get to Athens, now the responsibility of having friends and a 2 year old on board were showing. Of course, there have been times where Mike has been carefree and having fun, but also times where the pressure and fatigue seemed to be more apparent. Since Mike wanted to sleep on deck tonight, I sent him on his way with a cockpit cushion when he was obviously very tired. But it wasn’t much longer before Shan, Heather and I decided to follow and lay on the decks to look at the stars. And even less time for me to fall asleep next to Mike.