SAGHIADA and SIVOTA

SAGHIADA

The trip across to Sagdiada was everything you could ask for. The boat behaved perfectly, catching the light winds and slight swell with ease. Although the information we had suggested the small marina could be too shallow, we had no problems. It was surprisingly empty, making it a pleasure to be in.

The restaurants had a good range of seafood on offer and after an excellent meal we settled in for a comfortable night in the marina.

Next morning we set off south for Sivota, just past the ports of Igoumenitsa and Plataria.

SIVOTA

Sivota is one of our favourite places to stop at on the mainland.  The local authority has made an enormous effort to improve the facilities and environment for visiting boats. There is power and water available for an incredibly low charge (8E) and every effort has been made to welcome visitors to the port. Shops are just starting to gear up for the summer crowds so although it was still a little quiet, the atmosphere felt amazing. It seemed as though the shops and houses had all had a new coat of paint, flowers were everywhere and the locals were happily getting everything ready.

A large flotilla of charter boats came into port as we did making the wharf fairly crowded with novice sailors from all over. Thank goodness the night was relatively quiet with most of the music and merriment finishing by about midnight.

We needed to pick up our Transit Log and register our entrance to Greek waters in Igoumenitsa so we decided to hire a car and do some touring around the countryside as well. Last year we’d heard about an amazing café called Katies Cakes some 20 kms inland. This worked out perfectly as we would also be picking up our hire car there, so after a short bus trip the three of us arrived in Perdika.   

 

Sadly the café was not yet open for the season but we found an equally brilliant restaurant on the square and as usual struck up an interesting conversation with the young owner regarding every aspect of Greek politics and the sad state of the economy.

Mega Amos Bay

Our drive back included a stop at Mega Amos, a most idyllic beach cove just north of Sivota. 

 

Overlooking the beach

The beach at Mega Amos  is surrounded by a couple of family restaurants that run the beach chairs and provide great service. During the height of summer there are usually plenty of German and northern European scantily clad tourists sunbaking the shallows. 

In May it's fairly empty but beautiful.

Petri enjoying the sun at Mega Amos

It was hard to leave the peacefulness of the bay but we needed to fill up with provisions so back we drove to Sivota.

Our next stop was Igoumenitsa where we needed to lodge our boat papers with the Port Police and the Customs office.