Spilia Bay, Meganisi

Saturday 29^th. May 2010

We left Vlikho Bay and sailed past Skorpios, a smallish island owned by the Onassis family. Aristole and Jackie (nee Kennedy) got married on the island and are now buried there together with Christina and her brother. Local rumour has it armed guards patrol the island but whether that’s a myth perpetuated by the family or reality who knows. On the south-west corner of the island is a small beach house built in Mykanos style which is, apparently, where Jackie bathed on a small private beach but as it’s quite visible it’s hard to imagine any privacy from paps with long lenses.

We passed the island and headed for Spilia Bay on Meganisi (pics above and below). It’s a wonderfully secluded bay with a view to die for.... although I'm sure that was not the reason for the demise of the four aforementioned Onassis family members. Jerry and Steve run the taverna and moorings. All very unhurried and friendly. Jerry holds out the lazy line as you drift in to the mooring. He later takes your order in the taverna. One nice touch is that they take bread orders for the following morning which saves a serious hike over the hill to the bakers at Spartahori. It’s all very Greek; unhurried, friendly, a bit shambolic and you’d never guess they were in the middle of the worst economic crisis to hit the country for generations. Hospitality is generous or a cynic might think it's just good marketing but after every meals there are 'freebies'. Ours consisted of a free pichet of wine - which considering we'd consumed two glasses and a pichet risked putting up into the high risk category as we teetered along the jetty. We spotted some fellow cruisers we'd seen at another stop and shared the free wine with them. They were delighted, we remained more of less sober and no one ended in the drink because of the drink. This is one of our favourite stops, and not just because of the freebies. We will return....many times.