Corinth Canal

[boatman61]

I thought only E bound vessels paid, the last time I did E to W there was no charge.. nor the time before.
Tied up at the jetty around 0100 and went to the office and the guy told me to get back to my boat and stand by as an E bound ship was coming through and I should go as soon as it cleared the lock and passed me.

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by yeloya

The first surprise you might encounter is the price of the channel ..
I would personaly avoid it and sail down around the tip of Greece, the winds will be mostly on yr aft quarter.
Then, I recon what Boatman said, follow the S of Sicilly. Then when you hit the South of Sardinia, forget the marina in Villaresmiu (I hope spelled correctly..) and Cagliari. The rest of Sardinia is beatiful, Carloforte being my favorite.

Cheers

Yeloya

Hello Yeloya. I think the wind probability in the Ionian is more from the North. If you are trying to make for Siracusa it's a better angle to sail if you are up near Kefalonia than further South. But either way, it depends on if your in a hurry. The whole area around the Peloponnese is spectacular also.

Boatman, I've been through both ways multiple times and had to pay each time. They really don't have a good control on the boats so maybe you just kept going and they didn't have any way to track you down. 400 euro.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Hello Yeloya. I think the wind probability in the Ionian is more from the North. If you are trying to make for Siracusa it's a better angle to sail if you are up near Kefalonia than further South. But either way, it depends on if your in a hurry. The whole area around the Peloponnese is spectacular also.

Boatman, I've been through both ways multiple times and had to pay each time. They really don't have a good control on the boats so maybe you just kept going and they didn't have any way to track you down. 400 euro.

Well on the 0100 transit I anchored to the stbd side of the other end of the canal near the small town there and did not leave till around 11am the next day.. mind, I did then sail non-stop to Syracusa.
No one asked for or chased me for dosh and I was the only W bound boat.
My big Blue eyes..???

[Palarran]

Boatman, after reading at least half your 24000 posts over the last 10 years there is little doubt that luck plays into your life - A LOT. Trust me on this, they are Greeks. Always charge but not always collect.

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Hello Yeloya. I think the wind probability in the Ionian is more from the North. If you are trying to make for Siracusa it's a better angle to sail if you are up near Kefalonia than further South. But either way, it depends on if your in a hurry. The whole area around the Peloponnese is spectacular also.

Boatman, I've been through both ways multiple times and had to pay each time. They really don't have a good control on the boats so maybe you just kept going and they didn't have any way to track you down. 400 euro.

Hi Palarrran,

You are right, once you go further down to south, you will have the wind at around 45-60 degrees , if you point Sicilly. He may however go to Malta as you suggested if he can't or doesn't want to point that high.

Concerning the payment, I don't believe there is any way to avoid. They just stopped me at at the exit and called via VHF to a kind of tower on the E side of the channel to make the payment. If you go to W, then they don't take you to the channel anyway before you pay. This was 2-3 years ago, if they changed the rules, I don't know..

Cheers

Yeloya

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Boatman, after reading at least half your 24000 posts over the last 10 years there is little doubt that luck plays into your life - A LOT. Trust me on this, they are Greeks. Always charge but not always collect.

Oh I'll not deny it.. been through there often enough, wonder if I'll manage 3 in a row W bound.

[EnriSilentWings]

I've sailed this route 10 or more times.
Do you want to arrive as soon as possible to Spain (where?) or visit by the way?
Dates to sail?
Type of boat?

[chook]

Hi,

The Corinth Canal is shut on a Tuesday, I think however you can leave after 6pm if urgent, just call the tower. The anchorage is great on the East side, heaps of room and great holding. We waited it out in 40 knots and had no problems, just us and heaps of ships . We did get caught out on the Western side, was blowing 10 knots and jumped to 30 knots in a second, lots of gusting off the mountains.

We went through in 2019, the cost for a 13.4 m mono was about 240 euro's I believe, will link our experience if you are interested. The canal is worth doing, pretty cool experience, enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX36ycM-ep0