Kefalonia

Home of our charter catamarans. 

 Kefalonia, also known as Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia (Ancient Greek: Κεφαλληνία; Modern Greek: Κεφαλλονιά or Κεφαλονιά), is the largest of the Ionian Islands with an area of 350 sq. miles. Location: 20°30' E, and between 38°12' and 38°18' N. (about 30nM off the mainland) The 'f' in the name comes from the modern convention of transcribing the Greek character φ as an f. In Ancient Greek, where this character was pronounced as an aspirated p, it was normally transcribed as 'ph', which explains the older spellings of the name.

Kefalonia is an island of contrasts. Before the 1953 Earthquake, there were about 120 000 people living on the island. The main source of income was agricultually based. Wine, olive-oil feta-cheese being the main money-earners. Today there are approximatly 30 000 people living on the island. However the population has an annual summer explosion which services the tourism industry. Some of the razed villages are still visable as they were evacuated in 1953, still inaccesable as some of the roads that  were destroyed and have not been re-built. Many of the residents re-located with international help to Australia, South Africa and the USA. The result is that some of the derilect buildings in towns are still owned by families that have not returned to the island nor sold the property. It is not uncommon to see a new building bordering on such a 'derilect'.

There is no surface water on the island during the long beautiful summers. However, the lush green mederteranian vegetation shows that the rocks hold a lot of water throughout the year. During the winter, some of the valleys become inundated with raging torrents of water for a short period of time.

Kefalonia's beautiful scenery is simply breathtaking. From the green mountains and their beautiful valleys to the idyllic bays and their beaches, you will experience a feeling of serenity that is very hard to find nowadays. Kefalonia is still virtually untouched by mass-tourism, which has altered many other tourist destinations around the world. (Santorini, Mykonos and Ibetha being very good examples of this)

The Eastern side of Kefalonia is protected from the worst of the bad weather by the high mountains (Mt. Ainos is just a fraction over 1 mile high) and Ithika. Being protected like this has one drawback though, the beaches are not made of soft sand. Some believe that these beaches are way better than sand as you do not get sand in your hair, clothes, costumes and unmentionable places. 

Sailing along the coast you will have a unique view of the island, one that those on land could never see. Your charter skipper will be happy to take you closer where it is safe to do so. The very green hill-sides and local goats make for interesting viewing. There are about 10 to 12 little beaches on Kefalonia accessable to a charter yacht between Agia Efimia and Fiscardo. Unfortunatly some of them are accessable by road. In many places the cliff-faces reach right down to the water's edge and plunge to depths of 50m (150') and more.

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