Abelaki Bay

Abelaki Bay, more often written Ormos Abelike, cuts into the northeast coast of Meganisi in the Ionian, north of the island's port at Vathy. It is one of three anchorages along that stretch of coast, together with Kapali and Port Atheni, and it is usually the one crews rate highest. In July and August it fills up: the seasonal tavernas are open and the coves take as many boats as they will hold.

The bay is deeply indented, with green hillsides above it, olive terraces and a scattering of private houses, and the water inside it is calm enough that most of the boats lying there are on a line ashore rather than swinging.

Meganisi and the Taphians

Meganisi is identified with the ancient Taphos, home of the Taphians, a seafaring people Homer mentions in the Odyssey: Athena appears to Telemachus disguised as Mentes, lord of the Taphians. The island's other claim on the Odyssey is the Cave of the Cyclops, which sits above Spilia beach at Kalopoulou bay on the far side of the island from Abelaki, roughly 50 metres up the cliff.

The larger of the island's two famous sea caves is Papanikolis, on the southwestern coast and reachable only by boat. Its entrance is around 60 metres wide and up to 20 metres high, and it runs about 120 metres back into the rock. It is named after the Greek submarine Papanikolis, said to have used it as a hiding place during the Second World War.

Anchoring

There are about seven coves around the inlet, and which one you take depends on the wind, since they face different directions. The northern cove is the most sheltered but also the deepest, with anchoring depths of 12 to 15 metres. The eastern cove is more open but the holding is in a more manageable 5 to 6 metres. The shore shelves steeply almost everywhere, which is why taking a line ashore is standard practice here rather than an option. Some coves are buoyed off for swimming in July and August, so the usable space shrinks in high season.

The inlet as a whole is well protected from the northwesterly afternoon breeze that dominates the Ionian in summer, and that combination of shelter, depth and space is why Abelaki is one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet cruise in Greece almost as a matter of course on any route through the islands south of Lefkada.

Ashore and in the Water

The southern coves hold the tavernas, including Minas, long known to sailors as Pirate's Cove. It has a small pontoon that takes about three boats in three metres of water, with power, fresh water, showers and laundry machines, which makes it the practical stop of the group. Some of the coves have sand and shingle beaches where water shoes help; others have no shore worth landing on and you simply swim off the boat.

The water is warm from June through October, running between about 22 and 26 degrees Celsius, and clear enough for snorkelling along the rocky edges of the coves.