Ionian Sea Passage; the conclusion

The Ionian Sea (Greek: Ιόνιο Πέλαγος), the Sea south of the Adriatic, is bound by Calabria and Sicily to the west, and the west coast of Greece to the east.  The deepest point in the Mediterranean Sea the Calypso deep (5,267 meters) is located in the Ionian Sea at 36°34′N 21°8′E. The Ionian Sea is one of the most seismically active regions in the world as three tectonic plates meet in the area between the islands Cephalonia, Ithaca and Zante.  The island of Cephalonia lies to the east of a fault where the African plate meets the European and the Aegean plates.  The major Ionian Islands are collectively known as the Seven Islands (Greek: Επτανησα) and belong to Greece.  Starting from the north are Kerkyra (Corfu), Paxi, Lefkada, Cephalonia, Ithaca, and Zakynthos (Zante) and Kythera.  I always considered the Ionian to be a small sea but this is not the case as the distance from Sicily to city of Patras in Peloponnese is 300 nautical miles.  The distance was approximately equal to our two longest previous passages in the Balearic and Tyrrhenian Seas. 

The crossing of the Ionian was arduous because we struggled with a storm and also we fought opposite winds to our destination.  The whistling in the stays is testimony of winds over 30 knots.  Because of opposite winds we elected to forgo Ithaca and continue towards the gulf and port of Patras in the northwest corner of Peloponnese. 

We were tired and elated when we landed in that city’s marina.  Because of the strenuous sailing during the three-day passage, none of us ate or drank even water.  When we tied at the dock tired and dehydrated, I felt like fainting so I had to lie on ground.   Luckily Alexandra my brother’s wife was there and offered me potato chips (salted) and a coke that brought me back to life! 

Ionian Sea and its mythology

According to Ancient Greek writers, especially Aeschylus, the name Ionian is linked it to the myth of Io (Greek: Ιω). In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios (Ἰόνιος) was used for the sea because legend has it that Io swam or flew across it. 

 In most versions of the legend, Io was the daughter of Inachus, the king of Argos and a priestess of the Hera. It was in the Argean planes that Zeus noticed Io, a mortal woman, and lusted after her.  

Although Io initially rejected Zeus' advances eventually relented, and according to some stories, Zeus turned her into a heifer in order to hide her from his wife. Zeus deception failed, as Hera begged Zeus to give her the heifer as a present, which, having no reason to refuse, he did.  

Hera then sent Argus who had 100 eyes, to watch Io and prevent Zeus from visiting her, but Zeus sent Hermes to distract Argus. According to Ovid, he did so by first lulling him to sleep by playing the panpipes and telling stories.  Zeus then freed Io, still in the form of a heifer.

In order to exact her revenge, Hera sent a gadfly to sting Io continuously, driving her to wander the world without rest. Io eventually crossed the path between the Propontis and the Black Sea, which thus acquired the name Bosporus (meaning ox passage), where she met Prometheus, who had been chained on Mount Caucasus by Zeus. Prometheus comforted Io with the information that she would be restored to human and become the progenitor of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules).  Io escaped across the Ionian Sea to Egypt where Zeus restored her to human again. 

I presume Io selected the Ionian Sea for her escape because the prevailing winds are usually light.  This was not our experience as for a large part of our crossing the winds were strong thus we kept our jib and main reefed.  In the picture after a four-day and nights sail we are getting closer to the west coast of Greece, our homeland.