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There are a series of inlets most of which have small shingle beaches at their head. Most of them are hard to reach from unmapped tracks by unmapped trails so access by boat is the practical alternative.
Outboard-motor-driven boats can be hired in Fiskardo and from Agia Efimia for between 45 and 70 euro a day (depending on boat size and engine power), petrol extra. The service is available at 9:00 - 18:00. Don't forget the boats have to be returned by 18:00 each day! You do not need a special licence to use the boat.
All the beaches are shingle and the default for swimming and bathing is to wear costumes. But get there first or find a deserted one and clothes can become very optional indeed. None of the beaches have any facilities so you need to bring in food, drink and anything else you need (beach umbrella, swim mask and coolbox with ice is provided and is included in the boat price).
If you rent your boat in Agia Efimia you can sail to the north only.
17°C
There are three inlets to the west of Fiskardo. The westmost one, in the inlet to the west of the one with apartments going up on its eastern headland, is as good as any of the others. There may be spots of oil on the shingle. Some form of footwear is recommended as the shingle is large and it helps you avoid the prickly sea urchins. There is also a cave to explore and a rusty bike planted on a rock.
There are about ten inlets to the south of Fiskardo. The one past the island has the cleanest shingle, the clearest water, the least sea urchins and, for the adventurous, diving off the rocks at the side.
Sailing the boat with nothing on is great and if you find a nice deserted shingle beach the day becomes very nice indeed. The island has a chapel on it, unlocked when we were there, but landing is tricky. We found an inlet, a micro-inlet, on the Ithaca side of it.
Four out of ten for the beach, six out of ten for the boating…
2009: Barefooters who visited found several excellent beaches to the south of Fiscardo and had the beaches to themselves. No problem for naturism excepting other boats that sail from time to time along the coast.
2019 October: The permitted sailing area for the boat we hired in Fiskardo was the northern coast as far as Dafnoudi, south along the eastern coast as far as Agia Sofia and a few beaches along the western coast of Ithaca. The hirer was helpful in advising the places, such as the Islet of Asteris (aka Daskalio), where there are hazardous submerged rocks and also the beaches, such as those nearest the northern tip of Ithaca, where unstable cliffs and recent rock-falls could make going ashore risky. On a critical note, although the boat was equipped with a kill cord, it was tied up out of the way and no instruction was given on its use! This is an important and very simple bit of safety equipment so do make sure you use it and ASK IF NECESSARY. Usually they have a red plastic coil to prevent them trailing on the floor. Ours was just a length of thin rope which does the job but, as happened with us, if it trails on the floor it is easy to accidentally snag it with your feet (no doubt why it had been tied up out of the way). Easily solved but it took me a moment or two to realise why the engine suddenly cut out part way through the day!
To take best advantage of the sun throughout the day our plan had been to first explore the beaches south of Fiskardo, then in the afternoon go across to Ithaca and make our way northwards up the western coast as far as we could in the time available. Before setting out we checked the weather forecast and downloaded an off-line map and satellite imagery to our tablet. Though difficult to see in strong sunlight, having a GPS display is useful for navigating in unfamiliar waters and satellite imagery helps to locate beaches.
The hirer suggested it may be better to visit Ithaca first as later in the day the wind usually picks up in the Strait of Ithaca and it can get a bit choppy. Taking this advice and discounting the northern beaches we set course for Ammoúdi, a small, isolated pebble beach on the west of Ithaca where we felt it might be possible to be nude. Ammoúdi Beach was empty but, close inshore the morning mist had not burnt off and being surrounded on three sides by steeply sloping high ground, the beach was in deep shade. We continued southwards to the beach and small harbour of Polis. Again much of the beach was misty and in shade and in any event it wasn’t really suitable for naturism. We briefly considered going ashore and walking up to the village of Stavros for coffee but decided to maximise use of the boat and head back across the channel to Agia Sofia. Although the beach there wasn’t shaded we felt it not secluded enough to be suitable for naturism and headed back up northwards along the eastern coast of Kefalonia.
Our next stop was Piglet Bear Bay. The bay faces north so was partly shady but it is a lovely secluded inlet with a tiny pebble beach. Being deserted we decided to drop anchor and enjoyed skinny dipping from the boat for a while.
Moving on again we started looking for a sunny beach where we could go ashore to eat our lunch. We passed a few tiny unnamed coves and very soon reached an unnamed beach, 38°23'43.5"N 20°36'33.6"E. It was little bit bigger, looked perfect and was deserted so we decided to go ashore. Not easy though! Like most of the beaches along this coastline, the seabed falls away very steeply and the anchor rope was a little too short! Judging where to drop the anchor so the boat was far enough from the shore not to be grounding on the rocky seabed but close enough to attach the equally short forward mooring line to something on the beach, was far from easy! Whilst we were faffing around a couple in a kayak snuck in and pulled their kayak up on the very spot we had been eying up! We pondered whether to join them but it seemed like they were textiles so we upped anchor and moved on.
We passed several more coves looking for one that we could have to ourselves and where anchoring and getting ashore wouldn’t be too challenging. With the number of boats around we began to wonder just how easy it would be to find an empty beach in high season! Eventually we reached Kamini Beach. There was one other boat there but we decided to go for it anyway. The other boat soon left and we had the beach to ourselves so being naked wasn’t a problem although a few troublesome wasps were unwelcome visitors! A rough dirt track leads to Kamini and a small closed up building at the back of the beach suggests it could be busy in high season and perhaps not so suitable for naturists then.
We stayed on Kamini for a while leaving ourselves just enough time to return to Fiskardo at a fairly gentle pace taking a brief look at the remaining coves along the way. On the way back we also ventured out towards the centre of the channel to see how choppy it was. It wasn’t too bad and certainly a lot less challenging than conditions I have been out in off the south coast of England. Never completely ignore local advice but give consideration to the weather forecast and providing you have appropriate experience and small boat handling skills, if you wish to visit the west coast of Ithaka, our original plan to do this in the afternoon may be more rewarding.
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