The Port of Sami occupies a natural harbour where Roman cargo ships once moored en route to Ithaca, the narrow channel between Kefalonia and its eastern neighbour serving as a maritime corridor for three millennia. Today's vessels depart from the same limestone quays that Venetian merchants knew, the twelve-kilometre crossing taking thirty to forty-five minutes depending on sea state and the number of cove stops programmed into each itinerary. Ithaca rises steeply from the water, its two lobes connected by a narrow isthmus less than six hundred metres wide, the town of Vathy nestled at the head of a deep fjord-like inlet that cuts halfway through the island's southern half. The Sami to Ithaca boat trip operates year-round, though summer departures between May and October offer the calmest seas and the longest daylight windows for exploration. Most day cruises follow the eastern coastline of Ithaca, stopping at Gidaki Beach—a crescent of white pebbles accessible only by sea—and the sea caves near Sarakiniko, where limestone has eroded into arches and grottoes large enough to pilot a tender inside. The channel itself runs over submerged valleys that reach depths of four hundred metres, the seabed dropping sharply beyond the continental shelf, creating water clarity that divers measure at thirty metres horizontal visibility on calm days. Poseidon's sanctuary at Polis Bay, excavated in the 1930s and dated to the eighth century BCE, yielded bronze tripods and ceramic masks that now rest in the island's archaeological museum, physical evidence of the Homeric tradition that links Ithaca to Odysseus's palace. Vathy's horseshoe harbour, lined with neoclassical mansions built after the 1953 earthquake destroyed most of the island's older structures, serves as the turnaround point for most boat tours from Sami. The town's population hovers around two thousand, swelling modestly in summer when yacht traffic increases and the island's twelve tavernas extend their waterfront seating. Ferry schedules from Sami align with morning and early afternoon slots, allowing visitors to spend three to four hours ashore before the return crossing. The channel's prevailing northwest wind, known locally as the maistros, picks up after 16:00, creating chop that smaller vessels avoid by completing the return leg before mid-afternoon. Kefalonia's eastern coast, visible throughout the crossing, rises to Mount Ainos, its fir forests darkening the ridgeline at 1,628 metres elevation, the highest point in the Ionian archipelago outside Lefkada.