Look towards the entrance to the bay and you will see five islands. They are (left to right) Pontikos (Rat), Provati (Sheep), Karlonisi (Charles’ island), Drakonera (Dragon’s waters) and Kalogiros (Monk). They belong to Echinades, an archipelago of twenty-odd arid, rugged and uninhabited islands and islets that derive their name from the sea urchin, a clear reference to their prickly coastline. For 2500 years historians and geographers have debated the time it would take for these islands to join the mainland as a result of the alluvial deposits of the river Achelous. But so far they remain afar, aided by the rising levels of the sea that counteracts the effects of the river’s flow.