Our Final Leg of 2016

4th September – Just before we left Porto Heli to head back the 19 NMs to Ermioni, we had a wander into the town, if you can call it that for a bit of breakfast.

Porto Heli

We then had a great sail in north westerly winds that ranged from a Force 2 to Force 4, tacking our way through the islands. Knowing how the katabatic winds pick up in Northerlies, we stuck to the south side of Ermioni, and dropped our pick to reverse onto the quay.  the water just off the quay is still very deep, (approximately 20 metres under our keel!) so judging the amount of chain needed and the distance to the quay is not the easiest thing to do, thankfully it is David’s job, (tee hee). I say this because the first attempt we didn’t get it quite right and we ran out of chain (we have 80 metres mind you!) before reaching the quay, so we had to do it again, but the 2nd attempt worked perfectly! Given my distance judging, it would have probably taken me 5 attempts!

The 3 of us had a chilled night on board, chatting, consuming more rose wine and playing cards, before getting up early to make sure we could get hold of the water man on the dot of 8am, so we could jump the queue of a dozen of so charter boats. Indeed it seemed we were up earlier than the locals…

except the fishermen of course!

So, all full of water and a quick hose down, we set off back off to Poros the following day. This time the winds couldnt be more different. We knew they were due to turn south, hence planning our trip back northwards, but didn’t anticipate a SW1 all day, yes you got it, we had to motor the 21 miles to Navy Bay just off Poros. Not accustomed to motoring for long in these parts, boredom soon set in……

Having arrived in Poros, we soon discovered that I had stupidly managed to leave our Greek phone on a table in a Tavern in Ermioni. How did we find this out, some kind gentleman picked it up and sent a text to Tasmin (I assume being the last number used on it) to tell her and she in turn texted Steven. Hmmm, forever hopeful for its safe return, I contacted this kind person hoping he might put it on the next hydrofoil that ran between Ermioni and Poros,  but sadly not, as this kind soul was now travelling overland back to Athens, nowhere near Poros, and still had the phone with him! This, together with a dying MIFI was going to cause us a problem! So the boys jumped in the dinghy to venture into Poros, a) to see if the pontoon had been fixed (it hadn’t, surprise surprise) and b) to see if they could find a phone shop!

They returned to the boat a little later than expected (due to me putting in a late request via the VHF for rice to go with the curry I was cooking, just after the supermarket had shut for lunch!) new MIFI in hand, and rice,  but no new phone, still at least we managed to get our WIFI back up and running. We enjoyed the curry and settled in for the night, with no wind gusting through the bay, we had high hopes it would be a peaceful one. Well it was, until an Italian power boat arrived late, dropped its anchor close to us, but not close enough to be of concern, or so we thought! That was until 2am, when I woke up to the owner having the worst and loudest hissy fit in the World that went on and on and on, getting louder as he slammed doors and took the argument up to the fly bridge so all the bay could hear, the funny thing is, I am not sure who he was screaming at, as I couldn’t see anyone else one board , and certainly couldn’t hear anyone else!. Exasperation set it, and I grabbed the torch to light them up in an attempt to shut them up, the response being a whole load of more expletives and an empty beer bottle being hurtled in our direction!  He did finally get the message and picked up his anchor and drove off out of the bay, still screaming his head off!

The following day we, well David and I, with marine boy still fast asleep in his cabin, set off early to do the 36 nm trip to the Evia Channel and Lavrion.

The first 2 hours we motored in a SE1, but by 10 am the winds steadily increased to a Force 4 and Steven woke up to find us zipping along at 7 knots on a Beam Reach, in exactly the direction we wanted to go. It was a great few hours, as we continued past Sounion and its old Temple on the Hill and headed up the Evia channel now on a broad reach, all the way to the working, non touristy town of Lavrion.

After an eventful stern too mooring with the purported help of some local with our stern lines (who took our starboard line and tied it to the port buoy and our port  line across to the starboard buoy, very odd indeed and required some sorting out afterwards), we ate out that night and had just got into a small local tavern when the heavens opened and it tipped down with rain. It was highly entertaining however as a number of Greek young men in their souped up cars, clearly not used to wet road surfaces and rain, jumped behind their wheels to see just how many corners they could go sideways round, and how many donuts they could do. All of us in the Taverna sat watching, chuckling and waiting expectantly for the crash bang wollop that we thought was inevitable! (It never came thankfully for the occupants of the cars, god only knows how).

The following morning we wandered into Lavrion for some breakfast and to source a Wind shop in the hope of securing a new phone but keeping our old number (which we did thankfully) and do some provisioning before setting northwards again.

Lavrion

We then sailed 20 nms  further up the channel in a glorious  South 4 pushing us all the way to Porto Rafti and Steven helmed all day, which on a broad reach can be tricky to avoid an accidental gybe, he did really well. We then dropped our pick in the Bay, watched the sun go down and had dinner, wine and played cards before retiring for the night.

On the 8th, we were joined by a friend, Paul (who is an IT techie who was changing out my failing hardrive in my laptop), his son, Dan and his father, Steve and we gave them a lively sail over to the other side of the channel, the winds blowing a Northerly Force 5 gusting 6, where we found shelter to drop the anchor, have a swim and some lunch and then sail back. Steve had done some sailing before and clearly loved it, the more ferocious the wind and sea got, the more he grinned, happily helming the day away. They were staying in a place called Nea Makri, an hours drive north of Porto Rafti and we had hoped to be able to drop them somewhere closer on the return, but having persevered against the winds and swell for an hour, David and I made the decision that it wasn’t going to happen, so we let the sails out and turned back to Porto Rafti on a broad reach. I think Paul was somewhat relieved, given he was down below reinstalling Windows and Adobe for me!

Having dropped the guys back to shore via dinghy, we ate on board and decided to spend the next day on anchor in Porto Rafti, having a well earned rest.

Porto Rafti

We spent the day venturing into town, chilling and making friends with our neighbor on a 56 foot Oyster. Funnily enough we did not decline when invited on for pre-dinner drinks and we did have a laugh. His name was Ian and he was the font of all knowledge having sailed around the World with the Oyster Rally for 15 months, and he gave Steven some really sound advice, career wise! We had intended on dinghying in for some dinner but after 2 of Ian’s huge measures we were lucky to make it back to the boat!

On the 10th September we sailed 28nm further up and across the channel, Steven back on the helm, aiming to drop anchor in  what was described as a sheltered bay on a little island just off Nea Stira on Evia, in 5-7 metres of sand. However on arriving at the bay we found ourselves in depths of 30 plus metres up to 20 metres from the shore, with katabatic winds blowing around us. Clearly not the safest place to spend the night, so we headed over to the lee shore of Evia where we saw another yacht had anchored and was reasonably still. We dropped our pick, but on testing that it held we dragged it, so we picked it up to re-set, only to find a forest of weed, branches and glutinous mud wedged on and around it, doubling its size. After over half an hour, with numerous attempts of dislodging the mess with the boat hook, with dropping the anchor in the water driving forward and reversing on it, we finally succeeded and decided not to attempt it again and headed for the little town of Nea Stira, and its public quay which had enough room for 2 yachts, just about, before having to raft up! One yacht managed to sneak in in front of us, leaving us a very very tight space to go alongside in front of them and behind a fishing boat. When I say tight, I mean a space that was  about 14 metres long! We are 12 metres and with the dinghy on the davits, more like 13 metres! the depth was also clearly questionable as we could see people standing waist deep in the water not too far from the spot we were aiming for. David was on the helm, Steven was reading out the depth, l  was on the bow ready with the lines but also looking out for rocks on the bottom, the water was thankfully crystal clear, as we inched forward, until I shouted stop to David,  (not just because of our proximity to the fishing boat ahead of us, but also because of the pile of rubble reducing the depth dramatically). However on my word, David then tucked our stern into the gap perfectly and we tied off, all safe and sound. David did admit afterwards that it was the first time his knees had been shaking, it was that tight and difficult a mooring!

We ate on board that night, and had a peaceful night, much more so than the boat that had snuck in before us near the end of the quay, as the wind and swell turned around and started clipping their stern much too hard and much too frequently for our liking! Hoped they would leave so we didnt have to try to extricate ourselves via springs, I went on a walkabout to take some pictures of the little town and returned with some giant croissants and donuts for a healthy breakfast, not!

Nea Stira, Evia

The timing was perfect, just as I got back, the other yacht left, so we soon followed, very easily, and sailed around to a little safe haven called Voufalo, still on Evia, where we could tuck behind a sand bank, and whilst we wouldn’t necessarily have total shelter from the gusting wind, we would from the swell. We weren’t the only ones with that idea, there were about 9 boats in the small bay for the night.

Voufalo, Evia

We woke up on the 12th to the wind still gusting through our bay, putting our plan of chilling out, paddle boarding, an extended lunch in the only Taverna in the place to bed, so we left, heading towards Oropos on the mainland, we had a lovely sail until about 3 miles outside of Oropos when the wind dropped completely. I have to say I was rather pleased at that as the tiny harbour at Oropos was very shallow, with little room to maneuver in and no one to help with our lines. There were bow lines for us to use, but they were not connected to the quay but rather to buoys bobbing around the marina. We didnt have a lot of choice as there were only 2 spaces available, most being taken up by small power boats!. We dropped the dinghy off the davits, chose our spot and decided that we would get our stern lines on first and then pick up the bow line.  All went without a hitch, as far as the stern lines go, but when David got in the dingy to get the bow line, it was covered with so many barnacles and mussels it could hardly be lifted and even if we had, would have scratched our hull to pieces. David dropped it back to the bottom of the marina, climbed back on board, we let our stern lines go and went to try the second and last remaining spot, praying it wouldn’t have the same issues. Thankfully, it didnt, and we moored up safely in the end, definitely ready for a beer!

Oropos

Dennis, from the Evoiko Sea Centre where Seaclusion is due to spend the winter came over to see us, have a look at the boat and talk us through the lifting etc. We warmed to him immediately and are very happy to leave Seaclusion in his and his family’s capable hands. We then ventured into Oropos for some dinner, so having all settled for Pizza, although the ordering was a bit of a struggle, due to a lack of English speakers in this area, but still better than our Greek, we relaxed with yes, even more Rose wine, before our pizzas arrived, or should I say two pizzas and one burger !!  Anyway we had a chuckle, waited another 10 minutes for the original pizza that was ordered to be delivered to the table and then made our way back to the yacht for the night.

The following day, and with Steven’s help, we set about putting the boat to bed for the winter, starting with  cleaning, drying and deflating the kayak and paddle board, cleaning all the other toys (snorkels, masks etc)  on board and then hoisting the dinghy up onto the side and David doing the back breaking task of cleaning the mould and barnacles that had accumulated on it over the summer.  We lowered the Genoa, flaked it and bagged it ready to be cleaned, dismantled and cleaned all the sheets (ropes)  and everything else on deck that we put away for the winter, conscious to make sure nothing was dropped in the water as the boat was surrounded by these massive jelly fish.

According to Google these are Cotylorhiza tuberculata and can reach 35 cm in diameter. It seems that this jellyfish’s sting has very little or no effect on humans., still didnt fancy swimming with one!

Shattered, we called it quits, showered…

and went into Oropos for the evening. We decided that we couldn’t really go home without trying a Greek Pork Gyros so went to a Gyros place to check it out. They were kind enough to give us a taster before decision, and well, we have really been missing out, it was gorgeous, a bit like pulled spit roasted pork, even though it looks like a donner kebab! We also made friends with a Daisy lookalike dog, who after we had fed her our left over pork, disappeared around the corner and woofed her head off for a couple of seconds. David cracked a joke that she was calling all her mates over. 1 minute later she returned, promptly tried to climb on Steven’s lap (she was the same size as Daisy!!!) and give him a wet sloppy kiss. 3 minutes later we were surrounded by 6 dogs, she had been calling her mates!!!

The 14th September sadly saw Steven in a taxi, on his way to the airport. it was very sad to see him go, we had had such a good time, and got on really well. In fact he posted this on Facebook from the airport….

“Had the most amazing sailing holiday this year in Greece! Seen some amazing places and had a great sailing experience with David Reed and Chantal Reed couldn’t have been any better ! Thank you so much for putting up with me for three weeks 🙂 see you both soon but for now enjoy the rest of your time in Greece !! Xxx”

A bit sad, we then left Oropos to go to Khalhoutsi, 4 nms up the coast and 1/2 nm from our lift out point, which was scheduled for the next day. (We needed calmed weather, you will see why a little later!) Dennis had said for us to call him when we were half an hour outside the harbour and he would come and take our lines. We duly did this, at which point he advised it was a bows too mooring, yuck! However we soon understood as we rounded the harbour entrance with 0.3m under our keel (mid thankfully), positioned ourselves, tied off to then have only 0.1 under the keel, stern too wouldn’t have been an option!.

We then set about the final stages, cleaning the fenders, fridge, cupboards, showers, toilets etc, all the stuff we would much rather someone else do, but hey ho, we are the crew!!! and of course packing up our things for our other home in Spain. Shattered for a 2nd day running, in fact too tired to eat but not consume wine, we did just that and retired early with the alarm set for 6am as we were the first boat scheduled to be lifted the following morning at 7am.

So the 16th, with dawn, we slowly motored out of our spot, the depth gauge now reading 0.0 under our keel, but like I said it was only mud!!,

Khalhoutsi

We then headed toward Evoiko Sea centre. As we approached we watched Dennis put one boat back in the water and the adjacent yard pull another out. It was very nerve racking as essentially they are pulling boats up off the beach. There is no pier, no sling, no crane, just a trailor and a tractor!

So now it was our turn!!!!!

And then it was done, and Seaclusion was safe and sound in her new home for the winter.

All we had to do was take the main sail down, and wash, dry and store both of the sails, along with the spray hood and bimini down below and say our farewells, and thank her for keeping us safe and sound for another memorable and enjoyable summer’s sailing, oh and have a farewell home cooked dinner with Dennis and his family and other suspects who had just had their boats hauled out too.

In summary, we spent 115 days on board Seaclusion this summer, and traveled 1445 nautical miles from Preveza, around the Ionian Islands, through the Gulfs of Patras and Corinth, through the Canal itself and out into the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean, ending up in the Evia Channel, just north of Athens.

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