Our Introduction to the Aegean

On the 1st August, we left Corinth early to pass through the Corinthian Canal without the wind to make life difficult. We radioed ahead for permission to transit and was told to get a move on if we want to tag onto the end of the last convoy and avoid a long wait. Trying to get the most out of our engine at 6.5 knots we just made it in time to pass over the submersible bridge and watch it come up behind us.

The Corinthian Canal

The canal was amazing, David patiently helming and listening to the control tower telling the boats to speed up, slow down etc, whilst I ran around the deck shooting images and taking in the view. We were lucky to not be behind a supertanker and the havoc its wash causes, and to have no one behind us so we had an unfettered view of the canal as we passed through it.

It took us 30 short minutes to pop out into the Aegean, and then we had a 4 hour sail to the Island of Aegina which is 17 nm south of Piraeus, the main port of Athens, where we had an appointment with the Yard where Seaclusion is to spend this winter. The Port was total chaos, with ferries and hydrofoils coming and going. We had thought that Monday would be a good day to arrive, thinking all the Athenians who bring their boats over for the weekend would be long gone, but sadly no, they appear to hang around until Tuesday!. We did manage to get a mooring, the last one available at the time and didn’t really clock a) what we were mooring opposite and b) next to, all of our concentration being on dropping our anchor so as to not cross anyone else’s and on the depth which was shrinking rapidly as we approached the quay to 0.5m under our keel!

Once settled all safe and sound we took a look around our surroundings and soon realised that we had moored opposite the fish market, pooh! But that wasn’t the worst of it, we had also moored next to the oldest, and smelliest fishing boat, no wonder that spot was available! With no access to power at that end of the quay we couldn’t even shut the hatches and put the air con on to stop the smell permeating through the boat and giving us a permanent hint of green around our chops. It was nearly enough to put us off fish for life and took a good couple of hours to fumigate the boat when we left. Needless to say we spent as little time on the boat as possible that afternoon and determined to leave the following day as soon as possible, although we badly needed to get some laundry done!

Aegina has a special place in Greek mythology and history, being the capital of Greece from 1827 to 1829. The main town is picturesque and lively, the main road being shut to vehicular traffic in the evening, all except little motorized cars for the kids that were racing up and down and required some dodging!

Island of Aegina

The following morning we set about getting our laundry down and finding water via a tanker, and soon realised that perhaps the Aegean islands, at least those close to Athens were a lot more commercial and having been ripped off twice, once with the laundry which cost us 4€ per kilo plus €25 to iron 3 shirts 1 pair of trousers & 2 pillow cases, (in the Ionian we were paying max €7 per 5 kilos wash and dry) and 200 ltrs of water costing €25 (we were used to it either bring free or a max of €5 for as much as we wanted), we needed to be very careful!

Come midday, feeling all the more poorer and smellier we couldn’t depart from Aegina quickly enough. We headed all of 4nm to an idyllic bay on Nisos Moni, a tiny islet off Aegina, and  anchored for the night.

The following day (3rd August) we headed northwards to go around the top of  Nisos Agistri, where we anchored off the town of Scala on the North side of the island for a wander and some lunch. the waters were turquoise blue and stunning, but given the prevailing winds in the afternoon were northerlies, not a safe place for the night. The town was very cute, although packed with mad Athenians taking in the midday sun on the beach.

We then returned to Seaclusion and sailed around the corner as the winds got up, to anchor on the south side with a view of the island. The information we had lead us to believe it was possible to free anchor but on arrival we soon realised that was not the case and had to do the whole drop anchor with a long line ashore thing, with 15 knots of wind blowing across our beam. David became marine boy, diving in with the line to tie off on a rock and I tried my hardest to keep the boat in line! 2nd attempted finally saw us moored up safely and whilst idyllic it proved to be a noisy night with the swell slapping against the rock and coming back at us, at least it wasn’t what I call a rolly polly night so our record of none of these this holiday is still in tact.

On the 4th August, we sailed on a lovely beam reach the 9nm to Epidavros, or Epidural as David called it, on the mainland and anchored in the bay off the port, just one of 5 boats, lovely! Epidavros is set at the side of steep wooded slopes and is an attractive small town, but the real attraction of the area is the massive amphitheatre, said to be the best preserved in Greece and is still used today, accommodating 14,000 people.

We dropped the dinghy & ventured into town via dinghy to have a nose around and work out how best to get to the amphitheatre.

Epidavros

Later that afternoon, we returned to the boat to watch our nice peaceful bay get more and more hectic as boats came in and dropped their anchor where they could find a space. By the end of the day there were 31 boats crammed in, and one of the late arrivals clearly didn’t know what he was doing, attempted to anchor 5 times and on the 5th picked up someone else’s chain….. ours!! without even realising it, motoring off to find another spot. Us shouting at him didn’t seem to get him to stop until people on 4 boats around us joined in and finally he stopped before he dragged us around the bay with him amidst the 31  boats. Finally we managed to disentangle our chain and thankfully as we were in 14m of water and had over 60 metres of chain down, and he had picked the chain up near the boat rather than the anchor we didn’t have to reset!

The following morning, after most of the boats had departed and we felt it was safe to leave the boat we grabbed a taxi and winged our way to the amphitheater and Wow, was it huge and breathtaking! I counted 212 steps to get the top, had to be done for the photos of course!

We then returned to the town and went to see the little theater they had there, still very old and well preserved, housing 1000 people, it was tiny by comparison.

We then walked back to town, had a drink and jumped in the dingy to chill out for the afternoon, go paddle boarding around the bay and spend the evening on board. Only a couple of boats joined us that evening and it was a peaceful night.

On the 6th, we left our little haven and headed 9nm across the bay to the island of Methana and a tiny little port called Vathy. the wind was a gentle north easterly Force 2 and we close hauled all the way overtaking a beautiful Moody, same as Dad’s which brought back lots of great memories with a tinge of sadness.

Then, just as we approached Vathy the lovely Force 2 soon became and 3, then 4 then 5, clearly the Greek winds were sent to test our mooring skills. As I said before, Vathy is a tiny harbour that could accommodate at most 10 yachts on the quay, with a very narrow entrance and very little room to maneuver around in, but we managed it without incident! As we stepped off the boat we were right in the middle of this delightful hamlet, well off the charter milk runs. It took us all of 10 minutes to wander around!

Vathy on the Island of Methana

We stayed the one night there, having dinner in the restaurant right in front of us and the inevitable carafe of local Greek wine, and then departed for the popular island of Poros, 22 Nm again under sail for the most part. We decided to stay in a bay a couple of miles off the main town, called Russian Bay, which had a lovely old ruin on the beach and one enterprising Greek who had set up a tavern there in a portocabin. It was a lovely peaceful evening and the following morning we had the company of a local fisherman and his tame seagull waiting for titbits, and donned the paddle board again to go exploring and test our skills on the board as the wash of the passing ferries came into the bay. Obviously improving as neither of us came a cropper!

We then picked up the pick and motored towards Poros, dropping anchor in the bay right outside, jumping in the dinghy and venturing into the town for a wander and to work out where to come in the following day.

Poros is a small volcanic Peninsular, separated from the mainland by a narrow strip of water. The town is built on the rocky slopes and the view on the approach or from above is spectacular. Below is a picture I pilfered from the internet to give you an idea!

Island of Poros

Although the pictures don’t show it, Poros was mobbed with tourists and Athenians, all pouring in via numerous ferries and hydrofoils. We finally ventured back to Seaclusion for a peaceful dinner and a glass of wine or two, watching the sun setting in the distance.

The following morning, being the 9th August and our 13th wedding anniversary we decided to actually moor up along the quay for the afternoon and evening and find somewhere not touristy to celebrate. The book had warned that the hydrofoils arriving and leaving the port could reek havoc on the boats on the quay so make sure that we put a lot of chain out,  our anchor was really dug in and leave a good distance from the quay. With this knowledge, we did just that, and moored without incident. We lowered the back,  David jumped ashore with the power line to plug in, I was still on board watching to see if he had enough cable, when to our horror an almost 2 metre wash from an existing hydrofoil hit us so hard. I managed to pull the back up before it hit the quay and get the ball fender in place. But as the boat was picked up and dropped rapidly the strain on our starboard stern cleat proved to be too much, and it was wrenched out of the deck and snapped in half. As a consequence when the 2nd and 3rd wave hit us, we had nothing to keep the boat from corkscrewing, and with a huge resounding crunch that silenced all the people in the cafe opposite us, we hit the quay twice, more particularly a metal ring in the side of quay which went through our stern puncturing both the outer and inner skin. As David stood there with his head in his hands, I peered down at the damage and dissolved into tears. This is the first real damage we have done to our boat since we have had her! Not a good start to our anniversary!

Thankfully within a few minutes, a space on the single pontoon freed up, and having only one stern cleat we nabbed it, able to moor along our good side. Upset as clearly we were we tried to deal with it practically and find someone to help organise the repairs, hoping the boat would not need to be lifted out of the water despite the damage being close to the water line.  Unfortunately there was only one person on the island capable of undertaking fiberglass and gel coat repairs and he was way until Thursday (2 days later), so all we could do was wait and deal with the Port Police and our insurers.

Determined not to let it ruin our evening, we had been recommended a little restaurant off the tourist trail and a little way out of town, so decided we would go there. We got all dressed up and just as we were about to leave the boat, the heavens opened and much needed rain (although not on that night of all nights) appeared. We dashed to the nearest bar to have a drink and wait out the rain. Sadly not a quick affair and much as the same as in London, taxis are two a penny until it rains. Conscious that we were going to be very late for our reservation I had a word with the owner of the bar, who having tried to get a taxi for us with no joy, hailed down a friend who was passing and asked him to take us! So charming and friendly!

We arrived at our little restaurant where we were meant to have a table for two on a secluded balcony overlooking the restaurant, but given the rain, that was also not meant to be! Still we had a fabulous meal and a great evening, the hostess of the restaurant was so helpful and friendly, so despite the start to the day we did have a really lovely anniversary!

We then kicked our heals a bit until Thursday when Andreas came to look at the boat. He advised that he just did not have the time to do what was a substantial repair but made some calls for us and booked us with the guys in Alimos Marina, near Athens. We slapped on as much silicone in the hole in our stern to help prevent water intake and decided to wing our way to Athens the following day as the Meltimi was forecasted to blow from Saturday for a week bringing with it 2 meter swells that would definitely have found its way through our hole, despite the whole tube of silicone. We had a fabulous sail for 30nm with a SE Force3 pushing us most of the way until an hour out we caught the start of the Meltimi and close-hauled through a NW Force 5 to Alimos.

The following morning Vangelis came and inspected the damage and advised that the boat definitely needed to be lifted and as it was a bank holiday on the Monday for the whole of Greece, the earliest time was 9am on Tuesday. We took the opportunity over the weekend to walk our feet off around Athens. Thankfully the meltimi brought cooler weather with it! Athens is a wonderful city, I am sure you all know by the ruins, monuments and neoclassical buildings around are amazing. I will let the pictures do most of the talking!.

Athens

The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, with the evzones of the presidential guard in their Traditional Greek Costume, including curly shoes!

The Sacred Rock of the Acropolis & Parthenon, circa 400BC

The Slopes of the Acropolis, with the theatre of  Dionysus

The Areopugus Hill and a view of the Acropolis

The Busy area of Plaka in the area of the Roman Agora. It is the city’s oldest quarter.

The Panathenaic Stadium constructed in marble for the first Olympic Games of modern times in 1896

The President’s Residence

The Temple of Olympian Zeus with its 16 remaining monumental pillars.

Old Roman Baths

Shattered, we were now ready to have the boat lifted out, the repairs started and chill out by a pool in a nearby hotel for a few days! So on the 16th August, we did just that.

The 16th August is always an emotional day for me, being my Dad’s birthday, so once we were settled in the hotel, rested we ventured into Glyfada to raise a toast to what would have been his 80th Birthday, had he still been with us today!

That’s it for now, Hoping to set sail again on Friday this week, with Steven and his girlfriend Tasmin joining us next Wednesday!