Monday 22 July 2013

Cruising the Saronic Gulf


What a thrill it was to see the yellow taxi appear around the bend, and emerging from it the smiling faces of Kathy, Leonie and bag boy extraordinaire Steve, ready for ten days of respite from the southern winter sailing the Greek islands aboard Common Sense. Terry and I had spent a couple of days at Zea Marina in Piraeus getting the boat ready – and I would like to give the place a plug for its excellent services and much more reasonable rates than the marinas further to the south-east, which appear to be targeting the superyacht market (40 euros per night at Zea vs 175 at Glifadha!).  Zea has very competent docking guys who escort you into your slip with their dinghy, friendly, helpful reception staff, clean showers and a list of good recommended boat services. Robert, the electrician who finally fixed our dodgy wind generator, was outstanding.

Once everyone had settled in and started to come to terms with our limited space, non-existent privacy and the vagaries of gas systems and marine toilets, we took to the streets of Piraeus for the traditional perpata, along with a few thousand Athenians. Dinner at a small family restaurant was an introduction to such delights as the traditional Greek salad, tsatziki dip, zucchini fritters, cheese pies and excellent beer for 2.50 for a 500 ml glass. This was an experience repeated many times in tavernas, with the addition of fresh calamari, souvlaki, moussaka, beetroot salad, octopus and other fresh and delicious foods.
 

The next day was spent preparing in earnest, filling up our tanks with water and fuel and shopping for provisions in the five storey Carrefours supermarket, an experience in itself. In the afternoon we swam at the local beach – an unattractive setting and stony ground (making the Elle McPherson walk down to the sea a total impossibility: it ends up as a sort of mincing stagger), but beautiful clear cold water. Kathy noted that some of the heftier locals gave us an opportunity to observe Archimedes’ Principle at first hand, though there were plenty of Adonis and Aphrodite types as well. We followed this with further observations from a harbourside coffee lounge and a sunset perpata right around the circular harbour, checking out the luxury yachts, tiny fishing boats and ‘ouzo palaces’ nestled together in this ancient harbour that once protected the galleys of the Athenian fleet.

So finally it was time to head for the islands. We had planned to do a circuit of the Saronic Gulf in a series of comfortable day sails, anchoring out in quiet bays or docking in fishing harbours as the wind strengthened in the afternoon. The gods of sea and wind – Poseidon and Aeolus in these parts – smiled throughout most of our cruising days, offering us smooth seas and at least some wind assistance if we needed to motor. The first day took us to the nearby island of Aegina, a popular weekend retreat for Athenians who can afford to escape the heat, pollution and crowds of the capital. We anchored in Ormos Marathona, a quiet bay on the western side of the island where we had a swim then rowed the dinghy in to a tavern set over the water for a memorable sunset meal.
 

After coffee, a morning swim (Kathy is actually part mermaid and needs to be hydrated regularly) and breakfast we set off south for the island of Poros. This was a day of true Mediterranean sailing – dodging ferries and charter fleets, constantly putting up and taking in sails, turning on the motor when the wind suddenly died, then up with the sails again as 20 knots appeared from nowhere. With five of us aboard to keep watch and deal with lines and winches, this was fun instead of being stressful and exhausting. It was also beautiful, as we sailed past the various small islands rising steeply from the deep aquamarine waters of the Aegean. Steve did a fine job on his first stint at the helm – he inspired such confidence that Terry actually dozed off for a while!

 
The harbour in Poros is a busy place, with ferries and hydrofoils coming and going, the local car ferry constantly crossing between the island and the Peloponnese mainland, fishing boats both high tech and basic wooden rowboat style, and pleasure craft from superyachts to speedboats, charter yachts and cruisers, some of whom have settled in and are not going anywhere in a hurry. The busiest place is the town dock where all these boats seem to jostle for space, so we decided to stay in the anchorage on the northern side of the strait. Because so many of the islands are actually the peaks of submerged mountains, there is deep water right up to the shore and it can be difficult to set the anchor – and to be confident that it will hold in the switching winds. You need to put out more chain than we are used to - and then there is the worry that your boat has such a wide circle of potential movement that there is a risk of collision with other boats or the rocks near the shore. We stayed put, but needed to check constantly as our position changed relative to the land and our neighbouring boats.

We decided to take the dinghy over to one of the tavernas on the nearby shore, but that was before Matina, the persuasive owner of Matina’s Taverna, intercepted us from the dockside. Matina’s Taverna it was. And the food was wonderful: fresh, tasty and so generously portioned that the mermaids decided to swim back to the boat to work it off.

 
Over on the other side of the strait, the Peloponnese side, we saw Hephaistos at anchor and had a chance to catch up with our old friends Lauren and Olivier. It was good to share stories and to hear about their adventures over the past couple of months, since we were in Malta together.

In order to explore this rather wild and rugged island properly, we decided to hire scooters for the day. Steve, Terry and Kathy had had enough riding experience to convince the proprietor that they could be trusted in charge of a scooter, but Leonie was required to demonstrate her competence – a test she passed with flying colours. As for me, my lack of experience and famous lack of coordination saw me relegated to the back of Terry’s scooter – much better than ending up splattered and broken on a mountain road somewhere. It was a fantastic day. We climbed ever higher, taking in awesome views over the Aegean islands, stopping to pay homage to Poseidon at the ruins of his temple and stopping for a dip and a drink at the beautiful but unfortunately named Vagionia Beach.  Terry located a couple of geocaches to add to his tally, one of them taking us up to an ancient windmill high on a hill overlooking the old town. Drinks with Olivier and Lauren, a barbecue aboard Common Sense and a general exhausted collapse into our bunks, rocked gently by the swell. I only had to get up once to check if we’d dragged anchor.

 
 
After our requisite morning swim, the intended destination was the island of Hydra. We enjoyed pretty good conditions with the usual motor – sail – motor that we’ve come to expect, and pretty soon the high, barren slopes of Hydra appeared, with its one small harbour town nestled between huge craggy hills. It was suddenly clear why there is no motorised transport of the island, just the sure-footed donkeys and their carts. A couple of boats were anchored and tied with long lines to the rocks on shore, but a buoyed-off beach took up all the water that was shallow enough for us to anchor. We made a couple of attempts, but the strong winds and depths made it impossible, so we motored around to Mandraki where the depth problem turned out to be similar. The island of Dhokos didn’t look promising either. The Captain was heard to mutter that “Hydra can get stuffed!” So, change of plans, over we went to the mainland side to the harbour town of Ermione, where an enthusiastic tavern owner helped us to back in to the dock in front of his establishment. Ermione is a pleasant village built on a small peninsula. It has an ‘inside’ which is the fishing harbour and town dock, with a frontage of small family hotels, tavernas and interesting little shops. The ‘outside’, where we berthed, was lined with restaurants. The end of the peninsula is covered in light pine forest and there is a nice track to walk right around it, checking out the remnants of a couple of temples, up-market apartments, some lovely eateries, and spectacular views of the sea and surrounding islands.
 
 
 

Our guy on the dock served good coffee and cheap beer, so we were quite comfortable despite the wind kicking up a bit of chop from time to time. We stocked up on excellent fruit and veges, including those huge tomatoes, ripened on the vine, that smell and taste like the essence of summer. Swimming in Ermione involved a steep climb down a rocky path and a stagger over the stones, but the crew were undaunted and the perfect water was its own reward.

 
So where to next? We had five days left, and it looked as though the final day, Thursday, was due for strong Melteme winds – a good time to be back in the marina and maybe do a day trip to see the sights of Athens. So, working backwards, we wanted to spend Wednesday sailing back; Monday and Tuesday we decided to spend in the town of  Ancient Epidhavros (not to be confused with New Epidhavros in a nearby bay) which would enable us to see the amphitheatre there and perhaps get to the ancient city of Mycenae quite close by. So, Sunday was a pleasant enough sail - surrounded by hundreds of craft out for the weekend - back up to the Straits of Poros where we found a quiet anchorage near Ormos Vidhi at the far western end of the channel and enjoyed another on-board barbecue accompanied by Steve’s G&Ts, ouzo, and supermarket wine that comes in big plastic cordial bottles.

After the obligatory morning dip, we were able to sail most of the way to Epidhavros , heading north and then west around Methana (named for its smelly sulphurous volcanic fumes) aided by a moderate north-easterly wind. We managed to find a good spot to anchor, on a shallow bank (4 metres) that kept us just clear of the swimming beach in Palaia Epidhavros. We had dinner that night in a hotel restaurant that happened to have the ruins of a temple to Artemis in the garden (ho hum, another 5th century BC ruin!) so we offered a libation to the goddess. Virgin sister of Apollo and protector of young women, Artemis is known to be particularly vengeful and creative in her punishments, so it pays to stay on her good side. The restaurant owner was quite a character. He had travelled extensively, lectured on Greek culture and had strong opinions on most things, his native land included. This is a joke he told us that he said captured the Greek national character:

Jesus Christ returned to earth and granted a miracle to three men. To a German he said, what do you want and the German said, my neighbour has a beautiful house, I would like a house like my neighbour’s. And it was granted. To the Englishman Jesus said, what do you want and the man said, my neighbour has a fantastic car, I would like a car like my neighbour’s. This also was granted. Then Jesus turned to the Greek and asked, Spiros, what do you want? Spiros thought carefully and said, my neighbour has an excellent goat that provides milk, cheese and kids for meat. Do you want a goat like your neighbour’s? asked Jesus. No, I want my neighbour’s goat to die, said Spiros.

Fortunately we have only encountered the generous side of the Greek character so far. Despite economic hardship, people seem to know how to enjoy life. As one man told us, “We have the sun, the sky and the sea. Even the Germans can’t take that away from us!”

So, back to the journey. We arranged to hire a car – a Volvo – to be delivered the next morning so we could visit Mycenae and the amphitheatre. Steve was the driver, giving the Captain a break from the helm for the day, and he did a sterling job, especially on the second leg of the trip where we managed to choose the ‘scenic route’ that wound through the mountains and offered some very exciting switchbacks and unexpected potholes.

Mycenae was once the centre of the Greek world, home to Agamemnon who commanded the united Greek forces in the siege of Troy and was then murdered by his wife and her lover on his return home. His son Orestes avenged the murder. The palace site occupies a high, barren peak with a commanding view of the surrounding farmland all the way to the sea: it would have been almost impossible to attack, but also quite a march to get to anywhere else. I could just imagine a messenger struggling to the top then being told, OK, now here’s my message back to him. Tucked away behind the car park is a huge stone vault, long ago robbed of its treasure, that is purported to be Agamemnon’s tomb.

The exciting drive mentioned earlier took us back to Epidhavros to the sanctuary of Asclepius the healer and the amphitheatre, one of the largest and best preserved in Greece. The acoustics in the theatre are remarkable. Sounds made at the ‘sweet spot’ at centre stage can be easily heard in all 1400 seats, including the cheap seats way up the back. We tested this successfully despite quite a lot of ambient noise, then Leonie, Steve and I treated the scattering of tourists to a rousing chorus of Advance Australia Fair. At least the Chinese girls applauded politely. Apparently the theatre design filters out low frequency sound (crowd mutterings) and amplifies high frequencies like music and the voices of actors. Once again, some ancient technologies were quite astounding.
 

Next in a packed itinerary was a snorkel over the ‘sunken city’ at Kalymnios Beach, just around from our anchorage. Well it was more of a sunken villa than a whole city, but still very interesting and a great way to relax and cool off after a day in the car. The walls, a paved road and the remains of large terracotta storage vessels were still clearly visible in the shallow water. Back to town for a few cold beers, dinner and a slightly bumpy unsettled night at anchor.
 

We must have scrimped on prayers and sacrifices somewhere along the way, because the wind next day was blowing strongly from the north west, right on the nose. As we headed out of the bay, a moderate swell was also evident. So, it was a long beat back with the winds gusting up to 45 knots as we threaded our way through the big ships at anchor outside Piraeus harbour. Back at Zea, there was far too much wind to back into a tight slip so Terry skilfully manoeuvred us in bows-to. Phew! The crew looked surprisingly chipper, and after a shower and a bit of a clean up we were all up for a night on the town.

The Monastiraki district is the place to be in Athens in the evening, with hundreds of shops, restaurants and bars. The illuminated Acropolis and Parthenon shine like a beacon above the lively scene. Kathy exercised her advanced shopping skills while Leonie seemed to win the heart of every shopkeeper and restaurateur we met. Another great dinner accompanied by traditional music and an opportunity to watch hundreds of people pass by on their evening perpata.

Our final day was to be a tour of Athens on a hop on hop off city bus. The trip up to see the Acropolis was fine; though predictably hot and crowded it is still an awesome place. Phase 2 was not a success, with a demonstration in the city centre meaning that the bus was diverted through the grimy dilapidated residential quarters of Athens, missing many of the highlights and prolonging a hot, uncomfortable ride to the point where we started to get anxious about being back on time. It meant that we couldn’t enjoy a relaxed farewell meal together – just a final shower, pack and a quick coffee – but maybe that was just as well, as I for one was feeling pretty emotional at having to say goodbye. Thanks Kathy, Leonie and Steve for making the LONG trek from Bunbury, Western Australia all the way to Piraeus and back, and for being such an awesome crew. We hope you have some happy memories of life aboard Common Sense, and remember that those T shirts entitle you to join us any time, anywhere!
 
 
 

 

Monday 15 July 2013

Hello Greece (Terry)


We just spent a few days in Preveza, where we checked into Greece.  It is easy to see why employers shun the Mediterranean and choose the Northerners.  One giant cockup is a nice way of putting it.  No s.o.b. knows what they’re doing, they just make it up as they go.  The Customs Office uses handwritten ledgers and the old dot-matrix printers because they still use idem paper!

They tie their files together with Legal Tape.  Unbelievable.  We had to go there first to get a form, then take that form back across the bay to the Port Police, who put a stamp on it, then take it back to Customs who issued us with our Cruising Log.  Costs €30.  Good for 50 ports and 6 months.  Then we had to take that back again to the Port Police and pay €15 for the harbour.  They were busy telling a Canadian that he owed them €866 even though he had his boat in the Cleopatra Marina for the season, on the hard.  He was pissed off because no-one told him and also he didn’t have the money.  I could see a plan forming in his brain – Italy in an overnighter!

Then a Port Police lady tried to explain to me the “Tax” for cruising in Greece.  They tried to bring this in years ago for everyone but the EU Commission in Brussels told them it was illegal.  So they dropped it for EU boats but they kept it for foreigners because their governments didn’t complain.  It is not written down anywhere, it is not law, it is not regulation, it just “is”.  It is (for us) 12metres by 1 Trimester by €14.67 plus VAT at 23%, or about €204 for three months.  OK, so far so good.  I don’t mind paying that for free harbours, waste disposal etc etc.  But then dopey tried to tell me that for the 2nd three months the fee came to €866 and the calculation was the same but instead of 1 Trimester it is 2.  OK, my maths is a bit oldish but the total comes to €410 or something, not €866.  She’d just finished arguing with the Canadian and told him he owed €866 so it must have stuck in her mind.  Apparently Customs collect this “unwritten tax” when you hand back your Cruising Log. €70 a month to cruise through Greece is ok by me, but not the €866 figure.  If that applies, we’re out of here before the 3 months is up and into Turkey.

Preveza was nice – lots of great simple restaurants in little back alleys.  Can’t get our Vodafone to work – bought a Vodafone dongle (only €21 here) but the card wouldn’t connect.  However, it will connect if I put it in my Wind Italy dongle (unlocked) and connect to the Vodafone Greece 3G network.  How does that work?

Preveza is the mouth of a large inland type sea – goes for 18 miles (nautical) with towns and cities on it.  Apparently it is full of sea life, with dolphins, fish, turtles all over.  There are anchorages everywhere so we’ll probably come back this way and stay.  A large-ish turtle came past the boat one morning and had a look at us.
 
 

It is where Octavian, who became Augustus Caesar, fought Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the battle that settled the Civil War that began when Julius Caesar was assassinated.  The battle site where the galleys fought is where we motored in through the channel.  The site of the Battle of Actium is just over the water way on the other side of the peninsula.  You can see it quite easily from the town dock.  There used to be a ferry across there (it’s only about 400 metres) but now they have a tunnel under the entrance from one side to the other.

We walked around Butrint in Albania last week, along streets that Julius Caesar himself walked in – they’re stone roads, only a few feet wide, and they lead from the town gates to places he would have gone to, like the theatre etc.  Feels strange when you stop to think about it.  Then we were tied up a matter of 200 meters from where Cleopatra’s royal barge was tied up (Octavius was a few miles north)

In Preveza, there wasn’t much built in those days and the armies simply camped out.  Octavius built a new city called Nikopolis to celebrate his victory and we went to that museum yesterday.

The food in Preveza’s restaurants is simple and good.  Greek salad is usually €5 and comes with a massive thick slice of Fetta on the top and superb tomatoes.  Always very nice, as the land around Preveza is fertile and the locals know how to grow stuff.  Another common dish is Beetroot salad, just simple boiled beetroots cut up with olive oil and vinegar.  The Grilled Fetta is very nice – it is not crumbed or anything like that, it is just slices of tomato with chunks of Fetta laid over it and put under the grill – it part-melts and the tomatoes heat up.  Very tasty.

It’s Pepper season now so these are everywhere.  The Greeks stuff them with cheese (so do the Albanians) and then grill them so the cheese melts.  Excellent.  Meat is usually small chunks or strips cooked on an open fire.    It is very easy to find stuff to like here.  The Greek beers are excellent – Fix, Alfa, Fisher are all good.  Mythos is made by Carlsberg and I find that a bit on the sweet side.  My favourite is probably Fix.  They do a Fix Dark, and there were some in the fridge, but this is summer so it can wait until winter.  Last night we had dinner in “The Mermaid” or “The Captain”   They didn’t seem to know what to call themselves.  There was a traditional Greek band playing in the alley – two guys and a girl singer.  It was very, very good music, and all the Greeks were singing along, even the ones who were just walking through on their nightly Passage.  The Greeks call theirs a Perpato, the Italians call theirs a Passegiata, the English call theirs a Promenade, which they pinched from the French anyway.  I guess the Australian equivalent would be Bog Laps.

We were on the Town Dock, side-to, and lots of people come down to fish at night (some during the day, too).  We were down below the night before last when we heard an almighty roar that sounded like a huge windstorm arriving.  The boat wasn’t moving so it wasn’t that and we raced upstairs to see what on earth it was.  It was a massive school of sardines leaping out of the water onto the dock – obviously penned in by dolphins.  There were thousands on the dock and people were grabbing nets full or handsful or buckets full.  This happened three times in about ½ hour.  The third time they were around our boat and the sound of them hitting the hull was deafening.  Some things you wouldn’t believe if’n you didn’t see them.
 

We left Preveza early and motored on down to the “island” of Lefkas.  It is only an island because they’ve cut a channel through one part and stuck a bridge over it.  It’s called the Lefkas Canal and it goes for miles.  There were about 5 of us north-side waiting for the bridge to open on the hour.  Southbound traffic has priority but the idiots on the south heading north didn’t seem to have bothered to read their transit rules and were charging up the waterway.  I was in the lead of the southbounds and I was not all that impressed so I just motored ahead and made them stick very closely to their side of the channel.  It was a nice motor, with no wind, and we came out into the bay that has the Island of Skorpio in it.  Lots of yachts (charter ones) doing laps to see it but we didn’t bother.  The number of yachts here is staggering.  The marinas are forests of masts and the waterways are busy but not clogged, but it’s not July yet and also we are still in Northern Greece.  You cannot afford to relax as we are used to, with both of us having a little lie down in the cockpit for half an hour or so.
 

We arrived at our destination of Meganisi by about midday and anchored with a line tied to the shore to keep us straight.  Carol jumped in and swam it ashore and then I hauled it tight on a winch.  There were probably about 15 boats in there, 8 or so swinging on the anchor and the rest of us tied to a tree or a rock.  Carol spotted a discarded anchor below us in about 18’ of water.  I was going to try to retrieve it, although there must be a reason why it was cut free – maybe it’s stuck too hard?  More likely it is off a charter yacht and they simply didn’t know how to free it and cut it off.  I would have liked it as we would then have 5 anchors.  Our friend Dave Renoll (Captain Dave of R&R Sailing School) says you can’t have too much chain and you can’t have too many anchors.  At $450 a shot for the ones for our boat, a freebie would have been good.  However, we swung south in the night and ended up a long way from where it was and it was all too hard.

It’s a nice little anchorage – however, the round-island road was about 50’ behind us and there was a wedding on.  All over the Med, a wedding means a line of cars with various ribbons on them driving nose-to-tail and sounding their horns off.  As this is a small island, they all did two laps just for fun.  And they don’t ease up on the horns.

We played dominoes for a while and drank the last of the Sicilian red.  Opened a Calabrian red.  Beat Carol in dominoes thanks to one and one-only massively awful round she got.  We were level pegging for ages until the hand-from-hell turned up for her.  Finished dinner (veal cutlets from Italy) with mashed potato.  Fireworks on at the tavern over the anchorage, with folk music and probably dancing, though we couldn’t see it up that high).

So, how’s Greece you ask?  Well, they are nice sophisticated people who love a good time and east simply and well.  They are as pleased as all getout when I tell them I have a Greek Great-great grandfather. (Patrioti?)

From Meganisi we motored on down intending a shortish day of about 28 miles.  However, out planned anchorage had Katabatic wind pouring off its slopes and we couldn’t stop.   We went from zero wind to 35knots in a matter of half a mile.

So it was off to port and into the Gulf of Patras.  We found our way into a tiny dredged harbour called Kalydonos   We were going to tie to the town dock but couldn’t work out the depth so we stayed off and anchored.  Very pleasant except that there is a mountain behind the town that is awe-inspiring.  It is massive and it’s steep and it’s right “there”.  Any rocks come off, they drop on town.
 
 

We motored again the next day to Aigio, a town that has seen better days.  There is a new commercial wharf which has yet to be finished.  The ferry shown on the charts no longer runs.  The trains no longer run along the waterfront and the train sheds are empty with a rock precisely in the middle of each window.  We anchored tucked up tight inside the tightest bit of the bay about 30’ from shore and rowed in.  We first wanted to try to walk up to town but it was designed to keep barbarians away and was a mile uphill.  So we wandered along the bay to the yacht club and back and found a nice little restaurant playing some delightful music – Manos Hatzidakis – and we spent a pleasant hour or so there listening, eating and having a beer and a wine.

 

In the morning we up anchored and off to just short of the Corinth Canal, about 5 miles from the entrance to a place called Assos.  No chance of getting in to the marina there – some kids were jumping off the rocks at the entrance and standing up!  So we anchored in about 12’ of water in what we thought would be a pleasant spot.  However, the inshore was marshy and we were visited by mosquitoes galore.  Not a nice night.

 
At 8 the next day, we headed for the Canal.  We called up a mile away and were told to wait with the others gathered and almost at once all 7 of us were allowed through.  Good timing.  The Canal is about 3.6NM long and takes about 45 minutes to transit as there are sections where you must go very slowly to stop the sides falling in.  At the Eastern end, you tie up and go pay – for us, it was €203, which makes it the most expensive canal in the world per mile, but what it saves in time is worth it.  We refueled and headed to a small island 20 miles from Piraeus for what promised to be a pleasant anchorage but turned out to be a little bumpy.


In general, from Albania to just shy of Athens was a very easy journey, with lots of yachts north of Lefkas but barely a boat in sight in the Corinth Canal end.  The second last day before Assos we saw only two fishing boats and two cargo ships in the whole day.

 
We left the island and motored into Piraeus’ Zea Marina at midday or so the next day.  Met by a chappy in a dinghy, who landed and helped us to dock, this was a pleasant entry to one of the world’s great harbours – the AIS screen was lit up with over 50 contacts just in the port environs.


Piraeus and the islands up next…..