Harmonica is heading south back round the southern tip of Greece, and in a few days we shall start westwards for Sicily.
We spent a good week on the Pelion Peninsular with Jan's brother Peter and family, joined by our son Mark who flew into Skiathos to join us. Skiathos has many fine sandy beaches. We met Mark while anchored off "the finest beach in the Aegean"....it had rows of umbrellas; sun beds; noisy water sports; and a raft of 13 charter boats next to us. Not our idea of the best beach. Peter had rented a villa in Kamalos, a tiny village facing the Gulf of Volos and we were treated to real lie-down bath (with fair to good acoustics) and unlimited water. They joined us for day trips on the boat and the children played at swinging from slings on the boom into the water and bobbing up and down on the anchor rode on choppy days. Some adults were seen to join in as well. We found the Pelion peninsula and the N Sporades to be green and fertile. An unusual winter storm had dumped up to a metre of snow which had damaged many olive trees on the Pelion and uprooted a lot of pine trees in the forests on Skiathos.
Harmonica left Kamalos a day early since northerly gales were forecast and we could not risk Mark being late for his flight. We had sailed the Trikeri Channel 3 times, and on the last occasion, while drifting in light SW breeze with the spinnaker up, we saw white caps coming towards us & within 10 minutes we had 30 knots from the north. "Trikeri" means 3 candles (which should be offered to the saints before sailing) and we took warnings seriously, but this time there was little wind. Mark's 1 week visit was short. After seeing him off at Skiathos airport, we collected our little Yamaha outboard "Yamy" from the dealer, refilled Harmonica's diesel tanks and drifted across a flat sea to Loutraki on Skopoles - well worth the stop and walk up to the village above.
Yamy worked unreliably since he was "borrowed" in Cuba, and had taken to leaking petrol as well as failing to start. The Yamaha dealer in Volos said we needed a new needle valve and that since there was not one in Greece it would have to be shipped from Japan at the end of the month! The Yamaha dealer in Skiathos took the problem more seriously and having promised to fix it and missed his own deadlines several times, he hand-made a needle valve by filing down one from a larger engine. Yamy worked (he stopped again the next day). Greeks are extremely helpful & friendly, but not well organized. In Kimi, we tried a different idea, bought a new spark plug, and he has not failed us since! Friends in Southampton UK say their local Yamaha dealer has 2 types of needle valve in stock and want to know which one we need!
We left Skopoles for Kimi on Evia with strong to gale force northerlies still forecast. That night in Kimi and we walked the 5 km up to the town to stretch out our legs and buy supper. After Kimi, the winds really did catch up with us, and we covered miles quickly in the next 2 days to Kea via Andros. Our new rigid boom vang broke the weld of its stainless steel attachment to the boom. In Kea we took a day ashore and walked up to a monastery and then the Xora (main town in the middle of the island). That night we were entertained by Demitri, who was anchored next to us in his Whitby 42 (Canadian built boat). "Demi" was a bachelor for a few days and jumped at the idea of joining us for a meal ashore. He also had some useful tips about places to visit.
An evening out until midnight and more to drink than usual was not the best omen for heading back into gale force winds the next morning, but we dragged ourselves up and sped across the 8 miles from Kea to Sounion where the boat was back in the shelter of the land. Near Poros, we anchored off Galata and searched for Manos Papadakis, recommended by Demi as the best welder to repair our boom vang fitting. I found him at 7.00pm sitting outside his shop on the water front. He had 3 cm. strips of 304 stainless steel, which was not ideal, but said that he could bring more materials tomorrow. I liked him. His old dog sat under the table and he offered her to us as a boat dog. I wanted Manos to come on board and look at the job to do. He pulled his trousers half way to the knees to show me the extensive skin grafts which he needed after a customer's boat caught fire 12 years earlier, and said that he now refused to go out to a boat. We thought about the possibilities overnight and in the morning we moved Harmonica to the town quay so that Manos could have a look. I rode pillion on the back of his motor scooter along the town quay and after 10 minutes discussion we agreed to abandon the rigid boom vang as it wouldn't be made strong enough with the limited time & materials available. That afternoon I climbed the mast to replace the topping lift, and on reaching the top found that I had the wrong size clevis pin with me. Second time up, the strength just left my arms. I blame some of that on a rather nice Norwegian girl sunbathing on her foredeck!
Poros/Galata was a good base to explore the NE Peloponnes. Rental cars were cheap, but the bus is more relaxing & better for watching the view, so on Thursday we took the bus through mountain villages to see the remains at Epidaurus. It is a UN heritage site with lots of diggers, photographers, and people sitting writing notes under big umbrella shades, and stone masons rebuilding selected ruins. A theatre company with an excellent reputation performs classical plays in the well preserved ancient amphitheatre which has excellent acoustics and seating for 14,000 people. We were tempted to watch a performance of Eodipus the next night but a 2 hour bus ride after finishing at midnight seemed too late for us old folks!
The 2 other sailing boats on the quay at Galata both had engine problems with cooling systems. It was time to leave before Harmonica caught any infections. There was a rumour of gale force 8 forecasts, but we were skeptical, and on Friday morning we motored the 12 miles to Hydra in light airs. (Yes hydrofoils do go to Hydra). There are also no cars on the Island which makes it lovely for walking. The anchorage was 15 to 20 metres deep so we needed all of our 200ft of chain and we waited for a German boat to leave to give us enough space for our swinging circle. As we walked away, we watched a charter boat drop anchor between us and the beach. After 2 hours walking via the main port, we looked down from a monastery high above the bay and there was a dinghy beside our bow. Sure enough, the charter boat had realized its mistake too late and fouled its anchor on our rode. I gave him my thoughts on anchoring too close, helped untangle the rodes, and then felt sorry for him and we waved cheerful goodbyes as he left the bay.
Saturday found us motoring towards Monemvasia helped by a light NW breeze. It sounds like a medieval "rock of Gibraltar" on the Peloponnes.
Today was another day of Mediterranean winds: pulled up the anchor after unfouling it from rocks and left under sail in very light northerlies; wind veered to NE and we put up the spinnaker; built to moderate/fresh and veered again to SE; took down spinnaker and gybed; dropped and backed to NE. At this point we gybed again then finally motored into our anchorage. In the Atlantic we used to spend a week on the same tack!
Dave & Jan
SV Harmonica
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