Saturday 6^th July 2024

After 3 quiet nights in Ag. Argostolli we decided to head to Skiathos for a few days followed by Loutraki on Skopelos to hopefully let Lily out on the pontoon there.

At 08;00 in the bay it was still dead calm not even a zephyr, 09:30 saw us motoring around Trachhili point, waypoint 1 and at 10:40 the lighthouse at Kavoulia point, waypoint 3.

The wind eventually arrived at 13:00 and we had a nice sail all the way across to Platania bay, waypoint 6 and then anchored quite close in at Siferi bay, Skiathos at 16:00. 38 NM and just under 8 hours underway.

The engine was showing signs of slowing down then speeding up and would not start at all on one occasion, which I traced to a loose connection at the fuse / relay. The former was still a puzzle?

Siferi bay anchorage

Tap in the old town I dinghied to to fill up our jerry cans, glamorous this life , eh?

We spent two nights in Skiathos eating out once at the curry shop

Drinks before a curry – before the 1st mate gave up John Barleycorn.

It had to be the “Chilly” chicken LOL

and a new Taverna for us  called “Anemos”  up the hill overlooking the old harbour, very nice too.

Views from Anemos  and …………….

Some other sights from our wanderings during our 2 night stopover .

Monday 8th July 2024 heading Skopelos

Today saw us leaving a rolly Siferi bay for the small hop across to Loutraki on Skopelos.

The veranda with the tables middle left of the picture is Taverna Anemos

The famous runway at Skiathos town from the sea / and approach

We did get a place on the pontoon on arrival in Skopelos.

Loutraki harbour and pontoon

Lily made a friend, Angel who gave him wee fish he caught off the pontoon.

I made a friend too when I gave Angel a euro in payment, there seemed to be more small fishermen every night LOL

Angel the fisherman & Lily

The big Seajet ferry arriving – amazing manoeuvring in a small space.

Saturday 29^h June 2024

At 10:15 we left our anchorage in Vourla Kamena in a steady 12 knot breeze. Initially motoring through the lovely narrows at the “ corner “of Evia then tacking the full 33 nautical miles to Aghios Dimitris a small bay on the mainland across from Orei on Evia.

Louise did a magnificent job of helming all the way and it was most enjoyable sailing the boat for a change. I’m not sure how many tacks we did but it was a few! Just over 8 hours underway and only 2 on motor , to leave and anchor on arrival.

At 18:20 we were-anchored in the small bay but you wouldn’t have believed it 10 minutes before our arrival another boat arrived from around the corner. However we squeezed in.

Aghios Dimitris

Sunday 30^th June 2024

We had planned to stay the Sunday relaxing in the bay but due to yet another unexpected wind shift we thought it better to leave and head around to Ormos Varellia on the Trikeri peninsula . It was lovely, deserted ,just us, perfect.

Ormos Varellia

Monday 1^st July 2024

We had called the Scottish lady who used to work for Sunsail and now lives in Milina to see if she had any of her buoys free in the anchorage for about a week. Unfortunately she didn’t but advised that when she had passed there was space in Milini harbour a very small but nice spot. It was just over two miles away so 11;00 on Monday morning saw us stern to. Wooooo Hooo says Lily her 1^st time ashore since 24^th April on Samos. It was short lived however as on the following morning we were advise by a local lady that all the poor stray cats had aids !!

Milina Harbour

Lily’s brief sojourn ashore for a day

Little Taverna right next to the harbour

Tuesday 2^nd July 2024

As a result of the sad news we headed around to Alatas bay / island and the on to Agii Argostoli where we stayed until the Saturday 6^th July.

Agii Apostoli

The Trikeri Peninsula is a very beautiful part of this area at the entrance of the Volos Gulf. We both like it.

Fri 28^th June 2024

OK: So after a welcome long lie, we set off again for Limni at 11:00 in relative calm hopeful of getting in, if there is an available place.

At 13:00 however out of nowhere a NE 24 knots wind appeared . Not much sense in trying Limni harbour as we could see white horses kicking up in the Katabatic. Waypoint 2

OK: So alter course to Loutra Adhipso. Waypoint 3

At 14:30 wind completely disappeared – very frustrating

At 15:40 while anchored at Loutra Adhipso the wind starts building again, and a very stormy overcast sky. No longer tenable to remain at anchor here.

OK: So off to Livada beach which gets a good report on Navily. Waypoint 4

We found the exact spot recommended and anchored but……..it’s no good !

At 17:30 in an unconformable NE 17 knots, no protection and swell we set off again, now heading across to the mainland to Kamena Vourla which looked protected but rather deep but hey ho , here we go, again !

I am now beginning to dislike the Evia Chanel.

Finally at 19:30 we are anchored off the beach of what looks like a busy Greek tourist resort, Waypoint 5

On lifting the anchor the next day the 40 metres of chain was absolutely fine – not only the anchor but the actual chain was caked !

Phew!

We arrived in Nea Artaki at lunchtime and as hoped most of the craft passing through Chalkis had moved on.

We anchored in what hopefully was the lee of the fishing wharf. It was hard to get further in to our usual spot as a grey Russian “battle cat” that I nicknamed “Putin’s Yacht” had pride of place. We were only here for one night so this would do.

Nea Artaki anchorage & “Putin’s yacht”

Thursday 27^th June 2024

Louise each time we have been to this area has always wanted to visit Limni. It’s a small harbour roughly 22 NM from Nea Artaki . It’s usually full and so difficult to get a space but we thought we would try this year.

We set off under sail at 10:30. It was great sailing but unfortunately not ideal for Limni today as one tack was just about east /west and our northering was slow and minimal. I see from the log we altered course for Melouna Waypoint 2 at 15:00 instead,

Now heading for Melouna

We arrived at 17:00 to a very calm bay.

Melouna

It’s a beautiful place but the last night we spent here nearly saw us on the beach in the morning with a wind shift, but this time would be OK ? Yes ? Surely ?

Bloody Melouna! – an onshore wind & swell started building and at 21:00 & we decided we needed to move, not ideal after six and a half hours sailing, an albeit enjoyable day. We were tired, but needs must & we headed off to hopefully what we thought would be a safe anchorage on the Greek mainland,called Ormos Theologica.

Navily warns of many pots on approach. So our arrival at after midnight saw Louise up the front with a torch trying to spot them. As it turns out it wasn’t too bad and the anchorage very good. just after Waypoint 4

We only have one picture of us leaving in the morning and we did not go ashore as we had spent the time having a lie in !

Leaving Ormos Theologis , thanks for the quiet night

It’s about 50 NM direct from where we are up to Chalkis Bridge. We totted up about 80.

We are following the same route as last year and hoping for some good sailing. Last time we had some great tacks up the channel which makes a difference from our, more common, bigger passages & one tack sailing to the destination.

The route was to be Aghios Dimitris , a bay on the NE side of Almyropotamus, then to Aliveri / Karavos , then to Eritria and finally the anchorage in the bay at Chalkis.

Mon 17^th June 2024

The 1^st leg to Waypoint 4 was about 24 miles and with 2 reefs in , just in case, we began tacking up the channel at 08:00 . At 11:00 a beneficial wind shift allowed us to use the full Genoa and a good tack angle up to our destination for that night, St Dimitris.

Pictures of the little sleepy village of Aghios Dimitris (Taverna woman in nightclothes fame) and in the distance ,on the other shore, Panagia one of the ferry ports to the mainland. Also famous for the flight of Louise & Lily from chasing cats in a previous visit. We didn’t eat ashore this time just some exploring walks and exercise by Louise.

Thursday 20^th June 2024

2nd leg to Waypoint 12, Karavos

Saw us up and away for 05:50. It was a bit blowy in the anchorage and 23 knots out in the channel. It was a hard slog into the waves!. A note in the log just after 07:00 states “Hope next tack makes the bay!” and an hour later “tacking towards Aliveri point , may make it without tacking again.” Well no .

What an approach , never again & I’m sure I said that the last time.

At 10:20 blowing a hoolie of 37 knots we finally anchored in the harbour of Karavos.  21 miles for 14 as the crow flies .

The following day another boat appears with an older (yes older than me!) arrived and the man appeared very infirm indeed. Well after a beat from hell yesterday to get the five miles into the harbour we understood how this wee yacht just arrived must feel. It was even smaller than us at 29′ They were circling around us again & again – they were obviously having a problem with their anchor windlass. First the woman would go up and then the poor guy would go taking about 10 minutes to edge his way up the boat. After an hour of circling us still no joy and they looked absolutely knackered. I asked twice if they needed a hand – it was blowing a bit but they declined.

Adding to the problem their wee black dog continually barking had attracted a Labrador from the taverna ashore who swam out and was following the boat in circles- he was in dire straits getting more and more tired . Louise was really getting worried for him . I put the engine on the dinghy and set off to distract him with my Scots Greek “ Ella, Ella” to follow me to the pontoons where two port police were waiting and lifted him exhausted from the water.

Now just the boat!

They eventually accepted our help and I managed to get aboard and free up their windlass but not without getting the woman’s ample bum, clad in nude pants stuck in my face on a couple of occasions! Louise has all of this on video which is hilarious. I HATE nude pants, LOL.

All’s well that end’s well though.

We like Karavos it has a quirky attraction. We stayed a few days visiting the town Aliveri a 25 minute walk up the hill and buying some wine that all the local tavernas use from the wee winery at the harbour. Other than Loutra in Lesvos, I think it must be one of the the most reasonably priced places to eat in Greece.

Our favourite taverna & the two boats in the distance in, now, a very calm harbour

Staples from the winery

Lily greeting us back in the dinghy

Monday 24^th June 2024

3^rd leg to Waypoint 15, Eritria

Only 12 miles or so to Eritia , towing the dinghy !!. 2 reefs in , probably a bit too cautious but it was gusty leaving Karavos  (surprise, surprise ! )

A nice downwind sail saw us arriving at 16:00 after an enjoyable 4 hour passage.

It was quite busy but we cheekily snuck in at the front.

Given the dinghy was up we headed ashore for a meal.

Eritria ashore

Tuesday 25^th June 2024

Last leg to the anchorage south of the bridge at Chalkis, Waypoint 21.

Only 13 or so miles now up to the usual anchorage to wait for transiting the bridge.

The shoal waters near Waypoint 18  sometimes fishermen are standing waste deep seemingly not far from your boat as you pass.

This seemed to be the day for crazy boaters!

The 1^st was passing under the big road bridge just south of Chalkis.

It has a dog leg and a narrows marked by 4 lateral markers. A yacht was approaching us in the narrows from the other direction – all good port to port, when I hear a big motor cruiser engines screaming in reverse, slewing sideways across the fairway about 5 m aft of us. He had tried to pass at speed and had not seen the other yacht.

Tosser #1 and a Brit into the bargain.

This year we were just going to through the bridge that night. We headed ashore for a bite to eat and buy our transit pass in the afternoon/ evening . We expected to bridge to open about midnight and we were headed to the anchorage at Minas 2 miles or so round to the left after the transit to sit out the rest of the night.

We were headed to the left of waypoint #1 , most of the others racing to the red arrow at  Nea Artaki

It was carnage going through as all the boats eagerly headed to Nea Artaki to anchor basically straight ahead – no holes barred – to get a spot. One then peeled off , Tosser #2, seeing us heading to a possible alternate spot and creamed after us trying to reach the preferred spot before us, but good Auld Camira pulled up her skirts and stuffed him, cheeky bastard. He wasn’t happy we beat him and no eye contact from them the next morning as he left early from his less than perfect spot ( S/V  TALAVA Conrad & Doris , Aussies) LOL.

Thankfully you don’t seem to get a lot of the above less than savoury happenings, certainly not to us in the 10 years, maybe Chalkis brings on some sort of boat rage , LOL.

It was a lovely calm morning thereafter and we sat relaxed having our breakfast before the massive passage to Nea Artaki in the hope that now the F1  had moved on.

Just worthy of a separate post of my attempts at panoramic picture taking.

This is Medusa island of mad wummin fame

Her beautiful house , but through the binos a bit run down

Fi Fo Fi Fum  I smell the smell of a mad wummin come ….

A medley of me ………. well  ……..  just because

Sat 15th June 2024

Having left Karystos and followed a long tack to clear the bottom of Evia then heading north to Nisios Khersonison, we are now at anchor in the lovely little archipelago of Nisidhes Petaloi consisting of a group of islands some of which are privately owned. It’s a paradise !

The island we are currently anchored off, Nisos Xero, was sold by the King of Greece to Maris Empeirikos, a shipping magnate.

Navily (a sailing peer guide to anchorages) describes in one post – “it’s populated by a wild woman with even wilder dogs that she threatens to let loose if she finds anyone ashore and follows them back down to their dinghy with a stream of invectives.”

From her extensive wiki studies, my assistant thinks she is married to one of the Empeirikos’s above, and there is some evidence therein of her visiting the beach with security to chase bathers away.

We did have sight of a woman and a dog last night, but she didn’t seem overly perturbed as she passed a small Greek rib, with a wee fat naked man displaying all, anchored only yards away from where she was walking.

There was a similar display further out later on a Scottish yacht but he wisnae Greek.

However as I write this, breaking news, I have just videoed some Greek guys getting the treatment from whom we think is Maria and wow ! she is mad !!

Anyway I digress, the blog:

Attached are our passages since 15^th April & the start of this year’s blog

and just in case the cat’s cradle is confusing:

Just shy of 400 nautical miles so far.

1. Samos 2. Ikaria 3. Mykonos 4. Siros 5. Kithnos 6. Siros 7. Paros,  Naoussa 8. Paros, Paroika 9. Nisos Despotiko south 10. Naxos 11. Nisos Despotiko / Anti Paros 12. Siros 13. Andros 14. Karistos, Evia 15. Nisidhes Petaloi, Xero – Of mad wummin fame!

Tues 11^th June 2024

After a very enjoyable week in Batsi, and meeting our sailing pals we stated heading northwards again. Looks like we are going to repeat our passage of last year up between mainland Greece and Evia.

I have attached a chartlet to show where we are in Greece.

First stop was Karistos on Evia.

We did try sailing the channel between Evia & Andross – Steno Kaffirea on the chartlet below – which can be a wicked piece of water that even container ships don’t pass in certain conditions. Today though it was benign and a pleasant but slow passage into Karistos bay.

This time though we spent a few days alternating being anchored off the town itself and in the bay to the south depending on laundry pick ups and visits ashore.

Exploring & bakery

Lunch stop after picking up laundry

Was the ice cream actually necessary ? Well its a long dingy ride back .

4^th June 2024

After further 3 days in Siros we thought we should take advantage of the very flat & very hot spell to get a bit northwards just in case the Meltemi was thinking about starting to blow with vengeance. Sometimes a hot calm spell can precede this.

So not an ideal 6 hours on motor but sometimes it just makes sense to get where you want to be and we had had quite a while in Siros this year, it’s time to go.

So bye again to Nicolas who is still awaiting his GM’s but he is now 99% sure he is selling up as witnessed by his tortuous decision to buy a rather expensive original oil painting, in memory of Ermopouli, only to find when he had finally decided on it someone had beaten him to it by a matter of hours after it sitting in the gallery’s window for weeks!

Just after 15:00 we arrived and anchored in Batsi Bay, Andros.

Our 1^st visitors were a family of swans who came to greet us . Lily wasn’t quite sure what to make of them.

Its always fun being somewhere new and have the 1^st time ashore wander and something to eat.

Views of Batsi

& the church at night from the boat

The next day as expected the weather did change and a bit of a blow was forecast.

Not being sure of the anchorage I stayed on board the boat and Louise headed off on the bus across to Andros town and got some great pictures.

Louise’s Bus trip to Andros  – great pics

9^th June

The weather is a bit sunnier again.

The Vikings arrived in Batsi harbour and we went to visit the longship that was touring Greece. We also caught up with Erja & Glenn our Finnish / American friends, who had arrived on their boat.

They advised Sabine & Uli other sailing pals, we 1^st met in Sigri, Lesvos would be arriving too in a couple of days.

So all in all a very busy & interesting visit. We would go back again , I’m sure.

For some years now we have been trying on numerous people’s recommendations to visit Koufenisia, described as Caribbean like. See big arrow below

Each time we have tried we have failed for one, weather reason, or another. Last time we got close anchored in a bay on Kata Koufenisia the island just south west of the main island with a view to making the “summit attempt” the next day, but the swell and the wash from the numerous ferries made the afternoon untenable so we beat an escape back to Nisos Schoinousa , the furthest left island above.

However in the bay earlier that afternoon  a Greek “Day Trip” boat arrived with about 12 or more people on board  presumably for a trip to the beach & a swim. It was a Moody 28 and the guy was so excited about seeing & chatting with us that he totally forgot his customers and had to hurry away when they started getting the hump . It would’ve been good to catch up in the harbour the next day as arranged but unfortunately not to be.

So with the best intentions, yet again this year, on Saturday 25^th May we set off for Koufenisia by way of a small bay south of Despotiko / Antiparos, then Kalantos on Naxos and finally Koufenisia.

The 1^st part of the trip went as planned sailing most of the way down the channel between Paros and Antiparos. The only down side was being forced to tack by the small ferry plying between Paros & Antiparos either that or sailing far to close to a submerged reef. Power gives way to sail …..who told you that ,LOL, malaka!!

Anyway no harm done, after birling around we continued our sail to the small bay to the south of Despotiko and anchored for the night. Only us and a small rib for company & that left later in the evening.

Small bay on the South coast of Despotiko

Sunday 26^th May

Anchor up and heading for Kalantos or Koufenisia direct, we would decide later. The sky was very overcast only 14 knots at the moment but more expected soon so with 2 reefs in just in case we set off.

After 5 hours underway 4 and a bit tacking to towards our goal we decided on Kalantos Bay on the south of Naxos for the night. We knew it would be windy in the bay but safe as we had visited before, (sounds familiar eh?, LOL)

At anchor in just under 5 m, dinghy blown up we headed ashore to have dinner in the “Kantina”, a rough & ready taverna up the hill. It was still overcast and cold as you can see by the jerseys , even the cat was covered up .The weather wasn’t any better the next day so we stayed put hoping for improvement.

Kalantos , bay south of Naxos

Tuesday 28^th May

However on the Tuesday still suffering a swell in the bay from the heavy winds we gave up again and decided to head back this time to the big bay & anchorage between Antiparos & Despotika. Part of the way back a loud crack frightened the wits ( for want of a better description) out of us. The Genoa furling block had snapped in two.

Any how we made it safely into Ormos (Bay) Despotiko and anchored on the south side. A very nice anchorage.

Despotiko Bay between Antiparos & Despotiko

Lily enjoying her toys in Despotiko Bay

………  So thinking hats on  …..

Unable to head where we had intended , comfortably at the moment , what’s the plan ?

Let’s head back north and perhaps visit Andros a new island wooo hooo.

So Thursday 30^th May

Saw us back in Paroika at anchor after a lovely downwind sail using only the Genoa,

After doing the dinghy ferry run to fill up the water tanks and then provisioning up at the supermarket , I volunteered going back ashore to get a carry-out pizza . (Well you have to take the chance when you can)

Friday 31^st May

Heading North  again today.

We are back in Finnikas, Siros . From the log it started out a very nice sail at 5 knots but descended into a bit of a motor-sail slog, the worst passage sailing wise for what has been a good sailing season so far re having to resort to engine.

Nicolas was still here so some more aperitifs walks and meals had to be had.

Finnikas, Siros