Cyclades, here we come!

After leaving Levkas, we headed down to Maganisi which had great little bays for anchoring and obviously a very popular spot going by the number of boats in there. We tried our first attempt at anchoring and taking a Stern line ashore. Shelly volunteered to swim the line in and I don’t think she realized that it was not going to an easy task swimming with the line as it gets heavier the more the line goes out, but she managed to get to shore without having a heart attack or drowning!

The wind turned later in the afternoon and was coming side on to us making the cockpit exposed so I released the Shore line and chose to swing with the wind. Not really sold on this stern line to shore method yet, especially with the extra work involved. Can see the benefits if the bay is crowded, but if you have room to swing, Id rather do that at tis stage (NZ style)

After Meganisi, we sailed down to Vathi, N Ithaci which turned out to be a wind tunnel with the wind accelerating down the surrounding hills and making it a challenge to find a decent Leeward anchorage. Anchored there for the night, went ashore and had a couple of drinks at the local Bar/Restaurant and the wind as seems to be the norm around here died down into the night making for a better sleep.

From there we headed to Patras as I was wanting to go ashore and see Olympia, home of the original Olympic Games. So we got into the marina there, hired a car the next day and drove for an hour and a half to find it. We got there and have to say it was a bit of a disappointment with only rubble to view out of the remains that has been dug back up. The earthquake that hit Olympia and knocked all the buildings over plus the following looting of what was left ended its rein as the home of the Olympic Games and it was a shame to see it come to the state it was.

Entering the Gulf of Corinth we had to go under the Rion Bridge, which at 2,252 meters long, is the longest Cable stayed bridge in the world. We had to call up the bridge Control on the VHF to ask permission to pass uner it and they then give you the appropriate bay to use.

Going down the Gulf the wind picked up and the Gennaker came down and the wind was right behind us, we were running down the Gulf doing 10-11 knots just with the Main up which made up for some of the other slow passages.

On the way down to Corinth it started raining and I couldn’t work out where the rusty water was coming from until I realized it was all over the boat and sails as well. The boat was covered in an orange muck, which we believe comes from the Sahara desert when winds carry it up into the atmosphere and when the wind blows from the south, it blows up toward the Med and dumps it down when it rains.

We arrived at Corinth and stayed in the old town port there. We squeezed on to the dock with inches to spare in front of a large catamaran and I spent 2 hours washing the boat down getting rid of the drying Orange mud. As soon as I finished, it rained again and the boat was back to the same as when I first started. I decided not to do it again, have a beer instead and leave it for the next day, which was lucky as it rained again through the night. I met an old guy fishing off the Dock who had lived in New York and was a great guy to talk to. He had done so much in his life, including cooking in the top Italian restaurants and even spent a bit of time tied up with the Mafia. Amazing who you meet fishing off a dock in the middle of a little old town.

After cleaning the boat again the next morning, we were off and going through the Corinth Canal which was amazing. It is 3.2 miles long and only 25 meters wide and 6 meters deep. God knows how they get large ships through it.

Nero started digging it out with the help of 6000 Jewish slaves but didn’t even get down to the rock. The French then took it on before being finished by the Greeks in 1893. It was pretty inspiring driving the boat through there, thinking of the work that had gone before, whilst looking up at the what must have been 60 to 70 meter high sides.

Coming into Athens was like driving down Queen St with 30 odd Tanker Ships all queued up and anchored waiting to get in to the Port there.

We backed the boat in to the Zea Marina there in Athens and planned on staying for a couple of days.

Friends from NZ, Barry and Sue joined us on the boat here and brought the good weather with them as the sun was out and the Temperatures were climbing.

While there, we went to see the Acropolis, which was incredible and it was good to see the work being done there to bring it all back to the original condition it was. It is still mind-boggling the amount of History here and the Acropolis dates back to 5000 BC.

We headed out of Athens and going south called in at various Islands, but the favourite so far was the Anchorage at N Kinthnos where two nice anchorages are separated by a thin sand bank. The water was crystal clear and it was like swimming in an Aquarium.

We went ashore after a few cold ones on the boat and it was pretty humorous with four of us in Little 3 meter Falshator, we were lucky it was so calm.

We had a great dinner there at the local Restaurant, which was the only building around the place and overlooked the bays. Cheap prices and unbelievable views.

We left there and are presently holed up in a Lee bay on Serifos Island sheltering from the 37 knot winds at present. Still cant get over how it changes so quickly here. Shelly and Sue were right in the middle of cooking and had Omlete mixture and did well completing it without spilling a drop! 
We also have great Afghans to go with the Coffee :)