OUR SAILING SEASON SO FAR

We arrived in Greece in early April and now are approaching nearly three months of cruising.

Josephine has been excellent and we have had few problems and have been able to achieve a lot in this short space of time.

We have logged nearly 600 NM. and re visited many places as well as discovering new harbors and anchorages.

AT ANCHOR IN KEA.
(note the bits of string)

We sailed to the Cyclades Islands which lived up to their "Breezy" reputation. It was really nice to return to the harbors and be greeted with "hello Josephine and welcome back" !

For the whole of April and well into May we were struck by how quiet everywhere was with very few boats around. It would seem that all the adverse publicity to do with migrants and airplanes disappearing from the sky's is having a very UN NECESSARY effect on Greece's tourist industry

We have avoided going across to the East where all the problems were, but speaking to boats who have recently returned they have seen little or no problems in recent times. Certainly there are no Migrant issues in the areas that we have visited.

A CRUISE LINER ENTERING NAVPILO

From The Cyclades we made the long passage across to Poros and the Saronic gulf. This is an excellent cruising area and well worth visiting with generally kinder and more predictable winds and many wonderful harbors to visit.  The jewel in the crown is definitely Navpilon. This wonderful and highly  picturesque old fortified city is an essential port of call for any one cruising in this area. We also discovered that it also has excellent dentists!!

WEATHER.  The weather has been good with lots of sunshine and pleasant breezes. What has been unusual has been that the winds have been predominately from the South. One of the main problems with this is that they carry with them "Red Dust". The dust is carried airborne from the African continent and covers everything and gets into everywhere. Whilst at anchor in Ermoni the nearby island of Idra, normally visible for 25/30 NM when at sea, and now only 5 NM away was invisible.
We estimated that due to the dust visibility was down to 2 or 3 miles!

A MAJOR DECISION.  After much thought and deliberation we have reserved a full time 12 month berth in Olympic marina.  The reasoning behind our decision is that we can now leave the boat in a safe place and return home for a few weeks in Mid Summer to  avoid the heat and also if we wish we can make visits in the winter. Apart from these obvious advantages it also made sound economic sense.

POROS

   
NEVER GO TO SEA WITHOUT A PIECE OF STRING !  The first picture of this post showing a Greek chapel is obscured by a criss cross of string.  To cut a long story short we had to remove our mainsail for a little maintenance.  Whilst I have been sailing for many years and removed countless mainsails in my time this was the first time I had ever removed a " In mast furling " mainsail. The procedure was relatively strait forward.  However what I had not realized was that the foil inside the mast that holds the sail is unsecured at the top. Once the sail is removed this 14 meter plus extrusion is free to move and CLANG as it wishes. After a few minutes of this constant noise we had definitely become THE NOISY NEIGHBORS FROM HELL!!

However my habit of never throwing away a piece of string came to the rescue.The block which takes the head of the sail to the top of the mast was taken two thirds of the way up with the string attached and pulled very tightly. End of problem and a lesson learnt.  

ASTROUS.  ANOTHER EMPTY QUAY TO OURSELVES

 We are now back in Poros awaiting the arrival of Ann and Jim who arrive on Thursday 9th June for ten days. Ironically they seem to have bought their Scottish weather with them. We have been roasting in sunshine for so long, but on the day of their arrival in Greece the heavens have opened with torrential rain and thunder and lightning!

The forecast is good.

Thanks for viewing and we hope you find our posts interesting.

RAY & MANDY
Poros   37.31N x 23.25E



























 
  

Still in May and posting again!!!!!

Saronic Gulf & Eastern Peloponnisos

    We are still in this area and came here for easy winds!!! Well we have encountered a storm but enough of that what a beautiful cruising area this is and we have been further south in the med. than ever before as calm weather was forcast we ventured down to Monemvasia ! and it is beautiful the Greeks are restoring it to its former glory and doing it well.

Is called by some books Little Gibraltar and as we went around the headland there she was but the best was yet to come as we rounded this headland to go into the habour a village / small town  came into view a film set Ray called it

 When we left our previous port were concerned that it maybe full however this year we are at the moment finding everywhere empty? why who knows? The habour had 1 yacht in and no problem for us parking the boat.

 This is the road to the island it never floods with tide unlike those we know in France and England we cycled to the village well not all the way the hill at the end got the better of us so we walked the last bit!!
  We spent the day wandering around the cobbled streets and had a simple lunch over looking the sea.

A jug of Rosie and Moussaka and what a view!
   I had a broken tooth so moving on to somewhere with a dentist was needed! so forcast for southerly winds Beaufort 5 good for going north to Navplona a large town to find a dentist. The wind had howled over night but there was a good forcast and yachts we leaving and a large Cruise Ship yacht 4 masts was coming in so we left.

 Doesn't she look good and she looked even better in full sail but too far away for a photo.
We had half a genoa out and were sailing ok but not fast however under the lee of the island so we waited well 30 mins later we had a good wind and were enjoying the sail and then she (the weather ) turned in to a 45 knots of wind and a large swell!!! We made the sail smaller and still sailing at 10 knots!!! waves breaking over the boat and the only bay/ habour we knew 10 miles away however there was a small habour closer that we had never been to and in the end we diverted to it as ripping sail's is not good.

This is Ieraka the morning after the storm we arrived and thankfully it was empty so we dropped the hook in the middle and waited for the wind to drop and sure enough a few hours latter it was calmer so we re anchoured and tied onto the habour wall therefore not taking up all the space.
  Fishing boats were coming in to shelter so it was very windy.

    The next day the winds had dropped so we made a run for the north and had alovely sail to Navpolon .

     37 deg33'N 22 deg47'E

This Old fortified Village is of Byzantine origin and was once of great importance as a port due to its location near to the southern tip of the Peloponise peninsular and the trade routes through the Agean sea.

By the end of the 19th century and the Greek civil war the community was  very poor and impoverished and the the area slowly declined and died. The village was left to deteriorate into ruin.

In recent years a program of renovation has bought this amazing site back to life and is a great credit to the instigators of this wonderful project..

We can strongly recommend a visit to anyone visiting this area.

Ray and Mandy.

2016 and we are afloat.

Well 29 days ago this was Josephine loaded into the crane and on her way back to the water with 2 very anxious owner's watching!! All was well went into the water and floated.

   We have spent alot on her over the winter including a new fore sail and keeping up with the little things that keep her looking good new dogers was one as we lost an E from her name.

  We have been sailing now for 29 days and covered approx. 200 nautical miles and only done 42 engine hours in that time so we have had some lovely sailing and some difficult times as well.

  Our first sail was to Kea about 18 nautical miles and a good wind behind and when we arrived the only boat on the quay we knew it was early but thought a few more would be about. We then went onto the middle Cyclades re visiting some old favourites but after 10 days we were at Naxos hiding from strong winds and not northerly but southerly!!

   We are now in the Saronic at Ermioni a favourite of ours and had a good sail here today flat water and 15/18 knots of variable winds.

    W not leave it solong for the next installment now I have remebered how to and wil take more pictures 

     37deg23'N 23deg15'E

    Keeping well Mandy and Ray