Evia – Waiting for the bridge

On our trip from the Ionian to Turkey there are a number of milestones to be endured or enjoyed, depending on how you perceive them. The transit through the Corinth Canal; a cruise through the Northern Sporades; the 65 mile passage across the windy North Aegean …and today, the transit through the bridge at Khalkis.

Evvia is an island, but only just. It is linked to mainland Greece by a 39metre bridge spanning the Euripus Strait.

The bridge normally only opens to allow vessels to pass through once a day, but not at weekends. It is one of the very few places in the Med where there is any appreciable tide (it can run at up to 6 knots and the flow changes direction four times a day) so the opening takes place at slack water – this happens any time between 10pm and 2 am – so there can be quite a bit of hanging around.

We arrived here in Khalkis yesterday, knowing that we would have a wait a day to carry on northwards, but it was also a welcome break after covering 263 miles in the last week. We found ourselves a berth with laid moorings in Ormos Voukari, just south east of the bridge. In addition to a Port Authority pontoon, there are a couple of further pontoons belonging to local sailing clubs in the little bay. We were on the Khalkidas Sailing Club (ΙΟΧ) pontoon, where water was available and also electricity if we had wanted. The club members bent over backwards to help us and didn’t take a mooring fee, they simply asked for a donation to the Junior section funds.

Having visited the Port Police this afternoon to pay our transit fee of €18.77 and get instructions, we are now sitting at anchor about half a mile from the bridge enjoying a glass of wine and waiting for the summons which could happen any time after 9pm. The exact time of slack water is apparently unknown. The very nice policeman just said, “We can’t tell you when it will be, we will have to go and watch the current to see what it is doing.”

The view from the cockpit of the bridge.

Backtracking a little, our last port of call before Khalkis was Karavos. It was a sleepy little place with a well-sheltered harbour. The only downside was that it was littered with laid moorings and several apparently abandoned boats. We managed to find a space on the inside of the west mole but also fouled our anchor with a mooring line. The good thing about Karavos is that it is only about a 15-minute walk from Aliveri which has a Lidl and a Carrefour. Simple things like this can take on SO much more significance when you’re on the move! 🙂

Karavos

And finally, the wildlife corner…

Wildlife spottings have been thin on the ground over the past few days. We did, however have some cetacean visitors as we motor sailed from Porto Rafti to Karavos. It is always fantastic to watch dolphins swim under the bow, no matter how many times this happens. On this occasion they were too quick for me and had swum away to find something more exciting than us by the time I’d grabbed the camera… next time I’ll be ready 😆

A dolphin from a distance.

Four gulfs in five days

The Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion

We’re on a bit of a whistle-stop tour at the moment, four gulfs visited in five days. Monday was the Gulf of Patras, Tuesday the Gulf of Corinth, Thursday into the Saronic Gulf and today we rounded Cape Sounion eastwards into the Petalioi Gulf.

We usually try not to rush things and just go with the flow. But this summer is already punctuated by deadlines, so we are having to put in the miles now in order that we can spend more time meandering in places new to us later on.

On Thursday, en route from Kiato to Aigina, we transited the Corinth Canal. It’s the third time we’ve done this but it is still awe-inspiring to consider the amazing feat of engineering involved. The Romans made an attempt at opening up a navigable passage from the Gulf of Corinth to the Saronic Gulf (and nearby Athens) in the 1st century AD but abandoned the plan when war and revolt got in the way. It was only in the 19th century that a serious plan was put in place to build the canal and it was finally completed in 1893. I think they must still be trying to recoup the building costs, because, at a hefty whack of €225 for our 13.45 metre boat for a 4 mile one-way transit, it must be the most expensive maritime toll charge in the world!

TheCorinth Canal

After a quick overnight stop on the island of Aigina, we set off bright and early this morning for a 37 nautical mile sail to Lavrion on the east coast of Attica. This didn’t happen on two counts. First of all, it wasn’t a sail at all, but yet another bloomin’ motor sail! And secondly, we arrived in the huge harbour of Lavrion after an 8-hour passage to find that all the available berths have been commandeered by charter companies, nothing at all available for visiting yachts 😡 . Nothing for it but to make tracks. Thank goodness it wasn’t blowing a hooley.

No room at the inn in Lavrion.

Plan B involved heading a further 12 miles north to Porto Rafti where we’re now peacefully anchored in a huge bay. At least it means a shorter day tomorrow 🙂

Aigina

Greece

Blowing hot & cold

It’s a time of transition.  Winter is definitely over, but summer is yet to begin. If there is no cloud cover, once the sun is up it’s now getting pretty hot. Even hot enough today to seek out some shade. However, the mornings can still be quite chilly, particularly when we’re on passage and there’s a breeze blowing (unfortunately, this has always been fromthe wrong direction so far this season 🙄 ). All this can make it difficult to decide what to wear. Whilst PT has shed his winter wardrobe and progressed to shorts and T-shirt, I’m still dithering. I’m not quite ready to bare my legs completely but it feels too warm to be in jeans. So I’ve moved on to capris (a.k.a. cropped or pedal pushers, take your pick) in the interim. Even so, there are times when just a little extra temporary coverage is required….and I’ve found the perfect solution – please don’t report me to the fashion police though!

I knew those spotty knee-length socks would come in handy sometime!

Mossielongi

Monday night in Mesolongi involved more socialising. Gavin & Mary on Blue Elephant had been our neighbours in the marina last June when PT ‘parked’ me and the boat in Mesolongi for a short spell of work in the UK. They had been very welcoming and helpful, so it was good to meet up with them to catch up again. Less welcome was the renewed acquaintance with the famous Mesolongi mosquitoes.

Mesolongi is located in between two large but shallow lagoons, with extensive marshland – the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. They feasted on us last night and there was a squadron of the blighters in a holding pattern at the stern of the boat this morning, just waiting for breakfast. We lifted the anchor as quickly as we could and high-tailed it out of there towards Trizonia.

7 hours and 35 nautical miles later we moored alongside in the unfinished marina on the island of Trizonia. The wind was on the nose for the duration of the passage and piped up to a Force 7 as it whistled through the narrow gap straddled by the impressive Rion-Antirrion Bridge.

The Rion-Antirrion Bridge crossing the Gulf of Corinth

Springtime is glorious, my favourite time of year. Lovely and warm but not so hot to sap energy and send the hardiest sun-worshipper scuttling into the shade. We took a stroll across the island, surrounded by a carpet of wildflowers and clouds of butterflies. The peace was only broken by the constant hum of bees. Bliss 🙂

TODAY’S WILDLIFE

Goodbyes

We had a busy time in Lefkas with seeing to last minute stuff, now we’re stuffed to the gunwales with food and drink.  Food for the times ahead when provisioning opportunities are limited, and drink for our arrival in Turkey where alcohol is said to be considerably more expensive than it is here in Greece. I wonder how long our 60 litres of wine will last us!?

It was a time for goodbyes and we enjoyed a last supper with friends, followed by a mini-salsa session in the Cuban bar. Great fun, thanks guys 🙂

Lefkas last supper… till September

The next day saw us slip our lines and head the short distance south to Nidri for a rendezvous with Jan & Martin, both celebrating birthdays. Again a lovely meal, this time with musical accompaniment from Ben on guitar and some other random troubadours ;-).

The Birthday Boys – Martin & Jan

It wasn’t all play though. PT had had to put out a ‘Pan Pan Electrico’ after accidentally blowing the fuse for the on-board fans. We certainly didn’t want to be heading towards the summer heat with no means of cooling ourselves down; the fans are absolutely essential, in our view. Our hero, Tim came to the rescue and within a short time everything was in working order once more… which then left plenty of time to spend a very enjoyable last evening in the Ionian with Tim & Anna.

So now it’s off to pastures new. With our first longer passage of the season under our belts (unfortunately no proper sailing possible for the whole of the 47 miles due to lack of wind), we’re now gently bobbing at anchor off the Sacred City of Mesolongi.

It seems that there is a growing trend in these blog entries to include a wildlife element. Today’s nature bulletin is, however, a sad one. As we neared the anchorage this evening we spotted the shape of a turtle ahead of us in the water, not unusual for Mesolongi which, I think has a sizeable turtle population. We changed course to avoid it, but, on closer inspection it was futile. The poor creature had already succumbed to a nasty injury. Its carapace was split in two, probably the victim of a collision with a fast-moving vessel. A distressing sight 😦

The 2013 season starts here….

Splash!

After 12 days of scraping, sanding, painting & polishing (and a few other maintenance jobs), Two Choices was successfully re-launched yesterday. Boy, did it feel good to be back afloat! 😀 It was a particular relief to have the return of proper plumbing after even a short spell of “bucket & chuck it” (sorry, maybe just a little too much information)!

Our spell on the ‘hard’ went mainly smoothly and, once again, we greatly appreciated the helpfulness and professionalism of the staff at the Ionion Marine yard. We’d definitely recommend them.

Our short passage from Aktio to Lefkas was unremarkable except for the appearance of a stowaway when we raised the sails. Although there wasn’t a breath of wind, PT wanted to admire our brand new genoa and to check that the lines on the mainsail were correctly rigged. Looking up into the rigging, I noticed a swallow fluttering around….except that on closer inspection it wasn’t a swallow at all but a little bat desperately looking for somewhere to land, having apparently been rudely awoken from its slumbers inside the mainsail bag! The sails were duly re-stowed and the bat disappeared. Hopefully, it made it back to land safely to find somewhere dark and cosy to go back to sleep…or maybe it snuck back inside the mainsail without us noticing and is still resident with us as I write 😯

We’re now safely tucked up on Lefkas Town quay for a few days to provision, say adieu to friends and do important things like getting my hair done! We also bit the bullet and went voluntarily to the Port Police to declare our presence and offer to pay some mooring fees.

EU (non-Greek) boats over 10m are required to have a cruising log (known as a DEKPA) when sailing in Greek waters. The DEKPA should be stamped every 30 days (or sooner according to some Port Police). In addition, mooring in Greek harbours technically incurs charges payable to the Port Police. In practice, mooring fees often go unpaid because the port police don’t make much of an effort to collect them and many skippers choose not to volunteer to pay, only forking out the relatively modest charges if summoned to the office by diligent officials.

Our DEKPA hadn’t been stamped since last October so we figured that it was probably wise to start the season with our paperwork in order and the log duly stamped, even if it did mean volunteering to pay. The whole process seemed to take much longer than usual, due to the presence of an apparatchik who must be chasing the Most Pedantic Officer of the Month trophy. Not only did PT have to produce his skipper’s licence – a first in our experience, the SSR Part III certificate was closely inspected, taken away for consultation with colleagues and then queried…”Is this a download from the Internet? I’m sure this certificate should be in colour, not black & white”, growled Ms Jobworthopolos. The entire folder of boat paperwork was closely examined, including the liferaft service certificate and previous Port Police receipts. We were glad to eventually get out of the office without having to answer any more probing questions…”And when did you last change your underwear???”….or maybe that’s still to come when we have to go back on Saturday for that all-important departure stamp.

Springwatch

With work on Two Choices almost completed, I took myself off on safari this afternoon.

The yard that we are in sits on a spit of low-lying land on the south side of the entrance to the Gulf of Amvrakikos, over 200 square miles of sheltered water that is known for its abundant wildlife. Unfortunately, much of the swampland around the three enormous boatyards has been reclaimed to provide an increasing amount of hard-standing for yachts, an easy cash crop. However, once the sea breeze dies down in the evenings, the air still echoes with the sound of amphibian love songs. Last spring when we were here, I was unsuccessful when it came to frog sightings. Today, I got lucky 😀

Fast forward

The last entry on here appears to be from July 2012…. When I was attempting to fill in a hiatus from 2011!  You just can’t get the staff these days, or maybe I’m not being paid enough! 😉

So here we are again. We’re coming out of hibernation after our second great winter in Lefkas Marina. We liked the first stay so much that we opted to return again for Winter 2012-13. There’s a lively & friendly community; the town stays open in winter and there is loads to do; the island is beautiful and largely unspoilt, yet having the advantage of a bridge link to the mainland so none of the disadvantages of island isolation; and the marina is about as sheltered as you’re ever going to get.

This winter has flown by. We had a trip back to the UK in the autumn and PT temporarily came out of retirement to top up the cruising kitty between from November to January. I’ve done loads of cycling,culminating in a circumnavigation of the island of Lefkada. I’ve also been battling away at learning to speak Greek, but it’s an uphill struggle! We’ve also spent lots of fun time with friends, old and new. But, even though we very much enjoy the creature comforts and security of marina life during the dark days (and plenty of sunny ones too :-)) of winter, we still relish the challenge of exploring new cruising territory, even if it can be a little nerve-wracking at times. Last summer, 2012, we cruised the Gulf of Corinth, Saronic & Argolic Gulfs before returning to the Ionian round the south coast of the Peloponnese. We also had a blast taking part in the Southern Ionian Rally for the second time.

The broad plan for this summer is to head east to Turkey, visiting the Northern Sporades on the way. We look forward to a visit from Sara in Turkey (hope it’s not too hot for her & us!) Then, largely because of visa issues but also the small matter of Elaine & Gordon flying out to have another go at the Southern Ionian Rally, we’ll be heading back to the Ionian across the Aegean (there be dragons, in the form of the meltemi :?!)and, once again, round the bottom of the Peloponnese. That’s the plan…… the best laid one anyway! In the meantime, it’s back to the antifouling in preparation for launching our nice clean boat.