Santorini

Settled into the marina in Naousa and greeted Nic’s brother and sister the next day.  Unfortunately for Sue and Mike the weather has really taken a bit of a turn here.  The winds are up, the temperature down and rain forecast for the next week plus.

Naousa is a smaller town than Paroikia but just as picturesque.  The marina is built alongside the small port which is full of fishing boats and the waterfront is lined with cafes and restaurants.  Behind the waterfront are small winding streets filled with interesting shops.  

Sue and Nic in their element

One of the goals during the visit of Sue and Mike was to visit Santorini or Thira.  The main island and its outliers are the remains of a volcano.  When you sail down you are actually sailing into the caldera of the old volcano.  As a result the seabed slopes away pretty dramatically and anchorages are limited and where possible are tenuous.  There is one marina in the south of the island which seemed a bit crowded and small for a boat the size of Dulcinea.  So given the limited anchoring / berthing options and the fact that the weather was playing up we decided to leave Dulcinea in the marina in Naousa and take a commercial ferry from Paros instead.  A kind of road trip.

Santorini is a 3.5hr ferry trip from Paros.  Calley was beside herself with excitment to be going on the sea in a boat bigger than Dulcinea.  The trip was uneventful and we arrived at a wharf on the west side of the island in the afternoon.  The water at the dockside was heaving a couple of meters which only supported our decision not to bring Dulcinea.  We found some accommodation through one of the helpful local agents at the wharf and were whisked up the cliffside and along to the main town of Thira.  

The gang - a bit windswept

The main island is kind of crescent shaped and the west side is extremely steep rising almost vertically to about 1000ft above sea level.  Then there is a plateau which covers most of the island and then falls away steeply on the other side to a fairly large coastal plain on the east side.  The plateau is dotted with settlements of white houses.  

View over the caldera

Most people will have seen pictures of Santorini as it is probably the most photographed place in Greece and probably one of the top spots in the world.  The classic Greece shot of brilliant white houses, blue church domes, steep cliffs and beautiful azure seas is probably taken in Santorini and the real thing is indeed very stunning.  We decided on a cliffside hotel in the main town of Thira and it is very spectacular.  The town of white buildings kind of droops over the cliffside as if its oozing off the top of the island.  There is one main street at the top of the cliff and then the hotels are all accessed by a myriad of narrow staircases.  All of the rooms seem to have veiws over the caldera to to the neighbouring islands.

Thira town

Unfortunately for us the weather was pretty bad while we were there.  High winds and rain.  Still it could not take away from the scenery.  We had a look around Thira town which was still very busy with tourists.  It must be absolute mayhem at the height of the season.  Calley wanted to go on a donkey ride to the port at the bottom of the cliff but got vetoed by just about everyone else in the group.  Thira has some pretty old narrow streets full of small shops, bars, cafes and restaurants and a spectacular cliffside walk but outside of them, back from the cliffside the town is pretty unattractive.  We  took a bus to the most northerly town called Oia.  The drive over the island between Thira and Oia is very scenic in itself and Oia is very pretty; smaller and quieter but more attractive than Thira and full of more boutique type shops.

One advantage of cloudy weather - spectacular sunsets

We only had a couple of days on Santorini which was enough though.  Its a really amazing place and well worth a visit but the main attraction is to experience the cliffside setting and the views.  The shops and old town can be experienced on a number of other islands.  We caught the ferry back to Paros and the next day was Calley’s 10th birthday.  Its amazing to think that when we started this trip Calley was seven.  She has spent a quarter of her life onboard the boat!  We had a relatively sedate birthday for her and then moved the boat back to Paroikia for a couple of days. 

Every day is a birthday for Calley

The weather has taken a tumble ever since Sue and Mike arrived which is a real shame for them.  It has been windy, raining and cloudy most days and the wind has been from the wrong direction if we have wanted to sail anywhere.  In addition the temperature of the sea has fallen about 4 degrees in the last couple of weeks.  Will try and get across to Mykonos in the next few days so we can have a look around another island before Sue and Mike leave us.

Arrived in Paros

We have had a good week taking our time island hopping across to Paros.

After leaving the mainland we arrived in a beautiful bay in Kithnos.  Its formed from a sand spit joining an small outlying island so you could anchor either side of the sand spit in calm clear water.  When we arrived there were only one or two yachts in the bay but by morning there were close to a dozen, mainly Russian charter boats.  It must have been a flotilla holiday of some sort.  The good thing for us is that most of the charterers push on after a single night which leaves us in peace and quiet.  We hung out in the bay for a couple of days and amongst other things got the dingy scrubbed clean, did some school and went for a walk onshore in the hills.

The Kythnos Anchorage

There was a nearby town called Merikhas which we visited for a night.  Things are starting to shut down as its coming to the end of the season.  We are told that by the end of October all the touristy shops and bars etc will have shut down.  Still we managed to have a nice meal ashore in a friendly restaurant.  Still finding the food fantastic everywhere we go.

Next day we pushed on to the island of Serifos and again spent a couple of days at anchor in a secluded bay before heading into the town of Serifos.  There is a port town which is not that big but then on the hills behind the town there is the chora or the old town.  This is classic Greece - all white buildings strung up a barren rocky hillside with the occassional blue dome of a church standing out vividly.  It looks fantastic from the bay.

Serifos Chora

It was a couple of miles so we decided to walk up into the chora.  Even managed to persuade Calley to do it.  The town is pretty interesting as the buildings are all kind of squashed together and in between are these narrow, narrow alleys.  The buildings are all white with blue trim but even the streets have white highlights around the paving stones.  The view from the churches at the top of the town were spectacular.  The weirdest thing is that there are hardly any people about.  We went up around 5 or 6 O’clock in the evening because we knew during the day everyone would be taking their siesta.  But even in the evening it was deserted.  There was a real “Dusk till Dawn” feel about the place.  As a result we had a quick look around and then hurried back to the port.

The view from the chora

There was a Meltemi blowing up so we headed across to Paros to a sheltered bay off a town called Paroika on the east coast and got the anchor well dug in.  There is a small marina here but again we are a bit too big to get in.  The next couple of days we had northerly winds around 25 to 30kts gusting to 35kts and so did not get off the boat too much.  It was not too bad though and we did get to catch up on school.  We managed a couple of trips to town and it is a really interesting and picturesque place.  Must be mobbed when it is tourist season but now its very pleasant.  The town behind the waterfront is a maze of alleyways lined with boutiquey type shops and cafes.

The weather is changeable just now.  The strong meltemi from the north has blown itself out and today is calm but the winds are forecast to pick up from the south to similar strengths starting tonight.  The current anchorage is no good in the southerlies so we have decided to move to another bay in the north of Paros called Naousa.  There is a small marina here where we think we can get in.  

The Corinth Canal and the Aeskliepion of Epidauros

We had another day at Itea waiting for the weather to improve and then set off up towards Corinth.  After motoring for 30 miles we anchored out for the night at a very uncomfortable anchorage just south of the entrance to the canal.

The next day we were up early and contacted the canal authorities on the VHF for permission to transit.  There was a large commercial vessel in the canal coming from the other side which we had to wait for but after that we got clearance.  There was us and another 72ft yacht transiting at the same time with us in the lead.  

The entrance to the Corinth Canal

The entrance to the canal is protected by a curling breakwater each side.  Once through them the start of the canal is marked by a hydraulic road bridge which actually sinks under the water to allow the passage of ships and is then raised again for vehicular traffic.  The canal is then in front of you and looks like a very narrow passage cutting between two cliffs.

The first bridge - submerged

The canal was opened just over 120 years ago and saves well over 100NM from a journey between the Ionian and Aegean seas.  It runs from the town of Corinth at the western entrance southeast for about 3.2NM to its exit into the Saronic Gulf and the Aegean Sea at a small place called Isthmia.  It is 25m wide and can take and dredged to around 6m.  In the ancent times the ships would be beached at one side of the canal and then dragged overland on a road before being relaunched.  As a result Corinth became quite a powerful city.  Schemes for a canal had been around for centuries and the Romans actually started digging but never got far.

It is as impressive as it looks

Transiting the canal is pretty impressive.  The canal is only 25m wide and the walls rise up vertically from the water to a height of 79m at the highest point and seems to tower over you.  Apart from the hydraulic lowering bridges at both ends there are other road and rail bridges but they are well above the 30m mast of Dulcinea.  Dulcinea is only 5.4m wide but even for us it seems very narrow so on larger ships it must be quite a squeeze. The walls of the canal are rock and the labour involved in digging the canal must have been immense.  The rock near the water however looks pretty soft and as such is crumbling away and must require constant maintenance.  The trip through the canal is fun and brings back memories of the Cape Cod Canal.

At the other end we moored alongside a wharf to go to the canal authority building to pay our dues.  Turns out it may have been cheaper to have had the boat dragged across the Isthmus after all!  Still it has been worth it to have experienced the canal.

It feels narrower than it looks

We exited into the Aegean and set sail for a small place called Epidauros about 15NM away down the Pelopenese coast.  The promising wind did not hold and we ended up motoring most of the way before dropping anchor in a quiet bay off a small town.  We picked this town as it was noted in the pilot that there was a well preserved Greek Theatre here which we thought we should make the effort to see.

The next morning we jumped into Spiros’s taxi and drove into the hills about 20kms out of town to the ruins of the Askliepieon.  The Askliepieon was the centre for healing during and before Greek and Roman times.  Having never heard of the place it was a complete suprise to find not just the theatre but other ruins including another stadium which was probably the best preserved yet.  We learned that sometimes the local schools come and compete on the ancient track.  The theatre is amazing too and certainly very well preserved.  It seats 14,000 people and is still used for shows today.  All the seating is stone and it was built in true Greek style using the indent in the hillside and contouring it to suit.  The accoustics are unbelievable - something to do with the limestone used in the construction absorbing certain sound frequencies.  Whatever the reason, you can stand on the stage and have a normal conversation which can be heard clearly at the top of the theatre.  There are ruins of other building and temples struin around which they are still working on.  The Askliepeion is a well worth a visit and seeing a concert or show here would be amazing.  One more to add to the bucket list.

The Greek Theatre

The Andersons production in the Greek Theatre

We pushed on later that day stopping for a couple of nights in a bay at the southern end of the island of Aigina and then onto a bay off the mainland about 20NM south east of Athens called Ormos Sounion.  This is the tip of the mainland and there is a famous temple to Poseidon built on the promentary.  We were up early the next morning for a look around the temple which was pretty spectacular given that many of the building colums had been restored.  Along the base of the temple, visitors of old i.e. 100 to 150 years ago, thought it was a good idea to graffiti the stones so there are all these inscriptions from passing boats.  There is also supposed to be some scratchings from Byron - funny that for anyone else its vandalism but for Byron its historical!  

Legend has it that this is the spot where the Aegean got its name.  King Aegeus of Greece was waiting for his son Theseus to return from Crete after taking on the half bull / half man minotaur.  If Theseus had been successful his boat was to sail home with a white sail; if he was dead the boat carrying his body was to have a black sail.  Unfortunately poor old Theseus was a bit forgetful and came sailing over the horizon with a black sail so his father threw himself off the cliff before the ship docked and they named the sea after him.   Kids, eh?

The Temple of Poseidon at Sounion

We sailed on later in the morning towards the next island of Kithnos.  The further we sail the more we seem to leave the touristy places behind and the places we visit become more authentically Greek.  There are fewer and fewer yachts about as well which is nice.  We are moving generally towards the island of Paros where we will pick up Sue and Mike (Nic’s brother and sister in about a week's time.

Nic the Greek and the Human Fender

So we are sitting alongside a wharf in a town called Itea on the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth.  We have just had a storm pass over in which we got innundated with rain and hailstones - think the gods are trying to tell us our time is just about up for this sailing lark.

Have had a great week visiting some monumental sites in Greece.

Whilst still in Cefalonia we hired a car and had a look around the island.  Its a really pretty, mountainous place with dramatic views of sheer cliffs plunging into a blue blue ocean around every turn and small villages dotted around the hills.  The roads kind of cling to the hillsides and the little hire cars grip tenuously to the roads on the tight turns.  Its all very exciting.  We started our tour at a cave which turned out to be a hole in the ground - a spectacular hole in the ground.  There is a shaft maybe a 100m in diameter through the ground to a small lake, the surface of which is about 30m below ground level.  The lake is another 30m deep in places and is fed by underground rivers originating on the other side of the island about 30km away.  Its pretty spectacular.  The water in the lake is a brilliant sapphire blue, crystal clear and deathly still.  A boatman takes you for a short float over the water so you can see the extent of the cave.

The cave 

After the cave we drove to a spectacular beach on the west side of the island at a place called Myrtos.  The beach is tucked in at the base of cliffs.  From a distance the contrast between the steep cliffs, white beach and blue water looks amazing.  We drove down and spent some time swimming in the powerful waves rolling in and relaxing.  The beach however turned out to be small pebbles and not soft sand.  In all our travels we have yet to find beaches which rival the beaches in Australia.  Most of the time when we go in search of a beach we have been told is a must see, it’s a bit of a disappointment mainly because we compare it to Australia.

Myrtos Beach

We finished our tour of the island with a visit to a small port village called Fiskardo which is very quaint but a bit touristy.  It is the only town on the island which was not affected during the earthquake which razed the rest of the towns.

Managed to get the anchor windlass fixed and then headed off towards the mainland on Thursday.  We had a 52nm leg first to get us into the Gulf of Patras and alongside in a marina in the town of Patras for the first night.  The town is a major ferry terminal for intra island and international ferries but nothing to write home about.  It was a place however where we could finally get hold of our elusive DEKPA - the final bit of paperwork we require to cruise Greece but have been unable to get anywhere else.  We had to visit the port police, then a tax office in town which looked like something out of the 70’s and then back to the port police.

We pushed on eastwards for the next couple of days sailing where possible but spending a lot of time motoring as the wind was easterly.  We had an overnight stop anchored in a bay at the island of Trizonia and then on Saturday we pulled into Itea.  We planned to stop here for a couple of days to see two major sites.  Itea is a small quiet town with shades of Port Hedland about it due to the reddish hills from the hermatite and the stands of Eucapyptus trees along some of the roads.  It is set at the edge of a coastal plain which quickly disappears into the mountains behind.  The dock here is pretty basic and is really just a protected concrete wharf.

The spectacular bridge spanning the gulf of Patras/Corinth

On the first afternoon we went ashore to find a hire car.  The town seemed deserted but eventually we found a rental place run by Nick who was very helpful and rented us a small car.  On the way back to the boat we had a potentially disastrous incident.  We are moored side on to the wharf and while stepping across to the boat Calley lost her footing and fell into the water inbetween the wharf and the boat.  Luckily there was little motion and we could reach her easily and so Sam and Scott pulled her out pretty sharpish.  It just goes to show though that all you need is one moment of lapse and it can all change.  Calley was a little shaken up and a lot wet but apart from that survived unscathed.

The next day we headed off to Olympia - site of the Olympic games of old.  This was the first of two sites that we wanted to visit.  Once again the scale of the ruins is staggering.  The site encompasses the ruins of a number of buildings such as the gymnasium, lesser temples, administration buildings etc all clustered around the remains of the central temple of Zeus.  Its all set in a peaceful valley between two rivers with mountains all around.  The site has trees growing throughout which add to the beauty and serenity of the place.  The track or stadiun is still clearly visible over three thousand years since it was first used.  There is also a museum attached to the site which has some amazing artefacts displayed.  One of them was a bronze helmet given to the Temple of Zeus by the Greeks giving thanks for the victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in around 500BC - how awesome is that!

In the athletes tunnel

The olympic track - Sam won

The second site we visited the following day was Delphi - the site of the ancient oracle.  This is located in the mountains about 30kms behind Itea.  It is terraced onto the hillside and comprised of a number of temples and shrines.  The idea was that in ancient times when you wanted things to go your way you would come and ask the Oracle and pay for the servcie.  Then when things went well you came and built a temple or donated a statue or item of treasure to pay your respects and say thanks.  Over time the site comprised more and more temples stuffed full of works of art from the Greeks, Romans and Eastern kingdoms and it became a major centre of the civilised world.  There was also a amphitheatre and a stadium where the second most important athletic games were held.  Eventually over time, a lot was plundered and eventually the site fell into ruin.  

Temple of Athena

The awesome setting for Delphi

The site and the ruins are just unbelievable.  The setting on the side of a mountain overlooking the coastal plain all the way to the gulf is spectacular.  Again there is a museum attached to the site with some amazing restorations of statues and particularly the votive reliefs from the pediments of the buildings which have been restored and which show scenes from various greek history or mythology.  It is very hard to describe the sites of Delphi and Olympia - there is an overwhelming sense of awe and amazement at the antiquity of the places and it just has to be experienced first hand.

The Temple of Apollo 

So now we are just about antiquitied out for a while. Once the current batch of bad weather abates we will push on for the Corinth Canal and the Saronic Gulf.