Sunday 11 June 2017 – Ermioni (Peloponnese)


Well first it is happy birthday to Richard.  Though we haven’t organised anything to make a fuss of him.  I had to admit days ago that I forgot to pack his birthday card and buying one in Greek was a step too far!

So we start out very early with a view to get to Hydra.  It is 50 miles, so we are talking 9-10 hours.  We raise anchor at 6am.  We have a coffee right away under way.  As the forecast says there is virtually no wind, though the very little 2-4 knots is from behind.  Richard cannot even be bothered to take the cover off the mainsail he is so convinced that we will be motoring all the way.  The sun starts off shining, but it soon clouds over, though that too was in the weather forecast.  What wasn’t in the forecast was the fact that within about 2 hours the wind picks up to a force 4.  Richard then decides to put the sails up.  We just put the Genoa up at first but when the wind gets to 12-13 knots the main goes up.  Guess what: the wind stays steady and blowing 14-18 knots all afternoon.  So that is Richard’s birthday present, a force 4-5 on the beam!  So far so good. 

We get within striking distance of Hydra when things do not go to plan.  Firstly the wind, which is now so much stronger than we planned is also north-easterly.  We were going to anchor in Mandraki bay, just before Hydra town.  However, the pilot book warns that this is not a good spot in a strong north easterly, which is what we are getting and not good at all in tomorrow’s expected strong northerly.  So Richard is concerned about staying the night there.  We do go into the bay and it is less windy than outside, so we are able to take the main down.  There are about 4-5 boats there.  Only one is tied with a long line to the shore, which we are told is the way to use the bay.  Further it is rather deep.  Richard is not keen and says we should go on to Hydra town to see how busy that is.  Now the fun begins.  The sky has got very dark and we can see lots of lightening in the sky.  Within minutes we are inundated by a huge thunder storm.  It is really scarey, not least when the thunder and lightening is straight above us, as it was.  We were really worried about being struck by lightening and shorting out all our instruments.  On the recommendation of one of the yachting magazines, I stuck all our portable electronics in the oven.  Apparently that forms a Faraday cage around electronics and stops them shorting out if you are struck by lightening.  Well, that’s what they say anyway.

By the time we get to Hydra town we are soaked to the skin and the rain is so hard that we  can barely see past the boat.  When we go into Hydra town we meet what we were warned against.  Crazy busy mooring.  What they do is get about 10-15 boats on their town wall, stern to with their anchors out.  Then they form another row of boats with their anchors out in front of the others and then rafted together.  As Jane told us and the book says fouled anchors are de rigour here!  We do not think we will do this.

Now we really don’t know what to do.  The only two mooring spots here seem inappropriate and it is already after 3:30pm.  We first start back to Mandraki bay and then realise that we are going back to where the thunderstorm is going.  We don’t want to do that.  (The thunderstorm is going upwind, which is really bizarre.)  The only alternative is to head for the Peloponnese.  The sky seems a lot clearer there.  The only problem is that it is another one and a half hours sail and it is now after 4pm.  But we seem to have no choice.  So off we head in that direction. 

By now the rain seems to have mainly stopped, but the sky is still quite dark.  We take this opportunity to get out of our wet clothes.  We have had to resort to full wet gear, salopettes and all, but at least we are comfortable.

But the weather gods were not through with us yet.  As we approached the port of Ermioni the sky turns very dark and there is more spectacular lightening, though thankfully it seems a long way off.  We are a bit worried as we approach the port that the town wall (which is quite small) is full because there are a lot of anchored boats in the harbour.  However, there is plenty of room on the wall, but no one to take our lines and we are not sure what to do.  Also the heavens have opened again and the rain is lashing down.  As we hover a very nice yachtsman comes out in his waterproofs and helps us moor.  As we were messing about before we did not put our anchor down.  Instead of going forward again and putting it down we moor alongside on the end of the wall.  We had trouble getting the stern in, but eventually we found ourselves nicely tucked up next to the wall and I can get on and off easily.

So there is no disaster after all, but we are very tired having been going now for nearly 12 hours.  So we again get rid of wet clothes and have a birthday drink for Richard.  Then being able to get ashore easily we go into town when the rain eases off and find a restaurant that does lobster spaghetti, so Richard gets his birthday lobster after all.

Now we are trying to start the heater to dry all our wet clothes, but we are not doing well, though I think I can hear it going now.  Also we have found that the boat has two leaks in heavy rain.  One from the mast (which we fixed with mastic last year and which obviously needs redoing) and one from the forward hatch.  That will be a bigger problem!  But then again, it shouldn’t be raining like this in Greece!

We will stay here tomorrow as we think we deserve a rest after today’s efforts.  Anyway this long passage has put us ahead of schedule. 


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