Wednesday 14 June 2017 – Methana

Well I forgot to post  last night so now I am doing this under way in the morning of the 15^th.

It was a strange day yesterday.  We wanted to leave fairly early but we had no arrangements to pay or get water which we really needed.  The harbour master did turn up yesterday evening and attached us to electricity.  He said he would be around first thing in the morning to connect us to the water.  But by nearly 9am still no sight of him.  We did find one tap with low pressure but decided to use that as being better than nothing.  It was taking forever to fill when the harbourmaster finally turned up.  He is very affable, but inefficient.  Jerry says he is just lazy.  Anyway he puts us on a high pressure nozzle and we are filled up in no time.  He charges us 4 Euro for the water and electricity.  We ask about mooring fees and he says there is a girl who should come around and collect them.  However we are told not to worry and just go without paying if we don’t see her.  She never came!  No wonder the Greeks are broke.  They don’t charge enough and even then they can’t be bothered to collect any money!

Next problem is getting out.  We have maybe 2 meters clearance front and back from a 50ft sailing yacht behind and a 46ft Catamaran in front.  I go to see the Cat and they say they are not going until much later.  Luckily the wind is still blowing us off (though much reduced from yesterday).  Richard thinks it is no problem.  Well it wasn’t really.  Started very well with me letting off the bows and then they blew well out and cleared the cat.  We had a little frisson when R had trouble letting the stern go and we started to drift back onto the yacht, but managed to get clear.  So we were off.

We are headed to another port on the Peloponnese which is supposed to have lazy lines. Yippee!  As we leave there seems to be a force 4 wind so we put up the sails.  But it became a disappointment because every few minutes the wind would die.  Richard kept putting the engine on and off as the wind came and went.  Eventually it settled down to the bottom of a 4 on the nose!  So that was it for sailing and down came the sails.

Therefore it was a pretty dull motor for 5 hours save for our seeing dolphins.  First one dolphin came and gave a few leaps by the boat.  Later on when I was having a bit of a nap Richard saw a pod of 6 dolphins leaping some way off.  He shouted for me to wake up and I saw the last two leaps.  That reminds me I forgot to say that we saw some interesting sea life last Saturday.  First I saw a swordfish.  It was leaping in and out of the water lake a dolphin.  Then a single dolphin came near the boat for a minute or two.  It always lifts your spirits to see these wonderful creatures. 

So we made it to harbour.  The entrance was so hidden we thought the book was having us on.  When we got into the harbour it seemed mainly full.  But the real problem was that there was no one around to direct us into a space.  We had no way of knowing which lazy lines to pick up.  One or two people on boats looked at us but gave us no help or information.  Eventually at the far end of the harbour we spied a space.  The only thing was that it looked like it was part of private moorings, but there was nothing to indicate we couldn’t moor there.  R went into reverse and I picked up a bit of string off the pier to see If it was attached to a lazy line and free.  It seemed to be both so I took it forward and tied it on..  In the meantime Richard was preparing to try to jump off to secure our stern lines when luckily three boaties came by and took the lines.  So we seem to be securely moored for the time being, until and unless we get moved on.

We take a walk into town.  It is a dump. Half the shops are shut up.  Everything looks run down.  We do manage a cold drink and free WIFI at a café. When we get back to the boat the lady who runs to marina is there and is mad at us for using the wrong lazy line.  How we were supposed to know that is anyone’s guess.  We have also cut one of the small pickup lines with our prop.  Again, without anyone to move the lines away as you reverse it is nearly inevitable that will happen, It isn’t a big deal, she finds both ends and gets someone to tie a secure knot in it.  It is after all only the bit to pick up to get to the main line and doesn’t take any strain.

Anyway we spend the night there in the funny place.  They did at least have showers.  That was good as it was so hot and it was nice to stand under running water and not worry about draining the water tank.  In the end we were charged 6.20 Euro.  No wonder it is so badly run.