30 June 2009

Streets paved with marble

We sailed into the harbour at Erminoupolis on Syros on Friday 8 May 2009. As in many other places in Greece, the small craft marina is unfinished and has no services. It is in a run-down industrial area out of town, but provides a safe place to leave the boat and explore. Unlike many towns in the Greek islands, Erminoupolis is not given over to tourism, but has real industries including ship repairs and fishing. It is an attractive town, with marble-paved streets, a pleasant waterfront and some impressive Italianate buildings, in particular the Town Hall. It also has a taverna which served one of the best moussakas we have had.

Behind the harbour there are two hills, with a Greek Orthodox church on one and a Roman Catholic cathedral on the other. We walked up the latter, the higher of the two.

More flying fish and other curiosities

That evening, we were sitting in the cockpit when a small fishing boat came into the marina and seemed to be passing uncomfortably close to us. As it passed, the fisherman threw a fish onto our deck – our second free tuna of the year. We had tuna steaks that evening, and curried tuna the next.

The following day we moved to an anchorage on the west side of the island, and the day after that we travelled 30 miles to the south-east, to an anchorage near Naousa, on the north side of Paros. On 12 May we moved on to the principal town of Parikia, where we moored in the harbour. We hired a car to explore the island, which was very green, and one of the prettiest we had seen so far this year. The highlight of the visit was Scorpio's Museum. This is largely the work of one man, with a bit of support from his wife. He is a fisherman-turned-artist, and has produced a remarkable collection of models of boats, buildings and many other features of the Cycladic islands. All the exhibits have been made by himself, and are displayed in a small building and in the extensive patch of ground in which it stands. We were even given a taste of his home-made raki (a strong local brew) which even Kay enjoyed.

Old Acquaintances

On 14 May we left Paros and navigated down the tricky channel between that island and Antiparos, then set our course towards Ios. Attentive readers will remember that we had already been to that island, but we had a good reason for returning. Our old friends Pauline and Gordon on Crazy Dream and Maggie and Steve on Rassy Lady were on their way across the southern Cyclades, and we had arranged to meet them there. It was a great reunion, celebrated in grand style over the next 2 days.

While on Ios, we also climbed the hill behind the harbour, where pious people had built 4 small chapels. We just enjoyed the views.

A Good Turn

Leaving Ios, we travelled roughly east to an anchorage on the small island of Folegandros, then on again towards Milos, another extinct volcano in the south-west corner of the Cyclades, whose flooded crater forms a large lagoon in the middle of the island. As we approached the entrance to the lagoon, we saw a yacht coming towards us, whose crew appeared to be having trouble with their mainsail. As they went past, we realised that the in-mast furling mainsail on their rented boat had slipped down, and they were having trouble hoisting it back up. We therefore turned round, caught them up, and offered to help. As Kay steered Wild Thyme alongside the other boat, P stepped across and took the helm until the young couple on the boat had sorted out their sail, then went back aboard Wild Thyme. Actually, with both boats on the move, it was a bit more exciting than it sounds! We were again glad that we had re-installed a simple slab-reefing system on our boat in place of the troublesome roller-reefing system we had before.

In the Home of Venus

Milos is the island where the Venus de Milo, now in the Louvre, was found by a farmer. There are a number of other antiquities on the island, but during our visit most were closed, which was disappointing. As an ancient volcano, Milos abounds in minerals, which are being energetically exploited. None of the quarries are visible from within the central lagoon, but the outside rim of the volcano is gradually being removed. In some places they are planting trees to cover the damage, while in others the results are quite ugly. Still, if that's the only way the island can support itself, you can't criticise. We hired a car and drove round much of the island. If you like weird rock formations it was quite diverting, but it couldn't be called pretty.

We were trapped in Milos by strong winds for 5 nights, then moved on to anchorages in the small nearby islands of Kimolos and Poliagos. The latter was particularly peaceful, and it was like a holiday after the stay on the quay at Milos, being jostled by rented boats and their incompetent and sometimes unpleasant crews.

Good Neighbours and Bad

The next island to the north was Sifnos, where we anchored for 3 nights in a sheltered bay while yet more strong northerlies blew over. We then had one night in the harbour at the main port of Kamares, sandwiched between 2 large motor-cruisers. These boats are equipped with freezers, air-conditioning, and every other modern convenience, and run their generators day and night to power it all. The noise is quite anti-social, but people with that kind of money don't mind the inconvenience they cause to ordinary people. At the other end of the scale was a pleasant French couple in a tiny motor boat, whose boarding plank broke. We invited them to moor their boat closer to ours, so that they could get on board via Wild Thyme. We regard this sort of courtesy between yachties as normal, but they were sufficiently impressed to thank us with a bottle of good Bordeaux.

Another Reunion

At this point we heard from our friends John and Sigrun, on Fillimou, that they were in an anchorage in the north of Serifos, the next island to the north. We agreed to their suggestion that we meet up at Livadhia, in the south of Serifos, and next morning, 30 May, we set off to meet them.

We had not seen John and Sig since we parted company at Limnos in September 2007, and it was great to see them again. We spent 6 days together, having dinner on each other's boats, walking up to the old town on the hill above the harbour, and generally relaxing. Yet more strong winds came through, this time from the south-west, but we were comfortable on the leeward side of the jetty. On Friday 5 June, Fillimou left us to head south.

Holiday Fun

It's 6 June, the 65th anniversary of D-Day. An invasion is in progress. Not violent, we're glad to say, but quite animated at times. It's Whit Weekend in Greece, where they still celebrate according to the Orthodox Church calendar, which is often out of step with the one used by the Protestant and Catholic Churches.

The invasion consists of scores of small motor boats, plus a fair number of bigger ones and some yachts, all intent on a merry weekend at Livadhia. The jetty where we are moored filled up first, then various other spots around the harbour, and now people are squeezing in wherever they can, or bowing to the inevitable and anchoring in the bay. As there is no wind, this is risk-free, but means they will have to take their dinghies to get ashore to the tavernas, then navigate them back in the dark after dinner. We are glad we got here early and have bagged our spot. Once there were boats parked on either side of us, with no risk of others barging in between, we could relax and watch the late-comers circling round, trying to find a berth for the night.

Mechanical Matters

While we were confined in Livadhia, P decided to change the engine oil and filter. In the process, he noticed that the bearings in the engine's fresh water circulating pump were seriously worn. Having had the same problem in 2005, when the pump failed on the way to Sardinia, he decided that this time we wouldn't put to sea again until the pump was replaced. A call to a firm in Piraeus established that there was no replacement available in Greece, so we ordered one from our usual supplier in England. Having paid extra for 3-day delivery, we were very disappointed that it took nearly a week to arrive. Fortunately, Livadhia was a good place to be held up, as we had access to water, electricity and reasonable shops.

We had also ordered a replacement anchor windlass, which was being held for us in Piraeus. When we knew that we were to be delayed in Serifos for several days, we arranged for the windlass to be sent to us there, and P fitted it while we waited for the pump to arrive.

Racing the Weather

We finally collected the pump from the post office at 8 am on Friday 12 June. At 2 pm it was installed and tested, and we left Livadhia for the Greek mainland. We were in a hurry to leave, as yet another period of strong winds was forecast. This meant by-passing the island of Kithnos, but we had no choice. Kay's sister Anne was due to arrive at Athens the following Wednesday, and if we didn't get to within striking distance of Piraeus by then, she would have to take a ferry to reach us. In any case, we had already visited 21 islands in the Dodecanese and the Cyclades since leaving Turkey at the end of March, so didn't mind missing one more.

It was a challenging trip: though the wind never went above Force 5, there were some big waves on the beam, which made for an uncomfortable ride. One wave threw our computer off the chart table onto the floor, but amazingly it continued to work! As it was forecast that most of the Saronic Gulf would have winds of at least Force 6, we decided to go as far into the Gulf as possible, to where the winds were expected to be lighter. We also did not relish trying to anchor in an unfamiliar anchorage at night. We therefore pushed on through the night, motoring when the wind dropped light, and finally anchored at dawn, in a sheltered bay on the island of Salamis. The 80-mile trip had taken 16 hours, and left us just a couple of hours from Piraeus. We spent the next 4 days swimming in the bay and otherwise taking it easy, until it was time to go to Piraeus on 17 June to meet Anne off the train from Athens airport.

We had enjoyed exploring the Cyclades, meeting old friends and making new ones. Now, though, we were glad to be out of the Aegean Sea with its quirky weather, which would only get worse once the Meltemi got started in the near future. We were looking forward to Anne joining us, and to getting into the Gulfs of Corinth and Patras, where, we hoped, we would enjoy sailing in calmer conditions.