*2022 APRIL: PELOPONNESE
2022-04-04
It is Monday March 21, 2022, the weather has calmed down, we are leaving the LEFKAS marina where we had taken refuge to let the bad weather pass.
We head for ITHAQUE Island 25 minutes away to spend the night. We arrive at Vathy on the island around 6 p.m. As usual at this time of the year, the bay is deserted by passing boats because there is hardly anyone sailing in March.
Then we leave in the direction of KATAKOLON, a small village on the mainland 64Mn further south from the Ionian Islands. We are sailing at a good pace in an icy NW wind. A splendid sunset over ZAKYNTHOS greets us at the end of the day.
Here again we are alone. We stop there until Thursday morning. We will visit the archaeological site of the ancient city of Olympia which impresses us with its size and facilities.
Thursday morning we leave for the small port of PYLOS at 50Mn. We arrive there at 5 p.m. thanks to a still strong wind from NNW. The arrival at the entrance of the bay takes us between high rocks. It is very beautiful but also very impressive.
On arrival we look for a place suitable for MR to spend the night. Finally we choose the municipal quay, we struggled to moor MR by crosswind and without outside help. We make a scratch to the hull of MR against a very incisive quay. It is a small, half-sleepy but quite pleasant village.
We only spend the night there to leave early in the morning, before the wind picks up. Later we will regret not having continued to METHONI which offers better shelter in NW winds. It seems much more typical than Pylos.
Our next stop is KORONI, in the very south west of the Peloponnese. The anchorage is pleasant, we stay there for 2 nights and take advantage of the stopover to visit the fort which dominates the city, to walk through the very picturesque streets of the village, but also to enjoy the atmosphere of the tavernas and discover the market of the Sunday morning.
Monday morning we sail towards MEZAPOS at 24 Mn, a small village in the South East of the Gulf of MESSINIAKOS. With the headwind we tacked, in a formed chop and a wind that was getting stronger and stronger, our speed was not very fast. It is 5 p.m., we finally arrive in the bay to spend the night.
The weather forecasts are still bad and we spend the next day at anchor sheltered from the SW wind and the strong swell announced. There was a German sailboat at anchor with us which left early in the morning. The village is desert or even ghost, we do not meet anyone there. It’s quite impressive.
Back at the boat, Richard dives to free a rope caught in MR’s propeller and inspect the entire hull. The water is at 17°C and is quite pleasant according to his opinion.
We decide to leave Wednesday morning in the direction of MONEMVASIA. It is a fortified rock-side village dating back to 580 AD and largely developed during the Byzantine period.
The sea and the wind have calmed down to such an extent that we are motoring all morning. In the afternoon and approaching the Aegean Sea the wind picks up and throws MR at more than 9kts. We pass many cargo ships. We also see 9 supertankers, many with an anonymous AIS signature. All are full and stationary. They seem to wait for their charterers to tell them the ‘juiciest’ destination to sell their cargo.
In the evening we arrive around 8 p.m. and dock at the municipal quay of MONEMVASIA where Mateos, the very welcoming owner of a taverna who acts as port manager, is waiting for us. So we are going to have dinner at his house.
Thursday morning we go to visit the fortified village. There are few tourists in the alleys of the city, the houses, the churches and the ramparts are in perfect condition. Everything has been restored respecting the spirit of the time as well as possible. This village is a real gem.
The weather is deteriorating again for the night and the day of Friday. We stay at the quay and prepare the boat and the moorings to face the wind and the surf which appears from 1am. Mer bakes some matcha tea and white chocolate cookies (you could ask for the recipe.
MR starts dancing under the effect of the waves to the point of waking us up and going out to check if everything is fine at 4 a.m. We are 5 sailboats at the quay, all there to protect ourselves from bad weather. The barometer continues to drop from 1021 hPa at the start to 1003 hPa. The wind picks up Friday morning to blow more than 30kts from the south all day.
We increase the number of fenders and we are waiting for that to pass. During the day Mer goes to pick up some shells on the beach then after lunch, she goes back to the fortified village to complete her shots there, under the sun.
Saturday morning, the sun is shining, the sea has calmed down and the wind does not exceed 15kts: it was not expected!!!
Decidedly the weather in Greece is really unreliable.
We decide to take the sea towards the island of SPETSES 35Mn to the north.
We make the trip with very changeable wind conditions but we complete the course in only 5 hours. We arrive in the afternoon in the bay of Paradise Beach. The anchorage is safe and we go down to visit the town.
In this season, a large part of the accommodation is closed. Spetses lives a lot from tourism. The layout of the houses and the alleys are furtively reminiscent of Saint-Tropez. The houses are all very clean and colorful, each has its own small garden with orange or lemon trees. The alleys wind between the houses, some are not wide enough to allow cars to pass. The main means of transport is the two-wheeler and more precisely the scooter, they are everywhere.
On April 3, Saint Richard’s Day, we will have lunch in a taverna by the water and take the opportunity to stroll through the alleys of the city center before joining our board.
Next stops Ydra Island, Athens and The Cyclades