We raised the anchor early and left the bay to make our way to Pilos. Unfortunately we did not have the right winds in sufficient force so we motorsailed all the way and again did some 50 nautical miles arriving late in the evening but we managed to get a good mooring (one of the tips from Pxysis).
Whilst here we bought a new diving bottle and Svein cleaned the keel from the different growths that we had accumulated in Mesolonghi.
Bright and early we left Mesolonghi saying goodbye to our friends on the quay (Aqua Domus, Van de Voe and Tootsie). We headed down the channel under engine and it stayed this way until we reached the headland of Pappas where we were able to stop the engine and sail for several hours on our way to Katakolon. The sea graduallt became blue and after just over 8 hours on the water we anchorded in the bay of Katakolon. Our neighbours were Pyxsis (also from Mesolonghi but who we had originally met in Trizonia in 2009. Karen and Richard came over for a drink and gave us several useful tips regarding the Poloponnese. The next day we stayed at anchor and Svein scrapped the waterline and serviced the outboard. We also wandered ashore once the dinghy had decided to behave itself and we did not have to be rescued a second time by Richard.
We are now getting ready to leave Mesolonghi to continue our travels so after a very long silence it is now time to put pen to paper again and give you a rundown on what has been happening.
Going back to December we had a disastrous trip to the UK because of the weather. A late arrival in Heathrow followed by a 2.5 hour wait for the luggage and a very heavy snowfall that prevented traffic from arriving or departing from the airport meant that we had to spend the night at the airport. The first train out took us to Paddington where we caught another train to Henley. The snow prevented us from moving around so Christmas was very quiet. We caught our plane back at the end of the week but unfortunately, despite every precaution, Caryn’s wallet was stolen at the airport. Fortunately we discovered it rapidly and were able to stop the cards (but not before nearly €900 were used in the duty free) and the bank insurance meant that we were fully reimbursed.
The procedure to replace the cards started with a visit to the Greek police to make a declaration. As nobody was able to speak English we had to go away and wait for a telephone call. This came around 18h30 sp we duly presented ourselves at the station and made our declaration via a mobile telephone call with the policeman’s son (who spoke English). Explaining the loss of French and Danish bank cards, Norwegian driving license and French health documents whilst holding a British passport had them a little stunned but they duly took down the information and the next day we returned to receive the typed Greek declaration! Not really a process we would like to repeat.-
In January Caryn started the long process of dental treatment to replace her bridge so there were weekly visits to the dentist as the preparation work was done. Implants were duly placed and eventually the whole procedure was finished in mid-June. Although a lot poorer the cost much less than anywhere else, the work was very professional and everybody is happy.
The cold weather appeared with some rain and winds although the winter as a whole was very mild in comparison to the rest of Europe. We could see snow-topped mountains around us but we had no snowfalls and the temperature never went below 0°.
In February Svein got a call from our friend Laurent asking if he could help him take their boat back to France as they had a buyer. So on 12th February he duly set off to Kalamata by bus to join the boat. It was supposedly a two week trip but he eventually returned at the end of March! Very strong head winds and general bad weather made for a difficult crossing and Svein did the last stage on his own as Laurent had to return to work as Captain of the supply ship in Angola. As Svein had been holed up Port Saint Louis for a few days before finishing in Port Camargue he got all the necessary jobs done there, caught up with friends and was then able to catch a train from Montpellier to return to Greece. Anne Laure (Laurent’s wife) had by then arrived to finalise the sale. Whilst Svein was away Caryn travelled to Kalamata for a long weekend with Anne Laure and Antoine during which we shopped for maternity clothes for her. The weather was so good in late February that we had a BBQ and sunbathed with her parents on their camping site.
Svein had hardly got his bag unpacked than Caryn got a phone call asking her to help out her old company as one of the assistants had had a heart attack. So Caryn packed her bag and traveled to France for one month (all expenses paid) . She spent the month in La Napoule (near Cannes) working in the office there. It also enabled her to spend some time with Alexandre (then living in Antibes) and he was able to sit and pass his power boat license whilst staying in Caryn’s flat. The trip was blighted by cold weather but it was good to be able to work and realise the being retired is not so bad after all.
At the end of April Caryn returned to Greece. It was time to start the serious work of repairing the deck. We were not leaving the harbour before it was finished. Svein began by caulking the joints with Sirkaflex and plugging the screwholes with teak plugs, repairing and replacing the bad wood and sanding down everything. In the middle of the work we wre kindly asked to change mooring spot as the noise of the sander was too disturbing. This we duly did and got tucked back into our original mooring at the entrance of the marina away from all the hustle and bustle of the pontoons. The mamouth job took him up to mid June. Svein got this stage of the work completed just before his two week trip to Norway where he met up with other members of the family to help his parents move into a new flat in an old people’s complex.
On his return (with a new computer – again!! and a new external hard disk) we started on the process of covering the boat to protect the next stage of the deck work. We crossed our fingers that the waterproofing product was still viable as we had bought the products in France before we left and Svein was worried that they were no longer usable. Fortunately they were and two coats of primer and 5 coats of “varnish” later we now have a stunning new deck that should keep us free from leaks for the next 10 years.
Back to the local events taking place during the first few months of the year. Whilst Svein was delivering the boat to France we had a few days of very strong winds that were sufficient to start to unravel the Genoa at 04h00 in the morning. Fortunately Dave (Cape) and Colin (Tasman) – both moored nearby – heard the noise and came on board to stop the damage. It was another 12 hours before we could get the sail down and it was duly delivered to the Hilary (Pax Nostum) for repair.
Burns night was also celebrated in the Clubhouse with the haggis being piped in and traditional Scottish fare served for dinner. It was concluded by a short concert with Scottish ballads and Scottish dancing.
Greek Independence Day (in April) is taken very seriously here as the town is considered to be the birthplace of Greek Independence so all areas of Greece are represented in the traditional procession through the town. There are two parades of everyone in their national costumes (different for each region) – one takes place on Saturday night and the second parade on Sunday is assisted by all the Ambassadors and country representatives present in Greece. It is a colorful and very lively display of national pride.
In May there was a celebration to commemorate the exodus of the men from the besieged town up into the mountains. Again everyone was dressed in national costume but this time the majority of the parade was devoted to horses who rode through the town to music played by the gypsies. The horses were very impressive but not the same can be said of the music. Svein has put out a video on our site covering this event.
The marina dog has a litter of 8 puppies. Luckily 2 found homes but one died and the other 5 had to be put down. Many tears were shed when this happened but it was impossible to keep them all and even less viable to have one on board any boat. As always stray dogs are a major problem in Greece.
Our working corner of the harbour is very industrious as we have Ted on Tootsie repairing his center lift keel and Rachel (Van de Vöe) sorting out her new rolling furler system for her Genoa. Most evenings we take it in turn to cook for everyone and are frequently joined by Russel – our Australian troubadour – who will be staying in the harbour a little longer as he is still working on boats that have been left here for the summer but if all goes well he will be returning to Australia in September.
We have also been continuing with the weekly BBQ but instead of 14h00 (when it is really too hot) we have switched to 18h00 when it is cooler. There are usually several participants and the maximum attendance has been members from 14 boats. Again it is a useful opportunity to exchange ideas and gain information for new places to either visit or avoid.
Swimming has become an important part of life as the temperatures have been rising since May. There have been excursions to the local beach on a daily basis and also visits to the local mud bath which is reputed to be good for all ailments. Fortunately the mud does not smell too bad. When it has not been possible to go to the beach as it is impossible to cycle that far in the heat we have been able to swim from the boat or from the slipway so we are both getting plenty of exercise.
All the liveaboards have now left the harbour although some have decided to return for the coming winter others have continued on their way. We are nearly the last to leave. We have enjoyed our time here and have made many new friends which we hope to see some time again in the future.
We also had the surprise and pleasure to catch up with our friends on Fuga whom we met in 2004 and not seen since then. They are currently cruising the Ionian and came into Messolonghi. We are able to catch up on news and curry information for our next stage of the journey.
We shall be wending our way round the Peloponnese and then heading for Lesvos. Our friends from Sweden (Lisa and Ronny) will be arriving there mid-August for a week’s holiday. It should be a great reunion as we have not seen them for a few years.
The harbour is increasingly full and many of the boats are liveaboards who have signed contracts for the winter so it should be an interesting experience starting with a weekly BBQ held on Sundays.
A marina radio has also started up 3 days a week and is bilingual and we now have a clubhouse where various activities are held (open house, exercise classes, book swap, etc.) and to which we donated one of our old genoas as an acoustic barrier together with lots of flags for which we have no more use.
Svein has repaired the doghouse where the extraction fan is located. The next task that we attacked was to clear the deck to prepare it for the work to be done. Yes it really is flush and the problem will be to keep it clear afterwards! Svein has started to check all the caulking with the help of a friend and then we will attack the repair of the deck. Unfortunately this good start has been stopped by an accident. Svein fell on the quay in the dark while carrying out the rubbish and cut his left hand very badly on an empty bottle that he was carrying. Fortunately there was a car available to take him to the hospital and he came back bandaged all over. He has since been up there several times to change the bandages but he will be unable to use his hand properly for at least one month. The rain that we have had recently coincided very well with the enforced inactivity of Svein so he has been busy on the computer for himself and others in the harbour with PC problems.
On 23 October we went into town to watch the Olympic flame pass through the town on its way to Vancouver for the Winter Games in 2010. This is the second time that the flame has visited Mesolonghi as one of the co-authors of the Olympic hymn is a native of the town. After the run through the town (where the spectators were a little thin on the ground) there was a ceremony in the “Heros Garden” before the flame continued on its way.
On Sunday (25/10) we went to Athens to visit the Acropolis (under a very heavy thunderstorm) and the Athens boat show (where we found lots of interesting products for the boat). The harbor laid on a bus for us and we were over 40 people from the harbour. We really are a big liveaboard community.We got back very late that night as we were not allowed to use the motorway as there had been a landslide.
Caryn has been sorting out her French pension and returned to France for a short trip at the end of October where she managed to catch up with friends and Alex who has now moved to Antibes.
Svein organized a special dinner for Caryn’s birthday at our favourite restaurant in town.
Since the return the days are just flying by and there are so many activities: different types of exercise classes, games night, music nights and jam sessions, weekly BBQ, theme evenings, visits to local towns and now navigations courses – where will we find the time to work on the boat!!!!!!
Svein’s hand has greatly improved although it is still not back to normal but he is still not able to use it fully. Hopefully it will not be too long now and we can get back to doing the deck. He has been busy making our annual DVD of our travels.
The weather has been so good that a bunch of us went swimming on 26th November. We cycled down to the beach at the canal entrance and had a quick dip (18°) and then cycled back.
Caryn has started Greek lessons given by Yiannis whom we met through the owners of the restaurant where we go to listen to Greek music every Friday. Hopefully she will be able to converse soon.
Svein has also experienced a local dentist where he went to make an appointment and ended up having a tooth taken out on the spot – Very efficient. Caryn has also visited the dentist and will be having work done in the New Year.
It is the build up to Christmas and the liveaboards are decorating the clubhouse and making all the preparations for the occasion. In the meantime we will be having a French cuisine evening this Thursday and hopefully that will be as successful as the Curry evening held a couple of weeks back. There has also been an Asiatic evening and it is really amazing to see the culinary skills of the people living in the harbour.
We are now getting ready to spend Xmas in the UK with Caryn’s mother but will be back in Greece for the New Year. We are not sure where the best weather is at the moment as the UK seems to be having snow and here in Greece there is wind and rain.
The next update will probably by in the New Year so it only remains to wish everyone a Happy Xmas and a Happy New Year with lots of good health, prosperity and happiness.
We have left Mesolonghi and started our visit of the Gulf of Corinth. We started out in bright sunshine and no wind and made our way towards the bridge spanning the entrance. After a couple of hours we picked up the current and passed under the bridge at a speed of 8,5 knots. After the bridge the wind blew up from the west and stayed with us until we reached the island of Trizonia. As usual it stayed with us until after we had moored but fortunately our friends on “Jespan” had arrived before us and were on hand to help as well as an Italian couple. Once safely to quay we set off to explore the island and made our way to the square where the taverns were to be found. This was also where we found a small supermarket and the taxi boat over to Hania on the mainland (10 minutes away). The atmosphere is friendly and the surroundings spectacular.
We have been spectators of a local wedding and crossed to the mainland to explore Hania although there was not much to see there. Since our arrival we have experienced strong East winds so have stayed tucked up in the harbour waiting for a change so that we can continue our exploration of the Gulf.
Galaxidhi
After our few days on the island of Trizonia we have continued our exploration of the Gulf of Corinth and have made our way to Galaxidhi, a delightful town that lies on the North coast of the Gulf near Itea. We were welcomed by the harbour personnel who helped us to moor. We also met up with “Jespan” who had left Mesolonghi at the same time and had also visited Trizonia. We felt that an evening out was in order so explored the town until we found a restaurant and had a typical Greek meal – Kleftiko.
The next day, under a warm sunshine, we went exploring the town looking for the different shops and generally getting a feel of the place. Local produce was on sale in small shops in the streets and we managed to find everything we needed. A walk around the head on which the town is built brought us back to the harbour. We were unlucky with the weather the next day when it rained but were able to wander round the town again in the evening. Sunday brought strong winds so our depature was delayed but we were able to enjoy a long walk out to the entrance to the bay leading into Galaxidhi. Here we found an international statue dedicated to the wives of seafarers.
Monday dawned and bright and early we said goodbye to “Jespan” who was continuing on to the Corinth canal whilst we were heading back to Mesolonghi to start the work on the boat.
A fantastic day’s sailing where we reached 8.5 knots with only the genoa!!!! The right wind from the right direction and after nine hours we were moored again in Mesolonghi harbour where we will stay for the winter. This was the perfect day to close our sailing for this year.