On the 14th May we departed the boat to fly home ready for the birth of my daughters first baby, something I definitely could not miss. Despite this being during the sailing season Mike was in agreement with the need for us to be at home. After seven weeks at home and the arrival of Maisie Grace it was once again time to head out back to Greece and the boat with promises of regular photo updates.
Much to our surprise she was relatively clean and needed just a quick hose down, a bit like us really, the temperature had certainly increased since our last time here. An average of 33 degrees and no escape makes it a bit like having a permanent hot sweat, I should know, but apparently Mike knows better than me about these things as he frequently reminds me he is on his third wife.
Our first stop was an anchorage we had visited prior to our departure, Ormos Varko, beautiful clear waters, goats on the beach, the jingle of the bells, tranquillity….. This time there was certainly more activity, the goats had been replaced with sunbathers, the three boats on anchor had become twenty plus and the nearest music to our ears was the Bollywood Music filling the bay from a couple of camper vans on the beach at night.
Once we had set our anchor and avoided the odd swimmer making their way out to sea, it was time for Mike to inspect the underside after her stationary period. “I have never seen her so bad in such a short space of time”, armed with his snorkel and an old Gym Membership card he went to set about scraping the growth of the bottom. Now I have previously had my knuckles duly wrapped when he has gone in the water and I have not kept an eye on him, not wishing to upset the Captain so early in our adventures I decided I would sit on the paddleboard and observe him from there, dangling my legs in the water was also very cooling. After about an hour both breath holding and using his dive tank the bottom was clean. “Have you been far ?” as he nodded at the paddle board, “no I have been keeping an eye on you”, “Me, I don’t need anybody to keep an eye on me, I can take care of myself in the water” They say women take some fathoming, men are no better. So no “thank you that’s nice of you darling”, but I did get something for my efforts, a sunburnt bloody back.
Later that evening a rib sailed into the bay with a blue light mounted, they approached a few boats before making their way to us. “can you move 50 meters out please” The wind had picked up and we did not relish the thought of having to reset the anchor. Whilst the police were about we all made movements to suggest we preparing to adjust our position but once they had departed we aborted our efforts and stayed in situ. Mike decided to dive in cut the anchor ball from the anchor so it would appear more convincing that we had moved if they returned, I didn’t quite get his logic but never mind he felt happier. Despite our plans to stay for a couple of days the forecast persuaded us to move to a safer mooring early the following morning.
Mike had read about a not so well known town quay we could go to called Astakos (Greek for Lobster, bit like my back) which provided free mooring, water and electric. We arrived early in the day so were fortunate to find a free berth we could use. Prior to our arrival we discussed the procedure for this “stern to” anchor mooring, something we still don’t feel we have mastered yet. I was instructed to not to free fall the anchor but to lay it using the remote until such a point we were a length away from the quay, I was to move to the stern to manage the lines whilst Mike using his £1 Chinese manufactured wireless remote to continue laying more chain out. At the due time I shouted over to you as I headed to the stern, “No go back, go back keep doing the chain”. Your thinking the cheap remote had failed, no just Mike changing his mind mid plan and making me look stupid, maybe that was his plan. On the plus side it all went quite well and a celebratory drink was had.
Astakos is a very pretty little place with traditional waterside Taverna’s, all of which were very busy on the evening. We ate our meal on board and sat and watched the Quay side entertainment, the local stray dogs seem to gather on an evening and put on a live sex show much to the disgust of young parents with children and the Taverna owners, looking very much like Manuel, chasing them off up the street clapping their hands and shooing them in-between serving Souvlaki to their patrons. No sooner was the plate on the table than the bedraggled Heinz 57’s re appeared to try to spread the love, grab any little titbit and improve on the 57 varieties. It may all be nature but someone really needs to teach them about size differentiation!!
After two nights of watching the live entertainment it was time to head off to Mesolongi, about a 6 hour sail. We made our way between the small islands and just as I was busy washing the smalls down below Mike shouted. “Dolphins…., or a bloody big fish, no Dolphins” I grabbed my camera and shot up onto deck to see two Dolphins swimming alongside the boat and jumping out the water. They swam ahead of us under us, were jumping out of the water just ahead of us, it was by far the best display we had seen.
Arriving in Mesolongi you have to head up a small canal, to the side you can see small houses on stilts called Pelades and looking like something out of SE Asia. There were no fisherman to be seen stood in water up to their knees raking for fish. Many have been sold as holiday homes and are now more fancy than the original.