Return to The Ionion
19 October 2012 | Greece
Peter
After her arrival at Poros ‘Salara’ spent the first night at anchor but the following morning I moved her to moor bows to on the town quay and then cleared in with the Greek Coastguards. It was time to carry out an oil and filter change on the engine and to renew the heat exchanger anode. I also wanted to top up with diesel fuel and fresh water for the forthcoming trip through the Corinth Canal and onward into the Ionion Sea.
It was a weekend and the quayside was busy with yachts both large and small that arrive from the marinas close to Athens on the north side of The Saronic Gulf. No sign of the current austerity measures amongst these owners.
Poros is a pleasant town and the harbour is bustling with ferries and water taxis. I like it here and I am always tempted to stay longer than I planned.
However once all the jobs on ‘Salara’ had been done I cleared out with the Coastguard, they charged me 12.66 Euros in harbour dues, I was then on my way to the next stop at Epidavrus a small town further along the coast where I anchored ‘Salara’ for the night.
The following day I left early and headed directly for the Corinth Canal with the idea of anchoring outside for the night and then to transit the canal early in the morning. On the way I heard on the radio that there was going to be a general strike in Greece on the morrow so my plans were thrown into confusion. I decided to continue and hopefully get through late in the day. I was successful and after rushing through the official paperwork and paying the 130Euro fee ‘Salara’ was following a cargo ship westwards into the canal. I found that I had to keep ‘Salara’ a good 150 metres behind this ship because of the turbulence it produced in the narrow confines of the waterway.
At just after 1600 hours ‘Salara’ left the canal and entered the Gulf of Corinth. The breeze was from the west at 12 knots and ‘Salara’ motored into the choppy seas. I had anticipated this and had made up my mind to carry on into the night and get as far west as possible. I had also reasoned that the breeze would probably die down during the evening and for a short while it did and I began to think that ‘Salara’ would be able to make it as far as Trezonia by the early hours of the morning. Unfortunately the wind freshened again and progress became slow. I studied the chart and the pilot book and decided that ‘Salara’ could make it to Vidhavis just 12 miles short of Trezonia. Vidhavis is well sheltered from westerlies, it is easy to enter at night and the holding is good. At just after midnight ‘Salara’ was safely at anchor after motoring against the breeze and the choppy seas for 45 miles from the Corinth Canal.
Next day I awoke well rested and keen to leave and cover the remaining 12 miles to Trezonia but once ‘Salara’ was out into the gulf I knew that it was going to be a wet and wild slog to windward. The wind was still from the west but had increased in strength to between force 5 and 6. I pushed on but after tacking back and forth for some time for very little gain I was wishing that I had returned to Vidhavis. Finally I had to help ’Salara’ out with the engine and she clawed her way into Trezonia to drop her anchor near the unfinished marina at 1500 hours. As I tidied up I reflected that today’s trip had not been one of my better decisions.
The following morning I was wondering whether to continue westwards to Mesolongion in the Gulf of Patras but I was in a quandary as I had received no weather forecasts. The result of the general strike yesterday probably. The conditions seemed good to me and when two other yachts left and headed west I decided to go. My reasoning being that they no doubt had internet access for weather forecasts and all was OK.
So without any more hesitation I turned the key to start the engine. Nothing happened, it was totally dead. On investigation I discovered that the main engine fuse had blown. I replaced it with a spare and everything came back to life. Why it had blown I could not determine but ‘Salara’ was on her way with the minimum of delay.
There was only a very light westerly breeze, the sea was flat and I could see the massive structure of the Rion Bridge spanning the gulf fifteen miles away. ‘Salara’ made good time and I checked in with the bridge control by radio for permission to proceed. After passing under the bridge I set course for the entrance to Mesolongion a further twenty miles away. The breeze stayed very light and the sea flat and I enjoyed a lazy trip just sitting in the sun and keeping an eye on things. By mid afternoon I was steering ‘Salara’ up the long channel through the marshes to the basin at Mesolongion and soon afterwards she was safely at anchor.
That evening at dusk I barricaded myself below deck to escape the attentions of swarms of mosquitos and ruminated on the fact that the poet Lord Byron died of a fever in this place. No wonder!
In the morning I quickly weighed anchor and headed down the channel into the mosquito free open sea. I set a course for Vathi, Ithaca and once more I was blessed with a light breeze and flat seas. I considered myself lucky as the prevailing wind is normally westerly in this area, so in my view, the lighter it is the better. ‘Salara’ had used a lot of fuel but in the light of previous experience I was prepared for this and I had treated the whole trip from Poros as a push to return to The Ionion. So when ‘Salara’ dropped anchor in Vathi that evening she was well and truly back in The Ionion Sea after a round trip of the Peloponnese and the southern Aegean.