We have arrived on the Saronic side of the Peloponnesus a bit earlier than we’d planned and are now faced with a couple of weeks ‘treading water’ (hopefully not literally) before we go onto land to winterize Cleo on Aegina island (close to where we are now) and start out trip to the UK. We don’t want to go further east into the Cyclades as we would wander further into Meltemi country, so we decide to do some more in-depth enjoying of the Saronic region such as anchorages around Poros, Pallia Epidavros, Agistri, Aegina etc..

We arrived in the busy port of Aegina on Tuesday 15 August and after scanning the crowded quay we were directed to a pontoon, usually occupied by charter boats, by the harbour diver who we think is kept well occupied disentangling anchors from mooring lines and each other. We gladly tied Clio to the pontoon and used the available lazy line, happy not to have to throw our anchor into the snake pit of other anchor lines and laid lines. Once settled we had a chat with our Dutch neighbours who gave us a bit of a rundown on how things work here. If you have followed our blog you would know that everywhere we go the systems and processes are different keeping it interesting.

Francis immediately got out the water tester and although it is not as good as the water in Porto Chelli, it is good enough. After some confusion about whether the water is free or not another neighbour explained that he had paid for the water that was being used by the Dutch charterers, but he was happy for us to also help ourselves. We thanked him for his kind offer but Francis headed off to the Port Authority office to check us in and pay our dues. We need to be here until Sunday so we paid the port fees and secured our own tag for water and electricity. As we are in a spot reserved for charter boats we are advised that we need to vacate this spot before Friday when they are expected to be coming back in. So we filled up Clio's thirsty water tanks and settled in for the night, after a visit to town for pizza.

On Wednesday morning (16 August) Chris was on lookout for anyone moving off the quay so that we could move to a non-reserved spot. It was not long before she spotted activity on a yacht located in a perfect spot with access to power and water. So it was all hands on deck and we very quickly moved over and grabbed the spot. Since getting this spot we have observed that these vacancies are rare and fill very quickly.

Now it was time to get to work, and we spent the next four days giving Clio the full spa treatment including head and foot massages, until she is sparkling in the hot Mediterranean August sun. Clio will be having her winter sleep here on Aegina and now that a lot of this work is done, we will have a little less to do when she crawls onto the land.

On Saturday afternoon we jumped in a taxi to go visit the boatyard where she will be stored. While it is a small boatyard with limited, but sufficient, amenities we were impressed with the setup and after meeting the owner and Wim, the Dutch yacht repair shop owner on site we were confident that she will be in good hands.

While in Aegina we have enjoyed trying out several gelato shops and eating their very yummy pistachio for which the island is famous.

On Sunday after we have stocked up on pistachio nuts and ice cream we gladly leave behind the heat and bustle of the harbour and make our way to an anchorage on the SW-corner of Agkistri, where we also stayed last season. It was a beautiful night with cool breezes and we sat on the swim deck watching the lights in the sea.

Monday 21 August till Sunday 27th of August.
After a calm night the wind has picked up this morning and we are getting tossed around in the swell, funnily enough exactly the same thing happened when we were here last time. So Chris jumped into the water to release our land line and we headed back towards Poros for better shelter from the Meltemi predicted to blow for the next week or so. We made our way into Vidhi Bay under our first overcast sky in quite a while. Nicely protected here we dropped anchor near to a ship that had run aground, a sombre reminder to always keep a wary eye on that depth gauge!

We hang about here until Saturday (26 August) in what appears to be a water-ski ground, so there is no shortage of entertainment or bow waves of speedy boats with people hanging on for dear life dragged at high speed behind them. Ozzie sharks would have a field day here.

As our supplies are running low on Saturday we made a run into Poros to get some laundry done and visit the supermarket. Anchored out from Naval Bay at a fully occupied anchorage, it was a very windy and uncomfortable night with many close neighbours. So after collecting our laundry early Sunday morning we hightailed it out of there and headed back to Vidhi Bay. On the way we spotted a small cove just before the water-ski park so decided to check it out. Perfect little anchorage, very quiet with clear water for swimming and snorkelling and no buzzing speed boats, so here we stay. As our season is winding down, so too are we. With lots of reading, Chris is doing more than her bit in supporting Amazon shares, watching our favourite ABC shows and Chris is still working on the never ending cross stitch (thanks Kylie and James), that is in between swimming and sleeping, of course. Skipper is doing odd jobs and enjoying the occasional South Park. And we roll with the swell handed to us.