Our full route
1 = Goldensands Beach
2 = Rochari Bay
3 = Anavissou Bay


September 22, 2023
Goldensands Beach, Turkey 38º15.88'N,26º14.83'E to
Rochari Bay, Tinos I., Greece 37º38.98'N,25º03.54'E
67nm

We left Goldensands Beach this morning as soon as it was light enough to see where we were going. The forecast was for wind from the NW at 7-12 knots. Maybe we could SAIL! No, we could not, though we put our jib out when the wind was more than 5 knots and 40 degrees apparent. That didn't do much, but it made us feel like we were getting something for free. I'll take a calm day for crossing the Aegean Sea any day! Today's weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we even had a rare sighting of dolphins!

We aimed for Ormos Panormou (Panormou Cove) about 67nm away, on the east side of Tinos Island, as our overnight anchorage. Rod Heikell (the author of the Greek Waters Pilot cruising guide) and several Navily commenters had gushed about this being a nice anchorage with good holding in several places, though with some scattered moorings that we'd have to watch out for.

Well. When we arrived, late in the afternoon, we discovered that superyachts were already anchored in those several places, taking up most of the space. We widened our search to include an area outside of the mooring field, but it was too deep to anchor in, so we continued sniffing around the large cove, looking for a suitable place to drop Obama.

We'd been underway for eleven hours by now, and we really wanted to find a place to stop for the night, before it got too dark to see the bottom. Finding no good options in Ormos Panormou, we entered small Rochari Bay, hoping to find a spot to drop. The wind was calm, and was forecast to remain so during the night, as the meltemi was still taking a break, so we weren't worried about being caught on a lee shore. There was no anchor symbol in our pilot guide, on Navily, or on our navigation charts, no indication of Rochari Bay being an anchorage, but we figured that if we found a large enough patch of sand among the weeds, that was a comfortable distance from the rocky shoreline, we would anchor there. A pretty, sandy beach lay at the head of the bay, so there should be a sandy bottom somewhere under the water.

Eric slowly guided Awildian deeper into the bay, while I stood on the bow looking into the water, to see what was on the bottom. At first all I saw were rocks and weeds, but eventually I began to see patches of sand. Small at first, but then larger...I dropped Obama onto a large sand patch in 18 feet of clear water, several hundred meters off the beach. Obama dug in and held well.


X marks the spot where we anchored

Rochari Bay is a lovely spot: beyond its white sand beach lay the village of Rocharis, with a smattering of typically-Greek, boxy, white houses, some with blue doors and blue shutters. About halfway to our next destination of Athens, and with the calm forecast, it was the perfect place for us to spend the night.


The quaint village of Rocharis


September 23, 2023
Rochari Bay, Tinos I., Greece 37º38.98'N,25º03.54'E to Anavissou Bay, Greece 37º43.34'N,23º56.31'E
60nm


Time to go

After a good night's sleep, we left Rochari Bay as soon as it was light enough to see (notice a trend here?), and spent the day motoring the rest of the way across the super-calm Aegean Sea, over the top of Kea Island, around the bottom of the Attica Peninsula, past Poseidon's Temple and one of our favorite anchorages at Sounion, and up the west coast of the peninsula to Anavissou Bay.

Arriving in Anavissou Bay, we motored slowly around, looking down into the murky water for a promising, weed-free patch of sand or mud to drop our anchor in. Having been forewarned by Navily and the Greek Waters Pilot guide, both of which had mentioned "a pile of rocks" and "an obstruction" "in the middle of the bay," (helpful, but not particularly specific, advice), we watched our depth carefully. None of the satellite photos - nor the navigational chart - showed the actual position of this obstruction. At one point during our sniffing around, the depth suddenly went from 6 meters to 2 meters and back to 6 meters, within a distance of only a couple of meters. What the heck? Was that the "obstruction"?

The first time we anchored, Obama had a hard time grabbing, which usually means a rocky bottom. So we hauled him up and tried again. This time, he held well, and after reversing Awildian to set and test the anchor's hold, Eric turned off the Things, and we enjoyed the silence.

A little while later, while walking around Awildian's decks, and looking around, as I like to do, I happened to look down into the water off the starboard transom, and saw...BIG blocks of rocks, stretching off in both directions. Lots of them, not very far beneath the surface, and not very far behind us. Yikes! That would have been ugly to hit! I got our handheld depth sounder and learned that the tops of the rocks were actually about 9 or 12 feet down. Awildian, with his 4.5 foot draft wouldn't have hit them, but boats with deeper keels might. And what might the depths be, in other places where the rocks were stacked?

Later, I did more research on this "obstruction" and found a satellite image that clearly showed a ROCK WALL extending right across the middle of the bay! You can see it in the photo below, as the light-colored connected lines that cross the bay where the water color gets lighter near the beach. Why wasn't this wall on our navigational charts?! I uploaded the image to Navily, where it's now in the gallery for this anchorage, so everyone can clearly see where the wall is. And avoid it.


The rock wall at Anavissou Bay

We enjoyed the rest of the day, feeling happy and relieved that we had once again managed to cross the Aegean Sea while the meltemi slept.