It feels like we have done alot and travelled some distance since we left Dan and Wilf in Poros. Once our hangovers and jobs were over we headed South via Ermioni once more, a quick stopover there and we crossed the Agrolic Gulf to Poulithra Bay. There is nothing there except a secure anchorage and a small church with a dock, we were lucky enough to see a wedding there with the bride arriving by boat just as we dropped our anchor. Listening to the service via loudspeaker whilst we had our post sail drink surely added to the ambiance. Next morning we headed south, changing our destination from Monemvasia to Gerakas, locally labelled 'The Greek Fjord'. That a bit of a stretch but it was a lovely place. We explored the lagoon at the end of the inlet which turned out to be extremely shallow and no place for an outboard engine! We also had a walk up to the castle ruins before grabbing and ice cream to cool down. Ant and Ros joined us, having dropped their own guests off at Poros and sailed down via Milos. Great to see them again and have drinks onboard their boat.
Gerakas
Team Kerensa left the next morning, headed to Monemvasia. We were lucky and got a great free town Quay spot alongside. After a lazy afternoon waiting for the heat of the day to cool, we had a meal and walked up to lower old town. For protection, this was built at the base of a large cliff and generally can't be seen from the mainland. The original town was built at the top and is now ruins. The lower town is being restored and is beautiful, albeit a bit touristy. After a couple of hours we walked back to the boat planning a trip up to the upper town early in the morning. This proved to be a great decision, the church there is the only restored building, but it was easy to sense the city that once existed and explore what is left of the houses, including a larger one presumably belonging to the leader/ruler.
Monemvasia lower town
As the heat built we went back down to the lower town for a lovely brunch and then back to the boat. By this time Ant and Ros had followed us down and were anchored in the bay. We met up again for dinner with another Aussie couple Malcolm and Kate, sailing on their lovely Swan 48 Grace of Sydney.
The next day our 3 boat convoy set sail around Cape Malea, threatening not on the charts referencing strong winds around the headland gave a level of apprehension, but in the end none were seen and we motored sailed around. We stopped off en route to our anchorage at Pavlopetri, a 5000yr old sunken city where one is supposed to see 'Houses, roads and even tombs'. This turned out to be a nice swim but a very underwhelming event regarding the ruins!
In our anchorage on Elafonisi for the night we found ourselves on Malcolm and Kates boat for sundowners, there is a long sunset process in this part of the world as we staggered back to our own boat around 11pm! Sadly it was also the last time we would see Ros and Ant, we spent some lovely time with them and we were sorry to have to leave them.
Porto Kagio
We headed off next morning in the company of Malcolm and Kate on Grace, they are heading the same way as us to eventually race their Swan in the Middle Sea race from Malta in early October. (We will have eyes on the tracker guys!) This was a longish sail in 10knts upwind to Porto Kagio. We understood this was a desolate place so we were pleasantly surprised to find a small village with three Tavernas, one of which was built into the side of the cliff and was a great spot for the ubiquitous sundowner drinks.
There was no wind forecast for the next day so we had a lazy start, but the wind gradually built to a decent breeze and we had a smooth sail towards Koroni. Just as Nigel was writing this, under sail at 5knts upwind, the fishing reel went off. We have jet to catch a fish on board and this was a new event for us. As we have to to stop the boat, Nigel grabbed the rod only to see a massive Mahi Mahi on the line. An exhausting battle ensued, with Nigel only being able to wind in half a turn at a time until the fish got tired. After one last run and jump out of the water it gave up and we reeled him in. Once onboard we could see he was a huge specimen around 1.3m long, weight unknown, but it was extremely hard to lift him up. Not bad for a first ever catch! Malcolm from Grace of Sydney helped us fillet it and despite giving then several portions and taking some ashore to a taverna to be cooked for all of us, our fridge and freezer are full. Fish for lunch and tea every day for the next month then!
Finally on board!
Eating our catch cooked by a local Taverna
Koroni was a lovely town but we didn't get much time there because we arrived quite late after having to stop for the fishing event. We are heading around the Peloponese, trying to get some northerly before the current wind window closes next week.
