We are spending a couple of days anchored in the little harbour of Loutraki. Loutraki means little bath and there is the ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse near the harbour. Today we went up to the town above the harbour. We got the bus up and after exploring we walked down. The town is typical of Greece with lots of narrow winding pathways through the houses. This is the harbour looking down from the town. You can see Aztec Gold anchored in the bottom left corner. To go back down to the harbour we followed the ancient cobbled pathway down. We celebrated with an icecream when we got back to the harbour.
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We visited the main town on the island. It is a busy touristy place with lots going on. Parts of the movie Mamma Mia were filmed here so there are lots of references to the movie everywhere. View from the boat of the houses around the harbour Wandering around the little lanes in the town.
Today we popped out of the top of the Evia channel and arrived on Skiathos, the first of the Sporades islands. The bay is called Koukounaries. It is a lovley long sandy beach and not too busy at this time of year. Evia was good but it is great to be back out in the islands. We celebrated with swimming and a long walk. There is a little harbour here but too wee for us. And the highlight of the day, a photo with both our boats in it, it just doesn't get any better than that!
Not very often, but every now and again we go onto a pier instead of anchoring. It is always a busy time. You really are obliged yo go out into the town in the evening. Which was great until the local fishing boat came in at 3am and parked in front of us and spent two hours unloading etc. Then in the morning there was laundry to do (while we had access to water) plus provisioning etc.
In my last blog we were waiting for the bridge to open so we could continue our trip north up the Evia channel. We had to stand by from 9:30pm and the bridge would open some time after 10pm. It actually opened just after 1am. We had taken turns to have a wee nap but it was still a long wait. This is a not very good photo of the bridge as we passed through (there was a lot going on). The two halves of the bridge retract under the road. This is looking side on at the bridge retracted back under the road. This is an excelent photo (Amanda took it) looking back at the next boat coming through.
After going through we motored on and found a sheltered bay to anchor in for the rest of the night. All done and in bed by 2am. We had a bit of a sleep in the next morning. Evia is a large island that runs parallel to the mainland. However there are two bridges that connect the island to the coast which are very different. This is the new bridge. It is 36 meters above the water so lots of room to pass underneath whenever you please. This is the old bridge, it doesn't have much clearance at all. It opens once a day and there is a fee to pass through, plus a 25% surcharge to open it at night, except it only opens at night.
There are strong currents that pass through the gap which follow no particular pattern. The port authorities wait until the current is slack some time after 10pm then they open the bridge and call everyone through on the VHF radio. You have to stand by from 9:30pm but you might not go through until midnight or later. Then you have to find a place to stop on the other side for whats left of the night. That's what we are doing now, standing by. There are about 5 other yachts plus a couple of big super yachts waiting to go through, plus whatever is on the other side waiting to come through the other way. I will let you know next time how we get on. We are heading north up the Evia Channel. Evia is a large island that runs parallel to the mainland. There is actually a couple of bridges accross. We are taking a few days to work our way up. Exploring on the island of Kea. The path was a little overgrown. The was oir first anchorage at the enterance to the channel, near the island of Xero. Our second anchorage at Porto Bouffalo. It was a very cute and well protected harbour. We are now at Eretria which is quite a busy little town. There is a lot of ancient stuff here to explore. Some of the old city dating back to 3000BC. The city was sacked by the Persians way back ages ago. This is the ancient theatre. There is even a tunnel for the actors to come out in the middle of the stage. Some famous performances are still held here.
This is the historic moment when Amanda finally arrived in Poros. After a flight from England Amanda got a ferry to Poros from Athens. Now that the full crew have assembled we can get the show on the road. This is Poros harbour. A very pretty place. We plan to head away tomorrow going north into new territory.
A few new things for Aztec Gold this season This is our new gold anchor. Being made of gold it is good and heavy and it wont get rusty so a real investment. Today I added an new member to the crew, this is Basil. Now instead of talking to myself (which I have been doing a bit) I can chat away to Basil who is a very good listener. No season would be complete without some new solar lights to add to the aray. This year we feature blue fairy lights under the boom, essential boating equipment.
After a week of hard work at the boatyard AG went back in the water today. I (Captain Paul) am on my own at the moment, Amanda is in the UK visiting family. Amanda flys out to join me next week. My job is to sails to Poros (near Athens) where Amanda will get the ferry to. This is our very exciting new dinghy. I have just taken it for the very first go and it goes along very well. Faster, roomer, and more stable than our old one. And here is Aztec Gold, taken from the very fab new dinghy, looking very happy to be back in the water. Let the adventures begin.
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October 2019
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