SV Ostinato: August 2015

July 8 - Ostinato slipped out of Turkey just as the sun was beginning to peep up along the horizon. Destination, the Greek island of Patmos. While still part of the Dodecanese chain that borders Turkey, only just. It was a motor all the way, arriving just after 1300. With all the news concerning the recent bank closures in Greece and the extended negotiations with the EU, we entered with some caution, not quite sure what to expect but with jerry cans filled with extra fuel and plenty of euros just in case the ATMs were no longer spitting out cash.

Patmos restaurants must of been
warned we were coming!

While the town quay had plenty of space, we decided to join the one other boat in the harbor at anchor. It was going to be hot and we prefer to swing from an anchor than be tied up to the hot concrete. After a quick lunch, we dropped the dinghy off its davits, attached the outboard and headed in to find the Port Police (PP) to officially check-in to Greece. After some searching about, we located the PP snuggled in behind the restaurant at the ferry dock. The paperwork was very efficient and the young female officer that handled our paperwork had excellent English. The routine moved on from there to Immigration to have our passports stamped, followed by Customs and then with a final stop back at the PP for them to review and stamp everything once again and we would pay. We were doing great until it was time for Customs. The doors were locked tight. Maybe the wrong door....maybe the wrong location. All

It's all Greek to me

possibilities were explored. We rounded the building searching for a hidden entrance. None found. We finally admitted defeat and returned to PP to seek help. "No problem....its their siesta time. Go back at 1730, you can finish then." We spent the ensuing hours wandering the waterfront shops, checking out the tiny grocery, eating ice cream and drinking coffee frappes, finally giving up due to the heat to return to Ostinato for a siesta of our own. At 1745 we were back at Customs (everyone looked well rested) where we quickly finished the last step in our paperwork and headed back to the PP. Here, King attempted to pay our entry fees with a 50 € bill but they could not give change. This was the first indication of the impact of the bank closures in Greece.

John of Patmos wrote
the Book of Revelations

July 9 - We monitored Greece "Poseidon Weather" daily watching for an opening into the Cyclades across "Meltemi Alley". The Cyclades is known for its Meltemi winds during July and August. Typical wind strength runs between 25-45 knots and it can blow anywhere from a few days to weeks without letting up. This year, the forecast for the area between Patmos and Naxos Islands stayed at 30+ knots the entire time we were in the Cyclades and the further west we traveled the further west it seemed to spread. This was not what my vision of sailing through the Greek Isles had been so we decided it would have to be a "drive by" with the goal of getting to the mainland as quickly as possible. After today, the winds would increase so if we didn't depart we might be here for another week. Friends, Bill and Clair from Shell Point were planning to join us in 5 days so it was now or they would be traveling further than they had planned. It was another early morning anchor haul to get a head start on the wind. We pointed Ostinato for Naxos but we were just not able to point north enough and the winds began to build much earlier than forecast making for slow progress. By 1500 we were both exhausted and decided to take refuge in the tiny island of Dhenoussa just to the east of Naxos. The anchorage at Ormos Dhendro is a small protected bay on its south side with a wide sandy beach encircling its head. Only one other sailboat was there so we had plenty of space to anchor. After getting ourselves put back together again, I settled in on deck to take stock of our surroundings. While I had noticed people on the beach on our arrival, I hadn't paid them much attention. It was only after I pulled out the binoculars that I noticed no one had on a stitch. This is basically a barren island and somehow we had found a nudist camp.

SORRY, NO PICTURES!

Mykonos

July 10 - Off to Mykonos this morning to prepare for Claire and Bill's arrival. The winds were still brisk from the WNW but Mykonos was north of us making for a great sail. The docks in the "new" marina are all Mediterranean-style, stern or bows-to the dock using your own anchor. We did our best to try to slip onto the end of a dock as a side-tie but we were quickly shooed away and pointed toward a (thankfully) wide open space on the first row. I let the anchor out while King backed Ostinato to the concrete quay. The harbor master was there to catch our lines and within minutes we were in snug with no drama. It was amazing! That could not be said about all those that came in later so we were feeling especially smug. That was until 0400 the following morning when the Meltemi began to howl and, ever so slowly, the anchor began to slip....blowing us back into the concrete quay. Fenders were in position this time but we would need to reset the anchor.....suddenly that smug feeling seeped away. The winds continued throughout the morning and the forecast predicted even higher winds for several more days. Lucky for us, a slip on the opposite quay became available. It was time to relocate. For some unknown reason, King thought it was a good idea for me to be on the wheel while he took up the anchor.....this still remains one of those unknown mysteries as the anchor does not require strength you simply push a button.....As soon as the lines were untied, the wind and I immediately drove Ostinato into the yacht to port where we became hopelessly entangled in lines, anchor chain and fenders. Lots of yelling ....so we could be heard over the engine and the wind......at least that's the excuse. King was finally convinced that yes, he would likely do a better job of getting us off the dock and, of course, he did. Within minutes, we were turned around and backing into the new slip. This time, the wind was blowing us off the dock. Much, much better!

Mykonos famous whitewashed architecture

July 13 - Bill and Claire arrived from the States toting one of our "extra" suitcases that we had packed and stowed away last spring with overflow "boat stuff". They were good sports when we informed them that we only had a small weather window and needed to make preparations to depart early morning. This meant there would be no nap after their transatlantic flight if they wanted to see the island. No hesitation, they were ready so we quickly stowed the their bags aboard and after a quick provisioning trip, toured the town of Mykonos along with a gazillion other people off of 3 cruise ships that had anchored that morning in the harbour. They both slept very hard that night.

July 14 - The weather charts for the next week show nothing but 30+ knot winds 24 hrs a day beginning tomorrow. Today the forcasted break looked good so off we go. The goal is now to simply get across the Cyclades as quickly as possible. We left early hoping to keep as far north as possible but not quite sure where we would end the day. The winds were a bit more exciting than we had planned so we considered stopping at Siros but as luck would have it, the winds quieted a bit just as we closed-in on its northern shore. Surely too early to stop...... so it was on to Kea. Of course, once past the west coast of Siros, the winds piped up again and while we continued to sail the confused sea resulted in things crashing about the cabin. King worked hard to stay north for us to reach Kea and just barley rounded her northern tip without a need to tack. We had apparently used up our successful med moor allocation and had to anchor in Ayios Nikolaou after dragging the anchor again when we attempted to tie up on their town quay.

Claire gets her sea legs and instructions on using the chart plotter

July 15-21 - Our sail to the Greece mainland was a well deserved beam reach. Landfall was Sounion

The Temple of Poseiden made a great lunch stop

on the NE corner of the Attic coast. We stopped for lunch and lots of pictures of the Temple to Poseidon sitting atop the hillside just above the anchorage before moving on to the anchorage just off the island of Aigina. Aigina's small town quay is crammed with yachts and finding a spot for Ostinato was no easy job but when King's mind is set on something, it's going to happen. We moved from the anchorage in early morning after King had notice several yachts leave. Just as we entered a perfect spot was opening but we soon learned that the boat that was trying to leave had hopelessly fouled her anchor. Ostinato paced back and forth waiting like an expectant father. Divers were finally bought in to assist. Much to our dismay, as we sat patiently waiting, watching the drama, a ferry swooped in behind us and took the spot. Nooooooo. We were now back to the slip that everyone aboard thought was too small....except King. It was only after King was ready to pull up fenders to make more room (to the horror of the owner of the yacht we were squeezing in beside) that we were we able to convince him that it just wasn't going to work. Once we abandoned that, a Greek captain on a power boat nearby motioned for us to pull in beside him. We took a look. "Taxi" was sprayed painted in large green letters on the quay where he was pointing and a tight row of dinghies lined the quay to starboard. King decided it was perfect...... he was not going back to the anchorage. We lined ourselves up and King, along with the big Greek from his bow who had decided to also take charge (just what I need, 2 men trying to tell me what to do!), motioned for me to start letting down the anchor. Bill pushed dinghies and anchor buoys away while Claire, along with the Greek power boat's crew, did her best to push us off their yacht...... and I kept letting out chain as King backed Ostinato into the corner of the quay just like we knew what we were doing. Getting out of the slip was another story and not nearly as much fun. In Aigina we would spend 6 days visiting the Parthenon and museums in Athens by ferry, exploring the island's ruins, eating bags of locally grown pistachios, and watching the parade of tourist stroll the town quay each night behind Ostinato, while King caught up on a few boat chores.

Ostinato on the Aigina Town quay

The Greek EU debt crisis didn't impact us but had a major impact on its citizens
A line formed every morning at the ATM across from Ostinato

refreshments on the beach after a hard day of sight seeing on Aigina

July 22 - After much drama getting out of our snug arrangements on the quay, King decided it was a lazy sail day so we unfurled the jib only and with a sweet wind on our beam made our way to Korfos to the west of Aigina on the northern coast of the Peloponnisos. The local travernas offered free tie up with water if you eat a meal with them but the port side air conditioner decided to conk out and we had made water all day so our tanks are full. It was to be a swim off the back of the boat with showers all around.

July 24 - Today we would cross from the east to the west coast of Greece through the Corinth Canal so we rose with some anticipation. During the 3 hour trip to the canal from our anchorage in Korfos, the landscape became less interesting and industrial. The pilot book warns that yachts might need to wait as much as 3 hours to gain permission to enter the canal so we were in no hurry. Ostinato tied up to the quay and King took the boat papers along with 189 Euros to pay the charges to transit the canal. Fifteen minutes later he returned to the boat and we prepared to join the other yachts circling just off the quay. Ostinato barely had her lines untied before canal authorities called her name to enter and lead the parade of 7 yachts and 1 sightseeing vessel through the canal. The canal, which is about 3 miles long and only 25 m wide was a real treat with its clear blue water against the towering carved limestone walls. While the water looked really inviting, there is no place to stop once you enter .

Traffic is one-way on the Corinth Canal

We headed to Kiato based on a recommendation from a yacht in Korfos but found it to be hot and unattractive so as quickly as we had tied up we were off again heading north towards a group of 3 tiny islands where we anchored in perfect solitude. Just as we sat down for dinner an Italian appeared in his dinghy from the next anchorage. He was looking for oil as he feared he was losing the oil in his engine. We had none to spar but King offered to return with him to his boat to take a look. Bill decided he needed to go with King ....."for protection" he said .....thus leaving Claire and me on the boat.....alone, after dark, without protection. Claire and I finished off the wine and enjoyed the quiet.

A beautiful hidden anchorage off the tiny deserted islands
of Nisoi Alkonidhes in the Gulf of Corinth

Relaxing after a swim

The winding streets of Preveza

July 25 - the Western coast of Greece includes sandy beaches with stilt houses and quickly transitions to steep sided mountains that cascade into the sea. There is no lack of quiet anchorages or, if your ready to tie up and plug in, inexpensive marinas. Town quays are many times free and, the nicest surprise is we had no problems finding space for the "wide girl". We made our way up the coast from Galaxidhi, where we visited beautiful Delphi to Trizonia's abandoned Marina or "ghost docks", as Greeks in Aigina had referred to it, where dockage was FREE so the price was right! In Mesolongion, the stilt houses lining the long approach into the harbour made us feel at home. Bill and Claire celebrated their anniversary here. Then on to a quiet anchorage in Kato Elia where the heat finally got to us and some of us started sleeping on the trampolines only to wake finding ourselves covered in dew. On July 30,
we transited the Lefkas Canal to the picturesque town of Preveza with its winding narrow streets. The temperature gauge read 104°. After tying up to the town quay and learning that not only was the power broken but we were directly behind the disco, we made our way to the end of the bay to a partially completed "marina" where the wide girl could tie up, with power and water for 12€ a night. Heaven! Did I mention it was a side tie? I wondered if we might never leave. I'm sure Bill and Claire decided that also and took the opportunity to jump ship, moving on to Frankfort to visit son and daughter-in-law before heading home to Shell Point.

While in Preveza, we visited Nikopolis where Octavian built his monument to celebrate his victory over Anthony and Cleopatra in the waters around Preveza. Parts of the "Old City" still stand and we hired a taxi for the morning to help us transit the site which is spread out over several miles. While much was in poor repair, destroyed in later battles including WWII or by earthquakes, the tile floors were some of the more beautiful we have seen.

Exquisite tile floors in the old city

August 4 - Ostinato is back to two again and it was time to move further north to Corfu to catch up with St. Kats friends, David and Liz on Lazy Tern. There was champagne, lots of good food and as usual, not enough time to catch up on everything. The good news is we will be spending the winter together in Ragusa! Hard as we tried, we could not entice Lazy Tern to go north so we waved goodbye as they headed south for Preveza and Ostinato moved from the anchorage outside Gouvia Marina to the Mandraki Marina, just outside the fort in Corfu, to prepare for our next visit....David and Wendy from Amusant. The Amusant crew had made it down to southern Albania and hopped the

Last year's traveling companions from
Amusant came to visit by ferry in Corfu

ferry to Corfu for a quick visit. We made a day of eating, sharing adventures and gathering information on anchorages and formalities for Albania, Montenegro and Croatia which David and Wendy had just cruised. David convinced us that it was 20 degrees cooler going north so later that night the decision was made to continue our trek north vs returning to the inexpensive marina, with the side-tie, in Preveza and turning on the air conditioner for a couple of weeks to just veg out .....Hopefully, the weather Gods will smile on us.