Making progress on the Peloponnese Fingers
Wednesday 20th April...
Linda - Indeed, we have been able to move on today. After all the graunching and ginding on the quay in Kiparissia, we finally got a decent night's sleep, only getting up once to check the lines. Our plan was to travel around the coast to Pylos about 30 miles south. En-route we passed the Fairytale Castle of Agrilis. An unusual sight when you are sailing along.
Fairytale Castle
It was pretty calm out there today, and we got a couple of hours sailing in, before turning into the large lagoon at Ormos Navarinou. Hopefully this will shelter us from some southerly winds due over the next two days.
Approaching Ormos Navarinou, Pylos
There's a big arch been eroded over the many years
We've anchored just outside the old half useable marina, which has been taken over by abandoned boats. When we were happy we went ashore to have a look around. It's quite a thriving town with a big area full of cafes on the waterfront. I've already chosen a restaurant should we go out to eat.
This place looks nice
Yes, very quaint
Lovely kitties
Big mural on a wall near the marina
Once we had anchored we realised that we were near to a boat that we know from Messolonghi. I guess when you are all travelling the same direction, you all end up moving along within a few days of each other. It was like this when we travelled down the Atlantic Coast, where we made our very good friends along the way.
Thursday 21st April...
Linda - Our usual visit to get our good old transit log stamped this morning here in Pylos. At first they told us to come back in 2 hours time, but then one of the officials decided they could do it there and then. Good. Then we stopped off for a coffee on the quayside before browsing around the town square and shops again. We went to the Chandlery of course, they give you a drink of orange and a couple of bottles of their homemade olive oil. Bonus.
Waiting for coffee to be served
This afternoon Dean was fiddling with the performance of the forward solar panel. It didn't seem to be doing it's thing, we still don't really know if it is or not, because we couldn't pin down the problem. This took a few hours of cussing and blinding, and not by me of course.
It's been a windy afternoon. We had to reset the anchor after it dragged into deeper water and we didn't have enough chain out. Salmon and a Greek salad for dinner, yum yum.
Linda - Holed up here, anchored in the large lagoon (Ormos Navarinou) in Pylos whilst we sat out some big winds today, with gusts up to 36 knots. It's just easing off now at 9pm. The anchor did a great job and kept us nicely in place. The lagoon is open to the sea at the south end, but amazingly the water in here stayed pretty flat. Thank goodness. We are anchored over to the west side of the lagoon as close in as we dare.
On days like this it's good to just get on with some jobs to take your mind off the situation, although Dean has checked the anchor every hour throughout the day. So, job of the day.... fitting two USB sockets in the forward cabin to charge our phones at night. Dean had to remove the side panels and drill a strategically placed hole next to the side lights. Of course, the job was performed to perfection.
Side panel removal and preparation for the USB fitting
Drilling the new hole for the USB
The new half moon hole drilled
For dinner we had pork chops and then watched a James Bond film... soon passes the time when you are busy.
Saturday 23rd April...
Linda - It calmed down last night and we slept well. After breakfast we re-anchored just a bit further out and the other way around, if you know what I mean. This was because we were going ashore and the light winds were due to turn and come from the west, meaning we would have been blown towards the shore, and we were already in only 2.5 metres of water. Feeling happier with our move, we went ashore to get the good old transit log stamped out. The two other anchored boats left today, but we know the swell is still coming from the south, so we are going to leave tomorrow.
In the town we stopped for a coffee in the square and to get some free wifi. The waitresses are sooooo slow, you almost have to beg to be served. There was a balloon man nearby, and very colourful too.
Balloons
Then we had a little stroll up to the castle as we had time on our hands. They wanted 6 euros entrance fee, not a lot, but when you've seen one castle you've pretty much seen them all. We didn't go in.
Castle entrance
Am I hanging from this bell in the tree?
New hat maybe?
Looking down over the port
Thesee all on his own in the anchorage
We're back now Thesee
Guess what? Dean found more jobs to do. He dinghy'd to the bow of the boat and removed one of the bow rollers, because it's not turning properly. How does he think of all these jobs? Turns out he needed to shave off 0.75 mm (yes that's 0.75 of a millimetre) to make it run smoothly.
Once that was sorted he used his favourite chamois leather to wipe down the sides of the boat with the fresh water he saved from when it rained into the dingy about 3 days ago.
Sunday 24th April...
Linda - Today was a horrible day. We left Pylos around 8am after checking the weather forecast. Well outside the bay we found ourselves in big swell all the way down to Methoni. It calmed down as we travelled between the islands and the mainland, then past the bottom of the first Peloponnese finger, Ak Akritas. Then we headed out across the gulf towards the second finger (Ak Tainaro). There was no wind, and big swell all the way.
So to these two Peloponnese fingers, I'm afraid it's two fingers from us!!
Rounding the first finger, Ak Akritas
This is the second finger, Ak Tainaro
It did have a nice lighthouse though
Travelling towards the second finger
We made it safely to our new anchorage Porto Kagio, which is on the east side of the second (middle) finger. Amazingly there are about 12 boats here at anchor tonight, and now we are getting katabatic winds falling down the hills. Roll on tomorrow, I think....
Monday 25th April...
Linda - By about 10pm last night the winds had started to calm down, and we went to bed. I had started a jigsaw because I thought I would be up all night, but only got to do the edges. We did sleep well, which was unexpected, but I think we were both very tired after a long difficult day.
Total calm in the anchorage this morning, as one by one the boats started departing, some going west, some east. We could see that there was some sea fog out in the bay but it didn't look too bad.
Porto Kagio this morning
Strange looking square buildings here
Looks like a landslide happened
It's really quite pretty in the morning calm
Today's trip 30 miles across to the island of Elafonisos, which is just before the third and final Peloponnese finger, hoorah! The sea fog wasn't too bad and didn't last too long. Having AIS and Radar makes all the difference when you can't see where you're going. We knew there were lots of large ships in the bay but the fog had disappeared by the time we reached the first ship. It's so deep here, the chart says 1000 - 2000 metres deep! Way too deep for boats to anchor, and we realised that the ships just sit and drift about. Apparantly a rest stop, although I don't understand that, as surely they have a number of capable people on board to steer the thing. There were about 20 ships out there today, kind of like sailing into Gibraltar.
The triangular AIS's from the big ships.
Elafonisis, the small island on the right.
The sea fog... we've had worse than this
Keeping a good look out in bad visibility
Our AIS transponder is one of the best things we've ever purchased for Thesee. On the chart plotter we can see what speed other boats are travelling, their direction, and our closest point of approach amongst many many other things.
Two of the ships
Close up of this one registered St Petersburg
Another one on the move
Today's sea was calm. We arrived at the anchorage in Elafonisos and took 3 attempts to anchor. The seabed is very rocky and the anchor kept slipping, plus it was deep so we had to get near the shore. Tonight's weather looks calm so shouldn't be a problem. It's a shame that its not the prettiest anchorage on the island, but the right one for today's weather. And as we always say.... the weather is our boss.
Elafonisos anchorage
While I was relaxing and settling in, Dean had the bed in pieces and I found him investigating Water Tank number 1. It's underneath the bed. The electonic guage was showing a quarter full, but in the taps it seemed to be out of water. Don't panic, we have two water tanks. It appears that the tube that sucks the water out of the tank is a little too short to reach the bottom of the tank, and Dean tells me that there's at least 50 litres left in there. So, modifications coming up.
Shining a light into the tank
Dean stretching his arm into the water tank
to clean the screws which measure the volume.
It's very painful on your upper arm, i've tried it!
Tuesday 26th April...
Linda - Just us and one other boat departed at 8am, our new friends had to walk their dogs so left a little later. It was time to round finger number 3, the notorious Ak Maleas (Cape Malea). After reading the horror stories of ripped sails, and broken masts we had planned this journey for today because there was no wind and no swell in the weather forecast. In fact it was as flat as a pancake the whole 30 miles from Elafonasis to Monemvasia. Phew, that's a big step for us, and now we are officially in the Aegean Sea.
The cape was spectacular, the word I used to Dean was enchanting. I'm not sure where that came from, but it was just how I felt. We were both excited to be past this big milestone in our journey. In fact, I was so excited that I ate two biscuits at elevensies, instead of one! It feels such a weight off our minds now that the Peloponnese fingers are behind us. I promise, no more mention of fingers in future blog posts. It really feels like the start of a new adventure. Oh and we saw two turtles. Now we can concentrate on crossing the Aegean, and we have five weeks to do that. Some photos of the journey today.
Nearing the bottom of Cape Malea
There's the bottom
Fully laden cargo ship coming round
First of three lighthouses
Chartplotter view
Caves
Agia Irini
Agios Georgios
Landslide
Beautiful village as we enter the Aegean
Going back to this morning when we got up, it was so calm we could see the anchor on the seabed. It was actually only hooked into a little hole as the seabed here is mostly rock, which is obviously why we were having trouble anchoring yesterday. However, we knew the score because Dean had dived in yesterday to check it, and being a calm night we weren't too worried.
Just caught the sunrise this morning over the third finger
Elafonisis is quite a barren island
Anchor hooked into a little hole in the rock.
Seen quite clearly at 6 metres depth.
Later today approaching the rock Monemvasia
The old walled town on Monemvasia we've been told
is quite unique
View of Monemvasia from our restaurant tonight eating dinner.
Anyone remembers 'Close Encounters of the 3rd kind'?
Thesee on the quay tonight in calm weather
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