The road to Athens

Golf of Patras to the Eastern Peloponnisos, Greece

We often blog about the exciting things we see and do while cruising. But in between the iconic ruins and thrilling passages are normal, everyday occurrences that take cruising from one long vacation into just a regular, somewhat unusual, life. After a few weeks sailing around the Ionian Islands, it was time to continue our path east toward Turkey. We had considered sailing south around the Peloponnisos, or going through the Corinth Canal. Both options had their advantages, but in the end getting from the Southern tip of the Peloponnisos to Athens was going to be difficult, and we wanted to go to Athens this year, so the Corinth Canal won. This course required us to leave the Ionian Sea, cross the Gulf of Patras, sail through the Gulf of Corinth, into the Corinth Canal, ending up in the Aegean Sea.

While not the most beautiful area that we had seen in Greece thus far, it turned out to be a nice trip with a few stops and day trips to some of the most famous Greek ruins (see A country in ruins blog post).

Our first stop was the town of Patras, the third largest city in Greece, located at the eastern end of the Gulf of Patras on the Northern coast of the Peloponnisos. As we approached the marina, we saw that the visitor’s pontoon was a little rickety and was not protected from the swells, but we were being waived in very enthusiastically. So in we went, feeling too large for the dock until a 100-foot powerboat tied up to the other side of the dock, lifting the dock out of the water. If the dock could hold them, it would certainly hold us. If not, Berkeley East would at least go down attached to a very nice boat.

We spent a few days in Patras exploring the town and traveling down to Ancient Olympia. Patras is a large lively Greek city. It is not a town for tourist. It is full of real people going about their everyday lives, unconcerned about the few boats transiting through their city. The cafes, bars and restaurants were busy with young locals drinking coffee and playing backgammon. The park across from the marina was packed with people out walking their dogs and meeting friends. It was a change of pace from the charter boats and tourists in the Ionian Islands. We felt as if we had crossed into a new country.

After Patras, we motor sailed in what we called Lake Corinth to Galaxidhi, a small quiet town on the south side of mainland Greece. The town quay had room for about 10 boats and only a few places deep enough for BE. We were getting better at “med mooring” (dropping the anchor and backing into the dock). Still a stressful situation with only two people on board, but other boaters came out to catch our lines making for a smooth entry.

Galaxidhi is a nice town with a few travernas on the quay and a couple of small guest house/hotels, but it is mostly a local town. One morning we walked through town looking for the bus stop to catch a bus up to Delphi, only to end up at the coffee shop in the central square, where the owner said the bus would pick us up out front in about three hours. He suggested we sit, have a coffee and he would arrange a taxi for us, which he did. Great choice!

While sitting at the dock one day our neighbor asked if we needed fuel. He had called for a fuel truck, and said there should be extra. A few minutes later a mini-tanker parked behind BE and we pulled the hose on board to top off our tanks. The most convenient fueling ever, and he took credit cards (with one of the old machines to imprint our card onto a carbon form).

The next planned stop was the port of Corinth, just before you enter the canal. As we arrived clouds, wind and thunder converged on Corinth, so out the window goes the plan to stop and into the canal we go. The pilot guide said you might have to wait three hours for clearance so we were excited to have no wait; in fact the Isthmus Pilot was calling us to go faster to catch up with the tanker ahead of us. After a slow passage through the canal (see The bridge and the gap blog post) we came out into the Aegean Sea, a new body of water, and the farthest east we had ever sailed.

The first decent anchorage along the Peloponnisos coast was at the town Korfos about 15 miles away. The plan was to anchor in the bay, but as we worked our way around the bay it was very deep, and there was a guy waiving us into his dock. The sign above the dock said free dockage. So, another change of plan with a mad scramble to get fenders out, lines rigged and the anchor down. It turned out to be a nice dock, but the food at the restaurant (which you are kind of obligated to eat at since the dockage is free) was the worst ever. Not just the worst food in Greece, the worst food we have ever eaten in a restaurant, and it was expensive. Another lesson learned – anchor out if you can unless you have a recommendation to the restaurant because there is no such thing as “free dockage.”

The next day we continued along the coast to Epidhavros, a small village. The anchorage was beautiful and we were looking forward to swimming, as it was getting very warm. We enjoyed Epidhavros so much we stayed for a few days, explore the town and visited the amphitheater.

While there, we finished cleaning Berkeley East’s very large bottom. After sitting in the marina all winter, BE’s black bottom paint was a very pretty green color. The two of us snorkeled and scuba dove for several hours to scrape off the moss. We were exhausted in the end, but BE was clean as a whistle. We were thrilled to see her moving a lot faster on our trip up to Pireaus for our time in Athens. It’s the little things that make us happy.