April 15, 2025 – Corinth, Peloponnese, Greece
The weather turned overnight and gave us a drizzle of rain
in the morning, but not enough to wash the salt of the decks. By noon it was
clearing and warming, time to go grocery shopping. We were out of everything
including one of Suzette’s prescription eye drops. Surprisingly it only took
two pharmacy stops to find what she needed, and they refilled her prescription.
The grocery store was big, and we were able to find most everything on our
list. With an overflowing wagon we walked back to the boat and restocked the
boat.
The day was warming nicely, shorts were in order and an
afternoon walk to explore the city of Corinth. The city is here because of the
canal that connects the Ionian Sea to the
Aegean Sea. Before the canal they would drag boats across the isthmus
and Corinth existed to support that endeavor as well. The city is decaying. In
the shopping area the pedestrian streets are very nice, but the occupancy of
store fronts is only about 50 percent. It was not crowded, but there were
plenty of patrons. Further east, away from the ship harbor is a more upscale
area with beautiful parks, fountains and statues commemorating their history.
To pass through the canal, we needed to register online. Once our registration was approved, they sent a link to pay online. I am told this is the most expensive canal passage, dollar per mile, anywhere in the world. The registration and payment were easy. The price, 311 euros for 3 miles of convenience. The alternative is a 150-mile trip around the Peloponnese Island.
April 16, 2025 – Corinth, Peloponnese, Greece
We were up way too early, but excited to be transiting the
Corinth Canal. We walked to the Port Office to pay for our stay. It is amazing
to me that when doing anything official in Greece it is like they are doing it
for the first time. Papers checked, copies made, handwritten receipts and 21
Euros for two nights. Next stop, get our Transit Log stamped out at the Coast
Guard office, check papers, copies, stamps and we were on our way. Back on the
boat we radioed the Corinth Canal Traffic and requested permission to transit.
They said come to the entrance and check in on VHF 11.
The Canal construction was attempted as early as 1100 AD,
but unsuccessful until the Greeks completed the construction in 1893. They
close the Canal every Tuesday for maintenance and as we transited the Canal we
could see why. The narrow canal, 25 m wide, has shear sides that tend to sluff
off and fill the canal. At the beginning and end of the canal are low car
bridges that lower into the water to allow boats to pass over them. The highest
points along the way tower 72 m above you, nearly vertical. There are several
bridges up at the summit and lots of people gathered on the bridges to watch
the passing boats and wave. Once through the canal we were in The Aegean Sea
and surrounded by all the fabulous islands that make this a sailing paradise.
Already we could see many more boats and much more activity. Passing through
the Corinth Canal is actually a tour you can book out of Athens.
It was a sunny calm day, so we enjoyed a slow motor to the Island of Thomas and anchored in L’ile aux Oiseaux, a crystal clear little cove off of a tiny pine covered Islet. There were lots of seagulls on the rocky shore and it appeared this may be a nesting ground. We launched the dinghy and did a Looking Box tour of the shoreline under water, but no fish and only a small amount of coral and plant life.
It was 80 and sunny, time for shorts and relaxation. Sundowners and dinner, a very quiet night.
April 17, 2025 - L’ile aux Oiseaux, Thomas Island, Greece
It was such a pleasure to wake up to warmer temperatures, 64
and quickly climbing as the sun rose over the mountains. The sea was dead calm for
a motorboat ride SE to the Island of Egina where the first Greek Flag was
raised after the War of Independence. The city of Aegina would be the Capital
of the new sovereign nation.
Along the way we could see lots of charter boats and the go-fast
ferries. This is what we found in Croatia, I am guessing the rhythm will be the
same; no port access on Friday and Saturday as this is turnover time. We
anchored close to shore in a little bay, Perdika Egina Nord, in 7 m and crystal
clear water. There was a French flagged sailboat, and a small Greek power boat
anchored in the bay, but plenty of room. Some day trippers came and went, but
at the end of the day 3 more French flagged boats arrived and rafted up with
the first boat. The party was on! There were at least 8 people on each boat.
They were all Jeanneau charter boats, but one was a configuration I had never seen before. It was a Sun Loft 47. When I looked it up it was purpose built as a charter boat and could sleep 12! Below decks were 6 staterooms and 4 heads. The galley and seating areas were on the deck fore and aft of the steering stations in the huge, elongated cockpit. They referred to it as a Monomaran, monohull, but configured like a Catamaran.
Another gorgeous 80-degree day with plenty of Aegean
sunshine and a light breeze. We cleaned up and rowed to the shore for aperitivos
at the shore side Taverna. The house wine was quite suitable, and the Pistachio
dip was insanely delicious. They grow pistachios on the island. The octopus was
just ok and the fried cheese, which we only asked about, but they brought out
anyway, was pretty good. This was a seasoned feta in filo dough fried and
drizzled with honey, pistachios and sesame seeds. The sun was getting low, time
to row home and settle in for the night. The party was raging all night, but it
was good to see young people having a great time.
April 18, 2025 – Perdika Egina Nord, Egina, Greece
Up with the sun, calm wind and sea. With no particular plan
I decided to head east. The wind was supposed to be strong from the Northwest
which should have made for a great sail. We were duped all the way around. No
wind, so we motored across the gulf and around the south end of the Athens
peninsula. High on the hill at the south end of the peninsula is the Temple to Poseidon, not unlike the Parthenon. We anchored in a large bay; the wind was predicted to be light from
the Northwest so we tucked up onto the Northwest side and enjoyed the warm
afternoon. The anchorage was in a somewhat industrial area, Ormos Thorkou.
Once we settled in I noticed a passenger plane parked not too far from shore. Did I anchor next to a runway. Further survey said no, but why is this plane parked here? At one time this area was a site for mining iron ore and manganese. Now you could see the decaying remnants of that activity.
Once again, I was fooled by the weather. At 1130 the wind
came up, no motion in the sea but a lot of noise. I decided to put out more
chain and keep a watch for a while to make sure the boat was safe. We stayed up
for a couple hours before feeling confident in sleeping. The wind must have
died down fairly soon because it did not take long to fall back to sleep. I
guess the weather app was broken.
April 19, 2025 – Ormos Thorkau, Greece
We slept late despite the sunshining in my port. It was a
lazy morning which somehow became a lazy afternoon. About 1300 the admiral
asked, “where are we going today?” I suggested nowhere and it was decided. It
is always amazing how easy it is to while away a day on a boat. Suzette baked
Almond Biscotti and I tinkered. The weather cooperated and gave us a calm day
and night.
April 20, 2025 – Petaloi, Xero, Greece
Easter Sunday, we awoke to church bells and another glorious
morning. Determined to sail today, and again with no destination in mind I
rigged the Code Zero sail, and we headed north in the gulf between the Athens
Peninsula and the huge island of Evia. The wind was supposed to be light but from the south. When the wind shifted,
we rolled out the Code Zero and enjoyed a quiet sail setting a course Northeast
for a small group of islands off of Evia.
The silence was broken when the admiral came up from below and announced that something was running! We worked to trace the sound and eventually ended up in the sail locker. What could it be, the windlass? No. The saltwater deck was pump? No. The master cabin air conditioner? No. Then I remembered that there is a small bilge pump in the sail locker hiding in the depths below some cabinet work.
Empty the sail locker, tools out, open up the cabinet work,
make sure we are not sinking! We quickly exposed the bilge and there was saltwater
sloshing around but not to the level of the bilge pump. The pump was running
dry. While I sucked up the water Suzette went to the panel to attempt to shut
off the pump, but it is not on the same switch as the primary bilge pump. I had
her bring me the Jeanneau Owners Manual and we found in the electrical
schematics that this pump is on a switch in the 12v panel board, not the main
panel. I located it and shut the pump down so it would not burn itself up.
Satisfied that we were not sinking, we continued to enjoy our slow sail and
contemplate what had just occurred and why.
Looking up the pump it appears that it has some sort of
electrostatic sensor for sensing water and turning on. This might explain the runaway
pump if the water splashed on the sensor and it continued to think it was in
the water. But where did the water come from? Four possibilities, 1. A leaking
hatch over the sail locker and sea water splashing in while crashing through
some waves, 2. I recently changed the deck wash plumbing around and dropped
some sea water in the bilge in the process, 3. A leaky saltwater pump, 4. Leak
in the water line to the air conditioner. Since the sails in the sail locker
were not wet and very little water was spilled during my plumbing job that left
leaking saltwater pump or AC water line. We will check it at anchor, for now we
are not sinking.
We sailed into a group of tiny islands, some private, and
found a nice spot off of Nisos
Xero. Anchored in 4 m of clear water just off of a little beach in the
East corner of Ormos Petaloi. I read that one of these little Islands is owned
by Bill Gates. There were a couple beautiful estates that we passed on the way
in. For the most part the islands were covered in small densely planted pines.
I went back to the sail locker and finished mopping up the water so I could monitor where the water was coming from. We will start with a dry bilge. A couple of small sail boats arrived and anchored, one French and one Greek, each with a single sailor. Time to relax and enjoy the scenery.
Since it was easter we broke into the chocolate egg and Panettone
that Suzette had bought in Corinth, a very special treat. It was a very quiet
night on the hook.
April 21, 2025 – Pataloi, Xero, Greece
Up with the sun and out to check on my bilge, more water, so
I mopped it up and sprinkled some talcum powder around to try to see where the trickle
was coming from. I decided to use the saltwater pump and wash down the decks to
see if it was a leaking pump. The nonskid decks needed a good scrubbing.
Suzette worked on polishing stainless, a never ending job. Back in the bilge
more water and it was not the saltwater pump. It was a small leak in the air-conditioning
feed water line. Someone was a little overzealous when they zip tied the water
hose in place and the boat movement rubbed a hole in the line. Of course, it
was the feedline that runs all the back to the midship bilge where the
saltwater pump is located. Since we are not using the AC, no generator, I
elected duct tape and a hose clamp. Dried up the bilge and left it to check
later.
We headed out with no destination, just wanting to sail and
go where the wind takes us. The wind was from the south, but very light, so we
put up the Code Zero and ghosted along in silence. The wind went to zero,
usually a sign that there would be a big wind shift, so we rolled in the code
zero and motored for a while. The wind went north and we rolled out the code
zero and ghosted along, changing course generally heading to the mainland, but
as yet no destination. The wind picked up giving us some speed and putting us
on a southerly course back to Ormos ThorKau. The wind died off and we motored
the short distance to the anchorage, this time the north end of the bay. We anchored
in 4 m and with the boat settled we rowed ashore and went for a walk along the
beach. It was easter Monday, clearly a holiday here as the bay was full of
small boats and there were people lounging on the beach. The public boat ramp
was teaming with activity as people were wrapping up their fun for the day. A
man was having his picture taken as he held up a couple nice fish he had caught,
Grouper I think. He was all smiles.
Back on the boat we were unearthing a new problem. We had been smelling the engine after a long motor run, faint smell of diesel or oil. I cleaned the air filter a week or two ago, which helped but today we noticed it again. The light bulb went on in my head, dim as it might be, and it occurred to me that when I started the motor, I was not hearing the ventilator for the engine compartment. We checked it and sure enough, no ventilator. I had noticed for a while that the ventilator seemed to be drawing more amps than it should and it was on my list to investigate. Checking fuses, relays and power at the blower proved out that the blower was not working. I recalled that the generator has a similar blower, so I verified that it was the same model, and it was. Between the two of us we managed to extricate the dysfunctional blower after a couple hours of cursing and contorting. I dissected the blower to see if it could be repaired, but it was clearly burned up and froze up. I cannot believe that it did not blow a fuse. The blower for the generator was much more accessible and I quickly extricated it and tested it, it was all good. The reinstallation was much quicker and by 2200 the blower problem was fixed. Now I need to order a new one for the generator, but there is no rush since the generator is not presently working.
We cleaned up the mess and ourselves, with the bilge pump
and blower fixed it was time for a stiff drink and sleep.
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