Thursday 6 June 2019 – Trizonia

The morning worked out very well.  Richard managed to get off the boat without incident.  He returned the electrical adaptor to the office and when he got back the man from the agency was there half an hour early.  There was a short delay in getting away as we lent our hose to a neighbouring boat (they didn’t have the right adaptor either).  But in the end we got away just before 10am, earlier than expected.

The first hurdle was to transit the Rion bridge which connects the Peloponnese to the Greek mainland. It is the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world.  Boats have to get clearance to pass under it.  But that all went well.  The plan then was to go to Navpaktos, a small harbour built in medieval times.  The pilot book suggests small boats can go into the habour to moor up.  The Luries went there but we can’t work out how their large boat would get in.  The harbour is not far from the bridge.   The wind had got up to a force 4 from behind so we put up the Genoa and got there by about 11:30.  The first thing we noticed was a proper boat pontoon with what looked like water and electricity boxes just outside the harbour.  But R was determined to go in and look.  Well, I didn’t think there was any place to moor. Richard thought there was but I persuaded him the best thing to do would be to go and moor on the pontoon from which you could walk into the harbour and town.  But then things got difficult.  The wind (never predicted to be strong) started to build and was blowing 20 knots+.   We tried to reverse on to the pontoon and there were even some boat owners there waiting to take our lines, but we were so blown off course that we just had to give up.  We hope conditions will be better on our way back so we can go then.

The harbour wall

We then decided to make for Trizonia.  We have been here before and liked it.  So we headed that way.  All the time the wind got stronger and stronger.  In the end it was blowing 22-25 knots (force 6).  The saving grace was that it was astern so we just had the Genoa up and we were going like the clappers at over 6 knots.  The problem was the wind was getting stronger and stronger and I became worried about how we would moor in  those conditions.  Richard assured me that the harbour (well, abandoned marina) would be sheltered from the wind.  When we got there it was not sheltered.  It was still blowing top of a 5 gusting 6.  But luck was with us again.  As we came in a couple of locals (touting for restaurant business) were helpful.  They pointed out a suitable gap in the inside of the outer pontoon.  Richard did a brilliant job in getting in the space between two other boats in terrible conditions and the boys plus other yachtsman on the pontoon took our ropes and secured us nicely.  So we are safely tucked up but the wind is still blowing like crazy.

This is an unspoilt island with very little on it except a small village with restaurants and cafes and a few small hotels.  No cars!

The village beach

The mooring is a marina which was never finished.  You just find a space where you can, mostly alongside mooring.   In these conditions both Richard and I prefer an alongside berth. It is much more secure and even as it is now blowing 20-26 knots the boat is barely moving.  There are no facilities but we have had a visit from a man from the local hotel offering showers which we shall probably use.  We have no idea when the weather will get better. This wasn’t forecast, so we will just have to wait and see.    The only good thing is that today was sunny and when out of the wind it was warm! But the water temperature has gone down to 15.9 degrees.  We expected it to have risen to about 25 degrees!