Kilada

29 April 2023 – 6 May 2023

From the plane window it was wonderful flying in over some of the islands and seeing the lovely blue water as we were approaching the Athens airport. Once all the custom’s formalities were completed, we walked out thru the arrival’s lounge to the carpark where our taxi driver was waiting for us.

We loaded our bags into the Mercedes station wagon and settled into the luxurious leather seats to begin the two hour drive to Kilada.

We arrived at Kilada where we were met by Evangelos from Compass Accommodation and shown to our accommodation where we would be staying for a couple of days as we got Calista ready to launch.

It was a lovely one bedroom studio appartment up the alleyway, just a 10 minute walk from the Shipyard.

The apartment was well equipped with a small kitchen. Unfortunately the water was not portable so we had to use bottle water which was provided, for drinking and cleaning our teeth.

We tended to visit “Retro” on several occassions. It was very modern with a marine theme inside.

Paul had the big breakfast, lovely sunny side up eggs.

I couldn’t get through all of my pancakes, the breakfast meals were huge with generous servings.

On the morning of the launch it was raining, with showers on and off. It was Labour Day, a public holiday in Greece but the Shipyard was working. We weren’t sure of when Calista would be launched so we were waiting around in limbo since 8.00am. Paul decided to get the hose out and gave Calista a good wash down as she was very dirty from being in the Shipyard for six months.

The boss came by and advised us we would be next and gave instructions to his men to ensure that the transporter was lined up precisly to pick up the steel cradle. With a few tense moments and some words, he took control of the hand controls himself to guide the transporter underneath.

The weather was starting to clear up but still overcast with grey skies.

As Calista got to the gates of the shipyard, the traffic was stopped while the transporter crossed over to the travel lift area.

Everything was going like clockwork and we were next. The catamaran who had just been launched was having issues with one of their engines with no water coming out. We ended up having to wait around for two hours until the Mechanic had sorted out the issues then the catamaran was on it’s way. Now it was our turn.

The weather was brightening up as the morning was progressing and the sea was flat and calm.

Calista is being lowered into the water under the watchful eye of the team.

Once in the water, we boarded Calista and made the necessary proceedures then we were released and on our way out to the anchorage. We found a spot and anchored out in the bay.

We came ashore and enjoyed lunch at “To Mouragio” which seemed to be very popular with the locals.

Paul had a delicious pork chop.

I enjoyed small fish pieces in a beetroot sauce, very tasty.

The following day we wandered down to the car rental company not far from the Shipyard and arranged for a rental car. We got a brand new “Dacia Sandero” for 55.00 euro for one day hire, only 700 km on the clock. We drove up to the village of Kilandi and bought a new Data Sim card from Cosmote, then visited the Agent who completed the Tepai paperwork for us. We paid for four months of Tepai – 495.00 euro. Works out to be about 125.00 euro per month to cruise in Greek waters, certainly not cheap.

With the Tepai sorted, we had a lovely drive up to Nafplion to the Custom’s Office. At the end of last season we had handed in our Transit Log to the Shipyard and they couried it to the Custom’s Office. At Customs the Transit Log was located and necessary paperwork completed including sighting that our Tepai had been paid. For their paperwork and time, it was 15.00 cash then we were all set for another season.

What is normally filled with visiting yachts on the town quay, there were none to be seen. It was full of large super yachts – some sort of boat show was on.

How the other half live and play …

After wandering around admiring the super yachts it started to rain and we headed towards the restaurants to seek shelter. We had a coffee and pancakes to justify us sitting around for several hours waiting for the rain to ease so we could walk back the car.

With the rental car we stopped off at Lidl in Nafplion and got some groceries before heading back to Kilada.

We loaded our groceries in the dingy nearby and motored back out to Calista.

We enjoyed our time in Kilada and wandered about on the foreshore.

The fishermen looked quite content sitting and nattering while they repaired the nets.

We awoke to a beautiful morning in the anchorage. We had a spot of drama in the morning – Paul was getting something out of the transom and threw the keys back towards the cockpit. Instead of landing safely in the cockpit as he had done many times before, the keys caught the edge of the enclosure and riccocheted overboard. We stood looking at them saying they are on a float – but unfortunately there were too many keys and they sank to the bottom in 5 metres never to be found.

Later on in the day we put the stay sail on the furler.

Despite the skies still overcast, the sunrise was lovely with the sun shining on the building and lighting them up. We had gotten up early to put the genoa up while it was relatively calm, then set sail to Porto Chelli