Sailing Calista5 September 2023 – 7 September 2023
Leaving Myrsini we motored out of the harbour heading up to Naxos Island, where we stopped at Oskos Beach on the western side of the island where we anchored for the evening. The sky was pretty cloudy and there was abit of breeze causing the water to ripple.
On the western side of Naxos are all the beautiful sandy beaches and is generally very protected when it is blowing from the east. Orkos Beach is approximately 1 kilometre long with thick golden coloured coarse sand.
We kayaked to shore then walked around to where we could see some small boats anchored behind a sea wall at the end of the beach. Walking in the fluffy coarse sand was hard going as it was so soft underfoot and you sank into it as you walked along, so the calf muscles got a good workout.
The dingy dock is behind a man made a small rock wall where a few locals have their runabouts.
We walked around the shore and came across a couple of pizza ovens built into the rocks on the headland.
There was even a wee stone castle, presumably for the local kids to play in.
From the beach we wandered up to one of the tavernas which seemed to be one of the more busier ones.
We enjoyed a couple of cocktails then ordered some meals for dinner.
From our table we had a nice outlook to the bay and of course Calista.
We had a pleasant night at anchor, the wind had dropped after sunset and there was very little swell.
The following morning we continued up the coast to Naxos town. We arrived into the anchorage at Naxos around mid day where there were two other yachts already in the anchorage. As we were nudging our way further into the anchorage we lost all drive through the transmission, and I was instructed to quickly drop the anchor. It wasn’t the ideal spot but we had no choice. The wind was forecast to change direction in the night and come from the north so we would be far enough away from the yachts and away from the seawall.
We stayed on board all afternoon to ensure that the anchor was holding well and we didn’t drift onto the rocks of the seawall. After 3 or 4 hours we felt confident that the anchor was dug in well and we hadn’t moved. We lowered the dingy and headed to the small beach. From previous reviews of the anchorage it was recommended to drop a small anchor off the back of the dingy (which we did). This keeps the dingy side on to the swells which are created by the ferries, and saves the dingy from being swamped.
We walked along the promonade to where the sea wall is, and checked that Calista was a reasonable distance away. It is always hard to judge distance from on the boat. All looked well.
It was a beautiful evening on the hill and there were so many others with the same idea to come up for the sunset.
The Portara of Naxos (the Great Door) is a massive marble doorway on the islet of Palatia near the port which is joined by a narrow causeway. The Portara is around 6 meters high and 3.5 meters wide.
In the 6th century BC the then-ruler tyrant Lygdamis wanted to build the highest and most magnificent building. He ordered the construction of a massive temple, but when war broke out between Naxos and Samos, construction work stopped abruptly.
After that, Lygdamis was overthrown in 506 BC and the temple, which was supposed to be at least a hundred feet tall, was never completed.
Tried to get a selfie but the arm wasn’t really looooong enough.
We came back down and stopped for some dinner at the Relax taverna, which overlooked the anchorage so we could keep an eye on Calista. We both had the special of the day – slow cooked lamb and potatoes. Very traditional Greek dish and it was very tasty. Business was very slow for the taverna and they came and gave us two extra glasses of red wine on the house. I guess it helped stop the taverna from looking empty while he could keep us there, and hopefully encourage others to come in.
We dingied back to Calista once we had our dinner and the anchorage was very calm.
Sure enough, the weather forecast was correct and we were pulled right out on the chain near the end of the anchorage. The Port Police wasn’t happy with us, he was whistling to us from the shore to move. Unknown to him, we couldn’t at that stage due to our faulty transmission and we were still waiting on hearing from the marina to see if we could get in.
I’m sure the ferry captain wasn’t very impressed with us being so close either …
We had messaged the marina yesterday afternoon asking for a spot in the marina but were advised that they were full. The marina fills up late mornings and there are only 25 berths available, the rest of the boats are charter boats and they are mostly on the town quay. In the morning we checked the engine and the transmission seemed to be working again. We sent another message requesting to come in to fill up with diesel and to get a mechanic to check our transmission. We advised we could need assistance with a dingy to be on standby in case our transmission fails again.
We eventually got a favourable response to our message, and instead of going into the marina we were assigned a spot in the small boat/harbour against the main pier for the afternoon but would have to leave later as a ferry would be returning back that evening. We managed to berth Calista without any issues – but it still cost us 50.00 euro for the dingy to come out on stand by.
The marinero rang the fuel station and arranged for a truck to come to the dock. It was a tiny fuel truck, which we hadn’t seen before but can actually hold 1000 litres. We filled up with 400 litres which brought the level back close to the full mark. Our fuel tank holds 600 litres.
Paul also rang the Volvo mechanic to come and have a look at our issue. The mechanic came and checked the engine and all was fine. He said that we should head back to the mainland and get the transmission removed there and checked over, as we could not get a berth here in Naxos to do the work. We turned the engine off and back on again to make sure, and this time the transmission failed again. It was good that it happened while he was there to see. After some investigation he said it was definately a fault with the gearbox. He said it was too dangerous for us to attempt to get back to Kilada and get the gearbox looked at, and said that it would need to be removed here in Naxos, and we would have to try and get into the marina where he could remove the gearbox. After explaining our predicament to the Harbour Master he said he could arrange a tow back out into the anchorage, and that we would have to wait there until a spot became available in the marina, but that it could be several days as there was some strong winds coming, and those already in the marina were likely to stay until the bad weather had passed through.
After several minutes the Harbour Master came back to us, after having spoken to the Coast Guard. He had received special permission for us to come in and berth in the fairway at the end of the second finger tied alongside another yacht so that we could get the transmission looked, at as it would not be safe for us to stay at anchor. The chap in the dingy came out and towed us in. Another 150.00 euro. Money for jam!
