Sailing Calista9 October 2023 – 17 October 2023
After having spent a pleasant and calm night at anchor, we awoke the following morning to discover that the wind was blowing down from the neighbouring hills and into the anchorage, making the water somewhat choppy. After breakfast having had enough of the chop, decided to lift anchor and cruise around to the south western side of Sifnos to check out the anchorage of Vathy to see if it was less windy.
We arrived to the entrance of Vathy around 2.00 pm and cruised in for a closer look. The anchorage appeared protected but there was still wind gusting down from the hills. After some humming and arring whether we should stay and drop the anchor, we decided to make a dash back to the mainland while there was a favourable wind in the right direction for us to sail.
This would mean an 85nm overnight sail back to the mainland and I was abit apprehensive as it had been quite awhile since we had done an overnight passage. There would be no moon and we would be relying on the radar.
We turned Calista around and headed back out of Vathy and set a course towards Dokos Island. The sea state was comfortable with a 1-1.5m swell on the forward beam. As we were cruising along the island of Serifos we heard a loud humming sound which seemed to be coming in our general direction.
We scoped out the horizon and discovered that there was a high speed ferry passing to our stern, heading towards Milos Island.
Half an hour before sunset we turned on the radar so that we could get accustomed to it while we still had some daylight and twilight. The sea state was still comfortable and we were sailing along at a steady pace of around 7.7 – 8.0 knots.
As expected, there was no moon and once twilight was finished it was pitch black. Watching the radar screen we noticed numerous tankers and cargo ships up in front where the main shipping lanes were. They didn’t pose any threat to us thou we kept a good watch on them.
With Dokos Island now several nautical miles away, we decided to alter course to Port Cheli. With the protection of several smaller islands, the wind dropped and the sails started to flutter so we turned on the engine. After about three hours of motoring we approached Spetes Island, it was a welcoming sight to see all the lights as we cruised past. We noticed the moon had risen but it was only a slither, enough to cast abit of a light on the water as we motored into the anchorage of Porto Chelli at 4.30 am. We were familiar with the large anchorage and luckily it was the tail end of the season and not many boats were in the anchorage. We crept into the anchorage being mindful not to make alot of noise, and found a suitable spot and dropped anchor. Once we were confident the anchor was set, we headed downstairs to bed for a snooze.
After a few hours of much needed sleep we arose and carried out a few boat jobs before meeting up with our friend’s on Tipheret who were also in the anchorage.
The following day, Sabine wanted to check out Spetses Island and invited us to join them. Rather than taking a ferry, Uli decided to take Tipheret over to the Island and hopefully have a short sail on the way. We cruised past Calista on our way out of the anchorage. Uli found a spot to anchor a short distance from the harbour.
The sea was quite rolly, so Uli ferried us around into the small enclosed harbour by dingy and dropped us off. then Uli went back to Tipheret and stayed on board to keep watch while Sabine showed us around the town.
From where we were dropped off, we walked up to the cafe’s overlooking the small harbour.
The small harbour is always busy with the sea taxis which run 24 hours and are able to operate in all sea conditions.
We stopped for a coffee and some custard pie for morning tea.
We checked out several of the small boutique shops situated around the edge of the harbour. Sabine and I weren’t tempted in buying anything as the prices were horrendously expensive. Obviously tailored to the rich Greeks from Athens and tourists.
We had a leisurely stroll around the foreshore to where the marina is located, then back through some of the inner streets to the waterfront.
After our walk we were feeling peckish and decided we would have some lunch at the famous Poseidonion Grant Hotel overlooking the water.
The hotel opened in 1914 and was the brainchild of Sotirios Anagyros, a visionary benefactor who was reasonsible for much of Spetse’s development.
It represented the cosmolpolitan face of the island and soon became one of its famous landmarks, a favourite destination for high society, royalty and wealthy Athenians.
Vladim and Anne-Marie recently hauled out their Amel 54 “Pame” at Basimakipoulos Shipyard and were staying in an Air B&B accommodation at Ermioni along with Johannas (Ann-Marie’s Brother) who was over on holiday.
We were invited to Anne-Marie’s birthday dinner along with Sabine & Uli.
The restaurant “Maryvone” was about a 10 minute drive from Ermioni and so Sabine and Uli hired a car and we set off to Ermioni assisted with goggle maps. The restaurant was situated just outside of a small village and had a lovely large covered courtyard area.
We sat outside and enjoyed a lovely evening in the company of everyone. Vadlim ordered a wonderful selection of meats and salads which were all delicious. Vladim made Ann-Marie’s day with a surprise birthday cake.
The following morning Anne-Marie, Johannas and Vladim drove over from Ermione to come out on Calista for the afternoon. Uli went ashore and picked them up in the dingy and ferried them out to Calista. Together with Sabine and Uli we motored over to Spetses Island and anchored in a bay at the bottom end of the island.
Everyone had a swim then after lunch the breeze started to pick up.
We left the anchorage and Paul furled out the downwind sail to show Vladim how it performs. We sailed around for about an hour before returing back to the anchorage at Porto Cheli.
Our sailing season was finally coming to an end. On our last night we all went ashore to “Ostria” and enjoyed a lovely meal together. Then it was back to Calista to have a final game of Mexican Train dominoe’s, Sabine was feeling lucky.
We all had a fun evening. Uli brought along his homemade Gin and we played all 13 rounds of Mexican Train until the early hours. We had so many laughs.
Sabine came out the winner at 293 points, followed by Uli on 300, Karen 325 and lastly Paul on 384.
The following morning we all said our goodbyes and Sabine and Uli departed, heading north back up to Chalkida where they were going to spend the coming winter. A few hours later we decided to leave and head around to Kilada.
We lifted anchor and hadn’t gotten very far when Paul noticed the transmission playing up again, and heard a terrible grating sound coming from down in the engine room. Lifting the floor to the engine compartment, it appeared to be something to do with the gearbox and shaft so Paul shut off the engine and furled out the sails. There was a light wind and we took advantage of the wind and sailed ever so slowly around to Kilada.
We eventually arrived at Kilada to discover that the anchorage was protected by the surrounding hills and despite tacking several times we lost all ability to manoeuvre any further up into the anchorage. We eventually dropped the anchor further out than we had intended, but that was fine. We had made it.
