Porto Carras Marina

3 July 2023 – 11 July 2023

Porto Carras Marina is the largest marina in Northern Greece and can accommodate up to 315 vessels.

As the guy on the tow boat let go of the towing line, we drifted onto and up against the berth which had been allocated for us. The Manager Chris and staff were there and assisted with catching the lines and securing us onto the dock. His staff insisted on connecting our power lead to ensure we had power. Most other marinas we would have to fend for ourselves which isn’t a problem, but it was nice for them to offer to help and make sure everything was working. One of the staff went away and came back with some wooden steps making it easier for us to get on and off Calista.

Chris had arranged for the staff from Valis Electric who were working nearby, to come and see if they could assist with the repairing of our windlass.

The marina is well protected from any winds and there is no tides or strong currents. We had abit of a root march to walk around to the marina office, hotel and bars on the otherside but we didn’t really mind as it gave as some exercise.

From our berth, we had grandstand views for watching all the comings and goings of the superyachts during the day.

Yiannis Carras, a Greek businessman and ship owner bought 1,763 hectares of land, most of it monastery property, on which to realise his vision. Construction began in 1973 with his own private 2,000m Villa Galini located on the Galani hill nearby.

It looks like the Marina and village complex never really took off at the time, or the developer ran out of money to realise his masterplan dream. Many of the buildings in and around the Marina have since deteriorated over the years and many of the buildings are only partially constructed with reinforcing steel left to the elements. It looks somewhat like a ghost town.

In April 2020 the Porto Carras Grand Resort has changed ownership to a Greek-Russian Billionaire. Maybe Covid has delayed further progress on the Resort, the second hotel had some scaffolding erected and it seemed to be having some paint work carried out, so it may all get renovated and completed over time.

Valis Electric took a look at the windlass and made a phone call there and then to Athens checking on the availabilty of the shaft which was required to fix the windlass. An order was placed and it should arrive in a few days. Such efficiency, we were so impressed with their prompt service.

Our friend’s from Tipheret anchored out in the bay of Porto Carras and came in to see us and offer assistance with cleaning up the diesel in the engine room. Paul and Sabine started to vacuum up the diesel with the wet vac but the fumes were getting really bad and the vaccuuming was aborted.

George the Volvo Mechanic who serviced our engine previously in Aretsou Marina, Thessaloniki arrived the following morning to help clean up the diesel spill. He also checked the fuel line for blockages, and re-checked the fuel sensor and filter which he had replaced previously and was confident that all was good and wouldn’t happen again. We probaby lost 60-70 litres of diesel.

We bought some adult diapers to assist in absorbing the remaining diesel in the hard to get areas

The diapers worked really well soaking up the excess diesel that was still in the insulation around the engine room walls.

We bought some catty litter which also helped to absorb the diesel. The catty litter was able to be vacuumed up with the wet vac after it had absorbed any remaining diesel.

During our stay in the marina, while we waited around for the windlass to be repaired, we hired a rental car for a week, so we could look around the peninsula.

We drove into Neos Marmaras to check into the Port Police with our transit log. The officer at the Port Police Office was very laid back and more interested in telling us his colleague was having a great time visiting the South Island in NZ at the time. It was pretty hot walking around the town and we noticed the temperature displayed outside the pharmacy indicating it was 33 deg.

We drove up to Thessaloniki on another day, which was about a two hour trip. We visited the main commercial area where all the large retail stores were located on the outskirts of the city and visited several hardware stores. We also came across an electrical store and bought a smart TV for the aft cabin. Now we can watch Netflix and Youtube relaxing in the aft cabin in the evenings.

While we were at the commercial centre I couldn’t resist dragging Paul into Ikea for a look around, and to try the Swedish meat balls for lunch which were very tasty.

Another day we drove over to the south eastern side of the Sithonia peninsula to check out some of the anchorages. To reach one of the beaches we drove through a pine forrest where we parked the car under the canopy of the trees and walked down to the beach to discover a sheltered and shallow bay with amazing rock formations.

Paul went out on the rocks for a closer look. (He is standing on the rocks waving back to me)

It is a natural beach and not commercialised like many of the other beaches around. People can bring their own umbrellas and chairs (more like the beaches in New Zealand)

We googled for a good restaurant in Vourvourou and found “Paris” right on the water’s edge overlooking the bay. It is well known for it’s excellent quality of local fresh fish.

We had only just arrived and sat down for a late lunch when the skies looked threatening. A storm was brewing and it got rather windy and also looked like heavy rain was threatening. The waiters were turning away some of the customer’s as it was looking doubtful if they could sit at the outside tables, and they rolled away the awnings because the wind was getting stronger.

Within an hour, the storm had passed further north and it continued to be a lovely afternoon. We were unsure what wine to order and the waiter recommended a bottle of rose, and it was an excellent choice.

We shared a couple of dishes between us, sea bass tartare and tarragon shrimps in a white sauce. Both devine.

We love the Greek hospitality – most restaurants/taverna’s offer a free dessert of some sort or liqueur, complimentary on the house. These desserts were filled with ice cream. Delicious.

Back at the Marina in the evenings we had the sun setting in the distance.

We were heading down the coast on another day and we came across our friend who had anchored several bays away and was out bike riding and she was resting on the side of the road as we drove around the corner. She was contemplating whether to continue to the Marina to pay us a visit.

Luckily we came along at the right time, Sabine decided it was getting too hot to go any further so we loaded her bike into the boot and dropped her back near to where their anchorage was.

On our road trip we came across a lovely beach bar and decided we would stop for a coffee.

The bartender said it was a private beach and we would have to pay 10.00 euro each to sit in one of their chairs. We declined and walked away without the coffee.

We continued driving around the coast stopping at Toroni Beach.

The golden sandy beach is 2.5 km long and is classified as the cleanest in the Mediterranean Sea and has been granted the “Blue Flag” certification having met compliance of 33 lots of criteria covering water quality, enviromental management, safety and many more amenities.

We managed to find a car park opposite one of the many beach bars along the bay. We enjoyed a coffee then decided to have crepes for a late morning tea, banana and nutella crepe. Yum.

Continuing on with our journey, we stopped at Panorama Kalamitsi for a photo opportunity before continuing down.

Interesting piece of real estate for sale. Not sure what was being housed in the make shift barns, possibly goats …

We stopped at the look out at Sykia checking out the anchorage as we were thinking of anchoring there in the coming days.

Checkout the sign – “A” for Archer or Awesome?

Just back from the beach we spotted several abandoned units attacked with graffi.

Iconostases are erected to memorialize the spot where someone was killed or as an offering at the place where someone was miraculously saved. The iconostases are put up privately – essentially a public message saying look out, this is a dangerous stretch of road, an accident happened here, drive safely so your’e not the next victim. Maybe someone fell off the cliff …

Sarti is one of the top holiday destinations in Halkidiki with it’s magnificient white sandy beaches and numerous restaurants. Mount Athos is in the distance.

Mount Athos doesn’t look too far away over on the third finger. Only men are permitted to enter the Mount Athos region. For thousands of years no woman has been able to visit Mount Athos or the monasteries except from a distance. We will not be going over to the third finger as you can’t even anchor there.

We stopped for lunch at Blue Senses Beach & Restaurant Bar overlooking the bay. The main lunch rush was over and we were able to get a table on the upper level overlooking the beach.