Last days in Greek waters

We left our Dia Is anchorage, six NM north of Crete, at 0400hrs to make our 12 hour passage to Santorini with plenty of daylight left. This is always a good idea when arriving in an unfamiliar location, so that you have plenty of time to find a good anchorage or berth. The gale had only subsided two days previously, and the seas were about 1.5m, occasionally 2m, but short and steep giving quite a different ride to the waters of the Hauraki Gulf. I just about s..t myself when a larger wave rolled us more heavily to starboard, and our port stabilizer bird launched itself out of the water into the air, and flew like a delta-winged jet for a few metres until it plunged back into the sea (see Technical). During the trip we only saw one cruising vessel, although two huge catamaran ferries roared passed us.
Santorini is a romantic, mysterious and hugely impressive island. In 1440 BC it was the scene of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history, when the entire centre of the island, comprising some 30 cubic km blew into the sky, leaving a crater some 6NM long and 4NM wide, which filled with seawater to form the present cliff-lined Caldera. This eruption caused a series of Tsunamis estimated up to 100m high, which devastated Crete, 60NM away, and destroyed the Minoan civilization. Some postulate that Santorini is the lost island of Atlantis, and it is the island on which Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea is based.
Santorini has notoriously poor shelter for visiting yachts, and the Cruising Guide recommends leaving your boat in the marina at nearby Ios Is, and catching a ferry across. The Caldera is mostly too deep to anchor, and the marina on the south side of the island is too shallow for larger vessels. However an Australian friend told us that a Captain Yiannis had moorings available below the village of Oia, provided that you ate in his restaurant.
We cruised into the Caldera marveling at the size of an eruption that could cause such a crater, and headed to the bay below Oia. Nosing up to the jetty we couldn’t find Captain Yiannis, but asked some locals if we could use a mooring. One said yes and waved us in the direction of empty moorings; we thought he was indicating to take any one of those. So we picked one up, and were about to celebrate our arrival when a small boat roared towards us, and the occupant told us very rudely that we weren’t allowed to stay there. He ignored our question about which mooring was OK, so we headed away across the Caldera to O Ay Nikolau. Again we nosed up to a jetty, and a local pointed out a large mooring to us, and said we could use it. We had no sooner picked up its line when a 25m charter yacht’s skipper told us we’d have to move, but he was polite and helpful, and said he’d only be using it for 40 minutes, and then we could use it overnight. So an hour later we were finally attached with a long line to this 2m diameter, square-shaped, rusty mooring buoy. This would have been the happy ending, except that during the night the wind dropped totally, and Envoy drifted forward and scraped her gelcoat on both sides on the mooring buoy. These will be easily repaired out of the water in Marmaris, but is another lesson learned!
The next day Di rowed Doug & Mary ashore to Captain Yiannis’s wharf so they could walk up to visit Oia, and Di managed to find Captain Yiannis. He was very friendly, said New Zealanders are always welcome and directed us to a mooring. Half an hour later a yacht pulled up alongside, and its very p’d off Captain told us this was his mooring, and he wanted to use it. We told him Captain Yiannis had put us there, and this made him even more p’d off. He eventually calmed down and pointed out another mooring we could use, so we moved. Ten minutes later Captain Yiannis appeared in a small boat, and said we couldn’t stay on that mooring, then roared off. Di rowed ashore again (it was too deep to anchor) and found a very different Captain Yiannis, who now very rudely said there were no moorings available at all. What a saga! By now we’d had enough of moorings and decided to anchor off a beach on the south side of Santorini. We found a delightful bay called Akrotiri with clear water, and anchored in 7m. Ashore were some very picturesque tavernas, and a road with regular buses to Fira and Oia. We should have come here first..
We met Doug & Mary in Oia, and after a wander around the quaint cobblestone alleyways got a table in a restaurant overlooking the Caldera with a perfect view of the sunset. Oia is supposed to have one of the world’s greatest sunsets, and there were hundreds of tourists and backpackers selecting vantage points to see it. Our restaurant was a very comfortable spot with bubbly for Mary & Di, and beers for Doug & I. There is no doubt the Caldera is amazing and spectacular, and that the atmosphere of the whole sunset thing was great, but the sunset itself was a bit disappointing. There is so much haze that when the sun drops low you can’t actually see the horizon itself, and the sun disappears into the haze before it drops over the horizon. Auckland’s west coast is more spectacular for the actual sunset.
Around Santorini there was a noticeable increase in the number of cruising yachts as well as several superyachts.
The next day we explored Fira, had a farewell lunch, and then Doug & Mary flew to Athens after 18 days with us. Each and every visitor we have contributes to our enjoyment of this experience. Doug & Mary are a wonderful couple, and they’ve been an absolute pleasure to have as guests. We’re missing Mary’s infectious laughter, and their great sense of fun.
When you are cruising a couple of days in Santorini is sufficient. It’s quite crowded, and very much caters to the tourist with endless shops and restaurants – all very good, but not the “real Greece”. If you’re staying in a hotel for a holiday it would be a great place to chill out and enjoy.
We left Santorini on Saturday for an eight hour cruise to Astipalaia. During a relatively calm passage we saw only one yacht, and despite the fact Astipalia is one of the most sheltered anchorages in the Aegean there were only about six other cruisers in this island group similar in size to the Mercurys.
The weather has been amazing; the last rain we had was late April. Most days there are very few clouds, and the typical temperature has been 29-32dC. We’ve had the odd day as high as 37dC. The sea water temperature varies between 26-28dC. Most days there is little or no wind to start, then the wind builds to about 12-15 knots, and then dies in the evening. We have had some days with winds in the mid 20 knots.
We are now on the eastern side of Kalimnos Is, and can see Turkey in the distance.
In Greece they have the Schengen Treaty, under which New Zealanders are allowed to stay only for 90 days in any calendar year and then must leave. This does seem crazy when Greece is basically broke, and can use all the visitors’ spending money they can get. Our 90 days expires on 3 September so we’re “clearing out” of Kalimnos, and will then “clear in” to Turkey at Bodrum. Then we’re going to cruise up Turkey’s west coast towards Izmir to met Don & Kerrin Waterer on 18 September.
In late October we also meet Steve & Jane Wilson somewhere near Izmir, and then our last visitor Chris O’Brien meets us in Bodrum 1 November, and will cruise down to Marmaris with us, arriving 15 November.
Log
Days aboard Envoy this trip: 149
Engine hours and distance this trip: 192hrs, 937NM
Technical: No major issues. Improved charging system running very well – thanks Doug.
While in Bodrum I’m going to change the engine oil in the Lugger (required every 200hrs). We’ve also arranged to get our Vacuflush guest head serviced, as the vacuum pump keeps running all the time. Up to now we’ve solved this temporarily with a separate on/off switch on the toilet, so it’s only switched on when being used.
I had to climb up the mast to fix the anchor light. I’m not good on heights, but waited for a calm day. Turned out to be just a loose bulb, and easily fixed. For the few days we had no anchor light I removed the bulbs from the port and starboard navigation lights and used the masthead and stern lights as a temporary all round white anchor light.
The prop shaft sealings seem to have settled down and allow about the right amount of seawater through to cool the shaft. I check it regularly with my infra-red pyrometer and it’s running at about 32dC – about 6dC above the ambient seawater temp, so this is fine.
I have good quality shaft sealings on board now if any problems arise.
Our stabilizer “birds” – the steel plates which suspend 5m under water – have adjustments. At the front of the bird is a weighted section to make the bird want to dive deeper. A chain connects the bird to the stabilizer paravane. The further aft on the bird you connect the chain, the deeper the bird wants to dive, and the more effective it becomes, but the more it slows Envoy down. As a result of a bird flying out of the water I have adjusted the connections so the birds dive deeper.